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PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF EDINBURGH AND ST. ANDREWS.
208
efficacy of extensive birth control Dr. Wilcox relieves the factor. dominating discussion of a distasteful subject by a delightful analysis of the birth-control propagandist. He finds him in general a sufferer from mental strabismus, accentuated by intensive cultivation, essentially an egotist who, if he recovers from an attack of one propaganda, becomes, as a rule, afflicted in rapid sequence with other attacks of a This particular propaganda has like nature. furnished to Dr. Wilcox an opportunity of an interesting psychological survey. the existence and as a
R.A.M.C., in THE LANCET of Oct. 14th, 1916, and of the charts of the Volhynian fever, described as occurring in the German trenches, especially on the Russian side, of which we gave examples in THE LANCET of March 3rd.
No one,
as
far
as we
know, has claimed that trench fever is due to the direct bite of the rat, but the opinion is gaining ground that it is a spirochætal disease conveyed
indirectly by a parasite from animal to man, and that the rat is the animal to blame. Rat-bite fever and trench fever may differ only in the presence in There should be one case of an intermediate host. opportunity in the trenches for a comparative study of the two fevers.
’
___
PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION UNIVERSITIES OF EDINBURGH ST. ANDREWS.
OF THE AND
last week in our advertisement columns the address of Sir W. Watson Cheyne to the electors of Edinburgh and St. Andrews Universities, where a representative committee has invited him to become their Parliamentary candidate. Sir Watson Cheyne is a graduate of the University of -Edinburgh, although his life work has mainly been done from London as a centre; and we feel certain that, if he is ’elected, Parliament will obtain from him no partisan support of Scottish or English interests, but the solid counsel of a man who has arrived at the head of the profession of all others that has the public welfare most clearly at heart. The good doctor thinks always of the public first, and it is rather a reflection upon modern society, in this country at any rate, that the calling of medicine has suffered for its altruism in not obtaining the public support which enlightened opinion should give it. Sir Watson Cheyne’s long and distinguished career as a surgeon ensures that the scientific interests of medicine will always be present to his mind. It is fitting that two ancient Scottish Universities from which so many distinguished members of the medical profession have graduated should be represented in Parliament by a distinguished surgeon. .
WE
published
RAT-BORNE FEVER.
THE febrile condition occasionally following the bite of the rat, to which our Paris correspondent alluded last week, is of special interest at the present time, when the rat is a constant companion of the man in the trenches. Dr. T. J. Horder, in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine for January, 1910, described three cases of irregular periodic fever following the bite of a rat, and to these Dr. G. S. Middleton added a fourth in THE LANCET of June llth, 1910. In a brief note on rat-bite fever in the "Medical Annual"for 1913 Dr. F. J. Charteris describes the characteristic sudden attack of fever repeated. at intervals of a few days, each attack being ushered in by a rigor. He states that in a number of cases salvarsan was used and cut short the disease. Dr. Herbert French, in a later number of the Annual, also calls attention to the periodicity of the febrile attack, which recalled to him some of the characters of relapsing fever. We shall hardly be wrong in assuming that rat-bite fever is in fact due to an infecting organism, although as yet no We should like, one has succeeded in isolating it. however, to suggest that the type of temperature chart in all the cases we have cited of this fever is curiously reminiscent of the charts of trench fever given by Major Arthur F. Hurst,
CREW ACCOMMODATION
IN
STANDARD SHIPS.
SHIPOWNERS, while naturally careful about the accommodation of their passengers, are in the’habit of giving their men the minimum of sanitary accom. modation, as we have pointed out on many occasions in these columns. It is therefore the more satisfactory to note the improved quality of accommodation which is being provided in the standard ships under the direction of the Controller of Auxiliary Shipping. In these ships the crews are berthed in the poop, instead of as heretofore in the forecastle, with special arrangements for steam heating. The floor and cubic space now provided are considerably in excess of the Board of Trade requirements. The messing arrangements for firemen and seamen are separate from the sleeping accommodation, and a smoke room is being provided for the general use of the men. Separate cubicles or rooms are provided, each fitted with two berths and a folding table, and situated along the side of the vessel. The firemen’s and seamen’s washplaces are fitted with lockers for dirty clothes, one for each man. Three spare cabins, with a separate bath and w.c., situated under the after end of the bridge, can be used for isolation purposes if necessary. In an interesting letter which we print elsewhere Major W. E. Home gives his personal experiences old conditions and points out to whose of the the efforts improvement is principally due. The National Seamen and Firemen’s Union may be congratulated on the success of their efforts in thus securing for their men many of the improvements which we have long been demanding for them. ____
INFECTION
OF SIMPLE FRACTURES.
IN the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal Dr. J. B. Blake has described a very unusual phenomenon which does not appear to have been previously recorded-infection of simple fractures paralleling in intensity and duration the infection which is still too common in compound fractures. Among the large number of fractures treated at the Boston City Hospital he has seen 10 or 12 such cases in the past 20 years. They occurred principally in the working class, among whom conditions favouring sepsis are common. The following are examples. A thin, feeble, elderly man was crushed in an elevator accident. The right humerus was broken and much comminuted and the arm was contused and scratched. On the day after admission his temperature began to rise, and on the third day there were obvious signs of infection of the arm. On incision a large amount of pus was Eound. He died on the sixth day. A - labourer, iged 50 years, sustained fracture of both bones of
,
,
efficacy of extensive birth control Dr. Wilcox relieves the factor. dominating discussion of a distasteful subject by a delightful analysis of the birth-control propagandist. He finds him in general a sufferer from mental strabismus, accentuated by intensive cultivation, essentially an egotist who, if he recovers from an attack of one propaganda, becomes, as a rule, afflicted in rapid sequence with other attacks of a This particular propaganda has like nature. furnished to Dr. Wilcox an opportunity of an interesting psychological survey. the existence and as a
R.A.M.C., in THE LANCET of Oct. 14th, 1916, and of the charts of the Volhynian fever, described as occurring in the German trenches, especially on the Russian side, of which we gave examples in THE LANCET of March 3rd.
No one,
as
far
as we
know, has claimed that trench fever is due to the direct bite of the rat, but the opinion is gaining ground that it is a spirochætal disease conveyed
indirectly by a parasite from animal to man, and that the rat is the animal to blame. Rat-bite fever and trench fever may differ only in the presence in There should be one case of an intermediate host. opportunity in the trenches for a comparative study of the two fevers.
’
___
PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION UNIVERSITIES OF EDINBURGH ST. ANDREWS.
OF THE AND
last week in our advertisement columns the address of Sir W. Watson Cheyne to the electors of Edinburgh and St. Andrews Universities, where a representative committee has invited him to become their Parliamentary candidate. Sir Watson Cheyne is a graduate of the University of -Edinburgh, although his life work has mainly been done from London as a centre; and we feel certain that, if he is ’elected, Parliament will obtain from him no partisan support of Scottish or English interests, but the solid counsel of a man who has arrived at the head of the profession of all others that has the public welfare most clearly at heart. The good doctor thinks always of the public first, and it is rather a reflection upon modern society, in this country at any rate, that the calling of medicine has suffered for its altruism in not obtaining the public support which enlightened opinion should give it. Sir Watson Cheyne’s long and distinguished career as a surgeon ensures that the scientific interests of medicine will always be present to his mind. It is fitting that two ancient Scottish Universities from which so many distinguished members of the medical profession have graduated should be represented in Parliament by a distinguished surgeon. .
WE
published
RAT-BORNE FEVER.
THE febrile condition occasionally following the bite of the rat, to which our Paris correspondent alluded last week, is of special interest at the present time, when the rat is a constant companion of the man in the trenches. Dr. T. J. Horder, in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine for January, 1910, described three cases of irregular periodic fever following the bite of a rat, and to these Dr. G. S. Middleton added a fourth in THE LANCET of June llth, 1910. In a brief note on rat-bite fever in the "Medical Annual"for 1913 Dr. F. J. Charteris describes the characteristic sudden attack of fever repeated. at intervals of a few days, each attack being ushered in by a rigor. He states that in a number of cases salvarsan was used and cut short the disease. Dr. Herbert French, in a later number of the Annual, also calls attention to the periodicity of the febrile attack, which recalled to him some of the characters of relapsing fever. We shall hardly be wrong in assuming that rat-bite fever is in fact due to an infecting organism, although as yet no We should like, one has succeeded in isolating it. however, to suggest that the type of temperature chart in all the cases we have cited of this fever is curiously reminiscent of the charts of trench fever given by Major Arthur F. Hurst,
CREW ACCOMMODATION
IN
STANDARD SHIPS.
SHIPOWNERS, while naturally careful about the accommodation of their passengers, are in the’habit of giving their men the minimum of sanitary accom. modation, as we have pointed out on many occasions in these columns. It is therefore the more satisfactory to note the improved quality of accommodation which is being provided in the standard ships under the direction of the Controller of Auxiliary Shipping. In these ships the crews are berthed in the poop, instead of as heretofore in the forecastle, with special arrangements for steam heating. The floor and cubic space now provided are considerably in excess of the Board of Trade requirements. The messing arrangements for firemen and seamen are separate from the sleeping accommodation, and a smoke room is being provided for the general use of the men. Separate cubicles or rooms are provided, each fitted with two berths and a folding table, and situated along the side of the vessel. The firemen’s and seamen’s washplaces are fitted with lockers for dirty clothes, one for each man. Three spare cabins, with a separate bath and w.c., situated under the after end of the bridge, can be used for isolation purposes if necessary. In an interesting letter which we print elsewhere Major W. E. Home gives his personal experiences old conditions and points out to whose of the the efforts improvement is principally due. The National Seamen and Firemen’s Union may be congratulated on the success of their efforts in thus securing for their men many of the improvements which we have long been demanding for them. ____
INFECTION
OF SIMPLE FRACTURES.
IN the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal Dr. J. B. Blake has described a very unusual phenomenon which does not appear to have been previously recorded-infection of simple fractures paralleling in intensity and duration the infection which is still too common in compound fractures. Among the large number of fractures treated at the Boston City Hospital he has seen 10 or 12 such cases in the past 20 years. They occurred principally in the working class, among whom conditions favouring sepsis are common. The following are examples. A thin, feeble, elderly man was crushed in an elevator accident. The right humerus was broken and much comminuted and the arm was contused and scratched. On the day after admission his temperature began to rise, and on the third day there were obvious signs of infection of the arm. On incision a large amount of pus was Eound. He died on the sixth day. A - labourer, iged 50 years, sustained fracture of both bones of
,
,