Volume 48 · Issue 11 · 1934

The sedimentation rate or suspension stability as applied to the red blood corpuscles is an aid in diagnosis and prognosis of pathologic states(1). The work of many investigators has clearly shown that this test is not specific for any disease, but rather that it measures a reaction in the individual which is comparable to but not parallel with, fever, pulse rate, leucocytosis, basal metabolism, and other phenomena (1, 2). In some diseases such as tuberculosis (3) and theumatic fever (4) it has been shown to be a more sensitive indicator of activity of the disease than any other laboratory or clinical procedure in use. Hence the test has its greatest usefulness as an aid in prognosis and in gauging the effect of treatment rather than as a diagnostic method.

Since Reschad and Schilling (20) first described acute monocytic leukemia in 1913, this disease has gradually become recognized as a definite entity, distinct from acute lymphatic and acute myelogenous leukemia. Further case reports have been published from time to time from Europe and America, and one case from Japan (16). The case here presented is the first to be recorded in a Chinese patient.

In reviewing the literature on the method for the treatment of osteomyelitis and compound fractures advocated by Winnett Orr it becomes evident that it has already gained the support of many wen known orthopedic surgeons (1, 2, 3) When I first saxv the method employed in the Peiping Union Medical College in 1927 at the time of the Seventh Chinese National Medical Conference, my impression was that surgical methods seemed to have gone backward instead of forward. I was surprised to see this kind of treatment which might have been found in the pre-Listerian era employed in the Rockefeller institution. My second visit in 1930, to the same institution changed my views entirely. Dr. L. C. Chu, who was in charge of the orthopedic service at Lhat time, showed me some cases of chronic osteomyelitis in which he had obtained extremely good results with the Orr method in spite of its apparently unscientific nature.

It is recognized that in a study of the behaviour of these serological reactions in response to treatment, it is important to consider the types of disease, the duration of infection, the amount of treatment, the kind or drug or drugs used, the scheme of individual dosage, the interval of doses, the concomitant use of two drugs and the duration of treatment. However, the purpose of this paper is concerned primarily with the early serological reactions in response to treatment with special reference to the types of disease, the duration of infection and the amount of treatment.

The possible presence of filariasis in Kiangsu province was early indicated by the report of Park (1900) in which he recorded 86 cases of elephantiasis in the examination of 25,000 patients at Soochow. Jefferys and Maxwell (1911) remarked that elephantiasis was common in Chinkiang and Soochow as well as being present in Yangchow, Nanking and Shanghai. They further recorded that filariasis had been reported only in Shanghai and Yangchow. Bell (1919) reported elephantiasis in Tsingkiangpu. Lee (1926) in his filarial survey of towns in northern Kiangsu, found microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti in 7 out of 119 persons examined in Hsuchowfu and in 31 of 195 persons in Tsing-kiangpu. Feng (1931) in an examination of mosquitoes caught from 195 houses in the town of Woosung and the surrounding villages found some mosquitoes containing Wuchereria bancrofti in 31 of the houses.

The introduction of industrial legislation in the West was an attempt on the part of the State to settle the conflict between the employers and the employees. Such legislation is based upon the principle that the State should assume the responsibility for the protection of labour, not merely for humanitarian reason, but also in the performance of a duty towards its people. Under this control there has been a marked improvement in industrial health and in the general well-being of the working people.

The ninth congress of the Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine (F.E.A.T.M.) was held in Nanking from October 2 to 8, during which over 200 papers were read in 14 sections. The hosts were the National Government represented in person by Mr. Wang Ching-wei (Chairman of the Executive Yuan), Mr. Huang Shao-hsiung (Minister of Interior), Dr. J. Heng Liu (Director of the National Health Administration), Mr. Shih Ying (Mayor of Nanking) and leading members of the medical facuIty in China. The overseas dclegates came from India, Singapore, Malay States. Siam, French Indo-China, America, Formosa, Japan, Kwantung, Netherland East Indies, Philippines, Hongkong, Macao and these and the home members totalled almost 450. Never before had so many medical men and women assembled in this country on an international mission, and it bespoke well of the Nanking authorities' preparations that such a polygIot assembly-some of them the highest medical officials of their territories-could be conveniently handled and comfortably lodged within the limited accommdation available in the reconstructed capital.