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A SCOTCH SHERIFF ON SORE-THROATS AND MEDICAL BILLS.
MEDIEVAL MEDICINE.-THE SCARLET FEVER EPIDEMIC.
102
in one who does not resort to it allows but time for the effects of fatigue to show immediately, themselves on the muscles and nerves and for the surface of the body to get cool. Taken then the bath is more likely to depress than to stimulate, there is less power of reaction and greater liability to internal inflammations. At such a time a warm bath rather than a cold one is more suitable and more safe. It has been suggested, however, that the practice of indulging in a bath after violent exercise may initiate renal disease. Of this there is no evidence. The transitory albuminuria observed after prolonged cold baths may indicate the disturbance in the renal circulation which ensues upon them, but these cases are in a different category from those to which we are now alluding, nor are we aware of any facts to prove that, even in them, Bright’s disease has been developed in consequence of the transient departure from the normal. Lastly, it must be remembered that those indulging in athletic exercises of all kinds are presumably sound in heart as well as limb, and that such persons may take with impunity, and, indeed, with benefit, measures which would be distinctly harmful to the weakly.
induced
by the bath
MEDIÆVAL MEDICINE. THAT life is short and art long, opportunity transient and are truths which the experience of man has never contested since the days of Hippocrates and probably earlier, does not contest now, and, it may safely be prophesied, never will dispute. No less true is it, however, that the impatience of man is at least equal to the transiency of his - opportunities, and in all ages, disregarding his infinite intellectual possibilities, he has tended to settle on the lees of - current dogma-theological, philosophical or scientific-and to solace himself with some approach to definite conclusions. Much has been laid to the charge of the odium ,t7zeolo icit7a in having delayed the march of inquiry in the Middle Ages, and there is, without doubt, some truth
judgment difficult,
lesson-that of patience-in order that a profession dealwith ing problems of life and of death as wide as nature itself the dogmatism of fixed ideas and ever hold aloft, avoid may as it does to-day, the standard of freedom of thought in the quest for truth. one
’--
THE SCARLET FEVER EPIDEMIC. ACCORDING to the -Ee7io, Lord Portman has made a noble contribution towards the solution of the problem of inadequate accommodation for fever patients by handing over two houses in Marylebone for the reception of such cases. Let us hope that the example will be followed by other influential members of the community pending a satisfactory solution of the difficulty either by the Legislature or by the Local Govern. ment Board. ____
SIR WILLIAM
HENRY
BROADBENT.
IT is
gratifying to see the announcement on the wedding Royal Highness the Duke of York and the Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, that Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to confer a Baronetcy of the United Kingdom upon Dr. William Henry Broadbent. It will be remembered that
day of
his
some two years ago, when the Duke of York suffered from an attack of typhoid fever, he was attended by Dr. Broadbent. This gracious act of Her Majesty will be heartily appreciated by the whole profession. --
A
SCOTCH
SHERIFF ON SORE-THROATS MEDICAL BILLS.
AND
SHERIFF CAMPBELL SMITH seems to have a low opinion of the intelligence of Englishwomen and of the uprightness of Scotch medical practitioners. He succeeded in condensing into a few sentences a great variety of disparaging, not to say insulting, observations in dealing with the claim of Dr. David Gardner of Paisley for 97s. 6d. in respect of a large number of professional visits in 1889 and 1890. He was specially eloquent on the unimportance of the existence of rashes on a baby’s feet and of sore-throat-two complaints for which it is quite possible that many serious visits would have to be paid even in Scotland. He adverted on the imprudence of calling in a medical man for such trifling complaints-an imprudence which was explained by the defender’s wife being an Englishwoman. He was kind enough to allow ;E3for shoe-leather and 15s. for expenses. No wonder that Scottish medical men are so ready to take their talents to other countries, where the treatment of skin eruptions and sore-throats is more appreciated.
in the assertion. We question, however, whether this would have been so powerful an impediment as it proved, had it not been for the impatience of men which gave rise to theories or opinions in which their originators could scarcely themselves have believed, for had the mediaeval man had the conviction of honest belief it is scarcely credible that mere scholastic repression would have proved so potent ;a drag on the wheels of progressive reason as it did. In an article in the Nineteenth Century Mr. E. A. King brings to light many of the empirical remedies which were current in the Middle Ages. There seems reason for thinking that a certain proportion of these were based on the theory of sugCONVERSAZIONE AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF .gestion. Thus a coward using a portion of the skin of a lion SURGEONS. might gain courage from a recollection of the fearlessness of THE Jubilee of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surthe original owner of the skin, although how a quartan ague could be cured by laying the Fourth Book of Homer’s Iliad geons of England was celebrated by a Conversazione in the on the head of the patient is more difficult to imagine. On College buildings on Wednesday evening the 5th inst. The the other hand, that frogs should be good for ague seems to guests were received by the President, Mr. Thomas Bryant, be quite as rational an induction as that willows should be the Vice-Presidents and some of the members of the Council in good for rheumatism. Yet salicin has proved of use in the the new large museum. The chief attraction of the evening latter disease. The age of the empiric is the age of the was the collection of Hunterian relics in the library, arranged - charlatan, and it is not matter of surprise that the quack by Mr. Bailey. This was most interesting and attracted conshould in these days have frequently been met with and siderable attention. The collection was arranged in excellent that his prevalence should havebrought discredit on the taste and in such a manner that no difficulty was experienced profession of medicine in general. Dramatists have too in seeing the various objects. Several microscopical preoften portrayed the physician only to point the finger parations, illustrating foraminifera and diatoms, and plates of jest or of scorn at him. It ismuch otherwise now, were shown in the council-room. The band of the Royal .although a great deal still remains to be done. The emanci- Engineers performed a selection of music during the pated reason of man has placed medicine in the van of evening, in the place of the Royal Artillery band, which Refreshments were the progressive professions, but the charlatan is not yet was detained at Buckingham Palace. extinct, nor is modern medicine quite devoid of that ad- served in the inner hall and common room. The arrangements hesion to fashion in thought which delayed the progress of for the reception were well thought out, and there was a medicine in the Middle Ages. Let us hope, however, that marked absence of the crush which was a noticeable feature the experience of the intervening ages has at least taught of former conversaziones, advantage having been taken of the
102
in one who does not resort to it allows but time for the effects of fatigue to show immediately, themselves on the muscles and nerves and for the surface of the body to get cool. Taken then the bath is more likely to depress than to stimulate, there is less power of reaction and greater liability to internal inflammations. At such a time a warm bath rather than a cold one is more suitable and more safe. It has been suggested, however, that the practice of indulging in a bath after violent exercise may initiate renal disease. Of this there is no evidence. The transitory albuminuria observed after prolonged cold baths may indicate the disturbance in the renal circulation which ensues upon them, but these cases are in a different category from those to which we are now alluding, nor are we aware of any facts to prove that, even in them, Bright’s disease has been developed in consequence of the transient departure from the normal. Lastly, it must be remembered that those indulging in athletic exercises of all kinds are presumably sound in heart as well as limb, and that such persons may take with impunity, and, indeed, with benefit, measures which would be distinctly harmful to the weakly.
induced
by the bath
MEDIÆVAL MEDICINE. THAT life is short and art long, opportunity transient and are truths which the experience of man has never contested since the days of Hippocrates and probably earlier, does not contest now, and, it may safely be prophesied, never will dispute. No less true is it, however, that the impatience of man is at least equal to the transiency of his - opportunities, and in all ages, disregarding his infinite intellectual possibilities, he has tended to settle on the lees of - current dogma-theological, philosophical or scientific-and to solace himself with some approach to definite conclusions. Much has been laid to the charge of the odium ,t7zeolo icit7a in having delayed the march of inquiry in the Middle Ages, and there is, without doubt, some truth
judgment difficult,
lesson-that of patience-in order that a profession dealwith ing problems of life and of death as wide as nature itself the dogmatism of fixed ideas and ever hold aloft, avoid may as it does to-day, the standard of freedom of thought in the quest for truth. one
’--
THE SCARLET FEVER EPIDEMIC. ACCORDING to the -Ee7io, Lord Portman has made a noble contribution towards the solution of the problem of inadequate accommodation for fever patients by handing over two houses in Marylebone for the reception of such cases. Let us hope that the example will be followed by other influential members of the community pending a satisfactory solution of the difficulty either by the Legislature or by the Local Govern. ment Board. ____
SIR WILLIAM
HENRY
BROADBENT.
IT is
gratifying to see the announcement on the wedding Royal Highness the Duke of York and the Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, that Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to confer a Baronetcy of the United Kingdom upon Dr. William Henry Broadbent. It will be remembered that
day of
his
some two years ago, when the Duke of York suffered from an attack of typhoid fever, he was attended by Dr. Broadbent. This gracious act of Her Majesty will be heartily appreciated by the whole profession. --
A
SCOTCH
SHERIFF ON SORE-THROATS MEDICAL BILLS.
AND
SHERIFF CAMPBELL SMITH seems to have a low opinion of the intelligence of Englishwomen and of the uprightness of Scotch medical practitioners. He succeeded in condensing into a few sentences a great variety of disparaging, not to say insulting, observations in dealing with the claim of Dr. David Gardner of Paisley for 97s. 6d. in respect of a large number of professional visits in 1889 and 1890. He was specially eloquent on the unimportance of the existence of rashes on a baby’s feet and of sore-throat-two complaints for which it is quite possible that many serious visits would have to be paid even in Scotland. He adverted on the imprudence of calling in a medical man for such trifling complaints-an imprudence which was explained by the defender’s wife being an Englishwoman. He was kind enough to allow ;E3for shoe-leather and 15s. for expenses. No wonder that Scottish medical men are so ready to take their talents to other countries, where the treatment of skin eruptions and sore-throats is more appreciated.
in the assertion. We question, however, whether this would have been so powerful an impediment as it proved, had it not been for the impatience of men which gave rise to theories or opinions in which their originators could scarcely themselves have believed, for had the mediaeval man had the conviction of honest belief it is scarcely credible that mere scholastic repression would have proved so potent ;a drag on the wheels of progressive reason as it did. In an article in the Nineteenth Century Mr. E. A. King brings to light many of the empirical remedies which were current in the Middle Ages. There seems reason for thinking that a certain proportion of these were based on the theory of sugCONVERSAZIONE AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF .gestion. Thus a coward using a portion of the skin of a lion SURGEONS. might gain courage from a recollection of the fearlessness of THE Jubilee of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surthe original owner of the skin, although how a quartan ague could be cured by laying the Fourth Book of Homer’s Iliad geons of England was celebrated by a Conversazione in the on the head of the patient is more difficult to imagine. On College buildings on Wednesday evening the 5th inst. The the other hand, that frogs should be good for ague seems to guests were received by the President, Mr. Thomas Bryant, be quite as rational an induction as that willows should be the Vice-Presidents and some of the members of the Council in good for rheumatism. Yet salicin has proved of use in the the new large museum. The chief attraction of the evening latter disease. The age of the empiric is the age of the was the collection of Hunterian relics in the library, arranged - charlatan, and it is not matter of surprise that the quack by Mr. Bailey. This was most interesting and attracted conshould in these days have frequently been met with and siderable attention. The collection was arranged in excellent that his prevalence should havebrought discredit on the taste and in such a manner that no difficulty was experienced profession of medicine in general. Dramatists have too in seeing the various objects. Several microscopical preoften portrayed the physician only to point the finger parations, illustrating foraminifera and diatoms, and plates of jest or of scorn at him. It ismuch otherwise now, were shown in the council-room. The band of the Royal .although a great deal still remains to be done. The emanci- Engineers performed a selection of music during the pated reason of man has placed medicine in the van of evening, in the place of the Royal Artillery band, which Refreshments were the progressive professions, but the charlatan is not yet was detained at Buckingham Palace. extinct, nor is modern medicine quite devoid of that ad- served in the inner hall and common room. The arrangements hesion to fashion in thought which delayed the progress of for the reception were well thought out, and there was a medicine in the Middle Ages. Let us hope, however, that marked absence of the crush which was a noticeable feature the experience of the intervening ages has at least taught of former conversaziones, advantage having been taken of the