POLITICAL DOCTOR AND SHIP’S DOCTOR

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27920, 17 March 1956, Page 5

POLITICAL DOCTOR AND SHIP’S DOCTOR

Doctor in the Whips’ Room. By Sir Henry Morris-Jones. Robert Hale. 212 pp. My Duodenal Ulcer and I. By Dr. Stuart Morton. Christopher Johnson. 213 pp.

Readers will find much to interest them in these two autobiographies by doctors. Each falls into two clearlydefined parts. In the first part of Sir Henry Morris-Jones’s autobiography is told the story of a youngster in a Welsh village, of his medical studies at Glasgow, and of his career as a young practitioner. Included in this section is an account of experiences in the 1914-18 war. The second part tells the story of the writer’s career in British politics through the significant years from 1929 to 1950.

A Liberal in politics, Sir Henry Morris-Jones witnessed from the inside the break-up of the Liberal Party after the 1914-18 war. As a member of the section of the party which coalesced with the Conservatives, he won a place in the Whips’ Room during the 1935-39 Parliament, and from this point of vantage isome of his most interesting stories derive. He writes entertainingly also of experiences in the wartime Parliament in which he sat for a time on the front bench of the nominal Opposition. Sir Henty Morris-Jones composes informative sketches of four Prime Ministers known to him; understandingly, his best sketch is of a great fellow Welshman, David Lloyd George. A true son of Wales, Sir Henry Mor-ris-Jones writes informatively and affectionately about Welsh history, scenery, and culture. He supports the plaims of Wales to higher political status. A chapter is devoted to travel in several countries, but here the writer’s observations and judgment are rendered suspect by obvious errors. For instance, on page 178 he badly misspells the name of a famous Australian racecourse he visited, and he gives the impression of believing Adelaide to be in .Western Australia. A book that is well worth reading and which makes a useful contribution to knowledge of British politics in the between-the-war years ends with Some very human reflections on the subject of retirement and the span of life. Like Sir Henry Morris-Jones, the doctor who writes under the pseudonym of Stuart Morton, is a product of the medical school at Glasgow University. A well-qualified man with ample means, the author was stricken with a duodenal ulcer while still a young man. Injudicious speculation cost him his money, and when his stubborn ulcer prevented him from normal practice he thought of the sea for a livelihood. Most ship’s surgeons are doctors serving only short periods for experience, travel, or merely to save passage money. A doctor who has made a career of service at sea, naturally has a distinctive viewpoint on the marine doctor’s job; the opinions of a highly intelligent man about medical services at sea are well worth notice. The second part of Dr. Stuart Morton’s story will attract many readers to his book. It is about his particular duodenal ulcer and about ulcerated stomachs in general. The writer consulted the leading surgeons of the period and suffered the fashionable surgical treatment of the time, without avail. After the leading British authority of the time had told him nothing more could be done, Dr. Stuart Morton m desperation. visited the famous Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota. There he obtained real and permanent relief. Dr. Stuart Morton discusses his case frankly and analyses mistakes made in the treatment of his case. He answers clearly for the layman many questions about different types of ulcers, and he recommends diet for different types of ulcer subjects The style of both writers is rather mannered, but is neither forced nor false. Each, according to his light, tells a story worth telling, naturally and clearly.