DTI A MI I 1cAkN D i Y flhril v m 'Maternit HEospital Called 'Disgrace to U he State sY °v 2. UNIVERSITY MATERNITY HOSPITAL'S single, narrow, winding stairway (above) is a traffic problem for staff members. According to State fire marshal's officers, two more stairways are needed if the building is to continue in use as a maternity hospital. 3. ALTHOUGH PATIENTS AND GARBAGE do not ride at the same time, this elevator (above) is used for both--because it's the only elevator the University Maternity Hospital has. i 1. THIS IS THE ONLY ENTRANCE to the University Maternity Hospital. Built in 1904 as an eye, ear, nose and throat clinic, this structure h s served for the past 15 years as the University's maternity center and training ground for medical students. SIGLER WILL APPRAISE: Poor Facilities Harass Staff, atients f By ART HIGBEE As one student nurse said, "It's a poor place to show off a new baby." Or as Prof. Norman F. Miller of the Medical School told Governor Kim Sigler this week,1 "the Uni- versity's present maternity hospi- tal is a disgrace to the State." The governor has promised to come and take a look at it. And the State Legislature is now-considering whether or not funds to complete the new ma- ternity hospital should be in- cluded in the appropriation re- quested by the University for construction purposes. Meanwhile, we went over yester- day to take a look at the old ma- ternity hospital,.and it didn't look too good. The building is 54 years old and was never constructed as a ma- ternity hospital in the first place. It has been used as such for the past 15 years because special ac- commodations have always been contemplated-but never, com- pleted. Construction on the Univer- siiy's new maternity hospital, part of the state-approved "Vic- tory Building Program," was halted at the foundation stage a year ago so that State appro- priations could be used to fin- ish construction of classroom buildings. The new hospital, at an estimated cost of $1,725,000 would include 75 beds for moth- ers. The old hospital has 35 beds- which makes it, on this basis alone, just about half big enough. Re- sult: the Medical School has a makeshift arrangement with a De- troit hospital whereby students are "farmed out" there for their ob- stetrical training. A look at the old hospital's other facilities is even more enlighten- ing: They include only one en- trance, one stairway, one elevator, one bathtub-and no kitchen. This means that the entrance and elevator used by patients are also used for bringing supplies in and carrying garbage out. The garbage cans are steril- ized, of course. The whole hos- pital is up to standard in sani- tation, but it's a tough job keep- ing it that way. Lack of a kitchen means that patients' meals must be brought by truck from the University hos- pital two blocks away. The single stairway is a terrific problem and a fire hazard. More than a year ago, State fire mar- shal's officials inspected the hos- pital and ruled that if the build- ing were to continue to be used as a maternity hospital, two new stairwells must be constructed at either end of the building. The stairwells have not been built. Meanwhile, the only fire escapes are of the antiquated metal tube variety, hardly suita- ble for bed patients. Rooms for these ° bed patients aren't exactly spacious. Some ofr them have been constructed around entrances to the fire es- capes, and are so small that if a patient sits up in bed she strikes her head on a steel roof support. The amphitheatre isn't very popular wtih medical students and nurses. Pointing out that the seats are uncomiortably small and that only about four people can view the proceedings at any one time, they say "it's no fun to be jerked out of bed in the middle of the night to watch a delivery if you can't se any- thing anyway." They deplore the lack of facili- ties for movies or slide demonstra- tions, and the inadequate class- room space. 4 5. THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL has beds for 35 mothers, but only one bathtub (below)-a pretty small one, at that. It is used for special heat treatments. 4. THIS IS A SAMPLE ROOM (below) at the maternity hospital. If the patient sits up straight she'll bump her head on the steel roof support. If the bed were moved to the other side of the room it world block the entrance to the fire escape. 'U' Doctors Seek Cancer Cause by Research on Anima ls C Scientists Trace Spread of Virus Through Mice By HERB MADALIN Cancer, killer of one out of every ten persons and second in the cause of death in the United States today, is very much in the spotlight now at the University. immunolog little of whi As in all mals playt cer resear ones being As a result of work done here mice are us and elsewhere, cancer may some areofsc day be put low down on the list of of cancer, b mortality much as diphtheria, thir work1 whooping-cough, smallpox and breeding ra other notorious killers have been certain stra in the past. ease with w At the University cancer re- dled. search laboratory, a team under Rabbits a the direction of Dr. Reuben Kahn ducing anti and Dr. Albert Wheeler, is slowly studied in moving ahead in animal experi- velopmenti mentation, transmitting cancer not be use from one animal to another, mak- tion, becau ing observations, collecting data-1 produce an seeking the basic facts about the awn species. y of cancer, relatively ich is known at present. medical research, ani- the main role in can- ch, the most suitable mice and rabbits. The ed in the actual growth being highly suitable for because of their rapid te, the suspectibility of ains to cancer, and the hich they may be han- are chiefly used in pro- bodies, whose action is relation to cancer de- in the mice. Mice can d in antibody produc- se an animal can not tibodies effective in its To date cancer research has fol- lowed three lines of investigation -chemical, virus, and genetic. In- vestigators tend to look with dis- favor on the genetic theory be- cause it would make the whole problem hopeless if cancer were hereditary. Research has definite- ly established, however, that cer- tain types of cancer are transmit- ted by virus. It is also known that certain types of cancer may be caused by chemical substances, similar to sex hormones produced by the body. One approach to the cancer problem which Dr. Kahn and Dr. Wheeler are using is the investi- gation of tests for detecting changes in the blood pattern which may occur in cancer. This "serological pattern" which is found by a series of precipitation tests on the blood may be deter- mined for every person as well as in animals, and is found to vary in different diseases. It is on this principle that the well-known Kahn test for syphilis operates. As in all other types of research, cancer research advances con- stant experimentation, checking and rechecking of experiments, and slowly gathering more and more facts until some day the facts may be fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle and a solution to the cause of cancer found. Affiliated Men Approve Rule Reactions of fraternity men to the IFC resolution outlawing haz- ing were generally favorable. 4 DR. WHEELER and one of his assistants, Frank Nakamura are here (left) shown injecting human tissue into a rabbit. 1.: MICE PLAY a prime role in cancer research. Here are shown some of the mice housed in a recently built annex to the labora- tory. Mrs. Ella Brandon is removing with typical feminine reluct- ance one of the rodents previous to its use in an experiment. Since the University lost a large source of its mice supply when the Cancer Research Institute in Bar Harbor, Maine, burned down, a large number of the mice are now bred at the University laboratory. Afflm