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Royal Medical Benevolent F’und Society of Ireland. IThe annual meeting was held last week at the Royal

College of Physicians. The committee in their report referto the scanty support given by their professional brethrenin the country, and point out that last year no less thanfive important counties did not contribute a single shillingto the fund. Thirteen ad interim applications for relLefwere considered since the last annual meeting, two ofwhich were from medical men and eleven from the widowsof medical men. This year grants to the amount of 995have been distributed. Tne expenses of managementamounted to z, or about 9’8 per cent. of the income,which appears somewhat higher than it might be consider-ing the number of honorary officers.

Royal Hospital for 1’ncurables. IAt a meeting of the board of governora held last SaturdayJ. J. Cranny, M.D Dah., was elected honorary consultingphysician, and John V. Lentaigne, F.R.C S.I , honoraryconsulting surgeon, to the hospital.

Children’s Hospital, Temple street,The committee intend to hold the annual garden f6te and

fancy fair on the 23rd inst. and following day.The proposed Consumption Hospital at Ballynafeigh

At the last meeting of the Belfast City Council, held onJane 1st, the report of the public health committee wasbrought forward, with an appendix submitted by themedical superintendent officer of health and the executivesanitary officer, who had been instructed to report on the,plans of the new consumption hospital. In this documentthese gentlemen say they have inspected the plans and thesuggested site, and, while there is no objection to theformer, they do not think it is advisable to build any.hospital for the treatment of disease in a populous locality.They say the infectious nature of tubercle is now generallyadmitted, and, though in other large cities hospitals for thetreatment of that disease exist in populous districts, they.do not think it would be wise or expedient to follow thisfxample. They point out that, while the death-rate inBalfast during the past year amounted to 2-6 per 1000 from.all zymotic disease, that from phthisis amounted to 4 per1000 They recommend that a site should be chosen out-side the city boundary, in a locality not likely to belargely built upon for some time to come. Thisreport was adopted by the public health committee.On the same day an extremely influential deputation of thecitizens of Belfast waited on the Council, urging them toallow the building of the new hospital to be proceededwith at once. One of the deputation, a well-knownclergyman in Belfast, stated that before they acquired thesite they carefully informed themselves as to whetherany danger was likely to accrue to the inhabitants ofthe neighbourhood from the erection and maintenancethere of uch a hospital. They had visited theBrompton Hospital, London, the largest institution ofthe kind in the world, containing beds for 420 patients,and the authorities there simply laughed at the views ex-pressed by the Belfast Health Committee as to the dangerof the hospital to the surrounding population. When thematter was considered by the Council, on the motion ofMr. Stewart, the report of the public health committeewas passed, with the excision of a paragraph and thewhole of the appendix referring to the ConsumptionHospital. This was thought to mean that the planshad passed; but I understand the subject was again’before the public health committee, and is not yetfinally settled. Oa June 13bh a public meeting of the_inhabitants of Ballynafeigh was held to protest againstthe proposed site as unsuitable, and the following, amongstother resolutions, was parsed :-"That many of the mosteminent medical men confidently assert that consumption.is infectious, and although some still hold a different view,ibis the decided opinion of this meeting that all risk ofinfection should be avoided." A deputation from themeeting was to appear on Wednesday, Jane 15th, beforethe City Council Improvement Committee. The questionof the location of the new consumption hospital is excitingconsiderable discussion in Belfast, and the local papers arefull of letters on the subject, especially on the point, " Isconsumption infectious or not?"The atatue of Lord Ardilaun in Sb Stephen’s-green Park,

Dablin, will be unveiled next Saturday by the Lord Mayor.June 15th.

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Prophylaxis of Tuberculosis.I HAVE on more than one occasion communicated the

results of the experiments conducted by MM. Hédcourtand Richeb on the protective properties of cultures of aviantuberculosis on dogs. On Dec. 5bh, 1891, four dogs wereinoculated with human tuberculous matter, two of theseanimals having previously been inoculated with aviantubercle. The first group of dogs died on Dec. 27th,each having survived exaotly twenty-two days. Of thesecond group, one was destroyed on April 19th, 1892.This dog, which, despite an appearance of good health,had developed fungous periarthritis of both wrists, andarthritis of the hip-joint, was found post mortem to beaffected with pulmonary tuberculosis lesions in which asclerogenic process had made considerable progress. Theother " vaccinated " dog is to-day alive and well, having inthe six months since its inoculation gained flesh to theextent of three kilogrammes. This fairly conclusive experi-ment has since been repeated on a larger scale. OnApril 14th, 1892, four "unvaccinated" and four" vac-cinated" (with avian tubercle) dogs were subjected toinoculations with equal quantities of human tubercle. Theculture, forty-five days old, was injected into the saphenousvein, one cubic centimetre being the dose employed. Theinoculation was repeated on two subsequent occasions.On the same day three other dogs, already" vaccinated,"received a single dose of human tubercle, either in theperitoneal cavity or in the saphenous vein. The resultsare most striking, for the four "unvaccinated" animalssuccumbed on the eighteenth, twenty-first, thirtieth, andforty-fifth days respectively, whilst all their " vaccinated "comrades are still living, and apparently enjoying perfecthealth. May not these laboratory experiments be extendedto the wards, and to our homes, and is it too bold aflight of imagination to picture children receiving at thehands of the family medical man one or more injectionsof avian tubercle as a prophylactic against that fell malady,tuberculosis, just as the onslaughts of variola are guardedagainst by the routine practice of " vaccination " ? Timealone can teach us the value of such protective methods.

Election at the Académie des Sciences.The vacancy in the ranks of the foreign associates of this

body, caused by the death of Dom Pedro, ex-Emperor ofBrazil, was at the last meeting, at which Carl Vogt, theeminent naturalist of Geneva, was present, filled up by theelection of von Helmholtz of Berlin, the great physicist beingawarded twenty-eight votes, as against nineteen recordedfor M. van Beneden of Louvain. The other names sub-mitted for selection were those of Newcomb of Washington,Nordenskjold of Stockholm, Weierstrass of Berlin, and last,but not least, our own Lister.

A Small-pox Epidemic at Nimes.It is reported that small-pox has been rife at this town

since July, 1891, and that no les than 150 persons havesuccumbed to the disease, 130 of these fatal cases havingoccurred during the five first months of this presentyear. It is pointed out that the town, which boastsa population of 70,000, possesses nothing in the shapeof a system of disinfection, and that the sanitaryboard and their single inspector are not endowed withsuf&cient powers. Vaccination is so neglected that it isonly owing to strong representations made by a local journalthat the opening of a vaccination bureau thrice weeklywas procured. It appears that a large proportion of thepopulation is unvaccina"ed. The efficacy of revaccinationis once more proved by the absolute immunity enjoyed bysoldiers, the emplo,ys of the Paris-Lyou-M6iiterran6a Rail-way Company, and of such private firms who exact theobservance of this precautionary measure by their workmen.

Paris, June 15th.

BERLIN.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Inaugumtion of the Langenbeck House.THE Langenbeck House was formally inaugurated on the

8th insb. The Emperor, who was at Kiel, was representedby his cousin, Ptince Frederick Leopold. The large hall

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was filled to the roof with the invited guests and themembers of the German Surgical Society. The Empresswas represented by a chamberlain. The Commandant ofBerlin and other officers of rank, ex-Minister Delbiiiek,the officials of the Berlin Medical Society, the membersof the Imperial Office of Health, and many eminentmen of science, including E3march, Thiersch, König,Schonbarn, Bardenheuer, Mikuliez, Braun, Helferich,Kiister, Lauenstein, Schade, Wagner, Bruns, Wölfler,Bramann, and Trendelenburg, were present. Langen.beck’s family was represented by his son, Major-Generalvon Langenbeck, his son-in-law, Major-General von

Plessen, and his grandson, Lieutenant von Roon. AfterPrince Frederick Leopold had taken the seat of honour infront of the platform, Professor Bardeleben, as president ofthisyear’aSurgicalCongress,addressed the assembly. Hegavea history of the Langenbeck House, drawing special attentionto the powerful aid of the late Empress Augusta. Prof. vonBergmann then spoke in terms of high praise of the build-ing. He referred to the valuable gifts that had beenbestowed on the house, especially the splendid Black Forestclock presented by the Empress Augusta’s daughter, theGrand Duchess of Baden, and a portrait of Langenbeckpresented by his daughter, the Countess Hardenberg. Theband then played Beethoven’s "The heavens are telling theglory of God," and the members of the Surgical Society andtheir guests inspected the house in all its parts.

The Twenty-first Geyman Surgical Congress.The twenty-firsb German Surgical Congress was opened

at 1 P.M. on the 8th instant in the large hall of theLangenbeck House by the president, Professor Bardeleben.After some official preliminaries, Bruns of Tübingen spokeon the surgical importance of the new firearms. Especiallyat shorter distances an explosive effect takes place,not so bad, indeed, as that produced by the old rifles,when soft lead bullets were used, but still bad enough.Close shots produce extensive lacerations of the soft parts,and seriously splinter the bones. Often, however, this ’,destruction is not externally visible-at least where the ’,bullet has entered. The bullet never remained in thebody at distances of less than 1200 metres, but fragments i,of the clothing were sometimes carried into the wound,and then, if bones were injured, generally remained at the place where the shot entered a bone. An

important difference between the old lead bullet and thenew steel mantled projectile is that the latter does not atonce change its form on entering the body. Such changestake place only when it has first passed through walls orrebounded from hard objects, and then the wounds aremuch more dangerous. Bruns showed pieces of wood pene-trated by old and new projectiles. The channels producedby the old ones are short, and widen out conically imme-diately after the entry of the projectile, whereas thosemade by the new ones are longer, and uniform frombeginning to end. Owing to the great penetrativepower of the new projectiles, the death zone coincideswith the range of the rifle. Ib is doubtful, however,whether the number of fatal wounds in war will begreater than hitherto. The fighting will be done atmuch greater distances, except where troops can availthemselves of very safe cover. Things which used to affordsuch cover no longer do so. At a hundred metres the pro-jectile goes through four or five ranks of soldiers in closeorder, at 400 three or four, at 800 two or three. Thepsychical effect on the men will be different too. The ex-perience that all the improvements of weapons have failedto increase the losses in war justifies the hope that this willcontinue to be the case. The surgeon’s task will be in somerespects lighter than before. The use of the probe and theextraction of bullets will be far rarer, and asepsis will bemuch more frequently attainable than it used to be. Evenwhen the long bones are splintered, the slighter injurycaused to the skin and the soft parts will render aseptictreatment easier. The experience of Russian and Americansurgeons in the recent Chilian war confirms this, and showsthat the small bore rifle is a gain to humanity. Thedanger of fatal haemorrhage is diminished, and the fact thatthe bullet’s path through the body is in a perfectly straightline enables the surgeon to determine with certainty whatparts are injured. On the other hand, it cannot be deniedthat the long range of the new rifle makes the removal ofthe wounded very difficult. The best immediate applica-tion is an absorbent aseptic bandage. The next speaker,

Iteger of Hanover, spoke of the effect of hydraulic pressure,on the injured ogans. The splintering ot the long bones,he said, is due to the medullary substance being com.pressed bv the impact of the projectile on the bone. Hethought Bruns’ description of the terrible effect of nearshots exaggerated. Bruns’ experiments proved nothing, forthey were made on dead animals-i.e., on lax muscles andbones without fluid marrow. Reger believes that the per-centage of fatal wounds must diminish with the calibreof the rifle. Messner dealt with the question whether theheat of the projectile suffices to kill all the germs attachingto it or caught np by it on its course, and answered it inthe negative. Lauenstein of Hamburg recommended cleanli.ness on the part of the soldiers as the most importantcondition of asepsis, but many of his hearers were of opinion.that in the filthy work of war cleanliness is impossible.Haase of Berlin combated the opinion that, as the rangeof the new rifle is four kilometres, the bandaging placesmust be four kilometres distant from the line of fire. Therange of the chassepôt was three kilometres, but thebandaging places in the French war were only 1700 to 1800metres from the line of fire. The distance will now have tobe from 2250 to 2400 metres, or at most 2500. At 1000,metres soldiers fire only at bodies of troops; at 2000 not at all.The carriages to which the wounded are borne must standfrom 700 to 1100metres from the line o fire of one’s own troops,1500 to 1600 from that of the enemy. This is the point atwhich the zone of less danger begins. The bearers, of course,work in the zone of greater danger, but they did so in 1870too-indeed, their work was specially dangerous in thatcampaign, because the range of the needle-gun was muchshorter than that of the chassepot. Their loss was 6’6 per1000. But, even supposing that the losses in the next warexceed those of the bloodiest battle in 1870 by 50 per cent,,only 1158 bearers per army corps would be needed, for therewere 772 then. In reality each corps now has 1168, in.cluding 200 musicians trained as bearers. The introductionof portable electric search-lights for use in the night is.desirable. Bloodhounds might also be of use both at nightand on covered ground by day. The total number of the lowerambulance officialsin the German army is 45,000. Towards theclose of the discussion a question arose as to the advisabilityof the preliminary closing of shot wounds by the bearers bysuture or plaster. Langenbuch advocated this on theground that most of the wounds will be aseptic, and thattherefore primary healing will be attainable in most cases, .

while, in the contrary case, it will be easy to reopen them.Konig, Esmarch, Trendelenburg, and Thiersch opposed thisview, maintaining that, owing to the entry of particles ofclothing with the bullet, and to the uncleanliness of thesewing material and of the sewer’s hands, the wounds wiltvery often be by no means aseptic. Thiersch put an end tothis debate by the dry remark, "We will keep the woundsopen and close the discussion." The chairman took thehint and closed the meeting.

Berlin, June 13th.

Obituary.THOMAS DAVIES-COLLEY, M.D., J.P.

’ WE regret to have to announce the death of Dr. Davies-Colley of Chester. So long ago as 1834 he took the-M.R.C.S. Eng., and in 1835 the L.S.A., and then beganpractice in Foregate-street, Chester, in which city his fatherhad been for some time a general practitioner. In a short-

time, however, he went to study in Edinburgh, where, in1839, he obtained the M.D. degree. He was elected in1854 honorary physician to the Chester General Infirmary,which position he held until the beginning of 1890, when heresigned and was appointed consulting physician. Duringthe whole of this time he was most constant in his atten-dance at the hospital. Everything gave way to what heconsidered his first duty, attention to the patients underhis care at the infirmary. Everything connected with theinterests of the institution claimed his warm sympathy andintelligent support. In addition to his professional workhe took an active part in the various philanthropic move-ments of his native city. He took much interest in themanagement of the Blue Coat Hospital, and was one of thetrustees of the Blue Girls’ Schooh He always manifested