863

"4. That the council strongly condemns the proposal tomake every medical practitioner a Poor-law medical officer,and it does so for the following reasons : (a) That it would bemany times more expensive than the present system. (b) That’the value of the work done could never be properly tested,as no system of Local Government Board inspection coulddeal with so widely extended an arrangement for Poor-lawmedical relief. (c) That it would largely tend to providefree medical relief to all poor persons, and to increase,rather than diminish, the pauperisation of the nation. (d) Thatthe interests of the sick State poor would be far betterattended to by a special service, the members of which wereadequately paid, and whose work was capable of properinspection.

"

"5. That the council strongly disapproves of the proposalto allow a poor person to claim State medical relief withoutthe intervention of a relieving officer, or assistance officer ;that it would be opening the door widely to gratuitousmedical relief to all members of the poorer classes ; that itis no part of the duties of a Poor-law medical officer todecide as to the right of a poor person to State relief, andas in any widely extended system it would be necessary topay for the items of work done by the medical officer,it would be a direct incentive to the latter to admittoo readily the claims of poverty. That for the protectionof the ratepayer it is absolutely necessary that there shouldbe a skilled lay officer to decide who are proper appiicantsfor medical relief. That in thickly populated areas there is nohardship in requiring applicants to get an order from anassistance officer, and that instances of the deserving Statepoor being deterred from applying to the Poor-law medicalofficer through having first to obtain an order are in urbandistricts conspicuous by their rarity."

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OFENGLAND.

AN ordinary meeting of the Council was held on

March llth, Mr. HENRY MORRIS, the President, being inthe chair.The SECRETARY reported the visit of the Prince and

Princess of Wales to the College on Feb. 15th, and the bestthanks of the Council were given to the President for hisHunterian oration and he was requested to publish it.The PRESIDENT reported that he had appointed Mr.

F. Richardson Cross Bradshaw lecturer for the ensuingCollegiate year.The PRESIDENT reported that Sir Gilbert Blane medals had

been awarded to Staff-Surgeon Charles Rowley Nicholson,H.M.S. Egmont, 1906-07, and Staff-Surgeon Arthur WilliamBligh Livesay, H.M.S. Bona2entzcre, 1907.

It was resolved to modify the by-laws relating to theadmission to the Fellowship of Members of 15 years’ stand-ing, and it was decided that the formula prepared for thispurpose should be submitted to the Council for final

approval at its next meeting. The formula for the admissionof women to the examinations of the College was approved,and it was resolved to send it back to the committee in orderthat counsel’s opinion may be taken thereon if necessary.The President was reappointed the representative of the

College in the General Medical Council for a period of fiveyears from March 12th.A letter was read from the Right Hon. Lord Cheylesmore

offering to present to the College a life-size plaster cast ofQueen Victoria’s favourite dog "Eos." The offer was

accepted with the best thanks of the Council.A letter was read in which Professor A. H. Young resigned

his examinership owing to ill-health. The Council acceptedthe resignation with regret, and Professor William Wrightwas appointed a substitute examiner in anatomy for the nextPrimary Examination for the Fellowship in May.A committee was appointed to consider the questions

connected with the petition of the British Medical Associa-tion for the grant of a charter of incorporation and to reportto the Council.

Dr. Nicolas Weliamnoff of St. Petersburg, Privy Councillorof State, was admitted an Honorary Fellow of the College.He was nominated in 1900, at the time of the institution ofthe Honorary Fellowship, but he was then unable to attend.

At the present time Dr. Weliamnoff is in London inattendance on the Empress Marie’ Feodorovna of Russia,and advantage was taken of the opportunity to admit himan Honorary Fellow.

Looking Back.FROM

THE LANCET, SATURDAY, March 19th, 1831.PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT AND CURATIVE PROCESSES.It is said, "The instructed scribe will resemble the house-

holder, who brings forth out of his treasure new things andold." The manner in which the ancients treated deafness isnot unworthy of notice. Their remedies were chieflyexternal. I have collected the following list from severalold authors.-1.. External applicatwns :-The leaves of thedipsacum and jew’s-ear. 2. As injections :-Ale-hoof or g ound- avy The essence dropped into the ears helps the deafnessor noise there " ; hyssnp : " It taketh away noise in the earby injection."—. Tobacco : "The essence of it made withwine being dropped into the ears helps deafness. "-4. Juiceof poplar or aqven tree.-5. Juice of liquorice, :3 ii ; softbdelliicm., :3 ss sugar-candy, :3 ii, dissolved ; juice of leeks,:3 iv; juice of celandine, gj, mixed and "dropt intothe ears, helps imposthumes, noise, and pain there."-6. Common turpentine, turpentine of the larch : a com-bination of turpentine, olive oil, essential oils, andsulphur, was used with " happy success."-7. Urine of menand animals, dropt into the ears.-8. "The galls of allcreatures," says Salmon, are " specifics for deafness, noise,and pain in the ears, with running matter. Of beasts thebull’s gall is the strongest, and of birds, that of the partridgeand heron, the gall of birds being accounted stronger thanthat of beasts. Waters, extracts, or tinctures, may be madeof them, but the most famous is the tincture or powders ofox-gall." (The preparations now cornmonly used by aurists.-y.) An "extract made of human gall and ox-gall mixedwith breast-milk, dropt into the ear, being stopped with cottondipt into the same cures pain and noise in the ears. Dog’sgall dropt in warm goat’s milk, with honey, wolf’s, mice’s,to bring out insects ; bull’s, mixed with honey or balsam,sheep’s, with breast-milk, and injected with a syringe," areall recommended by the old authors. Such is the origin ofthe nostrums which aurists and " auld wives" nowprescribe.-9. Miseellaneoqis: Powdered horse-dung (whichcontains ammonia), fat of dormice, lion’s brains made intoan oil, musk put into the ears stopped with cotton, heron’sand goose grease, hog’s hce and earqvigs (I) boiled in oil andmingled with hare’s urine, and put into the ears morningand evening." Moths. As nasticcztories and errhines:-Masticatories of mastich, pyrettrum, cummin, and cloves,twice a day, and errhines of the betonica and melissa, aa.,3 ss ; vel. alb. aa., i, M. To be drawn up the nostrils in

fragments.* Excerpt from "Practical Observations on the Pathology and Treat-

ment of Deafness." No. V. By John Fosbroke, M.D., Cheltenham.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN 76 of the largest English towns 8686 births and 6972deaths were registered during the week ending March 13th.The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which hadsteadily increased in the four preceding weeks from 17 5 to21 - 3 per 1000, further rose to 22’1 1 during the week undernotice. During the first ten weeks of the current quarterthe annual death-rate in these towns averaged 18 ’ 5 per 1000,and in London the mean rate during the same period wasequal to 19 - 2 per 1000. The lowest recorded annual death-rates in these towns during last week were 10’9 in Hornsey,11’1 1 in Gateshead, 11-9 in East Ham and in Handsworth,and 12-9 in Grimsby ; the rates in the other towns rangedupwards, however, to 27 - 0 in Birmingham, 29’0 in Bury,34 - 6 in Brighton, and 35.1 in St. Helens. In Londonthe recorded death-rate during the week was equal to