Appointments

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and his presidential address on cancer of the larynx andlaryngectomy after radiotherapy gained him the W. J.Harrison prize of the society for 1956. He served on the courtof examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons.Mr. Mill leaves a widow, a son, and two daughters.F. C. W. C., to whom we are indebted for this bio-

graphy, writes:" Bill Mill brought to his work a critical faculty, a well-

informed mind, and high technical skill, and his appointmentto the Royal Marsden, where it fell to his lot to balance themerits of radiotherapy and surgery, was welcomed by manyand his opinion much valued. Though he was not one to rushinto print, when he did put pen to paper what he said waswell considered. A keen member of a travelling association, hegreatly enjoyed visits to foreign and other home clinics.Wherever he served he did his share of committee andadministrative work, though he did not really care for it.

" Bill was very much a family man, and he loved nothingbetter than a party with other families or close friends. Hewas a generous and genial host and, on the necessary occasion,a witty and facile speaker. Family holidays in Cornwall in thesummer and a ski-ing holiday in winter were his chief pastimes,and he later became quite a keen fly-fisherman. He was

widely read and well informed on a wide range of subjects,and this made him stimulating company and sometimes led tonoisy but good-natured argument.

" It was a great blow to his many friends when ill-healthcut short his career and all active life some years beforenormal retirement, but he bore his disability with cheerfulfortitude."

C. S. has sent the following lines:" Many students, house-surgeons, and registrars will

remember with gratitude the teaching and wise counsel ofMr. W. A. Mill. One of the many qualities that endeared himto medical and nursing staff alike was his personal interest inthem, and this could be seen both in his approach to thestudent spending a few weeks in the department and in hisdealings with aspiring specialists, many of whom now occupyimportant posts. He expected from his colleagues the samehigh standard that he set himself, and this could at timesmake him a demanding person to work for, but his kindliness,keen sense of humour, and integrity were predominant, andaffection is the right word to describe the response from peopleat every level.

" His concern for his patients’ well-being led him to spendtime with each to ensure proper diagnosis and correct treat-ment, and he only recommended surgery when he was surethat this was in the patient’s interest, and his approach wasthen conservative. But he did not hesitate to advise radical

surgery when necessary, and because of his wide knowledgeand experience of cancer, especially in the larynx and upperjaw, his opinion was in great demand both at home and abroad.He took endless care with the preparation of papers andarticles to ensure that the facts they contained and the opinionsthey expressed were accurate, and this, together with theenergy that he devoted to his patients, limited his output.This was a pity, for he used his good memory and wideexperience to weld academic distinction with clinical sense,and his opinions were the product of these."

Appointments

North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board:ALLENBY, C. F., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. : consultant dermatologist, Bedford

General Hospital, Edgbury Hospital and Hitchin hospitals.BLACK, ANN D., M.B. Birm., D.P.M. : consultant child psychiatrist,

Edgware General Hospital.CONDIE, A. P., M.B.Aberd., M.R.C.O.G. : consultant obstetrician and

gynaecologist, Edgware General Hospital.PEDLOW, P. R. B., M.B. Belf., F.R.C.S.E., F.R.C.S.G., M.R.C.O.G.: consultant

obstetrician and gynaecologist, Hitchin hospitals and Queen Eliza-beth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City.

Notes and News

WELLCOME TRUST OFFERS S2 MILLION TO CUTMEDICAL EMIGRATION

THE Wellcome Trustees have written to the universities inGreat Britain and Northern Ireland offering to make sub-stantial grants to enable them to retain medical research-workers whose developing requirements are restricted bypresent limitations of university finance. The need for theseawards, the Trust says, has arisen because the number of

university posts of suitable seniority for medical scientistshas not kept pace with the rapid advance in knowledge, andthus high-quality research-workers may be denied expansionof opportunities.The aim of these awards is to encourage men of the highest

quality to stay in the universities and develop their researchprogrammes with adequate financial support. The Trust

proposes to allocate the sum of up to E2,500,000 over thenext 5 years in grants over a period of, say, 5 years each.These awards will, it is hoped, encourage more of our bestmen to stay in this country.

PREVENTION OF HJEMOLYTIC DISEASE

OF THE NEWBORN

GENERAL practitioners have. been provided (M.L. 5/68) withan outline of the arrangements under which anti-D immuno-globulin is to be used in the prevention of hxmolytic disease inthe newborn. Prof. C. A. Clarke has, elsewhere,’ outlined thescientific background: the principle is that anti-D, if givenearly enough, will destroy errant foetal cells in the maternalcirculation before they can sensitise the mother and thus,perhaps, put a subsequent pregnancy at risk. Supplies ofanti-D immunoglobulin are limited, and the Ministry of Healthhas been advised that priority should be given to cases in whichan Rh (D)-negative mother is delivered of an Rh (D)-positivebut ABO-compatible baby and in which 5 or more foetal cellsare found in fifty low-power fields of maternal blood examinedimmediately after delivery. Local arrangements, which will bein the hands of senior administrative medical officers, will

normally include hospital confinement for most Rh (D)-negative primipara:. The immunoglobulin should be givenwithin 36 hours after delivery, and so, where home or nursing-home confinements are to be provided for, special care will beneeded to ensure that testing and injection can be completed intime. For the time being most of the anti-D immunoglobulinis being prepared from plasma donated by mothers alreadynaturally sensitised to the D antigen, and the cooperation ofdoctors in recruiting such donors is urged.

USE OF AMPHETAMINES

IN a letter this week to general practitioners, Sir GeorgeGodber, chief medical officer of the Ministry of Health,discusses the use of amphetamines. During 1966, 3-7 millionprescriptions for the amphetamine group of drugs were givenunder the general medical services of the N.H.S. Greatvariation exists in the extent to which these drugs are used indifferent practices: some do not use them at all, many use themrelatively seldom, but a few use them a great deal. Thoughamphetamines are available only on medical prescription,illicit possession of these drugs is common, particularly amongyoung people wishing to experiment with them as " peppills ". The very size of the legal circulation of this group ofdrugs and the resulting large quantities which have to be heldby pharmacists and are in course of distribution makes pre-vention of their dispersal by theft or other means particularlydifficult. It is, therefore, the letter adds, of great importancethat their legal distribution and use should be restricted inquantity to that which is absolutely necessary.The purpose of the chief medical officer’s letter is to call

attention to two factors which doctors may wish to considerfor the future. Firstly, the new restrictions on prescribing ofheroin and cocaine for addicts will come into effect shortly.

1. Clarke, C. A. Br. med. J. 1967, iv, 7.