- Email: [email protected]
VITAMIN E AND NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES
720 sclerosis with pure synthetic alpha-tocopherol and s obtained remarkably good results in two. c
if
panel patients will respond so quickly to kaolin as to bismuth carbonate, if only for the reason that the dear old stock mixture looks different. There are other points in this article over which the general practitioner, the statistician, the shipper and the economist could spend a happy haif-hour. I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
I am,
your
faithfully, FRANCE,
H. J. W.
Managing Director, Roche Products Ltd. FEES FOR WALKING THE WARDS
F. C. GOODALL.
London, S.W.I.
Sir,
announcement in THE LANCET or April 1) that St. George’s medical school is paying fees to the Middlesex county council in order that students may be allowed to receivetuition in the wards of one of their hospitals raises the question why a similar payment should not be made to a voluntary hospital. It would seem to be analogous to the fees paid by the students of Scottish medical schools to the hospitals for the privilege of walking the wards. Although efforts to assess the additional cost of a hospital, where there is a medical school attached to it, have not yet been successful it is generally admitted that the hospital cost is higher on that account. Even it were not so, access to the hospital surely has a definite value to the students which deserves financial
SIR,—The
(p. 673)
VITAMIN E AND NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES
SIR,—In his letter in your issue of March 9 Mr. Graves of Vitamins Ltd. stress on the hypothesis that wheat germ contains an unidentified myo-neurotrophic factor, and that this factor is responsible for the remarkable results reported in THE LANCET of Jan. 6 (p. 10). Professor Demole, however, in his letter of March 2, marshalled ample evidence to show that this hypothesis is quite unnecessary and that only one factor, namely alpha-tocopherol, is needed to prevent paralysis &c. in experimental animals on a diet deficient in vitamin E. Clinical results will be even more convincing and I would therefore draw attention to a paper by Wechsler published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of March 16. Wechsler treated six cases of amyotrophic lateral
lays
recognition. I am, Temple, E.C.4.
Sir,
yours
faithfully, C. E. A. BEDWELL.
OBITUARY CHARLES SLATER
CAMB., M.R.C.S.) F.C.S. Dr. Slater, who died at his home near Tunbridge Wells on March 15, had retired before the last war from directing the clinical laboratories at St. George’s Hospital, but his memory is still cherished by St. George’s men for he was one of the most generous of friends most and of courtly colleagues. Born at Southport in 1856, he went to Clifton College for two years and from there with a foundation scholarship to St. John’s College, M.B.
--
Cambridge,
taking
a
second class in the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1878. In later life he discharged his debt to St. John’s by endowing a research studentthere. He brought in collaboration with Pattison Muir a
ship out
primer of elementary chemistry and became F.C.S.before completing his clinical studies at St. from which he qualified in 1884. He was then medical registrar at the hospital and when his mind turned from pure chemistry to bacteriology he went to the Pasteur Institute in Paris and from there to Berlin, intending to include Copenhagen, but his continental study was cut short by his call to St. George’s to be hospital bacteriologist at a salary of £100 a year " to include all laboratory expenses." At the same time he was appointed lecturer on bacteriology in the medical school and later became university reader in bacteriology. It was the beginning of a new department at St. George’s and it was not long before the laboratory needed enlargement to cope with
George’s Hospital
the work Slater was called upon to undertake. The teaching of state medicine drew students to his laboratories from other London schools and from much further afield; finally in 1895 new laboratories and classrooms were built of which he became director for the next 25 years. On his retirement at the age of 57 his affection for his old school was in no way diminished and at the bicentenary in 1933 he quietly sent a cheque for £10,000 with which to build a new clinical laboratory. At Tunbridge Wells to which he to make the project for the new retired he Kent and Sussex Hospital a success, and kept in touch with its growth and development. His retirement gave him more time for painting and photography and for long visits to Switzerland where he had always been an ardent climber. At every stage of his career his reserve and his instinctive avoidance of publicity prevented him from reaping the full reward of his ability; he had a profound knowledge of bacteriology and contemporary medicine, and read both French and German fluently. For a time he was and he joint editor of the Review of out with Dr. E. J. a but excellent small brought Spitta Atlas of Bacteriology. The photograph which we reproduce was taken soon after he became director of the clinical laboratories.
helped
Bacteriology
Dr. Harold Spitta writes: During the time when Slater was in full control of the clinical laboratories he threw himself wholeheartedly into research and did his utmost to encourage the younger generation to work in his laboratories and discuss with him matters of interest in clinical pathology. He engaged an assistant bacteriologist, providing his salary out of his private purse, and it was not long before the various laboratories became a hive of industry. Pressure was often brought to bear upon him to publish his work but he was never able to overcome his natural reticence and very rarely would he allow the results of his work to appear in the press. As time went on he would provide scientific apparatus necessary for the prosecution of research out of his private pocket and on many occasions he would help the less fortunate members
if
panel patients will respond so quickly to kaolin as to bismuth carbonate, if only for the reason that the dear old stock mixture looks different. There are other points in this article over which the general practitioner, the statistician, the shipper and the economist could spend a happy haif-hour. I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
I am,
your
faithfully, FRANCE,
H. J. W.
Managing Director, Roche Products Ltd. FEES FOR WALKING THE WARDS
F. C. GOODALL.
London, S.W.I.
Sir,
announcement in THE LANCET or April 1) that St. George’s medical school is paying fees to the Middlesex county council in order that students may be allowed to receivetuition in the wards of one of their hospitals raises the question why a similar payment should not be made to a voluntary hospital. It would seem to be analogous to the fees paid by the students of Scottish medical schools to the hospitals for the privilege of walking the wards. Although efforts to assess the additional cost of a hospital, where there is a medical school attached to it, have not yet been successful it is generally admitted that the hospital cost is higher on that account. Even it were not so, access to the hospital surely has a definite value to the students which deserves financial
SIR,—The
(p. 673)
VITAMIN E AND NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES
SIR,—In his letter in your issue of March 9 Mr. Graves of Vitamins Ltd. stress on the hypothesis that wheat germ contains an unidentified myo-neurotrophic factor, and that this factor is responsible for the remarkable results reported in THE LANCET of Jan. 6 (p. 10). Professor Demole, however, in his letter of March 2, marshalled ample evidence to show that this hypothesis is quite unnecessary and that only one factor, namely alpha-tocopherol, is needed to prevent paralysis &c. in experimental animals on a diet deficient in vitamin E. Clinical results will be even more convincing and I would therefore draw attention to a paper by Wechsler published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of March 16. Wechsler treated six cases of amyotrophic lateral
lays
recognition. I am, Temple, E.C.4.
Sir,
yours
faithfully, C. E. A. BEDWELL.
OBITUARY CHARLES SLATER
CAMB., M.R.C.S.) F.C.S. Dr. Slater, who died at his home near Tunbridge Wells on March 15, had retired before the last war from directing the clinical laboratories at St. George’s Hospital, but his memory is still cherished by St. George’s men for he was one of the most generous of friends most and of courtly colleagues. Born at Southport in 1856, he went to Clifton College for two years and from there with a foundation scholarship to St. John’s College, M.B.
--
Cambridge,
taking
a
second class in the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1878. In later life he discharged his debt to St. John’s by endowing a research studentthere. He brought in collaboration with Pattison Muir a
ship out
primer of elementary chemistry and became F.C.S.before completing his clinical studies at St. from which he qualified in 1884. He was then medical registrar at the hospital and when his mind turned from pure chemistry to bacteriology he went to the Pasteur Institute in Paris and from there to Berlin, intending to include Copenhagen, but his continental study was cut short by his call to St. George’s to be hospital bacteriologist at a salary of £100 a year " to include all laboratory expenses." At the same time he was appointed lecturer on bacteriology in the medical school and later became university reader in bacteriology. It was the beginning of a new department at St. George’s and it was not long before the laboratory needed enlargement to cope with
George’s Hospital
the work Slater was called upon to undertake. The teaching of state medicine drew students to his laboratories from other London schools and from much further afield; finally in 1895 new laboratories and classrooms were built of which he became director for the next 25 years. On his retirement at the age of 57 his affection for his old school was in no way diminished and at the bicentenary in 1933 he quietly sent a cheque for £10,000 with which to build a new clinical laboratory. At Tunbridge Wells to which he to make the project for the new retired he Kent and Sussex Hospital a success, and kept in touch with its growth and development. His retirement gave him more time for painting and photography and for long visits to Switzerland where he had always been an ardent climber. At every stage of his career his reserve and his instinctive avoidance of publicity prevented him from reaping the full reward of his ability; he had a profound knowledge of bacteriology and contemporary medicine, and read both French and German fluently. For a time he was and he joint editor of the Review of out with Dr. E. J. a but excellent small brought Spitta Atlas of Bacteriology. The photograph which we reproduce was taken soon after he became director of the clinical laboratories.
helped
Bacteriology
Dr. Harold Spitta writes: During the time when Slater was in full control of the clinical laboratories he threw himself wholeheartedly into research and did his utmost to encourage the younger generation to work in his laboratories and discuss with him matters of interest in clinical pathology. He engaged an assistant bacteriologist, providing his salary out of his private purse, and it was not long before the various laboratories became a hive of industry. Pressure was often brought to bear upon him to publish his work but he was never able to overcome his natural reticence and very rarely would he allow the results of his work to appear in the press. As time went on he would provide scientific apparatus necessary for the prosecution of research out of his private pocket and on many occasions he would help the less fortunate members