596 THE CALENDAR OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.

more satisfactory than the progress of the cinchona cultiva-tion in Incliu. Some points in its conduct, however, havebeen severely criticised by Mr. J. E. HOWARD, the well-known quinine manufacturer, in a paper read before the

recent meeting of the Pharmaceutical Congress at York.He deprecates especially the excessive cultivation of the

cinchona, succirubra, on account of its deterioration underculture. He exhibited specimens of the resinous variety ofbark which used to be imported from South America andsold at a high price, though useless to the quinine manu-facturers ; they were exhibited to illustrate the state of

degeneration to which Mr. HOWARD predicts the truest redbark in India will arrive by age, and towards which liebelieves considerable progress has already been made.

Samples he has recently analysed from Ootacamund con-tained only ’86 and ’91 per cent. of quinine, but they con-tained 15 to 2’0 per cent. of cinchonidine and 3’5 to

4’0 per cent. of cinchonine. It will be observed, how-

ever, from the facts of the report to which we have calledattention, that the red bark is cultivated solely for the pro-duction of the febrifuge, and for this even in its "dete-

riorated" state the analysis given by Mr. HOWARD shows thatit is still well adapted. The work appears to be carried on

under most careful supervision, the quality of the barkbeing constantly examined, and the recent efforts are

directed to the cultivation of other varieties than the red

bark.An important point was raised by Mr. HOLMES in another

paper read before the same Congress-namely, the desirabilitythat other varieties of bark than those enumerated in the

Pharmacopoeia should be made officinal. The kinds of bark

now cultivated in India, Java, Ceylon, and Jamaica are

not recognised in the Pharmacopoeia, and cannot thereforebe used for pharmaceutical purposes, and the officinal barkof South American origin is often comparatively worthless,a point which will doubtless be taken into careful considera-tion at the approaching revision of the Pharmacopoeia. ’,

Annotations." Ne quid nimis."

THE CALENDAR OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OFSURGEONS.

THE Calendar of the College has just been published,and contains much interesting matter to the members of theprofession. There are now 16,140 members, and 1210

fellows, making a total of 17,350. Of the fellows, as manyas 573 have obtained the honour by examination. Thereare also 978 licentiates in midwifery, and 497 licentiates indental surgery. The Board of Examiners in Anatomy andPhysiology has held seven meetings for the fellowship andthirty-nine for the membership during the past collegiateyear; it has examined 120 candidates for the fellowship,51 of whom passed, and 69 were referred for sixmonths. For the membership there were examined 942, ofwhich number 589 were successful, 318 were referred forthree months, and 35 for six months. The Court ofExaminers held two meetings for the examinations for thefellowship, and thirty-three meetings for the pass-examina-tions for the membership ; of the 52 examined by themfor the fellowship, 30 passed, and 22 were referredfor one year. For the pass-membership there were 649

candidates; of this number 367 passed, 39 were ap.proved in surgery and were required to qualify in medi-

cine, 37 were approved in surgery and afterwards.qualified in medicine, 243 were referred for six months,and 404 diplomas granted. The finances of the Col-

lege are reported as follows :-The receipts during the

year amounted to £16,848 17s. 6d., the disbursementsto £16,380 13s., leaving a balance of 9852 19s. Id.The chief item in the receipts consists of fees paidby students on examinations-viz., :E13,872 8s. Thefees paid by members of Council on election, Courtof Examiners and fellows by election, amounted to only9158 10s. Rents of chambers adjoining the College produced£1478 ; dividends on stock, £1075 9s. 5d. On the expenditureside we find fees to Council, Court and Boards of Examiners,;;86761 13s.; salaries and wages, JE407G Is. 2d.; taxes, rates,diploma stamps, £1395 14s. 2d. The Barnard Davis col.lection cost £500. The Hunterian Festival and Oration, inaddition to receipts from the fund, £112 15s. 2d.

"STUDENTS’ BOARDING-HOUSES."

IN another column "Devoniensis" advocates the institu-tion of boarding-houses for medical students in quiet streetsnear the hospitals. The suggestion is a good one, and, if notaltogether novel, deserves to be supported. What seems to,be required is a comfortable lodging in a well-conductedhouse, where students can enjoy the advantages of a commonroom, with private studies. The terms must be strictlymoderate ; and whilst it is on every account desirable thatthe young men should be subject to a certain code of domes-tic regulation, there ought not to be any appearance ofrestraint or any impracticable attempt to give the establish-ment the semblance of a " home." Medical students wouldnot be likely to take kindly to the discipline of college lifewithout its advantages. There is much, very much, that is.mentally depressing and physically deteriorating in the

daily duty of students of medicine. When in the intervalsof his gloomy work the " medical student" dissipates some-what riotously, every moralist is " down on him." It is

altogether forgotten that young men with a fair share ofanimal spirits must and will find some vent for their

energy, and that when they indulge in recreation it is

likely to take some more than commonly boisterous form,because of the unwonted repression produced by the mostlugubrious of surroundings. Prisoners are known to breakout in paroxysms of rage every now and again from verystress of the monotony of their lives. So it is with themedical student; he is excessively lively in his leisure hours,because he is excessively borne down and depressed in hishours of attendance at lecture, in the wards of the hospital,and in the post-mortem and the dissecting-rooms. He has a

special claim to consideration on the score of his unnaturalsurroundings, which are altogether alien to the spirit andgenius of youth. Therefore we say his home must not be a

very oppressive institution. If boarding-houses of the rightclass and kind can be provided they will constitute a boonto multitudes of students who are strangers in London, andthey will supply a want which has long been keenly felt, andtoo long remained unsatisfied.

CHARING-CROSS HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOLTHE increasing size of this school, and the determination

of the governors to enlarge the existing hospital out-patientdepartment, and utilise the school premises for this purpose,have for some time past rendered it imperative that newpremises should be obtained. The site granted by the Dukeof Bedford is in Chandos-street, immediately opposite thehospital, and the new school will be opened informally witha conversazione, at four o’clock on Monday, the 3rd of

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October, to be followed by an old students’ dinner. The

building is in the free classic, without the eccentricities ofthe so-called Queen Anne style, both as regards its exteriorand its internal fittings; and as far as regards good taste,efficiency, and administration to the manifold requirementsof a modern school of medicine leaves nothing to be desired.The entire work has been carried out by Mr. J. J. Thomson,F.R.I.B.A., and reflects the highest credit on his skillas an architect, artist, and adapter. The miserabletenements in the immediate neighbourhood have been

pulled down and Peabody buildings erected in their place,and the situation is comparatively free, open, and healthy.There is a central staircase, lighted from the roof;and the various lecture-tlieatres, laboratorieq, and class-rooms are most admirably arranged, and communicate withthe staircase. The dissecting-room, perhaps the most happilydevised of its kind, is, as is the post-mortem room, at the

top of the building; and what communication there is withthe hospital is erected by a subway under Chaudos-street.The dissecting-room has an arched glass roof, supported byelegantly-designed iron girders, and its sanitation has beenmost carefully attended to. The library, students’ room,and museum are very well arranged, and the introduction ofa powerful hydraulic lift accommodates every floor of thenew building most effectively. The warming and lightingare upon the most modern principles. The front is of red

brick, with a high-pitched gable, surmounting a red cornice;and a somewhat decorative porch identifies the entrance.The cost of the building has been 911 000.

PIGEON VARIOLA.

SOME experiments have been made by M. Jolyet to deter-mine the etiology and pathogeny of the variola or picote ofpigeons, and also the mode in which the organism is invadedby the poison of some other virulent diseases. The exami-nation of the blood of birds suffering from this disease (whichpresents the same four stages seen in variola in man) showsthat it contains an immense number of living microbia, andthis whether the disease was apparently spontaneous, or wasthe result of inoculation. Their appearance in the blood

invariably precedes the first morbid symptoms. On the firstand second, and sometimes on the third day after inoculationwith the blood of another bird suffering from the disease noabnormal appearances are found in the blood. Towards theend of the third day the organisms appear, and rapidly in-crease on the following days, and when the first symptomsarise the blood presents myriads of active organisms ; theirmaximum occurs at the time when the eruption makesits appearance on the skin, and after this, and during theperiod of the eruption, their number gradually lessens. Thesame organisms are found in great abundance in the

pustule-contents, which possess the same power as the bloodto give rise to the disease by inoculation. Hence it wouldseem that the pustulation of the skin is only one of themeans of elimination, and it may be replaced by other means;for in some pigeons affected with the disease, although theother symptoms are the same, notwithstanding the bird diesfrom the affection, the eruption on the skin is completelyabsent. In these cases the post-mortem examination revealsan abundant pustulation in the intestine. Cultivated in decoc-tion of pigeon the organisms multiply rapidly, whether theywere taken from the pustules of the skin or from the blood,and are capable of giving rise to the disease. The blood and

lymph, however, appear to be the liquids in which theymultiply most readily, and in the latter more than in theformer. The blood of human beings and of pigs, attackedwith variola, contains so small a number of microbiathat it seems difficult to attribute the disease to these

organisms. So with anthrax. In some animals the bloodcontains only a few organisms, even when the creatures

are dying. This is due to the fact that in these animalsthe organisms are multiplying in the lymph, and not

in the blood. When the blood is almost normal, the

lymph of the thoracic duct swarms with organisms, capableafter cultivation of producing the disease. They are foundabundantly also in the cerebro-spinal fluid. Their pre-ponderance in the blood of the pigeon is to be accounted forby the slight development of the lymphatic system in birds.M. Jolyet promises a further communication on the subjectof inoculation experiments with the pig and monkey.

UNQUALIFIED ASSISTANTS.THE llTanclaester Courier, commenting somewhat severely

on certain facts which came to light—our contemporarycharacterises them as "startling revelations made"- at a.

recent inquest, observes: " What the public will be mostanxious to know is whether a medical man is at liberty toemploy as his assistant a person who possesses no medicalqualification whatever; and whether a sick person, confidingin the name and reputation of the principal, may be attendedby an individual on his behalf so absolutely ignorant of theproperties of medicine as practically to prescribe haphazard?"Those who are more familiar with the state of the law.thanthe Manchester Coecrier is, or affects to be, will know onlytoo well that the practice of employing unqualified assistantsis one of the evils which medical reformers deplore, and areespecially anxious to remove by those changes in the statute-book which the Royal Commission at length instituted ischarged and expected to recommend. This practice is afraud on the public and a grievous injury to the profession.The sick poor send for a "doctor," and, not knowing himpersonally, are attended by someone who represents theprincipal, without himself possessing a qualification. Wecannot describe the proceeding as less than fraudulent, be-cause the poor pay over their hardly earned money to beattended by the "doctor," and someone else of less worthin a practical sense is substituted. It would be well ifa court of law could be induced to regard the pro-ceeding as we regard it-namely, as "obtaining moneyunder false pretences." Meanwhile, there are hundreds-nay, thousands, as our own advertising columns wouldshow-of qualified men who cannot obtain employmentas assistants solely because unqualified assistants can beengaged at a lower salary. Again, hundreds of able andfully-qualified young men would be only too glad to devotea year or two of their profesiional lives, after passing theirexaminations, and obtaining their diplomas or licences, to

practical work among the poor and generally, as assistants,if only it were possible to obtain engagements on fair terms.An initiatory term of practice in private houses, after thecompletion of the required attendance at hospitals, is muchneeded, and most desirable to give young men some ex-perience of the difficulties they will have to encounter inprivate practice among the poor and the lower middle classes,before themselves assuming responsibility. Since the aboli-tion of apprenticeships no such opportunity exists. Thereform of the abuses to which our contemporary points mustbegin in the Legislature. Unqualified men must be pre-vented from practising for gain, whether the fees paid behanded directly to the person attending the sick, or to a

principal. It should be no excuse in the eye of the law for

wrong-doing that an unqualified man acts as a " doctor " forgain under cover of a name which is not his own. Until thelaw begins to take cognisance of the person as well as thename, there is no hope that this grievance will be redressed.A medical man may keep fifteen or fifty dispensaries if hepleases, and leave unqualified assistants to conduct thebusiness at each. It is only when a certificate is wantedthe system breaks down.

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EMBALMING.

THE origin of the practice of embalming is lost in anti-

quity, and of the many suggestions offered as to the motivefor it the most plausible one, and the one still active, is thedesire to preserve from the natural processes of destructionthe forms of those specially worthy of honour. Whether ornot any views of the immortality of the soul, or of the re-surrection of the body, may have originally led to this prac-tice we cannot pretend to discuss here. It is a custom

singularly at variance with the operation of natural laws,but quite as obviously in harmony with the natural desiresof the bereaved. It has excited but small attention inthis country of recent years, though so great a man asWilliam Hunter made strenuous efforts to perfect a systemof embalming. At the present day the Italians are the

great proficients in the art, which is mainly practised by pro-fessors of anatomy, who endeavour to keep their particularmode a profound secret, and let mystery screen from view thecomposition of the ingredients used. One element commonlyemployed is a salt of zinc or arsenic. The objects to beaimed at, in addition to the prime one of the delay orentire prevention of decomposition, are the maintenanceof the natural contour and colour, and the smallest pos-sible disturbance of the corpse. The Italian professorsembalm without evisceration, injecting their fluids intothe aorta, and by their preparations they are able to

preserve the features quite unaltered, or rather with allthe wrinkles and furrows of age or disease obliterated ; thebody assumes a pure white colour, and in a few hours thehardness of marble, and is then practically indestructible.We have not yet heard what method of embalming wasemployed in the case of General Garfield, but from the factthat the features had changed colour, we presume it was notthe Italian, nor one so perfect in its results. The Italians still

practise in some cases a process of petrifaction, by whichcorpses become so hard that they can be submitted to thesculptor’s chisel and preserved as articles of furniture orvertu.

____

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

THE storage of that wonderful and invisible power,

electricity, and its restoration in the correlated form of light,heat, or motion, which is now rendered practicable byFaure’s accumulator, is a subject of surpassing interest,since it must appear to every thoughtful mind to inauguratea new era in our domestic economy. What may not b

anticipated in the future when it is already apparent that asmall engine, the power supplied by which may easily beafforded by the wind or the river, can rapidly store up ona few sheets of lead force which, at the will of the weakestor most ignorant-by the mere shifting of a lever connectedwith a couple of wires-can either flood with dazzling lightthe largest room, or develop heat enough to melt the mostrefractory metal, or be converted into mechanical motionof any kind, degree, or direction, from the revolution ofthe wheel of a lady’s sewing-machine to the propulsionof a tramcar? The difficulty hitherto experienced in re-gard to electricity ha3 been, not to obtain it of hightension or in great quantity, but to retain and redistributeit; and now that this can be accomplished, its useful

applications seem to be indefinitely multiplied. The chiefobstacles that exist at present to its general introductionare the large amount of the outlay required for the accu-mulators or batteries, the trouble and expense attendanton their recharging, their bulk, the inconvenience of the acidin which the plates are immersed; and lastly, the waste,which amounts to about 10 per cent. per week. But thoughthese circumstances militate against the batteries being keptin private houses, they could be easily met by a company whoshould construct large accumulators, and keep them con-

stantly and fully charged. Experiment has shown that fortyaccumulators will maintain in full brilliancy for five hoursten incandescent lamps, burning in a vacuum, each equal tosix gas burners. The prime cost of the forty, accumulatorsis about £150, which is, no doubt, a large sum; but, on theother hand, when once purchased, the cost of rechargingthem is even at the present time only sixpence. Theforce that is accumulated in this way is roughly estimatedas sufficient to drive an omnibus with twenty-four passen-gers for three hours. It is certain that no difficulty is

experienced in regard to either the distribution or theuniformity of the illumination afforded by the electricalcurrent thus stored up. A simple mechanical arrangementallows any individual lamp of a large chandelier to be

extinguished by simply breaking contact, whilst thethread of carbon in the exhausted globes can as instantane.ously be rendered incandescent by making contact and

completing the current; and the absence of heat and of un-consumed products gives this method of illumination an im.mense advantage over every other. Some improvements willdoubtless soon be made in the mode of diffusing the light,which is at present far too concentrated and glaring; opalshades appear to absorb too much of the light ; but we thinkthat glass globes might be made tinted of a light rose or of ayellow colour, which would abolish the ghastly and un-pleasant light of which everyone now complains. Exposureto the electric light is probably not so dangerous for the eyesas was at one time supposed, since only one case has cometo our knowledge in which serious results, such as inflamma- a

tion of the optic nerve, followed exposure to it ; and in thatinstance the lad was engaged in experimenting with it forseveral hours, and was much exposed to its influence.

THE LUMBAR PLEXUS.

THE distribution of the motor roots of the lumbar plexusin the muscles of the leg have been studied experimentallyby MM. Paul Bert and Marcacci. The researches werecarried out on dogs and cats, and the results have beencommunicated to the Société de Biologie. The animal wasfirst deprived of sensation and motion by division of themedulla oblongata, the lumbar cord was then exposed, thenerve roots divided close to their origin, and the peri-pheral extremities attached to a thread, by which theycouM be raised to the excitor, so as to stimulate them with-out giving rise to any derived currents in the neighbouringroots. The skin of the limb was then removed, so that theprecise muscles affected could be exactly observed. It wasfound that the first root of the lumbar plexus determinesthe contraction of the sartorius, the rectus, and the psoas,muscles which are closely connected in the dog and cat,and all of which flex the hip upon the trunk. The secondroot of the plexus excites contraction in the anterior portionof the vastus externus, a part of the tensor of the fascia lata,and the vastus internus-i. e., in the muscles which extend theleg on the thigh. The function of the third root is similarto that of the second, with some differences in detail. Itexcites part of the vastus externus, the anterior part only ofthe biceps, which is an extensor, while the posterior portionis a flexor. The fourth root causes movements in the

posterior part of the biceps, the semi-tendinosus, andthe semi-rnembranosus (flexors of the leg on the thigh),the second and third adductors of the thigh, and theextensors of the thigh. It thus innervates three kindsof movements, which are in no respect opposed or con-tradictory. The fifth root presides over the movement ofthe tail. From these results the experimenters concludethat there is evidently a systematic arrangement of theinnervation of the limb at the origin of the nerves at thespinal cord ; it is a functional systematisation-i.e., themotor filaments arising at a given level are distributed to

599

muscular masses, which act together and concur to producean associated movement. In the second place (as Duchennelong ago demonstrated and as is now generally recognised),the’ anatomical unity of a muscle has no physiological corre-spondence. A single muscular mass may be in one part aflexor, aud in another an extensor. But the nerve distribu-tion corresponds to the function, in so far as the differentroots, innervating the several functions, are concerned.

HOP-PICKING AND HOP-PICKERS.

HOP-PICKING may be a light and not disagreeable form oflabour while it lasts, and in so far as it is work done in theopen air, provided the weather be propitious, it may be not

unhealthy in itself. When, however, we come to look atthe class of hop-pickers, and to realise the conditions underwhich they live, it is impossible to avoid the feeling thatthere is much need of a serious endeavour to ameliorate theirlives and surroundings. The sensational pictures recentlysketched in the newspapers must of course be toned down

by the reflection that these persons are not dirtier or moredemoralised when they repair to the hop-field than they areat home. The truth is that the hop-picking season bringsperiodically under notice a mass of human filth and defile-ment which is not created for the occasion, but always existshidden away-except at these annual" outings’’-in thedark recesses of populous places. Society should not be moreaghast at the disclosure than at the fact which the occasionbrings to light. The families that go hop-picking may be thebetter for the change they obtain in that way, and could notpossibly obtain in any other. If good huts or tents wereprovided for them, they would unquestionably be benefited;but it is time that some sanitary observances were imposedon them during their residence in the districts where theycongregate. They may well prove carriers of disease. Thefact that as yet no great epidemic has been distinctly tracedto the annual migration does not remove the misgiving that itsuggests. The officers of health of the localities whencethese people go, and to which they presumably return, shouldbe directed to the matter, while the sanitary authorities ofthe rural districts in which they sojourn during the hop-picking season have clearly a great and grave responsibilitythrust upon them. ____

WOMAN’S PLACE IN NATURE.

M. DELAUNAY has summarised the evidence supplied bythe physical organism of woman, in proof of her "inferiority"to man. There can be no question on this point in the mindof the impartial student of anatomy, human and compara-tive. It is, however, necessary to explain what is meant by"inferiority." In its conventional use, and the meaningcommonly attached to it, we have no right—even in a purelyscientific sense-to speak of woman as infeiior. It is ratherwith her place in nature we should deal. All females arelower in the scale of development than males. M. Delaunaymakes a reservation in this respect when treating of thefemales of certain forms of life-for example, insects, somefishes, and reptiles ; but in doing so he falls into the commonerror of failing to keep in miud the pztrpose of the organismin reference to its ancestral or actual mode of life. In manylines of existence it is an. advantage to be comparativelysmall and of little weight; and in the case of animal sosituated the male ia the smaller and the lighter. So is it with

colour, appendages, form, and the capabilities generally; thesemust all be studied for the purpose of estimating a direct re-lation to the mode of life. When this is done, there will befound to be no exceptions to the rule that the male is supe-rior-that is, superior in the sense of being better fitted forthe purpose of the life of relation proper to the species,either in the history of its development or in its actual state.

There is not, so far as we can see, anything new in whatM. Delaunay has to say on the subject. The evidence he

adduces, of course, goes to prove that women are notintended for the higher forms of intellectual work, but in alltheir activities to be the helpmeets of men. One fact he men-tions is sufficiently interesting to be reproduced, and it maystrike some readers as novel, though it has long been recognisedas an instance of the essential inferiority of woman’s work,even in departments which she is especially prone to lookupon as her own. He cites the historic fact that althoughthere has. been and are wonderful examples of the skill ofwomen as practical musicians, and they take much pleasurein music and devote much time to the acquisition ofmanual dexterity in playing on a variety of instruments, atthe same time cultivating the sense of hearing and taste to astate of very high perfection, there has never been a greatfemale composer ! Thisis asignincant circumstance, and mightwell form the topic of a homily in praise of that modestywhich is not only the greatest glory of woman, but should beher protection against the misleading blandishments of herunsisterly sisters. Woman’s place in nature is to " standbefore man, to be his " helpmeet," his counsellor, his friendin adversity as well as in prosperity, in the hour of sicknessand weakness as in the time of health and strength ; but shecannot usurp his place, and she is not his equal in stature ofbody or mind. ____

THE LIFE AND BUSTLE OF THE TOWN.THOSE who have remained in London during the annual

exodus, and afterwards until the beginning of the return,and those who are returning to town after a few weeks’absence, can scarcely fail to notice the tokens of life andbustle which make the great city different from all othercities and capitals throughout the world. We are not a

lively or bustling people as compared with certain other

nations, but there is more continuous, though somewhatlazy and lugubrious, " go " in us than in the resident popula.tion of any other capital. This is very noticeable on comingback from the Continent. We do not move quickly, but weseem to go on longer. Our energy would appear to be less

spasmodic and better sustained than that which animatesother people. It is impossible that the wear and tear of life,and the bustle which prevails in town, should not affect us.It must needs be that the nervous organism of the activedweller in London is more irritable and vibrates more

rapidly than that of the average resident elsewhere, conse-quently it results that the nervous constitution of the citizenof the metropolis must be either more enduring or becomeworn out before that of the member of a community whoselife is less exacting. There is not, we think, reason to sup-pose that the people of London do not accomplish as greatand as good work as others or that they die earlier. It istherefore fair to assume either that the supply of mentaland nervous force elicited by the demands made upon us isadequate, or that, as a race or class progressively moulded bythe circumstances and conditions of life, Londoners are ex-

ceptionally strong and sound. We are disposed to believeboth inferences to be true.

__

GLANDULAR OBSTRUCTION.

THE effect on a gland of obstruction to the escape of itssecretion is a point in practical pathology on which experi-ment is capable of yielding important information. Theeffect on the liver and testicle of ligature of the ducts hasbeen already studied by Charcot, Gombault, Brissaud, andothers, while a recent investigation by Arnozan and Vaillardof Bordeaux has elucidated the effect of the same influence

upon the parotid ’gland. Their experiments were madeupon the dog. The progress of the changes which result fromligature of the duct appears to be as follows. The ducts

600

become gradually distended from the ligature into theultimate glandular culs-de-sac. Up to the thirteenth daythe dilatation is limited to the secretory lobar and lobularcanals, and only reaches their ultimate limits at the end of amonth. The walls of the dilated ducts become changed, andthe alterations occur simultaneously in the epithelial liningand in the connective-tissue layer. The epithelial cellsbecome multiplied and flattened, the protoplasm undergoesa translucent transformation, the degenerated cells de-

squamate, and fall into the cavity of the canals, and thisultimately becomes obliterated by a substance which appearsto be concrete mucine. The connective-tissue layer becomesinflamed, and the lesion is propagated along the canals, andalong the interlobular and iuteracinous connective tissue,which, by the thirteenth day, is infiltrated with embryonalcells. By the end of the month the new tissue is compact,and constitutes a condition of sclerosis. The glandular cellsundergo atrophy, being thus compressed between the dilata-tion of the ducts on the one hand, and the contracting con-nective tissue on the other. The glandular atrophy and in-terstitial sclerosis appear to be the ultimate condition whichresults from ligature of the secretory duct.

MATRICULATION AT THE QUEEN’S COLLEGES.THE question having arisen as to the academic rights

of matriculated students of the Queen’s Colleges in the

Royal University, the President of the Queen’s College,Belfast, has recently pointed out that the students whomatriculate in October will be examined in the courses

prescribed in the Queen’s College Calendar, which aredifferent from those in the scheme of the Royal Uni-versity of Ireland. The session in which they shallthen enter will, when completed, be reckoned to them inaccordance with the rules and regulations of the Queen’sUniversity under which they are entered. Moreover, candi-dates for degrees in Medicine who matriculate in the RoyalUniversity must at the close of their first year pass the firstUniversity examination in the full Arts course. Further,any student entering the Queen’s Colleges in October, whodesires to compete for a scholarship in the Royal University,may matriculate in that University in December, and, shouldhe gain honours at the matriculation examination, he will beeligible to compete for a scholarship in March. Should he

fail, he will still retain his status as a matriculated studentof the Queen’s University. ____

HELP FOR SHOP-SERVERS.

THE Staitcla2-d pours cold water on an attempt made bythe assistants in retail shops generally to secure the aid ofthe Legislature on their behalf, and to shorten the hours oftheir labour. The crushing argument brought to bear

against the " ardent young men who look for deliveranceby the aid of a league—formed to petition Parliament ratherthan to "Boycott their employers-is epitomised as follows:"Everybody who knows anything of this subject [whichwe presume the "ardent young men" in shops do not] isaware that the working classes have an unfortunate habitof going out to make their purchases at hours which areoppressive to those who have to serve them, especially onSaturday night." May we suggest for the consideration of theStanclard, what will probably have occurred to " everybodyfelse] who knows anything of this subject," that the"unfortunate habit " of which our contemporary complains,and which it apparently regards as incurable, is likely to bebrought to a sharp conclusion when once the shops areclosed by Act of Parliament. Everybody knows that until thepublic-houses were closed at a particular-though still late-hour at night, the multitude had an " unfortunate habit " offrequenting these establishments until the small hours. I

Legislation to protect the labour of sliop-servers is not onlythe best, but the only remedy for their wrongs. It is useless

striving to influence the public. As long as shops are openat late hours there will be shopping at late hours, and if allthe shopkeepers in a neighbourhood were to agree to closetheir establishments at a reasonable hour, it would quicklyoccur to some enterprising tradesman to open a shop in thelocality with a view to profit by the custom of those whowould like to defer their purchases as long as possible. In

short, nothing except an Act of Parliament will serve thepurpose shop assistants have in view, and we warmly wishthem success in their loyal endeavours. The preference forpetitioning the Legislature instead of simply multiplyingtrades unions is greatly in their favour, and should commandthe support of all who can help them.

STARVING CHILDREN.

DR. H. TIRARD, physician for out-patients at the Evelina-

Hospital for Sick Children, has drawn attention to theproba.bility that many of the infants brought as out-patients to thehospitals and dispensaries, until at length they waste awayand die, are, notwithstanding the protestations of their

mothers, or the women who bring them, stccrved. This is a’ sad possibility, but it cannot be denied that many of the

cases classed, and perhaps certified, as suffering from3

" marasmus," are of a nature to give rise to suspicion. They, do not present any marked symptoms of disease, and they) grow thin and perish with all the indications of starvation,s which is set down to the disease, but may be the result of

wilful deprivation of food. It would be a most discouraging- circumstance if it should be found that the "out-patient"

departments of hospitals and dispensaries afford specialfacilities for this form of infanticide. We are glad to hear

that the St. Saviour’s Board of Guardians have the matter- under consideration, and are investigating some cases in

which suspicion has been aroused. It would be well if the’ question received serious attention at the hands of the Local, Government Board. The physicians and surgeons of medical’ charities generally will do well to be on their guard against

imposition of the kind alleged to be practised on their. credulity. Dr. Tirard has done good service by raising the

question. ____

I EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN BOVINE INOCULATION.IT is generally supposed that the attempt to prevent the

contagious diseases of animals by prophylactic inoculation,after the manner of vaccination, is entirely a result of thelatest development of pathological science. M. Bouley, how-ever, at a recent meeting of the Académie de Médecine pointedout that this is an error. In 1852 a similar attempt was madein Holland. The experiments were designed to confer im-munity against the contagious pleuro-pneumonia, the in-fectious nature of which, and the protection conferred by anattack, however mild, were pointed out in 1850 by a FrenchCommission appointed at the suggestion of M. J. B. Dumas.The Dutch experiments, however, failed completely, pro-bably in consequence of the mode of inoculation. The placeselected was the loose skin below the neck, where the sub-cutaneous tissue is abundant. When the virus of pleuro-pneumonia is inoculated into such loose cellular tissue,it causes a rapid inflammatory infiltration of such in-

tensity that gangrene and death almost certainly ensue.If, however, the inoculation is made in a situation in whichthe subcutaneous cellular tissue is dense and scanty, thelocal effects are slight ; the animals escape the immediateresults of the inoculation, and acquire the desired immunity.This was recognised a little later by a Dutch observer,Willems de Starrett, who chose the root of the tail as theplace of inoculation. Of sixteen oxen inoculated in the

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throat, twelve died from the local process. Of sixteenothera which were inoculated on the tail, all snrvived ; andin all subsequent inoculation in the neck had no effect.

DEATH OF DR. A. CARTE.

DR. ALEXANDER CARTE died at his residence in North-brook-rnad, Dublin, on Sept. 25th, at an advanced age.Deceased was a grarluate in medicine of the University ofDublin, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow ofthe Linnean Society, and obtained the Fellowship of the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1844; and was alsoan ex-member of council of the same body. Dr. Carte

formerly held the curatorship of the Royal College of

Surgeons, but resigned it in 1851, when he was appointedDirector of the Natural History Museum of the RoyalDublin Society, which he occupied until his decease. Hisname will be familiar as the inventor of the compressor foraneurism.

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CHOLERA AMONGST OUR TROOPSIN INDIA.

THE cholera returns given below for the twenty-four hoursending 10 A.M., Aug. 31st, quoted from the Civil and Mili-tary Gazette, Lahore City, Sept. 1st, 1881, show, we are

glad to say, some improvement :-Lahore City : 25 seizures ;9 deaths. Anarkulli: 15 seizures ; 9 deaths. (This includes1 seizure and 4 deaths in the central gaol.) Meean Meer :1 seizure ; 1 death. Lahore district: 15 seizures ; 5 deaths.All the English troops have gone to Cliunnoo (Mooltan),150 miles from Fort Lahore.

"PRESERVED VEGETABLES AGAIN."IN another column we print an interesting and important

letter from Mr. Hehner, the well known, analyst, on theabove subject. He endorses the opinion expressed inTHE LANCET as to the expediency of abandoning thepractice of packing preserved vegetables and food generallyin tins, and he adduces chemical proof of the fact that thetin is dissolved, and acts injuriously-even toxically-in theform of stannous hydrate.

ABERDEEN ANATOMICAL SCHOOL.

THE new anatomical buildings at Aberdeen Universityare, we understand, fast approaching completion, and willbe ready by the beginning of the winter session, when they’will be opened with an introductory address by ProfessorStruthers.

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EDINBURGH students will hear with much regret of thedeath of Mr. A. n. Stirling, Assistant Conservator of theAnatomical Museum of the University. He was seized with

hemiplegia a few weeks ago, and died on Sept. 22nd. A manof great mechanical oiigiuality, his beautiful injections andmicroscopical sections are well known to the profession. Buthe was much more than a mere mechanical anatomist. He

devisedmany new methods, became an accomplished’practicalmicroscopii-t, and invented a microtome, which has provedof the greatest service in microscopic research. His injectionsand microscopic preparations found their way into the col-lections of most of the anatomical and physio!ogical teacherain this country. His knowledge of the habits and structureof fish, more especially of the satmonidse, led him to take akeen interest ill the "fungus disease" affecting salmon,which has decimated the Tweed and other of our rivers, andhe communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a seriesof memoirs on this disease, which contain the fullest andmost exact information on, its pathology that has yet beenpublished.

THE Social Science Congress will assemble this year inDublin, and the inaugural address will he delivered on the3rd inst., by Lord O’Hagan, Lord Chancellor of Ireland.The various sections will meet in the new buildings, TrinityCollege, and conversaziones will be held at the Mansion

House, Royal College of Surgeons, and the Royal DublinSociety. The special questions to be discussed will includecompulsory vaccination, hospital control, notification of in-fectious diseases, and other subjects of importance in relationto sanitary reform. Dr. Cameron, M.P., the president of theHealth Department, will deliver an address on Oct. 6th.

THE death is announced of Mr. John Postgate, F.R C.S.Eng., Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at Queen’s College,Birmingham. Mr. Postdate, it will be remembered, in-terested himself greatly in the movement to check adultera-tion of food and drugs, and was largely instrumental inobtaining the passiog of the Act to that end in 1872. He

also made important contributions to the literature ofadulteration.

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THE Transactions of the International Medical Congress,in three large votumes, will, we are informed, in all pro.bability be ready for delivery to members before the ex-piration of the present year-another proof, if one were

wanting, of the ability and unceasing energy of the Hon.Secretary, Sir William McCormac.

A MEETING was held on Wednesday at the residence ofMr. Hewitt, Lancaster Gate, with the view of founding anassociation, having as its object the suppression of illegalmedical practice. A committee was appointed to carry outthe necessary details.

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THE Times says : " The Court St. Martin, No. 1693, AncientOrder of Foresters, have discontinued the use of a clubdoctor, and are now making their medical arrangementsthrough the various dispensaries recently established by thenew ’Metropolitan PlOvident Medical Association.’ "

THE total amount of the Hospital Saturday street collec.tion this year has exceeded by £717 that of 18SO, which rea-lised £1398. The sum accruing from contributions in work-shops is also proportionately larger, and is estimated at closeupon £7000.

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THE annual public address in connexion with the MedicalSociety, University College, is announced to be delivered byDr. Russell Reynolds in the Botanical Theatre on Oct. 12th,at 8 P.M. The subject will be "Specialism in Medicine."

A MEMBER of the International Medical Congress, Dr. W.. Warren Green, of Portland, Maine, died on his voyage home

in the steamer Parthia. He was buried at sea.

GERMAN Conservatives and Liberals alike appear to beanimated with a desire to make memorable the approaching

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sixtieth birthday OJ their distinguished countryman, Virchow.

AN inquest was concluded on Monday at Bristol, on the body of a woman who died of puerperal fever. It

appeared that four other women, attended by the same mid-wife, had previousl succumbed to the same malady. Theattendance on the list case, though against the warning ofthe medical offic, r of health, was accompanied by circum-stances which the jury considered warranted them inexonerating the midwife from blame.