IN DEATH UNDIVIDED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3914, 5 March 1929, Page 4

IN DEATH UNDIVIDED.

TRAGEDY ,0F TWIN'S. BRILLIANT YOUNG DOCTORS. SERVICE TO HUMANITY. ‘ ‘OVERWORKED AND UNDERFED.” •■■■*»* The world is. the poorer, and science has lost two young and most promising specialists on radium by the deaths of Dr. Arthur Drown Smith and Dr. Sidney Ma'cKendriek Smith, tjjin brothers;, who were recently found dead in their Harley Street flat, in London. A note 'written in pencil showed that this was a tragedy of poverty. Both men were young and had studied on the continent; and they were already acknowledged experts in the work they had taken up. A Harley Street specialist who knew them well said: “It is a tragedy to science. Both men promised a great future. Had we known of their extremity they would haye been alive to-day. The coroner in returning a verdict of suicide /while of unsound mind, said the evidence showed they had been “overworked and underfed.” Other eminent surgeons paid tribute to the two 'brothers’ brilliant attainments.

'The coroner in his sumjming-up, told much of the terrible story of these tragic and all too brief lives. “This is a terrible tragedy,” he said. “Two young enthusiastic research students, deeply interested in radiuto and its use in this country for people with cancer, wer« found dead, and obviously they inflicted wounds upon themselves. There is also evidence that they had swallowed Goz. of morphia, which probably accounts for the dazed condition in which one of them was seen by the Caretaker.” MESSAGE TO THE NATION. Attached to the mirror in the room was a sheet of paper reading: —“To the Nation. —May all those who know the national service my brother and I have rendered to the advancement olf radium in the treatment of cancer in this country come forward to the help and comfort of our beloved toother at this hour. More great or noble a mother one could not hope to have. We will not attempt to eulogise her. It would out-Barrie Barrie or outBuilke Burkb to do the task justice. At that we will leave’'it. We pass from this world, a national awakening in radium work having been accomplished, our life’s aim achieved. Poverty, and that not from self but service, has lolled us. Misunderstanding, too, has played no small part.”

'The coroner proceeded: “They have each written, what purports to ha a will, but is not a will, leaving everything to the .mother. Then there is a letter to their solicitor, asking him to inform their people, j„ook after their affairs, and saying they wish to be eretoated and buried in London. 'There are various directions about the return of certain amounts of radium to various Aims. There is no question in my mind but that these,, young men’s minds had become unbalanced.” LETTER TO THE MOTHER.

The letter to the mother stated: —“We go in full faith and fear, without 1 an unkind thought for anyone, and we think, too, of those who, from professional jealousy and inferiority complex, have worked for the 'breaking of our hearts. In a short life we haye done a noble service to this country, which all should know, and we pray the purity of your heart will inspire us sm we go on our way. This life is but a phase of the whole life, and we depart this without fear.”

It was added by the coroner. —• “There is very little doubt that if they had persevered for a few years they would have made good, but the strain and anxiety through 'which they passed because of financial stress must have been very considerable. I am satisfied that they reached a curious exalted, neurotic, hysterical state that was caused by nervous strain and stress;. I believe‘they had come to the break-ing-point of intense worry and depression. Their minds were unbalanced, and they had mutually agreed to draft thesel documents and say farewell to life in this dramatic way.”< AFFINITY OF TWAINS. ' 'One of the closest friends of the twin brothers stated that they were the most ,modest and retiring of men. “They carried the weight of their technical and practical knowledge ligfitly,” he said, “and they were ns clever as they were reticent. It was rarely that they were seen apart. When patients consulted one they usually found that they had the counsel of both.

“They were not altogether at home in social gatherings. It was observed by many society hostesses that they seemed to be apart, and were now and again missing, to be discovered later in i_a conservatory or a side room. There were times when they were ‘dreamy’ and their eyes had a far-off stare. And this is typical of some twins. It is acknoiwlcdged by psychologists that there is an affinity between such people which lasts even unto death. I have conic across many instances. 1

“Dr. Francis Gallon, the discoverer of the grey powder used to reveal fingerprints, had a /collection of strange instances which he would have published but for his untimely end. I will quote onily one. Two men born in Scotland separated and did not meet for years. , Afterwards, when eonipaxing .diaries, they found that the entries were singularly alike, and that both had been ill at the same period.” U V\