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the congestion at other asylums. The scheme soundsattractive, but as the Government is without any recog-nised medical adviser on questions of asylum policy,and as so far most of its medical administrative work has notbeen much of a success, it would perhaps be safer to suspendjudgment until full details of the scheme have been madepublic.Dec. 17th, 1912.

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J

NEW ZEALAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)-

c

Medical Inspection of Schools. v

AT last, after much discussion and much urging, New t

Zealand has undertaken the medical inspection of the b

children attending the State schools. Four inspectors have Ibeen appointed, two male and two female, at a salary of r500 per year. Roughly speaking, there are some 132,000 children attending the schools, and as the schools are spread over an area slightly greater than that of England andScotland it can easily be seen that some time must elapse cbefore an effective result can be obtained ; still, the dataacquired will be of great value from both the educational rand ethnological point of view. The influence of better I

climate and easier economic conditions upon child life can

by-and-by be investigated. Judging from the very meagre data already acquired it would seem that, age for age, the

I

New Zealand child is taller than the English school child, nbut that just as many suffer from bad teeth, adenoids, and aimperfect vision as at home. The question of how the I

defective children are to be treated has occasioned much discussion, and it is satisfactory to learn that the present Government has decided not to interfere in I

any way with the work of the ordinary medical practitioner. sThe tendency in these democratic colonies is to thrust (

every burden upon the State, but the profession here has e

made its voice heard, and the Ministers responsible have r

openly invited the help and counsel of the medical profession cin this work. This is as it should be.

c

Maternity Homes.One of the last, and perhaps best, of the acts of the late I

Mr. Seddon was the establishment of maternity homes, where t

the wife of the working man could receive skilled attention t

in suitable hospitals at her confinement. The charges are moderate and the attendants are all properly trained. Con- r

siderable discussion, however, has lately taken place as to their administration, and some rather acrimonious criticism t

and rejoinders have been published. A magisterial inquiry fis now being held into the working of the Auckland Home. I

1] The -4 ustrazasian Medical Conference.

The next meeting of the Australasian Medical Conference a

is to be held in Auckland early next year, and Dr. A. Challinor vPurchas has been elected President. t

The Immigration of Consumptives a

The question of immigration has occupied the attention Iof the Government lately. There is need of a greater Ipopulation in New Zealand, but it has been pointed out that o

many who have arrived lately have been far from suitable, bfrom a health point of view, to take up the kind of work rwhich is available. Several have landed suffering from 0

consumption in such an advanced stage as to require hospital or sanatorium treatment within a short time of their arrival in the Dominion. It is impossible to impress too strongly on the profession at home c

the unwisdom of recommending indigent consumptives Ito "go to the colonies." Every endeavour is made t’by the authorities to stop such patients landing, and t:should they pass the cordon their lot is not a happy one. Sl

The Government now proposes to appoint a permanent medical officer in London to examine all immigrants beforethey embark. For two years they had such an officer in a

London and great good resulted from his work. It would a

be well for any medical man, before recommending a poor hpatient to come to New Zealand, to communicate with theHigh Commissioner, 13, Victoria-street. In this way much Strouble would be saved. E

Dec. 12th, 1912. IE

Obituary.GEORGE ALEXANDER GIBSON, M.D., D.Sc. EDIN.,

LL. D. ST. AND., F.R.C.P. EDIN. & IREL., &C.,MEMBER OF THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL ; CONSULTING PHYSICIAN

TO THE DEACONESS HOSPITAL; PHYSICIAN AND LECTURER ONCLINICAL MEDICINE TO THE ROYAL INFIRMARY,

EDINBURGH.

SCOTLAND has lost a brilliant member of the medicalprofession and one of its leading physicians by the death ofDr. George A. Gibson. The intimation of his death hascome as a shock to many, for the serious nature of his illnesswas not widely known. That a man of 58 years, in the fullbide of his usefulness and prosperity, should be prostratedby illness from which he rallies only to be again and againprostrated until the "silver cord" breaks will ever impressmen with a sense of helplessness and of ignorance, forbeneath it all lie the problems of life. We medical meninow what it is to feel thus, and those of us who knewGibson intimately feel it very specially. The generous,cordial greeting of a nature full of brightness and overflowingwith a vitality which seemed to be communicable we knownow only as a memory. Life is duller and greyer in Edin-

burgh by the loss of such a living, active, vigorous, andgenial personality from amongst us. No man can take3-ibson’s place, for there is no one like him, no one whohas the characteristics which distinguished him, whichmade him the centre of many interests in Edinburgh,and one to whom men turned for sympathy and

tlelp. It is the man we specially mourn, and in

loing so we thank God for men of high and honour-able ideals, whose characters have never been stained

oy the mean and contemptible things of life-men whostand for honour, for truth, for straight dealing. AndGibson was one of those men. Having said so much in anendeavour to express the first thought that arises in men’sminds as they hear that Gibson is dead, we may pass to aconsideration of his professional life, while recognising thatit was necessarily determined and coloured by the innatecharacter of the man.Gibson began the study of medicine in Edinburgh in 1872.

Having spent two years at Glasgow University before goingbo Edinburgh he took the degree of Bachelor of Science atbhe latter University in 1874, and obtained the FalconerMemorial Fellowship in Geology. His student career wasmarked by the place he took as a student of science. Inmedicine the influences which most affected his future werebhe interest he took in anatomy under the teaching of Pro-fessor, now Sir William, Turner, his clerkship with ProfessorLister in the Surgical House, and a corresponding experiencennder Dr. George W. Balfour in the Medical House of theold Royal Infirmary. He graduated in medicine in 1876and a year later took the degree of Doctor of Sciencewith a thesis on a geological subject. Notwithstandingthe attractiveness of science and the ease with which hemastered its details, medicine proved to be still moreattractive to him, and he became resident physician in theRoyal Infirmary to Dr. G. W. Balfour. At that timeBalfour was at the height of his reputation as an authorityon heart disease, and Gibson readily turned his interest andhis faculties to that line of work. He even then contributed

oapers to THE LANCET and the Edinburgh Medical Journalon the views that Balfour was contending for. His interestn scientific medicine was thus early aroused into activity.Even those early papers showed also the possession of aiterary gift, and this gift continued to mark everything that:ame from his pen as years passed. After his period with Dr.3alfour was completed he demonstrated anatomy for sometime under Professor Turner in the University, and whenihere formed with the late Dr. D. J. Cunningham, theienior demonstrator, one of his strongest and most valuedriendships.In 1878 he became a candidate for the post of

Lssistant physician to the General Hospital in Birmingham,md was successful in his application. While thereie was closely associated with two Edinburgh graduatesvhom he had known as a student-namely, Dr. Saundby andSir Thomas Chavasse. He did not, however, remain long inBirmingham, for by the end of 1879 he was back in

Edinburgh with his name on a door-plate, ready to take