THE SPECULUM Medical Services To the Student University and Medical Text Books Surgical Instruments and Diagnostic Apparatus . To the Doctor Locum Tenens and . Assistants Provided .. Practices Transferred . Partnerships Arranged . tant irat cklent 54 COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE, C.I (Near EXHIBITION STREET) Phone: Cent. 4171 (After Hours, Haw. 3992) Telegrams & Cables: "Al!gra," Melbourne. AGENTS IN ALL STATES. THE SPECULUM 1 There Will Always be an England Yes, there WILL always be an England, and En glish Tailoring too, and, for that RUN of LINE and Beauty of EFFECT Henry A. Spinks, The English Tailor excels. It is something that cannot be described, but is seen at a glance. HENRY A. SPINKS Civil and Military Tailor MANCHESTER UNITY BUILDING COLLINS ST., MELBOURNE, C.1. Phone C 3755 2 THE SPECULUM To procure this sweet moistening sleep, it 's hest to take away the occasions (if it 1,z. possible) that hinder it, and then to use such inward or outward remedies, whic_h may cause it. Sacks of wormwood, mandrake, henbane, roses made like pillows and laid under the patient's head, are mentioned by Cardan and Mizaldus, to anoint the soles of the feet with the fat of a dormouse. the teeth with ear wax of a Jog, swine s are's ears, charms, etc. Robert Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy) „„„ —.BUT wed SONERYL THE SAFE & EFFECTIVE BRITISH HYPNOTIC CONTAINERS OF 12 AND 25 TABLETS AND BOXES OF SUPPOSITORIES MAY & BAKER (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD., 5 PHILLIP STREET, SYDNEY THE SPECULUM 3 For the Medical Student ... FROM FIRST YEAR TO LAST YEAR, AND FOR THE GRADUATE THROUGHOUT ALL HIS YEARS OF PRACTICE HIS EVERY REQUISITE CAN BE SUPPLIED BY- FELTON GRIMWADE DUERDINS Pty. Ltd. INSTRUMENT DEPARTMENT: 2 1 ALFRED PLACE, MELBOURNE Telephone F1638 (3 lines). Ensures a predictable response PARKE-DAVIS LIVER EXTRACT INTRAMUSCULAR The absence of satisfactory test animals for the determination of the anti-anaemic potency of Liver Extracts is a major difficulty in standardisation. However, the potency of Parke-Davis Liver Extract Intramuscular is guaranteed by clinical tests on cases of pernicious anaemia — no batches are released unless clinical tests are entirely satisfac- tory. Parke-Davis Liver Extract Intramuscular is made at Sydney, from wholly Australian materials. PARKE, DAVIS & CO. SYDNEY. 4 THE SPECULUM STUDENTS' MICROSCOPES Slides : Cover Glasses Bacteriological Apparatus and Laboratory Glassware at Cheapest Rates FROM H. B. Selby & Co. Pty. Ltd. 393 SWANSTON STREET, Reichert New MELBOURNE, C.1 Mono-Binocular Stereo AND AT SYDNEY. Microscope Telephone: F3661. Latest Advances . YOU CAN ALWAYS BE UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST ADVANCES BY SUBSCRIBING TO " Surveys and Abstracts" Under the General Editorship of SIR HUMPHRY ROLLESTON, Bt., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., M.D., D.Sc., D.C.L., LL.D. SURVEYS of all the latest advances and researches by men who are well known to you for their advance work and high positions in the Pro- fession—arranged and classified for convenient reference. DRUGS—The use and development of modern drugs, including a special section on the pharmacology of sulphonamide drugs. ABSTRACTS, being a miniature library of abstracts from current medi- cal literature of the world (over 1,500 in the first issue) collated into coherent clinical presentations. 33/6 (postage extra) from Butterworth & Co. (Australia) Ltd. HENTY HOUSE, LITTLE COLLINS ST, MELBOURNE. Tele. MU 2003. THE SPECULUM 5 W. RAMSAY MEDICAL BOOKSELLER TO THE UNIVERSITY A large assortment of all Medical, Surgical and Dental Books. HIGHEST STANDARD Surgical Instrument Manufacture Half-Sets of Bones Dissecting Sets `'Leitz" Famous Microscopes SURGICAL CUTLERY Forceps work of all descriptions. Individual ideas carried out in any instrument. Alterations and Repairs receive our strictest supervision. Students' Requisites, Trusses, Belts, Artificial Limbs, Rubber Gloves, Orthopaedic Appliances, Splints, etc. on hand. INSPECTION INVITED 340 SWANSTON STREET, MELBOURNE, C.1 N 6 THE SPECULUM (Incidentally, this picture is an actual reproduction f r o m the first "HB" ad- vertisement in 1890) Guardsman in Mufti We believe they didn't feel as boiled as they looked —those heroic bosoms of the 1890's, twinkling from a hundred glazed facets. Helped by Henry Buck's, men of brain or brawn or mere brass came a dead heat for starchy impressiveness. The starch has gone but Henry Buck's remain. Whether you're wearing the uniform of one of the Services. or doing another fellow's job as well as your own in civvies, Henry Buck's will take the weight of your shirt off your shoulders. "HB" Shirts are still shrinkless, fade-proof and guaranteed against all the ills that may afflict a shirt. They're made in our own workrooms, so we know what we're guaranteeing. Y of SWANSTON isilEc KS SI SPECULUM PLACET, INSPICE The Speculum THE JOURNAL OF THE Melbourne Medical Students' Society "The Speculum" is published for private circulation among members of the M.S.S. Copies are not supplied to non-members of the Society. BOARD OF MANAGEMENT Editor .. • .. .. A. S. FERGUSON Sub-Editor .. H. A. S. VAN DEN BRENK Business Manager ...... H. HARDY REPRESENTATIVES School— Medical Graduates-- St. Vincent's Hosp. Clin. Dr. C. H. DICKSON D. H. M. CLARK Royal Melbourne Hosp. Clin. School— University— W. A. COOPER P. G. JONES Alfred Hosp. Clin. School— Women— A. S. FERGUSON JOAN MOWLAM CONTENTS: Page Page .. .. .. 27 Frontispiece: Prof. Young .. .. .. 9 Blackout .. .. .. The Renaissance of Midwifery . .. 11 Lymph Production and Drainage . 31 Easy—A Short Story 16 Alimentary Absorption . 36 Red Cross Blood Transfusion "Let's Find a Vitamin" 39 Service . 18 Year Notes 45 Editorial 20 .. 51 "Give Me a Tonic" .. 22 Spicula M.S.S. Annual Report 25 Old Boys' Column 53 To PROFESSOR WILLIAM JOHN YOUNG, D.Sc. this edition of "Speculum" is dedicated in gratitude for his services to the Melbourne Medical Students' Society, and as an expression of the profound regard in which his students held him. THE LATE PROFESSOR W. J, YOUNG This portrait is by Dr. Julian Smith, Senior, through whose kindness it is published. THE SPECULUM 9 Professor William John Young. An Appreciation Written by Professor PETER MacCALLUM, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. This year Professor Young reached the normal retiring age of 65, but the realisation came to all of us as a surprise. He had shown little physical mark of the passing years and the perennial alertness and effective vigour of his mind had led us to assume a long continuance of that active service on which we had learnt so confidently to rely. With no one in sight as his natural successor, he would gladly have carried on to help us in our present need. Now, suddenly, he has gone from amongst us. With a record of high distinction in research on fermentation from the Lister Institute in England and on the reactions of the white man to tropical conditions from the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Townsville, Professor Young came to the University of Melbourne as Lecturer in Biochemistry in 1920, and after a period as Associate Professor he was most appropriately the first occupant of the Chair of Biochemistry, whose establishment at the same time recognised the status of his subject and crowned his personal success as a pioneer. Professor Young had much to give and it was his nature to give un- stintingly. His technical help and wise counsel were much sought and highly esteemed, and he played a notable part in the development of many Victorian and Australian institutions and scientific societies; the Australian College of Dentistry, the Royal Society of Victoria, the Nutrition Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Department of Health. He visited South Africa and many parts of Australia in 1927 as technical advisor on cold storage problems to the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Notwithstanding the amount and quality of his scientific work and his success as a teacher in faculties of Science and Medicine, it is the man we shall miss most. He stood out as a figure and a character in the com- munity. Members of the M.S.S., past and present, have reason to hoid him in grateful remembrance. His simple, quiet directness and clear-cut, fair-minded decision gave confidence in his judgment. His ready smile, genial courtesy, wise tolerance and humour proclaimed his humanity. His rare personal gifts drew a wealth of affection it is given to few to summon. It was not possible to make contact with him without feeling the steady glow of his cheerful kindliness, sympathy and good fellowship. Those who have felt its warmth will cherish his memory and write of him "as one that loved his fellow men." PROFESSOR R. MARSHALL ALLAN, Professor of Obstetrics, President of the M.S.S. The Speculum No. 146. SEPTEMBER, 1942. "The Renaissance of Midwifery." By Professor R. MARSHALL ALLAN (Annual Presidential Address to the M.S.S.) The important part played in the advancement of obstetric knowledge by some of the celebrated midwives of the past is not usually appreciated. We are apt to consider that their share in obstetric progress was trivial and to concentrate on the deeds of the last few decades. But it is impossible to read their memoirs without being impressed with the importance of their work and the value of their opinions based as they were on an enormous practical experience. Before discussing in detail the careers of two of these women it will be advisable to recall the state of obstetrics up to the dawn of the 17th century. I need hardly remind you that obstetrics is an ancient art—for it was outside the Garden of Eden that midwifery was born "of man's first disobedience" with the dread decree to woman "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." From the earliest days by giving birth to life woman became an object of worship, for she was fertile like the soil and was worshipped just as Nature was.