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989 of the " London Electric Treatment Company," a similar business of which the defendant had been managing director until it passed into the hands of a receiver. The defendant admitted that damages had been recovered by a patient against the Electric Treatment Com- pany on account of a burn, and that another patient, a lady, had commenced an action against him upon other grounds, and when it was suggested that the second of these cases had not been proceeded with the court was informed that this was because the damages awarded in the first had never been received by the successful plaintiff. We ourselves can recall yet another action, that of Neale v. The Bartitsu Institute,l tried by the late Mr. Justice Grantham, in which f:600 damages were awarded to Dr. A. E. Neale, a medical practitioner, who had consented to supervise the treatment accorded in the Bartitsu Institute, under a contract which should have protected him against conduct derogatory to his professional status. He, however, found after being absent upon a holiday, that an advertising pamphlet had been issued meanwhile by Barton Wright, of such a nature that if he had not taken prompt and effective steps to dissociate himself from its publication it would have placed him in a very serious position. Since then, presumably, Barton Wright has had to dispense with medical assistance in the admin- istration of his electric and other treatment. How long "institutes" of this kind will be permitted to carry on their trade without interference must depend upon the Legisla- ture, upon its opinion as to its responsibility for the safety of the public, and upon the time at its disposal for domestic legislation. It is, however, unquestionably dangerous that an agent such as electricity, lending itself as it does to picturesque and attractive advertisement, should be allowed to be commercially exploited and mishandled by persons without the training necessary at least to protect their victims from injury. Serious Ckccrge against a Herbalist. The trial took place recently at Edinburgh, before the Lord Justice-Clerk, of a man named Alder, but using aliases, including that of ’’ Dr. Temple," who had practised as a herbalist and in massage, also treating venereal diseases. The accused was identified before her death by a woman named Anderson as having used an instrument upon her when she was pregnant, and evidence was given by a clerk, John Hair, that he had visited the accused and had employed Adler to treat the deceased, paying him f:5. Hair, however, denied that he knew that Anderson was pregnant or that he had authorised Adler to use an instrument to procure abortion, and there was no corroboration of the statement in the woman’s depositions as to an instrument having been in fact used. The medical evidence as to the cause of death was to the effect that death was due to inflammation and blood poison- ing following abortion, but that there were no physical traces to show that there had been criminal interference or to what the abortion was due. The Lord Justice- Clerk directed the jury that as a matter of law there was not sufficient evidence to justify them in returning a verdict of murder. He left to them, however, the question whether the accused had been guilty of culpable homicide. The jury, after about three-quarters of an hour’s deliberation, returned a unanimous verdict of °6 Not proven." Posing as a Medical Man. At the Worcestershire Assizes recently George Bowie Farquhar, aged 31, a dispenser, was charged with making false death certificates at Wollaston, Dudley. Counsel for the defence argued, when the case was called upon, that prisoner could not now be tried on that charge as he had been acquitted at Manchester on substantially the same charge. At Manchester he was charged under the Forgery Act with forging and uttering death certificates, and now he was charged under the Perjury Act, but the facts were practically the same. The judge said that if the certificates were different the offence was a different one. Counsel then remarked that if the judge were against him he thought that, as the prisoner had been in prison for three months, it was not necessary for the prosecution to call any evidence against him. Nobody had ever suggested that the certificates were not proper certificates. 1 See THE LANCET. Nov. 28th, 1908, p. 1616. There was no fraud on the public except that the prisoner had put letters after his name which he was not entitled to. Counsel for the prosecution said that Mr. Justice Low ruled in the previous case at Manchester that the adding of the letters to the prisoner’s name did not make him a fictitious person, though it gave him a false qualifica- tion. Afterwards prisoner’s counsel said that Farquhar would plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court. Counsel added that no harm was done, because the certificates were perfectly in order, though he agreed that it might have been a serious matter. Prosecuting counsel said that the case was persisted in because of the danger to the public of an unqualified medical practitioner giving certi- ficates of death. The judge, Mr. Justice Bailhache, said that he agreed with that view, and it ought not to be overlooked when it came to the attention of the authorities. He thought that a sentence of two or three months’ imprisonment would have met the case, and as prisoner had been in custody since July 20th he ordered his release. THE SERVICES. ROYAL NAVY MEDICAL SERVICE. THE undermentioned have been entered as Surgeons for temporary service in His Majesty’s Fleet :-Dated Oct. 16th : Patrick Kennedy Murphy. Dated Oct. 19th: Kenneth Holl McMillan and Henderson Whyte. Dated Oct. 20th : Hilton Evans Bear Finlaison and Giles Garnet Membery. ’ The following appointments have been notified :-Fleet- Surgeons : S. Roach to the Bonaventure; J. H. Fergusson to the Devonshire; J. E. H. Phillips to the Britannia; A. C. Bean to the Victory, additional; E. C. Cridland to the Inflexible ; E. Folliott to the Argyll; and J. D. S. Milln to the Pembroke, additional. Staff-Surgeons : E. R. Townsend to the Gloucester; P. F. Alderson to the Forth ; P. T. Nicholls to the Leander; L. F. Cope to the Suffolk; J. Chambers to the Vivid . and E. M. W. Hearn to the Pembroke, additional, for disposal. Surgeons : C. G. Sprague to the Thistle; W. C. Carson to the Britonaart; F. H. Holl, J. Hadwen, and D. P. H. Pearson to the Victor 1. S. Gabe and H. E. Y. White to the Pembroke; W. H. Edgar and J. C. Kelly to the Vivid. Temporary Surgeons : P. M. Grundy to the Victory; ; C. A. Ellis to the Magic; G. Lilico to the Pembroke, addi- tional, for Chatham Hospital; E. Heffernan to the Jason; D. A. Imrie to the Pembroke, additional, for disposal; A. C. Anderson to the Antrim ; T. H. W. Idris to the Devonshire ; D. L. Lewis to the Superb ; C. E. Leake to the 7Far7’tor; ; D. G. Boddie to the Vivicl ; H. F. Percival to the Tiger; F. C. Newman to the Coznmonicealth; and R. E. Tottenham to the Africa. ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE. Major George A. D. Harvey to be a Deputy Assistant Director-General (dated Sept. 24th). ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS. Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel Robert T. Leiper to be temporary Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel (dated Oct. 15th). Temporary Major George E. Miles to be temporary Lieutenant-Colonel (dated Oct. 27th). The undermentioned Captains to be Majors :- Dated Oct. 15th: Charles P. Thomson (and to remain seconded), George W. Heron (and to remain seconded), George B. F. Churchill, George S. Wallace, Charles J. Coppinger, Richard G. Meredith, Frederick E. Roberts, Ralph K. White, Thomas H. Gibbon, James E. Hoar, Herbert O. M. Beadnell, Ernest B. Booth, Richard J. C. Thompson, Ernest G. R. Lithgow, Pierce Power, James S. Pascoe, Charles W. O’Brien, George H. Richard, George G. Tabuteau, John M. B. Rahilly, Richard E. Humfrey, William G. Maydon, Garfield Ormrod, John A. Anderson, Cuthbert G. Browne, D.S.O., Hugh G. Sherren, Henry H. A. Emerson, Rowland P. Lewis, James H. Graham, Wallace Benson, George E. Ferguson, Charles E. W. S. Fawcett, Alexander M. Rose, Griffith H. Rees, Vivian H. Symons, Edward G. Anthonisz, Ronald A. Bryden, Edward L. Moss, Arthur E. S. Irvine, Thomas B. Moriarty, Michael B. H. Ritchie, Walter J. Weston, Mortimer J. Cromie, Edmund T. Potts, D.S.O., George W. W. Ware, William McConaghy (and to remain seconded), Wilfrid C. Nimmo, Cecil J. Wyatt, Michael Keane, Charles F. White, Francis C. Sampson, Thomas S. Blackwell, Robertson S. Smyth, Harold E. Priestley, Philip J. Marett, and Hugh Stewart. Captain William F. Christie is granted the local rank of Major whilst serving as senior medical officer at the Straits Settlements (dated Oct. 26th). Reginald Anstruther Farrar to be temporary Major (fated Oct. 1st).
