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Page 1: WOLVERHAMPTON POOR LAW UNION

267

friend of the author, professional or private, could wish to see the<’ Remarks" added to it? We cannot believe that their publicationhas the sanction of the highly respected physician to whom thispamphlet is dedicated. Recollect this is a work intended for the

public; it is issued, not from a medical publisher, but from apublisher of general literature, and is sold by booksellers in Bath,Bristol, Plymouth, and Devonport. Who can doubt the objectof Dr. Roe, in appending these remarks to his defence? Look atthe contents!

Our limits will not allow of our doing more than to glanceat some of the complaints of the womb, and we have thereforeselected those which are curable and most commonly met within practice.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.-On the Frequency of Complaints of the Womb. I,CHAPTER Il.-On Physical Examination in Complaints of

the Womb.CHAPTER III.&mdash;On the Local and General Symptoias of

Complaints of the Womb.CHAPTER IV. - own the Treatment of Complaints of the

Womb."

In the name of the profession, then, we strongly protest againstthe proceeding adopted by Dr. Roe. It is not to be justified on anyprinciple of professional ethics, and is more calculated to injurethe author in the eyes of his professional brethren, than anyinjury he could have sustained from the public by withholdingthis report of his trial from publication. The " remarks," too,are quite contemptible, when considered with reference to theirstrictly professional character.

New InventionsIN AID OF THE

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

DR. FITCH’S Patent Abdominal ’Mpp0}’6’.THIS is an invention, as its name implies, for the purpose of

giving external mechanical support to the lower part of theabdomen. It consists of an anterior pad, six inches by two and ahalf, which is connected with two steel springs that pass around andabove the crista ilii, and terminate posteriorly in four circular pads,which rest on the base of the sacrum. Two straps are attachedto these pads, so that the wearer can either lessen or increase thepressure. Dr. Fitch, who is an American, strongly recommendsit should be worn during and after pregnancy, and by femalessuffering from prolapsus uteri. It is an ingenious instrument,and is constructed upon correct anatomical principles.

WOLVERHAMPTON POOR LAW UNION.INFRINGEMENT OF THE RIGHTS OF POOR LAW MEDICAL OFFICERS.

THE Guardians present at the meeting of the Board onFriday week, were the Rev. J. B. Owen, and Messrs. J. Bald -win, G. N. Smith, J. Rowley, F. Cooper, J. Bradshaw, S.Griffiths, A. Thompson, R. Foster, W. K. Walker, H. Peplow,and W. Hobbins.

UNION TICKETS FOR THE HOSPITAL.

The following correspondence on this subject was read tothe Board :-

South Staffordshire Hospital, Wolverhampton, August 31, 1852.DEAR SIR,-The Directors of the South Staffordshire Hospital

have received a letter from Mr. W. Hancox, of which I sendyou a copy. The directors have no doubt that the subject willmeet with the attention of the Guardians, and perhaps youwill let us hear from you in due course.

Believe me to be, my dear sir, yours faithfully,GEORGE BRISCOE.

The Rev. J. B. Owen, Chairman of the Boardof Guardians of the Wolverhampton Union.

The letter referred to was the following :&mdash;

Bilston, August 25, 1852.

GBNTLE!m:N,&mdash;After much consideration, I am induced toaddress you on a matter deeply affecting the interests of the

medical profession. The Board of Guardians of the Wolver-hampton Union subscribe lOl. per annum to the South Staf-fordshire Hospital. The medical officers are entitled to bepaid for certain extra cases that occasionally occur, such asoperations, fracture, and dislocations. Now the Board ofGuardians, to relieve themselves from the payment of suchcases, have directed them to be sent to your hospital, therebydepriving the medical officer of the opportunity of treatingsuch casualties, and thus inflicting an injury upon him, not somuch in a pecuniary point of view, as by depriving him of themeans of extending his professional experience.

Surely your noble institution was never intended to ad-minister to such mean purposes. I therefore felt, if the sub-ject was properly brought under your notice, the grievancewould be at once redressed.

I enclose a note from the relieving officer, together withremarks from the Rev. J. B. Owen, illustrative of the con-tents of my communication.

I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,(Signed)

WILLIAM M. HANOOX.The Committee, South Staffordshire Hospital,

Wolverhampton.

WILLIAM M. HANCOX.

The inclosures were a certificate that it was necessary toamputate a finger of a young woman ; a request from therelieving officer, Mr. Johnson, to Mr. Fellows that an hospitalnote might be given, and a memorandum from the Rev. J. B.Owen, that an out-patient’s note would do, and that the girlmight return to the Union house.On the suggestion of the Rev. Chairman, the following

answer to the letter from Mr. Briscoe was adoptedBilston, September 1, 1852.

DEAR SiR,&mdash;The question of the propriety of our Guardiansusing their tickets for the hospital after they have paid forthem, seems to my mind a very simple one. The Poor LawCommissioners sanction the Guardians’ subscription, as alsothat use of such subscription which Mr. Hancox describes as" mean,"but which we think honest, inasmuch as if we subscribe101. 10.?. of the rate-payers’ money to the hospital, we arebound to use the tickets purchased at their cost to the bestadvantage for them. The Guardians subscribe 101. 1Os. ayear, which at the most could but give them aid for ten poorcases for the whole Union, whereas the total extra cases forthe Union average above 300, so that the medical men haveno reasonable ground of complaint, nor does the Board seeany for altering either their subscription or the purposes towhich it is applied.

In respect to the interests of the hospital, it will beobserved that the cases usually sent by the Guardians arenot such as involve surgical operations, which is not intendedas a rule, but as the exception, the cases sent being generallyof individuals not in the pauper class, but such as may beprevented becoming so, by timely medical aid more suitablyrendered by an hospital than by the parish ; operating morecommonly rather as a relief to the medical officers than as atrespass upon their contract: the law of the case being thatthe Guardians make no agreement necessarily to send everyextra case to the parish surgeon, but covenant to remuneratethem according to a certain scale of fees, in such cases asthey think it expedient to call in their aid.

I have been thus explicit in replying to the directors’ note ofthe 31st. ult., from motives of respect between your Board andours. The Guardians beg me to add, that they do not regretthe question having been raised, as it afforded them theopportunity of this explanation, but they request your Board,and the medical gentlemen of the Union, in so far as Mr.Hancox’s memorial may represent their views, to considerthe above as embodying our final decision upon the subject.

I am, dear sir,JOSEPH B. OWEN:JOSEPH B. OWEN.

CHOLERA.-The New Prussian Gazette continues togive the most alarming accounts of the devastation by cholerain Warsaw and Posen. It states that at Farecham, Schrim,Nainslau (Silesia), it is making the most frightful havoc. Itfurther states that at Tabreez it has assumed a most malignanttype ; that in Orooniya 3000 have died, and in an adjacent town60 have been carried off a-day. The Posen Gazette describes

cholera as making great progress amongst the military, andthat in Prussian Poland all public meetings and all military, displays have been suspended, in consequence of the terrific

spread of this destructive disease in the different cities, towns,and villages.