O\u27Brien, Kenneth J.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 30 | Number 4 Article 11November 1963More About the Missions ...Kenneth J. O'BrienFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationO'Brien, Kenneth J. (1963) "More About the Missions ...," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 30 : No. 4 , Article 11.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol30/iss4/11Watson-Watt, R.: Observations on the ethical responsibility of the scientist. Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 33: 3-7 January 1963. Herold, G.: The physician's profes­sional secrecy. Munchen Med.Wschr. 104: 2354-2357 Dec. 14, 1962(in German). tween Viscount Samuel and Pr -fessor Herbert Dingle. Londo : George Aller and Unwin, L l. 1961 Arch. Int. Med. 112: 147-l 8July 1963. Guttmacher, A. F.: Oral contracep­tion. Postgrad. Med. 32: 552-558 December 1962. Behrman, S. J. The infertile couple:diagnosis and management. Post­grad. Med. 32: 454-461 November1962. Yaffee, H. S.: Perichronditis in null6 caused by change of headdress.Arch. Dermat. 87: 735 June 1963. Fox, R.: Medicine versus morals: a reply to a sociologist. Lancet 1:1238-1242 June 4, 1960.David, A, Moral reverberations ofcybernetic medicine. Presse Med.69: 1193-1194 May 27, 1961 (inFrench). Gerard-Marchant, R.: Should be atany cost prolong the life of in­curables? Presse Med. 69: 1051 May 13, 1961 (in French).Mortimer, R. C.: Moral problems inmedicine. Dia. Med. 32: 2661-2663Dec. 1, 1960 (in Spanish).O'Donnell, T. J. (S.J.): The moralityof triage. Georgetown Med. Bult.14: 68-71 August 1960. Desjardins, A. U.: What the phy­sician should tell a patient who is afflicted with a malignant lesion.J. Maine Med. Assn. 51: 200-207June 1960. Ge!pi, J.: Moral limits of human therapeutics: its study. PrensaMed. Argent. 46: 1520-1522 June12, 1959 (in Spanish). Giussepe, B. M., De Senarclens, J.,and Gronen, J. J.: Human experi­mentation: a world problem fromthe standpoint of spiritual leaders.World Med. J. 7:80 March, 1960.Herberger, W.: The problem of in­curable. patients as a human andtherapeutic duty for the physician.Z. Aerztl. Fortbild. 53: 1458-1466 Dec. 1, 1959 (in German)). Bean, W. B.: (Book Review) AThreefold Cord: Philosophy, Sci­ence, Religion: A Discussion Be-176 Aring, C. D.: (Book Review) T e Human Situation by Willi, n Dixon. New York: Oxford u, i­versity Press. 1958 Arch. Int. M d.112: 136-138 July 1963,Bean, W. B.: (Book Review) Whi d­head's Philosophy of Science ,yR. M. Palter. Chicago: Univerr tyof Chicago Press. 1960 Arch . • it. Med. 112: 138-139 July 1963.Pickering, G.: Manners mak th man: a plea for the importanc, of character in medicine. Brit. JI, •d.J. 2: 133-135 July 20, 1963.The Baroness Wootton of Abin� 'r:The law, the doctor, and the d, ,i­ant. Brit. Med. J. 2: 197-202 J 1ly27, 1963. Vernejoul, R. de: Need for renr ,a­tion in the teaching of deontol gy.Folia Clin. Int. (Barcelona) 13 40-41 January 1963 (in Spanish)Webb, A. H.: A plea for elucid.: 10n of basic ethical principles md systems. New Zealand Med. J 62: 143-145 March 1963. Levy, M.: Fourteenth century r, · us­Jim medicine and the Hisba .. Ted. Hist. 7: 176-182 April 1963.Minkowski, M.: Neurobiology, , 10r­als and relii;rion. Schweiz. / rch.Neural. Psychiat. 91:37-46 196.·, (inGerman). CONTRIBUTORS: The following contributors are L1eo­Iogical students at Alma College. Los Gatos, California: P.J.K. (Patrick J.Kenny, S.J.), T.T. (Thomas Till, S.J.), J.T.A. (Joseoh T. Angilella, S.J.), P.F.B. (Paul F. Belcher, S.J.),J.R. (James Rude. S.J.), J.T.D. (J. Thomas Deasy. S.J.), A.N. (AlfredNaucke. S . .J.). L.J.T. (L. John 1'opel,S.J.). A.J.R. (Anton J. Renna. S.J.). W.J.W. (William J. Wood, S.J.), and D.A.D. (Donald A. DePaoli, S.J.). Readers Interested In submitting abstrads, please send to: Eugene G. Laforet, M.D. 170 Middlesex Rd. Chestnut HIii 67, Mass. LINACRE QUARTERLY MORE ABOUT THE MISSIONS . . .KENNETH J. O'BRIEN, M.D.NEW YORK With the assistance of theCatholic Medical Mission Boardof 10 W. 17th Street, New York,and at the request of Father Ro­land Bordelon of the CatholicRelief Services, N.C.W.C., B.P.2479, Leopoldville, Republic ofthe Congo, I recently spent sixweeks in the Congo. Besides ren­dering orthopedic care to thesick, an evaluation of the healthneeds of the Congo was made.The Republic of the Congo(Leopoldville) is situated incentral Africa. The country isapproximately one quarter thesize of the United States (Alaskaincluded). The equator crossesthe northern portion of the Con­go. The vast Congo river exceeds�700 miles. The nation's capital1s Leopoldville, which is severalm_iles upstream on the CongoRiver. There are other cities ofsmaller size in the interior, butthe remainder of the huge coun­try is primitive and is composedquarters and tall, concrete, air­conditioned apartment and of­fice buildings. Beautiful homesare situated in the better resi­dential areas. Electricity andrunning water, with all their as­sociated home conveniences arecommonplace. The food supplyis only fairly satisfactory nowand food is purchased at infla­tionary prices. Drinking watermust be boiled before consump­tion (as it must be throughoutthe Congo) . Congolese houseboys are reasonably hired forof rolling plains, jungle andhighlands. Wild life and mineraldeposits are extensive.The population of the Congoexceeds 13,500,000 persons. Thereare more than 5,000,000 Congo­lese Christians, most of whomare Catholic. The c o m m o n  language isFrench. The political situation in!he Co!lgo has been graduallyimproving and at present mostr�gions are entirely safe for mis­sionary medical work. Leopoldville combines an areaof crowded Congolese living-NoVEMBER, 1963household chores. The tempera­ture averages 78 degrees and ismore comfortable than thewarmer summer days in NewYork City. Light protective clothes are used throughout theyear in all areas of the Congo.There are extensive educationalfacilities in the region of Leo­poldville, including LovaniumUniversity. An excellent medi­cal school is there, with a Uni­versity hospital. Several otherhospitals are present in Leopold­ville; the largest is a generalhospital of 1200-bed capacity.In the more remote bushareas, the mission hospitals varyas to size, facilities and needs.Some hospitals are very new, with modern operating rooms. Some operating rooms have nev­er been used. There are 43 Cath­olic mission hospitals that pres­ently function without a physi­cian. Other hospitals are over­taxed, have poor equipment, little food for patients and per-177 .. sonnel, and they lack medicines. �Y: br1:akd<;>wn of existing fa­c1bties rs disastrous, since re­placements are delayed or im­p_ossible to obtain. Transporta­tion and procedural difficulties exist everywhere. Malnutrition, anemia, intesti­nal parasites and malaria are nearly universal in the Congo. Other parasites and venereal diseases occur frequently. Lep­rosy is present in 10% of the population of some regions, as is tuberculosis. Herniae and frac­tures are frequent, and epilepsy prevails. Hepatitis and cirrhosis are common and hepatomas are seen often enough. Tetanus neo­natorum, snake bites and albi­nism are noted. Maternal mor­tality and neonatal deaths are high. Congenital defects are seen fairly frequently. Prior to independence 780 physicians were working in the Congo, and still more doctors were needed. The total number of physicians at present is about 300 (many are W.H.O. doctors). There are about one dozen American physicians, all Prot­est�nt . missionaries, devotingtheir time and energy to the sick at several hospitals in the in­terior. Physicians of all types are ur­gently needed in the Congo. The 178 Lovanium University School :lf Medicine needs a Public Hea th specialist and the many miss m hospitals need general pra, ti­tioners and specialists in 111 fields. Dentists are few in m n­ber. Nurses are needed for b ,th teaching and administering n1 rs­ing care. Ancillary med ;::al workers can also help the m .ds of the Congo. Medical sup1 1es are short. These include ant el­mintics, drugs for leprosy, r 1ti­biotics for tuberculosis and a ..1te infectious diseases, surgical in­struments and medical texts Fi­nancial help is also being so ght in order to obtain the above up­plies and perhaps even to 1elp pay transportation costs and support some medical mis-.10n­ary who is able to give his o her services for a year or mo. e to this cause. The medical needs of the --::on­go are unique in a way, ince they offer many missionar op­portunities for work at hos •itals that are already establ'shed. These needs will decrease after several years, because of the ex­pected increase in the number of graduating Congolese students of medicine and other health fields. Our request therefore is for immediate help to extend only over the next several years. LINACRE QUARTERLY ___ Qcck l<eview __ _ Pere Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). Letters from a Traveller 1956. Translated by Bernard Wa�l, with introductions by Sir Julian Huxley, Pierre Leroy, S.J. and Mme. Claude Aragon­nes. Review by Michael Kelly, M.D. East Melbourne, Australia The editor, Madame Claude Aragonnes, is cousin and inti-. mate friend of Teilhard de Char­din. She has contributed por­tions of more than 124 letters from him to this book. Fifty-six were to his brother and 17 to his · close friends Max and SimoneBegouen. A further 39 to Teil­. hard's friend the distinguishedpalaeontologist, the late AbbeBreuil, give the work the cor­rectly scientific atmosphere. In addition to her own touchingnarrative filling the gaps be­tween the letters, the editor hasincluded more than one foot­note per page. Some of these areby translator Wall, who has add­ed a short note by Teilhard'sfriend Julian Huxley, and trans­lated into English a special ap­preciation of Teilhard by hislifetime friend and colleague,the Jesuit palaeontologist PierreLeroy.Teilhard de Chardin was amany-sided character; the book shows up well his love of God and mankind and his affectionfor all created things. Its title isremarkably accurate; truly Teil­hard was a traveller. And whilehe travelled he made friends;NOVEMBER, 1963and he kept those friends. These letters show more of the friend t�e wise counsellor and the mys� be than of the scientist. But he confided to his cousin and friend, his brother and his best friend everything which was in his heart. He developed a re­markable gift for understanding men. He spent four years in the trenches as a stretcher-bearer and he won the Military Medal and the Legion of Honour (later for his scientific work he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour). He traversed China many times in every direction, by mule-cart, by caterpillar tractor, by train, and in the last few years once or twice by aero­plane. He was there from 1923 to 1946. A week after his first ar­rival he was off on an expedition for 1500 miles into the heart of China. In three months he was back laden with specimens. Most of his letters are written from different parts of the interior of China; he even went 3000 miles in 1932 as far as Kashgar in Sinkiang. He quickly tabulated the re­sults of his journeys and con­tributed them to journals (his total publications number 320). He was soon recognized as an expert, and confirmed this in 1929 by identifying the Peking man (Sinanthropus), an import­ant link in human descent. After this he was off every second year to a world congress or with a scientific mission. Throughout this book he seems very mobile, 179 

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