Current Comment

THE COCOANUT GROVE FIRE  The Cocoanut Grove night club fire in Boston on Nov. 28, 1942, in these days, each of which brings some new tale of conflict or disaster, now seems like ancient history. Some of the medical aspects of that disaster were discussed in The Journal.¹ A preliminary report by Moulton,² technical secretary of the National Fire Protection Association, indicates that the lessons of that disaster will not be lost. The onset and course of the fire, the structural features and design of the property, fire fighting operations, activities of emergency organizations and the factors which contributed to the immensity of the disaster are fully described. Most of the victims died from burns and inhalation of smoke and flame. The statement of Dr. Watters, associate medical examiner of the Southern Suffolk District, says he remembered only one broken bone—a rib—in the hundreds of bodies he examined;