appointments
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He was born in London and he studied medicine atSt. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the University of
Durham, where he graduated M.B. with first-classhonours in 1887. Two years later he was awarded the
gold medal for his M.D. thesis on colour-blindness, inwhich he attacked the Holmgren wool test and first
put forward his theories on the function of the retinalrods and of the visual purple.Soon afterwards his views received wider publicity
when Sir Lauder Brunton presented a paper of his tothe Royal Society, and he was appointed a member ofthe International Code of Signals Committee. Buthis views did not. win immediate acceptance : and in1892 a committee of the Royal Society unanimouslyrecommended the continued use of the Holmgren testto railway companies and shipowners. Though dis-appointed by this setback Dr. Edridge-Green publisheda further monograph on his work, and in 1904 a com-mittee of the Ophthalmological Society confirmed hiscontention that some cases of colour-blindness cannotbe detected’ by the Holmgren test. Fortified by thissupport he went to Cambridge at his own expense toobtain further evidence. There, however, he was
coolly received and his thesis was turned down. Buthe continued to press his case, and in 1909 he publishedamonograph on Colour Blindness and Colour Perception.Meanwhile at Oxford Doyne and Gotch had confirmedhis findings, and gradually informed opinion turnedin his favour.In 1911 he delivered a Hunterian lecture on colour-
blindness at the Royal College of Surgeons, and thefollowing year a committee of the British Associationreported in his favour. Questions were asked in Parlia-ment, and in 1915 the wool test -was abandoned bv theBoard of Trade and a lantern based on Edridge-Green’sprinciples was adopted. Five years later he was
appointed an adviser to the board. In 1920 he wasappointed C.B.E., and the same year he gave the Arrisand Gale lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons.In 1930 he was president of honour at the annual meetingof the Ophthalmological Society of Paris, and in 1936he was awarded the Thomas Grey prize.Dr: Edridge-Green’s own account of these far-away
battles, which he published in 1933 under the title ofScience and Pseudo Science, shows hirn to have beena trenchant and contentious controversialist, and muchof his work on the physiology of vision is at variance withpresent-day thought. But personal difficulties andscientific differences cannot obscure his real contributionto the safety of transport on land and sea.In 1893 he married Minnie Jane, the daughter of
Dr. Henry Hicks, - F.R.S. She died in 1901 and therewere no children of the marriage.
ALEXANDER MITCHELLM.A., Ch.M. Aberd.
Mr. Alexander Mitchell, consulting orthopædic surgeonto the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, died on April 16,at the age of 72. The record of his family’s connectionswith medical practice is impressive. His grandfatherand father practised at Old Rayne, Aberdeenshire,his two brothers were doctors, and one of his sons isMajor Patrick Mitchell, R.A.M.C. His first wife was adaughter of the late Dr. Greig of Fyvie, and his secondwife a daughter of the late Dr. David Rorie, whose poems,including " The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon," are wellknown in the North of Scotland and far beyond.He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University, in 1901
M.B. in 1905, and CH.M. in 1907. He spent several years ingeneral practice with appointments at Fyvie Hospital andGray’s Hospital, Elgin, but his career in surgery beganabout 1914 when- he was appointed to the Royal Hos-pital for Sick Children and the Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen.Himself crippled, he had a strong bent for orthopaedicswhich was stimulated by his surgical experience atbase hospitals in Rouen during the 1914-18 war and laterbecame his main professional interest, Between thewars he developed an orthopaedic department at AberdeenRoyal Infirmary and later, with the help of the Cripples’Welfare Association, an orthopaedic service for the wholeXorth East of Scotland. I)uring the late war he becameorthopaedic consultant to the E.M.S. and the ArmyMedical Services in the North of Scotland. Undeterred
by a first attack of coronary thrombosis in 1942 hecarried a heavy burden of work during the war yearsand, even after retirement from his Aberdeen hospitalappointments in 1945, he continued as consultant tothe Department of Health and to the North-EasternRegional Hospital Board under the National HealthService. He was also a vice-president of the OrthopaedicAssociation. Recently he became chairman of themanagement board of the Aberdeen special hospitalsgroup and, in fact, was presiding at a board meetingwhen the final coronary attack began.W. C. W. writes : "
Distinguished as were his servicesto orthopaedics, Sandy (as he was known to all) willbest be remembered for his personal qualities and relationswith patients. More interested in men than in affairs,he had a fund of reminiscences and stories and a dry,sardonic wit which made him excellent company. Hisopinions and judgments were forthright and decided,but always fair and often generous. He had a delightfulmanner with sick children and a real sympathy for thedeformed and maimed. His own standard of serviceto patients was the highest and he demanded the samefrom his juniors. In this one could see the influence oftradition and upbringing in a medical family and it isa safe assumption that the tradition has been handedon to many former assistants and students. As usuallyhappens, they were quick to see the sterling qualitiesof the man and with them his popularity was high.His character has been summed up in the words of anold patient : ’He was a grand gentleman, SandyMitchell.’ "
Mr. ialiteliell is survived by two sons and a daughterand- by his widow who gave him great help in his lastyears.
Births, Marriages, and Deaths
BIRTHS
FORBES.—On April 15, to Pamela, wife of John Forbes, M.D., ofPen-y-wern, near Mold, Flintshire—a son.
FOXELL.—On April 13, at Suffolk House Nursing Home, Stanmore,to -.Nlai-ireen, wife of Dr. Alan Foxell-a son.
MARRIAGESNEWBORNE—SKELTON.—On April 18, at St. Giles Church, Oxford,
Laurence Perceval Anthony Newborne, M.D. Lond., to MarySkelton, M.c.s.p.
AppointmentsBICKFORD, J. A. R., M.R.c.s., D.P.M.: consultant psychiatrist,
I)e la Pole Hospital, Willerby, E. Yorks.DAviES, E., B., M.B. Mane.: medical registrar, Rookwood Hospital,
Cardiff.HILL, J. N., M.B. Leeds, n.I’.H.: medical director (s.H.M.o.), Leeds
mass-radiography unit.MORTON, J. A., M.B. Edin., M.R.c.p.E.: M.o. (part-time), H.M.
Prison, Edinburgh.ToDD, ELIZA, M.B. Aberd., D.P.H. : asst. M.O., Heston, Isleworth,
Southall, Brentford, and Chiswick area, Middlesex County- Council.
VICKERY, K. 0. A., M.D. Lond., D.P.11. : M.O.H. and school M.O.,Eastbourne.
Colonial Service :
ALLEN, C. P., M.B., CH.M. Glasg., F.R.C.S.E., D.T.M. & H. :
specialist officer, grade A, Federation of Malaya.COCHEMÉ, M. A. X., M.B. Camb., D.T.M. & H., D.P.M.: specialist
officer, grade A, Federation of Malaya.DRITRY, GRAHAM, M.R.C.S., D.T.M. & H., D.A.: A.D.M.S., Kenya.EDDEY, L. G., M.B. Aberd., D.T.M. & H. : D.M.S., Gold Coast.FRANKLIN, G. C.. M.B. Camb. : M.O., Hong-Kong.GREEN, R. T. I3., M.n., D.T.M.: Specialist oiftcer, grade A,
Federation of Malaya. -
MOLESWORTH, B. D., M.B. Camb.: specialist officer, grade A,Federation of Malaya.
PALLISTER, R. A., O.B.E., M.D. Dui-h., M.R.C.P., D.T.M. & H. :specialist officer, grade A, Federation of Malaya.
RYAN, J. C., M.B. N.U.I.: M.o., British Guiana.SHAW, R. E., M.B. Lond.. F.R.C.S.: nr.o., Kenya.SINCLAIR, WILLIAM, M.B. Belt.: M.o., Nyasaland.
Western Regional Hospital Board, Scotland :CUTHBERT, RICHARD, M.B. Glasg., 1).M.1t.1). : asst. radiologist
(S.H.M.O.), Stirling county area.HARPER, JAMES, M.B.E., M.B. Edin., nr.at.c.P.E., D.P.M.: consultant
psychiatrist and deputy physician-superintendent, CrichtonRoyal Mental Hospital, Dumfries.
TAIT, A. C’., M.B. Glasg., D.P.H., D.P.M.: consultant psychiatrist,Crichton Royal Mental Hospital, Dumfries.