FACIAL PARALYSIS AT THE AGE OF EIGHT MONTHS.

692 not even the Dii majorum gentium " of modern medicine will grudge the applause due to the votary of those studies of whom it may be said’* Victrix

THE

causa

Diis

placuit,

sed victa Catoni! 1"

GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL.

A MEETING of the Executive Committee of the General Medical Council was held on Feb. 26tb, Dr. Donald MacAlister, the President, being in the chair. There were

present Sir Hugh R. Beevor, Sir John Batty Tuke, Sir Patrick Heron Watson, Sir Christopher J. Nixon, Sir William Thomson, Dr. P. H. Pye-Smith, Dr. A. H. Young, and Mr. C. S. Tomes. A considerable amount of routine business done. The treasurers laid before the Executive Committee the receipts and expenditure of the Council and its branch councils, its committees, and dental fund for the year 1905, with an approximate statement of assets The and liabilities upon the last day of that year. assets and liabilities ara very clearly set out and the general balance-sheet shows no very flourishing position. The effect of economical administration is obviously having influence, but as the Executive Committee at its meeting approved of the site committee taking steps for the enlargement of the council chamber by arranging for the erection of an addition thereto on the part of the site vacated by the Council’s tenants," the present position may not be long maintained. A table showing the results of the competitions in the Royal Army Medical Corps for the year was presented and has been referred to the General Medical Council for consideration. An application was heard from the Government of Nova Scotia that Part 2 of the Medical Act of 1886 might be applied to that province, and the Executive Committee held that the provisions of the revised statutes of Nova Scotia, 1900, with regard to the recognition of British qualifications afforded a just basis for medical reciprocity. was

LAY

SPECULATIONS ON PHYSIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS.

! be ten

if his dinner had originally weighed one pound, ten ounces if his dinner had weighed two pounds. But the waste products lost during the meal would be entirely due to respirable products which amount to about 50 per cent. of the whole output, so that the gain in the given time would be greater. Doubtless some confusion has arisen in the lay mind on this point from a consideration of the fact that 1akirg the prort and loss on a day’s account there i-! generally a slight gain in the case of a man who takes an abundant diet and at the same time rests, while in the case of a man who takes the same diet and leads an active out-door life there is invariably a slight loss at the end. Food is, of course, pirtaken of at a quicker rate than it is resolved into metabolic products and for a short time there must be a gain in weight due to this food, but sooner or later this gain is lost by the excretion of waste products. A charge of coal pitched into the furnace necessarily adds for a while weight to the steam engine, but sooner or later this gain is lost as the coal is consumed and converted into oxidised or waste products.

or

one

ounces

pound

FACIAL PARALYSIS AT THE

AGE

OF EIGHT

MONTHS. 1 the Archives of Pediatrics for January Dr. J. H. W. Rhein has published a case of paralysis of the facial nerve at an unusually early age. A female infant, aged eight months, was taken to hospital on Oct. 3rd, 1905. The history was that she was in good health until Sept. 23rd, when she developed an abscess under the chin on the right side. This was incised on the 26th and on the following day the mother noticed that the child was unable to close the right eye and that the mouth was drawn to the left. On examination complete right sided facial paralytis was found. Nothing else abnormal could be found in the nervous The paralysed muscles gave the reaction or other systems. of degeneration. Dr. Rhein thinks that the paralysis was due to extension of the inflammation to the nerve from the abscess. Facial paralysis is rare under the age of ten years. Sir William Gowers states that he hasseen two cases in the second year of life. Sach,: mentions a case of rheumatic facial paralysis in a child aged nine months. Henoch reports a case in a child, aged two years, due to presume at the stylo-mastoid foramen by an abscess of the lymphatic glands of the neck.

THE discussion of physiological questions, and more particularly of those which relate to the digestibility, assimilability, and virtues of foods, is very often a feature of conversation at dinner and is suggested in fact by the process of dining itself. A good deal of physiological nonsense on these occasions is volunteered; many of the statements made are based on hearsay, while if there happens to be THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES. present one who has some professional knowledge of the THE munificent gift of .610,000 by the Goldsmiths’ subject he is largely appealed to by those who exhibit a great concern as to their physiological requirements. Company to the University of London towards the fund for Occasionally to the lay mind a knotty problem presents the Institute of Medical Sciences brings the realisation of itself and it is highly amusing to listen to the many views the policy of "concentration"" perceptibly nearer. As is which are expressed. Some views, it is true, are intelligent well known, the University has decided to establish, as soon but that is not always the case, nor can it reasonably be as funds are available, a school of preliminary medical science, expected. Our observations on this subject are prompted by including anatomy and physiology, at South Kensington. a question put to us by a lay correspondent who evidently Towards the building fund the contribution by the Goldwith others has had his soul vexed over a contention raised smiths’ Company is a substantial assistance and raises the at a social gathering as to whether the human body total sum promised or paid to more than one half of the weighs lighter or heavier after the partaking of a good meal. sum with which it has been provisionally decided that it This is not the first time by any means that this question would be prudent to commence building operations. The has been put to us and we have not the slightest doubt dtlay, which has been inevitable considering the condithat it has been propounded to many a medical man by his tion of the money market and the uneducated condition of patients. The answer is, of course, simple, for as a rule possible donors with regard to the needs of medical educathe weight of food ingested in a given time greatly tion, cannot be regarded as altogtther unfortunate. The exceeds the output during that time of waste products’. idea of conducting the teaching of anatomy and physiology Thus a man may consume for dinner a pound or two in institutions apart from hospitals, eminently desirable as it pounds of food in, say, an hour. In that time his is from the point of view of hygiene, was a novel one to the average loss by the excretion of waste products would majority of medical teachers in London and time was be about six ounces from all sources, so that during required to familiarise them with it. Whilst the teachers the time of the meal he would be adding to his weight by have been gradually appreciating the advantages of conthe weight of the dinner less the weight of the waste centration from the point of view of efficiency and economy products excreted. The net gain in weight would therefore of teaching, the governors of the hospitals concerned have