THE TREATMENT OF ARTERIOSCLEROSIS OBLITERANS

The problems presented by the development of arteriosclerosis are of overwhelming magnitude both medically and socially. Their potential significance is, nevertheless, for the most part hopelessly underestimated. Yet, unless satisfactory solutions are found for the varied facets of this massive loadstone, it may prove too heavy for our present civilization. Once before when our civilization was threatened by the weight of a great problem, a then little known man, Abraham Lincoln, suggested a mental approach which appears equally applicable to the present: "If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it." For centuries men have sought the secret of longevity. The alchemists, soothsayers and astrologers flourished in the courts of many dynasties that they might prolong the lives of the rulers. The search for this secret drove men such as Ponce de Leon to