Obituaries

ALVA BENJAMIN, M.B.~ CH.M.(SYDNEY), F.F.HOM., Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

Dr. Alva Benjamin, formerly Consultant Physician in Dermatology at the Royal London Homceopathie Hospital, a former President of the International Homceopathic League, and for many years Treasurer of the Faculty of Homoeo- pathy, died in Hospital on 7 February 1975, as the result of an accident sustained a month previously. He was 90.

Alva Benjamin was born in England in 1884. His family moved to Australia when he was a young child. He studied medicine in Sydney and qualified there in 1913. He joined the R.A.M.C. during the First World War and saw service in the Balkans where he distinguished himself, and was mentioned in despatches,

After the war Dr. Benjamin became interested in homceopathic medicine. He returned to this country and joined the London Homceopathic Hospital. He became a Member of the British Homceopathic Society in 1921, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Homceopathy in 1944. In 1921, he was also appointed Con- sultant in charge of the Determatological Department, a position he held until his retirement from hospital work at the age of 70. He continued in his private practice until recently.

Dr. Benjamin played an active part in the British Homceopathic Society which later became the Faculty of Homceopathy. He served on the Council for many of the years between 1932 and 1970, and was I-Ion. Treasurer of the Faculty from 1948 to 1970, and Vice-President in 1955-6. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Faculty in 1969.

As a Member of the International Homceopathic League, Dr. Benjamin was widely known abroad. He attended many of the League's congresses and served as President of the League from 1962 to 1965.

Alva Benjamin was a man of strong principles which he defended courageously. To his patients he showed deep understanding, to his friends he extended warmth and hospitality, joined by his wife, to whom deep sympathy is expressed.

E.K.L

LADY ALICE HENRIETTA STOKES, K.I.H.~ M.A.(OXON.), M.R.C.S., M.F.HOM.

I first met Lady Alice Stokes when she came with her husband, to consult the late Dr. Lees Templeton in 1947, and she really changed very little over the years.

Though indifferent to the title of Doctor or Lady, she was a natural lady. She spoke in the same kindly but rather imperious manner to everyone and never dreamt that anyone would not do her bidding as conscientiously as she did herself.

She was a loyal and devoted pupil of the late Dr. Lees Templeton and his Kentian approach to Homceopathy, though she was also influenced by the less formal teaching of Dr. Foubister. She qualified as a Member of the Faculty in 1956, and practised for several years as my clinical assistant at the Royal

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London Homceopathic Hospital, where she was obviously devoted to the care of the patients. Her time spent with the patient was of little consequence as long as she got the similimum.

For one so fiercely independent, she bravely accepted the trials and limitations of her arthritis and refused to be considered an invalid. She travelled far and wide in her pale blu~ car to attend congresses abroad or to holiday with friends-- her resounding laugh always announcing her approach.

Even when she had trouble with her heart in recent years, she remained cheerful and active---too active often, and had to be restrained--but, in spite of acute attacks, which often required emergency admission, she would return undaunted to live alone in her flat overlooking London, declining all offers of company. From there she planned her next expedition to Hatfield, Yorkshire, or wherever, with unforgettable optimism in the future, but always enjoying the present to the full, almost to life's end.

I t was always a great pleasure to work with Lady Alice and to have known her over these 27 years. I t is difficult to realize that her vital spirit is now at rest.

C . O . K .

Book reviews

Divided Legacy. Vol. III--Science and Ethics in American Medicine, 1800-1914. By Harris Livermore Coulter. McGrath Publishing Co., Washington, 1973. Pp. 546. $17.50.

Throughout mankind's history there has been a struggle in every field of endeavour, for ideas, like habits, have vested interests in their perpetuation. Likewise, the age-old struggle between the practice of medicine and the art of healing, as well as the patient's desire for relief and his need for cure will be with us as long as men gather in organized groups.

In the nineteenth century the rapid expansion into the North American West, the Industrial Revolution and the rapid economic and political elevation of the common man provided the means for dramatic reorganization of most institu- tions of society, including the field of medicine.

I t is within the context of this background of dynamic change that Harris Coulter presents Science and Ethics in American Medicine: 1800-1914, a study based on his Ph.D. thesis. This book is the third in a series titled Divided Legacy. A History of the Schism in Medical Thought, published by McGrath Publishing Co., Washington, D.C., c. 1973.

In this volume Dr. Coulter examines the ideology and practices of established allopathic medicine in the United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century, tracing first its decline and then outlining the rise of other forms of practice. In as much as Homceopathy became the dominant rival of regular