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THE CAT OR THE CAUSE?
1074
Special Articles THE CAT OR THE CAUSE? Proposed Return to Corporal Punishment THEREare dangerous possibilities about the mounting
kindi6ta’bl6 offerices known’tb the police. One may wonder whether the prospect of corporal punishment appeared more than very remote to the criminal as he went out :. to commit his crime. The figures for the war-time whipping of boys under
14 (table nyare truly remarkable, for in 1940 the-amount of suddenly r6se sixfold to reach a peak in 194J in some for a return to quarters agitation corporal at whipping 1.8 level, only to decline as abruptly times eleven punishment for crimes of violence. An air of emotional to reach half itsthe in 1945. Meanwhile indictable 1938-level fervour about this movement, of a type to which Parliament has sometimes responded in the past and which is offences rose by nearly two-thirds between 1938 and 1940 and remained at that level throughout the war. It strains in sharp contrast to sober Ministerial statements, means credulity to believe that increasing whipping from 0.3% that there is some risk of the sudden passage of new of emotion, may of offenders in 1938 to 1-3% in 1941 (and reducing it to legislation; which, under pressure 0-1% in 1945) warded off a much bigger rise in juvenile not be wise. crime and held the level steady for two years after tlie in the about Notoriously, corporal punishment, dispute policy was abandoned. It is easy to understand how, reasoned argument has failed to sway the issue. It might under the pressure of increasing crime and of war-time that almost be concluded that people either deeply wish violent criminals should be flogged and murderers hanged TABLE I-CRIMES ’OF VIOLENCE AMONG ADULT MALES (for these wishes often go together), or they do not ; and there is an end of the matter. Perhaps a majority of the judges on the Queen’s Bench, some of the magistrates, but not the Law Lords or the Secretary of State, share this wish ; most of- those engaged in works of social amelioration and reform do- not ; religious leaders appear to be divided.- -How can the hypothetical man-in-thestreet be’ other than confused and uncertain in his attitudes’1 The popular press is often blamed for giving so much lurid publicity to crime and for being selective, conducting campaigns about certain types of crime. There is no evidence that such campaigns affect the incidence of crime, but they must to some extent poison the public attitude. In one sensational incident in New York in which public anxiety over a so-called wave of sex crimes became intense under a vivid press campaign, it was found later that there had been no more than an unusual sequence, of similar crimes, the incidence for the year being normal.. What harm was done to the public by this experience is a matter for speculation ; but certainly little good. Experience indicates that, though publicity may suggest- to a criminal a certain detail of action, it will scarcely cause a crime to be committed. However, positive good might follow if the press were to pay more attention to injunction to think on those things which are true, lovely, and of good report. The parties to this dispute naturally differ as to whether corporal punishment is or is not a deterrent. Proponents often back their argument, implicitly or explicitly, with the concept of corporal punishment as punishment or retribution ; opponents back theirs with humanitarian considerations and their concept of civilised behaviour. They agree that prison will protect the uneasiness, this form of punishment was public from the criminal for the duration of the sentence, magisterial is less easy to see why it as suddenly disIt adopted. but they differ in regarding prison as being on the one at least there is no hint in these figures but appeared ; hand primarily a punishment and a deterrent, and on the that whipping was regarded by the magistrates at that other hand as a potential opportunity for reform. Some time as a successful deterrent. who are uneasy about corporal punishment will pin Statistics of murder for the years 1939 to 1945 their faith on making prison a most, unpleasant place in which the criminal will spend a very. long time. (table in) show some of the reasons why hanging, which was practised at that time without some of the hesitations A DETERRENT ’1 which have lately appeared, may equally notbean The defects of statistics as a means of proof have often effective deterrent. First, people werebrought to trial for only about half the known murders; presumably that nobody been emphasised, but it is at least seems to have produced figures to show that corporal many of these had evaded punishment by committing punishment can be 11 deterjrent to crime. Table i, based on suicide. Secondly, while 174 guilty,persons were deemed Home Office figures for England and Wales, contains’ to be sane, 209, were, at some stage of the proceedings, several points of interest. It will be seeri that the offences deemed to be insane. Thirdly, only about half of the for which punishment used to be authorised sane persons convicted of murder were executed’;ef decreased since corporal punishment was those charged with murder the proportion executed was abolished in 1948—this in a. period when all other forms only 1 in 6, and for every 11 murders there wasonly 1 12 executions per year among 40 million execution. of indictable -offen6e,,iiioludiiRg all other forms of -violent 82 executions : what. a problem crime, have increased.. In 1947, of convicted persons liable people ; for 900 murders, the for risks in to corporal were to sentenced receive 19% of murderers caught and calculating pnly 6% sane ! deemed all the of about aha these it,0-01% represented only
strong
-
"
St. Paul’s
‘
impressive
corporal have actually
punishment,
-
1075 TABLE II-WI3IPPINGt
IMPOSED BY
Figures, excluding calculations of percentages ,
I
MAGISTRATES’ COURTS,
and proportions, taken from the Home Office’s Criminal Statistics for England and Cmd.7327. H.M. Stationery Office. 1947. ’
deterrent to be effective, either there must be an appreciation and dislike of the consequences, combined with self-control, or else there must be sheer fear For
a
of those consequences. Common sense and psychology agree that if all men possessed the qualities of intellectual appreciation, self-control, and foresight, there would be fewer murders and crimes of violence. Criminals who are capable of calculating risks are far more likely to go in for confidence tricks, fraud, and the like. Violent crime is largely a matter of primitive emotional forces, of very great strength. Moral standards and the adult’s positive desire for good come from the child’s birthright of love and trust in the home, which, if denied or betrayed there, may engender such hatred and hostility in an individual that the forces of morality, with all their strength, are swept aside. Violent crime is not merely a matter of low moral standards, of slackness, or of work-shyness, but arises from intense antisocial emotions. How can it be hoped that a problematical punishment in the future-a highly abstract eventuality for the primitive person concerned-will have a strong deterrent effect’1 RETRIBUTION ?
1
When all the available evidence is to the contrary, adherence to the opinion that these punishments are deterrents can only signify a deep need to justify a belief held for emotional reasons. If it could now be recognised that corporal punishment is advocated out of sympathy for the victim, because of a need for revenge, a primitive TABLE III-MURDER OF PERSONS AGED ONE YEAR AND SEVEN
14 YEARS OB* AGE
BOYS UNDER
YEARS, 1939-45 INCLUSIVE
OVER,
W04es, _
,
another, l
desire to mete out to the thug what he has done to notable advance would have been made. Then the British people would be faced with a clear-cut issue-whether direct acts of retribution are or are not a desirable principle of justice. They could consider whether society can afford to sink to the level of, and to takerevenge on, its criminal members ; whether, in striving to return to more civilised standards of behaviour after a war, even a small matter like the flogging of fifty men each year may not be undesirable. If there is no justification in expediency, there is no escape from the moral issue, unless some bold spirits should wish to attempt to justify the expediency by flogging ten or a hundred times the number of criminals in an attempt to secure a deterrent effect. a
PREVENTION’1 The essential distinguishing feature of the cool calcucriminal-the conscienceless rogue-is that he is conscienceless ; and of the violent thug that he has emotional reactions and relationships more appropriate to a child of two or three than to his adult body. No-one would dream of blaming a child for having rickety legs,.’. and modern research is now showing that psychological medicine, too, has its deficiency diseases. To hold that criminals are just " plain wicked "is a counsel of despair ; and the present-day need of society is for research into causes, not for " cats." The incidence of crime in a community shows some relation to the rate of change of social institutions therein. A rise in the level of crime is associated with rapid industrialisation, social revolution, -and war,’ and -the war-time training inand approval of violent behaviour among the young males is no doubt associated with the steeper secondary rise experienced when peace returns. The effect of war-time disturbances -of home life is likely to last for many years-indeed so long as the young men and women involved are active in crime. Other factors that produce more local and temporary variations in the crime-tateinclude social injustice, political tension, and the moral attitudes of the
lating
.,.
’
.
"
’
community. The prevention
of criminality thus requires a manysided approach. The main -object must be to improve the mental hygiene -of family life, which may be attempted through economic, sociological, and religious actiivities. But one of the very important ’tasks is to improve the quantity and quality of recruits to the police forces and to seek a reorientation towards the more truly preventive .,", ’,’ aspects of their -work: ’ Even effective prevention, ’however, does not solve the problem of the existing criminal, for whom, it must be stated, the approved-school and borstal systems are giving .’only mediocre results and prison its ()ften" almost disastrous. A long sentence may give merely a respite from criminal activity and is more likely to demoralise than rehabilitate the criminal. From the very conditions "
’
,
"
psychological treatment in prison does not great hope of success ; but a more concerted raise, not lower, the prisoners" self-respect
of prison life, hold out any
effort to.
di3serves.’,Serioufs
trial. The Home
Secretary has.pointed
1076 the council that they had rendered satisfactory service under the conditions applicable to holders of diplomas granted in the British Isles. Applicants holding recognised Commonwealth or foreign diplomas who could not,claim full registration on this basis could claim such registration if they had acquired otherwise substantially equivalent experience of the practice of medicine and
out that the Criminal Justice Act envisages- such efforts, but that there has not yet been opportunity to bring them into being. ,
Only organisational difficulties-and they are formidable-appear to stand in the way of attempting to make prisons self-supporting, to make inmates work for their living. To introduce a new spirit of this type might breathe
new
surgery. - No doubt, at the
life into the Prison Service and counteract
beginning some of the machinery might creak ; but, given the cooperation of student, medical school, and hospital authority, it should soon The student might -be assured that the run smoothly. authorities of his school would do everything they could to help him to secure suitable posts ; but that would not free him from using his own judgment and himself seeking employment, as those before him had done. It was certain that all licensing bodies and schools would prefer each student to take posts for 6 months in general medicine and 6 months in general surgery ; and if that was impracticable, they would insist that 6 months should be spent in either general medicine or general surgery. Before accepting any particular post included. in the list published by the council, the applicant should
demoralising effect on staff of the purely custodial care of caged human beings. Continued neglect of such an experiment is perilous for society.
the
A
CHANGE OF ATTITUDE
It would be well if the current agitation for an arbitrary with no thought for principle, were an end. The public needs a respite from fears aroused by the fantasy that the country is being overwhelmed by violent lawlessness, a fantasy which is far removed from the fact. Much good would follow from more objectivity in the press, and less exploitation of the situation for the sake of the circulationmore circumspection, especially in public utterances, by leading judges and magistrates ; and more thought by the general population about the moral and spiritual values of our civilisation, including recognition of the effect of the more primitive -emotions on our thoughts and conclusions.
change in the law, quickly brought to
consult the authorities of his school as to whether the combination of posts he proposed would be recognised by his licensing body to enable him to qualify for full registration. Hospital authorities could help greatly by synchronising as far as possible their appointments with the periods at which final examinations were held. By effecting a revision- of existing staff arrangements and providing the requisite residential accommodation,- they might also secure the recognition of hospitals not yet approved and thus add to the number of suitable posts. The ultimate responsibility lay with the licensing bodies. The council’s sole object was to perfect the administrative machinery and to do all in its power to enable these bodies to ensure that this , measure would lead to a higher standard of medical care and
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL OPENING the 185th session last Tuesday, Prof. DAVID the president, remarked that the Dentists Bill had not gone further than the first reading in the House of Commons before the close of the Parliamentary It would, therefore, have to be renewed in session. Parliament as though it were being introduced for the first time ; and it appeared probable that the council would have to continue to carry out its duties in relation to the dental profession for an indefinite period. The next edition of the B1’itish Pharmacopaeia would be published on March 1, 1953, and have effect from Sept. 1, 1953. A quarter of a century ago the Macmillan Committee, whose report was accepted by the council, urged that the body preparing future issues of the British Pharmacopœia should not only be composed of thoroughly qualified persons but should also be such as to command the confidence of all the interests concerned. The committee to select the new Pharmacopoeia Commission would, therefore, consist of representatives of the council, the Pharmaceutical Societies of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Medical Research Council. The council had decided to put into operation that part of the Act of 1950 which empowered them to appoint visitors, not being members of the council, to medical schools and examinations. It proposed to select men of special qualifications and ’of experience on particular subjects, and to arrange for them to visit both the schools and the examinations. The Appointed Day for introducing the compulsory period of ’service as a house-officer was to be Jan. 1, 1953.. Approved hospitals and institutions numbered
CAMPBELL,
634-456 in England and Wales, 104 in Scotland, 24 in Northern Ireland, and 50 (approved by’ the Medical Registration Council of the Republic) in Eire. The total number of posts was 3048-280 in Eire and 2768 in the United Kingdom. Of the United Kingdom posts 926 were in general medicine, 972 in general surgery, 342 in midwifery, and 528 in the various specialties (171 primarily medical and 357 primarily surgical). Holders of recognised Commonwealth or foreign diplomas would be able to claim registration if they had been employed for the period -in, hospitals approved by licensing bodies of this country, and if they satisfied
prescribed
’
practice. DENTAL TREATMENT OF CHILDREN THE British Dental Association found, from the answers to a questionary, that private practitioners were willing to set aside about 10,000 hours per week for the dental treatment of school-children ; and in a memorandum1 to the Government it suggested that this might help -to
provide a short-term solution to the problem of obtaining enough treatment for this priority group. In their reply the Ministers of Health and Education and the Secretary of State for Scotland state " certain principles which they consider to be fundamental to the proper organisation of a dental service for the priority classes and to which in their view both short term and long term policy must have regard. "The first is that as has been shown by experience the
most effective way of providing treatment for school-children is in clinics closely associated with school routine so as both to ensure the attendance of children,in need of it and to cause the least interruption of their education. Treatment for, a younger children can most effectively be prpvided clinic service forming part of the local health authorities’
by
general arrangements
for the
care
of mothers and children,
to encourage attendance and meet the of the mothers. so
’
as
convenience
it is
" Secondly,
imperative, particularly in present economic expenditure and here again experience has shown that-children-can be treated in clinics at a substantially lower èost than when treated by private dentists remunerated for eachitem. of circumstances,
treatment
on
to achieve the utmost economy in
the scale of fees in
dental service.
operation
1. Brit. dent. J. Oct. 21, 1952, suppl. p. 53; Lancet, Oct. 25, 1952, p. 814.
under the see
general
leading article,.
Special Articles THE CAT OR THE CAUSE? Proposed Return to Corporal Punishment THEREare dangerous possibilities about the mounting
kindi6ta’bl6 offerices known’tb the police. One may wonder whether the prospect of corporal punishment appeared more than very remote to the criminal as he went out :. to commit his crime. The figures for the war-time whipping of boys under
14 (table nyare truly remarkable, for in 1940 the-amount of suddenly r6se sixfold to reach a peak in 194J in some for a return to quarters agitation corporal at whipping 1.8 level, only to decline as abruptly times eleven punishment for crimes of violence. An air of emotional to reach half itsthe in 1945. Meanwhile indictable 1938-level fervour about this movement, of a type to which Parliament has sometimes responded in the past and which is offences rose by nearly two-thirds between 1938 and 1940 and remained at that level throughout the war. It strains in sharp contrast to sober Ministerial statements, means credulity to believe that increasing whipping from 0.3% that there is some risk of the sudden passage of new of emotion, may of offenders in 1938 to 1-3% in 1941 (and reducing it to legislation; which, under pressure 0-1% in 1945) warded off a much bigger rise in juvenile not be wise. crime and held the level steady for two years after tlie in the about Notoriously, corporal punishment, dispute policy was abandoned. It is easy to understand how, reasoned argument has failed to sway the issue. It might under the pressure of increasing crime and of war-time that almost be concluded that people either deeply wish violent criminals should be flogged and murderers hanged TABLE I-CRIMES ’OF VIOLENCE AMONG ADULT MALES (for these wishes often go together), or they do not ; and there is an end of the matter. Perhaps a majority of the judges on the Queen’s Bench, some of the magistrates, but not the Law Lords or the Secretary of State, share this wish ; most of- those engaged in works of social amelioration and reform do- not ; religious leaders appear to be divided.- -How can the hypothetical man-in-thestreet be’ other than confused and uncertain in his attitudes’1 The popular press is often blamed for giving so much lurid publicity to crime and for being selective, conducting campaigns about certain types of crime. There is no evidence that such campaigns affect the incidence of crime, but they must to some extent poison the public attitude. In one sensational incident in New York in which public anxiety over a so-called wave of sex crimes became intense under a vivid press campaign, it was found later that there had been no more than an unusual sequence, of similar crimes, the incidence for the year being normal.. What harm was done to the public by this experience is a matter for speculation ; but certainly little good. Experience indicates that, though publicity may suggest- to a criminal a certain detail of action, it will scarcely cause a crime to be committed. However, positive good might follow if the press were to pay more attention to injunction to think on those things which are true, lovely, and of good report. The parties to this dispute naturally differ as to whether corporal punishment is or is not a deterrent. Proponents often back their argument, implicitly or explicitly, with the concept of corporal punishment as punishment or retribution ; opponents back theirs with humanitarian considerations and their concept of civilised behaviour. They agree that prison will protect the uneasiness, this form of punishment was public from the criminal for the duration of the sentence, magisterial is less easy to see why it as suddenly disIt adopted. but they differ in regarding prison as being on the one at least there is no hint in these figures but appeared ; hand primarily a punishment and a deterrent, and on the that whipping was regarded by the magistrates at that other hand as a potential opportunity for reform. Some time as a successful deterrent. who are uneasy about corporal punishment will pin Statistics of murder for the years 1939 to 1945 their faith on making prison a most, unpleasant place in which the criminal will spend a very. long time. (table in) show some of the reasons why hanging, which was practised at that time without some of the hesitations A DETERRENT ’1 which have lately appeared, may equally notbean The defects of statistics as a means of proof have often effective deterrent. First, people werebrought to trial for only about half the known murders; presumably that nobody been emphasised, but it is at least seems to have produced figures to show that corporal many of these had evaded punishment by committing punishment can be 11 deterjrent to crime. Table i, based on suicide. Secondly, while 174 guilty,persons were deemed Home Office figures for England and Wales, contains’ to be sane, 209, were, at some stage of the proceedings, several points of interest. It will be seeri that the offences deemed to be insane. Thirdly, only about half of the for which punishment used to be authorised sane persons convicted of murder were executed’;ef decreased since corporal punishment was those charged with murder the proportion executed was abolished in 1948—this in a. period when all other forms only 1 in 6, and for every 11 murders there wasonly 1 12 executions per year among 40 million execution. of indictable -offen6e,,iiioludiiRg all other forms of -violent 82 executions : what. a problem crime, have increased.. In 1947, of convicted persons liable people ; for 900 murders, the for risks in to corporal were to sentenced receive 19% of murderers caught and calculating pnly 6% sane ! deemed all the of about aha these it,0-01% represented only
strong
-
"
St. Paul’s
‘
impressive
corporal have actually
punishment,
-
1075 TABLE II-WI3IPPINGt
IMPOSED BY
Figures, excluding calculations of percentages ,
I
MAGISTRATES’ COURTS,
and proportions, taken from the Home Office’s Criminal Statistics for England and Cmd.7327. H.M. Stationery Office. 1947. ’
deterrent to be effective, either there must be an appreciation and dislike of the consequences, combined with self-control, or else there must be sheer fear For
a
of those consequences. Common sense and psychology agree that if all men possessed the qualities of intellectual appreciation, self-control, and foresight, there would be fewer murders and crimes of violence. Criminals who are capable of calculating risks are far more likely to go in for confidence tricks, fraud, and the like. Violent crime is largely a matter of primitive emotional forces, of very great strength. Moral standards and the adult’s positive desire for good come from the child’s birthright of love and trust in the home, which, if denied or betrayed there, may engender such hatred and hostility in an individual that the forces of morality, with all their strength, are swept aside. Violent crime is not merely a matter of low moral standards, of slackness, or of work-shyness, but arises from intense antisocial emotions. How can it be hoped that a problematical punishment in the future-a highly abstract eventuality for the primitive person concerned-will have a strong deterrent effect’1 RETRIBUTION ?
1
When all the available evidence is to the contrary, adherence to the opinion that these punishments are deterrents can only signify a deep need to justify a belief held for emotional reasons. If it could now be recognised that corporal punishment is advocated out of sympathy for the victim, because of a need for revenge, a primitive TABLE III-MURDER OF PERSONS AGED ONE YEAR AND SEVEN
14 YEARS OB* AGE
BOYS UNDER
YEARS, 1939-45 INCLUSIVE
OVER,
W04es, _
,
another, l
desire to mete out to the thug what he has done to notable advance would have been made. Then the British people would be faced with a clear-cut issue-whether direct acts of retribution are or are not a desirable principle of justice. They could consider whether society can afford to sink to the level of, and to takerevenge on, its criminal members ; whether, in striving to return to more civilised standards of behaviour after a war, even a small matter like the flogging of fifty men each year may not be undesirable. If there is no justification in expediency, there is no escape from the moral issue, unless some bold spirits should wish to attempt to justify the expediency by flogging ten or a hundred times the number of criminals in an attempt to secure a deterrent effect. a
PREVENTION’1 The essential distinguishing feature of the cool calcucriminal-the conscienceless rogue-is that he is conscienceless ; and of the violent thug that he has emotional reactions and relationships more appropriate to a child of two or three than to his adult body. No-one would dream of blaming a child for having rickety legs,.’. and modern research is now showing that psychological medicine, too, has its deficiency diseases. To hold that criminals are just " plain wicked "is a counsel of despair ; and the present-day need of society is for research into causes, not for " cats." The incidence of crime in a community shows some relation to the rate of change of social institutions therein. A rise in the level of crime is associated with rapid industrialisation, social revolution, -and war,’ and -the war-time training inand approval of violent behaviour among the young males is no doubt associated with the steeper secondary rise experienced when peace returns. The effect of war-time disturbances -of home life is likely to last for many years-indeed so long as the young men and women involved are active in crime. Other factors that produce more local and temporary variations in the crime-tateinclude social injustice, political tension, and the moral attitudes of the
lating
.,.
’
.
"
’
community. The prevention
of criminality thus requires a manysided approach. The main -object must be to improve the mental hygiene -of family life, which may be attempted through economic, sociological, and religious actiivities. But one of the very important ’tasks is to improve the quantity and quality of recruits to the police forces and to seek a reorientation towards the more truly preventive .,", ’,’ aspects of their -work: ’ Even effective prevention, ’however, does not solve the problem of the existing criminal, for whom, it must be stated, the approved-school and borstal systems are giving .’only mediocre results and prison its ()ften" almost disastrous. A long sentence may give merely a respite from criminal activity and is more likely to demoralise than rehabilitate the criminal. From the very conditions "
’
,
"
psychological treatment in prison does not great hope of success ; but a more concerted raise, not lower, the prisoners" self-respect
of prison life, hold out any
effort to.
di3serves.’,Serioufs
trial. The Home
Secretary has.pointed
1076 the council that they had rendered satisfactory service under the conditions applicable to holders of diplomas granted in the British Isles. Applicants holding recognised Commonwealth or foreign diplomas who could not,claim full registration on this basis could claim such registration if they had acquired otherwise substantially equivalent experience of the practice of medicine and
out that the Criminal Justice Act envisages- such efforts, but that there has not yet been opportunity to bring them into being. ,
Only organisational difficulties-and they are formidable-appear to stand in the way of attempting to make prisons self-supporting, to make inmates work for their living. To introduce a new spirit of this type might breathe
new
surgery. - No doubt, at the
life into the Prison Service and counteract
beginning some of the machinery might creak ; but, given the cooperation of student, medical school, and hospital authority, it should soon The student might -be assured that the run smoothly. authorities of his school would do everything they could to help him to secure suitable posts ; but that would not free him from using his own judgment and himself seeking employment, as those before him had done. It was certain that all licensing bodies and schools would prefer each student to take posts for 6 months in general medicine and 6 months in general surgery ; and if that was impracticable, they would insist that 6 months should be spent in either general medicine or general surgery. Before accepting any particular post included. in the list published by the council, the applicant should
demoralising effect on staff of the purely custodial care of caged human beings. Continued neglect of such an experiment is perilous for society.
the
A
CHANGE OF ATTITUDE
It would be well if the current agitation for an arbitrary with no thought for principle, were an end. The public needs a respite from fears aroused by the fantasy that the country is being overwhelmed by violent lawlessness, a fantasy which is far removed from the fact. Much good would follow from more objectivity in the press, and less exploitation of the situation for the sake of the circulationmore circumspection, especially in public utterances, by leading judges and magistrates ; and more thought by the general population about the moral and spiritual values of our civilisation, including recognition of the effect of the more primitive -emotions on our thoughts and conclusions.
change in the law, quickly brought to
consult the authorities of his school as to whether the combination of posts he proposed would be recognised by his licensing body to enable him to qualify for full registration. Hospital authorities could help greatly by synchronising as far as possible their appointments with the periods at which final examinations were held. By effecting a revision- of existing staff arrangements and providing the requisite residential accommodation,- they might also secure the recognition of hospitals not yet approved and thus add to the number of suitable posts. The ultimate responsibility lay with the licensing bodies. The council’s sole object was to perfect the administrative machinery and to do all in its power to enable these bodies to ensure that this , measure would lead to a higher standard of medical care and
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL OPENING the 185th session last Tuesday, Prof. DAVID the president, remarked that the Dentists Bill had not gone further than the first reading in the House of Commons before the close of the Parliamentary It would, therefore, have to be renewed in session. Parliament as though it were being introduced for the first time ; and it appeared probable that the council would have to continue to carry out its duties in relation to the dental profession for an indefinite period. The next edition of the B1’itish Pharmacopaeia would be published on March 1, 1953, and have effect from Sept. 1, 1953. A quarter of a century ago the Macmillan Committee, whose report was accepted by the council, urged that the body preparing future issues of the British Pharmacopœia should not only be composed of thoroughly qualified persons but should also be such as to command the confidence of all the interests concerned. The committee to select the new Pharmacopoeia Commission would, therefore, consist of representatives of the council, the Pharmaceutical Societies of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Medical Research Council. The council had decided to put into operation that part of the Act of 1950 which empowered them to appoint visitors, not being members of the council, to medical schools and examinations. It proposed to select men of special qualifications and ’of experience on particular subjects, and to arrange for them to visit both the schools and the examinations. The Appointed Day for introducing the compulsory period of ’service as a house-officer was to be Jan. 1, 1953.. Approved hospitals and institutions numbered
CAMPBELL,
634-456 in England and Wales, 104 in Scotland, 24 in Northern Ireland, and 50 (approved by’ the Medical Registration Council of the Republic) in Eire. The total number of posts was 3048-280 in Eire and 2768 in the United Kingdom. Of the United Kingdom posts 926 were in general medicine, 972 in general surgery, 342 in midwifery, and 528 in the various specialties (171 primarily medical and 357 primarily surgical). Holders of recognised Commonwealth or foreign diplomas would be able to claim registration if they had been employed for the period -in, hospitals approved by licensing bodies of this country, and if they satisfied
prescribed
’
practice. DENTAL TREATMENT OF CHILDREN THE British Dental Association found, from the answers to a questionary, that private practitioners were willing to set aside about 10,000 hours per week for the dental treatment of school-children ; and in a memorandum1 to the Government it suggested that this might help -to
provide a short-term solution to the problem of obtaining enough treatment for this priority group. In their reply the Ministers of Health and Education and the Secretary of State for Scotland state " certain principles which they consider to be fundamental to the proper organisation of a dental service for the priority classes and to which in their view both short term and long term policy must have regard. "The first is that as has been shown by experience the
most effective way of providing treatment for school-children is in clinics closely associated with school routine so as both to ensure the attendance of children,in need of it and to cause the least interruption of their education. Treatment for, a younger children can most effectively be prpvided clinic service forming part of the local health authorities’
by
general arrangements
for the
care
of mothers and children,
to encourage attendance and meet the of the mothers. so
’
as
convenience
it is
" Secondly,
imperative, particularly in present economic expenditure and here again experience has shown that-children-can be treated in clinics at a substantially lower èost than when treated by private dentists remunerated for eachitem. of circumstances,
treatment
on
to achieve the utmost economy in
the scale of fees in
dental service.
operation
1. Brit. dent. J. Oct. 21, 1952, suppl. p. 53; Lancet, Oct. 25, 1952, p. 814.
under the see
general
leading article,.