875

appeal for,an endowment fund of .630,0.00, toavards wlcMr. T. Sutton Timmis has given .E1000. The sale of,,.t4eexisting hospital would provide a site for the new building.

Revival of the Professorship of Forensic Medicine at theUniversity 4 Liverpool.

’

The council of the University having decided to re-establishthe chair of forensic medicine, held for many years by Mr.Frank T. Paul, now emeritus professor, appointed Dr.R. J. M. Buchanan, who, since Mr. Paul’s retirement three

years ago, has held a lectureship in the subject in theUniversity. Dr. Buchanan was a distinguished student ofUniversity College, Liverpool, and is the fourth old studentto receive a professorship in the University in which he wastrained, the others being Professor John Hill Abram, Pro-fessor H. E. Annett, and Professor Ramsay Muir. ProfessorBuchanan, who is the senior assistant physician at the

Royal Infirmary, was demonstrator in forensic medicinefrom 1895 to 1906, and consequently has had an extendedexperience of teaching work. The appointment has givenmuch satisfaction.

The City COZl.neil and the Ravages of Tnberc1Ûosis.The special committee of the city council appointed to

consider what further measures it is possible to devise

against the ravages of phthisis met for the second,time onMarch 10th and deliberated upon a report by Dr. E. W.Hope (the medical officer of health) on the measures .adopted.up to date. It appeared that one out of every nine deaths inLiverpool is due to some form of tuberculosis, which is a.higher mortality rate than from all zymotic diseases. Moreeffective methods than those already tried would thereforeseem imperative, and prevention as well as treatment willdoubtless occupy the attention of the special committee.

Epidemie of Measles Liverpool SallOOls Closed.As the result of the serious proportions assumed by an

outbreak of measles in Liverpool, the education committee,acting upon the advice of Dr. Hope, issued an order onMarch 15th, whereby all the infant schools in the city willbe closed for two weeks. As many as 39,000 children areto be kept at home. Drastic action was considered desirableconsequent upon the steadily increasing number of cases.

Liverpool and Tropical Medwine: Offieial Report on LastYear’s TVork.

A Blue Book concerning the report of the Advisory Com-mittee for the Tropical Diseases Fund for the year 1908 wasissued at the beginning of the month. This shows that therevenue of the fund (including a contribution of £ 1000 fromthe Imperial Government) was 3400, and the expenditure(which includes a grant of E1000 to the Liverpool Schoolof Tropical Medicine) .E3583 6s. 8d., the difference of£ 183 6s. Sd. being defrayed from the accumulated suplus ofthe fund.March 16th.

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NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

’Ilte Lcet2ures7eir on ]}Iedical In’1’Ìsprudence.THE lectureship on medical jurisprudence has been vacant

since the end of last summer session. The obvious thing forthe governing body of the College of Medicine to have donewould be to have at once advertised the vacancy andinvited applications from suitable candidates for the appoint-ment. This, however, was not done for reasons which may ormay not be apparent. In any case, the action of the Collegein failing to make an appointment in the meanwhile has beenthe subject of keen adverse criticism. And this apparentlywith good reason. The summer session, when the lectureson medical jurisprudence are delivered, commences on

April 20th, that is, in about five weeks’ time. It isless than a fortnight ago that a notice appeared in theCollege and in the infirmary stating that applications forthe lectureship must be received by March 17th. But I havebeen unable to find any advertisement in the press. Even ifthe appointment be made forthwith the person appointedwill have about five weeks only in which to prepare hiscourse of lectures. The course consists of 42 lectures andcovers a wide ground, including toxicology. But in spite ofthis the appointment has been delayed for some eight

months until within five weeks of the begi.Aoi,J1g of thesession. The vacancy should have been publicly announcedmonths ago. It cannot be a good thing for a college thathealthy competition for appointments on its teaching staffshould be stifled. Moreover, in view of changes which arecontemplated in the constitution of the University and ofthe College the latter would have been better advised tomake the appointment to the lectureship on medical juris-prudence under conditions not so open to criticism.

The Infirmary Chapel.At the annual court of governors of the Royal Victoria

Infirmary held on Feb. 28th the question of the chapel wasagain under discussion. The matters in dispute between thehouse committee and the Free Church Council-namely, thevalidity of the consecration and the legality of the expendi-ture upon the building of the chapel-have already beenreferred to in some of my former letters. A year ago at theirlast annual meeting the governors resolved to close both thechapel and the students’ lecture-hall against religiousservices, the latter being used by the Free Churches. Sincethen ’no religious services have been held in the infirmary.In the interval the house committee has, through its solicitors,prepared a case upon the. points in dispute between theCouncil of the Free Churches and itself -for the opinionof counsel. On the agenda for the last meeting there was; amotion dealing with the infirmary chapel standing in thename of Dr. G. H. Hume. At the meeting the Lordmayor, who was -in the chair, said that- he had uponhis own responsibility consulted the members of the FreeChurch Council and of the house committee and had foundboth parties equally desirous of bringing this controversyto an end. They would feel themselves indebted to anybodywho could arrange an amicable settlement of the question.He asked them therefore not to deal with -the motion on

the agenda that day, but to postpone consideration of it forthree months in the hope that some solution satisfactoryto both parties could be found. And for this purpose he

proposed that members selected by the Free Church Councilon the one hand, and by the house committee on the other,should meet him in conference, and that if they could agreethey should report to the next meeting of the governors inthree months’ time. The Lord Mayor’s proposition was carriedby a large majority. Since the meeting the house com-mittee, the Council of the Free Churches and the workmengovernors have each nominated four representatives to theconference proposed by the Lord Mayor.Appointment of Pathologist to the Infirmary and the College

In a former letter I stated that the infirmary and theCollege of Medicine had agreed to appoint a joint whole-time pathologist. The medical papers for this week publishan advertisement inviting applications for the position. The

salary will be E400 per annum and the successful candidatewill be required to lecture on pathology at the College andto act as pathologist to the infirmary. He will also, Iunderstand, be allowed to undertake private work,in patho-logy but will not be allowed to practise medicine or surgery.The appointment is one which should commend itself tomen who have had some experience in teaching and post-mortem work. Pathology, as understood in the present -con-nexion, does not include bacteriology. At the. College ofMedicine there is a separate department of comparativepathology and bacteriology which is partly endowed withthe Heath bequest and which is already in charge of awhole-time man, And at the infirmary bacteriology is alsoseparated from "pathology," and the department is con-

ducted by a man who is also in practice. It will be seen,therefore, that the duties of the pathologist and lecturer onpathology will be restricted. A joint committee of the twoinstitutions has been appointed to superintend and to manageall matters connected with the new joint appointment. SirGeorge Hare Philipson, Professor R. Howden, .Mr. C. A.Cochrane (treasurer), and Dr. R. A.. Bolam represent theCollege, while Dr. G. H. Hume, Dr. T. Beattie, Mr. Irvine,and Mr. Blake have been nominated by the infirmary. Thecommittee hopes to be able to secure the services of a manwith sufficient energy to reorganise the work at both theinstitutions and to raise the practice and teaching of

pathology to the position which its importance at the presentday demands. Further particulars of the appointment maybe obtained from the house governor of the infirmary, towhom all applications’ must be sent by March a7th.

876

Chairmans7tip of the Royal Victoria Infirmary.At a meeting of the house committee held on March 4th

the resignation of Lord Armstrong of his position ofchairman of the infirmary was received with much regret.Mr. W. J. Sanderson, ex-Lord Mayor, proposed that SirGeorge Hare Philipson should be appointed to the chairman-ship, which was unanimously agreed to. Mr. Sandersonwas unanimously elected vice-chairman. Sir George HarePhilipson, it may be noted, has been vice-chairman for 17years.

, March 16th. ____________________

SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Pulmonary Phthisis and Compulsory Notification in Aberdeen-shire.

A MEETING of the local authorities was held on March 12thin Aberdeen to discuss pulmonary phthisis. Dr. J. P. Watt,medical officer of the county, reviewed the situationand urged the necessity for compulsory notification,emphasising the point, however, that notification is onlya means to an end and will fail of its object if treatment inhospitals and sanatoriums is not obtainable. The chairman’smotion: "That this conference is of opinion that thenotification of pulmonary phthisis should be made com-

pulsory, and therefore resolves to recommend the severallocal authorities in the county to take the necessary stepsfor the introduction of a system of compulsory notification,"was seconded, but a direct negative was then moved.After some discussion it was objected that the meeting waspurely a conference and that those present had no powerto commit the various boards of which they were

representatives to anything. The proposal was made to

adjourn the meeting, and this was ultimately carried by amajority of 12 votes against 10, although the chairmanhad explained that the object of the meeting was toascertain the general feeling and thereafter to submita resolution to the local authorities. The conferenceaccordingly rose. In addition to the motion proposed bythe chairman, there were other five motions on the agendafor the consideration of the conference: The second motionrecommended that following upon a system of compulsorynotification all notified cases should be followed up by theofficers of the local authority in cooperation with the patient’sdoctor, with the view of taking such steps as were

necessary to prevent the spread of the disease ; the thirdrecommended disinfection by the local authority whenevernecessary, and the notification by registrars of deaths from

phthisis for this purpose; the fourth recommended hospitalaccommodation for advanced cases ; the fifth recommendedthat an effort should be made by the city of Aberdeen, andthe counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine, acting incombination, to raise a sum of money sufficient to build asanatorium for the district ; such sanatorium to bemaintained partly by the various local authorities and partlyby paying patients, and that a small subcommittee should beappointed for the purpose of approaching these local authori-ties on the subject; and the sixth recommended that theGovernment should be requested to make a grant to allpublic health authorities who take steps to deal with thedisease.

Aberdeen Dispensary : Annual Meeting.The annual report of the managers of the Aberdeen

Dispensary, Maternity Hospital, and Vaccine Institution,which was adopted at a recent meeting, shows that 13,877cases were treated during 1908, and that 58,950 prescrip-tions had been dispensed. Lord Provost Wilson, thechairman, said that steps should be taken to lessen the

applications for medicines which were often undoubtedlysquandered. As a remedy he suggested that the cost priceof the medicines should be charged. The medical officerswere reappointed for the ensuing year. The financialstatement showed a deficiency of C646 on the year’s working.

The Municipalisation of Sidlaw Sanatorium.At a recent meeting of the Dundee town council con-

sideration took place of the draft agreement between thedirectorate of the Sidlaw Sanatorium and the public healthcommittee as to the municipalisation of the sanatorium at

Auchterhouse. After considerable discussion the report ofthe committee was adopted by 21 votes to 3.

Dundee lnfirmary Deficit.Mr. William Rettie, chairman of the directors of the

Dundee Royal Infirmary, has received a letter from Mr.Robert Fleming intimating the gift of k200 towards

meeting the shortage of .E3000 on last year’s income.The directors recorded their warm appreciation of the giftand expressed the hope that by May, when the presentfinancial year ends, the fund, which now amounts to over&1200, would be materially increased.

Beq1wsts to Medical Charities.Among the legacies bequeathed by the late Mr. James

Jamieson, Arbroath, are Z3000 to Arbroath Infirmary,.EIOOO to Arbroath Convalescent House, £1000 to AberlourOrphanage, .E3000 to form a Christmas charity, .6300 eachto seven local missions and charities, and .E400 each for theForfarshire Mission for the Blind and the Dundee Institutionfor the Deaf and Dumb. The interest of the residue of hisestate, computed at .630,000 or thereby, is to be dividedevery year among men and women of fallen fortune andamong respectable poor of the town and district. It isestimated that the sum left for public purposes will ulti-mately reach the total of nearly .E50,000. Among the

bequests of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Margaret Black, ofBon Accord-terrace, Aberdeen, are .6100 to the AberdeenRoyal Infirmary, .6100 to the Aberdeen Royal Asylum forthe Blind, and .6100 to the Aberdeen Hospital for the reliefof persons labouring under incurable diseases.

Death of Dr. lvilliam. S. Park.Dr. W. S. Park, who died at Queenstown, Cape Colonv,

on Feb. llth, graduated at the University of Aberdeen andabout 18 years ago went to South Africa, where he settled inLady Frere. Shortly before his death, at the early age of44 years, Dr. Park had undergone an operation in Queens-town. He is survived by a widow and three sons.March 16th.

___________________

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The Belfast Prinaary Schools.SOME years ago the reports of the Commissioners of

National Education in Ireland revealed the fact that in thematter of elementary sanitation the schools in many parts ofIreland were in a deplorable condition owing to over-

crowding, bad ventilation, neglect of school cleaning, andof lavatory arrangements. Special condemnation was madeof the schools in Belfast, and in the Belfast Health Com-mission this was emphasised, for the Commission reported-We are of opinion that no effective progress will be made until the

ratepayers are called upon to take their share of the burden ofeducation. Meanwhile we can only advise the corporation to rigorouslyenforce the powers they have under the Public Health and local Acts,and to require that their own regulations shall be observed in all plansfor new schools submitted to them for approval.In the general reports made by the inspectors of the NationalBoard of Education in Ireland just presented to Parliament forthe school year ending June 30th, 1908, it is clear that more

stringent heed must be paid to the sanitary state of the

primary schools all over Ireland. A senior inspector (Mr.P. J. Kelly) says of Belfast : ’’ Allowing 10 square feet perpupil, the accommodation is insufficient in about 27’7 7 percent. of the city schools, in 24 per cent. it is fair, and in48 3 per cent. it is ample.

" He found one school where withfloor space for 232 there were 331 pupils present. The.. class-rooms," he says, I I are often greatly overcrowded."The ventilation in many of the schools was poor and in oneschool the children were crammed into the class-room for

singing, several of them being squatted on the floor."During the scare of spotted fever last year "the publichealth authorities," an assistant inspector reports, .. becameactively interested in the sanitary condition of theschools." But for this fright the sanitary condi-tion of the schools which were taken in hand wouldhave been completely ignored. The inspector of theSligo district says, .. sanitation seems to take care of itself."He mentions that ’’ sometimes no closets are attached to theschools, which, however, then present less danger to health