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of the evidence it transpired that the proprietor of theschool had taken the precaution to obtain a certificate tothe effect that the drainage of his house had been foundafter examination to be in a satisfactory condition. He hadalso secured a favourable report as to the water-supply ofhis own house and as to the sanitary condition of the dairyfarm. When summing up Mr. Justice Bray stated that therewas an implied warranty that the milk supplied to the schoolwas reasonably fit for consumption. The jury gave a

verdict in favour of the schoolmaster, and assessed the

damages at £500.Dec. 6th.

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SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

An Edinburgh Cremation Society.Dr. W. G. Aitchison Robertson, who has been a consistent

advocate of cremation in Scotland, on Dec. 3rd delivered alecture in the Goold Hall, Edinburgh, in which he expoundedthe sentimental, sanitary, and economical advantages of

disposing of the dead by cremation and the correspondingdisadvantages attaching to earth burial. He was followedwith attention and at the close of his address a resolutionwas passed unanimously to the effect that an EdinburghCremation Society be formed to promote the practice ofcremation. A committee has been already appointed to

adopt a constitution and elect officers for the society.high Death-rate in Glasgow.

The five continuous days of dense fog which prevailed inGlasgow in the third week of November are apparentlyresponsible for the great increase in the death-rate. For theweek ending Nov. 13th the death-rate was 18 ’ 0, and for thenext week, during which fog constantly prevailed, 24’ 9 per1000. This latter rate is greatly in excess of the average,which is 17’ 5 for the fourth quarter of the year. The numberof deaths of infants under one year rose from 106 to 149, ofchildren under five years from 191 to 279, and of personsover 60 years from 118 to 150. As is to be expected, thelargest increases occurred in deaths attributable to thevarious forms of lung disease, and the rate from these diseasesrose from 4 to almost 8 per 1000. The number of deathsfrom all causes, which had been 283 in the first week,was 395 in the second. Deaths attributable to acatedisease of the lungs, which had been 82 in the firstweek, were 134 in the second week; deaths from consump-tion increased from 16 to 31, and from measles, which mostcommonly proved fatal through lung complications, from 20to 34.

Railway Conveyance of Milk.The public health committee of the Glasgow corporation

has been in touch with the various railway companies as tothe question of allowing milk-churns and milk-butts to besealed so as to prevent unauthorised persons at the stationsor in the course of transit opening the lids of the churns ortaking the cocks out of the milk-butts, thereby causing con-tamination. The subject was discussed before a meeting ofthe associated railway companies, but they declined toconcur in the proposal. They were of opinion that the sealswould be very liable to be broken in the ordinary course oftransit, and, further, that under the conditions of the formof Milk Risk Note signed by the senders of milk traffic theofficials of the companies had power to open any cans duringtransit in order to ascertain if the quantity of milk thereinagreed with the quantity declared.

Addition to the Western Infirmary, Glassglow.At the thirty-fifth annual meeting of qualified contributors

to this infirmary held last week one particularly gratifyingfeature in the report submitted was the progress that is beingmade in bringing the hospital still more up to date, both asregards accommodation and appliances. A new pavilion tohold 90 beds is in course of construction. Also, through thegenerosity of a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, asum of E5000 has been received for the erection and equip-ment of a clinical laboratory, which should prove a verydesirable adjunct to the medical school, and also of greatuse in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Also, it isworthy of note that the Provisional Order promoted by thedirectors of the Skin Hospital has received the Royal Assent,

and the work carried on by that hospital for so many yearsis now being carried on in the dispensary of the WesternInfirmary.

-Deat7t of Dr. James Stevenson, Clydebank.One of the best known and most highly respected residents

in Clydebank passed away last week in the person of Dr.James Stevenson. He had been ailing for some time butwas still able to go about, and his death in the end occurredsomewhat suddenly. Born in Dunfermline 58 years ago, hewas at first apprenticed to a trade, but by his own energy andperseverance he entered the University of Glasgow, where hegraduated M.B., C.M. It is some 30 years ago since hewent to the district which is now Clydebank, just about thetime when it began to be a great shipbuilding centre. Asthe place grew he acquired an extensive practice, which heworked almost to the end. He was medical officer for theburgh and for the central portion of the parish of Old

Kilpatrick. He took an active part in public life. Electedto the school board, he was chairman for a term, and at thetime of his death he was a county councillor for Dun3barton-shire. He leaves a widow and family including two sonswho are members of the medical profession.

University of St. Andrews: 500th Annaversary.The general committee which has in hand the arrange.

ments for a fittting celebration of the 500th anniversary ofSt. Andrews University held its first meeting on Nov. 27thwithin the hall of the United College. After a few

opening remarks by the Principal, Professor Lawson,convener of the provisional committee, gave an accountof its work. It was resolved that the Presidentshould be the Chancellor, Lord Balfour of Burleigh.Subcommittees of the general committee were also con-

stituted. On the motion of Professor Herkless it wasagreed that the celebrations should take place in September,1911, having in view the fact that Bishop Wardlaw hadrecognised the existence of a University of St. Andrews in1411. On the question of a permanent memorial of thecelebration, it was suggested that this should take the formof a new students’ union. It was resolved to refer this, asall proposals dealing with this question, to the convener’scommittee.

Sidla7v Bane;toriu,nz : Financial Position.In connexion with the Sidlaw Sanatorium financial crisis a

public meeting was held on Dec. 3rd in the Burgh CourtRoom, Dundee. Fully an hour’s discussion took place, whenall the facts were disclosed, and in the end the Lord Provost,who presided, undertook to lay before the town council amodified scheme of municipalisation, while a committee wasappointed to make a systematic canvass for subscriptions tosupport the institution in the meantime.

Infantile Mortality in Inverness and Elgin.The public health committee of the Inverness town

council at a meeting on Nov. 29th discussed at length theNotification of Births Act. In the course of the discussionit was stated that Inverness was one of the few burghs inScotland with a very high death-rate among infants. It was

eventually agreed by 7 votes to 2 to recommend the councilto adopt the Act. The Elgin town council met on the sameday in order to discuss what might be done in order tolessen the high rate of infant mortality in the town. It wasdecided to appoint a third nurse for Elgin to advise mothersand assist in nursing their children.Dec. 7th.

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IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Health, lood, and Cookery.ONE of the most significant features of the hygienic

advancement which has been secured for this country bythe efforts of the Women’s National Health Association wasdisplayed to the public eye by the recent Irish Food andCookery Exhibition at the Rotunda. The exhibition hadbeen organised by the Hotel and Tourist Association ofIreland, and the ceremony of declaring it open to the publicwas carried out by the Countess of Aberdeen, who saidthat the selection of proper food and the right prepara-tion of it had a very great effect upon the nationalhealth and character. The inevitable effects which must

1783

result from a deficiency of proper food for the infant tJmembers of the community-of a want of proper, clean, t]

healthy milk, or the defective qualities of that of the n

mother which necessarily resulted from insufficient nourish- (,ment-were also pointed out by the speaker, and also the fact that from that cause alone arose very much of the bad health and the bad temper with which they had to deal from time to time, while it was also pro- d,ductive of great collective loss to the nation. An s

exhibition of that kind, by drawing attention to the

-importance of food from every point of view, must help to n

secure the health of the nation by building up the health o

of the home. Considerable applause was elicited by Her Yxcelleney’s statement that : I I Owing to the exertions of a

,the Women’s Health Association the children in various a

parts of the country were now always asking for stirabou." "

IAll medical readers will admit that no more appropriate :sequel to the Tuberculosis Exhibition could be provided than a

.a Cookery Exhibition. Bad air was treated at full length by s

the former; bad food will be thoroughly exposed by the c

latter ; while bad drink is being deliberately and unsparingly tdealt with by the leaders of the present temperance crusade. tThese are the true "grievances" of the home life of the tIrish poor, and this fact makes the present position all the c

,more auspicious.The D?tblin Milk-supply.

It is hopeful to see that our corporation has recently beenwaking up to the importance of the supply of pure milk inDublin, seeing that the tenement room and the milk van arechiefly responsible for the preparation of the soil mostsuitable for the germs of crime and insanity, and whenmoistened by stimulating beverages and continuously tendedby bad company the yield of its harvest may be calculatedon with confidence. On one day last week in one of the s

Dublin police courts a dairyman was fined £2 for selling margarine, of which the label was not clearly visibleto the purchaser ; a dairy-keeper was fined £5 for the sale of milk adulterated with 16 per cent. of added ]

water ; and another £3 for the sale of milk containing 10 per .cent. of added water. Such records, which are repeating =

’

themselves every week in the Irish metropolis, display a con- 1

dition of mercantile morality which can only be dealt with ]

effectively by the most stringent measures, and it is

encouraging to find the Recorder has thrown all his influenceinto the scale in the weighing of this question-a step which ]

has also been followed by our police-court magistrates. ]

Rathmines Urban Council. At the meeting of the urban district council of Rathmines

which was held last week the report of the Local Government Board auditor was read, with the enclosed certified abstractsof the accounts of the council for the year ending March 31st,1909. The general receipts amounted to £56,334 18s. 2d.,.and the poor rate receipts to £29,663 ls., making a total ofrevenue receipts of £85,997 19s. 2d. The sum expended onprivate works had amounted to £1259 16s. 2d., and the

surplus, which represented the accumulation of some years,having been added to the general fund, a balance of9918 Os. 10d. was left for the carrying out of other worksunder the same headings. The medical officer’s report forthe five weeks ending Oct. 30th stated that the total birth-rate was 15’ 9 per 1000, while the total death-rate had been10’ 9. During the same period the total annual death-rate in33 of the largest English towns was 12 - 3 (that of London

being 11 - 8) ; in eight of the largest Scotch towns, 12 . 8 ; in23 of the largest towns of Ireland, 15 . 5-in Dublin, 18’1;Clontarf and Howth (No. 1 district), 15 - 7 ; Donnybrook,12-1; Blackrock, 20-3; and Kingstown, 13-0.

The Picblic Health of Belfast.At the monthly meeting of the corporation of the city of

Belfast held on Dec. lst it was reported that the Tuber-culosis (Ireland) Prevention Act came into operation onNov. lst, and that during the three weeks following 102cases had been reported. The death-rate from all causes forthe four weeks ended Nov. 20th was 16’ 7, while it was 5’ 9from chest diseases and 1. 1 from zymotic affections. Thenumber of cases of infectious diseases notified is greater thanin the preceding month, but less than in the correspondingperiod of the previous year. Great objection was expressedat the action of the Local Government Board in refusing togive the corporation the necessary powers to superviseoutside dairies for the reason that the Act was a com-

,paratively new one, and that outside authorities should,

they said, get a chance of seeing to the condition ofthings. Owing to this action of the Local Govern-ment Board in reference to the largest city in Ireland

(where two-thirds of the milk-supply comes from outside

sources), it has been decided by the Belfast local authoritiesto instruct their medical officer of health to prepare for theinformation of the public health committee a list of thedairies outside the city from which milk is supplied for con-sumption inside the city, distinguishing those who permit aninspection of their premises and those who do not. Per-mission was given at the meeting of the Belfast city councilon Dec. lst to bring in a scheme for clearing away theinsanitary areas of the city which could not be dealt with inany other way, and it appears that in all 1159 houses will beaffected and about 3000 to 4000 persons will be unhoused.It was also intended to widen streets which were at presentnarrow, to open out streets which were not thoroughfares, toallocate portions of grounds for open spaces, and to utilisesome as playgrounds for schools. The scheme is valued tocost about £90,000, and in addition f.20,OOO for model

buildings to replace those removed. The scheme will not gothrough until there is a sworn inquiry into its provisions bythe Local Government Board. A special meeting of thecouncil is to be called shortly to consider the whole matter.

Dec. 7th. ________________

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Alleged Immunity of Arabs to Enteric Fever.IT is a generally accepted view that Arabs possess a con-

siderable degree of immunity to typhoid fever, and that whenpersons who have lived in France proceed to Algeria they areattacked by the disease about 100 times more readilythan the Arab natives. M. Moty, M. Toussaint, and M.Billet called attention to this subject at a recent meetingof the French Society of Military Medicine when M.Billet did not accept the above-mentioned view. He said thatthis immunity was merely relative, and he quoted several casesin support of his opinion. He remarked that conclusive evidencein this respect was supplied by an epidemic which broke outat Sfax in 1899, for among 32 cases of typhoid fever occur-ring in the garrison there were 22 native patients-i.e., aproportion of 68 per cent. The infection was brought intothe garrison by the natives, and the 11 first patients werenative tirailleurs who were enrolled as volunteers and hadbeen in the army only a few days. It was therefore unques-tionable that Arabs might be attacked by typhoid feverin certain circumstances which were as yet ratherobscure. The cases were generally severe and their realnature was often misunderstood ; the seizures might besudden and violent and were then liable to be mistaken for

pernicious forms of malaria.Adulteration and Fraudulent Misdescription of Food and

Beverages.In his report on agricultural finance M. Noulens has dealt

at considerable length with the prevention of various kindsof fraud in connexion with the preparation of food and

beverages. In one year the officials employed in this workhave been increased from 931 to 1068. During the year1908 there were 67,726 samples examined, of which 14 4 percent. were unsatisfactory. Samples of all kinds of beveragesand food products were taken indiscriminately and usuallyat random. At the commencement of this preventive workit was found that oil, milk, vinegar, and wine were thearticles most liable to be tampered with. The averagefor the year 1907, which showed 20 per cent. of un-

satisfactory samples, was reduced in 1908 to 14-4 per cent.and in the beginning of 1909 to 14 1 per cent. Fraudsin connexion with mineral waters have become exceptionallyprevalent of late years, both in the actual factories which

supply retailers and also in a great many restaurants.

Samples of mineral water were not collected for analysisuntil the end of 1907, when it was found that a restaurantwas selling common water in bottles labelled Evian-Cachat.In 1908 many restaurant keepers were detected sellingordinary water as the produce of well-known mineral springs(Evian, Vittel, Baudoit). Visits were paid to wholesaledealers, and four important seizures were made on the

premises of persons who manufactured spurious mineralwaters chiefly by the use of bicarbonate of sodium.