1471

Medical Evidence at Inquests.At a meeting of the Law and Finance Committee of the

Cork Corporation a discussion took place with reference towhat some members of the corporation considered the

inadvisability of having medical men examined at inquestswhere the cause of death appeared to be sufficiently evident.The two city coroners-Mr. Blake and Mr. Murphy-werepresent. The Mayor, addressing them, said that the attentionof the corporation had been drawn to the fact that on manyoccasions they were paying fees to medical men where therewas no necessity to do so, and when the ordinary passer-by-could give evidence quite as effective in enabling the jury toarrive at a decision as to the cause of death. His Worship inthe course of his remarks referred to the taking of medical.evidence at a recent inquest on the body of a man who hadfallen from a window. Mr. Blake, in reply, said that coroners e

- have important duties to perform and that many cases whichmight seem the simplest often required the strictest investi-

4

gation and in a case like that of the man who fell from a (

window it might be possible that there was negligence onthe part of some one who might be implicated. Then in- the event of such a person being put on trial, if the coronershad not employed a medical man judges of assize and suchother functionaries would be bringing them to order fortheir omission. Mr. Blake at the end of his very able- Gpeech said : " can say that medical men very often giveservices in such a gratuitous way that they deservethe highest commendation." Mr. Blake is one of themost eminent solicitors in Cork and has a large experience ascoroner. His generous reference to the medical professionwas doubtless meant as a delicate hint that there is such athing as ill-advised parsimonious economy. If a medicalman were summoned to the poor man who fell from thewindow and failed to render all the assistance in his powermembers of the corporation would be amongst the foremost’to condemn him loudly for his inhumanity. Yet when thereis an opportunity of paying indirectly for such valuable

,services-why then it is a different question altogether.Mr. Murphy, who also is a highly-esteemed solicitor, said,that in nine-tenths of the cases coroners cannot tell whethera medical man’s evidence will be necessary until an inquiryB3hall have been held. The Cork Corporation would do well inbeing guided by their able officials. They can possibly findscope for the exercise of economy in many other directions.Nov. 22nd.

________________

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

h’alse Alarms of Plague in Algeria.MANY of the political journals have announced that cases

of plague have been reported as occurring in Algerian ports,that the Government has kept this news quiet, but thatnevertheless deaths from plague have been notified atConstantine. These rumours have just been put an end toby an official note stating that up to the present no case oftrue plague has been notified in Algerian territory. Between

Sept. 15th and Oct. 10th there were some suspicious cases,but they were kept under strict surveillance and were rigidlyisolated and they recovered very quickly. Since this periodDr. Chantemesse has made a thorough inspection of theincriminated ports and after a month’s careful observation hehas not been able to notify a single case even of a doubtfulnature. There has never been any question of the occur-rence of a case at any other Algerian port and certainly notin Algiers itself, and in addition the precautions with regardto the introduction of the scourge are so rigid that were any- case to occur the focus of disease would be immediately.suppressed. -

A Protest against Sewage Farms in the Suburbs of Paris.I have already given your readers an account of the new

sewage farms situated to the north-west of Paris in the

vicinity of Pierrelaye and Mery-sur-Oise intended to com-plete the amount of surface necessary for the complete earth’filtration of the sewage of the capital. So will be realisedthe dream of "everything to the sewer," an idea formu-iated some 15 years ago and already realised at Genne-villiers and Achères.1 The sewage farms at Pierrelaye andMéry-sur-Oise, however, do not appear to give unmixed satisfaction. All the local wells are infected and it is Î

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1 THE LANCET, July 15th, p. 186, and Sept. 9th, 1899, p. 747.

evident from the occurrence of an epidemic of intestinaltroubles that the earth surface is not enough to secure

thorough filtration. The sewage seems to escape throughfissures in the soil into the subterranean sources of supply tothe wells. The authorities of the neighbouring parisheswere obliged during the hot weather to draw waterfrom the Oise and to carry it round in tanks for

gratuitous distribution among the population. On learn-

ing that the city of Paris intended still furtherto increase the quantity of sewage distributed on theland the inhabitants got up a protest and already 5000names have been attached to it. The city of Paris,unable to deny the damage of which it is the author andrecognising the necessity for doing something withoutdelay, has placed Pasteur filters in all the schools andpublic establishments. This, however, is only a provisionalremedy, and the inhabitants maintain that Paris, which hascontaminated their wells, should supply them with puredrinking-water at its own cost.

Lectures on Medical Deontology.For the first time there has been founded at Paris a course

of lectures on Medical Deontology. These lectures do notform part of the official course of the Faculty, but have beenstarted privately by Dr. Legendre, physician to the hospitals,and Dr. Lepage, accoucheur to the hospitals. It is indisput-able, as Dr. Legendre remarked in his first lecture, that theprinciples of medical deontology are never taught tothe student. In fact, the whole course of training of thestudent, as regards his future career as a practitioner, hasreference purely to the scientific side of his profession.His intercourse with patients, the hospital consultations, andhis rapid visits to the wards in no way prepare him for thecorrect, nay, diplomatic, attitude which it becomes necessaryfor him to observe towards his private patients. From thislatter point of view he has to complete his education laterat his own expense. In addition, he has to learn the art ofprescription-writing for private patients, which is a verydifferent thing from writing prescriptions in a hospital. Asto his relations with his professional brethren the studenton leaving the hospital is completely ignorant of what theyshould be. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that in themidst of the inevitable difficulties of starting in practice heshould go on the plan of doing those things which seem tohim to bring him most personal profit regardless of ;therights of his neighbours or of the influence which suchaction will have upon the position of the medicalprofession as a whole. A course of lectures such as is.._..,...ra ...:m av,...."e.._.. a.. _,..a.:,._ v...+ ......a ...,..",.,:..m_. :e :+proposed will therefore do nothing but good, especially if itoffers a demonstration that deontology does not mean a codeof laws formulated to defend the older practitioner againstthe assaults of the younger generation, but a code whichwill best enable the medical profession as a whole, onthe analogy of the bundle of sticks, to resist the assaultsof its enemies who profit by its divisions. The demandsof mutual aid societies, which are constantly becomingmore pressing ; the scale of payment put forward by assur-ance societies, which gets lower and lower; the exorbitantdemands of municipalities, who seem to look upon amedical man as an authority in hygiene, forensic medicine,and general expert witness; and one, moreover, not onlyobliged to give his services, but to give them gratui-tously ; and the cheese-paring habits and bad faith of certainclasses cf society who strive to obtain gratuitous hospitaltreatment for all-all these modern scourges of the professionrender it obligatory that the medical man should be so trainedas to best defend himself and the profession as a wholeif he does not want to be hopelessly beaten by fighting anisolated battle. Once the necessity for such action has beendemonstrated the young medical man will easily perceive theneed for maintaining friendly relations with his colleaguesas a whole. The course inaugurated by Dr. Legendre andDr. Lepage has a special interest that in addition to showingthe young medical man his own peculiar powers in face ofthe enemy, it will enable him to see how professionaldiscipline may be spontaneously brought about without

having recourse to the utopian idea of some special tribunalexclusively medical.Nov. 21st.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEOKS IN IRELAND.-The following candidates have passed the primary part ofthe examination for the Licence in Dental Surgery of theCollege :—Mr E T. Pasley,Waterford ; and Mr. H Schlegel,

. Dublin.