After Syphilis, Cancer

The national drive against syphilis which Surgeon General Thomas Parran Jr. began last autumn, by last week had reached a high plateau of accomplishment. Dr. Parran and Editor Morris Fishbein of the American Medical Association each issued a new book on the subject last week and a half dozen similar books were already in bookstores.* The A. M. A. was ready to lend doctors a talkie from which they could learn how to diagnose and treat syphilis. This technical film, prepared by A. M. A. and U. S. Public Health Service experts, matched a "popular" film, prepared by the U. S. P. H. S. which Surgeon General Parran was eager to have shown throughout the nation.

Illinois a fortnight ago responded to the anti-syphilis drive by forbidding marriage unless both the man and the woman produced a doctor's certificate that they were free from both syphilis and gonorrhea (TIME, July 12). Several other States have bills of the same purport in their legislatures. Last week the young editors of the genteel Ladies' Home Journal, Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Gould, published a syphilis article by Paul de Kruif & Dr. Parran (see p. 40).

A group of syphilologists calling themselves the American Committee on the Evaluation of Serodiagnostic Tests for Syphilis quieted the doubts of many doctors concerning the trustworthiness of tests for syphilis. Victims of yaws, relapsing fever and leprosy always give a positive syphilis test. Victims of malaria sometimes do. And many a syphilitic, especially after a few injections of antisyphilitic drugs, gives a false negative reaction. Most reliable tests, the Committee on Evaluation announced, are Dr. John Kolmer's of Philadelphia, Dr. Reuben Kahn's of the University of Michigan, Dr. Benjamin S. Kline's of Cleveland.

With his anti-syphilis campaign in this state of successful momentum Surgeon General Parran turned to Cancer. Before Congress were bills for a Federal institute to concentrate on this second most common cause" of death in the nation (TIME, July 5), Dr. Parran went up the Hill to

* SHADOW ON THE LAND--Syphilis--By Thomas Parran, M. D.--Reynal &- Hitchcock

($2 ).

SYPHILIS: The Next Great Plague to Go-- Morris Fishbein, M. D. -- McKay ($1). __ TEN MILLION AMERICANS HAVE IT-- S. William Becker, M. D. -- Lippincott ($1 -<<)

LINGERING DEATH--Winfield Scott Pugh M-D--Hygienic Publishing Co. (Manhattan) (25-c-).

THE GREAT AMERICAN TABOO--Dr. S. Funkhouser--Funkhouser (Roseburg, Ore.) ($1)

SYPHILIS SIVE MORBUS HUMANUS-- Charles S. Butler, M. D., Rear Admiral (M.C.) S. Navy--Science Press (Lancaster, Pa.) v-P3).

WHO GAVE THE WORLD SYPHILIS?-The Haitian Myth--Richmond C. Holcomb M D -- Froben ($3.00).

( DEATH RIDES WITH VENUS--Arthur C. aim, social-hygienist--Grey stone (Manhattan) ($1-50).

ON YOUR GUARD--Carl Warren, Dailv Jews reporter--Emerson Books (Manhattan) < $1.00). get the bills ironed out and to testify that, if Congress earmarked $1,000,000 or more every year for cancer research, he could save the lives of 20,000 of the 140,000 people who die of cancer in the U. S. each year.

When the Senators and Representatives ended their hearings on the cancer bills last week, observers calculated that Dr. Parran had a 50-50 chance of getting his money. If he does so, he will organize a National Cancer Centre as part of the National Institute of Health in Washington. The staff will consist of volunteers, fellows working on Federal stipends and regular employes of U. S. P. H. S. Chief of the Cancer Centre probably will be the man who has guided the bills thus far through Congress, Dr. Parran's colleague, Assistant Surgeon General Lewis Ryers Thompson.

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