Speculum : The Journal of the Melbourne Medical Students' Society ...

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No. 15. NOVEMBER, 1888.

Si Speculum Placet, Inspice.

tbe %pecutum A JOURNAL OF THE

Rid:bourne tiihents.

a0.1■T`I'=\TT.9.

Pharmacy Notes. Cricket. Inter-University Boat Race. Lawn Tennis. Athletic Sports. Spicula. Poetry. Correspondence. Deaths. Editorial Notice,

Editorial. Kirkland Memorial Tablet. Fallacies of Examinations. A Suggestion. Our Asylums. A Word about Photography. The Students' Room. A Night at the Exhibition. Amusements in Vienna. Pathological Notes. Rupture of Bladder.

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No. 15.]

[NOVEMBER, 1888.

SPEG LL M Et aournat of the flDelbourne fiDebicat Zttthent5.

EDITORIAL.

IN the pages of this Journal attention has frequently been called to the failing, so common amongst Medical Students, of making too close a study of special text books, while neglecting that wider range of reading, which is so necessary to fit one to maintain his position in educa ted

society. It is unnecessary to recapitulate now the many strong arguments for

a wider and more varied education that have been from time to time set forth in such interesting contributions as those entitled " Unprofes-sional Education" and "Medicine and Culture," and other articles

which have appeared in former numbers of the Speculum. These gave rise, at the time of their publication, to considerable dis-

cussion on the subject, and we were glad to publish in our last issue a very thoughtful and practical letter from a correspondent, who suggested that something might be done to stimulate an interest in the reading of works not entirely Medical, by the establishment of a small Library of general literature in connection with the Medical

Students' Society. This is a most valuable suggestion, and it is gratifying to notice that

the Committee of the M. S. S. has decided upon carrying the proposal

into effect. A stranger, who for the first time looked round the well and wisely

filled shelves of the Medical School Library, which has of late made such rapid progress in the direction of what a Medical Library should be, might ask, "What can the Students want more than this ?"

But on the shelves of the Medical School Library one only expects to find strictly professional literature, works of reference, text books,

scientific periodicals, et hoc genus omne. The Medical School Library is an excellent one, but it is no part of its function to provide general

literature for its frequenters. It is universally • acknowledged that the best recreation during

intervals of leisure from active study and severe mental application is bodily exercise in the open air. In addition to bodily exercise, how-ever, a great deal of mental relief can always be obtained by diverting the thoughts into a new and an utterly different channel, and this can often be clone by turning from the dull, dry text-book to the pages of

an interesting novel, a beautiful poem, a good biography, or a humorous satire. The advantage to be gained by thus, in the intervals of severer study, keeping up even a bowing acquaintance with the world of general literature, and by gradually storing the mind with information and ideas that could never be culled from the best of text-books, is immense; and if this non-professional reading is carried on with a due regard to the selection of the works of good authors, the benefit to be derived both in the way of mental improvement and increased knowledge is

well nigh inestimable. No one who has given any attention to the study of medicine in

theory and in practice can fail to recognise that logical reasoning is the basis of diagnosis and treatment of disease ; nor can he fail to recognise, on the other hand, how often the process of deduction is inapplicable, and it is only by inductive reasoning that a satisfactory onclusion can be arrived at. It is in reasoning by induction that a wide knowledge finds its application ; and here conies in the contrast between it and the narrower specialised knowledge that is more adapted for the deductive

process. )f course, it is not to be inferred that there should he less attention

to real scientific study. No amount of general education will make up for deficient knowledge of Physiology, Anatomy, Medicine, or Surgery in one who desires to practice the medical profession. The argument is simply that the tedium of study for examination can be profitably broken by desultory reading.

ranted that, then the members of the Medical Students Society are to be congratulated, not only on the fact that they are now in posses-sion of a comfortable club-room at the Medical School, but also that part of the furniture of that room will shortly be the nucleus of a library which will, we hope, in the near future, grow into a representative collection of the standard authors of English literature.

THE KIRKLAND MEMORIAL TABLET.

A handsome marble tablet, in memory of the late ProfeSsor Kirk-land, has been erected in the hall of the old buildings of the Medical school. The tablet is of veined white marble, with a background of black enamelled slate, and engraved upon it is the following

inscription :—

ERECTED

BY THE MELBOURNE MEDICAL STUDENTS,

IN AFFECTIONATE MEMORY OF

JOHN DRUMMOND KIRKLAND, M.B., Cu. B.,

MELBOURNE, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY.

DIED 22ND OCTOBER, 1885; AGED 49 YEARS.

Honto erat et friths amicus.

2 THE SPECULUM. [NOVEMBER, 1888.

NOVEMBER, 1888.] THE SPECULUM.

It will be remembered that after the sad event of the death of Pro-fessor Kirkland a movement was at once set on foot amongst the Medical Students to pay some lasting tribute to the memory of the lamented gentleman whom they had all so admired and respected, not only for his marked ability, but also for his kindliness towards at students with whom he came in contact. It was decided to procure a tablet with a simple inscription, and the necessary amount was readily subscribed. There was, however, some delay in having the work executed, and after it was finished further delay occurred, owing to the difficulty of deciding upon the most suitable site. Some wished for it to be placed in the Chemical Laboratory ; others thought a place in the new building would be better, but finally it was decided that the most suitable place was upon the north wall of the vestibule of the old

buildings. Even then the tablet was not at once erected, because the Council

suggested an alteration of the inscription ; but when the difficulty of

effecting the alteration was pointed out ; permission to have it erected

was at once granted. Many of our readers who are now no longer students will be gratified

to hear that the tablet has been placed in position. It is a sad and strange coincidence that Mr. W. Johnson, who took a prominent part in originating the proposal to procure the tablet, shortly afterwards lost his life in the wreck of the ill-fated ship "Ly-ee-moon."

FALLACIES OF EXAMINATIONS.

" HARROWED."

" Fallacies? What fallacies ?" I will tell you. I have been there. Instances are not wanting where students, having spent three

fourths of their year in the pursuit of the three " L's"—• liquor, love, and laughter" —have seen the error of their ways, and repented ; not too late, but just in time to secure, by dint of hard cramming, a pass at the end of the year, or, at any rate, in February.

Here, then, is a manifest fallacy. The passing of a single examina-tion is no guarantee of the thoroughness of a student's knowledge. A second examination in February (or in six weeks after the first, accord-ing to the new regulations) is open to the same objection. A man may put off his course of cramming to a later date, that is all. Again, in a written paper the range of questions is necessarily limited. It is not at all impossible that a man may have a sound, general knowledge of his subject, and yet find a paper in which such out of-the-way questions are asked that he is unable to make any show. Examiners sometimes exhibit, as all Students know, a kind of fatal felicity in setting papers of this sort. The consequence is that men oft« n fail, through no fault of their own, but owing to the erochetty nature of the questions set

them.


On the other hand, we are all acquainted with men who have had the good fortune to read over the answers to half of the questions on the night before. I know one festive youth, whom 1 found just three days before the examinations, carefully going over former papers, and making tips as to the most likely questions to be set. He had done no work during the year, and yet on the strength of these tips he actually got through his subject.

This is fallacy number two. Then there is another side to the ques• tion. It often occurs that men who have worked hard during the year, and who really know their work, come up to examination on some subject with a headache, or diarrhoea, brought on through excessive anxiety and the weakness resultant on a year's hard work. They do not do themselves justice, and are put back possibly for a year, or, at any rate, till February, when they come up in a still weaker state, through stress of the additional work.

This is fallacy number three. Here, then, are three fallacies which go far, it seems to me, to render futile the tests of knowledge at our University. What remedy is there ? The recent regulations do little or nothing. The same objections still apply. Oral examinations, it must be admitted, go far towards their elimination. The range of questions is much wider than in the written examinations. But even here the cramming man still has a show, and the nervous man may labour under still greater disadvantages—brought, as he is, into the dread presence of his inquisitors, and liable to be cross-questioned and confused by those gentlemen to any extent.

I do not wish to say that candidates are intentionally baited by the examiners. We all know from personal experience that such is any-thing but the truth ; but still, under the necessary conditions, it is hard for many men to show the extent of their knowledge. There is no intention here to advocate the abolition of oral examinations. I believe they are a great advance on the old system, but it is well to recognise their defects if we are to improve on them.

There are, I think, two ways in which improvements might be made. (Bear in mind that the two cardinal defects of the present system are these : the possibility it presents of crammers squeezing through, and of good men being ploughed).

The first remedy venture to suggest is this : That professors and lecturers should come into much closer contact with their classes during the year. I mean they should teach, not lecture. By daily questioning and answering of questions the teacher would arrive at a clear idea as to those Students who really studied and took an interest in their work, and those who loafed their time away on the " facilis deceneus Averni."

The second is this : Terminal examinations. They have already been inaugurated, in an informal way, by several professors and lecturers; but they have not yet been placed in the regulations. Their merits seem obvious. In the first place, they form a direct incentive to work during the year. In the second place, if the passing of the year's course were

NOVEMBER, 1888. THE SPECULUM. 5

made to depend not only on the merit of the final, but also on the merit of the terminal examinations, one great fallacy would be eliminated. No man would be able to pass his year, and no man would be ploughed by any mere turn of luck at a single examination. In the repeated trials merit would be sure to win. In other words, we should have a little Utopia,'all our own. I have said my say.

A SUGGESTION.

By DELTA.

While we have been actively engaged trying to secure adequate and efficient clinical teaching, there is one side which has been totally neglected, and that a valuable one. Why don't our hospital physicians consult? By not making use of all the means at our disposal for the treatment of the sick, we are doing him a wrong, and missing many opportunities for the improvement and extension of the knowledge of the science and art of medicine of both consultants and students.

The practice of medicine, every one will admit, is infinitely more complex than that of surgery. The premises on which our conclusions are based in surgery are hardly ever so problematical as are those of medicine, founded as the latter is on more or less plausible hypothesis, not aided in its advancement to such an extent by the progress made in other and simpler sciences.

If this practice were adopted oftener, and carried out thoroughly, those cases most in need of elucidation which, in general practice, at least to the young practitioner, are productive of serious anxiety if he has any regard for the responsibilities of his position, would lead less often to dangerous practice or to that of a useless expectancy. The history of these cases would form a solid groundwork for his guidance, the value of which cannot be over-estimated. They would be thoroughly investigated, careful and exhaustive histories taken, treat-ment watched, and termination noted, and when fatal, verified by a rigid

,post-mortem examination. Really systematic work would thus be done, which in time would

necessarily lead to a substantial advance. It is in our hospitals alone that work of this kind can be thoroughly done. The training the senior students of medicine would receive a strong impetus, especially in that essential branch of medicine, physical examination, without

• which our treatment is liable to be of little avail, if indeed net pro-ductive of actual harm. On the surgical side, this practice is probably less required from our point of view, as students training for the general practice of medicine ; for in such radical measures as the surgeon is likely to adopt for the cure or palliation of the disease under his consideration, the end is seen and duly appreciated, though at the time he perhaps runs a greater risk than that produced by mere delay

6 THE SPECULUM. [Kers-mum, 1888.

in the treatment of the medioal case. Yet under the latter there will be, at least in many cases, a fatal termination, not the less surely because it comes more slowly. Though in the physicians' practice the same absolute certainty is not so attainable, this does not excuse him from making every effort to attain the same certainty in diagnosis and treatment, which is the end every true physician has before him. Too often we hear the verdict given on an obscure case, "It may be one of half-a-dozen conditions." Perhaps no nearer the truth it is possible to go in the present state of our knowledge. Our treatment, we are told in the lecture-room and at the bedside, is, or should be, dominated by the particular theory we hold as to the cause and nature of the morbid' process.

We frequently see cases in our hospitals—alas ! oftener than is at all necessary—in which we might arrive at a much clearer diagnosis were all the forces at our command marshalled; and if this is not done, then we cannot excuse ourselves from the charge of neglect, for it is nothing less. The value of an early diagnosis everyone will be ready to admit. This practice, if thoroughly and conscientiously adopted, would go far to reduce that too wide zone lying between cases of absolute certainty and utter ignorance.

Disease is so protean in its form that every physician of even the most extensive experience has occasional cases in which some little point in the history or symptoms upon which he, as it were, stumbled, or has infer red from a hint given him by a brother practitioner, has made all the difference between bad and good treatment.

The presence of senior students at these conferences would tend (by teaching them) to utilise the collective experience of the most com-petent and experienced observers, which would infallibly help medicine to take its stand as an art founded on a firm, scientific basis, and rescue our practice from the charge of empiricism which too often cannot be refuted.

A few of these cases carefully recorded are worth hundreds seen in a cursory and routine fashion. In fact, it is clinical teaching of the highest kind.

Should this practice be adopted, and we urge it on the consideration, of those who have the power to do so, at least in our teaching hospitals, it is certain that a substantial advance will have been ,nade and felt by the practitioner, the patient, and the future patients of the young' physician to their comfort and his recompense, both materially and mentally. -

At our various social gatherings from time to time we hear of future rewards in the form of more diligent and zealous teaching till we are almost convinced that we will shortly find a royal road to learning, or,. at least, to the practice of medicine ; but it seems that the tools often ,

lie ready to our hands, yet we grasp them not.

NOVEMBER, 1888. THE SPECULUM.

OUR ASYLUMS.

BY PSYCHO.

We have lately been hearing a great deal about the disposal of 1 he insane confined in our suburban asylums, and the subject is one of wide interest, having several points of contact with the public feeling ; but it has also personal interest to us as students, in addition to that touching the profession as a whole. It may therefore not be waste time to consider the question briefly.

The public are always ready to follow a leader, especially on any subject which they know little about, and which therefore it would be better they left altogether alone ; and since it has been mooted that our asylum system is far from perfect, and that the " cottage system" is the best for the treatment of the insane, many mistaken philantrophista have urged the adoption of this system. But it must not be thought that such kindly feeling is at the back of all the desires to " move on" the inmates of our asylums. I shall allude to this later on. Now, though the cottage system is acknowledged to be suited for certain cases of insanity, yet no authority of great experience would advise its •

adoption in all cases, and the total abolition of the ward system. Many cases will only improve under the strict discipline, and also the force of example, which is only obtainable under the latter.

Cottages scattered over a large area, surrounded with nice gardens, might be pleasant to look upon at a distance, but the thing of import-ance is, will the insane be the better for the alteration 2 One plea that has been raised against the cottage system is that it is impracticable. Well, that certainly may be something ; but if it were the best for the poor lunatics, surely it would be our duty to provide means to render it practicable, for any of us may be a lunatic some day, and we should do as we would be done by. But this question of impracticability need not be made the chief plank in the platform of those who oppose the cottage system in its entirety, for medical experts have pronounced it to be inferior in many respects to a properly regulated ward system.

In many cases frequent daily visits have to be made, and patients kept under observation day and night, and this could not be done if cases were scattered over a wide area.

The cottage system does not ensure sufficient control over the evil propensities of the madman ; there is too much liberty of action where there is any tendency to the homicidal or suicidal impulse.

Then, again, in acute mania it may be necessary at any moment to call the medical attendant to the patient. This would take much more time under the cottage system than if the patients were under the one roof. A great number of medical superintendents would be required, and also a larger number of trained attendants than would be attainable if the cottage system was to be made workable at all ; and certainly of the two a defective ward system would be preferable to an imperfect cottage system, for the need of control is great in the latter, whereas

8 THE SPECULUM [NOVEMBER, 1888.

it is much more easily obtained with the former. It is now recognised that a perfect asylum should consist of main buildings, wherein perfect .supervision of urgent cases is possible, and in these should he housed all those cases where rigid discipline and medical superintendence and treatment will be of service, all those cases where there is the least liability to any sudden exacerbation, and where constant supervision is necessary, so as at once to isolate the unfortunate patient when this is required.

In addition to these large buildings, with their recreation grounds, large dining halls, chapels, etc., there should be detached cottages for those cases in which a " freer air" is suitable. This might be for all harmless cases, as in dementia chronics—harmless lunatics, to whom the •asylum is a home. Such patients would not suffer from the cottage system, yet on the other hand there is no actual benefit to be got from adopting it in these cases ; and it is these cases which I should think would be best sent to the country, as is done here to Sunbury, and placed under comfortable circumstances. In fact, as experts seem to think, the cottages 6 es are best fitted to serve as gates between the close discipline of the ward and the outer world, where the patients have benefited by the discipline and force of example there present, and have so far recovered that they feel the restraint of the wards irritating from their regained will power, being in fact convalescent. Here, still under control, yet less openly so, the patient gradually regains his force of mind, and so is more quickly fitted to leave the asylum.

Then, again, if private asylums are not to be maintained, it might be advisable to have buildings set apart for the treatment of those whose friends desire them to be surrounded with those comforts to which they have previously been used ; but these should either have separate medical supervision, or be very near the main buildings of the asylum. Then, with regard to moving the asylums at Kew away into the country, one cannot help seeing that there are several objections to the plan which the Government desire to cary out.

The Lunacy Commission certainly advised the removal of the incur-.ables from these central asylums to some quiet retreat in the country, so that the asylums might be kept for those cases where treatment might help towards a cure ; but they did not advise the total sweeping

.away of the two suburban asylums, so the public must not be deceived with the idea that the Government are carrying out the recommenda-tions of the Commission.

In reality, they are entirely ignoring the difference between the two. ,classes of patients, and I do not think it can be denied that there are other ends in view than the good of those unable to seek their own good. Political jobbery has done enough harm, but it might stop here. Surely the Premier can be satisfied with his surplus. Any glory added by enlarging it at the expense of the lunatics will only be veneer, with

,corruption and selfishness at the bottom. Surely Mammon's hand can be kept from these lands. It is rather amusing to see the two sides of the picture. We hear of the advantage of moving the lunatics to more

NOVEMBER, 1888.] THE SPECULUM. 9

salubrious parts, and fresher air ; but the other side of it is made brilliant with visions of '' splendid sites for palatial residences," etc., etc • and, in addition, though this is not mentioned, men perjuring their souls in the fraudulent speculations of a land " boom "

No doubt a million pounds sterling is a fine sum, and its distribution would win political adherents. But is it worth it ? Will anything recompense the sacrifice of right ?

Then, again, removal far into the country would be a great inconveni-ence to the friends and relatives of the inmates ; also the medical pro-fession should surely be considered, with the advantage to the public, as well as ourselves, to be got from the establishment of a regular clinical school in psychological medicine in connection with our University. This would, of course, only be possible if the asylums were within reasonable distance of town.

But, after all, we should do more than provide for the insane of our population. This is certainly our duty, but it seems to me only a part of it, for it were unhumanitarian for us to rest with what is, and pro-vide for it, and not endeavour to remove the evil. This has been done too much in the past in most things, but need it be ever so ? It is certainly time to try and stem the tide here. Our statistics show that we have a high percentage of lunatics in the colonies, and this is by no means decreasing.

We need not expect to abolish insanity, but surely unless our sole object in our profession is to rake in the guineas, and make a name, we can do something to lessen this curse by teaching our fellowmen the fundamental laws of hygiene. It is not for me to pursue this last thought further, but it is a subject well worth thinking about—our responsibilities to humanity, and the splendid and enduring work a humanitarian physician may do if he will.

A WORD ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY.

By C. E. G.

No one gifted with common intelligence will venture to deny that in the hands of diligent members, and especially junior members of the medical estate, the photographic camera cannot but be productive of valuable results.

The power of recording in indelible and undeniable form the salient, visible features of disease and diathesis, of congenital or acquired abnormality, of accident or injury, and of the results of treatment, is of such patent ad vantage that it is almost strange to find no provision for the utilisation of that power in the medical curriculum.

Such an addition would be of double benefit, for with all its scientific and professional value briefly noted above, there is surely no recreation of equal worth for the medical student whose more technical studies are SO exacting.


It combines the truest relaxation, a total change of thought, with the truest recreation, rational exercise, for a walk in search of scenery with the camera is surely a more reasonable exertion than a light upon the football field, and a customary drubbing. What, though there be little success for the day—a spoiled plate is possibly better than a dilated aorta. Indeed, when the comparative simplicity of the photo-graphic art in its modern developments becomes widely known— and by the good work of its amateurs there is every hope that it soon shall be so—medical students (I use the term in its widest sense, medical students) will recognise for themselves that a practical knowledge of photography is an essential of scientific medical education.

It is my object, then, in as brief a manner as I may, to place before the readers of the Speculum some little information as to the simplicity of the photographic art, so that the result may be an addition to the progress of the arts of medicine and photography, in an increase of the number of federated workers.

Perhaps it may be wise to begin with the horrible question of cost, and cost as usual depends greatly upon what the beginner aims at in taking up photography seriously.

There are, then, two systems or processes by which reproductions of subjects may be obtained, depending upon the condition of the first invariable accessory, the sensitive film of silver which within the camera receives the image directed upon it by the lens. These are named " the wet plate" and " the dry plate" processes. The former is the more expensive, the more difficult, and the least constant in results. Its use is confined to the close proximity of the dark room, and it is fast disappearing into the realm of the faddist. The latter is cheaper, cleaner, more convenient, and more reliable ; and, as the most difficult part of the process is overcome when the amateur receives the plate, will always be beloved by the amateur who wishes to do useful work. " Dry plate" then let it be. Now photographs, as everybody knows, are of varying sizes and shapes, and the question of size corresponds exactly with the question of cost.

Without going into the matter of the manifold sizes of the plates—so-called, by the way, because the sensitive silver salt, a haloid, is suspended in a film of gelatine emulsion, dried upon a glass plate—let me at once advise my readers that the half-plate size, 6i- by 4i inches, is large enough for all amateur requirements, and small enough to be comparatively easily paid for.

Now as to the monetary figures. A set, which includes everything necessary for the production of satisfactory pictures of half-plate size —that is to say, 6k by 4 inches --can be purchased in Melbourne for about £12. This is a full estimate, and includes everything except that nightmare of the beginner, the dark room.

This trouble about dark rooms has nipped many a promising amateur's rosy aspiration in the bud, and yet when one remembers that the night is generally dark, and that nearly every decent residence includes a bathroom, with supply and waste-water pipes attached, it doesn't seem


very terrible after all.. And finally, as to working expenses, which depend very greatly upon the amount of intelligence and common sense the worker brings to bear upon his subject.

In photography, as in most amateur amusements, it is the failure, and not the success, that runs away with the money If the art is practised carefully and systematically it isn't as expensive as the art of tobacco smoking, but if there is an absence of system the failures are very many, and they must be paid for. I suppose the average amateur averages 50 per cent. failures, and then he loudly declares that photography is " confoundly expensive." But the man who thinks first, and takes his lens cap off after, doesn't run more than ten to the hundred, and that's fairly good as silver goes nowadays. In fact, as an amateur who comes—shall I say it ?—perhaps a little on the good side of the midline, I suppose every successful picture I get costs, after paying for failures, about 5d.

This is not a heavy item when one considers the instruction to be derived from one's own portrait of a suprapubic dislocation of the femur, of a greenstick humerus, of an emphysematous thorax, of an epithelioma, a lupus, or a rodent ulcer.

Where comes the need of a verbatim repetition of the characteristics of the face of infantile hereditary syphilis placed for comparison in company of a well-executed portrait of the little sufferer ? Certainly, one cannot get a photograph of snuffles, but modern medical practice insists largely upon rapid recognition of the visible aspects of disease in diagnosis, and there is no aid like the camera.

And a well-dissected part, if photographed with care, is worth fifty plates, where everything is in the place where it should, but very

often happens not to be. So much for my plea for the camera, and were my execution equal to

my desire, I feel that the answer to the question, " Is photography of value to us as students I" would be not one, but hundreds of negatives.

Don't think for a moment that photography may be "given a trial." There is no fallacy so fallacious. Anybody who is sufficiently intelli-gent to understand enough of this paper to "give it a trial" will find himself so charmed with the peculiar fascination of his new study that he will never abandon it while he has time and 5d. at his disposal.

On reviewing my remarks, I fail to find much scientific information in them, but if the Editor thinks the subject of sufficient interest to his numerous " constant readers," I shall be happy to take it up in the next number and deal with it as one who has loved, and not lost, may deal with the charms of his mistress.

IN THE STUDENTS ROOM.

We have at length got possession of our long-promised and eagerly wished for room at the Medical School. The Society, in addition to its name, has at last got a local habitation. We have almost forgotten what the old library looked like, so long have we been obliged to gaze

12 THE SPECULUM [NOVEMBER, 18S8.

on the bareness and emptiness of what was once the library, so long did we gaze on the old disused carpenters bench, which for months constituted the only furniture of the room with the discolored dilapidated plaster walls. Now however the scene is transformed. By continuous worrying the Council's Architect has been awaked from his lethargy, and the walls have been subjected to a process of renovation and recoloring in the most fashionable shades. The very best thanks of the Society are due to the Chancellor and to the Dean of the Faculty, for insisting that the furniture provided from the University funds should be of such an excellent and substantial kind. It was much better to spend the money voted on really good furniture than to get more furniture of an indifferent quality. And we students knowhow to appreciate a good thing when we get it. We do not go in for disfiguring or destroying furniture which has been handed over to our care for our own convenience, and for which we have paid a very considerable sum out of our own pockets. Oh no ! We are not quite such donkeys as that. Our house-committee have completed the furnishing very satisfactorily.

Really it is a boon to have a room where we can go and find a. comfortable chair or sofa, and enjoy a social smoke and yarn, and have a look at the newspapers, and pass in comfort those occasional half hours that were wont to be passed on the steps or in the locker room, or other vagrant haunt. It conduces strongly to the feeling that we really are members of a Club, with the privileges as well as the duties of members. It is yet another strand in the strong chain of fellow-feeling which binds us as Medical Students together and makes our Society a live one, able to stick up for the rights of its members, and to keep on pegging away and pegging away to gain such rights, as we find the need for them growing.

And one thing we must not lose sight of even now while the possession of our new room is a novelty to us, and that is, that we -want more room. A room 16 by 24 ft. is not big enough for a Society of 140 members, with an increasing roll. We really want a suite of rooms—a reading room, a smoking room, and last but not least, a billiard room. The Senate and the Council have approved of the Faculty's recommendation to add further buildings to the Medical School, and if the Goverment will only vote about £30,000 out of its surplus, a few years will see a vast change in the Melbourne Medical School, and one of the earliest results of the change will be the transferring of the Library to the present Physiological Laboratory (the old Dissecting Room). In that case the present Library would make a nice addition to the Society's quarters, or perhaps even better rooms might be obtained in the proposed new buildings.

The Dean has himself expressed a hope that the Society will in time obtain a suite of rooms such as the Union has, and has stated that one reason for getting really good furniture for the present room was so that it would bear removal to better rooms in time. It remains with ourselves to keep this in view, and to show, by our management of the present excellent quarters, that we deserve even better ones.


The weather has been so fine lately that we have hardly had an opportunity to thoroughly appreciate the delight of having a good asphalte path whereby to approach the School from the Eastern entrances instead of having to wade through mud and slush as was the case in the winter months. It was a decidedly politic move inviting the Chancellor to come over during very wet weather and following up this little device with a letter to the Council. This letter brought about a personal inspection on the part of members of the Council, who also got their boots very muddy, hence our nice new 4 ft. asphalte path.

The University football team are to be commended for a good deal of perseverance and pluck. They made up their minds that they would

win a match and though they met with several reverses they still were determined that they would win one match, and in pursuance of their determination they brought a team over from the Sydney University, and at last their efforts were crowned with success.

Even if our Sydney brothers can't play Victorian football they are jolly fellows and understand how to enjoy themselves and they certainly seemed to thoroughly appreciate our little attempts to make;their visit a pleasant one. We hope that inter-university contests of all kinds will continue to be held. They will form a v aluable means of creating and cementing a cordial feeling of brotherhood among the " young bar-barians " of these Australasian Colonies. It will be another spoke in the wheel of Federation. The dinner given to the Sydney football team by the M.S.S. was pronounced by everyone to be the most successful and enjoyable students' meeting held for a long time past. The harmony and accord which characterised the entertainment was due in do small degree to graceful tact and savoir lairs of the Chairman, Professor Allen, who as President of the M.S.S. acted as master of the

revels. The desirability of reviving the old custom of having an annual Medical School Dinner is worthy of consideration. The cost to each need not be much and it would form an agreeable substitute for one of the ordinary " Socials." If for instance the annual Clerks and Dressers football match was played at the end of the second term, a dinner would form a fitting conclusion to the contest. While speaking of the Clerks v Dressers match, it might be pointed out that this match

should be played strictly according to the rules of the game, so as to obviate the necessity for arguing out the result afterwards.

A NIGHT AT THE EXHIBITION.

BY OBSERVER.

" Some come in tram and 'bus, Some ride in carriage and pair,

But each poor 'Varsity cuss Has to walk to the mighty fair.

The poor "cusses" above mentioned who have put themselves into this sweet rhyme have received such a tremendous amount of abuse from all quarters that it seems almost cruel to revive the memories of

14

THE SPECULUM. [NovEMBER. 1888.

such an unfortunate affair. But partly in order to prevent, if possible, such imbecile demonstrations in the future, and partly to set the truth before the readers of this journal, a description of the whole occurrence by an eye witness may be of some use. Why the papers throughout all Australia should have taken up the business of misrepresentation with .such unanimity is hard to tell, for not to mention our dailies, almost •every journal—religious, social, or otherwise—has gone into paroxysms of wrath and anguish over the sad effects of University education and influences in general. The University Review is the only organ of light which seems to have got into any trouble with its subscribers in this matter, since it seems many of them were rather prominently concerned therein. The Melbourne Punch, lately so renowned for its delightful wit and sparkling humour, had an illustration quite up to its usual stupid standard ; while the lady in Table Talk, who writes those darling letters to "Dear Emmie," made it an occasion for a squabble with .a writer—authentic, presumably—who had treated the subject with some levity in the Argus. If we could only get the reporters to give us such long notices about athletics and society meetings, how happy we should be ! Probably a more judicious expenditure of our hard-earned pocket-money might make things a little rosier for us in future.

But, to return to the great event itself. Some time back it was rumoured amongst the students that a procession was to be formed by young gents who possessed caps and gowns to march to the Exhibition on the following Saturday night. The fertile brains of the youths who originated this idea worked with such rapidity that before slower people comprehended what they were exactly about, they had invested in several boxes of crayons and reams of foolscap, and placarded them all about the notice boards. These placards were signed by two quite _prominent members of the University, whose signatures, we must surely suppose, were used without their knowledge. The wiser part of our community only smiled, thinking the affair would drop through prematurely ; so they were considerably surprised to see in Monday morning's paper that two hundred students had invaded the Exhibition, and burst open the barriers, etc., etc.

I myself, of course, was amongt those who smiled, so that when going to the Exhibition that Saturday afternoon with some friends, I quite forgot about the grand intentions which had been posted about the University. At about eight o'clock in the evening I was startled by seeing about eighty students, arrayed in nice, clean, new caps and gowns and bearing banners and bones in their hands, rushing, rather than marching, along the Grand Avenue of Nations. What struck an -observer most was the insignificant appearance such a few students presented amongst the vast crowd thronging the avenue at that time. Seemingly undismayed, they kept their course through the people to the rotunda by the lake,but on their way thither some outsiders rushing after them knocked down and smashed some kind of vase or jar, which damage has been

NOVEMBER, 1 888. THE SPECULUM. 15

quite unfairly blamed on to the students. When the procession got to the rotunda they sang a doggerel ballad to the tune of our own "Medical Students' Anthem," the only two verses of which worth hearing being deliberate plagiarisms from our song, and another verse being of such an insulting nature as to immediately show what a poor and mean spirit really animated the singers. The second, and happily the last song, was " Gaudeamus," and as it was very dark, and only two knew the song, or indeed how to sing at all, it sounded just like a. moaning dirge, greatly interrupted, however, by altercations with policemen, and by the antics of some small boys on the outskirts of the crowd, who amused themselves all the time by pelting the cultured songsters on their mortar-boards with gravel, making a noise like an accompanying hailstorm.

The company next dispersed, and now the weakness of the whole demonstration was most markedly displayed, for the students, breaking into small parties, were soon completely scattered amongst the crowd of nearly twenty thousand present. The same inveterate small boys, following at the heels of the different groups, would drive them almost to distraction by holding them up to the derision of the public. At one time these urchins would throw themselves into attitudes of admiration and awe; at another their small frames would be convulsed with laughter, much to the delight of the disinterested onlookers.

The extreme youth of the major part of the students was inspiring ; in fact there were only one or two who looked at all as if they had left the preparatory schools.

Besides the small torments buzzing around them, a much more serious enemy in the shape of the " force" harrassed them, which body, with its usual courage, seeing it had to deal with a down-trodden and disheartened band, roused itself up, and whenever a group of caps could be seen in close communion over mutual grievances, a stalwart bobby would "move them on" mercilessly, and on the slightest resist-ance take down their names. At last the students did not know which way to turn ; some made for the cellars to drown their troubles in Chablis, while others proceeded in a bee-line for their respective 4` diggings" as fast as possible. But a rumour reached them that the gates were shut against them, and guarded by constables, who intended to take their names and photographs. However, on enquiry, this statement proved incorrect, and they departed peacefully, feeling, to use a rather hackneyed phrase, " sadder and wiser men."

Speaking about the gates reminds me that the students were accused of leaping over the turnstiles by all the papers. Now, I have it on the best authority from perfectly unbiassed outsiders that the students did not leap the turnstiles, nor did they enter without paying—a thing which would be impossible.

About those who went to the cellars, I have, of course, no further personal knowledge ; but it is reported that the inhabitants of Carlton were much startled near midnight by sundry wild whoops and Baccha-nalian students' songs, a statement, however, hardly credible.

16 THE SPECULUM. NOVEMBER, 1888.

And now, after reviewing all the circumstances of the case, the thought naturally strikes one, what was the advantage expected from this procession business, for there must have been some benefit expected to accrue therefrom ?

The main desire at the bottom of it all was, I think, to air the caps and gowns ; in other words, to impress on all the community, and especially the ladies thereof, the fact that they were the proud possessors of University paraphernalia, and that they formed a distinct class from the Plebeians around them. I have no doubt that this would have been highly successful with the ladies, who, indeed, have been known to be smitten with a Salvation jersey, or a footman's calves, but for the fact that the male Plebeians made themselves so obtrusive that they quite obscured the poor students. It is of little use perhaps to worry these unfortunates any more, so I will not be so unkind as the Argus, which published the whole poem, which was specially composed for the occasion by some lofty-minded being ; and it would be of still less use to give any words of reproof or advice to them, since the writer might become the victim of a desperate attack by some aggra-vated youth. One pleasant thought arises, from the fact of there being not more than a dozen medicals in the procession, and these few had some excuse in being nearly all from the first year. Of course, by writing thus, I lay myself open to the charge of jealousy, since my cap was lost last Rustication Day, and my gown was so mangled on that same occasion that it is impossible to get enough bits to wear for such a grand enterprise ; and probably, even if it were not'so, the ladies would not feel much stirred. However, seriously believing that the last fiasco

of a students' procession will show to all the folly of continually dis-playing ourselves, a if "Youthful Rechabites," in a populous and mixed city like Melbourne, I have the greatest pleasure in allowing the veil to drop over those unhappy " cusses" and their "walk to the mighty fair" of 1888.

AMUSEMENTS IN VIENNA.

BY W. A. W.

Although the following description is hardly one for a medical paper, I daresay, Mr. Editor, you will excuse it, as many of your readers may some day participate in the amusements it is intended to describe :--

On first entering Vienna life, one naturally looks out for a suitable partner with whom to share the ups and downs of life.

After a little study three classes of men can be easily distinguished :

1. Those that always work and never amuse themselves. Most exemplary patterns, in one way, but otherwise hardly men to be admired, as I have generally found them to belong to the " great

NOVEMBER, 1888.j THE SPECULUM. 17

'unwashed." They are bad companions, as they can talk of nothing but work, and are often selfish in that. They are generally blue ribboners—seldom see a joke, and never make one.

2. Those that never work, but always think they are amusing them-selves. A class of men totally unknown in Melbourne, but found in Vienna. They are generally in debt, and often leave town suddenly.

3. Those that take various doses of work and enjoyment, and conse-quently take a pleasure in both. They follow Oliver Wendell Holmes' .advice :—

Run, if you like, but try to keep your breath ; Work like a man, but don't be worked to death.

It is to the amusement of this last class that I wish to confine myself.

The best time of the year to go to Vienna is in October, and to stay through the winter, when skating is, of course, the chief amusement. It generally begins spasmodically in November, and later on the con-tinued hard frost sets in, and may give ninety days' continual skating.

The announcement that skating has commenced at such and such a club is hailed with general exclamations of delight, and strings of people of all classes may be seen hurrying along, muffled up to their eyes, with their skates dangling over their shoulders.

The clubs are merely companies, who have a piece of level ground which they flood over every night with warm water, which, after it has frozen, leaves a smooth surface for next day.

Skating on ice is anything but cold work, for after half-an-hour's floundering about on the ice one gets very warm, and it is not the least -enjoyable part of the performance to adjourn to the adjacent bar and refresh oneself with their never-to-be-forgotten beer. It is always taken iced, as the flavour is spoilt when it is allowed to get warm, as it very soon does in their over-heated atmospheres.

The real enjoyment of skating does not begin till after dark, when the whole place is lit up with electric light. The band begins to play, the snow begins to fall, and fairy-like forms glide swiftly and silently past, at times running races to catch the snowflakes. But, alas ! the novice must go through an ordeal before he can participate in such pleasures, and if he comes home alive after the first, and with only an occipital scalp wound after the second day, he may consider himself lucky. Carnivals and fancy dress balls are often given, which render proceedings exceedingly lively.

Next to skating, music holds sway (excuse my taste), and the opera foremost in that. It generally begins about 6.30, and is over at 9.30, after which supper, beer, and smoking, with perhaps coffee and a German conversation at a neighbouring cafe, beguile the hour till mid-night.

For 2s. 6d. a very good seat may be obtained at the opera house, where Richter himself often conducts, and after a few months' training -an unmusical soul may even be schooled into sitting through one of Wagner's operas without going to sleep, If he is not so refined he can

adjourn to a musical cafe (9d. admission), and quaff his iced lager to the strains of a band of sixty performers, conducted by the immortal Johann Strauss.

On a lower scale still, there are other cafes where lady performers scrape inharmonious nothings in an atmosphere that can be cut with a knife, and a temperature little short of 100 degs. F. In these resorts there are other attractions besides the music. These cafes are generally crowded to excess, and as the occupants must pass suddenly into a .

temperature considerably below freezing point, it always seemed to me to be a significant factor in producing the skin diseases which are so very prevalent on the Continent.

The theatres are at present very poor, as the grand new one in place of the Ring Theatre (which was burnt down), is not yet completed. We often used to go more as a German lesson than anything else.

On one very jolly holiday we hired two-horsed " fiacres," and drove out to Klosterpenberg "to drink the new wine." This custom has been kept up from time immemorial, when a king presented a huge cask of wine to the poor people of both sexes every year, and they climbed up one side of it by a ladder, had their drink on the top, and slid down on the other side. The same barrel now exists, and the same custom, but unfortunately the wine is only doled out to those that pay.

New wine, although not very palatable, is exhilarating ; but you must be prepared to accept the inevitable headache next day.

The Continental Sunday is foreign to our ideas of propriety, and one-is apt to fall into the way of treating it much the same as any other day, the force of a general example being strong. Most of the best pieces are given at the opera on Sundays, and races and an extra amount of amusements are always provided for the public on that day..

PATHOLOGY NOTES.

By J. C. B.

Case 1.—An old patient, whose aorta was atheromatous, as also the coronary arteries, and the ill-nourished, soft, degenerated state of the walls of the base of the heart, illustrated the effects of this failure to comply with the "conditions of healthy nutrition." The chambers were dilated, with clots among the columnae, various pulmonary vessels-plugged with hemorrhages round, and there were infarcts in the kidneys. Besides • all this, on the interior margin of the liver were found two blood tumors, the size of small eggs, raised a little above the general surface, and dark purple. Of these, under the head of " Angioma," Professor A llen says that " Cavernous, spongy patches may occur during advanced life in the liver and other organs." They are not cancerous, and are found in healthy livers. They are naevoid in nature, formed by cavernous degeneration of the hepatic substance. A delicate reticular structure remains, like erectile tissue ; its spaces are lined with squamous epithelium and the venules are dilated.


NOVEMBER, 1888.3

THE SPECULUM. 19

Case 2.—The diaphragmatic line was well marked along the attach -ment to the ribs and cartilages, with expansion below the constricted part, a condition indicative of old-standing chest trouble—i.e., chronic bronchitis, with emphysema.

Case 3.—Liver again, that of a female, full of scirrhus, spread from the upper outer surface all through the organ in a score or so of nodules, soft and hard, implicating also omentum, spleen (but not pylorus), uterus and ovaries, one of which was a broken-down cyst ; kidneys free.

Case 4.—That of a woman ; cause of death not suspected. The lungs were studded with infarcts and abscesses, the heart showed marks of pericarditis, and its walls embolic patches of necrosis. There were numerous small infarcts in the kidneys. All was due to an intense septic condition of the uterus. An old ulcer, situated on the vaginal wall and one lip of the cervix had. caused this. Result was endometritis and metritis, plugging of veins and injection. This was a surgical case, and emphasised the need of isolation and observation of any such case which displayed suspicious temperature.

Case 5.—A head with two holes in it ; one a surgically enlarged wound for trepanning, the other a fresh opening to try and get at the mischief. But the clot, though large, had not been reached, for it lay inferiorly and posteriorly on the left side, and came from a posterior branch of the middle meningeal. In brain surgery, " if at first you

,dont succeed, try, try, try again." Case 6.—A gumma of the brain from the pia mater (the velum inter-

positum), pressing all round, giving well-marked head symptoms, and with the general signs not impossible to diagnose. It was about as large as the corpora quadrigemina.

Case 7.—Rather an interesting one, as showing how even the learned of those learned gentlemen" may err. The patient, a man of forty-three, had been in the wards since March 4th, and left on September 21st. He had been a labourer, and complained of pains about the abdomen, lower thorax, sacrum. Had been ill three months. The pains gradually spread; he lost appetite, weight, and strength. Heart and lungs good at first. Pains used to shoot to pubes, down his legs ; were felt in the sternum, and felt when erect, not when recumbent. Latterly cou3hing pained him, and pressure on the sides, and he had pains in feet and legs. Blisters had temporarily, for a fortnight, relieved the pains. Had always pain when moved. Near the end lie had been noticed to be broadening about the thorax. Various were the diagnoses and the suggestions, both during life and after, as to the cause of these pains, Lumbago, with a transitory renal congestion, said a knowing one others suspected aneurism or malignant disease somewhere. A. superficial necropsy revealed nothing to explain all this. The right lung was completely tied down by adhesions, and collapsed, the other normal enough, and the heart also. There was an old hydatid of the liver, as large as one's fist, done to death by some bile which had invaded it, and the kidneys were rather large and white,

20 THE SPECULUM. (NovEmBEB, 1888.

tending to contract. The ribs were noticed to fall out widely, and to fracture readily, but as the energetic necroscopist was too sceptic, in. spite of willing suggestions, to examine the spine, this was completed by Dr. Mollison, and he found that all the bodies of the vetebrae had their cancellous tissue completely replaced by a red, juicy substance, a few bony trabecuhu alone remaining in place, while in others even the shell of bone had gone, and left only thickened periosteum. This state of things had extended through the pelvic bones also, and all the ribs, and the sternum, so that a mere bony 8611 was left in each over the soft centre. The cord was not affected. The long bones were also free. Much discussion then ensued as to its nature. Under the microscope it showed small, round cells, in addition to blood and fat cells. Mollities ossium, or sarcoma Our pathologists, visible and invisible, say sarcoma, and it may be one of those mentioned by Dr. Coats as examples of cancer simulatina

6 mollities, the cancer elements

get+ing into the blood, and choosing the above sites for development by preference.

Case 6.—An old dysenteric intestine, showing the old ulcers healed and the general thickening, while after a patch or two of fairly normal intestine, there came lower down a new outbreak with recent mem-branes, sloughs still adherent, mucus and blood on the surfaces, and fresher ulcerations. In the kidney was found a large renal calculus. lying in the pelvis, a smaller one in another part of the pelvis, and, numerous small concretions in still another part. No abscess was found in the liver.

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THE SPECULUM. 21 NOVEMBER, 1888.]

RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER.

BY J. R. F.

A strong, healthy man, aged twenty-two, was admitted into the Hospital some time ago. Three days previously, whilst working at Yea, a rock weighing half a ton fell on him. On admission a compound fracture of the right humerus was discovered, and he also showed signs of abdominal injury. There was abdominal distension and tytnpanitis, and he suffered severely from pain in the hypogastric region and from vomiting. As he was unable to pass his water a catheter was intro-duced into his bladder, and the urine that was drawn off was satirated with blood. There was no marked collapse, the pulse was fair, and the temperature normal. During the next two days he remained some-what stationary, with the same abdominal symptoms slightly intensified, still vomiting, and the catheter only drawing off a small quantity of blood-stained urine. His pulse, however, was more rapid, and his tongue much drier. On the 3rd day laparotomy was peformed, and a .

fracture of the body and ascending ramus of the os pubis of left side detected. The bladder was found to be ruptured in its anterior aspect to the extent of two inches. The peritoneum had been pushed upwards by the escaped urine, which was occluded from that serous cavity. The bladder was drained by a supra-pubic drain-tube, and by a catheter. After the operation the patient gradually sank, and died on the 22nd.

The above case is one of a not uncommon class of injuries, which are interesting to us, both from the great fatality which attends them and from the peculiar differences of opinion as to their management .

Rupture of the bladder may be idiopathic or traumatic, intra-peritoneal or extra-peritoneal. Idiopathic rupture occurs when there is distension of the bladder due to obstruction to outflow of urine by stricture or

enlarged prostate ; but there must be previous disease of the bladder, as, for example, it may occur in a bladder which presents sacculi, or

which has suffered from cystitis, or from ulceration. Traumatic rupture is caused by receiving a blow or other injury in the hypogastric region when the bladder is distended, and so thinned Such a rupture is intra-peritoneal. A similar rupture may occur during labour, or as

a result of a fall on the back. The bladder may, however, be ruptured when not distended, as when connected with a fractured pelvis, or penetrating wounds of perinaeum or rectum, and such a rupture is extra-peritoneal. The rupture may be oblique, transverse, or vertical. The usual position for it is through the posterior wall of the bladder, extending backwards from the urachus for two or three inches. If the rupture is connected with a fractured pelvis, it will be the anterior surface of the bladder which is torn. The edges of the rent are uneven and swollen. Urine escapes through it either into peritoneal cavity or outside it, dependent on site of rupture. If the rupture is sub-peritoneal, then peritonitis is soon set up; but, according to Al cCormac,

not so soon as generally supposed, for he found no peritonitis in some


cases he operated on about twenty-four hours after the accident, If extra-peritoneal, the urine will escape into the areolar tissue on the anterior surface of the bladder, causing suppuration, as in case recorded. After the escape of urine, the bladder contracting, the mucous membrane tends to become everted and the wound valvular. Blood escapes from the rupture into the bladder, and sometimes con-siderably outside it. As in all abdominal injuries, little urine is secreted, and what passes along the ureters soon escapes through t he rent in the bladder. If the patient was not rendered unconscious by the accident, or was not inebriatrd (as is usual), he will give a history of feeling something give way about the bladder, then of intense abdominal or pelvic pain. He will desire to micturate frequently, but will be unable to do so as a rule. Generally he will be unable to walk or stand, and will suffer from collapse ; but McCormac records cases where, as in above cases, there was little, if any, real collapse, and where the patient walked some distance after the accident. On passing a catheter the bladder will be found contracted, and containing only a very little blood-stained urine. The end of the catheter may, however, pass through the rupture into the urine-containing cavity outside, and so a great quantity of blood-stained fluid be drawn off.

The flow of urine through the catheter is intermittent. Symptoms which now follow depend on the site of rupture. If it is sub-peritonea then the symptoms of peritonitis will be present ; the urine will float the intestines upwards, and will rest in the flanks, but sometimes it localises itself in front. If rupture is extra-peritoneal, the symptoms will be those of extravasation of urine, but outside the peritoneal cavity. The escaped urine sometimes forms a tumour in the hypogastric region. If no rupture can be detected by a catheter, the bladder may be injected, as if it is entire it will then form a tumour in the hypo-gastric region. The treatment has undergone great changes during the last few years. Constitutional treatment has utterly failed, and now treatment is mainly local, with the addition of opium and a spare diet. Some authorities advise the washing-out and drainage of the urine, containing cavity by means of catheter, passed through the rupture ; if this cannot be done, they advise " lateral cystotomy." Such treat-ment has been very unsuccessful, and has the great disadvantage of keeping the rent open when it is necessary that the bladder should be entire.

Rivington brought forward the performance of laparotomy as an aid to the treatment of the injury in the Lancet, An incision, several inches long, is made in midline of the abdomen, upwards from the pubes If no rent is discovered in the anterior surface of the bladder, the peritoneum is cut through, and the rest of the bladder examined. The peritoneal cavity should be washed out, and, according to McCormac, the rent in the bladder stitched up by sero-muscular sutures, so that the bladder can be distended by antiseptic solution to prove its entirety. If peritonitis is not present, no drainage tube necd be inserted into the abdominal mind. Some surgeons would now per-

NOVEMBER, 1888.]

THE SPECULUM. 0

form lateral cystotomy, and others would advise the retention of a catheter in the bladder to allow of drainage; but it is only necessary to pass a catheter frequently if the sutures have been tested, for then there is no danger of escape of urine through the rupture. Some -authorities assert that the difficulty of reaching the bladder so as to suture it is the great drawback to this supra-pubic operation, but its great upholders--Rivington, Bryant, and McCormac— anticipate no difficulty if a rectal tampon is used, and if the incisions in the peri-toneum are large enough. The progress depends on the time which elapses between the accident and the operation, which, if done without delay, should, according to its upholders, lessen the dreadful mortality of this injury hitherto.

PHARMACY NOTES.

The exhibits of the enterprising firm of Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome and Co. at the Centennial Exhibition, are situated immediately in front of the Commissioners officers in the British Court. The cases contain-ing the exhibits are themselves worthy of inspection. They were made in Calcutta, and stand 15ft. high. The wood closely resembles walnut, and, like similar Indian products, has been elaborately carved. On the shelves are placed a good selection of specialties, including sample bottles of terebene, compressed " tablets " and zymin " tabloids " The " tablets" are shown in great variety, and include, in addition to those which have become quite familiar to the trade, quinine, ipecac, and opium, bromide of ammonium, peptonic, saccharin, salol, etc. Effervescing citrate and hydro-bromate of caffeine are also shown in bulk. A very interesting exhibit is that of strophanthus and its preparations. The seeds are shown in a glass jar, and form in themselves a novelty which many may not yet have had an opportunity of seeing. The preparations, as manufactured and put up by the firm. include the tincture in bulk and in one-ounce bottles, and the "tabloids," which, favoured with chocolate, quite disguise the objectionable bitter taste of the drug. Those on the look out for the latest advances in pharmaceutical novelties will no doubt, be attracted to the new " tabloid " triturates. These are put up in tubes containing 25, and in bottles of 50 and 100, and are prepared by triturating the active ingredient with sugar of milk, the taste of the drug being thereby disguised. Lanolin, which is shown in a large globular glass jar will also attract attention. It is of a much lighter yellow colour than that usually met with, and its consistence is also all that could be desired, Amongst other of the firm's preparations we noted samples of pepsin in scales (Fairchild), terebene, Fellows' syrup, saccharin "tabloids" zymin, various "tabloids" for hypodermic use, etc. The " Livingstone,' " Stanley," " Gordon, -and " Colonial " medicine chests will all, no doubt, attract attention. Absorbent cotton, beef and iron wine (Burroughs), paper-fibre lint, cod liver oil (Kepler), chloride of ammonium inhaler, eucalytia (eucalypine),

24 • THE SPECULUM. NOVEMBER, 1888.

pure oil eucalyptus globulus, extract of malt (Kepler), Kepler solution (cod liver oil in extract of malt), syr. hypophos. comp. (Fellows), voice tabloids (cocaine, chlor., and borax), pepsin essence (elixoid of pepsin), " tabloids " and " tablets" of compressed drugs, valoid fluid extracts, are all shown, and the display made generally is one of the best in the Exhibition.

INTER-UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

The first inter-university eight-oared race held in the colonies was rowed on the Lower Yarra on Saturday, October 6, on a course extending from the eastern end of Humbug-reach to a level with No. 3 shed on the north wharf, and which is estimated to be about two miles and a half in length. The steamer Albatross followed the race, carrying a large number of passengers. The Sydney boat had the-north side of the river, Melbourne had the south and Adelaide the middle water. The Melbourne gradually drew ahead, and rowing with good form, had gained a length's lead from the Adelaide crew at the entrance to the new canal, and the Sydney representatives had fallen two lengths astern. At No. 14 Shed M'Culloch could see the Adelaide-boat three lengths behind him, and could afford to ease his crew a little. Again and again, Cox, of the Adelaide, spurted, but the only effect which the efforts had was to widen the gap between him and the Sydney boat. Near the gas works, No. 7, in the Sydney boat split his. blade. The winning-post was reached by the Melbourne crew in 13min. 5sec. ; the Adelaide crew, rowing determinedly, were four lenghts behind, and Sydney crew about six lengths behind them. The crews were as-

follows :-

Melbourne.-J. K. Jackson, lOst.; A Jenkins, 10st. 121b.; R. S. Thomson, 10st. 41b.; B. Langton, list.; W. Robb. list. 101b.; S. F. Mann, list. 101b.; A. Christey, 10st.; S. M'Culloch (stroke), 12st.; E. Bray, (cox), 8st. 51b. 1

Adelaide.-W. F. Bonin, 10st. 61b.; W. P. Wooldridge, 10st.; R. W. Henning, list. 41b.; R. W. Chapman, 12st. 31b.; B. Cox, 13st. 61b.; W. R. Bayly, list : R. V. Oldham, list. 101b.; A. P. Cox (stroke), list. 91b.; E. W. Hawker,

Sydney.-W. Rolin, 10st. 21b.•' A. Thomson, 9st. 81b.; M. J. Brown,; A. Hale,

list. 71b.; W. C. Belbridge, 12st.; C. W. Schrader, 12st.; V. B. M‘Dermott, 10st. 1011;.; E. H. Wilkinson (stroke), list. 41b.; G. F. Evans (cox), 9st. 31b. 3

In the evening the visitors were entertained at dinner, by the Mel-bourne students, at Parer's Café.

ANNUAL SPORTS OF THE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.

The annual sports of the University Athletic Association were held on September 15, on the University Cricket-ground in the presence of a .

large and fashionable attendance. The various events were well


contested, there being close finishes for most of the races. The Steeplechase and Obstacle Race, in which the water-jump was included, in particular caused great amusement. The highest number of points in the Champion events was gained by Mr. R. K. Bird ; Mr. H. W. Tisdall and Mr. J. H. King, tieing for second place. The following is a list of the events :—

CHAMPION EVENTS.

100 yds.—First, R. K. Bird; second, J. L. Nolan ; third, T. Kennedy. lOisec.

Hurdle Race, 120yds.—First, R. K. Bird; second, J. H. King; third, EL W. Tisdall. 19 1-5sec.

440 yds.—First, R. K. Bird; second, J. Michie; third, H. W. Tisdall, 56 1-5sec.

880 yds.—First, J. Michie; second, D. Doolan; third, H. W. Tisdall. 2min. 16sec.

7.. Three Mile Running.—First, G. M. Teague; second, L. Davies; third, H. W. Tisdall. 20min. 27sec.

Long Jump.—First. J. H. King; second, H. W. Tisdall; third, J. Wilson. 17ft.

High Jump.—First H. W. Tisdall and A. D. Graham (tie); third, J. H. King. 5ft. 4in.

Vaulting with the Pole.—First, J. H. King; second, C. Seal; third, A. D. Graham. 9ft. 9in.

Putting the Weight, 17i1b.—First, A. E. Syme; second, R. K. Bird; third, E. S. Clare. 34ft.

Throwing the Hammer, 161b.—First, R. K. Bird; second, J. Bell ; third, H. Mau. 70ft.

Final Result.—R. K. Bird, 23 points; second, H. W. Tisdall and J. H. King, 15 points.

University Handicap.—First Event, 100 yds.—First, Nolan, 3 yds; second, Joyce, 5 yds; third, Champion, 4 yds. llsec. Second Event, 300 yds.—First, C. Kennedy, 15 yds; second Joyce 15 yds; third, Nolan, 12 yds. 34 sec. Third Event, 440 yds—First, C. Kennedy, 20 yds; second, Darvall, 18 yds; third, Nolan, 18 yds. 52 3-5 sec. Final Result—First C. Kennedy, 10 points; Second, Nolan, 9 points; third Joyce, 6 points.

Schools Race.—First Event. 100 yds—First, Turner; second, Gillett; third, Stewart 11 1-5sec. Second Event, 120 yds. hurdles—First, Gillespie; second, Stewart; third, Turner. 21sec. Third Event, 440 yds.—First, Turner; second, Stewart; third, Turner. 57 2-5sec. Final Result—First, Turner (Camberwell G•S•), 12 points ; second, Stewart (Brighton G.S.), 7 points; third, GilleA (C.E.G.S), Geelong), 6 points.

College Race, 200 yds.—First, T. Kennedy (Ormond); second, Ed. Champion (Trinity); third, R. Molesworth (Trinity). 22sec.

Office-bearers' Race, 100 yds—First E. Champion, 5 yds; second, J. Michil, scratch; third, T. Kennedy 4 yds. 11 4-5sec.

Hurdle Race, 120 yds.—First Heat—First, F. G. Chomley, 10 yds; second, Jackson, 4 yds; third Troup, 6yds. 20sec. Second Heat—First, Gleeson, 3yds; second, Nolan, 2 yds; third, E. McArthur, 7 yds. 20 3-5sec. Third Heat—First, Crosby, 2 yds; second, Harrison, 3 yds; third, J. Bell, 6 yds. Final Beat—First, Chomley; second, Gleeson; third, Jackson. 18 4-5sec.

Steeplechase, 600 yds.—First, Jackson, 20 yds.; second, T. Kennedy, 20 yds.

third, Gleeson, 10 yds.


f

0

t

0

g ti

fc

tl ti

Mile Running.—First, Buntine, 80 yds.; second, L. Davies, 50 yds. 4min. 57 3-5sec.

Mile Walking.—First, Hopkins, 70 yds.; second, P. Godfrey, 100 yds.; third, Toohey, 100 yds.

Sack Race.—First, C. W. Baird; second, Robinson; third, Michie. Obstacle Race.—First, W. Jermyn; second, Vance. Barrel! Race (Blindfold).—First, C. W. Baird; second, W. Kenny. Stilt Race.—First, Vance; second, Pebbles; third, Jamieson. Kangaroo Race.—First, Mau; second, Woinarski. Throwing the Lacrosse Ball.—First H. L. Murray; second, W. Kenny. Throwing the Cricket Ball. —First, H. M. Agg; second, W. Kenny; third, J.

H. King.

Kicking the Football.—First, H. Francis; second, R. E. 1Shuter; third, J. Bainbridge.

LAWN TENNIS.

The tennis season has now closed, as regards the University club. Four of our players were picked to practise for the intercolonial team, but owing to the match coming at the end of the term they will not all be able to take part in it. The senior four have been successful in winning the first class trophies, with about one hundred points to 0 spare. The second and third class trophies have been won by the Ormond College teams, so that we may confidently expect that the OE place of some of our best players, who are leaving at the end of the year, will be worthily filled. The annual tournament was brought to a successful close, although entries were not as numerous, as the value of the prizes offered warranted. The championship was won by A. G. Colquhoun, who, with 0. Balfour, was also successful in winning the double-handed handicap. R. E. Shuter won the single handicap the final set being played with J. L. Thompson. who took the second prize. Some of the sets, which were vantage sets, were very evenly contested, one going to 15-13 and another to 11-9. The ladies tournament,

it resulted in Miss Stawell being first and Miss Roberts second. We close by expressing most cordial wishes for the success of our players in the intercolonial matches. he

SPICUL A.

A library of general literature has been founded in connection with the Medical Students' Society, which has now secured a room in the Medical School. Donations of books, etc., will be gratefully accepted by the Secretary,

cl 11 of ei

NOVEMBER, 1888.3 THE SPECULUM. 27

We did not know that John the Baptist was an Australian Native, but in the Australian Birthday Book and Souvenir we find the following on the 29th August :—" Born—John William Springthorpe, A•A., KB., Ch.B.. Melb., M.R.C.P., Lond."

And on the same day :—" Died—St. John the Baptist (beheaded)."

India is the land of princely fees. Dr. Freyer, a brother of one of our students, recently attended a sick Nabob, who on his recovery sent the Dr. several elephants and a lac of rupees (X10,000).

Dr. Balls-Headley, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of England. He is the first of our Physicians to have gained this distinction. Some years back a similar honour was offered to Professor Halford, but the Professor never went thro' the necessary formalities.

Napthine writes out that the one bright social spot in Edinburgh is the Australasian Club. Nap has passed the first examination for the triple.

Dr. Sutton has 11 beds, and 7 patients in the Muttaburra Hospital

Frank Cole starts practice in Lygon Street, after his marriage.

H. R. Stawell, has gone to the Childrens' Hospital. Liddle takes his place at the Melbourne.

Cooley Kinder, and Sandford have set up together in East Brunswick.

Dr. Beaney entertained the surgical dressers at a Dinner on the 4th October. A sparkling affair, from the champagne to the chansons.

Tup Scott was married recently; Dr. T. E. Ick, preformed the ceremony.

Our old friend Jimmy Booth has gone into double harness.

J. F. McAllister is Med. Sup. of the Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.

Dr. Murray Gibbs has not met with such success in treating Victorian Diphtheria as with the N.Z. variety. He blames the local eucalyptus

e out in this case he is barking up the wrong tree.

The Board of Health complains that the Town Clerk is rude to them They have yet to deal with a ladies committee. Fitzgibbon is suavity itself, by comparison.

Is it true that 'Scute Shields is in Melbourne' If so, why has'nt he been to see usl

Deravin has started in Kerang.

The usual " Social Evening" of the M.S.S. was held on the last night of the second term at Parer's Café. Dr. Moloney ably filled the chair. A very pleasant evening was spent. Several old friends were heard with renewed pleasure and others whom we had not the pleasure of hearing before, appeared on the programme. Dr. C. Ryan was enthusiastically recorded for his stirring song. Mr. J. Doolan's comic

efforts were really "immense." Mr. Barrett made a spirited debut as a comic singer. Want of space prevents mention being made of all who deserve it, but it must be said that Mr. Symons, if possible, excelled ]hirnse I f.

A gentleman sends the following list of questons, as correct tips :-

Fractures.—What would you do if a sudden gust of wind broke two of the ribs of your Sunday umbrella 7

What is the difference between the smaller arm-sling and a good-sized gin-sling 7

Incised Wounds.—Describe the results of a direct cut by your partner of the previous evening.

Alcoholic Poisoning. —If you found an individual " intoxicated by the exuberance of his own verbosity," would you give White House and Battery ?

If a man complained of cephalalgia, and you had reason to suspect champagne, what would you do 7 Would you ask where he had been, eh,1

Poisoning by acid.—In case of an overdose of claret, name best antidote.

Excessive Hemorrhage.—Name the chief danger of a stitch in the side.

Foreign Bodies in the Eye.—Whilst improvising a stretcher you happen to put one of the two stout poles into the other bearer's eye; how would you get it out again?

If you have to swallow an insult, how is most easily done?

If you meet a friend in the street in an alarming state of impecuniosity , how would you treat him with a view to affording him relief ?

We cannot congraulate the Committee of the Women's Hospital on much success in framing rules " For the guidance of Students. Such an impossible set of rules would be hard to find out of an inebriate _asylum, or private madhouse. Some alterations in the wording of the most impracticable of the rules have already been obtained, but there are still some changes necessary, before the rules can be regarded as at all satisfactory. The students quarters in the new buildings are a great improvement on the old rooms, but the fee demanded entitles students to some further consideration.

It is pleasant to be able to state that Dr. Balls-Headley has delivered some interesting clinics on the diseases of women.

Senior students have fared well in the matter of Operative Surgery this year. In addition to the demonstrations given by Mr. Girdlestone, the lecturer on Surgery, there have also been demonstrations given by Dr. Beaney, Mr. Webb, and Mr. F. D. Bird.

The Speculum tip for the Caulfield Cup is Chicago. On the receipt -of twelve stamps we will divulge the winner of the Melbourne Cup.



UNIVERSITY CRICKET.

" STUMPS."

The Annual General Meeting of the U.C.C. was held at Young and Jackson's, on Thursday evening, September 6th, and as but a score or so of men were present to hear the report of last season, they may just as well get the substance of the report in this paper. The hon. sec., Mr. R Champion, in this, the fourth annual report, set forth that the club held the second position on the Cup list, being defeated by Mel-bourne ; that in the Inter-University match at Sydney, our team had been beaten, and some deserved strictures were passed on the way the first eleven members supported this team. Mann had made 110 in the match, the club's only century. Eight matches had been played, four won, one lost, three drawn (he might have added, luckily.) The batting had not been brilliant ; the colts wild. J. W. Trumble had the batting average, 37.3 for 7 innings ; A. G. Roberts next, 27.6 for 9. In bowling, Trumble, 27 wickets for 9.16 per wicket, and Browne, 26 at 9.96 per wicket, but the want of a change bowler was lamented. The records of second eleven lost thro' carelessness. Mr. Trumble would be lost this season, but Mr. Goldsmith in great form after his continued and painful illness. Members were finally besought to see that they paid the annual subscription before November 9th, and warned that none but paid up members would be allowed or play or practice. The election of office-bearers, &c., was then proceeded with, and there were elected as committee, Messrs. Goldsmith, Langlands, Baird, Quirk, Freeman, Roberts, Cussen, Browne, Champion, and shortly after the meeting terminated, after honoring the president's toast. Mr. J. Toohey, Ormond College, was appointed Hon. Sec., and Mr. J. C. Baird, Hon. Treasurer, and a Match Committee of Messrs. Freeman, Goldsmith and Champion. A second eleven committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Quirk, Brooks, Langlands, Baird and Officer, Mr. Quirk being hon. sec., and Messrs. Baird, Langlands and Quirk, Match Committee. This report we might consider satisfactory enough, the club holding a good position, though not winning the cup ; in fact, it is doubtful very much whether cups are an unmixed good for 'cricket ; they do not seem to rouse the public to any further interest, and on clubs and teams their influence is not at all beneficial, any

•expedient is resorted to in order to strengthen the cup team, members are hardly enough considered and their claims to be represented in their club team. At this annual meeting one member suggested that a. member's ticket to be sent to each public school each year, both as a. courtesy and because other clubs did this, and that it might in some way bind the affections of school-men to the U.C.C.—but he forgot or 'choose to ignore the fact that our membership has different conditions to any other club—and herein is our peculiar pride, while these school Players are all eligible as soon as they can satisfy matriculation standards, he may leave the question of courtesy out for a time; it is rather a thin

30 THE SPECULUM. [NOVEMBER, 1888

veiling of an attempt to break through a fundamental rule. The real object seemed to be that this, if allowed, would render a very fine cricketer and a most unlikely future student eligible for the U.C.C. team, to the exclusion of other members, who had fulfilled the require-ments of matric., and not yet quite up to this player's attainments in cricket. if once allowed, little breaches such as this would make a bona-fide University team almost an impossibility, and we would lose the standing we certainly have among other clubs, and the only set-off to this and the disgust of members who can find no place in their own team, would be a cup won by the assistance of professionals and imported men. Our selection is wide enough to give good results, surely, "any matriculated student" ? Perhaps the wildness of the colts referred to in the report might be explained by what had seemed to be the policy of the selection committee, viz :—to pass over the second eleven players and fill the places with men who either would not or could not play in that team. One might excuse them on the ground that they never saw any of the members play in match or practice, or that they did not want to break up the fellowship, but it seemed rather like ignoring them, or treating them as a separate section of the club. A happy accident might or did give one new player to the first team. This style of things is not encouraging to men to pay up or play and work generally, and display carefullness in keeping records which are of no weight with the selectors. They lament the want of a change bowler, and omit any mention of Savaas, who was thought highly of by Tom Garrett—if he knew anything. Members should pay up, quam citisainte, old and new both, and it would not be a bad idea to limit the chosen players to paid up members. Those who play as members during a season, ought certainly to wipe off its arrears of subs. before they are recognised again as eligible, then, if they don't approve of the management of affairs and think they don't get a show for their money, let them gather in strength at our meetings and do their best to gain their ends.

The small section of members deserve special notice, men who will not condescend to play in the second, nor answer summonses to play in it, when their style and performances do not always seem to warrant the presumption. Some are hasty ir. despairing of a chance, others deserve to be sent to Coventry in some manner till they come to their senses.

Such men and others who promise and then fail their tryst, are the cause of the non-success of our unfortunate second eleven. We have plenty of fit players, but they can't be depended on, either for a match or for a season. Thus, instead of two or three elevens, we cannot keep even one second afloat. And what would be thought in other clubs, of the man who was entrusted with the management of a team, and yet who coolly disappears for weeks without warning given, or provision made for his absence, and lets affairs go to the dogs entirely ! Little wonder the engagements made could not often be kept.

NOVEMBER, 1888.1 THE SPECULUM. 31

Some there are, old " shop men," who, after graduating and severing actual connection with the shop, give our clubs the go-by, and tell us we cannot offer the conveniences and good all round arrangements for play, &e., that other clubs do. The bigger the club the more proud they are to belong to it and share in its glory, but they do not feel equal to aiding the University to build up clubs as strong and famous as those of Oxford and Cambridge. Such men never lived in those places, or such clubs had never have come to the front. Why should not graduates in Arts, Law, Medicine, &c., remain connected with the U.A. A. and its club, and keep up a pleasant and profitable rivalry between the past and present, instead of gathering in a ragged manner and spasmodically for a match now and again ? Absit ista impietas! Support your Alma Mater, get others to join you, and soon you need not be ashamed to be known as "'Varsity" men.

If those joining the club are thorough lovers of the game and amateur cricketers, we can soon overcome the feeling against the second eleven, and soon find that instead of two or three men short regularly in that team, there are men and to spare to fill the places.

The powers that be are occupied nowadays only in filling up the hours of sunlight with lectures and such things ; in days of old this was not so, and under less favourable circumstances, old 'Varsity boys, Arts and Meds, alike, managed to keep sports going, and going lively. Could not we obtain a Tuesday half-holiday out of all our engagements, and thus get a chance for a large section of our athletes to engage in a solid afternoons cricket, football, or whatever is going ? So mote it be I A Sydney 'Varsity team come to visit us this season—we want to beat them and help them to enjoy their beating. We want members, good and bad, we want members all to do their best in the cricket and cash to make our visitors welcome ; to that end we want the best form our men can show, as big a bank credit as members can manage by their (mil subscriptions, and donations from well wishers, and every one, great and small, is earnestly requested to aid his club in this matter, any member of committee will receive donations. To all those who intend to make cricket their summer pastime, one might suggest the use of bats of their own;—they exercise a reflex influence on cricket—one plays oftener, more carefully, and with much more appreciation of himself than if he were using some practise handle, with splinters and chips for a blade, and he does not smash the clubs bats either—he lets the learners do that.

Our season will have started ere this comes out. The prospects seem good, with an energetic and enthusiastic secretary, and some hope of members increasing. The ground is in good order, thanks to the real hard graft done by your curator, who makes up in diligence what he

lacks in skill of hand. There is plenty of practice, some of which would be much better if better directed, and if the energy is kept up our teams can do very much better than last season, and I wish most heartily they may.

32 THE SPECULUM. (Novemma, 1888.

OUR PRIVATE CASUALTY COLUMN.

(We print this because we wish to call attention to the fact that any effort to put down railway door-slamming, finger-crushing, etc., must, if successful (a doubtful possibility), necessarily deprive the profession of a considerable source of income.—ED. Speculum.)

A SONG OF PRAISE.

To A DEFUNCT HERO.

Wake, wake, my pen, a stirring song, Abandon lower game,

And sing the praise of Porter Smith And how he won his fame.

In railway-porters' deepest hearts He held the inner pith,

For " none could slam a door as hard" As Railway-porter Smith.

No man of intellect was he, No beauty could he boast,

But when he nipped your ticket through, He nipped your finger most.

And none could grab a lady's arm And jerk her back forthwith,

With yell of, "Where's your ticket, marm.?" Like Railway-Porter Smith.

Oh ! how the porters worshipped him, His manner was so deft,

They loved to see him close the gates Before the train had left.

The rules said, " Courtesy observe !" Rules were to him a myth ;

He never troubled over rules, Did Railway-Porter Smith.

One day he bared his brawny arm, His biceps to display,

And traffic managers gathered round And shouted "Hip ! Hurray ! !"

Impelled by this, he swore that he Could stop a train therewith ;

So he stood upon the railway line Did Railway-Porter Smith.

A snort came from the locomo., A sniff from Smith there came ;

There came a scream, a smudged wheel - A. funeral there came,


And Nicodemus, overjoyed, Sacked Cerberus forthwith,

He's taking tickets elsewhere now, Is Railway Porter Smith.

Moral.

Now, railway porters, all take heed, And learn this from my tale,

In blatant imbecility And insult, never fail ;

Jam little babies heads with doors, Heed not their kin nor kith,

And they'll give you lots of billets there With Railway Porter Smith.

(The following selection was recently found on the floor of the dead house. If any one of the late occupants cares to indentify it, we shall be very happy to have him re-interred at his own expense) :--

LAY BY AN " AUSTRALIAN POET."

(Not included in Sladen's Collection.)

Mad when the murmuring moonlight smiles on the manifold ocean, Silly where softly the sheen of the sunlight casts shadows around him, The poet doth promenade proudly, and prance on the brink of the

billow. Never, with nurture serener, were nourished the poets of old time ; Never, where poets of Greece have beholden their high-toned visions ;

ever was poet primeval, more active .or agile, athletic, Than the poet who pranceth at Queenscliff, here on the shore billow-

bordered. Ileedeth he not how the foam, laughter-loving, his trousers have wetted, Nor how the daughters of Nereus have borne his hat out on the

wavelets. He calleth aloud on the porpoises, also the rock-cod and herrings • Also the sharks and the flatheads, yea, e'en on the octopods «! I, alone, am immortal I I, Sladen, the rhymer, have said it !

Shakespeare, the other, is dead, and Sladen, the I, alone liveth.,,

Then he left in a " stately mail steamship" to edit Australian poets, -and he edited them and himself, too, and Australia blushed like a

lobster.

Queenscliff, 1881.

THE SPECULUM. [IslovEntsmi, 1888.

CORRESPONDENCE.

AN EPISODE OF HOSPITAL LIFE.

" Place aux dames."

To the Editor of The Speculum.

SIR—During my residence at a suburban hospital I was one morning, after a sleepless night, giving tired Nature a rest in the usual orthodox fashion. Sitting on one chair in the front of the fire, with my pedal extremities on cnother chair, I held the Sword of Damocles in my left hand, and the peaceful Calumet in my right.

I was in this happy condition, when —

" Suddenly there came a tapping as of someone Gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

And thinking that some of my ravenous, or possibly thirstier, friends, had come to see me, I languidly, but without effect, invited them to enter. I then politely, in a voice of thunder, repeated the invitation, "Come in !"

The door opened, and three committee ladies, as I subsequently dis-covered them to be, entered the room.

" Who am I that from the centre Of your glory ye should enter This poor cell, my guests to be ?"

Surprised at the visit, I arose, relinquished the Calumet, and bowed my good morning.

My salutation was—well, I believe it was—returned, and I stood waiting to have the object of this visit explained. With that remark-able self-complacency, however, which distinguishes " ladies in office" —with that demeanour which indicates that the fate of the universe hangs on their existence--my visitors, ignoring the presence of the occupant of the room, began, without the slightest apology, to take an inventory of the furniture—" There are the shelves," " And there is the table," " And there," &c., &c-

Seeing myself such an unconsidered trifle in my own room, I slowly and sadly relapsed into my original position, reflecting that, even as the smoke curled upwards, the age of Communism had set in, that payment for property does not mean possession, and that politeness and courtesy had "melted into thin air."

My pessimistic musings were interrupted by, "Sorry to cause you so much trouble ;" and as my visitors, deputation-like, filed out, I inclined my head, and in my most dulcet tones replied, "Oh, don't mention it." And altogether the visit was a most enjoyable one.

But as my stay there. came to a close, and gradually became : a thing that was, arid is no longer, and as my twenty cases faded away like a beautiful dream, did they, did those ladies visit me again I-" Nevermore !"

Yours, &c., L. J.


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

" Annus Secundus."—Your subscription to Speculum is long overdue.

" F. E. W.," " H. Skald," " R. W. II."—Thanks for contributions.

Held over with other interesting matter till next issue.

RECEIVED.—Australian Medical Journal, Australasian Medical Gazette, Educational Circular (Irving and McLeod, Nicholson Chambers, Swanston-street).

DEATHS.

We regret to have to record the death of Professor Andrew, who died near Aden, on the 18th September, of heat apoplexy, and was buried at sea. He had been in ill-health for some time, and having obtained leave of absence, sailed for England by the R.M.S. Massilia, leaving Melbourne on the 24th August. The deceased gentleman, although only 44 years of age, had for many years been a prominent figure in educational matters in Victoria. He was educated at the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, and afterwards at the Melbourne University, where he graduated in 1863, after an exceptionally brilliant course. He afterwards went to Cambridge, and in 1872, graduated as 27th Wrangler. After returning to Victoria he succeeded Professor Irving as head master of Wesley College. On the death of Mr. F. J. Pirani, Mr. Andrew was appointed lecturer on Natural Philosopy in the Melbourne University, and in 1883 he was made Professor of Natural Philosophy. He took a great interest in athletics, and was President of the University Cricket Club and Captain of the University Militia.

On the 6th September, at the residence of his brother, at York-street, Yarraville, Thomas Gray. Aetat, twenty.

It is with extreme regret that we record the untimely death of one who was amongst us but a few short months ago. On the 6th of September, Thomas Gray, at the early age of twenty, succumbed to an attack of phthisis, which had lasted little more than a year. He had reached the third year of his medical course before the insidious disease manifested itself, and he will long be remembered for the bright and genial nature which endeared him to his fellow-students. By his ability and personal qualities he was well fitted to have praticed his chosen profession with success, had death spared him.

".••••■■

36 THE SPECULUM. [NOVEMBER, 1888

NOTICE.

All communications must be addressed to the Editor " Speculum," Melbourne Hospital.

The annual subscription to the " Speculum " is 4s. 6d. (including postage, or to students only, 3s.

The next number of this journal will be issued in January.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT, Medicine Chests and Portable Tabloids of Compressed

Drugs for Travellers, Explorers, Missionaries, Army and Ship Surgeons, and families. We have made a special study of the subject of Portable Medicines, and our efforts have been rewarded by the approval of every one we have supplied.

STANLEY'S MEDICINE CHEST.

From "Pall Mall Gazette,"

" London, January 28, 1887. " Apropos of Mr. H. M. Stanley's expedition, the Christian Commonwealth

says It is worth while to remark upon his careful preparation as regards details. When all his outfit has been fully studied, it will be seen where it is that Mr. Stanley is so successful. The other day we were shown the medicine chests which have been prepared for him by the well-known firm of Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., Snow Hill. Everything that is likely to be of use in fighting the diseases of a tropical country is contained in the chests, and along with each is a pamphlet, entitled " The Traveller's Medical Guide," and marked " H. M. Stanley." This pamphlet is covered with flexible leather, and is, therefore, thoroughly protected, while at the same time it is easily carried in the pocket.'

" We notice the well known American firm of London, Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., have been entrusted by H. M. Stanley with the carrying out of the entire articles of this wonderful chest and guide, and the entire production reflects credit on American Industry."

EXTRACT FROM "THE CONGO FREE STATE."

By. H. M. Stanley.

" 1f you are in absolute need of a tonic apply to a doctor, or to the simple rule of never during daylight taking more than loz. of any liquor or wine. Your best tonic would be 2 grains of Quinine as compressed in Tablets' by Burroughs & Wellcome, of Snow Hill Buildings, London. These chemists have prepared drugs which I can conscientiously recommend as adapted for tropical regions. They have prepared small doses in Tablets' of nearly every medicine that may be required, which may be taken without creating nausea, a valuable desideratum, as all will admit who have suffered from the foul nauseating smell of medicines as commonly prepared by druggists. If thirsty at a station or factory, prepare a glass of sherbet. If marching, drop a compressed " Tablet" of acidulous powder as prepared by these chemists in your cup of water."

*

" Obtain your medicine pure and well prepared. Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome will equip you with tropic medicines in chests or cases, with supplies to last you one month or ten years. They have sought the best medical advice, and really seem disposed to study the special needs of East, West, Central, Northern or Southern African traveller, soldi r, trader and missionary. I have informed them of a few diseases such as have fallen under my observation, and they have prepared such medicines as have been tried during the last seventeen years of my African experiences."

BURROUGHS, WELLCOME & Co., LONDON AND MELBOURNE,

Australian Representative, MR. W. STIEPPERSON.

MODERN THERAPEUTICS.

HAZELINE.

This drug is highly commended by the British Medical Association's Committee on Therapeuties. Hazeline, being prepared from the fl esh gt een twigs, contains all the valuable volatile principals of the plant Witch Hazel, and is much more uniform and reliable in its action than are the tinctures, fluid extracts, &c., prepared from the dried bark. and 11b.

PURE TEREBENE, (Burroughs.)

The immediate recognition of the value of this agent in winter cough has created a very large demand, and cheap Terebenes, possessing irritating and objectionable qualities, have been offered, and in Imlay instances have caused great disappointment to practitioners. The Pure Terebene (Burroughs). which we have introduced is free from all irritating properties and contamination, I oz., 2 oz. and 8 oz.

BISMUTH PREPARATIONS (Syrnes.)

Need no word of commendation from 'us ; the name of Mr. Symes is a sufficient guarantee of the quality of Material, and skill in manufacture.

ELIXOIDS.

Pleasant Form o/' Unpleasant Drugs. Elixoids are among the most elegant and palatable of modern pharmaceutical

preparations. In them the taste of the medicines, which is often of a very disagreeable character, is masked to a remarkable degree so that di ugs which are usually very difficult of administration are in this form readily taken by delicate patients.

VALOIDS.

Equivalent Liquid or Fluid Extracts, of Definite Standard Strength. Each pound of valoid represents the medicinal value of lib. of pure drug,

inclusive of alkaloid, resinoid, or other active principles. The drugs are first assayed, tested, or critically examined, those of inferior quality or deficient in amount of active principles being rejected, and those on'y employed which are of full standard strength. Our process of cold repercolation completely exhausts the drug of all medicinal properties, and the menstruum employed is such as to hold them permanently in solution and preserve them indefinitely in any climate. Valoids are the most convenient and reliable form of drug for the preparation of Tinctures, Syrups, Decoctions, Infusions, etc. Upon the labels of the Ilb. bottles are given formulre for the immediate manufacture of officinal and other standard preparations ; in every case the Valoid may be taken as representing the exact equivalent weight of the drug.

BURROUGHS, WELLCOME & CO., LONDON AND MELBOURNE.

Australian Representative - MR. W. SHEPPERSON.

PROGRESS IN PHARMACY,

Tabloids of Compressed Drugs.—Some of these Tabloids are intended for their local effect upon the throat, as Chlorate of Potash, &c., and are compressed very hard and dissolve very slowly, while some are for internal administration, as Quinine, Cathartic, &c., and are lightly compressed, and dissolve far more readily than pills, which are made, of course, with an excipient.

Tabloids of Compressed Chlorate of Potash.— Five grains in each. For Catarrh, weak voice, hoarseness, sore throat, laryngeal and bronchial affections, and ulcerative and other diseases of the mucous membrane of the mouth,

The Medical Press and Circular says . — " On account of their very small size one may be easily retained beneath the tongue while using the voice." Chlorate of Potash is an agent of acknowledged value in diptheritic sore throat, and inflammation of the mouth and throat induced by a depressed state of the system. It relieves hoarseness, and in many cases of fetid breath proves an efficient corrective.

A single Tablet placed in the mouth a few minutes before using the voice will remove any slight huskiness and irritation there may be, restore the normal secretions, and afford clearer and richer tones. Supplied in beautifully graven white metal boxes, with blue silk labels.

OUR

HYPODERMIC POCKET CASES Are described by a medical journal as a "powerful armoury" in fighting disease. Most valuable alkaloids are exhibited in exactly divided doses, and will dissolve immediately in a few drops of water. Greater exactness is obtained by the preparation of drugs in this form than would be possible by any other method. The small pocket cases in which they are supplied, with syringe, needles, mortar and pestal, &c., are now well known to the medical profession, most Of whom are provided with them.

The Burroughs Antidote Case Contains in a most compact form antidotes for nearly every known poison ready for immt diate use. It should be at hand in every hospital, and in fact, every medical man would do well to have one of these by him. Several of the most effectiN e antidotes are presented in the form of Hypodermic Tabloids.

PRICE - 60s• EACH

BURROUGHS, WELLCOME & CO., LONDON & MELBOURNE.

AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVE—Mr. W. SHEPPERSON,

rite wed (). Importers of Every Description of

ift.TIR_GICAL INSTRUMENTS & APPLIANCES, Microscopes, Galvanic Batteries, Chemical & Scientific Apparatus, &c.

SUPERIOR STUDENT'S MICROSCOPES. Beck's "Star" Monocular Microscope, with Rack and Pinion •

Coarse Adjustment, Iris Diaphragm, Double Mirror. Fine Aujustment by Screw, One Eye Piece, 1 inch and inch objective, in Case, £4 12s. 6d.

Beck's " Economic" Monocular Miscroscope, No. 264 C, with Rack and Pinion Coarse Adjustment, Fine Adjustment by Screw, Glass Stage of the best construction, with 1 inch and inch Object Glasses, Two Eye , Pieces, Concave and Plain Mirror. Side Condensing Lens, Diaphragm, Forceps, Pliers, Glass Slip with Ledge, in Mahogany Case, complete, £8 16s.

Particularsof various other Microscopes by English (L. French Makers on application. DISSECTING INSTRUMENTS.—Sets consisting of Six Scalpels, with Ebony Handles, Blow Pipe, Chain Hooks, Spring Forceps and Scissors, in Mahogany Case, 21s. set.

OSTEOLOGICAL PREPARATIONS. Skulls, variously articulated, at £4 10s., £1 17s. 6d., £2 5s., and in Seven

Sections, at £4 10s. each ; Glass Shades, 10s. extra. Skulls, disarticulated, £3. Half Skulls, Colored in Sections, £4 10s. each ; Glass shades, 10s. extra. Skulls Mounted in Sections, for Demonstration, under Glass Shades, £10 10s. Articulated Skeleton, complete, £10. Half Skeletons, in Box, £3 15s. each.

Catalogues may be obtained through any Retail Druggist.

ESTABLISHED 1849.

WM. FORD & CO., (GEO. SWIFT.)

PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTS, 011201esale tit etttiZpruggists, Dilebirat,Igcrtfs,

And Importers of

SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Elastic Stockings, Belts, Bandages, Trusses, Air an.: Water Beds, and

Appliances Generally for InvL id Z,,e.

65 Swanston St., Melbourne, (GEO. SWIFT.) Opposite the Town Halt

TRADE MARK.

Library Digitised Collections

Title:

Speculum 1888

Date:

1888

Persistent Link:

http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24136

File Description:

Speculum: issue 15, November 1888

Speculum : The Journal of the Melbourne Medical Students' Society ...

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