Abstracts AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION The scientific program of the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in Kansas City, Mo., October 25-28, which will engage the attention of more than 3500 of the nation's health authorities, indicates how closely the organization's Program Committee has been following national trends in public health progress. There is considerable emphasis on the five major diseases which are being attacked throughout the land with government funds. The grave problem of maternal and infant mortality receives its share of attention. A special session is devoted to a discussion of "Public Health Aspects of Medical Care" which it is expected will be one of the most significant of the entire conference, with exponents of the National H e a l t h Program, spokesmen for organized medicine and representatives of the newly-recognized medical consumers, the public, on the platform. The recruiting a n d training of public health p e r s o n n e l for the specialized tasks the expansion of health services are creating and for which trained workers are seriously lacking is a major note in the varied program. The health department as a business organization is a new concept which will be treated by the special session method. Administrative procedures, accounting measures, including cost-accounting, will be considered. Many health departments are now on a parity with million-dollar enterprises and special techniques and formulae for the conduct of the big business of public health are definitely needed. More than 400 papers and reports will be presented and discussed in the four days the public health profession is in convention. The delegates are drawn from every state in the Union, from Canada, Cuba and Mexico and from every branch of public health practice. This makes necessary many individual meetings of the Association's ten sections--Health Officers, Laboratory, Vital Statistics, Public Health Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, Food and Nutrition, Child Hygiene, Public Health Education, Public Health Nursing and Epidemiology-where rock-bottom topics of interest to specialists alone are talked about, and in addition, sessions involving two or more Sections where subjects of broader import cut across the lines of the Section organization. A number of symposia will bring together three

and four of these divisions on such subjects as The Phosphatase Test in the Control of Milk Pasteurization; The Use of Biological P r o d u c t s ; Water and Sewage; Frozen Desserts; T y p h o i d Fever; Pertussis; Nutritional Problems; Industrial Hygiene. Included among the speakers are

such nationally known leaders as Dr. Thomas Parran, Dr. Arthur McCormack, Dr. Abel Wolman, Dr. E. V. McCollum, Dr. Robert S. Breed, Dr. Elliott S. Robinson, Professor C. E. A. Winslow, Dr. I. S. Falk, Dr. Haven Emerson, Dr. Nina Simmonds, Dr. William F. Snow, Major Joel I. Con-

DRAINAGE OF THE ENTIRE BILIARY TREE The Aim of Therapy in Biliary Tract D i s e a s e Decholin--c. p. d e h y d r o cholic ( t r i k e t o c h o l a n i c )

acid--is

of recognized m e r i t i n affections of t h e hepatobiliary mechanism.

Acting directly upon t h e liver, it increases bile secretion a s m u c h a s 200 per cent; at t h e same time, i t markedly a u g m e n t s chol e c y s t i c e v a c u a t i o n . It is a m e a n s os e s t a b l i s h i n g drainage from the entire biliary tree, thus

aiding

lessening the absorption of toxic m e t a b o l i t e s . I n the hands of many of America's o u t s t a n d i n g internists Decholin is t h e m e d i c a t i o n of c h o i c e in chronic cholecystitis, hepatitis of toxic origin, n o n calculous cholangitis, and biliary s t a s i s . T h e r e is only o n e c o n t r a i n d i c a tion: complete o b s t r u c tion o f the c o m m o n o r the hepatic duct.

in the removal of inspissated, s t a g n a n t b i l e a n d nidi of infection, and Second edition of the brochure "Biliary Tract Disturbances" sent

to physicians

on request.

Riedel-de Haen, Inc. 105 H u d s o n Street

New York, N.

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528 holly, Mr. J. J. Bloomfield, Dr. Walter H. Eddy, Miss Dorothy Deming, Dr. Reuben L. Kahn, Mr. Sol Pincus, Dr. Martha M. Eliot, Dr. Samuel C. Prescott, Dr. Bruce H. D o u g l a s , Dr. Edward S. Godfrey and many others. The following organizations a r e meeting with the American Public Health Association and have prepared programs e q u a 11 y timely and important :

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DIGESTIVE DISEASES American School Health Association Conference of State Laboratory Directors Conference of State Sanitary Engineers International Society of Medical health Officers A m e r i c a n Association of State Registration Executives Association of Women in Public Health.

The American Public Health Association, 50 West 50th Street, New York, N. Y.

EUSTERMAN, GEORC~EB. Chronic, B e n i g n a n d Small Malignant Ulcerative Lesions of the Stomach: Factors Helpful in the Differential Diagnosis. Radiologie Review, 60:151-156,, July, 1938. In considering the differential diagnosis of small ulcerative lesions of the stomach the author discusses~,the significance o f t h e roentgenologic findings, gastroscopy, symptoms, age, sex and time of onset, gastric analysis and results of treatment. T h e r o e n t g e n o l o g i c examination, when carried out by a well-trained and experienced roentgenologist, is considered the most valuable single diagnostic agent. Gastroscopy is of limited v a l u e in the diagnosis of early lesions as it is difficult for a diagnosis to be made even on close inspection of the resected specimen. It is only by histologic examination that successful differential diagnosis is possible. The significance of sex, age, and time of onset is not such as to aid materially in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions. As regards gastric analysis, mean values for gastric acidity are of little help in differentiating malignant and benign lesions, however the extremes, such as achlorhydria or hyperacidity are of relative value in making the diagnosis. Progress of the lesion under treatment as determined by repeated observations gives valuable information as to the type of lesion present. Two charts are included listing the differential diagnostic f e a t u r e s of carcinomatous and benign g a s t r i c ulcer. Hanes M. Fowler, F o r t Wayne.

AHLQUIST, RICHARD E. Stones in the Common Bile Duct. N o r t h w e s t Med., 37:213-217, July, 1938. The frequency with which stones in the common duct occur without jaundice has not been sufficiently emphasized. Also, the percentage of cases in which stones in the common duct are overlooked at the time of operation on the gall bladder is too high. The general condition of j a u n diced patients can be much improved during the preoperative period by the use of a diet high in carbohydrates, adequate fluid intake supplemented by g 1 u c o s e solution intravenously, calcium chloride solution intraveno u s l y and blood transfusions. During the immediate post-operaA. J. D. D. 10-$8