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The assistant had extracted eight teeth under gas administeredby the dental surgeon, who did-not see her subsequently. Somedays after the extraction she went to Dr. A, complaining ofinability to open her mouth and eat or speak properly. Heexamined her and gave her tablets to ease pain. Three weeksafter the extraction she revisited the dental assistant and toldhim of her symptoms. He examined her, told her that she wasgetting along nicely and to come back later. Still in pain andunable to open her mouth properly, she visited Dr. B, whoexamined her, noted " gums badly torn, two infected sockets,face swollen, referred back to dentist ", and gave her pain-killing drugs. In evidence Dr. B stated that, looking at thematter in retrospect, he realised that her jaw was in such aposition and her symptoms such that he ought to have

diagnosed, but did not then diagnose, that it was dislocated.A month after the extraction she once more visited the dental

assistant, who again did not discover any dislocation, and wasprepared to carry out a filling, but she refused to have it orvisit him again. Dr. B continued to treat her with pain-killingdrugs, and eventually a dislocation of the jaw was diagnosedand reduced manually more than six months after the extraction.

Mr. Justice PAULL said that it was by no means proof ofnegligence that, in the course of such an extraction, thejaw became dislocated. If dislocation had in fact occurred

during extraction, it was admitted that there was negli-gence, not in causing dislocation but in failing either onthat day or on the two subsequent visits to discover it. Atfirst sight, it looked as though Dr. A found no evidencethat the jaw was dislocated, and if it were then dislocated,not only he, but also the dental assistant, failed to find it.It was thought that the reason why Dr. B, on the first visitto him, had not diagnosed a dislocation was that, under ourpresent system of medicine, doctors in any injury causedduring the extraction of teeth looked to the dentist. Dr. Bshould not have told the plaintiff to go back to the assistantas being the person who ought to have known what waswrong with her jaw, but doctors were busy and inclined togive pain-killing drugs. If such drugs were done awaywith, no doubt diagnosis of what was wrong would bevery much easier.His Lordship concluded that the dislocation was caused

during the extraction and there was, accordingly, nodefence to the action. Damages were assessed at E850.Lock v. Scantlebury and Another. Queen’s Bench Dzvision: Paull, J.

July 24, 1963. Counsel and solicitors : M. Anwyl-Davies (Sharpe Pritchard& Co. for Horne, Engall & Freeman, Egham); H. B. Grant (Le Brasseur &Oakley).

L. NORMAN WILLIAMSBarrister-at-Law.

Resident Despite Temporary Absence

A HUSBAND petitioned for divorce on the ground thatthe wife was incurably of unsound mind and had beencontinuously under care and treatment for at least fiveyears immediately preceding the presentation of the

petition.The parties were married in 1933. There was one child,

born in 1934. After the birth of the child the wife began tohave delusions. In September, 1940, a reception order wasmade and she was detained in hospital under care and treat-ment as a person of unsound mind until November, 1954,when she was discharged as being recovered. Her recoverywas shortlived and she was readmitted to hospital as a voluntarypatient on Jan. 13, 1955. On Nov. 12, 1959, she was regradedas an informal patient under the Mental Health Act, 1959.On Sept. 18, 1961, she left hospital to spend four weeks oftrial leave at her parents’ home. This was extended for a

further four weeks by an order made on Oct. 25, 1961. Duringthe two periods of trial leave the wife was shown on the booksof the hospital as an inpatient on leave, but on and after

Dec. 12, 1961, she ceased to be shown as an inpatient. FromDec. 12, 1961, she remained at her parents’ home under somedegree of supervision by a mental welfare officer and wasexamined from time to time by the physician-superintendentof the hospital. Meanwhile, on Nov. 8, 1961, the husbandpresented his petition for divorce. It was established that thewife was incurably of unsound mind, but it was contended bythe Official Solicitor on the wife’s behalf that her leavinghospital in September, 1961, broke the continuity of the careand treatment, so that the statutory requirement that care andtreatment must continue up to the date of the presentationof the petition (Nov. 8, 1961) had not been fulfilled.

Mr. Justice REES said that the Divorce (Insanity andDesertion) Act, 1958, provided that a person should bedeemed to be under care and treatment at any time whenhe was receiving treatment for mental illness as a residentin a hospital. Although the Mental Health Act, 1959, didnot expressly provide for the temporary absence ofinformal patients, this was not to be construed as a

prohibition against the granting of such leave, being dueto the informality of the arrangements made for theadmission to hospital of such patients. As a matter of

statutory construction, a patient might be still " resident "in a mental hospital notwithstanding temporary absencetherefrom. It was unreal to suppose that the Legislatureintended to prevent the treatment of mental patientsincluding therapeutic and temporary absence from hos-pital to enable them to adjust to conditions of the outsideworld. The medical evidence showed that the wife wasallowed to go to her parents’ home for a trial period. If

during, or at the end of, the period her condition haddeteriorated, she would have been recalled into hospital.The trial leave was part of the treatment. It followed that

during that trial period the wife was receiving treatmentas a resident in a hospital within the meaning of the Actof 1958. The husband was accordingly entitled to a

decree nisi of divorce.

Head v. Head (By her Guardian). Exeter Assizes: Rees,]. May 23, 1963.Counsel and solicitors: H. L. McCreery (Windeatt & Windeatt, Kings-bridge) ; T. G. Field-Fisher (Official Solicitor).

D. R. ELLISONBarrister-at-Law.

Parliament

Royal AssentTHE following Bills have received the Royal Assent: Public

Lavatories (Turnstiles); Children and Young Persons; WaterResources; Offices, Shops, and Railway Premises; andMatrimonial Causes.

QUESTION TIME

Morning GloryDr. DONALD JOHNSON asked the Home Secretary if he was

aware that the plant morning glory, lpomxa purpurea, growingin Great Britain, possessed as a property of its seeds a mentalpoison which was a potential drug of addiction; and whether hewould make an investigation, with a view to taking steps toprevent the use of this drug.Mr. BROOKE: I am aware that reports have appeared in the

Press that the seeds of morning glory grown in North Americahave been found to contain a hallucinogenic drug. There is noevidence that seeds of this plant sold in this country containthe drug, but I am making further inquiries.

Drug Peddling .

Sir BARNETT JANNER asked the Home Secretary if he wasaware that -a teenage boy and girl were found unconscious on

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a bus at Finsbury Park, having taken Drinamyl’ tablets;and whether the Metropolitan Police had been able to trackdown the source of supply.-Miss MERVYN PIKE replied: Yes.The Minister is gravely concerned about the abuse of this andother similar drugs. The drugs taken by the boy and girl wereobtained from casual acquaintances whom it has not been

possible to identify.

Antibiotics in Milk

Mrs. BUTLER asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries,and Food if he was satisfied with the operation of the testingscheme for antibiotics in milk.-Mr. J. S. R. SCOTT-HOPKINSreplied: The testing by dairies of incoming milk for anti-biotics is as yet only in its initial stages. We expect it to beextended as rapidly as the facilities available and the need totrain laboratory staff in the techniques of testing permit.Meanwhile, I understand from the Milk Marketing Boardthat a number of milk producers have already been warnedthat their milk-supplies have been found to contain anti-biotics and this is not in accordance with the warranty in theircontract that the milk should be pure.

Premarital RelationsMr. J. H. CORDLE asked the Minister of Education whether

it was with his authority that the principal medical officer tohis department made a statement on July 29 at Cambridgeconcerning premarital relations.-Sir EDWARD BOYLE: At theclose of a mainly factual address at a seminar on health educa-tion on July 29 my principal medical officer said that

promiscuity either before or during wedlock could not

be condoned but drew a distinction between promiscuityand premarital relations between engaged couples. Thesestatements expressed his personal view.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in British Honduras

Miss JOAN VICKERS asked the Secretary for Technical

Cooperation what progress had been made in the researchbeing carried out into cutaneous leishmaniasis in BritishHonduras.-Mr. ROBERT CARR replied: Within three yearsand at a cost of about E40,000 to public funds, research workhas identified the cause and the probable means of trans-mission of this serious skin disease. Work has now beenstarted on methods of prevention.

. Strontium 90 in Milk

The 12-month average level of strontium 90 in milk in theUnited Kingdom was 9-6 picocuries per g. of calcium for theyear ending Sept. 30, 1962. For the three preceding yearsit was 96, 7-1, and 5-6, respectively. More recent figures, tobe published in a few weeks’ time, are likely to show anincrease of about one-third between September, 1962, andMarch, 1963.

Drunkenness

The White Paper on Offences of Drunkenness for 1962 inEngland and Wales (Cmnd 2102) gives the number of offencesproved as 83,992, an increase of 121/2% over 1961. Thiscontinues an upward trend over the last eleven years. There isa fall of 8% in the number of convictions of persons undereighteen.To investigate the reasons for the increase the Home

Secretary has arranged, in association with the Secretary ofState for Scotland, for an inquiry based on police records andexperience to be carried out by the Social Survey Division ofthe Central Office of Information. The main object of theinquiry will be to throw light on the nature of behaviourleading to convictions of drunkenness, and any special charac-teristics of the people involved. It is planned to ascertain whateffect changes in the behaviour of particular groups of peopleare having on drunkenness convictions, and to examine otherfactors which may have a bearing on the problem.

In England NowA Running Commentary by Peripatetic Correspondents

In winter the Arctic hare and the stoat turn snow white from

dusty gold; but not so Minka Morgan, our cross-eyed, gentle,hunting Siamese cat. All steel oval springs in a fight, at night helikes to find somebody deeply asleep, creep alongside under thebedclothes, fully extended with his black head on their shoulder,his whiskers flattened not to tickle their ears. In winter hisface and paws and tail go jet black, and he seems to put on adark cloth over his hindquarters. Dr. Lewis’s article on polarexploration makes me wonder whether Minka has more

circulation in his periphery, like Polar explorers whose handsand feet are thus preserved. But no! those jet black ears, thatshameful lively tail, are stony cold, and his expeditions into ourbeds are marred by the coldest feet in the family.On Monday he nipped my ankles as usual, demanding rabbit

in deep bell-like tones as I made the coffee. He made his

regular spectacular exit when Henry came into the kitchen,returning to consume about a quarter of a pound of raw splinteryrabbit. " He’s got a bad eye," said Sheena, and was pushedprotesting to school. Two hours later, Minka laid him downas if to die on my bed. His eye was purulent, his face swollen,He didn’t bother to destroy the cat basket, as he usually doeson the way to the vet, and only stated his current views aboutcars in a faint whisper. An hour later, after local and parenteralchloramphenicol, he was his old self. The basket had gone for aBurton, and we had to tether him to the car on a short lead sothat his flailing hind claws couldn’t reach the doctor’s ears.

Beaten, he sat upright on the seat by the driver, baying topassing cars. " They just lie down to die," said the vet." Funny that way, Siamese. You needn’t have bothered aboutthe bedcovers and cetrimide," he added; " I have never

isolated human pathogens from a cat-the only domesticanimal of which this is true." I asked about Typhimuriumand all the awful rat-borne infections. " Cats never carry anySalmonellse," said the vet; " nothing which affects humans."My son was listening intently to every word. " That is why theyuse catgut in operations, I suppose!" he said wisely, ticklingMinka’s chin. Presumably he is right. In pre-autoclavedays, fresh catgut may well have been the only safe suture,if what the vet says is true.

* * *

My wife has decided that international relations are not hermetier. At the reception for the delegates to a Europeancongress in Newcastle, spurred on by my saying that we mustmix with the visitors, she went up to the most exotic-lookingfemale that she could see and brightly asked, " And where doyou come from? Durham," was the reply.

Some advertisements recommend a sea cruise as a cure formany of the ills of modern society. The business man showingall the features of stress disorder is advised to " cut downalcohol, to avoid those lunches ... to go on a cruise ". Butone of my dyspeptic patients on her return was no walkingadvertisement for this treatment. She had all the symptomsof a recent-onset duodenal dyspepsia, and a barium mealshowed an acute ulcer. Asked about predisposing factors, sheexplained that she had been on a sea cruise and had had toomany cocktails, too many salted peanuts, too many rich meals,and too many late nights. As she readily admitted, what shereally needed now was a good holiday to get over it.

. * * *

In the days of sweated labour, kindhearted factory owners- often preferred not to look too closely at the methods that their; harassed and underpaid managers might have to use to get. adequate output from the men. Do the writers of articles on. virology appreciate how difficult it sometimes is for the resident

to obtain blood from young children ?* * *

: A seven-year-old of her one-year-old sister: " Jane talksscribble."