THE COLUMBUS MEDICAL JOURNAL. A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. EDITORS. JAMES U. BARNHILL, A. M., Ph. D., M. D., 248 E. State Street. COLLABORATORS. W. D. INGLIS, B. S., M. D. ERNEST SCOTT, B. Sc. M. D. H. H. SNIVELY, B. A., M. D. C. W. MCGAVRAN, B. S., M. D. Communications relating to the editorial department should be addressed to Dr. J. U. Barnhill 248 East State Street; those relating to business management should be addressed to Dr. W. J. Means, 715 North High Street. Per annum, in advance, subscription price, including postage 15 cents. .$1 00 2.00 Original articles, scientific and clinical memoranda, correspondence and news items are cordially solicited from the profession. FEBRUARY, 1905. Editorial. THE TREATMENT OF CANCER. There devolves upon the profession an important duty in educating the public mind in reference to the need of proper treatment of cancerous growths. As a rule there is too much delay in applying to a surgeon for treatment, and too frequently irritating local applications are employed. At the last meeting of the American Medical Association, Doctor Kean read a valuable and timely paper on the treatment of moles, in which he stated instances in which apparently harmless moles took on an active growth and resulted fatally. He urged a complete excision of all moles at the first appearance of the least irritation. In the Bradshaw lecture, recently delivered, Doctor Mayo Robson urged the same treatment for all cancerous conditions. In his lecture, we quote from The Hospital, he sought to educate the public mind to a better view in reference to dealing with this condition. He protested, both against the fatalistic tendency to delay, and the senseless running after false gods in the treatment of this disease. "Too late" has yet to be said in one-half or three-fourths of the cancer cases when seen by the operating surgeon. Thus surgery is deprived of the opportunity of achieving that success of which it is really capable. Early and complete removal with the knife can offer a fair prospect of cure, and further than this a great deal more could be done by a more frequent resort to "preventative operations." In certain situations, such as the tongue, lips, larynx, uterus, and the skin, pre-cancerous conditions can be recognized; and it is probable that every cancer, whether external or internal, folows on a pre-cancerous condition-such, for example, as cancer of the gall-bladder folowing on ulceration produced by gall-stones, cancer of the stomach on chronic gastric ulcer, epithelioma of the penis on irritation under a phimosis, cancer of the bladder on popilloma or on ulcers due to calculi, and cancer of the rectum and colon on stercoral or other ulcers. The liability of benign tumors, especially on epithelial surfaces, to undergo malignant changes is well recognised, hence the removal of such is generally advisable. A general acceptance of the view that cancer has usually a pre-cancerous stage and that this stage is the one in which an operation ought to be performed would be the means of saving many lives. Again, preventative treatment includes the removal of known factors in the causation of cancer as well as the abolition of discoverable pre-cancerous conditions. Thus excessive smoking, especially when a clay-pipe is used, sharp edges of teeth, and ill-fitting and irritating artificial toothplates are all recognised as taking part in the production of oral cancer, and they are all factors which can be avoided. We join with the above authorities in the hope expressed by The Hospital that the necessity for anticipating malignant growths will be realised one day by the public, and that they will cease to trifle with their ailments until the favorable moment has gone by, and they can only receive the verdict, too often pronounced, too late. A SITE FOR THE OHIO STATE SANITORIUM. 'The Ohio State Sanatorium Commission at a recent meeting, according to the Ohio Sanitary Bulletin, adopted the following minimum requirements for a site for the proposed hospital for tuberculosis: It shall include not less than 350 acres of land. A portion of this land shall be not less than 800 feet above sea lev.el. A certain part of it must be timbered. The land must afford a suitable site for buildings, sloping south, south-southeast or Elevation in Feet. Below Above south-southwest; and be well sheltered from prevailing winter winds. It must also offer a pleasing landscape. The soil must be dry, pure, easily drained, and at least 100 acres shall have good agricultural qualities. An abundant supply of pure water shall be easily accessible. The site must be not more than three miles from a railway station, and not less than one mile from any city or village. It must afford good railroad facilities and be easily accessible from any part of the State. The accompanying chart has been kindly furnished by the Ohio Sanitary Bulletin, from the report of the State Tuberculosis Commission. It shows roughly the sections of Ohio that are over and those below 1,000 feet in elevation, and in addition some of the small areas that are above 1,200 fee. Less than one square mile is over 1,500 feet above sea-level. This is in west-central Logan county, near Bellefontaine, where one hill rises to 1,540 feet and another to 1,525 feet. At least one-fourth of the State is above 1,000 feet. Of this it is estimated that about 4,000 square miles is in the western half and the balance in the eastern. There are extensive areas in the eastern section rising from 1,200 to 1,300 feet above se-level. The area of the State is 40,760 square miles, and it is estimated that only 460 square miles is below 500 feet. The lowest point is about 425 feet above mean tide. The mean elevation is probably slightly above 850 feet. The members of the commission are the governor, the state auditor, the attorney general, and the secretary of the state board of health, all ex officio, and Judge N. J. Driggs, of Monroe county, by appointment of the governor. It is probable that the commission before making a selection will visit such of the proposed sites as seem to come within the requirements. PROFESSOR NIELS R. FINSEN. Professor Niels R. Finsen, discoverer of light rays for the cure of lupus and founder of the Finsen Institute at Copenhagen, died September 24 of this year. He was born (1860) in Faroe Islands, and spent his youth in Iceland. At 21 he entered Copenhagen University. After receiving his Doctor's degree he became instructor in Anatomy at that University. While in Iceland he had noted a difference in the effects of north and south light upon persons living in a room facing the south from that which was produced by living in a room facing the north. "In his early manhood," says the Post-Graduat Monthly, "he came across a pamphlet written by a Dr. Picton, of New Orleans, in regard to certain medical phases of the American War of Independence. Dr. Picton had noticed that out of a number of prisoners suffering from small-pox, some being confined in light rooms had no secondary fever and were no pitted by the disease. Finsen's mind being turned to the subject of the effects of light and these discoveries, he immediately with the help of Professor Widmark, began to make use of them, the latter author having pointed out that the ultraviolet rays of light inflamed the skin of human beings. Finsen found as a sequel to this, that the rays of light from which the chemical rays-the blue-violet and the ultra-violet-had been removed, could be used beneficially in cases of small-pox. Then he went on to suppose that rays of light could be made actually to destroy bacteria. He conceived the idea that by concentration the bacteria-destroying rays of sunlight in overwhelming force on small areas of human skin, he might be able to burn bacteria to death in an hour, while their life was merely arrested by the ordinary rays of sunlight. He went on then, we are quoting again from the Spector, from experiment to experiment, using an ordinary magnifying glass and cooling the rays through a blanket of water, until he actually cured a patient who had suffered for eight years from lupus. A year from that time he began to give a regular course of treatment to sufferers some Governments that are alive to the importance of the labors of such men as Finsen, advanced him a loan free of interest, and since 1896 more than two thousand patients, coming from all parts of the world, have been treated at the Finsen Institute at Copenhagen, where six doctors and some sixty nurses are now employed for this purpose." The Finsen treatment has been introduced into most all civilized countries. In his study of the influence of light, Prof. Finsen had found that the disfigurement made by small-pox might be prevented if the patient were kept in a room lighted only by red light. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel prize. INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC HEALTH. We are glad to note that the authorities in some of our leading universities are arranging for instruction in public health. This is done in response to a sentiment very general throughout the country in favor of special trained health officers. There is an |