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But it is interesting to recall that one of his first, ifnot his first publicly exhibited work, was a bas-reliefof John Hunter. Tweed was a Glasgow man andhad here the assistance of Clelland, the famousanatomist who was also an artist, in the execution ofthe work. A plaster plaque of this bas-relief hangsin the Conservator’s office at the Royal College ofSurgeons of England, presented by Sir John Bland-Sutton, and its deposition at the College seems tohave revealed the fact that Tweed had been to someextent influenced by a pencil portrait from the handof Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland in 1793. Dance-Holland was a portrait painter before marriage broughthim money and the opportunities of public life. He

enjoyed the patronage of George III. and was an

original member of the Royal Academy. The sketchwhich also hangs in the Conservator’s office at theCollege was presented by Capt. Sir Everard Homein 1843. Tweed also made a portrait bust ofDr. Jameson, while one of his last works was a

portrait bust of Sir Arthur Keith, which is at the

present moment on exhibition at Aberdeen.

THE CONSTITUTION OF DURHAM UNIVERSITY

THE situation which began with the termination ofProf. H. J. Hutchens’s engagement as lecturer onpathology at Newcastle College of Medicine, has

developed into a widespread demand for a revision ofthe constitution of Durham University and its con-stituent colleges. On Nov. 1st, as we have alreadyannounced, the court of governors of the College ofMedicine appointed a committee to consider therecommendations made by Sir Amherst Selby-Biggeas a result of his own inquiry, and after appointingeight members of the Court to form this committee(four of them being members of the college council)the Court resolved to invite the Chancellor tonominate to the committee three additional membersconversant with university practice elsewhere, one ofwhom should be designated by the Chancellor as itschairman. The City Council of Newcastle-on-Tynehas now decided that the constitution of the Univer-sity is a matter in which the city has a direct interest ;on the high ground that they are the custodians ofeducation in the city, and on the more materialground that their support of Armstrong Collegeamounts to a rate of a penny in the pound. At a

meeting of the City Council on Nov. 15th it wasresolved, by 55 votes to 1, to request the Chancellorto take such steps as he might deem desirable tosecure an independent and impartial examination ofthe constitution of the University and its constituentcolleges " with the object of securing such changes inthe constitution of the University as will bring theminto harmony with well-established university con-

stitution and practice elsewhere." Sir George Lunn,who moved the resolution at the meeting of the CityCouncil, disclaimed any concern with recent internaltroubles, preferring to put his finger on what heconsidered to be a faulty principle. One article ofassociation of the College of Medicine, he said, makesthe court of governors the supreme governing power ;another article gives power to the council of the

College, a smaller body, to suspend or refer back anydecision that the court may come to. For the lasttwo years the relationship between the court ofgovernors and the council of the College had been" Pull devil, pull baker "-and he left his hearers nochoice as to which was which. Councillor AngusWatson, speaking as a governor of the College longbefore this issue arose, said the question was whethera small monopoly interest should govern all publicaffairs. As one of the three members of the court of

governors appointed to confer with Prof. Hutchens,he said : "We came to the conclusion that, in viewof all the bitterness that had been generated and allthe ill-feeling now existing, we could not expectProf. Hutchens to go back with dignity, but we wereso conscious of the fact that he had grounds for realcomplaint that we awarded him 8000, and that issufficient evidence of what our views were." In thecourse of the discussion in the City Council the wordswere quoted of Prof. Rutherford Morison who, inpleading for reform, had said "future students passingfrom Newcastle will have a lowered standard becauseof the way the management is being conducted."The City Council expressed its feeling that actionshould be taken to bring the constitution of theUniversity into harmony with practice elsewhereby accepting Sir George Lunn’s motion with only onedissentient.

HOSPITALS AND MOTOR ACCIDENTS

WHAT Lord Derby in the House of Lords recentlydescribed as " an intolerable burden " upon thevoluntary hospitals is at last to be lightened. Onthe motion of Lord Luke (as noted in our Parliamen-tary Intelligence, p. 1181), the Peers, notwithstandingGovernment opposition, added to the Road and RailTraffic Bill, which has now received the Royal Assent,a clause providing that hospitals shall be paid expensesreasonably incurred by them in the treatment ofmotor accident cases. The amount to be paid inrespect of each in-patient is not to exceed 1:50, or, inthe case of an out-patient, E5. Under the RoadTraffic Act of 1930 no more than E25 could be

recovered, although the cost is often far greater.Lord Greville instanced a case which had cost St.

George’s Hospital 125. It has been estimated that thecost to the hospitals of treating accidents approachesa quarter of a million a year, of which only aboutone-eighth is recovered. In adding this clause to themeasure the House of Lords simply followed its ownprecedent when it inserted a similar clause in LordDanesfort’s Road Traffic (Compensation for Acci-dents) Bill which was recently withdrawn because ofthe impossibility of getting it through Parliament inthe short remainder of the late session. The Govern-ment opposition was based upon the supposedincongruity of such a provision in a measure for thebetter regulation of goods traffic, and the possibilitythat the House of Commons might also think it notgermane. But when the Bill went back to theCommons the new clause was quietly agreed to onthe Government’s own motion.While this measure was passing through its later

stages the Select Committee on the Road Traffic (Com-pensation for Accidents) Bill and Lord Moynihan’sRoad Traffic (Emergency Treatment) Bill issueda report dealing with the latter measure, whichprovides for the payment of a maximum remunerationof three guineas to doctors and hospitals for treat-ment. Thinking, however, that a maximum paymentmight tend to become a standard rate, the committeedecided to substitute a standard rate of 12s. 6d.,being a minimum of half a guinea with a smalladdition for drugs and dressings, and an allowance of6d. for every mile beyond two which a doctor travelsto attend a case. As regards the source of thesepayments the committee accept the principle of theBill, and propose that the liabilities should be third-party risks and consequently compulsorily insurable.Taking the number of persons killed and injured ascosting 12s. 6d. per head, they make the annual costto be £ 105,416, which works out at an addition ofabout a shilling per car to the insurance premium.

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Other people have calculated the addition at half-a-crown. The amount, in any event, would be incon-siderable, and to throw the cost on the motoringpublic appears to the committee to be the onlypracticable method of collecting the money. Themedical profession is unlikely to feel much exhilarationat the prospect of the exiguous fees which the SelectCommittee regard as sufficient payment for workpossibly difficult and anxious and likely enough tointerfere seriously with the claims of ordinary patients.But since, more often than not, the doctor at presentdoes not get a penny, he may console himself withthe philosophical reflection that something is betterthan nothing.

VITAMIN B2 AND GLOSSITISTHE clinical symptoms produced by a diet lacking

in vitamin B2 or conversely, its curative properties,are difficult to estimate, since products rich in thisvitamin contain also other substances, at presentunidentified, to which any effects noticed may be due.D. K. Miller and C. P. Rhoads 1 have recently soughtto elucidate the action of vitamin B2 by prolongedfeeding of dogs on diets partially but not completelydeficient in this vitamin and have been able to producesymptoms very similar to those of sprue. The dietwas low in protein, high in fat and carbohydrate, andcontained only that amount of the vitamin-B complexwhich is present in rice polishings. A proportion ofdogs developed stomatitis, glossitis, and gastro-intestinal disturbances. Anaemia occurred in 60 percent. of the animals, and in half of these it was severein type. Histological study of the bone-marrow inthe latter group showed features similar to those

occurring in sprue or Addisonian pernicious anaemia.A. M. Hutter, W. S. Middleton, and H. Steenbock 2have also been able to produce glossitis in rats bydiets deficient in vitamin B. These experiments,together with earlier investigations, suggest that theglossitis of sprue and Addisonian pernicious anaemiamay be due to lack of part of the vitamin-B complex.On the other hand Hutter and his colleagues foundthat the addition of vitamin B in the form of yeast tothe diet of patients with Addisonian pernicious anemiawas not invariably successful in curing the glossitisunless liver was also given. Clinical glossitis cannottherefore always be due to a simple deficiency. Theexact character of the yeast used was unfortunatelynot defined. L. Wills has clearly shown that theantianaemic potency of yeast varies according to itspreparation, and is not related to its vitamin-Bcontent, and it is possible that the antiglossitis effectof yeast shows corresponding variations. It is clearlyessential for workers to use some purified source ofvitamin Bl and B2 for dietetic experiments.

THE MIND AND BRAIN OF THE KENYA NATIVE

AT a recent meeting of the Eugenics SocietyDr. H. L. Gordon described a series of investigations,carried out by himself and Dr. F. W. Vint, upon thebrain and mind of the Kenya native. A series con-

sisting of several thousand male natives, representativeof the different tribes found in Kenya, were examinedby anthropometric and psychological methods, theformer according to the technique elaborated byProf. R. J. A. Berry and the latter by performancetests and the Porteous maze test. The results of thepsychological tests point to the conclusion that,according to the standards used, the average Kenyanative exhibits a definite degree of mental inferiorityas compared with the average European. These

1 Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 1933, xxx., 540.2 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1933, ci., 1305.

findings were generally supported by the examinationof a series of 100 brains of adult male natives per-formed by Dr. Vint in the Government MedicalResearch Laboratory. Dr. Gordon concluded hisaddress with a plea for the institution of a comprehen-sive investigation of the same material under approvedscientific auspices. If, as here suggested, a relativedegree of cerebral deficiency characterises some of thenative races under British trusteeship, consequencesof the utmost medical, legal, and educational impor-tance are raised for the imperial administratur. It isto be hoped that Dr. Gordon’s plea will find a

sympathetic hearing.

MEDICINE AND LITERATURE

THE Lloyd Roberts lecture, delivered before theMedical Society of London on Nov. 16th by SirHumphry Rolleston on this subject proved, as wasinevitable, seeing the lecturer, a thoroughly valuabledisquisition, and one which librarians should keep asa book of reference. The practical difficulty of

keeping pamphlets and reprints of lectures andaddresses is a very real one to them, as to all whomake collections of books, so that it is worth whilementioning that this essay should secure a place inlibraries and be made easy of access there. How

great has been the association between medicine andliterature, apart from medical literature, is not realiseduntil we have before us an orderly category such asSir Humphry Rolleston provided, and the multifariousinformation is supported by amusing references and awealth of accurate dates.

THE COOKING OF MEAT

OUR knowledge of the composition of commonarticles of diet is based almost entirely on analysisof uncooked food-a handicap to the physicianprescribing for the needs of individual ’ patients.Cooking has hitherto been considered mainly as

an art, but Dr. R. A. McCance and Mr. H. L. Shipp,in a report 1 from the biochemical laboratory of

King’s College Hospital, have dealt with it as a

scientific problem, directing their study to the causeand extent of the various losses caused to flesh foodsby cooking. The effect of this inquiry is to upseta number of ancient and cherished prejudices. Manypeople who have never heard of the pellicle theoryhave a vague idea, encouraged by cookery books,and even by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, that the"goodness" may be kept in meat by starting tocook it at a high temperature. The idea is thatthis will cause the proteins on the outside of themeat to coagulate, thus forming an impermeableskin which retains the water, salts, and protein inthe meat. But Dr. McCance and Mr. Shipp findthat it makes no difference to the losses whethermeat is plunged straight into boiling water or placedin cold water and slowly heated to 100° C., and theysuggest that to bring water to the boil or to raise anoven to a high temperature before inserting the

joint is merely a waste of heat unless it can be

supported on grounds of palatability or digestibility.Other things being equal, the best method of cookingis generally assumed to be the one which producesleast loss, and cooking by steam, especially in thesmall autoclave or pressure cooker, is popularlybelieved to be very conservative. The investigationproves, however, that shrinkage and loss becomeintensified when the temperature is raised above100° C., so that the only economy effected by pressurecooking as against steaming is economy in time and

1 The Chemistry of Flesh Foods and their Losses on Cooking.M.R.C., Spec. Rep. Ser. No. 187. H.M. Stat. Office. 2s. 6d.