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that the infirmary medical officer had neglected to notifya case of typhoid fever which occurred in the district,for which he was also the medical officer of health, andwhich appeared in the person of a man who was the pro-prietor of a dairy. It further transpired that the dairy,though existent for some 14 years, had never been reported orinspected by the officials of the Public Health Department.The outbreak of typhoid fever, which included some 60 cases,was fairly proven to have been caused by infection from thisdairy. After a month’s delay the Local Government Boardhas recently taken strong action. At a meeting of theCastleknock Board of Guardians, held on Dec. 13th, a

letter from the Local Government Board was readdirecting the guardians to require the resignation ofthe dispensary medical officer of the district and also theresignation of the two sanitary officials who had neglectedtheir duties. The board of guardians passed a resolutionrequesting the Local Government Board to reconsider theirdecision in reference to the medical officer on the groundsthat he had proved up to the present a most efficient officerand that this was his first offence. The final decision of theLocal Government Board has not yet been made.Dec. 19th.

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Incentives to Research.I SEND your readers some further particulars of the muni-

ficent gift of M. Daniel Osiris which was noted inTHE LANCET of Dec. 9th.1 M. Osiris has handed over tothe Institute of France a capital sum representing some32,000 francs of income for the purpose of founding a prizewhich will be given every three years and which will amountto about 100,000 francs. This sum is to be allotted to himwho shall have done the most remarkable work during thethree years in science, letters, arts, industry, or generally inwhatever subject shall be deemed to have best served thepublic weal. Among the subjects which M. Osiris will bemost pleased to see win the prize are researches andresults in surgery or medicine such as will bring cureor relief of such evils as for which at present thereseems to be no efficacious remedy or results which tendtowards the prevention of such evils. The Institute ofFrance will decide every three years in general assemblyas to the awarding of the prize. M. Osiris suggests thatthe institute should consider the claims not only of thosecandidates who offer their work for competition, but thatthey should search out matters for themselves since real, truemerit often shrinks from publicity. The prize is only opento persons of French nationality, except during the holdingof a Universal Exhibition when foreigners may compete. Ifthe work sent in is the result of a collaboration eachcollaborator shall share in the prize proportionally to the

part he has played.The Existence of Arseitie in the Normal Organism.

At the meeting of the Academy of Medicine held onDec. 5th M. Gautier communicated a paper upon the Exist-ence of Arsenic in the Normal Organism. He showed thatarsenic was met with in the normal body. In the thyroidgland it was found in very small quantities, it was true, butstill capable of being weighed, and it also existed in stillsmaller quantities in the brain and in the thymus, butno trace could be found in any other viscus. It existedas an arseno-nuclein-i.e., a combination of arsenic andnuclein-which, together with the common phosphorisednucleins, play an important and even necessary part in theeconomy of the cell-nucleus (noyau). Therefore in variousmaladies of the viscera where arsenic existed normallyand disappeared pathologically the medicinal administra-tion of arsenic was indicated and gave good results.The various organs would seem to possess certain latentspecific functions with which were bound up certain chemicalcharacteristics marked by the presence of certain chemicalbodies and particular kind of cells. For example, manganesewas found in connexion with certain oxidising ferments, iodinein the thyroid body, fluorine in the bones, and arsenic in thebrain, the skin, and the thyroid. This theory, whichwas founded upon accurate chemical analysis, allowed the

1 THE LANCET, Dec. 9th, 1899, p. 1635.

ph3sician to formulate dtiinite lines of medical treat.-ment with a view to supplying to the various organs the

indispensable chemical substance which might be lacking inany particular case. Finally, the idea was of great import-ance from a medico-legal point of view. For instance, in esti-mating the amount of arsenic to be found in the body thevarious organs should be taken one by one, for arsenic existednormally in the brain, the skin, and the thyroid body. Thislast remark of M. Gautier brought up M. Brouardel, whoremarked that he had always insisted upon the necessity forkeeping the organs separate at a post-mortem examination.While he gave every credit to the important work ofM. Gautier. yet he must say that the previous resultsobtained by medico-legal experts were not weakened, for intheir case arsenic had been detected in marked quantities inthe stomach and especially in the liver.

P1lblio Examinations for Hospital Appointments.I send some further notes upon the recent oonoou’rS for

hospital appointments. The students maintain that sundryirregularities were committed at this examination on the

very first day. The subject for competition is chosen bylot and given out in public at the opening of the exa-

mination, in a room filled with candidates and theirfriends. An official then gives out duly stamped sheetsof paper upon which the candidates write their answersto the questions so that they cannot bring in theiranswers ready written. It would seem that this year thefriends of certain candidates stole a packet of the officiallystamped paper and when the public had to withdraw tookthis paper out and wrote the answers to the questions withthe aid of books. Then, when the public were admitted atthe end of the examination the interested candidates sub-stituted these answers for the ones they had themselveswritten. The story goes that the author of the outrage wasa candidate who in a moment of abstraction sent up both hisown answers and those supplied by his friends, so that toavoid the exposure which would surely follow his beingcalled upon to read his paper he took this method ofrendering the examination useless and so necessary to beheld over again, by destroying the papers. The inquirycommittee of the Assistance Publique has met to decideon what to do and after having heard a report fromM. Voisin came to the conclusion that they would leave thedecision in the hands of the Conseil d’Etat but gave it as.their personal opinion that the examination should be heldover again. They also decided that in future the publicshould not be admitted when the examination papers were,

given out, which goes some way to prove that the story amongthe students about the two copies is not so very far from.the truth.Dec. 19th.

_______________

BERLIN.

(FROM OUROWN CORRESPONDENT.)

A University Complication.GREAT commotions have lately occurred at the university

in the class-room of Professor Behrendt, the well-knowndermatologist, during a course of lectures delivered by himon prostitution from an ethical, social, and medical point ofview. At these lectures there is a large attendance ofstudents and of other persons as well, for in the universitythere is hardly any examination of admission tickets. A

great sensation was, however, produced at the first lecture,when an elderly lady entered the room, the whole assemblyraising and furiously shouting out" -Raus!" ("Go out"). Thetumult continued when the Professor appeared, and beinginformed of the cause of the disorder he stated that the ladyhad requested permission to attend his lectures. Heasked the students to behave quietly, which they finallydid, so that the lecture was finished without further inter-ruption. But at the next lecture a similar tumult broke out

again, although the University authorities had taken theprecaution of excluding unauthorised persons by a strictexamination of the tickets. Professor Behrendt againaddressed the students, saying that the lady, being thesuperintendent of a public school, had not come from

any motive of idle curiosity but that she had already c’onea good deal of work in the study of social science. Thestudents, however, turned a deaf ear to the explanations ofthe Professor and on beginning his third lecture he found

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himself compelled to announce that he had withdrawn hisauthorisation to the lady to attend his lectures owing to thefact that the subject seemed to be too delicate to betreated before a mixed audience. He declared his intentionto speak on the same matter before an audience of ladiesonly, so that the sensibilities of the students might not bewounded. This announcement was received with generalapplause by the audience and the lectures proceeded withoutfurther incident. The press generally blames ProfessorBehrendt’s attitude, maintaining that there was no reasonwhy a lecture on prostitution might not be attended byladies simultaneously with male students provided that theladies had only proper scientific objects in view, as wasevidently the case in the present instance. The newspapersalso blame the students and point out that in other

countries-as, for instance, in America-no distinctionis made between male and female students and that thepresence of ladies, far from being prejudicial to academicallife, might, on the contrary, contribute very much to refinethe manners of students. The association for female educa-tion has addressed to the senate of the University a protestagainst the separation of male and female students in theUniversity. The Berlin branch of the International Federa-tion of Women :has also protested against the exclusion ofwomen from lectures on social matters and has drawn theattention of the senate to the fact that the question ofprostitution has been discussed at the two congresses ofZurich and Geneva before a mixed audience without anyinconvenience, although the majority of the assembly did not.consist of educated persons.

Treatment of Puerperal Eclampsia.An article on the Treatment of Puerperal Eclampsia has

been published in the Xiine7tener Medicinische TVoehenschrift’by Dr. Everke of Bochum. He points out that as a rule theconvulsions cease as soon as the child is born and thereforehe is of opinion that eclampsia is produced by a toxicinfluence issuing from the foetus and entering the circulationof the mother through the placenta. A rational treatment ofeclampsia must therefore consist in rapid instrumentaldelivery. He has treated 38 patients in this way.In seven of those cases the labour had advancedso far that delivery could be effected by simpleapplication of the forceps or by turning. Six of themothers recovered; the remaining one was in a moribundstate and died. Of the children four survived, one diedimmediately after its birth, and two were found to have diedduring the fits. In the other 31 cases the situation was muchmore complicated, the os being not yet sufficiently dilated toallow the introduction of instruments or of a finger. In 28of these cases the os had therefore to be opened by incisionsafter Duhrssen’s method previously to the application offorceps. 20 of the mothers recovered and eightdied, three of the latter having been in a moribundstate. Two died from septicaemia and only threefrom eclamptic coma. In 22 women the eclamptic fits dis-appeared immediately after instrumental delivery. As tothe children 23 were born alive (once twins), in five instancesdeath occurred in the uterus, and one child died in delivery.The mortality of the children was therefore 5 per cent. andthat of the mothers only 12 per cent. In three cases dilata-tion of the os by incisions proved impossible so thatCæsarean section was performed. Two of the mothers died15 and 12 hours respectively after the operation. Both hadbeen operated on in deep coma and would obviously havedied even without an operation. The third woman recovered,the fits ceasing immediately after operation ; her childunfortunately died, whilst those of both the other womensurvived. According to statistics by Dr. Hillmann Cæsareansection has up to the present been performed for eclampsiain 41 cases, the result being that 21 of the women died and20 recovered. These results are not so unsatisfactory as theymight appear, an operation like Caesarean section being,of course, performed in very bad cases only.

Treatment of Gonorrhœal Epididymitis. -

Dr. Bettmann of Heidelberg, writing to the Münchener Medicinische Wochenschrift, recommends the application ofa solution of salicylate of methyl with olive-oil in gonor-rhoeal epididymitis. A piece of cotton-wool moistened withthe above solution is put on the scrotum and covered withcaoutchouc tissue. This bandage may be left for 12 hoursbefore being changed. The swelling generally decreases andin particular the pain is relieved very soon.

The Medical Cltambers.The results of the elections to the medical chambers are

now published. In Berlin the combined list of the Standes-vereine and of the Free Choice Society came out at the headof the poll, whilst the two other lists, that of the BerlinerAerztevereins-Bund and of the Free Association of MedicalPractitioners, had only a few hundred votes. In Berlin 72per cent. of the medical men recorded their votes, whilst atthe preceding election the number of votes was 76 per cent.of the total. The interest of the profession seems thereforeto be diminishing although a comparatively animated agita-tion was kept up by the different combinations. Professorvon Bergmann, the celebrated surgeon of Berlin University,is among the elected members. In the provinces, where theagitation is as a rule less active than in the metropolis,nearly all the old members were re-elected.

Dec. 18th. ______________

ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Microbes in Holy Water.DR. ABBA, a distinguished bacteriologist of the Sub-Alpine

School and one of the health officers of Turin, has for sometime been examining the holy water contained in the bénitie’fsor fonts attached to the pillars or walls inside the entrance-doors of sacred edifices. Thirty-one specimens of such waterfrom as many Turinese churches have been analysed byhimself and his assistants in the municipal laboratory, andthe results have more than confirmed his anticipation thatthe water in question may be an effective conduit of disease.It is exposed to the dust that finds free access tochurch interiors ; it is dipped into by the fingers of thefaithful on Sundays and weekdays morning, noon, and

night-fingers mainly of the abject poor, guiltless of thenail-brush or even of common soap. The sacristans, more-over, Dr. Abba found, seldom or never troubled themselveswith cleaning the font itself-rarely, indeed, doing more thanapplying a wet mop to the pillar or slab in which the fontis fixed. Among other microbes Dr. Abba detected thebacillus of tuberculosis in one of the specimens, while a

colleague of his found in another the characteristic bacillusof diphtheria. Granted that neither bacillus can find inchurch interiors a favourable I atmosphere" " or elementin which to multiply, their very presence in the holy waterquite justifies the precautionary measures which Dr. Abbarecommends. These include a weekly washing and disin-fecting of the pillar or wall from which the font projects,a daily application of the same process to the font itself,and the treatment of the water with antiseptics. Suchintervention on the part of the " mere hygienist" is, how-ever, indignantly opposed by the Church press, the mostauthoritative organ of which, the Osservatore Romano,often but erroneously called the mouthpiece of the Vatican,protesting that the " water," being " holy," needs no humantreatment. Such lay practice it further condemns as "anti-ritual" and "not free from grave objections." Nineteencenturies it adds, have come and gone and not till to-day hasthe water been even suspected as a channel of disease. But issuch really the case ? Salt from very ancient times has beenmingled with the holy water, and even if the practice can layno claim to scientific inspiration still it must have had some" preservative sanction," easily transferable in the light ofmodern hygiene to the employment of kindred salts derivingfrom chlorine an antiseptic virtue. The Church which hasabsorbed into its ritual the feast-days of pagan antiquity andgiven them Christian rehabilitation and observance need haveno difficulty in so modifying the saline ingredient added toholy water in the first centuries as to make it a true andefficacious disinfectant, destructive of the microbes known tomodern science and reinforcing the spiritual use of thewater by another benignantly hygienic. The Holy Yearwhich commences on Christmas Eve, attracting as it will tothe Italian, and especially to the Roman, churches millionsof the faithful, might fitly inaugurate the new departure inthis direction and so acquire a historical distinction in nowise prejudicial to the interests of the Church.

The Tourist in Italy.Italy is at present the scene of two counter movements

destined ere long to come into collision. There is the move-ment "perfavorire 1’amuenza, dei forestieri in Italia," and