"Medical Follies"*

Dr. Morris Fishbein, as Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is spokesman for over 90,000 physicians and surgeons-- the largest body of medical men in the world. Few laymen read medical journals, for they inevitably suspect, behind the lurch and trundle of ill-teamed words, the machinations of a cloudy mind. Dr. Fishbein's words are graphic; he is possessed of what George Meredith called "the first condition of sanity"--a belief that our present civilization is founded on common sense. In a new book he shows what a neat and glittering weapon this common sense may be. With it he clips down major medical follies -- Osteopathy, Homeopathy, Chiropractic--and passes on to offer information on various other topics, among them:

Animal Experimentation. "Anyone who has seen a child, succumbing to the gradual encroachment of the diphtheria membrane in its throat, suddenly respond to the marvelous effects of a diphtheria antitoxin will oppose to the utmost any attempt to deprive the child of that remedy. . . .I have seen guinea pigs by the thousands utilized for that purpose. . . .I have never seen a guinea pig suffer as much as a hysterical antivivisectionist at a dog show. . . ."

Rejuvenation. "Neither the Steinach nor the Voronoff method promises much for the rejuvenation of old women/- . . . . In May, 1921, a man, 72 years of age, was scheduled to lecture in London on the subject, 'How I Was Made 20 years Younger by Eugen Steinach.' He was found dead in his bed the morning before the lecture."

Medical Mistakes of the Press:

Military tuberculosis (miliary tuberculosis).

Hypothetic pneumonia (hypostatic pneumonia).

Cockeye (cocci).

Prostrate gland** (Prostate gland).

Angora pectoris (angina pectoris).

Bernarr Macfadden, blatant apostle of "Health." "There he stands, almost in the garb with which nature clad him, a majestic figure with lungs inflated, pompadour defying the world. His skin . . . is full of strength. . . . He has taken what should be a beautiful search for health, for vigor and for strength, and made of it an ugly and discouraging thing to every right-minded individual."

Testimonials. They can be bought in wads of 5000 from a Manhattan firm. Dr. Fishbein presents an example :

"Dear Doctor:

"Before taking Chiropractic and Electric Treatments, I was so nervous that nobody could sleep with me. After taking six treatments anybody can sleep with me."

Birth Control. ". . . .Picture a nocturnal scene between a male of the lower stratum, somewhat stimulated by alcohol, and the feminine partner of his misery, weary after a day at the washtub or scrubbing the halls of an apartment house. The mental states of the two, it must be plain, are hardly such as to lead them to pause for consideration . . . of the economic problems of the 21st century. . . ."

*THE MEDICAL FOLLIES--Morris Fishbein M. D.--Boni & Liveright ($2.00).

/-See Page 15, RUSSIA, for an account of the alleged Voronoff rejuvenation of 68-year-old Klara Zetkin.

**This mistake (due to a lax printer) once occurred in TIME.