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GERMAN MEDICAL CONGRESS.
GERMAN MEDICAL CONGRESS.—ATHLETICS AND ECONOMY.
extensively the lumbar region and pelvis, but extends even up to the ribs and humeral heads. Naturally, the resulting anaemia is marked, and Assman diagnosed a prostatic growth on this anaemia combined with bilateral sciatica alone. A less exuberant osteoplastic
then discussed from a medical point of view. The principal items of medical interest are that a criminal shall be held responsible for his actions even when in a state of diminished consciousness caused by drunkenness, drunkenness being no longer regarded as an extenuating circumstance. Drunkards shall be subjected to special measures, such as compulsory detention in an asylum, prohibition to obtain intoxicating liquor, loss of civil and voting rights. Other items of interest deal with homosexuality which shall continue to be a criminal offence for men but not for women. Professional secrecy shall not be binding when it conflicts with the public interest as, for instance, in the case of infectious and venereal diseases. On the question of criminal abortion, which had already been discussed in the Bavarian branch of the Association (see THE LANCET, Sept. 19th, p. 620), this meeting came to the same conclusion as that branch. A communist delegate pleaded for absolute liberty in the matter of abortion as existed in Russia, because, he said, abortion should be regarded not from an ethical but from an economic standpoint. Finally the Congress discussed the question of quackery and unqualified practice and voted for its absolute suppression and for an alteration of the law to that end. Jointly with the Aerzte- Vereinsbund, the Hartmann-Bund discussed questions connected with club practice, the extension of the club system to the middle classes, and the systematic distribution of medical men throughout the was
form of metastasis is met with in mammary and pyloric cancers. The thyroid metastases, on the other hand, are exclusively of the decalcifying, " The osteoplastic osteoclastic " type. destructive, reaction may also take the form of " opaque vertebra," a condition reported by MM. Souques, Lafourcade, and Terris from a case of mammary scirrhus at the Salpetriere. These opaque vertebrae are seen in cases where syphilis is present and may be the cause, but the authors prove conclusively from post-mortem that cancerous " opaque vertebrae " exist. cases Under the heading of " paracancerous lesions," the
authors discuss whether a cancer can destroy bone from a distance without the actual presence of its ’cells, thus preparing the way for a metastasis. At present they do not feel justified in postulating more than paracancerous bony dystrophy. In a case of prostato-pelvic cancer under their care a radiological examination revealed a medullary-osseous fibrosis with hypercalcification throughout the whole skeleton, exactly similar to that associated with epithelio-2 matous infiltration in the lumbar region. H. Roger has recorded a case of cancer of the breast showing a similar change in parts remote from any direct infiltration or metastasis. Primary tumours of the vertebral column are not common. Sarcoma tends to start on the outside and grow into a large tumour of the back without compression of the cord. Secondary neoplasms, according to Fraenkel, never give this large enveloping shadow, but the distinction is not quite so absolute as he implied. The radiological diagnosis of vertebral rheumatism, infectious arthritis, osteomalacia, traumata, and malformations are also discussed.
879
country.
____
ATHLETICS AND THE review which we
publish
ECONOMY. of Mr. filbert Joourne ’s
book on oarsmanship recalls to mind part of Prof. A. V. Hill’s address to the British Association on the Physiological Basis of Athletic Records. Wasteful effort in muscular movements may be usefully demonstrated by the slow-motion cinematograph, and the economical use of energy is of no less interest when studied physiologically. According to the observations of A. V. Hill and H. Lupton the maximum efficiency GERMAN MEDICAL CONGRESS. THE Deutscher Aerzte-Vereinsbund held its annual of human muscular movement is obtained at speeds of about one maximal In per second. meeting this year in Leipzig in association with the rowing, experience agreesmovement that a speed is about such Leipziger Verband, the great medical union which is the optimum ; in an eight-oar boat the recovery takes now called Hartmann-Bund in honour of its late almost as long as the stroke, and 32 strokes per minute were present, representing founder;r 267 delegates --medical societies and local branches with a total is generally regarded as the most efficient rate. By a muscular mechanism depending on the formation membership of 33,581. After the usual addresses of of lactic acid the body can get into debt for oxygen, welcome the meeting discussed the suggested codificaand the amount to which this is possible varies with tion of medical etiquette. The proposal contained but when the account has been overrules on professional secrecy, on advertising, and on the the individual; drawn to the extent of more than about 15 litres of of The sale of the specialists. qualification question (1 litre of oxygen consumed liberates enough and the purchase of a medical practice is held to be oxygen to raise one ton about seven feet), the average energy the or in cases where widow except unprofessional athletic man becomes incapable of further effort. Thus, of a medical man offer his the children deceased although it is permissible in a very short rowing race practice for sale. It is further unprofessional to to work less efficiently by adopting a faster stroke, criticise other medical men, to give medical advice, the work done will not be proportionately greater, .or to practise during a holiday stay in a health resort where other medical men are settled, and to give and exhaustion will soon set in. When the body is testimonials for " secret " medicines. The establish- working against an external resistance as in rowing ment of a joint practice is allowed only between there is an optimum speed, and if the effort is to be continued it must be made at a speed not far specialists of the same branch or between general long from this optimum. In running, however, the work .practitioners, but not between a specialist and a is absorbed by the viscous-elastic properties of the is forbidden general practitioner. Canvassing strictly or internal friction, and there is no optimum muscles and contracts allowed only under the rules of the conHartmann-Bund. Owing to the difficulties of the speed ; the expense of the movement increases to Prof. Hill as the speed goes up. According tinually matter the codification was entrusted to a special minute requires 24 litres of committee for consideration. Another subject of a speed of 280 steps per whilst a speed of 240 steps per minute, per oxygen ,discussion was the r6le of medical men with regard to the extensive physical culture activities which are minute requires only 8 litres. Great effort is obviously not economical. It is said that to run a railway train now very popular among the younger generation of at 50 miles an hour needs twice as much coal as to the German people. Special courses of instruction in the examination of amateur athletes have been run it at 40, and accordingly the railway companies instituted in several cities and universities. It was are prejudiced in favour of the latter speed. In the resolved that the medical advisers of sports societies same way the average citizen in sedentary employmust examine the members only as to their ability ment rightly refuses to develop his muscles and his for the particular sport practised, but must strictly powers to the pitch advocated and demonstrated by refrain from attending members in a general way. the late Mr. Eugen Sandow. Training may increase The forthcoming reform of the German criminal code, the ability to get into debt for oxygen and it certainly although it has not yet been brought before Parliament, 1 The Advancement of Science. Published by the 1925. ____
2 Marseille Médical, Feb. 15th, 1925.
British Association for the Advancement of Science, Burlington House, London, W. 6s.
extensively the lumbar region and pelvis, but extends even up to the ribs and humeral heads. Naturally, the resulting anaemia is marked, and Assman diagnosed a prostatic growth on this anaemia combined with bilateral sciatica alone. A less exuberant osteoplastic
then discussed from a medical point of view. The principal items of medical interest are that a criminal shall be held responsible for his actions even when in a state of diminished consciousness caused by drunkenness, drunkenness being no longer regarded as an extenuating circumstance. Drunkards shall be subjected to special measures, such as compulsory detention in an asylum, prohibition to obtain intoxicating liquor, loss of civil and voting rights. Other items of interest deal with homosexuality which shall continue to be a criminal offence for men but not for women. Professional secrecy shall not be binding when it conflicts with the public interest as, for instance, in the case of infectious and venereal diseases. On the question of criminal abortion, which had already been discussed in the Bavarian branch of the Association (see THE LANCET, Sept. 19th, p. 620), this meeting came to the same conclusion as that branch. A communist delegate pleaded for absolute liberty in the matter of abortion as existed in Russia, because, he said, abortion should be regarded not from an ethical but from an economic standpoint. Finally the Congress discussed the question of quackery and unqualified practice and voted for its absolute suppression and for an alteration of the law to that end. Jointly with the Aerzte- Vereinsbund, the Hartmann-Bund discussed questions connected with club practice, the extension of the club system to the middle classes, and the systematic distribution of medical men throughout the was
form of metastasis is met with in mammary and pyloric cancers. The thyroid metastases, on the other hand, are exclusively of the decalcifying, " The osteoplastic osteoclastic " type. destructive, reaction may also take the form of " opaque vertebra," a condition reported by MM. Souques, Lafourcade, and Terris from a case of mammary scirrhus at the Salpetriere. These opaque vertebrae are seen in cases where syphilis is present and may be the cause, but the authors prove conclusively from post-mortem that cancerous " opaque vertebrae " exist. cases Under the heading of " paracancerous lesions," the
authors discuss whether a cancer can destroy bone from a distance without the actual presence of its ’cells, thus preparing the way for a metastasis. At present they do not feel justified in postulating more than paracancerous bony dystrophy. In a case of prostato-pelvic cancer under their care a radiological examination revealed a medullary-osseous fibrosis with hypercalcification throughout the whole skeleton, exactly similar to that associated with epithelio-2 matous infiltration in the lumbar region. H. Roger has recorded a case of cancer of the breast showing a similar change in parts remote from any direct infiltration or metastasis. Primary tumours of the vertebral column are not common. Sarcoma tends to start on the outside and grow into a large tumour of the back without compression of the cord. Secondary neoplasms, according to Fraenkel, never give this large enveloping shadow, but the distinction is not quite so absolute as he implied. The radiological diagnosis of vertebral rheumatism, infectious arthritis, osteomalacia, traumata, and malformations are also discussed.
879
country.
____
ATHLETICS AND THE review which we
publish
ECONOMY. of Mr. filbert Joourne ’s
book on oarsmanship recalls to mind part of Prof. A. V. Hill’s address to the British Association on the Physiological Basis of Athletic Records. Wasteful effort in muscular movements may be usefully demonstrated by the slow-motion cinematograph, and the economical use of energy is of no less interest when studied physiologically. According to the observations of A. V. Hill and H. Lupton the maximum efficiency GERMAN MEDICAL CONGRESS. THE Deutscher Aerzte-Vereinsbund held its annual of human muscular movement is obtained at speeds of about one maximal In per second. meeting this year in Leipzig in association with the rowing, experience agreesmovement that a speed is about such Leipziger Verband, the great medical union which is the optimum ; in an eight-oar boat the recovery takes now called Hartmann-Bund in honour of its late almost as long as the stroke, and 32 strokes per minute were present, representing founder;r 267 delegates --medical societies and local branches with a total is generally regarded as the most efficient rate. By a muscular mechanism depending on the formation membership of 33,581. After the usual addresses of of lactic acid the body can get into debt for oxygen, welcome the meeting discussed the suggested codificaand the amount to which this is possible varies with tion of medical etiquette. The proposal contained but when the account has been overrules on professional secrecy, on advertising, and on the the individual; drawn to the extent of more than about 15 litres of of The sale of the specialists. qualification question (1 litre of oxygen consumed liberates enough and the purchase of a medical practice is held to be oxygen to raise one ton about seven feet), the average energy the or in cases where widow except unprofessional athletic man becomes incapable of further effort. Thus, of a medical man offer his the children deceased although it is permissible in a very short rowing race practice for sale. It is further unprofessional to to work less efficiently by adopting a faster stroke, criticise other medical men, to give medical advice, the work done will not be proportionately greater, .or to practise during a holiday stay in a health resort where other medical men are settled, and to give and exhaustion will soon set in. When the body is testimonials for " secret " medicines. The establish- working against an external resistance as in rowing ment of a joint practice is allowed only between there is an optimum speed, and if the effort is to be continued it must be made at a speed not far specialists of the same branch or between general long from this optimum. In running, however, the work .practitioners, but not between a specialist and a is absorbed by the viscous-elastic properties of the is forbidden general practitioner. Canvassing strictly or internal friction, and there is no optimum muscles and contracts allowed only under the rules of the conHartmann-Bund. Owing to the difficulties of the speed ; the expense of the movement increases to Prof. Hill as the speed goes up. According tinually matter the codification was entrusted to a special minute requires 24 litres of committee for consideration. Another subject of a speed of 280 steps per whilst a speed of 240 steps per minute, per oxygen ,discussion was the r6le of medical men with regard to the extensive physical culture activities which are minute requires only 8 litres. Great effort is obviously not economical. It is said that to run a railway train now very popular among the younger generation of at 50 miles an hour needs twice as much coal as to the German people. Special courses of instruction in the examination of amateur athletes have been run it at 40, and accordingly the railway companies instituted in several cities and universities. It was are prejudiced in favour of the latter speed. In the resolved that the medical advisers of sports societies same way the average citizen in sedentary employmust examine the members only as to their ability ment rightly refuses to develop his muscles and his for the particular sport practised, but must strictly powers to the pitch advocated and demonstrated by refrain from attending members in a general way. the late Mr. Eugen Sandow. Training may increase The forthcoming reform of the German criminal code, the ability to get into debt for oxygen and it certainly although it has not yet been brought before Parliament, 1 The Advancement of Science. Published by the 1925. ____
2 Marseille Médical, Feb. 15th, 1925.
British Association for the Advancement of Science, Burlington House, London, W. 6s.