267TYPHUS IN IRELAND.-METROPOLITAN WATER-SUPPLY.

will be seen that we have used the past tense, for in a noteadded it is said that "since the evidence was prepared,the United Stock of the Society of Apothecaries has

(from circumstances in no way connected with the questionraised before the Select Committee) been dissolved. The

relation therefore (the italics are ours) laitherto subsistingbetween the Society and that body has entirely ceased." Wecongratulate the Society on the cessation of a relationshipthat was decidedly objectionable. The coincidence of this

cessation with the public objections to it is curions, but wemust accept the assurance that it is accidental.The other objection which it is attempted to refute in the

evidence is that " the Apothecaries’ Company is fast ceasingto be a licensing body. Mr. BRADFORD’S answer is this :"As a matter of fact, the average of licences granted bythe Society between 1870 and 1879 was about 213 annually,showing the Society to be numerically the second licensingbody in the three kingdoms." The objection is put in toostrong language, which always tends to defeat the objectin view. Nevertheless, it probably remains true that

the Apothecaries licence is not in so much demand as

it used to be, and it certainly is true that there is no reasonin the public interest, as there is none in public law,why men entering the profession should ally themselveswith a Society which reminds ns of a somewhat low concep-tion of the medical function, and of a time when the body ofthe profession was thought to be of a different brand from

that of the consulting class. We willingly admit that theSociety has done good service, and did at one time the workof the College of Physicians, because that College, as it doesyetsometimes, conceived very erroneously and inadequately ofits great duties. But seeing that the Colleges are nowdriven by the force of public opinion to higher conceptionsof duty, and that medical men now aim at being not"apothecaries," but veritable physicians and surgeons, andseeing further that the Apothecaries’ Society cannot, by thevery terms of its own creation, give a perfect examination,we can certainly perceive no adequate reason for the furthercontinuance of the Apothecaries’ Society as an examiningbody, with a seat in the Council.

Annotations.

TYPHUS IN IRELAND.

" Ne quid nimis."

Ix another part of THE LANCET we publish an importantpaper from the pen of Dr. Nixon, on the epidemic of"Fever" in the Swinford Union, County Mayo. It must beobvious to those who give careful attention to Dr. Nixon’sstatements that the Government has been perilously near to thepoint of committing, if it has not actually to some extent com-mitted, the blunder which converted the famine in SouthernIndia into so awful a disaster-namely, underrating theeffects of chronic starvation upon the distressed communitiesin Ireland. The condition of the patients suffering from" fever as described by Dr. Nixon, and the number andpeculiarities of the cases of diarrhoea and dysentery in theunion, prove that although deaths from starvation may havebeen staved off, it by no means follows that the hardly lessconsiderable and not seldom fatal mischief arising fromchronic starvation has been obviated.The conditions under which typhus and enteric fever ar{

observed in the union (apart from the immediate distress)are such as to give rise to the gravest considerations. Theyare conditions by no means limited to this particulardistrict of Ireland. It is difficult to realise a state ofexistence which at the best is barely distinguishable from acondition of chronic starvation, and circumstances of housingand habits of domestic life which are revolting in their dis-regard of what we look for amidst a civilised community.The endemicity of typhus and enteric fever in the district,as described by Dr. Nixon, is the normal result ofsuch conditions. When last we referred to this sub.

ject we spoke of the application of the provisionsof the Public Health Law to Swinford Union and dis-tricts similarly situated in despairing terms. Dr. Nixon’s

paper does not permit us to regard the subject from a morehopeful point of view, but it enables us to form a justerestimate, perhaps, of what is needed if we look for a bettersanitary future of the districts referred to. Obviously nomerely palliative measures, such as have been chiefly in

view, or measures determined solely with regard to the

present distress, can be regarded as sufficient. Whatis needed is the institution of measures founded upon a

comprehensive view of the requirements of the districts,and an administrative organisation which can be dependedupon for carrying them out with certainty, however slowly,and with due regard to the impoverishment of the peopleand their rooted habits : a hard and it may be a thankless

task, and one which looks to the future rather than thepresent-a task which has regard to the next generation andeven to the generation following.

Dr. Nixon’s paper further suggests a question for our con-sideration in England which is worthy of immediate con-sideration, and which we commend to medical officers ofhealth. The migration of labourers from Ireland to Englandin the autumn still continues, although in less proportionthan was the case when machines had not invaded agricul-tural regions. Swinford contributes a considerable number of,

. labourers to our harvest fields, and it is well that the medicalofficers of health of our western ports and rural districtsshould be alive to the probability of the labourers from thedistricts in Ireland where typhus now exists bringing thedisease in their train.

___

THE METROPOLITAN WATER-SUPPLY.

THE report of the Select Committee on the expediency ofacquiring on behalf of the inhabitants of London the under-takings of the existing metropolitan water companies, hasbeen published. It leaves the question pretty much as itwas before the late Government took it in hand, decidingagainst the provisional agreement with the water companies,which they had promoted, and making certain suggestionswhich we should venture to term crude, if crudeness dare beinferred of the proceedings of a committee of selected mem-bers of the Legislature. They hold it expedient that thesupply of water to the metropolis should be placed under thecontrol of a Public Body, to be created for the purpose, andwhich shall represent the interest and command the confi-dence of the ratepayers. This public body they think should,in the absence of a single municipal body, which could under-take the duty, include elements derived from the MetropolitanBoard of Works, the Corporation of London, and representa-tives of those districts beyond the limits of the metropolitanarea to which the companies distribute water. But this

body, besides having to look to a greater efficiency, economyof water-supply, and equality of charge than now exist,will have to give regard to arrangements for extinction of

fire, and the making of better provision for the health of thecommunity. Nevertheless, no suggestion as to the mannerin which this new body is.to secure competence in its judg-ment on the complex question of health is made, and the

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Committee repeats the common politico-social blunder whichis perpetrated on the assumption that everyone is fitted toexpress an opinion and act upon it in regard to such a matter.The Metropolitan Board of Works, as now organised, is no.toriously incompetent to deal with health questions, and theCorporation, although capable of dealing with questions ofhealth within its municipal limits, is scarcely fitted to dealwith such questions as they affect the whole metropolitanarea.

The new public body formed would be called uponto consider first how it should proceed about what it wascreated for. It might adopt various courses with this object.The Committee tells us, it might proceed by regulation ofthe powers of the existing water companies, as in the caseof gas-supply ; or by the introduction of an independentwater-supply ; or by the purchase of existing undertakings.In either case Parliament would have to intervene by givingstatutory powers other than now exist. In short, we

must begin again at the beginning, and, whether we like itor not, settle matters with the existing water companiesbefore we can take a single certain step in advance. More-

over, the question has as yet been raised only as regards nowexisting London and its environs. But these change everyyear, and each year adds to the difficulties of the questionto be solved. And if our readers would learn what the future

question of the water-supply of the metropolis and its de-pendencies is likely to be, let them turn to a most thoughtfuland instructive article on the subject by Mr. F. R. CondeiIB. the present month’s number of Fraser’s Magazine.

THE STARVATION CASE AT HASTINGS.

EMILY SCOTT, a schoolmistress living at Hastings, wasconvicted, at the Central Criminal Court, on Saturday,August 7th, before Sir Thomas Chambers (the Recorder), ofwithholding food from her servant, Eleanor Houseman, agedfourteen, whereby her life was endangered, and she hadsuffered bodily harm. She was sentenced to two years’ hardlabour in the House of Correction, The history of EleanorHouseman is inexpressibly sad, and proves the correctnessof the trite saying, that "truth is stranger than fiction."The child is illegitimate, was born somewhere in thenorth of England, and lived with a Mrs. Crosby, of

Scarborough, until she was twelve years old. Early in theyear 1878 Mrs. Crosby placed Eleanor Houseman in thetrain at Scarborough, and she was received at King’s Crossby a Miss Jackson. Mrs. Crosby stated in evidence thatthe girl left her house "because a Miss Jackson wanted

her; " she had never seen Miss Jackson ; she did notknow what became of the child’s mother; she had neverseen the child’s father. Thus this unhappy foundling, scarcelytwelve years old, was sent into bondage among strangepeople in a strange land. She first lived with Scott at

Dulwich, in 1878, twenty pounds being paid with her,on the understanding that she was to be made a

servant or a governess according to her capacity. Scottmoved to Sandwich in 1879, and subsequently to Hastings,where the alleged crime was perpetrated. It appears thatat first the poor child associated with the other children of

the " school," but was afterwards banished to a garretbecause she stole food, and henceforth became a miserablelittle drudge. That she was practically starved was con-clusively proved. She was fed principally upon porridge,whieh was often mixed with cod-liver oil, and sometimeswith charcoal; but nothing seems to have been too nauseousto repel the craving appetite of the child. The room inwhich she lived was cold, and on a bitter day in Februaryshe was seen cleaning windows with nothing on but achemise and pinafore. It was proved by Dr. Ashenden,.and confirmed by Dr. Parsons, that on February 28th ofthis year, Eleanor Houseman was reduced by this treat-

ment to a very critical and dangerous condition. She wasthirteen and a half years old, and weighed 35 lb. ;was pinched and emaciated, and covered with chil.

blains, some of which "broke," and led to sloughing of thetoes and necrosis of the phalanges. Scott expressing herself asunable to provide proper nourishment, the girl was removedto the infirmary, Dr. Ashenden humanely supplying somenecessary medical comforts, and luckily for Miss Scott thistimely care and treatment savedthe life of the child, who rapidlygained flesh, and on July 7th of this year weighed 83lb., havinggained rather more than 5 oz. per diem for 129 days. Indefence it was urged that Miss Scott was very poor, and thatthe diet of herself and her scholars was scarcely any better."But," said the Recorder, " poverty was no excuse, as theworkhouse was always open for her to shift her responsi.bility upon." It was also urged that the child’s criticalcondition was due to hectic fever, brought on by the woundson the feet, but the Recorder very properly urged that " theproof of illness was in the remedy applied. The child was

starved, but with food rapidly recovered. Physic was neces.sary for the diseased, but food was necessary for the famish.ing, and food, and food alone, was administered to her, andnothing else was required." Of the justice of the convictionand sentence there can be no doubt. The reflection whichforces itself upon us is that it would be a great gain to thepublic and the cause of humanity if the care of foundlingsand orphans were to some extent controlled by the State.Poor Eleanor Houseman has been treated with no more

consideration than if she were one of the lower animals, andto all practical intents and purposes she was sold into

bondage. A solemn duty rests, we think, with the publicat large, to render the recurrence of such a scandal as thisimpossible. Surely it is time that those who make a busi-ness of receiving children who are repudiated by their

parents should be licensed and supervised, in some such

way as are those who receive lunatics and others who cannottake care of themselves. From an economic point of view itis everybody’s interest that these unhappy waifs and straysshould, if possible, be trained and developed into useful

citizens, and not be allowed, by a course of starvation andill-treatment, to become a burden to others either in work-houses or prisons. --

NERVE INFLUENCE ON THE TISSUES.

SINCE the year 1869 Dr. Brown-Séquard has noted thepower possessed by the central nervous system, under theinfluence of certain irritations, to arrest the nutrition in dif-ferent tissues and organs. The maximum arrest of the inter-

change between the tissues and the blood is produced by apuncture near the point of the calamus scriptorius, but it isalso caused by stimulation of other parts of the cerebro-spinal centre, and even of the sensory nerves. After fatal

injuries which cause death by sudden arrest of these inter-changes, and arrest of the respiratory and cardiac movements,there are no convulsions, the blood in the veins is red, thetemperature of all parts of the body rapidly falls; the func-tions of the spinal cord, of the nerves, and of the muscles aremaintained for a long time, and cadaveric rigidity and putre-faction set in late. He has lately found that the medullaoblongata and spinal cord possess so powerful an influenceon the interchanges of material of the body that the arrest ofthese can be produced by merely flexing suddenly the headupon the thorax. Two effects can then be observed-(1) theblood in the veins, previously dark, becomes almost imme-diately bright red ; (2) the temperature of the animal falls.In addition, considerable apncea comes on. The apneea wouldcause the blood in both arteries and veins to become

darker, but in spite of this influence the blood, even

in the veins, becomes lighter. Dr. Brown-Séquard hasoften observed this phenomenon in cases of apncea,

269

with or without cardiac syncope, produced by irritationof the cerebro-spinal centre of the pneumogastric nerve,

or of the ganglia of the abdominal sympathetic. It

may be asked, however, whether the effect of the injuryto the medulla on the colour of the blood is not due to thestimulation of the alleged vaso-dilator nerves ? The follow-

ing observation disproves the hypothesis. When there is

au arrest of the interchange of material between the bloodand the tissues, the vessels, instead of being dilated, presentj notable diminution of calibre. Dr. Brown-Séquard foundthat in an animal in which the dorsal spinal cord had beendivided irritation of the medulla and spinal cord, such aswill cause the effects above described, produces these every-where, except in the parts which receive their nerves fromthe portion of the spinal cord which is separated from thebrain. Hence it is certain that the effects are producedthrough the agency of nerves coming from the medulla orcord and acting upon the tissues.

THE CASE OF JOHN WAKEFIELD.

JOHN WAKEFIELD, aged twenty-eight, a labourer, " welinatructed," was put upon his trial at Derby on July 2Stllast, before Baron Huddlestone, for the wilful murder oiEliza Wilkinson. The deceased was nine years old, andon April 26th went out hawking comb-boxes with her sister,aged sixteen. Having sold twelve out of fourteen boxes,the sisters separated, and the younger was never seen aliveagain, but was found shortly afterwards dead, with her throa1cut, in one of the houses at which she had presumably calledto try to sell a box. The man, having committed thEmurder, gave himself up to the police. There was ncmotive alleged for the crime ; there had been no attempt tcrape the deceased, and there was no evidence that the

prisoner had ever seen the deceased before committing theact of murder. The theory of homicidal impulse was pu1forward for the defence, but the judge in his summing UIdid not countenance it, and the jury returned a verdict ojwilful murder without leaving the box. Sentence of deathwas passed in the usual form; but while the judge wasvisibly affected, the prisoner maintained the indifferenceand unconcern which had characterised him throughout.Not a single witness was called to speak to the prisoner’sprevious life or history, and he appeared to be perfectlyunknown to everybody except the police, who had, it seems,no knowledge of him until the morning when he gave him.self up on a charge of murder. The only legitimate pre-sumption in such a case as this is that Wakefield was thevictim of an insane impulse, and the burden of proof cer-tainly lies with those who would maintain that his act wasa criminal rather than an insane one. The public have aright to be informed of the antecedents of this man, -who is

reported to be "well instructed." Where do his familylive For whom has he laboured ? Is it certain that hehas never shown any previous symptoms of insanity ? Ishe epileptic ? These are questions which every humaneperson would ask before consigning him to the gallows.But they never have been asked (judging from the report oithe trial in the Derbyshire Advertiser). The prisoner, duringthe three months of his imprisonment, merely said, withregard to his "crime," that he had "nothing to say"; andhe would have been completely undefended at his trial hadnot the judge on the previous evening arranged with a juniorcounsel to undertake the defence. One witness only wascalled for the defence-namely, Mr. Baker, the surgeon tothe Derby Gaol; and this gentleman (as he informs us him-self) was merely called (and called against his wish) becausehe happened to be in Court, and the counsel overheard himmaking some remarks to a friend about " homicidal im-

pulse." Baron Huddlestone said that the theory of uncon-trollable impulse was "fanciful and imaginary," but said

that all prisoners appeared in the dock charged with similarcrimes " because they had not controlled their passions.’’ ’What passion had Wakefield failed to control ? His calmnessthroughout, and the absence of direct evidence, seem to prove ethat the passion which he had failed to control was not

anger. It certainly was not lust. It was proved not tobe avarice. There was no evidence that it was jealousyor reverc,ge. The theory of an uncontrolled passion is, tosay the least, fully as imaginary and fanciful as that of anuncontrollable (we do not say uncontrolled) impulse. If a,man is to be hanged for not controlling his passions, itshould be known precisely what were the passions whichhe failed to control ; and, failing this information, we holdthat the execution of Wakefield will be a judicial muder ofa most flagrant kind.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HYGIENEOF TURIN.

THE programme of the International Congress of Hygieneat Turin is fixed as follows :-Monday; September 6th :Solemn inaugural meeting, in presence of King Humbert.Speeches will be made by Senator Ferraris, Magistrate ofthe city ; Dr. Fauvel, President of the French Committee;Baron Maydell, of St. Petersburg; Dr. Finkelnburg, of

Berlin ; Dr. J. G. Jaegar, of Amsterdam; Dr. J. Felix, ofBucharest ; and by other delegates on behalf of their respec-tive countries. The report of the Executive Committee willthen be read, after which they will proceed to the electionof the members to form the Commission empowered to drawup the regulations for the prize of 35,000 francs to be

given in 1882 to the author of a useful book on " The

Hygiene of Rural Populations," and the Commission toexamine the subjects of discussion presented extra ordinem.On Tuesday 7th, Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, and Saturdayllth, sittings of the sections in the morning, and genera,meetings in the afternoon. Wednesday 8th, excursion.

Thursday 9th, meeting of the International Association onDrinking Water; communication by M. J. G. Jaeger.Saturday lltb, final meeting. Sunday 12tb, excursion toMilan, to witness an experiment in cremation.

DISEASED CATTLE FROM ABROAD.

OUR correspondent at Birkenhead writes : - The s.s.

Iowa, from Boston, has lately landed 804 head of cattle.

alive and one dead at this port. Forty-three died during the.

passage across and were thrown overboard. On beginning:

to slaughter it was found that some of the cattle wereaffected with splenic fever. Two carcases were seized for

’ this cause on the 7th inst., and six more on the two following

,

days. An order to destroy the eight carcases was on the9th applied for and obtained. Several of the animals nowin the lairage already show signs of the disease, and the

:

slaughtering is being proceeded with under the supervisionof the officers of the sanitary authority. The fever appears

,

to be of a mild type, there being no carbuncles, abscesses,.

or erysipelas. Some of the animals, however, have shown. marked head symptoms, and there appears to be no doubt, about the malady being really sang de rate.

MULTIPLICITY OF THE SPINAL GANGLIA.

THE ganglia upon the posterior roots of the spinal nervesare invariably described as single. A subject has been metwith by Dr. Leo Davida of Pesth, in which some of thelumbar ganglia were double instead of single. This obser-vation led him to investigate the condition further, and hehas found a similar condition in two other bodies. In someof these the ganglia were treble instead of single. In thefirst body, that of a man twenty-three years of age, the first,second, third, and fourth lumbar ganglia were double on the

270

left side, but on the right only the third and fourth. In

most the ganglia were quite separate, in some they wereconnected by a grey commissure. The largest was threemillimetres in diameter. The posterior root, two millimetresabove the ganglion, divided into two, one for each ganglion.There was a difference in the size of the roots correspondingto the size of the ganglia. In the second body, that of aman forty-five years old, on the left side the first four lumbarganglia were double, and the fifth was treble. On the rightside the first two were double and the last three treble ; oneof the sacral ganglia was also double. In some instances thethree ganglia were quite separate, in others they were unitedby grey commissures. In the third body, that of a manthirty-two years of age, the third, fourth, and fifth lumbarganglia were double on the left side, the second, third,fourth, and fifth on the right. As these were the only bodiesexamined, and the condition was found in all, the conclusionwas drawn that duplicity of some of these ganglia is thenormal condition. The point certainly deserves the atten-tion of anatomists.

___

DR. TANNER’S FAST.

THE forty days’ fast of " Dr." Tanner was completed onSaturday last without any evil result. It is at present impos-sible to say what conclusions-if any-can be drawn from it asa scientific experiment, for in spite of the assertion that someof the most eminent physiologists and physicians of NewYork were convinced of the reality of the fast, there aremany points in the statements as to the actual observa-tions during the fast, which tend to throw doubt upon itsgenuineness. It is impossible to draw any scientific con-clusion from the details which have been given in newspapertelegrams, some of which are evidently the work of a veryill-informed person. Thus in one telegram we meet with.the statement that on examination of the blood it was foundthat the red corpuscles rolled together into heaps, which isnot an unusual phenomenon, and that they were muchcrenatud, which is a condition easy to produce in carelessexaminations. We shall await the full record of the ex-

periment—if such it can be called-before we attempt toform any conclusion. We are strongly of opinion that theconditions under which it has been made will deprive it ofwhat little value it might otherwise have possessed.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.

IN the notice of the meeting of the Council of the

Royal College of Surgeons last week it should havebeen stated that Mr. Le Gros Clark’s retirement from theCourt of Examiners arises from the expiration of his term ofoffice and his desire not to seek re-election. Mr. Savory’ssecond term of five years as member of the Court has also

expired, but he desires re-election. For the vacancy caused

by Mr. Le Gros Clark’s retirement Mr. Christopher Heathand Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson have been nominated.

THE FRENCH ACADEMY.

THERE was some surprise evinced a few days ago, at thedistribution of rewards for virtue, to hear Mons. Sardou, whosaid: "Virtue is no longer in fashion as it was in 1782,when Monthyon founded these prizes. Virtue !—the nine-teenth century scarcely practises it, and does not extol it atall. Its philanthropy takes a different pass. It is no longerthe virtuous who interest us, but the criminal. A new

philosophy, claiming to be based on science, sees in mannothing but a combination of matter, and declares that hismorality depends only on the perfect equilibrium of his

organs ; and this doctrine having many partisans amongmedical men, it is not surprising if it sees in humanity onlypatients. The theory is very precise."

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ONE-PORTALSYSTEM.

IT will be seen from our report of the meeting of theBritish Medical Association that it has been announcedthere that the Government had decided to bring in a Billto institute one compulsory qualification for the United

Kingdom. We are sorry to have to contradict so good anannouncement, but we have authority for saying that it is,up to this time, unfounded.

AT the Leeds Assizes, at the close of an action against theLancashire and Yorkshire Railway, in which the plaintiffrecovered £500 damages for injuries received, Mr. JusticeStephen paid a high compliment to Dr. Clifford Allbutt,Mr. Scattergood, and Mr. Wheelhouse, the medical witnessesengaged in the case. He said he was in the habit of

hearing medical evidence in all parts of the country, andLeeds was the only town where he never heard those un.seemly disputes between the legal and medical professionswhich occurred at other places. Here there was a certainnumber of gentlemen, the leaders of the medical professionin the great School of Medicine in Leeds, who had set anadmirable example for many years past of truth and caudourand straightforwardness in the witness-box, and he was

happy to see that their example was being followed by the’

younger members of the profession. When a man reallytried to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but thetruth in plain and simple language, notwithstanding what

.

consequences might be drawn from it, and whether he was’ called on the one side or the other, bullying in court and’

things of that kind ceased at once. He hoped that such a’ state of things might long continue in Leeds, and be imitated,

in other towns. ___

THE following extract from the latest report of Mr. Holmes,the Vaccination Officer of Leeds, is worthy of reproduction :-Of 2978 births returned by the registrars for the half-yearending Dec. 31st, 1879, 2627 were registered as successfullyvaccinated, 2 were insusceptible, 280 died unvaccinated, 17were postponed by certificate as sick, 7 were returned to thevaccination officers in whose districts they had gone to re-side, 43 were not found, and 2 of the parents were fined for

non-compliance with the Act of Parliament. The numbervaccinated gives a rate of 88’2 per cent. of the births, and97’3 of the living children. This is the highest rate yetobtained. ’ Not one child was returned as having sufferedfrom small-pox ; 9’4 per cent. died without having had theoperation performed upon them.

THE out-patient work of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Dis-pensary having largely increased within the last few years,the members of the existing honorary medical staff havefound themselves quite unable to cope with the great amountof work thrown upon their hands. The committee therefore,at a special meeting held on Thursday the 5th inst., decidedto appoint an additional physician, and generously proposedin future to present each member of the staff with an honorarium at the end of the year.

AN International Congress was held on the 2nd inst. atBrussels, under the presidency of the Count of Flanders, toconsider various questions relating to the use of alcohol.The Congress was promoted by French and Belgian so.

cieties having as their aim the strict limitation, if not

the entire suppression, of the employment of the agentsave as a medicine.

___

M. TRELAT, Professor of External Pathology of the Facultyof Paris, has been transferred to the chair of Clinical Surgery,vacant by the death of Professor Broca.

271

ON Friday, the 30th ult., the treasurer of the WestminsterGeneral Dispensary, Gerrard-street, Soho, entertained, atWillis’s Rooms, the medical officers and committee, andafter dinner presented to Dr. Waite, the senior physician, ahandsome testimonial from the committee and governors, in

recognition of his valuable services, on his resigning officeafter a period of thirty years.

IT may be interesting to some of our readers to learnthat a committee has been formed at Oxford to collect

subscriptions from those who wish to testify their sym-pathy with Professor Mommsen in the recent great cala-mity which has befallen him. Subscriptions may be paid tothe "Mommsen Fund," at the Old Bank, Oxford.

THE governors of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading,have, it is stated, resolved to provide additional accommo-dation for the patients. It is intended to expend £10,000for this purpose. ____

THE King of Italy has conferred on Dr. Julius Althaus thebrevet and insignia of a Knight of the Order of the Crown oiItaly. ---THE death is announced of Professor Hebra, the dis-

tinguished dermatologist of Vienna.

Public Health and Poor Law.LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.

REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH.

Caistor Rural Sanitary District. - Dr. AlexanderCameron’s report for 1879 is the first general report hehas had to make, and it refers to ten months only of theyear to which it relates. The district is an extensive one,ranging from ten to sixteen miles in different directions fromCaistor as a centre. Dr. Cameron’s duties during the tenmonths he had held office in the year had been chieflydevoted to making himself acquainted with the wants ofthe district, and in initiating and organising systematicmeasures for its sanitary supervision. His report may bedivided into two parts, the first of which is occupied with ob-servations on deficiencies in the law relating to sanitaryauthorities; and particularly to deficiencies, as he thinks, inthe powers they exercise; the second to observations on

particular sanitary requirements of his district, and the wayin which they should be met. To our mind the second partis infinitely the more interesting and instructive, and weshall trust to hear much more of Dr. Cameron with referenceto the subjects of which it treats, and his mode of treatingthem. Amendment of the law is a very complicated subject,which demands other considerations than those which im-mediately present themselves to the medical officer of health,and at least its consideration should be deferred until therehas been opportunity of testing by experience what can bedone with the not inconsiderable powers which the lawalready gives to local authorities. As a rule, sanitaryauthorities have shown themselves too little disposedto use their existing powers to make it probablethat the Legislature would be eager to increase themlargely. With respect to the second part of Dr.Cameron’s report it deserves particular notice for thedesire that it manifests of studying and dealing in detailwith the sanitary defects of rural places, and removing thesewithout having recourse to comprehensive and expensiveschemes of engineering and water-supply. We are not

prepared to say that his suggestions for obviating excre.mental and slop-nuisance about houses in rural districtsare the best conceivable; but we feel that the habit oithought which he displays in endeavouring to find solutionsin detail for the particular difficulties he wishes to haveabated is one which requires more cultivation than it has

yet received among the medical officers of health of ruraldistricts. Those who are familiar with the report of theLocal Government Board on the means of removing excre-mental nuisances in towns and villages cannot but feel thatthere is much more to be done in abating such nuisances inrural districts than has yet been done without the introduc-tion of costly engineering schemes. Dr. Cameron evidentlyhas his own views on this matter; they are clearly of anature which we desire to see more of; and we shall lookwith interest for his further experiences.

Dr. Cameron’s report gives a curious illustration of thesanitary (or rather insanitary) management of workhouses.He includes in his report an account of the evil hygienicstate of the workhouse of the district, and of presumed fatalconsequences to some of the inmates therefrom. He notes,moreover, an outbreak of puerperal fever in the workhouse-the nurse of the surgical wards being also the nurse of thelying-in wards !

Birmingham.—Dr. Alfred Hill’s report on the health ofBirmingham for the quarter ending July 3rd, 1880, shows abirth-rate of 41’6, as compared with 42 8 and 40’2 in thesecond quarters of 1878 and 1879 respectively, and a death-rate of 19’1 only, as compared with 25’06, 21’35, and 22’04in the spring quarters of 1877, 1878, and 1879 respectively.There was a great diminution in the mortality from thezymotic class of diseases, the deaths from the seven principalzymotic diseases numbering only 178, as compared with 265in the second quarter of 1879. The diminution of the mor-tality from zymotics was observed in each of the diseases inthe class except " fever" and diarrhœa. The most fatal of thezymotic diseases was whooping-cough (56 deaths, as con.

trasted with 122 in the corresponding quarter of 1879) ; anddiarrhoea came next in order of fatality (47 deaths, as com-pared with 42 in the spring quarter of 1879). The work ofprivy-transformation seems to be proceeding steadily in thetown, as at the end of the quarter it would appear that therewere 32,520 privies on the pan-system.

Bedfast.—From the report of Dr. Browne, medicalsuperintendent officer of health, presented to the BelfastTown Council last week, we learn that the number of casesof zymotic diseases reported by the medical officers of theseveral dispensary districts during July, were remarkablyfew, fifteen cases only having been reported during thatperiod. The total births registered in the four weeksamounted to 508, and the deaths to 359, showing a naturalincrease in the population of 149. The average death-ratefor the month was 27’95 per 1000, calculated on the censusof 1871, but on the corrected population it was 22’0.

: THE VACCINATION ACTS AMENDMENT BILL.

The Vaccination Acts Amendment Bill has at length beenthrown overboard, and the work of the Legislature to thisextent lightened-an extent small indeed, if measured bythe size of the Bill, but great if regarded from the point ofview of the dissatisfaction the Bill gave rise to, and the dis-cussion which was threatened upon it. It would havebeen mere folly to have persisted with it in the face of the

. evidence against an alteration of the law of the sort it pro-, posed, supplied by that most excellent of vaccination officers,

Mr. Holmes of Leeds, in a recent report presented by him to. the Board of Guardians there. Our contemporary, the. Yorkshire Post, in printing this report, observes that it may

please Mr. Serjeant Simon, M.P., to exhibit the neighbour-ing borough of Dewsbury as a place which prefers a loath-

. some disease to compulsory vaccination; but that when hecouples Leeds with Dewsbury iu that preference, he libelsLeeds most grossly, as the evidence 01 Mr. Holmes most

fully shows. We print elsewhere a portion of Mr. Holmes’report. ___

IMPORTATION OF SMALL-POX.

The local journals contain a report of the landing of a! small-pox case at Bristol from a vessel bound to Gloucester,. and of comments of the Sanirary Authority thereon, which! seem to us to betray considerable confusion as to their! duties under the circumstances. We have more than once. had occasion to observe the imperfect ideas the local. authorities of seaports have of the quarantine laws on thelone hand, and the powers for dealing with infectious

diseases on the other ; and we are of opinion that the Locals Government Board should take some steps to enable these

authorities to see their way more clearly in a complex andi not easily understood matter. Between the Quarantine Laws