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42 demands framed in these six points. Medical men have often and too long been put off by promises, and they have now made up their minds to see their demands fulfilled. Unless the Government binds itself within four weeks to acknowledge the necessity of meeting these points, the entire profession will take up the fight and, if forced to do so, will stop all medical work. It is with the utmost reluctance that the leaders of the medical organisations have recom- mended such a step, but in this country it seems that only drastic measures can produce an effect on the mentality of members of the Government. Proposed Health Certifieate for Marriage. The Vienna Board of Health has taken an im- portant step in the direction of promoting control of public health by instituting three committees, each consisting of three fully qualified scientists, to draw up definite suggestions as to the issue of a health certificate to all parties intending to marry. The chief instigator of the procedure is Prof. Tandler, the former Under-Secretary of State for Health, and now head of the Office of Health in Vienna. He asserts that there are three groups of diseases which he intends to combat: sexual diseases, tuberculosis, and degenerative diseases in persons of tainted family. Every person must produce before marriage a certificate showing that he or she is not prone to one of the above-mentioned group, and the examina- tion should be conducted in a thorough, but humane way. Professional secrecy would, of course, be guarded in a most strict manner, but the other party to the engagement would, naturally, be entitled to obtain full knowledge of the reasons for refusal of the permit to marry. Prof. Tandler believes that the setting up of committees will prompt many negligent patients to apply for treatment, and approach very nearly to the ideal condition of compulsion in respect of sexual disease. Refusal of a marriage permit could be withdrawn after appropriate treatment had been administered. The right of the community to control the health of its members is unquestionable, since it is entitled to send them to death on the battlefield. At present the number of persons suffering from tuberculosis is increasing steadily, and the morbidity from syphilis and gonorrhoea is alarmingly high, especially in the towns ; indifference to the fate of the coming genera- tion is therefore nothing less than a crime. The pro- posed celibacy of the diseased " must not, of course, be restricted to poor people only, for it is just the wealthier classes of the population who could evade such a disagreeable condition of legislation, unless due precaution be taken. As is to be seen from these leading points, the main idea behind the sug- gestion of a health certificate for those about to marry is control of the health of children. Such a certificate would naturally only interfere with the legitimate descendants; illegitimate children could not be protected by it. But partial prophylaxis is better than none at all. June 10th. THE 1,ATE DR. CHARLES E. CAMPBELL-HORSFALL.— The death is announced of Dr. Charles Campbell-Horsfall at Newquay. Dr. Campbell-Horsfall was the youngest son of the late Dr. Henry Horsfal ; born at Masham, Yorkshire, in 1877, he was educated at Christ’s Hospital, Trinity College, Harrogate, Yorkshire College, and Victoria University, becoming house physician at Leeds Infirmary, and house surgeon of Leeds Women’s and Children’s Hospital in 1899. He married, in 1901, Lilias Marianne, daughter of the late Robert Hume Campbell, of Glenclarnel. In 1901 he settled at Clevedon, Somerset, where his good work was such that when he resolved to leave the neighbourhood and seek a wider sphere a very largely signed petition was presented to him by the residents requesting him to reconsider his decision. He then entered practice at Newquay, where he l2ecured a wide circle of friends and patients by kindness and ability. He sought recreation in field sports, with the whole-heartedness that characterised the discharge of his professional duties, and it was beside a moorland trout stream that he contracted the chill which finally proved fatal. IRELAND. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.) The Irish Hospitals. THE report of the Board of Superintendence of the Dublin hospitals reveals their serious financial position. Only one of these institutions, the West- morland Lock Hospital, has in the past year been able to keep its expenditure within its income. All the others, in spite of every economy in management, are weighed down by overdrafts. The report makes clear once again that the hospitals cannot con- tinue to exist unless some new source of revenue is found. On the same day that the report of the Board was made public it was also announced that the Irish hospitals were not to share in the grant of half a million which the Government has promised to provide to meet urgent necessities. The omission with be felt in Ireland, where the hospitals owe their financial difficulties to the abnormal economic conditions of the past few years, just as much as the institutions in other parts of the kingdom do. These economic conditions have pressed especially hardly on Dublin, for business people and manufacturers in Ireland, outside Belfast did not share in the various war industries. More- over, no part of the kingdom contributed so much to Red Cross Funds, in proportion to its wealth, as Ireland, and in none, therefore, did the hospitals suffer more from competition with claims for Red Cross purposes. On the other hand, the hospitality of the Irish hospitals to sick and wounded soldiers was given and accepted as freely as that of the hospitals elsewhere. It is not to be expected that those interested in the health of Ireland will assent calmly to the exclusion proposed by the Minister of Health. Dublin Milk. The Local Government Board has just issued a report on the milk of Dublin, based on investigations conducted by the bacteriologist to the Board, Dr. J. W. Bigger. He describes a serious state of affairs. Of the specimens of milk examined, taken at random from the milk sold in the citv, no less than 8 per cent. contained tubercle bacilli. Dr. Bigger comments on the dirty condition of much of the milk, and states that those who supply and sell dirty milk to the children of Dublin are responsible for the deaths of hundreds each year. As a matter of fact, if the regulations in force in New York were applied in Dublin, 77 per cent. of the milk now being sold in Dublin would be condemned as being unfit for human food. Dr. Bigger urges that those who sell dirty milk should be fined, imprisoned, or prohibited from selling milk. At present, offenders who are convicted of diluting or skimming milk are usually treated with the utmost leniency, while prosecutions are not brought for selling dirty milk. Sir Stewart Woodhouse, M.D. Dub., F.R.C.P. Irel. To the great regret of a large circle of friends, the death has been learnt of Sir Stewart Woodhouse at the age of 75. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he had a distinguished course in arts, obtaining high honours in both classics and philosophy, Stewart Woodhouse proceeded to medicine, graduating in 1872. Two years later he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, though he resigned this degree on becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In his early professional days he was lecturer in pathology in the Carmichael School of Medicine, and assistant physician to the House of Industry Hospitals, while he was engaged in practice as a physician.. He resigned these appointments and abandoned his practice in 1880 to become a medical inspector of the Local Government Board. Ten years later he was appointed medical member of the General Prisons Board, and some 15 years ago he received the honour of knighthood. During his whole career
