934 THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF MEDICAL EDUOATION AND REGISTRATION.

:accumulated. The officer of the Royal Army Medical Corpwould be able in the future to take that place in the scientific’world which was open to all comers who were worthy of itHe would have to begin at the beginning, which in Englan(,now, as in China, invariably meant an examinationExaminations being the national craze of the moment, it wareally too much to expect that the scheme should not have Esuccession of examinations as one of its features. HEdetested the present style of examination as much as an3student ; all he would say for the scheme in this connexior’was that the endeavour seemed to have been to make thesEtests as little harmful as possible to the brain, character, ancphysique of the victims. Instead of the present extensiveentrance examination in the medical and kindred sciences thercwould be in the future clinical and practical examinationsdesigned to select the best all-round practical men, menwho had profited most from their ward and laboratory work.Such an examination would, it was hoped, encourage the

’experienced and advanced student and debar the in-

-experienced, merely bookish, person possessed of a crammedsuperficial knowledge which evaporated in the twinkling of.an eye, "like a snowflake on a river, one moment seen, thenlost for ever," the moment being the period of the examina-- tion, when it dazzled with its transient gleam the spectacledorbs of the scrabbed examiner. As military secretary hewas supposed to be primarily responsible for the educationof the young combatant officers, and he would be proud if atthe close of his tenure he could say that he had done some-

thing to approximate the class of examination undergone by-them to that now proposed for the medical department.

Once the examination had been negotiated there would behigher pay to start with and higher pay all along the line tolook forward to. Not only, indeed, was higher pay to be.granted all round, but charge pay would be granted for-charge of hospitals, it having been little short of a scandalthat under what might now be called the late system a youngofficer should have had to spend money out of his own pocketif he wished to have his hospital arrangements properly up tothe mark. All this would now be put right by the handsome.charge allowance which would be granted. It would beobserved that there would be examinations for each stepin rank on the same principle as other branches of theservice. The examination plus the preliminary courses

’would be of such a practical nature that opportunities fordistinction by capable, as distinguished from merely clever,men would be obtainable. These distinctions were not

-empty ones ; they carried with them the solid advantages ofspecial promotion on a fixed scale. It would be noted alsothat advancement without examination or for war servicewas also provided for. The idea was that responsibility andreward should hereafter be given in commensurate propor-tion with capability and not merely upon seniority. The

Royal Army Medical Corps had persistently asked for

study leave and had not got it ; they had asked forbread and had been offered red facings. The autho-rities had now repented and in their repentance meantto go one better. They were going to make theirofficers take study leave nolens volens, only they were notgoing to let them study the female form divine in ball-rooms, or the grouse disease in Aberdeen, 01 broken armsand legs with the Ward Union of Dublin. But theywould concentrate them at centres where their studies wouldbe supervised and directed. Thus not only would the young

. officers benefit by getting real instead of sham study, butLord Roberts, through his staff, would get to know his men.and their qualifications, which might possibly tend to

prevent for the future a bacteriologist being detailed to cutoff arms and legs and a brilliant surgeon having to

investigate the intermarriages and banquets of bacilli.Finally, in this connexion he knew they were glad for the

sake of the army and its health that the military hospitalswere to be in future equipped in every way so as to rival thebest hospitals in the world ; also that the scientific apparatusso necessary for successful treatment of disease would beliberally provided. All these were vast changes, some ofthem fundamental in their character, but a greater one stillwas perhaps to be found in the fact that for the first time. eminent. members of the civil medical profession wouldbe given a voice in the direction of the fortunesand conduct of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Thewisdom of this might be questioned by the timid, buthe himself held that it was far more important for the corpsto stand shoulder-to-shoulder and arm-in-arm with their

. civilian brethren than it was for them to be picked military

officials. He hoped he had said nothing to deter any of thosepresent from coming to the army. Their representatives hadmany warm friends in the combatant ranks, friends who gotmore numerous and stronger as the war gave more and moreprominence to the splendid devotion of the Royal ArmyMedical Corps.

THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF MEDICALEDUCATION AND REGISTRATION.

THE ELECTION OF DIRECT REPRESENTATIVES.

THE following is the text of Dr. GLOVER’S electionaddress :-FELLOW PRACTITIONERS OF ENGLAND AND WALES,—

In offering myself again for re-election as one of your’

Direct Representatives on the General Medical Council I havetwo duties to discharge. I have to thank you, as I do most

heartily, for a long period of confidence and support on yourpart, shown in three elections. And I have to explain the

.

principles on which I have endeavoured to act as your Repre.sentative on the General Council of Medical Education andRegistration, and to which I shall adhere in the event ofyour again electing me. The recent address which I

’ delivered at Cheltenham and my action for years in the’

Council make it unnecessary for me to do more than verybriefly indicate my views.

Firstly, I have endeavoured to the best of my ability, in: respect of medical education, to make it, above all things,, clinical and practical, basing it on as high a standard of, preliminary education as the state of our general education,

will permit.Secondly, I have laboured to maintain the purity of the

Register, and while not lightly using the disciplinary powerof the Council have not hesitated to apply it in the case ofthose who knowingly and persistently violate those tradi.tions of the profession which are necessary for its honour andfor the protection of the public.

Thirdly, in regard to legislation to regulate the workofmidwives, I have kept in view the following objects :

(a) Stopping the practice of "Sarah Gamps "-as westop the sale of poisons.

(b) Limiting the practice of midwives to simple casesand placing them under strict compulsion to call forthe assistance of regular medical practitioners onthe occurrence of any irregularity or abnormality inmother or child.

(c) Providing in respect of the training and certificationof the work of midwives a board to do with thesanction of law what is now done without legalauthority by the Obstetrical Society of London andby other more or less irregular bodies.

(d) As midwives are not medical practitioners and canonly safely work under the supervision of such

practitioners I can only support legislation for

recognising them on condition that it secures theabove objects by making the Midwives Board toconsist chiefly of medical men and subjecting itsregulations to the approval of the General MedicalCouncil.

. Fourthly, I have consistently supported motions for anincrease in the number of Direct Representatives in theCouncil, and I should support any reasonable proposals forreducing the size of the Council.

Fifthly, the Medical Council consists predominantly of therepresentatives of 20 or more qualifying bodies, these bodieshaving their own functions and responsibilities. It is verycreditable to the Council and the bodies that so little frictionhas hitherto arisen between them and it. At present thebest friends of medical education see with concern andregret a sharp difference between the Royal Colleges ofEngland and the Council. I shall only say here that whileready to support the just claims of the Council to the loyalsupport of the individual bodies, I am in favour of avoidingany course which necessitates a reference to the PrivyCouncil, which by law has the last word in any disputebetween the Medical Council and the individual examiningbodies, believing it to be in the interest of the Counciland of the profession to settle differences without suchreference.

Sixthly, I am strongly in favour of the formation of a

935FEMALE INSPECTORS OF WORKSHOPS.

Conciliation Board to remove friction between the medical

profession and the friendly societies, to improve theposition of the medical officers, and gradually to raisethe conception of the value of medical service to the

working-classes. As acting chairman of a committee onthese subjects I have been much impressed with the

disposition of the leaders of the friendly societies to meetthe just complaints of the medical profession, and I

may add that the same impression has been made on mycolleagues in the Medical Council and on the Committee ofthe Council of the British Medical Association. It will be amisfortune if the tendency in some quarters to disparage thismovement should receive any sanction at the coming electionof Direct Representatives.

Seventhly, the finances of the Council require the con-sideration of its members, the expenditure of late yearshaving largely exceeded the income. Serious proposals havebeen made for raising a huge income for the Council by ayearly registration fee. I am strongly opposed to such a

suggestion and believe it to be unnecessary. The difficulty,in my judgment, is to be met rather by reducing the expendi-ture of the Council in obvious ways than by exacting whatwould be an annual tax from the profession. Medical politicsmay seem unimportant to many practitioners. The largeabstention of voters in past elections of Direct Repre-sentatives gives some colour to that impression. Butmedical politics deeply affect the welfare and reputationof the profession and are entitled to the consideration of allwho are in any way responsible for the composition of theMedical Council.Such are the views on which I have acted as the Direct

Representative of the practitioners of England and Waleson the General Medical Council. Though conscious of manyerrors and defects I appeal with some confidence to the broadand generous judgment of the profession, and remain yourobedient servant, JAMES GREY GLOVER, M.D.

25, Highbury-place, N.

FEMALE INSPECTORS OF WORKSHOPS.

IN a report for the nine weeks ending Sept. 14th presentedto the Sanitary Committee Dr. William Collingridge,medical officer of health of the City of London, states thata house-to-house inspection of workshops in the City " showsthat women only were employed in 39 per cent. of the work-shops, while no less than 72 per cent. of the total numberof workers employed in these houses were women." It is

obvious, he says, that there are many questions in connexionwith the sanitary surroundings of female workers in factoriesthat can only be properly investigated by one of their ownsex ; "moreover, the Legislature has of late years insistedupon the observance of many regulations in places wherewomen are engaged which men are ill-fitted to convenientlycontrol." Dr. Collingridge therefore recommends that theSanitary Committee should immediately appoint at least onefemale inspector whose duties should be entirely separatefrom those of the male officers and strictly confined tovisiting those establishments where women are employed.Any question involving structural alterations or drainagework would be dealt with by the sanitary inspector of thedistrict. A woman charged with these duties should hold astatutory qualification as a sanitary inspector and should beduly appointed as such under the Public Health (London)Act, 1891, for the purpose of acquiring the right of entryand power to serve preliminary notices and sign certificates.He remarks incidentally that such officers have beenappointed by the metropolitan boroughs of Kensington, St.Pancras, Islington, Hackney, Southwark (St. George theMartyr), and Battersea, as well as by the provincialtowns of Nottingham, Salford, Birmingham, Liverpool,and Sheffield. In continuation of this subject Dr.Collingridge mentions that last June a workshop wherethree women were employed was found to be withoutseparate closet accommodation. When served with a noticein accordance with the Act the owner dismissed the onlyactual woman worker, but questioned the right to compel theprovision of accommodation for the two other women whowere not constantly employed upon the premises. The HomeOffice inspector, however, contends that separate accommoda-tion should still be provided, relying upon the case of Bennet

I

v. Harding, in which it was held that stables with a stable-

yard were " a work-place " within the meaning of Section 38’of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and that the cab-drivers were "in attendance" there, although they werethere as customers, and that sanitary conveniences must be-provided for them. The owner of the workshop where the-three women were employed now states that his landlord willnot provide for the necessary arrangements being made andthat he may be compelled to dismiss both his clerk andcollector in order that the law may not be infringed. Another-case of a similar character has occurred in the same sanitarydistrict ; the landlords said that the necessary alterationswould be too expensive and the tenants were therefore

compelled to discharge two female employees.

THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSOF PHYSIOLOGISTS.

HELD AT TURIN, SEPT. 17TH-21ST, 1901.

THE following are notes of some of the communications-made to the above Congress:-

Motor Areas of the Anthropoid Brain. -

Professor C. S. SHERRINGTON, F.R.S., and Dr. A. S.GRÜNBAUM described experiments performed on the brainsof 10 chimpanzees, one orang, and one gorilla, which

yielded results differing in several important points fromthose hitherto accepted. The brains were excited by aunipolar method, one electrode being placed round the-animal’s fore limb and the other applied to the area underobservation. The same strength of current was able to

provoke movement in the brains of the cat, rhesus, andchimpanzee. They therefore concluded that no stronger-current was required for the higher brain than for the lower,contrary to what had been supposed by Horsley and Beevorin the case of the orang. No movements whatever wereobtainable from excitation of the posterior central (ascend-ing parietal) convolution. The motor region was whollysituated in front of the fissure of Rolando and was mainlyfound on the ascending frontal convolution, the aspect ofthis convolution which looked into the fissure of Rolando’being also excitable. The order of centres "from below

upwards on the ascending frontal convolution was face andhead first, then neck, shoulder, arm, thorax, abdomen, andleg. The leg area lay on the inner or sagittal faceof the convolution. The differentiation of areas was

very exact and no inexcitable zones were found between.The fissure of Rolando showed two well-known dis-tinct bends-the upper and the lower genu. Theneck area lay precisely opposite the lower bend and thetrunk area opposite the upper. Strictly circumscribed .

ablation of the arm or leg areas gave rise to accuratelylimited paralyses in the limbs in question which disappearedin about five weeks. No paralysis followed removal of con-siderable portions of the ascending parietal convolution.The degeneration which followed removal of the arm areawas traced down the cord as far as the middle of thethoracic segment. In the cervical region in addition to

degeneration in the crossed pyramidal tract a well-denneddegeneration was seen in the antero-mesial zone of the sameside. The higher monkeys resembled man, therefore, in

possessing a homolateral pyramidal tract. Degenerationfrom destruction of the leg area passed down to the upperpart of the lumbar enlargement, but no alterationwas seen in the homolateral pyramidal tract afterthis lesion. Similar results were obtained from allthe brains of the higher apes examined. ProfessorSherrington and Dr. Grunbaum then instituted com-

parisons with those of the rhesus and callithrix monkeysand found that in these animals likewise no movement wasobtainable with ordinary strengths of current from excitationof the ascending parietal convolution. They supposed, ’there-fore, that such movements as had previously been observedby ’other investigators must have been due to the employ-ment of currents strong enough to spread forward to theascending frontal convolution. An attempt was made tobring one of the chimpanzees operated upon to the Congress,but unfortunately the animal died en route.

Intracranial Section of the Optic Nerve in the Rabbit.Dr, G. MARENGHI (Padua) exhibited a rabbit on whom he