IRELAND

932 IRELAND.—PARIS.

in Edinburgh University, subject to the approval ofthe Senate and the Court.

At the same meeting a letter was read from MissMargaret C. Tod, M.B., Ch.B., who graduated withfirst-class honours in July, 1924, intimating that shedid not feel justified in accepting the considerablesum of money granted to her in scholarships andprizes and requesting that the amount be added tothe D. R. Wardlaw Memorial Fund for necessitousstudents. The Court resolved to accept Dr. Tod’s offer.

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Irish Free State The Local Government Bill. j

THE Minister of Local Government and Public I

Health has found that so many amendments to hisLocal Government Bill would be necessary that he has

I

decided to withdraw the Bill introduced last sessionand bring in an entirely fresh measure. In referenceto this the Minister, Mr. Burke, with some of hisprincipal officers, gave an interview last week to adeputation from the Irish Medical Committee. Themembers of the deputation were Drs. J. M. Day,H. Raverty, P. J. Shanly, and T. Hennessy, withMr. C. H. Gick. Sir James Craig also attended andtook part in the discussion. The following is a briefsummary of how medical officers will probably beaffected if the Local Government Bill becomes law :-

1. Section 8 of the Local Government Act, 1919, with its-mandatory provisions for pensions, will be allowed to standfor all existing medical officers who within a prescribedtime, which may be three or six months, elect to come underthis section for the purposes of their pensions. It is believed,-however, that the basis for calculating the amount ofpensions will be so altered as to secure a more uniformstandard.

2. Added years for meritorious and professional servicewill remain optional, with the right of appeal to the Minister.

3. Pensions of medical officers appointed after the passing,of the Local Government Bill will be as heretofore permissive,but in case of refusal by a local authority, or dispute as to theamount, the right of appeal to the Minister will be providedfor. It was pointed out on behalf of the Ministry that thereis no mandatory provision for pensions for civil servants,and that the appeal to the Minister will place medical andother officers of local authorities on the same footing as civilservants with regard to pension rights.

In addition to the pension sections other mattersarising out of the Bill were discussed, and the Ministerpromised to give them his consideration.

Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.The session was opened on Oct. 16th, when there

was a large attendance of students and of the medicalstaff. The opening address was delivered by Prof.W. W. D. Thomson, who paid a tribute to thosefriends of the hospital who had passed away during theprevious year-Viscount Pirrie, Sir John WaltonBrowne, and Miss Riddell. He surveyed the field ofclinical medicine, emphasising the fundamentalimportance of bedside observation, and concludedwith an interesting analysis of the careers of thosestudents who had begun their medical studies withhim 20 years ago. A hearty vote of thanks waspassed to the lecturer for his valuable and instructiveaddress on the motion of Prof. J. A. Lindsay, secondedby Colonel T. Sinclair.

Dr. William Calwell and Dr. H. L. W. Kisack haveretired from the active staff under the age-limit andhave been appointed consulting physicians to the

hospital. The board of management passed a verycordial vote of thanks to them for long and faithfulservices. They have been the recipients of a presenta-tion of silver plate from their colleagues on the staff,by whom they were entertained at dinner. Theirsuccessors on the active staff are Prof. W. Thomsonand Dr. Foster Coates. To fill the vacancies thuscreated in the out-patient department Dr. Robert

Marshall and Dr. Samuel I. Turkington have beenappointed assistant physicians.The entrances at the Belfast Medical School this

session show some decline on the previous session’sfigures, but are considerably in excess of the pre-war figures.

The Health of Belfast annual Report for 1923.The most notable feature of the recent health

history of Belfast has been the rapid decline in typhoidfever. Thirty or forty years ago the disease was veryrife, and in one year the deaths numbered no less than500. In the year 1904 the deaths were at the rate of0-30 per 1000 of the population. In 1908 the figurehad fallen to 0-15 per 1000. In 1909 there was a dropto 0-05 per 1000, and in the period 1919-22 thefigure was 0-04 per 1000. In 1923 the figure hadfallen to 0-01 per 1000. This rapid and satisfactorydecline was coincident with the inauguration of thepresent excellent water-supply, which is chieflyderived from the large storage basins in the MourneMountains. Diphtheria seems to be about stationary.The notifications for 1923 were 289, but of these 48were found not to be suffering from the disease. Theaverage number notified for the decennial period1913-22 was 289, and deaths in 1923 numbered 24, ascompared with an average for 1913-22 of 34. Scarletfever continues to be very prevalent. The number ofcases during the past year was 981, as compared with744 in 1922, and an average for 1913-22 of 1440.Of the 20 cases of encephalitis lethargica notified in thereport for 1923, three were fatal. The deaths fromcancer numbered 391, as compared with 363 in 1922.Influenza accounted for 100 deaths, as compared with241 in 1922. The deaths from phthisis were 571,as compared with 624 in 1922. Pneumonia accountedfor 564 deaths, as compared with 594 in 1922. Thereport contains full particulars of the sanitary improve-ments effected during the year. Progress is wellmaintained.

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Thirty-third French Surgical Congress.THE thirty-third French Surgical Congress which

was recently held in Paris was eminently successfulboth from the point of view of attendance of membersand from the character of the discussions which wereheld. The President, Prof. Tuffier, opened the Congresswith a paper on. the modern conception of surgery.He said that surgery was based on a firm tripod oftechnique, observation, and experiment, and the

keynote of development was precision. Dr. Auvray,who took on the office of general secretary, paid atribute to his predecessor, Dr. J.-L. Faure, and inthe name of the Congress welcomed a delegation of30 Polish doctors, headed by Dr. Zawadski, ofWarsaw. Three main subjects came up for discussionduring the Congress. The first was the treatment ofsimple fractures of the upper extremity of the femurand their ultimate results. Mr. Dujarier, of Paris,and Mr. Léon Imbert, of Marseilles, read a well-informed paper on the different methods of treat-ment of fractures of the neck of the femur. They dis-cussed operative treatment and non-operative treat-ment. Of the latter the following methods weredescribed : (1) Championniere’s method-namely, avery short stay in bed with extension and massagefrom the commencement ; (2) continued traction ;and (3) Whitman’s method—namely, accurate reduc-tion followed by retention in plaster-of-Paris. Thesecond subject for discussion was the indication forsurgical treatment in uterine fibroids. Mr. Tixier, ofLyons, set forth the conditions in which surgicaltreatment was the only possibility. The mortalityfrom operation was about 4 per cent. (576 deathsin 12,893 cases), of which 2 per cent. were due toinfectious complications. Other causes which toofrequently caused death were the sequelae of anaes-