36

Lanes : Farnworth [34,160]. SIR THOS. FLITCROFT (3).1. (U.) 10,237. 2. (Lab.) 9740. 3. (L.) 3893.

Lindsey: : Gainsborough [27.503]. DR. J. E. MoLSON (1).1. (Co.U.) 8634. 2. (L.) 6556.

Notts: Mansfield [39,041]. MR. N. M. TARACHAND (4).1. (Lab.) 8957. 2. (Co.N.D.P.) 6678. 3. (L.) 4000.4. (Ind.) 878.

Stirling: Clackmaranan and Easterra [31,910]. *DR. W. A.CHAPPLE (3).

1. (Co.U.) 6771. 2. (Co-op.) 5753. 3. (L.) 5040.Coicnties : Ireland.

Mayo : North [20,212]. MR. JOHN CROWLEY (1).1. (S.F.) 7429. 2. (N.) 1861.

lileath North [14,716]. MR. P. J. CUSACK (2).1. (S.F.) 6982. 2. (N.) 3758.

Wexford: South [23,168]. DR. JAMES RYAN (1).1. (S.F.) 8729. 2. (N.) 8211.The names of the medical men entitled to sit for the

first time in the House of Commons on Jan. 21st next are Itherefore :-MR. JOHN CROWLEY, DR. DONALD MURRAY,DR. W. E. ELLIOT, DR. NATHAN RAW,DR. A. C. FARQUHARSON, DR. JAMES RYAN,DR. B. F. P. MCDONALD, SIR WILLIAM WHITLA,DR. J. E. MOLSON, SIR ROBERT WOODS,

along with three others who have already established theirposition there :-

DR. CHRISTOPHER ADDISON, SIR WATSON CHEYNE,SIR AUCKLAND GEDDES.

On behalf of several of these successful candidates we havebeen asked to express gratitude to their professionalcolleagues for help freely rendered.

MEDICINE AND THE LAW.

Illioit Traffic in Drugs.THE inquest, which has not yet been concluded, upon the

body of a young actress named Stewart and known upon thestage as "Billie Carleton" has already produced as one ofits results the prosecution and conviction of two persons-Len Ping You, a Chinaman, and his wife Ada, a Britishsubject by birth. They were mentioned in the early stagesof the inquest upon Miss Stewart, with allegations as to thewife having assisted the deceased and others in the smokingof opium, and owing to the facts thus disclosed they wererecently charged simultaneously at two different police-courts. The Chinese husband was arrested at LimehouseCauseway, where he lived, and brought before Mr. Rooth atthe Thames police-court, who sentenced him to pay a fine of£10 for having opium in his possession without authority,and also for having an opium pipe and other utensilsconnected with this use of the drug, the offence, to whichhe pleaded guilty, being one against a regulation madeunder the Defence of the Realm Act. The wife, Ada, wasbrought before Mr. Mead, at Marlborough-street, and chargedwith supplying opium prepared for smoking to Miss Stewart,and also with being in possession of prepared opium at16, Dover-street, where rooms were occupied by a mannamed De Veulle and his wife. To the latter charge shepleaded guilty, having denied supplying the opium at thetime of her arrest and afterwards. The facts narrated bythe solicitor for the prosecution as to the use which theprisoner made of a drug, which possibly, if she told thetruth, she found already provided on the premises, were of acharacter to earn for her a sentence of five months’ imprison-ment with hard labour. Acting as a " priestess of unholy rites,"to adopt the phrase of Mr. Mead, the magistrate, she filledand lit the opium pipe which passed from mouth to mouthin an opium-smoking debauch lasting from 10 o’clock oneSaturday evening until 3 o’clock on the following afternoon.The party to whom she thus ministered consisted of five orsix young men and women, for whom cushions were spreadupon the floor, and who before taking part removed theirclothes and put on pyjamas and night-dresses respectively.Miss Stewart, who arrived late after a performance atthe theatre where she was engaged, was one of these.The observations made by the magistrate upon whathe characterised as a disgraceful orgy, and the sen-

tence which he passed upon the woman who took so

leading a part in promoting it, can hardly be criticisedas too severe. It is to be noted also that he described

indulgence in opium as a prevalent form of vice, andexpressed the hope that the imprisonment which he wasordering the prisoner to undergo would act as a warningto others. The frequency of prosecutions for this kind ofoffence recently to be observed in police reports may to someextent be due to there being more space than formerly forthe publication of such items of news, but whether this isso or not it is evident that the use of opium, cocaine, andother drugs in late years has attained substantial proportions,in spite of the efforts made by the authorities under theDefence of the Realm Act to hinder the illicit traffic. Itis to be hoped that whenever that statute may becomeobsolete permanent provision will be made to protect thewilling victims of drug-taking from themselves and fromthe temptations placed in their way by others. The use ofcocaine by soldiers, to prevent which a special effort hasbeen made through the regulations under "D.O.R.A.," issaid to be due to an alleged effect of the drug in producinga reckless indifference to environment and disregard of

danger. The circumstances of war service have ceased, butthe desire for temporary relief from anxiety or discomfortwill contribute even now to render men and women anxiousto obtain drugs, the surreptitious importation and sale ofwhich it is very difficult to prevent. Among typical recentcases we note one of a Chinese cook caught with two poundsof opium, which he might have sold for anything up to .f:60,under his shirt. He was fined .S’32 at Tower Bridge police-court, and another Chinaman was charged on the same dayat the Thames police-court for keeping an opium den atLimehouse and fined £10. Cocaine is even more easily carriedand concealed than opium, and perhaps on this accountand for the reasons above suggested commends itself to

many drug-takers, who, however, do not appear at once toadopt a particular form of intoxication, but prefer to experi-ment for a time with whatever opportunity may throw intheir way. This, at least, is the impression conveyed by thereports of the inquest upon Miss Stewart and the other caseswhich have arisen out of it. In connexion with the use ofcocaine we call attention to the conviction at Liverpool of awoman for stealing a bottle of cocaine from the consultingroom of a dentist who was treating her. This should be a

warning to medical men who dispense their own medicinesof the great importance of keeping all dangerous drugsbeyond the reach of their patients.

An Ingenious Impersonator.At the Bromley (Kent) police-court recently a man named

James Allan was ordered to pay a fine of .620 and £10 costs

,

after being proved to have used medical titles and prac-: tised as a medical man in somewhat unusual circumstances.The name of a Mr. James Allan, who had duly qualified at

: Edinburgh University, appeared with the usual particulars ofhis qualifications in the Medical Register from 1892 to 1898.when he died. In 1901 there were published in the

’ "Medical Directory" . the same name and qualifications,"James Allan, M.B., C.M. Edinburgh," and they con-

tinued so to appear until the conferring of the orderof Officer of the British Empire upon a gentleman so

’ described attracted the attention of the Registrar of the! General Medical Council, who was unable to find a corre-

sponding entry in the Medical Register. At or about thesame time one of the usual forms issued for the purpose of

! corrections or additions by the publishers of the Medical! Directory was sent to Mr. James Allan at his address at

Chislehurst, and was returned by him with the addition of- the letters O.B.E. After inquiries had been made by the’

Registrar of the General Medical Council, the matter was1 laid before the Director of Public Prosecutions with the1 above result. The defendant was stated by counsel to bes the son of a farmer in Ireland, who had been at one time a. shop assistant and had afterwards studied medicine. He hadr not qualified as a medical practitioner, but had acted as an

I unqualified assistant to medical men, and since 1902 hadr practised at Chislehurst as James Allan, M.B., C.M. Edin.,. and in that capacity had signed death certificates. A charget made in respect of these was not proceeded with by the. prosecution. A detail which was mentioned in the case

t should be noted by the personal representatives of medical- men. After the death of the real James Allan, referred too above, his sister was asked by someone who wrote from Glasgowi and was stated to be an acquaintance of the defendant,

whether she would sell her brother’s medical diplomas, the

37

writer stating that he had a hobby for collecting such docu-ments. The object of the offer, in so far as it proceededfrom the defendant, is obvious, and as the diplomas ofdeceased medical men cannot, except perhaps in the case of afew distinguished personages, be of any interest except totheir children or other relatives, willingness to pay for themon the part of a stranger should at once excite suspicionon the part of the possessor. James Allan, of Chislehurst,cannot complain that the punishment inflicted upon himwas in excess of his deserts, in spite of the fact that

witnesses, including the rector of Chislehurst, expressed’

themselves satisfied with the skill with which he treated his

patients. This was a bad case of impersonation, and if theprosecution had laid stress upon the points involved theproceedings could hardly have stopped where they did.We feel sure that those responsible for so carefully editeda work as the Medical Directory must keenly regret the

inaccuracy which in some way was admitted to its pages.Frost v. King Edirartl VII. National Memorial Association

for the Prevention. Treatment, and Abolition of, Ttcbcrawlos2s.

In this action, in which Mr. Justice Eve granted in lastMay an injunction to restrain the defendants from usingCardigan House, at Newport, Monmouthshire, as a hospitalfor surgical tuberculosis, a settlement has been arrived at.This was announced by counsel when the case was called inthe Court of Appeal, the terms being stated to be that thehouse should continue to be used as before until the expira-tion of six months after peace, and then should become aresidence for one of the physicians of the association and acentral dispensary for their work in Newport and Monmouth-shire. Conditions were added such as should make thesettlement a binding one and prevent any further litigationin the future, and it was provided that the defendants shouldpay the taxed costs of the plaintiff.

THE BELGIAN DOCTOR S’ ANDPHARMACISTS’ RELIEF FUND.

A MEETING of the Committee was held at THE LANCETOffices on Dec. 23rd, 1918, when Dr. SQUIRE SPRIGGE

reported that he had received through Lord Hardinge the

necessary forms to secure a passport for a representative ofthe Fund to go to Belgium, the only preliminary formalitybeing the favourable recommendation of the Belgian ControlOffice. Dr. Sprigge also reported a visit from Dr. Theo

Huyberechts, who had come as a member of the BelgianDoctors’ and Pharmacists’ Committee sitting in Brussels, toexpress the gratitude of that Committee to the Fund,testifying that the help of the Fund had been " beyondwords valuable."

Sir RICKMAN GODLEE called the attention of the Com-mittee to the fact that there remained at their disposalmany instruments still housed at the Apothecaries’ Hall.One selection, he said, had been packed and sent, under thesuperintendence of Mr. Samuel Osborn, to a Belgian

’

hospital at Bruges, but many more, and some of verygood workmanhip, remained. Mostly they were old-fashioned but of excellent steel and make. He instancedsome knives by famous makers, and thought that metalmight be substituted for the wooden handles, when theywould be serviceable instruments to-day. ’

An article published in Le Belge Indépendant was

received by the Committee describing the establishment ofthe dispensary in Aldwych for the Belgian refugees at theopening of the war and the foundation of La Societe Belgede Médecine en Angleterre. Dr. Clement Philippe, withthe assistance of Dr. J. H. Philpot and Dr. H. A. Philp,..,t,organised the former movement, and for some time theDrs. Philpot and Dr. Des Vceux, with the assistance ofcertain refugee Belgian doctors, carried on very usefulwork. It may be remembered that this work was afterwardstransferred to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and nowthat the Belgian doctors are returning to their homes theBoard will continue its supervision over the remainingpatients. The article also described the preliminary circum-stances which led to the estabiiqhment of the BelgianDoctors’ and Pharmacists’ Relief Fund. This Fund cameinto being upon representations made, by Dr. Charles Jacobsmainly, to the Editors of THE LANCET and the B)’itish

u- Medical Journal, and the article in .Le Belge Indépendant:d bears witness to the generosity of the members of the British

professions, by whom some E25 000 has been subscribed,a the bulk of which has been expended on BeJgian sufferers

in Belgium.m As just sufficient money remained in hand it was decidedm to send to Belgium the full mensuality of .S800 for nextt, month.zr The following subscriptions have been received :—

tt 2 s. d.

j Dr. Alfred Cox (monthly) ... ... ... ... ... 1 1 0Lt.-Col. Frpmantle, R A.M.C......................... 10 0 0American Red Cross Commission for Belgium (monthly) ... 200 0 0

e Dr. D. Douglas-Crawtord ........................... 5 5 0

e

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Diet Kitchens for Military Hospitals.AN interesting experiment in the organisation of diet

kitchens has been made during the last two years in French: military hospitals. Begun in a tentative way to meet an

obvious need in one of those hastily improvised establish-ments dotted about the provinces in the early days of thewar, the experiment has now crystallised into a definitework of undoubted importance in the caring for the sickand wounded, and will possibly form the basis of a radicalchange in the dietary treatment of hospital patients through-out France.Even before the war the food given to the patients in

French civilian hospitals was bad enough to justify thewriter of a Paris guide-book in stating that" the catering isthe worst possible patients being fed almost exclusively ona beef diet with vegetables, mostly of the dried order, beefbeing given three times a day in the form ot soup once andboiled beef twice." The war naturally aggravated theseconditions, and in many of the hurriedly organised militaryhospitals the cooking was entrusted to. unskilled peoplewhose knowledge of catering for large numbers of woundedwas sadly deficient.The initial difficulties of this new phase of hospital

administration were hard to overcome. but a reform movementwas supported by General Rouget, the Director-General ofthe Service de Sante, Dr. Mourier, the under-secretary, Mr.Joseph Reinach, and many highly-placed persons, and thescheme from a small beginning is now assuming a definiteimportance. One difficulty lay in the fact that the cooks inmilitary hospitals are nearly always soldiers ; and in Francea soldier is theoretically supposed to be master of all

! trades, and credited with a superhuman versatility, while hismilitary duties come before all others. A woodcutter or a

bricklayer may be detailed to do the cooking for severalhundred men, and when he gained a working knowledge ofthe job he may be moved to the other side of France forpurely military reasons to attend the stoking of furnaces ina depot. It was realised that while the food supply was quiteadequate, everything was spoiled by this use of unskilledlabour, and that the only remedy lay in the appointment of °

specially trained cooks working under a surveillante.Early in January, 1917, Miss M. Oliver, daughter of

the late Dr. George Oliver, received permission fromthe French Service de Sante to open the first diet kitchenof the "Service des Regimes" at Hospital No. 75 atVichy. Two ladies took charge of the cooking with somevoluntary help in the distribution. The hospital was themedical centre of the 13th Region, and offered a good dealof variety in the clinical work, so the workers gained muchexperience in satisfying the individual needs of each case.The work was carried on till the following July, when thehospital was taken over by the Americans. By May theGovernment authorisation had been gained for starting adiet kitchen at the Villemin Hospital in the rue desRécollets, Paris. At that time there were there about 500beds. The majority of the cases were tubercuJous, andthe diet kitchen was opened for these and for two wards ofabdominal cases.Two months later a diet kitchen was started by two

lady workers in the Val-de-Grice Hospital, the oldest andbiggest military hospital in Fiance. principally to provideadditional purées and soups for Dr. Morestin’s famous

surgical division of wounded in head, jaw, and throat. As