Modern Dermatology

Source: The British Medical Journal , Jan. 22, 1870, Vol. 1, No. 473 (Jan. 22, 1870), pp.
87-88
Published by: BMJ

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25164940

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 Jan. 22,1870.]_THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL. _ 87
To return t
NOTICE. of establishi
The Annual Subscriptions to the British Medical Associa
vincial hos
tion for the year 1870 are now due : and it is a matter of great
convenience to the Association, and conduces to the efficiency of its spring up t
working, that they should be paid promptly.?Members of Branches, where med
and all others who usually receive circulars at the beginning of the necessity. A
year from the local Secretaries, will greatly oblige, and will prevent but we trust
trouble, by PAYING THEIR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE LOCAL SECRE polis will be
TARIES, and not TO THE General Secretary.?All other mem
bers should pay their Subscriptions without delay to the General experienced
Secretary, T. Watkin Williams, Esq., 13, Newhall Street, Bir scarcely suc
mingham. some of he
Members of the Association residing in the counties of Middle have from t
sex, Essex, and Hertfordshire (except those belonging to country dermatolog
Branches), should pay their Subscriptions to Dr. A. P. Stewart,
75, Grosvenor Street, W.; or Dr. Alexander Henry, 16, Great appointmen
Coram Street, W.C. be found by
nor would
Anderson, i
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL the departm
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 22ND, 1870. believe, exc
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lectures on been comme
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cause, Mr. of Dr.
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devoted to thecultivatio
hold that th

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 88 THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL. [Jan. 22,1870.
tion from a variety of causes; and that, in many very different maladies, gnancy; and, with the aid and connivance of a workhouse-midwife, the
the eruption has its starting-point in them. Acne, molluscum, and mother of the child to be " adopted", and two other persons who were
milium have long been known to be thus placed; but there are those in collusion with her, induced a young woman to give up her child for
who believe that in the eruptions of lichen, measles, scarlet fever, " adoption." Having feigned pregnancy, it became necessary that she
variola, boils, ecthyma, impetigo, etc., the inflammation commences should feign labour, and this was conveniently done as soon as the in
in sebaceous glands. fant was procured. With the infant in her possession, on the way to
Lastly, we earnestly beg of our 'specialists in this department that her home (having suddenly returned to London to be confined, leaving
they will abandon all useless controversy as to nomenclature, ortho her husband in the country), she directed the midwife, who accom
graphy, and classification; and betake themselves to the earnest study panied her, to purchase a sheep's pluck at a butcher's shop. The pur
of the causes of the maladies which come under their care. We care
pose of this is obvious. The "father", who was telegraphed for, was
extremely little whether eczema is to be spelt with " k" or " c"; and we
of course congratulated on the resemblance of the child to him. How
care very much to know how to distinguish the numerous forms which
ever, the affair was clumsily managed; and, after a time, circumstances
are purely local from those which are constitutional. What is the
occurred which excited the husband's suspicion; and, by-and-bye, the
special state of health or of skin which makes a person liable to ,
truth leaped out. But it is worthy of note that it was not until after
eczema ? Is it a slight degree of gouty taint ? or is it some near neigh
bour of what is known as the "dartrous diathesis"? Again, what is the lapse of several months that the duped husband discovered the
the dartrous diathesis itself? We know well enough that there are fraud that had been practised upon him. He has now taken legal pro
skin-diseases?common psoriasis, to wit?which occur over and over ceedings, which have made the case public; but we know that many
again, which are, in fact, in a sense incurable?which happen to healthy similar cases occur when the supposed father is in truly blessed ignor
people, and are often hereditary. We known that season influences ance of the real origin of his "children." We use the plural, for our
these maladies, and that arsenic exercises a marvellous power over experience teaches us that the pseudo-mother will sometimes "adopt"
them. We readily admit that they clearly depend upon a persistent more than one child.
peculiarity of health?a diathesis, in fact. We grant that it may as well The whole affair is a sad comment on our so-called civilisation. The
be called " dartrous " as anything else, and that it is desirable that it moral tone of all concerned in the fraud is very low. Doubtless the
should be recognised by a name. But, using the term in this sense, law will deal vigorously with the offenders; but the conduct of the
can we go no further ? Can we not hope to learn whether this diathesis workhouse-midwife appears to us to be particularly reprehensible, and,
is gouty, malarious, or dietetic, or a matter of climate ? It is a step to we should suppose, would lay her open to official rebuke?if, that is to
have arrived at the generalisation that numerous skin-disorders must say, the Poor-law Board takes cognisance of such malpractices on the
have some such "diathesis" in the background. But the diathesis part of mid wives. We have reason to fear that infants are not uncom
itself must have a cause or causes; and, with well directed industry, we
monly "adopted" after the same fashion from workhouses.
may hope to find it out. Our knowledge of causes has wonderfully im
The other case to which we have alluded is an example of abortion
proved of late years. In addition to the discoveries already made,
mongering. A young woman, supposing that she was pregnant, had
there are several other important questions which, if we mistake not,
an operation performed upon her by a chemist with the intention of
are on the eve of solution. The puerile practice of referring to debility
procuring abortion. Unfortunately, the poor creature died; and it was
and dirt a host of skin-eruptions which must most certainly be due to
more specific influences, is, we hope, about to be replaced by more proved by a. post mortem examination that she really was not pregnant.
philosophic habits of thought. During the last week, a second crime of the same kind has been charged
When the diseases of the outer investment of the body have been against the same man.
more thoroughly investigated, they will assume a very important place This case came to the surface and was made public; but we know
in relation to general medicine. It will be acknowledged, we cannot that there are many abortion-mongers who depend entirely for their
doubt, that these maladies offer to the clinical teacher the very best living upon the vile traffic in which they are engaged, and whose prac
material by which to shew the intricate relations of cause and effect tices remain secret. Some of them obtain large sums from their vic
in disease, to illustrate the great varieties in the inflammatory pro tims ; and, as both are equally criminal, it is to their mutual interest to
cess, and to demonstrate the influence of remedies. preserve silence, however serious may be the consequences which ensue.
These are illustrations of a large and important subject, which more
nearly touches the interest and welfare of the community than at first
MOCK CONFINEMENTS AND ABORTION-MONGERING. sight would be imagined. It is, however, one of great difficulty; it
OUR readers will doubtless recollect the remarkable revelations con calls for the utmost caution and careful and dispassionate consideration,
tained in the papers on baby-farming and its congeners, which we pub for it presents so many aspects that nothing but the fullest and most un
lished in the earlier part of 1868. They excited a good deal of atten prejudiced investigation would warrant the adoption of any decided
tion at the time, and were widely copied by journals throughout the measures.
kingdom. It will be in the recollectiqn of many that the Saturday Re
view and the Pall Mall Gazette took up the subject; and some able arti MR. RADCLIFFE'S REPORT ON THE TURBIDITY OF
cles appeared in those journals based upon the statements published by SOME OF THE METROPOLITAN WATERS.
us as the result of our investigations. The subject was also brought
In the Registrar-General's Return for the week ending December 25th,
before Parliament by Lord Shaftesbury, who elicited a promise from the
1869, is the following statement, in the report by Dr. Frankland on the
Duke of Marlborough, then Lord-President of the Council, that the j water supplied to the metropolis during the month: " The water drawn
attention of the Government should be directed to it.
from the main of the Lambeth Company was very turbid, and unfit for
The police-courts have recently furnished us with two cases which domestic use without previous filtration. The Chelsea Company's water
are strikingly confirmatory of the facts stated in our paper. The one was moderately turbid, whilst that of the East London Company had
is an example of a mock confinement, and the other of abortion-mon brownish particles suspended in it. All these waters contained living
gering. In the Times' police report of Saturday last, there is an ac organisms." This statement recalls attention to an investigation re
count of a case brought before Mr. Ingham, at Wandsworth, of which cently made by Mr. J. N. Radcliffe, by direction of the Medical Depart
the following are the leading features. ment of the Privy Council, with reference to the water supplied by the
The wife of a silk-buyer, being impatient for a family, feigned pre Southwark and Vauxhall and the Lambeth Water Companies. It had

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