500

Antibiotics in Milk

Mrs. JOYCE BUTLER asked the Minister of Agriculture,Fisheries, and Food if he was satisfied that the penalties nowapplicable would be effective in preventing the sale of milkcontaining antibiotics.-Mr. FRED PEART replied: My depart-ment has closely participated with the Milk Marketing Boardand the dairy trade in this matter. The arrangements made

comprise the testing of milk for antibiotics at the dairies and ascheme of penalties on producers. The test arrangements are

already operating on an experimental basis, and the schemeof penalties is expected to come into force on April 1. Underthis scheme there will be a price deduction of ls. per gallon onany offending milk.

Injuries Caused by FireworksBetween Oct. 17 and Nov. 13, 1965, 2359 persons received

hospital treatment in England and Wales for injuries caused byfireworks. During the same 4-week periods in 1964, 1963, and1962, the numbers of similar injuries were 2220, 2461, and2832 respectively.

Staff of Ministry of HealthThe numbers of non-industrialised staff employed at the

Ministry in 1964 and 1966 were:

Obituary

JOSEPH ABRAHAM NISSIMM.D. Lond.

Dr. Joseph Nissim, reader in pharmacology at Guy’sHospital Medical School, died on Feb. 6 at the age of 52.

In 1936 he came to England to study medicine at Guy’s andhe qualified in 1943. After hospital appointments he joined thepharmacology department of his old hospital, where he workeduntil his death.

While resident medical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Stoke-on-Trent, he investigated iron preparations for parenteraluse and shortly afterwards he wrote his classic paper onthe intravenous administration of iron, which appeared inthese columns in 1947. This work was later expanded to anM.D. thesis, for which Nissim was awarded a gold medal in1949. For the next few years his work was mainly in endocrino-logy, and then in 1960 he began to investigate the effect ofsurface active agents on intestinal absorption. From these obser-vations he elaborated a general theory of intestinal absorptionand suggested that active transport of nutrients involved theirassociation and dissociation with proteins which were mobilewithin the mucosal cell. Although this work was incomplete atthe time of his death, it was an important new view of intestinalabsorption with potentially wide clinical application.

Nissim took very seriously his duties as a university teacher.He took infinite pains in the preparation of his lectures andtutorials and he was willing at any time to help those in diffi-culties. He returned to Guy’s when the pharmacology depart-ment was being built up by Prof. J. M. Robson, and he playedhis part in establishing this subject as an important item in thecurriculum.

But he was very much more than an able pharmacologist, hewas a profound student of mathematics and physics, and manyof his colleagues owe much to his patience in introducing themto the intricacies of statistics. This interest extended far beyondthe everyday application of mathematics to pharmacology, andat the time of his death he had just completed a book on theNew Physics of Matter and Energy. This work, which occupiedalmost every moment of his spare time for the past twelve

years, derives from Newtonian principles by classical mathe-matical processes the relationships which, in orthodox modern

physics, depend entirely on abstract foundations. The book is awork of unification and allows comparison at all stages with theobservable universe, covering phenomena at all levels from thecosmos to the subatomic.

Nissim was a shy and retiring person with two outstandingattributes: a great integrity which was quite unshakeable, evenwhen it reacted to his own disadvantage; and deep kindness,particularly in supporting the cause of the under dog. These

qualities, combined with a highly original mind, made him aman whom many will miss for a long time.

J.R.T.

LESLIE LEWIS ROBERT WHITEM.D., B.Sc. Wales, D.C.H.

Dr. L. L. R. White, senior pathologist to Booth HallChildren’s Hospital and Monsall Hospital, died inManchester on Feb. 2.

Born at Newhaven in 1920, he was educated at Barry CountySchool, University College, Cardiff, and the Welsh NationalSchool of Medicine. He graduated B.sc. with first-class honoursin physiology in 1942, and M.B. in 1945. After qualification hebecame house-physician in paediatrics at Cardiff Royal Infirmaryand he took his D.C.H. in 1946. In the same year he became ademonstrator in the department of pathology and bacteriologyunder Prof. J. Gough, and later he was appointed junior lecturerand was awarded the Mrs. Nixon research scholarship. AtCardiff he wrote on neonatal deaths and published the first ofhis many papers on the pathology of tumours in children. In1951 he moved to The Hospital for Sick Children, GreatOrmond Street, to work with the late Dr. Martin Bodian asassistant pathologist and research fellow in neoplastic diseasesin childhood. In 1955 White was awarded the degree ofM.D.with distinction for his thesis on embryonic sarcomas of theurogenital sinus. Two years later he moved to Booth Hall

Hospital. He was a member of the regional pathology commit-tee and a reference expert for the Manchester children’s tumour

registry.S. 1. J. writes:" Leslie White was no narrow specialist and his interests in

pathology and pxdiatrics were all-embracing. His laboratorybecame a focal point at Booth Hall where clinicians could comefor ready help with their difficult problems, and he himselfnever lost his interest in clinical paediatric practice. He had aprodigious visual memory and could go unerringly to a singlespecimen in his files to illustrate a point or make a comparison.He had a flair for design and the new laboratory at MonsallHospital will stand as a permanent record of this facet of histalents. Indeed, in his approach to all aspects of work he

brought a keen analytical mind and a capacity for lucid exposi-tion, so that in general committee as well as in pathology hisviews were sought and valued.

"

Beyond his work he had many interests. Music, literature,and painting all came within his ambit, but above all his friendswill remember him in his happy home life, and for his charm,integrity, and modesty. His untimely death is a tragedy forBooth Hall and for paediatrics, for he was both a fine pathologistand a very fine man."

Dr. White leaves a widow.

Appointments*HooPER, W. L., M.B., B.sc. Wales, M.C.PATH., DIP.BACT. : director, public

health laboratory, Stafford.

Birmingham Regional Hospital Board:BLACK, J. W., M.B. Glasg., M.C.PATH. : consultant pathologist, Coventry

hospital group.KEANE, KATHLEEN, M.B. N.U.I., D.OBST., D.P.H., D.C.H., D.P.M.: consultant

child psychiatrist, Wolverhampton and St. George’s hospital groups.MANGAT, T. S., M.B. Lond., F.R.C.S.: consultant orthopxdic surgeon,

Dudley and Stourbridge hospital group.MILNER, GEORGE, M.B. N.U.I., D.P.M. : consultant psychiatrist, South

Worcestershire hospital group.NORCROSS, KEITH, B.M. Oxon., F.R.C.S.: consultant orthopxdic surgeon,

West Bromwich, Birmingham (Dudley Road), and Birmingham(Selly Oak) hospital groups.

RIACH, 1. C. F., M.B. Edin., D.M.R.D.: consultant radiologist, Lichfield,and Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth hospital groups.

* Amended notice