594 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

and in compliance with the medical officer’s judgmentof what was in the patient’s best interests. The

judge, in summing up, observed that it was of theutmost public importance that mental hospitalsshould be properly conducted ; if the plaintiff wasforcibly detained for the 9 days, there was no legaljustification whatever ; the chief attendant in themental ward had confirmed the plaintiff’s statementthat he was for a time under a particularly rigorousform of detention. The judge added a comment onthe medical officer’s statement that he had destroyedhis notes about the plaintiff’s case ; the jury mightthink, he remarked, that the medical officer neverexamined the plaintiff and never came to any judg-ment about his condition; no doctor had givenevidence that there was anything at all the matterwith the plaintiff. The jury having found its verdictin favour of Power, the judge said it was a most properdecision. The defendants applied for 14 days’ stayof execution on the ground of the judge’s summingup and the amount of the damages. The judgegranted a stay of execution on condition that :S1000was brought into court and 500 paid to the plaintiff.

Value of a Surgeon’s FingerThe first division of the Court of Session in Edin-

burgh has dismissed the appeal in Mackenzie v. Hett,the case in which Mr. Seccombe Hett had beenawarded E750 damages for injury to the first joint ofthe middle finger of his right hand. A hired chauffeurhad caused the injury by shutting the door of thecar without first looking to see what the passengerswere doing. On the question whether this was

negligence, the Lord President said that a preliminarylook round was a precaution which people of ordinaryprudence usually took ; it was an obvious and

necessary precaution. The question of the amount ofdamages where a surgeon has suffered permanent dis-figurement and a loss of sensitiveness in the tip ofone of his fingers did not arise on the appeal. It hadbeen discussed in the trial court (see Lancet, 1938,2, 1538).Additional Complaints Contracted in Hospital

In Pearce v. Rhyl urban district council, tried atChester assizes last month, it was alleged that a seven-year-old boy had been admitted to the defendants’isolation hospital as a scarlet-fever patient and there,in the course of two months, had contracted otherdiseases through the negligence of the council’sservants. The boy was admitted on Dec. 4, 1937 :on the following Jan. 1 he was found to be sufferingfrom impetigo, on Jan. 11 he was found to have

diphtheria, and on Jan. 15 measles. On Jan. 24there was a second attack of impetigo, with a ver-minous condition of the head. The allegations ofnegligence seem to have included statements thatthe same nurses attended to both scarlet-fever anddiphtheria cases, with no more precaution than achange of apron, that the same crockery was used,that there was no proper supply of rubber gloves,that the windows were in a dirty condition and thatbins of soiled linen were left on a verandah. Dr.W. H. Grace, pathologist of the Chester RoyalInfirmary, said there was a strong probability thatthe boy contracted diphtheria in the hospital ; theinterchange of nurses was wrong but could hardly beavoided in a small hospital ; strict antisepticprecautions were the more necessary when nursespassed from one ward to another. The jury awardedthe father of the boy 50 guineas and the boy him-self 5 guineas. Judgment with costs was givenaccordingly.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS)

THE RESTRICTED SALE OF " SULFAPYRIDINE

"

UNDER the new Food and Drugs Act the federaladministration has the responsibility of deciding whena new drug may be released for sale in interstatecommerce. M. & B. 693, now known here as sulfa-pyridine, has not yet (Feb. 24) been released and theconservatism of the administration receives editorialcommendation in the Journal of the American MedicalAssociation for Feb. 11. The editor quotes from acommunication received from three prominent NewYork physicians who have written to him that" The earliest clinical reports and subsequent onesfrom England were made without proper controlsand the data presented were grossly inadequate forany valuation."The American law does provide for experimental

study of new drugs under conditions in which com-plete scientific observations can be made and theexperimental series can be properly controlled. In

conversing with some of those who are now engagedin this research I find that emphasis is placed uponresults obtained in bacteraemic cases, the bactersemiabeing quantitatively determined. All cases shouldbe controlled in regard to age-group and pneumo-coccal type. It is desirable that diagnosis beconfirmed by X rays. A weakness in the experi-mental evidence obtained in this country resultsfrom the unwillingness of attending physicians towithhold serum from cases that fail to respond tosulfapyridine.

However, it is being found that there are practicaldifficulties in withholding from the profession at largefor any extended period of time a drug which hasbeen so widely proclaimed. I have reason to believethat interstate sale will have been authorised by thetime that this letter can appear in print.

AMERICAN PHYSICIANS’ ART ASSOCIATION

This association is composed of over 700 physicianswho are amateur artists. They are to conduct theirsecond art exhibit in the art museum of St. Louisduring the convention of the American MedicalAssociation, May 14-20. The secretary, who is gladto supply information about membership in the asso-ciation and concerning the rules of the exhibit, is Dr.Max Thorek, 850, Irving Park Blvd., Chicago, Illinois.

FOR three years THE CLINIC—situated where HarleyStreet and Devonshire Place meet the MaryleboneRoad-has been controlled by a company whichhas no shareholders and is obliged under its charterto apply any surplus to improvements or extensionsin the facilities offered. There are 180 beds andfees range from 10 to 18 guineas a week, with anaverage of 14 guineas, theatre fees, dressings, anddrugs (other than proprietary) being included. Onewhole floor is reserved for maternity cases. Thereare 160 state-registered nurses on the staff and nonurse has more than two patients to look after. Allradiographic, pathological; and bacteriological investi-gations can be carried out on the premises, and oneof the two resident medical officers is always on dutyfor emergencies. Last year 3351 patients were

admitted, being sent by some 600 different doctors,and over 3000 operations were done. No fewerthan 236 of the patients were themselves doctorsor the dependants of doctors. The company receivesno grants or charitable subscriptions, and it issatisfactory to note that it is able to pay its way.

595PRK.SENTATlOX TO DR. ROBERT IIU’1’CIILBO:V

PRESENTATION TO

DR. ROBERT HUTCHISON

A PLEASANT ceremony took place at the house ofthe Royal Society of Medicine on March 1, whenDr. Robert Hutchison, P.R.C.P., was presented withhis portrait, painted by Mr. James Gunn. LordMacmillan took the chair at a meeting crowded tooverflowing in spite of the influenza epidemic, whichcaused some absentees.After Sir Lancelot Barrington-Ward had briefly

explained the origin of the testimonial LordMacmillan rose to makethe presentation. His

long association with Dr.Hutchison began, he said,at Edinburgh Universityin 1893-" an admirablevintage year." At thattime the medical facultywas unquestionably the

leading faculty in theuniversity, full of a vigourand vitality which verynearly swept him intotheir ranks ; of thisvigorous faculty, Dr.Hutchison was perhapsthe brightest ornament,and he left the univer-

sity full of prizes and

scholarships.Dr. Hutchison was

more than a medicalpractitioner: he was a

man of affairs, of adminis-tration and of letters.He was only the thirdScottish graduate to be

president of the RoyalCollege of Physicians ofLondon and only one

other graduate of Edin-burgh University had

do you think it’s like me ? " After an even longerpause, the reply came, " Aye, it’s like... painfullylike." He was sure that there would be no questionof pain in the present portrait. One of Dr.Hutchison’s greatest qualities was his gift for personalfriendship, and while they recalled the brilliance ofhis work his colleagues thought of him not only as agreat man but as a good and loyal friend.Lord Macmillan then unveiled the portrait, which

produced spontaneous applause.In thanking his friends, Dr. Hutchison said that

this was one of the few occasions when it was notmerely a figure of speech to say that words failed

one. He was glad that

attained that honour, one ’which implied, in

Kipling’s words, recognition by a man’s equals andbetters in his own craft. (He doubted, however,if Dr. Hutchison had any betters in his own class.)Such a position corresponded to that of the LordChancellor in the legal profession. Since the earlydays at Edinburgh his own path and that of Dr.Hutchison had crossed from time to time; as

chairman of the board of governors of the GreatOrmond Street Hospital for Sick Children he noticedthat, if they strayed from the path of wisdom, afew deadly words from Dr. Hutchison would leadthem back on to the right track. It was only properthat the movement which had culminated in thispresentation should have originated in the Edin-

burgh University Club of London. It was always ananxious moment before a portrait was unveiled butLord Macmillan had received a testimonial from theperson best in a position to criticise-Mrs. Hutchison,who had by some unknown means obtained a pre-view of the portrait-that it was " quite admirable."Lord Macmillan recalled the story of the Scottishjudge who had at length induced a. colleague tocome into his dining-room and see a presentationportrait. The visitor maintained a stony silenceuntil, after some ineffectual attempts to obtain a

criticism, the host was forced to ask directly, " Well,

people had not waitedtoo long before theyshowed their friendship :so often a man had towait until he was deadto hear the nice thingsthat his friends thoughtabout him. He confessedthat when he heard thatthis token of friendshipwas to take the form ofa portrait he had beensomewhat apprehensive,although when he heardthat Mr. James Gunnwas to paint it his appre-hensions had been allayed.He was entirely satisfiedthat it was " very me."He had also been afraidthat he would be intoler-

ably bored during the

sittings. Fortunately Mr.James Gunn, whateverhe may have thoughtabout his face in private,had not openly com-

municated these views ;and so far from beingbored they had kept upa running fire of absorb-

ing conversation throughout the sittings, andbetween two taciturn Scots this seemed to him tobe an extraordinary thing. Indeed, Dr. Hutchisonfelt that he had never talked so much in the wholeof his life. While he thanked everyone who hadtaken part in the presentation, naturally his thankswere especially due to Sir Lancelot Barrington-Ward and those who had initiated the movementand to Lord Macmillan for taking the chair andmaking the presentation of what he might describeas a

"

crystallisation of latent good feeling."At the close of the proceedings a telegram was read

from the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Old Residents’Club, who sent " greetings to Dr. Robert Hutchison, agreat clinician, a brilliant teacher, a fascinating writer,"and wished him long life, good health and happiness.

Mounted photographs of the portrait (9 X 11 in.)may be had from P. Laib, 3, ,Thistle Grove, London,S.W.10, at 5s. 6d. (postage extra).JOURNALS FOR MEDICAL MISSIONARIES.-Mrs. Janet

Bradbury, S.P.G. secretary for medical literature,writes from Smeeth Cottage, Smeeth, Kent. " MayI make known the need of medical literature formembers of the medical profession who work inhospitals scattered over the world ? I have severalapplications for the Lancet and would gladly supplyaddresses where it would be greatly appreciated."