UNDESIRED PUBLICITY

413 am content to remain one of those quaint oldfashioned folk who refrain from doing so and still find it an honour to be a member of it. I am. Sir. vours faithfullv. CLIFFORD ALLEN. Harley-street, W., August 7th.

THE OVER-TREATMENT OF GONORRHŒA

To the Editor

of

THE LANCET

SiR,-As I have been interested in this subject for add the following to the the subject. It is eleven years since I decided that modern treatment of gonorrhoea in the male was surgically unsound and that vasotomy was in every way to be preferred. The surgically unscientific character of the procedures of to-day has been stressed in this correspondence and Mr. Nicholls asks what are we to do about it. In a letter to your columns in 1928 (1, 883) I pointed out that the treatment was at fault and that the better remedy was vasotomy. In August of that year I argued the point more fully at the International Congress of Hygiene held at Dublin. More recently (Med. World, Lond. Dec. 13th, 1935) I exposed fully the unsoundness from a surgical standpoint of the procedure of to-day and the futility of massage of the prostate and seminal vesicles. My answer to Mr. Nicholls is as I wrote in 1928 :-

permit me to present correspondence on many years

"If my remarks ... will induce the venerealogists skilled in surgical work to practise vasotomy in the treatment of acute gonorrhoea I am confident they will prove this treatment of acute gonorrhoea to be one of the greatest blessings of the day to afflicted mankind, and that the campaign against gonorrhoea, instead of being deemed as it is now to have failed, will be successful."

Mr. W. J. C. Dyke, lLSc., was made on the following day the subject of headlines in many of the daily papers. In an interview published in the Observer of August 1st I have endeavoured to put the matter in its proper light. It is entirely contrary to the views of responsible manufacturers of products which are often the subject of considerable research that these products should be made the subject of anything in the nature of a popular stunt. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, T. EDWARD LESCHER, Managing Director, Evans Sons Lescher and Webb Ltd. Liverpool, August 3rd.

THE SERVICES ROYAL NAVAL MEDICAL SERVICE

Surg. Capt. E. MacEwen, O.B.E., to President for course. Surg. Comdrs. T. G. B. Crawford to Dorsetshire (on commg.); R. Buddle to St. AngeloW. E. Heath to Curacoa. Surg. Lt.-Comdr. T. F. Crean to be Surg. Comdr. Surg. Lt.-Comdrs. E. J. Mockler to Sheffield (on commg.) W. V. Beach to Drake for R.N. Hospl., Plymouth ; H. L. Belcher to Pembroke for R.N.B. Surg. Lts. L. R. Norsworthy to Dorsetshire (on commg.) W. S. Miller to Challenger (on recommg.); W. D. Gunn to Pembroke for R.N. Hospl., Chatham ; E. R. Caldwell to Victory for R.N.)3., and to Enchantress. Surg. Lt. (D) W. A. Dickie to Wildfire, and to Pembroke for R.N.B. N. L. Parry to be Surg. Lt. (D). ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE

Surg. Pycraft to Curacoa. J. A. Atkinson, entered as Proby. Surg. Lt. attached to list 2 of the Tyne Division. Lt. W. E.

(D),

and

But, Sir, I have no doubt that in spite of the excellent results obtained by vasotomy many will consider the mere fact of operating as over-treatment. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, J. F. PEART. Upper Wimpole-street, August 9th.

ARMY MEDICAL SERVICES Col. R. W. D. Leslie, O.B.E. (late R.A.M.C.), to be Major-General and appointed Deputy Director of Medical Services for the Northern Command at York.

RADIO-INTERFERENCE BY ELECTRO-MEDICAL

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

EQUIPMENT To the Editor

of THE

LANCET

SiR,-The Committee of the British Standards Institution is inquiring into radio-interference caused by electro-medical equipment. We have been asked to endeavour to obtain replies to the following

questions : (a) Has

mechanical rectification any advantage valve rectification in any particular cases, and, if so, what are the advantages, and in what cases do they arise ? (b) How far is it desirable apart from economic considerations to use spark apparatus for diathermyt We shall be glad if any of your correspondents could give us any information that would help us to answer these questions. We are, Sir, yours faithfully, RUSSELL J. REYNOLDS, GEORGE F. STEBBING. Lambeth Hospital, Brook-street, S.E., August 5th. over

UNDESIRED PUBLICITY To the Editor

of THE LANCET position as chairman

of the SiE,—In view of my British Pharmaceutical Conference held last week in Liverpool, and also of the fact that my company is one of the English manufacturers of p-aminobenzenesulphonamide, I was a little concerned at the fact that a paper read by one of our research chemists,

Maj.

S.

Fenwick, M.C., is placed

account of ill health. Capts. to be Majs.

: L. R. S. and J. J. O’Dwyer. Short Service Commission: Lt. Nicoll is restd. to the estabt.

on

the

h.p. list

on

MacFarlane, H. A.

Ferguson,

(on prob.) J. A. V.

ARMY DENTAL CORPS

Short Service Commission : Lt. C. 0. B. Stibbs to be

Capt. TERRITORIAL ARMY

N. N. Porterfield (late Lt., New Zealand Mil. Forces) to be Capt. (Substituted for notification in Gazette, July 13th.) (Vide THE LANCET, July 24the.) Lts. W. G. Brander and J. S. Minett to be Capts. G. R. Mackay (late Offr. Cadet, Aberdeen Univ. Contgt. (Med. Unit), Sen. Div., O.T.C.) to be Lt. E. N. Rees to be Lt. Lt. M. A. Townshend (late R. Fus.) to be Lt. ROYAL AIR FORCE

Flight Lt. S. B. S. Smith is Squadron Leader.

promoted

to the rank of

INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE

Major-General E. A. Walker, C.B., has vacated the post of Director of Medical Services in India. Lt. Gurbuxsh Singh relinquishes his temp. commn. COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICE Dr. W. S. Haynes has been appointed Medical Officer, Kenya; Dr. A. W. H. Smith (Trinidad) becomes Medical Superintendent, Mental Hospital, British Guiana; and Dr. P. B. Wilkinson (St. Helena), Medical Officer, Hong-

Kong.