39

Littlehampton presumably in a private house too. Now thissort of thing is intolerable. Besides the danger to thehealth of the community there is the total absence ofreverence to the dead and the risk of hurting the feelings ofthe living when post-mortem examinations have to be held,or the body has to await burial, in a mere shed. A tithe ofthe money now squandered upon ministering to the fads of"educationists," to use their own phrase, would supplydecent, well-found mortuaries for the whole of London atany rate.

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TESTIMONIAL TO SIR WILLIAM BROADBENT.

IT has been decided to raise a fund for the purpose of presenting Sir William Broadbent with a testimonial on hisretirement from the post of senior physician to St. Mary’sHospital, in recognition of the valuable services that he

has rendered to the hospital and medical school, and of thedistinguished position that he holds in the medical pro-fession. Subscriptions, which are not to exceed two guineas,may be sent and cheques and postal orders be made payableto the order of Mr. Malcolm Morris, 8, Harley - street,Cavendish-square, W., treasurer to the fund.

GRAND FETE AT MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.

A MOST successful fête was held on Wednesday last at theMiddlesex Hospital to celebrate the opening of the new

convalescent home at Clacton-on-Sea, which provides accom-modation for twenty-six men, seventeen women, and twelvechildren, and also for nurses who from sickness or othercauses require rest and change of air. The proceedingswere inaugurated by the Duke and Duchess of York, whowere received by the executive committees and guards ofhonour composed of the Middlesex Yeomanry Cavalry andthe Volunteer Medical Staff Corps. A presentation of

purses to the Duchess then took place, and after thistheir Royal Highnesses visited various parts of the hos-

pital and attended a concert which was being held.

Among the many forms of entertainment providedfor the visitors were concerts, exhibitions of pictures,Roentgen rays and the kinematograph, and besides thesethere were various exhibitions connected with hospital work,of which one of the principal was the model ward, whichshowed the general arrangements of a hospital ward andvarious technicalities connected with it. The gardenwas beautifully decorated with flowers and very prettilyilluminated at night, and the proceedings were enlivenedby the band of the Royal Engineers. We are glad to beable to state that over .f.4500 have been collected, and weheartily wish the new undertaking a complete success.

AN IMPORTANT ACTION UNDER THE DENTISTSACT.

UNDER the auspices of the British Dental Association asuccessful prosecution has lately been carried out whichtends to show that Section 3 or the Dentists Act is far more

embracing in its reading than is generally supposed. In the r,

case in question the person was prosecuted for not being duly a

registered either as a dentist or a medical man and with e

using the letters D.D.S., implying that he was so. Evidence was given in support of the prosecution, the defence taking

1

the line " that the Act was passed for the protection cf the a

public and not for the protection of registered dentists." aThe Bench, however, found that the prosecutors had made

c

out their case and so fined the defendant £5 and costs. a

Notice of appeal has, however, been given. The main C

point of interest in the above case lies in the fact

that the use of such titles as D.D.S., &c., which are runregisterable in Great Britain by unregistered dentists is

a contravention of the Act. This is a point of the greatest I

importance. The words of the defence that the Act

was framed to protect the public and not the registered’practitioners are in perfect accord with our own views, but,it must be remembered that the only certificate the publichave that people are qualified and fit to practise is the pre-.sence of their names in the register, but what guide havethe public to the skill and knowledge of those whose namesdo not appear in that list ? The Act, therefore, by enforcingthat a person to legally practise dentistry shall be registeredprotects the public in the best possible manner.

GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL: ELECTION OFDIRECT REPRESENTATIVES, 1896.

A MEETING of the medical profession will be held on

July 16th at the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society’s.rooms, 20, Hanover-square, W., at 5 P.M., to hear addressesfrom Dr. J. G. Glover, one of the present representatives, whooffers himself again for election; Dr. Woodcock, J.P., of

Manchester, and Dr. Lovell Drage of Hatfield, who are candi-dates nominated by large and influential committees for theseats resigned by Mr. Wheelhouse and Sir W. Foster, fiLP.Dr. Wallace, President-elect of the Metropolitan Counties.Branch of the British Medical Association, will take the chair.

TRANSPLANTATION OF TEETH.

WE have often commented on the subject of transplanta-tion, replantation, and implantation of teeth, so the followingsuccessful case of transplantation may be of interest. Mr.Scott Thomson, in a communication to the Journal of the

British Dental Association, says :-" In December, 1874, I extracted two upper lateral incisors

from the mouth of a boy in order to relieve an overcrowdedstate of the teeth. These were inserted in about half anhour into sockets of similar teeth removed from the motherfor caries. The importance of removing the pulps of trans-planted teeth was not at that time recognised and was notcarried out in this case. Twelve months subsequently analveolar abscess occurred in connexion with the left lateralincisor, which rapidly subsided under treatment by drillinga vent’ and bread poultices. I saw this patient quiterecently, that is more than twenty-one years after the opera-tion, and these teeth are still in situ, and although some-what loose are in as good a condition as the rest of her teeth.The right lateral is distinctly sensitive to thermal changes.Can the pulp be still alive ?

"

It would appear that transplantation, or "ingrafting" aswas called, of teeth (first introduced, we believe, by Hunter),has never gone out of practice. In Miss Morse Earle’s-" Customs and Fashions in Old New England" is quoted anadvertisement from the Massachussets Centinal : " LiveTeeth.-Those persons inclined to dispose of live teeth

may apply to Templeman." And again from the Con-necticut Courant of Aug. 17th, 1795 : 11 A generous price paid,for human front teeth perfectly sound by Dr. Skinner." 1

"HOSPITAL SCANDALS."IT is a curious thing that the public are so eager to.

rejoice over any misforture that may happen to a hospitaland it is still more curious that the daily press should

encourage it even for the sake of selling a few extra copies.The late Hospital Scandal at Poplar" is a case in point.Here a woman was brought in at 2 o’clock one morning andattended to at once. Every bed in the hospital was full andas in the house surgeon’s opinion there were no signs ofcollapse the woman was carefully wrapped up in blanketsand provided with hot-water bottles and sent in a propercovered ambulance to the Sick Asylum, the distance to-

which from the hospital can be covered within fifteen

minutes. As it happened the woman died, and, although

1 Alice "Morse Earle: Customs and Fashions in Old New England,p. 305.