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517 to. "THE EFFECT OF NASAL OBSTRUCTION ON ACCOMMO- DATION." To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,—In your report in THE LANCET of Aug. 8th of my remarks on r Dr. Maxwell’s paper on the above subject at the British Medical Asso- t ciation the effects of expiration and inspiration are reversed. On page . 435, line 17, for "inspire" read expire; in line 20, for "expiration" .. t - read inspiration. I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, i Aug. 8th, 1896. RAYNER D. BATTEN. t L.R.C.P.I.-The medical man in question sbould instruct the syphon- water" manufacturer to abstain from publishing the signed testi- ( monial. It is always a pity for a medical man to give manufacturers i such testimonials, but the medical man in this case, presumably, did not know that his communication was going to be published abroad. " PUSH." ’ A CORRESPONDENT, writing above the aphorism " Live and Let Live,’ has set us a problem. How, he enquires, can an ignorant public dis- criminate between want of principle and " push " ? And he asks us to deal with the question. There can be no pronouncement made on the subject in the abstract. Between legitimate energy and illegiti- mate push there is no fixed line, while illegitimate push is necessarily linked with want of principle, though the want may be partial or total. In his letter, however, he gives an example of conduct which has come under his own notice. " I am not personally a sufferer," he says, "but there is one practitioner within two miles of my own house whose wife calls on every new-comer worth powder and shot almost without exception. The phenomenal success of her husband has induced another lady to adopt the same plan. The first, I regret to say, does not confine herself to new-comers, but does not scruple to try her hand even when a practitioner is actually in attendance. She can apparently lie when there is anything to be gained by it, and is not above slandering an opponent of her husband’s when the thinks she can do so with impunity, as I very well know." No one can have any doubt that deliberate efforts on the part of - a wife to detach patients from another practitioner and secure them for her husband constitute in that husband, if he knows of her conduct, distinct "want of principle." But our correspondent is advised not to be too ready to believe that the husband always does know of his wife’s indiscretions. 11’. L. B. will find an advertisement relating to the subject on page 54 of THE LANCET General Advertiser in our issue of Aug. 8th. We do not know the fees. AN INFECTING DISINFECTOR. A CHILD suffering from a mild attack of’ scarlet fever was kept indoors for forty days. The apartments were then disinfected under the auspices of the municipal authorities. Two days afterwards a spot was observed on one of the child’s tonsils, and on investigation it was found to present a diphtheritic character. The medical attendant was convinced that the disinfectors con- veyed the new disease, for no other strangers had been near the place and he himself had not visited the house for three weeks. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ? The foregoing case was com munictted on June 18th last to the Societe de Médecine Pratique in Paris by Dr. Roulin, the medical attendant, who further gave it as his firm opinion that disinfection by pulverisation, which is the method adopted in the city of Paris, gives illusory results. Appar- ently the infection must have been introduced in the manner indi- cated, but it is not always safe to depend on primd facie evidence. The question is a very important one, and we trust it will meet with due attention. M. D. Cantab.-A. and B. are equally responsible for the diagnosis and its results. From our correspondent’s letter it seems that there can be no doubt that the child was suffering from scarlet fever. ’’ PROOF rosn’ivE." STILL another sensational attraction has been provided by the managers of the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, in the shape of so-called " lion taming." The lions are exhibited by a Countess X.-said to have a genuine claim on the Almanach de Gotha-with the object " of proving that performing animals need not necessarily be cruelly treated during training or while performing." It is true that the lady is only armed with a whip and a short bar of iron, neither of which she uses while in the cage, but this does not prove that the animals have not been "cruelly treated during training." It gives probability to the statement of the management, but is no real proof and could hardly be advanced as such. A really interesting feature of the exhibition is three cubs born as recently as August 6th. Originally there were four, but " Ophelia " has died, leaving " Juliet," ‘’ Romeo," and " Hamlet to mourn her. The mother bears the name of " Zizi." FOREIGN BODY IN THE FOREARM. To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,-As an instance of the length of time a foreign body will remain embedded in the tissues without producing inconvenience or irritation, the following case appears to be worth recording. On Dec. 14th, 1894, late in the evening a woman accidentally put her right arm through a window, producing an incised wound three inches long obliquely across the forearm. I could not see or feel at the time that any glass was left behind, and with the aid of three cat- gut sutures the wound healed by first intention. I heard nothing more about it till early in last month, when she came to me complaining of pain in the arm and that she could not use it freely. I at that time could feel nothing, and having no " x " rays to help me told her it must be watched. On July 30th, while in her house vaccinating her baby, I casually asked how her arm was, and on examining it I could distinctly feel the edge of some- thing three inches higher up the arm than the sear. Having no instruments handy and thinking it wise to seize the opportunity, I ventured to try to pierce the skin with the edge of what was under- neath. With a little pressure the blunt edge came through, and with some difficulty I succeeded with finger and thumb in extracting a piece of glass,’shaped roughly like a lozenge, being half an inch in width and one inch and three-quarters in length. The wound produced is to-day quite healed. I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, Highgate, N., Aug. 6th, 1896. A. GOLDNEY CHITTY. " A Licentiate."-Yes. ERRATUM.—In the article on " Undulant (Malta) Fever" in THE LANCET of July 25th, on page 239, column 2, line 32, the words "febris undulatus should read febris undulans. Medical Diary for the ensuing Week. OPERATIONS. METROPOLITAN HOSPITALS. MONDAY (17th).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), St. George’s (2 P.M., Ophthalmic 1.15 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2.30 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), St. Mark’s (2 P.M.), Chelsea (2 P.M.), Samaritan (Gynaecological, by Physicians, 2 P.M ), Soho-square (2 P.M.), Royal Orthopaedic (2 P.M.), City Orthopaedic (4 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (2.30 P.M.). TUESDAY (18th).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), Guy’s (1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), West- minster (2 P.M.), West London (2.30 P.M.), University College (2 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2 P.li.), St. Mark’s (2.30 P.M.), Cancer (2 P.M.). WEDNESDAY (19th).-St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), University College (2 P.M.), Royal Free (2 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), Charing-cross (3 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (2 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2 P.M.), National Orthopaedic (10 A.M.), St. Peter’s (2 P.M.), Samaritan (2.30 P.M.), Gt. Ormond-street (9.30 A.M.), Gt. Northern Central (2.30 P.M.). THURSDAY (20th).-St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), University College (2 P.M.), Charing-cross (3 P.M.). St. George’s (1 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.ns.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2.30 P.M.), Soho-square (2 P.M.), North-West London (2 P.M.), Chelsea (2 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (Gynoeco- logical, 2.30 P.M.) FRIDAY (21st).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (3.30P.w.), Guy’s (1.30 P.M.B Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), Charing- cross (3 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2 P.M., Ophthalmic 10 A.M.), Cancer (4 P.M.), Chelsea (2 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (2.30 P.M.). SATURDAY (22nd).-Royal Free (9 A.M. and 2P.M.), Middlesex (1.30P.M.), St. Thomas’b (2 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), University College (9.15 A.M.), Charing-cross (3 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), St. Mary’s (10 P.M.), Cancer (2 P.M.). At the Royal Eye Hospital (2 P.M.), the Royal London Ophthalmic (10 A.M.), the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic (1.30 P.M.), and the Central London Ophthalmic Hospitals operations are performed daily. During the week marked copies of the following newspapers have been received :-Carlisle Express and Examiner, Manchester Guardian, Glasgow Herald, Liverpool Courier, Doncaster Chronicle, Midland Free Press, E, xeter Flying Fost, Sheffield Evening Telegraph, Melbourne Argus, Pioneer Mail, Devon Gazette, Times of India, Express and Star, Bradford Observer, Exeter Evening Post, Birrning- lzanz Daily Gazette, Eastern Morning News, Leeds Vlercury, lllan- chester Courier, Western Morning News, Yorkshire llerald, Bristol Mercury, Builder, Sussex Daily News, Leicester Post, Architect, Wolverhampton Chronicle, Derby Daily Telegraph, Clifton Chronicle, Portsmouth Times, Bury Guardian, Sanitary Record,Malden Express, Yorkshire Post, Brighton Gazette, Mining Journal, Weekly Free Press and Aberdeen Herald, Reading Mercury, City Press, Local Govern- ment Chronicle, Local Government Journal, Surrey Advertiser, Journal des Debats, KendaL Mercury, Colchester Gazette, Cumberland Adver- tiser, Penrith Observer, Southport Visitor, Bombay Gazette, Cape Times, Ceylon Observer, Citizen, West Sussex Times, Vegetarian, J’’afHt and Home, Liverpool Daily Post, Huddersfield Chronicle. Cleck- heat on Guardian, Newbury Weekly News, Shrewsbury Chronicle, North Otago Times, The Animal’s Friend, Blackpool Herald, Nuneaton Advertiser, Ilertfordslzire Mercury, &c., &c.
