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to water whose nutrient properties are not consideredremarkable? Opium, Indian hemp, alcohol, tobacco, coca,and kola are all nerve-sustaining substances, and thereforeto some extent food substitutes. Was it any of these, andwhich? In the case of ulcer or operation on the stomach,liver, or intestines, the fact of being able to survive for somany days in the total absence of food is of capital im-portance. In the next place, would it not be easy todetermine the amount of urea and faecal matter derivedfrom the waste of tissue ?-for no doubt note was keptof these as well as of the loss in weight. In the thirdand last place, the question of employing starvation as ameans of cure comes up. It would seem feasible to treattumours, callosities, thickenings, and morbid growths of allikinds, with a view to their involution and disappearance,in part at least by the adoption of this principle. Themorbid tissues would waste, it is presumed, quite as fast as,if not faster than, the healthy tissues of the body; andwould not this be a gain in cases of cirrhosis of the liver,thickened pleurse, enlarged spleens and livers, &c.?

I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,GEO. SHEARER, M.D.,

May 14th, 1890. Physician, Consumption Hospital, Liverpool.GEO. SHEARER, M.D.,

Physician, Consumption Hospital, Liverpool.

THE NATIONAL LEPROSY FUND.To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SiRS,—With the object of eliciting by correspondence asmuch information as possible on the subject of leprosy, it isproposed, as a preliminary investigation, to address a seriesof questions to the officers of the various leper asylums andto others who may be able to throw some light upon thematter. I am requested to ask you to allow me ta invitethe cooperation in this inquiry of those of your readerswho, from their knowledge of the disease, may be in aposition to offer suggestions as to methods of inquiry andas to points for elucidation. Any observations with whichthe committee may be favoured will be gladly received, andincorporated in the Journal of the Leprosy InvestigationCommittee, of which the first number will be shortly pub-lished.—I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,

PHIN. S. ABRAHAM, Medical Secretary.Adam-street, Adelphi, May 26th, 1890.

PHIN. S. ABRAHAM, Medical Secretary.

LIVERPOOL.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Hospital Saturday.THE amount received from the Hospital Saturday collec-

tions was, up to the 23rd inst., f3277. There are yet manymore boxes to come in, which will, it is believed, increasethe amount by ;E300 or jE400 more. While it is to beTegretted that Liverpool working men are still so far behindtheir brethren in Birmingham, it is satisfactory to observethat they are making progress.

The Ince Murder.Mr. Baron Huddleston and Mr. Justice Lawrance con-

- cluded last week a short assize sittings. The former wasoccupied during the whole of three days and the half of afourth in trying the case known as the Ince murder, which,ended in a verdict of not guilty. The deceased, a girleight years old (an illegitimate child), was missing from aTuesday evening in March last. On the following Sundayher dead body was drawn up from a disused pit within ashort distance of the house where her mother and step-- father lived. The body was examined by Messrs. Aspinall.and Chronnell, surgeons, of Hindley; it bore evidence of

.ûutrage, and the skull was fractured. The case was one ofstrong suspicion against the male prisoner, her stepfather,but there were some links missing in the chain of evidence,,nd the jury, after an hour’s deliberation, acquitted him.His wife had also been indicted for the murder; but theprosecution offering no evidence against her, she was.discharged.,discharged.

A month of Horrors.May is proverbially a month of suicides and murders.

This month has been no exception to the rule. The tragedyat Wavertree, in which an insane woman murdered her4three children and attempted to commit suicide, has beenfollowed by a double murder at New Brighton. The mur-derer was their father, who also attempted to murder his

wife; she lies in the Seacombe Cottage Hospital progressingfavourably. In addition to these there have within the lastfew days been no fewer than five cases of serious wounding.One of the wounded persons is a man, now an in-patient of theNorthern Hospital, who, after cutting his wife’s throat, cuthis own, and also took some vermin poison. He andhis wife, who is also in the hospital, are doing well.Another in-patient of the same hospital is a sailor who wasstabbed in the abdomen, and who is also doing well. AGerman sailor lies in the Royal Southern Hospital in asomewhat dangerous condition, suffering from wounds in-flicted upon him by other sailors. The other cases are of aslighter description. There have also been during the pastmonth a number of serious assaults upon members of thecity police force, who are, of course, peculiarly liable to suchassaults.

The Bank Holiday.Whit Monday is always a popular day with excursionists

to Liverpool. In past years it has been calculated that twohundred thousand people have been conveyed by the MerseyFerry steamers to the Cheshire side of the river, NewBrighton being the most popular place of all. Even theenormous number given above was exceeded this year, andin addition a very large quantity of passengers went by theMersey railway under the river. It reflects much credit onthe authorities that this enormous number of passengerswas conveyed without any serious accident.

Liverpool, May 27th.

MANCHESTER.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Infirmary.THE infirmary has had one or two considerable legacies

added to its funds lately. Under the will of Miss Walters£ 1000 is received, and from that of Mr. H. H. Gray theresidue of certain moneys, which will probably amount tosome .S5000. This latter will had been the subject of liti-gation, and the whole amount in dispute left to variouscharities amounted to f 15,000. A compromise was arrangedand sanctioned by the Court, whereby f8000 of this goesto the benefit of the widow and daughter, and the remainderas directed. At the last meeting of the Infirmary Board aproposal was discussed for providing accommodation at theinhrmary for post-mortem examinations in connexion withcoroners’ inquests, as no central public mortuary is at pre-sent provided. A subcommittee was appointed to considerand report on the matter. In connexion with the coroner’swork, it is satisfactory to find that at last steps are beingtaken to obtain a better Court for the use of coroner andjury than the present small, stuffy confined room in John-street.

Victoria University.It is not often that the meeting of the University Court

is the scene of very much animation, but at the recentmeeting a proposal to take steps to empower the Universityto grant degrees in theology gave rise to a long and ani-mated discussion. Hitherto the London University, theRoyal University of Ireland, and the Victoria Universityhave not conferred theological degrees. Unless the VictoriaUniversity is to grant degrees in subjects not embracedwithin its own teaching curriculum, it is difficult to seehow this proposal is to be carried into effect. The expressand special raison d’être of the Victoria University wasthat it should be a teaching as well as an examining body ;but, so far at least as Owens College is concerned, the deedof its founder provides that nothing such as we usuallyunderstand by theology shall be taught within its walls, inorder to avoid all grounds of objection from any sect orreligious body whatever. Notwithstanding the strongadvocacy by the clerical members of the court, the Bishopsof Manchester and of Chester, the discussion was adjournedfor six months without any decision being arrived at. Itis "incerely to be hoped that no such rock of contention asthis will arise to check the onward progress of the nowsteadily progressing University.-At the same meetingProfessor Rendall, Principal of University College, Liver-pool, was elected Vice-Chancellor for the ensuing two years,in succession to Dr. Ward, Principal of Owens College, whonow becomes pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Salford and its Hospitals.The hospitals of Salford have been very much in evidence

of late. The end of last week saw the toundation stone of

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the new Fever Hospital laid with considerable ceremonyby Mr. Alderman Dickens, in the presence of the Mayor,members of the Corporation, and other visitors. Therewas considerable opposition to the site of the hospital whenit was first selected, but this appears to have been over-come, and the building, when completed, will probably beone of the best arranged and equipped for its purpose inthe country. The proximity to the sewage works is oneof the worst features of the site. At the Hope Infirmary,belonging to the guardians, a radical change in administra-tion is contemplated. It is proposed that the generalmanagement, as apart from the treatment of the patients,shall be vested in a resident steward or secretary, and thatthe present medical superintendent shall be non-residentand become really a visiting medical officer, with twojunior resident house surgeons under him, on the samelines hitherto carried out at the Manchester WorkhouseInfirmary at Crumpsall. At the Salford Royal Hospital onSaturday last a memorial window of stained glass, pre-sented by Mr. Andrew Boutflower in memory of his latefather (who for many years was connected with the hospital),was unveiled by Lord Howard. A large company waspresent, including the Bishop of Salford, Canon Crane,members of the Salford Council, and others. The subjectchosen illustrates the parable of the "Good Samaritan,"and adds much to the ornamentation of the main entrance.Works of art in English hospitals are too often conspicuousby their absence ; they might with advantage be more usedas memorialaof benefactors to these charities, and would serveto brighten the interior of many of our hospitals, which areat present somewhat sombre in appearance.

Wh itsun tide.As usual in Manchester and district, Whit week is being

given over almost entirely to recreation and holiday-making.More, perhaps, than any other county, Lancashire makesthis week its great annual holiday. On Saturday thestreets were alive with the sounds of martial music as thevarious Volunteer regiments left for their respectivecamps. The artillery are gone to South port, where theyare under canvas, with Surgeon Tomkins in medicalcharge. The lst Manchester Rifles are again in their oldquarters at Lytham. This fine regiment has lately provideditself with an ambulance waggon, which is, however, at pre-sent at the Military Exhibition in London. Acting-SurgeonDarwin went into camp on Saturday with the men. The2nd Manchester have also returned to their first choice fora camping ground at Colwyn Bay, North Wales, and up-wards of 700 men were under canvas on Saturday night,with Surgeon-Major Armstrong, and Surgeons Saville andSmith in attendance. The 3rd Manchester are gone stillfurther from home-to Skegness, on the east coast. TheCadet Regiment, which during the year has made greatstrides in efficiency and equipment, are encamped at HooGreen, where between three and four hundred lads will fora week breathe the fresh air of the country in place of theirnative substitute for that article. The weather up to thetime of writing is all that could be desired, and from reportsreceived the doctors are having rather an idle time, the menbeing all in excellent condition.

Health of Manchester.Judging from our death-rate lately, the health of Man-

chester can hardly be considered satisfactory ; for the firstquarter of the year it was no less than 34 per 1000, the high.est of all the large towns. Diphtheria and scarlet feverstill continue far too prevalent both in Manchester andSalford, and the mortality from the former disease hasfor some time past been considerably above the average.The proposal of the corporation to demolish a large block ofproperty in Ancoats which had been condemned by theofficer of health as an "unhealthy area" within the mean-ing of the Act has been sanctioned by the Central Board,and steps will now be taken to carry this into effect.Manchester. lsav 27th.

NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Railway 4?M.66tMC6 ITTOr7.THE directors of the North-Eastern Railway Company

have taken a most important step towards the encourage-ment of a knowledge of first aid to the injured by decidingthat when the servants of the company obtain a certificate .

of the St. John Ambulance Association the company willundertake the payment of the class fee for instruction ineach case, which as a rule amounts to 5s. per head. Theim-portance of this action, especially to railway servants them-selves, unfortunately so subject to accident, can hardly beover-estimated, and will doubtless encourage a large numberof railway servants to avail themselves of the opportunities.of acquiring this useful knowledge, and it is to be hopedthat the example thus set will be followed by other railwaybodies and public companies throughout the country.

Hexhcvm Z)Mp6KSft.An influential public meeting was held last week in the-

Town Hall, Hexham, with the view of resuscitating thisonce useful charity, when a resolution was moved andcarried to the effect that a committee be appointed to report tto the next meeting of subscribers on the constitution ofthe charity as originally established in 1816, and on anyalterations which, in the opinion of the committee, it maybe desirable to make therein, and to make it known inthe district that an attempt is now being made to re--

establish the charity with a view to obtaining annual sub-scriptions for that object.

Milk Mischief."Mr. Manson, surgeon, of Darlington, has published, in a

pamphlet form, an interesting paper which he recently readbefore the Darlington Agricultural Students’ Association, on"Milk Mischief." The author modestly observes that all hehas attempted is to give a fairly complete résumé of recentopinions held by scientists with reference to the trans-mission of disease, and especially tuberculosis, to man viûmilk food. Mr. Manson’s pamphlet, however, is a valuablecontribution to an important subject, and has a special

interest at the present time to medical practitioners andstudents.

The Health of Middlesbi-ottgh.Dr. Malcomson, the medical officer of health, in com-

menting on the health of Middlesbrough, says that thetotal number of deaths in the borough during the month olApril had been 145, of which 17 occurred in public insti.tutions. Pneumonia was a cause of 27 deaths. Altogetherdiseases of the chest caused 69 deaths. Dr. Malcomsonobserves that the irregular and trying climatic conditions wereresponsible for the number of fatal cases of these diseasesbut pneumonia did not assume anything like the proportions it did in 1888. There had been a slight outbreak oiwhooping-cough, but other contagious diseases were absent.

Sunderland.-Monkwearmouth Hospital.A largely attended public meeting was held last week

presided over by the Mayor of Sunderland, who announce(as the result of the late challenge football match by thiSunderland Association that, besides winning the cup, thsum of one hundred guineas would be handed over to thMonkwearmouth Hospital, which is sadly in need of help.

&)M’-6y-/!e-<S’eQ!..A novelty in the way of baths is in preparation a

Saltburn-by-the-Sea, where it is intended to draw a suppl;of brine from the saltfields which stretch from near Esto]into South Durham. The baths are far advanced in theierection, and will be ready for the coming season. So thavisitors in the north may have some of the advantages cthe Droitwich district as to brine baths, and no doubt thewill prove an additional attraction to Saltburn, alreadyfavourably known as a seaside resort for invalids.Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 29th.

EDINBURGH.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Public Health Committee.AT a meeting of the Town Council in the middle of last

week, the Public Health Committee reported that 16,592 lb.of unsound meat had been seized during the month ofApril. At the same meeting Bailie Russell, who is a

graduate in medicine and convener of the Public HealthCommittee, drew attention to the large mortality of thepast month, and pointed out that the deaths from infectiousdiseases were double what they were the same month oflast year.

St. Andrew University Court.St. Andrews University Court.At the last meeting of this Court it was resolved to