[G] Judging by certain original letters (dated December, 1888, to November, 1892), which I have seen myself, by the courtesy of Messrs. E. Lambert & Son, of 60, Queen's Road, Dalston, London, E.8, the rubber spring pessary was first suggested here by an English doctor, and manufactured for him by Mr. E. Lambert Sen. Under date December 23rd, 1888, the doctor wrote:—
"I think highly of the watch-spring rim. There will be very little fear of conception with one of these new pessaries properly adjusted, as the rim will press equally all round. The inflated pessary would be the most perfect, however, if you could only contrive some method to prevent escape of air and consequent flattening. Such a pessary would be most comfortable."
[H] The chief pioneers in teaching Birth-Control in England were Mrs. Annie Besant, Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, and Dr. Drysdale, Senior.
[I] The following is taken from a paper read by Captain H.L. Walker, Canadian Medical Service, O.C. Report Centre (British), Paris, at Conference on V.D., organised by the American Red Cross in April, 1918:—
"Speaking in regard to licensed houses, Captain Walker said that he had not found one case of venereal disease contracted in a licensed house in the City of Paris, and he could only suppose that the people who were responsible for putting the licensed houses in Paris out of bounds knew nothing at all about the real facts of the case.... In the licensed houses in the City of Paris, during the year 1917, only five cases of venereal disease were contracted; and in 1918, up to April 20th (the day he was speaking), there had not been one case of venereal disease contracted in a licensed house in the City of Paris. But out of 200 women arrested on the streets of Paris during the month of April, over twenty-five per cent. were found to be infected with venereal disease. In the months of November and December, 1917, the French authorities had made a round-up on one boulevard of seventy-one women, of whom fifty-five were infected with venereal disease; a few days later the French authorities repeated the same procedure on another boulevard; something like one hundred women were arrested, and ninety-one per cent. were infected with venereal disease."—p. 134, Public Health (England), September, 1918.
I supervised a tolerated house in Paris for over twelve months (1918-1919), and had no cases of disease either among the women or the men. The women attended from 2 p.m. to midnight and resided in their own homes.—E.A.R.
[J] Among the first medical men in Great Britain to recognise the importance and effectiveness of self-disinfection was Mr. Frank Kidd, M.A., M.Ch. (Camb.), F.R.C.S. (Eng.), etc., of the London Hospital. A full statement of his evidence before the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases is given in Mr. Kidd's book, "Common Diseases of the Male Urethra" (published by Longmans, Green and Co., 39, Paternoster Row, London, etc., in 1917). The diagram of male organs of generation I have used on page 36 was taken in outline from Mr. Kidd's frontispiece, and during the war I found all the illustrations he gave most helpful with the soldiers, although the book itself was written for the purpose of enabling doctors in outlying districts to treat patients on modern lines with success. Mr. Kidd designed prophylactic tubes, which have been sold in England on his order for more than fifteen years. He tells me they have been used all over the world by his patients, and that as far as he can ascertain "they have never failed, when used properly and intelligently."—E.A.R.
[K] Since this was written, a large number of experiments have been made with the single treatment tube, containing an ointment destructive of all forms of venereal disease microbes, whether used before or after connection. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is within measurable distance of finding a solution of this problem—the production of a cheap, portable, easily applied and thoroughly efficient self-disinfecting ointment.—E.A.R.
[L] In 1915-1916 Colonel Sir James Barrett, then A.D.M.S. of the Australian Force in Egypt, had successfully applied prophylaxis, but unfortunately he was invalided for a time to England in November, 1916, and with the evacuation of the Dardanelles there was a severe outbreak of v.d. in Egypt. Prophylaxis was then steadily applied during 1917 by Colonel Sir James Barrett and others, and at the end of 1917 v.d. had been reduced to small proportions. In December, 1917, Colonel P.G. Elgood, Base Commandant of Port Said, wrote:—
"Fortunately, however, at this stage, I came into contact with Colonel Sir James Barrett, K.B.E., R.A.M.C, and Miss E. Rout, New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood. The first suggested that the solution of the problem would not be found in police measures or in medical examination, but in prophylaxis; while the second, in correspondence relating to her own experiences gained in England, encouraged me to advocate this remedy."