September 22, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



381 



volume of moving air. By this method of 

 application of the fan there is no disturbance 

 of the " thermo-neural " equilibrium of the 

 body, and the writer has thus enjoyed the 

 luxury of a cool bed without stint, in the hot- 

 test weather, without any evil efPects. 



It is the hope that others may profit by the 

 above suggestion, that shall serve as an apol- 

 ogy for this communication. 



T. G. Dabney 



Clakksdale, Miss., 

 August 13, 1911 



blanding's turtle 



To THE Editor of Science: Mr. Howe's 

 note in Science of September 1, reporting the 

 capture of Blanding's turtle in Massachusetts, 

 reminds me that I should make a note of the 

 introduction of this turtle in Orange County, 

 New York. 



In 1909 I placed three pairs of Blanding's 

 turtle (Emys hlandingi) and three pairs of 

 the map turtle (Malacoclemmys geographica) 

 in Little Long Pond, near Southfields, Orange 

 County. Some naturalist may discover them 

 by and by, and it is desirable that a record be 

 made of their introduction. Both species 

 were collected in Erie County, Ohio. 



c. h. townsend 



New York Aquarium 



QUOTATIONS 



MEDICAL PRACTISE IN GREAT BRITAIN 



As every one knows, the lines of work pur- 

 sued by medical men vary greatly in different 

 cases. Of all medical students a large propor- 

 tion probably hope to develop into consultants 

 or specialists, but sooner or later they learn 

 that it is only to the few that a career of this 

 kind is practically open. Even after a brilliant 

 studentship success involves years of weary 

 waiting, during which not even a bare living 

 is made from practise; and, in fact, only 

 those who have private means can afford, as a 

 rule, to wait. Moreover, in every case the re- 

 sult is extremely uncertain, and one late out- 

 come of legislation now in progress may be 

 restriction of the field open to consultants 

 and specialists of independent mind. 



Despite, therefore, the apparent wealth of 

 choice, the average newly qualified man has 

 to elect between private general or family 

 practise and an official career. Most men 

 necessarily choose the former, if only for the 

 reason that the number of posts in the public 

 services is very limited. It is the more un- 

 fortunate, therefore, that the prospects of 

 private practise are inferior to what they used 

 to be. Complaints of lessened incomes and 

 increased expenses began, indeed to come in 

 a few years ago in such numbers that the sub- 

 ject was specially investigated by this Jour- 

 nal, and the results recorded in two articles 

 on " The Financial Prospects of Medicine," 

 which appeared in the British Medical Jour- 

 nal for June 12 and July 17, 1909. The net 

 outcome of those articles was to prove that 

 not only was the number of possible patients 

 less, but each one of those that remained 

 needed less medical attendance than formerly, 

 especially for the zymotic diseases, which used 

 to furnish so much work. In this connection 

 must be mentioned the decline in the birth- 

 rate, which not only affects the medical men 

 of this generation, but must seriously influ- 

 ence the prospects of those who may succeed 

 them. The counter-prescribing by chemists, 

 the enormous sale of quack remedies, the 

 growth of badly-paid club practise and of hos- 

 pital abuse, have all taken away from medical 

 men former paying patients. At the same 

 time the State has from time to time throvm 

 sundry unpaid duties on the shoulders of 

 medical men. 



The state has no conscience, but individual 

 members of the public often seem, in their 

 dealings with medical men, to have very little. 

 The newly-qualified practitioner often thinks 

 he is making a practise quickly, judging by 

 the number of patients that come to his sur- 

 gery, but too often he is disillusioned when he 

 sends out his bills. If he press for payment 

 before he is well established, the growth in his 

 practise soon ceases, and, what is still more 

 irritating, the very patients who had seemed 

 to regard him as an angel of mercy not infre- 

 quently spread charges of incompetence or 



