WAR AIDS STUDY OF

CANCER STATISTICS

Following are extracts from the statement of Dr. J. A. Murray, Director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, in the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Fund, 19161917:

"The importance which has always been attached by statisticians to the age-constitution of populations in which cancer mortality has to be studied, receives striking justification by the results recorded in the Seventy-eighth Report of the Registrar-General (1915) published this year. The withdrawal of a large number of young men from civil life constitutes a most valuable statistical experiment, showing the effects of a sudden alteration in the age-constitution of a population."

"The majority of the men withdrawn from civil life are under 35 years of age, and the cancer mortality figures for 1915 show the effects on a population of retaining the female sex in its normal proportions, while profoundly altering the relative proportions of the males above and below the age at which cancer is an important cause of death. . .

"The change in the male population is on a large scale, affecting the whole country, and has taken place abruptly. It is analogous to those minor differences in ageconstitution which have been attained slowly in isolated communities, and which go far to account for the phenomena of cancer villages and cancer streets.

It is obvious that the varying conditions in limited areas at the present time must produce anomalies, and in fact, in some districts the deaths of males from cancer equal, or even exceed, those of females. Without the data neces

sary to effect the corrections for age and sex, crude death-rates for such limited areas can only be misleading and may cause unnecessary alarm and distress.

"Undue importance should not be attached to the interruption in 1915 of the steady yearly increase of cancer mortality, the first since. 1907. The conditions are abnormal, and as was pointed out in the Annual Report two years ago, the dislocation and diminution of the civil medical service by war conditions, may well affect the fidelity with which the national mortality. figures reflect the absolute incidence of such a disease as cancer."

HEALTH IN CAMPS

His friends had known him for a number of years as a young man who had his "good times" and plenty of them. He had been raised under conditions approximating those of the average Sandusky home, with neither luxuries nor hardships, and had received a fair education. Then he had taken up clerical work and later had become a salesman. He was, in short, an average, good sort of young chap, unaccustomed to manual labor and certainly unused to self-denial.

He was called to the colors and a month or so ago he left with a contingent for a training camp. Within a few days he had discarded his citizens' clothes, donned a uniform, and became a private in the ranks, doing his regular turn at drills and other work, washing his own dishes and clothes, and eating very ordinary food that wouldn't have tempted him at home. Not only this but he was going to bed early each night and was out early in the morning.

The other day he came home,

along with some other comrades, for a few hours' visit. And everywhere he went his friends commented upon his fine appearance. He stood more erect, with head and shoulders back. His uniform and overcoat of khaki fit him excellently. His face was clear and ruddy, like that of a healthy, robust farmer boy. He had gained slightly in weight and his muscles were like iron. He said he had a fine appetite, hadn't touched drink of liquor since he left home, and in every way was feeling “fit."

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The case is typical of many. Almost without exception, the boys who come home from camp appear stronger and better, physically, than when they left home. rigorous training has done them a world of good. They enjoy hard work and the coarse, substantial food. They find that they can get along very well without strong drink, and with only occasional sweets sent them by the "folks back home." They have come through the period of vaccination and inoculation, making them immune to typhoid fever, smallpox, etc., and life in the open air, with plenty of exercise, has developed them and toughened them wonderfully. They have acquired, in fact, what they would have paid a physician a good-sized fee to assure to

them.

Ail reports indicate that the health of the men in the military camps is remarkably good. Of course there are some cases of illness and occasionally some man is found who is physically unfit to undergo the rigorous program of training. The percentage of cases of sickness, however, is really lower than among the same number of civilians at home, and the death rate, not only in the camps in this country, but "somewhere in France," is far below the average.

In other words, barring accidents and casualties in the service, the average life of a man in the military service has been considerably lengthened.

In comparison with our experiences in previous wars, notably in the Spanish-American war, this showing of health in the camps is so excellent as to be most encouraging. Our surgeons and army officersofficers have learned that the prime essential is good, substantial food and sanitary surroundings. The results attained are so altogether excellent as to make us hope that the day is not far distant when we shall have universal military training. Even though there should be no further use for armies in the future, the training would at least be good for our young men. - Sandusky StarJournal.

DEPARTMENT TO LEND
WATER CHLORINATOR

IN EMERGENCY CASES The division of sanitary engineering of the State Department of Health now possesses an emergency apparatus for the chlorination of water, which will be available for use by any city of the state when need suddenly arises for temporary disinfection of water. The division has been

hampered by difficulty in obtaining chemicals for the machine, but as soon as this difficulty is overcome, no obstacles will be in the way of its services.

The chlorinator was used for several weeks recently in Hamilton, where the calling into use of an emergency water supply made disinfection necessary. The Hamilton city authorities in this case obtained the materials which the department could not supply.