390 REPORT OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL UPON PHYSICAL DETERIORATION.

closed vessels its radio-activity weakens very slowly. Atthe same time radio-active wool may become part of

pharmaceutical stock and at no great expense, for from fiveto ten milligrammes of radium are sufficient to energise alarge quantity of wool. However, as to this Dr. London iscareful to state that before making " emanated " wool anarticle of pharmaceutical commerce we must know how andin what particular cases the commodity would be useful-and that is still a question for the future.

TREATMENT OF PERTUSSIS BY VACCINATIONWITH CALF LYMPH.

WE have received from a correspondent the records of fivecases of pertussis in which recovery ensued when the

patients were vaccinated with calf lymph in the usual way asa protection against small-pox. The diagnosis in each casewas undoubted and no other treatment was employed. The

symptoms of pertussis abated when the vesicles matured andthe cough had entirely gone in about 11 days. The

suggestion that one pathogenic organism might destroyanother has been occasionally raised, but so far as we areaware no definite proof of this antagonism has been broughtforward. "Mixed infections" are not uncommon and in

some cases the action of a pathogenic organism has beenrendered more intense by the injection of a non-pathogenicmicrobe but we are not acquainted with any trustworthyinvestigations which tend to show that one germ can act asan antidote to another. Our correspondent is naturallymuch impressed with the result of vaccination in his casesbut admits that the question still remains as to whether

vaccinia virus is a specific in such cases or whether anyform of absorption from a local infective centre wouldhave a similar result. We agree with him that it wouldbe interesting to ascertain whether other practitionershave had a similar experience.

DAKHYL v. LABOUCHERE.

lig this case a new trial has been ordered by the Court ofAppeal and it is therefore again szcb judice. In the cir-cumstances it will be sufficient to explain briefly the reasonswhy it has to be re-heard and to await with interest theverdict of a second jury. The plaintiff, it will be remem-

bered, was a person possessing foreign qualifications onlyand practising medicine in London, either chiefly or entirelyin connexion with cases of deafness. He had been, buthad ceased to be, medical adviser at the Drouet Institute

when there appeared in Mr. Labouchere’s paper an

article criticising him adversely, the sting of the allegedlibel lying in the term applied to him, " a quack ofthe rankest species," it being further stated that he

had " left the Drouet gan- in order to carry on a

’practice’ of the same class on his own account." The

principal misdirection of the jury by Lord Alverstone uponwhich the Court of Appeal based its order for a new trialconsisted in directions which amounted to a finding by hislordship that the words used were libellous, instead

of the question whether they were so or not beingleft to the jury. The question of "libel or no libel" "

is essentially one for the jury, the judge being limited to adecision if necessary as to whether the words complained ofare capable of being a libel. The summing up of LordAlverstone, however, was such that the jury might haveinferred that to call a person possessing medical qualifica-tions a " quack " was necessarily a libel upon him, whereasthe Master of the Rolls pointed out, what indeed is obvious,that a man may be fully qualified to practise medicineand yet may be fitly called a "quack" should he resortto " quack methods. The definition of a "quack,"apparently accepted in this case as " a boastful

pretender to medical skill which he does not possess,"obviously permits the term to be applied with justice to aperson qualified by education and registration to practisemedicine, if only because such an one may claim the

power to remedy conditions which are irremediableIt was also held by the Court of Appeal that the learnedLord Chief Justice had not properly left to the jurythe question whether the words used were or were not

"fair comment upon a matter of public interest," becausein summing up he had sought to distinguish between com-ment on the plaintiff and comment upon the Drouet Institute.The question whether the matter was of " public interest

"

was for the judge to decide but the question whether thecriticism was " fair comment" was for the jury. Referringto the criticism of the plaintiff in his connexion with theDrouet Institute the Master of the Rolls said that if thewriter " commented upon the methods of the person whoworked the institution and said that the person was workinga quack institution and was therefore himself a quack itwould be for the jury to say whether the comment was faircomment or not." The Court of Appeal therefore ordered anew trial, the costs of which will include those of the firstone and of the appeal, but, of course, this was done withoutany intimation or suggestion as to what, in the opinion ofthe Court, the result of such new trial should be.

IN the House of Commons on August 3rd Mr. T. Chamber-layne asked the Home Secretary whether he would considerthe advisability of imposing some restrictions on the adver-tising of patent medicines with a view to protectingpersons of the poorer classes. Mr. Akers-Douglas repliedthat the question of legislation for the purpose of dealingwith certain evils in this connexion had been considered inhis department, but he spoke as though he were muchoppressed with the difficulty of doing anything.

Dr. Frederick John Hicks, who was charged at the CentralCriminal Court with performing an illegal operation upona young married woman, was found not guilty.

THE King has appointed Sir William MacGregor,K.C.M.G., C.B. (Governor of Lagos), to be Governor andCommander-in-Chief of the Island of Newfoundland and its

Dependencies.

THE REPORT OF THE PRIVY COUNCILUPON PHYSICAL DETERIORATION.

IN September last a Committee of the Privy Council wasappointed by the Duke of Devonshire, at that time LordPresident of the Council, to investigate the subject of

physical deterioration as affecting the British population.The committee consisted of the following members : Mr.Almeric FitzRoy, C.V.O., clerk to the Privy Council; ColonelG. ’M. Fox, C.B., formerly head of the Army GymnasticSchool; Mr. J. G. Legge, chief inspector of reformatoryand industrial schools ; Mr. H. M. Lindsell, C.B.,assistant secretary to the Board of Education ; Colonel G. T.Onslow, C.B., inspector of marine recruiting; and Dr. JohnTatham of the General Register Office, Somerset House.The terms of the first reference were as follows: "Tomake a preliminary inquiry into the allegations concerningthe deterioration of certain classes of the population as

shown by the large percentage of rejections for physicalcauses of recruits for the army and by other evidence,especially the report of the Commission on PhysicalInstruction in Scotland; and to consider in what mannerthe medical profession can best be consulted on the sub-ject with a view to the appointment of a Royal Commis-sion and the terms of reference to such a commission