Since 1916, the Weil-Felix test has been the only available test for the laboratory diagnosis of typhus fever (1,2,3). In recent years, a specific complement fixation test first employed by Castaneda (4) has been elaborated by Bengtson (5,6,7) and Piotz, Wertman and Bennett (8,9).
This report contains an analysis of the records of 333 acute appendicitis cases observed by us at the Chungking Central Hospital during a period of three years from July 15, 1943 to July 15, 1946.
The classical treatment for anal fistula is a thorough excision followed by packing of the wound which is allowed to be healed gradually by granulation tissue. Primary closure of the wound, practiced many years ago, is generally condemned because of the frequent development of abscess formation and recurrence of the fistula.
The incidence of cases of tuberculous empyema has been constantly increasing since the introduction of artificial pneumothorax. Treatment by aspiration either alone or combined with irrigation by various fluids, or by surgical drainage, have not given satisfactory results. Recently, Hinshaw (6) tried streptomycin on seven cases of comparatively old tuberculous empyema; only one patient showed improvement.
Rupture of the liver is often the result of trauma, but occasionally spontaneous rupture is observed. Mazel (1) (quoted by MacEwan 6) stated that: "It traumatic rupture, the rupture is the case of hemorrhage. In spontaneous rupture, the hemorrhage is the cause of the rupture."
Mechanical methods for contraception have been used for a long time, and are still among the most widely employed measures for the prevention of conception today.
Whilst poverty is regarded as the chief cause of malnutrition, it can probably be attributed just as much to ignorance of the principles of nutrition. Lack of food causes undernutrition, but unbalanced diets, no matter how plentiful, cause malnutrition.
Modern scientific medicine rightly deprecates the old-time blood-letting of occidental medicine and acupuncture of oriental medicine. At the same time we do well to scrutinize carefully what many doctors and clinics are pawning off nowadays on the public of China in the name of modern scientific medicine. For the present the Chinese public, aware of the ineffectiveness of many formerly used methods of treatment is perchance overly credulous of anything that is promulgated as the product of modern science. Nevertheless this state of affairs cannot continue to last for long if present practises of physicians in China remain unaltered and nothing is done to reduce the excessive cost of medical care and increase its effectiveness.
Pathology as an important basis of clinical medicine is an established fact. It is especially important for those who desire to be surgeons, because a sound important for those who desire to be surgeons, because a sound knowledge of morbid anatomy will enable them to recognise the pathological lesions in patients accurately and would help them decide the proper course of therapy.
