1654 MEDICAL GRADUATES’ COLLEGE AND POLYCLINIC.

public stations for gratuitous vaccination in connexion wit]hospitals and medical schools, &c., but these are not maintained under the Vaccination Act. It is a little inconveniento have to go to other official reports for the statistics othese public stations and of vaccination default in ScotlandCould not all the facts be published in the one documentFrom a short report by Dr. William Husband, superintendenof the Central Vaccine Institution for Scotland, it appearthat 2591 tubes of humanised lymph were distributed to 42:practitioners and that six applications for calf lymph wer,received and acceded to. As to calf lymph Dr. Husband adds"It is satisfactory to know that the English Local Government Board have intimated their intention, when the necessary arrangements are completed, of furnishing us with alimited supply for distribution in Scotland."

In public health the Board has evidently had a busy yea:consequent on the coming into operation of the Publi(Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. It has issued circulars andmodel by-laws and cholera regulations, &c., and has giveradvice to local authorities on many legal points. On a much.disputed question as to whether under Section 57 of thtScottish Public Health Act the medical officer of health ibound when called on to certify as to the freedom frominfection of children who have recovered from infectiousdisease the Board indicates incidentally the reasonable

opinion that it is only where he is "acquainted with thefacts of the case" that a certificate can be expected fromhim. On the question of the respective obligations of sanitaryauthorities and parish councils regarding pauper cases ofinfectious disease the Board says : " In our opinion the parishcouncil is bound to treat cases of infectious disease occurringamong paupers or proper objects of parochial relief. ThePublic Health Act does not relieve them of that obligationand their liability continues. But when a local authority,acting under the Public Health Act and for the protection ofthe public health, remove or isolate the patient all the

expenses necessarily incurred for this purpose form a chargeagainst the public health assessment and cannot be re-

covered from any other person or body." Under Section 65of the recent Act by-laws may be framed for securingthe cleanliness and sanitary condition of public conveyances,vlyin,q within the district of the local authority, and forpreventing overcrowding in such conveyances. Among theby-laws under this section submitted to the Board for con-firmation were two applicable to railway carriages. The lawofficers of the Crown advised the Board that railwaycarriages were not included in " public conveyances " underthe Act, "but the local authority after reconsideration sub-mitted new by-laws which applied to public conveyancesgenerally without distinction, thus leaving open the questionof their applicability to railway carriages." By Section 39of the new Act, sanitary authorities can compel owners ofprivate streets within special scavenging districts to leveland pave such streets, and the Board’s report gives very use-ful guidance as to the administration of this most importantsection. With regard to hospitals the report says : " The factthat we are now armed with compulsory powers underSection 44 of the Act has enabled us to give an impetus tohospital provision. Wherever we found that a medical officerof health in his annual report had been urging hospitalaccommodation for his district we gave the matter specialattention and where we thought it advisable seconded the efforts of the medical officers, reminding the local

authority of our powers under the aforesaid section." Onthe subject of the employment of nurses for attendingpersons suffering from infectious diseases in their ownhomes the Board points out that only its general sanctionis required, because to require consent in each case

would often frustrate the object in view - the immediateand thorough isolation of the patient. It also indi-cates that the employment of such nurses is not to be

regarded as a substitute for the provision of hospitals. Inone or two sparsely populated Highland districts a one year’sexperiment is, however, being made of the employment ofnurses and the medical officer of health is to report to theBoard at the end of the year, so that if the result be satis-factory they may be prepared to consider further schemeson a larger basis, as they think that " within reason-

able limits the larger the number of local authoritieswhich combine for fever nursing the less will be thedifficulty in meeting demands which may suddenly arise."With regard to an outbreak of typhus fever in Skye thelocal medical officer, Dr. Dewar, "reports that even at mid-day there was so little light that he was obliged to find the

l patients by means of match light. The small fixed windows. were grimy with dirt and smoke. For six weeks before hisj visit the whole family of six had been living solely on mashed

potatoes and tea, partaken of three times a day. Com-, paring this outbreak with previous outbreaks he found the

condition and surroundings practically identical. These

were-overcrowding, want of ventilation, filth, and poverty."I Only 28 cases of small-pox were notified in Scotland during 1898. The following table shows the prevalence and

fatality of notified infectious disease in an aggregate popula-tion of 3,763,579, being that of 228 local authorities which

, had adopted the Notification Act in 1897 :-

Diseases Specified in the Act.

A table of the salaries of medical officers of health inScotland contains some curious figures. 16 burghs appearto have no medical officers of health but these are no doubtonly temporary vacancies. In four burghs the salary is £1per annum, in two it is £1 1s., in one it is 25s., in anotherit is 30s., and in 17 it is £2 or £2 2s. It may be assumedthat these are very small burghs but they are surely not sovery microscopic as to justify the payment of such ridiculouspittances to their health officers.

MEDICAL GRADUATES’ COLLEGE ANDPOLYCLINIC.

NEARLY 300 gentlemen representing all grades of themedical profession assembled under the presidency of SirJOHN LUBBOCK, Bart, M.P., at the Trocadero Restaurant onWednesday evening last, the occasion being the inaugural*dinner of the Medical Graduates’ College and Polyclinic.The toast of "The Queen " and also that of "The Prince

and Princess of Wales and other Members of the RoyalFamily" having been honoured Dr. W. MILLER ORD proposed"The Houses of Parliament." He regretted the unavoid-able absence of Lord Lister who had written a letterto Mr. Hutchinson expressing his cordial approval ofand hopes of prosperity for the College, and remarked onthe number of men whom he saw before him representingthe profession in varied interests and paths. He saw beforehim distinguished representatives of the medical services, thenavy, and the army, and scientific men engaged in variouskinds of medical research which advanced science in oneway and helped the medical man in another, and togetherhelped greatly the advancement of legislation for the

1655ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS DINNER.

benefit of the public. What perhaps interested himmost was the large number of general practitioners of allages whom he saw present. He reminded members of the

legislature that the work which was proposed to be donewas of no ordinary kind and was not taken up forthe benefit of any individual or number of individuals.The work had been taken up by reason of the factthat a large number of persons in the medical

profession needed a certain amount of help owing to thegreat progress made by medicine in these days. Medical

education-long-protracted as it now is-did not give a manthe chance to acquire all he might wish to learn and withina few years the country practitioner felt himself to bebehindhand. It would be the object of the College to enablesuch men to acquire in the easiest way new knowledge andtechnical skill.The Hon. ALFRED LYTTLETON, M.P., in an amusing speech

responded for the two Houses.Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, in proposing "The Medical Graduates’

College and Polyclinic," said that as a general rule whenit was proposed to found a new institution the objectwas to give a stimulus to some languishing cause or

because existing institutions had failed in their duties.Neither of these reasons applied in the present case.

The existing colleges and hospitals were admirably andefficiently fulfilling the beneficent purposes for which theywere constituted and it was their very success and themarvellous progress of medical science which had ledto the formation of the Polyclinic College. As evidenceof progress he mentioned the invention of complex andingenious instruments such as the stethoscope, the

ophthalmoscope, the laryngoscope, the cardiograph, the

sphygmograph, the pneumograph, and others. Thenthere was the application to medicine of other physicalappliances and discoveries, such as the clinical thermometer,the microtome, and the Roentgen rays ; the discovery ofmany new and important drugs; the use of anaestheticsand the antiseptic treatment; the new modes of treatment,the operations which were formerly impossible, especially inbrain and abdominal surgery. There was also the discovery ofsciences, or at any rate of new branches of science, such asantenatal pathology and bacteriology. The mere mention ofthis list, he knew, very imperfectly showed the marvellousprogress of medical science during the last balf century.Though the course of study had been prolonged from four tofive years no student however diligent or able could hopeto master in the time so vast a range of subjects. But evenif that were possible science was still advancing, new dis-coveries were being made, new methods and new inventionswere being devised, and in a few years the student wouldfind himself left behind. The aim of the Polyclinic Collegewould be to facilitate the life-long education of medicalmen in all directions and to give them the opportunityof making themselves acquainted with all fresh dis-coveries. It would contain a collection of instrumentsand appliances and a first-rate library. Special lectureswould also be given within its walls. All thiscould be effected in one central and special institutionwhich would not come in conflict or competition with thevarious medical schools but which it was hoped would workin close association with them. The arrangements ofmodern life and the rapidity of communication had madeschemes now possible which would formerly have beenout of the question. Medical men resident in the countryin all parts of England could easily make short visitsto London and avail themselves of the opportunitieswhich the College would afford. It was hoped also thatsome would come from abroad and from our colonies. Itwas also proposed to organise a certain number of daily con-sultations. These would be open to all medical men whohad joined the College, and they were designed for thedouble purpose of giving advice to patients and at the sametime of affording medical men opportunities of becomingpractically familiar with exceptional forms of disease andwith the best and most modern methods of diagnosis. It wasnot, however, proposed to provide hospital accommodationor to undertake continuous treatment. In this matterthe Polyclinic would act in concert and consultationwith the hospitals and with private practitioners. It wouldnot compete with hospitals but to some extent supplement and assist their work. The institution had been practically founded by Mr. Hutchinson who was generouslygoing to deposit in its museum his unique collection ofclinical material and a splendid collection of books, and Le

was devoting to it much of his invaluable time. It certainlyseemed to him (the speaker) that this institution had beenadmirably devised and would be most useful. His opinion,however, was worth little, but their opinion was worth muchand they had shown it to be the same by their presencethat evening. With the toast he coupled the names of SirWilliam Broadbent and Mr. Hutchinson.

Sir WILLIAM BROADBENT, in his reply, said Sir JohnLubbock had rated his judgment on the work of themedical profession as not of any practical value; as a

matter of fact, however, the medical profession appreciatedhis judgment and the countenance which he had given totheir work very highly and they could have no better judge.The number of medical men present was a sufficient answerto the question, "Is this association likely to be of use ? "and was a sufficient demonstration of the interest which itexcited. Wherever he went he heard of the value whichgeneral practitioners attached to the association, and it wasmost interesting to notice the zeal of the general practitionerfor medical knowledge and his desire to keep up in everyrespect with the advances of medical science.

Mr. HUTCHINSON, in the course of a long and interestingspeech, spoke warmly as to the benefits which would accrueto the community from the Polyclinic. He said that Dr.Ord, the chairman, and Sir William Broadbent had describedthe advantages of the institution to medical men and hewould like to point out that this institution much concernedthe public. It was greatly in the interests of the publicthat the profession should be well educated and if a medicalpractitioner was willing to spare the time to keep himselfabreast with the advance of knowledge the public ought tosupport him.

Sir JOSEPH FAYRER, Bart., in proposing " The MedicalSchools," looked forward to the time when the students atthe medical schools of London would be considered as muchundergraduates as if they belonged to the ancient universitiesand would eventually become graduates of the Universityof London.

Dr. STEPHEN MACKENZIE replied and other toasts con-cluded an enjoyable evening. In the course of the pro-ceedings subscriptions amounting to 4000 guineas were

announced, including E1000 from Mr. Hutchinson.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS DINNER.

THE annual dinner of the Royal Army Medical Corps tookplace at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Metropole, on

June 12th, Surgeon-General J. JAMESON, C.B., the Director-General, being in the chair. There was a large attendanceof officers and the evening proved a very pleasant andsuccessful one. After the toast of "The Queen" theCHAIRMAN, in an able and interesting speech, proposed"The Royal Army Medical Corps," this being the firstoccasion on which the officers of the medical service hadmet since their formation into a corps. The toast was,of course, received with enthusiasm.-Surgeon-GeneralO’DWYER gave The Health of the Chairman andalluded to the great services which the Director-Generalhad rendered in connexion with the reforms which hadenabled them to become a Royal corps with army rank.-Surgeon-General JAMESON briefly acknowledged the com-pliment.-Lieutenant-Colonel Hector, who again acted ashonorary secretary of the dinner, is to be congratulated onthe result of his labours.

I The following is a list of names of officers present:Surgeon-Generals J. Jameson, C.B. (Director-General),A. F. Bradshaw, C.B., C. McD. Cuffe, C.B., A. A.

Gore, C.B., R. Harvey, C.B., D.S.O., H. S. Muir, W.Nash, T. F. O’Dwyer, A. F. Preston, J. B. C. Reade,C.B., P. B. Smith, and W. D. Wilson. Colonels W. F.Burnett, J. A. Clery, 0. Codrington, H. Comerford, W. G.Don, A. W. Duke, T. J. Gallwey, C.B., C. A. Innes,T. Ligertwood. W. H. Macnamara, C.B., W. T. Martin,J. Maturin, J. L. Notter, T. O’Farrell, and W. F. Stevenson.Lieutenant-Colonels W. H. Allen, W. B. Allin, J. F.Beattie, G. D. Bourke, U. J. Bourke, A. L. Browne,W. L. Chester, A. F. S. Clarke, W. Donovan, J. D.

Edge, R. Exham, J. A. Gormley, W. L. Gubbins,J. Hector, R. D. Hodgson, J. P. Hunt, W. Johnston,W. Keir, W. W. Kenny, H. C. Kirkpatrick, B. W. S. Large,H. Mackinnon, D.S.O., W. A. May, W. Rainsford, W. F.