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THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES OF THEPROFESSION.

ALL who belong to the medical profession should supportthe benevolent societies which minister to those in need in

that profession, but students may rightly think that the sup-port of such charities as well as their management should beleft to their seniors; for whereas most students look to

their friends and guardians for pecuniary support, to invitethem to contribute to these medical charities is to ask theirseniors to add to the subscriptions which they already send.But nowadays a fairly large section of the medical students,we think, are older men possessing independent means. Tothe notice of these we beg to bring the charities of the pro-fession. All do good work on small incomes, all want furthersupport, and all are economical in their management.

Before mentioning the general benevolent societies of theprofession who ask for aid we may perhaps be pardoned ifwe direct attention to

THE LANCET RELIEF FUND,founded in 1889 by the proprietors of THE LANCET. Yearby year in the month of January the proprietors of THELANCET provide a sum of at least £300, which is adminis-tered free of cost, for the purpose of affording immediatepecuniary assistance to medical men, or their widows andorphans, in cases of distress and emergency, by the grant ofmoney by way of loans free of interest, or gifts, as thecircumstances of the various cases may require. The fundhas for its almoners the Presidents of the Royal Colleges ofPhysicians of London and Surgeons of England, the Presidentof the General Medical Council, and the Proprietors ofTHE LANCET, with Sir Henry Pitman, M.D., F.R.C.P., as thehonorary auditor. Applicants must satisfy the almoners ofthe fund that they are qualified under the following regula-tion : "The recipients shall be such persons as satisfy thealmoners that they possess one or other of the followingqualifications-that is to say : (a) That the applicant holdsa registered medical qualification, and that he has fallen intopressing need of immediate pecuniary relief ; or (b) thatthey are persons who have been, previously to the date ofapplication, legitimately dependent upon some person hold-ing a registered medical qualification, and that they have |; pressing need of immediate pecuniary relief." Applicationforms may be obtained from the secretary, Mr. EdwardDavies, THE LANCET Offices, Strand, London, W.C.

THE BRITISH MEDICAL BENEVOLENT FUND.

The objects of this fund are twofold : (a) for the relief ofmedical men in temporary difficulty or distress and for theirwidows and orphans ; and (b) for granting annuities to thosewho are quite incapable of providing for themselves aftersixty years of age. Subscriptions for these objects may besent to the treasurer, Sir W. H. Broadbent, Bart., M.D.,F.R.C.P. Lond., 84, Brook-street, Grosvenor-square, W.;Dr. Samuel West, hon. financial secretary, 15, Wimpole-street, W. ; and Mr. Joseph White, hon. secre- tary (cases),6, Southwell-gardens, Kensington, S.W. The committeemeet on the second Tuesday of every month exceptAugust. Applications are made by means of a form,which, when filled up by or on behalf of the appli-cant, must be signed by a subscriber (subscribers of 10s.and upwards and donors of ;S5 in one sum are entitled tothis privilege), and should be sent, together with two or moreletters of recommendation (one of which at least must befrom a medical man), to Mr. Joseph White, on or beforethe Friday previous to the meeting of the committee. Formsof application for immediate relief may be obtained fromany of the hon. secretaries.

ROYAL MEDICAL BENEVOLENT COLLEGE, EPSOM.This College was established in 1855 to provide pensions

.for aged medical men and the widows of medical menin reduced circumstances. The school is open to allclasses, but the sons of medical men receive special advan-tages. There are fifty pensioners, who receive annuities of£30, with the exception of a few still occupying rooms in theasylum, who receive £21. There are also eight Pughpensioners, who receive .630 a year each. There are alsoannuities for aged daughters of medical men. Pensionersmust be legally qualified medical men, who have beenfor five years registered medical pra titioners or the

widows of such. They must not be less than sixty yearsof age at the time of their application for admission ascandidates, and their yearly income must not exceedE60.The school, generally known as " Epsom College," containsabout 250 pupils, 50 of whom, being the Foundationscholars, are educated, boarded, clothed, and maintained atthe expense of the institution ; while the remainder are

charged .660 a year each for an education of the highestclass, board, lodging, and washing. Boys who are not i6sons of medical men pay f.70 a year. There are also dayscholars ; boarders in the headmaster’s house, and a few (sixunder fifteen years of age) are taken by Mr. E. NormanGardiner. For school prospectus apply to the bursar at theCollege, Epsom. Foundation scholars must be elected fromamong the necessitous orphans and sons of such medical menas would be professionally qualified for pensionerships. Theymust be fully eight years old when proposed as candidate!,but no boy can be elected on the Foundation whose azeexceeds twelve years on May 1st preceding the date ’orelection. There are nine perpetual presentations for femaleorphans of medical men and one open to those who are notorphans to the school of St. Anne’s Society. Donors of tenguineas are life governors of the College ; subscribers of oneguinea annually are governors during the continuance of theirsubscriptions. All subscriptions are due in advance on

Jan. lst in each year. Any information with regard to thedetails of the institution will gladly be communicated toparties addressing inquiries to the secretary, Mr. J. B.Lamb, at the office of the College, 37, Soho-square, wheresubscriptions and donations will be thankfully received.Subscriptions will also be received by the treasurer, Dr,Constantine Holman, J.P.

SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF WIDOWS AND OEPHAXS OFMEDICAL MEN.

This society is really a provident as well as a benevolentone. By the small annual subscription of two guineas mem.bers are able, should necessity unfortunately arise, to protecttheir own families from destitution, and benefits are con.ferred upon those left in indigent circumstances. All legallyqualified members of the profession residing within aradiusof twenty miles from Charing-cross are eligible for proposal;the mode of admission is by ballot. Proposal papers andother communications for the court of directors should besent to the secretary three weeks before the first Wednesdayin the months of January, April, July, and September.Further information can be obtained from the secretary,Mr. J. B. Blackett, at the office, 20, Hanover-square, W.

SOME OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTSHELD BY MEDICAL MEN.

Medical Officer to the Local Government Board,-This

appointment is in the hands of the President of the LocalGovernment Board for the time being, and has hitherto beenfilled by the promotion of one of the two assistant medicalofficers of that Board.

Medical Inspectors of the Local Government Board.-Theseappointments also are made by the President of the LocalGovernment Board. Qualification and experience in publichealth are taken into consideration.

Medical Officers to Poor-la,7v -Districts.-These appoint.ments are made by the guardians of the union or parish wquestion, subject to the approval of the Local GovernmentBoard, which approval is primarily concerned with ttemedical and surgical qualifications of the persons appointedand the locality of their residences.

Public Vaccinators.-The conditions of appointment are Eesame as those already described for medical officers of Poorlaw districts.

-District Medical 0fficers of Health.-The appointment. aremade by the urban or rural district council in qnes’ixsubject to the sanction of the Local Government Boss.which sanction takes account of statutory qaaMcatNC’salary, area of district, &c.

Cownty Medical 0fficers of Health.-The appointments a::made by the respective county councils, with whom thequestion in all its details absolutely rests.

-Lord Chancellor’s Visitors in .Lunacy.-There are ’1".’

Visitors in Luna y nominated by the Lord Chancellor. the

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appointments are usually bestowed on gentlemen who havedistinguished themselves in the specialty.Prison Medical Service.-Two medical officers are attached

to each of the first-class" prisons and one to several ofthe larger " second-class

" prisons. They are required todevote their whole time to their official duties. The serviceis a small one and vacancies do not often occur. Forms of

application can be procured from the Secretary to the PrisonDepartment at the Home Office. The salary commences atZ250 per annum, with free quarters, or an allowance in lieuthereof.Medical Officers of the Mercantile Marine.-The Merchant

Shipping Act, 1894, directs (Section 209) that every foreign-iroiBg ship having 100 persons or upwards on board shallcarry a duly qualified medical practitioner. Ship’s medical Ioificers, however, are more often appointed under the part ofthe same Act relative to " emigrant ships." For the pur-poses of the Act an emigrant ship is definedas one which carries more than fifty steerage passengers,and a steerage passenger is defined as one who is not acabin passenger. Section 303 provides that a medical

practitioner shall be carried on board an emigrant shipwhere the number of steerage passengers exceeds fifty, and

also where the number of persons on board (including cabinpassengers, officers, and crew) exceeds 300. A medical

practitioner shall not be considered to be duly authorisedfor the purposes of this Act unless (a) he is authorised bylaw to practice in some part of Her Majesty’s dominions,or in the case of a foreign ship in the country to which thatship belongs ; and (b) his name has been notified to theemigration officer at the port of clearance, and hasnot been objected to by him ; and (e) he is providedwith proper surgical instruments to the satisfaction of thatofficer. If any person proceeds or attempts to proceed asmedical practitioner in any emigrant ship without being dulyauthorised, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £100.Surgeons in charge of passenger ships should keep a recordof any sickness that occurs on the voyage, whether amongsaloon passengers, emigrants, or crew, and they are requestedto report the same to the emigration officer at the end of thevoyage. The remuneration for these appointments is

extremely variable, ranging from a free passage to the portof destination to a salary of Z10 a month during continuancein the service. The appointments are of course made by thevarious firms of shipowners and the applicants are some-times numerous.

FACILITIES FOR CLINICAL INSTRUCTIONIN INFECTIOUS DISEASE AFFORDEDBY THE HOSPITALS OF THE METRO-

POLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD,

THE study of infectious disease is a very necessary part ofthe student’s curriculum, but it is only within recent yearsthat proper facilities have been afforded for taking advantageof the valuable material to be found in the fever hospitalsof the Metropolitan Asylums Board. In former years thestudent had but few opportunities of becoming familiar withthe natural history of this branch of medicine, and it wasby no means an unheard-of event for a student to completehis career without having seen half a dozen cases of infec-tious disease. That there is still evidence of the state ofaffairs which formerly obtained may be gathered from thefact that during 1895 no fewer than 1277 patients, or a per-centage on the total admission into the Metropolitan Fever Hos-pitals of 7’6, were, after admission, found not to be sufferingfrom the diseases mentioned in the medical certificates uponwhich they were removed to hospital, the percentage ofmbtakes at the Eastern Hospital at Homerton being 11’0of the total admissions. At the present time five of theadmirable hospitals of the Asylums Board-viz. the Easternat Homerton, the Western at Fulham, the South-Eastern atDeptford, the South-Western at Stockwell, and the North-Western at Hampstead, are open under certain conditions tostudents and medical practitioners, while instruction insmall-pox is also afforded at the small-pox ships in the LongReach, near Dartford. A student desirous of taking a

course at one of the Board’s hospitals, must have completedhis third year and have held the office of clinical clerkand dresser; he must then obtain the sanction of the

Medical School to which he belongs and pay afee of three guineas for the first three months, and

| one guinea for each subsequent month to the clerk of theboard, from whom he receives a card indicating the hospitalto which he is to be attached. At this hospital he mustattend at stated times for at least two days in the week fora minimum period of two months, and on the completion ofhis attendance he receives a certificate from the medicalsuperintendent whose lectures and classes he has attended.While in the hospital the student places himself under thecontrol of the medical superintendent and is bound toobserve the regulations in force for the prevention of spreadof infection. These rules comprise the wearing while withinthe hospital wards of brown holland overalls, consisting ofcoat, trousers, and cap, which are provided by the board,and the use of what may be termed a discharge block, whichconsists of an infected room where the overalls are left, alavatory, and a theoretically uninfected room. The studentsare further required to keep their hair short and to be

efficiently protected against small-pox. A duly qualifiedmedical practitioner has equally to conform to these regu-lations and obtain the consent of the medical superintendentof the hospital at which he elects to attend. The studentwho attends these courses will obtain a fair knowledge ofinfectious disease, which will stand him in good stead inyears to come, while he will also get an insight into themanagement of fever hospitals and the methods of dis-infection practised therein.The provisions with regard to instruction in small-pox

differ somewhat from the above, as it is necessary for thestudent to reside for from two to four weeks on the small-poxships, where he is provided with rations, apartments, andwashing at the extremely moderate sum of 12s. per week.The student has to travel to and from the hospital ships onthe ambulance steamer and to furnish himself with a suitto which he does not attach much value, in order that itmay be disinfected or destroyed at the termination of theperiod. If the student can take this course during thesummer we can promise him, as the result of a personalexperience, a most enjoyable and instructive little holiday.

SHORTHAND IN MEDICINE.

To the practitioner who wishes to rapidly take notes ofcases or to record facts in his note-book which he has gleanedin reading or by observation, shorthand will be found, notonly to greatly economise time, but will change the laborioustask of recording notes in longhand into a work of pleasure.Its use by the student is of equal value. In the lecture

theatre, in the demonstration rooms, by the bed-side, in theout-patients’ department, and in a variety of other waysthe use of shorthand will enable him to record his ex-

perience in less time and in a more convenient manner thanby the use of longhand, and, in addition, the informationwill be ready to his hand when wanted. There is alsoanother advantage, and this not a small one, which the

study of phonography confers. Rightly used it has aneducational value of its own. In acquiring any kind ofknowledge two of the most important habits to developare attention and method, and both are developed andstrengthened by an intelligent use of phonography. Effortsare being made to induce the General Medical Council torecognise shorthand as an extra optional subject at thePreliminary Examination, and petitions with that objectin view have been presented to the Council. Whether thedesired object will be attained or not we strongly advise aUmedical students if they can find the necessary time tolearn shorthand.

MANCHESTER MEDICO-ETHICAL ASSOCIATION.-Ameeting of the profession will be held in the Memorial Hall,Albert-square, Manchester, on Thursday evening, Sept. 17th,for the purpose of hearing the views of the variouscandidates for seats on the General Medical Council. Thechair will be taken at seven o’clock precisely. The followinggentlemen have intimated their intention of being present toaddress the meeting: Dr. Glover, Mr. George Brown, Dr.Woodcock, Dr. Lovell Drage, Dr. Rentonl, Dr. Dolan, andDr. Alderson.