To the Editor of the "Nonmi-Cnina Darty News"
Sin.—The fact that one of the worst pestilences of China has been the topic of a discussion among a large circle of non-professional people cannot be welcomed warmly enough. Everyone will' be thankful to the Rotary Club of Shanghai for throwing some light ea the terrible and ina (better known here 'Chinese pink-eye") by speech. But will not be peasibio in pursuance of sucha discussion in publie—which T may' permitted to define as an admonition to the publie—to get some practical conclusions for the suffering' popula-
It 26 per cent. of the population of China are said to be affected by trachoma (an amount which, according to my own experience rather seems to be under-rated, but not at all exaggerated), we all have to ponder over what can be done to annihilate such a danger, deleterious from the hygienic point' of view well 26 from the social. And we lay stress upon such thoughts even mor when considering that Europe, affected by trachoma thoroughly just a hundred years ago, has been freed from this grave danger entirely, of least In ils western and" northern parts, and considerably improved in practically every country of the con-
Withour discussing medical details, I inlay assert that even without spending a lot of - money it will be possible, after a few years, to diminish trachoma very considerably, and a large town like Shanghai offers the best chances for this struggle. If there are established vans, similar to those for vaccination-purposes, provided with medicines sntitracho~ mat ous, which will pass through all district of the town systematically, and which will provide the disease-stricken population with gratuitous treatment, a great many of them will bbe improved very quickly, and a complete restitution after a longer period fan be assured very often also. There need for nothing else but: Propa~ sanda-leaflets (according to those for Vaccination), two or three well Tarses for every van; and lat bat not least a specialized physician; the Tatter (doubtless there will be physieians who like to work honorarily for such a good work) may perform controlling-visits only every (we or three weeks for discovering patients due for the treatment, and the therapy may be done, according to his advice, by the nurses only. 'Thereby, every single treatment' can be given cheaply, that is casts will be calculated by coppers rather than cents '(medicines when bought Wholesale, are very cheap for the whole treatment).
Technical details of such kind of general and public treatment cannot be given here to-day, but I remember that Hungary and Russia have established such Kind of medical Supervision some years agu, and, according to their reports, with great suees.
Which is the more attractive aim: prevention of blindness or prevention of disease? And 11am convinced the modern progressive China can be cured and healed from trachoma as well as Europe, Shanghai, Aug. 24,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.