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In the case of ginger alleged to contain spent ginger, theresults did not agree with those of the public analyst.In the case of canned peas alleged to contain copper,

oamphorated oil alleged to be deficient in camphor, mustardalleged to contain foreign starch, and bicarbonate of sodaalleged to contain arsenic, the results agreed with thosefound by the public analyst.In the 89 cases of milk samples in which certificates were

issued the charges were as follows: in 26 cases, added water;45, abstraction of fat; 6, added water and abstraction of fat ;2, presence of preservatives ; and 10, presence of dirt. In7 cases the results were not in agreement with those of the

- public analyst.The smooth working of these Acts must have been

much disturbed through the period of the war, inasmuchas regulations varied from time to time in regard to theconstitutional requirements of certain foods, in accord-ance with the regulations issued by the Food ControlBoard. But the pleasing indications of this report arethat we are steadily approaching normal conditionsagain in regard to the " nature, substance, and qualitydemanded " of the commodities concerned.

ACUTE DIFFUSE PERITONITIS.

IN, a recent issue of the Journal of the Royal Army i Jledical Corps Major Basil Hughes, R.A.M.C., (T.F.), t

describes a treatment for acute diffuse peritonitis Iwhich in his hands has saved 20 out of 21 serious cases. -(The peritoneum left to itself can deal with infection if Inot too massive, but it is hampered by distension of the intestine which restricts it blood-supply, while vomiting reduces the fluid available to form curative exudations. gMajor Hughes relieves the condition by whatever ioperation is required, with as little disturbance aspossible to the peritoneum and a minimum of tdrainage. The subsequent course of the patients Iis almost regular, and they do not have distended (intestines. Subcutaneous saline, 10 pints in 24 hours, is given for two days, and is then reduced to five pints runtil the vomiting, which has gradually been becoming less frequent and clearer in colour, ceases on the fourthor fifth day. Morphia, gr. every eight hours, and xatropine, gr. every 12 hours, for the first three days, have splinted " the intestine. Copious drinks of water containing sodium bicarbonate and citrate, given from 1the beginning to wash out the stomach and allay thirst, have secured by the third day free diuresis. Flatus is passed on the third, a foul stool probably on Ithe fourth day. Glucose is given all the time per rectum. When vomiting ceases food is given very igradually by the mouth. Castor oil on the tenth day, and after that diet may be cautiously increased. tIllustrative details are given in the article. I

A PIONEER IN SPIROMETRY.

Spirometry, or the measurement of vital capacity,has gone through many vicissitudes since its intro- Sduction at Brompton Hospital by Dr. John Hutchinson cin the early part of last century. Professor G. Dreyer dedicates his recent exact study’ of the use of this cmeasurement in assessing physical fitness to the

memory of this Dr. Hutchinson, of whom the follow- a

ing biographical details are available. John Hutchinson dwas the only son of James Hutchinson, of Ryton, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was born in 1811 and received sthe more important part of his education at University sCollege, London, then recently established to meet the aneeds of students debarred by theological tests from

a

attending the older universities. Sir Charles Bell had abeen teaching anatomy in London since 1806, and his

studies of the nervous system and its relation to t:respiratory movement resulted in his appointment as a

professor of physiology at the College, Dr. Dionysius 5

Lardner, the versatile scientific writer and encyclo- ’

paedist, being professor in natural philosophy and astronomy. These were John Hutchinson’s teachers. He was not only a hard-working student, but soon cbecame a teacher, lecturing first at the various tmetropolitan institutions and later in his native ttown. He was accustomed to visit the coal mines - -

1 The Assessment of Physical Fitness. Cassell and Co. 1920. 10s.

and to study the common causes of accident. Hewas elected M.R.C.S. in 1836, and undertook work atthe Southampton Dispensary, Leigh-street, London,but his interests centred in scientific rather thanclinical medicine. He made numerous experimentson the conducting powers, dryness, and resistance tothe progress of fire of materials used in building houses,and published a work on the subject in 1843. In 1842he was elected a Fellow of the newly establishedStatistical Society. His knowledge of coal gases ledhim to adapt the principle of the gasometer to measurethe quantity of gases used in respiration. He madeobservations on nearly 4000 people, and tabulated theresults according to height. He also used a mercurialgauge to measure the inspiratory and expiratorypressure, and tabulated the results according to pro-fessional or industrial occupation. He communicatedpapers embodying all these tables to the Society ofArts and to the Quarterly Journal of the StatisticalSociety of London in 1844, publishing his resultslater in a booklet entitled "TheSpirometer" (1852).After his appointment to the position of assistant

physician to the Brompton Hospital he beganto measure the vital capacity of the patients suffer-ing from chest trouble, and urged the general use ofthe spirometer in the detection of early or threatenedphthisis. He was awarded the degree of M.D. by theUniversity of Giessen in 1846. He communicated amore extended description of his studies in respirationto the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London in 1847,which was translated into German and published as aseparate pamphlet in 1849. His other contributionsincluded papers on heat, malaria, and ventilation to theJournal of Public Health (1848) and an article on thethorax for Todd’s Encyclopaedia of Anatomy andPhysiology. He gave valuable evidence before a SelectCommittee of the House of Lords on the Prevention ofAccidents in Coal Mines. He must have been a versatileman, for we read: " He was also gifted with anexquisite ear for music; his execution on the violinwas masterly. He had a great ability as a draughts-man. He sculptured admirably in bas-relief andpainted in oils." His restless spirit was constantlysearching for new outlets. Soon after the discovery in1851 of gold deposits in Australia he left England andbegan to make extensive collections of various gold-bearing rocks which he intended should become theproperty of the British Museum, but for some unknowncause they found some other destination. Of his careerin Victoria for the next eight years nothing is known,and it does not appear that he made any further con-tribution to science. In 1861 he travelled to the FijiIslands, dying there in July of that year.

" APPARENTLY DEAD. "

THIS is the title of an interesting note by Mr. W. G.Spencer in the September issue of Medical Science. Hecites a case described by E. Rautenberg which wouldhave been buried alive, had it not chanced that thecoffin was reopened for purposes of identification. Thewoman had been reduced to the state of a hibernatinganimal by an overdose of morphia and by cold. Thedoctor who examined her in the mortuary applied onlyone special test, that of dropping sealing-wax on theskin. He made no note of the state of the pupils,which were subsequently found contracted. The detailsare as follows :- .

On Oct. 27th, 1919, a hospital nurse, aged 23, bought froman apothecary in Charlottenburg for 20 marks 50 c.cm. of a3-5 per cent. solution of morphine, and 10 powders each con-taining 0-5 g. of veronal. She then went into the Griinewald,and about 4 P.M. swallowed about 1’7 g. of morphine and5 g. of veronal. She wandered about as in a dream until shelost consciousness. The weather was cold, the temperatureduring the night being 1-3° C., and wet.When she was found the next day, she was assumed to be

dead and was taken to a mortuary, where the medical officerof the district examined her. The body had a deathly pallor ;there was an absence of pulse, of respiratory movement, ofthe heart sounds, and of all reflexes. There was partial

1 Ein bemerkenswerter Fall von Scheintod. Deutsche med.Wchnschr., 1919, 45, 1277.

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- stiffness of the trunk and limbs, and it was assumed thatrigor mortis was as yet incomplete. There was no reaction,to sealing-wax dropped on the skin. There is no mention ofthe state of the pupils. After the examination, the bodywas put in a coffin, still in the wet clothes. Fourteen hourslater, on October 29th, the coffin was reopened in order thata lawyer might identify the body. The undertaker’s menthen noted that the cheeks were coloured blue and thatthere was a slight movement of the head. The samemedical officer was again called and now heard faint heartsounds, but there was still an absence of a pulse and of respira-tory movement. The patient was then moved to a hospital,when at 10 A.M. on the 29th-i.e. 42 hours after the poisonhad been swallowed-it was found that the trunk and limbswere partially stiff, that she was unconscious, and that therewas no reaction to stimuli. The double heart sound couldbe heard over the sternum, the heart beating 30-40 a minute;signs of breathing and of a pulse were absent. Both pupilswere markedly contracted. The skin and lips were deadlypale, but the cheeks were bluish (leicht cyallotisch). Thestomach wash contained morphine; the urine drawn offfrom the bladder, besides albumin and casts, also containeda small quantity of morphine. Under active treatment formorphine poisoning the stiffness of the limbs began to pasoff in two hours; consciousness began to be regained on the30th. On Nov. 3rd the patient was convalescent and theurine free from albumin. No pneumonia or other compli-cation supervened.Mr. Spencer aptly quotes Marshall Hall’s saying that

"hibernation is, in every respect, but the parallel ofordinary sleep, varying only in force and duration."

NOCARDIASIS CUTIS RESEMBLINGSPOROTRICHOSIS.

Dr. William H. Guy, of Pittsburgh, reports a case Cwhich clinically resembled sporotrichosis, of whichover 200 proved cases have been recorded since Schenk i

published his paper in 1898 on Refractory Subcutaneous iAbscesses caused by a Fungus possibly related tothe Sporotricha. _

The patient was a coal-miner, aged 51, who presented a number of inflammatory nodules and indurated ulcers,extending from the base of the left thumb to a point slightly.above the bend of the elbow. On inoculation of variousculture-media with the contents of one of the unbrokenlesions several greyish-white pinhead-sized coloniesappeared, which were found to consist of a mass oftangled threads bearing small granules. The organismwas therefore identified with that which was originallyisolated by Nocard from the superficial abscesses of cattlesuffering from farcy. When first seen the patientwas diagnosed as a case of sporotrichosis and was

given a saturated solution of iodide of potassium. Apartfrom -simple protective dressings, nothing else was done,.and uninterrupted recovery took place.A review of the recent literature on nocardiasis is

appended, including the paper by Dr. J. B. Christopher-son and Major R. G. Archibald in THE LANCET onprimary nocardiasis of the lacrymal gland.

VETERINARY SURGEON AS MEAT INSPECTOR.

THE want of a proper and uniform system of meatinspection in this country is being increasingly felt, ’

while little is being done to select for the position ofmeat inspector the man most likely to be fitted for it-namely, the veterinary surgeon. His collegiate trainingincludes both a special course and a special examinationin meat inspection, and no one lmows better the conditionand appearance of the organs of animals in health anddisease. The matter came before the largely attendedrepresentative meeting of the members of the Royal,Southern, and South-Eastern Counties VeterinaryMedical Societies, held in London last week, whenMr. James Hayhurst, superintendent and veterinaryinspector of the Metropolitan Cattle Market, Islington,read a paper on " The Duties of a Veterinary MeatInspector," in which he particularly emphasised thatin England only the larger towns had any pretenceof meat inspection, and that in many places a

butcher might, if he liked, offer for sale diseasedor unsound meat with little risk of discovery.He drew attention, too, to the necessity for public

1 Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, August, 1920.2 THE LANCET, 1918. ii., 847.

abattoirs as against private slaughter-houses, and manyother points in which Great Britain lags behind othercountries in respect to the inspection of foodstuffs. Atthe termination of’ the discussion which followedProfessor F. Hobday proposed the following resolution,which was carried unanimously, to he sent to heads ofcorporations and local authorities :-That in the opinion of this meeting it is essential, for the

protection of the public health, that a proper system of meatinspection be arranged ; and that the veterinary surgeon, byvirtue of his training in the diseases of animals and their rflesh, was the best authority to be utilised for the purpose.Also that if public slaughter-houses were erected the crueltyto animals which sometimes occurred in private slaughter-houses would be prevented, and young children would bedebarred from being within its precincts.

If the inspection of meat for human food is to bethorough and reliable it must be done by the scientificallytrained man.

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DOUBLING OF THE SPINAL CORD.’

Dr. Benjamin Lipshutz reports a rare variation inthe anatomy of the spinal cord encountered during theregular laboratory work in the dissecting-rooms of theDaniel Brough Institute of Anatomy at the JeffersonMedical College. No clinical history of the case wasavailable. The anomaly, which was found in the bodyof an adult male aged 35, consisted in a bifurcation ofthe spinal cord beginning at the twelfth thoracicvertebra and extending to the caudal limit of the spinalcord so as to form two independent symmetrical halves.The caudal limit of each half was at the level of thecephalic border of the first sacral vertebra. Theconusmedullaris of each half was independent, union takingplace at the level of the third sacral vertebra into asingle large filum terminale which was attached to thedorsal surface of the first segment of the coccyx.The cervical and thoracic portions of the cord werenormal. Another anomaly was present in the formof an hour-glass shaped band of dura in the sagittalplane projecting between the two halves of the cord.There was also a number of small, flattened calcareousplaques adherent to the spinal arachnoid. Duplicationof the spinal cord is a rare occurrence, only tenundoubted cases having been collected by Bruce,McDonald, and Pirie in 1905. The division usuallyoccurs in the lumbar or lower thoracic segments of thecord. Other abnormalities, though absent in the presentcase, are frequently present. such as spina bifida,meningocele, and cutaneous or bony malformations.

MALARIA INVESTIGATIONS IN THE MALAYSTATES.

SOME years ago a Malaria Bureau was established inthe Federated Malay States, but its operations in thepast seem to have been hindered by the inadequacy ofits staff. It is locally admitted that the malariology ofthe country is very incomplete, but efforts are now inprogress to make good this defect. Owing to the in-completeness of the available information it has beennecessary hitherto to exercise great caution in accept-ing any generalised conclusions. From a recentlypublished report by Dr. H. P. Hacker 2 we gather thatefforts are at present being made to place the malario-logy of Malaya on a firm basis, and that now the mainobject of the work of the Malaria Bureau will be tocollect full and accurate data concerning the disease andits various factors throughout the country. No generalconclusions will be issued by the Bureau until they canbe based upon an incontrovertible basis of facts. With aview to carry out the work we understand that the staffof workers is to be increased, and that from time to timereports will be issued giving details of the informationas it is collected. These reports, Dr. Hacker believes,will become objects of reference and may assist otherworkers in arriving at a more uniform theory andpractice of malaria prevention and treatment. In his

1 Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, July, 1920.2 Federated Malay States, Malaria Bureau Reports, vol. i.,

November, 1919. By H. P. Hacker, M.D., B.Sc. Lond., medicalentomologist. Federated Malay States. Singapore. Pp. 76. (Noton sale.)