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Medical News.ROYAL INSTITUTION. -The following are the

lecture arrangements after Easter :-Professor J. A. Fleming,’Bfour lectures on Electric Illumination ; Professor J. W. Judd,three lectures on Rubies : their Nature, Origin, and Metamor-phoses ; the Rev. W. H. Dsllinger, three lectures on theModern Microscope ; Mr. F. Seymour Haden, two lectures onthe Etching Revival; Professor J. F. Bridge, two lectures onMusic : 1. Musical Gestures; 2. Mozart as a teacher; ProfessorDewar, three lectures on the Solid and Liquid States of

Matter; Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, three lectures onEgyptian Decorative Art; Mr. H. D. Traill, two lectures onLiterature and Journalism ; Mr. John A. Gray, two lectureson Life among the Afghans ; Captain Abney, three lectureson Colour Vision (the Tyndall Lectures) ; Mr. Robert W.Lowe, three lectures on the Stage and Society. The Friday’evening meetings will be resumed on April 6th, when a- discourse will be given by Professor Victor Horsley, on

Destructive effects of Projectiles ; succeeding discourses willprobably be given by Professor J. J. Thomson, Dr. J. G.Garson, Professor H. Marshall Ward, Dr. G. Sims Woodhead,the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Professor A. M. Worthington, SirHoward Grubb, Professor Oliver Lodge, Professor C. V. Boys,and other gentlemen.THE SALARIES OF POOR-LAW MEDICAL OFFICERS.-

On the consideration on Tuesday of an application for anincrease of salary for the medical officer of the workhouseinfirmary, the guardians of the East Preston Union, Sussex,had before them for comparison the salaries paid to the-infirmary medical officers by other boards in the county.In applying for an increased salary Mr. F. C. Bryan, of

Littlehampton, drew attention to the fact that the patientsin the house had increased in numbers since his salarywas fixed, between thirty-five and forty bottles of medicineweekly were dispensed, and the distance he lived from the,house (four miles) meant an additional expense for horse hire.The clerk stated that he had ascertained that in the Westhamp--nett Union the patients in the infirmary averaged 15, the salarywas .612; Steyning, 100, and £100 ; Lewes, 26, and :E60;Cuckfield, 60, and £80 ; Petworth (two workhouses), 7, and.20, and 5, and .E20 respectively ; Midhurst, 21, and ;E20 ;Chichester, 32, and 25 ; Horsham, 89, and £35 ; and intheir own workhouse they have an average of 67 patients andpaid 50 per year. At the present time there were 68 patientsin the infirmary and 216 inmates of the house. After somediscussion it was decided to increase the salary to :E60, aproposal that it should be 65 being negatived.

QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB.-At a meetingof this club on March 16th, Mr. A. D. Michael (PresidentR.M.S.), Vice-President, in the chair, a special vote ofthanks was accorded to Mr. Morland, who had presented aseries of thirty-seven slides to replace others found to be bad’or wanting.-The chairman, on behalf of the subscribers,presented Mr. F. A. Parsons with an address and a valuable.gold watch as a testimonial to his zealous endeavours assecretary of the excursions sub-committee during the lastten years to make these gatherings a success. A specialseries of pond-life slides, prepared and presented by C. F. Rousselet, was also awarded to him.-Mr. Parsons expressed ’,his most sincere thanks for the kind and handsome mannerin which they had rendered the excursions pleasant andprofitable to those joining them.--Professor Edinger’s photo-graphic and drawing apparatus, made by Leitz, was exhibitedby Mr. C. L. Curties. - Messrs. Swift exhibited and.described their new biological microscope, which hadthe posterior limb of the tripod doubled and rotatingon a pivot, thus giving increased steadiness to the stand andat the same time enabling it to be packed in a smaller case.It was explained that the pivot was provided with a strongspiral spring, which would prevent it becoming loose, andalso take up any wear at the bearing surfaces.-Mr. E. M.’Nelson’s paper on the Determination of the Foci of Micro-scopical Objectives, Lantern and Camera Lenses by Arith-metical Formulæ was taken as read.-Mr. H. W. King reada paper on Amoebae. A discussion ensued in which Mr. J. D.Hardy, the chairman, and the writer took part.-The secre-tary announced that the first excursion of the season wouldtake place on Saturday, April 7th, at the Royal BotanicGardens, Regent’s-park.

FOOTBALL CASUALTIES.-On the 10th inst. a

young man, aged twenty-years, during a match at Mill Hill-park, Acton, between the St. Thomas’s and Rosslyn Parkteams, fractured his clavicle, and was admitted to St.Thomas’s Hospital. -On Saturday last, in a match betweenPudsey Mechanics’ Institute Football Club and PudseyTrinity team, a youth collided with another player, sustain-

ing an injury, and was removed to the Institute, and foundto be suffering from a slight concussion of the brain.THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD.-The work

of the hospital continues slightly to decrease according to thereturns given by Mr. Mann at the last meeting. The numberof notifications received by the board is slightly less, 1466 ascompared with 1470. The number of admissions into thehospitals was 554, as against 564 in the previous fortnight.No explanation is yet afforded-at least it is not given inThe Times report-of the interesting little bill of £117,000for a temporary hospital.THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.-The number of

cases brought under the notice of this society during the pastyear has been the largest since its institution in 1774, thenumber of rewards conferred being 728. Of these thirty-ninewere conferred on officers and men of Her Majesty’s navalforces and fifty-seven went to the land forces. The police ofthe United Kingdom obtained thirty-five rewards. Onehundred and seven persons in imminent danger were rescuedin the Serpentine during the hot weather of last year but nofatalities occurred. The Stanhope Gold Medal, annuallyawarded to "the most deserving case," has been awarded toCaptain S. W. Scrase-Dickins, 2nd Battalion Highland LightInfantry, who, on April 27th, 1893, whilst suffering from sea-sickness, jumped from the deck of the steamship Peshawur,at that time steaming at the rate of eleven and a half knotsin the hour, in the Red Sea, and saved a Lascar who hadfallen overboard.

THE DENTAL HOSPITAL OF LONDON.-The thirty-sixth annnal meeting of this institution was held at thehospital in Leicester-square, on Thursday last, March 15th,under the presidency of Mr. J. Smith Turner, the vice-president. The annual report having been adopted, thechairman called attention to the satisfactory report for theyear 1893. He urged very strongly the claims of the pro-posed new hospital, pointing out that from the sanitary andovercrowded state of the building, a new hospital was muchneeded ; he further called attention to the great value of theinstitution as a teaching centre, from which excellentlyequipped dental surgeons are turned out, so that the institu-tion was valuable, both as a charity and an educationalestablishment, and deserved therefore the hearty support ofthe public. Towards the .640,000 required for the new

building, E9700 had been promised or collected ; of this sum, f:2000 only had been contributed by the public, the remainder

having been subscribed by the dental profession. The chair-man ventured to think this should not be, and that the

, public should contribute more liberally towards so usefuland deserving an object. During the meeting a cheque for.

500 was handed in from Mr. Henry Harben, as a donation,

to the new hospital building fund.THE LONDON WATER-SUPPLY.-A copy of the

; resolution recently passed by the London County Councilregarding the monopoly of the London water-supply has beenforwarded to all the metropolitan water companies with therequest that they would inform the Council whether they

: would enter into negotiations for the sale of their water-l works. The Lambeth and New River Water Companies have. merely acknowledged the receipt of the resolution. The

Grand Junction, the Southwark and Vauxhall, and the EastL London Water Companies sent definite answers. The firstt named company said that they were unwilling at the present moment to enter into negotiations for the purpose of sellingt their works to the Council. The Southwark and Vauxhall, Company say they have no intention or desire to sell their property, and the East London Company do not see their1 way to enter into negotiations for sale on the basis indicated. in the resolution, at the same time they are willing to give- their careful consideration to any definite and practical pro-- posals which may be submitted by the Council to them. The1 Southwark and Vauxhall, the East London, and the West. Middlesex Companies have Bills before Parliament which- the Council have resolved to oppose, as the result of their1 being carried would be to increase the vested interests of the} companies concerned, and increase the difficulties of the

Council.

779

SANITARY WORK IN THE CITY.-At a meeting ofthe City Commissioners of Sewers on Tuesday Dr. SedgwickSaunders, medical officer of health, gave a report of the

sanitary work effected during the preceding week. By thatstatement it appeared that within that period 263 houses hadbeen inspected, of which 22 required sanitary improvementin various particulars. In the course of February, out of atotal delivery of 25,865 tons of meat at the Central Markets,14 tons had been seized as being unfit for human food.

Louis KOSSUTH.-The death of Louis Kossuthat the advanced age of ninety-one removes from the stage ofEuropean history a man who in his time played a veryimportant part. Some of us can recall the impression whichthe Hungarian patriot made in this country by his speechesin 1851-52. Orators, as much as poets, are born, not made ;and Kossuth was a born orator, who made us familiarwith the extraordinary spectacle of a pure Hungarianwho by his remarkable fluency, eloquence, and dramaticpower in the English language was able to draw large crowdsof educated people to listen to him both here and in America.His style was founded on an intimate acquaintance with ourtongue as presented in the Bible and Shakespeare. We neednot recall the events of the war against Austria, or dwell onthe brilliant and remarkable success which for some timeattended the Hungarian force under its distinguishedleaders, Gorgey, Klapka, Darujanics, and Bem. Of the

way in which they kept the Austrian army at baythere is no need to tell, nor of the disastrous terminationof the struggle, when General Gorgey was compelled toyield. Louis Kossuth was for a long time regarded as atraitor to his country, but has lived long enough to have hadjustice done to his name and reputation. General Gorgeystill lives and is hale and hearty. He was recently in thiscountry as the guest of another friend and brother officer,Surgeon-Major Duka, who, previously to his entrance into theIndian Medical Service, had fought for Hungarian indepen-dence.

Parliamentary Intelligence.NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

The New Session.IT is not apparent that any questions of direct medical interest are

likely to arise in the course of legislation in the Session that has justbegun. It is satisfactory to find that in the reconstructed LiberalMinistry Sir Walter Foster still holds place, though it could have beenwished that in the process he had received some promotion to which heis entitled, whether from a party point of view or from the ability inadministration which he has shown. Great fears seem to be entertainedof new terrors of income-tax. It is more than ever incumbent on theChancellor of the Exchequer to remember the poverty of the pro.fessional classes and to distinguish between incomes dependent onproperty and those dependent on the uncertain life and health of theprofessional man.

The Marking of Foreign Goods.The Bill dealing with this subject, which Colonel Howard Vincent

has introduced in the House of Commons, is intended as an extensionof the Merchandise Marks Act of 1887. It makes two important pro-posals. The first is that all imported goods which do not bear in alegible and conspicuous form a definite indication of the country wherethey were made or produced shall be refused admission into the UnitedKingdom. Exception is made in the case of good declared by theauthorities of the Customs Department to be incapable of beb)gmarked. The other proposal is that imported goods shall not beoffered for sale in this country unless by means either of express noticeor by a board, card, label, ticket, invoice, or other document the pur-chaser is made aware that they are imported and are not of home pro-duction. The Bill is backed by Colonel Howard Vincent, Sir HenryHoworth, Mr. William Johnston, Mr. Maclure, Colonel Bridgeman,Colonel Brookfield, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Havelock Wilson, Mr. Seton Karr,Mr. Field, and Mr. Wrightson.

The Irish Local Government Board.Lord Howth has given notice in the House of Lords that he intends

to call attention to the late reports of Mr. Stafford, medical sanitaryofficer to the Local Government Board of Ireland, on the sanitary con-dition of the towns of Howth and Clontarf, and to move : "That thisHouse regrets that the report on Howth was issued by the LocalGovernment Board as an official document meeting their support andapproval." No date has yet been fixed for bringing on the subject.

The Royal Commission on Labo2ir.The Press Association expects that the Royal Commision on Labb-ur

will be framed on the following lines. The first part will,be-devoted tothe consideration of such topics as the advisability of legislation calcu-lated to promote the better settlement of labour conflicts, the establish -ment of industrial tribunals, boards of conciliation, official arbi.trators, &c. The inquiries of the Commissioners have discovered!great inequalities in the working efficiency and utility of tradeunions and associations of employers, and that boards of con-ciliation have been most successful where the organisations have>been most efficient. The establishment of statutory industrial’tribunals might be of service in trade disputes, where the in-dustries are unorganised, while the workmen are deterred by thecost from bringing the questions before the County Court; but upon,the whole it will be found that the majority of the Commissionershave not recommended the institution of these special tribunals fordeciding questions arising out of existing agreements. They incline tothe opinion that the difficulty of obtaining suitable arbitrators in.trade conflicts might be met if power were given to a public depart.ment to appoint, on the receipt of sufficient application, a suitableperson to act. Such arbitrators might ultimately be made permanent.officials.The second part of the report will deal with: (1) wage rates ; (2) hours

of labour; (3) employment of non-unionist workmen ; (4) questions of’

apprenticeship; and (5) demarcation of work. The majority of theCommissioners are understood to hold all the above points as outsidethe range of legislation with the exception of the case of the hours oflabour. On this head the majority are opposed to the establishmentby law of a universal eight hours day, but they are in favour of theextension of existing legislation in regard to women and children, andin regard to hours of labour in industries certiffed to be especiallydangerous to health in the case of women and young persons. Theyare also in favour of sanitary legislation raquiring occupiers of work-shops to obtain a licence, which should not be granted unless a work-shop were made sanitary.One of the most important features of the report will be the review

of the evidence in regard to the employment of women, which has’been compiled from the reports of the lady Assistant Commissioners.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

THURSDAY, MARCH 15TH.New Bills.

Amongst the large number of private Bills bearing more or less.remotely on medical and sanitary matters, for the introduction ofwhich leave was obtained, may be mentioned the following :—ColonelPalmer : To provide pensions in old age for the provident poor. Mr.Round: For more effectually securing the purity of beer. Mr. Hop-wood : To abolish the compulsion to vaccinate. Mr. Carvell Williams =To further amend the Burial laws. Sir R. Webster: To amend thelaw for the prevention of cruelty to children. Mr. C. H. Wilson: Tcsprohibit the sale ot intoxicating liquors on Sundays. Captain Gric?-Hutchinson : To amend the Coroners Act, 1887. Mr. Wootton-Isaacson: To amend the law relating to the adulteration of food.Mr. Neville: To amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. In the list,of Bills were several the object of which was to ensure more efficientlythe identification of foreign and colonial articles of food.

Explosions from Coal Dust.Replying to a question put to him by Mr. John Ellis, the Home-

Secretary said that at the conclusion of the evidence the Commissionto inquire into explosions in coal mines from coal dust adjourned inorder to await the result of certain experiments. These experimentswere now finished, and he was informed by the chairman that theywould now proceed to the consideration of the report, which he hopedwould be presented not later than the end of June next.

Tu berculosis.Mr. Sbaw Lefevre, in reply to a question, said that he was informed)

that the report of the Bovine Tuberculosis Committee might beexpected very shortly.

Treatment of Inebriates.In answer to a question by Mr. Knowles, the Home Secretary said

’that instructions had been given to the Parliamentary draughtsman to>prepare a Bill to be introduced into Parliament for the purpose ofcarrying out the recommendations contained in the report of thedepartmental committee on the treatment of inebriates. Mr. Asquithfurther stated that the Under-Secretary hoped to introduce themeasure at an early date.

The Army Ilospital Corps.Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, replying to a question put by Mr. Arnold-

Fordter, said the transport required for medical services in war time-would be supplied from the mounted companies of the Army ServiceCorps, and the men so employed, being protected by the brassard,would be defended by the Geneva Convention. The right hon. gentle-man further remarked that in Austria, France, Germany, and Russiathe service corresponding with that of the hospital corps was providedfrom the combatant forces.

The Medical Department of the Local Government Board.In Supply, Mr. T. G. Bowles raised a question with regard to the

supplementary vote of ,glOS1 for salaries and expenses of the MedicalDepartment of the Local Government Board. He wanted to know ifthat expenditure had been incurred by the visitation of inspectors todifferent districts for the purpose of providing against the entrance ofcholera.-Mr. Fowler, in answering the question, said that when anoutbreak of cholera occurred the demand was immediately made that.the Local Government Board should without delay send down in-spectors to inve,4tigati3 the circmustances connected with the outbreak,.

and to see thrtt all p)0,)t!f precautions were tjttken to Inmt its spread.