When all is said, the state authorities and the local boards of health are but coördinate parts of the great Very truly yours, FRANCIS GEO. CURTIS, M.D., Chairman, Newton Board of Health. the foundations of medical science. Such names as Harvey, Steno, Vieussens, Malpighi, Spi- system of health protection and they should work togelius, Bartholin, Asselius, Pauli, Mentel, Wes-gether in harmony, rather than find fault with and ling, Highmore, Glisson, Wharton, Leeuwen- seek to make good at each other's expense. hoeck, Ruysch, Sydenham, Boerhaave, Stahl, Albertini, Valsalva, Bellini, Swammerdam, Meibomius, Peyer, Duverney, Cowper, all belong to this period, and it is remarkable, to say the least, that they failed to distinguish the normal alkalinity of the building-up, from the normal acidity incident to the breaking-down processes in both animal and plant life. The iatro-chemical was contrasted with the iatro-physical sect, a school of physicians also arising in the seventeenth century in Italy. The members of the iatro-physical school sought to explain the functions of the body and the application of remedies by static and hydraulic laws. They were earnest students of anatomy and were, perhaps, the intellectual and temperamental antecedents of modern professors of the mechanistic conception of life and its phe nomena. BELGIAN PHYSICIANS' RELIEF FUND. Correspondence. TUBERCULOSIS AND LOCAL BOARDS OF HEALTH. WEST NEWTON, MASS., April 2, 1915. Mr. Editor: At the meeting of the Massachusetts Antituberculosis League yesterday, I was much impressed with the tendency of the readers of papers, especially of those holding state positions, to criticize and blame the local boards of health. I believe if the readers had been more familiar with the trials and tribulations of local boards they would have been more lenient with them. When we consider that the local boards are ground between the upper millstone of state statutes passed with little knowledge of or regard for local conditions, and the lower one of the local demand for economy, we should realize that they are to be pitied rather than blamed. The member of the average local board of health is too often a man who has been appointed because no one else will take the job; he is seldom paid, and when appointed knows little or nothing about public health work, and yet is held responsible for the health of his community and required to pass upon questions of which he knows little. I say this in the full knowledge that even so, he is an earnest, painstaking man, trying to do the best that he can in spite of his handicaps and that he usually "makes good." It seems to me that such a man should not be blamed and ridiculed (for I regret to say that he was ridiculed), but should be praised for what he has done and helped to do better. Too often the law, which he is blamed for failing to enforce, is so framed as to make conviction under it, difficult or impossible or, if he does attempt to punish the offender, the culprit is let off with a reprimand or the case dismissed. Receipts for week ending April 3.. In the ancient times there was a cry from Macedonia "Come and help us." St. Paul took that as the voice of God and responded with spiritual and mental pabulum. Today there is a cry from Belgium “Send us food or we perish." This is just as much the voice of God as the cry that reached St. Paul-and the response is even more necessitous. The pictures of wretchedness in that pitiful land grow more and more appalling from day to day. Miss Winifred Holt, secretary of the New York Association for the Blind, has just returned from Europe where she went in the interest of the blind Belgian refugees. She says there are no exact data but it is estimated that one person in every 1200 in Belgium was either partially or totally blind, or about 8000. When Belgium became the hotbed of war there were thirteen institutions for the blind, deaf and dumb. These were all wrecked and their sorry inhabitants poured forth in a mad rush of surging masses of blind men and women and children, seeking such guidance as they could get groping for places of safety. They must now be scattered among the helpless. starving, unfortunate refugees standing in the breadline that stretches all over Belgium. The president of the National Relief Commission If, instead of blaming the local boards, the state authorities would help them and explain to them how to solve their problems, I believe that we should see a of Brussels asserted on March 25, that before the great advance in efficiency in public health work. next harvest, 2,500,000 Belgians will be in the bread BELGIAN SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE. The Belgian Scholarship Committee, of Washington, D. C., has recently issued the following circular letter of appeal in behalf of destitute Belgian scholars, and in anticipation of the future needs of Belgium during its period of educational reconstruction: "In consequence of the devastation of Belgian museums, libraries and universities, numerous worthy students, research workers and professors, many of them crippled for life, are interrupted in their important work. To the lovers of equity, and to those who cherish education and admire Belgian integrity and heroism, an opportunity is hereby given, to assist in bringing to America, worthy intellectual men and women for a temporary free enjoyment of the privileges of American institutions. "This committee has already received assurances from the George Washington University for the instruction of ten students in any of the departments of the University. The following is from the minutes of the Board of Trustees: 'On motion it was resolved that the University offer, within the discretion of the president, free tuition to the extent of $1500.00 to European college students who are unable by reason of present conditions in Europe to pursue their courses at their respective colleges.' It is highly probable that the committee will receive from other American institutions similar assurances. "It is proposed to raise a fund at once to defray the traveling expenses to and from Belgium. and the cost of residence in Washington for a period of one year, of the students or research workers, which the George Washington University has already generously provided for. In the case of professors it is hoped that the subscriptions will be sufficiently liberal to provide for honorariums as well, thereby giving all the students in Washington the benefits of lectures by Belgian scholars. "It is estimated that from $20,000 to $25,000 will be needed in the work at once, and in the event of a surplus being accumulated, it is proposed to apply this to the recuperation of educational work in Belgium. This committee is a sub-committee of the Central Committee for the Belgium Relief Fund for women and children and other non-combatants, and it is organized with the approval of his Excellency, the Minister from Belgium to the United States. "Please draw checks payable to Belgian Scholarship Committee, John Joy Edson, Treasurer, Washington Loan and Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Checks for any amount, large or small, are earnestly asked for. Please send something. "NEVIL MONROE HOPKINS, Chairman." BELGIAN RED CROSS. The following letter from Dr. Depage of Brussels, to the American medical profession, has been recently received. In another column of the JOURNAL is a statement of a meeting to be held in an attempt to carry out the requests which Dr. Depage makes. BRUSSELS, January 23, 1915. My dear Colleagues: It is not without emotion that, in this time of trouble, I recall the sympathy with which you welcomed me some months ago. In free and proud America, at the meeting of our International Congress of Surgery, of which I had the not only in our scientific work but also in the enterhonor of being President, we all felt equally united tainments which expressed the cordial hospitality and fraternal feeling with which you received us. We did not dream then of the events which were going to happen, of the complete overthrow of Europe, and of the unmerited misfortune which has stricken down my country. However, our Congress opened with a discussion of surgery in war; and I then expressed this idea (alas, prophetic), that just as the armor-plate of battleships is increased in accordance with the increase of the power of projectiles, so the science of surgery should progress step by step with the increase of the strength of armaments, and should contend by all the means of human creative genius against the demon of destruction. Present events have proven, only too well, the Nevertheless, let me justice of this point in view. again today affirm to you my opinion, and let me join you in the hope that the peace of tomorrow will bind the United States of Europe and the United States of America in eternal bonds of brotherly love. In the meantime the situation in which we find ourselves is truly tragic. The Belgian Red Cross finds itself confronted by conditions which are unique in its history. The country, after a heroic defense, has been almost entirely overrun: its cities destroyed, buildings annihilated; installations confiscated by the enemy; its resources wiped out. That is the sad picture it presents. The Belgian population has been compelled to flee the country; our wounded are forced to seek asylum in foreign lands. Others have told you, others will tell you again, of the pitiless character of this war. As for me, as a doctor, I wish during the war to occupy myself with but one thing,-the care of the wounded. My sole preoccupation is to save human lives, and sometimes to save what is more precious than life, when by preventive measures, we can save the wounded from becoming crippled for the rest of their existence. And so I face the situation in which our Red Cross work finds itself in this war, and I seek for means to assure to our soldiers the care which they expect from us. We have before us a ravaged country which offers no shelter for our hospitals, no implements, no resources of any kind. We are, therefore, face to face with the necessity of reconstructing entirely our hospitals and ambulances and of furnishing them completely with all necessary supplies. Up to the present. England and France have helped us greatly. For the aid they have given we are profoundly grateful, but their resources are not inexhaustible and our needs are constantly increasing. America, I know, has already given generously to Belgium. Encouraged by your brotherly sympathy, I ask you for still more, and I send you my faithful collaborator, Madame Depage, who accompanied me on my last visit among you. The Managing Committee of the Belgian Red Cross has appointed her for the purpose of organizing, in its name, an American-Belgian Committee which will centralize all contributions and forward them directly and promptly, so that we may continue our work and meet our needs. We thank the great American nation which, in the saddest hour of our history, has given us such generous help. I appeal specially to you, my dear colleagues, and I ask you to help me in my effort. I know you well enough to feel sure that I shall find in you the most fraternal and devoted assistance. I thank you in advance, and, in the name of the Red Cross of Belgium, as well as in the name of the whole country, I express to you our profound and sincere gratitude. A. DEPAGE, Professor of the Surgical Clinic, It is earnestly hoped that the medical profession will respond to this appeal made by our colleague in his time of need. J. COLLINS WARREN, M.D. GEORGE H. MONKS, M.D. S. J. MIXTER, M.D. NOTICE. THE CUTTER LECTURE on Preventive Medicine and Hygiene will be given by Victor C. Vaughan, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Michigan, on the subject, "The Phenomena of Infection," on Wednesday, April 14; Thursday, April 15; and Friday, April 16, at the Harvard Medi cal School, Amphitheatre, Building E, 5 to 6 P.M. These lectures are given annually under the terms of a bequest from John Clarence Cutter, whose will provided that the lectures so given should be styled the Cutter Lectures on Preventive Medicine, and that they should be delivered in Boston, and be free to the medical profession and the press. The members of all classes in the medical school, the medical profession, the press, and others interested are cordially invited to attend. SOCIETY NOTICES. Roentgen Ray." Illustrated by lantern slides. H. W. Luncheon at expense of Society. HERVEY L. SMITH, M.D., Secretary. APPOINTMENTS. Dr. John R. Murlin of the Cornell University Medical School, has received a temporary appointment as biochemist at the pellagra hospital of the United States Public Health Service at Spartanburg. S. C. Dr. Andrew Hunter of the Cornell University Medical School, has been appointed professor of pathological chemistry in the University of Toronto. Dr. R. Travers Smith has been appointed professor of materia medica, therapeutics and pharmacology in the School of Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. RECENT DEATHS. DR. GEORGE DICKINSON THAYER, a Fellow of The Massachusetts Medical Society, died at his home in Northampton, Mass., March 16, of heart disease. aged 57 years. Dr. Thayer had been county physician for thirty-two years and city physician for nine years. He was a graduate of New York University Medical College in 1881, and joined The Massachusetts Medical Society in 1882. DR. WILLIAM J. DOUGHERTY, who died on April 6 at Beverly Farms, Mass., was born at Lowell, Mass., in 1882. He studied medicine at Tufts College and at the Johns Hopkins University. He is survived by his widow and by one son. DR. CHARLES FESSENDEN NICHOLS, who died on April 5 at West Roxbury, Mass., was born in Salem, Mass.. on February 20, 1846. He received the degree of M.D. in 1870 from the Harvard Medical School and subse NEW ENGLAND PEDIATRIC SOCIETY.-The thirty-quently practised his profession in this city until his eighth meeting of the New England Pediatric Society death. He was a member of the Harvard Medical will be held in the Boston Medical Library, Friday. Alumni Association and of the American Institute of April 30, 1915, at 8.15 P.M. The following papers will be read: 1. "Can the Speech Present a Sign of Congenital Syphilis?" W. B. Swift. M.D., Boston. 2. "Acute Otitis Media in Childhood; Avoidable Mistakes in Diagnosis, Prevention, Treatment." W. R. P. Emerson, M.D., Boston. 3. "Studies in Bronchial Glands." W. W. Howell, M.D., Boston. 4. "Endocarditis in Children: Its Prophylaxis and Treatment in an Out-Patient Department." R. S. Eustis, M.D., Boston. Light refreshments will be served after the meeting. E. M. BUCKINGHAM, M.D., President. RICHARD M. SMITH, M.D., Secretary. MIDDLESEX SOUTH DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY.-The annual meeting of the Society will be held at the American House, Boston, on Wednesday, April 21, 1915, at 11 A.M. The annual oration will be delivered at 12 o'clock, noon, by Dr. William C. Hanson, of Belmont. Subject: "Scope of Public Health Service." Dinner will be served at 1 P.M. LYMAN S. HAPGOOD, M.D., Secretary. 6 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass. HAMPDEN DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY.-The annual meeting of the Hampden District Medical Society will be held at the Academy of Medicine Building, 349 State St., Springfield, on Tuesday, April 20, 1915, at 4 P.M. Election of officers. Papers for the afternoon : "The Diagnosis of Stomach Conditions from Tube Findings," P. M. Cort. M.D. "The Diagnosis of Stomach Conditions by the Homeopathy. He is survived by his widow, one daughter and two sons. DR. JAMES COUGHLIN O'DONNELL, who died on ence, Mass., in 1871. He received the degree of A.B. March 30, at Northampton, Mass., was born at Florfrom Holy Cross College in 1892 and subsequently cians and Surgeons, and later at the Harvard Medical studied medicine at the New York College of Physi1899. School, from which he received the degree of M.D. in After serving for a time as house officer at the Boston Children's Hospital and at St. John's Hospital in Lowell, Mass., he settled in the practise of his profession at Haverhill, Mass., subsequently removing to Northampton in 1895. He was unmarried. DR. MANTON HOLLY, who died of pneumonia on April 7 at Greenwich, Conn., was born in New York Yale Medical School and at the New York College of City on March 28, 1833. He studied medicine at the Physicians and Surgeons, and served throughout the Civil War as surgeon in a military hospital at Washington, D. C. DR. WILLIAM ORRIS MANN, Superintendent of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital, died in that gical operation. He was born in Randolph, Mass., and institution, April 9, aged 45 years, following a sur Medicine in 1892. He was president of the American was a graduate of the Boston University School of Hospital Association and a Fellow of The Massachusetts Medical Society. He is survived by his widow and two daughters. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED. Pyelography, by William F. Braasch, M.D. W. B. Saunders Co. 1915. A STUDY OF LEPROSY: WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE A CASE OF OSTEOMYELITIS WITH NECROSIS OF THE ENTIRE FEMUR MEDICAL PROGRESS. REPORT ON OBSTETRICS. By Robert L. DeNormandie, M.D., 587 By Cecil BEDLAM AND ITS PHYSICIANS.. 599 575 IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN LEPROSY. SIGNIFICANCE OF PULSE 601 602 TO THE 580 589 590 1577, fifteen years after his death, and while. there is a tradition that the first edition came out in 1548, no one even knows upon what basis such an idea has risen. Halle's Anatomy is not in the least valuable nor creditable from the point of view of original observation. It appeared in 1565 and is appended to his translation of the Chirugia Parva of Lanfranc. called it "A compendious worke of Anatomie more utile and profitable, than any heretofore in the Englyshe tongue published." The IT is an easy task to select the great medical "worke" is indeed "compendious" as regards figures of the 16th century and to follow them the anatomy, there being but ninety-six pages with fair success through their eventful careers for the whole subject. We may say that the of scientific exploration. These giants have "Anatomie" is of the 14th Century, the work of their due today and their lives, as expressed by William of Salicet, Lanfrane and Guy de Chauimaginative achievement, are fairly opened to liac redressed to suit his English readers, and us. But even so, we are woefully lacking in in- disappointingly barren. But in defence of Halle timate knowledge of the way they worked, and we may contend with safety that it is quite as especially of the conditions which surrounded good as Vicary's Profitable Treatise of the their early training. If this is true of the great, Anatomie of Man's Body. Halle, however, was it is obvious that even more difficulty must attend attempts to get at the true status of med- of the best known surgeons of his day, being a provincial surgeon, while Vicary was ical practice at such a time. The ordinary doc- First Master of the Barber Surgeons and attors in an extraordinary period; what general tached to the courts of Henry VIII, Edward VI, practice meant in these dark days; how the Mary and Elizabeth. country physician fought through his prosaic rounds these have been my interest, and I shall illustrate them by passages from the life of John Halle, an Elizabethan country doctor practising in Kent in the little village of Maidstone. one Fortunately for us, medical authors were not overwhelmed by material in those good days nor trammeled by conventionalities of method, so that our anatomist and surgeon feels at liberty This man slightly antedates Harvey, living his ideas upon methods of study, and last and to favor us with his general views upon practice, from 1530-1600. He has left us the first work evidently most vital to him, with a fierce ar upon anatomy published in England in the Eng-raignment of the quacks who seem to have torlish tongue. Vicary's Anatomy appeared in mented him incessantly in his quiet country village. Read before the Historical Club of the Harvard Medical Society, January 5, 1915. There is not a dull moment in this old book, nor one in which the reader does not feel himself the intimate friend of this most worthy, gracious and sometimes pugnacious author. The dedication, "Unto the Worshipful, the Maisters, Wardens and consequently to all the whole company and brotherhood of Chirurgiens of London, John Halle, one of the lest of them, sendeth hartie and lovynge salutation," is followed by an epistle which indicates the chief reason for his work, namely, to spread knowledge which shall put a stop to the activities of false practitioners whose incessant mistakes and mercenary minds are dragging medicine into disrepute. "And alas," he says, "whereas there is one in 'Englande,' almoste throughout all the realme, that is indede a true minister of this arte, there are tenne abominable abusers of the same. Whereas there is one Chirurgien, that was an apprentice, to his arte, or one phisicien that hath travayled in the true studie, and exercise of physique; There are tenne, that are presumptuous smearers, smaterers, or abusers of the same: Yea, Smythes, Cutlers, Carters, Coblars, Copars, Coriars of lether, Carpenters, and a great rable of women: Which (as the moste excellent Galen feared to happen) forsake their handiecraftes, and for filthy lucre abuse phisick and chirurgerie.* "Would to God therefore, my dere maisters and brethren, that there might be no fault found in us concerning these things. For truly Compare William Clowes (1540-1604) who complains of medical practice by "tinkers, tooth-drawers, peddlers, ostlers, squires, broom-men, bawds, witches, conjurers, soothsayers, and carters, porters, horse-gelders and horse-leeches, idiots, apple sow-gelders, rogues, rat-catchers, runagates, and proctors of spit tle-houses." |