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A profession for the blind
1931.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
public interest is receiving proper consideration. The report just issued ~ therefore comes as an awakening. It is a full and complete record of the work done, but it is more than this: it shows how the work of the Council, both at home and thro.ughout the Empire, is suffering in a financial sense, and how, owing to the alteration in the payment of grant from the Ministry, it is threatened with even greater difficulties in the immediate future. Under the new arrangements, the funds hitherto supplied by the Ministry for" the educational and propaganda work of the Co.uncil have been thrown into the block grant " and the Council was dependent for the return of its quota on the goodwill and the sense of equity of the local authorities." Unhappily, the response has not been altogether satisfactory, and at the time of issue of the report no less that six English counties had not returned their quo.ta, and five county boroughs had definitely refused to do so. This leaves the Council in a very unsatisfactory position, as a considerable portion o.f the income which it had received from the Ministry in the past does not, at least at present, seem likely to materialize. As regards the incidence of venereal disease, tables are given which show that fewer new cases of syphilis were treated than in the previous year, though new cases of gonorrhoe.a increased considerably,, while what is perhaps one of the most satisfactory features is that lhe number of attendances increased by nearly 200,000. The report is prefaced by a presidential address by Sir Basil Blackett, which deals in a masterly manner with the results achieved and the difficulties to be surmounted, a perusal of which is commended to al! who are interested in this vital branch of public health work.
The President. H;E absence of the President from the meeting o.f the Society on January !6th was generally noted and sincerely regretted, particularly when it was learned that it was the result of indisposition. The attack of lumbago from which Professor Kerr was found to. be
T
Fifteenth Annual Report of the British Social Hygiene Council (Incorporated), formerly the National Council for Combatin~ Venereal Diseases (Incorporated), june 1st, 1929, to May 81st, 1930. The British Social Hygiene Council (Incorporated), Carteret House, Carteret Street, London, S.WL1.
133
suffering when he attended the Council meeting held in December, and of which he made light, appears to have been less trivial than he and his friends believed, and necessitated his remaining off duty for a few weeks. Towards the end of January he had sufficiently recovered to, be able to proceed to the South of France for convalescence, and there he is followed by all the good wishes of every member o.f the Society that recovery will be complete and rapid, and that very soon he may be able to resume the activity, that he has always shown in Society matters, and his place, from which he has been so much missed, in the chair both at Council and ordinary meetings.
A Profession for the Blind. A
S T O R Y of progress in the face of the present financial depression is told in the sixty-first annual report of the National Institute for the Blind (Headquarters--224-8, Great Portland Street, London, W.1), to which nearly all the local societies throughout England and Wales are affiliated. One striking" example of the Institute's general efficiency is shown by the department responsible for the training o.f selected blind persons as masseurs. Started in 1915, the school has had considerable success, one reason for which is that the men and women chosen are of the right type, possessing not ,only the requisite delicacy of touch, but also intelligence and tact above the average. tt is recognised by the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics (fo.r whose examinations the students are prepared), and is approved by the Board o,f Education.
Obituary. ITH
great regret the death of Dr.
W Frederick Meadows Turner, for thirtyfour years Medical Superintendent of the South-Eastern Fever Hospital, London, is recorded. Dr. Turner joined the staff of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, which then controlled the hospital, in ]892, and first served as Assistant Medical Officer at the NorthEastern Hospital. He was actively associated with the Fever Hospital Medical Service Group of the Society from its inception, and prior to that date was frequently seen at the meetings of the Metropolitan Branch. He was also a valued member of several medical societies, and the author of a number of articles on scarlet fever and other infectious diseases. T h e Society is indebted to Dr. F. H. Thomson (Chief Medical Officer of the Infectious
PUBLIC HEALTH.
public interest is receiving proper consideration. The report just issued ~ therefore comes as an awakening. It is a full and complete record of the work done, but it is more than this: it shows how the work of the Council, both at home and thro.ughout the Empire, is suffering in a financial sense, and how, owing to the alteration in the payment of grant from the Ministry, it is threatened with even greater difficulties in the immediate future. Under the new arrangements, the funds hitherto supplied by the Ministry for" the educational and propaganda work of the Co.uncil have been thrown into the block grant " and the Council was dependent for the return of its quota on the goodwill and the sense of equity of the local authorities." Unhappily, the response has not been altogether satisfactory, and at the time of issue of the report no less that six English counties had not returned their quo.ta, and five county boroughs had definitely refused to do so. This leaves the Council in a very unsatisfactory position, as a considerable portion o.f the income which it had received from the Ministry in the past does not, at least at present, seem likely to materialize. As regards the incidence of venereal disease, tables are given which show that fewer new cases of syphilis were treated than in the previous year, though new cases of gonorrhoe.a increased considerably,, while what is perhaps one of the most satisfactory features is that lhe number of attendances increased by nearly 200,000. The report is prefaced by a presidential address by Sir Basil Blackett, which deals in a masterly manner with the results achieved and the difficulties to be surmounted, a perusal of which is commended to al! who are interested in this vital branch of public health work.
The President. H;E absence of the President from the meeting o.f the Society on January !6th was generally noted and sincerely regretted, particularly when it was learned that it was the result of indisposition. The attack of lumbago from which Professor Kerr was found to. be
T
Fifteenth Annual Report of the British Social Hygiene Council (Incorporated), formerly the National Council for Combatin~ Venereal Diseases (Incorporated), june 1st, 1929, to May 81st, 1930. The British Social Hygiene Council (Incorporated), Carteret House, Carteret Street, London, S.WL1.
133
suffering when he attended the Council meeting held in December, and of which he made light, appears to have been less trivial than he and his friends believed, and necessitated his remaining off duty for a few weeks. Towards the end of January he had sufficiently recovered to, be able to proceed to the South of France for convalescence, and there he is followed by all the good wishes of every member o.f the Society that recovery will be complete and rapid, and that very soon he may be able to resume the activity, that he has always shown in Society matters, and his place, from which he has been so much missed, in the chair both at Council and ordinary meetings.
A Profession for the Blind. A
S T O R Y of progress in the face of the present financial depression is told in the sixty-first annual report of the National Institute for the Blind (Headquarters--224-8, Great Portland Street, London, W.1), to which nearly all the local societies throughout England and Wales are affiliated. One striking" example of the Institute's general efficiency is shown by the department responsible for the training o.f selected blind persons as masseurs. Started in 1915, the school has had considerable success, one reason for which is that the men and women chosen are of the right type, possessing not ,only the requisite delicacy of touch, but also intelligence and tact above the average. tt is recognised by the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics (fo.r whose examinations the students are prepared), and is approved by the Board o,f Education.
Obituary. ITH
great regret the death of Dr.
W Frederick Meadows Turner, for thirtyfour years Medical Superintendent of the South-Eastern Fever Hospital, London, is recorded. Dr. Turner joined the staff of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, which then controlled the hospital, in ]892, and first served as Assistant Medical Officer at the NorthEastern Hospital. He was actively associated with the Fever Hospital Medical Service Group of the Society from its inception, and prior to that date was frequently seen at the meetings of the Metropolitan Branch. He was also a valued member of several medical societies, and the author of a number of articles on scarlet fever and other infectious diseases. T h e Society is indebted to Dr. F. H. Thomson (Chief Medical Officer of the Infectious