Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of (I978) vol 6o

HUNTERIANA John Hunter, , and the migration of swallows

I F Lyle, ALA Library of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Introduction fied than himself, although he frequently sug- gested points that would be worthy of investi- This year is not only the 25oth anniversary of gation by others. Hunter, by comparison, was John Hunter's birth, but it is also I90 years the complete professional and his work as a since the publication of Gilbert White's Nat- comparative anatomist was complemented by ural History and Antiquities of in White's fieldwork. The only occasion on which December I788. White and Hunter were con- they are known to have co-operated was in temporaries, White being the older man by I768, when White, through an intermediary, eight years, and both died in I 793. Despite asked Hunter to undertake the dissection of a their widely differing backgrounds and person- buck's head to discover the true function of the alities they had two very particular things in suborbital glands in deer3. Nevertheless, common. One was their interest in natural there were several subjects in history, which both had entertained from child- that interested both of them, and one of these hood and in which they were both self-taught. was the age-old question: What happens to In later life both men referred to this. Hunter swallows in winter? wrote: 'When I was a boy, I wanted to know all about the Background and history clouds and the grasses, and why the leaves changed colour in the autumn; I watched the ants, bees, One of the most contentious issues of eight- birds, tadpoles, and caddisworms; I pestered people eenth-century natural history was with questions about what nobody knew or cared the disap- anything about". pearance each autumn of a number of species of birds-swifts, swallows, and martins in par- White's comment was remarkably similar: ticular-and their reappearance the following spring. This was no new problem for the phe- 'It has been my misfortune never to have had any nomenon was known to the Greeks, but it had neighbours whose studies have led them towards never been established what happened to the the pursuit of natural knowledge: so that, for want birds in their absence. Two main theories had of a companion to quicken my industry and shar- been propounded: either they pen my attention, I have made but slender progress migrated to in a kind of information to which I have been at- warmer latitudes during the colder months or tached from my childhood'2. else they hibernated. Neither explanation had ever been satisfactorily proved, although both Secondly, both men had the gift of observat- had been put forward from the time of ion, which they used at a time when philo- . sophic speculation was more fashionable. Much 'A great number of birds also go into hiding; they of what they saw could have been seen by do not migrate, a.s is generally supposed, to warmer other men had they chosen to look, but in this countries. Thus certain birds (as the kite and the White and Hunter were before their time. swallow) when they are not far off from places of White was an amateur, the first real field- this kind, in which they have -their penranent naturalist and the founder of the great tradit- abode, betake themselves thither, others, that are at a distance from such places, decline the trouble of ion of amateur natural historians. However, he migration and simply hide themselves where they knew his limitations and seldom performed are. Swallows, for instance, have often been found dissections, which he left to others better quali- in holes, quite denuded of their feathers . . .'4. 486 I F Lyle In the early sixteenth century a Bishop of grated to the moon for the winter. The growth Uppsala, Olaus Magnus, in his Historia de of interest in natural history at this time pro- Gentibus Septentrionalibus claimed that swal- duced a greater awareness of the subject lows had been found hibernating under water5 among travellers, who brought fresh observat- and illustrated his text with a woodcut ions to supplement the many old and distorted showing fishermen pulling the birds ashore in stories that were then extant. These new ac- their nets. Unlikely as it was, this startling re- counts were eagerly seized upon by naturalists port was used as a basis for many similar ac- at home who then fiercely argued their signifi- counts and alleged observations until at least gance. One of these new accounts was related the end of the eighteenth century. Robert Bur- by Pierre Adanson in his Voyage to Senegal: ton, for example, mentions it in his Anatomy of Melancholy: 'The 6th of the same month [October I7491 at half past six in the evening, we were about fifty leagues from the coast, when four swallows came to take '. . What becomes of Swallows, Storks, Cranes, their night's lodging in our vessel, and pitched Cuckows, Nightingales, Redstarts, and many other upon the shrouds. I catched them all four with kind of singing birds . Do they sleep in winter, great ease, and found them to be European swal- like Gesner's Alpine mice; or do they lye hid (as lows. This lucky incident confirmed me in the sus- Olaus affirms) in the bottom of lakes and rivers, picion that I had formerly entertained; that those spiritum continentes? often so found by fishermen birds crossed the sea to get into the torrid zone, as in Poland and Scandia, two together, mouth to soon as winter approached: and that I have ob- mouth, wing to wing; and when the spring comes served since, that they are never seen but at this they revive again, or if they be brought into a time of year at Senegal . . . when the cold drives stove, or to the fireside. Or do they follow the Sun them away from the temperate countries of Europe. ... or lye they hid in caves, rocks and hollow trees, Another fact not less worthy of remark, is, that as most think . . the swallows do not build their nests in Senegal as in Europe . .'8. Not all naturalists were prepared to give credence to the hibernation theory. Francis A similar observation was made by Admiral Sir Willughby and his friend , the great Charles Wager, published in I760 by Peter English naturalist of the seventeenth century, Collinson, a naturalist and Fellow of the Royal expressed doubts about it in Willughby's Orni- Society, who was a strong advocate of the thologia of I676 (English edition I678). Al- migration theory: though Willughby died in i672, Ray arranged and edited the material for publication, so we 'I have often heard Sir Charles Wager . . relate may assume that it reflected his view as well. that in one of his voyages home, in the spring of the year, as he came into soundings of our channel, a great flock of swallows came and settled on all 'What becomes of Swallows in Winter time, his rigging: every rope was covered, they hung on whether they fly into other countries, or lie torpid one another like a swarmn of bees; the decks and in hollow trees, and the like places, neither are carvings were filled with them; they seemed almost natural historians agreed, nor indeed can we cer- spent and famished, and were only feathers and tainly determine. To us it seems more probable that they fly away into hot countries, viz. Egypt, bones; but being recruited with a night's rest, they Aethiopia, etc. then [sic] that either they lurk in took their flight in the morning'9. hollow trees, or holes of Rocks and ancient build- ings, or lie in water under the ice in Northern Collinson sent this paper to Linniaeus, with Countries, as Olaus Magnus reports.'7 whom he maintained a correspondence be- tween 1738 and I767. Linnaeus was a 'hiber- Up to this time most writers put forward nationist' who believed in Olaus Magnus' tales both hibernation and migration as possible of birds hibernating under water. Several of explanations, but this situation changed in the Collinson's letters were taken up in trying to eighteenth century, when naturalists became persuade him to perform experiments and dis- more dogmatic in their opinions and tended to sections, the results of which, Collinson was polarise into definite 'migrationist' and 'hiber- convinced, would show that underwater hiber- nationist' camps. At the same time another nation by swallows was impossible. Linnaeus theory, fortunately shortlived, arose to confuse never took up the challenge, but Collinson's matters. This was the idea that swallows mi- suggestion was significant"0. John Hunter, Gilbert White, and the migration of swallows 487 Gilbert White - observations and doubts 'As to swallows (hirundinae rusticae) being found in a torpid state during the winter in the isle of Most of the material published in the Natural Wight, or any part of this country, I never heard History and Antiquities of Selborne (hereafter any such account worth attending to. [He then referred to simply as Selborne) was never inten- goes on to describe two such cases.]"' ded for publication. It was originally contained in letters written by White to two fellow-natu- In White's opinion any evidence of hibernation ralists, and the Hon. Daines did not hinge upon such accounts, which were Barrington. Pennant was one of the leading probably distorted and unreliable anyway. In- naturalists of the day and a writer of popular stead it lay in the fact that the young birds travel books. White met him in I767 through from late broods of swallows and martins, his brother Benjamin, a partner in a firm of which have two, sometimes three, broods in a publishers which had published Pennant's Brit- season, could not possibly be sufficiently strong ish . Pennant in turn introduced him to and well fledged to undertake their migratory Barrington, who was a judge, the Recorder of flight south. Two extracts from his letters illus- Bristol, but also an enthusiastic antiquary and trate this: amateur naturalist. Both men were Fellows of 'I see by my fauna of last year [his notes], that the Royal Society, to whom, through Barring- young broods come forth so late as September the ton, some of White's observations on the Hir- eighteenth. Are not these late hatchings more in undines were read. Thomas Pennant was a favour of hiding than migration?"12 'migrationist', but Barrington supported the 'I myself, on the twenty-ninth of last October [I 767] hibernation theory. Their attitudes to the sub- (as I was travelling through Oxford), saw four or ject obviously influenced White's own thinking five swallows hovering around and settling on the on the matter and this can be clearly seen in roof of the county-hospital. the letters in their published form. Now is it likely that these poor little birds (which There are many references in Selborne to perhaps had not been hatched but four weeks) should, at that late season of the year, and from so what White referred to as the Hirundines. midland a county, attempt a voyage to Goree or These were the swallow, the house martin, and Senegal, almost as far as the Equator? the sand martin, all members of the Hirun- I acquiesce entirely in your opinion-that, though dinidae, and the swift, which is now classified most of the swallow kind may yet migrate, yet in the family Apodidae, related to the hum- that some do stay behind and hide with us during ming-birds. At times he seems to contradict the winter'13. himself in his statements to the extent that his It is now known that White was incorrect; subsequent editors have interpreted his remarks the young birds do migrate, although in par- in a number of ways. However, it is important ticularly mild winters occasional birds have to remember when reading White that the been known to stay in the south of England. original letters were written over a period of years and that he modified his views in the White was very fortunate in that he had a light of his knowledge. reliable observer farther south: his brother John, who was the chaplain to the garrison at Basically, White was a 'migrationist', al- Gibraltar and, like himself, a keen naturalist. though this did not prevent him from keeping John sent back reports of swallows crossing the an open mind on hibernation. This was a very Straits which Gilbert quoted when writing to professional approach. The evidence for mi- the sceptical Barrington in I77I : gration, in his view, was unquestionable, but from his own observations and from unsub- 'You are, I know, no friend to migration; and the stantiated reports from elsewhere there was well attested accounts from the various parts of circumstantial evidence to suggest that some the kingdom seem to justify you in your suspicions, that at least many of the swallow kind do not leave birds might hibernate, and until he could ob- us in the winter, but lay themselves up like insects tain positive proof to the contrary he could not and bats, in a torpid state . . . But then we must rule out the possibility. He never did obtain not, I think, deny migration in general; because the proof he sought and in later life this seems migration does subsist in some places, as my to have worried him a great deal. brother in Andalusia has fullyinformed me. Of the motions of these birds he has ocular demonstration, In the very first letter he wrote to Pennant for many weeks together, both spring and fall: he said: (luring which periods myriads of the swallow kincl 488 I F Lyle

traverse the Straits from north to south, and from the cottages at the end of the hill. After making south to north, according to the season . . . . It does this observation I waited 'til it was quite dusk, but not appear to me that much stress may be laid on saw them no more; & returned home well pleased the difficulty and hazard that birds must run in with the incident, hoping that it might lead to their migrations, by reason of vast oceans, cross some useful discovery and point out their winter winds, etc. [one of Barrington's objections to mi- retreat. Since that, I have only seen two on Oct 22 gration]; because, if we reflect a bird may travel in the morning. These circumstances put together from England to the equator without launching out make it look very suspicious that this late flock at and exposing itself to boundless seas, and that by least will not withdraw into warmer climes, but crossing the water at Dover, and again at Gibraltar. that they will lie dormant within 300 yards of the And I with more confidence advance this obvious village'" . remark, because my brother has always found that some of his birds, particularly the swallow kind, are He described this event in a letter to Barring- very sparing of their pains in crossing the Mediter- ton"8, adding afterwards: ranean: for when arrived at Gibraltar, they . . direct their course to the opposite continent at the 'Had they indulged me that autumn with a Nov- narrowest passage they can find'4. ember visit as I much desired, I presume that with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter remained unconvinced and past all doubt; yet though the third of November in the following year published a paper refut- was a sweet day . . . yet not a martin was to be ing the idea of migration in favour of hiber- seen . . . . I have only to add that were the bushes, which . . . are not my own property, to be grubbed nation15. up and carefully examined, probably those late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body of For White, therefore, migration accounted the house-martins of this district, might be found for the majority of birds, but what of the single there in different secret dormitories birds, or small groups of two or three that were seen very early or late in the season? White White's inability to find any evidence of never understood that these birds were passing swallows hibernating obviously puzzled him through, hence their sudden appearance and greatly and he pursued the problem until the disappearance, and that their presence on a very end of his life. In April I793, just three fine day was due to the number of insects in months before his death, he obtained the as- the air. He assumed that they were always the sistance of a neighbour to help him search the same birds, whereas they were successive small thatch of an empty cottage in Selborne for tor- parties on the move. Even when this was sug- pid birds. The subject even occurs in what was gested to him by his brother-in-law, Thomas probably the last letter that he ever wrote, on Barker, he refused to accept it: the following I5th June. In it, referring to a letter which had recently been published, he 'I cannot agree with those persons who assert that wrote: the swallow kind disappear some and some gradu- ally, as they come, for the bulk of them seem to 'I did not write the letter in the Gent. Mag. against withdraw at once: only some stragglers stay behind the torpidity of swallows; nor would it be consistent a long while and do never, there is the greatest with what I have sometimes asserted, so to do"9. reason to believe, leave this island. Swallows seem to lay themselves up, and come forth of a warm day, as bats do continually on a warm evening, This neatly summarises White's opinions on the after they have disappeared for weeks'16. subject and is a fittting epilogue to his work, for despite all his dedicated fieldwork it was in- NVhite's dismissal of the explanation, virtually sufficient either to prove or to discount out of hand. is uncharacteristic and it is ironic torpidity. that it is this explanation that has proved to be correct. Nevertheless, he persisted in the idea that some birds might hibernate. In his journal John Hunter - dissections and the entry for i3th and I4th October I780 experiments reads: Although there is very little material on swal- lows in Hunter's surviving papers, it is possible 'On these two days many house-martins were feed- to gather some idea of his interest in them from ing and flying along the Hangar as usual, 'til a quarter past five in the afternoon, when they all other sources. Certainly he was interested in scudded away in great haste to the S.E. and darted the ideas of migration and hibernation in gen- down among the low beechen oaken shrubs above eral. His work on the hibernation of hedge- John Hunter, Gilbert White, and the migration of swallows 489 hogs is well known, as is his encouragement of These observations are largely confirmed by Edward Jenner in his pioneer work on the his surviving notes on the subject, published cuckoo. jenner himself made a valuable con- in Essays and Observations: tribution to the study of migration in a paper published posthumously in I82320. Hunter 'If swallows sleep in the winter, as it is said, it must be very different from the manner in which never seems to have entered into the controv- the bear, dormouse, lizards, snakes, etc. do. Some ersy to the same extent as some of his contemp- of these really sleep most of the time; the otheTs oraries. This is understandable as he was never are in a state of stupor or insensibility: but the a man to enter into idle speculation for its own swallow must be in a state of total suspense of sake and because it was only one of the many animal action, such as they say people are when in a trance. There can be no circulation, as there subjects in which he was interested. Neverthe- can be no respiration'22. less, it seems unlikely that he was unaware of the argument that the whole question of mi- It is only in recent years that these views have gration provoked. been questioned, although they still hold good for hibernation under water. When Daines Barrington wrote his paper ad- Almost certainly as a result of his dissections, vocating the hibernation theory in I7721' he Hunter noted that the sole diet of swallows incorporated in it two observations made by was insects, and the inferences that he drew Hunter while serving in Portugal in I762-63. from this fact, had they been published at the Part of Barrington's case was based on the be- time, would have been a severe blow to the lief that birds always flew at a height at which hibernationist theory: they could be seen from the ground, and he quoted Hunter as saying that the highest-flying 'Swallows live wholly on flying insects, and those bird that he knew was a 'small eagle on the insects are only to be found in hot weather; there- confines of Spain and Portugal which frequents fore, in a climate that changes from hot to cold, high rocks'. He we can only have insects in the hot season; and the also told Barrington that while swallow too can only be there in those seasons. In he was in Portugal he frequently saw swallows warm climates, where there is a sufficient degree and martins in winter. of heat all the year round for those insects to live in, we find swallows all the year round'. It is to Hunter that the credit must be given for making dissections of swallows for the pur- After the deaths of White and Hunter in pose originally suggested to Linnaeus by Peter I 793 the controversy continued, particularly in Collinson in I 762-to prove whether or not the columns of the Gentleman's Magazine, they were physiologically capable of hibernat- where, in 1796, a correspondent signing him- ing under water. The results showed conclus- self 'T P', undoubtedly Thomas Pennant, con- ively that it was impossible, but although the cluded a letter on the subject: account was given in a popular work, Thomas Pennant's British Zoology, the myth refused to 'The late Mr John Hunter made curious experi- ments to ascertain whether the swallow, at the time die. he disappeared from us, was disposed to sleep or immerge in water, the result and exact account of 'Though entirely satisfied in our own mind of the which, it is to be hoped, will be found among his impossibility of [swallows hibernating under water]; papers and communicated to the world. In the in- yet desirous of strengthening our opinion with terim, the writer of this may possibly in a future some better authority, we applied to that able anat- Number, relate the particulars, which he once omist, Mr John Hunter; who was so obliging to in- heard very minutely described by Mr Hunter him- form us that he had dissected many swallows, but self'23. had found nothing in them different from other If such papers ever existed they have never birds as to the organs of respiration. That all those been found, unless they were among those animals which he had dissected of the class that Sir Everard Home. sleep during the winter, such as Lizards, frogs, etc. burnt by However, shortly had a very different conformation as to these or- after this announcement Pennant published gans. That all these animals, he believes, do breathe the following description of Hunter's experi- in their torpid state; and as far as his experience ment: reaches, he knows they do: and that therefore he esteems it a very wild opinion, that terrestrial ani- 'One year, in the month of September, he [Hunter] mals can remain any long time without drown- prepared a room with every accomodation and illg.'21 convenience which he could contrive, to serve as a 490 I F Lyle dormitory for swallows, if they were disposed to number of species, including members of the sleep in winter. He placed in the centre a large These experiments tub of water with twigs and reeds &c. which swallow and swift families25. reached to the bottom. In the comers of the room have shown that with a drop in the ambient he contrived artificial caverns and holes, into temperature many birds become torpid and which they might retire; and he laid on the floor, enter a state of hypothermia from which they or suspended in the air, different lengths of old can be aroused. While in the hypothermic state wooden pipes, which had formerly been employed their consumption of energy and oxygen is very in conveying water through the streets, &c. low. If only in part, Gilbert White's doubts When the receptacle was rendered as complete may yet be vindicated. as possible, he then engaged some watermnen to take by night a large quantity of the swallows that hang upon the reeds in the Thames about the time of their departure. They brought him, in a hamper, References a considerable number; and had so nicely picked the time of their capture, that on the very day I Quoted by Dobson, J (I969) John Hunter, p. I3. following there were none to be seen. , Livingstone. He put the swallows into the room so prepared, 2 White, G, The Natural History and Antiquit- where they continued to fly about, and occasion- ies of Selborne (hereinafter cited as Selborne) Let- ally perch on the twigs, &c. But not one of them ter Io to Thomas Pennant. (Note: In view of the ever retired into the water, the caverns, holes or many editions of this book page numbers are un- wooden pipes; or showed the least disposition to helpful. Most editions arrange the letters in two grow torpid, etc. In this situation he let them re- separately numbered sequences, one for letters to main till they all died but one. This, appearing to Pennant, the other to Barrington. Citations are retain some vigour, was set at liberty; when it therefore made on this basis. Any particular mounted out of sight and flew away. All the birds editions are cited in full.) lay dead scattered about the room; but not one 3 White, G (I9oo) Selborne, ed. R Bowdler Sharpe, was found asleep or torpid, or had, if I rightly re- vol. i, pp. 87-9. London, Freemantle. member, so much as crept into any of the recep- tacles he had so provided. 4 Aristotle (i9io) Works, trans. under J A Smith and W D Ross. Vol. 4: Historia animalium, by Such, to the best of my recollection, is the des- D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 6ooa, I0-I6. Ox- cription I heard Mr John Hunter give in the year ford, Clairendon Press. 1792 . .24 5 Olaus Magnus (1567) Historia de Gentibus Sep- tentrionalibus, p. 732. Basle. (Also published in While this experiment could not be said to Rome, 1555.) have been conclusive, it was a brave attempt, 6 Burton, R (I676) The Anatomy of Melancholy, p. and throughout it shows Hunter's close atten- 154. London, for P Parker. tion to detail. 7 Willughby, F (i678) , p. 2I2. London, for John Martyn. 8 Adanson, P (I759) A Voyage to Senegal, the Isle Conclusion of Goree and the River Gambia, pp. I21-2. Lon- don, for J Nourse and W Johnston. The controversy between the 'hibernationists' 9 Collinson, P (1760) Philosophical Transactions, and the 'migrationists' continued to the end of 5I, 459-464- the eighteenth and into the nineteenth century, io Smith, Sir J E (I82i) A Selection of the Corres- but support for the migration theory gradually pondence of Linnaeus and Other Naturalists . . . gained ground and eventually became gen- vol. I, pp. 49-51, 59-62. London, Longman. erally accepted. However, it was not until I 91 2 ii White, G, Selborne. Letter IO to Thomas Pen- that the final proof was obtained when swal- nant. lows ringed in England were recovered in 12 White, G, Selborne. Letter Io to Thomas Pen- South Africa. nant. I 3 White, G, Selborne. Letter I 2 to Thomas Pen- Nevertheless, the story does not end there. In nant. 1946 an ornithologist in Colorado found a 14 White, G, Selborne. Letter 9 to iDaines Barring- poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii), a bird re- ton. lated to the nightjar, in a torpid state while I5 Barrington, D (1772) Philosophical Transactions, bird-watching in the mountains. Since then 62, 265-326. there have been further reports of torpid birds i6 White, G, Selborne. Letter 23 to Thomas Pen- anid experiments have been carried out on a nant. John Hunter, Gilbert White, and the migration of swallows 491 17 Whitc, G (I93i) Gilbert White's Journals, ed. 2I Peninant, T (I776) British Zoology, 4th edn, vol. XValter Johnson, p. 178. London, Routledge. I, pp. 349-50. London, B White. (Reprinted Newton Abbot, David and Charles, 22 Hunter, J (i86i) Essays and Observations on 1970) Natural History, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychol- i8 White, G, Selborne. Letter 55 to Daimes Barring- ogy, and Geology, [edited] by Richard Owen, vol. ton. 2, p. 148. London, Van Voorst. I9 White, G (i877) Selborne, ed. . vol. 2, 23 Pennant, T (I796) Gentleman's Magazine, 66, I98. p. 302. London, Van Voorst. 24 Pennant, T (I796) Gentleman's Magazine, 66, 399. 20 Jeinner, E (I824) Philosophical Transactions, 14, 25 Bartholomew, G A, Howell, T R, and Cade, T J ''-44. (I957) Condor 59, I45.

FRACTURE TREATMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AO/ASIF TECHNIQUES Three-day intensive course held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 2ISt to 23rd June 1978 The letters AO stand for 'Association for Osteosyn- videotapes and closed-circuit television participants thesis'. Under this title a group of Swiss surgeons vere first shown how to use AO techniques; then, banded themselves together some 20 years ago; their assisted by demonstrators, each individual applied objective was simple-to improve the treatment of these methods to plastic bones. fractures. Closed reduction and plaster had been strongly advocated by Bohler in Vienna and by Ninety-six surgeons, mostly consultants but with a Watson-Jones in England. With the equipment and few senior registrars, constituted the class; well over skills then available it was safer than open reduction twice that number had applied, but space and facil- and internal fixation; but often there was a legacy of ities were restricted. Lecture Room 2 comfortably joint stiffness, which became known as 'the fracture accommodated the lectures and discussions, though it disease'. was modified by installing twin projectors and twin screens. Similar dual apparatus was provided in a Thc AO school set themselves the task of improv- room where the lecturers could rehearse. ing the techniques and instrumentation for internal fixation and they succeeded brilliantly. So it was not Lecture Room i was adapted for the practicals. inappropriate that the group changed its name to The seats were all removed and eight large tables ASIF (Association for the Study of Internal Fixation). installed. Each was equipped with vices, electric Note the word 'study', for their single-minded devot- drills, compressed air drills, power reamers, plates, ion to understanding fractures led to the establish- screws, and all the complex paraphernalia of modem ment of an important research centre and their de- internal fixation. The participants worked in pairs termination to assess their results objectively led to a with two demonstrators to each table. Much of the remarkable system of documentation, in itself a basic equipment for these practical sessions was pre- major achievement. pared and supplied by Mr 0 F Phoenix, who, as head of the Bio-Medical Engineering Unit at the Now their methods are known throughout the North Staffordshire Polytechnic, has built up a body world. No small part of this fame rests on the courses of experience in such matters. The instruments, in run for many years at Davos. These are miracles of i6 large packing-cases, were flown in from Switzer- organisation-and how delightful to be able to ski land by the Synthes Organisation. each aftemoon! But not everyone can get to Davos and we felt that the Royal College of Surgeons of Six of the leading Swiss surgeons and four British England should provide the opportunity for leaming surgeons acted as both lecturers and demonstrators, the techniques involved. Some i8 months ago plan- augmented by eight British surgeons as demonstrators ning began. The Swiss surgeons co-operated with and two highly skilled engineers. The College staff enthusiasm, they readily gave us their time, know- (administrators, audiovisual experts, secretaries, tech- leclge, and skill, for all of which we are very grateful. nicians, caterers, and porters) dealt with this formid- able invasion so skilfully and efficiently that the Col- The course extended over three long days. Lectures lege is already organising a similar course to be held and discussions were, of course, important, but the next year (see P 493). vital activity was the practicals. With the help of A GRAHIANi APLEY