269

are : (1) the training of a proportion of H.G. combatantsin elementary first-aid, (2) the organisation of aid-postsin those rural areas which are some distance from A.R.P.

posts, and (3) liaison with A.R.P. authorities.The organisation of casualty collecting posts to each

square mile seems to me redundant, since the nearesthouse to our casualty will be the appropriate casualtycollecting post. Any house will provide " rest, warmthand simple cooking," and all skilled and semi-skilledhelp will be immediately available since the British Islesare not filled with fifth-columnists. Until evacuation ofcasualties is possible first-aid equipment will be broughtto the casualties by runner. No doubt it would beuseful to have more first-aid equipment available thanhas been provided by the War Office, but to tie up vastquantities of dressings, blankets and drugs, as suggestedby Mr. Lawrence Abel, in 50,000 posts seems wasteful.However widespread the invasion battle-area, most ofit will remain unused. It could be used ten times overthis winter in the A.R.P. and E.M.S. organisation ; ifphilanthropic organisations desire to earmark equipmentfor invasion casualties it would be of greater value in thehands of the R.A.M.C.

H.G.M.O.

CONVALESCENT POLIOMYELITIS SERUM

SiB,—We have available a moderate supply of thisserum for use in conjunction with M. & B. 693 and wouldbe willing to forward a limited quantity on request.

Duchy House Clinic, Harrogate.SINCLAIR MILLER,STANLEY WRAY.

ALOPECIA IN FRIGHTENED CHILDREN

Sm,—Dr. Lamorna Hingston may like to be remindedof the case described by Marcellus Donatus in the 16thcentury. " Subitaneo terrore perpetuum calvitium 1:contractum in puella." (De medicina historia mirabili,Mantua 1586. Book 6.) "r

London. I. FISCHER.

ZINC CHLORIDE FOR FIRE FIGHTING

SiR,-Dr. Roche Lynch’s letter of May 24 against the LEuse of zinc chloride is right from a peace-time point of ,Eview, and the public could be warned against many inhousehold commodities in everyday use in the same way, p.but for war it is creating a lot of harm. Incendiarism pais the cheapest form of attack that the Germans have

a

on the morale of our civil population in crowded areas, S(and a method must be found to beat it more efficientlythan the one now advised by the Government, which SOldoes not put out the bomb, but deals only with the weresults. If the bomb is an explosive one, attack by

<

water is impossible. Dr. Roche Lynch says he is not in pl(a position to express any opinion on whether zinc ofchloride solutions are greatly superior to water. By mithis statement alone he condemns his right to publishan opinion. Our product " Incendex " has zinc chloride C<in it but it is over seventy times more efficient thanwater and can therefore save property and human life. InIts efficiency has been proved by over 600 demonstra- Setions in six months and as a result over 60,000 gallons wiof it has been supplied to about 2000 firms. Many of 1n;these have written to tell us that they have proved its re1good qualities in both practical trials and actual raids. inBombs-English and foreign-have been extinguished coin an average time of ten seconds with a consumption of opabout two pints. Our demonstrators have worked withit over nine months and are still healthy, having been M

using it in confined spaces as well as in the open. Theirhands, faces and eyes have been splashed often, but after Ecwashing with cold water no harm has resulted. The defumes have never worried them permanently, as the time an

they are in them, in any density, is a matter of secondsonly. Is it better to lose everything, perhaps human Atlife, because of the chance of temporary skin or throat se]

irritation and the remote chance of blindness throughcarelessness only, or to use Incendex according to the PI

instructions on the can and stop fire and panic ?Pall Mall, S.W.I. PARKER, MOIR & Co.

- wizPHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN.-The Privy M.

Council have appointed Dr. G. Roche Lynch to be present at ’

the examinations held by the society. Rj

INFECTIOUS DISEASE IN ENGLAND AND WALES

WEEK ENDED AUGUST 16

Notifications.-The following cases of infectious diseasewere notified during the week : smallpox, 0 ; scarletfever, 830 ; whooping-cough, 3190 ; diphtheria, 699 ;paratyphoid, 166 ; typhoid, 26 ; measles (excludingrubella), 1914 ; pneumonia (primary or influenzal), 378 ;puerperal pyrexia, 105 ; cerebrospinal fever, 135 ;poliomyelitis, 25 ; polio-encephalitis, 2 ; encephalitislethargica, 6 ; dysentery, 196 (58 at Berkhamsted) ;ophthalmia neonatorum, 91. No case of cholera, plagueor typhus fever was notified during the week.The number of civilian and service sick in the Infectious Hospitals

of the London County Council on Aug. 13 was 1266 ; includingscarlet fever, 104 ; diphtheria, 234 ; measles, 69 ; whooping-cough,S78 ; enteritis, 22 ; chicken-pox, 32 ; erysipelas, 35 ; mumps, 7 ;poliomyelitis, 3 ; dysentery, 10 ; cerebrospinal fever, 21 ; puerperalsepsis, 19 ; enteric fevers, 12 ; german measles, 1 ; polio-encephal-itis, 2; other diseases (non-infectious), 56 ; not yet diagnosed, 61.Deaths.-In 126 great towns there were 3 (0) deaths

from enteric fever, 2 (0) from scarlet fever, 18 (4) fromwhooping-cough, 1 (0) from measles, 20 (1) from diph-theria, 51 (3) from diarrhcea.and enteritis under 2 years,and 6 (0) from influenza. The figures in parentheses arethose for London itself.

Reading, Birkenhead and Crosby each reported 1 death fromenteric fever. Birkenhead had 8 fatal cases of diarrhoea andenteritis under 2 years, Liverpool 7 and Birmingham 5.

The number of stillbirths notified during the week was173 (corresponding to a rate of 33 per thousand totalbirths), including 20 in London.

Medical News

University of London .

Dr. Esther Killick has been appointed to the Sophia Jex-Blake chair of physiology at the London (R.F.H.) School ofMedicine for Women in succession to Prof. Winifred Cullis,on whom the title of professor emeritus has been conferred.Dr. Killick graduated in medicine from the University ofLeeds in 1929. She has held the appointments of lecturerin industrial medicine in the University of Birmingham, andphysiologist to the Safety in Mines Research Board. For thepast two years she has been lecturer in industrial physiologyat the London School of Hygiene.Society of Apothecaries of London

S,ir Stanley Woodwark has been elected master of thissociety and Prof. F. G. Parsons and Mr. V. Warren Lowwardens.

S. Hashim, Welsh National School of Medicine, on com-pleting the final examination has been granted the diplomaof the society entitling him to practise medicine, surgery andmidwifery.Course in Ophthalmology at Glasgow

Eight postgraduate lectures will be held in the TennentInstitute of Ophthalmology, Glasgow, on Wednesdays fromSept. 10 to Oct. 29 at 8 P.M. The subjects of the addresseswill include : postgraduate tuition in ophthalmology ; the

making of the ophthalmic specialist ; ophthalmic practice inretrospect; the future of ophthalmic practice ; pros and consin ophthalmic therapeutics ; ophthalmology in the lawcourts ; and the problem of the nearly blind. There will be

opportunity for informal discussion.

Medical Honours -

The O.B.E. has been awarded to Surgeon CommanderEdward Heffernan, M.B. N.TJ.1., R.N., for bravery and

devotion to duty in boarding a burning merchantman duringan enemy air attack.The M.C. has been awarded to Captain R. N. Lees, M.B.

Aberd., R.A.M.C., in recognition of gallant and distinguishedservices in the Middle East.

Prisoners of WarThe following officers of the R.A.M.C. have been posted as

prisoners of war : Lieutenant A. L. Cochrane, M.B. Camb. ;W.S./Captain N. S. Seaford, M.R.C.S. ; W.S./Captain M. M.Wallis, M.B. Lpool; and W.S./Captain R. M. Wiltshire,M.R.C.S.

Temp. A./Surgeon Lieut.-Commander C. M. Fisher,R.C.N.V.R., is also reported to be a prisoner of war.