CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13089, 31 March 1903, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

TXJUV.U “ DIUNXS” KKKDED.

In tie general coated between licensed victuallers and Prohibitionists in. this country, a very important

phase of the alcohol problem is being overlooked. The Government was or.co moved to the aoporntnrent. of ic—sepectors, whoss duty it was to test samples of the beverages sold to customers by the hotels. What came of tlie experiment vre do not know, but it is quite certain that highly immature and impure beverages are still supplied to the public at many licensed houses. The “Medical Press” expresses the opinion that some of the worst effects of so-called alcoholic excess ought really to be ascribed to tho-quality of the liquor consumed. This is especially the also with epilepsy. It is at least strung® that in past times, when heavy drinking was very common among all classes of society, alcoholic epilepsy was seldom met with. More remarkable still. Southern Europe is very free from this type of the disease, which i» practically unknown in Spain and Italy. Even the gin-drinking Dutchman escapes it. In countries like these, the wines, beers and alcoholic drinks generally are not heavily taxed, and are, as a rule, the wholesome, well-matured products or grain, and grape. In Great Britain and Ireland, according to the “ Medical Press,” the very high duty ■ on alcohol is a direct incentive to the production of alcohols from potatoes, beetroot and treacle, and these raw distillates ara surreptitiously used by vendors, who mix them with their more wholesome stocks. - Nauseous flavours are disguised by various methods, and sometimes these raw spirits, sweetened and flavoured, are consumed by the public as brandies or liqueurs. In every shape they are simply lethal in their effects. The price of pure alcoholic drink in the Old Country is almost prohibitive, and the difij- . culty is met by the liberal use o£ doctored raw spirits, which are nothing but poisouu. The “ Medical Press ” advances these facts as arguments for the reduction of the duty on pure alcohol, and suggests that a puna drink of low alcoholic strength might be let off with a light duty. In this country, the advocates of pure liquor are hardly strong enough to carry so desirable a reform, and if high duties lead hero to “shebeening" and the poisoning of drinks, tire only remedy that is likely to be tolerated is the total abolition of all liquor, pure and impure alike. It is bv no means c!e&.

THE CO UNTIL OF DEFENCE. Council of

it is uy ivf Uliana c,ea. whnr is to b,--comc of the Imperial GoTetxtneat’s attempts to reorganise tbs Defence. IV cat tee Em-

piro ougth to hare is a strong and expert Intelligence Department of Imperial Defence, a body that ccu'd keep, in the closest touch with all the branches of the Intelligence &erv;cc t than would know at any time exactly the per,:hen with regard to defence in every quarter of the Empire. It needs, too, an enlightened policy and ike courage to cany that policy into effect. Hitherto this advisory committee, has not justified its existence, “The present Council of Defence, which is the only organ of * the higher policy of defence' in this country,'’ .‘aid the ‘‘ Times recently, “ the only authority we haw for coordinating, harmonising and satisfying, with due. regard to efficiency and economy, thr defensive requirements .of die Empire, is r very shadowy and intangible body. It ;• a mere Committee of the Cabin":. and a: such its proceedings are held to be as secret and as sacrosanct, as those of the Cabins! ’.itself. It keeps r.o minutes, and. as it spend no money, its proceedings cannot bl brought under the review and control o: Parliament by means of a discussion on tie Estimates. No one knows whoa it meets, or what it docs when it does meet. There are many who b-iicve that it very rcidoir meets, and certainly there is very little evidence of its proceedings in the defeasiva , policy of the Government. Nearly all that ia known about it if* that the Duke of Devonshire presides over it, apparently in ins capacity of President of the Council. But since the Duke’s famous r.ec’rratfcn in 1836 about sea-supremacy as-the fotmtlatjoa of Imperial defence, it might seem to have gone to sleep.” If that is really th« existing position, the- work of reform has baen token in hand not a minute ton soon. Tha nation can hardly complain of the inefficiency, want of intelliccnce ano extravagance of the lower branches of thft rorvioes when the highest authority on defence ia the Empire is so notoriously incompetent.

“ baht's.”

St Bartholomew’.*. Trhida is one of the great ho^sitaftl

of London, is in need of funds. It is an old foundation.. Heniy I. had a pious jester named Rarer, who fell ill. On his recovery he went to Roma to do penance, and going back to London ha ga.ve cifect to a sick-bed tow, end built a hospital in Smithfield. That was the origin" of “ Bart’s.” Henry VIII. laid greedy hands on the institution, hut ultimately surrendered it to the City of London, and it has served' the p topic faithfully ever since. It has been in the charge of some famous surgeons. The great Abernathy was appointed an assistant- in 1757. He was a man of few words, and these sot always' polite. A lady patient who complained of low spirits was advised to bay a skipping rope. Another explained, that whenever she held her arm above her head she felt a,pain. “Then what a fool yea must bo to hold it up!” was Abernsthy's reply. He did business during working hours only. It is recorded that the Duko of Wellington once burst in upen him curing his period of leisure. “Wed,” cold the great surgeon, coolly, “ how did you come in?” “By the door," replied ths Duke. “Then I would advise yea," added

Abernethy, “ to taka your departure by tho same way ” ; whereupon the crcstfalleJS Duko departed. But once tho iasperiow surgeon encountered an even more jasper* ious patient. This was a gentlenua wh».

' taring bis explanations cut short, sprang to tie door, locked it, put tie key in his pocket, and then calmly resumed the recital 5 of hig gymptoms. Abernethy, entirely delicited complimented. tie strenuous sufferer l on iis resolution, and straightway pn»scribed for Lis ailment, Percival Pott .was another surgeon of “ Barb’s.” Journey- ... ' fng one day/to see a patient he was |V thrown from his horse and received the fracture to which his name has been given. He was quite cool and collected, and when the bystanders would have lifted him from the road he ordered them off. He obtained a couple of chair poles, entered into treaty as he lay for the purchase of a door, had i the polea nailed to the door, and was home away on this litter. Another famous Bartholomew man was Thomas Wormald, who put a stop to the practice of wealthy patients obtaining cheap treatment at the .hospital. “Madam,” he said to wealthy lady, “ this charity is for the poor, destitute, miserable invalids of London. I refuse to pay attention to miserable, desti- ' tuio invalids who wear rich silk dresses. You had better order your carriage, madam.” .i