+ All Categories
Home > Documents > BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM

Date post: 31-Dec-2016
Category:
Upload: donhan
View: 218 times
Download: 4 times
Share this document with a friend
2
1612 NOTES FROM INDIA. -BIRMINGHAM. *’American." " We Americans practising in this country Uock on the terms "American dentistry," "Teeth on the American system," and such like expressions as advertising How long will this be allowed ‘! I am, wirs, yours faithfully AMERICAN DENTIST. NOTES FROM INDIA. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) The Health of Bombay rurd lbt, System, of Derth Registration mc India.-Municipal Improvement Incidence of Plague. Ix the present state of the system of registration of deaths - in Bombay it is almost guess-work correctly to apportion the - deaths to the different diseases. Phthisis, for example, fluctuates week by week in a most extraordinary fashion and would appear at times to be epidemic. The present death- rate of the city is 53’60 per 1000, the deaths for the past ’week having been returned at 830. Of this number there were 173 deaths registered as due to plague and 113 as due ’to phthisis. There is practically no cholera or small-pox. ’l’o improve the system of recording deaths it is now pro- posed to make it the duty of the nearest relative to produce a certificate from a medical man. It is also proposed to establish a certain number of public free - dispensaries and for the officers in charge of these ’to act as registrars. Many of the piivate charitable dis- pensaries have promised to co&ouml;perate. When it is remem- bered that for nearly all over India the causes of deaths are just those which the relatives choose to name, and that perhaps not 5 per cent. of the deaths are certified by <qualified medical men. it will be understood how worthless most of the statistics are. The only calculable feature in them is that the same errors continue year after year so that for local purposes some sort of comparison can be instituted. When the death is not due to some easily recognisable disease, such as cholera, or small-pox, or phthisis, or ’dysentery, it is generally put down to fever, so that the return ot about 5,OOO,OOu deaths annually from fever is not surprising. The same crude system is in vogue in Calcutta, ’in Madras, and in other towns. In these supervised places the number of death" may be fairly correct. whilst the causes remain problematical. In the country districts the total xiumber of deaths is liable to great error. Calcutta. as I have already reported, is making arrange- ments to have a constant supply of filtered water, and the "drainage of the suburban areas is also receiving attention. The conservancy has considerably improved lately and the .streets are much cleaner. The tramway company is pro- ceeding actively with an electric service which is expected to commence with the new yea. Madras, on the other hand, seems asleep. There is no scheme afloat for any general .improvement. The drainage is bad and the water-supply is suspicious. The roacls are as bad as they can be, and the hackney carriages are the "show" of the world. In Dangalore city some attempt has been made to open out the - congested parts, and in Ootacamund the catcliment areas of the water-supply have been safeguarded. The general plague figures for India have not been pub- lished. but local reports show that the disease is spreading in the Punjab and at Poona. In Calcutta and the Bengal .districts there is little change. Nov 14th. BIRMINGHAM. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Corportion Bill: Sanitary Clouses The Corporation Hill at present before the Birmingham City Council is causinn considerable excitement. A public .meeting is to be held to discuss the many proposals set .forth, and to certain of them decided opposition is expected. Thua the laundry clauses enact that the medical officer of health may by notice require to be furnished with a list, of the customers of any person earning a livelihood or deriving gain from the washing or mangling of clothes during the past six weeks. Payment will be made at the rate of 6(/.. for every 25 such names and addresses, but no payment is to exceed 3s. The penalty for non-compliance is 40s. and a daily penalty not exceeding 20s. Another proposal is that when any scholar who attends any school within the city shall be known to be suffering: from any infectious disease the principal or person in charge of the school shall forthwith send notice to the medical officer, and shall furnish to him at his request a list of the pupils attending the school and their addresses. For the purposes of this scheme of notification whooping-cough will be included among infections diseases. -No person being the parent or having the care or charge of a child who has been or is suffering from infectious disease shall, after a notice from the medical ollicei- that the child is not to be sent to .school, permit such child to attend school without having’ procured from the medical otlicer a certificate that there is no risk that such child will communicate his disease to others. The certificate shall be granted free of charge upon application. The clauses in respect to dairies are equally stringent. When it shall be certified to the corporation by the medical oilicer that the out- break cr spread of infectious disease is in his opinion attributable to the milk supplied by any dairyman the cor- poration may require such dairyman to furnish them with a list of the names and addresses of’all his customers within the city. Another section provides that a list of all the farms, dairies, or places from which the dairyman receives his supply may be demanded by notice. Also every dairyman shall nctify to the corporation or to the medical otricer all cases of infectious disease among persons engaged in or in connexion with his dairy. The penalties for non- compliance are throughout to be the same as those which 1 have mentioned under the laundry clauses. They are, in my opinion, calculated to prevent the spread of infectious disease in many directions. The General Hospital Tt2fectintcs Cases. The prevalence of scarlet fever has led in a number of instances to its introduction into the wards of the General Hospital through the medium of patients’ friends. A notice has therefore been issued by the authorities that all visitors shall be prohibited for a time-except in very exceptional and urgent instances. Another difficulty before the Medical Committee is the method of dealing with infectious cases in the out-patient room. It not infrequently happens that an out-patient is found to be suffering from scarlet fever or some infectious disease. The committee feel the necessity of providing isolation in such cases and suggest that some separate room should be provided where such patients can wait until removal is possible. The University Students. This has been a week of dinners. On Nov. 26th the annual dinner of the medical students was held under the Presidency of Dr. T. Stacey Wilson. The proceedings were enthusiastic and the meeting was well attended by the students and pro- fessors.&mdash;The 27th witnessed a meeting somewhat less regular in character, a dinner of the football club, the unforeseen expenses of which are said to be giving cause for thought.- The dental school held a dinner on the 29th at which occasion was taken by Mr. Humphreys to remark upon the good sense of the University in granting a dental degree. The professional status of the dentist, he said, had been raised thereby and Birmingham had set a proud example to other universities in this respect. It was stated that no fewer than 40 applications had been made by men holding good and influential positions requesting to know if the degree could be obtained without going through tl.e curriculum. ’ . Tlt6 Clinical Board and Post-graduate Study. Arrangements have been made by the Clinical Board for holding a double series of demonstrations at the General and Queen’s Hospitals for the benefit of those practitioners who purpose presenting themselves for the modified examination for the M.B., B.A. Birmingham, next June, and for others who may wish to see some hospital practice. The fee for the double series is five guineas and applications should be made to Mr. W. F. Haslam, 54, Newhall-street. Dec. 3rd
Transcript

1612 NOTES FROM INDIA. -BIRMINGHAM.

*’American." " We Americans practising in this countryUock on the terms "American dentistry," "Teeth on theAmerican system," and such like expressions as advertising

How long will this be allowed ‘!I am, wirs, yours faithfully

AMERICAN DENTIST.

NOTES FROM INDIA.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

The Health of Bombay rurd lbt, System, of Derth Registrationmc India.-Municipal Improvement Incidence ofPlague.Ix the present state of the system of registration of deaths

- in Bombay it is almost guess-work correctly to apportion the- deaths to the different diseases. Phthisis, for example,fluctuates week by week in a most extraordinary fashion andwould appear at times to be epidemic. The present death-rate of the city is 53’60 per 1000, the deaths for the past’week having been returned at 830. Of this number therewere 173 deaths registered as due to plague and 113 as due’to phthisis. There is practically no cholera or small-pox.’l’o improve the system of recording deaths it is now pro-posed to make it the duty of the nearest relative to

produce a certificate from a medical man. It is also

proposed to establish a certain number of public free

- dispensaries and for the officers in charge of these’to act as registrars. Many of the piivate charitable dis-

pensaries have promised to co&ouml;perate. When it is remem-bered that for nearly all over India the causes of deaths arejust those which the relatives choose to name, and that

perhaps not 5 per cent. of the deaths are certified by<qualified medical men. it will be understood how worthlessmost of the statistics are. The only calculable feature inthem is that the same errors continue year after year so thatfor local purposes some sort of comparison can be instituted.When the death is not due to some easily recognisabledisease, such as cholera, or small-pox, or phthisis, or

’dysentery, it is generally put down to fever, so that thereturn ot about 5,OOO,OOu deaths annually from fever is notsurprising. The same crude system is in vogue in Calcutta,’in Madras, and in other towns. In these supervised places thenumber of death" may be fairly correct. whilst the causesremain problematical. In the country districts the totalxiumber of deaths is liable to great error.

Calcutta. as I have already reported, is making arrange-ments to have a constant supply of filtered water, and the

"drainage of the suburban areas is also receiving attention.The conservancy has considerably improved lately and the.streets are much cleaner. The tramway company is pro-ceeding actively with an electric service which is expected tocommence with the new yea. Madras, on the other hand,seems asleep. There is no scheme afloat for any general.improvement. The drainage is bad and the water-supply issuspicious. The roacls are as bad as they can be, and thehackney carriages are the "show" of the world. In

Dangalore city some attempt has been made to open out the- congested parts, and in Ootacamund the catcliment areasof the water-supply have been safeguarded.

The general plague figures for India have not been pub-lished. but local reports show that the disease is spreading inthe Punjab and at Poona. In Calcutta and the Bengal.districts there is little change.Nov 14th.

BIRMINGHAM.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Corportion Bill: Sanitary ClousesThe Corporation Hill at present before the Birmingham

City Council is causinn considerable excitement. A public.meeting is to be held to discuss the many proposals set

.forth, and to certain of them decided opposition is expected.Thua the laundry clauses enact that the medical officer of

health may by notice require to be furnished with a list,of the customers of any person earning a livelihood or

deriving gain from the washing or mangling of clothes

during the past six weeks. Payment will be made at therate of 6(/.. for every 25 such names and addresses, but nopayment is to exceed 3s. The penalty for non-complianceis 40s. and a daily penalty not exceeding 20s. Another proposalis that when any scholar who attends any school within the

city shall be known to be suffering: from any infectiousdisease the principal or person in charge of the schoolshall forthwith send notice to the medical officer, andshall furnish to him at his request a list of the pupilsattending the school and their addresses. For the purposesof this scheme of notification whooping-cough will beincluded among infections diseases. -No person being theparent or having the care or charge of a child who has beenor is suffering from infectious disease shall, after a noticefrom the medical ollicei- that the child is not to be sent to.school, permit such child to attend school without having’procured from the medical otlicer a certificate that there isno risk that such child will communicate his disease toothers. The certificate shall be granted free of chargeupon application. The clauses in respect to dairiesare equally stringent. When it shall be certified tothe corporation by the medical oilicer that the out-break cr spread of infectious disease is in his opinionattributable to the milk supplied by any dairyman the cor-poration may require such dairyman to furnish them with alist of the names and addresses of’all his customers withinthe city. Another section provides that a list of allthe farms, dairies, or places from which the dairymanreceives his supply may be demanded by notice. Also everydairyman shall nctify to the corporation or to the medicalotricer all cases of infectious disease among persons engagedin or in connexion with his dairy. The penalties for non-compliance are throughout to be the same as those which 1have mentioned under the laundry clauses. They are, in myopinion, calculated to prevent the spread of infectious diseasein many directions.

The General Hospital Tt2fectintcs Cases.The prevalence of scarlet fever has led in a number of

instances to its introduction into the wards of the General

Hospital through the medium of patients’ friends. A noticehas therefore been issued by the authorities that all visitorsshall be prohibited for a time-except in very exceptionaland urgent instances. Another difficulty before the MedicalCommittee is the method of dealing with infectious casesin the out-patient room. It not infrequently happens thatan out-patient is found to be suffering from scarlet fever orsome infectious disease. The committee feel the necessityof providing isolation in such cases and suggest that someseparate room should be provided where such patients canwait until removal is possible.

The University Students.This has been a week of dinners. On Nov. 26th the annual

dinner of the medical students was held under the Presidencyof Dr. T. Stacey Wilson. The proceedings were enthusiasticand the meeting was well attended by the students and pro-fessors.&mdash;The 27th witnessed a meeting somewhat less regularin character, a dinner of the football club, the unforeseenexpenses of which are said to be giving cause for thought.-The dental school held a dinner on the 29th at whichoccasion was taken by Mr. Humphreys to remark upon thegood sense of the University in granting a dental degree.The professional status of the dentist, he said, had beenraised thereby and Birmingham had set a proud exampleto other universities in this respect. It was stated that nofewer than 40 applications had been made by men holdinggood and influential positions requesting to know if thedegree could be obtained without going through tl.ecurriculum. ’ .

Tlt6 Clinical Board and Post-graduate Study.Arrangements have been made by the Clinical Board for

holding a double series of demonstrations at the General andQueen’s Hospitals for the benefit of those practitioners whopurpose presenting themselves for the modified examinationfor the M.B., B.A. Birmingham, next June, and for otherswho may wish to see some hospital practice. The fee for thedouble series is five guineas and applications should be madeto Mr. W. F. Haslam, 54, Newhall-street.Dec. 3rd

1613MANCHESTER.-WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES.

MANCHESTER.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Poisoned by Roburite Fumes.

THERE was a, mysterious poisoning case recently at Ince,near Wigan. A man, his wife, and five children were

taken to the Wigan Infirmary in a critical condition,owing, it was presumed, to some irritant poison It was

thought at the infirmary, however, that the symptomswere more like those from the inhalation of noxious

fumes, an opinion now verified. It appeared that

the day before they were seized with illness a neigh-bour saw the man’s wife crushing a brown substanceinto a small tin, and she explained that she was going topepper the beds and bedclothing, "as we are nearlyworried," and she was going to put some on the floor tokill the cockroaches. As she and her family were so nearlykilled it may be presumed that the fleas and cockroacheswere slain. The woman admitted that she had mixed aquantity of roburite with some insect powder and scatteredit about the beds and clothing for the purpose of killing theinsects." She was at first afraid of stating this, fearing thatshe had done wrong. A somewhat similar case occurred afew years ago at Huyton.

17w Manclester Canccr Hospital.The annual meeting of the Cancer Pavilion and Home, as

it has hitherto been called, was held on Nov. 26th, Mr.Alfred Hopkinson, the Principal of the Owens College,presiding. It was resolved, in order to recognise the greatservices rendered to the institution by the late ChancellorChristie-for without his generous help it could not have beenfounded-to change the name to "The Christie Hospital."The wards have recently been extended, so that it has beenpossible to deal with more patients than formerly-viz., 108m-patients and 100 out-patients, against 88 and 91 in theprevious year. Owing to this extension and to the provisionof Roentgen ray apparatus which had been purchased at theurgent request of the medical staff the hospital is somewhatin debt, but the fact did not seem to cause any alarm. Themedical report stated that the youngest patient admittedwas 16 years of age and the oldest 81 years. the averageage being 52’1 years During the year 42 patients whowere admitted in a hopeless stage of the disease and whocould not be properly treated at home have been givenan abode in the home for the remaining period oflife. At the request of the chairman Dr. R. B. Wild

gave a short account of the Roen gen apparatus. He saidthat the results had been satisfactory in arresting thedisease in some cases that were going from bad toworse. "He thought that in this and other wayssome portion of the hospital funds might be used in inves-tigating the causes and possible cures for the scourgeof cancer." " This suggestion was well received, the chairmansaying that he, in common with many of the subscribers,felt strongly that one of the objects of such a hospital wasthe pro-ecution of such investigations. " He was gratified tofind that the association of the hospital with various institu-tions such as the Owens College was growing."

Manclester Housing Scheme.The Housing Sub-committee of the Sanitary Committee

of the Manchester City Council, have just shown a verysensible spirit. Some time ago plans were adopted formodel cottages to be built at Blackley, one of thesuburbs to provide accommodation for some of thosewho were dispossessed by recent changes. These plansbrought strong adverse criticism, one of the pointsbeing that the arrangement would condemn many of thecottages to be sunless. New plans have been adopted, inmany respects following those of model cottages built at

Leek, the chief additions being a bath-room on the ground-floor and behind the kitchen fireplace. This room is to bemade available for washing purposes generally. There isalso to be a third bedroom. The only fear is that thecottages will be too costly to allow of low rents. The planehave yet, however, to run the gauntlet of the city counciland the Local Government Board.

Hospital Saturday Fund.The annual meeting of the Hospital Sunday and Saturday

Fund was held in the Manchester Town Hall yesterday. J DJ1900 the committee were able to distribute &pound;1000 more thanin the previous year, though there were large calls on the publicfor other purposes, and this year the total of the two funds,.E8180, is an increase of Z1226 over last year. This increaseis gratifying, but, as the chairman of the committee remindedthe meeting, Manchester stands very badly as compared withother large towns. There is a proposal to build a convales-cent home which will cost at least &pound;10,000, towards which.a, substantial contribution has been promised and the giftof a site has been offered.Dec. 4th.

_________________

WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Wcztcr-supplies.IN spite of the rainfall in many parts of South Wales and’

Monmouthshire being far above the average rainfall iii!

England and Wales, and although there are ample gather-ing grounds, there are still many populous districts whichare very inadequately supplied with potable water. At

Newport the supply is not constant even now and is onlyavailable between 7 A.M. and 6 P. M. At Abertillery, a

mining district in Monmouthshire the population of whichhas increased from 11,000 in 1891 to 22,000 in 1901,is a reservoir with a storage capacity of 45,000,000gallons and it is proposed to construct a second reservoirat a cost of &pound;30,000 to hold 50.000,000 gallons.-The supplyof water to Llanelly in Carmarthenshire, although notinsufficient in quantity, has been recently reported upon byinspectors of the Local Government Board as very unsatis-

factory in quality, and the district council is being urged bythe board to take steps to provide for the efficient filtrationof all water supplied for domestic purposes, and also to-reduce as far as possible the sources of pollution in thegathering grounds. The water running into one reservoiris compared by the Board’s inspectors to pea-soup,and they state that on the gathering ground thereare 38 farms and 55 cottages, many of which draininto ditches and streams which eventually dischargeinto the reservoir and are gradually filling it up with solidmatter.-In the Rhondcla and Pontypridd districts, as alreadystated in THE LANCET of Sept. 21st, 1901, p. 817,the principal supply reaches the consumer so discolouredwith peat that he refuses to drink it. In 1899 Professor

Percy Frankland reported that this water was inefficientlyfiltered and quite recently examinations made in the CardiffPublic Health Laboratory show that no improvement hastaken place in this respect. A clause in the PontypridclWaterworks Company’s Act provides that the water as itenters the mains shall not only be "pure and wholesome

"

but that it shall also be "properly filtered." " There can,therefore, be no reason for not calling upon the company tocarry out its statutory obligation.

New Poor-law Infirmary at Bristol.The wooden huts at Eastville for the accommodation of

the sick poor have long been a blot upon the Poor-lawadministration of Bristol. It is therefore very gratifying tobe able to record that on Nov. 29th the board of guardiansdecided to advertise for tenders for the erection of a

new infirmary, the cost of which, exclusive of the site and offurnishing, is estimated at E 142,000, a sum which if borrowedand repayed in 30 years means an addition to the rates ofthe city of one and one-eighth of a penny in the pound. At

present there is accommodation at the Stapleton Workhousefor 270 patients and at Eastville for 200, of whom 175 are inthe huts. That this accommodation is totally inadequate isshown from the statement made by a member of the boardthat even now at the beginning of the winter there are 834sick persons in the two workhouses.

Uni.vcrsity Collefle, Cardiff.The successor to the late Principal Viriamu Jones is

Mr. Ernest Howard Griffiths, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of SidneySussex College, Cambridge. Mr. Griffiths is the son of thelate Rev. Henry Griffiths, a former principal of the BreconTheological College.

Consure upon Cardiff Workhouse Officials.An inquest was held in Cardiff on Nov. 28th and 29th upon


Recommended