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126 THE CENTRAL MEDICAL WAR COMMITTEE. At a meeting of. the Central Medical War Committee held on Wednesday afternoon last it was decided to join with the Committee of Reference of the English Royal Colleges and the Scottish Medical Services Emergency Committee in submitting a memorandum to the Director of Public Services on the subject of the organisation of the whole of the medical profession for the purposes of the war and of the exist- ing national circumstances, and asking for an early interview. THE SUPPLY OF KNITTED ARTICLES FOR THE FORCES. The supply of sweaters and other knitted articles absolutely needed for the comfort of the men in the Navy and Army is running short, not probably through a decrease of effort so much as because the numbers to be supplied have happily much increased. In these circumstances we call the attention of our readers to the following letter which we received last week from Mr. John Penoyre, 8. King’s Bench- walk, Inner Temple, London, E.C. :- It has been my good fortune to transmit to the men in the field some 32,000 sweaters since the war broke out. Sir Edward Ward, the Director-General of Voluntary Associa- tions, now asks if, without letting the sweater industry go ’, down, I could " do the same for the men’s mufflers, of which I a very great quantity are wanted at once." The sweater pattern, easy and economical, is to be had here for asking, but the W.O. formula for mufflers is so short that I hope you may find room for it at once. The muffler should measure 58 in. by 10 in. and be made on two No. 7 needles, taking 10 oz. of fairly thick drab or khaki wool. One knows of the enormous amount of well-considered work that has been done for the men all over the country. I feel, however, that one has but to name the incredible numbers that our armies have recently reached to justify asking this further effort. I am authorised, then, to state that the need for sweaters, mufflers, and all other hall-marked comforts is great and immediate, and that these should be sent either to the Voluntary Organisations Depots throughout the country, or totheD.G.V.O.’s Depot at 45, Horseferry-road, S.W., or to me as above. When any of our readers are confronted with patients or the friends of patients whose time is not fully occupied it will be useful to bring Mr. Penoyre’s movement before them. THE EDITH CAVELL HOMES OF REST FOR NURSES. - Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard C. Temple, as chairman of the council for the institution of these homes, recently drew attention to the fact that the officers of H.M.H.S. Britannic, then about to proceed to the Near East, had offered voluntarily to make a collection for the homes. Soon afterwards the Britannic was torpedoed and some of the staff lost, but the following letter from Captain H. Slater, R.A.M.C., to Sir Richard Temple shows the interest taken by the nursing sisters and medical staff on board :- St. Brideaux, Devonport. DEAR SIR,—There was collected on H.S. B itannic the sum of B13 15s. ld. of this I placed B9 8s. 7d. in charge of the Purser, and it went down with the ship. but I hope to get this refunded. In the meantime, I send you mv cheque for the balance, jE4 6s. 6d. I may say that we had hoped to collect £30, and no doubt. we should have done so except for our unfortunate misadvpnture. A very general interest was shown in the proposed homes by the nursing sisters and the troops of the R.A.M.C. Our most energetic collector was Lieutenant J. Cropper, R.A.M.C., who lost his life, being cut to pieces by a propeller. The example of the staff of the ill-fated Britannic in respect of the Edith Cavell Homes is one that we hope may be widely followed. THE NEW ONTARIO MILITARY HOSPITAL.-The opening of the new Ontario Military Hospital at Coburg, Ont., in what was once Victoria College, the forerunner of Victoria University, Toronto, is fresh evidence of the enter- prise of the Ontario Government for the welfare of returned soldiers. The hospital has been established by the Ontario Government for the treatment of returned soldiers who are suffering from mental disease due to shell shock or other causes, and is under the supervision of the Canadian Hospitals Commission. Dr. F. S. Vrooman, of the Brockville Hospital for the Insane, is medical superintendent, and the other members of the staff have been drawn from institutions in the province. The hospital is equipped with continuous baths, radiant-light and radiant-heat cabinets, electric baths, Scotch douche, needle, shower, and sitz baths, and has accommodation for 150 patients, although only 70 beds are occupied at present. So far some 40 per cent. of the cases have been discharged cured or much improved, others have been removed to institutions for permanent care. The hospital is claimed to be the first of its kind in the Empire outside the British Isles. HEALTH OF THE GERMAN ARMY.-A wireless message from the Berlin Admiralty gives health statistics for the German Army during the second year of war. The message states that small-pox was non-existent, typhoid had diminished by three-quarters, dysentery and cholera by one. third. The incidence of phthisis and pneumonia had sunk to about one-half. Of the wounded, 70 per cent. returned to the front and 6 per cent. were unfit for further military service. The mortality in the base military hospitals amounted to 1 per cent. The total number of soldier blinded during the war was 1250 Medical News. EXAMINING BOARD IN ENGLAND BY THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON AND SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.-At the quarterly examination in Practical Pharmacy held on Jan. llth the following candidates were successful :- Hector Demetrius Apergis. Guy’s Hospital; Edwin Alfred Clegg, Middlesex Hospital; Alan Andreas Cockayne, Cambridge Uni- versity and St. Thomas’s Hospital; William Arnold Clements, Bir- mingham University; Arnold Edgar Collie, Cambridge University and Middlesex Hospital; Ernest James Coombe, St. George’s Hos- pital ; Cecil Lucas Donne, Middlesex Hospital ; Saad El Din Ahmed El Daab, Cairo and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; Armin Frank Fuoss, Birmingham University; Lawrence Gill, Guy’s Hospital; Sydney Limbery Higgs, Cambridge University and St. Bartholomew’s Hos- pital ; Joseph Christopher Campbell Howe, Guy’s Hospital; Leslie Clifford Moore, Liverpool University and St. Thomas’s Hospital; Graham Murray-Sh rreff. private study; Sydney Watson Page, Cambridge University and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; Maurice Pearson, Guy’s Hospital ; Rupert Idris Rhys, University College. , Cardiff, and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; Lewis Henry Douglas Thornton, Cambridge University and Middlesex Hospital ; William Stephen Tunbridge, Oxford University and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital ; Herman Crowther Viehoff, Liverpool University; William Harold White, St. Thomas’s Hospital; Catherine Mabel Williams, London School of Medicine for Women; and Vyvian Deane Wyborn, Charing Cross Hospital. LETTERKENNY MEDICAL OFFICERSHIP.-Our Belfast correspondent writes: Nowhere but in Ireland could such extraordinary topsy-turvy situations arise as have occurred in relation to the medical officership of Letterkenny Dis- pensary. At a meeting of the board of guardians, held on Jan. 12th, the political party which was previously in the minority found themselves by mere chance in the majority, with the result that the account of Mr. T. Patterson for JE5 8s. for acting as locum-tenent for Dr. J. P. McGinley during the latter’s absence at the winter assizes was refused, on the grounds that the Local Government Board had not sanc- tioned the appointment of either of these medical men. Dr. W. N. Walker’s bill, for acting as temporary medical officer (he having been recognised by the Local Government Board) was ordered to be paid, the amount being .f:79 9s. 10d. Finally the items on the pay-sheet for Dr. McGinley were refused to be sanctioned for payment, on the grounds that his appoint- ment had not been sanctioned by the Local Government Board. ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH.-A course of lectures is being delivered under the auspices of this Institute dealing with public health problems under war and after the war conditions. The lectures are delivered on the Wednesdays of January, February, and March at the lecture room of the Institute, 37, Russell-square, London, at4 P.M., and the delivery of the first two by Miss Janet Lane-Claypon, M.D., and Mrs. Scharlieb, M.D., respectively, have already been announced. The lectures still to come are as follows :- Jan. 31st: Dr. Chas. John Macalister on the Preven- tion and Arrest of Venereal Disease in Men. Feb. 7th: Lady Barrett, M.D., on the Bole of the Midwife and the Protection of Motherhood. Feb. 14th : Lieutenant- Colonel S. A. M. Copeman, M.D., F.R.S., on the Pre- vention and Arrest of Infectious Disease in War-time. Feb. 21st: Dr. T. D. Lister on the Tuberculosis Problem in War-time. Feb. 28th : Dr. W. G. Savage on the Protection of the Milk-supply. March 7th : Professor F. G. Hopkins, F.R.S., on the Selection and Preparation of Foods in War- time. March 14th : Dr. E. L. Collis on the Protection of the Health of Munition Workers. March 21st: Professor Sir Thomas Oliver, F.R.S., on the Hygiene of Occupation in War-time. March 28th : Lieutenant-Colonel Sir A. Pearce
