1806

urge him to appoint a Statutory Commission forthwith. It

is regrettable, we think, that the election of a Fellow torepresent the Faculty of Medicine in the Senate should bedetermined by such sectional differences, but with the

existing tension of feeling in the University we see no wayout of the difficulty. The Faculty of Arts, with its large andincreasing majority of votes, has the decision in its hands,whatever may be the opinion of the medical graduates. I

KING’S COLLEGE: PRESENTATION TOPROFESSOR CURNOW, M.D.

LAST Tuesday afternoon the operating theatre at King’sCollege Hospital was the scene of an interesting ceremony onthe occasion of a presentation to Dr. Curnow by his old pupilsand students on his retirement from the office of Dean ofthe Medical Faculty after thirteen years’ service. The chairwas occupied, and the presentation made, by Mr. P. T. B.Beale, F.R.C.S. Mr. Beale, in making the presentation,referred to Dr. Curnow’s valuable services in the department,laying particular stress on the kindly sympathy which thelate Dean had invariably shown towards students who con-fided in him. Many a man at present in a position of import-ance might be said to owe his success in life to Dr. Curnow’skindly guidance and sound advice. The presentation con-sisted of an illuminated scroll, containing the names ofmany students past and present who had pursued their

studies during his tenure of office, a handsome silver salversuitably engraved, and a complete tea and coffee service ofvery handsome workmanship and design. The subscriberswere limited to those who had been students at the hospitalduring Dr. Curnow’s deanship. Dr. Curnow, in warmlythanking the subscribers and those present for their greatkindness, assured them that he would, as in the past, do any-thing he could to assist them in the pursuit of a peculiarlyarduous profession.

-

THE PERILS OF DOING GOOD.

UPON June 19th, in the Southern Divisional Police-courtof Dublin, Mr. Auchinleck of Harcourt-street was chargedbefore Mr. Swifte, Q.C., with having committed an assaulton a married woman named Lepper in the month of Februarylast. Mrs. Lepper stated on examination that she was twenty-three years of age, married for about thirteen months, andhad no children. Having suffered from illness last Februaryshe was recommended to consult Mr. Auchinleck and did soon two occasions, on the second of which she was assaulted.Mr. O’Shaughnessy, Q.C., in addressing the Court said

that it was a fortunate thing in the interest of truth

and to prevent the occurrence of shameful blackmailactions that he was entitled, under the Criminal LawAmendment Act of 1885, to examine the defendant, whowould tell his worship that the woman first consulted

him in the ordinary way; that on a subsequent occasion sherequested to be examined and was examined, and that hehad never used the expressions or done the acts imputed tohim. There was a long delay about these proceedings.There were present in court two medical gentlemen of thehighest eminence in their profession in the city, who wouldstate that medical men had often the greatest difficulty indealing with the maladies peculiar to women, and that

charges such as had been made on the present occasion werevery frequently made against medical men under similar cir-cumstances. Mr. Auchinleck, the defendant, was now

examined and deposed to the facts put forward bycounsel, stating, moreover, that he had been for twenty-three years practising in the city of Dublin, his practicebeing largely in connexion with midwifery ; that he wasmarried and had a wife and five children who lived with

him ; and, finally, that in cases of this kind, leaving thequestion of blackmail out of the question, it was a fact well

known in the profession that medical men never knew whatwomen might possibly say or do. Dr. William Josiah

Smyly, master of the Rotunda Hospital, and Dr. More

Madden, obstetric physician to the Mater Misericordise

Hospital, were also examined and supported Mr. Auchin-leck in his statement that charges of the sort were

likely to be made by married women under similar

circumstances and that, in fact, it was one of the

dangers connected with the treatment of married women

suffering from such maladies. Dr. More Madden statedthat he considered this woman to be labouring undera hallucination. Mr. Swifte, in dismissing the case,said from the bench that the question for him was whetherhe thought a jury would convict in the case of a man ofirreproachable character favourably known in the city fortwenty-three years. He thought that the delay in takingproceedings and the fact that Mrs. Lepper did not give anyalarm or make any complaint at the time would weigh verymuch in the matter and prevent any jury from convicting inthe case. We congratulate Mr. Auchinleck upon the resultof this case. Charges of this kind are so easy to bring andso hard to refute that we almost think the wisest coursewould be for medical men to refuse to examine women

except in the presence of a third person.

THE POLLUTION OF THE RIVER BRENT.

MOST Londoners, especially skaters, are familiar with thatbody of water known as the "Welsh Harp reservoir, butprobably it is not so generally known that the "lake" inquestion, which feeds the Regent Canal, was brought intoexistence by constructing a dam across the valley of theRiver Brent, One of the effects of this work has been todivert from the natural bed of this river much of the waterwhich formerly found its way into it, and hence any pollu-tions of the stream are less diluted than they would other-wise be. The river, if such water as is let out from thereservoir can be dignified by that name, passes through orabuts upon several sanitary districts, and amongst them

may be mentioned Willesden, Ealing, and Hanwellurban and Hendon and Brentford rural. Within recent

years complaints as to the condition of the river here-

abouts have been loud and long, and in 1893 Dr. MoncktonCopeman, a medical inspector of the Local Government

Board, made an inspection of the river. Dr. Copeman hadno hesitation in pronouncing the condition of affairs

eminently unsatisfactory. He found the bed of the river forsome 300 yards below the reservoir completely dry, with theexception of two small pools some ten feet in diameter,and apparently no water had left the reservoir in thisdirection for several weeks. On following the bed of thechannel for some distance down Dr. Copeman came uponwhat he states was practically, at that time, the source of theRiver Brent-i.e., the effluent of the Willesden sewage farm,samples of which contained much suspended matter andgave off a faint sickly smell. A short distance further down" the whole bed of the stream was absolutely black as if ariver of ink had been flowing over it," a condition ofaffairs produced, it appears, by decomposition of the sewageeflluent. At the point near to which the Grand JunctionCanal crosses the Brent Dr. Copeman found ’’enormous

heaps of London refuse " which, draining into the stream,fouled it to an extent which could only, he says, be ap-preciated by inspection. Further down the stream other

pollutions were discovered, but it is needless to recapitulatethem. Suffice it to say that Dr. Copeman reported amongstother things that the sewage effluents from districts abuttingon the stream are for the most part "decidedly unsatis-factory," and that throughout the course of the streamcrude sewage and putrescent fluids are discharged. In

a word, the stream is much polluted and the abstraction

1807

of water by the Regent Canal Company accentuates the

nuisance. This condition of affairs should obviously beput an end to without delay. The fact of pollutionis practically established by disinterested testimony. Whois to remedy it ? 7 The sanitary authorities whose districtsabut on the stream have powers and responsibilities underthe Rivers Pollution Acts ; the Middlesex County Council haspowers under a Local Government Act, 1888 ; and the ThamesConservancy is surely interested. Inasmuch, however, as

some of the sanitary authorities are themselves contributingto the pollution, it appears to us that the authority bestfitted to take action in a comprehensive sense is the

Middlesex County Council, and we trust that they willawaken to the necessities of the situation. Obviously Dr.Copeman’s report will be a most valuable weapon in theirhands, and we are glad to see that the Hanwell UrbanDistrict Council is endeavouring to stir matters up.

ACTION AGAINST A DISTRICT COUNCIL.

AT Pontypridd, on June 17th, Judge Williams gave hisdecision in an action in which Mr. Sparnon, a tradesman ofLlantrisant, claimed E50 damages from the Llantrisant andLlantwit Vardre Rural District Council for alleged injuriescaused by the defendants’ employes to his health and

business, the action being brought in reference to a drainwhich was laid down by the defendants under plaintiff’spremises, when chloride of lime was used for disinfection.His Honour said that the disinfectant was used in greaterquantities than was required, Mr. Sparnon being obliged toleave his house, and the chloride of lime aggravated adisease from which he was suffering to such an extent that,according to the medical evidence, he was confined to hisbed for two months and had been ailing ever since ; and hefurther observed that he found that the defendants had

knowledge of the plaintiff’s state of health, and under thecircumstances they should have consulted their medicalofficer of health as to what disinfectant was proper and inwhat quantities it should be used, but they persisted in theuse of chloride of lime after they had received formalnotice of its effects. His Honour assessed the damages at;E25 4s., apportioned as follows: Personal injuries to plaintifE,L10 10s. ; doctor’s bill, apportioned, £10 10s. one month’swages to the plaintiff’s son, E4 4s., with costs.

ISOLATION DIFFICULTIES AT CHISWICK.

THE clitliculty which sanitary authorities have to face in

procuring sites for infectious hospitals is once more exem-plified by the recent breakdown at Chiswick. The Duke of

Devonshire at first promised to assist the urban council inthe matter, although this offer of help was accompanied byconditions which were felt to be serious. Before, however,any attempt could be made to abate the stringency of theseconditions he announced that any grant of land by him forthe purpose in question would meet with much oppositionfrom the residents and hence he could not voluntarily offerfacilities in connexion with the intended scheme. Whetherthe Duke of Devonshire means that he will oppose any

attempt to take his land or whether he wishes simply toimply that compulsory purchase under a provisional ordermust be resorted to as a matter of form so as to relieve himfrom responsibility is immaterial, for the expense of thelatter method of procedure is in itself a barrier inthe way. No one can complain of a landowner whofeels that to sell land for an infectious hospital will notonly depreciate the value of his estate but also cause

great discontent on the part of those who have alreadyerected houses on that estate ; nevertheless the timemust come when public health authorities will have to beafforded greater facilities in this matter. In the case ofChiswick no question of small-pox arose, so far as we can

learn, and there is abundant evidence to show that, apartfrom small-pox, an infectious hospital which is properlyadministered does not involve any danger to the surroundingcommunity ; and, happily, we have in the case of small-poxan infinitely more potent means of prevention than small-pox hospitals have thus far shown themselves to be. It is,indeed, only with the steady advance of vaccination that theGloucester epidemic has been dealt with to the extent

already achieved, and the town council of that city admittedlong ago that the attempt to get rid of the epidemic bymeans of isolation and disinfection had failed. It is essen-

tially in regard to scarlet fever that the need of hospitalaccommodation for Chiswick has been shown to be wanting,and in England and Wales, whilst small-pox has of recentyears only slain its tens or its hundreds, scarlet fever hasnumbered its victims annually by thousands.

THE CASE OF MR. R. B. ANDERSON.

WE learn with much pleasure that the Worshipful Societyof Apothecaries has decided to receive a deputation of theCivil Rights Defence Committee, to be introduced by LordStamford, to place fully before the Master, Wardens, andCourt of Assistants the facts of Mr. Anderson’s case thatamount to an infringement of the charter of the Hall andan invitation to unite in the work of the committee indefence of the rights of the Society. Such an infringementseems so incredible that we cannot wonder that the Societyof Apothecaries has taken some time to grasp the reality.The reception of the deputation does not in itself, of course,pledge the Society to adopt any line, but we cannot doubtthat when the Society realises the nature and extent of the

violations of its charter it will decide to act constitutionallybut vigorously in defence of its own rights and those of agrievously injured Licentiate and especially claim, as it isentitled to do, the cooperation of the other guilds and theCorporation of the City of London in the necessary measuresto protect the rights of a city charter.

THE SECRETION OF THE SKUNK (MEPHITISMEPHITICA).

AN interesting article on this subject appears in the secondnumber of a new American journal, the Journal of .Experi-- mental Medicine, written by Dr. Thomas B. Aldrich. The

investigation is all the more deserving of praise since it isone of the most repulsive that can be undertaken. The offen-sive character of the secretion has become a byword. It is

discharged from two oval pouches about an inch long, situatedon the sides of the rectum close to the anus, by two ductswhich terminate at the top of little papillag just inside thesphincter ani. The wall of the pouches consists of a fibrousinvestment, a muscular coat of striped fibres, a submucouscoat, and a mucous membrane ; the masses of glandsare situated in the submucous layer. The glands are

tubular and lined by cubical epithelium. They presentstrong analogies to the sudoriparous glands. The dis-

gusting odour of the secretion is so intense that one

of Dr. Aldrich’s predecessors having collected a little forexamination the whole College of the Johns HopkinsUniversity rose in revolt, and he had to get rid

of his material. Dr. Aldrich was more fortunate and

was permitted to pursue his examination without inter-

ruption. The fluid secretion is clear, limpid, and golden-yellow or amber-coloured, having a characteristic penetratingand most powerful odour; its specific gravity is 0’939; it

remains fluid at -13° C. ; and its reaction is neutral. The

vapour is highly inflammable and burns with a luminousflame, giving off sulphur dioxide. It is readily soluble inalcohol, ether, and chloroform. A 50 per cent. solution ofsodium or potassium hydroxide dissolves the fluid partially,the odour almost disappearing, but returning on the