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ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, DUBLIN.
693 tended houses.
upwards of
seven miles from the medical officers’ There were 205 districts with populations exceeding 15,000, and 627 districts were held by 291 medical officers. There were 266 medical officers who attended from 1000 to 10,000 cases annually, making on the whole 1493 appointments, or one-third of the whole, contrary to the general orders of the Department. He showed that this acting contrary to the general regulations had been on the increase since Mr. Griffin wrote on the subject in 1857, and he specially drew attention to the case at Birmingham, where, in spite of representations direct to the Department, districts containing 50,000 persons had been assigned to one medical officer, and only one central dispensary had been erected for a population of nearly 250,000. He adduced other cases in which the Department had sanctioned, and continued to sanction, the violation of its own orders in matters affecting medical relief. He proceeded to state that where ;’pauperism which resulted from sickness most abounded, there the provision to meet that sickness was most inadequate, and he advocated the Irish system, as decreasing pauperism, as increasing the health of the population, and as giving contentment to the medical profession. He then asked the attention of the meeting to the views of the hon. member for Suffolk. Mr. CORRANCE, M.P., said the Bill, the heads of which he was going to submit that evening, had occupied him for some time. He knew it was not a complete measure, and it did not pretend to be complete ; but it had been proposed with the object of dealing with the inequalities of our present system, and the proposed Bill had been framed’ with the aid of the practical knowledge of gentlemen ol eminence in the profession. The hon. gentleman thenL enumerated the principal features of the Irish Poor-law Act, and described the means he proposed to adopt to amendL what he did not like in that measure; as, for instance, he’ would amend the mode of appointing the committee, the! mode of issuing tickets for medical relief, the appointmeni of visiting physicians, and other points of a like character; and on these matters of detail he said practical points couldl be worked out. In the course of the debate which followed, Dr. STALLARI) urged the importance of having thorough inspection of aliL medical relief by competent physicians, and the necessityr of forming the machinery for the prosecution of persons who undeservedly, or not being necessitous, obtained medical relief. He thought a defined offence should bt made of any case where a person obtained relief with. out being a fit subject for it, and said that as matters stood a regular traffic was carried on in hospital stores obtained by patients-cod-liver oil and such things being sold at thE very doors of the hospitals. He also urged that somt means should be taken for giving poor people the means of obtaining medical assistance without appealing to the law, and as the result of their own provident habits. Mr. BENSON BAKER, in dealing with a suggestion thai only eminent men should be selected to fill chief offices. urged that the Poor-law service should be placed ons footing analogous to the Army and Navy medical services in which there was only entry after proved fitness, and ther followed by promotion. If that were the case in the Poor law service it would be a place of honour, and would b( ! much sought after; and surely, he said, it was as im portant that the health of the general population should b( ! regarded as that the soldiers and sailors should have prope: medical treatment. Mr. CORRANCE pointed out that his Bill comprised all th( , means which could be attained by an Act of Parliament and he expressed his willingness to modify one or two points The Bill was unanimously approved, and the meeting ’ concluded with cordial thanks to Mr. Corrance and to the .
’
.
.
,
,
.
and when life is not threatened, to prevent deformity, or loss of any useful sense or function. Secondly, to discover the sources and causes of disease, and suggest some means by which it may be prevented. So various are these diseases that a division of labour is made with very great advantage. In all cities the profession is divided into surgeons and physicians, the line of separation being hard to be defined. Besides these two chief divisions there are specialties which, if not carried too far, secure greater efficiency by a further division of labour. He considered that obstetricians and ophthalmic surgeons as specialists were of advantage, but decried further subdivisions as a. source of weakness rather than of strength to the profession. Dr. Barton then referred to the humanity which ennobles our profession, and renders it worthy of our most ardent devotion. He impressed on his hearers that no differenceof rank or riches, of religion or irreligion, should interfere in the slightest degree with their care of those requiring their skill. Having dilated on the objects and scope of the profession, the lecturer proceeded to the subject of medical ethics, which were those principles of just dealing which should influence honourable men in their intercourse with one another and with the public. Speaking of fees, he said he believed that it was quite as much the real interest of
the public -as of the members of the profession that the scale of fees usually paid should be maintained at a high standard. The lecturer next turned his attention to the public departments, and after referring to the army and navy, said, as regarded dispensary appointments, that he was sorry to state that the dispensary doctor was still overworked and badly paid. After referring to the benefit to be obtained by constant attendance at hospital, not as. lookers on, but as active and zealous workers, giving help, and obtaining for future use priceless knowledge, the lecturer concluded by saying :=Gentlemen, my colleagues. in all the departments of -our hospital work, unite with me in bidding you a hearty welcome. We will give you all the help in our power. Nay, we want your help; for, as experience increases and knowledge widens, fresh observers,. with useful energy and time for careful research, are needed to extend the triumphs of our noble profession, and add fresh lustre to the world-wide fame of the Irish school of medicine."
MEATH HOSPITAL. THE inaugural address was delivered by Dr. FooT. Hecommenced by alluding to the fact that frequently of late years the opening sentences of the introductory addresses in this hospital had consisted of obituary notices, and expressed the general gratification which was felt that on this occasion the prelude was not to be pitched in a minor
key. Alluding to the conditions which have led students toregard these annual orations as the capital aflliction of human patience, while not expecting that he should escape their criticism in many particulars, he assured them that their ears should not be re-assailed with stock quotations from Bacon and the poets. Declining to handle any topics of intense professional interest, or even national importance, such as medical ethics, or state medicine, he preferred to
dedicate the occasion to the interest of the young students beginning to prepare themselves, by hospital attendance, for the future business of their lives. He advised them to devote themselves at first to the art or practical part of medicine, which could be learned nowhere but by the bedside of the sick, and nohow but by personal attendance on them, and written narratives of their illness. The courtesies of the sick-room-no mean accomplishment-were to be chairman. upheld here as well as in the chambers of the wealthy. High personal character-a most influential circumstance ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, DUBLIN. in deciding their future career, if now acquired, would prove a powerful segis in a life peculiarly assailed by THE introductory address at the opening of the session temptations’of various kinds, and would surround them 1871-72 was delivered by Dr. BARTON. After some intro- with an atmosphere pure enough to disinfect even the breath of calumny. " Work" was the password ductory remarks on the general use of hospitals, Dr. Barton1 pestilential to success, the key to unlock every difficulty, the thread of proceeded to point out that the medical profession has forr Ariadne in the maze of life; but work was not to be of an its first object to save lives from the effects of injury orr epileptic kind-in convulsive fits, followed by acute attacksdisease; failing this, to mitigate suffering and prolong life ;; of idleness, which did not exhaust their susceptibilities to ’
,
,
-
now
upwards of
seven miles from the medical officers’ There were 205 districts with populations exceeding 15,000, and 627 districts were held by 291 medical officers. There were 266 medical officers who attended from 1000 to 10,000 cases annually, making on the whole 1493 appointments, or one-third of the whole, contrary to the general orders of the Department. He showed that this acting contrary to the general regulations had been on the increase since Mr. Griffin wrote on the subject in 1857, and he specially drew attention to the case at Birmingham, where, in spite of representations direct to the Department, districts containing 50,000 persons had been assigned to one medical officer, and only one central dispensary had been erected for a population of nearly 250,000. He adduced other cases in which the Department had sanctioned, and continued to sanction, the violation of its own orders in matters affecting medical relief. He proceeded to state that where ;’pauperism which resulted from sickness most abounded, there the provision to meet that sickness was most inadequate, and he advocated the Irish system, as decreasing pauperism, as increasing the health of the population, and as giving contentment to the medical profession. He then asked the attention of the meeting to the views of the hon. member for Suffolk. Mr. CORRANCE, M.P., said the Bill, the heads of which he was going to submit that evening, had occupied him for some time. He knew it was not a complete measure, and it did not pretend to be complete ; but it had been proposed with the object of dealing with the inequalities of our present system, and the proposed Bill had been framed’ with the aid of the practical knowledge of gentlemen ol eminence in the profession. The hon. gentleman thenL enumerated the principal features of the Irish Poor-law Act, and described the means he proposed to adopt to amendL what he did not like in that measure; as, for instance, he’ would amend the mode of appointing the committee, the! mode of issuing tickets for medical relief, the appointmeni of visiting physicians, and other points of a like character; and on these matters of detail he said practical points couldl be worked out. In the course of the debate which followed, Dr. STALLARI) urged the importance of having thorough inspection of aliL medical relief by competent physicians, and the necessityr of forming the machinery for the prosecution of persons who undeservedly, or not being necessitous, obtained medical relief. He thought a defined offence should bt made of any case where a person obtained relief with. out being a fit subject for it, and said that as matters stood a regular traffic was carried on in hospital stores obtained by patients-cod-liver oil and such things being sold at thE very doors of the hospitals. He also urged that somt means should be taken for giving poor people the means of obtaining medical assistance without appealing to the law, and as the result of their own provident habits. Mr. BENSON BAKER, in dealing with a suggestion thai only eminent men should be selected to fill chief offices. urged that the Poor-law service should be placed ons footing analogous to the Army and Navy medical services in which there was only entry after proved fitness, and ther followed by promotion. If that were the case in the Poor law service it would be a place of honour, and would b( ! much sought after; and surely, he said, it was as im portant that the health of the general population should b( ! regarded as that the soldiers and sailors should have prope: medical treatment. Mr. CORRANCE pointed out that his Bill comprised all th( , means which could be attained by an Act of Parliament and he expressed his willingness to modify one or two points The Bill was unanimously approved, and the meeting ’ concluded with cordial thanks to Mr. Corrance and to the .
’
.
.
,
,
.
and when life is not threatened, to prevent deformity, or loss of any useful sense or function. Secondly, to discover the sources and causes of disease, and suggest some means by which it may be prevented. So various are these diseases that a division of labour is made with very great advantage. In all cities the profession is divided into surgeons and physicians, the line of separation being hard to be defined. Besides these two chief divisions there are specialties which, if not carried too far, secure greater efficiency by a further division of labour. He considered that obstetricians and ophthalmic surgeons as specialists were of advantage, but decried further subdivisions as a. source of weakness rather than of strength to the profession. Dr. Barton then referred to the humanity which ennobles our profession, and renders it worthy of our most ardent devotion. He impressed on his hearers that no differenceof rank or riches, of religion or irreligion, should interfere in the slightest degree with their care of those requiring their skill. Having dilated on the objects and scope of the profession, the lecturer proceeded to the subject of medical ethics, which were those principles of just dealing which should influence honourable men in their intercourse with one another and with the public. Speaking of fees, he said he believed that it was quite as much the real interest of
the public -as of the members of the profession that the scale of fees usually paid should be maintained at a high standard. The lecturer next turned his attention to the public departments, and after referring to the army and navy, said, as regarded dispensary appointments, that he was sorry to state that the dispensary doctor was still overworked and badly paid. After referring to the benefit to be obtained by constant attendance at hospital, not as. lookers on, but as active and zealous workers, giving help, and obtaining for future use priceless knowledge, the lecturer concluded by saying :=Gentlemen, my colleagues. in all the departments of -our hospital work, unite with me in bidding you a hearty welcome. We will give you all the help in our power. Nay, we want your help; for, as experience increases and knowledge widens, fresh observers,. with useful energy and time for careful research, are needed to extend the triumphs of our noble profession, and add fresh lustre to the world-wide fame of the Irish school of medicine."
MEATH HOSPITAL. THE inaugural address was delivered by Dr. FooT. Hecommenced by alluding to the fact that frequently of late years the opening sentences of the introductory addresses in this hospital had consisted of obituary notices, and expressed the general gratification which was felt that on this occasion the prelude was not to be pitched in a minor
key. Alluding to the conditions which have led students toregard these annual orations as the capital aflliction of human patience, while not expecting that he should escape their criticism in many particulars, he assured them that their ears should not be re-assailed with stock quotations from Bacon and the poets. Declining to handle any topics of intense professional interest, or even national importance, such as medical ethics, or state medicine, he preferred to
dedicate the occasion to the interest of the young students beginning to prepare themselves, by hospital attendance, for the future business of their lives. He advised them to devote themselves at first to the art or practical part of medicine, which could be learned nowhere but by the bedside of the sick, and nohow but by personal attendance on them, and written narratives of their illness. The courtesies of the sick-room-no mean accomplishment-were to be chairman. upheld here as well as in the chambers of the wealthy. High personal character-a most influential circumstance ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, DUBLIN. in deciding their future career, if now acquired, would prove a powerful segis in a life peculiarly assailed by THE introductory address at the opening of the session temptations’of various kinds, and would surround them 1871-72 was delivered by Dr. BARTON. After some intro- with an atmosphere pure enough to disinfect even the breath of calumny. " Work" was the password ductory remarks on the general use of hospitals, Dr. Barton1 pestilential to success, the key to unlock every difficulty, the thread of proceeded to point out that the medical profession has forr Ariadne in the maze of life; but work was not to be of an its first object to save lives from the effects of injury orr epileptic kind-in convulsive fits, followed by acute attacksdisease; failing this, to mitigate suffering and prolong life ;; of idleness, which did not exhaust their susceptibilities to ’
,
,
-
now