1659SCOTLAND.-IRELAND.

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Great Donation from LordMount-Step7ten.

A SPECIAL meeting of the directors of the Aberdeen RoyalInfirmary was held on May 29th. The chairman informedthe board that he had received from New York a bank draftfor £26,758 6s. 3d. sent to him by direction of Lord Mount-Stephen. In a letter dated May 27th his lordship explainedthat the above-mentioned amount was the proceeds of

railway stock which he at first proposed to transfer to theRoyal Infirmary as an addition to its investment fund.Lord Mount-Stephen proceeds to say : " Since I had the

pleasure of seeing you in London and hearing what you hadto say about the position of the infirmary I came to theconclusion that the best use that could be made of mygift was to spend it exclusively on the permanentimprovement of the hospital, rather than in providing for anincrease of income. What I mean by permanent im-provement’ is expressed by the directors in their last annualreport where they state that ’the most urgent necessitiesof the hospital will require a sum of at least £25,000. Letme say in conclusion that I should consider it but littleshort of a calamity, if what I have done for the hospitalshould have the effect of weakening the interest of the peopleof Aberdeen in the old infirmary in which I was a patient62 years ago." The board expressed its feeling of mostgrateful appreciation of Lord Mount-Stephen’s continuedgoodness to the infirmary, a feeling which the board wassure was shared not only by the citizens of Aberdeen but alsoby the whole population of the wide district benefited bythe infirmary and it thanked his lordship cordially for hismunificent and most opportune gift.

University of Edinburgh : Retirement of ProfessorCrum Brown.

For some time past it has been rumoured that ProfessorA. Crum Brown, professor of chemistry in the University ofEdinburgh, proposed to retire from his University duties. Therumour has passed into accomplished fact, for his resigna-tion has been accepted by the University Court. All themen who occupied the medical chairs in Edinburgh in theearly "seventies" have now passed from them. ProfessorCrum Brown was the only one remaining after Sir A. R.

Simpson resigned. Sir William Turner is the only one whoby becoming Principal on resigning his chair retained hisUniversity connexion. Professor Crum Brown has occupiedthe chair for 39 years. Coming early in the medicalcurriculum as chemistry does, it has been a very large classand a class that is a great strain on a teacher in many ways.

A Nerv C%air.An important step in the equipment of scientific education

has been taken in the endowment and constitution of achair of pathology and bacteriology in the Royal VeterinaryCollege, Edinburgh. This has been made possible by themunificent gift of £15,000 by Mr. A. 1. MacCullum, J.P.,M.R.C.V.S., himself an old student of the College. At arecent meeting of the board of management Dr. Gerald R.Leighton, who has taught these subjects in the Collegefor the past six years, was unanimously appointed to thechair. Dr. Leighton’s best-known works deal with Britishreptiles from the field naturalist’s point of view, but he hasbeen a voluminous writer on many phases of animal life.He is M.D. of the University of Edinburgh and a Fellowof the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The Inspection of Meat in Scotland.For some time past the subject of the inspection of meat

has been prominently before the public health authorities.Largely owing to the efforts made in the matter by thecorporation of Glasgow an inquiry into the whole questionof meat inspection in Scotland was ordered by the LocalGovernment Board and conducted ;by its medical inspector,Dr. F. Dittmar. The result of this inquiry is embodied in areport just issued. In this it is stated that while cattle aregenerally killed in licensed slaughter-houses and are thussubject to a certain measure of inspection, it would appearthat pigs destined to be cured for the production of ham andbacon are almost wholly killed at the place of feeding-i.e.,at farms, &o. The reason given by the trade for thiscustom is that "driven pork" does not cure well. Theresult is that these carcasses are not examined by thepublic health officials and any kind of diseased carcass

may be dressed and cured and put on sale. A notabledifference as to the prevalence of tuberculosis in pigsemerges in this report. In Glasgow during 1906 of 45,456pigs slaughtered 3040, or 6 ’ 68 per cent., were found affectedwith tuberculosis. In Edinburgh, of 6175 slaughtered onlyone, or 0’ 016 per cent., was affected, while in Dundee only0’ 60 per cent. were affected. The explanation given inEdinburgh and Dundee for this very striking difference isthat pigs in the East of Scotland are fed only to a slightextent on milk or milk products, the food being mainlyhotel or boarding-house scraps, while in the West of Scot-land the pigs are said to be largely "dairy fed." Dr. Dittmar,however, finds it difficult to believe that the character of thefood accounts for the great difference in the extent to whichtuberculosis is present in pigs slaughtered in Glasgow, Edin-burgh, and Dundee. He thinks there can be little doubtthat difference in the method of examination practised ineach abattoir will account to a large extent for the differ-ences noted. As regards the methods of inspection thereport states that in Edinburgh it appears to be efficient, butit goes on to say that in Glasgow the examination of eachcarcass, &c., is more searching and carried out in greaterdetail than in any other abattoir visited in Scotland. Dr.Dittmar then proceeds to suggest some points in which animprovement on existing conditions could be made. 1. Sub-ject to certain exceptions it should be made illegal toslaughter any animal intended to be sold for human food inany but a duly licensed place. 2. The Local Govern-ment Board should be empowered to call upon burghallocal authorities to provide public slaughter- houses,and that with a view to increasing the revenue of theslaughter-house, and thereby providing funds for more

efficient management, in burghs of less than 6000 inhabit-ants no slaughter-houses other than public ones shouldbe allowed within a radius of five miles of the burghboundary ; also, that where a slaughter-house is providedby a landward local authority all private slaughter-houseswithin a defined distance of the public one should cease toexist, and that power should be given to burghal and land-ward authorities to combine for the purpose of erecting acommon slaughter-house. 3. That persons licensed and paidby the local authority should be appointed in landwarddistricts whose duty it would be to kill animals intended to besold for human food. 4. That meat inspectors and superintend-ents of slaughter-houses should possess certificates of com-petency in the work from some recognised examining body.5. That recommendations for the guidance of meat inspectorsin condemning carcasses might be issued. 6. That inspectionby competent officers of all animals at the time and place ofslaughter should be aimed at, that arrangements should bemade whereby consignments of dead meat coming to a townshould be inspected before being put on sale, and that theGovernment of this country should be satisfied of thethoroughness of inspection at the time and place of slaughterbefore meat is exported to this country. 7. That the LocalGovernment Board should call for certain returns of thenumber of animals slaughtered yearly in public slaughter-houses.

Tke Medical Officership of Health of Edinbzcrgh.Owing to the retirement of Sir Henry D. Littlejohn the

city of Edinburgh has to appoint a medical officer of health.There is already a rich field of candidates to select from-at least 12 well-known names are given. The salary is statedto be £800 per annum.

Clinical Research.

Through the medium of Dr. G. A. Gibson a gentleman,who meanwhile withholds his name, is desirous of establish-ing a laboratory for clinical research in connexion with theEdinburgh Royal Infirmary. A meeting of physicians to theinfirmary has been called by Dr. Gibson to consider thematter and to see what steps it may be advisable to takeand what form the scheme can take.June 2nd.

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons inIreland.

THE annual general meeting of the Fellows f theRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland was held on

May 30th. The annual report of the Council was received

1660 IRELAND.

and adopted unanimously, after which a discussion tookplace on the Irish Universities Bill in regard to its effect onthe future of the College. The opinions arrived at are wellset out in the following motion, which was proposed by SirCharles A. Cameron, C.B., ex-President, professor ofchemistry and of hygiene (and historian) of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Ireland ; seconded by Mr. J. S.MoArdle, ex-President of the Irish Medical Association andprofessor of surgery, Catholic University Medical School;and unanimously carried by the meeting :-That this College, while in no way desiring to interfere in the

question of University education, views with alarm the consequence tothe College which will be brought about by the establishment, underthe Irish Universities Bill now in Parliament, of a State-endowedmedical school in connexion with the proposed new University inDublin, for it is to be anticipated that serious damage and loss willresult to the unendowed school of this College and, therefore, to theRoyal College itself, from that State-aided competition.That it is contrary not only to ,justice and fair-play, but also to the

public interest, that this College, established by Royal Charter, and itsschool, which for a century and a quarter have done great and importantwork for the State and the country, and which, if permitted, would becompetent to continue that valuable work, should be crushed. ,

That the College approves of the steps taken by the Council to bringits claim for a Government grant for its school to the notice of the iChief Secretary, and it hereby expresses its belief in the justice ofthat claim, and presses it on the favourable consideration of theGovernment.

Sir Lambert H. Ormsby supported the motion, recalling thatthe crisis had now arrived in the history of the College, ofwhich he had foreshadowed the possibility in his own

presidential address at the corresponding annual meeting ofJane, 1904, and spoke with conviction as to the danger tothe medical school attached to the College, and in due courseto the College itself, which had conferred, he said, "suchlasting benefit on the general public by insuring that everyyear highly educated and fully qualified Fellows andLicentiates received their diplomas to practise surgery inIreland and different parts of the world, while during thelong period of its existence as a licensing body its paramountaim had been high culture and efficiency, unbiassed bypolitical or sectarian influence of any kind." Mr. John

Lentaigne, now President of the College, dwelt eloquently,as a Roman Catholic, on the religious liberality displayed bythe College ; and the audience were distinctly impressed withthe fact that the issue ahead of the College is a very seriousone.

The Election of Officers at the Royal College of Surgeons inIreland.

The annual election of President, Vice-President, Council,and secretary of the Royal College of Surgeons in Irelandwas held on Monday, June 1st. For the presidency, vice-

presidency, and secretaryship the election was in each caseunopposed, but the contest for seats on the Council was

actively carried out. A total number of 268 votes was

recorded ; three were returned by too-late posts and five were" apoilt in the making." The following were elected and Ihave appended the number of votes recorded for each :-(Pre-sident, John Lentaigne ; Vice-President, Robert H. Woods ;secretary, Sir Charles A. Cameron) Sir Henry R. Swanzy,229; William Stoker, 162; Sir Charles Cameron, 238 ;Sir Lambert Hepenstal Ormsby, 180; Richard D. Purefoy,190 ; Henry Gregg Sherlock, 185 ; Sir Charles B. Ball, 204 ;John B. Story, 208 ; Edgar D. Flinn, 161 ; Sir Thomas Myles,216 ; Sir Arthur Chance, 210; Richard Lane Joynt, 176;R. Bolton McCausland, 168 ; Thomas E. Gordon, 175 ;Edward Henry Taylor, 201; G. Jameson Johnston, 176 ;William Taylor, 193 ; R. Charles B. Maunsell, 175 ; andWilliam Ireland Wheeler, 195. Two members of the pastyear’s Council have lost their seats, Dr. Thomas Donnelly, theactive secretary of the Irish Medical Association, and Mr.J. S. McArdle, who has announced his candidature in theusual official way for the vice-presidency of the College in1910-1912. Mr. J. B. Story has done the same.

Cerebro spinal Meningitia.Several oases of "spotted fever " have occurred in the

Lurgan district. Two deaths have taken place in the

Lurgan workhouse fever hospital within the week endedMay 27th.

The Report of the Belfast ITealt7t Commission.At a meeting of the Belfast water commissioners held on

May 28th reference was made to the difficulty experienced inobtaining copies of the report of the Belfast Health Commis-sion. It appears that the Local Government Board thought

it right to issue the report in the first instance to the corpora-tion of Belfast and to allow an interval to elapse beforesending copies to the press. These copies were despatchedon April 24th and on that date a copy was also forwarded tothe secretary of the water commissioners. The chief clerk ofthe corporation has since sent three copies. As the questionof the water-supply was specially under consideration, and asE2000 were spent by the commissioners in getting upevidence, naturally they are annoyed that they cannot-even by paying for it-procure a copy of the report, and asone of them said at the meeting, " How otherwise could thecommissioners be in a position to comply with the re-

commendations made." In reply to a question in the Houseof Commons on May 28th the Chief Secretary said that 250copies of the report were printed at the expense of theBelfast corporation and of these the Local Government Boardhad 150, nearly all of which had been distributed amongstpublic bodies and interested parties. The corporation hasdeclined to incur the expense of printing additional copiesand the Chief Secretary had no power to compel it to doso. As, however, the Chief Secretary said the report is of

general interest he would lay it on the table at an early date.

Consumption in Belfast.The Local Government Board has approved of an arrange.

ment by which, as proposed by the Belfast city council, tenfurther beds in the Forster Green Hospital will be allocatedfor the use of consumptive patients nominated by the publichealth committee of the corporation.

Tlte Irish Medical Association.

The annual general meeting and conference of thisassociation will be opened in the Royal College of Surgeons,Dublin, on June 10th. The annual dinner will takeplace on the same evening, and on the next day thePresident-elect (Sir William J. Smyly) will give a gardenparty in the Zoological Gardens, Phœnix Park. Thethird day (Friday) is to be devoted to an excursion at

Glendalough. From the sixty-ninth annual report, to be

presented, it appears that on Dec. 31st last the associationconsisted of 726 members. Financially, the income received,with the balance in hand at the close of last account,amounted to L782 and the expenditure to £730, leaving a

credit balance of £51.

British Dental Association.

The British Dental Association is to visit Belfast for itsannual meeting at Whitsuntide from June 6th to 9th.The opening meeting is to be held on Saturday, June 6th,in Queen’s College, Belfast, when an address will be

given by the President, Mr. J. J. Andrew, L.D.S., of Belfast.On the previous evening a popular lecture on the Teeth ofthe People : a National Asset, will be given in the TechnicalInstitute by Mr. L. Matheson, L.D.S., of London, and onSaturday night the annual dinner will be held in the GrandCentral Hotel, Belfast.

Bovine Tuberculosis in Belfast.At a meeting of the Belfast corporation held on Jane lst a

report was given by the city veterinary surgeon to theeffect that of 3452 milch cows examined only one hadbeen affected with tuberculosis, and that of 27,446 cattleslaughtered in the Belfast abattoir in 1908 only 384 werefound to be tuberculous, or 1 in 70. Mr. Councillor Gregg,M.R.C.V.S., a member of the public health committee,immediately challenged these figures, and said that untilthe tuberculin test had been applied it could not be

definitely said that cows examined were free from tuber-culosis. Mr. Gregg, who is also the honorary secretary ofthe North of Ireland Veterinary Association, has since thisstatement was made to the corporation written to theBelfast press showing that only in one case of the suspiciousdairy cows could the veterinary surgeon of the corporationprevail on the owners to allow the tuberculin test to be usedand in that case a positive reaction was present. It is cleartherefore, that there has been some fallacy in the statisticsUnder the new Dairies and Cowsheds Order adopted by thecorporation the veterinary surgeon will be able to use morefreely the tuberculin test. In reference to the reportedabsence of tuberculosis in such a large number ofslaughtered animals Mr. Gregg says that the majority ofthese were young cattle from the country districts wherethe disease is not so prevalent as among older milch cowsin crowded cities.June 2ad.

1661PARIS.-BERLIN.

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Administration of Antidysenteric Vaccines by the Mouth.AT the Biological Society on May 16th M. Dopter recorded

some experiments on the vaccination of fully grownmice by feeding them with bacilli of dysentery of the

Shiga type, both living and dead. For this purpose he

weighed out 0’ 0.05 milligramme of these bacilli, obtained byscraping an agar culture in a Roux’s chamber, and havingkilled them by submitting them to a temperature of 600 C.for an hour he dried them in a vacuum. He made anemulsion of the bacilli in milk and fed the mice with themfor three days running and this process was found to conferimmunity. The subcutaneous inoculation of one or eventwo ordinarily fatal doses of living bacilli in the animalsthus treated from 12 to 15 days afterwards did notkill them, whilst control animals died in three or fourdays. His experiments showed that one single ingestionof this dose is insufficient to bring about immunisa-tion, and that it is only conferred with weaker doses whenthey are repeated daily for a week. The immunity is notcomplete until about the end of 12 days and it usually lastsfor a month. From the first to the twelfth days, whilst thestate of immunisation is in process of development, a

"negative phase" is induced, and the animal is more

sensitive than the control mice to an ordinary fatal dose.Similar results were obtained with living bacilli ; withthese the optimum dose corresponds to the amount ofemulsion obtained by scraping the culture from one agartube after 24 hours’ growth, and this dose should berepeated in a few days.

Syphilis and Myopia.M. Antonelli has communicated a paper on this subject at

a meeting of the French Ophthalmological Society. He saidthat syphilis may be the sole cause of myopia, it mayaggravate it, or it may complicate it. The first propositionis illustrated by congenital syphilis, for a number of personsafflicted with that malady are myopic from early child-hood or become so as the result of such disorders as

interstitial keratitis. This congenital, or at least infan-tile, myopia of the subjects of hereditary syphilis issometimes monocular; it is often unequal in the two

eyes and may occur in combination with dystrophies ofthe ocular membranes and lesions of the fnndus. Acquiredsyphilis shows itself rather by aggravating and complicatingmyopia in patients who already have it more or less stronglymarked and who are in a state of general bad health. With

regard to the complications there is no doubt that myopiceyes are predisposed to the later manifestations of syphilis.Chorio-retinitis with damage to the papilla, macular or intra-vitreous hæmorrhages, exudative troubles of the vitreous,and retinal detachment occur most frequently in myopes ofold standing, who have become tainted with syphilis, and itis easier to prevent these complications by energetic andprolonged mercurial treatment than it is to cure them.

The Re-education of the Muscles in the Treatment of DifferentPalsies.

The general term of muscular re-education covers a seriesof very different procedures which must not be confoundedwith each other. The treatment of ataxia, paraplegia, hemi-plegia, and spasmodic paralysis requires different methods foreach. Passive movement and the long-continued training involuntary movements combined in various manners havegiven rise to several methods, of which certain ones, such asthe treatment of ataxia, are widely known and appreciated.M. Faure brought the question before the Medical Society ofParis on May 8th and pointed out that others, such as thetreatment of spasmodic palsies, are less generally recognised.The educative treatment of hemiplegia gives appreciableresults, but less striking than when it was applied to cases ofataxia. These methods demand the expenditure of muchtime and patience and must be carried out with the utmostprecision.The Thermic Effects of High-frequency Currents on the Body.At the Academy of Sciences on May llth M. Zimmern and

M. Turchini dealt with this subject. Tracings of arterialblood pressure made on the dog show that this pressure isnot affected by high-frequency currents. In man it some-times produces a slight drop of one or two centimetres, but

volumetric variations of the pulse, which indicate vaso-dilata-tion, are more frequent results. An animal under the influenceof these currents shows a rise of temperature of severaltenths of a degree. Dogs whose temperature is falling pro-gressively under the action of chloral show a similar increasewhich depends upon the calorific effects of the current, andthe dog seeks to counteract these effects by rapid breathing.In the same way a man whose temperature has been thusraised several tenths of a degree attempts to counteract theaccess of heat by peripheral vaso-dilatation. The increasein temperature is not always sufficient to induce sweating.It would thus seem that high-frequency currents fulfil awant in affording a method of increasing the body heatwithout expense to the organism, and in this way they forma new procedure in thermo-therapy, more gentle than thosealready in use but with similar indications for employment.Indirectly, by the vaso-dilatation which it causes, it is nuseful adjuvant in dealing with renal congestion and visceralneuralgia, and this action explains the good effects which ithas upon the obscure pains experienced in Bright’s diseaseand arterio-sclerosis.

Tuberculous Rheumatism.At a meeting of the Paris Medical Society held on

May 23rd Professor Antonin Ponset, in resuming a discussionon Tuberculous Rheumatism, described investigations whichhe had made on this condition and on inflammatory tuber-culosis. M. Dupuy de Frenelle recommended general treat-ment for the tuberculosis; hyperasmia, effleurage, andmassage for the limb; and very cautious movement alter-nating with periods of rest for the joint. He did not thinkthat the effects produced by ankylosing tuberculous rheu-matism were so obstinate and so difficult to treat as ProfessorPoncet supposed..Diagnosis of Cancer by a Specific Reaction with Micrococcous

Neoformans.M. Doyen, in a communication to the Biological Society,

has stated that the blood serum of cancerous people containsspecific bodies which possess a selective action upon anextract of powdered tumour cells and micrococcus neoformansand upon young cultures of that organism which results infixation of the complement or in agglutination. The

diagnosis of obscure cases of cancer may perhaps be bestdetermined by a combination of three investigations-namely, the power of fixation of the complement, ofagglutination, and the determination of the opsonic index.June 2nd.

__________________

BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

International Conference on Cancer.ON the occasion of the opening of the Cancer Institute in

Heidelberg in October, 1906, an International Conference onCancer was held in that city and in Frankfort. Thesuccess of that conference has induced the committeesof different States to found an International Unionfor Cancer Research which met for the first time inBerlin on May 23rd under the presidency of Professor vonLeyden. 13 States were represented, including Germany,Austria, Hungary, France, Russia, Denmark, the UnitedStates, and Japan, but England was not represented. Theseat of the union will be Berlin. The aim of the union isto support institutions for cancer research and treatment ;to compile international statistics concerning cancer ; toestablish an international bureau for the coordination ofcancer research, and to edit an international journal oncancer. Professor von Leyden was elected honorary presi-dent, Professor Czerny of Heidelberg president, and ProfessorMarie of Paris and Professor Fibiger of Copenhagen vice-

presidents. The third vice-president will be an American, tobe elected by the American national committee. ProfessorHansemann of Berlin will act as treasurer and Professor

Meyer of Berlin as general secretary. The other members ofthe committee are Professor Podwyssowski of St. Petersburg,Professor von Hochenegg of Vienna, and Professor Golgi ofPavia. The first meeting of the union was held in the greatlecture hall of the Pathological Institute ; representativeswere present of the Government, the University, the Armyand Navy Medical Corps, and of the Medical Association ofBerlin. Addresses of welcome were delivered by the Ministerof Public Instruction, the Rector of the University, and by