1251

32 deaths having been reported in 1934-35. As

regards the countries of North Africa an increase inendemo-sporadicity occurred in 1935 in Algeria,Tunisia, and Morocco, whereas in Egypt the situationwas better in 1935 than in the two previous years.The rest of the article will deal with the distributionof the tick-borne diseases variously known as benignsummer dermotyphus, exanthematous fever, or

boutonneuse fever throughout the Mediterraneanbasin, and of murine typhus in various Europeancountries.

SIR CHARLES KENDERDINE

THE death on Monday last at Lewes of Sir CharlesHalstaff Kenderdine removes one whose servicesrendered to the victims of the European war were ofoutstanding value. A well-known land agent, hewas at the outbreak of war secretary of the LandUnion, but when the disabled soldiers and sailorsbegan to reach home he became the leading spiritin the care and treatment of thousands of badlymutilated men. He was director of the artificiallimb supplies and chairman of the advisory councilon artificial limbs at the Ministry of Pensions from1917-20 ; the light metal limbs which were soondevised were a substantial improvement on anythingpreviously in use, while great attention was paid tostandardising the construction of limbs. The restora-tion to conditions approaching normal life of manywho would previously have been doomed to hopelesscrippledom was frequent and the good results of thework cannot be exaggerated. When Queen Mary’sHospital at Roehampton was established for the

reception of mutilated sailors, soldiers, and airmen,Sir Charles was the main instrument in raising throughpublic subscription sufficient money to buy Roe-

hampton House, where the beneficent work was laterextended to the civilian as well as the militarydisabled. Sir Charles, who was created K.B.E. in1918, was also one of the founders of the Queen’sHospital at Sidcup where facial injuries received

during the war were treated, often with sensationalresults. The hospital is now a convalescent centreunder the dispensation of the London County Councils

SILICOSIS IN SOUTH WALES

THE recent appointment of Prof. T. David Jones,Ph.D., as professor of mining in the UniversityCollege of South Wales and Monmouthshire, is ofinterest to many members of the medical professionbecause of Prof. Jones’s long association with thelate Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S., in work relating toindustrial risks in the various mining industries.Prof. Jones has taken an early opportunity of urgingmining engineers throughout the South Wales coal-field to pay more attention to the problem ofsilicosis-a problem whose final solution necessarilydemands cooperation between workers trained in verydifferent fields of science, medical, engineering,chemical, and geological. His lecture on silicosis inthe South Wales coalfield, given at the South WalesInstitute of Engineers on May 14th, was one ofthree addresses in which he proposes to cover thedifferent aspects of silicosis and allied dust diseasesin this area. While fully admitting the importanceof what he called classical silicosis in coal-minersengaged in special work involving exposure to thedust of hard stone, hard heading workings, borers,and sinkers, he suggested that among those acceptedfor compensation by official bodies there were aproportion that might be described as

" official

silicosis, in which the type of disease failed to conformto the classical description, and whose exact naturemust be held doubtful. Many of these cases, he

thinks, are in reality cases of bronchitis, under whichname indeed they are usually diagnosed by thedoctors in the mining areas ; and he made a strongplea for various improvements in mine hygiene,including the protection of miners from exposure tocold in " spakes " in the anthracite field. He also

appealed for treatment facilities for early cases ofthis condition, and suggested that the Welsh NationalMemorial Association, already equipped for thetreatment of tuberculosis, might be a suitable bodyfor this purpose, if the necessary additional expensecould be met. While paying a tribute to the con-scientious work of the medical officers of the SilicosisBoard, he suggested that they might well be givenadditional facilities in order to clarify the diagnosisin doubtful cases.

Prof. Jones’s lecture was followed by a valuablediscussion, in which several medical men as well asmining engineers took part. There was generalagreement that the silicosis of the South Walescoalfield is a genuine problem complicated to a verygreat extent by the fact that there is exposure to acombination of dusts, some chemically active, somerelatively inert, so that the clinical picture is far lesssimple than that, for example, presented in the gold-mining industry on the Rand.

AN AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS

AT a meeting held in Melbourne on May 8th and9th, the Association of Physicians of Australasiaagreed to the principle that a College of Physiciansshould be inaugurated in Australasia. The prelimi-nary steps are now being made to put the resolutioninto effect. We understand that it is intended tomodel the new college so far as possible on the patternof the Royal College of Physicians of London.

THE centenary of the Royal Medical BenevolentFund is to be celebrated by the Royal Society ofMedicine on Wednesday, June 10th, when Dr. RobertHutchison and Sir Thomas Barlow, the two presidents,will receive guests at an evening reception at theSociety’s house in Wimpole-street, W.

Sir Thomas Lewis, F.R.S., will deliver the GeorgeAlexander Gibson lecture of the Royal College of

Physicians of Edinburgh on Monday and Tuesday,June 8th and 9th, at 5 P.M. His subject is

Symptoms and Signs of Embolism in the Limbs,with special reference to pain.

OuR last issue contained an announcement thatSir Robert Rait, principal and vice-chancellor ofGlasgow University, was retiring on Sept. 30th andwould be succeeded by Sir Hector Hetherington.Sir Robert’s retirement was due to ill-health, and weregret to record that he died on Monday last in his63rd year.

THE board of governors of Westminster Hospitalhave accepted the offer of about 350,000 for thesite of the hospital made by the firm of John Laingand Son of Carlisle. A further sum of 250,000 willhowever be required to complete the rebuilding ofthe hospital on its new site in Horseferry-road.Messrs. Laing intend to build a block of offices on theold site.