- Email: [email protected]
MEDICAL JOURNALS FOR GERMANY
47
MEDICAL JOURNALS FOR GERMANY SiB,—We frequently receive appeals from German doctors for copies of THE LANCET and other medical journals. They know that in many fields advances have been made since 1939, but since then foreign medical periodicals have been practically unobtainable. May I appeal to your readers to send any issues of THE LANCET (or other journals) which they do not require to doctors in Germany ? We shall be glad to receive them at this office, or would send the name and address of a doctor or hospital on hearing from interested readers. German Educational Reconstruction, ERICH HIRSCH 15, James Street, Long Acre, Secretary. London, W.C.2. A DESCRIPTIVE ATLAS OF RADIOGRAPHS
SiR,-Your review of May 17, in quoting my remark about" vociferous radiologists who wish to keep radiology as a closed art, a mystic rite," omits to mention that I described them as a " fortunately dwindling number." If the radiographs in my descriptive atlas are as poor as your reviewer suggests, it is indeed brave of him to doubt the accuracy of the diagnosis, which in most instances was made by the clinician in charge of the case. I admit that many of the figures, especially in the bone section, are old. During the last twenty years treatment has advanced so much that what were once common
diseases are now almost museum pieces-e.g., rickets, syphilis, osteomalacia, osteomyelitis, varicose-ulcer changes in bone, and Ewing’s tumour. A. P. BERTWISTLE.
MaxweBtown, Dumfries.
Parliament FROM THE PRESS GALLERY
Debate
on
the Address
IN the House of Commons on Oct 21, in moving that a humble Address be presented to the King thanking him for the Gracious Speech from the Throne at the opening of the new session, Mr. W. R. BLYTON welcomed the proposals made in it for ending the poor-law. That Act, which originated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had been revised and amended many times, but the basic principle had always been that poverty was a crime. People had shunned receiving assistance under the poor-law and he was pleased to be able to play some part in burying the Act. Miss M. HERBISON, who seconded the Address, welcomed the Government’s continued support of the United Nations Organisation, and of the aim of the Food and Agriculture Organisation to give an adequate diet to every person in the world no matter what might be his race, creed, or colour. We must see to it, she added, that Sir John Boyd Orr’s fears that this organisation would merely be a collector of statistics and data were not realised. Mr. C. ATTLEE, the Prime Minister, said the Government’s legislative programme for the coming session completed a system of social security by the abolition of the remnants of the poor-law. Another important measure which the Minister of Health would introduce dealt with the reform of the block-grant system. This would be of great assistance to necessitous local authorities. Sir H. MoRRiS-JoNES questioned whether we could maintain a population of 47 million people in this country on the standard of life which we used to have in the old days, and in particular he doubted whether the insurance legislation passed last session could be brought into operation on July 1 next. In regard to the health alone it seemed to him completelv impossible services in view of the lack of accommodation in hospitals, the lack of medical and nursing personnel, and the lack of equipment to bring into force the scheme which was supposed to guarantee to every individual, man, woman, and child, in this country expert medical attention, nursing, dental services, and so on. If the Government were not in a position to bring these things about, it would be very much better for them to be quite frank with the people and say so. Mr. R. A. BUTLER, speaking for the Opposition, said that the proposal to reform the poor-law entailed the
671
completion of social security work undertaken by the
Coalition Government. The real threat to the social services came from the maladministration of the Socialist Party. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer should decide to reduce the range of the food subsidies the Conservative Party would be in favour of considering the interests of the most needy sections of the population in view of the heavy rise in the cost of living which would result. Sir STAFFORD CRIPPS, Minister for Economic Affairs, said we must take steps to prevent the large adverse balance in dollars being realised. There was an everpresent danger that continued difficulties, and the lack of food and raw materials with its consequent tragic lowering of the living standards, might lead people, as had been seen in Germany after the first world war, to adopt methods and follow political creeds which were destructive of democracy and which accentuated those dangers of war against which we believed that a true democracy provided the greatest safeguard. It was on our own efforts, said Sir Stafford, that we intended primarily to rely, and the most effective way of saving dollars was by the production of more food in this country. Food was the largest single item among our present dollar purchases and any food that we could grow ourselves would save dollars. But there must also be some immediate further reduction of dollar expenditure on food, which, if not replaced from elsewhere, wouldwith other changes brought about for quite other reasons -reduce our standard to just below 2700 calories a day, which, though highly unpleasant, should certainly not be disastrous. That would enable us to save about 266 million a year in dollars. In making these adjustments in our imports, the Government had to take into account the fact that the country had suffered the grave misfortune of a bad potato harvest. They must take strict measures to see that supplies lasted till the next crop was available. The saving would entail the following reductions in our food : Sugar would revert to 8 oz. a week from the 10 oz. to which it was recently raised ; meat would remain at Is. a week ; bacon would remain at 1 oz. a week, and there would be a saving on eggs which would enable a distribution to be made of 66 shell eggs compared with 58 last year, with an earlier exhaustion of dried egg stocks. If circumstances improved, he added, or if matters were eased for Europe and the world by the adoption of some scheme under the Marshall Plan, then the British Government could always reconsider the matter, and, if necessary, increase our imports again. But he was convinced that it was necessary to take this step of further adjusting our consumptions and imports
forthwith.
Mr. H. DALTON, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the National Insurance Act and the National Health Act, both passed last session, would come into operation in July and would not be delayed. Taking account of the transfer of hospitals from local to national funds, the ending of the poor-law, and the new block-grant, there would be a substantial reduction of the rates in many parts of the country, and particularly in the poorer industrial and rural areas. This would be a valuable measure for laying a foundation for the recovery of industry.
QUESTION TIME
Meetings
of the
Negotiating Committee
Sir E. GRA]EIAM-LITTLE asked the Minister of Health how many times he had personally met the Negotiating Committee appointed with the approval of the Minister by the medical profession, to discuss regulations to be made under the National Health Service Act ; and what was the date of the last such meeting.-Mr. A. BEVAN : These discussions have so far taken place with my officials following a procedure which I believe to be entirely acceptable to the Negotiating Committee. At their request I have arranged to meet the committee myself next month.
Working
Party
on
Nursing
Mr. G. R. MITCHISON asked the Minister whether he had any statement to make on the rapbrt of the Working Party on the recruitment and training of nurses.-Mr. BEVAN : The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have promised to consider the views of the nursing organisations and other
MEDICAL JOURNALS FOR GERMANY SiB,—We frequently receive appeals from German doctors for copies of THE LANCET and other medical journals. They know that in many fields advances have been made since 1939, but since then foreign medical periodicals have been practically unobtainable. May I appeal to your readers to send any issues of THE LANCET (or other journals) which they do not require to doctors in Germany ? We shall be glad to receive them at this office, or would send the name and address of a doctor or hospital on hearing from interested readers. German Educational Reconstruction, ERICH HIRSCH 15, James Street, Long Acre, Secretary. London, W.C.2. A DESCRIPTIVE ATLAS OF RADIOGRAPHS
SiR,-Your review of May 17, in quoting my remark about" vociferous radiologists who wish to keep radiology as a closed art, a mystic rite," omits to mention that I described them as a " fortunately dwindling number." If the radiographs in my descriptive atlas are as poor as your reviewer suggests, it is indeed brave of him to doubt the accuracy of the diagnosis, which in most instances was made by the clinician in charge of the case. I admit that many of the figures, especially in the bone section, are old. During the last twenty years treatment has advanced so much that what were once common
diseases are now almost museum pieces-e.g., rickets, syphilis, osteomalacia, osteomyelitis, varicose-ulcer changes in bone, and Ewing’s tumour. A. P. BERTWISTLE.
MaxweBtown, Dumfries.
Parliament FROM THE PRESS GALLERY
Debate
on
the Address
IN the House of Commons on Oct 21, in moving that a humble Address be presented to the King thanking him for the Gracious Speech from the Throne at the opening of the new session, Mr. W. R. BLYTON welcomed the proposals made in it for ending the poor-law. That Act, which originated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had been revised and amended many times, but the basic principle had always been that poverty was a crime. People had shunned receiving assistance under the poor-law and he was pleased to be able to play some part in burying the Act. Miss M. HERBISON, who seconded the Address, welcomed the Government’s continued support of the United Nations Organisation, and of the aim of the Food and Agriculture Organisation to give an adequate diet to every person in the world no matter what might be his race, creed, or colour. We must see to it, she added, that Sir John Boyd Orr’s fears that this organisation would merely be a collector of statistics and data were not realised. Mr. C. ATTLEE, the Prime Minister, said the Government’s legislative programme for the coming session completed a system of social security by the abolition of the remnants of the poor-law. Another important measure which the Minister of Health would introduce dealt with the reform of the block-grant system. This would be of great assistance to necessitous local authorities. Sir H. MoRRiS-JoNES questioned whether we could maintain a population of 47 million people in this country on the standard of life which we used to have in the old days, and in particular he doubted whether the insurance legislation passed last session could be brought into operation on July 1 next. In regard to the health alone it seemed to him completelv impossible services in view of the lack of accommodation in hospitals, the lack of medical and nursing personnel, and the lack of equipment to bring into force the scheme which was supposed to guarantee to every individual, man, woman, and child, in this country expert medical attention, nursing, dental services, and so on. If the Government were not in a position to bring these things about, it would be very much better for them to be quite frank with the people and say so. Mr. R. A. BUTLER, speaking for the Opposition, said that the proposal to reform the poor-law entailed the
671
completion of social security work undertaken by the
Coalition Government. The real threat to the social services came from the maladministration of the Socialist Party. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer should decide to reduce the range of the food subsidies the Conservative Party would be in favour of considering the interests of the most needy sections of the population in view of the heavy rise in the cost of living which would result. Sir STAFFORD CRIPPS, Minister for Economic Affairs, said we must take steps to prevent the large adverse balance in dollars being realised. There was an everpresent danger that continued difficulties, and the lack of food and raw materials with its consequent tragic lowering of the living standards, might lead people, as had been seen in Germany after the first world war, to adopt methods and follow political creeds which were destructive of democracy and which accentuated those dangers of war against which we believed that a true democracy provided the greatest safeguard. It was on our own efforts, said Sir Stafford, that we intended primarily to rely, and the most effective way of saving dollars was by the production of more food in this country. Food was the largest single item among our present dollar purchases and any food that we could grow ourselves would save dollars. But there must also be some immediate further reduction of dollar expenditure on food, which, if not replaced from elsewhere, wouldwith other changes brought about for quite other reasons -reduce our standard to just below 2700 calories a day, which, though highly unpleasant, should certainly not be disastrous. That would enable us to save about 266 million a year in dollars. In making these adjustments in our imports, the Government had to take into account the fact that the country had suffered the grave misfortune of a bad potato harvest. They must take strict measures to see that supplies lasted till the next crop was available. The saving would entail the following reductions in our food : Sugar would revert to 8 oz. a week from the 10 oz. to which it was recently raised ; meat would remain at Is. a week ; bacon would remain at 1 oz. a week, and there would be a saving on eggs which would enable a distribution to be made of 66 shell eggs compared with 58 last year, with an earlier exhaustion of dried egg stocks. If circumstances improved, he added, or if matters were eased for Europe and the world by the adoption of some scheme under the Marshall Plan, then the British Government could always reconsider the matter, and, if necessary, increase our imports again. But he was convinced that it was necessary to take this step of further adjusting our consumptions and imports
forthwith.
Mr. H. DALTON, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the National Insurance Act and the National Health Act, both passed last session, would come into operation in July and would not be delayed. Taking account of the transfer of hospitals from local to national funds, the ending of the poor-law, and the new block-grant, there would be a substantial reduction of the rates in many parts of the country, and particularly in the poorer industrial and rural areas. This would be a valuable measure for laying a foundation for the recovery of industry.
QUESTION TIME
Meetings
of the
Negotiating Committee
Sir E. GRA]EIAM-LITTLE asked the Minister of Health how many times he had personally met the Negotiating Committee appointed with the approval of the Minister by the medical profession, to discuss regulations to be made under the National Health Service Act ; and what was the date of the last such meeting.-Mr. A. BEVAN : These discussions have so far taken place with my officials following a procedure which I believe to be entirely acceptable to the Negotiating Committee. At their request I have arranged to meet the committee myself next month.
Working
Party
on
Nursing
Mr. G. R. MITCHISON asked the Minister whether he had any statement to make on the rapbrt of the Working Party on the recruitment and training of nurses.-Mr. BEVAN : The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have promised to consider the views of the nursing organisations and other