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murder, manslaughter or infanticide, both before- a coroner, on the one hand, and before examiningjustices and assize courts on the other. The coroner" in the absence of reason to the contrary," is toadjourn his inquest " until after the conclusion ofthe criminal proceedings." The clerk of the appro-priate court is to inform the coroner of the result ofthose proceedings and, if the coroner then decidesnot to resume the inquest, the coroner furnishes theregistrar of deaths with a certificate stating theresult of the proceedings and including any necessaryparticulars. An inquest was begun last year uponthe death of a child. The magistrates committedthe child’s mother to the November Assizes on acharge of wilful murder. The coroner apparentlyadjourned his inquest as directed by the 1926 Act.The next step, however, contemplated by the statutecannot be taken. The Home Secretary has orderedthe woman’s removal to an asylum : she will nownot be tried, and consequently the " proceedings

"

cannot be "concluded " with any " result " of which

the coroner can be officially informed. Thus, it wouldseem, the inquest must take its course. The coronerhas found himself obliged to issue a warrant againstthe mother, bind over the police superintendent toprosecute, and bind over the witnesses to appearand give evidence. It would have been feasible totake the poor woman to the assizes for the formalpurpose of obtaining a verdict of " Guilty, but insane."Quite apart from the expense of this course, however,public opinion would deprecate it.

An Unregistered Dental Association.A case was recently heard before the Oldham

borough justices in which a manager of the Co-operativeWholesale Society (Health Insurance Section) wassummoned for " practising or holding himself out topractise dentistry," his name not appearing in theDentists Register. It was argued on behalf of theBritish Dental Association that it was not essential forthe commission of an offence of this kind, that theperson should be the actual one who performed theoperations of dentistry. A body corporate or limitedcompany could carry on dentistry if the majority ofits directors and all its operating staff were dentists,though not otherwise. It was stated that the C.W.S.,being an approved society under the Health InsuranceActs, had not agreed to an increase in the scale ofdentists’ fees in 1926, and despite the fact that it wasnot a registered organisation under the Dentists Act,had endeavoured to set up dental clinics in certainnorthern towns. An unregistered dental surgeon hadbeen given charge of such a clinic at Oldham wherethere was a clerk and four dental mechanics, andpatients had been treated there on behalf of theCo-operative Dental Benevolent Association, which wasunregistered under the Act. In defence counsel arguedthat responsibility for what had been done lay withthe Association and not with its salaried manager.The chairman and the bench were of opinion, however,that the latter had unlawfully held himself out aspractising dentistry and fined him £50, also awardingJB25 costs to the prosecution. They agreed to state a- case for appeal to the High Court.

Two Deaths Under Ancesthesia.

Arrangements at the Weir Hospital, Balham, werecriticised at an inquest on Jan. 2nd on a boy of 4who died in the institution whilst a fracture of theleg was being reduced under an anaesthetic. Thereare two resident doctors at the hospital but one ofthem was away when the child was brought fortreatment. The resident medical officer first adminis-tered open ether and then instructed a nurse tohold the mask while he reduced the deformity.’Death followed from heart failure, despite employ-ment of artificial respiration and stimulants, and atautopsy it was found that the boy had a full stomachwhich adhered abnormally to the liver. The coroner,m recording a verdict of death by misadventure, saidthat the resident medical officer had exercised carefuljudgment in the circumstances, was justified in

administering the anaesthetic, and did so properly.

At the same time he considered it distinctlv inadvisablethat the hospital should be left with only one doctor,since only in grave emergency should a medical manplay the dual part of anaesthetist and surgeon. Itwas stated in evidence that the hospital had twovisiting surgeons, but it was not customary to callthem in except for big operations.On Jan. 8th the Westminster coroner recorded a

similar verdict in the case of a boy of 2 who diedduring an operation at Charing Cross Hospital.Post mortem large pieces of undigested food werefound in the stomach and the pathologist, in ascribingdeath to syncope, said that the presence of food wasprobably in part responsible for the accident. Themother said she had not received any instructionsabout meals, and the doctor who gave the anaestheticsaid that she (the doctor) had not seen the child onany previous occasion. The anaesthetic was ethylchloride, followed later by a mixture of chloroformand ether. The coroner remarked that he thoughtit was the common practice in hospitals to warnparents not to give their children meals a few hoursbefore anaesthetics would be administered.

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Study Leave.THE refusal of the Minister of Local Government

and Public Health to sanction the proposal of theGrangegorman Mental Hospital Committee to giveone of their medical officers six months’ study leavewith pay has given rise to criticism. As was pointedout by a member of the committee, the institutionwould benefit by the course of study which Dr. J.Dunne proposed to pursue. Another member men-tioned that the Minister of Defence had thought itwise to send young officers to study the methods offoreign armies.The lack of any provision for study leave is a

grave fault in the public medical services of theIrish Free State. The Committee of Inquiry onNational Health Insurance and the Medical Servicesin its Interim Report in 1925 made a strong recom-mendation in favour of the grant of study leave atregular intervals to dispensary medical officers.It was recommended that a period of not less thanthree months should be given at least as often asonce in every five years, and that evidence of havingtaken advantage of such opportunities should receiveconsideration where promotion was in question.During such leave the medical officer should receivefull salary without deduction for payment of a sub-stitute, and a grant should be made to cover fees forstudy. It is possible that such a procedure mightrequire legislative authority, but there appears tobe no good reason why the Government should notbefore now have taken action on the Report of theCommittee of Inquiry.

The 83 (Dublin) General Hospital.The annual dinner of the Dublin Unit which staffed

the 83 General Hospital, B.E.F., in 1917-18, was heldlast Saturday night in the Council Room of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons, Colonel Sir William Taylorpresiding. Some 15 members of the unit were

present.

SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The New Health Department.THE Scottish Department of Health came into

existence on Jan. 1st. The Scottish Board of Healthpassed out of existence on Dec. 31st. In point ofform the Board was a survival from an older andmore amateurish conception of Government service.It was essentially an advisory board with no powers