appointments
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Transactions of the Association of Industrial Medical Officer8are gems of the graceful allusive style and they contain wit,wisdom, and erudition in delightfully balanced proportions.His erudition was indeed formidable and some members ofthe association have been known to complain that his leadingarticles were too learned. Who amongst them had ever heardfor instance of " Walafrid Strobo, (who) writing from hisgarden at Reichenau in the 9th century teased his friendStrobus for his ’ Irish fashion’ of wandering " ?But he could write with equal ease and grace about
presbyopia and government by "
presbyters " and " elders,"Neapolitan Nereides, the deep courtesy of Spain, an epidemicof psittacosis transmitted by the fulmar petrels in the Faroes,and more prosaic subjects such as developments in industrialhealth, dermatitis, the synchrotron, or social medicine. Evenwhen writing of these workaday subjects, his prodigious learn-ing would creep in, and there would be apt quotations frommost of the European languages including Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon and from the poets of all ages. It is not too fancifulto say that he could put a subject in a nutshell and give it afeeling of infinite space. Indeed he had all the qualities ofthe great essayists.He was a founder member of the small Thackrah Club
which meets twice a year to study an occupation and thephilosophy, but not the politics, of occupational medicine.It was characteristic of Hubert’s diversity of interests that onone occasion he took us to Colchester, where we went outwith the oyster fleet early in the morning to dredge for, andsample, the oysters, and in the afternoon we were told aboutRoman Britain by Mr. M. R. Hull, the director of the ColchesterMuseum. At dinner that evening, which naturally beganwith oysters, Mr. Hull and Hubert fascinated us with a livelyand witty discussion of life in Roman Britain and kindredsubjects. On the way home next morning he took us to aleper colony where we studied the clinical and epidemiologicalaspects of leprosy and the remarkable advances in treatmentof recent times.
His last leader in the July, 1956, number of the Transactionswas on bronchitis and as usual it was eminently wise andquotable. Of the difficulty of defining bronchitis he wrote :..
Evidently bronchitis is an art and not a science. The
attempt to define a pretty girl results in equal frustration,yet professors and students alike have no difficulty of
recognition in the individual case."This brings me to the difficulty of defining Hubert Wyers,
and I am reminded of Somerset Maugham’s short sketchentitled " The Grand Style " in On A Chinese Screerz. It isabout an old doctor who had lived in China for fifty yearsand he too had had a classical education. " In his youth hehad been taught much useless learning, the classics of Greeceand Rome, and they had given a foundation to his characterwhich in the present is somewhat rare.... But how can Ianalyse the subtle quality which distinguished this old man ?Read a page of Swift : the words are the same as those weuse to-day and there is hardly a sentence in which they arenot placed in the simplest order ; and yet there is a dignity,a spaciousness, an aroma, which all our modern effort fails toattain ; in short there is style. And so with him ; there was
style, and there is no more to be said."
CHARLES DAMIEN LOCHRANE
M.D. Edin., F.R.C.S.E., F.R.C.O.G
Mr. C. D. Lochrane, consulting surgeon to the DerbyshireHospital for Women, died at his home at Nairn, onDec. 13, at the age of 75. Born at Busby, near Glasgow,he was educated at Stoneyhurst, and then enteredEdinburgh University where he qualified M.B. in 1904,proceeding to the M.D., with high commendation, in 1908.In 1906 he became a fellow of the Royal College ofSurgeons of Edinburgh, and in 1929 he became a founderfellow of what is now the Royal College of Obstetriciansand Gynaecologists.
In 1907 he succeeded his elder brother in his practice,and as honorary surgeon to the Derbyshire Hospital forWomen, and thereafter his main interest was the welfareof his hospital, which under his leadership developedfrom an institution of a few beds in some private housesto the present first-class hospital which was opened in1929. Lochrane was a most conscientious surgeon andnever took anything for granted ; he was an excellenthistopathologist and always studied for himself everysection of tissue sent for examination, forming his ownopinion. He was well known to an earlier generation of
gynaecologists and had been president of the MidlandGfynaecological and Obstetrical Society. In addition, formany years he was a vice-president of the section ofobstetrics of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was alsoprominent in the activities of the Derby Medical Societyand was its president in 1927.
G. F. K. writes :
Charles Lochrane was an extremely handsome man withgreat personality and charm, and his patients loved him. Hewas a devout Roman Catholic with a strong sense of duty,and not given to compromise. His many interests included adeep knowledge of history, especially that of his own country,and, perhaps rather naturally, his bias was in favour of theJacobite cause. He was also something of a piper, andalthough not a native Gaelic speaker he went to much troubleto learn the language, and his perseverance in due course madehim quite fluent. His sound judgment of men and affairs,his erudition, and above all his sense of humour made him adelightful companion, and his former colleagues, includingthe many house men and women who learnt so much fromhim (for he was a born teacher), will not easily forget themorning sessions in the staff common-room, when he woulddistil wisdom and wit over a cup of tea.In 1948 he came to the conclusion that age and infirmity
justified his retirement, but there is no doubt he also thought,probably rightly, that his strong individualism and the newhealth service were incompatible. When he retired he leftDerby and went to live in his native Scotland. Unfortunatelyhis later years were clouded by a succession of illnesses, whichcharacteristically brought about only a token limitation ofhis activities.
Mr. Lochrane is survived by his wife and two sons.
Diary of the Week
DEC. 30 TO JAN. 5
Wednesday, 2ndROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE, 1, Wimpole Street, W.1
8 P.M. Surgery. Mr. E. A. Crook. Non-specific Conditions ofthe Large Intestine. (Presidential address.)
Thursday, 3rdROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
8 P.M. Neurology. Dr. J. N. Walton: The Amyotonia Con-genita Syndrome ; Dr. G. H. Bourne, Miss E. B. Beckett:Histochem.istry of Human Muscle.
Friday, 4thROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
5.30 P.M. Anœsthetics. Dr. O. P. Dinnick, Mr. J. S. Tomkinson,Dr. G. C. Steel: Anaesthesia for Obstetrics-an Evaluationof General and Regional Methods.
ROYAL MEDICO-CHIRURGIOAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW8.30 P.M. (Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.)
Prof. Stanley Alstead and staff: Evaluation of NewDrugs.
Appointments
BEASLEY, 1-t. W. R., M.B. Lond. : assistant M.o., Southern GasBoard.
CANNON, P. G., M.B. St. And., D.P.H.: school M.o., Staffordshire,M.O.H., Biddulph and Leek.
CROWLEY, P. J., M.B. Camb., D.C.H., D.P.M. : senior assistantpsychiatrist, Saxondale Hospital, Radcliffe -on-Trent, Notts.
LiNFoRD REES, W. L., M.D. Wales, M.R.C.P., D.P.M. : physician,department of psychological medicine, St. Bartholomew’sHospital, London.
The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, LondonCARTER, A. P., M.B. Lond.: house-surgeon.FARRELL, J. C., M.B. Sydney, M.R.C.P., D.C.H.: house-physician.SHANNON, F. T., M.B. N.z., M.R.C.P., M.R.A.C.P. house-physician.WYNNE-DAVIES, RuTH, M.B. Lond. : house-surgeon.
Births, Marriages, and Deaths
BIRTHS
JACKSON.—On Dec. 13. at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, to Margery(nee Taylor), wife of Philip Jackson, M.D.-a daughter.
WATSON.—On Oct. 3. 1956, to Moira, wife of Dr. John S. Watson,M.R.C.P., of 22, (Jambalt Itoad, Putney-a daughter (a sisterfor William).