Pepsin Inactivation in Ulcer Therapy

Abstract

The Advancement of Dermatology With regard to the specialty itself, and to those who practise it, the lack of a Diploma in Dermatology is a serious handicap to the advancement of the subject. Holders of special diplomas are essentially men whose competence has been assessed by others than their own teachers. Even allowing for the faults inherent in an examination system, one usually finds that thc majority of men who have achieved a difficult diploma are men of worth. In these highly competitive days when most specialties in medicine and surgery have their diplomas, there is considerable danger lest the poorer quality of man is attracted to a specialty which demands no particular hall-mark of intensive effort. The establishment of a diploma would not benefit only the diplomates-it would tend to standardize, and thus to improve, the nomenclature of our subject, to crystallize our views on therapy, and very materially to increase the standards of teaching of dermatology.It is desirable that we should develop much greater facilities than at present exist for research. At the present time, when the methods of research are becoming more and more specialized and the technicalities of mathematical assessment are becoming increasingly important, there is danger lest we be outstripped in research in our own specialty by scientists who have had little or no dermatological training. There are problems of preventive dermatology which must be solved -problems in rehabilitation which must be met. In these fields we can make rapid progress, particularly if we collaborate with our colleagues in physical medicine, pharmacology, chemistry, and psychology.Points Relevant to the Army Finally there are three points relevant to the Army to which I must refer. When the time comes for us to shed the bright panoply of war the measure of our success-or failure-in our present effort will be the effect which our work has had in influencing the military medical strategy of the future. Very sincerely do we hope that we will have succeeded in ensuring three matters:1. That in times of peace dermatology is not swamped by venereology, and that a permanent cadre, small though it will be, of medical officers will keep alight the torch of dermatology.2. That from the outset of any 'future campaign it will be remembered that skin diseases are a vital cause of inefficiency and that full provision will be made both at home and abroad for dermatological services, proportionate in size and efficiency to the problems which will assuredly arise.3. That, with the help of the Matron-in-Chief, the British soldier sufferincg from a cutaneous disease receives treatment in wards in which the nursing is supervised by sisters.We, the dermatologists in the Army, owe much to many officers of high and low rank who have helped to smooth our way; it would be an impossible task to name them all, as one would like to do ; but to three officers of the higher executive we are greatly indebted-first, to the DirectorGeneral, Army Medical Services (Lieut.-Gen. Sir Alexander...