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LEPROSY: A SELF-HEALING DISEASE.
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properties secured by this treatment, but there is no evidence to justify a finding that this woman did not actually and honestly believe in the success of that treatment or that she did, in undertaking to treat people, do it with the intention of defrauding them." The judge then directed the jury to return a verdict of Not guilty.—ED. L.
Obituary.
BERNARD HARRY WEDD, M.D. LoND., D.P.H. Dr. B. H. Wedd, former bacteriologist to the London School of Tropical Medicine, died on Jan. 28th. in Ceylon, at the age of 47. He was the fourth son of the late H. A. Wedd, of the Manor House, WoodLEPROSY: A SELF-HEALING DISEASE. mansterne, Surrey, and was educated at Harrow. Tothe Editor of THE LANCET. In 1898 he entered Guy’s Hospital, and graduated in SIR,—In his paper with this title in your issue of 1903, obtaining the M.D. in 1906 and the D.P.H. in Peb. 9th Dr. Ernest lTuir says that the significance 1907. After holding various hospital appointments, of the fact that leprosy shows a tendency to spon- he became assistant bacteriologist at Guy’s ; this was taneous recovery in many cases does not appear to followed by his appointment as bacteriologist to the havebeen realised by modern writers on leprosy. In Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. From 1910-13 my Survey of Leprosy (Quarterly Rev,iew, April, 1903, he was assistant in the Cancer Research Laboratories No. 394, p. 407) I mentioned that"’ it cannot be denied of the Middlesex Hospital, and during those years he that leprosy may be cured, or at least may become published several papers of importance on the subject cancer. In 1914 he became bacteriologist to the spontaneously arrested in its development and of London School of Tropical Medicine. He was jointly flicker out."—I am, Sir, yours faithfully, responsible with his sister, Miss A. F. Wedd, for the GEORGE PERNET, M.D., English translation of Duclaux’s " Pasteur and His Late English Editor of Lepra, the International Le2A-a, At the outbreak of war he joined the Work." Journal for Leprosy. London, W., Feb. 14th, 1924. R.A.M.C., and went to the front in the 23rd Field Ambulance with the famous Seventh Division, ADVERTISING MARGARINE: A DISCLAIMER. remaining in France, with one interval of a few months’ sick-leave, until demobilised in the spring To the Editor of THE LANCET. of 1919. His always delicate constitution never SIR,—Some of your readers may have noticed that recovered from the strain of those five years, and it a, certain firm of margarine vendors have recently was during a visit to Ceylon, undertaken for the sake made use of my name in their advertisements. Such of his health, that he died. Mr. Bryden Glendining writes as follows : " The action was, I need hardly say, entirely unauthorised and unwarranted, and I took prompt steps to put many former colleagues of the late B. H. Wedd will I have since received an apology from have learnt of his recent death with sincere regret. a stop to it. the advertising agents who were responsible and a His work in the bacteriological laboratories of several hospitals and in the Middlesex cancer laboratories promise not to offend again. His was marked by an unusual depth of sincerity. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, ideal of research made him very critical of the high C. KILLICK MILLARD, of his own work. so that much was never Medical Officer of Health, Leicester. Feb. llth, 1924. published, because it failed to attain completeness or required more control experiments than he was able SPA TREATMENT AND HYDROGEN-ION to provide. A man of retiring disposition, he formed few real friendships, but these few friends found his CONCENTRATION OF THE BLOOD. devotion to their service unstinted and his loyalty To the Editor of THE LANCET. and kindness abiding. He brought an incisive acumen SIR,—My attention has been directed by the Buxton to bear upon any subject under discussion, and had Medical Research Society to a leading article in an astonishingly wide range of general knowledge. THE LANCET of Dec. 22nd, 1923, headed Spa Treat- His strength of character first revealed itself to me ment and Diuresis, in which it is stated :" Thus it during an acute attack of rheumatic fever, with was suggested by one speaker that some spa waters extensive cardiac complications, soon after he qualireduce the hydrogen-ion concentration of the blood, fied. He struggled for weeks with uncomplaining fortitude in what seemed a hopeless battle, but to an effect which would, in the view of eminent physiologists, be rapidly fatal if it were possible of achieve- everyone’s surprise he was again playing tennis, golf, The point that you desired to emphasise was, and hockey, at all of which he excelled, a few months ment." 1 presume, that large variations in the pH of the later." blood are impossible without fatal results. With this JACQUES LOEB, M.D. STRASB. I entirely agree, and in my remarks to the meeting I Dr. J. Loeb, head of the Division of Physiology in .said, for although possible variations in the pH are Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New quite small, an increase from 7.25 to 7.35 ....." I think that no physiologist would venture to state that a died at Hamilton, Bermuda, on Feb. 12tb, variation of 01 is impossible. The recent observations after a brief illness, in his sixty-sixth year. Born in of Cullen and Robinson1 show variations of even Berlin in 1859 he received his early education there. greater magnitude. In a subsequent paper2 they He studied medicine at the universities of Berlin, mention cases with recovery from acidosis in which the Munich, and Strasbourg, graduating M.D. in 1884. pH values at 33°C. were 6-98 and 7.02. The variations His first appointment was as assistant in physiology from the normal in these cases are three to four times at the University of Wlirzburg, returning at the end greater than the one that I mentioned. A fact that is of two years to a similar post in Strasbourg. In not generally appreciated is that a variation of 0.1 in 1891, after a short period of study at the Biological the pH is considerable although it does not appear so Station at Naples, he went to the United States as on account of the mode of expression usually adopted. professor of biology at’ Bryn Mawr College. The Thus pH 7.35 represents a hydrogen-ion concentration following year he became assistant to the professor of 0.45×10—7, and pH 7 .2.5 one of 0 vb X 10 -’, a of physiology in Chicago University, whom lie sucdifference of nearly 25 per cent. This is really con- ceeded in the chair in 1900. Three years later he siderable although the variation in the pH appears became professor of physiology in the University of I am. Sir. yours faithfully, quite small. California, where he remained for seven years until JOSEPH RACE, his appointment in 1910 as head of the Department Biochemist. Biochemist. of Experimental Biology at the Rockefeller Institute. Devonshire Hospital, B llxton, Feb. 8th, 1924. New York. As a physiologist Prof. Loeb enjoyed He was the recipient 1 Jour. Biol. Chem., lvii., p. 540. an international reputation. 2 Ibid., p. 551. of honorary degrees froul Cambridge, (Geneva, -
standard
"
the
York,
properties secured by this treatment, but there is no evidence to justify a finding that this woman did not actually and honestly believe in the success of that treatment or that she did, in undertaking to treat people, do it with the intention of defrauding them." The judge then directed the jury to return a verdict of Not guilty.—ED. L.
Obituary.
BERNARD HARRY WEDD, M.D. LoND., D.P.H. Dr. B. H. Wedd, former bacteriologist to the London School of Tropical Medicine, died on Jan. 28th. in Ceylon, at the age of 47. He was the fourth son of the late H. A. Wedd, of the Manor House, WoodLEPROSY: A SELF-HEALING DISEASE. mansterne, Surrey, and was educated at Harrow. Tothe Editor of THE LANCET. In 1898 he entered Guy’s Hospital, and graduated in SIR,—In his paper with this title in your issue of 1903, obtaining the M.D. in 1906 and the D.P.H. in Peb. 9th Dr. Ernest lTuir says that the significance 1907. After holding various hospital appointments, of the fact that leprosy shows a tendency to spon- he became assistant bacteriologist at Guy’s ; this was taneous recovery in many cases does not appear to followed by his appointment as bacteriologist to the havebeen realised by modern writers on leprosy. In Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. From 1910-13 my Survey of Leprosy (Quarterly Rev,iew, April, 1903, he was assistant in the Cancer Research Laboratories No. 394, p. 407) I mentioned that"’ it cannot be denied of the Middlesex Hospital, and during those years he that leprosy may be cured, or at least may become published several papers of importance on the subject cancer. In 1914 he became bacteriologist to the spontaneously arrested in its development and of London School of Tropical Medicine. He was jointly flicker out."—I am, Sir, yours faithfully, responsible with his sister, Miss A. F. Wedd, for the GEORGE PERNET, M.D., English translation of Duclaux’s " Pasteur and His Late English Editor of Lepra, the International Le2A-a, At the outbreak of war he joined the Work." Journal for Leprosy. London, W., Feb. 14th, 1924. R.A.M.C., and went to the front in the 23rd Field Ambulance with the famous Seventh Division, ADVERTISING MARGARINE: A DISCLAIMER. remaining in France, with one interval of a few months’ sick-leave, until demobilised in the spring To the Editor of THE LANCET. of 1919. His always delicate constitution never SIR,—Some of your readers may have noticed that recovered from the strain of those five years, and it a, certain firm of margarine vendors have recently was during a visit to Ceylon, undertaken for the sake made use of my name in their advertisements. Such of his health, that he died. Mr. Bryden Glendining writes as follows : " The action was, I need hardly say, entirely unauthorised and unwarranted, and I took prompt steps to put many former colleagues of the late B. H. Wedd will I have since received an apology from have learnt of his recent death with sincere regret. a stop to it. the advertising agents who were responsible and a His work in the bacteriological laboratories of several hospitals and in the Middlesex cancer laboratories promise not to offend again. His was marked by an unusual depth of sincerity. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, ideal of research made him very critical of the high C. KILLICK MILLARD, of his own work. so that much was never Medical Officer of Health, Leicester. Feb. llth, 1924. published, because it failed to attain completeness or required more control experiments than he was able SPA TREATMENT AND HYDROGEN-ION to provide. A man of retiring disposition, he formed few real friendships, but these few friends found his CONCENTRATION OF THE BLOOD. devotion to their service unstinted and his loyalty To the Editor of THE LANCET. and kindness abiding. He brought an incisive acumen SIR,—My attention has been directed by the Buxton to bear upon any subject under discussion, and had Medical Research Society to a leading article in an astonishingly wide range of general knowledge. THE LANCET of Dec. 22nd, 1923, headed Spa Treat- His strength of character first revealed itself to me ment and Diuresis, in which it is stated :" Thus it during an acute attack of rheumatic fever, with was suggested by one speaker that some spa waters extensive cardiac complications, soon after he qualireduce the hydrogen-ion concentration of the blood, fied. He struggled for weeks with uncomplaining fortitude in what seemed a hopeless battle, but to an effect which would, in the view of eminent physiologists, be rapidly fatal if it were possible of achieve- everyone’s surprise he was again playing tennis, golf, The point that you desired to emphasise was, and hockey, at all of which he excelled, a few months ment." 1 presume, that large variations in the pH of the later." blood are impossible without fatal results. With this JACQUES LOEB, M.D. STRASB. I entirely agree, and in my remarks to the meeting I Dr. J. Loeb, head of the Division of Physiology in .said, for although possible variations in the pH are Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New quite small, an increase from 7.25 to 7.35 ....." I think that no physiologist would venture to state that a died at Hamilton, Bermuda, on Feb. 12tb, variation of 01 is impossible. The recent observations after a brief illness, in his sixty-sixth year. Born in of Cullen and Robinson1 show variations of even Berlin in 1859 he received his early education there. greater magnitude. In a subsequent paper2 they He studied medicine at the universities of Berlin, mention cases with recovery from acidosis in which the Munich, and Strasbourg, graduating M.D. in 1884. pH values at 33°C. were 6-98 and 7.02. The variations His first appointment was as assistant in physiology from the normal in these cases are three to four times at the University of Wlirzburg, returning at the end greater than the one that I mentioned. A fact that is of two years to a similar post in Strasbourg. In not generally appreciated is that a variation of 0.1 in 1891, after a short period of study at the Biological the pH is considerable although it does not appear so Station at Naples, he went to the United States as on account of the mode of expression usually adopted. professor of biology at’ Bryn Mawr College. The Thus pH 7.35 represents a hydrogen-ion concentration following year he became assistant to the professor of 0.45×10—7, and pH 7 .2.5 one of 0 vb X 10 -’, a of physiology in Chicago University, whom lie sucdifference of nearly 25 per cent. This is really con- ceeded in the chair in 1900. Three years later he siderable although the variation in the pH appears became professor of physiology in the University of I am. Sir. yours faithfully, quite small. California, where he remained for seven years until JOSEPH RACE, his appointment in 1910 as head of the Department Biochemist. Biochemist. of Experimental Biology at the Rockefeller Institute. Devonshire Hospital, B llxton, Feb. 8th, 1924. New York. As a physiologist Prof. Loeb enjoyed He was the recipient 1 Jour. Biol. Chem., lvii., p. 540. an international reputation. 2 Ibid., p. 551. of honorary degrees froul Cambridge, (Geneva, -
standard
"
the
York,