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Berlin Dermatological Association, of which lie is the chair-

man, held a special meeting at which a congratulatoryaddress was read by Professor Lassar, the vice-president ofthe association, and a collection of twenty-two treatises,written for that purpose by former and present assistantsand pupils and other friends of Professor Lewin,was presented to him. The principal essays were:

on Syphilophohia, by Dr. Benda; on Gummata of the

Eye, by Professor Ilirschberg ; on the Principles of theTreatment of Eczema, by Professor Lassar ; on the Relationsbetween Hereditary Syphilis and Nervous Diseases, by Pro-fessor Mendel; and on Piedra Nostras, by Professor Unna.Professor Virchow read a paper on the Antiquity of

Syphilis, mentioning that very remarkable alterations ofthe bones had lately been found both in Egyptian mummiesand in the figures on pottery made by American races beforethe time of Columbus. Professor Leyden then read a paperon the Internal Complications of Gonorrhoea, and after themeeting there was a social gathering in Langenbeck House.Nov. 25th.

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ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The New Istituto Clinico at Pisa.OF all the Italian medical schools, that at Pisa boasts

(at least in the century now drawing to a close) the

greatest number of English-speaking graduates. This

fact, taken in connexion with its European renown

under the illedici (particularly Lorenzo and Cosimo)and its having produced in Galileo a pioneer, con-

jointly with Bacon, of the modern inductive method,would of itself suffice to interest your readers in

yesterday’s ceremony-the inauguration of a new clinicalinstitute in furtherance of the efficiency of the school. Its

indefatigable professor of clinical medicine, Dr. GiovanniBattista Queirolo, has subscribed largely to this new founda-tion, and to him, aided by the " Consorzio Universitario " andthe munificence of King Humbert, it owes it.3 completion asone of the best cliniques in the peninsula. This adjunct tothe resources of Pia comes not a moment too soon.

Italy is on the eve of passing a law which willsanction the struggle for existence among her Universities ingeneral, and her medical schools in particular, and Pisa, ifonly to keep abreast of younger, and in some respects better-circumstanced, rivals, requires as a conditio sine qua non aclinique worthy of the stage now reached by the healing art.I will only add that the amphitheatre of the institute, which(so to speak) " crowns the edifice," is commodious, finely pro-portioned, and well adapted both for lecturer and auditory,while the ornamentation, contributed gratuitously by theablest artists of Pisa, culminates in a very fine bust of

Morgagni, the "creator of pathological anatomy." Maythe work of the clinique be carried on in the spirit and withthe success of its genius loci.

The Disinfecting Establishnarnt in the ll ventine.We have now, in a completed state and in working order,

what has long been a desideratum in Rome—a special estab-lishment for the disinfection of wearing apparel and all sucharticles as may be contaminated by infective or contagiousdiseases. Annexed to the Lazzaretto di Santa Sabina on theAventine, it was instituted by way of experiment in 1893 forthe instruction of the personnel. Last year it added to itsresources a crematory furnace, constructed from the designsof Professor Angelo Celli, for the destruction of all sucharticles as could not be sterilised. The whole establishment,which for some months had been in a state of suspendedanimation, has now come under the supervision of ProfessorMario Panizza, of the Public Health Department, and maybe regarded as another safeguard for the Iloman popula-tion, resident and migratory, against the risks of infectivedisease.

Health of the Red Sea Colony, Civil and Military."Eminently satisfactory" is the official report from

Massowah as to the health of soldier and civilian in theColonia Eritrea. There are only ten patients in the civilhospital at Massowah, none of them seriously ill, and someapproaching convalescence. In the military hospital, whereall the patients of the garrison are accommodated besidesthose belonging to the section for non-combatant natives,there are forty under treatment for various maladies, four-teen of them being syphilitic cases and six suffering from

traumatic lesions. No case of epidemic disease has beenreported throughout the entire colony.

Nov. 25th. _____________

RUSSIA.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

: 17te Reappearance of Cholera in 5t. Petersburg.

RUMOURS that cholera had reappeared in St. Petersburg"have been current for the past three or four weeks, and they

, are now confirmed by an official announcement from the; municipal authorities. The earliest cases of sickness

suspiciously resembling cholera occurred on Oct. 10th. (22nd). Between that date and Oct. 25th (Nov. 6th) there

were 27 such cases with 12 deaths. The following are thestatistics of the outbreak up to the present :-

Cases. Deaths.

l (All the dates iti the tabe are Old Style dates.)I At present there remain under treatment 28 cases with. choleraic symptoms. These cases are distributed in the! Alexander Hospital in memory of Botkin, the Obuchovski,

the Petropavlovski, and the Mary Magdalene Hospitals, andthe Hospital in memory of the Emancipation of the Serfs.

; St. Petersburg, Nov. 10th (22nd).

NEW YORK.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Medical Department of the National Guard.THE special committee of surgeons appointed to discuss

the needs of its medical department and make suggestionsdecided not to concur in a recommendation that the medical

corps be made a separate organisation. It was proposed,however, to increase the number in the hospital corps to-twelve for each regiment, six for battalions, and two forseparate companies. Of the twelve in the regimental corpsthree are to rank as corporals and two of the battalion corpslikewise. It was decided to recommend that each of the

corps be provided with an instrument case and a revolver, andeach corps with a surgical and medical outfit. It was votedthat to procure competent hospital stewards they be paid$50 a year in addition to pay for duty.

Use of Intoxicants.The Journal of Inebriety estimates the total number of

drunkards in America at 1,600,000. There being about twenty-five millions of adults in this country, this means that oneperson out of every fifteen drinks to excess, and is conse-

quently more or less of a drunkard. The journal thinks thatthis estimate is a very modest one and rather under themark than above it.

Suits for Damaages against a Railroad.Over sixty suits for damages, aggregating nearly$1,000,000,.

have been begun against the New York and Sea Beach Rail-road by sufferers in the wreck on the road on Labour Day,when about seventy people were injured. The first suit is.for$25,000 damages. Another action is that of a family,the father of which died from his injuries a week after theaccident. The sixty suits call for damages in varyingamounts. The lowest is for$2000. There are a score ofplaintiffs who demand$5000, and as many more who thinkthat$10,000 is none too much to make them whole. Th&road’s defence will be that it was not guilty of negligence,and therefore not responsible for damages.

Dirninished Nuonber of Immigrants.The Superintendent of Immigration reports a marked

diminution in the number of immigrants during the past,year. The total number of steerage passengers landed atthis port during 1894-95 was 216,724, which was only 14,987

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less than the total number landed during the previous year(231,711), but the decrease in the number of alien steeragepassengers landed amounted to 28,118. The cause, he states,is to be found in the correspondingly larger number of UnitedStates citizens who returned in the steerage during the fiscalyear 1894-95 (25,796) than in 1893-94 (12,665). He recom-mends that the inspection be extended to cabin passengers,and to all vessels from foreign ports without exception. He.also recommends increased accommodation of the immi-

,grants at quarantine.Nov. 19th.

Obituary.ROBERT JAMIESON, M.D., L.R.C.S. EDIN.,

CONSULTING PHYSICIAN, ROYAL LUNATIC ASYLUM, ABERDEEN.

By the death of Dr. Robert Jamieson on the morning of’Nov. 17th Scotland has lost her oldest asylum super-intendent. A gentleman much esteemed in the locality, ofmarked intellectual power and independent character, withhandsome physical appearance, firm in discipline, but with,genuine kindliness of heart, Dr. Jamieson was an ideal.asylum superintendent, and in the course of a long life musthave had a strong influence for good. Dr. Jamieson was bornin Aberdeen in 1818, and was the son of a leading jeweller inthe city; he became M.A. Aberd., M.D., L.R.C.S.Edin. in1839; was appointed medical superintendent of the RoyalLunatic Asylum, Aberdeen, in 1840, but on his marriage in1846 resigned and engaged in private practice; he was at thistime Lecturer on the Practice of Medicine and Medical Juris-,prudence and Medical Examiner for Degrees, King’s College,Aberdeen; in 1853 he was unanimously re-elected superinten-,dent of the asylum, with accommodation according to his re-- quirements, and held the post till, in 1881, Dr. William Reidwas appointed his coadjutor ; but the weight of years telling’rapidly on his seemingly stalwart frame, he was released from.all active responsibility in 1884, but remained in his previousresidence as consulting physician. On his appointment assuperintendent in 1840 the daily number in residence at theasylum was 144 ; at present it is 730 ; and the history of the.asylum presents a continuous series of enlargements andimprovements, evidencing the increasing care bestowed onthe comfort of those mentally afflicted, as also the increaseunder our modern civilisation of this class, the improvementsbeing never more marked than at the present moment, whenthe extensive buildings of the new hospital just await comple-tion. In a contemporary notice we find him credited, togetherwith Dr. Hutchings of Glasgow, with introducing the non-restraint system of treatment in Scotland; but that he was nomere theorist his own words from his first report in 1841 will.show: "In regard to the subject of coercion we find our-selves called upon, in justice to the managers and to thefriends of the patients under our charge, to make a short.statement of our practice in this important particular, andit shortly is this, that we act on the principle of non-

restraint as far as the construction and economy of the- establishment will allow ; but we have no desire to obtainthe notoriety of being non-restrainers at the expense ofwhat we conscientiously deem to be for the safety and.advantage of our patients. That there are cases inwhich mild restraint is both judicious and humane- every physician who is unprejudiced must admit who hasever witnessed the unbridled violence of an outrageousmaniac exhausting the excited vigour of an enfeebled con-stitution and extinguishing the hope of recovery for ever.We have no more hesitation in such cases, when other means?have been useless, in applying the waist-belt or the muff thanwe would have in applying leeches or a blister against the’will of the individual....... It is scarcely requisite, now thatthe public mind entertains less prejudiced notions on the’treatment of the insane, to notice that threatening andabusive language and harsh measures of every descriptionare not only found to be unnecessary but are strictly pro-hibited among the attendants and made the occasion ofreprimand or dismissal when discovered." As Lecturer onMedical Jurisprudence at King’s College Medical SchoolDr. Jamieson devoted eight lectures to insanity, commentedon at the time as remarkable for their fulness and ability.These appear in the London -Jfedieal Gazette, 1850, andwill well repay the attention of the specialist. Hislecture on the opening of King’s College Medical School,1850, may also be perused with both profit and pleasure.

A discourse on Mind and Body,l read before the Philo-

sophical Institute of Aberdeen, shows him dealing with hissubject in a more popular manner, and in especial evidencinga regard for higher considerations than those merely physical.Dr. Jamieson was predeceased by all his family. Known

privately as a gentleman of cultivated tastes, with specialmusical talent, he had the personal ambition in early life tobecome a painter. He was a liberal patron of Scottish art,of which his valuable collection is testimony, and hadhimself sat to three Academicians-Sam Bough, John Pettie,and Sir George Reid.

MEDICAL TRIAL.

THE trial of George Wight, M.B.Edin., charged with the man-slaughter of Gertrude Fanny Fletcher at Holloway, was heard at theCentral Criminal Court on Monday and Tuesday last before Mr.Justice Wright.Defendant pleaded "Not Guilty."Mr. Charles Mathews, Mr. Biron, and Mr. H. T. Hewitt conducted

the prosecution; Mr. Carson, Q.C., Mr. Geoghegan, and Mr. Brucedefended.Mr. Mathews, in opening the case, outlined the details which were

elicited at the inquest at Folkestone (reported in THE LANCET ofSept. 28th) and at the police-court proceedings. Witnesses were calledon the part of the prosecution, and the Treasury evidence was concludedon the first day of the trial. On Tuesday Mr. Mathews summed up thecase for the prosecution, no witnesses being called for the defendant.He contended that Dr. Wight was not in a tit condition to deliver thewoman when he attended the deceased. Dr. Wight was grossly, andtherefore culpably, and therefore criminally, neglIgent in the perform;ance of his duty. Be it granted that thet was an error in attributingthe prisoner’s condition to drink. The prisoner in his evidence beforethe coroner said that he was suffering from giddiness and swimming inthe head and that he took bromide on the Saturday; that at 2 o’clockon the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 8th, he took a strong dose of chloral;and that on that Sunday when he attended he might have been suffer-ing from the effects of the chloral. If a man were not in a condition toperform his duty, and that unfit condition was produced by hisown act, although morally they might draw a distinction betweena man suffering from the effects of drmk and a man suffering from theeffects of other narcotics, the criminal responsibility was not changed.Mr. Carson, Q.C., for the defence, said that he was pleading the

cause of a man who for thirty years had practised his profession withskill and distinction and who by his kindness to his patients had wonthe hearts of all who knew him. He denied that there was any negli-gence on the part of Dr. Wight. Dr. Wight had had very great experi-ence in midwifery, having attended 5000 confinements. Each of themedical witnesses had stated that the prisoner had had very great ex-perience and that lie was thoroughly well acquainted with the use ofinstruments. The medical evidence had shown that if the forcepsslipped, it might cause the injury. If the injury was notcaused by negligence but by the accidental slipping of theforceps, then the jury ought to return a verdict of "Not Guilty."With regard to Dr. Wight’s condition at the time, no one seriouslybelieved that he was under the influence of drink. The nurse who waspresent did not say that he was under the influence of drink, and noneof the medical men said that he was under the influence of drink. Thelatter permitted him to take part in the operation of delivering the child.Dr. Wight suffered from insomnia and took narcotics for the purpose ofinducing sleep. If a man had to take medicine to improve his physicalcondition and anything happened afterwards in the conduct of hisbusiness, the man ought not to be held criminally responsible. Mr.Carson, in view of the medical testimony, denied that there was anyevidence on which to base a charge of criminal negligence.Mr. Justice Wright, in summing up, remarked that it might be quite

right for a man to stupefy himself with chloroform, chloral, or similarmedicine for the treatment of disease, but if he did so he must notwhile in that state take a case of childbirth.The jury returned a verdict of " Guilty."Mr. Carson said he had a number of letters from patients of Dr.

Wight, all telling the same tale as that which had been related of thedevotion and attention to his patients. He need scarcely remind hislordship that Dr. Wight’s position and means of livelihood had beenentirely destroyed, so that he had already been to a large degreepunished. He had a large family, and there was the fact that anaction claiming damage arising out of the same matter had beencommenced by the husband of the deceased. That action was prac-tically determined by the verdict in this case, and the accused wasanxious to settle that action, and to compensate the husband. Underthese circumstances, would his lordship feel justified in postponingsentence until next sessions, in order that the civil action might besettled.Mr. Justice Wright thought there was no ground for postponing

sentence.Mr. Frederick R. Hannah, L.R.C.P. Edin., was called and gave

evidence as to the accused’s health.Mr. Justice Wright, in passing sentence, said the jury had discharged

a very painful duty, and the one he had to perform was not less paintul.He must deal with the case in the first instance entirely on legal andpublic grounds, and the sentence which he must pass must be a sub-stantial one. If the case had arisen from intoxication, or if the mal-treatment of the patient, such as the jury very properly found provedin this case, had resulted from intoxication, a sentence of not less thanprobably a year’s hard labour would have been passed. This was adifferent case, and he should sentence Dr. Wight to three months’imprisonment. Having regard, however, to the obvious consequencesand the absence of bad intention on the part of Dr. Wight, he shouldnot order hard labour. He should direct that until the instructions ofthe Secretary of State for the Home Department were received theprisoner should be placed under the care of the medical officer of theprison.

1 Phrenical Action of the Cerebrum: Jour. Psychol. Med., 1858.