101PROFESSIONAL TOUTING.

that some dozen cases which have occurred since are all moreor less traceable to the steward of the Tarnal’. Since thenisolation in the present hospital has been insisted upon anda temporary iron hospital is being erected on the hospital site.Moreover, revaccination is being extensively practised at theinstance of the town council and the guardians. We can

only trust that these measures may prove effectual in limitingthe progress of the epidemic. But it is to be feared that the

unsuitable position of the hospital now in use, as well as

that of the temporary adjunct, will but intensify the presentdanger to Southampton. In the interests of the town the

council should lose no time in procuring a more suitable andpermanent site. -

"APOPLEXY OF THE PANCREAS" ATTRIBUTED TOSEA-SICKNESS.

DR. HADE describes a case of so-called apoplexy of thepancreas occurring in a female, in consequence apparently ofprolonged and violent sea-sickness. The symptoms wereanalogous to those of peritonitis, there were severe pains onthe right side of the abdomen and considerable distensionwith flatus. The patient died three days after being first seen.The kidneys were found to be granular and there was a largemass of extravasated blood, originating in the pancreaticartery, spreading over the whole of the pancreas and forcingits way to the two kidneys, which were enveloped in bloodclot.

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PROFESSIONAL TOUTING.

THE Pathological Society of Reading in Berkshire is

believed to be the oldest society of the kind in the kingdom,having been founded in 1841. The medical men of the

borough and counties adjacent who ’are members of this

Society at their meeting on Jan. 4th determined to take somesteps to check the growing tendency to lower professionalstatus by the practice of circulating printed statements amongstthe public, setting forth the conditions and terms on whichthey can be attended and supplied with medicines bybecoming members of a " medical aid society." As the

result of a full discussion the following resolutions werepassed : 1. "That in the opinion of this Society thehonour and interests of the medical profession are insuffi-

ciently safeguarded, and we do request the GeneralMedical Council to use the powers vested in them,or if necessary to acquire larger powers, to enable

them to deal with conduct (other than criminal) dishonour-ing to the medical profession. " 2. " That this Society regardsas unprofessional all touting, advertising or covering, or theholding of any appointment where it is shown that suchmeans are employed to increase the sphere of work."

BURIAL AND CREMATION: A PROPOSED COM-MISSION OF INQUIRY.

THE objects aimed at by the deputation of the Church ofEngland Burial Reform Association which recently waited uponthe Home Secretary were well worthy of the attention whichthey received. They included, as our readers will remember,besides the appointment of a Minister of Health-a matterreferred to in our leading article on ’’ The Ministry and PublicHealth " (vide p. 93)-a proposal for the more careful certifi-cation of causes of death and another for the institution ofan exhaustive inquiry as to the comparative merits of thedifferent methods of burial now recognised amongst us. 117eobserve with much satisfaction that Mr. Asquith appears tobe sanguine as to the feasibility of carrying into effect bothof these latter propositions. There can be no question as totheir importance. It cannot be denied that, notwith-

standing the general practice and the recognised utilityof death certification, there still remains a considerableannual margin of deficiency represented by cases in

which the dead are allowed to reach their last resting-placewithout any official notice of the means, whether natural or

other, by which they died. As regards the practice of burialin its relation to cremation and the relative advantage ofdifferent modes of interment, there is, in our opinion, hardlyany sanitary question which requires more careful discussionor which as yet owes so little to the deliberate declarations.of authority. We would most sincerely welcome the appoint-ment of a commisgion of inquiry which would examine thepresent state of our knowledge upon this important subject,and would publish the result of its investigation in a definite’statement of opinion.

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THE LANCET RELIEF FUND.

THE "Application Form " of THE LANCET Relief Fund’will be found in our present issue. It can easily be removed,filled up and forwarded to the Secretary, Mr. Edward Davies,THE LANCET Offices, 423, Strand, London. We would once’more ask those of our readers who may have occasion ta

employ the form or to sign one of the required accompany-ing certificates to carefully notice the conditions on whichapplicants become entitled to a participation in the benefits of

°

the Fund. ____

"FAITH CURES."

Tms subject has been recently discussed in the pages:of one of our contemporaries by so able a physician as,

M. Charcot. His treatment of the subject is very calmand impartial. After showing that in all ages the condi-tions affecting the successful application of the faithcure have been practically identical, he emphasises the-

following important points : (1) That a special disposition"on the part of the patient is necessary to success-a dispo-sition fostered by the mental exaltation incidental to

religious pilgrimages ; (2) that the diseases usually bene-fited.have been of a convulsive or paralytic order-that is,they belong to the category of functional disorders which.demand for their cure no intervention beyond the powerwhich the mind has over the body "; and (3) that the domain..of faith healing has thus a limited application. M. Charcot,however, deals with the matter in no dogmatic spirit nor’

does he restrict within too narrow limits the trophic influence:of the nervous system. Mention is made of the remarkable

case of a patient in ,whom a "hysterical œdema " of the,

breast resulted in extensiva and long-continued sloughingand who was at the same time the subject of a profoundx.hysterical paralysis of the left side. The sores, mistaken for

cancer, rapidly healed and the paralytic symptoms disappeared.

ASLEEP OR DYING?

OF somewhat more than ordinary interest and importance-was one cf the cases recently inquired into by a -coroner’s juryat St. Helens. It was that of a woman who, probably whileintoxicated, fell downstairs, and striking her head against awringing machine sustained what finally proved to be fatalconcussion of the brain. The most singular circumstance-observed in connexion with the occurrence was the fact thatthe deceased was allowed to lie in a state of stupor foreighteen hours before her relatives considered it needful tosend for medical assistance. It was the old story over again : sthe stupor of cerebral compression was mistaken for drunkensleep. Perhaps in the existing circumstances it was not

remarkable that the other occupants of the house-her husbandand son both over-tired with a week’s labour and half asleepthemselves-should at the outset have fallen into this error,notwithstanding the existence of a bleeding scalp wound.Dangerous head injuries, as every practitioner can testify,often wear at first and for some time afterwards an appear-ance of deceptive innocence. Their true character, unless it

be carefully looked for at the time of infiiction, is usually