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Annotations.

LORD ROBERTS.

"Ne quid nimis."

Lord Roberts has died, as he doubtless would havewished to die, in harness. What more glorious end- could he have had to a long, honourable, successful,and unstained career than to pass peacefully awayin performing the great service of heartening hisbeloved troops in their terrific struggle ? This" heartening

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faculty of his was conspicuousthroughout his career. He applied to all theaffairs of men with which he was called on to dealthe great principle that is the keynote of modernmedicine: " Support the strength and aid Natureto do her beneficent work." Among other visits.paid by him in France he inspected an Indianhospital ship in port, and there, as among hisIndian troops, the worship and affection with whichhe was regarded was evidenced in a strikingdegree. The explanation of this whole-souleddevotion to his person that always enveloped himis perhaps to be surmised from the graciousness ofhis commendation of the hospital ship to itscommanding officer:

" Your hospital is as near

perfection as any I have seen; I congratulate you,six." Few people, we believe, are aware of theintimate tie that linked him with our professionin that on Jan. 10th, 1901, he was admitted anhonorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons ofEngland. And, indeed, as a soldier Lord Robertsexcelled in just those qualities that should charac-terise the ideal medical man-patient and enduringunder trial, alert and prescient against unexpectedsources of danger, a past-master of his craft,keeping himself ever abreast of its developmentunder rapidly changing conditions, courageous,confident, and resolute in carrying out his care-fully thought-out plans, resourceful in emergency,above all petty feeling, humane and love-inspiringin his dealings with all, and relying both for

guidance and for justification on the spiritualand moral force that informs the universe. Hewas truly a great soldier, a great man, a greatexample; that he should be buried beneath the<lome of the metropolitan cathedral of St. Paul,in proximity to Nelson, is a fitting close to hispriceless life-work.

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THE END OF THE POLYCLINIC.

MANY London practitioners have lately learntwith regret that the Medical Graduates’ College andPolyclinic, with which Sir Jonathan Hutchinson’sname will always be associated, has ceased to exist.A general meeting of members and subscribers washeld at the College, 22, Chenies-street, W.C., onOct. 28th, when Dr. C. 0. Hawthorne, chairman ofcouncil and editor of the Polyclinic, presided. Dr.Hawthorne explained that the meeting had beencalled to consider the situation of the College in sofar as this was affected by the war. In view of theexisting financial position the council were ofopinion that the College could not be continued.In its early days the Polyclinic acquired a burdenof debt from which it had suffered throughout itscareer. A scheme for putting it upon a securebasis had been in contemplation, and had times- continued normal the council felt confident of

carrying this through with a fair prospect ofsuccess; but all these plans had been brought tonothing by the unusual circumstances produced bythe war, and there was now no option but to closethe College. Mr. Lockhart Mummery, the honorarytreasurer, then presented a financial statement andexpressed the hope that there would be justsufficient funds to meet all liabilities. Dr. DundasGrant thereupon moved a resolution, which wascarried unanimously, approving the council’s actionin deciding to close the College and authorising theassignment of the lease of the premises to SirJonathan Hutchinson’s trustees in satisfaction oftheir claim against the Polyclinic. We feel thatthe decision of the council, endorsed by the

meeting, is the only business-like course to takein view of the financial position of the College.In happier circumstances the Polyclinic might havecontinued its useful activities on behalf of post-graduate medical education; but it was encumberedwith a heavy debt from the beginning, and thecomplication of the war made its end inevitable.

MEDICAL CHARACTERS IN CHINESE WRITING.

CHINESE writing is a sealed book to by far themajority of the inhabitants of these islands, whosesole acquaintance with even the appearance of the"lettering" (if we may call it so) is confined tomarks on pottery, jars of ginger, or chests of tea.Dr. Lucien-Graux, director of the Gazette M&eacute;dicalede Paris, has just issued a most interesting bookdealing primarily with Chinese medical characters,but prefaced by a general description of the innatequality (g&eacute;nie) of Chinese writing.! Chinesecharacters are not letters but a kind of picture,and in addition to each picture there is a "keypicture" which is invariable for all words of the sameclass. Thus, to give Dr. Lucien-Graux’s example, thewords calf, ox, cow, bull, heifer, all belong to thesame kind of animal, but there is nothing in theletters or syllables which make up the differentwords to show this. In Chinese, however, all theseanimals are expressed by different characters, butall these characters have as a portion of their com-position a character signifying " bovine race." Tomake the matter more clear we may refer to one ofthe few instances- of picture writing in English.Most travellers by train will have noticed here andthere along the side of the line a large whitepainted board bearing on it in black a designlike this ; when the enginedriver sees this he knows that he is approaching awater trough, from which he may take up waterduring the run. Now if English were written on theChinese system all such words as ice, snow, rain,mist, pond, fountain, dew, and so on, would be

prefaced by *B, the water sign, and anyforeigner who knew the key word would at onceknow that any one of the words mentioned abovewould have to do with water. There are in use inChinese writing 214 of these key characters. Themedical one is No. 104, and it is made up of two

symbols, the one meaning "man," the other, "board"or " plank." These combined mean a man in bed,otherwise ill. To this key character others areadded descriptive of various diseases or diseasedconditions, but it is difficult to describe them inwords without reproducing the characters, howeverwe may attempt one or two. Baldness, for instance,is signified by the " ill " key character in Chinese, Ni;

1 Les Caract&egrave;res M&eacute;dicaux dans l’&Eacute;criture Chinoise. Par Dr. Lucien-Graux. Paris: A. Maloine. 1914. Pp. 276. Price 4 francs.

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and a symbol representing a reaped field ; jaundiceis represented by the Ni " combined with a symbolrepresenting a ploughed field-i.e., the colour ofbare earth. All symbols are not as clear as thesetwo, however, for, to take one at random, dysuria isexpressed by Ni and another symbol representingtwo trees with their branches joined. Why thissymbol should have been chosen is, says Dr. Lucien-Graux, a mystery. There are two addenda to themain portion of the work, the one a list of Chinesedrugs and materia medica which is mediaaval,and the other a translation of a very ancientChinese document by an unknown writer giving asomewhat pessimistic, but at the same time noble,view of medicine. The writer begins by sayingthat medicine can only work in accordance with theinscrutable laws of Heaven ; for man the mysteriesof birth and death are unsolved, and medicine can-not save from death, a truism which was expressedin mediaeval times by the line,

" Contra vim mortis

non est medicamen in hortis." " But," continuesthe Chinese writer, "the role of medicine is all thesame an admirable one. She can prolong life, shecan heal the multitude of evils which afflict poorhumanity, she can fortify morality by preachingvirtue and proscribing vice (that mortal enemy tohealth), and finally she can consolidate nations andpeoples by hygienic counsels and recommendations."These are noble words, and with them we takeleave of a remarkable work.

A STATE-AIDED INDUSTRY.

THE chemistry of coal-tar colours is so closelyallied to that of synthetic drugs and fine chemicalsused in medicine that the Board of Trade scheme forencouraging the permanent manufacture of dye-stuffs in the United Kingdom must inevitablypromote the synthetic drug industry which untilquite recently was wholly neglected in this country.The German firm which introduced diethyl-barbituric acid (veronal) and acetylsalicylic acid

(aspirin) into medicine is as well known for itsaniline dyes as it is for its synthetic drugs, and itwould be difficult to say whether another famousfirm is best known because it makes artificialindigo or because it produces salvarsan. If inGermany the manufacture of synthetic drugshas kept pace with the production of dye-stuffs,there is good reason to expect that the establish-ment on a proper scientific basis of the colour

industry in Great Britain will mark the beginningof a new era for the British drug industry. Briefly,the proposal of the Board of Trade is that a limitedcompany should be formed with a large capital ofwhich the bulk would be subscribed by the con-sumers of dye-stuffs and others interested; theGovernment would subscribe a certain portionof the share capital and guarantee the in-terest on a large debenture issue for a termof years. This proposal is made after consulta-tion with the committee on chemical manu-

factures appointed shortly after the outbreak ofwar to consider what steps it was advisable totake to promote the coal-tar colour and finechemical industry. Seeing that manufacturersof medicinal chemicals were well represented onthis committee, it would not be surprising to findwhen the full scheme is unfolded that provisionhas been made for the development of the drugsection of the industry. No doubt theoreticalobjections to the State interference in industrialenterprise could be raised, but in the case of theindustry in question these must be brushed aside

for the substantial reason that without State aidthe trade could not be developed. Without State

encouragement the German chemical industry wouldnever have reached its present vast dimensions,and it is obvious that our manufacturers could notsuccessfully compete with an organisation whichhas taken Germany more than 40 years to bringto a state of perfection if the Governmentwere to remain indifferent. The overhauling ofour methods of chemical education, the removal ofobstacles to the use of cheap denatured alcohol,and some modification of our patent law are amongthe reforms which must inevitably accompany thesuccessful development of this industry, and sincea Government department has undertaken toencourage this development these reforms willno doubt be hastened.

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TREATMENT OF SNAKE-BITE.

IN the Indian J01trnal of Medical Research (1914,vol. ii., pp. 46-148) Captain H. W. Acton and Captain R.Knowles publish some important investigations into.

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the nature and suitable treatment of snake-bite. Indifferent varieties of snakes the toxicity of the-venom varies. The common cobra, Naia tripudians,is the poisonous snake of India, and this becauseof its wide distribution and the volume ofvenom it gives with its bite. The hamadryad,or king cobra, a rarer snake, is also highly lethal.The bite of many of the vipers is fatal, butoften after a longer lapse of time. The cause

of death after viperine bites may be throughlocal thrombosis, which may lead to pul-monary embolism; more usually it is due to

multiple capillary haemorrhages from the mucousmembranes and internal organs. Sometimes deathfollows from secondary causes such as gangrene.The cobra venom acts differently. It contains twoelements, a haemolysin and a neurotoxin. Thelatter is the fatal factor. It causes paralysis of therespiratory centre in the medulla, paralysis of thenerve-endings in the diaphragm and respiratorymuscles, and death from asphyxia. The shortest

period within which death can occur after a cobrabite is about 30 minutes; the longest recordedwas 30 hours. As to treatment, the usual remedieshave been investigated experimentally in turn andthe findings have much practical significance.1. Ligature: In cobra poisoning the effect is merelyto delay the onset of death by preventing the venomfrom at once getting into the circulation; itis wholly insufficient to save the life of the

patient. In viperine bites, however, it will insome instances save life, even though no othermeasure be used; in others it will greatly prolong.life. The local thrombosis induced tends to localisethe venom and affords assistance to the applicationof local remedies. 2. Amputation: Value in cobra-bites strictly limited. It must be performed within.a few minutes or it is ineffective. In the case-of such a bite, however, immediate ligature andamputation is the best line of treatment. 3. Limb

compression fails to yield better results than simpleligature. 4. Incision into the bitten site appearsto be of not much value, the difficulty being,apparently, that the venom is colloidal in characterand being viscid is extremely difficult to express.5. Much interest attaches to the observations madeupon the supposed value of certain drugs, especiallypotassium permanganate. This drug in the form ofcrystals is widely used abroad, and is held in asmall case, also enclosing a lance. On being bittenit is advised at once to enlarge the wound with the