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ObituaryWILLIAM THOMAS RITCHIE

OBE, M D, LLD EDIN., FRCPE, FRSE

. Dr. Ritchie, who died at his home in Edinburgh on

Feb. 7 at the age of 71, had retired in 1938 from theEdinburgh chair of medicine, in which he worthilymaintained a great tradition. He was president ofthe Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from

. 1935 to 1937.Graduating in 1896 he spent

some time in Vienna beforereturning to his own city. Heserved in the last war, first asmedical officer with the lst/3rdScottish Horse, and later incharge of the medical divisionof the 27th General Hospital inEgypt, for which service he wasmentioned in despatches andcreated OBE. On succeedingDr. Lovell Gulland as professorin 1928 he devoted himself.wholeheartedly to the. promo-tion of teaching in the uni-versity and in the RoyalInfirmary. At the beginningof his tenure of office, consider-able changes were made in the

Sxunx Watson

curriculum ot the clinical years, particularly the third.year, so as to correlate the instruction in medicine,surgery, pathology, bacteriology, and pharmacology.When he came to the chair, the department of medicineconsisted of little more than a lecture theatre and aprofessor, but he succeeded in securing premises andstaff,. and introduced demonstrations, lecture-demon-strations, and tutorials. He was constantly on the watchfor material for his lectures and demonstrations ; at notime did his lectures -stagnate, and he made good use ofhis gift for freehand drawing, both on the blackboardand on paper. Besides being physician to the RoyalInfirmary, he was physician and director of the medicalunit of the Edinburgh municipal hospitals. Soon afterthe outbreak of this war, he returned to the RoyalInfirmary to take temporary charge of the wards of acolleague who was on military service, and he wasalso physician to the Emergency Medical Hospital atBangour.-Ritchie was the first to describe auricular flutter as a

clinical condition, and in 1914 he published a monographon it. He collaborated with Dr. John Cowan in thethree editions of their Diseases of the Heart, and was jointauthor of l.l1edical Diagnosis, a Manital of ClinicalMethods. His many papers were mostly on his favouritesubject of cardiology, and his public utterances includedthe Gibson lecture in Edinburgh in 1923, and the St.Cyres lecture in London in 1939.He acted at various times as external examiner in

medicine at St. Andrews, Durham, and Aberdeen. Thereputation he acquired of being a hard examiner-areputation of which he was well aware-did not come ofany conscious intention ; but he set himself a very highstandard both of competence and honesty, and heexpected the same from his students. To all his uni-versity and hospital work he brought a single-mindeddevotion which never flagged, and private practice wasalways made to take a place second to his primary dutiesas professor of medicine. When he retired from hischair, he did so with sorrow, and it was one of the greatestpleasures of his life that he was able to return to the chargeof wards during the war. He took a keen interest in thecareers of his juniors, being always approachable andwilling to give his valuable advice. Though at times hewas a difficult man to work with in committee, this wasbecause of his desire to do what he felt to be best for hisuniversity and hospital. If he had a problem to tackle,he had to master it in finest detail ; and having done sohe pursued his chosen course with thoroughness.His university last year conferred on him the honorary

degree of LL D, and it gave him much satisfaction thatat the same ceremony his elder son graduated as MB.His widow survives him with two sons and two

daughters.

Notes and News

MEDICAL WAR RELIEF FUND

DURING the year 1943-44 the Medical War ReliefFund, under the chairmanship of Dr. H. Guy Dain, gavefinancial assistance to 35 applicants-9 more than in theprevious year. Gifts amounted to £44700, and loans to1200. The total number of beneficiaries-some of whomhave received more than one award-is now 113. Sub-stantial assistance has again been obtained for applicantsfrom other benevolent funds, such as the Lord Mayor’sNational Air Raid Distress Fund;- the Officers’ Association,and especially the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, andseveral applicants have received war service grants. For th6.first time since the inauguration of the Fund, distributionsexceeded contributions. As in former years the Fundwas well supported by doctors overseas-the total sumcontributed through the Canadian Medical Association, forinstance, now exceeds E2500. A subcommittee-of the Fundprovides medical books for British doctors who are prisoners-of-war, in cooperation with the Educational Books Sectionof the Red Cross and St. John organisatioh, which arrangestheir dispatch. This arrangement has two important advan-tages. First, the parcels sent bear the Red Cross label, whichreceives priority, so the books arrive sooner than they wouldif sent by a bookseller. Secondly, the EBS keeps a stock ofmedical books at Geneva and the time taken in transit isgreatly shortened when a request from a prisoner-of-war canbe met from this " Geneva reserve." During the year, 112books were dispatched to 25 different camps and hospitals,the cost being :El50. Only sums specially marked by sub-scribers are used for the purchase of books.Examples of the cases helped by the Fund are as follows :Dr. G had volunteered for the Forces in 1939, leaving a successful

practice which, being situated in a..much bombed London district,had seriously declined during his absence. His own house had beenbombed, and, with a greatly decreased income, he had been obligedto find accommodation for his family in the country. He had notbeen able to keep up the payments of interest on a loan negotiatedin connexion with the purchase of his practice, and considerablearrears had accumulated. The pressure exerted on him by theinsurance company was causing him great anxiety, which was-re-lieved by the award of a substantial gift from the Fund.

Dr. H, who had also practised in an area which was largely de-stroyed by bombing, died prematurely after most arduous work inthe London blitz. His house was uninhabitable, and what remainedof his practice was unsaleable. His widow required help, par-ticularly for the education of her children. She was awarded asuitable gift to supplement a grant received, through the Medical WarRelief Fund, from the Lord Mayor’s National Air Raid Distress Fund.

Dr. I was killed while serving in the RAMC. His widow hopedto obtain remunerative employment but needed temporary assist-ance in meeting educational expenses. The necessary provisionwas made by the Fund in cooperation with the Officers Association.

Dr. K had relinquished his commission in the RAMC on medicalgrounds after serving for more than 3 years. His practice, whichwas largely private and included only a small number of insuredpatients, had suffered seriously during his absence, and it had beennecessary to use all his capital tÒ’defray the family expenses. Hewas given assistance, partly in the form of a loan, to tide him overthe difficult period of re-establishing himself in civilian practice.

Subscriptions should be sent to the hon. treasurer atBMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1.

REABLING THE DEAF

THE tnree American army centres tor aealenea solcuers,which were mentioned last week in a Parliamentary question,are established at Deshon Hospital, Butler, Pennsylvania, atHoff Hospital, Santa Barbara, California, and at BordonHospital, Chickasha, Oklahoma. Many cases of deafnessare discovered for the first time after the soldier has joinedthe Army and these men, together with those who haveincurred, their deafness during service, are referred to thecentres. The hospitals keep a stock of deaf-aids, which arescientifically prescribed, and the soldier is able to find byexperience exactly which suits him best. The fitted ear-

pieces, to which the aid is attached, are now to be manu-factured there from clear acrylic resins or lucite. Instruction

is- also given to the patients in lip-reading and speech correction.A LIBRARIANS’ JOURNAL -

THE Association of Special Libraries and InformationBureaux has received a licence for the publication of theJournal of Documentation, and the first number of this newquarterly is to appear shortly under the editorship of Mr.Theodore Besterman. The journal will contain reviews ofarticles and books dealing with bibliography and librarianshipand their related studies and techniques, of works of reference,especially those intended for library use, and of works dealingin a general way with the humanities and sciences. Theaddress of the journal is 52, Bloomsbury Street, London, WCI.