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A CHAIR OF PSYCHIATRY
288 REORGANISATION OF THE TUBERCULOSIS SERVICE
SIR,—The report recently issued by the Joint Tuber-
culosis Council makes
a
number of excellent
recom-
mendations, including the formation of joint boards by small local authorities for tuberculosis services; improvements in the system of notification ; closer association
of tuberculosis officers and their clinics with the general hospitals ; and coordination of the tuberculosis with .other public health services in the locality. But there In three pages of recomare some serious omissions. mendations, no suggestion is made that social welfare workers-almoners-should be appointed to local services ; the education of the general public on tuberculosis is not discussed, nor are problems of staffing sanatoriums with nurses and domestic staff, and of health protection of staff. The report is equally silent about the part to be played in teaching and research by existing or future university departments of tuberculosis or thoracic medicine, the problem of contact examination (so defective at present), and the relation of the tuberculosis service to the industrial medical services in relation to re-employment. Finally, there is no allusion to the future of the nation-wide mass radiography scheme, nor to the financial allowances scheme. The council’s views would be particularly valuable on methods of integrating mass radiography with the rest of the service. Their last publication on this subject was in 1941, two years before the scheme was started. OBSERVER. CECIL JOLL MEMORIAL FUND
SIR,-We, colleagues and friends
of the late
(Jecil
recognition of his distinction in the science and practice of surgery should be put on permanent record. This, we suggest, might take the form of an annual lecture or prize essay sponsored by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, as shall be determined by the president and the council, of which Cecil Joll, feel that
some
Joll was an active member. Contributions from all those in sympathy with this object should be sent to the Manager, National Provincial Bank, Marylebone High Street, London, Wl, marked "Cecil Joll Memfyrial Fund."
JENNER HOSKIN CEDRIC LANE-ROBERTS LIONEL E. C. NORBURY
ELIZABETH BOLTON DANIEL T. DAVIES HORDER
A CHAIR letter ot
OF "
PSYCHIATRY
Service
"
in your SIR,—The rsycniatrist issue of Feb. 17 raises two important questions. One of these chiefly concerns psychiatrists ; the other interests all Service medical officers overseas. The blinkered outlook revealed by the Goodenough report in its section on psychiatry, and the inadequacy of the policy which it suggests, have caused some dismay to Service psychiatrists overseas, many of whom have by the nature of their work been made to realise with special vividness the need for a well-balanced development of psychiatry after the war. The impending appointment to the University of London chair of psychiatry is of considerable importance in this connexion, and the appointment should therefore be open to the widest possible field of candidates. A larger issue also arises. The increasing tendency to fill permanent medical positions at home now, while so many of our colleagues are- on foreign service, is causing growing concern overseas. In total war danger, discomfort and overwork are, to some extent, shared by all doctors ; but it is those on overseas service who have the most grievous burden to bear-separation for periods of years from family and homeland. It is clear that this burden would be more evenly distributed if all fit doctors at present working in the Emergency Medical Service or other civilian employment took their turn of duty with the Armed Forces. Doubtless the possibilities of this proposal arebeing explored. Meanwhile, at least the making of permanent medical appointments now should be reduced to the absolute minimum. Otherwise resentment will increasingly develop among medical officers overseas, who naturally experience in a rather more acute degree the concern which many of us feel about our professional opportunities after the war.
In discussions about the future of the medical services in this country after the war, the interests of doctors serving overseas have often been piously invoked. The question of the making of permanent appointments is likely to be regarded by medical officers on foreign service as a test of sincerity in the councils of our profession ;" and the maintenance of " equality of opportunity in this matter would materially aid cohesion of the profession after the war. It might even help to get the best medical men into the right post-war jobs. S. A. MACKEITH, Formerly Adviser in Psychiatry, SW1. Allied Force Headquarters. London,
SIR,—I trust that those responsible for filling the London chair of psychiatry will bear in mind the positive advantages that might be secured by appointing a Service psychiatrist. By general consent, the psychiatric work carried out in the Services has been excellent, and the new viewpoint in extramural psychiatry will have much to contribute to post-war social medicine. if sponsored by a man with administrative experience of its advantages and limitations. EMS PSYCHIATRIST. ABDOMINAL TOPOGRAPHY SIR,—In their instructive article of Jan. 6 (p. 10) Brown and Smith rightly call attention to the confusion that exists in modern textbooks. They support William Anderson, who, in 1892, ascribed the division of the linea alba into three equal parts to le Clerc in his Epitome of Surgery, published in English in 1696. Danielle Clerc (1652-1728), a, practising Swiss physician born .at Geneva, published the famous Bibliotheca A natomica at Geneva in 1685, two volumes in folio. As joint editor with Ie Clerc was Jean Jacques Manget (16521742), a most’ laborious bioThis compendium grapher. consists of a wide selection from the works of the outstanding anatomists of the 17th century, and appropriately starts the anatomical scene with Francis Glisson, Regius Professor of Physic in Cambridge : " Tractatus de partibus continentibus in genere et in specie de iis Glisson’s diagram of the regions of the abdomen. abdominis." This treatise had been previously printed in Amsterdam in 1676 and in London in 1677. Le Clerc and Manget seized upon it as a worthy opening to their two ’
tomes. In this article by Glisson occurs the same division of the abdomen into three zones by tripartite division of the linea alba (tab. i, fig. 1). Glisson was at great pains to describe by line and letter the nine regions. The nam,es used are the conventional ones except that the lumbar regions are called right and left epicolic. Thus Brown and Smith are in good company in insisting on the retention of the umbilical region. Embryologically, the umbilicus is the scene of many happenings, and, after all, as Ballantyne said, it is the mouth of the embryo and of the fcetus.
Anatomy School, University of Cambridge.
H. A. HARRIS.
HEALTH?
PEDIATRICS OR CHILD SIR,-I write to put in a plea. for the retention of the words " paeditrician " and paediatrics." I do so chiefly because these designations have long been established in the universities and hospitals of North and South America and of Europe. When travelling abroad one realises how important, it is for us to keep into line with the rest of the world, so as not to expose our teachers and practitioners to the disadvantage of being called by titles which differ from, and often hold a little less dignity than, thoseof their colleagues. The public, and especially its elective bodies, are now beginning to understand what a "
SIR,—The report recently issued by the Joint Tuber-
culosis Council makes
a
number of excellent
recom-
mendations, including the formation of joint boards by small local authorities for tuberculosis services; improvements in the system of notification ; closer association
of tuberculosis officers and their clinics with the general hospitals ; and coordination of the tuberculosis with .other public health services in the locality. But there In three pages of recomare some serious omissions. mendations, no suggestion is made that social welfare workers-almoners-should be appointed to local services ; the education of the general public on tuberculosis is not discussed, nor are problems of staffing sanatoriums with nurses and domestic staff, and of health protection of staff. The report is equally silent about the part to be played in teaching and research by existing or future university departments of tuberculosis or thoracic medicine, the problem of contact examination (so defective at present), and the relation of the tuberculosis service to the industrial medical services in relation to re-employment. Finally, there is no allusion to the future of the nation-wide mass radiography scheme, nor to the financial allowances scheme. The council’s views would be particularly valuable on methods of integrating mass radiography with the rest of the service. Their last publication on this subject was in 1941, two years before the scheme was started. OBSERVER. CECIL JOLL MEMORIAL FUND
SIR,-We, colleagues and friends
of the late
(Jecil
recognition of his distinction in the science and practice of surgery should be put on permanent record. This, we suggest, might take the form of an annual lecture or prize essay sponsored by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, as shall be determined by the president and the council, of which Cecil Joll, feel that
some
Joll was an active member. Contributions from all those in sympathy with this object should be sent to the Manager, National Provincial Bank, Marylebone High Street, London, Wl, marked "Cecil Joll Memfyrial Fund."
JENNER HOSKIN CEDRIC LANE-ROBERTS LIONEL E. C. NORBURY
ELIZABETH BOLTON DANIEL T. DAVIES HORDER
A CHAIR letter ot
OF "
PSYCHIATRY
Service
"
in your SIR,—The rsycniatrist issue of Feb. 17 raises two important questions. One of these chiefly concerns psychiatrists ; the other interests all Service medical officers overseas. The blinkered outlook revealed by the Goodenough report in its section on psychiatry, and the inadequacy of the policy which it suggests, have caused some dismay to Service psychiatrists overseas, many of whom have by the nature of their work been made to realise with special vividness the need for a well-balanced development of psychiatry after the war. The impending appointment to the University of London chair of psychiatry is of considerable importance in this connexion, and the appointment should therefore be open to the widest possible field of candidates. A larger issue also arises. The increasing tendency to fill permanent medical positions at home now, while so many of our colleagues are- on foreign service, is causing growing concern overseas. In total war danger, discomfort and overwork are, to some extent, shared by all doctors ; but it is those on overseas service who have the most grievous burden to bear-separation for periods of years from family and homeland. It is clear that this burden would be more evenly distributed if all fit doctors at present working in the Emergency Medical Service or other civilian employment took their turn of duty with the Armed Forces. Doubtless the possibilities of this proposal arebeing explored. Meanwhile, at least the making of permanent medical appointments now should be reduced to the absolute minimum. Otherwise resentment will increasingly develop among medical officers overseas, who naturally experience in a rather more acute degree the concern which many of us feel about our professional opportunities after the war.
In discussions about the future of the medical services in this country after the war, the interests of doctors serving overseas have often been piously invoked. The question of the making of permanent appointments is likely to be regarded by medical officers on foreign service as a test of sincerity in the councils of our profession ;" and the maintenance of " equality of opportunity in this matter would materially aid cohesion of the profession after the war. It might even help to get the best medical men into the right post-war jobs. S. A. MACKEITH, Formerly Adviser in Psychiatry, SW1. Allied Force Headquarters. London,
SIR,—I trust that those responsible for filling the London chair of psychiatry will bear in mind the positive advantages that might be secured by appointing a Service psychiatrist. By general consent, the psychiatric work carried out in the Services has been excellent, and the new viewpoint in extramural psychiatry will have much to contribute to post-war social medicine. if sponsored by a man with administrative experience of its advantages and limitations. EMS PSYCHIATRIST. ABDOMINAL TOPOGRAPHY SIR,—In their instructive article of Jan. 6 (p. 10) Brown and Smith rightly call attention to the confusion that exists in modern textbooks. They support William Anderson, who, in 1892, ascribed the division of the linea alba into three equal parts to le Clerc in his Epitome of Surgery, published in English in 1696. Danielle Clerc (1652-1728), a, practising Swiss physician born .at Geneva, published the famous Bibliotheca A natomica at Geneva in 1685, two volumes in folio. As joint editor with Ie Clerc was Jean Jacques Manget (16521742), a most’ laborious bioThis compendium grapher. consists of a wide selection from the works of the outstanding anatomists of the 17th century, and appropriately starts the anatomical scene with Francis Glisson, Regius Professor of Physic in Cambridge : " Tractatus de partibus continentibus in genere et in specie de iis Glisson’s diagram of the regions of the abdomen. abdominis." This treatise had been previously printed in Amsterdam in 1676 and in London in 1677. Le Clerc and Manget seized upon it as a worthy opening to their two ’
tomes. In this article by Glisson occurs the same division of the abdomen into three zones by tripartite division of the linea alba (tab. i, fig. 1). Glisson was at great pains to describe by line and letter the nine regions. The nam,es used are the conventional ones except that the lumbar regions are called right and left epicolic. Thus Brown and Smith are in good company in insisting on the retention of the umbilical region. Embryologically, the umbilicus is the scene of many happenings, and, after all, as Ballantyne said, it is the mouth of the embryo and of the fcetus.
Anatomy School, University of Cambridge.
H. A. HARRIS.
HEALTH?
PEDIATRICS OR CHILD SIR,-I write to put in a plea. for the retention of the words " paeditrician " and paediatrics." I do so chiefly because these designations have long been established in the universities and hospitals of North and South America and of Europe. When travelling abroad one realises how important, it is for us to keep into line with the rest of the world, so as not to expose our teachers and practitioners to the disadvantage of being called by titles which differ from, and often hold a little less dignity than, thoseof their colleagues. The public, and especially its elective bodies, are now beginning to understand what a "