340 ITALY.-THE NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT.

ITALY.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

2%6 Campaign of the Red Cross Society against Malaria inthe Pontine Marshes.

SzrtcE 1900the Croce Rossa has undertaken the struggleagainst malaria in the Pontine Marshes, where at that time70 per cent. of the population were infected. They havealready succeeded in diminishing this percentage by nine-tenths. Every year, at the beginning of the summer, thesociety sends its doctors and orderlies to this infected

region, and during the winter supplements the work by theprovision of good food and tonic medicines to fortify thesickly against the risks of the coming season. Thewhole region is divided into 13 districts, with an ambulancestation in each. A doctor, a lieutenant or sub-lieutenant ofthe Croce Rossa, is in charge of each station, with hospitalorderlies and drivers or porters. Each ambulance has a

wagon or a hand-litter according to the size of the districtand the nature of the roads. The doctors and attendantsare supplied with horses. The regulation equipment of theambulance consists of three cases: in one are contained"medical comforts," preserved meat, tablets of meatessence, and stimulants; in the second are surgical instru-ments and dressings ; and in the third an assortment of drugs.The ambulance has to be provided for any emergency, as thedoctor of the station may find himself called upon to copewith the various accidents, medical or surgical, which mayarise in his district. These districts vary a good deal insize; that in which is situated the Cistercian monastery,where St. Thomas d’Aquinas died, is so large that it takesthe medical officer four days travelling on horseback tomake its tour. The inhabitants of these malarious regionsare largely nomadic, poor, and ignorant, and give littleassistance to the work done on their behalf; for

example, the huts provided with wire-gauze netting are

often rendered useless by the destruction of the netting.A better day, however, seems likely to dawn again upon thisneglected country. The Minister of Public Works has

approved the schemes drawn up by the Department ofCivil Engineering for the drainage and improvement of thePontine Marshes. The works are to be carried out by theState or by private bodies, where such make application todo the work for themselves ; in these cases the contributionof the Government will be a fixed annual payment. In oldtimes this country was called " the granary of Rome." With

proper drainage and irrigation there is no doubt of its futureprosperity, and a witness to the truth of this belief is borneby the number of applications received and good offers madefor land in this region.

Antityphoid Inoculation.Professor Castellani, director of the Institute of Tropical

Medicine at Colombo, writes to the Policlinico 1 to call theattention of the medical profession in Italy to the desir-

ability of antityphoid inoculation in the Italian army.Professor Castellani speaks from large personal experience,and states that the incidence of typhoid fever among thevaccinated troops in India and Ceylon falls to less than half,and the mortality to less than a quarter, of that obtainingamong the unvaccinated soldiers living under the same con-ditions. He describes Wright’s vaccine and his own livingvaccine, and advises that for the present, and upon the

large scale necessary for the protection of the Italian

army, it would be better to make use of Wright’s vaccine,the effects of which have been thoroughly studied, which issimpler to prepare, is of very small cost, is very easy to use,and has been proved harmless.

The Paternò Trial.The trial of Lieutenant Paternò for the murder of the

Countess Giulia Tregona in a fifth-rate hotel in Rome, in

March, 1911, has recently been concluded. The case gainedpublic notoriety from the fact that the man was a cavalryofficer and a baron, and the lady a lady-in-waitingto the Queen of Italy, but it was in reality nothingbut a sordid drama of selfish passion. It merits a note,however, on account of the prominence given to the

psychological experts and the use made of the medicalevidence. Professor Maiano, the psychologist called for

1 See Prat. Anno xix., Fasc. 27.

he defence, occupied the time of the court for nearlyhree days in an exhaustive analysis of the whole life ofhe accused. Both he and the counsel for the defenceattached great importance to the previous history of

syphilis and the probability of a present tuberculous infec-tion in the accused as disposing to a state of mindn which the oidinary social laws cease to be operative.When the medical expert who made the necropsy was

called, the defence objected to his giving an opinion on anypoint not absolutely related to the findings of the post-nortem examination, the counsel for the accused declaringthat the opinion of the witness could be of value only inthe matter of the post-mortem, and that on psychologicalluestions he was not entitled to speak. The judge upheld;his contention. Notwithstanding all the efforts made onlis behalf the accused was found guilty of murder withoutany extenuating circumstances, and was sentenced to thenaximum penalty.

Seaside Honaes and "Alpine Colonies.In the matter of seaside homes for weakly children the

province of Lucca led the way. The first seaside home wasopened at Viareggio in 1842 and has continued to exist everince. Every summer it receives some 600 children. Forbhe last ten years Lucca has also maintained homes in thehills for delicate children during the summer and a seasidehome during the winter months at Viareggio.July 27th.

THE NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF SANATORIUM BENEFIT.THE National Health Insurance Commission (England)

have issued a circular for the guidance of Insurance Com-mittees with regard to the administration of sanatoriumbenefit. They point out the advisability of each committeeappointing at once a sub-committee to deal with the matterand of making the tuberculosis officer, where one has beenappointed, the medical officer to the committee. Where nosuch officer has been appointed a certificate from a medical

practitioner that the insured person is suffering from tuber-culosis must be supplied to the clerk to the committee. TheInsurance Committees are warned that all institutions mustbe approved by the Local Government Board before patientsmay be sent to them.

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THE COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER FOR LONDON AND THEINSURANCE COMMITTEE FOR THE COUNTY.

The General Purposes Committee reported to the LondonCounty Council on July 30th that it had received a requestfrom the Insurance Committee for the County of Londonthat the Council would consent to the medical officerof health of the county attending meetings of thecommittee and giving advice and assistance. The com-mittee stated that while desirous of giving every facilityto the Insurance Committee it was difficult to accedeto the request, inasmuch as all the time and energiesof the medical officer were necessarily devoted tothe work of his office, and especially, at the presenttime, in connexion with the work of medical inspection ofchildren in public elementary schools. The Council had

already appointed as a member of the Insurance CommitteeSir Shirley Murphy, the late county medical officer, whoseservices had been retained by the Council in a consultativecapacity until Dec. 31st, 1914, and the committee< felt con-fident that the great knowledge and experience of publichealth administration which Sir Shirley Murphy, by hisservice on the committee, was placing at its disposal wouldsupply all that the committee required. Further, the PublicHealth Committee was furnishing the Insurance Committeewith all the information at its disposal.

After some debate, in which the chairman of the com-mittee repudiated any suggestion of political animus, theCouncil decided, on the recommendation of the GeneralPurposes Committee, not to accede to the request.

A PUBLIC MEDICAL SERVICE FOR THE WANDSWORTHAREA.

A scheme has been submitted by a Provisional -MedicalCommittee for the consideration of the whole of the medical

profession in the neighbourhood included in the Wandsworth

341THE NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT.

Division of the British Medical Association, and all the practi-tioners concerned are asked to make themselves thoroughlyconversant with its details before a meeting of the local

profession which will take place as early in September aspossible. The object of the scheme is to organise the pro-vision of medical attendance and medicine for persons unableto pay ordinary charges. Any registered practitioner in thearea may become an officer of the service ; criticisms havebeen invited, and any resolution or amendment, with numberof clause and paragraph in the scheme to which they relate,and with the signatures of proposer and seconder, are to besent not later than Sept. lst to Mr. J. Eennish, honorarysecretary to the Provisional Medical Committee, at 73,Clapham Park-road, London, S.W.The scheme is a simple and thorough one, and localities in

doubt how to proceed might well ask to be supplied withcopies of its details. It takes into consideration both personswho are and who are not insured under the Act, the uninsuredpersons submitting to the regulations and paying 2d. perweek above 16 years of age. A composition fee may beaccepted for children.The medical staff may be either : (1) capitation and tariff

fee members ; (2) capitation members only; (3) tariff feemembers only ; or (4) honorary members.

Capitation and tariff fee members a-ccept paymenteither by capitation subscription or by tariff fee perattendance. Capitation members accept capitation subscrip-tions only. Tariff fee members accept payment per attend-ance only. Honorary members agree to abide by the rulesof the service, but do not undertake ordinary medicalattendance in connexion with the service.The usual rules provide for officers, general and special

meetings, and powers of the committee, the importantregulations under the head of "Government" being thefollowing :-

j!fem6eM not to accept lO1ver rates.-No member shall take, or continueto treat, any contributory contract patient at a lower rate than the ! subscriptions prescribed in these rules.Camvassing and advertising.-No canvassing or advertising shall be

permitted by, or on behalf of, any member of the service. No membershall himself receive, or employ a collector to collect, subscriptionsfrom contributory contract patients.Members not to hold Cl11b appointments.-No member shall hold any

appointment as medical officer to a club or conduct any club of his owncomposed of assured persons.For any wilful breach of the rules of the service (after attention has

been called to such breach by the committee) a member maybe expelledfrom membership by the vote of three-fourths of the members presentand voting at a general meeting, providing that 20 per cent. of themembers of the staff are present.The rules of the service cannot be altered except with the consent of

two-thirds of the members present and voting at a general meeting,after 14 days’ notice of the terms of any proposed alteration.The following are the main conditions under which subscribers can

receive the benefits of the service :-Classification and admission of subscribers.-Subscribers, when

applying for admission, may elect to join the service either as-(1)" Capitation subscribers" or as (2) "Tariff fee subscribers." Sub-scribers shall be admitted to his list by any acting member aftermedical examination. The committee shall determine the incomelimit for admission as a subscriber to the service, but in no case shallthe income exceed &pound;2 per week. Should cases arise in which there maybe doubt as to the eligibility of the applicants, they shall be referred tothe committee for its consideration, and the decision of the committeeon the question of eligibility shall be final. If any subscriber shall, inthe opinion of the committee, cease to be eligible, his name shall beremoved from the list of subscribers.Subscriptions.-(a) For capitation subscribers the subscription to the

service for a person insured under the National (Health) Insurance Act,1911, shall not be less than 3d. per week, inclusive of drugs and cost ofadministration, provided that in the case of persons who may appearon the medical examination to be below the ordinary standard of healthof subscribers, the committee may prescribe special rates of subscrip-tion, and that the subscription be paid weekly, quarterly, or half-yearly in advance.

(b) A tariff fee subscriber, whether insured under the National(Health) Insurance Act, 1911, or not, shall on admission, and annuallythereafter so long as he remains in the service, subscribe the sum of Is.,and shall, in addition, agree to pay his medical attendant for ordinarymedical attendance and medicines at the following rates :-

&laquo; 7

and that insurance for these fees, in some company to be approvedhereafter by the Public Medical Service Committee, be compulsory as acondition of membership of the service.Accounts and arrears.-(a) A capitation subscriber whose subscriptions

are three weeks or more in arrear, at least one week’s notice in writinghaving been given him, shall be struck off the list of subscribers, andshall not be readmitted except on payment of all arrears or such partthereof and such fine as may be approved by the committee.

(b) Accounts of tariff fee subscribers shall be rendered in duplicate,monthly, to the patient and the Public Melical Service. Contract fee

subscribers must, on entrance, authorise the insurance company to paythese accounts to the Public Medical Service.

(c) All fees for professional services to tariff fee subscribers should be-paid by insurance companies through the Public Medical Service.

Choice of medical attendant.-(a) A subscriber shall, on admission,and at such other times as are provided by these rules, choose hismedical attendant from the members of the service who are willing tmattend him, and shall for the time being be entitled to the services 06such member only.

(b) The contract of the subscriber shall be with his medical attendantonly, and not with the service or the other members of the service.

(c) Except by the consent of both members concerned, the suo-scriber shall not change his medical attendant more than once in six.calendar months, giving at least a month’s notice, terminating on the30th June or the 31st December.

(d) The member in charge of a case may, on the ground of wilfuldisobedience or misconduct on the part of the subscriber, forthwithreport to the committee.

Subscribers’ cards.--Every subscriber shall, on admission, be supplied’’with a card, which shall refer to these rules, and on which shall beprinted such of these rules as the committee may think necessary, andon which also shall be set forth such information, including the nameand hours of the subscriber’s medical attendant, as may be approved bythe committee. Failing production of the card attendance may be-refused.

Privileges of subscribers.-A "Capitation" or "Tariff Fee Sub-scriber," in accordance with these rules, shall be entitled to receive, so’long as his subscriptions are not in arrear :-

(i.) Ordinary medical and surgical treatment at the (surgery of hismedical attendant) or (dispensary of the service) within the hoursmentioned on his card.

(ii.) When his condition requires it, ordinary medical and surgicaltreatment at his place of dwelling, other than night calls and special!visits as hereinafter defined. i

(iii.) All needful medicines and first dressings for wounds and otherinjuries.*

(iv.) In case of removal, the subscriber shall give immediate noticeto his medical attendant, who shall have the right to discontinue-attendance.Limitation of benefits.-Subscribers shall not be entitled, in considera-

tion of their ordinary subscription-(i.) To medical service in respect of any of the following matters,.

except upon payment of the fees specified in the following table, and,’

payment at the time :- . -

(ii.) To medical service in respect of illness the consequence ofpersonal misconduct. There shall be no obligation on the part of themedical officer to provide medical service in respect of illness theconsequence of personal misconduct, except by arrangement.

(iii.) To medical attendance in respect of-(a) Illness arising from confinement or miscarriage within one

month, where not attended by a member of the staff.

(b) Operations requiring local or general anaesthetics.(c) Operative dentistry, the fees for which shall be specially

arranged.(iv.)* To cod-liver oil, linseed meal, leeches, serum, oxygen.(v.) To bottles,* jars," dressings, or bandages (except for first

dressings).(vi.) To special examinations-e.g., X ray, bacteriological, &c.(vii.) To examinations, court attendances, &c., under Common Law

and Workmen’s Compensation, Employers’ Liability, and other statutes(viii.) To medical attendance in respect of tubercular disease, when

actually in receipt of sanatorium benefit under the National Insurance-Act.

Under miscellaneous arrangements in connexion with,finance it is provided that all payments made by a subscribershall be the exclusive property of the member who is hismedical attendant at the time when such payment becomes-due, subject only to a rateable deduction for the expenses ofcollection and the general expenses of the service. Allmoneys collected are to be paid into a bank, to the credit ofthe Public Medical Service, and the balance is to be dis-tributed after payment of expenses to each member in accord-ance with his earnings. A member may sell to any person

* In any service not providing medicines this provision will, ofcourse, be deleted.* In services not providing medicines these items would be deleted.

342 MEDICAL NEWS.

- qualified for membership his interest in the service, and thepurchaser will become entitled thereto upon becoming a

member of the service. Although the masculine gender isused throughout, the cooperation of female members is

expected. -

A NOTE ON SIR WILLIAM PLENDER’S REPORT.Dr. H. F. Oldham, of Morecambe, has drawn up the

following comparison of general practice before the NationalInsurance Act and after, based on the report of Sir WilliamPlender and Mr. J. F. Sowerby. Dr. Oldham writes :-

In the following comparison the population in the towns examinedby Sir W. Plender is taken in round numbers at 400,000 and similarlythe contract patients in round numbers at 40,000, the actual figures onthe aggregate of the two years being respectively 406,832 and 42,669.The average attendances on the uninsured population (538,400 attend-ances on 363,713 persons) is taken at 1’5 per head, and the averageattendance on contract patients is taken at 5’5 per head.

Here is a plain business proposition. If the 170 practitioners canmake the necessary 320,000 additional attendances they would eachunder the B.M.A. plan add &pound; 100 per annum to their incomes. UnderMr. Lloyd George’s plan the extra work would be practically gratuitous.

If the 170 practitioners could not make these additional attendances,and most general practitioners are already working full time, thenumber of practitioners would be increased and the individual incomesproportionately decreased. That is even at 8s. 6d. per insured personthe Act means increased work or reduced incomes.

It is perhaps worth noticing that the population dealt with (400,000)is approximately 1 per cent. of the total population involved. Theabove figures, therefore, multiplied by 100 will give those for GreatBritain.The above comparison has already appeared in the daily

papers, but may be published here with advantage as onemore proof that Sir William Plender’s report did not provewhat the opponents to medical views have alleged-thingswhich it is quite clear that the authors of the report neverclaimed for their work. The report was, from its limitations,bound to do little to clear the situation, and the question whyno southern town was included in the places investigated,which has been addressed to us by a correspondent, we cannotanswer.

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THE STATE MEDICAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION.The preliminary suggestions for the formation of the

State Medical Service Association were made public in

Liverpool last week at the meeting of the British MedicalAssociation. These provide for the formation of a society onthe usual lines with local branches in every district, a

minimum subscription of 5s. per annum, a president, vice-presidents, a committee of 12, with power to add to the

number, an honorary treasurer, and an honorary secretary.’Mr. Charles A. Parker (24, Upper Wimpole-street, London,’W.) is acting for the present as secretary to the movement.’The main object of the association, which in its presentstate is designed to be educative, is to promulgate the

’advisability of a State service amongst the medical pro-fession, to make clear its advantages to the public, and to

promote its adoption by Parliament, to carry out which pro-gramme the association will hold meetings, publish andcirculate literature, and otherwise propagate its cause, whichis defined under the following headings : -(a) That the wholeprofession shall be organised on the lines of other Stateservices now in existence. (b) That entry to the pro-fession shall be by one State examination only. (<?) Thateach member of the service shall be paid an adequatesalary, increasing gradually according to length of serviceand position, and shall be entitled to a pension aftera specified number of years’ work or in the case of per-manent disablement. (d) That whilst members of the publicshall have free choice of doctors, no doctor shall be calledupon to have charge of more than a specified number ofpatients. (e) That one of the primary objects of the Stateservice shall be to unite preventive and curative medicine.(f) That all hospitals shall be nationalised and used for thepurpose of consultative, operative, and therapeutic work, atthe request of, and in conjunction with, the patient’s owndoctor. (g) That the services of the State doctors shall beopen to every man, woman, and child-rich or poor. (h) Thatthe State Medical Service shall be administered by a Boardof Health under a Minister of Public Health with Qabinetrank.

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NEWBURY AND DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY.We have received the following letter from Mr. Arthur

Thompson, Hon. Sec., Newbury and District MedicalSociety :-SIR,-At a meeting of the Newbury and District Medical

Society, held on Friday afternoon, July 26th, the enclosedthree resolutions were proposed, seconded, and unanimouslyadopted, and it was also decided to send them up to yourjournal with the request that they should be published inyour next issue. Yours faithfully,

,

Highlands, Newbury, July 27th, 1912. ARTHUR THOMPSON.1. That having considered schemes A and B of the ,British,iMedical

Association for the administration of medical benents’ un’ctKr theInsurance Act, we’consider them unsuited to the Newbury and Districtportion of this Division.

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2. That this society protests against the Association permitting anymedical practitioners to accept any office under the Insurance-Act,whether sanatorium office or otherwise, until the seven carding pointsare granted to the profession .’

3. That in the opinion of this meeting the time is now ripe for theBritish Medical Association to call upon all Poor-law medical oncers fortheir resignations, to be used in the event of the Commisstbners.through boards of guardians or otherwise, endeavouring t6’w&k theInsurance Act in any way by their services. " r

Medical News.OXFORD UNIVERSITY.-The undermentioned

candidates have been approved in the following ea-minations :-

Diploma in Ophthalmology.-B. G. S. Acharya, J. McC. Browne,A. B. Cluckie, J. N. Daggan, D. V. Giri, W. L. Simpson, and A. E.Verney.

’ ,

.31aster of Slwgery.-H. S. Souttar.

ROYAL COLLEGES OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONSOF ENGLAND.-At a meeting of Comitia of the Royal Collegeof Physicians of London held on July 25th, and of theCouncil of the Royal College of Surgeons of England heldon the same date, diplomas of L.R.C.P. and M.R.C.S. wererespectively conferred upon the following 104 candidateswho have passed the requisite examinations and havecomplied with the by-laws :-

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"Bindignavale Gamdachanja Srinivas Acharya, M.B., C.M. Madras,Madras University; Herbert Clifton Attwood, B.A. Cantab., Cam-bridge University and St. Thomas’s Hospital; Robert Eric Barnsley,B.A. Cantab., Cambridge University and St. Bartholomew’s Hos-pital ; Henry Washington Batchelor, London Hospital; BasilFraser Beatson, St. Mary’s -Hospital; William Somerset Birch,King’s College Hospital; Edward Wrigley Braithwaite, L.M.S.S.A.Lond., Leeds University, ; Roger Orme Bridgman, St. Bartholo-mew’s Hospital; George Bent Buckley, Manchester University;Edward Calvert, B’.A. Cantab., Cambridge University and St. Bar-tholomew’s Hospital; Geoffrey Williams Carte, B.A. Oxon., OxfordUniversity and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital ; George MartinChapman, B.A. Cantab., Otago and Cambridge Universities andLondon Hospital; Noel Godfrey Chavasse, M.A. Oxon., Oxfordand Liverpool Universities; Joseph Douglas Clarke, B.A. Cantab.,Cambridge ami Birmingham Universities; Kenneth BlecklyClarke, Guy’s Hospital; Richard Challoner Cobbe Clay, King’sCollege and Westminster Hospitals ; Claude Gray Colyer,L.D.S. Eng., University College Hospital; Harold Fitz-william Comyn, B.A. Cantab., Cambridge University and St.