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giudicante’) and the prison administration" has beena promoter and not a counter-agent of the prevailing- criminality. But Italy, according to the same speaker,(the Hon. Enrico Ferri, privat-docent in Criminal Law andAdministration in the University of Rome), must begin at anearlier stage than is necessary in England, Switzerland,or other nationalities economically more favoured. She

possesses in numbers sufficient to form a substantive portionof her population a physically and morally degenerate typewhich, unless subjected in childhood or even infancy tocountervailing conditions, reproduces itself with ever

Jintensifying distinctness till there is engendered the

delinquente nato" (born criminal)-not the occasional

offender, from whom society has nothing to fear, butthe congenital and systematic delinquent who simplymultiplies and becomes more dangerous under the merelyrepressive measures hitherto in practice. In this contention hehad the support of other members of the Chamber, not thoseof medical training and profession merely, but barristersthemselves and" publicists " or men of affairs. He was ablyfollowed by Signor Ludovico Fulci who, while confirming thestatement as to the increase of crime, denounced the pre-vailing penal system as feeding the malady it meant to

destroy; and by Signor Venturi who agreed with ProfessorFerri that delinquenza e una malattia" (crime is a

disease) in the class whose conditions the Chamber was

considering-the " recidivi." I need not go into theminor details of the discussion-most interesting psycho-logically and socially as they often were-the useless-ness or worse of deportation over sea, for instance, a

system abandoned by all but France, or the utilisation of.criminal hands in the reclamation of malarious localitieson which Signor Bonacci gave most instructive evidence,.especially as to the employment of such labour by theTrappist Brothers of the Tre Fontane. Rather would I pointout the significance of the whole debate in view of the Inter-national Congress of Criminal Anthropology to be held nextAugust at the Hague, at which not a few of the members ofthe Italian Legislature will intervene and contribute to itsdiscussion something more than the " vivacity" and the"theoretical dogmatism " which enlivened if it did not

- enlighten the Congress at Geneva in 1896. The trienniumwhich has elapsed has been exceptionally full of incidentson which the criminal anthropologist can speak withTelevance and authority-incidents which, like the organisedpolitical assassinations and the riots promoted under kindredauspices, have led to ’’ Leagues against the Knife " and otherpalliative attempts culminating in the International Congressfor the Repression of Anarchism which concluded its

.sittings in Rome just before Christmas. These "attempts,"palliative or repressive, have been without medical inspira-tion or have partaken so little of the " medical mind " as torequire all the supplementary and corrective handling whichthe Congress of Criminal Anthropology can so amply provide.The literature alone that has accumulated on the "genesisand conditions of crime, occasional or systematic, social orinternational," would of itself suffice to give directness andprecision to the proceedings-literature in which pyscho-logical medicine is largely and ably represented as well asadvanced with an authority which neither jurist nor civillegislator can afford to ignore.March 12th.

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CONSTANTINOPLE.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Pla,que in Jeddah.BUBONIC plague has now made its appearance in Jeddah

for the third time, some cases having been discovered onFeb. 22nd by Dr. Xanthopoulidis, sanitary medical office ’’

of the town. Before formally notifying the fact he madea bacteriological examination and found the plague bacilli.He also prepared cultures and made inoculations so thatthe diagnosis was placed beyond doubt. Since the above-mentioned date there have been six deaths from the disease.The Jeddah authorities assert that the houses in which thesedeaths occurred were not occupied by plague patients eitherduring the present year or in the previous epidemics butit remains a question whether the said authorities had know-ledge of all the houses in the town where plague cases

existed. If in civilised countries the notification of zymoticdiseases presents difficulties what may be expected of noti-fication in Jeddah ? In addition to the- unwillingness of the

inhabitants to give such information their religion forbids awoman’s deacl body to be exposed in sight of a man. In all

probability there were many houses in Jeddah in which

plague existed unknown to the local authorities. Last

year after the departure of the pilgrims the Turkishauthorities undertook the disinfection of Jeddah, and it wasat first proposed to disinfect all the houses without any dis-tinction, but in the result it was only the few houses in whichplague was known to have occurred that were disinfected.The plague was not imported by the pilgrims who pro-ceed to " I Hediaz through Jeddah, for they undergo a ten-days’ quarantine at the lazaretto of Camaran, where theirbelongings are thoughly disinfected. The disease was importedby "sanitary smuggling," which is rife on those shoresof the Red Sea. The outbreak of plague in Jeddah atthis moment acquires a great importance on account ofthe pilgrimage to the Mahommedan holy cities, Meccaand Medina. In the latter two cities no case of plaguehas been observed in the last two pilgrimages. It is tobe hoped that the present year will be equally exempt, withwhich object in view the authorities of the "Hedjaz"are doing their best to prevent the spread of the epidemicand Dr. Cozzoni, Inspector of the International SanitaryCommission, is proceeding to Jeddah for the purpose of

superintending the work. The measures adopted will be asfollows : (1) the town of Jeddah with its surrounding villageswill be isolated by a sanitary cordon ; (2) the infected houseswill also be isolated by a sanitary cordon, in addition towhich the belongings of all plague patients will beburned, distilled water will be supplied for drinkingpurposes, and all the sanitary steps decided on last yearwill be put in operation ; (3) the pilgrims who are at thismoment at Jeddah will be removed to the island of Abas-Saad where they will await further instructions ; (4) no

pilgrims or passengers will be allowed to leave Jeddah forMecca until buildings have been erected at Bab-el-Mecca

(Mecca Gate), where they will undergo quarantine ; (5) pil-grims arriving at Jeddah must land at a new wharf which isbeing constructed at a place six miles north of Jeddah ; thepilgrims for Mecca will land there and proceed straight toMecca without having any communication with Jeddah; and(6) in other ports of the Turkish empire arrivals from Jeddahwill be subjected to 10 days’ quarantine.

S’mccll ux and Infl2cenzc.Small-pox has been excessively prevalent in Constantinople

for some time now and is very fatal. The people disregardthe law which makes vaccination compulsory, although theGovernment has given stringent orders that its provisions areto be carried into effect and no fees are charged. There isalso a good deal of influenza, but not so much as in someother capitals. The deaths from influenza are not registeredin the Bulletin de lrz Mortalité published every week by thesanitary board. Only the deaths from acute inflammation ofthe lungs are registered ; the number of these deaths isabout 50 per week.

: Chemical Analysis in the 01lstom-lwuse.Many years ago the custom-house authorities seized a

large quantity of quinidine imported as sulphate of quinineand it was then ordered that all samples of quinine shouldbe analysed in the custom-house. In course of time othermedicines were directed to be analysed and the system wasat last extended to a variety of imported products, such asflour, wine, oil, soap, &c., which, unless they were of aquality satisfactory to the chemists, were not allowedto pass through the custom-house into the possession ofthe merchants. Large quantities of imported goods weredeclared by the chemists to be prejudicial to health, butthe trading community was not of their opinion and aftersome difficulty it was arranged between the Govern-ment and the foreign representatives (embassies, lega-tions, and consulates) that the custom-house analysesshould be made in the presence of a chemist acting onbehalf of the merchants. This checking of their methods bya foreigner was highly distasteful to the custom-house officialsand has not prevented great quantities of goods beingstored in the custom-house for many months, delivery to themerchants being refused on account of the alleged inferiorquality of the articles. The officials wished to forbid the

importation of American flour of the best quality, containingmore than 15 per cent. of gluten, but the American consulate,supported by the American Legation protested vigorously andthe flour has been delivered to the consignee. Merchants,who are not protected by legations as the Americans are.

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have to submit to the detention of goods, even of excellentquality, at the custom-house.March 2nd.

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Obituary.SIR DOUGLAS GALTON, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.THE profession of medicine had not the honour of

numbering the late Sir Douglas Galton among its members,but nevertheless many aims and objects were common toboth. The occasion of the death of Sir Douglas Galtonaffords a fitting opportunity for us not only to put on recordour sense of the loss which the public and the professionhave sustained but to touch upon a few of the lessonsto be derived from a scientific career and the applica-tion of high scientific attainments directed for the most

part to purposes from which we all benefit but aboutwhich so few of us are mindful. Sir Douglas Galton was amany-sided man. His energy was great and the amount andvaried nature of his work were remarkable. Railways, forti-fication, ordnance survey, submarine telegraphy, schemesfor London sewage disposal, the designing of hospitals, theventilation and warming of houses, and work in connexionwith secretarial duties at the War Office, Her Majesty’sOffice of Works, the British Association for the Advance-ment of Science and the Royal Society made up his

life-history. But it was his keen interest in all matters

affecting public health and his practical knowledge andscientific attainments which made him an authorityon hospital construction, sanitation, ventilation, and thehygienic management of public buildings. His main aim wasto substitute scientific formulae and deductions derived fromexperimental observations and accurate data for the rule-of-thumb laws and more or less vague generalisations on whichsystems of sanitation at one time rested and to put sanita-tion upon a scientific plane-in brief, to make a sanitaryscience properly so called. Of course he was neither thefirst nor was he alone in striving to do this, but he wasnevertheless among the pioneers and he happily lived to seenot only how much had been accomplished, but to realisehow much more was really comprehended in sanitary sciencethan was circumscribed within its merely apparent limits.As a lake or river often unexpectedly overflows its banks sodoes the rapid growth and increased application of a scientificbranch of study sometimes overstep the limits of the termsin which it is expressed. If in this and other scientific workSir Douglas Galton cannot be credited with many originalinvestigations or discoveries he always maintained an appre-ciative mind for them. He at once recognised the import-ance of following and utilising nature’s method in the

biological system of treating sewage, for example. It isnot easy to describe Sir Douglas Galton’s career because ofthe number and variety of the posts which he occupied,but a mathematical turn of mind and a love of physicalscience formed the thread on which all his scientific studiesand occupations were strung. Still, he was not by anymeans a mere foot-rule philosopher ; the salt of humourflavoured his intellectual soil ; he was eminently fair-

minded, and a judicious and well-read, genial man. Hewas a Rugby boy at the time when Dr. Arnold made itsreputation and his own and when the author of ’’ TomBrown’s Schooldays " was gathering together the materialand incidents for that work. He went to Woolwich andafter a most distinguished and successful career passed outof the Royal Military Academy into the Royal Engineers.Among other things it may be mentioned that he was instru-mental in getting the Barrack Works Committee of 1862appointed by the then Secretary of State for War. Thiswas not an altogether popular measure at the time,but it was the means of leading to great and bene-ficial changes, in that it fixed individual responsi-bility upon all those connected with the executionof public works. From the time of the Crimean Waralmost up to that of his death Sir Douglas Galtonwas keenly interested in all that related to army sani-tation and practical hygiene and he did a great deal incommon with Dr. John Sutherland, Sir Robert Rawlinson,Professor Parkes, and others to bring about the immensechange which has taken place during the last 40 or 50years, with what results may be more readily appreciatedby the following contrast. In the report of the Royal Com-mission ()f 1858 it is stated that the rate of mortality in the

army at home was 17’5 per 1000, whereas in 1897 it wasonly 3’42 per 1000, and the provision of hospital accommo-dation in our home garrisons, which was at the rate of10 per cent. of the strength, has now, we believe,been reduced to six per cent. Turning to the Europeanarmy in India the mortality rate prior to 1857 reached69 per 1000, according to the report of the Royal Commissionof 1863, whereas it was only 14-84 per 1000 in 1896 accord-ing to the report of the Sanitary Commissioner with theGovernment of India for that year. It cannot, of course,be claimed that these results are solely attributable to

improved sanitation, for numerous other changes have takenplace which have largely contributed to bring them about-in the way of short service, the better feeding, cloth-

ing, and equipment of soldiers, increased facilities for

invaliding, and so forth. Still, improved sanitationand better barrack accommodation and other hygienicmeasures too numerous to mention are to be largelyaccredited with the vast change that has taken place. Ifwe had to point to a practical illustration of the beneficialeffect of measures of a purely sanitary kind we probablycould not select a better one than the contrast between theprevalence of ophthalmia as it was in the army many yearsago and as it is now. There was a time when ophthalmia-was an army scourge. Soldiers in other respects healthywere to be found suffering from ophthalmia in mostof our military hospitals at home and abroad andwere constantly being invalided from that cause. Intowns and villages there might be encountered dischargedsoldiers whose slow steps, shuffling gait, contractedbrow, and watery eyes proclaimed the nature of their

complaint. But better barracks and improved ventilationand lavatory arrangements have practically banished themilitary form of ophthalmia once so prevalent just asepidemics of typhus fever have ceased to appear in ourmidst. Sir Douglas Galton was a member of the ArmySanitary Committee from its beginning and was the possessorof numerous academical and scientific titles and distinctions.He was made F.R.S. in 1863, and became the President ofthe British Association for the Advancement of Science anddelivered the presidential address in 1895, besides being aD.C.L. of Oxford and LL.D. of Durham and Montreal. Hewas made a K.C.B. in 1887.

FRANCIS NOTTIDGE MACNAMARA,iM.D. ST. AND., M.R.O.S. ENG.,

RETIRED SURGEON-MAJOR I.M.S.

DR. FRANCIS NOTTIDGE MACNAMARA, whose death

occurred on the 5th of this month, as we have alreadyreported in these columns, was a distinguished physicianand sanitarian whose best work was done in India. He

received his medical education at King’s College, London,and in 1853 entered the Indian Medical Service. Whilequite a young man he was selected by the EastIndia Company to be Professor of Chemistry at theCalcutta Medical College, a post which carried with itthe appointment of Chemical Examiner to the IndianGovernment. He interpreted his duties in each capa-city in the most liberal way, devoting 17 of the bestyears of his life to carrying on numberless sanitary,chemical, and pathological investigations. He was earlyto point out the danger to a community of using drinking-water that was exposed to the infection of choleraand was one of the initiators of the present schemeby which Calcutta is supplied with pure water. Upon hisreturn to England in 1870 he left the service, but he wasappointed Examiner of Medical Stores at the India Office-a post which he was about to resign when he died at the ageof 67 years.

Dr. Macnamara embodied his great knowledge of Indiain his work, "Climate and Medical Topography in theirRelation to the Disease Distribution of the Himalayan andSub-Himalayan Districts of British India," while he contri-buted many valuable monographs on pathological andchemical subjects and on the disease of warm climates tomedical literature.The following appreciation of Dr. Macnamara is from the

pen of his old friend and colleague, Sir Joseph Fayrer :-"In THE LANCET of March llth I read with great

regret a short paragraph announcing" the death of Dr. F. N.Macnamara of the Bengal Medical Service. I little thoughtwhen quite recently I stood by his side at the grave of ourmutual friend and colleaguef Samuel Bowen Partridge, that