THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE MEDICAL PRESS.

1924 make one. Certainly the presidents and secretaries of the in Man and Animals," which we printed in full, and by I M. KUTNER of Berlin, who spoke on Postnational committees, the leaders of Government delegation, Professor the local executive and committee managing the congress Graduate ( Courses. Professor BACCELLI of Rome took for generally meet while the congress is sitting and form a sort this subject "Intravenous Medication," whilst the discourses of governing body. Though possessing no clearly defined of c Professor LAVERAN of Paris and of Professor J. LOEB function or authority, the international committee thus formedcof Berkeley, U.S.A., were concerned with the "Etiology was the only body to which a proposition to draw up a con-and Prevention of Tropical Diseases" and with "Parthostitution could be submitted. There were two such pro-genesis in its Bearing on the Physiology and Pathology of t Cellrespectively. posals. One emanated from Professor CALMAN MÜLLER and the the Budapest committee, the other from the British branch We recorded the resolutions passed by the Section of l of the International Association of the Medical Press. The Maritime and Tropical Medicine to the effect (1) that former was very brief and did not cover the whole ground ; (dysentery in any of its forms should be added to the list of the latter was more complete and more carefully workedcompulsorily notifiable diseases in all countries, and (2) that out. The former had the advantage of being printed and 1the attention of the Powers be called to the new danger for submitted to the national committees before the Congressthe spread of plague and cholera caused by the opening of met; the latter came in the form not so much of an amend- the Hedjaz Railway and asking that the subject may be ment, but as an elaboration, and was only presented whensubmitted to the consideration of "a competent assembly." the International Committee described above met at Buda- We also recorded the excellent suggestion advanced by pest. This meeting was of such short duration that nothing Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. MACPHERSON, R.A.M.C., that the approaching to a proper discussion could be held. The nations should adopt a uniform system of colour tallies proposal emanating from Budapest was hastily adopted, indicating the severity of a wounded combatant’s condition. A joint discussion which excited much popular interest together with some additions taken from the proposals of the British branch of the International Association of the was held by the Medical, Surgical, and Gynecological Medical Press. The main result attained is that a Perma- Sections on the Treatment of Appendicitis. The balance of nent International Commission for the Management of the opinion was in favour of a more expectant treatment than International Congresses of Medicine is now created, and has recently been in vogue, but there was not the wholesale that these congresses are to meet every fourth instead of condemnation of operative treatment that was recorded On this Commission the International freely by the daily press. Other important debates were every third year. Association of the Medical Press is to be represented by its held on Immunity and Anaphylaxis and on the Application President. The headquarters of the Permanent Commission of Laboratory Work to Clinical Medicine, with special reference to Sero-Diagnosis, which were fully summarised are to be at The Hague, with the power, however, of meetThe and wherever and whenever convenient. by one of our special correspondents. ing presidents of are to secretaries be We have alluded to the general address on Post-graduate ex-officio general past congresses comand one elected each national Courses delivered by Professor KUTNER. Therein he gave members, delegate by mittee, with the press representative, are to form the Com- an account of the post-graduate institution over which mission. As there are many things for them to organise and to he presides in Berlin, and maintained that not only should do it is to be hoped that they will soon hold a meeting. There medical men look upon post-graduate study as a normal is much waste of energy, time, and money at these congresses, part of their life-work, but that they should be given which could be avoided if they were preceded by more all reasonable opportunities of obtaining it without paydetailed preparation and a process of sifting to prevent ment in or near their places of abode and at hours conrepetitions and stale communications. The fact that venient to their practice. On the day following this address measures have now been taken and a permanent organisathe medical representatives of 15 Governments, which had tion created to look after all these questions is a new been in communication on the matter with the Foreign Office departure and the most salient fact connected with the at Berlin, met under the presidency of Professor WALDEYER, Sixteenth International Congress of Medicine. with the result that an International Committee for Medical At the final session of the Congress Dr. F. W. PAVY, on Post-graduate Courses was formed, with a constitution and behalf of the Government of Great Britain, tendered a status, which we set forth at length. This committee, the formal invitation to the Congress to hold its next meeting inauguration of which is in no small measure due to Professor in London in 1913. The invitation was accepted with KUTNER and his Berlin colleagues, will, it is hoped, lead and cordial acclamation, messages to that effect were to the realisation of a scheme that will not be the least forwarded to King EDWARD and to his Minister for Foreign valuable result of the Sixteenth International Congress of Affairs. This is the first occasion on which the British Medicine. Government has officially invited a scientific gathering to THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE meet in this country. MEDICAL PRESS. With regard to the scientific fruits oft he Congress, a very ___

number of papers were read and discussed in the 21 sections in which the work was done, and they will be available in due course in the official publications. It was for a full to account of us the give proobviously impossible ceedings of so large a body, as they will fill probably over a dozen ponderous volumes ; and whilst presenting our readers with abstracts of the papers dealing with the subjects of most general interest in each section, we selected for particular notice the proceedings devoted to naval and military medicine, tropical medicine, and questions of quarantine as being of true international importance. Five addresses were delivered in plenary congress, and of these the most important were given by Dr. E. F. BASHFORD, director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, on’’ Cancer

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August 27th, in one of the finest meeting halls of the Budapest Academy, representatives of 13 different national On

associations of the medical press assembled-first as a congress, with doors open to all comers, then, on the following day, as the general assembly of the International Association of the Medical Press. The Congress was received by Professor M. DE LENHOSSEK, President of the Hungarian Association of the Medical Press, who was able to give a very good account of the growth of the organisation in his own country. So thoroughly did the Hungarians believe in the international character of the advance of science that they published their medical papers in two and sometimes in three languages. Professor Dr. KALMAN President of the Sixteenth International Congress

MÜLLER,

1925

journalists. I

of Medicine, was also present to welcome the SANITATION IN EGYPT. The principal subject discussed was the question of advertiseOur Sanitary Commissioner visited Egypt at the beginning ments and"puffs." On this the British section presented0If the year and sent in a series of reports on sanitation in a report describing the resolutions carried on the subject gypt. The first subject treated was the water-supply of by the British Medical Association and asking that they (Cairo. Here an unfortunate enterprise has proved a great should be endorsed by the Congress. In principle noè lisappointment. Some two miles below Cairo and on the in it was objection was raised, but practice pointed out)anks of the Nile 22 deep wells were dug which it was The Britishcalculated would that the law varied in different countries. yield 4000 cubic metres each of pure delegates complained that articles written in good faith )otable water. In a little while, however, this water were utilised by commercial houses in spite of theIproved altogether unfit for domestic purposes. Manganese protests of authors and publishers. Such reproduc-and iron in the water favoured the growth of the tions were against the English copyright law, though it wasrenothrix that helped to block the pipes and turned difficult to institute proceedings. The French and the German bhe water black. Engine boilers were damaged, linen was representatives found that it was not practical to preventstained, and vegetables could not be cooked. Finally, the such practices. Dr. LUCAS- CHAMPIONNIKRE related that he supply from the wells steadily decreased, while the water had even been advertised as recommending some particularwas so unpopular that a great number of people preferred make of absinthe. He had written a paper on the benefit ibo drink the unfiltered Nile water. Yet the one object in derived from the use of oxygenated water in medicine. This( the wells was to the of Nile water, digging prevent drinking was quoted in favour of absinthe to which the manufacturerfor it is impossible to prevent the contamination of this had added some oxygen. Nevertheless, the lawyers whom he]river. But the people prefer the Nile water, which they consulted advised him not to proceed against this absinthe ]have drunk for thousands of years, while in the minds of dealer. There was also a great deal of discussion as] it is sinful to drink well water, which they called many to what constituted a réalame or "puff." It was agreed " buried water." In these circumstances, we were pleased, that this was an article in which the author was though not surprised, to hear that the Egyptian Governnot allowed to criticise but was obliged to praise the drug, ment has decided to abandon the wells and revert to the invention, method of treatment, or whatever other subject Nile, carefully filtering its waters. he might have to write about. A réclame therefore is a venal The next most important subject was the drainage of article which the author or the paper is bribed to write Cairo. Even before the British occupation there were plans and to publish. The British position on this subject, and schemes for the drainage of this historic city, but they whereby it is held that the author of a "puff"" if all fell through, and the subsoil continued to be more and he cannot prove an infringement of copyright is guilty more contaminated by leaking cesspools. A scandalously of unprofessional conduct, was adopted.l The British high death-rate even among the well-to-do European popuscheme for a permanent commission to manage inter- lation testified to bad sanitation ; indeed, the soil has national congresses was also adopted. Several speakers become so filthy that now, when at last it has been expressed the opinion that the representatives of the decided to build sewers, the people are panic-stricken medical press who had attended and described congress with the fear that the digging up of the earth for the after congress were most likely to be able to advise with sewers will cause an epidemic. Mr. C. CARKEET JAMES, the wisdom that springs from experience. To appoint a per- who the and carried out drainage of Bombay, is planned manent commission for the Medical Congress was not enough. now His scheme and the of Cairo. undertaking drainage There should be a federation of the permanent commissions of the difficulties that had to be overcome to secure its adoption the various international congresses of the allied sciences, such were fully described in these columns. In the flat as tuberculosis, hygiene and demography, alcoholism, housing central districts where there is no natural fall the Shone of the poor, school hygiene, deontology, and the congresses system will be employed to raise the sewage and to propel on special diseases. By such a mutual understanding con- it forward to the main gravitation sewer, which after gresses could at least be prevented from meeting at the same draining several important suburbs, and notably Heliopolis time. It was quite impossible for the press to be efficiently Oasis, has its outfall in the desert 16 miles north represented at two congresses held at the same moment. of Cairo. Here is land which cost nothing, and its soil One great good has resulted from the international organisa- is admirably adapted for a sewage farm. Indeed, if tion of the medical press to which the Budapest medical properly managed, the produce of the cultivation of what congress bore witness. Formerly the representatives of the is now mere desert should suffice to cover the working press received but scanty attention and little was done to expenses of the sewage scheme. If all the slop and waste facilitate their very difficult task. Now at Budapest two special water, as well as the crude sewage, can be conveyed rapidly rooms were placed at the disposal of the press, and the secreout and away from Cairo in water-tight sewers this will be taries of each section collected as far as possible the MS. an immense benefit, particularly as the subsoil will then be summary of the different speeches which each speaker was able gradually to purify itself. But there will still remain invited to write, and placed them in the press room at the the domestic drainage difficulty. We know in England how disposal of the journalists. Care was also taken to invite it has taken to teach certain sections of the population the press representatives to all the functions, visits to insti- to make cleanly use of the sanitary accommodation provided. tutions, and excursions which they might desire to describe. Fortunately, in Egypt the Mahomedan religion inculcates Among other matters discussed was the question of sum. cleanliness as a part of religious ritual ; therefore it is only maries of important original articles. The Congress voted necessary that these excellent precepts should be adapted that such summaries should be translated into one or more to modern and mechanical processes to ensure the prompt of the international languages so that they might be more and safe removal of all filth. widely quoted. Finally, it should be mentioned that ProIn Egypt, under British guidance, an admirable service has fessor DE LENHOSSEK entertained all the press representa. been organised for dealing with outbreaks of plague and tives at a banquet, so that the social side as well as the cholera. Unfortunately, from motives of petty economy, there business purpose of this international journalistic gathering has been some interference with the measures taken at was not neglected. Alexandria. Here a new danger has arisen. The road of invasion is no longer merely from Mecca, Suez, and the South 1 THE Oct. LANCET, 23rd, 1909,

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p. 1243.