92 TRAGEDY AT THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE & THE CARRYING OF REVOLVERS.

officers of the Indian Medical Service are made better or

worse by the proposed change.The Indian Government, in taking stock of their medical

officers available for war service with the army but who are

in peace time employed on various descriptions of civil

duties, came to the conclusion that about one-third of theofficers at present holding civil posts could not be spared for

military duty, even in the event of an emergency so graveas to require a general mobilisation of the army in India ;and that, therefore, this proportion of officers now in civil

employ does not really form part of a war reserve. Conse-

quently, from the military point of view, the civil poststhey at present hold might be transferred to independent-that is, private-practitioners. Putting on one side

certain administrative offices that must continue to be

held by senior members of the Indian Medical Service,these appointments include some of the more importantof the civil surgeoncies, superintendentships of lunatic

asylums, appointments in the assay department, the

chemical analyser’s department, and the bacteriological de-

partment, and about half the professorial appointments inthe various medical colleges. As to the objection that anyreduction in the professorial appointments would have an

appreciable effect on recruiting for the service by diminish-

ing its attractiveness, the Indian Government do not considerthis would be the case, because at present there is no possi-bility of qualified candidates being forthcoming for more

than a very small proportion of them; and by the time a

larger number of such candidates, whether native or Eurasianmedical men, is available, it is probable that the number ofmedical schools and professorial chairs will also have in-

creased, and the requisite proportion of prize appointmentsbe maintained sufficient to keep up the attractiveness of theIndian Medical Service. It will be admitted that the principleof open competition is, on general grounds, preferable to anysystem of monopoly or favouritism. The days of close

boroughs, patronage appointments, and nominations for thefavoured few are over ; and, as we have often said, we believethat in time there will be a sufficient supply of medical men,born and trained in India and possessing the necessary attri-butes and qualifications, available to fill at any rate a largeproportion of the medical appointments. But we are convincedthat it will be long before any such suitable supply is

actually forthcoming. Meanwhile, what will be the effect onthe Indian Medical Service of appointing non-service

medical men to ’’ some of the more important civil

surgeoncies," asylums, chemical and bacteriological posts,and about half the professorial chairs in the medical

colleges throughout the country ? Are not these the very

appointments that constitute the attraction this service has

always possessed for zealous and hard-working men, somewith a bent for clinical practice, others for scientific

research ? If the important civil surgeoncies and the pro-fessorial chairs open to the Indian Medical Service are

reduced in number it is certain that its attractiveness will

be diminished, and therefore the quality of the professionalmen who choose it for a career will be lowered.

The Indian Government think that if the diminution in

attractiveness be gradual there will be no deterioration, and

they even say that it is probable that the number of medical

schools and professorial chairs will have increased, as it were,pari passu, so that in time there will be as many appoint-ments available in proportion as at present. Perhaps, butthe proposed compensation in the future for loss in the

present is absolutely vague, and to us the probable in-crease " does not appear to have any present value whatever.Nor is the whole story told. All the Indian civil sur-

geoncies are not equally attractive-that is, in regardto professional opportunities and emoluments. The smaller

appointments entail a great deal of drudgery and

ofEer few advantages, pecuniary or otherwise. With

regard to them the Indian Government say that " there

would undoubtedly be no difficulty in securing the

services of private practitioners who are qualified to fill theless important civil surgeoncies, but unfortunately these arejust the appointments in which the war reserve officers of

the Indian Medical Service can most suitably be employed."The aim of the Government appears therefore to be

to leave these smaller appointments to be filled bythe officers of the Indian Medical Service, and graduallyto introduce another, non-official, type of medical man

into the more important civil surgeoncies, asylumappointments, and professorial chairs. Our excellent con-

temporary the Civil and Military Gazette says of the

statement of the Indian Government quoted above that it

"surely lets the cat out of the bag, for it shows that the

ultimate goal is the exclusion of the Indian Medical Servicefrom all the more lucrative medical posts." We can

take no other view. We regret, therefore, to have to

state our opinion that the Indian Medical Service will be

injuriously affected if the proposed changes are carried

out, not only in its scientific and professional status, butalso in its pecuniary emoluments, and on general groundsthe Secretary of State’s decision appears to be of doubtfulwisdom and even of doubtful expediency.

The Tragedy at the Imperial In-stitute and the Carrying of

Revolvers.THE terrible double tragedy at the Imperial Institute on

the night of July lst is so fresh in the minds of all, and its

details have been so fully described, that they require nofurther comment from us. Our deep sympathy goes out tothe relatives of Sir WILLIAM HUTT CURZON WYLLIE, the

universally honoured and esteemed public servant who seemsto have been the immediate object of the murderer’s aim, andto those of Dr. CAWAS LALCACA, the well-known physicianof oriental origin, whose accidental presence and promptdevotion made him the second victim of MADAR LAL

DHINGRA’S fusillade. As to the criminal aspects of the

case we, of course, say nothing, for the aggressor has yet. to meet his trial ; while with the many questions of political

administration which have been roused by the occurrencewe make no attempt to deal.

There is, however, one conspicuous point not connectedwith the measure of guilt of the individual prisoner now

i under arrest or with the subject of Imperial administrationl in India and at home, to which frequent reference has been

l made in THE LANCET and to which these terrible deaths

93FARADIC STIMULATION OF CEREBRAL CORTEX IN CONSCIOUS PATIENTS. [

call the gravest attention. We refer to the promiscuouscarrying of revolvers and to the numerous deaths and

injuries, both criminal and accidental, even in the BritishIsles, due to this improper practice. DHINGRA went to the

"At Home" of the National Indian Association armed

with two loaded revolvers, and legally if he had a

licence he had as much right to do so as he had to

carry a watch, a pencil-case, and spectacles. If he had

neglected to comply with the one restriction imposed by law,and had not provided himself with a licence, he could have

put himself in the right with but little trouble and by the

expenditure of half a sovereign. If we leave out of the

question the naval and military service, a pistol is of no use

except to a man desiring either to perpetrate a crime or to

protect himself or others against one, and we do not believethat the acquiescence of the law in the possession of lethal

weapons by any person of whatever character or antecedentsis necessary or right, though we consider that the arming ofour police with revolvers could be defended. We do not

suggest that the ownership of revolvers by determined and

cunning criminals can be prevented, but we assert

emphatically that it can and ought to be rendered

less easy. In our view a heavy duty on revolvers of

all kinds would drive out of existence the cheapweapon which has been responsible for so many of

the disasters, purposive or accidental, that we from

time to time record ; and if the duty, which should be a

really high one, were remitted to persons purchasing and

using their weapons in the course of naval, military, and

police service, or for lawful purposes abroad, no hardshipwould be incurred by anyone. Such a duty would enable

pistols to be intercepted at the Custom House when broughtfrom foreign countries. Householders desirous of protectingthemselves and their property against burglars would not

complain at having to pay such a duty, while it is our beliefthat the number of persons who keep revolvers for such a

legitimate object is, even now with no duty to pay, ex-

tremely small. But the armed burglar is a danger againstwhich it is legitimate to be armed, and there is no reason

why careful citizens should not obtain, after suitable

formalities, licence to arm themselves, if they like to

undertake the risks attendant on the procedure.The carrying of a revolver in any place, public or private,

not in the occupation of the person carrying it, unless a

reasonable explanation were forthcoming, might well be

made an offence against the law and one severely punish-able in suitable circumstances, thus limiting the use of the

weapon to self-defence. We do not anticipate that such

an enactment would prevent altogether those meditatingcrimes from obtaining firearms or from using them, but

it would render both the obtaining and the possessionof them comparatively difficult and unsafe. Possibly noone knew that DHINGRA carried revolvers, but, even if

a fellow student or an inquisitive landlady had becomeaware that he was in the daily habit of going out armedto the teeth, in the present state of the law it would

not have been his or her concern, and if the matter

had been reported to the police no effective inter-

ference would have been possible. If the carrying ofsuch weapons were a .. substantive offence" then interest

would immediately be aroused in a practice which now can

only be regarded as a lawful eccentricity, and we may besure that information would often be given voluntarily uponwhich the executive would gladly take proceedings. Can

anyone who reads of the crimes in which revolvers play apart formulate an objection to a law which would enable the

police, acting upon trustworthy information, to invite into asuitable place and search a person suspected of going intothe streets armed like a desperado in one of BRET HARTE’Sstories ? Would any decent citizen be likely ever to find

himself inconvenienced thereby, or would he not cheerfullyrun the risk in view of the greater protection which hewould enjoy against crime? We have not ascertained

the opinion of the police on the subject, but we can

hardly believe that they would not gladly have their

hands strengthened against a class of crime of which theyare not infrequently the victims, as witness the savage

murders which not long ago were committed by alien ruffiansin broad daylight at Tottenham. The recent tragedy is one

which, owing to the prominent position occupied by itsvictims and to the circumstances in which it was perpetrated,has attracted exceptional attention. There are, however,other persons in the kingdom who offer themselves almost

daily as more conspicuous marks to the murderous fanaticthan did Sir WILLIAM CURZON WYLLIE, and we believe itto be desirable to minimise, as far as it is possible to do so,a risk which, we admit, cannot be altogether abolished-and to do so without delay.

Annotations.

FARADIC STIMULATION OF THE CEREBRALCORTEX IN CONSCIOUS PATIENTS.

" Ne quid nimis." "

UNDER the modest title, "A Note upon the Faradic Stimu-lation of the Post-central Gyrus in Conscious Patients," Professor Harvey Cushing of the Johns Hopkins Hospital,Baltimore, contributes to the latest number of Brain a paperwhich may well prove to be epoch-making, both from thephysiological and the surgical points of view. The employ-ment of the unipolar method of faradisation by Sherringtonand Grunbaum in their classic experiments on the anthropoidbrain has enabled them accurately to delimit the electricallyexcitable motor area to the anterior wall of the fissure of

Rolando and a strip of the adjoining surface of the pre-central convolution, and their results have been completelycorroborated for man by Krause and by Frazier; further,Cushing himself says that he has had the occasion to

stimulate the cortex of more than 50 anæsthetised patientswith precisely identical results. This simple statement is ofthe deepest significance. By experiment on the humancortex the motor area has been exactly delimited and foundto correspond strictly to the excitable motor area of the

anthropoid ape. The justification-were any needed-which these facts afford for the prosecution of scientific

experimentation on animals is so obvious that we do not

require to labour the point. The experimental study ofsensation in animals, however, is difficult and unsatisfactory,depending as it does so much on the interpretation of reflexactions. Professor Cushing has in the course of the pastyear had two opportunities of making observations on the