IN UNIVERSITY CRÈCHES IN FRANCE. N view of the effort now being made by national Red Cross Societies to organise the Junior Red Cross and to give all possible emphasis to child welfare, special interest attaches to the work undertaken by the Pouponnières Universitaires (University Crèches) recently founded by L'Entr'aide des Femmes françaises. The first "Pouponnière" was opened in one of the popular quarters of Paris, and the results obtained were so encouraging that another and larger one was installed in Boulogne-sur-Seine. The "Pouponnière" is intended for children who are deprived of the care of their mothers, the latter being given every facility for seeing their children and nursing them whenever possible. L'Entr'aide des Femmes françaises has placed these infants under the protection of college pupils of both sexes; the younger girls prepare baby trousseaux while the older ones visit the "Pouponnières" and learn how to take care of children. With the approval of the Rector of the University of Paris, a special course on Child Welfare for girl students will be held at the headquarters of the above organisation. The male pupils of the "lycées" also participate in this work, every "lycée" having taken under its protection a certain number of the "Pouponnière" inmates, and it is a common sight on holidays to see seniors playing with the children. Thanks to the generous assistance of the municipal council, a third "Pouponnière" has been organised at Moulins. THE AEROPLANE IN THE SERVICE OF THE RED CROSS. During the violent earthquakes which occurred in Argentine and Chili, causing the destruction of several towns and villages and great loss of life, several squadrons of aeroplanes rendered invaluable service in exploring the vast devastated areas where all means of communication had been destroyed. Doctors, as well as food and medical supplies, were transported by air to places which could not otherwise have been reached for a long time. This example of cooperation between the aviator and the Red Cross worker offers new and great possibilities, for it demonstrates that the aeroplane, after having been a powerful weapon of destruction, can be the means of bringing Red Cross assistance with great speed to the scene of a catastrophe otherwise inaccessible, and suggests the possibility of Red Cross cooperation with Government and aviation centres, without there being any necessity to create a permanent organisation. MEDICAL CHRONICLE. THE RED CROSS AND CANCER. Member of the Chamber of Deputies, former Under-Secretary of State for the Military Health Department in France. T was on the field of battle that the Red Cross first unfurled its standard in the cause of misery and suffering, and its efforts hitherto have mainly been directed towards mitigating the evils wrought by man on man. In war it has stood for the appeal of brotherhood ignored, the alleviation of suffering and its attendant horrors and the hope of man the destroyer in mankind the deliverer. At a time when nothing was held sacred-neither life, nor beauty, nor even those monuments of antiquity which are the heritage of the whole world it was respected. For all the good it has achieved, and for having borne aloft, above the fury of battle, the ideal of well-doing, the Red Cross may rightly command the veneration of each of us. The League of Nations early realised that for its work in peacetime it would have an invaluable ally in the Red Cross. The solemn pact which precedes the treaties of peace appeals to it for its collaboration. Article XXV says: "The members of the League agree to encourage and promote the establishment and co-operation of duly authorised voluntary national Red Cross organisations, having as purposes the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world." It stands to reason that the world will not be slow to realise that there is a new power for good abroad, if, from the cradle of the child, and from the home of the family, disease, hitherto an ever-present menace, be finally banished. Its confidence in the international organisation, whose avowed object it is to abolish the dreaded scourge of war, will be strengthened if it sees that organisation carrying on a successful struggle with that which has been an even worse enemy of the human race,—disease. Already the League of Red Cross Societies has carried out an effective campaign against typhus. The Bulletin which it publishes contains a selection of reports well calculated to promote activity and to stir up generosity. The League has now formed, as it were, a huge net whose meshes constitute the various national societies, and therein lies the certainty of satisfactory results in the near future. For it is by the faith which springs from a unity of interest that the nations will be able more effectively to resist the menace of war in the future. Moreover, infection of itself teaches the necessity of mutual dependance and consolidation; for, supposing that the backward and ignorant nations were left by their more civilised neighbours in their present state of misery and suffering, the result would most surely be that, sooner or later, contamination would spread from the infected to the immune and involve both alike in a common downfall. There lies therefore before the League of Red Cross Societies a vast work of protection and education to be accomplished, and the achievements of the Red Cross in the past augur well for the success of its peace programme. I should like to request the League to direct its efforts towards one particular objective, and to take up arms against one of the most treacherous and destructive plagues which afflict humanity— namely cancer. It is time the world were made to realise the dangers of this terrible scourge. Origins and causes of this disease are wrapt in mystery. It gained much ground during the war and is spreading to an alarming extent. No country can call itself immune, and nothing short of the joint efforts of all can hope to crush it. In order to undertake the necessary studies and research to this end, a large fund is essential, and it is the League that should undertake the duties both of its collection and distribution. The long sufferings involved by cancer, the slow destruction of its victim, would almost seem to indicate that the parasite of cancer goes to work with intentional prudence; when finally its presence is discovered, it is already fairly implanted and the victim. is only delivered from his sufferings after the extreme limit of exhaustion has been reached. If it is taken in the early stages, cancer is held to be a localised evil which can be rooted out and destroyed. The surgeon can then successfully intervene,-and even the doctor, by means of radium or X-Rays. But, on the other hand, if the sufferer, either through ignorance or fear, should have delayed in making known his condition, the cancer becomes general, and there is no hope of rescuing the victim from the grasp of his relentless enemy. It is generally acknowledged that the first urgent step to be taken is to make known, by means of the distribution in every country of millions of pamphlets1 written clearly and simply, the incipient Here is an example of the propaganda leaflet distributed by the Franco-Anglo-American League to combat cancer (official address: 2, avenue Marceau, Paris) — WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW The number of cases of cancer increases yearly. Cancer att cks indiscriminately all classes of society, rich and poor alike, and woman rather more often than man. It is one of the most frequent causes of death after the age of forty. Every year it kills more than 32,000 people in drance alone. The fact that it is incurable may usually be attributed to public ignorance, which pays no attention to cancer in its early stages as its initial development is not painful. In a large number of cases If operated upon early it can be cured, Since, to begin with, Cancer is a localised complaint. Sick persons! Beware of painless hardening of the breast, of all unusual exhalations, of recurrent ulcers on the tongue or lips, of little excrescences of the skin which swell or form ulcers, of persistent indigestion, especially when accompanied by loss of weight, and of the appearance of constipation when the bowels had been working normally. In every one of these cases, go and be examined! signs of cancer. If it be traced thus early, and treated before ever it becomes rooted in the system, the chances are all in favour of its being overcome. Were this instruction undertaken by the League, it would save yearly some tens of thousands of existences. But above all, it is the rôle of science to discover how this terrible enemy is generated and how it develops. So far, nothing is known, for, until the cancer germ has taken root, it is of little avail to fight against it. The time for combating the evil successfully is short, for when it manifests itself, it is already on the point of triumphing. This ignorance regarding the origin and propagation of cancer is one of the tragic elements in our fight against this scourge. He who can throw light on this dark problem will indeed have merited the title of Benefactor of Humanity. This is one of the problems which the League of Red Cross Societies cannot afford to ignore. Not only is cancer universal, but its ravages are far more serious than statistics seem to indicate. The feeling of repulsion which it arouses causes it to be concealed like a hideous difformity; so true is this, that many deaths due to cancer are preferably attributed to the evils which come in its train. I would therefore exhort the League of Red Cross Societies to include cancer among those scourges of humanity which it has undertaken to combat, and thereby add another benefit to those which the Red Cross has already conferred on humanity. VENEREAL DISEASES. A Challenge to the Red Cross. By Mr. Walter CLARKE, Acting Chief of the League's Department for Combating Venereal Diseases. V ENEREAL diseases are common to all races and nations of the earth. None escapes and none is immune. Their spread does not depend on climate, food, air or water, nor upon beast or insect carriers. Their spread depends, unfortunately, upon human contacts, often involving the most powerful human emotions. They pass from the rendez-vous of sexual irregularity to the home. They creep into the body of innocent and guilty alike through the most sacred relations of father and mother and child, and of husband and wife. The control of venereal diseases demands legal, educational, medical, public health and ethical measures. Not only diseases but prejudice have to be beaten down, and of the two, prejudice is the more difficult to overcome. Many sincere but foredoomed efforts have been made in the past and the failures which attended these efforts have been the natural cause of discouragement on the part of those responsible for good health and good morals in many communities. Modern medical science has developed the means of solution of the problems of venereal diseases and in some parts of the world sufficient progress has been made to stimulate hope even in the most pessimistic, and enthusiasm and confidence in those who have an optimistic outlook on life. But from the world point of view, a mere beginning in the right direction has been made. Only a small corner of the province of syphilis, the Master Disease, has been occupied. Of what use are the best methods if not employed? None whatever. The complex pattern of this problem with its interwoven physical and psychological threads and vivid colour of human sufferings, and with its immense proportions, lies before the Red Cross Societies of the world, the great challenge of our day. Let us examine it. The Challenge of Hope. Gonorrhea is an ancient disease. Physicians of the 14th century B. C. apparently had noticed it. For several centuries it was confused with syphilis, a disease of much later appearance in Europe. It was not until 1879 that the germ of gonorrhea was identified by the great urologist and syphilographer Neisser. The human race, it seems, has carried gonorrhea as a part of its impediments since the beginning of civilisation. Compared with it, syphilis is almost certainly a youthful disease. It is generally believed that the sailors of Columbus, returning from contact with the natives of the Island of Haiti in 1493, brought syphilis with them and that the transplanted disease quickly took on a violent epidemic form, spreading to the corners of the world. Medical science had, until the 20th century, to fight syphilis in the dark, without knowing its organism. The ten years between 1900 and 1910 gave the world the basic means for conquering syphilis. The discovery in 1905 by Shaudinn and Hoffmann of the organism which causes syphilis was an event of the greatest importance to mankind. Then followed the discovery by Wassermann of an accurate method of diagnosis and by Ehrlich of a specific method of treatment, discoveries which have been elaborated and perhaps improved, but which are not surpassed in the annals of medical history. The significance of syphilis in medical science is aptly described in Osler's epigram : "Know syphilis in all its manifestations and relations and all other things clinical will be added unto you". Stokes remarked: "No lane is so long that one may not find syphilis as its turning. The disease has changed the destiny of mankind upon the earth. If it should cease at this moment to be transmitted, its effect would not disappear from the world within two or perhaps three generations". It was only in the life-time of men still young that the world gained a conception of the real prevalence and seriousness of syphilis and gonorrhea. This conception is still inadequate. No |