An Editorial. [BY A PAIR OF UNDERSTUDIES.] Announcements; The Services; Royal Army Medical Corps; Appointments; Pass List JANUARY, 1901. The disappearance of our Editor-as complete as it is mysterious-has left us in a perfect quandary. Lo! Medusa without her head; Cyclops bereft of his eye; a ship in the night; shadow, where no light is. Still, what must be, must be. We leave this saddening disappearance to the surmise of our friends, and offer them no why, no where. If we did, what would he think on his return? 'The thoughts you cannot bind with brazen bands So let it be with Cæsar. Meanwhile the writing of an editorial to this month's GAZETTE devolves on us. Therefore, gentle reader, be not too harsh nor critical. Steel pens, like other things, "run oft agley." Why is it that at this season of the year, more than at any other, reason and foresight are scattered to the four corners of the earth-sense abandoned to make room for sensuousness? Is it physiological? Is it psychical? Is it moral?-this universal British trait. Call to mind the features of a physiologist. Will this defend it? The cold, calculating, hungry glare of such an one forbids it. It cannot be psychical. Roast beef and plum pudding are for the stomach, not the mind. It may be moral, but what is morality? Balfour says "Morality is more than a code of laws, than a catalogue raisonné of things to be done and left undone," and continues "it is hard to see on the naturalistic hypothesis. . . . why morality should be put PAGE II 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 14 Price 6d. Why should it, indeed? certes, we will not. Brillait Savarin-whose only claim to know lies in the fact of his having been an Ar gourmand-tells us that "gastronomy rules all life," and is almost reduced to tears over the degree of pleasure with which a dying man receives his last cooling drink, adding, apparently as an afterthought, "which, alas! he is unable to digest." Christmas is evidence that he is right. His creed is worthy of the respect of some, and we are quite sure that his feelings must have been badly hurt by this man's audacity in dying without consulting the wishes of his stomach. The impertinence of it! Christmas has once again come round and gone. Mankind, stuffed to the level of his molar teeth, pats his tight waistcoat and coarsely sighs. Christmas suits him to a T. He knows he did his duty on that day. Regrets come afterwards, and dog his tired sleep for many a week. In true British style he has over-fed himself on every dish that gluttony-educated to this purpose-can offer him; now gorged and sated, he remains a monument to other lands of "perfide Albion "'s greed. Thackeray challenges: "Drain we the cup" "Friend, art afraid?"; 66 Spirits are laid" "In the Red Sea "; "Mantle it up"; 66 Round the Old Tree." There's an insisting persuasiveness in the words that does not appeal in vain to En The disappearance of our Editor-as com- We leave this saddening disappearance to the surmise of our friends, and offer them no The thoughts you cannot bind with brazen bands So let it be with Cæsar. Meanwhile the writing of an editorial to Therefore, gentle reader, be not too harsh Why is it that at this season of the year, It cannot be psychical. Roast beef and plum pudding are for the stomach, not the mind. It may be moral, but what is mo- rality? Balfour says "Morality is more than a code of laws, than a catalogue raisonné of things to be done and left undone," and con- Why should it, indeed? certes, we will not. Brillait Savarin-whose only claim to know lies in the fact of his having been an AI gourmand-tells us that "gastronomy rules all life," and is almost reduced to tears over the degree of pleasure with which a dying man receives his last cooling drink, adding. apparently as an afterthought, "which, alas! Christmas is evidence that he is right. His creed is worthy of the respect of some, and we are quite sure that his feelings must have been badly hurt by this man's audacity in dying without consulting the wishes of Christmas has once again come round and gone. Mankind, stuffed to the level of his molar teeth, pats his tight waistcoat and coarsely sighs. Christmas suits him to a T. He knows he did his duty on that day. Regrets come afterwards, and dog his tired In true British style he has over-fed him- self on every dish that gluttony-educated to this purpose-can offer him; now gorged and sated, he remains a monument to other As a member of the Commission appointed to investigate this remarkable outbreak of poisoning, I have been requested to communicate to our Hospital GAZETTE a short account of the main symptoms exhibited by the sufferers. It must by this time be well known to all the readers of the GAZETTE that the cases of poisoning occurred only among beer drinkers and generally among those who consumed excessive quantities of beer. The contamination of the beer with notable quantities of arsenic was due to the presence of that poison in the glucose, or brewing sugar supplied by one particular firm, and its source of introduction into the sugar was the employment of an impure sulphuric acid in the conversion of the starch into sugar. It is possible that the epidemic had been occurring for some months; certainly for some time the medical men of Manchester had been puzzled by the number of somewhat peculiar cases of peripheral neuritis that came before them. On November 20th, 1900, and following days, Dr. Reynolds detected the presence of arsenic in several of the Manchester beers, which results were confirmed by Dr. Niven and Professor Delepine. It is known that at least 2,000 cases have occurred in connection with this epidemic, and there have been several deaths. In the great majority of cases the illness began with pains and loss of power in the feet, succeeded or preceded by tingling in the soles of the feet, and pains in the calves. In nearly all the cases the extreme tenderness of the calves was a very marked feature. A peculiar huskiness of the voice was also present in a large number of the patients. Amongst the common early symptoms were also tingling of and loss of sensation in the feet and hands, followed by loss of power and ataxy, with a peculiar stepping gait. Pigmentation was one of the marked symptoms amongst the dark-complexioned patients, but was only present to a very slight extent among the fair-complexioned individuals. It generally started as an erythema on the upper part of the chest, thence spreading to the face and hands. This normally occurs, but was also frequently present all over the body. In some cases the individual almost resembled a mulatto as regards the colour of the skin, whilst in others the resemblance to a case of Addison's disease was very marked. Of the other skin affections, keratosis of the feet, and occasionally of the hands, and erythromelalgia were met with. This last-mentioned symptom, which is of vaso-motor origin, consists of redness, slight swelling, and great tenderness along the outer and inner borders of the sole of the foot, and occasionally on the palmar surface of the hand. Although not uncommon in cases of arsenical neuritis, it is only very occasionally present in cases of alcoholic neuritis. Wasting of the calf muscles and of the interossei between the metacarpal bones was frequently marked. Running and irritation of the eyes was a fairly common symptom, but conjunctival redness was almost invariably absent. The kneejerks were absent in 64 per cent. of the cases. A silvery tongue was frequently present in the early stages, but had disappeared from most of the cases by the time I saw them. Gastro-intestinal symptoms were not very marked, and were probably more due to the chronic catarrh set up by the alcohol in the cases of the heavy drinkers than to the action of the arsenic, taken as it was in such an extremely diluted solution. The following table which I have drawn up is of interest as showing the relative occurrence of the different symptoms among the cases that I saw, and of which I personally obtained the histories :Pains in the feet in 91 per cent. of the cases Loss of power in the feet ❞ 91 Tingling of the feet Pain in the calves Husky voice ... ... 86 ... 86 86 82 ... ... |