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SUPPLY OF BODIES FOR DISSECTION
774 the region of 120,000. Total admissions to the hospital in the six years 1937-42, those covered by the investigation, varied from a minimum of 2455 to a maximum of 2697 But since adult populations have altered per annum. considerably owing to war services it was thought that the figures for children under the age of 15 would give a fairer comparison. The year 1939 could be taken as prewar from the point of view of diet. The child population at risk The table sets out the was estimated at about 30,000. figures from the infirmary records. Deaths from appendicitis in the six years numbered 2, 3, 2, 1, 3 and 2. RELATION OF APPENDICECTOMIES TO TOTAL SURGICAL OPERATIONS IN CHILDREN UNDER 15 YEARS
UNPADDED PLASTERS agree with the excellent warning letter by Mr. M61ndoe and Mr. Watson-Jones. They do not, however, appear to me to go far enough in warning about the dangers of unpadded plasters. They rather give the impression (unwittingly, no doubt) that if plasters are padded there is not any danger. I would like to emphasise as strongly as possible that for injuries to limbs, with which many surgeons may be dealing in this country in the near future, all plasters should be padded and split and the limb elevated and the digits watched. JOHN HOSFORD. Harley Street, W.1.
5,,-I entirely
HEMOLYTtC DISEASE IN THE NEWBORN SIR,-In the article by Drs. Langley and Stratton in THE LANCET of Jan. 29, which has only now reached us, the description of the spleen in case 12 is very suggestive of sickle-cell anaemia. It would be interesting to discover
if this child had
a
West African ancestor. R. D. REID.
Medical Research Institute, Accra.
On Active Service The
CASUALTIES are announced :
following casualties
KILLED
There was a large incursion of evacuees in September, 1939. The vast majority of these remained only a few days or at most a few weeks, and their transient stay was rather against their having much effect on the figures. There was a second much smaller " invasion " in May, 1940, but again the sojourn in the county was nearly always short. An EMS hospital was opened 11 miles away, on the edge of the area, in August, 1940. The patients admitted to it were mainly Glasgow waiting-list cases but 4 appendicectomies were referred from Kilmarnock Infirmary in 1942. Any effect this hospital could have had would be to make the figures for the later years smaller than they should have been. Young and Russell say that the death-rate from appendicitis in England and Wales after the last war seemed to support the belief that diet was an important factor. They go on to suggest that the actual incidence of appendicitis has increased in recent years. The figures in the table seem to point to some increase in the years 1941 and 1942. They pointed out that there had been propaganda in this country for some years urging a return to the kind of diet which, if the view quoted by Rendle Short is correct, should have reduced the incidence of appendicitis, but that under existing conditions of life it seemed improbable that a sufficient change in dietary habits would be introduced to influence the incidence appreciably. The improbable has happened. Our diet has been considerably altered, on scientific linesand compulsorily. There is more roughage-in the bread, for example-more vegetables are being eaten in the absence of fruit, the amount of meat has been reduced and it is generally agreed that the diet allowed during the years 1940-42 was a vast improvement on what was consumed by at least a large part of the population before the war. But the evidence from this investigation does not suggest that the incidence of appendicitis has fallen. BRYCE R. NISBET. Klmarnock. SUPPLY OF BODIES
FOR DISSECTION our alma mater to see SIR,-How disappointing insulted by a FRCP(I am referring to the letter in today’s issue.) Thorough knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the human body is the beginning and end of medicine, and to call for less anatomy is to bury our art and our science. Are you no longer inspired by the immense curiosity of the dissecting-room, where life reveals some of its secrets to those who can see and observe, reflect and understand ? No ready-prepared specimens, no models and drawings can replace the dissection of bodies in its instructive value. Nor can X rays or the film do so. Your faith must be weak, dear FRCP. Please reconsider your statement and I hope you will join me in formalin, whoever you may be. W. LESCHNITZER. Basingstoke, May 27.
Captain
HUGH
LAUDER,
MB
GLASG.,
RAMC.
WOUNDED
Major REGINALD BOLTON, MBE, MB LOND., MRCP, Lieutenant R. H. PORTEOUS, RCAMC. Lieutenant W. C. TRACY, RCAMC.
RAMC.
PRISONERS OF WAR
Major H. M. S. G. BEADNELL, MRCS, RAMC. Captain J. W. GORONWY, MB LOND., RAMC. AWARDS The
following
immediate award has been made : MC
Captain V. J. MCKENTY, RCAMC. When an enemy shell exploded in the cellar where a regimental aid-post was in operation Captain McKenty, though himself suffering from blast and weakened from concussion, carried out the wounded and attended to them, reorganised the post while under fire, and refused to be evacuated himself. MENTION IN DISPATCHES
Surgeon
Lieutenant THOMAS HAW, MRCS,
RNVR.
COMMENDATION
AUBREY CECIL KIRTON, MB EDIN., ship’s surgeon, MN. REPATRIATED The name of Major A. S. Till, MB CAMB., FRCS, was spelt incorrectly last week in the list of RAMC officers who have been repatriated. MEMOIR
Captain HUGH LAUDER, who was killed in action in Burma last January, was the eldest son of Mr. D. M. Lauder, of Glasgow. Born 28 years ago, he was educated at Bellahouston Academy and Glasgow University, where he graduated MB in 1938. He then became house-surgeon in the Chesterfield and Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, where he remained until commissioned in October, 1940. After serving for more than a year in West Africa, where his brother officers tell of his success with the African troops, Lauder was transferred to Burma. On his first day in action on this front he was severely wounded when attending casualties at a forward aid-post, but he carried on directing treatment until he collapsed. He died later the same day. A senior colleague writes : -" Dr. Lauder brought to his work and to life This an open mind, free from prejudice. was no empty quality, for his enthusiasm was infectious, and his point of view had
a
and
"
always worth while." Tall and slun, Lauder ready wit and made friends easily. As a student he was interested in social schemes for unemployed youths and spent much of his leisure helping the Youths Club in the Anderson district of Glasgow. A keen oarsman, he rowed for the University. He leaves his widow with one son.
refreshing
UNPADDED PLASTERS agree with the excellent warning letter by Mr. M61ndoe and Mr. Watson-Jones. They do not, however, appear to me to go far enough in warning about the dangers of unpadded plasters. They rather give the impression (unwittingly, no doubt) that if plasters are padded there is not any danger. I would like to emphasise as strongly as possible that for injuries to limbs, with which many surgeons may be dealing in this country in the near future, all plasters should be padded and split and the limb elevated and the digits watched. JOHN HOSFORD. Harley Street, W.1.
5,,-I entirely
HEMOLYTtC DISEASE IN THE NEWBORN SIR,-In the article by Drs. Langley and Stratton in THE LANCET of Jan. 29, which has only now reached us, the description of the spleen in case 12 is very suggestive of sickle-cell anaemia. It would be interesting to discover
if this child had
a
West African ancestor. R. D. REID.
Medical Research Institute, Accra.
On Active Service The
CASUALTIES are announced :
following casualties
KILLED
There was a large incursion of evacuees in September, 1939. The vast majority of these remained only a few days or at most a few weeks, and their transient stay was rather against their having much effect on the figures. There was a second much smaller " invasion " in May, 1940, but again the sojourn in the county was nearly always short. An EMS hospital was opened 11 miles away, on the edge of the area, in August, 1940. The patients admitted to it were mainly Glasgow waiting-list cases but 4 appendicectomies were referred from Kilmarnock Infirmary in 1942. Any effect this hospital could have had would be to make the figures for the later years smaller than they should have been. Young and Russell say that the death-rate from appendicitis in England and Wales after the last war seemed to support the belief that diet was an important factor. They go on to suggest that the actual incidence of appendicitis has increased in recent years. The figures in the table seem to point to some increase in the years 1941 and 1942. They pointed out that there had been propaganda in this country for some years urging a return to the kind of diet which, if the view quoted by Rendle Short is correct, should have reduced the incidence of appendicitis, but that under existing conditions of life it seemed improbable that a sufficient change in dietary habits would be introduced to influence the incidence appreciably. The improbable has happened. Our diet has been considerably altered, on scientific linesand compulsorily. There is more roughage-in the bread, for example-more vegetables are being eaten in the absence of fruit, the amount of meat has been reduced and it is generally agreed that the diet allowed during the years 1940-42 was a vast improvement on what was consumed by at least a large part of the population before the war. But the evidence from this investigation does not suggest that the incidence of appendicitis has fallen. BRYCE R. NISBET. Klmarnock. SUPPLY OF BODIES
FOR DISSECTION our alma mater to see SIR,-How disappointing insulted by a FRCP(I am referring to the letter in today’s issue.) Thorough knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the human body is the beginning and end of medicine, and to call for less anatomy is to bury our art and our science. Are you no longer inspired by the immense curiosity of the dissecting-room, where life reveals some of its secrets to those who can see and observe, reflect and understand ? No ready-prepared specimens, no models and drawings can replace the dissection of bodies in its instructive value. Nor can X rays or the film do so. Your faith must be weak, dear FRCP. Please reconsider your statement and I hope you will join me in formalin, whoever you may be. W. LESCHNITZER. Basingstoke, May 27.
Captain
HUGH
LAUDER,
MB
GLASG.,
RAMC.
WOUNDED
Major REGINALD BOLTON, MBE, MB LOND., MRCP, Lieutenant R. H. PORTEOUS, RCAMC. Lieutenant W. C. TRACY, RCAMC.
RAMC.
PRISONERS OF WAR
Major H. M. S. G. BEADNELL, MRCS, RAMC. Captain J. W. GORONWY, MB LOND., RAMC. AWARDS The
following
immediate award has been made : MC
Captain V. J. MCKENTY, RCAMC. When an enemy shell exploded in the cellar where a regimental aid-post was in operation Captain McKenty, though himself suffering from blast and weakened from concussion, carried out the wounded and attended to them, reorganised the post while under fire, and refused to be evacuated himself. MENTION IN DISPATCHES
Surgeon
Lieutenant THOMAS HAW, MRCS,
RNVR.
COMMENDATION
AUBREY CECIL KIRTON, MB EDIN., ship’s surgeon, MN. REPATRIATED The name of Major A. S. Till, MB CAMB., FRCS, was spelt incorrectly last week in the list of RAMC officers who have been repatriated. MEMOIR
Captain HUGH LAUDER, who was killed in action in Burma last January, was the eldest son of Mr. D. M. Lauder, of Glasgow. Born 28 years ago, he was educated at Bellahouston Academy and Glasgow University, where he graduated MB in 1938. He then became house-surgeon in the Chesterfield and Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, where he remained until commissioned in October, 1940. After serving for more than a year in West Africa, where his brother officers tell of his success with the African troops, Lauder was transferred to Burma. On his first day in action on this front he was severely wounded when attending casualties at a forward aid-post, but he carried on directing treatment until he collapsed. He died later the same day. A senior colleague writes : -" Dr. Lauder brought to his work and to life This an open mind, free from prejudice. was no empty quality, for his enthusiasm was infectious, and his point of view had
a
and
"
always worth while." Tall and slun, Lauder ready wit and made friends easily. As a student he was interested in social schemes for unemployed youths and spent much of his leisure helping the Youths Club in the Anderson district of Glasgow. A keen oarsman, he rowed for the University. He leaves his widow with one son.
refreshing