679 that sum which would be incurred if the troops had been stationed in the United Kingdom. For many years Egypt has not paid her full share of this agreement but now that the financial condition of this country has so much improved it is only fair that full payment should in future be made. Egypt had last autumn to choose between paying more money or having a smaller British garrison. In the settled state of the country she naturally chose the latter alternative. A new feature of this year’s Budget is a chapter of special expenditure for buildings amounting to nearly half a million pounds. This sum includes some items of hygienic interest such as .BSOOO for public slaughter- houses, roll,500 for increase of the lunatic asylum at Abbasiyeh, and £30,000 for rain-water drains in Cairo. The Suakin-Atbara railway was pushed on energetically last year and ought to be completed in 1906. The improvements necessary in the existing State railways will swallow up the chief part of Egypt’s newly found wealth. Cairo, March lst. CANADA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) . The Cairzadian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. THE annual meeting of the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis will be held at the capital, Ottawa, on March 15th. Dr. J. George Adami, professor of pathology in McGill University, will deliver a lecture on Some Phases of the Crusade against Consumption. His Excellency the Governor-General will preside at the meeting. This association has recently presented a petition to the Montreal civic council asking cooperation with it in establishing a sanatorium in that city. Marmorek’s Serum Treatment of Tuberculosis. In June, 1904, Dr. de Martigny of Montreal was com- missioned by the hygiene committee of Montreal to proceed to Paris and there to study and to observe the methods employed and results obtained in connexion with the use of Marmorek’s serum in cases of tuberculosis. Dr. de Martigny has recently returned to Montreal and in his report to the hygiene committee he strongly recommends the serum for the treatment of tuberculosis. The official statistics of deaths for Montreal from this scourge give the number as between 700 and 800 annually and Dr. de Martigny feels positive that, if Marmorek’s method were applied at once to the treatment of all the consumptives of Montreal, in ten years the disease would be as rare in that city as is small-pox at the present day. Leprosy in Canada. In his annual report to the Federal Parliament Dr. Smith, the superintendent of the Leper Hospital at Tracadie, New Brunswick, reports that leprosy is rapidly decreasing. There are at present in this institution 15 inmates, ten males and five females. One of these, however, is out on parole, his being one of those rare cases where the disease evidently has undergone spontaneous cure. Of those on the register nine are French, while three are of Icelandic and three of English origin. Four deaths occurred during the past year and there were three admissions. Four of the lepers have lost their eyesight, one from repeated attacks of iritis and the others from ulcerations and leprous infiltration. Chaul- maugra oil has been given in combination freely and Dr. Smith states that he has observed beneficial effects from its use. Erysipelas and feverishness are almost unknown since the introduction of the oil two years ago. Shortly before sending in his report Dr. Smith made a tour throughout the neighbouring parishes and found one genuine case of leprosy and three persons showing suspicious premonitory symptoms. Vancouver General Hospital. The annual meeting of the board of governors of the Vancouver General Hospital was held in that city on Feb. 8th. It was stated that there had been treated in the hospital 307 cases of medical diseases and 400 surgical cases, 28 eye cases, and 40 cases of diseases of women. There were 272 operations performed, including 23 for appendicitis. According to the report of the treasurer the receipts totalled$39,238.27, while the expenditure amounted two 31,801.32. Dr. A. M. Robertson is the medical super- intendent, The Water-supply of Montreal. A commission authorised by the city council of Montreal is at present making daily analyses of the water supplied to, that city for drinking purposes. Upwards of 40 varieties of organisms have been found. In all of the analyses which have been made so far there have been rarely found more than 200 germs per cubic centimetre. Sometimes in winter not more than 70 have been found. As an average glass of water holds five ounces or 140 cubic centimetres, an inhabitant of Montreal may take 28,000 germs in every glass of water that he imbibes. The typhoid bacillus has never yet been found in Montreal water. Feb. 27th. NEW YORK. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.) Pan-American Medical Congress. THE fourth Pan-American Medical Congress was held at. Panama on Jan. 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. The attendance was meagre; most of those present came from the United States, there being very few representatives of South or Central American States. The facilities for reaching Panama were bad, no adequate arrangements having been made for those coming from the United States. One vessel upon which most of the medical visitors from the Eastern States took passage was delayed en rmlte and did not reach its destination until the congress was virtually over. Some interesting addresses were delivered, notably by Dr. W. C. Gorgas on Isthmian Sanitation; by Mr. Tracy Robinson on The History of the Canal; and by Mr. J. M. Wallace on the canal proposition itself. Mr. Wallace con- cluded his address with an emphasised reference to the importance of sanitation in the canal zone. He stated that he was unwilling to start so vast an undertaking with the shadow of death as an advance guard for the work. He said. that the sanitation of the canal zone was in the hands of Colonel Gorgas and that its success will be due to his efforts. He impressed upon his audience and the men parti- cipating that this was as important as the canal itself. Owing- to the small attendance it was decided to combine all the sections of the Congress and to make one meeting of the whole. Among the papers of interest read were those by Dr.- Nicholas Senn of Chicago, Dr. Crile of Cleveland, Dr. Carlos, Finlay of Havana, and Dr. Chassaignac of New Orleans. Dr. Icaza of Panama was the President of the Congress and Dr. Jose Calvo of the same city was secretary. From the sight-seeing and social points of view the meeting was a , great success. Dinners, balls, and excursions contributed to, the amusement of the guests. Meeting of the American Public Health Association. The thirty-second annual meeting of this body was held ’ in Havana on Jan. 9th, 10th, llth, 12th, and 13th. Many of the physicians from the United States who had attended , the Pan-American Medical Congress in Panama went on to- Havana for the meeting of the Public Health Association. The- association met at the Athenæum Club under the presidency of Dr. Carlos Finlay of Havana. Among other papers read was the Report of the Committee on Purification and Preservation of Water-Supplies by Mr. George W. Fuller of t New York. With reference to filtration he said that the e number of cities in the United States with a population of - 25,000 now using the filtration plan was about 8 per cent., ’ those which had filters under construction 11 per cent., those ’s in which filters had been authorised 20 per cent., and those- ein which filters were being considered as necessary 31 per e cent. Mr. H. W. Clark of Boston said that since the intro- .e duction of filtration at Lawrence, Massachusetts, the city had increased in population from 45,000 to 75,000 and the percentage of deaths from typhoid fever had been materially increased. Professor F. C. Robinson of Brunswick, Maine, read the Report of the Committee on Disinfection and Dis-- infectants. Referring to experiments on disinfection of railway cars by formaldehyde the results showed that in the case of passenger cars it was practically impossible to. sterilise completely all parts by the vapour of formalin, tut still the experimenters were of opinion that it is the- most practical agent to employ for that purpose. Dr. Erastus Wilson of Havana read a paper on the Actual Sanitary Conditions of Havana and the further require- ments for their improvement. Dr. Wilson said that the prevailing annual mortality in the city of Havana previously to American intervention was approximately 40 per 1000.- The continuation of the sanitary measures introduced by
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that sum which would be incurred if the troops had beenstationed in the United Kingdom. For many years Egypthas not paid her full share of this agreement but now thatthe financial condition of this country has so much improvedit is only fair that full payment should in future be made.Egypt had last autumn to choose between paying more
money or having a smaller British garrison. In the settledstate of the country she naturally chose the latteralternative. A new feature of this year’s Budget is a
chapter of special expenditure for buildings amounting tonearly half a million pounds. This sum includes some itemsof hygienic interest such as .BSOOO for public slaughter-houses, roll,500 for increase of the lunatic asylum at
Abbasiyeh, and £30,000 for rain-water drains in Cairo. TheSuakin-Atbara railway was pushed on energetically last yearand ought to be completed in 1906. The improvementsnecessary in the existing State railways will swallow up thechief part of Egypt’s newly found wealth.
Cairo, March lst.
CANADA.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) .
The Cairzadian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis.THE annual meeting of the Canadian Association for the
Prevention of Tuberculosis will be held at the capital,Ottawa, on March 15th. Dr. J. George Adami, professor ofpathology in McGill University, will deliver a lecture on
Some Phases of the Crusade against Consumption. His
Excellency the Governor-General will preside at the
meeting. This association has recently presented a petitionto the Montreal civic council asking cooperation with it inestablishing a sanatorium in that city.
Marmorek’s Serum Treatment of Tuberculosis.In June, 1904, Dr. de Martigny of Montreal was com-
missioned by the hygiene committee of Montreal to proceedto Paris and there to study and to observe the methods
employed and results obtained in connexion with the useof Marmorek’s serum in cases of tuberculosis. Dr. de
Martigny has recently returned to Montreal and in his
report to the hygiene committee he strongly recommendsthe serum for the treatment of tuberculosis. The officialstatistics of deaths for Montreal from this scourge give thenumber as between 700 and 800 annually and Dr. de
Martigny feels positive that, if Marmorek’s method were
applied at once to the treatment of all the consumptives ofMontreal, in ten years the disease would be as rare in thatcity as is small-pox at the present day.
Leprosy in Canada.In his annual report to the Federal Parliament Dr. Smith,
the superintendent of the Leper Hospital at Tracadie, NewBrunswick, reports that leprosy is rapidly decreasing. Thereare at present in this institution 15 inmates, ten males andfive females. One of these, however, is out on parole, hisbeing one of those rare cases where the disease evidently hasundergone spontaneous cure. Of those on the register nineare French, while three are of Icelandic and three of Englishorigin. Four deaths occurred during the past year andthere were three admissions. Four of the lepers have losttheir eyesight, one from repeated attacks of iritis and theothers from ulcerations and leprous infiltration. Chaul-
maugra oil has been given in combination freely and Dr.Smith states that he has observed beneficial effects from itsuse. Erysipelas and feverishness are almost unknown sincethe introduction of the oil two years ago. Shortly beforesending in his report Dr. Smith made a tour throughout theneighbouring parishes and found one genuine case ofleprosy and three persons showing suspicious premonitorysymptoms.
Vancouver General Hospital.The annual meeting of the board of governors of the
Vancouver General Hospital was held in that city on
Feb. 8th. It was stated that there had been treated in thehospital 307 cases of medical diseases and 400 surgicalcases, 28 eye cases, and 40 cases of diseases of women.There were 272 operations performed, including 23 forappendicitis. According to the report of the treasurer thereceipts totalled$39,238.27, while the expenditure amountedtwo 31,801.32. Dr. A. M. Robertson is the medical super-intendent,
The Water-supply of Montreal.A commission authorised by the city council of Montreal
is at present making daily analyses of the water supplied to,that city for drinking purposes. Upwards of 40 varieties oforganisms have been found. In all of the analyses whichhave been made so far there have been rarely found morethan 200 germs per cubic centimetre. Sometimes in winternot more than 70 have been found. As an average glassof water holds five ounces or 140 cubic centimetres, aninhabitant of Montreal may take 28,000 germs in every glassof water that he imbibes. The typhoid bacillus has neveryet been found in Montreal water.
Feb. 27th.
NEW YORK.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)
Pan-American Medical Congress.THE fourth Pan-American Medical Congress was held at.
Panama on Jan. 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. The attendance was
meagre; most of those present came from the UnitedStates, there being very few representatives of South or
Central American States. The facilities for reachingPanama were bad, no adequate arrangements having beenmade for those coming from the United States. Onevessel upon which most of the medical visitors from theEastern States took passage was delayed en rmlte and did notreach its destination until the congress was virtually over.Some interesting addresses were delivered, notably by Dr.W. C. Gorgas on Isthmian Sanitation; by Mr. TracyRobinson on The History of the Canal; and by Mr. J. M.Wallace on the canal proposition itself. Mr. Wallace con-cluded his address with an emphasised reference to the
importance of sanitation in the canal zone. He stated thathe was unwilling to start so vast an undertaking with theshadow of death as an advance guard for the work. He said.that the sanitation of the canal zone was in the hands ofColonel Gorgas and that its success will be due to hisefforts. He impressed upon his audience and the men parti-cipating that this was as important as the canal itself. Owing-to the small attendance it was decided to combine all thesections of the Congress and to make one meeting of the whole.Among the papers of interest read were those by Dr.-Nicholas Senn of Chicago, Dr. Crile of Cleveland, Dr. Carlos,Finlay of Havana, and Dr. Chassaignac of New Orleans.Dr. Icaza of Panama was the President of the Congress andDr. Jose Calvo of the same city was secretary. From the
sight-seeing and social points of view the meeting was a, great success. Dinners, balls, and excursions contributed to,
the amusement of the guests.
Meeting of the American Public Health Association.The thirty-second annual meeting of this body was held’
in Havana on Jan. 9th, 10th, llth, 12th, and 13th. Manyof the physicians from the United States who had attended
, the Pan-American Medical Congress in Panama went on to-
Havana for the meeting of the Public Health Association. The-association met at the Athenæum Club under the presidencyof Dr. Carlos Finlay of Havana. Among other papersread was the Report of the Committee on Purification andPreservation of Water-Supplies by Mr. George W. Fuller of
t New York. With reference to filtration he said that thee number of cities in the United States with a population of-
25,000 now using the filtration plan was about 8 per cent.,’ those which had filters under construction 11 per cent., those’s in which filters had been authorised 20 per cent., and those-ein which filters were being considered as necessary 31 pere cent. Mr. H. W. Clark of Boston said that since the intro-
.e duction of filtration at Lawrence, Massachusetts, the cityhad increased in population from 45,000 to 75,000 and the
percentage of deaths from typhoid fever had been materiallyincreased. Professor F. C. Robinson of Brunswick, Maine,read the Report of the Committee on Disinfection and Dis--
infectants. Referring to experiments on disinfection of
railway cars by formaldehyde the results showed that inthe case of passenger cars it was practically impossible to.sterilise completely all parts by the vapour of formalin, tutstill the experimenters were of opinion that it is the-most practical agent to employ for that purpose. Dr.Erastus Wilson of Havana read a paper on the ActualSanitary Conditions of Havana and the further require-ments for their improvement. Dr. Wilson said that theprevailing annual mortality in the city of Havana previouslyto American intervention was approximately 40 per 1000.-The continuation of the sanitary measures introduced by
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that intervention and the continued improvements ofthe pavement of streets had reduced the mortality andmorbidity to about 50 per cent. of the former rate, besidesbeautifying the city and making it infinitely more attractivefor residents who were interested in health and generalculture. Dr. Carlos Finlay in his address as president statedthat in the district of Havana, notwithstanding the admissionof imported cases of yellow fever from foreign ports, not asingle case originating on the island had been recorded.With the experimental proofs that they now possessed thatfomites per se were incapable of transmitting the disease theinevitable conclusion must be that in the cases which he men-tioned infected mosquitoes had been conveyed upon floatingbodies by the tide. The Report of the Committee on theBacillus Tuberculosis in Man and Animals was read by Dr.V. C. Moore. The conclusions reached were that the com-mittee did not feel able to say with what frequency bovineinfection of man took place but it was evidently not a rareoccurrence. The committee considered that the evidencegoing to show that such infection did take place was
absolutely conclusive and that it not only justified but madeimperative the passage of stringent laws by municipal andState authorities for the suppression of tuberculosis in cattleand the prohibition of the sale of meat and milk fromtuberculous animals. The meeting was a great success. Theassociation is to meet in the city of Boston, Massachusetts,in 1905.
Instruction in Publio Health in Medical Colleges.The department of medicine of the University of Pennsyl-
vania has organised a series of lectures on the subject ofhygiene and medicine of general interest to practitioners.It was originally designed that this course should be for thebenefit of fourth year students but invitations to themedical profession of the city are now given. The same
university will introduce into its curriculum, beginningOct. lst, 1905, a course in public health. This course willinclude instruction in sanitary engineering; inspection ofmeat, milk, and other animal products; the sanitaryengineering of buildings ; social and vital statistics in theUnited States ; and practical methods used in sanitary work,general hygiene, personal hygiene, and sanitary legislation.This is the first attempt in this country to introduce acourse of instruction in hygiene into the curriculum of auniversity.
’
Tuberculosis among the Jews.
Amongst the numerous paradoxical characteristics of theJews their relative immunity to tuberculosis has been con-sidered most peculiar. Evidence wherever obtainable showsthat they are less liable to the " white plague " than theirnon-Jewish neighbours, notwithstanding the large numbersamong them who have flat chests, ill-developed muscles, andwho are anaemic and generally below the standard of physicalvigour when compared with the Gentiles among whom theylive. According to the " Jewish Encyclopædia"—containingstatistics gathered in Russia, Germany, Hungary, Italy,England, and the United States-this view is confirmed.A recent thorough study of the Jewish district of Chicagoby Dr. Theodore Sachs leads him to the conclusion thatthe immunity of the Jew from tuberculosis has been
greatly over-estimated. In his opinion the differenceis due to the fact, which he discovered, that only asmall percentage die in the district in which theyhave contracted the disease, the rest leaving the city insearch of a cure in some climate reputed to be efficacious.In proof of this contention the author shows that of 51deaths from the disease 26 occurred in persons younger than15 years of age, while in the period of life between 20 and 40years, 1 he usual period of greatest mortality, only ten deathstook place. The results of Dr. Sachs’s inquiries differ frominvestigations made in New York by its health departmentin regard to both the morbidity and the mortality of tuber-culosis in Jewish districts. The conclusion reached was thatthe Jews of this city are proportionately less affected withtuberculosis than the non-Jewish inhabitants, even when wecompare them in the same district or the same block. Thestatistics of New York are much larger than those takenat Chicago and comprise also morbidity and are, therefore,regarded as more trustworthy.
Protective Inoculation against Cholera.The United States Government laboratories have been
engaged in experimental studies on protective measures
against Asiatic cholera and have recently published theresults. The author of the report, Dr. Richard P. Strong,
states that the work was based upon experimental work per-formed in the Berlin Institut fiir Infectionskrankheiten in1903. The Philippine Islands have furnished the most recentopportunity for a thorough study of cholera and advantagewas taken of the severe epidemic there to perfect our know-ledge of protective measures. According to Dr. Strong thehistory of cholera in a tropical country has demonstrated thefact that it is impossible to eradicate, or even to control
satisfactorily, the disease by ordinary hygienic methods,such as the purification of the food-supply and the water-supply of infected districts. It was shown by studiesmade in the Manila laboratory during the period of thewidespread infection that the disease was not usually trans-mitted directly by water but probably more often byfood infection. Preliminary trials with Haffkine’s methodof protective inoculation showed the impracticability ofusing it among the natives. Consequently, the experimentalstudy now described was undertaken in the biologicallaboratory in Manila with a view of obtaining some
practicable and efficacious form of protective inoculationagainst the disease. The conclusions reached are as
follows : (1) by the autolytic digestion of carefully killedcholera spirilla in an aqueous fluid the receptors becomeseparated from the bacterial cells and may be filtered off insolution ; (2) the injection of these free receptors into bothman and animals furnishes a means of producing highbactericidal and agglutinative blood sera but the value ofthese sera is moderate; and (3) the subcutaneous injectioninto man of such free receptors is a process which is notonly free from any danger but one which produces practicallyno local disturbance and only a slight general reaction andhence the method is a practicable one for producing acholera serum in man. Owing to the absence of cholera on awide scale in the Philippines it has been impossible to givethe serum a proper test but Dr. Strong, basing his opinionson the statistics of Haffkine in India and the work ofMurata in Japan, which show that by the injection of a smallamount of the killed organisms a certain degree of immunityagainst the natural mode of infection is acquired, thinks it
probable that by the use of his prophylactic human beingsmay acquire a good active immunity against the disease.Feb. 26th.
NOTES FROM INDIA.
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
Report of the Pasteur Institute at Kasauli.THE fourth annual report of the Pasteur Institute at
Kasauli records a steady advance in popularity. Duringlast year 612 patients were treated, of whom 248 were
Europeans and 364 were natives. All these were for bitesfrom presumably rabid animals. In the report the cases
are divided according to those bitten by animals provedby experiment to have been rabid, those bitten by animalscertified as rabid by a veterinary surgeon or a medicalofficer, and those bitten by animals suspected to be rabidbut for which there was only presumptive evidence. Inorder to estimate the danger of bites in different partsof the body the cases are further analysed into those bittenon the head or the face, those bitten on other exposed parts,and those bitten through clothing. The last class are theleast dangerous and the cases of bites on the head and theface are the most dangerous. As the clothing of the nativesis so thin it does not appear to offer them much protectionand the natives when bitten do not show the same alacrityas Europeans for immediate treatment. Of the 612 personstreated five cases failed, all natives. They had all been
severely bitten and with one exception arrived late for treat-ment. There were five cases also in which the disease hadset in before it was possible to protect them. Other and
very important work is carried out at Kasauli. A largequantity of sera for therapeutic purposes was prepared andthe bacteriological laboratory was utilised by officers of theIndian Medical Service and the Royal Army Medical Corpsfor instruction purposes. In addition a considerable amountof research work was done, more especially in connexionwith curative sera, the action of snake venoms, cerebro-
spinal meningitis, and the improvement of the antirabictreatment.
The Sanitary Improvement S’cheme for Simla.The report of Colonel Bamber, sanitary commissioner of
the Punjab, upon the Simla sanitary improvement scheme
