1532 CHOLERA.

DEATHS OF EMINENT FOREIGN MEDICAL MEN.

THE death of the following distinguished member of

the medical profession abroad has been announced :-Dr.Emile Blanc, a well-known gynaecologist of Lyons, con-

tracted infection from a case of puerperal septicsemiaduring the removal of placental remnants through a slightand unnoticed abrasion of the skin of his left forefinger.The first symptom of mischief was severe pain in theaxilla six hours after the operation, which was followedtwo hours later by rigors, vomiting, extreme prostration anda high temperature. The cellular tissue of the axilla becameoedematous and of a yellowish ;colour, and several soft

friable, but non-suppurating, glands were afterwards re-

moved, but only a temporary improvement occurred, deathtaking place on the sixth day. Cultures from the glandsremoved showed the presence of a streptococcus in a veryvirulent form.

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IN consideration of the 800,000 lire (E32,000) bequeathedby the late Senator Giacinto Pacchiotti to the municipalityof Turin the mayor of that city has proposed and carried aresolution to commemorate the munificence of the donor bya monument within the cemetery. It will be rememberedthat one of Dr. Pacchiotti’s dispositions contemplated thebuilding of an elementary school in the centre of Turin,representing in itself every improvement of late years effectedin scholastic architecture, hygiene and general management.The mayor, again, in recognition of the philanthropy of themedical testator, has carried a resolution to the effect that ’,the school shall bear the name of Pacchiotti and that its Ivestibule shall be adorned with his bust. Designs for thebuilding as well as for the bust have been thrown open toartistic competition. -

DR. H. D. ROLLESTON, Fellow of St. John’s College, Cam-bridge, has been appointed an assistant physician, and Mr.Arthur Marmaduke Sheild, F.R.C.S., an assistant surgeon,to St. George’s Hospital. Dr. Rolleston has been pathologistto St. George’s Hospital for several years and Mr. Sheildleaves Charing-cross Hospital to rejoin his old school.

DR. S. Pozzi of Paris has been commissioned by the FrenchMinistry to proceed to the United States and to study theorganisation and installation of surgical laboratories, instru-ments used in the practice of surgery, as well as generalquestions of the teaching of medicine and surgery. Dr. Pozziis instructed to pay especial attention to medical matters atChicago.

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THE FESTIVAL DINNER of the National Hospital for theParalysed and Epileptic (Albany Memorial) will be held this(Friday) evening at 7 P.M. in the Whitehall-rooms of theHotel Metropole. The Right Hon. the Earl of Dudley willtake the chair.

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A FESTIVAL DINNER in aid of the "Clarence MemorialFund" of St. Mary’s Hospital will be held at the Whitehall-rooms, Hôtel Metropole, on Saturday, July 1st. His RoyalHighness the Duke of Cambridge, K. G., will preside.

DR. COLONNA CECCALDI has been sent to Russia by theFrench Government for the purpose of studying the diseasesof Charbon and Rouget (a form of swine fever).

DR. THORNE THORNE will deliver a lecture on Cholera

Prospects and Prevention on Saturday, June 24th, at 4 P.M.,in the Rubens Gallery, Grosvenor House, W.

A CONVERSAZIONE will be given by the Society of Arts onFriday evening, June 30th, at the Imperial Institute, SouthKensington.

CHOLERA.

THE latest intelligence received from Egypt regarding the.outbreak of cholera at Mecca shows it to have been of a.

severe character. From June 13th to June 16th the deathsnumbered 317, from the 16th to the 20th they amounted to-830, and the disease is still continuing, 180 deaths fromcholera having occurred on the 20th inst. The Egyptianauthorities are naturally anxious as to its probable exten-sion to that country and are, it is understood, takingactive precautionary measures against it. It will be interest-

ing to learn what were the sanitary conditions of Mecca.and of Muna and Jedda at the time of this outbreak ofcholera. The dry and sandy nature of the country is notunfavourable for conservancy arrangements, and if onlyproper care were taken many nuisances and disease-producingconditions could be avoided. Some years ago a large-reservoir, fed by a branch of the Zobeida aqueduct, was con-structed for the supply of water to the pilgrims yearlyattending the Haj. The water was drawn from stop-cocksand means were taken to protect the stored water againstpollution. The size of this reservoir was said, how-

ever, to be insufficient to meet the wants of the pilgrims.during the Haj season and additional reservoirs were

required. The old and polluted water tanks were usuallyemptied previously to the great annual gatherings of pilgrims.so as to compel them to have recourse to the reservoir-for their water-supply ; guards were also placed over the.reservoirs along the Zobeida aqueduct and Jedda and Mecca.were kept constantly swept and clean during the Haj season.That these measures have been attended with a large measureof success in the past has been shown by the absence ofepidemic disease amongst the pilgrims on several occasions.There was an interval of six years, for example, before theoutbreak of cholera occurred during the Haj in 1890. Thedisease then appeared on July 28th, the third day of theHaj. But whenever there is any relaxation of vigilance thetendency is, of course, to relapse into the old and ordinarystate of things ; the towns become dirty, surface cleanli-ness is neglected, over-crowding prevails, the water-supplyis not effectually guarded against contamination and the-

ordinary and elementary principles of hygiene become adead letter. The present situation at Mecca becomes seriousin view of the pilgrimages that will soon commence and areexpected to be numerously attended this year. At a recent

meeting of the Consultation Committee on Public Health inParis a report upon the distribution and prevalence of cholerawas read by Dr. Proust, Inspector-General of Sanitation inFrance. He said that cholera was present in Malacca and at.Bassorah in Turkey, and that telegrams from Bagdad showedthat the disease had made its appearance at Chatra andAmara. During the past month there had been as

many as 126 deaths from cholera in those places. There-seemed little doubt that the disease had spread rapidlyamongst the Arab tribes of Lower Mesopotamia or Irak Arabi.The point menaced, according to Dr. Proust, is Bagdad, buthappily the inundations caused by the two great rivers had cutoff land communications between that city and its environso-Coming to places nearer our own country, however, we findthat somewhat serious epidemic indications are present in theSouth of France. There have been cases of cholera at Alais,Cette, Nimes, Montpellier, Toulon, Lodeve, Toulouse, Hyeres,Marseilles and other places in France. Sporadic cases ofcholera or choleraic diarrhoea still continue to make theirappearance at several of the places we have named. Inthis connexion we would call attention to the informationcontained in our special correspondent’s communication.

Epidemic manifestations of the disease do not usually prevailin the first half of the year, to the extent, at any rate, thatthey frequently do later, and, although heat is a favourablefactor in cholera, dry heat is generally not so ; and the pre-vailing drought has probably exercised a repressive influencerather than otherwise on the development of the epidemic.From St. Petersburg we learn that cholera is perceptiblydiminishing in those districts where cases of the disease stillcontinue to be reported. But the disease is still making itsappearance in Bessaiabia, Podolia and Kursk, and nine cases.with three deaths were recently reported in the town of Orel.

1533CHOLERA IN BRITTANY.

CHOLERA IN BRITTANY.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

THOUGH the insanitary condition of the towns and villagesof Brittany is notorious and there was every reason to fearthat the cholera would spread very rapidly in this province,the epidemic has, at least momentarily, abated. In

THE LANCET of April 15th and of May 13th I describedhow the epidemic had commenced and grown in Brittany-atLorient, Quimper and other towns. There had been omciallyreported up to April 9th, 478 cases and 178 deaths as occurringat Lorient and in the twenty-five neighbouring communes.Dr. Thoinot was sent by the Ministry of the Interior tothe district. He was invested with extensive powers andtook very energetic measures. The epidemic continued, butdid not extend in an alarming manner. On April 30th thetotal number of deaths amounted to 263 and on May 31stto 307. Thus there were only 44 deaths from cholera duringthe month of May throughout Brittany. Finally, during thepresent month of June there have been as yet but two deathsfrom cholera, one at Etel and the other at Vannes. It istherefore probable that the epidemic is over. If this be thecase it is interesting and important to note that this epidemicdoes not seem to have spread beyond the confines of Brittany,though it has lasted during four months. But what is evenmore remarkable is the fact that the disease commenced inwinter when it was very cold and when there was a great dealof rain, and now that it is very hot and dry it seems to haveceased. Can it be that the precautions taken and the activedisinfection practised have sufficed to check the epidemic inspite of the bad local sanitary condition and of the approachof summer ?

CHOLERA IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.The news from the South of France, however, is serious.

This time the cholera seems to have broken out in earnestand to have spread over a very large tract of country.Once more Marseilles is the chief point of interest, andit seems as if cholera were endemic in that town. On

May 20th three deaths, apparently due to cholera, took

place in the asylum for the insane named after Saint Peter.On the following day two more deaths, due to the samecause, occurred, but after that there were no more cases, andhopes were entertained that the town would escape. On

May 20th two deaths from cholera were reported at Alais, asmall town of 24,000 inhabitants in the neighbouring Depart-ment of the Gard. Since that date there have been deaths Ievery day from cholera at Alais. The total number ofdeaths from that disease in this town amounted on June 18thto 103. Nine other communes in this department, includ-ing the historic town of Nimes, have also had cases of cholera.Adjoining the Department of the Gard is the Department ofthe Herault, and here cases of cholera were noted at thecommencement of this month. The town and port of Cette,near the Spanish frontier, where there is an importanttrade in wines, suffered the most, 33 deaths having beenalready recorded. At Alontpellier, where there is the celebratedFaculty of Medicine, there were 6 deaths during the first dayor two of this month, but since then only 9 more deathshave been reported. To return to Marseilles and the more

easterly departments, cholera, which bad been confined to theasylum of St. Peter, spread to the town on June 12th. Onthat day there were 4 deaths from cholera at Marseilles.Then followed 6 deaths on June 14th, 4 on the 15th, 5 on the16th and 8 on the 17th, making in all 33 deaths in six days. Itis only necessary to refer to the reports already published onthe sanitary condition of Marseilles to show that this newsis of a nature to create great alarm. In the Department ofthe Var the town of Toulon, so notorious for its formercholera epidemics, has been again invaded by this disease,the first case occurring on June 3rd, and since then therehave been 26 deaths from cholera there. The epidemichas spread to the neighbouring communes of La Seyne andLa Garde, and since June 8th there have been five deathsfrom cholera at Hyeres. Finally there are some isolated casesin the Basses-Alpes and the Vaucluse. Altogether there havebeen in the South of France 13 deaths from cholera duringthe month of May, and 343 deaths from June 1st to the 17th.The region affected lies on the Mediterranean. There isno evidence, however, to show that cholera came by sea.It seems more probable that the present outbreak is a revival

of the epidemic of 1892. At ::.BIarseille:3. fcr instance, this isthe third epidemic ; the first was in October, 1892, and thesecond in February, 1893. The season of the year and the

exceptionally hot weather may account for this recurrenceof a disease which was not stamped out and only remaineddormant for a short time.

THE HARVEY TERCENTENARY AT GON’VILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE,

CAMBRIDGE.

ON Wednesday the 21st inst., the Master and Fellowsof Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, entertained a largeand representative gathering of leading representatives ofmedicine and science to commemorate the tercentenary ofthe admission of William Harvey as a student of the College.The guests, numbering about 130, assembled in the Com-bination Room, where they were received by the Master, theRev. N. M. Ferrers, D.D., F.R.S., and where a numberof Harvey relics and works bearing on his great discoverywere exhibited. Amongst the most interesting was an ex-cellent autotype reproduction of the lately discovered panelportrait of Harvey. The toast list of the banquet, with alist of the guests, was adorned with a copy of the portraitpreserved in the College Hall and a facsimile of the

entry made in the College books of the record of Harvey’sadmission.The guests included : Sir Andrew Clark, Bart., President

of the Royal College of Physicians ; Mr. Thomas Bryant,President of the Royal College of Surgeons ; Sir James

Paget, Bart., F. R. S. ; the Right Hon. T. H. Huxley, F.R.S.;Sir Dyce Duckworth, Treasurer of the Royal College of

Physicians ; Dr. E. Liveing, Registrar of the Royal Collegeof Physicians ; Sir George Buchanan, F. R. S., Censor of theRoyal College of Physicians; Sir W. 0. Priestley, M.D.,Censor of the Royal College of Physicians ; Dr. W. H.Dickinson, Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius, Censorof the Royal College of Physicians ; Mr. A. E. Durham, Vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons ; Mr. C. Heath,Vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons ; Sir JosephFayrer ; Dr. G. H. Darwin ; the Mayor of Folkestone (JohnBanks, Esq.) ; Professor M. Foster, Secretary of the RoyalSociety ; Professor W. T. Gairdner, Professor of Medicine,Glasgow University ; the Right Hon. Sir J. E. Gorst, M.P. forthe University; Professor A. H. Green, F. R. S., Honorary Fellowof Gonville and Caius, Professor of Geology, Oxford UniversityDr. C. J. Hare ; Professor Sir G. M. Humphry, F. R. S.Professor R. C. Jebb, Litt.D., M.P. for the University; Pro-fessor W. Macewen, Regius Professor of Surgery in the Uni-versity of Glasgow ; Professor J. G. McKendrick, F.R.S., Pro-fessor of Physiology, Glasgow University ; Mr. Malcolm Morris,President of the Harveian Society of London; Dr. NormanMoore ; Dr. J. W. Ogle ; Dr. F. W. Pavy, F. R. S. ; Dr. G.H. Philipson ; Dr. W. S. Playfair ; Dr. J. E. Pollock ; Dr. P.H. Pye-Smith ; Dr. J. Russell Reynolds, F. R. S. ; Professor E.A. Schafer, F. R. S. ; Dr. A. A. Simpson, President of the RoyalCollege of Physicians of Edinburgh; Mr. Thos. Smith,F.R.C.S. ; Professor T. Grainger Stewart, Professor ofMedicine, Edinburgh University ; Professor Sir G. G. Stokes,Bart, F.R.S., the Vice-Chancellor of the University ; JohnPeile, Esq., Litb.D. ; Sir T. Spencer Wells, Bart, F.R.C.S. ;Dr. S. Wilks, F. R. S. and many others. The list included,it will be observed, most of the Harveian orators of the RoyalCollege of Physicians.The Grace, and the Anthem after dinner, set to music by

Mr. C. Wood, B.A., Mus. Bac., were chanted by the Collegechoir, and after the toast of the evening was sung the"Carmen Caianum," the words of which were written bythe Rev. B. H. Drury, M.A., President of the College, andthe music composed by Mr. Wood. A verse specially adaptedto the occasion was introduced into this ode.

After the loyal toasts, which were given by the Master,Sir James Paget proposed The Memory of William Harvey, "gracefully alluding at the outset to the fact that he owed hisposition there that evening to his relationship to his brother,the late Sir George Paget, who would have naturallyoccupied it and who had this commemoration keenlyat heart. Speaking of Harvey and his work, he declaredthat his discovery of the circulation was the greatest