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Notes and News

A COLLEGE CONFERENCE

THE Royal College of Physicians of London have chosenRecent Advances in Renal Disease as the subject of theirnext conference, which is to be held on July 22 and 23.

Prof. R. A. McCance will take the chair at the first session, whenProf. D. A. K. Black, Dr. 0. M. Wrong, and Dr. A. M. Joekes willspeak on renal function and structure, and Dr. M. D. Milne andDr. R. C. Jackson on acute renal failure. Lord Evans will be in thechair in the afternoon, when Prof. J. R. Squire, Dr. Philip Freedman,Dr. L. W. Loughridge, Prof. G. A. Smart, and Dr. W. W. Hollandwill discuss the nephrotic syndrome. On Saturday, the 23rd, SirRobert Platt, the president, will be the chairman at the morningsession, at which the speakers on pyelonephritis will be Prof. M. L.Rosenheim, Dr. D. Edwards, and Dr. H. E. de Wardener. Prof. C. E.Dent and Dr. S. W. Stanbury will speak on metabolic aspects ofrenal disease. In the afternoon Prof. John McMichael will take thechair at a session on hypertension and the kidney at which the

speakers will be Dr. C. J. Hodson, Dr. A. G. Spencer, Prof. CliffordWilson, and Mr. Kenneth Owen.

Like the earlier college conferences the meeting is primarilyarranged for fellows and members who are consultants in medicineor pathology. Numbers may be limited and early applications shouldbe made to the registrar at the college, Pall Mall East, S.W.I. Theentrance fee of 5 guineas (which includes lunches and dinner) shouldaccompany the application.

REGALIS SOCIETAS

THE charter conferring this title was granted by Charles IIin 1662, and he was honouring the society formed two yearsearlier " for the promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experi-mentall learning ". This year the tercentenary of the RoyalSociety will be celebrated on July 18-26 in London, Oxford,and Cambridge. Announcing the arrangements last week, SirCyril Hinshelwood, the president, hoped that this summer thesociety would be able to bridge the gap between Science andthe Public.The plans include tercentenary lectures by ten fellows, who

will present some of the major achievements of modern Britishscience; visits to many laboratories to enable those from over-seas to see something of current research; and a special con-versazione with exhibits reviewing British scientific progress ofthe past ten years or so. At a banquet on July 26, the PrimeMinister will propose The Society.A special issue of the society’s Notes and Records, edited by

Sir Harold Hartley, will deal with the origins of the society;and Prof. E. N. da C. Andrade has prepared a brief history,to be supplied to all attending the celebrations. The year isalso marked by the appearance of the first of seven volumes ofThe Correspondence of Isaac Newton, the work of a committeeled by Professor Andrade, and other volumes are expected to beready before July.

A NEW UNIT FOR CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY

THE new cardiovascular-surgery unit at Glasgow RoyalInfirmary was opened on Feb. 26 by Mr. Thomas Galbraith,joint parliamentary under-secretary of State for Scotland. Hereferred to it as a milestone on the journey of the team led byProf. W. A. Mackey towards perfecting the use of heart-lungmachines. He congratulated members of the Scottish HospitalEndowment Research Trust on their support which had made

possible the purchase of the heart-lung machine. The newunit had also received support from the University, the

hospital authorities, and the Royal Infirmary board of manage-ment’s own endowment fund, thus illustrating the widespreadsupport for medical research in the hospital service in Scotlandtoday.Mr. Galbraith added that there was to be a substantial pro-

gramme of teaching-hospital development, in which the RoyalInfirmary of Glasgow would have its share. It was plannedeventually to rebuild completely four out of Scotland’s six

teaching hospitals and to make extensive additions to two

others-a programme eventually costing as much as El 5million, which would ensure that Scottish doctors in teachinghospitals had facilities equal to any in the world.

1. Johns Hopk. Mag. 1959, 11, 2.

JOHNS HOPKINSMark Twain, when given a degree at Johns Hopkins

University in the year 1898, is said to have expressed concernover the mis-spelling in its name. He feared lest the people ofBaltimore would lose confidence in the organisers of theircollege if they could not spell " John " correctly!The reason for the unusual name has lately been explained.l

Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), who founded both the universityand the hospital, was the great-grandson of Gerard Hopkins,Jr., whose father had landed as an immigrant at ChesapeakeBay in the year 1640. Gerard Hopkins, Jr., married Margaret,daughter of Richard Johns, of Bristol, who had settled in

Maryland in 1675. It was in this way that the name Johnswas introduced into the Hopkins family. The first JohnsHopkins, grandfather of the founder of the hospital, was bornin 1720.

SOCIETY OF ST. MARGARET (EAST GRINSTEAD)APPEAL

THE Hostel of God (a free home for the dying at ClaphamCommon), St. Joseph’s Hospital for Incurables at Chiswick,and St. Catherine’s Home, Ventnor, for delicate children areopen to all without distinction of creed or country, and all areunder the care of the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, East Grinstead.An appeal has been launched on behalf of this Anglicancommunity, which, for over a hundred years, has givendevoted service to the sick and aged and to children.

All the Sisters are trained at St. Margaret’s Convent, East Grin-stead, which is now nearly a century old. Essential repairs andrebuilding will cost about El2,OOO. Under the rules made by thefounder in very different times no endowment is permitted; so thereare no funds to meet emergencies. Last year the Sisters had to bewithdrawn from three homes for elderly ladies because of financialdifficulties.

The honorary treasurer of the appeal fund is Mr. N.Dru Drury, Millfield, Burwash, Sussex.

OBSTETRIC UNIT AT CHARING CROSS

AT the official opening of the new obstetric unit at CharingCross Hospital on Feb. 23, Sir Andrew Claye, P.R.C.O.G., saidthat confidence and understanding between the mother-to-beand the hospital staff were of the greatest importance. Prof.Noiman Morris, newly appointed to the chair of obstetricsand gynaecology, suggested that everyone concerned with thewelfare of maternity patients should strive to retain the

happiness and sense of fulfilment which should be associatedwith childbirth.

In the new unit small antenatal clinics, held on most weekdays,keep to an exact appointment system; so far this has worked well.

In early labour patients are segregated from those in the wards andfrom others who are more advanced in labour; the first-stage patients

The first-stage suite.

557

1. New York Times, Feb. 21, 1960.2. National Health Service Hospital Costing Returns, Year ended 31st

March, 1959. Volume II (Hospitals which operated the AlternativeScheme). H.M. Stationery Office. 32s. 6d.

3. Department of Health for Scotland. Analysis of Running Costs ofHospitals, Year ended 31st March, 1959. H.M. Stationery Office.10s. 6d.

are thus given some privacy, but they are supervised continuously bya midwife, and their husbands are encouraged to stay with them.The labour-ward has two separate rooms, one of which can be

used as an operating-theatre when necessary. The other has a two-way mirror which allows students to observe a delivery from outsidethe room, or the mother to watch her baby being born.A colourful day-room helps to encourage early ambulation. The

bathrooms are fitted with showers and bidet suites.To reduce cross-infection the floors have been treated with a

self-curing plastic which completely seals the surface. The covers ofcleaning implements are impregnated with material which attractsdirt but does not leave a streaky film. Both this, and the specialpaint, are claimed to have fungicidal and bactericidal properties.

Because the entire Charing Cross Hospital is soon to berebuilt at Fulham these alterations have been made as econo-

mically as possible.

MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION SERVICE

IN New York, between 9 A.M. and 5 P.M., by diallingLA4-7719 one can get information about almost any kind of

psychiatric service 1 from a psychiatric social worker in theManhattan Society for Mental Health. She can advise callersabout waiting periods for treatment at clinics and aboutthe legal aspects of commitment, and can reassure peoplewho have frightening misconceptions about mental hospitals.Last year the service received 4400 telephone calls, as well asmany letters and visits. Almost half the calls are from peoplewho seek help for themselves.

HOSPITAL COSTS

HOSPITAL Costing Returns for the year ended March 31,1959, published last week, cover all National Health Servicehospitals in England and Wales, other than some 250 largehospitals whose detailed departmental costs were publishedlast November. These latest returns, which relate to the secondyear of revised costing arrangements, are an improved versionof those published for periods prior to April 1, 1957. Theyshow for each hospital the net average inpatient cost per week,and (except for hospitals where patients remain for longperiods) the net average inpatient cost per case. In addition,the principal direct expenses (such as salaries and wages andmaterials) of individual departments are expressed in terms ofcost per unit of work performed. The cost unit depends on thefunction of the department: catering department costs, for

example, are expressed as cost per person fed per week.The following figures show certain national average costs

for 1958-59, with comparative figures for 1957-58, for all hos-pitals in England and Wales (including the 250 large hospitalsfor which separate returns were issued):

The average weekly cost of maintaining a patient in medium-sized (51-300 beds) general hospitals in Scotland during theyear ended March 31, 1959, was E20 Is. 6d.3 For major teachinggeneral hospitals the average weekly cost per inpatient wasE21 12s. 6d. These are the net costs per inpatient, includingthe cost of specialist services, but excluding outpatient expen-diture. The average inclusive cost of each outpatient attendance

was 10s. 8d. and 115. respectively in the medium-sized and themajor teaching general hospitals. The average daily numberof inpatients in hospitals of all types was 53,843 and the totalnumber of outpatient attendances was 5,642,899.The average costs per inpatient per week in other types of

Scottish hospitals were:

Of every El 1 spent on maintaining and treating a patient in aScottish hospital, lls. 9d. was spent on the salaries and wagesof medical, nursing, and other staff, 5s. 5d. on supplies includingprovisions, drugs, dressings, and boiler fuel, and 2s. lOd. ona wide range of services such as laundry, building maintenance,rates, postages, and telephone.

University of CambridgeOn Feb. 20 the degree ofM.B. was conferred on A. J. Costello

and E. H. Richards.

University of LondonThe following degrees have been awarded:M.D.-P. A. Gardiner, Leslie Michaels, P. A. Zorab.M.S.-Edward Parry-Jones.

University of EdinburghDr. Talib Astarabadi has been appointed lecturer in the

department of physiology.

University of St. AndrewsNext session a postgraduate course in the clinical and

medical sciences will be held at Queen’s College, Dundee, andin anatomy and physiology at St. Salvator’s College, St.Andrews. Further particulars may be had from the dean ofthe faculty of medicine, Queen’s College, Dundee.

Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandOn Wednesday, March 9, at 4 P.M., Prof. F. Orban will give

the Moynihan lecture. He will speak on new trends in thetreatment of thrombo-angiosis (Buerger’s disease). On

Wednesday, March 16, at 4 P.M., Dr. J. Alfred Lee will giveJoseph Clover lecture. His subject will be Joseph Clover andthe Contributions of Surgery to Anxsthesia. On Monday,March 28, at 5 P.M., Dr. R. A. Weale will give the Edridge-Green lecture. He will speak on the duplicity theory of vision.All the lectures will be at the college, Lincoln’s Inn Fields,London, W.C.2.

Institute of AlmonersThe annual general meeting of this institute will be held on

Friday, March 18, at Senate House, University of London,W.C.1, at 5.30 P.M. Dr. David Stafford-Clark will speak onthe Doctor, the Patient, and the Public.

Christian Medical FellowshipThis fellowship will meet on Wednesday, March 16, at

8.15 P.M., at the Royal Commonwealth Society, Northumber-land Avenue, London, W.C.2. Mr. A. S. Aldis will speak onKeeping Faith with the Patient.

Association of Industrial Medical OfficersA meeting of this association will be held on Friday and

Saturday, March 25 and 26, at the London School of Hygieneand Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, W.C.1, and Guy’sHospital, London Bridge, S.E.1. The meeting will include adiscussion on the work of the medical branch of the factoryinspectorate of the Ministry of Labour and the speakers willbe Dr. Sibyl Horner, Dr. A. T. Doig, Dr. S. G. Rainsford, andDr. Ronald Owen. Further particulars may be had from the hon.secretary of the association, 47, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.2.

558

Visiting Professors at the Postgraduate Medical SchoolThe following professors from overseas are to take part in

the work of the department of surgery of the PostgraduateMedical School of London this session:

Dr. S. R. Friesen, professor of surgery in the University ofKansas, who is spending a year in the department;Mr. B. S. Rao, professor of operative surgery at Andhra Medical

College, Visakhapatnam, India, who is spending a year;Dr. M. K. Chachava, professor of surgery in the University of

Tiflis, Georgia, U.S.S.R., who is spending three months.

Uganda’s New Teaching HospitalA grant of El,230,000 for the new general teaching hospital

at Mulago has been made under the Colonial Developmentand Welfare Acts.The hospital is being built by the Protectorate Government, and

when completed in 1964 it will have 758 beds and wards for 132paying patients. The local specialist services will be based on it,and it will be the teaching hospital for Makerere College MedicalSchool.

Commission for Comparative NeuroanatomyThis commission was founded, as part of the World

Federation of Neurology, at a meeting of a group of compara-tive neuroanatomists held last November in Giessen.

Its main objectives are: to improve conditions for workers in thisdiscipline; to catalogue and make more accessible existing collectionsof comparative neuroanatomical material, and to add new material;and to further the exchange of material and workers. Further

particulars may be had from Dr. Heing Stephen, Max-Planck-Institut ftir Hirnforschung, Friedrichstr. 24, Giessen, Germany.

Mr. A. R. W. Bavin has been appointed under-secretary for financeand accountant general in the Ministry of Health. He succeeds Mr.A. S. Marre, who will now become responsible for health servicesremuneration, staffing, and superannuation.

Prof. John McMichael will be away from London from March 13until July on a Sims professorial tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The Group for Representation of the Views of Clinical Psychi-atrists will meet on Monday, March 21, at 5.30 P.M., at TavistockHouse North, London, W.C.I.

Correspondence and inquiries about the first International Con-ference on Congenital Malformations, which is to be held in Londonfrom July 18 to 22, should be addressed to the secretariat of theconference, 67, New Bond Street (Dering Yard), London, W.I.

The Apothecaries’ Hall Dispensers’ Association hopes to start anemployment agency for its members. The secretary, Miss E. Linton(65, Oak Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, 8), will be pleased to hearfrom anyone seeking the services of an Apothecaries’ Hall dispenser,and will try to put them into touch with suitable candidates. Therewill be no charge for this service, but contributions towards postalexpenses would be appreciated.

The annual dinner of the Indian Medical Association (Gt. Britain)will be held on Thursday, May 5, at the Cumberland Hotel, MarbleArch, London, W. 1, at 8.15 P.M. Tickets (37s. 6d.) may be had fromDr. S. L. Karani, 273, Upton Road, Bexley, Kent.

CMF, MEF Physicians’ dinner will be held at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London, W.C.2, on Saturday, April 9, with Dr. E. R.Boland in the chair. Information can be had from Dr. A. Willcox,the hon. secretary, 59, Harley Street, W.1.

Gadgets for the Disabled.-The National Association for the

Paralysed have bound together their leaflets dealing with such topicsas aids for lifting, dressing, and bathing the patient, and gadgets tohelp him in eating, drinking, household work, recreations, and gettingabout. Copies of the complete set (10s. plus 6d. postage) or of separateleaflets (Is. each) may be had from the Association (1, York Street,Baker Street, London, W.1).

A subscriber who has a complete set of unbound issues of TheLancet from 1940 to 1959 would like to give them to the library of aCommonwealth medical school which could arrange for packing andtransport.

Diary of the Week

MARCH 6 TO 12

Monday, 7thUNIVERSITY COLLEGE, Gower Street, W.C.1

5 P.M. Dr. Antoinette Pirie: Biochemistry of the Eye. (Second of twolectures.)

POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF LONDON, Ducane Road, W.124 P.M. Dr. J. C. White: Abnormal Haemoglobins.

GUY’s HOSPITAL, S.E.15.30 P.M. Dr. A. T. Cowie: Gynmcomastia and Disorders of the Breast.

UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS4 P.M. (Queen’s College, Dundee.) Dr. H. B. Goodall, Dr. William

Walker: Genetic Factors in Blood Disease.

Tuesday, 8thROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON, Pall Mall East, S.W.1

5 P.M. Dr. J. D. N. Nabarro: The Pituitary and Adrenal Cortex in GeneralMedicine. (First of two Oliver-Sharpey lectures.)

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON5.15 P.M. (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel

Street, W.C.1.) Dr. Frederick Sanger : Aminoacid Sequences inProteins. (First of two lectures.)

ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE, 1, Wimpole Street, W.15.30 P.M. Experimental Medicine and Therapeutics. Prof. W. D. M.

Paton: Principles of Drug Action. (Presidential address.)8 P.M. Psychiatry. Dr. Felix Brown: The Bereavement Factor in

Depressive Illness. Dr. John Bowlby: Grief and Mourning inInfancy.

ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Paddington, W.25 P.M. Mr. Aleck Bourne: Troubles of Puberty.

WEST END HOSPITAL FOR NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSURGERY, 91, DeanStreet, W.1

5.30 P.M. Mr. G. C. Knight: Cervical Spondylosis.INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY, Lisle Street, W.C.2

5.30 P.M. Dr. G. A. Hodgson: Skin Hazards of Petroleum EngineeringOils.

BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL INSTITUTE, 36, Harborne Road, Edgbaston8 P.M. Psychiatry. Dr. G. M. Carstairs: Recent Research on the Rehabili-

tation of Schizophrenic Patients.MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY

8 P.M. (Medical School, University of Manchester.) Surgery. Mr. D. K.Lennox: Observations on the Obstructed Colon.

LEEDS NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES COLLOQUIUM5.15 P.M. (General Infirmary at Leeds.) Dr. Denis Williams: Syndromes

of Basilar Insufficiency.

Wednesday, 9thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.2

4 P.M. Prof. F. Orban: New Trends in the Treatment of Thrombo-angiosis (Buerger’s Disease). (Moynihan lecture.)

ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE4.30 P.M. Physical Medicine. Dr. F. S. Cooksey: Progress and Problems in

Rehabilitation of Disabled People. (Samuel Hyde lecture.)INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY

5.30 P.M. Dr. R. W. Riddell: Antibiotics and Skin Infections.INSTITUTE OF DISEASES OF THE CHEST, Brompton, S.W.3

5 P.M. Dr. J. R. May: Considerations Regarding Immunity to H.influenza.

MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY5 P.M. (Medical School, University of Manchester.) Pathology. Dr.

George Discombe: Observations on Iron Deficiency.

Thursday, 10thROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON

5 P.M. Dr. Nabarro: The Pituitary and Adrenal Cortex in GeneralMedicine. (Second of two Oliver-Sharpey lectures.)

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND5 P.M. Mr. S. 0. Aylett: Diffuse Ulcerative Colitis and its Treatment by

Ileo-rectal Anastomosis. (Hunterian lecture.)ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE

5 P.M. Ophthalmology. Mr. H. B. Stallard, Mr. O. M. Duthie: Complica-tions of Intra-ocular Surgery.

KING’S COLLEGE HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Denmark Hill, S.E.54.30 P.M. Dr. Terence East: Forty Years of Cardiology. (Wiltshire

lecture.)INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY

5.30 P.M. Dr. P. D. Samman: Tuberculosis of the Skin.ALFRED ADLER MEDICAL SOCIETY

8 P.M. (1, Wimpole Street, W.1.) Dr. A. Spencer Paterson: The Condi-tioned Reflex in Psychiatric Treatment.

LONDON JEWISH HOSPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY8.15 P.M. (11, Chandos Street, W.1.) Dr. A. G. Signy: Modern Views on

the Anemias.NORTH WESTERN THORACIC SOCIETY

5 P.M. (Clinical Sciences Buildings, York Place, Manchester.) Dr.George Simon: Radiological Changes in Heart-disease.

UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS5 P.M. (Queen’s College, Dundee.) Prof. F. T. G. Prunty: Abnormalities

in Hyperparathyroidism.

Friday, llthUNIVERSITY OF LONDON

5.15 P.M. (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.) Dr.Sanger: Aminoacid Sequences in Proteins. (Second of twolectures.)

5.30 P.M. (London Hospital Medical College, Turner Street, E.1.) Prof.D. E. Denny-Brown (Harvard): Nature of Polymyositis andRelated Muscular Diseases.

POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF LONDON10 A.M. Mr. J. B. Pennybacker: Intervertebral Disc Lesions.4 P.M. Dr. Fraser Roberts: Medical Genetics.

INSTITUTE OF LARYNGOLOGY AND OTOLOGY, 330, Gray’s Inn Road, W.C.15.30 P.M. Mr. N. Asherson: Common Maladies of Childhood.