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SHEFFIELD AND ITS HEALTH OFFICER.
HEALTH IN THE POST OFFICE SERVICE.
1004
which dealt with street music was not the only remedy for dealing with the nuisance, as persons could be prosecuted for creating an obstruction. If any one person was annoyed by The same an organ playing he had a right to interfere. remarks applied to the Salvation Army, who could be The applicant summoned if they refused to go away. thanked the magistrate for his advice, and remarked that he might have occasion to trouble Mr. Mead again. We hope he will should the nuisance be continued. Mr. Charles Fox of 104, Ritherdon-road, S.W., the honorary secretary of the Association for the Suppression of Street Noises, is collecting evidence as to the baneful effects of street noises on the patients of medical men, and we shall be glad to hear from any of our readers who can speak of the harmful effects of such noises on their patients.
the graduates of the distinguished Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s a man of medicine or a man of science who would do honour to the representation of his Alma Mater. Among medical graduates mention has been made of Sir William Priestley, M.D., as a candidate, while as a man of science Mr. John Murray, LL.D., whose scientific investigations in connexion with the Challenger Expedition are known and appreciated all over the world, has been suggested. We echo what is we know the feeling of a large body of the graduates in expressing the hope that the link which has so long bound the representation of the Universities to a government office will on this occasion be broken; and we are in a position to state that Sir William Priestley is willing to accede to the request that he should allow himself to be nominated for the seat. His election would make no change in the balance of parties.
amongst
CONTAGION FROM KISSING. HEALTH IN THE POST OFFICE SERVICE.
IF there is one thing more than another calculated to rouse the funny man of the lay press it is the mere idea of the suppression or regulation of osculation from its undoubted capabilities as a medium for the spread of contagious disease. Dr. Coleman, reporting as to the health of Surbiton, states that he has not been able to find an atom of evidence of local defects of sanitation to account for certain cases of fever, and goes on to refer to the danger of " slight" cases of diphtheria, for, as he says, being so mild they are not always treated with the extreme care that experience warns us that such attacks when mild require. Many cases, he points out, are not recognised; no medical man is called in and the individual meanwhile by personal contact is capable of spreading the disease ; and of all means the most personal and at the same time the most natural and probable is kissing. It should be a rule, he says, in all houses to never let a child or grown-up person with a sore throat, no matter what it may be called or be supposed to be, kiss or be kissed by another. He also suggests obvious precautions as regards spoons, cups, and such-like articles.
heading1 we recently commented on the of the statistical information supplied nature unsatisfactory relative to mortality statistics in the Post Office officials by connexion with the Departmental Committee which has been inquiring into Post Office matters. We first called attention to the matter on Aug. 31st, 1895, and it is regrettable that nothing should have been; since done to make the statistics more reliable. We sincerely trust, therefore, that a resolution which is to be proposed at the Annual Conference of the Postal Telegraph Clerks’ Association at Exeter on May 29th next will be passed unanimously and that the authorities will lose no time in carrying cut its recommendations. The resolution runs as follows :UNDER this
"This Conference expresses its regret that the immense and invaluable opportunities afforded for the collection of reliable statistical information relating to many important
questions in economic science and public health which are afforded by the large bodies of men and women employed by
the Post Office are not utilised, and urges upon the Postmaster-General the desirability of taking steps towards the collection and periodical publication of statistical information relating to postal employes, which shall be easily accessible and readily comparable with the statistical information now collected and tabulated by the Board of Trade, the Registrar-General’s, and other public departments."
SHEFFIELD AND ITS HEALTH OFFICER. WE
commentedl
recently
on
the action of the
city
council
of Sheffield in refusing to endorse the recommendation of its Health Committee to raise the salary of the medical officer of health, Dr. Harvey Littlejohn, from 500 to 750 by annual STREET NOISES. increments of .650. For so important a city as Sheffield this AN American journal recently published a cartoon repre- Iemolument of
,
.
.
,
1 THE LANCET, Feb.
29th, 1896.
1
THE LANCET, Feb. 22nd, 1896, p. 502.
1005
TETANY TREATED BY THYROID EXTRACT.
The first witness, a girl aged fourteen, was suffering from constitutional syphilis, and all the other witnesses, myself were sworn on the same Testament. included, Again, since we ..on this passage, and the memorial, excerpts from which that date I have had to appear as a witness very frequentlyitself for :append, speaks on one occasion five times in one day. For the reasons I have " MEMORIAL. already given I must, on grounds other than those which " Sheffield, February, 1896. may be called sanitary, prefer the Scotch oath." "DEAR DR. LITTLEJOHN,-We, the undersigned members Will not such testimony as this break down the bias of - of your profession, resident in Sheffield and the vicinity, the and judges magistrates who stand in the way of have observed with regret the refusal of the city council to reform? a We have raised our voice again If the services of a necessary grant an increase of your stipend....... competent officer are to be retained will, in our opinion, and again against the practice of kissing the book" ’be necessary to raise the remuneration attached to the and there must be but few of the general public who"office of medical officer so as to bring it more in accord I do not know that need not kiss the book when they with that found in other important towns in the kingdom, .and which shall bear a better relative proportion to the (by taking the oath. At the end of January last it gave us pleasure to refer to the praiseworthy example of his no means more important) positions held by other city officials ....... The notification of diseases, which is so liable Honour Judge Emden, who had notices posted up in his has been carried out by you with such county court calling attention to the fact that the book to occasion courtesy towards your professional brethren that not only need not be kissed when taking an oath. The officers of has the city been a gainer, but your relations to your eo/e?* the court were also instructed to tell witnesses when ’have been most cordial and harmonious." being sworn that they need not kiss the book unless they Who among our officers of the law will follow his a community such as ours, and an incom(petent one a great power for evil." It is needless to comment
GJOwer for good in
it
friction,
TETANY TREATED BY THYROID EXTRACT.
I liked.
example
-
IN a recent number of the Archives of Pediatrics Dr. John ’Thomson of Edinburgh records a case of tetany in a rickety THE CHALYBEATE WATER OF HAARLEM. "child fifteen months old who was treated unsuccessfully HAARLEM, the Dutch city famous among many other with thyroid. The condition of tetany had become estabfor the great organ in the cathedral and known everylished four days before the child was seen, and Dr. Thomson things where for the cultivation and exportation of tulips and other was induced to try the thyroid extract from remembering bulbs, possesses a chalybeate spring which promises ’the frequency with which tetany has been said to occur in flowering to give that part of Holland a reputation as a health resort. ’cases in which the thyroid gland has been excised. No It is stated that iron is present in the water in a large, was made in the diet for some and .change days thyroid though not excessive, amount, each litre containing 11 - tabloids were given. The child, however, continued steadily centigrammes of oxide (= about 7 grains per gallon) as well to get worse, but rapid improvement took place when a as 3’24 grammes of sodium chloride and a small proporsuitable dietary was instituted. Dr. Thomson alludes tion of manganese. The temperature of the spring is 11° C. xtothe remarkable results obtained by thyroid treat(= 51’8° F.). It has been named the Wilhelmina Bron, no ’ment by Dr. Bramwell and also by Dr. Gottstein and doubt after the youthful Queen of Holland. A handsome Sie points out that there are probably very essential has been erected, and there is a bathing estabdifferences between the idiopathic tetany of adults and the pump-room lishment in which chalybeate baths at any temperature, with dcommoner form in children so frequently, if not invariably, or without the addition of carbonic acid, may be had. - associated with rickets. Yet from the similarity of the There are also rooms for sulphur baths, salt baths, mud symptoms it might be expected that what was beneficial in baths, douche baths in all possible forms, vapour baths, and one would be beneficial in the other. Dr. Thomson’s case, a gymuastic department with appliances for every kind of £ does not indicate however, this, although it must be con- exercise. A of these necessary adjuncts has description ,-fessed that the trial was not quite a conclusive one. been written in English by Dr. C. E. Daniels of Amsterdam, who adds numerous medical testimonials as to the utility TAKING THE OATH. of the water and its non-liability to produce constipation. AMONG the many reforms relating to the health of thei Haarlem is a city of about 59,000 inhabitants, and it is, of which THE LANCET has advocated thei course, very easy of access.
,public
strenuously
- question of swearing with the uplifted hand has occupied a prominent place. It is a question of momentous importance OUR ROADS. to every person who has to enter the witness box, inasmuch as SOME eighteen hundred years have passed since our fore,on it may depend the health not only of themselves but of fathers were taught the art of road-making by the armies of ,everyone who is near and dear to them. To recapitulate the Cassar, and it might have been thought that this period arguments which have been brought forward and the proofs was sufficiently long for evolution to have produced which have been given to demonstrate the evils which the most perfect type of via. Unfortunately this is not may arise from the form in which the oath is generally so, as all who travel much on our great highways (and ,administered in English courts is unnecessary, as we have medical practitioners) must know, and we agree with . ’done so repeatedly, but the following piece of testimony, notably the author of a pamphlet issued by the Roads Improvement which we extract from a paper on the Administration of ’Oaths in British Courts of Law and elsewhere in Great Britain, read before a recent General Chapter of the Guild of .St. Luke by Mr. Frederick Lowndes, and printed in the Monthly Paper of the Guild for March, should be attentively ,perused by all whose duty involves the necessity of taking the oath. Says Mr. Lowndes:-
6’ personally, nothing can be more distasteful to me than to singular or different from other witnesses, whether they be or not my professional brethren. Let me give briefly my reasons and my experiences. Nearly twelve years .ago I gave evidence at the police-court before the grand jury and in. the Crown Court, the case being one of rape.
.appear
Association when he says "we as a nation have failed to keep abreast of the times, while our neighbours across the Channel ...... give us a long start." No doubt the advent of railroads has much to answer for as regards our apathy in this respect, but good roads are a fundamental necessity for a country like England, which owes not a little of its greatness to the arteries of commerce commenced by the Romans and recorded in the ° Itinerary of Antoninus." With the advent of the horseless carriage the roads of England are likely to prove of even greater importance in the future than they have done in the past, and the work of the Roads Improvement Association,
1004
which dealt with street music was not the only remedy for dealing with the nuisance, as persons could be prosecuted for creating an obstruction. If any one person was annoyed by The same an organ playing he had a right to interfere. remarks applied to the Salvation Army, who could be The applicant summoned if they refused to go away. thanked the magistrate for his advice, and remarked that he might have occasion to trouble Mr. Mead again. We hope he will should the nuisance be continued. Mr. Charles Fox of 104, Ritherdon-road, S.W., the honorary secretary of the Association for the Suppression of Street Noises, is collecting evidence as to the baneful effects of street noises on the patients of medical men, and we shall be glad to hear from any of our readers who can speak of the harmful effects of such noises on their patients.
the graduates of the distinguished Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s a man of medicine or a man of science who would do honour to the representation of his Alma Mater. Among medical graduates mention has been made of Sir William Priestley, M.D., as a candidate, while as a man of science Mr. John Murray, LL.D., whose scientific investigations in connexion with the Challenger Expedition are known and appreciated all over the world, has been suggested. We echo what is we know the feeling of a large body of the graduates in expressing the hope that the link which has so long bound the representation of the Universities to a government office will on this occasion be broken; and we are in a position to state that Sir William Priestley is willing to accede to the request that he should allow himself to be nominated for the seat. His election would make no change in the balance of parties.
amongst
CONTAGION FROM KISSING. HEALTH IN THE POST OFFICE SERVICE.
IF there is one thing more than another calculated to rouse the funny man of the lay press it is the mere idea of the suppression or regulation of osculation from its undoubted capabilities as a medium for the spread of contagious disease. Dr. Coleman, reporting as to the health of Surbiton, states that he has not been able to find an atom of evidence of local defects of sanitation to account for certain cases of fever, and goes on to refer to the danger of " slight" cases of diphtheria, for, as he says, being so mild they are not always treated with the extreme care that experience warns us that such attacks when mild require. Many cases, he points out, are not recognised; no medical man is called in and the individual meanwhile by personal contact is capable of spreading the disease ; and of all means the most personal and at the same time the most natural and probable is kissing. It should be a rule, he says, in all houses to never let a child or grown-up person with a sore throat, no matter what it may be called or be supposed to be, kiss or be kissed by another. He also suggests obvious precautions as regards spoons, cups, and such-like articles.
heading1 we recently commented on the of the statistical information supplied nature unsatisfactory relative to mortality statistics in the Post Office officials by connexion with the Departmental Committee which has been inquiring into Post Office matters. We first called attention to the matter on Aug. 31st, 1895, and it is regrettable that nothing should have been; since done to make the statistics more reliable. We sincerely trust, therefore, that a resolution which is to be proposed at the Annual Conference of the Postal Telegraph Clerks’ Association at Exeter on May 29th next will be passed unanimously and that the authorities will lose no time in carrying cut its recommendations. The resolution runs as follows :UNDER this
"This Conference expresses its regret that the immense and invaluable opportunities afforded for the collection of reliable statistical information relating to many important
questions in economic science and public health which are afforded by the large bodies of men and women employed by
the Post Office are not utilised, and urges upon the Postmaster-General the desirability of taking steps towards the collection and periodical publication of statistical information relating to postal employes, which shall be easily accessible and readily comparable with the statistical information now collected and tabulated by the Board of Trade, the Registrar-General’s, and other public departments."
SHEFFIELD AND ITS HEALTH OFFICER. WE
commentedl
recently
on
the action of the
city
council
of Sheffield in refusing to endorse the recommendation of its Health Committee to raise the salary of the medical officer of health, Dr. Harvey Littlejohn, from 500 to 750 by annual STREET NOISES. increments of .650. For so important a city as Sheffield this AN American journal recently published a cartoon repre- Iemolument of
,
.
.
,
1 THE LANCET, Feb.
29th, 1896.
1
THE LANCET, Feb. 22nd, 1896, p. 502.
1005
TETANY TREATED BY THYROID EXTRACT.
The first witness, a girl aged fourteen, was suffering from constitutional syphilis, and all the other witnesses, myself were sworn on the same Testament. included, Again, since we ..on this passage, and the memorial, excerpts from which that date I have had to appear as a witness very frequentlyitself for :append, speaks on one occasion five times in one day. For the reasons I have " MEMORIAL. already given I must, on grounds other than those which " Sheffield, February, 1896. may be called sanitary, prefer the Scotch oath." "DEAR DR. LITTLEJOHN,-We, the undersigned members Will not such testimony as this break down the bias of - of your profession, resident in Sheffield and the vicinity, the and judges magistrates who stand in the way of have observed with regret the refusal of the city council to reform? a We have raised our voice again If the services of a necessary grant an increase of your stipend....... competent officer are to be retained will, in our opinion, and again against the practice of kissing the book" ’be necessary to raise the remuneration attached to the and there must be but few of the general public who"office of medical officer so as to bring it more in accord I do not know that need not kiss the book when they with that found in other important towns in the kingdom, .and which shall bear a better relative proportion to the (by taking the oath. At the end of January last it gave us pleasure to refer to the praiseworthy example of his no means more important) positions held by other city officials ....... The notification of diseases, which is so liable Honour Judge Emden, who had notices posted up in his has been carried out by you with such county court calling attention to the fact that the book to occasion courtesy towards your professional brethren that not only need not be kissed when taking an oath. The officers of has the city been a gainer, but your relations to your eo/e?* the court were also instructed to tell witnesses when ’have been most cordial and harmonious." being sworn that they need not kiss the book unless they Who among our officers of the law will follow his a community such as ours, and an incom(petent one a great power for evil." It is needless to comment
GJOwer for good in
it
friction,
TETANY TREATED BY THYROID EXTRACT.
I liked.
example
-
IN a recent number of the Archives of Pediatrics Dr. John ’Thomson of Edinburgh records a case of tetany in a rickety THE CHALYBEATE WATER OF HAARLEM. "child fifteen months old who was treated unsuccessfully HAARLEM, the Dutch city famous among many other with thyroid. The condition of tetany had become estabfor the great organ in the cathedral and known everylished four days before the child was seen, and Dr. Thomson things where for the cultivation and exportation of tulips and other was induced to try the thyroid extract from remembering bulbs, possesses a chalybeate spring which promises ’the frequency with which tetany has been said to occur in flowering to give that part of Holland a reputation as a health resort. ’cases in which the thyroid gland has been excised. No It is stated that iron is present in the water in a large, was made in the diet for some and .change days thyroid though not excessive, amount, each litre containing 11 - tabloids were given. The child, however, continued steadily centigrammes of oxide (= about 7 grains per gallon) as well to get worse, but rapid improvement took place when a as 3’24 grammes of sodium chloride and a small proporsuitable dietary was instituted. Dr. Thomson alludes tion of manganese. The temperature of the spring is 11° C. xtothe remarkable results obtained by thyroid treat(= 51’8° F.). It has been named the Wilhelmina Bron, no ’ment by Dr. Bramwell and also by Dr. Gottstein and doubt after the youthful Queen of Holland. A handsome Sie points out that there are probably very essential has been erected, and there is a bathing estabdifferences between the idiopathic tetany of adults and the pump-room lishment in which chalybeate baths at any temperature, with dcommoner form in children so frequently, if not invariably, or without the addition of carbonic acid, may be had. - associated with rickets. Yet from the similarity of the There are also rooms for sulphur baths, salt baths, mud symptoms it might be expected that what was beneficial in baths, douche baths in all possible forms, vapour baths, and one would be beneficial in the other. Dr. Thomson’s case, a gymuastic department with appliances for every kind of £ does not indicate however, this, although it must be con- exercise. A of these necessary adjuncts has description ,-fessed that the trial was not quite a conclusive one. been written in English by Dr. C. E. Daniels of Amsterdam, who adds numerous medical testimonials as to the utility TAKING THE OATH. of the water and its non-liability to produce constipation. AMONG the many reforms relating to the health of thei Haarlem is a city of about 59,000 inhabitants, and it is, of which THE LANCET has advocated thei course, very easy of access.
,public
strenuously
- question of swearing with the uplifted hand has occupied a prominent place. It is a question of momentous importance OUR ROADS. to every person who has to enter the witness box, inasmuch as SOME eighteen hundred years have passed since our fore,on it may depend the health not only of themselves but of fathers were taught the art of road-making by the armies of ,everyone who is near and dear to them. To recapitulate the Cassar, and it might have been thought that this period arguments which have been brought forward and the proofs was sufficiently long for evolution to have produced which have been given to demonstrate the evils which the most perfect type of via. Unfortunately this is not may arise from the form in which the oath is generally so, as all who travel much on our great highways (and ,administered in English courts is unnecessary, as we have medical practitioners) must know, and we agree with . ’done so repeatedly, but the following piece of testimony, notably the author of a pamphlet issued by the Roads Improvement which we extract from a paper on the Administration of ’Oaths in British Courts of Law and elsewhere in Great Britain, read before a recent General Chapter of the Guild of .St. Luke by Mr. Frederick Lowndes, and printed in the Monthly Paper of the Guild for March, should be attentively ,perused by all whose duty involves the necessity of taking the oath. Says Mr. Lowndes:-
6’ personally, nothing can be more distasteful to me than to singular or different from other witnesses, whether they be or not my professional brethren. Let me give briefly my reasons and my experiences. Nearly twelve years .ago I gave evidence at the police-court before the grand jury and in. the Crown Court, the case being one of rape.
.appear
Association when he says "we as a nation have failed to keep abreast of the times, while our neighbours across the Channel ...... give us a long start." No doubt the advent of railroads has much to answer for as regards our apathy in this respect, but good roads are a fundamental necessity for a country like England, which owes not a little of its greatness to the arteries of commerce commenced by the Romans and recorded in the ° Itinerary of Antoninus." With the advent of the horseless carriage the roads of England are likely to prove of even greater importance in the future than they have done in the past, and the work of the Roads Improvement Association,