BERMONDSEY GUARDIANS AND OUTDOOR MEDICAL RELIEF.

871 the advantages of open-air treatment for acute and Dr. Mabel Ramsay), 12 fully trained nurses. specific diseases (including small-pox, enteric cooks, orderlies, and electricians in charge of the

fever, and dysentery) should be recognised at the X ray apparatus. Sir Cecil Hertslet, British Minister at Antwerp, present time, for if the present war continues we are likely to have a great deal of such disease to had sent pressing messages to Mrs. Stobart to start treat, and a full recognition at once of the freedom at once, as the wounded were daily coming in and from risk and active advantage of this line of beds and all hospital equipment were badly needed. treatment for practically all classes of cases may be of the highest utility alike to the sick and the I am,

healthy.

Sir,

yours faithfully, PHILIP BOOBBYER.

MILITARY SANITATION. To the

Editor

ot

THE

LANCET.

The St. John Ambulance kindly gave every possible assistance and countenance to the unit. The hospital equipment for 130 beds was perfect in every way. Lady Cowdray had generously presented the necessary X ray apparatus. The Hampstead Garden Suburb subscribed £200 towards the equipment. Mrs. Warwick Hunt, besides fully equipping 25 beds, has made a handsome present of 166 pairs of sheets. Other generous donors are Mrs. Fagan, Mrs. Frederick Guest, and Miss Cunliffe. Sir Alfred Mond and Miss Donisthorpe are both making weekly donations towards the maintenance of the hospital, but further funds are urgently needed if we are to free the hardly pressed Belgian Red Cross of all

SIR,-There ample evidence in the crusade for and care as to water and inoculation, antityphoid soil purity in camps, that possibilities of epidemics of typhoid following embodiment of Territorials and the new army are being guarded against. Route marching, bivouacs, and manoeuvres by large numbers of men, however, imply chances of soil monetary responsibility. Donations, large or small, and indirect water contamination which camp all of which will be gratefully acknowledged, should arrangements will not meet in the case of troops, be sent to Lady Muir-Mackenzie, Women’s National whilst they especially render the civil population in Service League, 39, St. James’s-street, London, S.W. areas under military occupation liable to infection. T am Sir vnnra faithfully Under such conditions, the method of emergent THÉRÈSE MUIR-MACKENZIE. conservancy laid down in Deut. xxiii. 12, 13, should be of utility. In peace time, the addition of a spade per company of the pattern shown in the is

annexed

BERMONDSEY GUARDIANS AND OUTDOOR MEDICAL RELIEF. The

diagram should not be objec-

tionable as an extra weight. shaft can be made folding or removable. If the garden trowel-shaped portion of the spade be of steel with an edge, and on the shaft be arranged a proj ection at right angles (to enable pressure to be applied by the foot in thrusting) it should be possible, in readily penetrable soil, to make quickly numerous holes for defaecation purposes of 6 inches in diameter and 8 inches to 9 inches deep, by making two semi-circular cuts for each. If the removed soil be placed at the edge of the hole, a movement of the foot fills it in quickly after defaecation by squatting. The employment of a

pickaxe

or

crowbar

to

the

accomplish

same

work requires much time, and produces irregular results. In time of war, the use of the " entrenching tool" for this purpose might often be advantageous. If the user faces the little heaps of removed soil, even the objection to urine-borne microbes is largely met. I have used this cleanly, inodorous, and rapid method freely in the great gatherings which attend fairs and festivals in India. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, W. G.

KING,

Colonel I.M.S. (retired).

THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL SERVICE LEAGUE HOSPITAL. To the -Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-On Sunday afternoon last the Women’s National Service League sent a fully equipped hos-

pital

to

Antwerp

to

help

the

Belgian

Red Cross.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-I notice in THE LANCET of Sept. 26th an advertisement of the Bermondsey guardians for a whole-time medical officer to take the place of the old part-time district medical officers in that union, under a recent scheme sanctioned provisionally by the Local Government Board for five years. With your permission, I should like to draw the attention of intending candidates to certain drawbacks that do not appear on the face of the This scheme has been strongly advertisement. condemned (1) by the local profession, as represented by the Camberwell Division of the British Medical Association’; and (2) by the Poor-law Medical Service of England and Wales, as represented by our association. Although the salary offered may appear generous as compared with some Poor-law salaries, there are conditions attached that very considerably diminish its value. Deductions pnoportionate to the salary have to be made under the Poor-law Officers Superannuation Act. As there is no security of tenure for the medical officer these deductions may never mature in the pension for which they are compulsorily levied. If returned on the officer’s dismissal, or the determination of his office, their insurance value at all events will be entirely lost; and in the case of a young married man such a contingency ought not to be overlooked. By the Poor-law Orders medical officers of the kind advertised for are not recognised. The Poor-law Orders know only district medical officers and workhouse medical officers, medical superintendents of infirmaries being included in the latter category. Both of these classes are

given security of tenure,

and

are

not

entirely

at

Mrs. St. Clair Stobart, whose recent experience as the mercy of the guardians. a prisoner in the hands of the Germans has been At the inception of this scheme the Poor-law the subject of much press comment, was in charge Medical Officers’ Association approached the Local of the unit, which consisted of six women doctors Government Board and strongly urged the equity

(Dr. Florence Stoney, Dr. H. B. Hanson, Dr. Rose Turner, Dr. Emily Morris, Dr. Joan Watts,

and surgeons

of putting these new medical officers, who take the place of the old district medical

were

to

officers,

872 under the protection of the Poor-law Orders, but without success. It only remains, therefore, that all medical practitioners who accept such posts as these should at least understand fully the responsibilities they are taking upon themselves. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, MAJOR GREENWOOD, Honorary Secretary, Poor-law Medical Officers’ Association of

such

article after

becoming accustomed to its must often have to choose troops between such a course and continuing to suffer considerable local irritation and discomfort. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, J. COOTE HIBBERT. an

use, but the

Public Health Office, Blackburn, Sept. 25th, 1914.

England and Wales.

HELICON. To the Editor ot THE LANCET.

To t7te Editor of THE LANCET.

THE LANCET of last week appears an advertisement from the parish of Bermondsey for a medical officer whose duties shall consist of "attending to the sick poor of the parish in the institutions or in their own homes under the direction of the medical superintendent of the infirmary." Might I suggest to any intending applicants to make a searching inquiry as to whether the conditions of this advertisement are applicable to the appointment of district medical officer under the Poor-law-i.e., whether the officer appointed is in reality an officer of the Poor-law at all with all the advantages of permanency of office and a prospective pension, or whether in reality he should not have been advertised for as an assistant to the medical superintendent of the infirmary, liable at the caprice of that officer or even of some member of the board of guardians to have his appointment determined at short notice without compensation of any kind whatever. I see the advertisement asks for an experienced man. Can any experienced responsible man be found capable of being tempted even by the bait of a fairly adequate salary to accept such conditions ? I also see preference will be given to a married man. Will any married man be found to risk his whole future and that of his wife and family on such a

SIR,-In

doubtful

speculation ? Reading the account

of the meeting of the Poorlaw Medical Officers’ Association in the issue of the Poor-law Officers’ Journal for Sept. 18th, p. 1229, it is there stated that the Local Government Board only gave its sanction to this appointment on a "five years’ trial." This is not stated in the advertisement. Was the omission accidental? Anyhow, to intending applicants I would say, Beware ! I am, Sir, yours faithfully, D. M. O.

CHOLERA BELTS. To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-I pleased to see the advertisement of Helicon " in your issue of last week. I find that helicon and aspirin are identically the same. Now is the time. Prescribe helicon and put money into English pockets and not aspirin and money in German pockets. This is to be a war of endurance, and the length of the purse will I am, Sir, yours faithfully, settle it. Hove, Sept. 28th, 1914. EDWARD TREVES, M.R.C.S.Eng. am

"

The question is not perfectly simple. Application made this week to the Comptroller-General of Patents with regard to a company of almost entirely German personnel formed to manufacture an article in Germany, where the manufacture had been transferred to England, all labour and material being now entirely English. The Comptroller said that it was not the Government policy to close all German concerns when they were carried on for the benefit of British labour. We have received from Mr. A. Newton, the present proprietor of Pneumosan, a statement that his is a British product, only British labour being used, and that the business will be carried on henceforth under the style of The Pneumosan Company.-ED. L.

***

was

TO THE SEAMEN’S HOSPITAL SOCIETY.Spencer Stidolph has presented to the Seamen’s Hospital Society the freehold property of Highbridge House, Greenwich. The building was originally a part of the Crown and Sceptre Inn, a resort of Charles Dickens. ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL.-At examinations held recently the following scholarships and exhibition were awarded :-Open scholarships in natural sciences : J. O’F. Fletcher, St. Mary’s College, Trinidad; W. F. Francis, Berkhamsted ; and H. E. Suter, Epsom College. University scholarships : J. W. G. Phillips, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School; and T. S. Evans, University College, Cardiff. University exhibition: R. A. Woodhouse, Downing College, Cambridge. Epsom college scholarship (by nomination) : R. L. Walker. COUNTY TYRONE TUBERCULOSIS COMMITTEE.The Irish Local Government Board have advised the County Tyrone Tuberculosis Committee not to provide a large residence for their medical officer, but the committee have

GIFT

Mrs. E.

SIR,-As considerable time is at present being decided to recommend the county council to borrow .E1350 spent in making so-called " cholera beltsfor the to do so, the conditions being that the doqtor is to pay £45 troops, it would be interesting to obtain the opinion annually as rent. It was also decided to request the joint of your readers as to the usefulness of these committee of Cookstown, and Dungannon to fall Castlederg, In eastern climates these abdominal articles.

belts in with a suggestion that the fever cases in Cookstown believe, considered to be some protection Hospital should be transferred to Dungannon Fever Hospital, against certain intestinal disorders, and their and that the former building should be utilised for the designation, I presume, suggests that they are even isolation of advanced tuberculous cases. of some service in warding off cholera. THE PREMIER AT PEAMOUNT SANATORIUM.-Last Whatever may be their usefulness under certain Saturday morning Mr. Asquith occupied the few hours at conditions, I feel certain that their disadvantages his disposal before his return to England from Dublin by outweigh their advantages for troops on active a visit to Peamount, the sanatorium maintained in county service. Experience in South Africa showed that Dublin by the Women’s National Health Association. The unless frequently changed, which is an impossi- Prime Minister motored to Peamount in company with their Excellencies the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of bility for troops at the front, they soon teem with Aberdeen. The inspected the sanatorium, and Mr. vermin. become with soaked They perspiration Asquith declared party a new pavilion for children open. Thi and rucked up during exertion and form an uncom- is the first accommodation for children in any special fortable damp girdle which has a tendency to cause sanatorium in Ireland. It was reported that two male local chill during subsequent rest. There is, more- patients who had been in the reserves had so far recovered over, a definite danger in suddenly dispensing with as to be able to join their regiments for active service. are, I