28 ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS: CENTENARY CELEBRATION.

Annotations.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON:CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF THE

PRESENT COLLEGE.

"Ne quid nimis."

A CONVERSAZIONE was held at the House of theRoyal College of Physicians on the evening ofJune 25th, to celebrate the centenary of the occupa-tion of the present building of the College. The guestswere received by the President, Sir HumphryRolleston, and Lady Rolleston. A large number ofFellows, Members, and ladies attended. The Collegebuildings are admirably adapted for a reception ofthis kind and the valuable possessions of the Collegewere shown to great advantage. The library, wherethe President received the Fellows and guests, isa large and attractive room. The new lighting showsits contents to advantage, including the beautifulmace, which is one of the chief of the Collegetreasures.An interesting historical note was attached to the

programme given to each guest on arrival. Fromthis we learn that the Royal College of Physicianswas founded by Thomas Linacre, the famous scholar,who obtained from King Henry VIII. a Royal Charter,dated Sept. 23rd, 1518, granting certain powers tothe College for the purpose of controlling those whopractised medicine in the City of London and sevenmiles around. The powers of the College were extendedby later charters so that authority was exercised overall those who practised medicine in England, with !,the exception of doctors of medicine of Oxford andCambridge Universities. Thomas Linacre was electedthe first President, and five other physicians werenamed as Fellows of the College with power to add totheir number. The first meetings of the College, forthe transaction of business, were held in Linacre’shouse in Knightrider-street, in the City, and here theCollege remained until 1614, when a new house wasprovided at Amen Corner, on the site of the presentHouse of the Canons Residentiary of St. Paul’s.This College House was burned down in the GreatFire of 1666, and in 1674 the College removed to anew building in Warwick-lane, in the City, which hadbeen built from the designs of Sir Christopher Wren.Here it remained until 1825, when it removed to thepresent building. The library contains about 40,000volumes, of which more than 4000 were printed beforethe year 1600. The collection is not confined to medicalworks alone, for it contains sections comprising earlyeditions of the classics, theology, law, and the sciences.The College possesses 112 portraits in oil of distin-guished Fellows, and the collection is representativeof many of the portrait painters in England duringthe last three centuries. These are placed in the largelibrary, the Censors’ room, the reading room, andon the staircase. The handsome panelling to beseen in the Censors’ room dates from the year1674, and was removed from the College in Warwick-lane, where it was placed through the munificence ofDr. Baldwin Hamey. The portraits of past Presidentsand Fellows form a most striking and interestingcollection. They are shown to great advantage inthe library, Censors’ room, reading room, and hallof the College. Among these, those painted byGainsborough, Reynolds, and Romney are speciallyworthy of notice. There is also a portrait by VanDyke and a painting by Zoffany.Among the entertainments there was a fine exhibi-

tion of cinematograph films illustrating nature-study.It was pleasant to hear that these were of Britishorigin. An interesting programme of music was givenby the Vale Lane Sextette. The engraved portraits ofFellows of the College on view in the small libraryand book-store were well chosen and attracted a gooddeal of attention.

The conversazione was a most successful one. This

notable historic incident in the history of the Collegewas, by common consent, very suitably commemorated,and those present spent an interesting and instructiveevening. The President and those responsible for thearrangements are greatly to be congratulated on the

success of a very interesting commemorative function.

THE USE OF ARSENIC IN PUERPERALFEVER.

THE use of arsenical salts in puerperal infectionwas the subject of a paper by Marbais at the Congressof Strasbourg in 1923. Dr. H. Lapervenche has nowpublished a record of 28 cases treated in this wayat the obstetric clinic in Bordeaux. The salts employedwere sulpharsenol (Pluchon) and novarsenobenzol(Billon), which were shown to have a strong bacteri-cidal action on streptococci in vitro and in rabbits.They can be used prophylactically in cases where thelabour has been prolonged and infection is suspected.The only contra-indications are the presence of serioushepatic trouble and uraemia, cancer, and what theauthor calls " bacillaires," presumably the subjectsof chronic bacterial infections. It is usual to allow aday to elapse between the first and second injections,and then to give injections on two successive dayswith an interval of one day between. The urineshould be watched for albumin. Intravenous or

subcutaneous injections of 0’1 gr. of N.A.B. or0-06g’r.of sulpharsenol is the initial dose, and subsequentinjections should not rise higher than 0-15 gr. ofN.A.B. and 0-12 gr. of sulpharsenol. No evil resultswere noted beyond the local discomfort of the injec-tion, and the results were most gratifying, the feverbeing controlled by the drug. These cases were

streptococcal, and syphilis was excluded by theWassermann reaction. The method seems worthyof a more extended trial.

JAMES MEASE.

IN the number of AnHal.’ of Illeclical History,, published in March, 1925, being No. 1 of Vol. VII.,, Dr. William Snow Miller, of Wisconsin, reprints apaper read before the Medical History Seminar of

, the University of Wisconsin in November, 1923., The subject of the paper is Dr. James Mease, who is

interesting as being the author of the first contribu-tion of note upon hydrophobia published in America.

i From another point of view he is of interest to our-I selves as having fallen foul of William Cobbett (an easy thing to do), and Cobbett, as readers may know,was a good friend to THE LANCET in early days." Mease graduated in medicine in 1792, being one. of the first seven graduates from the medical. department of the University of Pennsylvania. Thisi University had arisen after sundry vicissitudes out of the College of Philadelphia, which, in its turn, was begotten by a pamphlet written by BenjaminL Franklin in 1749. lease’s paper upon hydrophobia) was first published in the American Mqiseum in 1790,r and this paper was subsequently elaborated into- his thesis for the doctorate. Dr. Miller gives manyf quotations from the thesis which show that Meases was in advance of his time in his views on the disease. He maintains that disease only arises from a " poisoni of a peculiar nature in the saliva of a rabid animal,1 belonging to the genus cani.’!." He also is of opinionr that the poison, to manifest its effects, must findr entrance to the body through a wound. As to1 treatment he recommended excision of the bitten

place, if possible, together with the cautery before-

any symptoms had appeared. After they appeared’. he considered any treatment useless. The year afterli his graduation-naiiiely, in 1793--there was a seriousn epidemic of yellow fever in Philadelphia during whichf Mease was attacked and was treated by Rush,y being bled to the extent of 75 oz. in five days. Hed recovered and was appointed port medical officer

of Philadelphia. Benjamin Rush, the professor of