Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 May 1937 — Page 9

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FROM INDIANA

| ERNIE PYLE

r [OLEDO, May 15.—A whaleback steamer is a beautiful thing. never seen one. Most people never will see one, for there are only four left. And it is a pity, for I know of nothing built by man that is so nearly of the sea as a whaleback. One night way back in the Eighties a shipbuilder had a dream. His name was Alexander McDougall, he lived at Superior, Wis, and even then he was : building big {freighters for the Great Lakes. In his dream, Alexander McDougall thought “he had built a ship that looked like a whale. In his dream he saw that it was natural to the water," graceful and swift. When he awoke he said to himself “Why not?” Before dusk next evening plans were under way in his yards for building a steel ship that looked like a whale. Alexander McDougall’s first whaleback hit the water in 1887— Just 50 years ago. Wooden ships were on the way out then, and the whaleback was a strike. ‘Within six years there were 46 of them on the Great Lakes. . Some of the whalebacks have superstructures built up, fore and aft, which take away some of the fishlike symmetry of their appearance. But others are supefstructured only in the rear, with their round noses sloping gight off into the water, and at a distance they reSNemble nothing so much as a ship

Mr. Pyle

gall, on the strength of his dream, became rich and famed. But it didn’t last. Like discoverers and pioneers before his time and since. he lost to cleverer men—Rockefeller and Carnegie. ” ”n u

McDougall Blamed Wall Street

I AM not straight on the story of just what took A place. Neither; as the yarn is told to me, was Alexander McDougall. He thought it was a Wall Street plot. But whether it was or not, long snaky ships of a different kind began coming out of the yards of Buffalo and ‘Cleveland, and before he knew it the whaleback was dooméd.

Alexander McDougall spent the rest of his life run-

{ ning to Washington, running to New York. running to

capitals of the Great Lakes states—lashing, flailing, crying out against he knew not what. When the war came, only a few were left. The Government needed them on the ocean, for coastwise service. But they were too long to go through the Welland Canal, around Niagara Falls. So the Government cut them in half, boxed up the ends, floated them through the canal, welded them back together aga, and used them throughout the war.

” ” ”

“Pays Visit to Whaleback WE walked through the cold rain over to the slips

of the C. & O. coal docks at the mouth of the Maumee A reddish-colored ship, bare and sleek, lay at the dock. On the bow ‘was painted a name. It was “Alexander McDougall.” She was a whaleback. We went aboard. A man in boots and overcoat shook hands and said he was Capt. Gustav Clausson. Capt. Clausson isn’t sentimental about the whalebacks. But he likes them. “This handles as nice as

.any ship I've ever been on,” he said.

“Then why are they a thing of the past, if they're such fine ships?” I asked. “Here's why,” he said. He pointed down around us at the steel deck. “See how the whole thing is shaped. It's all a curve. Not a straight plate on her. And see how thick the steel is. 1t's too expensive to curve ail those plates. She'd cost half as much again to build now as an ordinary ship. That's why there aren't any more of them.”

Mrs.Roosevelt's Day

By ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

ASHINGTON, Friday—It was raining when’ we stepped off the train in Washington this morning. The trees are in full bloom and some of the tulips in front pf the White House are still a riot of color, but many of them have already lost their petals. Last night I enjoyed ‘seeing, “Yes My Darling Daughter,” which is la light, amusing and entertaining play with some very excellent acting. If Governor Lehman of New York receives all the petitions against the Dunnigan Censorship Bill which I have seen signed in the three evenings I have been to the theater he should know something of what the theater-going public thinks on the subject of censorship. My daughter-in-law, Betsy, and I went down to the station to meet my ‘husband and his party and we were the first tc enter the car and see how well he and Elliott looked. James, Ruth and Chandler were also there, and we all came back to the White House together. It is such a joy to have Elliott, Ruth and Chandler for a few days. I asked Chandler how her rocking horse was getting on, and she answered at once that she fed him every night and put his blanket on before he went to bed. There. were a number of little things to do this morning and then I went to lunch with the ladies of the Seventy-fifth Congress. This is the last Congressional Club luncheon of this season. These ladies did a very charming thing. Instead of having a very expensive luncheon, they had a very simple one and each contributed toward buying a wheelchair for a. little crippled boy who needs it to get himself around his home and school. They did this in honor of Mrs. John Murdock, their president, and myself. Mrs. Murdock wrote a

-song for -which her| boy in Arizona composed the

music. The whole club sang it to me at the end of the luncheon. .

New Books PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS— N a bewildering modern world besieged by halfbaked theories and questionable knowledge and advice of all kinds, it is becoming increasingly difficult and increasingly necessary for man to think for imself. BI INK FOR YOURSELF (McGraw-Hill), by Robert I’. Crawford, is therefore a timely and much needed book. Though based on sound psychology, it is written for the layman; and without resorting to the cheaper “success” type of advice, it is a practical treatise on how a man can develop his thinking powers. . ; Even within the bounds of heredity and environme here is ample space for self-improvement, and thus the author's message is one of hope. If the reader does not agree with all Mr. Crawford says, so much the better; for if he is started thinking himself, the book is accomplishing its excellent and welcome purpose. . ? 2 s un zs “YN .his song he has helped pave the way for a future for his race. He has hewn out a path, has trodden the ground for others to follow, and what was possible in his case is possible for others.” Seldon have more stirring words . been inspired by the life of a man than these spoken of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, poet laureate of the Negro race.

Born of ex-slave parents shortly after the Civil War,

into what was probably the darkest period of Negro history, he suffered bitterest poverty, toiled prodigiously, sang his immortal songs and died—in a short span of 34 years. i 1t is a matter of pride to his people that in his veins there coursed no white blood; that his intelligent but uneducated mother took time after a day over the laundry tubs, to instill into the mind of her son the folk lore of her native south; that young Paul worked his way to success by any menial task i resented itself. v te LAURENCE DUNBAR; POET OF HIS PEOPLE (University of North Carolina Press), by Benjamin Brawley, eminent Negro author and educator, is an appreciation of Dunbar’s life and work. Appended is a section of Negro poetry in his praise and a valuable bibliography,

bond. The Indianapolis

Most people have:

Second Section

SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1937

Enterec¢ as

Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

PAGE 9

‘Zhe SEVEN "HORSEMEN

By David Diety

Times Science Editor

DEATH

Part of Stomach Cut Away and Organ Given New Outlet in Heroic Attempt

To Save Patient From Cancer; Success of Operation Depends Upon Extent to Which Malignant Growth Has Spread

(Third of a Series)

HE white-jacketed internes stopped long enough to crush out their

cigarets and hurried into the surgical amphitheater.

Most of the

benches were already occupied, not only by young and eager medical students and wmiformed internes like themselves, but by older men as well, medical veterans well-known in the profession. They had come to see “the chief” operate on an unusual and difficult.

case.

David Dietz

The curtain was about to rise upen a drama of real life, a drama in which’ death itself was the adversary.

The chief surgeon of the

hospital in a few minutes was to pit his knowledge and skill against the second of the seven horsemen of death, dreaded cancer. Nurses in sterile gowns, masks and gloves, were already removing the gleaming instruments from the sterilizer and ranging them in rows according to a carefully de-

signed routine, upon the stands near the operating table. Among them were glittering scalpels with razor-like ‘blades for cutting through skin and flesh, claw-like retractors for pulling muscles aside to expose the cavities of the body, pincher-like hemostats for clamping blood vessels to prevent

bleeding, and others.

getting ready for the operation. They rolled up their sleeves and scrubbed their hands and arms witdr soap and water for five minutes. Then they soaked their arms in bichloride of mercury.

These precautions were to kill |

any germs that might be upon their hands and so reduce the risk of infecting the patierft. While this was going on an interne gave the patient a sixth ofp a grain of morphine and a 150th of a grain of atropine. The morphine made it easier for the patient to take the anesthetic. The

_atropine reduced the secretion of

mucus in the throat and so reduced the danger of postoperative pneumonia. An orderly shaved the area on the man’s body where the incision was to pe made.

4 " ”

HE patient was a man of 55." For several months he had been suffering from loss of weight, strength and appetite. Then his friends began to remark upon the pallor of his complexion. But he had been obstinate and insisted that nothing was wrong with him. Finally, when he had begun to get spells of nausea, he had become frightened and consulted a physician. The doctor suspected a cancer of the stomach and Xray photographs confirmed the diagnosis. Removal of the cancerous growth alpng with part of the stomach itself constituted his only hope of defeating the . second horseman of death.

Now the patient was put upon a sort of table on wheels brought to the surgical ampitheater and transferred to the operating table. The chief had decided upon spinal anesthesia. The anesthetic was injected through the back into the spinal cord with a long hypo-

“dermic needle. As a result the pa-

tient remained conscious throughout the operation, but felt no pain - because of the blocking of nerve impulses in the spinal cord by the anesthetic. n 2 ” EXT the surgeon made a scratch upon the patient's body where the incision was to be made. It was a long incision, extending from just below the ribs to -an-inch below the umbilicus. Sterile sheets were then placed over ‘the patient, covering everything but the site of the incision. Then the chief began his work, his assistants watching carefully, each man performing the expected duty for which he has been trained. The initial incision cut only the skin and the fat beneath. To cut trough muscles would weaken them. Instead, the surgeon carefully separated the muscular fibers and they were drawn apart with retractors by the two junior assistants. Finally, the abdominal cavity was exposed to view. The chief carefully examined the omentum or membranous lining of> the abdominal cavity, the liver, the lymph nodes, the pancreas and the duodenum or first loop of small intestine. into which the stomach empties. He was looking for signs of additional cancerous growths. If the primary cancer had spread or metastasized, to use the technical term, there would be no use going through with the operation as originally intended. It would be too late.

Meanwhile, “the chief,” his senior assistant, two junior assistants, two surgical nurses, and the anesthetist were ®

Ca oid

id

The curtain had risen upon a drama of real life. While the medical audience looked on, the chief surgeon pitted his knowledge and skill against the adversary, death.

INDING no signs of metastasis, the chief turned his attention to the stomach itself. The cancer was situated at the end of the stomach near the point where the stomach joined the duodenum.

First he clamped with hemostats all the important arteries leading into the portion of the stomach which he proposed to remove. {Next he cut the arteries while his first assistant sewed the severed ends with catgut loops. Then he placed two clamps, resembling long-nosed pliers, upon the duodenum. These clamps made it possible for him to sever this part of the intestine without spilling any of its contents into the abdominal cavity. When the ciamps were in place he picked up a scalpel and proceeded to cut through the duodenum. Two similar but larger clamps, were now put on the stomach above the cancer and again he wielded the scalpel, severing the lower third of the stomach. The portion of the stomach containing the cancer, held tightly closed by the clamp on either end, was now lifted from the abdominal cavity and placed upon a tray. (It would be sent shortly to the pathology department of the hospital for detailed study.)

HE chief now started upon the second phase of the operation. The severed end of the duodenum had to be sewed shut. He then sewed this end securely against the outer wall of the pan-

creas gland. This procedure was to anchor it securely and prevent its rupture in the future. Next the severed end of Lhe storaach. was sewed shut excepu for: the lower portion. The trick now was to re-establish a direct connection between the stomach and the intestines. It would be hopeless to: try and establish a connection between the shortened stomach and the duodenum. So he cut a small hole in the large membrane which holds the transverse colon to the posterior bedy wall and through which course the large blood vessels to the colon. The surgeon was particularly careful here for, if he cut the larger artery, the middle colic artepy, or one of its branches, the resold be death from gangrene of the intestines. Through this opening he pulled up a loop of the small intestine known as the jejunum. He proceeded now to make a new connection between the shortened stomach and the jejunum. To do this, he had to cut an opening in

SEDENTARY JOBS STILL ATTRACT GIRLS, OCCUPATION STUDY SHOWS

By SCIENCE SERVICE WASHINGTON, May 15. — The human race may produce an occasional Amelia Earhart or a Mrs. Martin Johnson but in general girls still prefer sedentary occupations to those requiring vigorous physical activity or travel over wide areas. Girls at any age are more willing to take orders than boys; in fact, the older a boy grows the more apt he. is to want a job where he can give orders. Girls are also more willing to take jobs involving personal and even menial service than are boys. This sex difference in occupational preference should guide America’s educational system, believe psychologists, after a careful study of the situation. 8 2 ” HESE are facts shown when large numbers of Kansas City and Topeka school children were asked about their occupational preferences. Everyone: has asked some child “What are you going to

‘be when you grow up?” but it re-

mained for Drs. Harvey Lehman

of Ohio University and Paul Witty of Northwestern to ask 26,878 youngsters between the ages of § and 18 this question and then tabulate the answers. Two hundred occupations were listed by the 1.enman Vocational Attitude Quiz for their choice. Of each hundred of the girls ahout 90 chose occupations of a sedentary type while less than 15 of them were interested in jobs requiring much travel or strenuous moving about. Contrasted with this liking for home, 45 per cent of the boys wanted travel and physical vigor in their future careers. Seventeen of the occupations preferred by ‘boys demand some actual danger, but the girls are interested in only one career with the possibility of danger attached and that is the job of being a movie actress! . ” ” ”

1.= than 15 per cent of the

boys, but more than half of the girls would like jobs involving the

} -

need for artistic appreciation. As for teaching, that occupation which absorbs so many women, the boys are quite willing to let them have if. The interest of the girls in pedagogy is not very great either, it was found. - Sex differences are also shown in the amount of change in vocational interests as the youngsters grow older. The small boy wants to be a soldier, a sailor or a cowboy, but as he gets bigger these interests change over to jobs where the element of power and authority enters. At 18 I~ would rather be a ranchman, a naval officer or a general in the Army. Both big girls and their small sis-

ters are interested in the same occu-

pations. Since boys and girls are not equally interested in the various occupations the authors, feel that teachers - of vocational guidance classes should make due allowance for these significant sex differences. A complete report of the survey is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. .

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© X-rays,

the jejunum and sew the jejunum to the shortened stomach.

= ” ”n ” HIS sewing had to be done carefully. Boti: the stomach and the intestine each consist of four different walls or coats. First the two inner coats were sewed. Then the two outer coats. What chance had the patient for life, you may ask? It all depends. If the cancer had not yet metastasized, his chances are good.

If the cancer has spread to an-

other part of the body, death will probably overtake him within a few months or at best a year or two. ; All too often, a cancer of the stomach is not discovered until it

has reached the stage where sur-

gery is of no avail. Cancers in other parts of the body reveal themselves more rapidly. This is particularly true of cancers of the skin. That is why medical men continuously preach the value of early diagnosis. Three months may mean the difference between life and death.

Medicine knows only three et

fective treatments for cancer-— radium, and surgery. Sometimes a combination of two or all three is used.

VN EANWHILE in laboratories all over the world, medical researches are hunting for the cause of cancer. What is it that makes cells of the body suddenly grow wild, ' developing into the murderous masses called cancers? Within recent years they have found certain chemical substances so deadly that the amount which can be placed upon the point of a pin is enough to cause cancers in

mice and rats.

These chemical substances are related to the bile acids and the sex hormones. Accordingly some authorities think that subtle changes in the internal chemistry of the body may cause normal substances in the body to change into cancer-producing agents. Other research workers are looking for hereditary factors which may help explain cancer. . In the meantime, cancer is the second horseman of death, ex-

‘ceeded only by heart disease in the

number of its victims. More than 25,000 persons die of cancer in the United States each year. Medical authorities belive that the best insurance each person can have against both cancer and heart disease is a competent family physician. Each person should have an annual thorough physical examinagion.

NEXT—Accidents, the tragedy of preventable death.

TEXAS TELESCOPE IN NEW YORK

In model form at least the world’s second largest telescope of MeDonald Observatory at Mount Locke, Tex., visits the big city. Shown

above at the New York Museum of Science and Industry is a view through the shutters of the dome which, in real life, weigh 16 tons each. The grinding of the telescope is not yet completed. McDonald is a joint project of the University of Texas and the University of Chicago; ‘the former owning the observatory and instrument, the latter furnishing the scientists and operating personnel, : . 4 . - . - . . i

: w

Our Town

2 VERY time you send a telegram—or get one, for that matter—you can thank an Indianapolis man, because if it hadn’t been for David Wallace, goodness knows when Samuel Morse would have got his telegraph line going. : Mr. Morse, you may - recall, had his 2pparatus complete in 1835 when he sent messages through a wire a halt mile long. In 1837 he gave a public ex«

hibition of the telegraph, got a . patent for his invention and tried to get Congress to build him a ‘line. Nothing doing. Setting genius free is at best a heroic hazard, and Congress wasn't taking any chances back in those days. It’s different now, of course. Mr. Morse then went to Europe to interest the governments, over there, but it wasn’t any use. He couldn't even get a patent over there. Returning to the United States, he continued his efforts for four years, living meanwhile in poverty. Finally, when he had given up hope, the Congress of 1842-3 got around to him again. That's how Mr. Wallace of Indianapolis got into it. He was a member of Congress at that time, and it was just his luck to be the last man on the roll of the committee to which had been referred the petition of Mr. Morse for $30,000 to build an electric telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. The vote on recommending such an appropriation was a tie until Mr. Wallace cast the deciding vote, and that's what all the shouting is about today.

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"Indianapolis Got Line in 1848

ATER THAT, Mr. Morse had everything his own way, because when everybody saw that the Washe ington-Baltimore line really worked, telegraph lines began springing up all over the country. Indiane apolis got her first one in 1848, the one from here to

Dayton. The first dispatch from this end went to Richmond, and was handled by Isaac Kiersted from a building where the Ayres people now do business, After that, we had a lot of operators around here, among them Anton Schneider, J. W. Chapin, Sidney Morris, J. F. Wilson, John F, Wallick and Thomas Edison. You heard me.

® E-3 ” Morse Alphabet Used First

F°® the first eight or 10 years, dispatches were". taken by impressions of the Morse alphabet, but just before the Civil War got started, operators around here began to read by sound. Coleman Wilson was the first to learn the trick. After that, the telegraph people did a right good business, and I haven’t any

reason to believe that they have anything to come plain of now. . : : Things didn’t go sso well with Mr. Wallace after that, however, because when it came time for him to stand for re-election, dawgone if William J. Brown, his opponent, didn't lambast him for giving money to Mr. Morse. He said it was a “wanton waste of public money.” Sure, Mr. Wallace: got licked. Mr. Wallace died in 1859, which was 20 years before his son wrote “Ben Hur.” I can’t help it if most of my stories end that way.

A Woman's View By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

HE century's greatest: love-story is about to have its happy ending. When Mrs. Wallis Warfield becomes the Duchess of Windsor a great sigh will g0 up from millions of fluttering feminine hearts, and the dream of all these love-frustrated beings will be realized. According to the old formula, public interest can leave them now, knowing that all is well “at long last” with two storm-wracked souls against whom the fates connived in vain and whose future must be serene since their past has been so tempestuous. Cold reason, however, which like the proverbial woman always gets in a last word, asks several troublesome questions. Does man ever live by love" alone? Is the benediction of happiness given to those who take or to those who serve? . The Duke of Windsor and his future Duchess belong to the “takers” of our world. Their future stretches before them bright with promise. Mcney, ease, luxury, adulation they may expect, as naturally as the bird expects the morrow’s sunshine. From the coffers of the royal family will come the cash for their physical comfort and their financial security; from the hearts of the people who are forever inter= ested in royalty, glamour and love will pour forth adulation. But ease for their souls, they must obtain for themselves. And if human nature is what it has always been, . no lowly woman who possesses any of the ancient beautiful things of life—husband, home, babies, friends, or work—need envy the former Baltimore belle. The severest task is still before her—the task of keeping love alive, in surroundings that are too comfortable, where pleasure is habitual instead of occasional, and where there is no objective save the satisfying of trivial desires. : Life is pretty certain to be dull unless one endows it with some high purpose. All philosophies have proved that. - Man becomes a free and happy being only when he sets himself a task and learns to give instead of take. Great as love may be it is not enough to. satisfy baffled middle age. For married people find it hard to remain content unless they strive toe gether toward some common goal. Yet whatever the future may have in store for our Duke and his Duchess, the world wishes them only happiness.

"Your Health

- By DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN

Editor. American Medical Assn. Journal

Y\ cannes of the heart prevents it from suce cessfully pumping the blood, and the blood cone sequently may stagnate in various parts of ‘the body. When this happens, the legs swell and fluid may accumulate in the abdomen. oy : From what has been said, it is apparent that endo carditis is one of the most serious diseases that can affect a human being, and that its treatment is one of the most difficult problems that faces the medical profession. Most of these patients become chronic invalids. Thev cannot do a full day’s work. Some of them may ‘be confined permanently to their beds. : In the treatment of endocarditis, all sorts of new methods have been attempted but thus far none has had conspicuous success. One method has been to inoculate a well person with a vaccine made of germs taken from a victim, and then to transfuse blood from the well person to the invalid. This method may occasionally yield success but, in the vast majority of cases, it seems to have failed." Injection of vaccines directly into a patient also have rarely been successful. Heat treatment has been tried recently and, although it seems to benefit an occasional patient, there is no evidence that the method is helpful in bringing ‘about cure in the majority of cases. -Of course, the same treatment that was described for rheumatic fever may be applied in the various forms of endocarditis. Of this treatment, rest is the outstanding feature. The patient remains in bed flat ‘on his back until the doctor permits him gradually to “sit up. His diet is light and his digestion is controlled. As improvement occurs, the doctor must decide how much and what type of work and exercise tha patient may take. ; 3 The trained physician will be able to use certain drugs which increase the power of the heartbeat and control its rate. All these drugs. however, are exceedingly potent and none .of them should be tried except under the immediate direction of a doctor who fully

Mr. Scherrer

understands their use. an ;

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