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THE BELGIAN DOCTORS’ ANDPHARMACISTS’ RELIEF FUND.

THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.A MEETING of the Central Committee was held

on Thursday, June 3rd, when the members wereput into possession of full details as to the distri-bution of relief to medical men, pharmacists, andtheir families and dependents in Belgium. Thisdistribution takes place through the medium of theAide et Protection aux Medecins et PharmaciensBelges Sinistres, extracts from whose recent officialreports were published in THE LANCET last week.The Belgian Committee works in this way. A

strongly constituted central committee sitting inBrussels has appointed a subcommittee foreleemosynary purposes, and to this subcommitteeinspectors report on the merits of the individualcases which have come under their ken in par-ticular districts, and make recommendations as

to what grants should be given. Papers are

filled up for the information of the subcommittee,and the grants are made on the recommendationsof the subcommittee, who are stated, on the whole,to have been less stringent than the actual in-

spectors. Examples of the kind of cases that havebeen succoured were published in THE LANCET lastweek, and to these the following four cases may beadded :-

Dr. C- L-, of T-, is married, and has one

dependent son. His money is exhausted, his premises arecompletely burnt, he has no means of daily subsistence, andan elder son with whom he hoped to shelter is now a refugee.A grant was made of 700 francs.

Dr. L-, of V-, has two dependent children, hishouse and all the contents have been burnt, and hiseconomies are exhausted. A grant was made of 700 francs.

Dr. C-, of L-, has also two dependent children.His house and all the contents have been destroyed, and twoother houses belonging to him have been burnt. Hiselientele is ruined and dispersed. He still has some savings.A grant was made of 400 francs.Madame G-, of A-, saw her husband and one son

killed in front of her, and her house was pillaged. One son

aged 15 remains. The returns of her late husband’s pharmacyhave become very small indeed. A grant was made of700 francs.

At the seance of the Belgian Committee onApril 29th an important departure was made, as itwas agreed that monthly grants should be given tofamilies of medical men and pharmacists in want.It was pointed out that it would be of greatadvantage to those who were helped if they hadmore security and had not always to renew theirapplications in the face of complete want. As a resultit was agreed by the Aide et Protection aux Medecinset Pharmaciens Belges Sinistres that allowancesshould be paid in suitable cases of from 300 francsto 600 francs per quarter. Already the distribution ofthree monthly allowances is being made to familiesof pharmacists. Complete accounts were furnishedto the British Committee by the detailed reports ofthe proceedings at the seance of April 29th and thetwo previous sessions, so that it was possible tojudge of two things : first, that the resources hadbeen very closely husbanded; and, secondly, thatmore money is wanted, especially in view of thesystem of tri-monthly grants. Sir Rickman Godlee,the chairman of the British Fund, and Dr.Des Vceux, the treasurer, were accordingly author-ised to send out a substantial sum of money toBelgium through the medium of Mr. Herbert Hoover,the chairman of the International Relief Fund.

The cheque is being accompanied by a letter fromthe chairman of the British Central Committee,to Dr. Pechere, the chairman of the Aide et Protec-tion aux Medecins et Pharmaciens Belges Sinistres,pointing out that the British Committee cannotundertake to send the same amount monthlyor even at stated intervals, but that the amountsent must depend partly on the funds at thedisposal of the British Committee and partlyupon the actual necessities of the time. In thisletter the approval of the British Committee is alsoexpressed of the way in which the relief ofdistressed doctors and pharmacists and theirfamilies has been undertaken by Dr. Pechere’scommittee.

THE WEEK’S SUBSCRIPTIONS.

The subscriptions received by Dr. Des Vceuxup to Tuesday evening last, in addition to thosepreviously acknowledged, are as follows :-

’

Subscriptions to the Fund should be sent to thetreasurer of the Fund, Dr. H. A. Des V aeux, at

14, Buckingham-gate, London, S.W., and should bemade payable to the Belgian Doctors’ and Pharma.cists’ Relief Fund, crossed Lloyds Bank, Ltd.

THE APPEAL FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS.

The Master of the Society of Apothecaries begsto acknowledge the receipt of surgical instrumentskindly contributed by the following donors sincethe publication of the last list :-

Mr. T. P. Beddoes, Welbeck-street, W. ; Mrs. W. J. C.Johnstone. Weybridge; Mr. F. W. Smallwood, Handsworth;and Mrs. E. G. Roberts, Uxbridge.Instruments should be sent to the Apothecaries’

Hall, Blackfriars, E.C.

CENTENARIANS.-Mr. John Mitchell, a Crimeanveteran, has died at Navan, county Meath, in his 108th year.-The death has been reported in the borough of Stepney ofa person aged 102.

CLEAN MILK SOCIETY.-The council of thissociety are preparing plans for an "infants’ welfare " stationin one of the poorest quarters of London, where clean milkcan be sold to the poor and where mothers can be educatedin the care of their young children, on similar lines to thework done in New York. The work of the society willembrace efforts to improve conditions at dairy farms, inrailway transportation, and at milk shops, as well as themethods of distribution to consumers’ houses and the care ofmilk in the home.