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Narrow Escape of Professor Rossoni. The Roman school was within an ace of losing its distin-

:guished professor of medical pathology on August 16th. Dr.

Eugenio Rossoni had driven to the Villa Umberto with theBaroness Hiiffer and on alighting from his carriage at theGalleria Borghese was saying a few parting words to herwhen a bicyclist in full career knocked him down. Theprofessor promptly regained his feet, but had sustained asevere blow on the left temple, from which the blood was,flowing profusely. He assured the Baroness that thewound was trifling, but all the same was immediatelyconveyed in his carriage to the Policlinico where hewas at once attended to by Professor Alessandri, assistedby Professor Ascoli and Dr. Maffi. He was found not only tonave been wounded in the temple but to have sustainedabrasion of. the left palpebra, as well as several contusionson the left leg and on the hands. There was fortunately nosign of internal injury ; so after being duly cared for by hiscolleagues above mentioned he was conveyed to his residence,where, on the next morning he was found by ProfessorAlessandri to be doing well. This is by no means an isolatedinstance of the dangers incurred in the capital of Italy byreckless cycling and motor driving-dangers recalling therisks to life denounced in the Third Satire of Juvenal as I.all too common in the Rome of the first century. !

August 24th. ________________

I

Obituary.WALTER HENRY BROWN, F.R.C.S.IREL.

ON August 12th Mr. W. H. Brown died at Highfield House,Headingley, Leeds. During his professional career he badthree or four attacks of blood poisoning, the last three and ahalf years ago, since which he never regained his usual state,of health and suftred from chronic colitis associated attimes with agonising pain and partial obstruction. In July,1906, the obstruction was complete for five days and anoperation was arranged, but the night before this was to beperformed he obtained relief, and from that time never hadany obstruction. At the end of three months he appearedso much better that he commenced his hospital and privatework again. Those who saw him know how bravely he triedto do his work. In December of last year he was persuaded toresign his position of surgeon to the infirmary. In acceptinghis resignation the infirmary board passed the followingresolution :-That in accepting Mr. W. H. Brown’s resignation of his position as

honorary surgeon to the General Infirmary at Leeds the weekly board- desire to place on record their appreciation of the great serviceswhich Mr. Brown has rendered during the period of his associa-tion with the infirmary, and in particular during the 16 yearsthat he has held the post of honorary surgeon. Coospicuous for hisinterest in his patients and his care tor the honour of the infirmary,he has also won high esteem from his colleagues on the weekly board,and the faculty, and from the members of the staff of the institution.The weekly board desire to express their great sympathy with Mr.Brown in his inability to bear the double strain of his public andprivate practice, but hope that now he is relieved from his heavy-duties at the infirmary he will speedily regain his full health and

strength.The wish expressed at the end of the resolution was un-fortunately never realised, for at the end of January last hegave up all ideas of practice and from that time till his deathspent the greater part of his time in bed, nursed by a devotedwife and nurses who had worked with him at the infirmary.They did everything in a most indefatigable manner torelieve his sufferings which at times were intense. Theirattentions were the admiration of his colleagues who had themelancholy duty to look after him but who could do so littlefor him.Mr Brown was only 50 years of age when he died. He

was educated at the Leeds Grammar School under Dr.Henderson, afterwards Dean of Carlisle, and became a closefriend of his family, and during the illness of his oldmaster he was many times called to Carlisle in con-

sultation. His medical education was at the Leeds School.Amongst his teachers were Professor T. Clifford Allbutt,Mr. S. Hey, Mr. C. G. Wheelhouse, Mr. T. Pridgin Teale,and Mr. T. R. Jessop. Mr. Brown obtained the M.R.C.S. Eng.in 1878 and the F.R.C.S. Irel. in 1887. The honorarydegree of M.Sc. Leeds was conferred upon him in 1905. Itwas at the Leeds Infirmary that his work was principally- done. Appointed assistant resident house surgeon thereIn 1877 he completed a year’s office, and was then

appointed house surgeon to the West London Hospitalin 1878, where he had the advantage of working underSir Alfred Cooper, Mr. H. T. Butlin, and other dis-

tinguished surgeons, who were at that time on the staff. Thenext year he was appointed resident surgical officer to the LeedsInfirmary. Four years later he commenced practice in Leeds,and was elected one of the honorary surgeons to the LeedsPublic D’spensary. In 1885 he was elected as assistant

surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary and subsequently surgeon.He held the office for 16 years, and in January last he wasplaced on the consulting staff. During these years at theinfirmary his best work was done and some of the progresswhich surgery has made was due to his originality. As ateacher he attached much importance to instructing thestudents in the common things of everyday surgery, andalways impressed upon them that it was the minor accidentsand ailments with which they would have to deal, to a greatextent, in the future. Mr. Brown was a frequent contributorto our columns of interesting surgical observations. Wemay instance the case of gastro-enterostomy published inTHE LANCET of July 7th, 1900, in which at the end of tendays the stomach opening was found closed by a membrane,a condition which led to some important modifications in per-forming the operation. The case of intussusception, causedprobably by a round worm, recorded in THE LANCET of

Sept. 16th, 1905, illustrated his persevering methods. Heremoved the intussusception and made three attemptsbefore he succeeded in restoring the continuity of thebowel. A paper on Continuous Transfusion as a Means ofPreventing Shock in Prolonged Operations, which also

appeared in our columns, was a valuable contribution to thesubject, while cases of plastic surgery shown at the recentOxford meeting of the British Medical Association demon-strated his skill in this branch of surgery. He took thekeenest interest in the management of the infirmary, and someof the improvements which he suggested are worthy of men-tion, such as the alteration in the heating and ventilating ofthe operating theatres and the building of the new balconyfor the open-air treatment of the children.Mr. Brown was an enthusiastic lover of his profession and

the dominant note in his character was his sympathy andkindness ; nothing was too much trouble to secure the comfortof his patients, and this kindly feeling endeared him to themand a large circle of friends. His body was buried at Lawns-wood Cemetery on August 14th in the presence of a largegathering of lay and professional friends, by whom his deathat a comparatively early age was sincerely regretted. Heleaves a widow, one son, and one daughter, having celebratedhis silver wedding in the earlier part of this year.

Medical News.PLAGUE REPORTS.-The Department of Public

Health of Queensland in a bulletin dated July 13th reportsthat on July 6th one case of plague was notified in Brisbane.The patient was a young man, aged 18 years, who died in theplague hospital on the evening of July 6th. Till theoccurrence of this case no case of plague had occurred inBrisbane since May 31st. With reference to the Cape Colony,six cases of plague occurred in natives at two localities withinseven and 12 miles respectively of King William’s Townduring the week ended August 3rd.DEATH OF A CENTENARIAN.-The Times states

that the death has occurred at Athea, county Limerick, ofMrs. Sullivan, née Dalton, aged 101 years. Her life wasentirely spent in the parish of Athea and she had enjoyedgood health, being able to attend the services at the RomanCatholic church up to April last.

Births Marriages, and Deaths.BIRTH.

TURTLE.-On August 25th, at 18, Cambridge-terrace, Hyde Park, W.,the wife of Godfrey de Bee Turtle, M.D., of a daughter.

N.B.-A fee of 6s. is charged for the insertion of Notices of Birth.8,Marriages, and Deatk8.