198

of the space in the rear to the eaves or most prominentpoint of the main body of the building. This was the angleestablished by custom in the question of "ancient lights,’which, however, applied only to old houses, but was foundto work satisfactorily. In dealing with existing buildingswhich were not in accordance with the new regulationsthey were willing to respect rights of which the ownermight be in actual enjoyment, permitting their re-erectionto the same height as before; but they would not recognisethe potential right to put up a building of 90 ft. high on thesite of one of 20 ft. They did not, however, propose to dealwith "wells" or courts enclosed within large blocks of houses.- Dr. ARMSTRONG said that in Newcastle all new streetsmust 13N at least 40 ft. wide, and have in their rear a " backstreet " or thoroughfare 20 ft. wide on which no houses mightface.-Dr. L. PARKES deprecated the practice of buildinghuge blocks of artisans’ dwellings, or of mansions separatedonly by narrow, ill-ventilated spaces or courts, maintainingthat the intervals should be equal in width to the full heightof the houses. He thought that a clause might be introducedinto the Bill requiring plans and elevations of all proposednew buildings to be submitted to the local authorities, andthat if they considered them likely to be dangerous tohealth the County Council should refuse their sanction. Atpresent nothing could be done until they were occupied.-Mr. WYNTER BLYTH held that, while the County Councilmight well make by-laws, the actual supervision could beefficiently carried out only by the local authorities. If allplans were submitted to the local medical officer of health,to be reported on by him to the local authority, the annoy-ance and expense consequent on the refusal of certificatesunder the Customs and Inland Revenue Act would be saved.-The PRESIDENT considered that the width of streetsshould be one and a half times the height of the houses.and that the application of the angle of 4° in the case ofall rooms used for habitation would meet the difficulty ofenclosed courts. The amount of light, apart from air,depended on the orientation or aspect of the house, and hegave Vogt’s formula for determining the possible illumina-tion under all circumstances :-

with the meridian. - -

It was then unanimously resolved that the Society repre-sent to the President of the Local Government Board theurgent need for the amendment of the London Building Actso as to secure an adequate supply of air and light around andwithin all buildings, and that the amendment proposed bythe County Council be accepted and introduced into the Bill.

HARVEIAN SOCIETY OF LONDON.

THE President (Mr. H. Cripps Lawrence) delivered theannual presidential address, in the course of which he gavean account of the main objects of the Harveian Society, andspoke of the means by which these might be best accom-plished. Dealing with the salient points of Harvey’sscientific work, which suggested to the individual membersof the Harveian Society how best to carry out the work ofthe Society, he said :-"One of the most important of these in reference to

scientific investigations is to be found in a letter from Harveyto John Riolan the younger, in opposition to those whorepudiate the circulation because they cannot see theefficient or final cause of it, and who exclaim, Cui bono ?’wherein he propounds these axioms : Our first duty is toinquire whether the thing be or not, before asking where-fore it is.’ Again, 6 He who truly desires to be informed ofthe question in hand, and whether the facts alleged besensible, visible, or not, must be held bound either to lookfor himself or to take on trust the conclusions to whichthey have come who have looked;’ and assuming thewitnesses to be credible, he adds, ’there is no highermethod of attaining to assurance and certainty.’1 Nextto scientific caution, Harvey exhibited tolemtion. Aikinrefers to this when he tells us that Harvey was cheerful,candid, and upright; he was not the prey of any mean or

1 Bettany: Eminent Doctors, vol. i., pp. 33-34.

ungentle passion. He was as little disposed by nature tc.detract from the merits of others, or make an ostentatiousdisplay of his own.’ Again, the many antagonists whomhis renown and the novelty of his opinions excited were,in general, treated by him with modest, temperate lan-guage, very different from their own; and while herefuted their arguments he decorated them with all duepraises.’ 2 So, too, Dr. Eft,’ in his preface to ’HarveyResearches on Generation,’ adds, ’and we have evidence ofhis singular candour in this, that he never hostilely attacks

any previous writer, but ever courteously sets downand comments upon the opinions of each,’ regarding it as., argument of an indifferent cause, when it is contended forwith violence and distemper, and that truth scarce wantsan advocate.’ Harvey’s character, too, was modest andgenerous. Of the truth of this we have evidence in hissolicitude for the welfare of the College of Physicians.Having built for the college a library and a repository forsimples and rarities,’ on Feb. 2nd, 1653, ’Harvey waspresent on the opening occasion, having provided a

handsome entertainment and formally handed over the.title-deeds and entire interest of the building in a speechof the utmost benevolence and good-will.’ 4 On Sept. 30th,1654, being elected President of the College in his,absence, ’he declined on the next day, owing to his age andinfirmities, recommending the continuance in office of Dr.Prujean, under whose prudent management and fosteringcare the affairs of the College had greatly prospered.’ SOnce more, Harvey was not only the greatest scientist of

his day, for he had the rare distinction of standing at thehead of three departments of science in England-compara-tive anatomy,Ephysiology, and medicine,’ 6-but he was a manof widely cultivated mind outside his professional work, fondof reading the classics and still a learning mathematicianin his old age. Ha,rvey knew the men of letters and scienceof his day, as Dr. Dickinson, in his recent Harveian orationpointed out.7 It is worth noting that Harvey’s long lifemade him the contemporary of the four greatest men whomEngland has produced—Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, andNewton,’ and of others such as Hobbes, Dryden, Boyle, andCowley. With all this culture he was an independentsearcher after truth, and albeit vivisection became aecessary thereto, he was reverent in the uee of that means.Harvey, though by no means eager in the pursuit of wealth,set a good example to his professional brethren in making &.

will while in the possession of his faculties, and reading itover even within six months of his death, at eighty yearsof age. Active in religious sentiment, he evinces,’ as Dr.Willis tells us, true and elevated piety throughout thewhole course of his work on Generation, and seizes everyopportunity of giving utterance to his sense of the immediateagency and omnipotence of the Deity.’ So lived, so died,one of the great men whom God, in virtue of His eternallaws, bids to appear on earth from time to time, to enlightenand ennoble mankind.’

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE INIRELAND.

A MEETING of the Obstetrical Section was held op

Nov. 27th, Dr. Atthill in the chair.Caesarean Section.-The PRESIDENT (Dr. HorDE;), having.

returned his warmest and best thanks to the Fellowsof the Royal Academy of Medicine for having electedhim as president of the Spction of Obstetrics, read anaddress on this subject. His firm conviction was thatthere are many infants annually sacrificed who mightbe saved if the medical profession would recognise thefact that a majority of such cases could be saved byprompt surgical interference. He gave a short résurné ofthe history of the operation, and did not consider it

required more than ordinary surgical skill for its perform-ance. He laid special stress on the treatment of the uterinewound, as advocated by Sänger of Leipzig, and paid a,

2 Ibid., p. 47. 3 Ibid., p. 41.4 Ibid., vol. i., p. 45, et seq.

5 Dr. Willis’ Introduction to Harvey’s Life (New Sydenham Society),p. 35.

6 Willis, ut supra.7 Harveian Oration, Dr. Dickinson : British Medical Journal, Oct.

24th, 1891

199

tribute of respect to Lister, as having restored the Cesareansection from the limbo to which it was consigned to itsproper place in the surgical art by means of antiseptics.On the early recognition of pelvic deformity depended thesuccess of Cuusarean section.Ilenwval of a Pin from the Bladder. - Dr. LANE ex-

hibited a pin about two inches in length which he hadremoved from the bladder of a young lady. The patientwas seen on the day the pin escaped into the bladder,and was with ease felt by examination per vaginam.The head was resting against the posterior wall of thebladder and to the right of the uterus, the point beingdirected forwards and to the left side of the orifice of theurethra. Owing to certain reasons the attempt to removethe pin had to be postponed for three days, and when thepatient was under ether the pin was found to be lyingtransverse and some distance above the inner orifice of theurethra. Previous to any examination the vagina waswashed out, and prior to attempting to remove thepin the bladder was injected with water. The pin wascaught and withdrawn. There was a very slight amountof blood in the urine that day, none afterwards, but theurine was turbid. On the fifth day the patient had a severerigor and also pyelitis of both kidneys. Cause not quitecertain, as temperature and pulse had been perfect, unlessit was due to cold, as the patient had the day previouslybeen sitting up in bed at an open window, without muchcovering. Symptoms gradually subsided, and the patientmade a perfect recovery.--Dr. MORE MADDEN was certainthat the Academy would appreciate the intent of Dr. Lane’scommunication, both as regards the comparative rarity ofthe accident describ3d and the efficacy of the treatmentadopted in the case just referred to. The bladder has inmany instances been found to be the receptacle for a mostextraordinary and heterogeneous assortment of misplacedarticles, an occurrence of which several instances were longsince related by the late Sir Benjamin Brodie/ as well asby Sir Philip Crampton, and more recently by Dr. Bartonof Dublin.Two Cases of Cae8arean Section.-Dr. SAIYLY exhibited two

patients upon whom he had performed Csesarean sectionin the Rotunda Hospital. Both cases presented an

extreme degree of pelvic deformity, and the birth ofa living child by any other method than abdominalsection would have been impossible. One case was a well-marked example of a rare deformity the result of a

kyphosis in the lower lumbar and upper sacral regions of ithe spine, in which the narrowing was most marked in thetransverse diameters, and especially at the pelvic outlet,and the other was an example of the generally contractedflat rachitic pelvis, in which the narrowing was most markedintheconjugatediameters, audespeciallyat the pelvic brim.-Dr. MORE MADDEN pointed out that five-and-twenty yearsago craniotomy was invariably resorted to in those cases ofdifficult or obstructed labour in which a living child mightnow be delivered from a living mother with safety to both.Dr. Murdoch Cameron of Glasgow, as well as Dr. Smylyand others, had abundantly demonstrated the possibility,and with due precautions the safety in proper cases, of theCæsarean section. It was a great satisfaction to him to findthat most of the leading obstetricians of the present daynow probably agreed that child.destroying operations shouldbe eliminated from midwifery practice, and that the onlyquestion in extreme cases of difficnlb labour should bewhich one of the two suggested child-saving operations-viz, Cæssarean section or Porro’s operation-should beresorted to.Dystocia due to a Cyst in the Liver of a Fœtus.—Dr. BAGOT

read a paper under the above title. He considered the caseof extreme interest from a pathological as well as. froman obstetrical point of view. Records of cases where con-genital cysts of any size had been found in the liver werevery rare, as were also records of such, or indeed any,tumour of the fcetal liver causing dystocia. Dr. Bagot hadbeen able to find only four cases, besides that recorded byWitzel, where dystocia had been caused by anv form of livertumour-viz,: (1) Haase (N. Z xi., 262); (2) Miiller (Hohl.,p. 286); (3) Naggereth (Deutsche Klinik, 1854, No. 44;Wochenschr., iv., 458); (4) Schlesinger (Hohl., p. 289). Thefirst three, according to Winchel, " resolve themselves intoeither hepatic physconia or a lymphatic tumour of the liver."The tumour in Naggereth’s case was a carcinoma.

1 See Brodie’s Works, vol. iii., p. 508.

WEST KENT MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

AT the meeting on Friday, Jan. 8tb, 1892 (Mr. Roberts,President, in the chair), Dr. DUNDAS GRANT gave a demon-stration on several New Instruments used in the Treatmentof Ear, Throat, and Nose Diseases. Amongst others heexhibited and described his Eustachian self-inflater, a safeendo.laryngeal forceps, and an apparatus for exploration ofthe antrum of Higbmore.-The President, Drs. MacUavin,Tayler, Wainewright, and Clarke joined in the discussionwhich followed.

Reviems and Notices of Books.Colour. blindness and Colour Perception. By F. W.

EDRIDGE-GREEN. With Three Coloured Plates. Pp.311.(Vol. LXXI. of the International Scientific Series.) .

London : Kegan Paul. 1891.

IN this work Dr. Edridge Green presents to the reader theexisting state of our knowledge of that defect of vision whichconsists in imperfect perception of colour, based on personalexamination of 116 cases of colour-blindness and of all acces-sible recorded cases. After a short introductory section on thephysical basis of colour, he gives an explanation of the termshe employs in the subsequent chapters. The most impor-tant of these is the term 11 psycho-physical unit," by whichhe means the recognition of distinct differences between dif-ferent objects, and therefore in this case the perception ofthe several colours that an observer is capable of recognisingin the solar spectrum. This number is found to vary ; mostobservers can distinguish six units of colour-red, orange,yellow, green, blue, and violet; whilst some, like Newton,see seven, indigo being introduced between blue and violet.Latterly it appears some writers on colour have demurred tothe insertion of indigo, and especially to its insertion be-tween blue and violet. If a" six-unit" were asked to makeseven colours, he would add greenish-yellow to the list. Ithas also been pointed out that indigo is a green-blue and nota violet-blue, and therefore could not be placed between theblue and the violet. He considers that impressions of sightmay be divided into four sets-those of colour, form, size, andshade. We should be inclined to add a fifth, movement.In accordance with the theory of psycho-physical perceptionDr. Edridge-Green states that the normal sighted will per-ceive any mixture of colours as a unit, a modified unit, oras white. It is not, therefore, surprising that the mixtureof two colours representing the whole of the spectrumshould make white. " The complementary of any colourcan be obtained by the subtraction of the colour itself fromwhite light. It therefore follows that the complementaryof any colour consists of a mixture of the remainingrays of the spectrum." He gives the following list oftrue spectral complementaries: red, blue-green ; orange,green - blue ; yellow, blue ; yellow-green, violet; green,rose.

In regard to the prevalence of colour.lalindness, the resultsof Dr. Edridge-Green’s observations give a rather higher per-centage than those of other inquirers, with the exception ofDr. Wilson, for he finds the percentage of the two-unit to beabout 2, of the three-unit about 1 5, and the percentage ofthe four-unit about 3. But as the four- and five-unit are,for all practical purposes, normal sighted, he does not in-jiude them, though they have really diminished colour

perception. By the ordinarily used lists about one womanin 2000 is colour-blind. It is a rather more common defectin the uneducated than in the educated, and it is interestingto note that the author has found more colour-blind personsamongst musicians than in any other class or profession. He