CHRONIC RHEUMATIC JOINT DISEASE IN GENERAL PRACTICE.* By PHILIP

Chronic rheumatic joint disease is the greatest single cause of disability in temperate climates and is said to produce more pensionable invalidism than any other condition except cardiovascular disease in old age. It is therefore unfortunate that chronic arthritis, which is so formidable a scourge in this country, should, until recent years, have been relegated to the list of uninteresting and incurable diseases, and in consequence been treated almost with indifference by the profession as a whole. Because of the indifference shown by our profession to this group of diseases the growth of irregular practitioners has increased by leaps and bounds. Moreover, the indifference shown particularly to an important branch of therapeutics-" physical medicine "--in the treatment of this disease, has been largely responsible for the encouragement of such irregular practitioners, who have not failed to take real and unscrupulous advantage of our neglect.