- Email: [email protected]
INTERNATIONAL MONUMENT TO SEMMELWEIS.
INTERNATIONAL MONUMENT TO SEMMELWEIS.
1003
accusations with threats The jury had before them evidence more than enough to subto extort secrecy. To add to his stantiate their verdict without being called upon to fix a motive villainy he went so far as to induce his fiancée to write to the crime of which they convicted .NEILL. To the psychoThat some of the letters. In no instance, however, does he seemlogist, however, his case is one of absorbing interest. he willed to in other do the murderous further words, deed, or, to have intentionally disclosed his identity, or taken In his possession acted under conscious motive there appears to be no shadow measures to have his demands satisfied.
dered
and
accompanied his money as the price of
them,
found the names and addresses of the girls MARSH and SHRIVELL in MARSH’S handwriting. This was written on paper having a foreign watermark similar to that on which he were
had penned his letter to Mr. HARPER. He had also shown to HAYNES the same address in a book ; but this, as well as a box of
capsules, disappeared.
There
was
ample evidence
of
doubt, leaving aside
the absurd
legal proof of criminal right and wrong, or of
responsibility—"the knowledge of the nature and quality of the act." Nor can we argue in NEILL’S favour impulsive homicidal insanity as usually understood.
At the
the convict
perpetrated
time it is difficult to believe that these unutterable crimes with a mind
same
that he had strychnia in his possession, for pills containing constituted to realise their enormity and with
drug were found in his rooms. Moreover, on several occasions he had purchased nnx vomica in quantity beyond his individual need. Analyses in the cases of DONWORTH, MARSH and SHRIVELL showed that fatal doses of strychnia had been administered. Having stated the salient facts proved at the trial, several points of forensic interest may now bea considered. In the first place, it is a painful duty to subscribe to the remarks made by the judge and the Attorney-General in this
regard to the giving of
GRAHAM. No doubt he believed on ample evidence that CLOVER was suffering from alcoholism, but this surely did not warrant him in ascribing the death to ’’ delirium tremens and syncope.A close inquiry into the final sufferings of the a
death certificate
girl
"-it alcoholism may be so termed. The usual as on the. about night preceding her
causes
was
cteath,
She had shown
signs ot delirium. During only sensitive but sensible.
no
her agony she was not Delirium tremens does not
usually end fatally within Mr. GRAHAM certified, as we gather a tew hours. that he last saw deceased on Oct. 21st ; but it was only her The above is a regrettable dead body mat he viewed. instance at the shortcomings of the legal requirements as to tne certification of death in this
Fortunately
for the
vegetable poison,
country.
of
justice strychnia, though a has great resistance to decomposing forces. cause
MATILDA CLOVER had been buried between six and months before the
analysis
of her remains was
seven
conducted,
and
yet Dr. STEVNNSON was able to show the presence of the alkaloid in the various tissues and that, too, in quantity representing the administration of a fatal dose. Mr. GEOGHEGAN for the defence argued consistently with the fas of advocacy when he attempted to discredit Dr. STEVENSON’S testimony, but he was strong in a lost cause, for in skilled hands proof of the existence of strychnia is not diflicult. His contention that the
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Makes ill deeds done.
Annotations.
by Mr.
deceased should have suggested at least that the symptoms were consistent with a theory other than death from natural
power of will equal to inhibit their commission. As to what motive may have impelled him to the commission of these singularly cold-blooded murders we are at a loss to conceive. Perhaps after all there is some reason in the lines :— a
"‘ Ne quid nimis."
INTERNATIONAL MONUMENT
TO
SEMMELWEIS.
was held in the library of the Royal College of London on Monday, under the presidency of Sir Andrew Clark, the object of which was to combine with all admirers of Semmelweis--"the father of antiseptic midwifery"to raise in his native city of Budapest a monument to this great pioneer of antisepticism. It is nearly fifty years since Semmelweis demonstrated the septicaemia nature of puerperal fever, and tor many years his work was appreciated by only a few followers and his name was almost forgotten. We rejoice to think that his professional brethren in Hungary have determined to raise by international subscription a memorial to their distinguished countryman, who, like many a martyr, was not appreciated while he lived. Dr. Routh was the first to bring before the profession in this country the important work of Semmelweis in an article published in the Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society for 1849, and his name and work were revived some seven years ago by his countryman, Dr. Duka, now resident in London, and formerly Surgeon-Major in the Bengal Army. In sympathy with this movement we think a few details of the life of him whose work it is intended to commemorate may be of interest at the present time. Ignatius Philippus Semmelweis was born on July 17th, 1818, and at the age of nineteen he entered the University of Vienna and graduated in 1844. About two year afterwards he became temporary assistant professor in the maternity department of the great General Hospital at Vienna under Professor Klein. The records of the puerperal mortality had been at times very alarming, sometimes 16
A MEETING
Physicians of
physiological test with the frog was inapplicable to the question of poisoning in the human being, though por cent., or even higher. There were two cliniques, one ingenious, was certainly at variance with accepted scientific attended by students and the other by midwives, and the teaching. average mortality of 9 ’29 per cent. in the clinique attended by MATILDA CLOVER lived longer than do most persons the students, who also attended the dissecting-room, comwho have taken. a lethal dose of strychnia ; but then there pared with the lower mortality of 3’38 in the midwives’ are no absolute lilnits within which death must occur. The clinique attracted his attention. All kinds of theories were advanced to explain this difference. So bad was it in the quantity ejected in the vomit (if any), the presence or absence of Dr. Klein when Semmelweis became the assistant uf iuud in the stomach, the simultaneous action of antidotal clinique that patients, on finding themselves inmates of the dreaded or antagonistic drugs and the power of absorption by the clinique, fell on their knees and with clasped hands begged mocous membrane at a giv en time are important factors in to be allowed to return to their homes." Semmelweis was of a highly sensitive nature and he mo.t graphically describes determining the duration of life. I
1004 scenes : "I myself was terror-stricken when I heard the sound of the bells [rung in the wards when the priest was administering the last sacrament to the dying]. A deep sigh rose in my breast for the unfortunate mother, who was the victim to a cause hitherto unknown. This worked on me as a fresh incentive that 1 should to the best of my ability endeavour to discover the mysterious agent, and a conviction grew day by day that the prevailing fatality in the Clinique No. 1 could in no wise be accounted for by the hitherto " adopted etiology of puerperal fevers. The view then taught was that these epidemics were due to atmospheric, cosmic or telluric infiuences.He, following the truly scientific method, showed that tlilstheory was unable to explain the facts, for tne latltl fever did not exist in other parts of Vienna. overcrowding was suggested, but the climque oi the midwives contained more patients than the students. Then the theory ot tear was advanced as a cause ot the unfavourable result. Protracted labour was fatal in all cases in the one clinique, whereas in the other this circumstance had but little effect. The whole story of rejection of theory after is a most theory interesting example of the exercise of that
the
true scientific
spirit called
by
dlr Andrew Clarkthe scientihc
instinct." ;5eLumelweis’s friend professor hollatachka died "Then the revelation came to me,he of a dissection wound. said: "Kollatschka’s fatal symptoms unveiled to my mind an identity with tnose "1 had so onen noticed on the deathbed of puerperal cases. At last he felt able to explain the
and Members are now engaged in considering what resolutions shall be moved at this meeting, and the Association of Members is prepared to follow the guidance of the Fellows’ Association instead of taking the. independent action which has proved in the past to be disadvantageous to the common cause. We would strongly urge all Fellows and Members who have the good government of the College at heart to attend the meeting on the 3rd and support the resolutions which will then be submitted. The prospects of progress were never brighter, but it is necessary to remember the ancient maxim festina lente. Too great eagerness to advance is apt to engender opposition and to lead to disappointments, which delay the attainment of the objects in view. Those who intend to be present are referred to our special articles on the work of the past col. legiate year, the calendar of the College, and the report of the Council of the College to be presented at the meeting.
IT is
no
WORRY, DRINK AND LUNACY. new thing to hear of the close connexion between
indulgence in alcohol Accordingly we teel
and the no
Augustine Planus that a lunacy registered in Yarxs
development
of
insanity.
statement ’by Dr.
surprise large proportion at a
of the
cases
of
ot late years are attributable to this form of excess. Far more significant is his observation
that drunkenness has increased very markedly in the French etiology septi- capital. This effect is, of course, clue to a variety of causes. ordered the use 01 antiseptics- Among these one is of particular interest from its bearing casmio poisoning and namely, the washing of the hands with chlorine water or upon the neurotic aspect of the alcoholic dyscrasia. It is the chlormated lime-water betore proceeding to examine pressure and worry ot overwork, probably combined as usual in patients. The mortality immediately before this was 12.24 the like circumstances with irregular feeding and want of sleep. per cent., and in the course ol six months it fell to b’04 and l’hough felt by all classes of workers, an important characafterwards to 1’27 per cent. Atter caretul observation he teristic of its action as a cause of alcoholism is its increasing further discovered tnat "not particles from dead bodies intluence among those who labour with their brains. Artists, alone, but any material in a state ot decomposition proceed- authors and especially journalists—a group of persons by no ing from a living organism, even air contaminated trom such means usually given to excess-are enumerated as having sources, may generate symptoms ot puerperal lever. ’ Very succumbed to the subtle poison ; and this result has, doubtless with trutn, been attributed to the craving depression ot soon his term of office expired, ana, by a coinbinatioii ot and he mental was resisted had his fatigue. It is not difficult, indeed, to trace a conjealous confreres, reappointment to quit the field of his scientihc observations and Detake him- nexion here, and we may accept it as a warning that forced selt to his native city in 1850. He tnere wrote iiis great work labour is ever prone to become the natural parent of other " die Ætiologie,in which he also propouxxued the doctrine and worse excesses. The best work, however hard, is always of auto-genetic infection. tie was appointed proiessor of methodical enough to permit of timely rest and of regular midwifery in Budapest. Though he was conscious ot having nutrition, and the full recognition of this fact is a mere discovered and set forth a great truth, yet 111S teacnings met question of public utility which we hope to see more and with considerable opposition, and his sensitive nature gave more widely admitted in practice. way. He was removed to an asylum in Vienna in July, 1865, and on Aug. 17th he passed away, the actual cause of a death coincidence tnat he should THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND GLANDERS, and at
once
being pyæmia :
enunciated
the
doctrine
of
strange
die of a disease to the elucidation of winch ne had devoted the best years of his life. Such is the story of this most remarkable man, and we trust that the proiession in this cou itry will join with all admirers of true heroism in establishing this memorial. By the limitation oi the maxi-
WE
recently alluded to a new Order which had been issued by the Board of Agriculture for the better controlling of glanders, and we commented with approval on the recognition by the Board of the identity of glanders and farcy and some
other features in the management of the disease.
We
subscription to one guinea, suggested by the com- had to condemn, however, the continuation of the local mittee at the meeting on Monday, tne rank and file of authorities as the instruments through which the regulations the profession, who have benefited most of all by Semmel- were to be carried out, as the experience of years had amply weis’s discovery, will, we trust, unite to send a contribution demonstrated that they are incompetent to undertake such a worthy of our country, feeling assured that in assisting in function. The Public Control Committee of the London County Council has taken the same view, for at the meeting honouring him we are doing honour to our profession. of the Council held on the 18th inst. it reported that the law in force in England with regard to the disease was much ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF FELLOWS AND behind that of other countries ; and, after showing how the OF
mum
MEMBERS AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.
disorder had increased in London and, that the Council had urged the Board of Agriculture to provide more effectual THE Fellows and Members of the College who are interested means for dealing with it and so putting an end to the in the reform movement are reminded that the annual general fallacious measures already in force, it afterwards offered meeting of Fellows and Members of the College will take suggestions for the improvement of the new Order, place at 3 P.M. in the theatre of the College on Thursday, a draft of which had been placed before it by the Nov. 3rd. We understand that the Associations of Fellows Board. These suggestions were: (1) the insertion of a
1003
accusations with threats The jury had before them evidence more than enough to subto extort secrecy. To add to his stantiate their verdict without being called upon to fix a motive villainy he went so far as to induce his fiancée to write to the crime of which they convicted .NEILL. To the psychoThat some of the letters. In no instance, however, does he seemlogist, however, his case is one of absorbing interest. he willed to in other do the murderous further words, deed, or, to have intentionally disclosed his identity, or taken In his possession acted under conscious motive there appears to be no shadow measures to have his demands satisfied.
dered
and
accompanied his money as the price of
them,
found the names and addresses of the girls MARSH and SHRIVELL in MARSH’S handwriting. This was written on paper having a foreign watermark similar to that on which he were
had penned his letter to Mr. HARPER. He had also shown to HAYNES the same address in a book ; but this, as well as a box of
capsules, disappeared.
There
was
ample evidence
of
doubt, leaving aside
the absurd
legal proof of criminal right and wrong, or of
responsibility—"the knowledge of the nature and quality of the act." Nor can we argue in NEILL’S favour impulsive homicidal insanity as usually understood.
At the
the convict
perpetrated
time it is difficult to believe that these unutterable crimes with a mind
same
that he had strychnia in his possession, for pills containing constituted to realise their enormity and with
drug were found in his rooms. Moreover, on several occasions he had purchased nnx vomica in quantity beyond his individual need. Analyses in the cases of DONWORTH, MARSH and SHRIVELL showed that fatal doses of strychnia had been administered. Having stated the salient facts proved at the trial, several points of forensic interest may now bea considered. In the first place, it is a painful duty to subscribe to the remarks made by the judge and the Attorney-General in this
regard to the giving of
GRAHAM. No doubt he believed on ample evidence that CLOVER was suffering from alcoholism, but this surely did not warrant him in ascribing the death to ’’ delirium tremens and syncope.A close inquiry into the final sufferings of the a
death certificate
girl
"-it alcoholism may be so termed. The usual as on the. about night preceding her
causes
was
cteath,
She had shown
signs ot delirium. During only sensitive but sensible.
no
her agony she was not Delirium tremens does not
usually end fatally within Mr. GRAHAM certified, as we gather a tew hours. that he last saw deceased on Oct. 21st ; but it was only her The above is a regrettable dead body mat he viewed. instance at the shortcomings of the legal requirements as to tne certification of death in this
Fortunately
for the
vegetable poison,
country.
of
justice strychnia, though a has great resistance to decomposing forces. cause
MATILDA CLOVER had been buried between six and months before the
analysis
of her remains was
seven
conducted,
and
yet Dr. STEVNNSON was able to show the presence of the alkaloid in the various tissues and that, too, in quantity representing the administration of a fatal dose. Mr. GEOGHEGAN for the defence argued consistently with the fas of advocacy when he attempted to discredit Dr. STEVENSON’S testimony, but he was strong in a lost cause, for in skilled hands proof of the existence of strychnia is not diflicult. His contention that the
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Makes ill deeds done.
Annotations.
by Mr.
deceased should have suggested at least that the symptoms were consistent with a theory other than death from natural
power of will equal to inhibit their commission. As to what motive may have impelled him to the commission of these singularly cold-blooded murders we are at a loss to conceive. Perhaps after all there is some reason in the lines :— a
"‘ Ne quid nimis."
INTERNATIONAL MONUMENT
TO
SEMMELWEIS.
was held in the library of the Royal College of London on Monday, under the presidency of Sir Andrew Clark, the object of which was to combine with all admirers of Semmelweis--"the father of antiseptic midwifery"to raise in his native city of Budapest a monument to this great pioneer of antisepticism. It is nearly fifty years since Semmelweis demonstrated the septicaemia nature of puerperal fever, and tor many years his work was appreciated by only a few followers and his name was almost forgotten. We rejoice to think that his professional brethren in Hungary have determined to raise by international subscription a memorial to their distinguished countryman, who, like many a martyr, was not appreciated while he lived. Dr. Routh was the first to bring before the profession in this country the important work of Semmelweis in an article published in the Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society for 1849, and his name and work were revived some seven years ago by his countryman, Dr. Duka, now resident in London, and formerly Surgeon-Major in the Bengal Army. In sympathy with this movement we think a few details of the life of him whose work it is intended to commemorate may be of interest at the present time. Ignatius Philippus Semmelweis was born on July 17th, 1818, and at the age of nineteen he entered the University of Vienna and graduated in 1844. About two year afterwards he became temporary assistant professor in the maternity department of the great General Hospital at Vienna under Professor Klein. The records of the puerperal mortality had been at times very alarming, sometimes 16
A MEETING
Physicians of
physiological test with the frog was inapplicable to the question of poisoning in the human being, though por cent., or even higher. There were two cliniques, one ingenious, was certainly at variance with accepted scientific attended by students and the other by midwives, and the teaching. average mortality of 9 ’29 per cent. in the clinique attended by MATILDA CLOVER lived longer than do most persons the students, who also attended the dissecting-room, comwho have taken. a lethal dose of strychnia ; but then there pared with the lower mortality of 3’38 in the midwives’ are no absolute lilnits within which death must occur. The clinique attracted his attention. All kinds of theories were advanced to explain this difference. So bad was it in the quantity ejected in the vomit (if any), the presence or absence of Dr. Klein when Semmelweis became the assistant uf iuud in the stomach, the simultaneous action of antidotal clinique that patients, on finding themselves inmates of the dreaded or antagonistic drugs and the power of absorption by the clinique, fell on their knees and with clasped hands begged mocous membrane at a giv en time are important factors in to be allowed to return to their homes." Semmelweis was of a highly sensitive nature and he mo.t graphically describes determining the duration of life. I
1004 scenes : "I myself was terror-stricken when I heard the sound of the bells [rung in the wards when the priest was administering the last sacrament to the dying]. A deep sigh rose in my breast for the unfortunate mother, who was the victim to a cause hitherto unknown. This worked on me as a fresh incentive that 1 should to the best of my ability endeavour to discover the mysterious agent, and a conviction grew day by day that the prevailing fatality in the Clinique No. 1 could in no wise be accounted for by the hitherto " adopted etiology of puerperal fevers. The view then taught was that these epidemics were due to atmospheric, cosmic or telluric infiuences.He, following the truly scientific method, showed that tlilstheory was unable to explain the facts, for tne latltl fever did not exist in other parts of Vienna. overcrowding was suggested, but the climque oi the midwives contained more patients than the students. Then the theory ot tear was advanced as a cause ot the unfavourable result. Protracted labour was fatal in all cases in the one clinique, whereas in the other this circumstance had but little effect. The whole story of rejection of theory after is a most theory interesting example of the exercise of that
the
true scientific
spirit called
by
dlr Andrew Clarkthe scientihc
instinct." ;5eLumelweis’s friend professor hollatachka died "Then the revelation came to me,he of a dissection wound. said: "Kollatschka’s fatal symptoms unveiled to my mind an identity with tnose "1 had so onen noticed on the deathbed of puerperal cases. At last he felt able to explain the
and Members are now engaged in considering what resolutions shall be moved at this meeting, and the Association of Members is prepared to follow the guidance of the Fellows’ Association instead of taking the. independent action which has proved in the past to be disadvantageous to the common cause. We would strongly urge all Fellows and Members who have the good government of the College at heart to attend the meeting on the 3rd and support the resolutions which will then be submitted. The prospects of progress were never brighter, but it is necessary to remember the ancient maxim festina lente. Too great eagerness to advance is apt to engender opposition and to lead to disappointments, which delay the attainment of the objects in view. Those who intend to be present are referred to our special articles on the work of the past col. legiate year, the calendar of the College, and the report of the Council of the College to be presented at the meeting.
IT is
no
WORRY, DRINK AND LUNACY. new thing to hear of the close connexion between
indulgence in alcohol Accordingly we teel
and the no
Augustine Planus that a lunacy registered in Yarxs
development
of
insanity.
statement ’by Dr.
surprise large proportion at a
of the
cases
of
ot late years are attributable to this form of excess. Far more significant is his observation
that drunkenness has increased very markedly in the French etiology septi- capital. This effect is, of course, clue to a variety of causes. ordered the use 01 antiseptics- Among these one is of particular interest from its bearing casmio poisoning and namely, the washing of the hands with chlorine water or upon the neurotic aspect of the alcoholic dyscrasia. It is the chlormated lime-water betore proceeding to examine pressure and worry ot overwork, probably combined as usual in patients. The mortality immediately before this was 12.24 the like circumstances with irregular feeding and want of sleep. per cent., and in the course ol six months it fell to b’04 and l’hough felt by all classes of workers, an important characafterwards to 1’27 per cent. Atter caretul observation he teristic of its action as a cause of alcoholism is its increasing further discovered tnat "not particles from dead bodies intluence among those who labour with their brains. Artists, alone, but any material in a state ot decomposition proceed- authors and especially journalists—a group of persons by no ing from a living organism, even air contaminated trom such means usually given to excess-are enumerated as having sources, may generate symptoms ot puerperal lever. ’ Very succumbed to the subtle poison ; and this result has, doubtless with trutn, been attributed to the craving depression ot soon his term of office expired, ana, by a coinbinatioii ot and he mental was resisted had his fatigue. It is not difficult, indeed, to trace a conjealous confreres, reappointment to quit the field of his scientihc observations and Detake him- nexion here, and we may accept it as a warning that forced selt to his native city in 1850. He tnere wrote iiis great work labour is ever prone to become the natural parent of other " die Ætiologie,in which he also propouxxued the doctrine and worse excesses. The best work, however hard, is always of auto-genetic infection. tie was appointed proiessor of methodical enough to permit of timely rest and of regular midwifery in Budapest. Though he was conscious ot having nutrition, and the full recognition of this fact is a mere discovered and set forth a great truth, yet 111S teacnings met question of public utility which we hope to see more and with considerable opposition, and his sensitive nature gave more widely admitted in practice. way. He was removed to an asylum in Vienna in July, 1865, and on Aug. 17th he passed away, the actual cause of a death coincidence tnat he should THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND GLANDERS, and at
once
being pyæmia :
enunciated
the
doctrine
of
strange
die of a disease to the elucidation of winch ne had devoted the best years of his life. Such is the story of this most remarkable man, and we trust that the proiession in this cou itry will join with all admirers of true heroism in establishing this memorial. By the limitation oi the maxi-
WE
recently alluded to a new Order which had been issued by the Board of Agriculture for the better controlling of glanders, and we commented with approval on the recognition by the Board of the identity of glanders and farcy and some
other features in the management of the disease.
We
subscription to one guinea, suggested by the com- had to condemn, however, the continuation of the local mittee at the meeting on Monday, tne rank and file of authorities as the instruments through which the regulations the profession, who have benefited most of all by Semmel- were to be carried out, as the experience of years had amply weis’s discovery, will, we trust, unite to send a contribution demonstrated that they are incompetent to undertake such a worthy of our country, feeling assured that in assisting in function. The Public Control Committee of the London County Council has taken the same view, for at the meeting honouring him we are doing honour to our profession. of the Council held on the 18th inst. it reported that the law in force in England with regard to the disease was much ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF FELLOWS AND behind that of other countries ; and, after showing how the OF
mum
MEMBERS AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.
disorder had increased in London and, that the Council had urged the Board of Agriculture to provide more effectual THE Fellows and Members of the College who are interested means for dealing with it and so putting an end to the in the reform movement are reminded that the annual general fallacious measures already in force, it afterwards offered meeting of Fellows and Members of the College will take suggestions for the improvement of the new Order, place at 3 P.M. in the theatre of the College on Thursday, a draft of which had been placed before it by the Nov. 3rd. We understand that the Associations of Fellows Board. These suggestions were: (1) the insertion of a