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LEEDS.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
The West Riding 1Jfedioal Charitable Society.THE Medical Charitable Society of the West Riding of
Yorkshire is an association which stands high in the- estimation of all who are connected with it, for it can
point to a record of work over a long period of years whichmay be regarded as in many ways remarkable. The societywas inaugurated in 1828, the first list of annual sub-scribers numbering 47, and at an early meeting it was
determined not to make any grants until the capital sum inthe treasurer’s hands amounted to S2000. At the end ofnine years, as an old report states,
11 of alternate hope andfear" this was attained, and two grants of E 15 were made,one to a disabled practitioner and the other to the widow ofa medical man. From that time until the present date no
, less a sum than £44,615 has been voted in grants tonecessitous members of the profession and to the widows-and children of deceased members. By the most careful andeconomical management of the funds of the society, and in ameasure by the generosity of members of the general publicwho have contributed some £4300, the invested funds of theassociation now amount to about £34,000 The annual sub-scriptions yield about £750. The objects of the society are toaid the widows and children of members dying in indigentcircumstances, to aid the sisters of such members being singlewomen and widows who have lived with their brothers ashousekeepers for a period of not less than five years pre-ceding their death, to aid such members as are whollyor partially incapacitated by age or permanent bodily in-firmity and who are disabled from practising for a period ofsix months, and, lastly, to aid in the education of thechildren of members thus incapacitated or disabled. Noone is eligible to become a member if he has been in prac-tice in the West Riding for 20 years without having sub-scribed, no one is admitted as a new member if he is morethan 50 years of age, and no one may become a recipient ofcharity of the association who has not subscribed for a
period of five years. The district is divided into 19 areas,each of which has a steward appointed to it. With thecircumstances of every applicant for relief the stewardof the special area makes it his duty to become fullconversant. A preliminary meeting of the stewards andother officials is held just before the annual meeting, at
which all applications are scrutinised with the utmost care butwith the determination to grant as much relief in all cases ofreal necessity as the finances will allow. The matter is then
gone over again at the general meeting and some of thecases may have extra light thrown on them. At the annual Imeeting which has just been held at Dewsbury under thechairmanship of Mr. Edwin Lee applications to the numberof 49 were received and the society was able to make grantsin every case. The amounts voted varied from E15 up to4Z65 and the total sum voted was el720. Though there isindeed something infinitely sad about these meetings-forone learns, often it may be with surprise, that a brotherpractitioner has fallen by the way or has been cut off with-out having been able to make provision for his wife and
family-there is at the same time the great and compensatingcomfort that without any great personal sacrifice it has beenpossible to assist in making life easier for less fortunatebrethren. The society is one to which every medical manin the West Riding who is qualified to be a member shouldbelong. He may then feel certain of two things: one is thathe will do good, and the other is that if the unexpectedhappens and he himself or his wife or children are in wantthey will not be without sympathy and pecuniary support.For many years the business of the society has beenassiduously and zealously supervised by Mr. C. G Wheel-house who appears to find his chief joy in his honourableretirement in doing all he can for the welfare of the associa-tion. That he may long be spared to do so is the earnesthope of all the members.
The Post-Graduate Course at the Public Dispensary.The third post-graduate course begins at the dispensary
this week, when Dr. T. Wardrop Griffith will give a demon-stration on Some Points in the Anatomy and Pathology ofthe Heart. Dr. GriSith’g second demonstration will dealwith the Anatomy of the Nervous System viewed from theclinical aspect. Dr. E. F. Trevelyan will give two demon-strations on nervous diseases, his subjects being Birth
Palsy and the Relation of Injury to Nervous Disease,Organic and Functional. Dr. W. M. Melling will discussEnlargements of the Liver and will show some cases ofDiseases of Children. Dr. G. W. Watson will give a demon-stration on the Physical Signs in Pulmonary Diseases.Mr. Michael Teale’s demonstrations will deal with Diseasesof the Eye and Dr. A. Sharp’s with Diseases of theNose. Dr. D. Seaton will show surgical cases. The coursewill be supplemented by a lecture on Some Diseases of theBreast which Mr. Walter Thompson has kindly agreed todeliver, while Dr. Bedford Pierce will speak on the PracticalDifficulties in the Certification of the Insane. It is a matterof some congratulation to those who initiated this coursethat a second course has been requested during the presentyear by those who desire to attend. As on the formeroccasion, the number attending the classes has been limitedto 20 and this number was reached some weeks ago.
Oct. 1st. __________________
SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)
St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association.THE St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association has just issued
its twenty-fourth annual report, and from its perusal onecan gather that the association is carrying on its work in anextremely efficient manner. During the past year 7874 callswere made on the wagons of the association and the totalnumber of patients conveyed since the formation of theassociation is now 85,149. In Glasgow alone the numberof calls during the year was 5195. This represents an
average of 14 23 turns-out daily, or leaving Sundaysout of the calculation 15 43. Of these 3155 calls were toaccidents and 2040 to cases of illness. In 144 cases thewagons were not required on arrival. As regards the 3155calls to accidents, 954 were from police offices, houses,and stairs ; 1084 were street accidents ; 497 from publicworks ; 305 from docks and wharves ; and 171 fromrailways and stations. 2641 cases were taken to theRoyal Infirmary, 1172 to the Western Infirmary, 373 tothe Victoria Infirmary, and 161 to the Maternity Hospital,the remainder being taken to their homes or other institu-tions. In all, the wagons covered 22,372 miles during theyear. The motor ambulance wagon presented to the asso-ciation last year has been in use since October last. Sincethen it has run 3926 miles and proved very useful, especiallyfor long-distance removals. It is at present too early topronounce as to its comparative utility and cost with regardto the horse-drawn wagons, but careful statistics are beingkept and after a year’s trial it will be possible to form anopinion on these points. During the year the association con-ducted and examined 389 classes in ’-first-aid to the injured" and 25 in I I home nursing and hygiene." In connexion withthese classes 3832 " first-aid " certificates and 328 " nursing "
certificates were granted, making a grand total of 76,686certificates since the formation of the association. In addi-tion 1741 medallions were issued, making a total of 22,592 inthe past 24 years. The medallion is issued to those certifi-cated pupils who, in a subsequent session, attend a secondcourse of lectures and paes an examination on a higherstandard in first-aid or home nursing and hygiene. Classeshave also been carried on in connexion with the police forcesin the counties and burghs. The value to the public of theefficient training of the police in such matters cannot beover-estimated. It is interesting to note that the associationhas been approached by the Army Council with a view to itstaking over the military hospitals in Scotland in the eventof the country being engaged in war. The council of theassociation agreed to formulate a scheme and to undertakethe responsibility of providing for this emergency.
Cerebro-spinal Fever at Forfar.On Tuesday night of last week a little girl aged four years,
residing at East High-street, Forfar, was removed to thecounty isolation hospital suffering from cerebro-spinal fever.This is the first case which has been notified for several weeksand the authorities were congratulating themselves on havingsuccessfully stamped out the disease
The Epidemic of Enteric Fever at Peterhead.During the past week only two cases of enteric fever have
been notified to the medical officer of health and in bothcases the patients have been removed to the hospital. Ten