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flexor carpi radialis. The former presents a connexion withthe ulna as well as with the humerus and radius-a con-nexion found in the chimpanzee, but nowhere else till wereach the reptiles, but which represents in a very interesting manner the passage from bone to bone of the fibres ofthe single muscular mass in some lower animals. The ex-istence of this is connected with the extensive power ofpronation and supination which we possess, and its use isto pronate the arm when the elbow is flexed. The secondsector is intermediate, formed of the palmaris longus andflexor digitorum sublimis. The third or ulnar sector con-sists of the flexor carpi ulnaris. The deeper stratum con-stitutes the flexors of the digits, and is subdivided intoflexor longus pollicis and flexor profundus digitorum-a

. division peculiar to ourselves, and one of the very few’ peculiarities which man has in his muscular system.

The pronato-flfxor mass in the lower limb differs in its’ action on the os calcis, and the consequent muscular modi-- fications required. The representatives of all the members. of the superficial stratum are condensed in the one outer orfibular head of the gastrocnemius. The serial homologue

of the flexor sublimis digitorum is the plantaris, which is in- , ’ .some animals continued into the short flexor of the toes.

The tibial head of the gastrocnemius has no representative. in the fore limb ; it is absent in some of the lower animals.

The flexor carpi radialis and flexor digitorum profundus are. represented by the tibialis posticus, flexor longus digitorum, and flexor hallucis, of which the first is also confined in itsaction to the ankle.

The supinato-extensor mass may be divided in a similarmanner. In the superficial layer we have the supinatorlongus,extensor carpi radialis, extensor sublimis (as it should

. be called, not longus), corresponding to the flexor sublimis,

... and extensor carpi ulnaris, corresponding to the flexor. Inthe lower limb these are represented by the tibialis anticus,

, the superficial part of which corresponds to the supinator’ longus and extensor carpi radialis, by the extensor longus. digitorum corresponding to the extensor digitorum snb-limits, and by the peronei corresponding to the extensorcarpi ulnaris. The peronei afford an instance of total

. difference of function resulting from slight? difference indisposition, only one, the peroneus tertius, retaining itsfunction as extensor.In conclusion, the Professor said a few words concerning

. the difference between a hand and a foot. He first criticisedDr. Haughton’s theory that it depended on a certain point in

the disposition of the flexor tendon, and that there resulteda difference in weight of different portions of that tendon. Hehad weighed equal lepgths of the tendon above and belowthe point round which it worked, and found them of equalweight. This was the case in both hand and leg. Care

. should also be taken, in comparing the hand and foot, 10 setaside those features which distinguish the terminal part ofthe hind limb from the terminal part of the fore limb, fea-

, tures which belong to the differences between limbs, andnot between a hand and a foot. Such are the points chieflyrelied on by Professor Huxley-the disposition of the tarsalbones, the presence of an extensor and flexor brevis digi-

torum, and the presence of a peroneus longus. Such points,however, merely distinguish the terminal part of a hindlimb from the terminal part of a fore limb, and will do soequally in the case of the lower animals. The importantthing is to settle what are the features in the terminal partof either limb which sha.11 enahle us to distinguish it as ahand. The word "hand" is derived from man’s band, and itsdistinguishing points are, relative length and mobility of thephalanges and of the first digit on the carpus, and certainmuscular peculiarities-segmentation of the flexor pollicis,specialisation of extensor ossis metacarpi pollicis, and pre-sence of an opponens pollicis and opponens rninimi digiti;

and, lastly, the peculiar disposition of the interossei. Judgedby this test we may fairly state that the terminal part ofthe hind limb in the gorilla has as much claim to be con-

sidered a hand as the terminal part of the fore limb, andother arguments must be brought forward before we canhesitate to apply the term quadrumanons to suuh animals,

or refuse to man th:),t evidence of subdivision of labourand of high organisation which is so sirinally implied by the

. term bimanous. These points of distinction between thehand a,nd the foot may seem small, but it is the evidence of..the highest of all skill to educe great results from slight

modifications.

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

FROM Chatham there comes a remarkably apropos andstriking illustration of the complexity and inefficacy of themethods-if a term implying order may be used in referenceto a procedure which is simply chaotic-by which theattempt has been hitherto made to deal with the more

pressing requirements of our town populations. In TheTimes a few days ago there was a statement that at NewBrompton, described as "a rising and populous, but badlykept town near Chatham," the inhabitants had been polledto determine whether, in conformity with the expressedviews of the Local Government Board, the town should beformed into a separate district for sanitary purposes underthe Local Government Act. There appears to have beenmuch strong feeling excited upon the point, and the resultof the poll shows a majority of 50 against the adoption ofthe Act, the numbers voting being 622 for, and 672 against.Now it happens that the real nature of the case by no

means appears from the foregoing statement, and as it is aremarkable one in many respects, we add a few facts whichwill make the matter clear. Chatham and Rochester are,as is well known, in close contiguity with one another; andthey comprehend, within the parliamentary limits of theformer and the municipal limits of the latter, the whole orparts of the parishes of Chatham, Gillingham, Strood,Frindsbury, St. Margaret, and St. Nicholas. Old Bromptonand New Brompton are parts of the parishes of Chathamand Gillingham ; and the Boundary Commissioners in 1868,proposing to extend the parliamentary limits of theborough of Chatham so as to include the whole of NewBrompton and Gillingham village, described these parts asforming "an urban district, closely, and in some cases con-tinuously, connected by buildings with the borough, andoccupied by persons having identical pursuits and interestswirh the town population." There can be no doubt, infact, that so far as sanitary interests are concerned, thewhole of the places thus grouped together at the mouth of theMedway ought to be regarded as one community. We haveonly to turn for proof of this to a report by Dr. Buchananin 1870, on the sanitary state of Rochester and Chatham.After showing the close association of these towns, Dr.Buchanan makes the following observations :-’ Nothing ofunity, however, is to be discovered in the local governmentof the town. Not only as parliamentary boroughs areRochester and Chatham distinct, but various parts ofRochester are for various local purposes distinct from otherparts of Rochester; Rochester is for almost every localpurpose wholly distinct from Chatham ; and Chatham,again, has various parts distinct for various local purposesfrom its other parts. Both as regards area of jurisdictionand extent of function, it is extremely perplexing to knowwhat is the authority for particular purposes in particularparts of the town."

Dr. Buchanan was enabled, with the aid of the localknowledge afforded by Dr. Aveling, to make out a state-ment showing, at least approximatively, the several autho-rities and their areas of jurisdiction; he does not, however,guarantee the correctness of the statement, for 11 probably,"he says, "there is no one person in the two boroughs whocould enumerate all the authorities acting in the localgovernment of the compound town," which, altogether, ismuch smalier than the metropolitan parish of Islington,and has about a third of the population of that parish. Noless than fifteen different authorities appear, then, to haveeither distinct, or concurrent jurisdiction for the purposes of(1) paving, (2) watering and cleansing streets, (3) lighting,(4) police, (5) sewerage, (6) water-supply, (7) nuisanceremoval, (8) Cfsspool and ashpit emptying, and (9) regu-lating the construction of buildings. The Rochester TownCouncil, the Chatham Local Board, the Dean and Chapterof Rochester, various lighting and paving commissions,highway boards, and water companies, together make upthis medley of local self-government. We regret that wehave not space for the display in tabular form of Dr.Buchanan’s analysis of the several jurisdictions of thesebodies. An example or two must suffice. Thus, the partof Chatham parish within the municipality of Rochester is

15

paved and lighted, the streets are watered and cleansed,and the sewerage is done by the St. Margaret’s PavingCommission ; the nuisance removal is in the hands of theTown Council; the paving, street watering and cleansing,and sewerage of the city part of St. Margaret’s (Rochester)is done by the St. Margaret’s Highway Board ; the lightingby the Rochester Paving Commission ; the nuisance removalby the Highway Board and Town Council jointly. TheGillingham Highway Board appears to have control overthe whole of that parish (including New Brompton) forpaving, street watering and cleansing, and sewerage; thelighting being in the hands of a special commission.

So much for the state of think-3 existing. Obviously athorough remedy would be to consolidate all the powersand jurisdictions of the fifteen (or more) authorities into ione, and Dr. Buchanan therefore set this down as the firstsanitary want of the towns. But failing this, and havingregard to the possible local objections to one authority onthe score of expense, it was recommended that the RochesterTown Council should adopt the Local Government Act; andthat the Chatham Local Board district should be extendedso as to include the whole of Brompton and Gillingham.Why, in the face of Dr. Buchanan’s report, the LocalGovernment Board should ever have proposed to constituteNew Brompton a separate sanitary district is incompre-hensible to us. And as this proposition has been nega-tived by the inhabitants, it is to be hoped that the subjectmay be reconsidered by the Local Government Board, inorder that a farther division of sanitary jnrisdiction inRochester and Chatham may if possible be avoided.

THE CHOLERA.

THE diffusion of cholera in South Russia has againobtained such magnitude that the Imperial Governmenthas found it requisite to issue returns of the distributionand progress of the disease. From the first of these returnswe learn that the reports which have from time to timeappeared in THE LANCET during the past three monthshave understated the gravity of this year’s outbreak in theRussian Empire. The disease is scattered over the wholeof South and Little Russia, and has appeared at more thanone place in Great Russia, and on the borders of WestRussia. The localities which would appear to have chieflysuffered are the city of Ekaterinoslaw and the district ofVerkhniédnie, in the government of Ekaterinoslaw; the cityof Kiew and the district of Onmane, in the government ofKiew; and the district of Krementchoug in the governmentof Poltava. The disease is very widely scattered along thevalleys of the Dniester and the Dnieper and their

affluents; and from Odessa, where the malady is now pre-valent, dissemination has begun to take place to other partsof the shores of the Black Sea. We give in the nextcolumn a table explanatory of the preceding passage.

It is difficult to estimate the prospects of WesternEurope as to cholera during the present year in the face ofthis renewed diffusion of the disease in South Russia. Atthe close of last year it seemed, from the wide disseminationof cholera in Northern Europe, that we were on the eve ofanother general outbreak. The progress of the malady tothe present time during this year gives rise to a hope thatthe maximum of spread may have been attained in thepast year, and that we are now witnessing that reawakenedactivity in limited areas which occasionally marks the de-cline of epidemics of cholera. But be this as it may, thefact that the infected districts on the Dniester and theDnieper have, as has recently been pointed out by Mr.J. Netten Radcliffe, now been brought into close con-nexion by railway with Western and Central Europe makesit necessary that we should not, on account of the distanceof the present field of activity of the disease and from thecomparatively limited diffusiveness which it has as yet ex-hibited, lull ourselves into what might prove to be a falsesense of security.A telegram from Constantinople recites that the

Rainton, a, Newcastle steamship, got on shore at Buyak-

dere some fourteen days ago. The Turks found one manon board dead from cholera, and three others very ill fromthe same disease, and, of course, quarantined the ship,which had come from Odessa and was bound direct forEngland. As we still continue to admit dirt and diseaseinto the port of London free of duty, it is perfectly possiblethat this vessel, if she had not providentially grounded onthe shores of the Bosphorus, would have by this timequietly steamed up the Thames, and hauled into one of thedocks without let or hindrance. It is t be fervently hopedthat Mr. Stansfeld has not thrown overboard the sub-clauseof the Public Health Bill relating especially to the port ofLondon.The last accounts from Kherson in Russia say that the

disease, which commenced on the 25th of May, still con- s

tinues with undiminished vigour.

Table of the Progress of Cholera in Russia.

From statements which have been recently made inforeign papers it appears that upwards of fifty personshave been attacked with cholera in Khotine, in Bessarabia,and thus the report which was in circulation as to the ..appearance of this disease in that place is confirmed. The rtype of the malady is spoken of as the true Asiatic, beingattended with vomiting, cramps, and diarrhoea,, and the ""patients succumbing in a few hours.The St. Petersburg Journal states that since the com-

mencement of the epidemic of cholera in Kiew to the 20th "’of June there have been 2338 persons attacked ; of these1032 have died, 715 have recovered, and 531 remain under,treatment.At St. Petersburg it is reported that the master of a

British ship has died of cholera.The Turkish authorities have imposed a quarantine of

ten days on all arrivals at Constantinople and Sulina fromRussian ports.The East German Gazette reports that several cases of

cholera have occurred in the western frontier districts ofRussia.

THE " Wrexbam Guardian " of June 29th reports ’that W. Roberts, of Lpeswood, and ’1’. Waldron, were sum—’moned before the magistrates for having neglected to pro-duce their children a week after vaccination, as required bySection 17 of the Act of 1867. Dr. Williams gave evidencethat the children had been vaccinated, and not brought Bback to be inspected. The defendant’s wife pleaded as an,excuse fever in the house. In consideration of these beingthe first cases of the sort, both defendants were let off on.

the .payment of costs only.