Medicine: California v. New York

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Dr. John Augustus Hartwell, 61, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, a great surgeon and teacher, is one of those friends. He and Mr. Satterlee sat immaculate at opposite ends of a long table. They intermittently scowled and smiled at each other. Dr. Hartwell, a tall, bald, big-boned, well-groomed gentleman, thoroughly hated his chore of speaking for New York medicine. But he and most of his associates want Drs. Coffey & Humber and their cancer extract kept away from New York. They are positive that the Californians have no scientific foundation for their work and claims. They fear that the hope of a Coffey-Humber cancer cure will persuade the cancerous to abandon the orthodox treatment of surgery, X-rays and radium. To support his arguments he had present the presidents of every county medical society in and adjacent to New York City. In addition he had:

Dr. Clarence Cook Little, 42, onetime (1925-29) president of the University of Michigan, now managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer. His Society for the Control of Cancer, he explained, took no side on the Coffey-Humber matter. But he personally believed that Drs. Coffey & Humber had better follow up their work in California. Dr. Francis Carter Wood, 61, the ruddy, learned director of the Crocker Institute of Cancer Research, editor of the new American Journal of Cancer (TIME, Jan. 12) was also present. Dr. Wood is one of his country's greatest experimenters in cancer. Francis Patrick Garvan and his Chemical Foundation act upon everything that Dr. Wood says regarding cancer. He said last week that there was no established merit in the Coffey-Humber extract; better leave it alone.

Dr. Burton Thorn Simpson, 58, the rotund, chubby director of the New York State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease at Buffalo, spoke for himself and for Dr. Thomas Parran, State Commissioner of health. Dr. Simpson agreed with the other Easterners.