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LIVERPOOL.
851 allows the light to penetrate), and the third of a wooden that keeps out the light but lets the air through. The luxurious toilet arrangements with a constant service of hot and cold water, the combination of comfort with artistic decorations, all seemed to suggest that an ocean journey need not be an ordeal but a pleasant experience. But all some that this has gone with many, many other cannot possibly be replaced. Yet there is to be a revival. A new British section is to be rapidly brought into existence. Perhaps no better wish can be expressed than to hope that the reconstructed section will equal in merit that which the flames have destroyed. (To be continued.)
persienne
things,
MANCHESTER. (FROM
OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT.)
vaccination is still carried out in a hopetul, percentage of cases.
a
vary ing, but
on
the whole
The Publia Health of Manchester. of Cheshire, the medical officer of health of Manchester, Dr. J. Niven, also tells of a falling birth-rate, 27’52 per 1000, the lowest on record. It is true that the same may be said of the death-rate of 17’ 70 per 1000, while the infantile mortality is also considerably lower than in any previous year. This is attributed to various factors, "to the increased attention given to the welfare of mother and infant by medical practitioners, the excellent work done by the department of elementary education, the increasing efficiency of the health visitors, the growing influence of the Mothers’ Guild, the improvement of the milk-supply, the work already done under the Children Act-halting and imperfect as it has been,-the guidance of the district nurses, the careful instruction imparted to midwives, and the baby-shows, have all contributed." The inclusion of baby-shows in this category of good influences has the charm of novelty. The returns show a further reduction in the proportion of tuberculous milk brought into the city during 1909. The Manchester township, as it always has done, holds the worst place as regards public health. In it " tuberculous mortality increases up to the most advanced periods of life," while in north and south Manchester it is declining. This is largely ascribed to life in the lodging-houses which abound in the old Manchester township. And this is considered by Dr. Niven " the hardest nut of all to crack in the prevention of tuberculosis." He has a scheme for the methodical fighting of this disease of which more will probably be heard. As in the
case
Hospital -7solation. THE Gorton district is to be amalgamated with Manchester, and we shall therefore have no more separate health reports from Mr. A. W. Martin, its present medical officer. In his last report he deals chiefly with the hospital isolation of infectious diseases. He would, for instance, only send severe cases of scarlet fever to the hospital, leaving the mild cases at home-a course he has adopted for the last 20 years. He says that hospital isolation appears to have little or no effect on the attack-rate of the community, but the great decline in the death-rate is in all probability due to the influence of the hospitals. As there are varieties Sept. 6th. among plants and animals, so there seem to be varieties in of disease and differing degrees malignancy among germs, in consequence of nearly every case of the malignant type LIVERPOOL. being removed to hospital for isolation and treatment there (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) has been the gradual elimination of.the malignant type, till it has now become practically extinct, the mild type alone prevailing. He believes that if the same system were adopted The Crusade against Phthisis : lmportant Liverpool Proposal. with measles and whooping-cough, all the severe cases being RECENTLY the port sanitary and hospitals committee of the removed to hospital for isolation and treatment, while the council appointed a special subcommittee to consider the city mild cases were treated at home, there would be in all best method of dealing with tuberculosis in the district. The likelihood a similar lowering of the death-rate in these subcommittee has now reported on the subject to the diseases. It would be interesting and important to know if, has approved of the report, inwhich committee, hospitals and where, similar methods have been adopted, and with the following recommendations : "That the health cluding what results to the death-rate. committee be requested to take into consideration the The Prevention of a Cholera Invasion. advisability of appointing an assistant to the medical officer With all the benefits the Ship Canal has brought to of health to undertake the following duties : (1) to visit Manchester, there is the drawback that she is rendered more the homes of persons suffering from tuberculosis, who vulnerable as to the importation of infectious disease. But a have been in-patients at Fazakerley Hospital, or notified very careful watch is kept, so that even if the port sanitary under the Order of the Local Government Board, at their authority had not received a letter from the Local Govern- homes, with a view to ascertain that medical instructions ment Board pointing out that cholera is epidemic at Cronstadt are being followed, and to remind or advise the patient when and other Russian ports, it may safely be assumed that necessary as to the precautions to be observed ; (2) to note all precautions would be taken against the admission and report to the medical officer of health any home condiof such a foe. The Manchester authority pays a tions likely to influence the disease, either in regard to the to the subsidy Liverpool authority, which takes care patient or to those living with him ; (3) to keep systethat no ship is allowed to enter the port of Man- matic records of visits or re-visits, and of the conditions chester without the certificate of the port medical officer. found, and submit them to the medical officer of health, and blr. W. F. Dearden, the Manchester port medical officer, to carry out any other kindred duty or investigation which finds some difficulty in getting the masters of ships the health committee may direct." The health committee thoroughly to understand their obligations, and he has was further requested to take into consideration the advistherefore drawn out a synopsis of the regulations issued by ability of undertaking payment of the cost of the examinathe Local Government Board as to cholera, plague, and tion of sputum for tubercle bacilli made by the city yellow fever. Copies of this are to be distributed to the bacteriologist, at the request of a medical practitioner, in all masters of ships trading with infected ports. necessary cases where the patient is not being treated in a public institution and cannot afford to pay for the examinaHealth of Cheshire. tion. These recommendations having been considered by the It is cheering to learn from Dr. Meredith Young’s report health committee, that body resolved, in the event of their as to the health of Cheshire, that the death-rate for the the city council, to advertise for an assistant to approval by county was 12 ’72 per 1000, and that the infantile the medical officer of health at a salary of £250 per annum, was not more than 99 -3 per 1000 registered births. llorein 12 months to E.300 per annum. increasing over, the death-rate from pulmonary phthisis was the lowest for the county since 1892, and as this decrease has been Proposed Liverpool Memorial to the late Miss Florcnce Nightingale. fairly gradual and steady, there is some hope of its continuance provided, says Dr. Young, that there is no relaxaI understand that it is intended to establish in Liverpool tion in the public and private efforts made on all hands for a memorial to the late Miss Florence Nightingale of a kind the control of this provedly preventable disease." There is befitting the character of that noble lady. It is proposed that a steady and persistent decline in the birth-rate, especially the memorial shall be in connexion with the work of the Liveramong the comparatively well-to-do and educated classes. pool Queen Victoria District Nursing Association, which was "This," says Dr. Young, ,is due to causes which are far founded by the late Mr. William Rathbone, with the counsel from unavoidable, and is fraught with very serious conse- and encouragement of Miss Xightingale. It is hoped that it juences to the future of the Empire." He finds that may take the form of a large and much-needed development ___________________
mortality -
852 of that eminently practical and increasingly useful work. definite scheme will be shortly delineated.
A
Corporation Infectious Ilospitals. From the annual report of the medical officer of health (Dr. E. W. Hope) upon the city hospitals it is to be noted that these institutions are being well administered and are doing a most useful work. The question of the permanent closure or reduction of the number of beds at Parkhill Hospital has from time to time engaged the attention of the hospitals committee during the past few years, and although it was not considered safe to close the hospital entirely, a considerable number of the beds have been put out of commissionviz., 200-and the state has been correspondingly reduced. The number of beds retained in use at the hospital during the year was 235. At present the number of beds available in the various hospitals is as follows : City hospital north,
162; City hospital south, 100; City hospital east, 152 ; City hospital, Parkhill, 235 ; City hospital, Fazakerley, with annexe, 510 ; total, 1159. No fewer than 6625 patients had been treated within their walls, the great majority of these being cases of scarlet fever. The advantages of the hospitals are now so fully recognised by the public that the removal to hospital of their sick dependents is often insisted on and claimed as a right ; whereas in former years, in cases similarly circumstanced, removal would never have been sought, and would even have been resisted. The report contains elaborate tables and diagrams illustrating the variety and nature of the diseases treated in the hospitals. Small-pox at New Ferry. Another outbreak of small-pox has occurred at New Ferry, Birkenhead, in the last few days. A man and his wife resident in New Ferry-lane have been attacked. The man, feeling unwell at his employment, was sent home, and the medical man who was called in diagnosed the case as one of smallpox. The patient rapidly becoming worse, died on Sept. 1st. His wife also contracted the disease in a milder form, and was removed to the small-pox hospital at Greasby. The children, five in number, are now being detained at the isolation hospital at Pensby. The acting medical officer of health of the district is of opinion that these two cases had no relation to the previous outbreak a few months ago. near
Sept. 6th.
_________________
(FROM
WALES. CORRESPONDENT.)
OUR OWN
a Closing Order under the Bozcsing and Town Planning, &c., Act. WHEN a closing order has been made by a local authority under section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act, the owner of the house concerned may appeal to the Local Government Board against the order, but before dismissing such appeal the Board is required to hold a public local inquiry. The first of such inquiries in Wales was held in Aberdare a few weeks ago, and the action of the district council has been upheld. The houses which were the subject of the inquiry were 11 in number and were built in 1851. In 1894 they were purchased by the present owner for £650, who let them at a rental of 19s. per lunar month. The conditions which led the medical officer of health, Dr. Morgan J. Rees, to report them as being unfit for human habitation referred principally to a lack of through ventilation, unpaved
Appeal Against
areas, and
unsatisfactory flooring.
Death of Henry Collen Ensor, M.R. C. S. Eng.,L.S.A. The medical profession, not only of Cardiff, but of a wide district surrounding, has sustained a severe loss through the death on August 23rd of Mr. H. C. Ensor. He was operated on successfully for nasal obstruction, but died shortly after the conclusion of the operation. He received his medical education at Guy’s Hospital and, after acting as resident surgeon to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital, commenced practice as an ophthalmic surgeon in Cardiff. For several years he was ophthalmic surgeon to the Newport Hospital, and was subsequently appointed to succeed Dr. Tatham Thompson as ophthalmic surgeon to the Cardiff Infirmary. He held also a similar position in the CardiffProvident Dispensary, the Seamen’s Hospital, the Mountain Ash Cottage Hospital, and the Cardiff Deaf and Dumb Institute. Of an unassuming and somewhat retiring disposition, Ensor nevertheless secured the entire confidence of his patients, a
fact which was due in no small measure to the thoroughness which characterised all his work, for of him it may truly be said that he had an infinite capacity for taking pains." He was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Freemasonry and was held in the highest esteem by members of the craft. He was a Past Master of the Bute Lodge in Cardiff and had held high rank in Provincial Grand Lodge. His funeral was attended by many of his medical colleagues, and he was accorded the customary simple Masonic rites by the large number of Freemasons who were present. He leaves a widow and three children to mourn their loss.
Infantile Mortality in the Rhondda Valleys. In his report to the Local Government Board on infant and child mortality Dr. A. Newsholme included the Rhondda urban district council among those sanitary authorities who, as tested by excess of infant mortality, are most urgently called upon to perform more completely their primary duties. For this reason the section upon infantile mortality in the recently issued annual report of Dr. J. D. Jenkins, medical officer of health of the Rhondda, is of exceptional interest. Dr. Jenkins is able to report a very satisfactory decrease in the infantile mortality rate for 1909 when it was 130 per 1000 births compared with an average rate in the preceding In England and Wales the rates during ten years of 190. the same periods were 109 and 138 respectively. Among the recommendations made by Dr. Newsholme with a view of securing a reduction in the number of infant deaths, emphasis was laid upon the necessity for removing general insanitary conditions, and especially for abolishing dry systems of excrement disposal and substituting water-closets. For many years past the prevailing system in the Rhondda has been that of water-carriage, and among the 25,000 houses there are only 200 which are not provided with water-closets. The scavenging of the district Is supervised by the six sanitary inspectors and appears to be carried out satisfactorily, the daily removal of household refuse preventing the accumulation of decomposing material in the proximity of dwellings. Early in 1909 the district council decided to adopt the Notification of Births Act, 1907, and later in the year appointed two health visitors to whom were allotted those portions of the district which in recent years had shown the highest infantile mortality rates. They visit the houses at which births have taken place immediately after the medical men or midwives have ceased to attend and offer advice to the mothers not only upon the upbringing of the baby, but also upon such matters as the storage of food, general cleanliness, ventilation, and such other subjects as may be considered to have an influence upon the general welfare of the child in common with that of the other inmates of the house. They also visit those houses in which the death has occurred of a child under one year old. Dr. Jenkins considers that the latter visits may lead to a better understanding on the part of parents of conditions which may have led to the fatality investigated, and which may have been preventable. Already there are indications of the good resulting from the services of the health visitors, and the council will, no doubt, realise the wisdom of increasing their number, so that the whole of the urban district may have the advantage of these officials. Death of Honard David Reynolds, M. R. C.S’. Eng., L.Il. C.P. Edira. Mr. H. D. Reynolds, who died at his residence, Kensington House, Pembroke Dock, South Wales, at the age of 68 years, on August 21st, was medical officer of health of the Pembroke boroughs for nearly 30 years. He was J.P. for Pembroke, surgeon to the Pembroke Infirmary, and consulting surgeon to Haverfordwest Infirmary, and in addition held many other appointments. He qualified in 1865 M.R.C.S. Eng. and later took the L.R.C.P. Edin. and L.M.
Sept.6th.
_________________
(FROM
SCOTLAND. CORRESPONDENTS.)
OUR OWN
Medical
Inspector of tlte Counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk. meeting of the medical inspection committee of the educational committees of the counties of Roxburgh and AT
a
Selkirk, held at Newtown, St. Boswells, Dr. Alexander Gibb Glass was appointed medical inspector of schools of the united counties. Dr. Glass is a native of Grantown-on-Spey,
persienne
things,
MANCHESTER. (FROM
OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT.)
vaccination is still carried out in a hopetul, percentage of cases.
a
vary ing, but
on
the whole
The Publia Health of Manchester. of Cheshire, the medical officer of health of Manchester, Dr. J. Niven, also tells of a falling birth-rate, 27’52 per 1000, the lowest on record. It is true that the same may be said of the death-rate of 17’ 70 per 1000, while the infantile mortality is also considerably lower than in any previous year. This is attributed to various factors, "to the increased attention given to the welfare of mother and infant by medical practitioners, the excellent work done by the department of elementary education, the increasing efficiency of the health visitors, the growing influence of the Mothers’ Guild, the improvement of the milk-supply, the work already done under the Children Act-halting and imperfect as it has been,-the guidance of the district nurses, the careful instruction imparted to midwives, and the baby-shows, have all contributed." The inclusion of baby-shows in this category of good influences has the charm of novelty. The returns show a further reduction in the proportion of tuberculous milk brought into the city during 1909. The Manchester township, as it always has done, holds the worst place as regards public health. In it " tuberculous mortality increases up to the most advanced periods of life," while in north and south Manchester it is declining. This is largely ascribed to life in the lodging-houses which abound in the old Manchester township. And this is considered by Dr. Niven " the hardest nut of all to crack in the prevention of tuberculosis." He has a scheme for the methodical fighting of this disease of which more will probably be heard. As in the
case
Hospital -7solation. THE Gorton district is to be amalgamated with Manchester, and we shall therefore have no more separate health reports from Mr. A. W. Martin, its present medical officer. In his last report he deals chiefly with the hospital isolation of infectious diseases. He would, for instance, only send severe cases of scarlet fever to the hospital, leaving the mild cases at home-a course he has adopted for the last 20 years. He says that hospital isolation appears to have little or no effect on the attack-rate of the community, but the great decline in the death-rate is in all probability due to the influence of the hospitals. As there are varieties Sept. 6th. among plants and animals, so there seem to be varieties in of disease and differing degrees malignancy among germs, in consequence of nearly every case of the malignant type LIVERPOOL. being removed to hospital for isolation and treatment there (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) has been the gradual elimination of.the malignant type, till it has now become practically extinct, the mild type alone prevailing. He believes that if the same system were adopted The Crusade against Phthisis : lmportant Liverpool Proposal. with measles and whooping-cough, all the severe cases being RECENTLY the port sanitary and hospitals committee of the removed to hospital for isolation and treatment, while the council appointed a special subcommittee to consider the city mild cases were treated at home, there would be in all best method of dealing with tuberculosis in the district. The likelihood a similar lowering of the death-rate in these subcommittee has now reported on the subject to the diseases. It would be interesting and important to know if, has approved of the report, inwhich committee, hospitals and where, similar methods have been adopted, and with the following recommendations : "That the health cluding what results to the death-rate. committee be requested to take into consideration the The Prevention of a Cholera Invasion. advisability of appointing an assistant to the medical officer With all the benefits the Ship Canal has brought to of health to undertake the following duties : (1) to visit Manchester, there is the drawback that she is rendered more the homes of persons suffering from tuberculosis, who vulnerable as to the importation of infectious disease. But a have been in-patients at Fazakerley Hospital, or notified very careful watch is kept, so that even if the port sanitary under the Order of the Local Government Board, at their authority had not received a letter from the Local Govern- homes, with a view to ascertain that medical instructions ment Board pointing out that cholera is epidemic at Cronstadt are being followed, and to remind or advise the patient when and other Russian ports, it may safely be assumed that necessary as to the precautions to be observed ; (2) to note all precautions would be taken against the admission and report to the medical officer of health any home condiof such a foe. The Manchester authority pays a tions likely to influence the disease, either in regard to the to the subsidy Liverpool authority, which takes care patient or to those living with him ; (3) to keep systethat no ship is allowed to enter the port of Man- matic records of visits or re-visits, and of the conditions chester without the certificate of the port medical officer. found, and submit them to the medical officer of health, and blr. W. F. Dearden, the Manchester port medical officer, to carry out any other kindred duty or investigation which finds some difficulty in getting the masters of ships the health committee may direct." The health committee thoroughly to understand their obligations, and he has was further requested to take into consideration the advistherefore drawn out a synopsis of the regulations issued by ability of undertaking payment of the cost of the examinathe Local Government Board as to cholera, plague, and tion of sputum for tubercle bacilli made by the city yellow fever. Copies of this are to be distributed to the bacteriologist, at the request of a medical practitioner, in all masters of ships trading with infected ports. necessary cases where the patient is not being treated in a public institution and cannot afford to pay for the examinaHealth of Cheshire. tion. These recommendations having been considered by the It is cheering to learn from Dr. Meredith Young’s report health committee, that body resolved, in the event of their as to the health of Cheshire, that the death-rate for the the city council, to advertise for an assistant to approval by county was 12 ’72 per 1000, and that the infantile the medical officer of health at a salary of £250 per annum, was not more than 99 -3 per 1000 registered births. llorein 12 months to E.300 per annum. increasing over, the death-rate from pulmonary phthisis was the lowest for the county since 1892, and as this decrease has been Proposed Liverpool Memorial to the late Miss Florcnce Nightingale. fairly gradual and steady, there is some hope of its continuance provided, says Dr. Young, that there is no relaxaI understand that it is intended to establish in Liverpool tion in the public and private efforts made on all hands for a memorial to the late Miss Florence Nightingale of a kind the control of this provedly preventable disease." There is befitting the character of that noble lady. It is proposed that a steady and persistent decline in the birth-rate, especially the memorial shall be in connexion with the work of the Liveramong the comparatively well-to-do and educated classes. pool Queen Victoria District Nursing Association, which was "This," says Dr. Young, ,is due to causes which are far founded by the late Mr. William Rathbone, with the counsel from unavoidable, and is fraught with very serious conse- and encouragement of Miss Xightingale. It is hoped that it juences to the future of the Empire." He finds that may take the form of a large and much-needed development ___________________
mortality -
852 of that eminently practical and increasingly useful work. definite scheme will be shortly delineated.
A
Corporation Infectious Ilospitals. From the annual report of the medical officer of health (Dr. E. W. Hope) upon the city hospitals it is to be noted that these institutions are being well administered and are doing a most useful work. The question of the permanent closure or reduction of the number of beds at Parkhill Hospital has from time to time engaged the attention of the hospitals committee during the past few years, and although it was not considered safe to close the hospital entirely, a considerable number of the beds have been put out of commissionviz., 200-and the state has been correspondingly reduced. The number of beds retained in use at the hospital during the year was 235. At present the number of beds available in the various hospitals is as follows : City hospital north,
162; City hospital south, 100; City hospital east, 152 ; City hospital, Parkhill, 235 ; City hospital, Fazakerley, with annexe, 510 ; total, 1159. No fewer than 6625 patients had been treated within their walls, the great majority of these being cases of scarlet fever. The advantages of the hospitals are now so fully recognised by the public that the removal to hospital of their sick dependents is often insisted on and claimed as a right ; whereas in former years, in cases similarly circumstanced, removal would never have been sought, and would even have been resisted. The report contains elaborate tables and diagrams illustrating the variety and nature of the diseases treated in the hospitals. Small-pox at New Ferry. Another outbreak of small-pox has occurred at New Ferry, Birkenhead, in the last few days. A man and his wife resident in New Ferry-lane have been attacked. The man, feeling unwell at his employment, was sent home, and the medical man who was called in diagnosed the case as one of smallpox. The patient rapidly becoming worse, died on Sept. 1st. His wife also contracted the disease in a milder form, and was removed to the small-pox hospital at Greasby. The children, five in number, are now being detained at the isolation hospital at Pensby. The acting medical officer of health of the district is of opinion that these two cases had no relation to the previous outbreak a few months ago. near
Sept. 6th.
_________________
(FROM
WALES. CORRESPONDENT.)
OUR OWN
a Closing Order under the Bozcsing and Town Planning, &c., Act. WHEN a closing order has been made by a local authority under section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act, the owner of the house concerned may appeal to the Local Government Board against the order, but before dismissing such appeal the Board is required to hold a public local inquiry. The first of such inquiries in Wales was held in Aberdare a few weeks ago, and the action of the district council has been upheld. The houses which were the subject of the inquiry were 11 in number and were built in 1851. In 1894 they were purchased by the present owner for £650, who let them at a rental of 19s. per lunar month. The conditions which led the medical officer of health, Dr. Morgan J. Rees, to report them as being unfit for human habitation referred principally to a lack of through ventilation, unpaved
Appeal Against
areas, and
unsatisfactory flooring.
Death of Henry Collen Ensor, M.R. C. S. Eng.,L.S.A. The medical profession, not only of Cardiff, but of a wide district surrounding, has sustained a severe loss through the death on August 23rd of Mr. H. C. Ensor. He was operated on successfully for nasal obstruction, but died shortly after the conclusion of the operation. He received his medical education at Guy’s Hospital and, after acting as resident surgeon to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital, commenced practice as an ophthalmic surgeon in Cardiff. For several years he was ophthalmic surgeon to the Newport Hospital, and was subsequently appointed to succeed Dr. Tatham Thompson as ophthalmic surgeon to the Cardiff Infirmary. He held also a similar position in the CardiffProvident Dispensary, the Seamen’s Hospital, the Mountain Ash Cottage Hospital, and the Cardiff Deaf and Dumb Institute. Of an unassuming and somewhat retiring disposition, Ensor nevertheless secured the entire confidence of his patients, a
fact which was due in no small measure to the thoroughness which characterised all his work, for of him it may truly be said that he had an infinite capacity for taking pains." He was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Freemasonry and was held in the highest esteem by members of the craft. He was a Past Master of the Bute Lodge in Cardiff and had held high rank in Provincial Grand Lodge. His funeral was attended by many of his medical colleagues, and he was accorded the customary simple Masonic rites by the large number of Freemasons who were present. He leaves a widow and three children to mourn their loss.
Infantile Mortality in the Rhondda Valleys. In his report to the Local Government Board on infant and child mortality Dr. A. Newsholme included the Rhondda urban district council among those sanitary authorities who, as tested by excess of infant mortality, are most urgently called upon to perform more completely their primary duties. For this reason the section upon infantile mortality in the recently issued annual report of Dr. J. D. Jenkins, medical officer of health of the Rhondda, is of exceptional interest. Dr. Jenkins is able to report a very satisfactory decrease in the infantile mortality rate for 1909 when it was 130 per 1000 births compared with an average rate in the preceding In England and Wales the rates during ten years of 190. the same periods were 109 and 138 respectively. Among the recommendations made by Dr. Newsholme with a view of securing a reduction in the number of infant deaths, emphasis was laid upon the necessity for removing general insanitary conditions, and especially for abolishing dry systems of excrement disposal and substituting water-closets. For many years past the prevailing system in the Rhondda has been that of water-carriage, and among the 25,000 houses there are only 200 which are not provided with water-closets. The scavenging of the district Is supervised by the six sanitary inspectors and appears to be carried out satisfactorily, the daily removal of household refuse preventing the accumulation of decomposing material in the proximity of dwellings. Early in 1909 the district council decided to adopt the Notification of Births Act, 1907, and later in the year appointed two health visitors to whom were allotted those portions of the district which in recent years had shown the highest infantile mortality rates. They visit the houses at which births have taken place immediately after the medical men or midwives have ceased to attend and offer advice to the mothers not only upon the upbringing of the baby, but also upon such matters as the storage of food, general cleanliness, ventilation, and such other subjects as may be considered to have an influence upon the general welfare of the child in common with that of the other inmates of the house. They also visit those houses in which the death has occurred of a child under one year old. Dr. Jenkins considers that the latter visits may lead to a better understanding on the part of parents of conditions which may have led to the fatality investigated, and which may have been preventable. Already there are indications of the good resulting from the services of the health visitors, and the council will, no doubt, realise the wisdom of increasing their number, so that the whole of the urban district may have the advantage of these officials. Death of Honard David Reynolds, M. R. C.S’. Eng., L.Il. C.P. Edira. Mr. H. D. Reynolds, who died at his residence, Kensington House, Pembroke Dock, South Wales, at the age of 68 years, on August 21st, was medical officer of health of the Pembroke boroughs for nearly 30 years. He was J.P. for Pembroke, surgeon to the Pembroke Infirmary, and consulting surgeon to Haverfordwest Infirmary, and in addition held many other appointments. He qualified in 1865 M.R.C.S. Eng. and later took the L.R.C.P. Edin. and L.M.
Sept.6th.
_________________
(FROM
SCOTLAND. CORRESPONDENTS.)
OUR OWN
Medical
Inspector of tlte Counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk. meeting of the medical inspection committee of the educational committees of the counties of Roxburgh and AT
a
Selkirk, held at Newtown, St. Boswells, Dr. Alexander Gibb Glass was appointed medical inspector of schools of the united counties. Dr. Glass is a native of Grantown-on-Spey,