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THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.
131
THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. To the Editor
of THE LANCET.
SIR,-By the kind permission of the British Medical Association, the second annual meeting of the Medical Library Association, under the presidency of Professor W. Osler, will be held at London University during the last week in July. Two short sessions will be held on the mornings of July 27th and 28th, at which papers will be read dealing with matters likely to be of practical interest and assistance to medical librarians, members of library committees, and readers. It is also intended to hold a bibliographical exhibition in connexion with the meeting, as this proved such a successful feature of the meeting held in Belfast last year, and we shall be glad to receive offers of loans to illustrate the following sections of the exhibition. 1. Incunabula. 2. Books by London medical men up to 1600. 3. Photographs of, and papers relating to, medical libraries. 4.
Special collections, We
&c.
Sir. vours faithfullv. I. WALKER HALL, M.D. Vict., Pathological Department, University of Bristol; CUTHBERT E. A. CLAYTON, Medical Library, University of Manchester. are.
Hon. Joint Secretaries.
He had been a distinguished student of the Cork College. Not only has he succeeded in obtaining his M.D. degree with first-class honours, but on the strong recommendation of the Board of Examiners he has been awarded a gold medal by the University for his meritorious answering. The President, Dr. B. C. A. Windle, acting as Pro-ViceChancellor of the University, alluding to the successes of the Cork College at the latest conferring of degrees,1 strongly urged that Cork should have a university of its own, and said that the fact of the Cork College being anchored to the National University resulted in some For instance, during the very tangible disadvantages. session all the professors and lecturers are obliged to proceed to Dublin to attend the annual meeting of Faculties, and those of them who are members of the Board of Studies may have to make sundry journeyings of the kind. That must mean for some members of the collegiate medical staff considerable interference with their private practice, and it is said hotel and travelling expenses which are borne by the National University will amount to E500 a year, a goodly sum which could be saved and devoted to more useful purposes if a Cork University were established. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, M. D. Cork, July lst, 1910.
centres of education.
CORK QUEEN’S COLLEGE AND THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,—Many old students of the Cork Queen’s College will, I am sure, be anxious to know how their alma mater is affected by recent university legislation, and with your permission I propose giving them a few particulars. The Irish Universities Act (1908) has produced many changes in the constitution of the Cork Queen’s College. With its name altered to University College it has become one of the three constituent colleges of the National University, and is to a great extent autonomous. The number of professors and lecturers have been considerably increased, especially at the arts side. The courses of study for the medical faculty have been considerably altered. The more important alterations will be best understood by a comparison with the late Royal University. At the Royal the medical undergraduate was obliged to pass the first arts examination. This is not required by the National University, the idea being that the matriculation examination should be sufficiently stiff to ensure that the medical student’s general education has been such as would enable him to pursue his medical studies with advantage. At the Royal there were three examinations. At the National there Under the new system the student gets done with are four. such subjects as chemistry and anatomy by the end of his second year. At the end of his fourth year he is examined and at the in pathology, public health, therapeutics, &c., final examination he concentrates all his energies on medicine, midwifery, and surgery, including ophthalmic surgery. This seems a distinct improvement, as at the Royal final the student had to deal not alone with these three subjects, but also with a number of others less
important. The methods of holding the examinations are also a distinct to Cork students who are now examined locally and not put to the expense, as formerly, of being obliged to proceed to Dublin. At the Royal examinations they were confronted by strange examiners about whose generally 6 idiosyncrasies" " they knew nothing, whilst Dublin students with whom they had to compete were not similarly handicapped. Now they are examined by their own professors and lecturers, with whom are associated extern examiners. As the same pertains in the three colleges it is a case of a fair field where the best men will be the first to pass the winning post. At the M.B. examination recently held in Cork six out of nine candidates were successful, and of the latter one was awarded first honours and two secured second honours. There was only one candidate, Dr. J. J. Kearney, for the M.D. degree. He holds a dispensary appointment in a country district remote from
advantage
Looking Back. FROM
THE LANCET, SATURDAY, July 7th, 1832. DISCOVERY OF
AIR
IN
THE
HEART,
AFTER VENOUS INJECTION.
To the Editor
of THE LANCET.
SIR,—The interest excited by the experiments performed in London, of the introduction of saline substances in the fluid state into the blood of patients labouring under cholera, has not been lessened by the result of the trials recently made by Dr. Venables, and other practitioners, without success. The post-mortem appearances in two individuals treated in this manner under the superintendence of Dr. Venables, have been fully detailed in the last number of THE LANCET. In both, air was found in some quantity in the cavities of the heart. This circumstance has been supposed by many to account in a satisfactory manner for the patient’s death, but I have been assured by Dr. Venables, (and I can place full reliance on his capacity for conducting the operation, and the veracity of his report,) that every care was taken to exclude the access of atmospheric air, not a particle of which was introduced in the course of the operation. That, however, air may be generated spontaneously in the heart, was proved to me yesterday while examining the body of a cholera patient. Mrs. R., the wife of a man in poor circumstances, died of this disease on Sunday last, July lst, after twelve hours illness. On the following Wednesday, at noon, I assisted my friend, Dr. Hingeston, of the South London Infirmary, in inspecting the body. The general anatomical appearances were those which I have invariably found, but the contents of the stomach and intestines were acid (the woman had been strongly purged). The heart was soft and distended, and when a puncture was made into it, a good deal of air escaped, followed by fluid blood mixed with bubbles of air. The treatment consisted in the exhibition of calomel, Cayenne pepper, and other stimulants in a fluid form. I do not remember to have seen so great a quantity of air in the heart so soon after death in any other instance. I submit the question whether the peculiar condition of the blood could have influenced this early separation of gas in the case of this
woman.
I am,
Sir, Yrmr obedient servant-
P. H. GREEN.
July 4th, 1832. 1
THE LANCET, June 4th, 1910,
p. 1578.
THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. To the Editor
of THE LANCET.
SIR,-By the kind permission of the British Medical Association, the second annual meeting of the Medical Library Association, under the presidency of Professor W. Osler, will be held at London University during the last week in July. Two short sessions will be held on the mornings of July 27th and 28th, at which papers will be read dealing with matters likely to be of practical interest and assistance to medical librarians, members of library committees, and readers. It is also intended to hold a bibliographical exhibition in connexion with the meeting, as this proved such a successful feature of the meeting held in Belfast last year, and we shall be glad to receive offers of loans to illustrate the following sections of the exhibition. 1. Incunabula. 2. Books by London medical men up to 1600. 3. Photographs of, and papers relating to, medical libraries. 4.
Special collections, We
&c.
Sir. vours faithfullv. I. WALKER HALL, M.D. Vict., Pathological Department, University of Bristol; CUTHBERT E. A. CLAYTON, Medical Library, University of Manchester. are.
Hon. Joint Secretaries.
He had been a distinguished student of the Cork College. Not only has he succeeded in obtaining his M.D. degree with first-class honours, but on the strong recommendation of the Board of Examiners he has been awarded a gold medal by the University for his meritorious answering. The President, Dr. B. C. A. Windle, acting as Pro-ViceChancellor of the University, alluding to the successes of the Cork College at the latest conferring of degrees,1 strongly urged that Cork should have a university of its own, and said that the fact of the Cork College being anchored to the National University resulted in some For instance, during the very tangible disadvantages. session all the professors and lecturers are obliged to proceed to Dublin to attend the annual meeting of Faculties, and those of them who are members of the Board of Studies may have to make sundry journeyings of the kind. That must mean for some members of the collegiate medical staff considerable interference with their private practice, and it is said hotel and travelling expenses which are borne by the National University will amount to E500 a year, a goodly sum which could be saved and devoted to more useful purposes if a Cork University were established. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, M. D. Cork, July lst, 1910.
centres of education.
CORK QUEEN’S COLLEGE AND THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,—Many old students of the Cork Queen’s College will, I am sure, be anxious to know how their alma mater is affected by recent university legislation, and with your permission I propose giving them a few particulars. The Irish Universities Act (1908) has produced many changes in the constitution of the Cork Queen’s College. With its name altered to University College it has become one of the three constituent colleges of the National University, and is to a great extent autonomous. The number of professors and lecturers have been considerably increased, especially at the arts side. The courses of study for the medical faculty have been considerably altered. The more important alterations will be best understood by a comparison with the late Royal University. At the Royal the medical undergraduate was obliged to pass the first arts examination. This is not required by the National University, the idea being that the matriculation examination should be sufficiently stiff to ensure that the medical student’s general education has been such as would enable him to pursue his medical studies with advantage. At the Royal there were three examinations. At the National there Under the new system the student gets done with are four. such subjects as chemistry and anatomy by the end of his second year. At the end of his fourth year he is examined and at the in pathology, public health, therapeutics, &c., final examination he concentrates all his energies on medicine, midwifery, and surgery, including ophthalmic surgery. This seems a distinct improvement, as at the Royal final the student had to deal not alone with these three subjects, but also with a number of others less
important. The methods of holding the examinations are also a distinct to Cork students who are now examined locally and not put to the expense, as formerly, of being obliged to proceed to Dublin. At the Royal examinations they were confronted by strange examiners about whose generally 6 idiosyncrasies" " they knew nothing, whilst Dublin students with whom they had to compete were not similarly handicapped. Now they are examined by their own professors and lecturers, with whom are associated extern examiners. As the same pertains in the three colleges it is a case of a fair field where the best men will be the first to pass the winning post. At the M.B. examination recently held in Cork six out of nine candidates were successful, and of the latter one was awarded first honours and two secured second honours. There was only one candidate, Dr. J. J. Kearney, for the M.D. degree. He holds a dispensary appointment in a country district remote from
advantage
Looking Back. FROM
THE LANCET, SATURDAY, July 7th, 1832. DISCOVERY OF
AIR
IN
THE
HEART,
AFTER VENOUS INJECTION.
To the Editor
of THE LANCET.
SIR,—The interest excited by the experiments performed in London, of the introduction of saline substances in the fluid state into the blood of patients labouring under cholera, has not been lessened by the result of the trials recently made by Dr. Venables, and other practitioners, without success. The post-mortem appearances in two individuals treated in this manner under the superintendence of Dr. Venables, have been fully detailed in the last number of THE LANCET. In both, air was found in some quantity in the cavities of the heart. This circumstance has been supposed by many to account in a satisfactory manner for the patient’s death, but I have been assured by Dr. Venables, (and I can place full reliance on his capacity for conducting the operation, and the veracity of his report,) that every care was taken to exclude the access of atmospheric air, not a particle of which was introduced in the course of the operation. That, however, air may be generated spontaneously in the heart, was proved to me yesterday while examining the body of a cholera patient. Mrs. R., the wife of a man in poor circumstances, died of this disease on Sunday last, July lst, after twelve hours illness. On the following Wednesday, at noon, I assisted my friend, Dr. Hingeston, of the South London Infirmary, in inspecting the body. The general anatomical appearances were those which I have invariably found, but the contents of the stomach and intestines were acid (the woman had been strongly purged). The heart was soft and distended, and when a puncture was made into it, a good deal of air escaped, followed by fluid blood mixed with bubbles of air. The treatment consisted in the exhibition of calomel, Cayenne pepper, and other stimulants in a fluid form. I do not remember to have seen so great a quantity of air in the heart so soon after death in any other instance. I submit the question whether the peculiar condition of the blood could have influenced this early separation of gas in the case of this
woman.
I am,
Sir, Yrmr obedient servant-
P. H. GREEN.
July 4th, 1832. 1
THE LANCET, June 4th, 1910,
p. 1578.