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DERMATOSES FOLLOWING MENTAL SHOOK.
736 UNWHOLESOME BATH-ROOMS. IN
last issue we had occasion to refer to some of the advantages of cold bathing in suitable cases. An unfortunate occurrence, which was lately the subject of a coroner’s inquest, may now serve to introduce some remarks on the hygiene of the bath-room, with special reference to its frequent abuse when warm water is the means of ,ablution. About a fortnight since, a gentleman aged seventy-four years was found sitting dead in a warm bath, which he had entered a short time previously. According to the medical evidence, death was due to syncope, induced in all probability by the heat of the room. Here doubtless a predisposing cause was also at work-namely, the advanced age of the deceased, which would render him the more susceptible to the always rather depressing influence of warm bathing. Add to these unfavourable, if unavoidable, conditions the presence of a stifling, steam-laden atmosphere, and we need not feel surprised at a statement by the coroner that deaths in similar circumstances are not Now that almost every house of moderate uncommon. rental has its bath-room, the size and ventilation of these apartments are matters of some importance. There is too great a tendency to think that any odd corner may be used for this purpose, that the first and only necessity is to have the required water supply laid on, and that for the short time during which the bath is used the quality of atmosphere is quite a secondary matter. It should not need the teaching - of a series of fatal accidents to impress an opposite principle. Clearly a room which in course of use becomes rapidly charged with water vapour should exceed rather than come -short of the minimum cubic space (say 800 cubic feet) required for each inmate of a normally constructed house. With regard to ventilation, ancient prejudices in favour of closed doors and windows, and solid walls have to be combated. These have, however, been pretty generally overcome in the case of sitting-rooms and bedrooms, and should not prove insuperable in the case of the bath-room. There is no necessity for the introduction of cold air from without, for a sufficiently pure atmosphere can usually be - obtained from the interior of the house, and an outlet funnel with revolving cowl is all that is required for extraction of the old air and excess of water vapour. Seeing, therefore, that the remedies are apparent, we may hope that in future builders and householders will agree to employ them against the now too evident risks oi a warm bath at home. our
copious as ever. Two or three drops of Fowler’s solution of arsenic three times a day soon worked a marvellous improvement, which it was evident was really due to the as
was intermitted for a time the eruption returned. 3. A married woman had a quarrel with her husband, who struck her on the cheek with Four days afterwards an eruption came out en ths a key. the hands, and the feet. This eruption had the wrists, characters of Hebra’s multiform exudative erythema, and was accompanied by intense itching. On the lips there was a vesicular tumefied eruption, and patches on the tongue. The whole disappeared in three weeks.
arsenic, for twice when the medicine
THE LONDON HOSPITAL. ON the llth inst. the Lord Mayor presided over a public meeting held at the Mansion House in aid of the third quinquennial maintenance appeal on behalf of the London Hospital. The first resolution, which was to the effect that the London Hospital-the only large general hospital for the whole of the East-end and the adjacent suburbs-is of vital importance to the working population there, and worthy of the liberal support of all classes, was moved by the Duke of Cambridge, seconded by Sir R. Fowler, M.P., supported by the Rev. J. Kitto, and carried unanimously. A second resolution, pledging the meeting to do all in their power to aid in raising the necessary funds, was proposed by Mr. M. W. Collet (Governor of the Bank of England), seconded by Sir E. H. Currie, and agreed to. It was decided to form a committee of appeal to carry on the work of the special fund; and to their labours, considering that the assured income of the hospital is only £16,480, and that the ordinary annual expenditure exceeds £50,800, we cordially wish success. In the course of the proceedings on the 11th inst. the secretary announced the receipt of subscriptions and donations amounting to upwards of .E6500.
RAILWAY HOURS. THE return obtained by Earl de la Warr of weekly-paid railway servants who in the months of July, 1886, and January, 1887, were on duty for more than twelve hours at a time, reveals a vast amount of overwork which in the public interest, as well as in the interest of the men immediately concerned, ought to be avoided. It is shocking to think that the highly responsible duty devolving upon a signalman or an engine-driver in charge of a passenger train should some-
times be confided to the hands of a man who has been working for upwards of eighteen hours at a stretch, Yet this appears from the return to be a far from uncommon further instances of dermatoses following mental shock to occurrence. ( To take, for example, the Great Eastern Railthe case of purpura h2amorrhagica recently described by , In way. January of last year this company had a staff of Professor E. de Smet. 1. An unmarried lady who had been 1324 ] engine-drivers and firemen. Of these men 1101 were present when a man armed with a spade -violently attackedengaged E during the month on one or more occasions another man was much upset by the sight, and did not regain jfor more than twelve hours continuously, and among them her accustomed composure for some days. Three weeks laterthese 1104 men made a record of 1470 instances of continuous bullse presented themselves on different parts of the body, duty exceeding eighteen hours. Indeed, during the month and before long the entire cutaneous surface was covered every one of these over worked men was kept to duty for more with an eruption, having the characters of foliaceous than twelve hours on thirteen days upon an average; while pemphigus, accompanied by incessant pruritus. Arsenic, no fewer than 368 were "permitted" to resume duty after quinine, and other remedies exercised but little effect, or at one of these long stretches of labour after a shorter interval least only a temporary one, for the patient succumbed after than eight hours’ rest. Yet the Great Eastern is by no means four years in a state of marasmus. 2. A little girl of ten an exceptional railway. All the great companies exact work was with difficulty saved from a burning house. From on something like the same scale, and many of the smaller that time her appetite became bad, and she was haunted companies are even worse. Facts like these do not call for by constant nightmares and visions of houses on fire. A comment; comment could only weaken their effect. They month afterwards a pemphigoid eruption made its appearance call for indignation, and indignation is exactly the feeling on the nose. It spread to the mouth and then disappeared. which they awaken in an unprejudiced reader’s mind. Itis it again manifested itself, covering a true that some of the companies seek by explanations to however, Shortly, large part of the body. Iron and quinine appeared to be of reduce the effect of the exposure which they have been combut little service, for in nine months’ time the eruption was pelled to make. Thus, the manager of the London and North DERMATOSES FOLLOWING MENTAL SHOOK.
last issue we had occasion to refer to some of the advantages of cold bathing in suitable cases. An unfortunate occurrence, which was lately the subject of a coroner’s inquest, may now serve to introduce some remarks on the hygiene of the bath-room, with special reference to its frequent abuse when warm water is the means of ,ablution. About a fortnight since, a gentleman aged seventy-four years was found sitting dead in a warm bath, which he had entered a short time previously. According to the medical evidence, death was due to syncope, induced in all probability by the heat of the room. Here doubtless a predisposing cause was also at work-namely, the advanced age of the deceased, which would render him the more susceptible to the always rather depressing influence of warm bathing. Add to these unfavourable, if unavoidable, conditions the presence of a stifling, steam-laden atmosphere, and we need not feel surprised at a statement by the coroner that deaths in similar circumstances are not Now that almost every house of moderate uncommon. rental has its bath-room, the size and ventilation of these apartments are matters of some importance. There is too great a tendency to think that any odd corner may be used for this purpose, that the first and only necessity is to have the required water supply laid on, and that for the short time during which the bath is used the quality of atmosphere is quite a secondary matter. It should not need the teaching - of a series of fatal accidents to impress an opposite principle. Clearly a room which in course of use becomes rapidly charged with water vapour should exceed rather than come -short of the minimum cubic space (say 800 cubic feet) required for each inmate of a normally constructed house. With regard to ventilation, ancient prejudices in favour of closed doors and windows, and solid walls have to be combated. These have, however, been pretty generally overcome in the case of sitting-rooms and bedrooms, and should not prove insuperable in the case of the bath-room. There is no necessity for the introduction of cold air from without, for a sufficiently pure atmosphere can usually be - obtained from the interior of the house, and an outlet funnel with revolving cowl is all that is required for extraction of the old air and excess of water vapour. Seeing, therefore, that the remedies are apparent, we may hope that in future builders and householders will agree to employ them against the now too evident risks oi a warm bath at home. our
copious as ever. Two or three drops of Fowler’s solution of arsenic three times a day soon worked a marvellous improvement, which it was evident was really due to the as
was intermitted for a time the eruption returned. 3. A married woman had a quarrel with her husband, who struck her on the cheek with Four days afterwards an eruption came out en ths a key. the hands, and the feet. This eruption had the wrists, characters of Hebra’s multiform exudative erythema, and was accompanied by intense itching. On the lips there was a vesicular tumefied eruption, and patches on the tongue. The whole disappeared in three weeks.
arsenic, for twice when the medicine
THE LONDON HOSPITAL. ON the llth inst. the Lord Mayor presided over a public meeting held at the Mansion House in aid of the third quinquennial maintenance appeal on behalf of the London Hospital. The first resolution, which was to the effect that the London Hospital-the only large general hospital for the whole of the East-end and the adjacent suburbs-is of vital importance to the working population there, and worthy of the liberal support of all classes, was moved by the Duke of Cambridge, seconded by Sir R. Fowler, M.P., supported by the Rev. J. Kitto, and carried unanimously. A second resolution, pledging the meeting to do all in their power to aid in raising the necessary funds, was proposed by Mr. M. W. Collet (Governor of the Bank of England), seconded by Sir E. H. Currie, and agreed to. It was decided to form a committee of appeal to carry on the work of the special fund; and to their labours, considering that the assured income of the hospital is only £16,480, and that the ordinary annual expenditure exceeds £50,800, we cordially wish success. In the course of the proceedings on the 11th inst. the secretary announced the receipt of subscriptions and donations amounting to upwards of .E6500.
RAILWAY HOURS. THE return obtained by Earl de la Warr of weekly-paid railway servants who in the months of July, 1886, and January, 1887, were on duty for more than twelve hours at a time, reveals a vast amount of overwork which in the public interest, as well as in the interest of the men immediately concerned, ought to be avoided. It is shocking to think that the highly responsible duty devolving upon a signalman or an engine-driver in charge of a passenger train should some-
times be confided to the hands of a man who has been working for upwards of eighteen hours at a stretch, Yet this appears from the return to be a far from uncommon further instances of dermatoses following mental shock to occurrence. ( To take, for example, the Great Eastern Railthe case of purpura h2amorrhagica recently described by , In way. January of last year this company had a staff of Professor E. de Smet. 1. An unmarried lady who had been 1324 ] engine-drivers and firemen. Of these men 1101 were present when a man armed with a spade -violently attackedengaged E during the month on one or more occasions another man was much upset by the sight, and did not regain jfor more than twelve hours continuously, and among them her accustomed composure for some days. Three weeks laterthese 1104 men made a record of 1470 instances of continuous bullse presented themselves on different parts of the body, duty exceeding eighteen hours. Indeed, during the month and before long the entire cutaneous surface was covered every one of these over worked men was kept to duty for more with an eruption, having the characters of foliaceous than twelve hours on thirteen days upon an average; while pemphigus, accompanied by incessant pruritus. Arsenic, no fewer than 368 were "permitted" to resume duty after quinine, and other remedies exercised but little effect, or at one of these long stretches of labour after a shorter interval least only a temporary one, for the patient succumbed after than eight hours’ rest. Yet the Great Eastern is by no means four years in a state of marasmus. 2. A little girl of ten an exceptional railway. All the great companies exact work was with difficulty saved from a burning house. From on something like the same scale, and many of the smaller that time her appetite became bad, and she was haunted companies are even worse. Facts like these do not call for by constant nightmares and visions of houses on fire. A comment; comment could only weaken their effect. They month afterwards a pemphigoid eruption made its appearance call for indignation, and indignation is exactly the feeling on the nose. It spread to the mouth and then disappeared. which they awaken in an unprejudiced reader’s mind. Itis it again manifested itself, covering a true that some of the companies seek by explanations to however, Shortly, large part of the body. Iron and quinine appeared to be of reduce the effect of the exposure which they have been combut little service, for in nine months’ time the eruption was pelled to make. Thus, the manager of the London and North DERMATOSES FOLLOWING MENTAL SHOOK.