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has left during the critical phase of adolescence.The report reviews a number of these, and looksforward to much more intimate cooperation betweenthem and its own medical service, and to somescheme of the same kind which shall cover alladolescents who at present are no one’s specialcare.

Health Education.

The chief medical officer expresses the opinionthat the lack of effective teaching of hygiene is theweakest link in the whole chain of child welfare.The injuries due to ignorance should be prevented,and the study and practice of health should form,from the first, part of the everyday life of the school.Hygiene must not only be taught but must also bepractised day by day ; otherwise there is no

momentum to carry the teaching through adolescenceand adult life. Every teacher should bear in mindhis direct responsibility in this matter to everyindividual child. The Board has recently publisheda special new " Handbook of Suggestions," to consti-tute a guide in the teaching and practice of hygiene,and regards a knowledge of its contents as part ofthe necessary equipment of every teacher. TheBoard is also anxious that girls should learn the firstprinciples of mothercraft, for if they do not learn themat school they are unlikely to have any opportunityfor organised teaching afterwards. In elementary.schools the girls can visit local welfare centres or daynurseries; the secondary school-girl can approachthe subject through elementary science.

Physical Training, School Meals, and Research.Organised physical training has been a part of the

school curriculum for 20 years, and admirable effectshave been produced, but the work is still expanding.The Board has decided to advise local authoritiesto embark on a general reorganisation which willinvolve changes in the physical training, and thisreport therefore reviews rather fully what has beendone and the proposed amendments. The provisionof meals for school-children is increasing; nearly16,000,000 meals were supplied in England and Wales iduring the year, half of them being dinners. Thedanger of turning this provision into an unauthorisedkind of poor relief can only be met through medicalcertification and direction.The list of research investigations made by school

medical officers and special workers is a long one.The subjects studied include postural defects, goitre,infectious diseases, rheumatism, stammerers, back-ward children, tonsils and adenoids, ringworm,ventilation, and ultra-violet light. The Anthropo-inetric Committee has continued its valuable work.

Conclusion.The general conclusion formed by the chief medical

officer is that, while there is as yet no sign ofdiminished incidence of the ordinary physical defectsof school life, there is, nevertheless, evidence that thegeneral physical condition, as shown by physique,health, nutrition, and cleanliness, tends steadily toimprove. The school doctor has an important partto play in the medico-educational problems of thenation ; he must keep his horizon wide, take a broadview of medicine, understand his affinities with theeducationist and the psychologist, and thus playhis proper r6le in the creation of the right schoolenvironment during the passage from childhood toadolescence. The report will encourage all who arecollaborating in this great national scheme to perse-vere in their duties though these may seem arduous,dull, and sometimes unproductive. Sir GeorgeNewman points out that the routine work of theschool medical officer has a vastly wider purposethan the collection of medical statistics and eventhe individual relief of the patient. It makes prac-ticable a fuller education of the people as a whole,and is the prelude of national efficiency. In the auditand account of this work may be found a service ofscience and humanity which is silently but certainlychanging the prospects and hopes of the Englishpeople.

MEDICINE AND THE LAW.

A Vinegar Prosecution.THE last annual report of the Ministry of Health

recorded the fact that 1553 samples of vinegar weretaken under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts during1927 ; of these, 142 were found to be adulterated ornot up to standard, chiefly by reason of the deficiencyof acetic acid. The percentage seems unduly high ;:it works out at 9’1 as against a figure of 6’2 for 1926In some cases vinegar sold as " malt vinegar " wasfound to be not brewed but artificial vinegar. A casehas recently come before the Divisional Court whichseems to indicate a disinclination on the part ofmagistrates to take a serious view of adulteration,..A prosecution took place before the Atherstone"bench on a charge of selling table vinegar which was100 per cent. artificial. The magistrates, accordingto a summary of the case in the Solicitors’ J ournaZ"dismissed the summons on the several grounds thatthere was (a) no statutory standard of vinegar, (byno evidence of guilty knowledge, and (c) no reason.for imposing a penalty upon a defendant who hadacted in good faith. The inspector appealed on theground that the county analyst had proved thatthree grades of vinegar exist; but the appeal was.countered by the plea that the magistrates had:dismissed the case under the Probation of OffendersAct and that their decision could not now be dis-,turbed. The Probation of Offenders Act was not,apparently mentioned in the " case stated " whichcame before the Divisional Court; the fact was.

merely recorded that the magistrates dismissed the:summons because no offence had been cormitted:The Lord Chief Justice observed that the allegationthat the vinegar was 100 per cent. artificial wasuncontradicted, and that, as the defendant called noevidence, the magistrates ought to have found thecharge proved on the uncontradicted facts. TheDivisional Court remitted the case to the magistrateswith a direction to that effect. The result is some-what obscure. If the magistrates were acting underSubsection 1 (1) of the Probation of Offenders Act;1901 (as the defendant apparently contended own

appeal), then they must already have consideredthe charge to be proved ; otherwise they could nothave acted under that particular enactment. Thestatute provides that, if the court of summary juris-diction thinks that the charge is proved, but is ofopinion that the character, antecedents, age, healthor mental condition of the accused, or the trivial:nature of the offence, or the existence of extenuatingcircumstances, make it inexpedient to inflict any,punishment or any other than a nominal punishment,.or to release the offender on probation, then the-court may, without proceeding to conviction, eitherdismiss the charge or bind the accused over. TheDivisional Court may give the Atherstone bench a,

strong hint of its opinion, but, if that bench isdetermined to operate the Probation of Offenders-Act in this particular case, the magistrates can still,dismiss the charge without proceeding to conviction.One result of sending the case back to them may bea little additional local publicity for the facts allegedin the summons. The Food and Drugs (Adultera-’,tion) Act, 1928, now in force, states the law perfectly,clearly : " No person shall sell to the prejudice of thepurchaser any article of food or any drug which isnot of the nature, or not of the substance, or not ofthe quality, of the article demanded by the pur-chaser." If it is to be a defence that the law specifies’no standard of what is vinegar (or any other article),the law had better be amended.

A Coroner’s Dileinma.

Parliamentary draftsmen are probably not san-guine enough to believe that they can think of everycontingency. A small gap in the Coroners Acts isdisclosed in the legal journals. The amending Act.of 1926 had a provision (Section 20) to avoid the’simultaneous progress of investigations into cases of,

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murder, manslaughter or infanticide, both before- a coroner, on the one hand, and before examiningjustices and assize courts on the other. The coroner" in the absence of reason to the contrary," is toadjourn his inquest " until after the conclusion ofthe criminal proceedings." The clerk of the appro-priate court is to inform the coroner of the result ofthose proceedings and, if the coroner then decidesnot to resume the inquest, the coroner furnishes theregistrar of deaths with a certificate stating theresult of the proceedings and including any necessaryparticulars. An inquest was begun last year uponthe death of a child. The magistrates committedthe child’s mother to the November Assizes on acharge of wilful murder. The coroner apparentlyadjourned his inquest as directed by the 1926 Act.The next step, however, contemplated by the statutecannot be taken. The Home Secretary has orderedthe woman’s removal to an asylum : she will nownot be tried, and consequently the " proceedings

"

cannot be "concluded " with any " result " of which

the coroner can be officially informed. Thus, it wouldseem, the inquest must take its course. The coronerhas found himself obliged to issue a warrant againstthe mother, bind over the police superintendent toprosecute, and bind over the witnesses to appearand give evidence. It would have been feasible totake the poor woman to the assizes for the formalpurpose of obtaining a verdict of " Guilty, but insane."Quite apart from the expense of this course, however,public opinion would deprecate it.

An Unregistered Dental Association.A case was recently heard before the Oldham

borough justices in which a manager of the Co-operativeWholesale Society (Health Insurance Section) wassummoned for " practising or holding himself out topractise dentistry," his name not appearing in theDentists Register. It was argued on behalf of theBritish Dental Association that it was not essential forthe commission of an offence of this kind, that theperson should be the actual one who performed theoperations of dentistry. A body corporate or limitedcompany could carry on dentistry if the majority ofits directors and all its operating staff were dentists,though not otherwise. It was stated that the C.W.S.,being an approved society under the Health InsuranceActs, had not agreed to an increase in the scale ofdentists’ fees in 1926, and despite the fact that it wasnot a registered organisation under the Dentists Act,had endeavoured to set up dental clinics in certainnorthern towns. An unregistered dental surgeon hadbeen given charge of such a clinic at Oldham wherethere was a clerk and four dental mechanics, andpatients had been treated there on behalf of theCo-operative Dental Benevolent Association, which wasunregistered under the Act. In defence counsel arguedthat responsibility for what had been done lay withthe Association and not with its salaried manager.The chairman and the bench were of opinion, however,that the latter had unlawfully held himself out aspractising dentistry and fined him £50, also awardingJB25 costs to the prosecution. They agreed to state a- case for appeal to the High Court.

Two Deaths Under Ancesthesia.

Arrangements at the Weir Hospital, Balham, werecriticised at an inquest on Jan. 2nd on a boy of 4who died in the institution whilst a fracture of theleg was being reduced under an anaesthetic. Thereare two resident doctors at the hospital but one ofthem was away when the child was brought fortreatment. The resident medical officer first adminis-tered open ether and then instructed a nurse tohold the mask while he reduced the deformity.’Death followed from heart failure, despite employ-ment of artificial respiration and stimulants, and atautopsy it was found that the boy had a full stomachwhich adhered abnormally to the liver. The coroner,m recording a verdict of death by misadventure, saidthat the resident medical officer had exercised carefuljudgment in the circumstances, was justified in

administering the anaesthetic, and did so properly.

At the same time he considered it distinctlv inadvisablethat the hospital should be left with only one doctor,since only in grave emergency should a medical manplay the dual part of anaesthetist and surgeon. Itwas stated in evidence that the hospital had twovisiting surgeons, but it was not customary to callthem in except for big operations.On Jan. 8th the Westminster coroner recorded a

similar verdict in the case of a boy of 2 who diedduring an operation at Charing Cross Hospital.Post mortem large pieces of undigested food werefound in the stomach and the pathologist, in ascribingdeath to syncope, said that the presence of food wasprobably in part responsible for the accident. Themother said she had not received any instructionsabout meals, and the doctor who gave the anaestheticsaid that she (the doctor) had not seen the child onany previous occasion. The anaesthetic was ethylchloride, followed later by a mixture of chloroformand ether. The coroner remarked that he thoughtit was the common practice in hospitals to warnparents not to give their children meals a few hoursbefore anaesthetics would be administered.

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Study Leave.THE refusal of the Minister of Local Government

and Public Health to sanction the proposal of theGrangegorman Mental Hospital Committee to giveone of their medical officers six months’ study leavewith pay has given rise to criticism. As was pointedout by a member of the committee, the institutionwould benefit by the course of study which Dr. J.Dunne proposed to pursue. Another member men-tioned that the Minister of Defence had thought itwise to send young officers to study the methods offoreign armies.The lack of any provision for study leave is a

grave fault in the public medical services of theIrish Free State. The Committee of Inquiry onNational Health Insurance and the Medical Servicesin its Interim Report in 1925 made a strong recom-mendation in favour of the grant of study leave atregular intervals to dispensary medical officers.It was recommended that a period of not less thanthree months should be given at least as often asonce in every five years, and that evidence of havingtaken advantage of such opportunities should receiveconsideration where promotion was in question.During such leave the medical officer should receivefull salary without deduction for payment of a sub-stitute, and a grant should be made to cover fees forstudy. It is possible that such a procedure mightrequire legislative authority, but there appears tobe no good reason why the Government should notbefore now have taken action on the Report of theCommittee of Inquiry.

The 83 (Dublin) General Hospital.The annual dinner of the Dublin Unit which staffed

the 83 General Hospital, B.E.F., in 1917-18, was heldlast Saturday night in the Council Room of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons, Colonel Sir William Taylorpresiding. Some 15 members of the unit were

present.

SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The New Health Department.THE Scottish Department of Health came into

existence on Jan. 1st. The Scottish Board of Healthpassed out of existence on Dec. 31st. In point ofform the Board was a survival from an older andmore amateurish conception of Government service.It was essentially an advisory board with no powers