CLINICAL LABORATORIES AND THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

In the Organization Section of The Journal this week is an abstract together with some comments on a broadside from the American Chemical Society relative to the work of clinical laboratories. This ill tempered pronunciamento has furnished the public with the unedifying spectacle of one professional society of high standing accusing another body of attempting to procure a monopoly. Since the question concerns what is principally a commercial problem ancillary to the practice of medicine, no one involved—either accuser or accused—can benefit in the eyes of the public by the methods employed in the attack.

In essence, the American Chemical Society maintains that the American Medical Association is attempting to obtain a monopoly in the field of diagnostic laboratory work by approving only those clinical laboratories which are directed by one holding an M.D. degree and by urging physicians to patronize only such laboratories. There is no allegation that the