180

LIVERPOOL.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Home for 4ilepties, Maghull.THIS institution has accommodation for311 patients, 169

male, 142 female. The prominent feature of the home is thetreatment by provision of healthy and interesting work andoccupation as far as possible in the open-air ; patientsreceive training both in work and in play with excellentresults. During the past year the total mortality from allcauses was 2 - 28 per cent., the mortality from actual fits wasonly 1’ 1 per cent. Twenty-four cases had no fits during theyear, and in many cases the number of fits had markedlydiminished. At the recent annual meeting a new home wasopened for patients of the working class and as a residencefor the nursing staff. The money was given to the amountof £3000 by a grant from the estate of the late Sir Alfred L.Jones, after whom the home has been named. A still furtherenlargement is to be made, the late Thomas Bartlett havingleft L2000 to build another block for male patients.

The Abattoir Question.The city council have again considered the site for a new

abattoir. It may be remembered that at present theabattoir and associated trades are in the centre of the cityclose to the University, the Royal Infirmary, and theBrownlow Hill Workhouse, and that the district is a crowdedbusiness area. The medical profession protested againstrenewing the lease about 20 years ago, and medical opinionhas continued to condemn the site as prejudicial to thehealth of the community, but vested interests and the diffi-culty of providing another site which will meet all require-ments have so far prevailed over health considerations, andthe much-needed removal of a crying evil is put off to theGreek Kalends. After considering the city surveyor’s reporton the Pumpfields proposed site, the council gave power toa committee to enter into negotiations for the purchase ofwhat is known as the Love Lane site, which was decidedagainst last year. The members of the Liverpool MeatMarket, Limited, have already had a meeting and protestedagainst all action on the part of the city council until thevarious sections of the trade have been consulted. So the

thing drags on.July 15th.

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SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Graduation Ceremonial at Edinburgh University.IN the McEwan Hall on July llth, Principal Sir William

Turner, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh,conferred 62 degrees of Doctor of Medicine, 3 degrees ofMaster of Surgery, 98 degrees of Bachelor of Medicine andBachelor of Surgery, 1 degree of Doctor of Philosophy,3 degrees of Doctor of Science, 19 degrees of Master of Arts,and 25 degrees of Bachelor of Science. The Vice-Chancellorwas supported by the Senatus, and the candidates for degreeswere presented as follows :-Medicine: Professor A.. Robinsonand Professor H. B. Littlejohn. Arts: Professor Lodge.Science: Professor Geikie. Various diplomaswerealsoawarded,and a number of scholarships and prizes were intimatedAn organ recital was given by Mr. T. H. Collinson,organist to the University. Professor Robinson, at theclose of the ceremony, delivered the customary address, inthe course of which he said that for many years the condi-tions under which the new graduates faced their workremained practically unchanged. No new laws were madewhich either helped or hindered them, and they were per-mitted to proceed about their own affairs without theintervention of politics. To-day, however, those who hadtaken their medical degree had joined a profession whichhad been made a pawn in the business of party politics-a business which appeared to have no regard eitherfor truth or justice, unless these happened to be asso-

ciated with party advantage. It seemed impossible to makea party politician consider national before party interests,unless it was made clear to him that things would be madevery unpleasant both for him and his party. They of the

medical profession must combine to form a strong and com-pact body in order to strike tirmly and decisively in theinterests of public health, which were the interests of themedical profession. Failure to form such a combination, orthe formation of small competing combinations, would in-evitably mean that the interests of the profession would bebartered for political advantage, which was not necessarilythe public advantage. Whether the new conditions wouldresult in the preponderance of good or evil nobody could say.Certainly they would result in both good and evil. It was

quite clear that the ill-considered and hastily passed lawwhich had created the present position would require muchconsideration before some sections of the contributory publicand the medical profession received fair treatment, and itwas not improbable that the time would come when medicalmen would have to fight for proper hours of labour andrelief from clerical work to get time to attend to theadvancing knowledge of their profession. These ends wouldnot be gained except by united action.

Leith Burgh Insurance Committee.The chairman, in a review of the first year’s work, said

that there had been 64 applications for sanatorium benefit,of which 55 were recommended for institutional treatment.About 540 visits to the dispensary had been paid for by theCommittee, amounting to ;E67 9s. 3d.. and the expenditure(for about 10 months) was C851 for sanatorium and dis-

pensary treatment. There were 46 doctors on the Leith

panel, 22 resident in Leith and 24 in Edinburgh, and thefigures received gave an average of six to seven attendances,and from three to four visits per day per doctor. In the

report by the Scottish Insurance Commission the averagenumber of insured persons to each doctor on the Leith panelwas given as 539. This low average was obtained bydividing the insured persons in Leith equally among the46 doctors on the panel, but as 24 of these doctors wereresident in Edinburgh and had really very few Leith personson their lists, the average was really much higher, beingslightly over 1000.

Glasgow -Royal Infirmary : Post-graduate Co2crses.As in former years, a comprehensive course for graduates

will be held during September. This course will include the

following classes : Clinical medicine, clinical surgery, opera-tive surgery, surgical diagnosis, clinical gynaecology, electro-therapeutics, urology, clinical examination of the urine anddigestive products, anaesthetics, diseases of the ear, skin,throat and nose, and eye. The latter course is one speciallydesigned with relation to school medical inspection and treat-ment. Complete syllabus and any other necessary informa-tion may be obtained from the superintendent of the

infirmary.Measles in Aberdeen.

There were 598 cases of measles in the city of Aberdeenduring the month of May, and the deaths were exceptionallynumerous, amounting to 69, of which no fewer than 56 wereof children under the age of 3. The case mortality reachedthe exceptional height of 11 per cent. The medical officerof health states that neither the proportion of cases of lungcomplications nor of convulsions among the fatal cases wasabove the average ; the virulent character of the infection

appeared to be the chief reason for the high mortality.Doctors and Insurance.

On July 4th, in University College, Dundee, a conferenceof the Scottish Committee of the British Medical Associa-tion with representatives of the Local Medical Committeeswas held. In brief, the conference arrived at the followingconclusions with regard to the working of the NationalInsurance Act :-That the name of the illness should not be inserted in the certificates.That the suspension of sickness benefit in venereal disease is injurious

to the nation as well as to the individual.That contracting out for the services of unqualified practitioners

should not be allowed. -

That the Midwives Act should be introduced for Scotland withoutdelay.That in rural practice the mileage question can only be settled on the

basis of a one-mile limit.That Insurance Committees should be asked to send any proposed

agreements to the Medical Committees at least six weeks before theagreement must be concluded.That the service of medical referees should be established by the

Insurance Commissioners.

The following resolution was ordered to be communicated tothe general press :-That this conference protests emphatically against the charges, of