- Email: [email protected]
" MOORFIELDS " AS AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION.
758 committee will be to recommend what further measures to ensure in the first place the prevention, and in the second the immediate treatment, of ophthalmia in the newborn. are
possible
PERIODONTAL DISEASE IN ANIMALS. THE fatal case of pyorrhoea alveolaris in a woman 24 years of age, recorded by Mr. R. Eccles Smith in THE LANCET of Sept. llth (p. 555), has led Mr. F. T. Harvey, F.R.C.V.S., of St. Columb, Cornwall, to point out that cellulitis, arising from an affected alveolus, is rather frequent in colts. An alveolus may be diseased the sixth month of life and may pass unobserved for some time until secondary infection arises. Alveolar disease may kill outright or lower vitality to such an extent as to predispose the colt to general disease and parasitism. Caries as an accompaniment of disease of the alveoli is very rare. The crown of the tooth is seldom diseased, but the sides of the toothsocket and the gums become inflamed and offer portals for the entrance of infective micro-organisms. Acute cellulitis of the head has long been recognised in horses, and Mr. Harvey is of opinion that at least 1000 horses and colts die every year in Great Britain from this condition, with periodontal disease as its point of origin. The reason for the foal becoming infected is injury to the mucous membrane from premature mastication of hard food. Milk and soft grass are the natural diet of the foal, while chaff, especially in its harder varieties, should not be given at all during the first two years of its life. In cattle the infecting agent is generally the ray fungus. Mr. Harvey’s communication, which was read before the Central Veterinary Society, is the record of close observation over a period of years. as
early
as
" MOORFIELDS "
AS AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION.
Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital has based recently-issued appeal for support on the historical relations of the institution with the Indian Empire, the THE
a
Dominion of Canada, and the United States of America. We presume our readers’ familiarity with the objects for which a fund of .8100,000 is to be raised. These are briefly (1) to enable the hospital to extend its laboratory accommodation for purposes of clinical and pathological research ; (2) to supply adequately paid assistants to the honorary medical staff, in order to liberate the latter from much of their routine work, and allow them to devote more time to clinical instruction and research; (3) to supply adequate accommodation for the nursing staff, both those who carry on the hospital work and those desirous of training in the nursing of eye diseases. Emphasis is laid upon the necessity for the training not only of ophthalmologists but also of ophthalmic nurses, for whom the hospital aims at making special provision. The appeal to India includes details of a connexion established in 1819 with the East India Company, whose directors were so impressed with the prevalence of eye diseases in the countries over which they ruled that they determined upon the establishment of a hospital. Surgeon R. Richardson, who had studied under Benjamin Travers at the Moorfields Hospital, became the founder and first superintendent of the Madras Eye Infirmary, now known as the Government Ophthalmic Hospital. In 1824 two other surgeons, both former students of the Moorfields Hospital, were sent by the Company to found eye hospitals in Bombay and Calcutta. Very many Indian medical men and women have received their training at the same institution ; the supply of women doctors is particularly valuable to India, on account of the large numbers of women precluded from receiving assistance from men. The appeal to Canada is pointed with a list of leading Canadian ophthalmologists who have held appointments on the Moorfields Hospital staff. In the leaflet addressed to America mention is made of the fact that the hospital, which has now been established 116 years, is the parent of all similar institutions in the English-speaking world. In 1811 two young Americans, Dr. E. Delafield and Dr. J. Kearney Rodgers, came to study there, and
their return to their own country founded the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary owed its foundation to a similar period of study spent at Moorfields Hospital by Dr. Edward Reynolds, who came from Boston to London in 1816. Since the time of these pioneers of American ophthalmology there has been a continuous succession of American medical men working in the departments of the hospital. on
VACCINATION IN THE TROPICS.
Tropical Diseases Bureau has published a 64-page pamphlet entitled " Vaccination in the Tropics," by Colonel W. G. King, I.M.S., ret., which will be read with interest and profit particularly by those concerned with the prevention of small-pox in our tropical possessions. The first of the two sections of this pamphlet deals with small-pox incidence and the problem of protection of population. The variation in type of the disease, its different strains, and the existence of mild forms are recognised in widely separated regions of both hemispheres ; at times a variation is found side by side with the ordinary type. The introduction of the disease among peoples unprotected by former attacks or by vaccination is described as responTHE
sible for the extermination of whole tribes and races; examples are quoted showing the enormous cost of such epidemics, and instances given of the increase in the virulence of the latter consequent upon war, poor feeding, and unhygienic conditions. Examples quoted of the enormous cost of sickness from small-pox among unprotected Indian natives convey an idea of the urgent necessity for measures of prevention. Dealing with protection of populations by inoculation or vaccination, Colonel King traces the history of the former to Chinese and Indian methods in vogue long before the eighteenth century, and based on observations made at the dawn of the Christian era-methods which aimed at inducing attacks of the mild type of the in order to secure immunity from the more disease, virulent form. From such drastic forms of prophylaxis he passes to the ideal protection secured as the result of Jenner’s famous experiments in 1798, and the real advantages of vaccination, which world-wide experience has shown to be the essential of prevention. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon " efficient vaccination," including revaccination at puberty. There follows a complete and detailed account of the "vaccinator’s outfit," with a note on the transport of vaccine in tropical countries. The writer deals fully with details of technique and the practice of asepsis. The form of scarifying instrument, the cleansing of the site of vaccination, the operation itself, the development of vaccine vesicles, the type of successful vaccination to be aimed at, and the after-treatment and sequelse are graphically described. The liability of native races to certain skin eruptions during the hot season is mentioned, and a word of caution is given to avoid hastily attributing their occurrence in the course of vaccination to impurity of the vaccine employed. Section 2 is devoted to animal vaccine and to the organisation and supervision of vaccine institutes necessary for satisfactory cultivation. In the selection of a suitable site for the buildings of such an institute the requisite essentials are an environment of moderate and equable temperature, a plentiful supply of potable water for staff and animals, and the ready provision of fresh fodder for the calves utilised for vaccine cultivation. The proximity of an institute to bacteriological and biochemical laboratories is rightly considered desirable. For practical purposes the inclusion in the pamphlet of particulars as to the estimated cost of the building and upkeep of such an institute and as to the area of country it might serve, would have been welcomed. The necessary buildings are mentioned in detail, as including space for examination,, quarantine, and observation of animals, their cleansing, disinfection and treatment; washing sheds, inoculation sheds, operation room, vaccine preparation room, and rooms for cold storage and sterilisation of clothing, and all articles connected with inoculation; and accommoda-
possible
PERIODONTAL DISEASE IN ANIMALS. THE fatal case of pyorrhoea alveolaris in a woman 24 years of age, recorded by Mr. R. Eccles Smith in THE LANCET of Sept. llth (p. 555), has led Mr. F. T. Harvey, F.R.C.V.S., of St. Columb, Cornwall, to point out that cellulitis, arising from an affected alveolus, is rather frequent in colts. An alveolus may be diseased the sixth month of life and may pass unobserved for some time until secondary infection arises. Alveolar disease may kill outright or lower vitality to such an extent as to predispose the colt to general disease and parasitism. Caries as an accompaniment of disease of the alveoli is very rare. The crown of the tooth is seldom diseased, but the sides of the toothsocket and the gums become inflamed and offer portals for the entrance of infective micro-organisms. Acute cellulitis of the head has long been recognised in horses, and Mr. Harvey is of opinion that at least 1000 horses and colts die every year in Great Britain from this condition, with periodontal disease as its point of origin. The reason for the foal becoming infected is injury to the mucous membrane from premature mastication of hard food. Milk and soft grass are the natural diet of the foal, while chaff, especially in its harder varieties, should not be given at all during the first two years of its life. In cattle the infecting agent is generally the ray fungus. Mr. Harvey’s communication, which was read before the Central Veterinary Society, is the record of close observation over a period of years. as
early
as
" MOORFIELDS "
AS AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION.
Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital has based recently-issued appeal for support on the historical relations of the institution with the Indian Empire, the THE
a
Dominion of Canada, and the United States of America. We presume our readers’ familiarity with the objects for which a fund of .8100,000 is to be raised. These are briefly (1) to enable the hospital to extend its laboratory accommodation for purposes of clinical and pathological research ; (2) to supply adequately paid assistants to the honorary medical staff, in order to liberate the latter from much of their routine work, and allow them to devote more time to clinical instruction and research; (3) to supply adequate accommodation for the nursing staff, both those who carry on the hospital work and those desirous of training in the nursing of eye diseases. Emphasis is laid upon the necessity for the training not only of ophthalmologists but also of ophthalmic nurses, for whom the hospital aims at making special provision. The appeal to India includes details of a connexion established in 1819 with the East India Company, whose directors were so impressed with the prevalence of eye diseases in the countries over which they ruled that they determined upon the establishment of a hospital. Surgeon R. Richardson, who had studied under Benjamin Travers at the Moorfields Hospital, became the founder and first superintendent of the Madras Eye Infirmary, now known as the Government Ophthalmic Hospital. In 1824 two other surgeons, both former students of the Moorfields Hospital, were sent by the Company to found eye hospitals in Bombay and Calcutta. Very many Indian medical men and women have received their training at the same institution ; the supply of women doctors is particularly valuable to India, on account of the large numbers of women precluded from receiving assistance from men. The appeal to Canada is pointed with a list of leading Canadian ophthalmologists who have held appointments on the Moorfields Hospital staff. In the leaflet addressed to America mention is made of the fact that the hospital, which has now been established 116 years, is the parent of all similar institutions in the English-speaking world. In 1811 two young Americans, Dr. E. Delafield and Dr. J. Kearney Rodgers, came to study there, and
their return to their own country founded the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary owed its foundation to a similar period of study spent at Moorfields Hospital by Dr. Edward Reynolds, who came from Boston to London in 1816. Since the time of these pioneers of American ophthalmology there has been a continuous succession of American medical men working in the departments of the hospital. on
VACCINATION IN THE TROPICS.
Tropical Diseases Bureau has published a 64-page pamphlet entitled " Vaccination in the Tropics," by Colonel W. G. King, I.M.S., ret., which will be read with interest and profit particularly by those concerned with the prevention of small-pox in our tropical possessions. The first of the two sections of this pamphlet deals with small-pox incidence and the problem of protection of population. The variation in type of the disease, its different strains, and the existence of mild forms are recognised in widely separated regions of both hemispheres ; at times a variation is found side by side with the ordinary type. The introduction of the disease among peoples unprotected by former attacks or by vaccination is described as responTHE
sible for the extermination of whole tribes and races; examples are quoted showing the enormous cost of such epidemics, and instances given of the increase in the virulence of the latter consequent upon war, poor feeding, and unhygienic conditions. Examples quoted of the enormous cost of sickness from small-pox among unprotected Indian natives convey an idea of the urgent necessity for measures of prevention. Dealing with protection of populations by inoculation or vaccination, Colonel King traces the history of the former to Chinese and Indian methods in vogue long before the eighteenth century, and based on observations made at the dawn of the Christian era-methods which aimed at inducing attacks of the mild type of the in order to secure immunity from the more disease, virulent form. From such drastic forms of prophylaxis he passes to the ideal protection secured as the result of Jenner’s famous experiments in 1798, and the real advantages of vaccination, which world-wide experience has shown to be the essential of prevention. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon " efficient vaccination," including revaccination at puberty. There follows a complete and detailed account of the "vaccinator’s outfit," with a note on the transport of vaccine in tropical countries. The writer deals fully with details of technique and the practice of asepsis. The form of scarifying instrument, the cleansing of the site of vaccination, the operation itself, the development of vaccine vesicles, the type of successful vaccination to be aimed at, and the after-treatment and sequelse are graphically described. The liability of native races to certain skin eruptions during the hot season is mentioned, and a word of caution is given to avoid hastily attributing their occurrence in the course of vaccination to impurity of the vaccine employed. Section 2 is devoted to animal vaccine and to the organisation and supervision of vaccine institutes necessary for satisfactory cultivation. In the selection of a suitable site for the buildings of such an institute the requisite essentials are an environment of moderate and equable temperature, a plentiful supply of potable water for staff and animals, and the ready provision of fresh fodder for the calves utilised for vaccine cultivation. The proximity of an institute to bacteriological and biochemical laboratories is rightly considered desirable. For practical purposes the inclusion in the pamphlet of particulars as to the estimated cost of the building and upkeep of such an institute and as to the area of country it might serve, would have been welcomed. The necessary buildings are mentioned in detail, as including space for examination,, quarantine, and observation of animals, their cleansing, disinfection and treatment; washing sheds, inoculation sheds, operation room, vaccine preparation room, and rooms for cold storage and sterilisation of clothing, and all articles connected with inoculation; and accommoda-