1836

VIENNA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

University of Vienna.Professor Abderhalden, the well-known physiologist of the

University of Halle, has been invited to become director ofthe medico-chemical institute of the University of Vienna,as successor to Professor Ludwig, who has reached the agelimit of 70 years. Negotiations were in progress for sometime, and seemed likely to terminate favourably. But as theGerman Government has used its influence to induce theeminent professor to stay in Halle, and as the equipment ofthe Vienna institute will not be up to date before two years,Professor Abderhalden has notified the Austrian authoritiesthat he cannot accept the invitation. The medical pro-fession in Vienna greatly regrets this decision, for Pro-fessor Abderhalden would have been a valuable member ofthe scientific staff of our University.

More Radium Required for the Hospitals.The favourable results of treatment of inoperable cancer of

the uterus by means of mesothorium, as reported to theGerman Gynaecological Congress by Professor Doederlein andProfessor Kronig, have induced the Vienna surgeons to makean effort to obtain a better supply of eitber this substance orradium for use in our hospitals. A petition describing thegood results reported in the Congress and showing how muchbeneficial work might be done here also if only the surgeonshad the substance at their disposal was presented to thePrime Minister and the Minister of Education by a deputationincluding, among others, Professor Wertheim (a well-knownsurgeon) and Professor Riehl (a dermatologist). It was also

pointed out that the small amount of radium which is avail-able at the radium station of the Vienna General Hospital isunequal to the demands made upon it. The station lendsits tubes of radium to private practitioners on payment of afee, and during night-time the tubes cannot be made use of,as they must be returned to the station by 6 P.M. Thus,large amounts of the available energy are being lost

annually. The petition asks for a sufficient supply of eitherradium bromide, which can be obtained from the Govern-ment works in JoachimsthaI, or for a quantity of meso-

thorium, which is much cheaper, though less active. TheMinisters promised to do their utmost to meet the wishes ofthe medical profession in this respect, and there is a goodprospect that in a short time considerable quantities ofradium will be available for use.

Typhoid Fever, Blackwater Fever, and Small-pox inAustrian Seaports.

An outbreak of blackwater fever and typhoid fever.

occurred recently on board a steamer of the Austrian Lloydin Trieste, and it was possible to trace the infection to oneof the Levantine ports, whence the vessel had come aftercarrying Turkish troops from Albania to Asia Minor. Theoutbreak was easily suppressed, although several of the crew,as well as the medical officer of the steamer, fell victims tothe disease. A very energetic disinfection of the vessel wascarried out, including destruction of rubbish, as well as

removal and thorough steaming of all portable articles onboard, and since then there have been no new cases, at least,up to June 12th. A few days later a case of small-pox ofthe hæmorrhagic type occurred on board another vessel inFiume, and here the infection was traced to Suez. Therewas some negligence on the part of the port officials, and soit happened that within a few days of the arrival of thevessel several cases of small-pox were reported, all trace-able to it. Of course, the requisite measures were at oncetaken. The fact of these two outbreaks having caused somestir amongst the public in Austria shows how unusual suchcases are in this country owing to the great attention paid tovaccination against small-pox and to the general excellenceof the drinking water.

The Problem of Euthanasia.Public attention, and still more the attention of the

medical profession, is being called to the problem ofeuthanasia by an open letter to the daily newspapers fromthe pen of a sufferer. This correspondent has drawn upwhat amounts to a regular Parliamentary Bill for the purposeof entitling a patient suffering from an incurable andnecessarily fatal disease to demand from his medical adviser

euthanasia, or " help for dying," as the German expressionfor it would mean. His principal proposals are that a.

medical practitioner undertaking such a task shall not be;liable to punishment and that a patient desirous of being put.out of his misery may make application to a court of law

composed of a judge assisted by competent medical assessors.(specialists), who if they consider that the patient’s recoveryis impossible may in their discretion authorise relief byeuthanasia. Whilst the suggestion finds some favour amongthe general public the medical profession is, it need hardlybe said, strongly opposed to it, for practitioners know-how fallacious the prognosis incurable" " may be, and that.there are recorded instances of patients who have beendeclared to be "lost," but who have nevertheless survivedfor a long time and have even outlived their medicaladvisers.June 21st.

CANADA.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Annual Meeting of Ontario Medical Officers of Health.THE first annual meeting of the medical officers of health

of the province of Ontario since the inauguration of the newPublic Health Act of Ontario, 1912, was held in Toronto onMay 29th and 30th. Dr. Adam H. Wright, chairman ofthe Board of Health, was the first president of this new-organisation, whilst the chief officer of health of theprovince, Dr. J. W. S. McCullough, was the secretary.This conference will now be held annually, and as there-are some 800 municipal officers of health in the province,and as all are required under the provisions of the Act toattend this annual meeting, the attendance proved to be oneof the largest meetings ever held in Canada of this description.In delivering the presidential address, Dr. Wright referredparticularly to the work this new association would haveto perform in educating the people in the best methods inpromoting public health. Garbage disposal was a subject,he touched upon at more than ordinary length, pointingout that even in a city the size of Toronto this was unsatis-factory and in the main quite crude. He advocated more-inspectors to teach householders proper garbage disposal.Dr. Wright is a firm believer in home talent, findingfault with Toronto and other large cities in Canada forimporting sanitary experts, although the country had.at its call men who were quite competent to deal with anyquestion arising in connexion with public health and ansanitary matters. The president was particularly severe-

upon the overcrowding of street cars, which he charac-terised as intensely foul and indecent, as well as inimical to-the public health.

Dr. James Roberts, medical officer of health of Hamilton,Ontario, contributed a paper on Vaccination. He believedthat if property owners took the trouble to ascertain the cost,of small-pox outbreaks to the municipality they would beinclined to take more interest in vaccination, and said thatthe antivaccinationist was a crank upon that subject becausehe had not become one on some other fad-for instance,Christian Science. Personal attacks upon capable officials,formed, he added, the stock-in-trade of these faddists and’’ all the printed matter of the antis was nothing more than<a mass of junk."

Dr. Charles A. Hodgetts (Ottawa), the medical adviser tothe Canadian Conservation Commission, brought forwardthe question as to how much the great activity in sanatoriumwork in connexion with tuberculosis was due to lack of

preventive work in the homes of the people. He said thatwhile great progress had been made in the sanitation ofthe barn and livestock, the home itself had been almostneglected. The politician who looked more to the protection.of livestock than the home was a political shuttlecock.Sanitarians must be more aggressive.

Dr. George C. Whipple (New York City) spoke on Vital !Statistics, which, he said, to be of benefit to the communitymust be used with truth, imagination, and power. If properly-used there was no keener weapon at the service of the sani-tarian. The crying need in America was better registrationlaws ; and vital statistics were chiefly valuable in forecasting-the future. That the general death-rates of civilised countries-were declining was due chiefly to improvements in the sani-tary arts, to preventive medicine, and to improvements in the

1837

art of healing and to surgery, and also to the mere fact thatthe birth-rate was decreasing.-Dr. Charles Hastings, medicalofficer of health, Toronto, speaking of slums, believed thatit was time that America woke up and followed the exampleof some European countries.

Dr. C. N. Laurie (Port Arthur) introduced a discussionon Sanitary Work among Foreigners. He said that these

people on coming to Canada sought cheap dwellings inpoor locations where little or no sanitary conveniences wereavailable. The antipathy of the foreigner to fresh air hadresulted in almost an epidemic of tuberculosis in theThunder Bay district, particularly amongst the Finlanders.-Miss Eunice Dyke, of the Department of Health, Toronto,read a paper on the work done in Toronto in the past twoyears in connexion with tuberculosis. Of 2600 cases

recorded, only 781 had sanatorium care, and only 1019had attended a dispensary.A discussion on the Medical Inspection of Schools resulted

in a resolution that medical inspection of schools should beunder the local board of health, and not under boards ofeducation as at present in Ontario. This resolution is to be

brought to the attention of the Health Department of theprovince as well as to that of Education. The OntarioGovernment were also given another resolution to consider.The association advised that a fee of 50 cents be paid bythe Government to doctors for reporting cases of com-

municable diseases. Dr. Hastings (Toronto) was elected

president, Dr. W. R. Hall (Chatham) vice-president, and Dr.McCullough, secretary.

Neil) Hospital for the Insane in Ontario.About one year ago the Government of Ontario secured

several farm lands in the vicinity of the town of Whitby, 20miles east of Toronto, for the purpose of erecting thereon ahospital village, which will now in a short time replace theantiquated building for the insane in Toronto, and at somefuture date house the inmates of the Government institutionat Mimico, 12 miles west of Toronto. The site for this

hospital comprises 640 acres of splendid land. Of interestin connexion with building this hospital village is the factthat over 100 prisoners from the Central Prison farm atGuelph have been engaged installing water, electric light,sewage disposal plants, &c.’ With a party of 100 news-paper men the other day the provincial secretary, the Hon.W. J. Hanna, visited the rising institution and explainedthe work which was being done. In addition to that

already mentioned prisoners will manufacture all concretefloor-beams, brick, roofing and tiles. When the -hospitalbuildings are completed and the patients installed the farmwill be worked almost entirely by patients. At the presenttime about 40 patients are working in the gardens. The

hospital village is being planned for the accommodation of1500 patients, but it is being so designed that units forthe additional accommodation bf 500 may be added at anytime without disarranging the scheme of construction. The

buildings are to be grouped in three centres, the hospitalcentre and two cottage centres, one for men and the otherfor females. Recreation and athletic grounds will separatethese from the hospital centre. There will be buildings forobservation and incipient cases, acute and chronic cases,isolation buildings, and laboratories for research work. Therewill also be a church, amusement hall, skating rink, bowlingalleys and lawns, and a gymnasium. Under the leadershipof the Hon. Mr. Hanna, who has charge of such work inconnexion with administration in the Ontario Government,the promotion of prison reform, public health, and hospitalprovision for the insane stands a bright and shining light inGovernmental work in the banner province of the Dominionof Canada.

The Toronto General Hospital.The new Toronto General Hospital about to be formally

opened will ensure to the Ontario University adequatefacilities for medical teaching. The cost will approach amillion pounds.

Puerperal Septiccemia in Ontario.Accoording to the report of the Registrar-General for

Ontario the number of deaths from puerperal septicaemiain 1911 was 121, as against 82 for the previous year. In1910 the death-rate was 1-46 per 1000 parturient women.In 1911 it was 2-11, the highest death-rate from puerperalsepticaemia in Ontario during 11 years beginning with 1900.June 14th.

NOTES FROM INDIA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Plague in India.IT is estimated that about eight millions of people have.-

died from plague in the last 15 years, and an examination ofthe statistics reveals the fact that January, February, March"and April are invariably the most dangerous months of the:year for plague outbreaks, while July is the least fatal.

Indian Officers in the Indian Medical Serzriee.Since 1855, a period of 58 years, 104 officers with pure-

Indian names have gained admission into the Indian-Medical Service by competition-26 in Bengal, 14 in Madras,15 in Bombay, and, since 1896, 49 in the combined service orgeneral list.

-Riding Ponies for Assistant Surgeons.The Government of India has sanctioned the provision and,

maintenance of riding ponies by the State for assistant.surgeons and sub-assistant surgeons of the Indian subordinate-medical department when ordered on field service. The-

present allowance sanctioned in connexion with mounting.these men will be withdrawn. Sub-assistant surgeons serving-with Indian cavalry regiments will, however, take their own-ponies on field service and will continue to receive the horse-allowance at present admissible.

The Prejildice against Quinine.The prejudice against using quinine amongst the rural’

.population of Bengal seems to be dying out, since the-demand for the drug during the malarial epidemics issteadily on the increase. Its prophylactic qualities are being-slowly but surely recognised, and arrangements for distribu--tion have had to be extended. In the Burdwan and Presi--

dency divisions there is said to have been a marked increasein the demand, whilst in the Murshidabad division the-Sanitary Commissioner in 1911-12 had great difficulty in pro-viding an adequate supply. In the latter case the experi-ment was tried of issuing quinine hydrochloride, and this-proved to be more popular than sulphate of quinine inpowder or in tablets. As malaria still claims a heavy toll of-deaths in Bengal, it is satisfactory to know that the people-are receding from their old obstructive attitude in the-matter of accepting the quinine that is placed within their-reach at practically a nominal cost.

The Lady Minto’s Nursing Association.At a meeting of the central committee of the Lady-

Minto’s Nursing Association held recently at Viceregal’Lodge many matters of importance were discussed, amongstthem being the recent enhancement of daily fees. It wasshown that the type of nurses required, with the highstandard of qualifications, both professional and social, nowdemanded by subscribers could not be obtained at the rates.hitherto in force ; hence the necessity for the recentincrease in the association’s charges. The demand on theservices of the nurses has been such that a larger staff couldhave been utilised had they been available. It is an

increasingly difficult problem to regulate the ever-varying-ratio between supply and demand.

The Improvement of Bombay.The Government of Bombay has granted the Bombay-

Improvement Trust a special grant of about a quarter of’a million sterling. It is intended that this amount shallbe spent by the Trust on experimental measures in the-form of the partial demolition of insanitary quarters, the-object in view being to demonstrate how far slum im--

provement can be effected without the extensive acquisitionand demolition hitherto resorted to, and consequently with,less loss, in less time. and with less disturbance of house-owners and their tenants.

The Investigation of Tropical Diseases in India.Major Leonard Rogers, C. 1. E., I. M. S., writes to the Indian

press that as at the present time vigorous efforts are being-made by the London School of Tropical Medicine to obtainboth donations and annual subscriptions from various public-bodies in India, including railways, he wishes to bring to thenotice of those who have received such communications-that the arrangements for the Calcutta School of Tropical:Medicine are now so far advanced that it may confidently be: