569

D. D. D._Not legally. At all events it is so doubtful that we should not recommend the assumption of the title. In equity, we believe, he wouldbe absolved; but law is not always equity. Legally he might be anoffender; iu equity not so.

Norman.-They do so by courtesy.J S., M.D. — 1. The office of colonial surgeon. - 2. By direct application to

the Secretary for the Colonies.

WORKHOUSE MEDICAL OFFICER’S ‘‘ ORDINARY DAILY DurIEs."To the E, dito2- of THE LANCET.

SIR,-The annotation on the Birmingham Workhouse iu your journal ofNovember 3rd induces me to send fur your amusement and that of yourreaders the enclosed list of " ordinary daily duties" required of the medical iofficer of that workhouse. Yours truly, November, 1866. Y.

The Ordinary Daily Duties of the Medical Officer of the Workhouse. IThe daily routine of the present medical officer of the workhouse is com-

menced by prescribing for the inmates in the general budy of the workhousewho are labouring under all sorts of minor complaints and maladies of a ’inature not sufficiently acute or important to cause them to be admitted into ithe wards of the infirmary. iTwo hours are thus occupied in prescribing (in different departments) for ’ithe able-bodied women, the aged women, women with young children, able-

bodied men, old men, and bedridden inmates.Also malingerers, and those who may have taken to bed since the previous I,

day have ?0 be hunted up if not really ill,, of-to be removed into the wards for ’ithe The- generam sick Have then to Be visited, and to receive ntt’enthm. The .

average daily number of patients in the dift’erent wards of the infirmary isabout two hundred and eiglity, including some seventy epileptics and itchcases. *

At intervals during the day the reception-room for the admitted paupershas to be visited ; those who come into the house in a sick or unclean statehaving to be removed to appropriate wards; the admitted children havingalso to be examined as to whether or not they have undergone vaccination,and also having to be duly vaccinated previous to their quitting the proba-tionary wards.Admissions continue up to an advanced hour in the evening.The various departments of the school have also to be visited; the child-

ren being well watched as to their freedom from itch, scald liead, &c.All children born in the lying-in ward have to be vaccinated before leaving

that department.The daily diets of all the sick inmates, with the dates of visits to each, have

to be entered in the medical relief book after each day’s round;" thealterations ordered during such round" being regularly specified.At the commencement of every week the names of all sick paupers have to

be re-entered in the same book.A shorter evening visit is necessary to the more urgent of the sick cases,

and for the sake of attention to patients who have been newly admitted intothe sick wards during the day, subsequently to the morning’s "romn!l."The removal of all admitted lunatics has to receive early attention, the

proper documents having to be written and prepared.A weekly summary of all the medical relief cases of the parish has to be

made up every Tuesday evening; also a list of all infectious diseases in the) workhouse has to be submitted to the clerk at the end of each week.

These, with the superintendence of the surgery and the drugs, are theMore ordinary daily duties of the resident medical officer at the BirminghamWorkhouse.A midwife being kept, the practical attention of the medical officer is only

required for special obstetric cases.

Brahee.-Some time since a communication was inserted in this journal re-specting the supposed virtues of Brahee sugar. We have reason to believethat this remedy is really worthless as a medicine. A teaspoonful of com-mon sugar is probably as efficacious in the treatment of disease as a tea-spoonful of Brahee.

PEPSDTE AND PANCREATINE.

W. 3f. D. says --" Will you allow me to ask your readers who have had per-sonal experience in the above medicines, whether they have answered theirexpectations, and can be relied on in cases of weak digestion associatedwith flatus ?"

A CORRESPONDENT asks "when the Commission on Venereal Diseases willfinish their Report ?"

-L. S. A.-Unless there is a specific agreement to the contrary, the assistant isentitled to a quarter’s notice.

Dr. Wardell’s communication shall appear in an early number.

FRACTURE OF THE FEMUR IN UTERO.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SiR.—The following case I think worthy of note from its rarity, and asexemplifying the reparative process in so young an infant :-On the 13th December, 1864, I was sent for to attend L. C- in her sixth

confinement. The labour terminated in an hour after my arrival (withoutany assistance on my part, proving it was not caused by "meddlesome mid-wifery"), a fine male child being born (natural presentation), with its leftfemur fractured in its upper thild.The mother gives the account that a fortnight before her confinement she

threw the whole weight of her body on the top of a low wall to reach over topick up something, and most probably it was then that the fracture tookplace.The difficulty in treatment was to get anything to tell sufficiently on the

upper fragment; but a letter L-shaped splint of gutta-percha, moulded to fitTouud the loins, answered the purpose, and with the best result, union takingplace in three months; and at this date the limb is nearly half an men longer’than the other. Some trouble beiner met with in keeping the parts free fromexcoriation, the limb had to be entirely unbandaeed ever other day, in orderto cleanse the parts and bathe the nates &c. in spirit, which accounts for thelength 01 time the case was under treatment.

I remain, Sir, yours truly,Sleaford, Lincolnshire, Xov. 5th, 1866. THOMAS E. JACOBSON.

COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, &e., have Leen received from-Sir W. Fergnsson ;Prof. Syme; Mr. Baker; Mr. Lowe; Mr. Wickers; Mr. Harvey ; Mr. Brown;Mr. Hutchison, Kingstown; Dr. Armstrong, Gravesend; Dr.GreenhalghMr. Graham, Stirling; Mr. Grosvenor; Mr. Hawkes; Dr. Ayre, Colne;Prof. Owen; Dr. Eames, Queenstown; Mr. Wallis; Dr. Balman, Liverpool;Mr. Crossley; Mr. Winstanley; Dr. Fuller; Mr. Devonald, Cwmarman;Mr. Hornibrook; Mr. Anderson; Mr. Chambers; Mr. Barker; Mr. Coales;Dr. Walford, King’s Lynn; Mr. Erichsen; Mr. Cooke; Dr. Hall, Brighton;Mr. Evershed, Ampthill; Mr. Cornfield; Mr. Teague; Dr. Smith, Preston;Dr. Robert Barnes; Mr. Castle; Dr. Bird, York; Dr. Britton, DriffieldMr. Meredith; Mr. Porter; Mr. Parker, Bath; Dr. Hassall ; Mr. Milson ;Dr. Tilt; Messrs. Savory and Moore ; Mr. Bigg; Dr. Dunn; Mr. Argles;-Mr. Smith, Whitby; Mr. Jones, Beaumaris; Dr. Jeans; Mr. Henry Lee;Dr. Gill; Mr. Stannard; Mr. Harold, Bockley; Dr. Corner; Mr. Ward;Mr. Savory; Mr. Graeme ; Mr. Lingham ; Mr. R. Smith; Mr. H. Clarke;Dr. Garland, Yeovil; Mr. Solly ; Mr. Hardy; Mr. Christopher, Wadebridge;Dr. Guppy, Falmouth; Dr. Phillips; Mr. Berkeley Hill; Dr. Oweu Rees;Mr. Jackson; Dr. More, Rothwell; Dr. Henchley; Mr. Hutchinson;Mr. Spencer; Mr. Little; Dr. Andrew Clark; Mr. Crews; Mr. Watson;Dr. Ryan; Mr. Maloney, Kingstown ; Mr. C. Hunter; Mr. Levy; Dr. Blake;Mr. Bennetr, Andover; Mr. Fitzgerald; Mr. Mayne; Dr. T. K. Chambers;Mr. Sturges, Boston, Mass.; Mr. Fowler ; Mr. Wilson, Durham ; Dr. Jones ;Dr. Payne ; Dr. Wilk; Mr. Ii,owe, Lyme Regis; Dr. Inglis, Edinburgh;Mr. Paget; Mr. Harrington; Mr. Rogers, Manchester; Dr. Geo. Johnson;Mr. Davidson; Dr. Ramsay, Cheltenham; Dr. Daubeny; Mr. Kirwan;Dr. Monckton, Rugeley; Mr. Cooper, Canterbury; Mr. Hill, Worthing;Mr. Holthouse; Dr. Skinner, Liverpool; Mr. R. R. Lloyd, Peterborough;Mr. Walsh; Mr. James; ;’,lr. Woodley; Dr. Mason, Surbiton; Mr.Gardner;Dr. Stewart, Belfast; Mr. Freebody; Dr. West; Dr. Vinen; Dr. Edwards;Dr. Maudsley; Dr. Wood; Mr. Berry; Dr. Shapter, Exeter; Mr. Moore;Mr. Trible, Thornbury; Mr. Bevan; Mr. Greene, Oaken Gates; Mr. Locke ;Mr. Clarke, Mold; Mr. Richards, Stockport; Mr. Isaacson; Dr. Wallace;Dr. Taylor, Corfe; Mr. Griffiths; Studens; Medicus; Ignoramus; B. A.;A Non-Medical Reader of THE LANCET; X. Y. Z.; J. S., M.D.; J. C. W.;Southport Water Company; A Young Practitioner; W.M.D.; Norman;M. A.; A Stranger in England; Brotherly Love; Verax; D. D. D.; J. S. A.;Odontological Society; A Civilian, RN.; Beta; Amicus; M. B.; S. E. A.;A Civil Medical Officer; G. E.; A Constant Reader; F.R.C.S. Eng. ; &c.

THE Hertfordshire Express, the Dublin Evening Mail, the Thanet G?4ardian,the Chatham News, and the Halstead Gazette have been received.

Medical Diary of the Week.Monday, Nov. 19.

ST. MARK’S HOSPITAL FOR FISTULA AND OTHER DISEASES OF THE RECTUM.—’Operations, 9 A.M. and 1; P.M.

ROYAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, MOORFIELDS.-Operations, 104 AiLMETROPOLITAN FREE HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.

Tuesday, Nov. 20.ROYAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, MOORFIELDs._Operations,10½ A.M.Guy’s HOSPITAL.--Operations, 1½ P.M.WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.NATIONAL ORTHOPÆDIC HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—S P.M.ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—8 8 P.m. Prof. Huxley, "On the Skull

of a Patagonian:’ - Dr. Mann, " On the Zulu aud other Caffre Tribes of £Natal: ’ _ Mr. John Cr,wcfurd, " On the Ethnological Results of theArabian Conquest of Spain."

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—S P.M.

Wednesday, Nov. 21.ROYAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, MOORFIELDS.—Operations, 101 A.M.MIDDLESKX HOSPlTAL.-Operations, 1 P.M.ST. MARY’S HOSPlTAL.-Operations, 1½ P.M.Sr. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1½ P.M.ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL._Opérations, 1: P.M.GREAT NORTHERN HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 p.M.UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.LONDON HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.

Thursday, Nov. 22.ROYAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, :MOORFIELDS_Operations, 104 A.)t.CENTRAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.—Operations, 1 P.M.ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1 P.M.LONDON SëRGICAL HOME.-Operations, 2 P.M.WEST LONDON HOSPITAL.—Operations, 2 P.M.ROYAL ORTHOPAEDIC HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.

Friday, Nov. 23.RoyaL LONDON OPHTHALMiC HospiTAL, -MOORFIELDS.--Operations, 10½ A-M.WESTMINSTER OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.—Operations, 1½ P.M.

Saturday, Nov. 24.Sr. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL_ Operations 9= A.M.

10½ROYAL LoxDof OPHTHALMIC HOSPlTAL. MOORFIELDS.-Operations 10½ A.MSr. BARTHOLOMEW’S- HOSPITAL.-Opérations., 1½ p.x.KING’s COLLEGE HOSPITAL.-Operations I’ P.lf.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL.--Operations 1½ P.MCHABING-CROSS HOSPITaAL.-Operations P.M.