812

evening meetings for parents at various schools, apractice which might be widely extended. The

only effective safeguard for the future lies inensuring that boys and girls shall not reach therealm of manhood or womanhood without knowingthe danger to their own health and that of othersresulting from immoral practices. Dr. Macalister’saddress before the Royal Institute of Public Healthwill be read with profit by all engaged in thevenereal campaign when it appears in the Journalof the Institute.

THE REINSTATEMENT OF DR. JOHNHENDERSON BELL.

ON June 29th last Dr. John Henderson Bell wasconvicted at the Marlborough-street police-courtof "attempting to produce a disease" in a manbelonging to H.M. Forces, and at Clerkenwell

police-court in the week following of "doing anact preparatory to producing a disease or infirmity

"

in. another member of H.M. Forces. On convictionhe was sentenced to six months’ imprisonmentwith hard labour, subsequently modified on appealto six months’ imprisonment in the second division.The General Medical Council on Thursday of lastweek, after hearing at length the evidence tenderedby Dr. J. H. Bell and by counsel on his behalf,did not see fit to erase his name from the MedicalRegister. The fact of conviction had to be acceptedby the Council; that was, the President stated, itsestablished practice. Reference to the Councilwas limited to a consideration whether or not theevidence justified removal of Dr. Bell’s name fromthe Register. Dr. Bell in his own statement con-tented himself with describing the treatment hehad administered, which appears to us in the lightof a perfectly usual and proper medical routine.The General Medical Council appears within thelimits dictated by its constitution to have takenthe same view, and we congratulate Dr. Bell on hisacquittal from criminal action and on his completereinstatement in the view of his professionalcolleagues. A miscarriage of justice has therebybeen rectified, although tardily.

Sir Bertrand Dawson will deliver the CavendishLecture on" The Future of the Medical Profession "

at the West London Hospital on Thursday, July 4th,at 8.15 P.M. -

THE Croonian Lectures of the Royal College ofPhysicians of London will be given by Dr. W.Langdon Brown on Tuesdays and Thursdays,June 13th, 18th, 20th, and 25th, at 5 o’clock, thesubject being " The Rôle of the SympatheticNervous System in Disease."

THE BELGIAN DOCTORS’ ANDPHARMACISTS’ RELIEF FUND.

SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE SECOND APPEAL.THE following subscriptions and donations to the Fund

have been received during the week ending June 1st:-JB s. d. £ s. d.

Dr. Killen............ 1 1 0 0 Sir Rickman Godlee ... 4 2 . 6 1Dr. Edhir............ 1 1 0 Dr. A. Bowe (sale of ,

Medical i Insurance microscope) ......... 1 5 0 ]Agency (ppr Dr. Has- Dr. Taylor ......... 2 2 0 lip, chairman) ...... 50 0 0 Subscriptions to the Fund should be sent to the treasurer

of the Fund, Dr. H. A Des Vceux, at 14. Buckingham Gate, ILondon, S W. 1, and should be made payable to the Belgian fDoctors’ and Pharmacists’ Relief Fund, crossed Lloyds Bank, Limited.

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION IN THEALDERSHOT COMMAND.

Sir Watson Cheyne took recent occasion in Parliament,from very much inside knowledge, to suggest that themedical conduct of the war had been impaired by a gooddeal of administrative muddle. It would have been rather

extraordinary if the machinery devised to meet the needs ofa small standing army had been found adequate to deal witha war which broke out suddenly, assumed the proportion ofa world struggle in a few hours, and was from its commence-ment attended with completely new departures ir. everysphere of medicine.

The Early Strugqles with Difficulties.The country, as far as medical administration went,

was not so unprepared in the pre-war days as it was inmany other directions ; the arrangements with regard toTerritorial medical officers had been well devised and werepromptly put into action, while remarkable voluntaryactivity on the part of the medical profession as a whole,both in general and special directions, placed at thedisposal of the authorities from the beginning the materialfor a large and unusually competent medical depart.ment of the Army. But the plans of the Territorialside had to be acted upon with great precipitancy, while thevoluntary or temporary officers of the Royal Army MedicalCorps had to be sifted from an immense and heterogeneousmass into a service where numbers went where numberswere required, and where special duties would be renderedaccording to the demand upon them by persons properlyqualified to discharge them. It was inevitable that theadministrative work thus postulated should be attended withgreat difficulties, and that some of these difficulties would begot over less readily than others, and to these facts SirWatson Cheyne was alluding in much the terms that havebeen openly employed in our own columns. We all knowthat, in many places and for many reasons, there was a lackboth of economy and of right adaptation in the use of themedical material at the disposal of our armies. How couldit have been otherwise at first? And there we leave thismatter, premising that in medical circles the troubles thusindicated are not believed to have been removed entirely,but they are now being dealt with in accordance with ageneral and orderly scheme. The Medical Advisory Boardhas been reconstituted under Lieutenant-General Goodwin,and is taking steps to obtain along the different lines the bestavailable medical talent for the Army; while a new cardindex, giving the full history of every medical officer withthe forces, will prevent a wrong use of special qualifications.I Sir Watson Cheyne’s remarks referred to an earliersituation, but they were taken by various critics ofthe Army Medical Service as implying that the netresult of medical efforts in this war has been failure,whereas it really is, in’ general terms, success. It wasleft for the well-known weekly paper Tracth, to more com-pletely misunderstand Sir Watson Cheyne than any otherjournal, and this is astonishing, because the criticisms inTruth on naval and military administration, both before thewar and since, have always been marked by accuracy as wellas fairness. Truth, however, seized upon Sir WatsonCheyne’s statements, and said that they were no doubtinspired by knowledge, and that instances to support hisview of mismanagement in executive departments were

not far to seek. And this is the unfortunate example ofmismanagement that Truth selected to offer for publicconsideration :-"Towards the end of 1915 some wiseacre decreed that all surgical

cases at. Aldershot were to be treatad in the Cambridge Hospital and allthe medical cases in the Connaught Hospital. In theory it sounded prac-ticable, but in working it has meant a vast amount of trouble and reduplication of labour. At times the Connaught is overcrowded, whilehalf the beds are empty in the Cambridge, and vice versa. In addition.each hospital hag numerous V.A. D. hospitals affiliated to it, and thesebranches now have to draw patients from both hospitals, thus doublingthe inspection and clerical work and generally creating confusion.Yet, although the unworkability of the scheme has been demonstratedbevond all cavil, no attempt has been made to acknowledge that it wasa mistake. I suppose somebody’s amoitr proper would be hurt."It would have been almost impossible to find a more completeexample of representing the thing that is white as black.

813

As a matter of fact, the story of medical development inthe Aldershot Command supplies a good example of evolutionin difficult circumstances, and it is now told in some detail,because the difficulties with which the Royal Army MedicalCorps in this country have had to struggle on their adminis-trative side have never been sufficiently appreciated. Someexcellent books have been written to illustrate the manyadversities with which military medical organisation hashad to cope abroad, in the far East, and the East, and theWest, and doubtless the circumstances on those fronts haveoften been of a more moving nature than any which homeenvironment can supply ; but those who know the mass ofeffort which had to be started, sifted, and arranged athome will recognise the total unfairness of representingthose efforts to have resulted in general failure, though par-ticular breakdowns may have occurred. One of these hasnot occurred at Aldershot.

The Medical Administration of tlte Command.The two great hospitals at Aldershot, the Cambridge and

the Connaught, are military hospitals, and before the wartook all sorts of cases--medical, surgical, and special-arising in the area of a great Command. The hospitals wereof the usual military pattern, had about 500 beds each, andserved the needs of the Command, receiving also their propor-tion of military patients from abroad: When the war broke outthe two hospitals, maintaining their general range, becamethe centres of tremendously increased work. Special depart-ments were added, temporary officers were attached asmedical or surgical specialists, or as experts along all theusual lines of differentiation. At the Cambridge a large’number of new huts were added, while around Aldershot,through the patriotism of private citizens, Voluntary AidHospitals sprang up, and were staffed by the local medicalprofession, and supervised from the Cambridge and Connaught.The following figures will give an idea of the expansion ofthe Cambridge and Connaught, the pre-war figures of theiraccommodation being 472 and 500 beds respectively, notincluding some 80 or 100 beds in the Thornhill IsolationHospital. In January, 1916, there were 730 beds in theOambridge. in June of the same year 760 beds, and to davthere axe 946; in January and June, 1916, there were 900beds in the Connaught, and to-day there are 1200.The map shows the foundation all round the two hospitals

of V.A.D. hospitals which have arisen in response to localgenerosity, and which are staffed by local medical men underthe supervision of the officers of the Cambridge and Connaught.(Fig. 1.) As the war went on the work both in and affiliatedto the two big hospitals grew larger, the various necessitiesfor specialism in many directions increased, with the resultthat at each institution work was being done in duplicationor triplication of work done elsewhere, and it became evidentto Sir Alfred Keogh, at that time Director-General of theArmy Medical Service, that the old pattern was incapable ofextension and that modification was needed so as to meetthe new requirements. The staff needs were filled by temporaryofficers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, as the regularofficers of that corps went off mostly into administrativeposts, and while all these officers worked to the utmost oftheir ability the conditions under which the work was donewere severely against them. In some instances they were notwell selected for their posts, and in no case did they enjoyany security of tenure. They were in the hospital one daytrying to learn duties for which they were without the properequipment, and the next day saw them drafted elsewherewhen, perhaps, they were just beginning to realise their

shortcomings as a prelude to being really useful. It was

impossible not to see that there was ample room for reform ;indeed, that it was necessary to change a system which con-tained within it all the elements of failure. of disappointmentfor the medical staff, and even of malpraxis for the patients.Sir Alfred Keogh took the advice of Sir Arbuthnot Lane,who, on being appointed Consultant Surgeon to theCommand, recommended, as the first step towards sub-stituting order for well-meaning but haphazard and oftenineffective tactics, that the Cambridge Hospital should beconverted into a purely surgical institution and theConnaught Hospital into a purely medical hospital. Theimmediate result was to set free in the Connaught for patho-logical and research work a great deal of accommodationpreviously designed for surgery, and to give increased spacein the Cambridge for surgical development.

T7te Res2ilta of Rcfor»a : the Cambridge Hospital,At both hospitals the reform was taken full advantage

of. At the Cambridge the appointment was made at onceof experts for surgical, pathological, and ancillary work inevery department, the men to whom the posts were givenbeing selected for their fitness. Their names cannot be

given in deterence to the general rule which governs allmilitary activity, a rule which precludes the publication ofthese staffs, even in the Army List, although that officialcompilation is no longer in general circulation. But, as amatter of fact, their names, in many instances, are familiarto our readers, who know, therefore, that the description ofthem as well fitted for their posts is truth and not-in theslang of the moment-a collyrium. Their numbers are

significant. In July, 1915, the medical staff numbered 46,including 6 specialists ; in April, 1918, when the work wasproperly arranged, a far larger number of sick could be dealtwith more adequately by a staff of 2, including 9 specialists.Under the new pattern a fine operating theatre was built

and other space was gained for the practice of surgery by theremoval elsewhere of the record office, whose premises arenow utilised in the out-patient department, and by therearrangements for surgical stores. Departments were

immediately erected within the hospital for specialist treat-ment and the intensive care of patients along the new lines.These departments cover the whole range of modern scien-tific surgery. There is an Abdominal Department, a Genito-Urinary Department, while other surgical cases are allottedto a Department for Fractures (further subdivided into

Simple and Compound), an Orthopaedic Section, Sections forThroat, Ear, and Eye cases, an Electrical and X Ray Depart-ment, Massage and Gymnastic Departments, and Psycho-therapeutic and Pathological Sections. A department wasalso instituted for the treatment of fractures of the jaw andall the generdl and cosmetic surgery and dentistry includedin this category of injury. This department rapidly grew inimportance and offered a field for some remarkable newsurgery, both in theory and technique ; and, when it becameclear that its energies required more room in which to

develop, suitable accommodation was found for it at Sidcup.The work which is now being done at Sidcup was describedin THE LANCET last November, and many typical cases ofthe treatment there given of terribly and patheticallyinjured men have been published since, with iilustratioi3s.1All this splendid work was started at Aldershot, and theopportunity for evolution into a centre of permanent import-ance, where some of the saddest wreckage of the war couldbe restored to the duties and amenities of citizenship, wasmade possible by the grouping of surgical cases whichfollowed on the transformation of the Cambridge into apurely surgical institution.

In the meantime, and despite the relief given by theremoval of jaw surgery to the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup, thepressure on the space of the Cambridge increased, and howit was met is indicated by the fact that there were onlv sixI I huts" before the war, while 23 have been erected since.Of these "huts" some are on the same plateau as the mainbuilding and others in the valley below, while their descrip-tion as "huts" should have a few words of explanationbecause those who have not actually seen the modern

hospital "hut" obtain, from popular association with theword, a wrong impression of the accommodation given.The huts at Aldershot are thoroughly well-found hospitalannexes, clean, airy, adequately furnished, heated, and

lighted ; they are in every respect suitable for the receptionof most forms of surgical cases, not in the first acutestages. The huts in the valley are reserved for walkingcases (which to a great extent implies patients who are ableto go to a central latrine) and are only a few yardsfrom the central hospital; the patients who sleep in themgo up to the main building for meals, as well as to the variousspecial departments for their surgical treatment. The hutsare entirely suitable for the purpose to which they are put.(Fig. 3.)The surgical work within the walls of the hospital and its

annexes led immediately, when it was arranged along anorderly pattern. to great development in the treatment ofout-patients. The out-patient department of the Cambridge

1 See especially THE LANCET, Nov. 3rd, 1917, pp. 687, 850, 852, 888,and 892.

814

is now of a valuable consultative nature, and its large rangeis indicated by the fact that in 1917 upwards of 60,000 caseswere treated in the various sections, including, of course, inthis figure the cases seen on more than one occasion. All thesecases were seen at the Cambridge either by an expert surgeonfrom the general consultative point of view or by medicalofficers specially detailed for work under the various indi-cated sections. The point to be remembered is that allthese thousands of cases were referred to the experts

by the medical officers in the various units of thecommand. They were all cases under treatment where theassistance of the expert was required by the medical officerin whose charge the patient was. An out-patient, we maytake it, is differentiated everywhere from an in-patientmainly by the two facts that first, transit to the hospital doesnot present insuperable difficulties to him, and, secondly, hisgeneral condition is not acute. With those differences theclinical material, finding its way to the out-patient depart-

FiG. 1.-ALDERSHOT COMMAND: MAP OF THE HOSPITALS, CENTRAL AND AUXILIARY.

I - -

The sites of the Cambridge and Connaught Hospitals, the Military Hospital, Woking, and the Frensham Hill Hospital arespecially indicated, and the auxiliary hospitals are shown connected by lines to them. The circle circumscribing a dotsignifies that the institution while auxiliary to one hospital receives patients from the other. Thus, the Alton andHenley Park Hospitals, auxiliary to the Cambridge, receive patients from the Connaught; and the Windlesham andEversley Hospitals, auxiliary to the Connaught, receive patients from the Cambridge.

815

FiG. 2.-Cambridge Hospital. Aldershot.

ment of the Cambridge, differs little from the clinicalmaterial supplied by the more severely sick cases within thewalls ; it follows that every unit in the command has the usefor surgical purposes of special departments in genito-urinary,orthopaedic, throat, ear, eye, and dental surgery. At theelectrical and X ray departments out-patients obtain mostvaluable help in the later stages of their disabilities.

tJeveGopments at the Connaught Hospital.While the conversion of the Cambridge Hospital into a

purely surgical hospital gave fine opportunity for surgicalwork, the conversion of the Connaught Hospital into a

purely medical hospital had similar results for general, pre-ventive, and special medical work. The Connaught is moremodern than the Cambridge as a building, dating only from20 years ago, and the structural opportunities were takenfull advantage of when the alteration in function had beendecided ......., A4- the times of +1,.u.......u.’t:ïBA. uvaa, c U"’.LL.J. VL U.l...l.

conversion, that is to say in March.1916, there were two operatingtheatres-one, which was fullyequipped and quite efficient for allordinary purposes, was part of the

original building (of this more anon) ;the other was a new building withall modern conveniences, situatedon the ground floor. The lattertheatre, where the lighting was notwell arranged, included the usualannexes met with in modern theatres-namely, rooms for the preparationof the patients, for storing anti-

septics, for dressings and assistants,for anxsthetists, and for laboratorypurposes. On the conversion of theConnaught into a purely medicalhospital the upstairs operating theatrewas kept for surgical work, beingretained in readiness to meet anyemergencies that might arise withinthe walls of an institution containingnow over 1200 beds ; for the patientsdo not exhaust the possible source

of emergency surgical trouble, as

the institution is the centre of manyactivities in which accidents an anddo occur to those in varied employ.Here are still performed operations

of an absolutely urgent character upon cases whose chanceswould be jeopardised by transfer. The cases are operatedupon by the surgical experts at the Cambridge Hospital,which is only a mile and a half away; in other words,delay in consultation between the two hospitals is not

really greater than might often occur between the surgicaland medical wings of a general hospital.While the upstairs theatre was thus retained for emergency

use, the new operating theatre with its annexes was trans-formed into quarters for a first-class electro-therapeutic depart-ment (Fig. 5), comprising an X ray room with all modernapparatus workable under exceptionably good conditions,with rooms for every form of electro-therapy, includingmercury vapour lamp, sinusoidal treatment, and radiantheat, as well as electric baths. A third room is kept formassage, and a fourth for the officers in charge of thedepartment. This elaborate department replaces a previous

Fir. 3.-Lower huts at Cambridge Hospital; view of interior.

816

small and inconvenient X ray room, which when the

Connaught was a mixed hospital formed all the accommoda-tion that could be allotted to a therapeutic developmentthat had come into being after the hospital was built

During the year 1917 an average of over 50 patients a dayhave received treatment in the new electro-therapeuticdepartment, while continuous radiographic work, represent-ing investigations into gast’o-intestinal diseases and thoracicdiseases, is able to be carried on.

Before conversion into a medical hospital the Connaughtwas in possession of a small pathological laboratory, but the Isetting free of the room where the X ray department hadbeen previously and inadequately housed, afforded space forthe addition of a first-class pathologi(al laboratory. (Fig. 6.)And as a further example of useful employment of spacemade possible by the conversion, there may be mentionedthe use to which has been put an annexe or secondaryoperating theatre adjoining the upstairs theatre, which istill retained for surgical emergencies. This apartment hadformerly been utilised as a small operating theatre for septiccases. It has now been converted into a malaria labora-

opinion, and incidentally, as he has had a special leaningtowards this sort of work, he personally investigates andtreats all gastro-intestinal cases, of which from 12 to 20are always constantly under investigation.

(2) The pathologist. To illustrate the scope of the workundertaken it is interesting to note that during 1917 224complete blood examinations were made, 3544 sputa wereexamined for tubercle bacilli, and 393 pleural effusionswere examined bacteriologically.

(3) The neurologist, to whom, in addition to special wardwork, patients requiring special neurological investigationare referred by the divisional officer or directly from outside.In addition to being an experienced neurologist this officer isexceptionally skilful in psycho-therapy, as is shown by hisexperiences in a few days with patients who have lain bed.ridden in other institutions for months. During 1917 hesaw no less than 900 out-patient cases, so that his successhas been on a scale which numerically counts.

(4) The oculist. He has a ward in addition to a largeout-patient practice, how large is indicated by the fact that10,642 out-patients attended the department during 1917.

FiG. 4.-Connaught Hospital, Aldershot.

tory to accommodate the exigencies which this enormouslyincreasing work has necessita ed. Here the blood of thepatient is rapidly examined and here investigation as to theefficiency of various forms of treatment is constantlyprooeed-ing. In the malaria department, in 1917, 858 patients weretreatfd in the hospital, and in addition the bloods of approxi-mately 2000 out-patients were examined for the parasite.The inquiries being carried on with regard to malariaare of first-rate importance. The cases arriving at thehospital are carefully analysed under the headings of

type of disease, geographical provenance, pathology, andbacteriology, the results of previous treatment being noted ;a centre is in this way provided for exactly that kind ofintensive work which is the mark of modern medicine.With regard to the medical officers, the story already told

of the Cambridge holds good for the C nnaught. Themedical officers were formerly appointed with no specialregard for their qualifications or for their posts-they weremainly birds of passage-who did their best in circumstancesall of which militated against the truly scientific treatmentof disease. The present staff comprises the following :-

(1) An officer in charge of the medical division. He actsin the capacity of general supervisor. H sees out-patientswho are sent up for a special medical opinion by officers incharge of units or by medical boards who desire a specialist’s

(b) An officer in charge of electro-therapeutical depart-ment, who is assisted by a civilian and by four N.C.O.’s andmasseurs.

(6) An alienist.(7) Officer in charge of tuberculous patients. He has

generally from 20 to 40 patients under his care who areinvestigated with special reference to tuberculosis. He isa specialist in this branch in civil life. He deals with thedisposal of positive cases to sanatoria and elsewhere, accord.ing to suitability.

(8) Officer in charge of malaria patients. He has hadspecial tropical experience. The number of malarial patientsin the hospital at present undergoing treatment is 90. He is

usually assisted by one, and sometimes two, other officerswhose services are utilised elsewhere in addition whenrequired.

(9) A variable number of officers in charge of medicalwards. This number at present is reduced to the lowestpossible limits simply by some of the specialists abovereferred to taking on general medical cases. This numberis never greater than four, and at present two only areengaged in general ward work.The st-aff has, in fact, been specially selected in accordance

with the lines along which differentiation of treatment hasbeen designed to run.

817

It remains to beadded that the Con-naught Hospital is

practically always sfull, for the Aldershotdistrict itself is veryextensive, while con-

voys from overseas

take all available bedswhen cleared.

Economy in Service.As the Connaught

Hospital is only a mileand a half away fromthe Cambridge, eachinstitution can a tshort notice borrowthe services of any ofthe medical staff ofthe other, and the

patients can be inter-changed for specialtreatment, or, while

remaining in the einstitution to whichthey were originallyallotted, can receivethe expert advice ofthe medical officersattached to the othercentre. The consult-ant in manipulativesurgery, the expert ingenito-urinarydisease,and so on, are all ableto render assistanceat both centres, andthe same applies to

eye and ear experts, topathological students,and to electrical andradiographic workers,and to psycho-thera-peutists. Especiallydoes the p s y c h o-therapeutical workbecome useful in the

out-patient depart-ment, and as the wargoes on we learn howvitally necessary toour appreciation, andtherefore to our treat-ment, of many diffi-cult and obscure casesthe. help of psycho-therapy is becoming.In short, no redupli-.cation of labour hasoccurred through thedifferentiation in

scope of the two hos-pitals, but reduplica-tion has been avoidedand suitable staffshave been appointed.The V.A.D. Hospitals.

It will be seen fromthe spot map howmany Voluntary AidHospitals have comeinto being in thedistrict. All thework done in theseinstitutions is super-vised from the Cam-bride and the !’t.,..

FIG. 5.-Connaught Hospital, Aldershot. The ground-floor operating theatre which was convertedinto a room for electro-therapy.

FiG. 6.-Connaught Hospital, Aldershot. The Pathological Laboratory.mic vvaa-

naught. The patients find their way into the institutionsby drafts from the supervising institutions when the earlier , stages of their condition have brought them to a point at which, though strict attention may still be required, the

constant care of experts is no longer called for, andcan be more economically employed in acuter cases.Some of the V.A D. hospitals are entirely surgical,

receiving patients from the Cambridge. and some entirely

818

medical, receiving transfers from the Connaught. Otherstake patients from both these institutions who can beremoved from the military hospitals when a convoyof fresh sick is expected from abroad. Thus the bigmilitary hospitals can be kept at full blast of workingup to the moment when telephonic communication warnsthe commanding officers that a certain number of bedsmust be cleared. Time is so given for the selection of thepatients who can best be removed, and the whole thingworks smoothly, for, owing to the main division existingbetween the medical and surgical cases, the removals can beeffected according to an orderly pattern, instead of resultingin the re-sorting up of heterogeneous material.

An Efficient Scientific Centre.Medical administration in the Aldershot Command may

be taken as a type which is thoroughly satisfactory aliketo the soldier, the civilian, the public, and the manof science. The plan on which it works is a thoroughlysound one. If hitches occur they must meet with speedydetection and obtain speedy remedy; and if that doesnot sound like high eulogy it is submitted that morecan never be said in truth of any great and complicatedendeavour arising out of unforeseen and tremendouscircumstances, where the phases of activity undergo per-petual and sudden variety. A place for a recognised expertand an expert in each place is the motto of a scheme whichwas carefully thought out as soon as its need becameobvious. To suggest that less time might have elapsedbefore the existing scheme came into being is a fruitlessbranch of criticism. It is the sort of criticism which offers(and will offer for a long time to come) opportunities to thedisgruntled in regard to every branch of our naval andmilitary undertakings; but the time spent in arguing onsuch lines can be better employed in the further develop-ment of the reforms which in both Services have beeninstituted to meet the proven needs.

URBAN VITAL STATISTICS.(Week ended June lst, 1918.)

English and Welsh Towns.-In the 96 English and Welsh towns,with an aggregate civil population estimated at 16.500.000 persons.the annual rate of mortality was 12’7, against rates decreasing from 15. 0to 13’7 per 1000 in the three preceding weeks. In London, with a popu-lation slightly exceeding 4,000.000 persons, the death-rate was 12 5, or0’9 per 1000 below that recorded in the previous week; among theremaining towns the rates ranged from 1’8 in Enfield, 4’7 in East- ’,bourne, and 5’6 in East Ham to 21’0 in West Hartlepool, 23’1 inBury, and 26’1 in Barnsley. The principal epidemic diseases caused380 deaths, which corresponded to an annual rate of 1*2 per 1000.and included 174 from measles, 113 from whooping-cough, 44 frominfantile diarrhoea, 33 from diphtheria, and 8 each from enteric feverand scarlet fever. Measles caused a death-rate of 2’4 in Rotherham,4’2 in Hull, 4-4 in Wakefield, 7’6 in West Hartlepool. and 10’9 inBarnsley ; and whooping-cough of 1’8 in Walsall and 3 3 in Barnsley.The 797 cases of scarlet fever and 1242 of diphtheria under treatmentin the Metropolitan Asylums Hospitals and the London Fever Hos-pital were 2 and 15 below the respective numbers remaining at theend of the previous week; there were also 3 cases of small-pox stillunder treatment, but no new case was admitted during the week. Ofthe total deaths in the 96 towns 141 resulted from violence. Thecauses of 32 deaths were uncertified, of which 4 were registeredin Birmingham and 4 in Liverpool.

Scotch Towns.-In the 16 largest Scotch towns, with an aggregatepopulation estimated at nearly 2,500,000 persons, the annual rate ofmortality was 12’4. against 17’0 and 15’5 per 1000 in the two pre-ceding weeks. The 274 deaths in Glasgow corresponded to an annualrate of 12’8 per 1000, and included 20 from measles, 7 from whooping-cough, 4 from diphtheria 3 from infantile diarrhoea, and 1 fromenteric fever. The 71 deaths in Edinburgh were equal to a rate of11’1 per 1000, and included 2 from scarlet fever and 1 from infantilediarrhoea.

Irish Towns.-The 137 deaths in Dublin corresponded to an annualrate of 17’9, or 2’4 per 1000 below that recorded in the previous week,and included 9 from whooping-cough, 5 from infantile diarrhoea, and1 each from measles and diphtheria. The 122 deaths in Belfast wereequal to a rate of 16’2 per 1000, and included 5 from whooping-coughand 1 from infantile diarrhoea.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON.-Anextraordinary Comitia was held on June 3rd, Dr. NormanMoore, the President, being in the chair. An interim reportwas received from the committee appointed to consider theproposed Ministry of Health, and it was resolved-

(1) That the College take steps for the formation with other bodies ofa small joint committee on the suhject.

(2) That such joint committee shall have power to communicate, whennecessary, with the Government. and to inform it on any part of thesubject, reporting from time to time to the College.

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KINEPLASTICS, OR THE CONSTRUCTIONOF MOTOR AMPUTATION FLAPS.

AT the Royal Society of Medicine on May 30thProfessor V. Putti, director of the Rizzoli Instituteat Bologna, as spokesman of a group of Italianorthopaadic surgeons, gave an account of the con-struction of flaps in amputation stumps capable ofindependent movement and designed to reduce inthis way the resulting disability. A brief note ofhis paper (which we print in full in our presentissue) and abstracts of papers by Dr. Gino Pieri,army surgeon of Verona, and Professor AugustoPellegrini, from the Red Cross Hospital at Chiari,were read at the Inter-Allied Conference on theAfter-Care of Disabled Men, and appear in theprinted report of this conference (H.M. StationeryOffice. Price 5s.).

A Monograph on an Artificial Hand.Allusion was made by Professor Putti to the work of German

and Austrian surgeons in the same field, and as this has sofar not been made accessible to British readers we give abrief résumé of a monograph on an " Artificial Hand Capableof Voluntary Movement," published by Jul. Springer (Berlin)in the autumn of 1916, written as a guide for surgeons andsurgical instrument-makers by Professor F. Sauerbruch, untillately director of the surgical clinic at Zurich, and Dr. A.Stadler, physician to the Singen Hospital. Sections on surgicalanatomy are contributed by Professor G. Ruge and ProfessorW. Felix, from the Zurich Institute of Anatomy. No claimis made in the book that the goal of an artificial voluntaryhand has been attained, but it was issued in response to theneed for some account of the surgical and technical workalready done.The authors point out that in the writings of early times

no mention is made of any kind of artificial instrumentsupplied to replace the loss of a limb, with the sole exceptionof a certain Marcus Sergius, who, according to the youngerPliny, having lost his right hand in the Second Panic War,had an iron one fitted in its stead. The first artificialhand capable of independent movement was designed in1835 by Ballif, a surgical technician and dentist in Berlin,shoulder and trunk movements being utilised to initiate thehand movements, a method also followed in later models.Nearly ten years ago Elgart connected the real tendons of along forearm stump with the make-believe tendons of anartificial hand, unconsciously following an idea alreadyworked out by Vanghetti 1 ten years earlier. Nagy furtherdeveloped this idea in the case of a lost finger, using thetendons enveloped in skin to provide the motive force.

Surgical Anatomy. -

The anatomical aspect of the subject is closely discussedin relation to the sources from which the upper limb derivesits power of movement, defining the relation between thelength of the stump and the force available for transmissionto the artificial hand. One of the most important pointsfor the surgeon to bear in mind is the preservation of thosemuscles which give certain special movements to the stump.Anatomical relations are such that in any area of availablemuscular power in the arm or forearm, the preservation ofboth flexor and extensor action is always possible. To uniteflexors and extensors, with their differing nerve-supply, toform a single motive force is opposed to natural physiologicalprinciples. It may be possible to preserve more than twosources of movement, the surgeon using his judgment as towhether the subject will be able to utilise to good purposethe muscular power thus conserved. In general, the firstaim will be to perfect a simple model before advancing to amore complex.

Before coming to a detailed account of their methods theauthors strike a note of warning in regard to exaggeratedhopes ; even in the most favourable circumstances theusefulness of an artificial hand must remain strictly limited,No instrument can afford the sense of touch, nor can the

1 A paper by Dr. Giuliano Vanghetti on the Theory of the Vitalisingof the Prosthesis is also included in the report of the Inter-AlliedConference.