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Treatment of venereal diseases in seamen
a4o
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Bacterial Nutrition. ~ " ~ R E A T : E R knowledge of the conditions ~=~which govern the growth and multiplication of bacteria is a ftmdamental necessity for the better understanding and control of various infectious diseases and of morbid states involving sepsis. These conditions, either favouring or inhibiting bacterial growth, should be largely definable in chemical or physico-chemical terms, and the importance of the study of bacterial chemistry is therefore apparent. For this reason the Medical Research Council have at various times been ready to promote or assist work in the subject at different university or hospital centres, or in their own laboratories. Two years ago the Cotlncil were enabled to take a more deliberate step to enlarge the opportunities for work in this field, with particular regard to securing close collaboration between chemists and bacteriologists. This consisted in the establishment of a special department for research in bacterial chemistry, situated at the Middlesex ttospital and placed under the direction of Dr. Patti Fildes, F.R.S. The scheme was made possible by the generous co-operation of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, the Trustees of the late Viscount Leverhulme and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. t,aboratorv accommodation and facilities for the work were provided at the Hospital in the Bland Sutton Institute of Pathology and the adjoining Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry. Dr. Fildes, who h a d previously been working on this subject at the l,ondon Hospital, became a member of the Council's scientific staff. In the report* prepared by Mr. B. C. J. G. Knight, a Halley Stewart Research Fellow working in the special department at the Middlesex Hospital, an attempt is made to bring together in convenient form all the available information regarding bacterial nutrition. After an introductory section, the first and longest part of the report gives a systematic survey of the known facts. The second part deals with the data in the light of the hypothesis that the different types of nutritive requirement exhibited by bacterial species may be regarded as successive levels * BACTERIAL NUTRITION. Material for a Comparative Physiology of Bacteria. Medical Research Council Special Report Series, No. 210. 1936. H.M. Stationery Office: Price 3s. net.
JULY,
in an evolutionary scale. At tile bottom are those forms whicti can multiply and grow at the expense of relatively simple chemical substances and can thus satisfy their food requirements throughout a wide range of environmental conditions. The higher forms are those which either have more elaborate requirements or have lost some power of synthesising necessary compounds from simple sources : they have adapted themselves to the use of more complex food substances, but in becoming more exac|ing in their demands they have also become more dependent upon a specialise d environment. According to this view, the emergence of parasitism as a characteristic of some bacteria mav be supposed to have taken place along those lines. The third part of the report deals with the ways in which bacteria can adapt themselves to changes in nutritional conditions. Publication of the report has been made bv the Medical Research Council in the belief that it will be a useful aid to further research work.
Treatment of Venereal Diseases in Seamen. E Minister of Health has issued circulars T H(1586 and 1536a) to the responsible port and local authorities in England and Wales, enclosing a revised list of treatment centres* in the chief sea and river ports throughout the world, at which seamen can obtain gratuitous treatment for venereal diseases in accordance with the arrangements contemplated by the international agreement relating to this matter, which was signed at Brussels in December, 19o4. The list is based, in the main, on the particulars contained in a corresponding list published by the Ot~ce International d ' H y g i b n e publique in 1935, and arrangements have been made with the Board of Trade for a copy of the list to be supplied to every, ship of the mercantile marine. The opportunity has also been taken to issue with this list a number of recommenctations which have been formulated by the Office International as the restllt of their continued investigations into the operation of the agreement in different countries. It is anticipated that these findings, which have reference to such matters as the securing of a greater amount of * List 7a (revised), March," 1936. H.M. Stationery Office (code number 32-320). Price 6d. net.
1986.
PUBLIC
publicity of tim facilities available at ports for the treatment of seamen and particularly of more regular treatment of those suffering from syphilis, will facilitate the administration generally of the provisions of the agreement by the contracting parties.
Obituary. =\LBF~RT ERNEST ('OPE, M.I).
Society records with regret the death, T HonE June 6th, of l)r. A. E. Cope, who had been in practice in Westminster for fort), years and was Public Vaccinator of the city for nearly tile whole of that time. He was born at Chesterfield in 1867, the son of the Rev. T. J. Cope. After schooldays at Mansfield and Hull Grammar School, he entered the Hull and East R i d i n g College in 1884, and continued his medical studies at Newcastle-upon-Tyne , where he won a series of scholarships. He graduated M.B., B.S. with first-class honours at tile University of l)urham in 1889, and obtained the M.B. of the University of London in 1890, proceeding to the M.D. of Durham three )'ears later. In 1896 he obtained the l ) . P . l q , of the English Conjoint Board, and as late as 1926 passed the Final Bar ':Examination. A recognised authority on vaccination, he was for many )'ears teacher and examiner in vaccination under the Local Government Board and the Ministry of Health. There is no doubt that in his skilled hands justice was done to the importance of vaccination as an essential instrument of preventive medicine. He made himself a master of the. subject by life-long study, and from time to time communicated the results of his work in articles to the medical press. That he was held in high esteem by his fellows is shown by the fact that he had for several 3,ears been President of the Association of Public Vaccinators, and at the time of his death was a member of the Council of that body and also Hon. Secretary. Dr. Cope joined the Society of Medical Officers of Health so long ago as 1910. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute, and a ~tember of the British Medical Association. The high respect and deep affection in which Dr. Cope was held was shown bv the large number of mourners who crowded tile chapel and surrounding streets of Vauxhall
HEALTH.
341
Bridge Road. His patients thronged to honour his memory, and nothing could have been more fitting than the tributes of the presiding clergyman to the man and his w o r k : they were the unspoken words of the entire congregation.
REHABILITATION OF PFRSONS INJURED BY ACCIDI.;NTS.--An Inter-Departmental Committee has been appointed by the Secretary of State for tile I t o m e l)epartment, tile Mini'ster of Healtll and tile Secretary of State for Scotland, to enquire into the arrangements made in this c6untry for tile restoration of the working capacity of persons injured by accidents. The decision to appoint this Committee has been taken after consideration of a report isstled by the British Medical Association last year in which suggestions were made for improving tile organisation of present arrangements for tile treatment of fractures, and in which attention was drawn to the importance of the industrial aspects of this question. The terms of reference of the Committee are as follows: To inquire into tile arrangements at present in operation with a view to the restoration of the working capacity of persons injured by accidents, and to report as to what improvements or developments are desirable, and what steps are expedient to give effect thereto, regard being" had to the recommendations made in tile report issued by the British Medical Association in 1935 on " Fractures." The Committee, which is a representative one, includes Sir Malcolm Delevingne, K.C.B., ],:.C.V.O. (Chairman), who was Deputy Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home ()ffice; Miss Muriel C. Bywaters, M.D., B.S., a Medical Officer of the Board of Education; F.. \V. Hey Groves, Esq., M.D., D.SC., .~I.S., F.R.C.S., who was a member of the " F r a c t u r e s " Committee of the British Medical Association ; and H. S. Souttar, Esq., c.m~:., M.D., 5LCH., F.R.C.S., F.R.A.C.S., who was Chairman of that Committee. The Secretaries to the Committee are A'. :E. Quine, Esq., M.B., F.R.C.S., of the Ministry of Health, and J. A. Simes, Esq., O.B.I:.. All communications intended for the Committee should be addressed : " The Secretary, Inter-Departmental Committee on Rehabilitation of Persons Injured bv Accidents, Ministry ~)f Health, \V'.~i',,.~l::l11, l,ondon, S.\V.I ."
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Bacterial Nutrition. ~ " ~ R E A T : E R knowledge of the conditions ~=~which govern the growth and multiplication of bacteria is a ftmdamental necessity for the better understanding and control of various infectious diseases and of morbid states involving sepsis. These conditions, either favouring or inhibiting bacterial growth, should be largely definable in chemical or physico-chemical terms, and the importance of the study of bacterial chemistry is therefore apparent. For this reason the Medical Research Council have at various times been ready to promote or assist work in the subject at different university or hospital centres, or in their own laboratories. Two years ago the Cotlncil were enabled to take a more deliberate step to enlarge the opportunities for work in this field, with particular regard to securing close collaboration between chemists and bacteriologists. This consisted in the establishment of a special department for research in bacterial chemistry, situated at the Middlesex ttospital and placed under the direction of Dr. Patti Fildes, F.R.S. The scheme was made possible by the generous co-operation of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, the Trustees of the late Viscount Leverhulme and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. t,aboratorv accommodation and facilities for the work were provided at the Hospital in the Bland Sutton Institute of Pathology and the adjoining Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry. Dr. Fildes, who h a d previously been working on this subject at the l,ondon Hospital, became a member of the Council's scientific staff. In the report* prepared by Mr. B. C. J. G. Knight, a Halley Stewart Research Fellow working in the special department at the Middlesex Hospital, an attempt is made to bring together in convenient form all the available information regarding bacterial nutrition. After an introductory section, the first and longest part of the report gives a systematic survey of the known facts. The second part deals with the data in the light of the hypothesis that the different types of nutritive requirement exhibited by bacterial species may be regarded as successive levels * BACTERIAL NUTRITION. Material for a Comparative Physiology of Bacteria. Medical Research Council Special Report Series, No. 210. 1936. H.M. Stationery Office: Price 3s. net.
JULY,
in an evolutionary scale. At tile bottom are those forms whicti can multiply and grow at the expense of relatively simple chemical substances and can thus satisfy their food requirements throughout a wide range of environmental conditions. The higher forms are those which either have more elaborate requirements or have lost some power of synthesising necessary compounds from simple sources : they have adapted themselves to the use of more complex food substances, but in becoming more exac|ing in their demands they have also become more dependent upon a specialise d environment. According to this view, the emergence of parasitism as a characteristic of some bacteria mav be supposed to have taken place along those lines. The third part of the report deals with the ways in which bacteria can adapt themselves to changes in nutritional conditions. Publication of the report has been made bv the Medical Research Council in the belief that it will be a useful aid to further research work.
Treatment of Venereal Diseases in Seamen. E Minister of Health has issued circulars T H(1586 and 1536a) to the responsible port and local authorities in England and Wales, enclosing a revised list of treatment centres* in the chief sea and river ports throughout the world, at which seamen can obtain gratuitous treatment for venereal diseases in accordance with the arrangements contemplated by the international agreement relating to this matter, which was signed at Brussels in December, 19o4. The list is based, in the main, on the particulars contained in a corresponding list published by the Ot~ce International d ' H y g i b n e publique in 1935, and arrangements have been made with the Board of Trade for a copy of the list to be supplied to every, ship of the mercantile marine. The opportunity has also been taken to issue with this list a number of recommenctations which have been formulated by the Office International as the restllt of their continued investigations into the operation of the agreement in different countries. It is anticipated that these findings, which have reference to such matters as the securing of a greater amount of * List 7a (revised), March," 1936. H.M. Stationery Office (code number 32-320). Price 6d. net.
1986.
PUBLIC
publicity of tim facilities available at ports for the treatment of seamen and particularly of more regular treatment of those suffering from syphilis, will facilitate the administration generally of the provisions of the agreement by the contracting parties.
Obituary. =\LBF~RT ERNEST ('OPE, M.I).
Society records with regret the death, T HonE June 6th, of l)r. A. E. Cope, who had been in practice in Westminster for fort), years and was Public Vaccinator of the city for nearly tile whole of that time. He was born at Chesterfield in 1867, the son of the Rev. T. J. Cope. After schooldays at Mansfield and Hull Grammar School, he entered the Hull and East R i d i n g College in 1884, and continued his medical studies at Newcastle-upon-Tyne , where he won a series of scholarships. He graduated M.B., B.S. with first-class honours at tile University of l)urham in 1889, and obtained the M.B. of the University of London in 1890, proceeding to the M.D. of Durham three )'ears later. In 1896 he obtained the l ) . P . l q , of the English Conjoint Board, and as late as 1926 passed the Final Bar ':Examination. A recognised authority on vaccination, he was for many )'ears teacher and examiner in vaccination under the Local Government Board and the Ministry of Health. There is no doubt that in his skilled hands justice was done to the importance of vaccination as an essential instrument of preventive medicine. He made himself a master of the. subject by life-long study, and from time to time communicated the results of his work in articles to the medical press. That he was held in high esteem by his fellows is shown by the fact that he had for several 3,ears been President of the Association of Public Vaccinators, and at the time of his death was a member of the Council of that body and also Hon. Secretary. Dr. Cope joined the Society of Medical Officers of Health so long ago as 1910. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute, and a ~tember of the British Medical Association. The high respect and deep affection in which Dr. Cope was held was shown bv the large number of mourners who crowded tile chapel and surrounding streets of Vauxhall
HEALTH.
341
Bridge Road. His patients thronged to honour his memory, and nothing could have been more fitting than the tributes of the presiding clergyman to the man and his w o r k : they were the unspoken words of the entire congregation.
REHABILITATION OF PFRSONS INJURED BY ACCIDI.;NTS.--An Inter-Departmental Committee has been appointed by the Secretary of State for tile I t o m e l)epartment, tile Mini'ster of Healtll and tile Secretary of State for Scotland, to enquire into the arrangements made in this c6untry for tile restoration of the working capacity of persons injured by accidents. The decision to appoint this Committee has been taken after consideration of a report isstled by the British Medical Association last year in which suggestions were made for improving tile organisation of present arrangements for tile treatment of fractures, and in which attention was drawn to the importance of the industrial aspects of this question. The terms of reference of the Committee are as follows: To inquire into tile arrangements at present in operation with a view to the restoration of the working capacity of persons injured by accidents, and to report as to what improvements or developments are desirable, and what steps are expedient to give effect thereto, regard being" had to the recommendations made in tile report issued by the British Medical Association in 1935 on " Fractures." The Committee, which is a representative one, includes Sir Malcolm Delevingne, K.C.B., ],:.C.V.O. (Chairman), who was Deputy Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home ()ffice; Miss Muriel C. Bywaters, M.D., B.S., a Medical Officer of the Board of Education; F.. \V. Hey Groves, Esq., M.D., D.SC., .~I.S., F.R.C.S., who was a member of the " F r a c t u r e s " Committee of the British Medical Association ; and H. S. Souttar, Esq., c.m~:., M.D., 5LCH., F.R.C.S., F.R.A.C.S., who was Chairman of that Committee. The Secretaries to the Committee are A'. :E. Quine, Esq., M.B., F.R.C.S., of the Ministry of Health, and J. A. Simes, Esq., O.B.I:.. All communications intended for the Committee should be addressed : " The Secretary, Inter-Departmental Committee on Rehabilitation of Persons Injured bv Accidents, Ministry ~)f Health, \V'.~i',,.~l::l11, l,ondon, S.\V.I ."