Volume 67 · Issue 12 · 1949

With the enforcement of industrial hygiene, the relative incidence of lead poisoning is believed to have decreased markedly in the last twenty five years. Thus Hoffmann (1) reported that in the United States the death rate due to lead poising in 1914-1925 was 31.3 per million arid that in 1925-1932 it was only 19.4 per million population. Christian (2), on the other hand, mentioned that in the registration area in the United States there were 101 deaths in 1930 and 100 in 1940. Wilson (3) also pointed out that the total number of deaths due to lead poisoning in England and Wales in the years chosen at random did not show a tendency to decline. Based upon workmen's statistics Stern (4) came to the conclusion that the incidence of non-fatal cases of lead poisoning is still high even in the states where industrial hygiene is most advanced.

Tetanus is one of the serious infectious diseases of adult as well as new borns. Li (1) in 1931, Chia (2) in 1938, Li (3) in 1939, May (4), Chow (5) in 1940, and Robinson (6) in 1941, each reported one adult case of tetanus with recovery.

In China, numerous plants have been used for medicinal purposes for already thousands of years, although the nature of their action in most cases still remains obscure. Recently, however, an initiation has been made to study their action especially from the antimicrobial point of view.

Clonorchis is an endemic disease common in Kwangtung Province, where the natives have the habit of eating fishes raw. As inhabitants in Shanghai do not have such a habit, this disease is therefore rarely seen, although some of the local species of fresh water fish have been definitely found to harbor the cysts of Clonorchis (1).

Intussusception of intestine occurs most frequently in children under two years of age, in which no apparent exciting cause is known to be present in the large majorities (1). Rarely, it may occur in adults as a result of some sorts of anatomical or pathological changes in the wall of the intestine such as tumor growths, diverticula, chronic granulomata, chronic inflammations, etc. Intestinal intussusception of parasitic origin has been occasionally recorded in the literature (2,3), of which, schistosomiasis was responsible for most of the cases. Other kinds of intestinal parasites may also produce a similar lesion but they are relatively rare.

Kwan (1) in 1937 reported a series of cases of carcinoma of the esophagus studied in the Peking Union Medical College. Lang (2) in 1938 published a series of similar cases studied in Cheeloo University Hospital, Tsinan. These two series represent the findings in the northern part of China. It may be of interest to present here the first series of cases on carcinoma of the esophagus found in the western part of China.

Congenital leucoma in man occurs as a dense white opacity situated deeply in the corneal substance at birth (1). Sometimes the iris is adferent to the formed. A considerable number of cases of opacities of this nature, situated either marginally or centrally, have been reported.

In recent years there are numerous articles in literature dealing with roentgen diagnosis of chronic appendicitis. However, the accuracy and value of this method and the significance of various roentgen signs have been subject to a great deal of controversy. This study is under-taken in an effort (1) to determine the best criteria for estimating the accuracy of roentgen diagnosis, (2) to evaluate various roentgen signs, (3) to explain the causes of wrong roentgen interpretation if any and (4) to check up the end result of those cases which are reported normal by the roentgen findings and yet are operated upon on the basis of clinical symptomatology. The results of this analytic study will be divided accordingly into these four headings.

As affirmed by Orr, Thomson and Gary (9), physiologically human beings are more or less a function of the food they eat. According to Necholls (7) it is an open question whether all races, provided they are given adequate nutrition and favorable living conditions, will not show the same potentialities.

In an attempt to search for a convenient criterion whererby one may have a general idea as to the point at which polishing should be stopped to obtain the best compromise between appearance on the one hand and nutritional quality on the other, we have started to study germ-retained rice (3).