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10. Any sore or wart occurring on the lip, especially in men
over 40, is likely to be cancerous. Early removal means cure;
neglect spells death.
11. An unhealed sore or lump on the tongue, especially in
men, should be regarded with suspicion. Many of these are
cancer.
12. Irritation of the tongue or inside the cheek, by broken
or jagged teeth or tooth plates, must be avoided. The lower
lip is often irritated by smoking a pipe with a rough or hot
stem. This irritation may end in cancer.
13. Sores, cracks, ulcers or lacerations which refuse to heal,
and moles which tend to spread, all demand careful medical
investigation. Such troubles are often the starting points of
cancerous growths, and their treatment by salves or ointment
only waste of time.
14. Persistent indigestion, obstinate constipation or bleeding
from the bowel commencing in middle life always demand
investigation. Frequently the patient thinks bleeding from the
bowel is due to piles, but too often the real cause is cancer of
the rectum.
Fur Dermatosis.
During the year attention was directed to a number of cases
of skin eruptions in London caused by dye used in the preparation
of cheap furs, used for finishing fur-trimmed coats. The
risk attending the workers using white arsenic and quinone in
curing and mordanting furs is recognized, but the recent
offender appears to have been a chemical (p-methyl-amidophenol
sulphate) called by the manufacturers (The Berlin
Aniline Company) ursol. Four cases were brought to my
notice; two were employees of the Council and two members of
the public, all being ladies, three of whom had recently purchased
fur-trimmed coats. The sufferers were chiefly affected on
the sides of the face, neck and forearms, where the furs impinged,
the eruption commencing as small red papules and
passing on to ulceration and crusting. Considerable irritation
and temporary disfigurement was noticed, but the rash subsided
in a short time under treatment after the objectionable garment
had been discarded.
Hospital Aceommodation.
(1) The Plaistow Fever Hospital (opened as two wards in
1896 and as to the computed Hospital designed by the late
Edwin T. Hall in 1901) now contains 210 beds, originally allocated
for the reception only of scarlet fever, diphtheria and