Correspondence. Sophical Society, Founded in 1822 and Still Flourishing
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
1646 books, &e. The late Sir James Risdon Bennett was at one time his pupil. He was also the senior of the two first honorary secretaries of the Sheffield Literary and Philo. Correspondence. sophical Society, founded in 1822 and still flourishing. He II Audl alteram partem." died of aneurysm of the aorta on April 8th, 1830, after having I been previously operated on for aneurysms of both femoral THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR HOSPITAL arteries, by his friend, Mr. Hodgson of Birmingham. " Thus," says Snell, "a life of considerable promise was cut short at " APPOINTMENTS. the early age of 36." To the Editor of THE LANCET. I The following paragraph is copied from the eighth annual report of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, SiR,-It surely is an anomalous, if not paradoxical, presented January, 1831 :- position in hospital ethics that in connexion with two London advertisements should The committee cannot omit to allude to the heavy loss sustained hospitals contemporaneously appear by the society in the death of one of its vice-presidents. The late Mr. containing these conditions for candidates for positions on Thomas Waterhouse had not only proved a valuable supporter of the their staffs. The West London Hospital advertises for a institute in the several capacities of secretary, member of council, and contributor of papers, but is entitled to especial and honourable mention who must be a Member of the of physician Royal College in this place as one of the founders of the society, who zealously Physicians of London, though a member of the surgical staff took up the cause, when many were lukewarm or desponding, and per- be a Fellow of the Irish or Scotch On the severingly cooperated with heart and hands in its first establishment may colleges. subsequent proceedings. other hand, at West Ham the reverse of this holds good ; the and obligation does not apply to the medical, but only to the It is of interest to add that the bust was executed in 1831 the able Edward brother of surgical staff. That is to say, the qualification which is by young sculptor, Law, Dr. who was for to both the good enough for the one in surgery is rejected by the other, Joseph Law, many years physician and and that that in medicine which is accepted by one hospital General Infirmary and the Public Hospital Dispensary, is ignored by the other. Sheffield, and whose portrait now hangs in close proximity to At the recent dinner of the Irish Medical Schools and the marble bust of Thomas Waterhouse. Graduates’ Association Sir Alfred Keogh, ex-Director- T nm Cir T7nnT’Q -f..it.h-fn1!’17 General, A.M.S., spoke strongly on the absurdity of this R. J. PYE-SMITH, Treasurer to the Sheffield anomaly, and an object-lesson was afforded on the same Medico-Chirurgical Society. occasion, when among other distinguished Irish graduates and were . diplomates present the Director-General of the Army Medical Department, the ex-Director-General, and THE MIAN MIR EXPERIMENTS. Sir Thomas Gallwey, at present holding the chief command To the Editor of THE LANCET. at Aldershot. It is not so long since the post of commandant article of Oct. 26th with a at Netley Hospital was held by a distinguished Irishman, Sir SIR,-In your leading dealing Edmond Townsend, and successive principal medical officers report by the committee appointed by the Government of in Egypt have been Irish graduates. India to inquire into results obtained by anti-malarial experi- ments at Mian note that the has been one of Anyone not in the secret as to the motives which Mir, you subject That this is so is due to the fact under animate hospital boards of management may be excused if controversy. that, in his ignorance he does not quite understand why the lives the influence of ieputed failure in that locality of methods held to be of in other of the the Govern. of His Majesty’s sailors and soldiers are of less importance utility parts world, ment of India has failed to make its local than the patients in public institutions in this country, or, to governments understand that the of anti-malarial measures go even further than this, that His himself should regarding Majesty would have its and it without be rash enough to trust his royal person during his tour seriously approval ; goes saying that in the absence of such declaration of no local throughout India, as Prince of Wales, to the custody of an policy would consider itself safe in Irish graduate, now one of his medical advisers-Sir Havelock government directing any of its own or those of local bodies Charles. Again, one is at a loss to explain how the present appreciable part funds, Governor-General of India has had all through his Viceroyalty under it, to this end. Hence there has occurred a paresis of in a which in natural course of another Irish eraduate as his personal adviser. efforts country should, the have been the first to the benefit of Ross’s I address this letter to THE LANCET, inasmuch as it has events, reap This condition of affairs has been received taken a broad and liberal view on this question. It is discovery. always the with The to be hoped that the time is not far distant when an end will by profession yearly increasing surprise. of the committee was therefore a convenience be to such exclusiveness through the advent of a State appointment put of the usual official of in licence which will entitle the holder to become a candidate type-permitting justification or, its the of the of for any public appointment in the United Kingdom. absence, securing possibility strategic retreat. The the into so a I am, Sir, yours faithfully, enquiry implied entering great mass of details that to have to Mian Ax EX-PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH MEDICAL SCHOOLS’ petty managed inspect examine travel to and from Simla, and com- AND GRADUATES’ ASSOCIATION. Mir, witnesses, pile the report, in the short time allowed, must have left the London, Nov. 29th, 1910. committee little time to consider its conclusions ; and it is certainly here that the weak point of its labours is evident. WHO IS HE ? In the face of knowledge that mosquito-reduction methods have elsewhere successful, and being of that To the Editor of THE LANCET. proved opinion SiR,-The excellent photograph which appeared under the committee has marshalled the local physical conditions as above heading in Dr. Thomas Bushby’s letter in THE LANCET presenting unusual difficulties, and as all-sufficient reasons of Nov. 26th enabled me at once to identify it as that of the why success had not been attained. It has apparently bust of Thomas Waterhouse, which stands in the library of assumed as unquestionable that efforts which it testifies to the Sheffield Medico-Chirurgical Society at the University as energetic were also discreet and were correctly carried of Sheffield. A short account of his life is given by the late out ; but seeing that these experiments were specifically of the Simeon Snell in the century history of the Sheffield Royal nature of a test of the utility or inutility of methods which Infirmary,1 from which I extract the following facts :- deeply concern the sanitary and economical condition of over Thomas Waterhouse was born in 1793, and commenced 230,000,000 of the people of India, it would have been practice as a surgeon in 1816 at Sheffield. In 1820 he reasonable for the committee to have established their was elected one of the honorary surgeons to the infirmary. correctness. Hence, from the facts as recorded by the com- He took considerable interest in the establishment of the mittee and experimenting officers respectively, I would Medical School in 1828, and contributed E110 to the build- invite attention to this aspect of the matter, as affording a ing fund. He also presented to the school his excellent simple solution of the differences of opinion which have collection of specimens of morbid anatomy, as well as arisen on this subject. The experiments were inaugurated by the Royal Society 1 Sheffield General Infirmary, now the Sheffield Roval Infirmary, in 1901 11 two demonstrate the reduction of malaria in a 1797-1897: a Brief Sketch of a Work, by John Daniel Leader, Century’s cantonment measures based the recent of F:S.A., together with Reminiscences and Biographical Notices of the by upon etiology Medical Staff, by Simeon Snell, F.R.C.S. Ed. Sheffield, 1897. this disease." The officers of the expedition were Dr. Stephens 1647 and (then) Mr. Christophers. Preliminary investigations by in the Indian Medical Service, relieved Major James ’of these officers occupied about six months. On their departure to duty at Mian Mir in July, 1903. He describes the area England, Major James, I.M.S., was deputed by the Govern- selected by Major James as "to a large extent isolated from ment of India to carry out the anti-malarial operations, and the rest of the cantonment." Yet he held that a bazaar, was in charge of this work from April, 1902, to July, 1903. 400 yards from the barracks within the protected portions, He elected to follow certain dicta of Professor Ross, as was an infective centre. As he held this opinion, it is gathered from his speeches and publications as to the difficult to understand the rigidity with which he excluded advantage of "mosquito reduction." The quotations thus the Native Cavalry Lines and the East Infantry Lines which relied upon (pp. 6 and 7 of the Report) discuss applicability were within an additional 100 yards-that is, a total of of methods, not in special, but in general, cases.