THE LONDON HOSPITAL LODGE OF FREEMASONS.

MEDICAL OFFICERS IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS.

992

admitted to these hospitals, and three deaths were registered (Sancta Maria), Middlesex (Middlesex Hospital), and Charing in London during the week ended on Oct. 5th. As is well Cross (Chère Reine), whilst, as announced in another column, known, mild cases of modified small-pox are sometimes St. Thomas’s will shortly add to the list a lodge to besupposed to be varicella (chicken-pox). With the view of called the Cheselden. The West London Hospital also ha meeting this difficulty the Corporation of London, as the a lodge named the Cavendish, and we must by no means sanitary authority of the Port of London, have given notice omit to mention the Æsculapius, which is not a hospita that the provisions of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, but a purely medical lodge and, we understand, enjoys much with respect to infectious diseases shall apply in the port to success. We wit-h the London Hospital Lodge a prosperous chicken-pox from Oct. 25th until the close of the year. The and useful career. The first Worshipful Master, Dr. Sansom, St. Pancras Borough Council have also made chicken-pox a a well-known and esteemed member of our profession, is. notifiable disease for six months, beginning from Oct. 12th. equally well known and esteemed in the masonic world, and under his experienced guidance the lodge starts with the best of auspices. MEDICAL OFFICERS IN THE HIGHLANDS AND -

ISLANDS. Herald of Oct. 4th contains the

THE Glasgow advertisement :-

Officer Medical December,

following i

and Pnblic Vaecinator wanted

for the PARISH of STRATH, to take up duty not later than 19th 1901. The salary as Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator to be at the rate of B110 per annum. Other appointments may be made. There is a private practice in a population of about 2200. Gaelic a recommendation.—Further particulars can be had from Clerk to the Parish Council, Broadford, Skye, and applications to be lodged with the Chairman, Kilbride House, Broadford, Skye, not later than 23rd October, 1901.

parish of Strath is extensive in point of area and has a population of about 2200. We learn that the private practice " is of little value, whilethe other appointments We can only warn are of little more than nominal value. sure of three thingsto make very intending applicants free annual of a tenure, fixity holiday, and an adequate We do not consider £110 adequate. salary. The

"

THE LONDON HOSPITAL LODGE OF FREEMASONS. THE London Hospital Lodge of Freemasons, No. 2845, was consecrated on Wednesday, Oct. 2nd, at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, London, by the Grand Secretary, V.W. Bro. Edward Letchworth, F. S. A., P. G. D. The occasion was in every way a notable one, a very large number of Freemasons connected medically or otherwise with hospitals being present. In the ceremony of consecration the Grand Secretary was assisted by the following Grand Officers : W. Bro. Clement Godson, M.D., P.G.D. (as S.W.), W. Bro. Alfred Cooper, F.R.C.S., P.G.D. (as J.W.), Rev. Sir Borrodaile Savory, Bart. (Grand Chaplain), V.W. Bro. Frank Richardson, P.G.D. (as Director of Ceremonies), and W. Bro. H. W. Kiallmark, M.R.C.S., P. G. D. (as I.G.). The following is a list of the officers appointed : W. Bro. A. Ernest Sansom, M.D., F.R.C.P., Worshipful Master ; Bro. Frederick Eve, F.R.C.S., Senior Warden; Bro. F. J. Smith, M.D., F.R.C.P., Junior Warden; Bro. T. Gilbart Smith, M.D., S. D. ; Bro. R. J. ProbynWilliams, M.D., J.D. ; Bro. Percy Furnivall, F.R.C.S., I.G. ; Bro. T. H. Openshaw, F. R. C. S., Secretary ; Bro. S. L. Martin, Treasurer; Bro. G. Schorstein, IVI. D., Steward ; and Bro. G. F. Rogers, M.D., Director of Ceremonies. The founders of the lodge subsequently entertained the consecrating officers and their numerous other guests at a banquet. The Worshipful Master, in replying to the toast of his health, observed that the key-word of this lodge was Heartiness. The work of the senior well-wishers of the hospital in the forming of the lodge was rendered with the heartiest zeal, and the willing response of the juniors showed that a pressing want was supplied. The cooperation of the most representative Freemasons was accorded in a most generous and hearty manner. He desired to express his especial obligations to Bro. T. H. Openshaw, C.M.G., who was secretary of the lodge, and to Bro. Probyn-Williams, who had taken early steps with much energy in the severe work attending the formation of the lodge ; but one and all worked heartily. The London Hospital is the fifth of the great metropolitan medical charities to attach to itself a masonic lodge, its predecessors being St. Bartholomew’s (Rahere), St. Mary’s

I

THE ROLE OF SYPHILIS, ALCOHOLISM, AND UNHEALTHY OCCUPATIONS OF THE PARENTS IN THE ETIOLOGY OF IDIOCY. IN a brief but important communication to the French Congress of Alienists and Neurologists made by Dr. Bourneville of the Bicetre, Paris, and published in the Revite Neurologique of August 30th, it its stated that out of a total of 2072 boys suffering from chronic diseases of the nervous system (idiocy, imbecility, epilepsy, and various paralyses) the presence of hereditary syphilis was ascertained in. 20 cases, or about 1 per cent. Among 482 girls there were only two cases of hereditary syphilis, or 0’2 per cent. Alcoholism, on the other hand, was a more prolific cause of disease, its presence being traced in over 40 per cent. of the cases. Thus of the total number of patients, both mal< and female, the family histories showed that in 36.5 per cent. of the cases alcoholic intemperance was present in the father and in 3 ’0 per cent. in the mother, while in the restviz., 1’5 per cent.-it was found in both parents. Among the unhealthy occupations in which the parents of the patient were engaged were the making of phosphorus matches, working in copper and in mercury, and especially the manufacture of white lead. ____

THE

MEMORIAL TO SIR THOMAS BROWNE.

FOR some little time past a scheme has been on foot for the erection of a memorial to that bright ornament of the medical profession, Sir Thomas Browne. The memorial is to take the form of a statue to be erected in Browne’s native city of Norwich, and in our issue of March 2nd, 1901, p. 649, we were enabled to announce that a sum of over £600 had already been received towards the expense of the statue. A correspondent now informs us that he has heard that a sum of between £300 and £400 is still wanting. The Royal College of Physicians of London have voted a subscription, but comparatively few of the members of the medical profession have individually supported the movement. This is not as it should be. In our issue of Jan. 12th, we commented 1901, p. 113, upon the action of Colchester, or rather the medical men of Colchester, in erecting a memorial to the memory of William Gilbert who laid the foundations of the science of magneto-electricity. Wethere pointed out how few memorials of our great men of science were to be found in this country and urged the medical profession as well as other members of the body politic to follow the example set by the medical profession of Colchester. Sir Thomas Browne comes perhaps in a. different category to Gilbert, Sydenham, or Harvey. He did no great scientific work, so far as we know, but it is on record that ’’he was much resorted to for his skill in physic." He lived a quiet unostentatious life and did good by stealth. He was not free from the faults of his age and believed in the burning of witches. But despite this he wa6 not unduly credulous, as his treatise "Pseudodoxia Epidemicavery well shows. In an age when religioua