118 MEDICAL MEN AS CORONERS.

efficiency to the extent of 25 per cent. resulted and thatthere was almost a complete immunity from wear and

tear, the machines in two and a half years not having cost apenny in repairs, every part, bars included, being in as goodcondition as when first put in. The coal used was small

Derbyshire, that previously used being best Welsh coal.Mr. Atkinson, who is admittedly an expert on this subject,having put a number of searching questions to the engineerin charge and made an exhaustive examination of the

machine, expressed himself as perfectly satisfied, and was ofopinion that an apparatus was now before the public whichwould not only enable steam-users to comply with the pro-visions of the Act for the prevention of smoke, but whichit would actually be to their interest, both as regardssaving in coal and extra boiler duty, to adopt at their works.We understand that these mechanical stokers are beingextensively used both in London and the large manu-facturing towns. -

MEDICAL MEN AS CORONERS.

MR. F. W. LOWNDES, chief surgeon to the Liverpoolpolice, has re-issued his pamphlet entitled, "Reasons whythe Office of Coroner should be held by a Member of the

Medical Profession." He gives his reasons clearly and wefind ourselves in accord with his arguments, while we arenaturally interested in his illustrations of the advantage ofmedical training to a coroner, seeing that he cites two

inquests held before the late Thomas Wakley-the well-known Hounslow flogging case and the Hillingdon case of1850-in the course of the latter of which investigationsa further examination made at the coroner’s suggestionof the throat of a man supposed to have died as theresult of a fight disclosed a piece of meat which had

lodged so as to choke him. Unless this further examina-tion had been brought about before the body was buried aninnocent man might have been committed to take his trialfor manslaughter. It is contended by some that the coronershould be a trained lawyer, but it was the opinion of thelate Mr. Wakley that enough law for the necessary purposesof the office could be acquired in a day, and we see noreason materially to modify this opinion ; although, nodoubt, a barrister of some standing, who has enjoyed apractice, may have had useful experience in dealing withwitnesses and juries and in the understanding of statutesand decisions-so that the ideal coroner would no doubt beone trained both as a lawyer and a medical man. In

support of the medical coroner Mr. Lowndes calls attentionto the fact that the coroner’s first duty-and a very importantone-is to decide when a death is reported to him whetherthe cause of it is unknown or whether it has otherwisetaken place in such circumstances that an inquest need beheld. For arriving at a correct decision upon this pomt thebest equipment must of necessity be a medical training;while, again, when the inquiry is being held the medicaltraining of the coroner is essential if the viewingof the body by coroner and jury, obligatory by law, is

not to be, as it often is, a meaningless formality. Weare aware that the holding of an inquest may involvethe committal for trial of a person supposed to be criminallyresponsible for the death inquired into. Persons are, how-

ever, very often committed for murder and manslaughter bymagistrates of no legal education and less experience thaI]a coroner should gain after a few months’ work, while thEcases in which such committals take place at the hands ojthe coroner form a smaller proportion of the number oj

inquests held than many suppose. According to the lateslblue-book on the subject in 1898 inquests were held ii

England and Wales on 34,541 persons and only in 321(cases was death found to be due to wilful o:

criminal acts, while of these 3210 cases 2881 wer,

suicides. The remainder included 169 cases of murder, 145cases of manslaughter, five cases of justifiable homicide, and10 executions. Again, if any still think that the com.

mittal of a prisoner to take his trial for murder or man.

slaughter by a person not a lawyer may involve a danger tothe public, we must point out that although a prisoner mayin law be put upon his trial upon the coroner’s inquisi-tion only without further preliminary, he is alwaysalso examined before a magistrate or magistrates. Beforethe magistrate only such evidence may be given as is

legally evidence against the accused, excluding much thatmay quite properly be relevant at the coroner’s inquiry intothe cause of death, and the magistrate may not think theevidence sufficient to justify a committal. Should the

magistrate commit the prisoner for trial a bill of indict-

ment is then sent before the grand jury at the next assizp.Should the magistrate decline to commit, or should the

grand jury throw out the bill, the prisoner is never, as faras we know, tried upon the coroner’s inquisition alone, butby the judge’s permission the Crown tenders no evidence andhe is set at liberty. Those who consider the expense andtrouble that may be caused and the amount of pain that maybe given to bereaved relatives by the holding of an unnecessaryinquest will be in accord with us in our view that a medicalman is the right person to decide whether an inquest shouldbe held or not. Those who calculate the amount of medicalevidence which it must have been necessary to explain tojuries in the course of inquests held in a single year on

nearly 35,000 dead bodies will agree with us that, again, forthe actual holding of the inquiry the medical training ismore likely to be of use to the coroner than the legaltraining. His duties had once a wide range ; they still areof great importance but are practically limited to inquiriesinto the cause of death, the few additional functions thatmight be mentioned not demanding any considerable legalknowledge.

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THE DISSEMINATION OF PLAGUE BY RATSAND FLEAS.

PLAGUE has now been established in Sydney for severalmonths, and in an address delivered before the New SouthWales Branch of the British Medical Association on

April 7th Dr. Frank Tidswell of Sydney discussed a varietyof interesting questions relating to the disease. In referenceto rats, he said that there were many instances whichshowed that the presence of a plague rat was responsible forthe illness in man. For example, a number of dead rats

found one morning in a cotton factory at Bombay wereremoved by 20 coolies. Within the three following daysabout half of them fell sick with plague, whilst those in thestore who had not touched the rats were not affected. Again.the coachman of an English family in Bombay found adead rat in the stable and removed it. Three dayslater he fell sick with plague and died in a few

hours, no other person in the same house being ‘

affected. Many persons, however, have caught plaguewithout handling plague rats and many personshave handled plague rats without catching plague.To explain this difficulty Simond has suggested that theinfection is carried by the fleas natural to the rats. Perfectlyhealthy rats harbour very few fleas and are very expert inremoving them, but fleas are abundant on sick rats. After

death, as the body becomes cold, the fleas leave it. In this

way Simond accounted for the fact that a plague rat maybe handled with impunity some hours after death. If thefleas from the dead rat reach another rat or a human being,they may inoculate the bacilli they acquired by ingestingthe blood of their former host. In some of Simond’s experi-

1 Propagation de la Peste, Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1898.