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and other putrefactive matters, and partly by the fact that-the germs of several forms of zymotic disease not onlyretain their vitality in graves, but are capable of indefinitepropagation under favouring conditions of heat and moisture,and, becoming liberated on the disturbance of graves, giverise to the several diseases of which each is the specificferment. The process of cremation got rid of all these.dangers, anticipating putrescence by the rapid reduction ofthe body to its elements, and by the total destruction of all- organic germs by the high temperature necessary for theprocess. A description was then given of the Gorini Cre-matory now in use at Woking, and various objections to- cremation were discussed.-The REGISTRAR-GENERAL FORIRELAND (Dr. Grimshaw) said the question of cremationwas one of great and growing importance. Its sanitaryaspect admitted of no discussion, and its sentimental aspect,scarcely concerned the medical profession; but its medico-legal aspect required careful consideration in the interests- of the public, having regard to the risk of cremation beingmade use of as a readier method than others to get rid ofsuspicious cases.-Dr. ATTHILL had long been in favour ofcremation, and regretted that the good old system of ancienttimes was not still carried out.-Dr. HENRY KENNEDY saidthe question of expense was worthy of consideration in.connexion with the subject, as the cremation of pauperswould be a considerable tax on the country. He did notbelieve in the great danger to health alleged to arise frominterment. There was no evidence that graveyards were asource of sickness, and therefore it might fairly be ques-tioned that the mischief alleged to arise from such con-tamination was exaggerated.-Dr. JOHN WILLIAM MOOREregarded the argument from sentiment as altogether infavour of cremation. In the Bible there was nothing from’beginning to end opposed to cremation. Dr. Henry Kennedyhad not given sanitary or preventive medicine sufficient.credit, nor could he agree with him as to the comparativeinnocuousness of the round of nature which he had de-scribed.—The PRESIDENT (Dr. Jacob) held with the Regis-trar-General that the sanitary aspect of the question wasnot open to dispute. lndeed, any system by which theresults of decomposition could be got rid of would be afboon. Dr. Tweedy’s paper had satisfied him that themedico-legal difficulties in the way of cremation had beenthoroughly met. It was only in one of 20,000 cases thatjudicial considerations intervened and a suspicion arose tojustify exhumation, and therefore, as regards cremation,they had to deal but with that one case in which the law’found it necessary to protect the public against foul play.

Dr. J. W. MOORE read a paper on the Climate of Dublin,based on twenty years’ observation. The climate of Dublin Iwas, he said, in the fullest sense, an insular one, free fromextremes of heat and cold, except on very rare occasions,and characterised by a moderate rainfall (about 28 in.)annually, which is distributed, however, over a large numberof days (about 195 in each year). Clouded skies, a highdegree of humidity, and a prevalence of brisk winds,chiefly from westerly points of the compass, make up theclimatology of the Irish capital.

CAMBRIDGE MEDICAL SOCIETY.

AT the meeting on May 7th, Dr. J. B. Bradbury, Pre-- sident in the chair, the following communications weremade

Quadruple Mammae in a Man.-Mr. POLLOCK showed apatient with two accessory nipples situated below the twonatural ones.

Specimens of the Naegele and other Deformities of thePelvis, their diagnosis, and some points in the management ofLabour.—Dr. W. S. A. GRIFFITH exhibited a specimen of theNaegele pelvis which he had recently obtained from a,patient who died in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, after alabour terminated by craniotomy; also a model of the similarbut bilateral deformity of the pelvis described by Robert,belonging to the museum of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.The -Naegele pelvis was a rare deformity, there being only’three other specimens in London. Some held that thesynostosis and the consequent deformities might be acquiredby disease of the sacro-iliac joint and pressure effects; others,including Naegele himself, believed that the ill developmentwas congenital. His own view was that the sacro-iliacsynostosis and arrest of development were congenital, and

that the deformities of obliquity and flattening were part ofthe original defect, and only to a slight, if any, extent causedby altered pressure. As to treatment, Dr. Griffith statedthat, for almost all cases, the simplest and most effectivemethod of delivery after perforation of the head was by thebest modern forms of the craniotomy forceps, or, as somepreferred to call them, cranioclasts. The crotchet, like thevectis and blunt hook, was practically obsolete. Thecephalotribe was a cumbersome instrument, and would notoften be required by a man who thoroughly understood theoperation of cranioclasm. He insisted on the necessity ofan accurate knowledge of the mechanism of labour for arecognition of the abnormalities of mechanism in the earlystages of labour, .such as occurred in the rickety andgenerally contracted pelvis, and would save many womenfrom some of the great risks of obstructed labour, and meanscould be employed with success that would be useless at alater stage.A Visit to M. Pasteur.-Mr. WHERRY gave a short

account of the new treatment for hydrophobia carried outby M. Pasteur in Paris, and briefly described the method ofinoculation and the mode of preparation of the attenuatedvirus.Two Cases of Serious Symptoms from Foreign Bodies in

the Ear. -- Dr. Ingle mentioned two instances in children,in which marked cerebral irritation and pyrexia were pro-duced by the presence in the ear of foreign bodies. In theone case a swollen dead lady-bird was extracted by syring-ing, in the other some wax and a dried pea. He offered inexplanation that the symptoms were produced by pressureon the branches of the third division of the fifth nerve and

L the vagus, which supplied the cutaneous lining of the canalL and drum; further, pressure upon the vaso-motor fibres of

the sympathetic might lead to the irritation of certain areas;and these changes would be more likely to occur in childrenfrom the small size of their ear-passage and from the factthat in both cases the foreign bodies were capable of en-largement from the absorption of moisture. Dr. Ingle wasin favour of syringing as the safest and best method ofremoving foreign bodies from the ear.

Notices of Books.On the Fcetus in Utero. By ALEXANDER HARVEY, M.D.

London: H. K. Lewis. 1886.-The object of the publicationof this work is stated in the preface to be to bring promi-nently forward the " inoculation theory," which is littleknown, is hardly noticed in physiological text-books, andthe literature of which is hardly accessible. The book con-sists of a series of papers published in the EdinburghMonthly Journal of Medical Science in 1849 and succeedingyears, as well as elsewhere. The subjects of the essays areon the foetus in utero (a) as inoculating the maternal withthe peculiarities of the paternal organism (and on theinfluence thereby exerted by the male on the constitutionand reproductive powers of the female) ; (b) as influencedin its development by mental states in either parent; (c) asthe channel of transmission of constitutional syphilis fromthe male to the female parent. The book also includes a state-ment of Count de Strzelecki’s law of relative sterility. Theword "inoculation" is used in its proper and literal senseof grafting, and the chief facts in the book are those whichmay be taken to show that a mother may acquire through thefoetus the peculiarities of the father, so as to transmit them tofuture offspring, and that a woman may live with a syphilitic(secondary syphilitic) husband, and remain uninfected tillshe becomes infected through the foetus. We are surprised tohear that these theories are little known; we were under theimpression that they were generally known and accepted.It appears that the former of them was first propounded in1849 by Mr. James Macgillivray of Huntly, a veterinarysurgeon in Aberdeenshire, and that the latter was first setforth by Dr. Ramsbotham in a clinical lecture on Abortionin 1835. The author’s essays are amplifications of them.The book is interesting as a record of the progress of a

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subject. The essays are obviously the work of a highlyeducated and scholarly person; of their matter, some haslong since been incorporated and assimilated, some has gonethe way of Count Strzelecki’s " law."

Companion to the Latest Edition of the British Pharma-copceia. By PETER SQUIRE. Revised by PETER WYATTSQUIRE and ALFRED HERBERT SQUIRE. FourteenthEdition. London: J. and A. Churchill. 1886.-Squire’sCompanion has reached a fourteenth edition, a strikingproof of its popularity. The work was originally writtenby Mr. Peter Squire, and the first edition appeared in 1864.Since his death in 1884 it has been edited by his sons.The present issue has been brought into accord with the lastedition of the British Pharmacopaeia. It seems almost absurdto speak of it as a "Companion" to the British Pharma-copoeia, seeing that it is commonly used as a substitute forthat work. It is so thoroughly practical that it is of thegreatest use, not only to chemists and those engaged indispensing, but to physicians and prescribers generally.The amount of information it contains is really astonishing,much of it being quite new and original. The article on

Belladonna, for example, is apparently almost entirelyrewritten, and contains a great deal that is not onlynovel but thoroughly practical. On the first page wefind an excellent account of the Abrus precatorius, with aselection of formulas from Shoemaker and others. Onthe next page there is much that is interesting aboutemulsions, and so on throughout the whole book. We havenoted seventy-two pages which seem to have been entirelyrewritten for this edition. The faults and omissions arefew and far between, but we may mention that we do notfind picrotoxine in the index, and that the note on pureterebene is most incomplete. The account of the therapeuticaction of nitro-glycerine is not strictly accurate, and wedoubt if the credit of its introduction should be assigned toDr. Ringer. A good formula is given for the preparation ofsyrup of wild cherry bark, now so extensively employed asa flavouring agent. The whole edition has been most care-

fully prepared, and fully maintains the high reputation ofthe work for care and accuracy.Anatomie menschlwher Emb yonen. Von WILHELM HIS.

III. Geschichte der Organe. Mit 156 Abbildungen in Textund Atlas. Leipzig: Verlag von F. C. W. Vogel. 1885.-The contents of the third part of this interesting andvaluable work concern the development of the human

embryo to the end of the second month, as regards thealimentary canal, the mouth with the various cavities con-nected with it, the nose, the lower jaw and neighbouringparts, the front wall of the mouth and pharynx (thyroidbody, entrance to the larynx and tongue), the cranial nervesand their relation to the segments of the head, the musclesof the head, the salivary glands and teeth, the specialdevelopment of the appendages to the thyroid body (ductusthyreoglossus, lingual and thyroid ducts), the thymus, thedevelopment of the neck, the heart, the arch of the aorta,the modification of the great primitive cardiac veins, theexternal ear, and the umbilical cord. The method adoptedhas been that by consecutive sections, a most laborious

process, but one which gives certain and trustworthyresults. The volume, indeed, represents months and evenyears of work. The text is illustrated by 156 figures, andthe Atlas contains 15 beautiful plates. The writing, as wellas the illustrations, bears the stamp of earnest and truthfuldescription, and the whole work forms a contribution tohuman embryology of the highest scientific as well as

practical value.The Baths, Bathing, and Attractions of Aix-les-Bains,

Savoy. By W. WAKEFIELD, M.D. Pp. 223. London :

Sampson Low and Co. 1886.-In this Guide to one of themost important health-resorts in France, the author does

not profess to go into any detail respecting the class of caseswhich might be advantageously sent to it for treatment.He has endeavoured rather to "give the members of themedical profession and the public some general informationunder the various heads, what the waters of Aix are goodfor; their administration; what kind of a place Aix is ; howand where found; what the visitor should do when Aix is.reached.’" " The book is therefore more intended for the

public than the profession, though it contains much in-formation which will be found useful to the latter. Theadvice he gives to the invalids is judicious, and especiallyhis caution against the well-meant but hurtful advice ofthose amateur physicians, so plentiful as all thermal centres,who, having undergone a course of treatment themselves,imagine they are perfectly qualified to lecture or adviseothers as to the proper course to be pursued." The latterhalf of the book consists of an account of the numerous

places of interest in the vicinity of Aix and the means ofvisiting them. It appears to have been carefully compiled,and will doubtless prove very useful to those health-seekerswho are able to take a moderate amount of exercise, and stillmore to those in health who have accompanied them, andwho are apt to weary of the monotony of a residence in awatering-place, however beautiful it may be. They willfind abundant variety in the walks and drives sketched outfor them.

Carlsbad and its Environs. By JOHN MERRYLEES. With aMedical Treatise on the Use of the Waters, by B. LONDON,M.D. Pp. 199. London: Sampson Low and Co. 1886.-Guide to Carlsbad. Edited, under the authority of the

Mayor and Town Council of Carlsbad, by W. SCHACHT andCo. Pp. 37. London: Triibner and Co. 1886.-The first ofthese works is a very readable guide-book for the use off

English-speaking visitors to Carlsbad. It appears to containall the information necessary to enable them to find their

way there, to locate themselves comfortably, and to go>through the usual course of treatment advantageously if

invalids, or to pass the time of their visit pleasantly if ingood health. The latest analysis of the principal springewhich are sixteen in number, is given, and may be founduseful to the profession when called upon to advise patientsas to the selection of a watering-place. The second part-theMedical Treatise-appears to have been written more for theuse of the laity than of the profession, and might, we think,have been judiciously curtailed and made much less technicalin its language. A good index would have added materiallyto the value of the book. Schacht’s Guide does not giveany professional information regarding the properties of thewaters, but it contains all that is necessary for personsintending to visit Carlsbad respecting the various routes bywhich it may be reached, the regulations affecting theletting of apartments, the tariff for carriages and othermeans of locomotion, and the course to be pursued in theevent of any dispute arising with lodging-house keepers,cabmen, &c. It has the advantages of being short, clear,practical, and portable.

Bright’s Illustrated Guide to Bournemouth, Christchureh.New Forest, Poole, Wimborne, Corfe Castle, g.e. ByC. H. 0. CURTIS. Pp. 182. Bournemouth: Bright. 1886.-This will be found to be a very useful guide to those whoselect Bournemouth either for a holiday retreat or as a healthresort. The "general description" is rather too much in theflorid style which seems peculiar to guide-books, and thedetailed account of the various churches is unnecessarilylong, occupying nearly thirty pages ; but the book gives allthe requisite information about Bournemouth itself and itssuburbs, and a good account of the numerous places of interestwithin easy reach of it. A brief chapter on the climate ofBournemouth by Dr. J. Davison, which contains tables of themonthly temperature, humidity, and rainfall, extending over

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a series of years, may be found useful in considering whetherit is likely to prove a suitable health-resort in particularcases.

Ambulance Work: Questions and Answers upon "FirstAid to the Injured." By J. W. MARTIN, Af.D., and J. MA]ATIN.Pp. 47. London: Bailliere and Co.-This little book has beencempiled by the authors, not with a view to supersede, butto supplement, Shepherd’s " First Aid to the Injured." Theform of question and answer may probably be found an advan-tageous method of conveying instruction, and the cautionsgiven against the pupil supposing that by having attendeda course of ambulance lectures he has become qualified totake the place of the physician or surgeon are judicious.We are afraid, however, that some of the answers, especiallyin the anatomico-physiological portion, are beyond thegeneral grasp of many of those for whom the book is in-tended. Nor are we quite satisfied with all the practicalportion. For instance: "Q. If a child has swallowed asmall coin, a bean, or other small, hard body, what mightyou do with success ?-A. Hold the little patient up bythe heels, inverting him." There might be considerablerisk attending the carrying out of this process of inversionunder such circumstances, unless performed by competenthands.

Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by LESLmSTEPHEN. Vol. VII. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.-Theseventh volume of the Dictionary of National Biography,which has just been published, extends from "Brown" to,,, Burthogge," and its contents, in accuracy and literary polish,fully equal those of the preceding volumes. The favourable

opinion which we expressed in our last notice of this pub-lication has not been in any way diminished, and we con-gratulate Mr. Leslie Stephen on the manner in which he isperforming his necessarily responsible task.

John Leech’s Pictures of Life and Character from the- collection of " Mr. Punch." London : Bradbury, Agnew, andCo.-We have received the first and second parts of thiswork, which is now being published in monthly instal-ments. It is well got up, considering the lowness of theprice at which it is offered, and when completed will con-tain nearly 4000 sketches by the great master of Englisharicature, illustrating every section of social life from 1842to 1864. John Leech’s sketches are so familiar that it is

unnecessary to describe them, and to everyone who does notpossess a complete and handy copy of them we can advisethe purchase of the collection which forms the subject ofthis notice.

Medical Annual, 1886. London : Kimpton.-The pro-prietors of this Annual have devoted several pages of the.contents to a summary of the recent advances made inmedicine and surgery, which will be found useful bymembers of the profession. The remainder of the volumeis occupied with the subjects which formed the contents ofthe Annual for 1885, and affords a useful source for referenceupon many questions of interest to medical men.

PRESENTATIONS.—On the 22nd ult., on the occasionof their annual dinner, the members of the West KentMedico-Chirurgical Society presented Dr. Prior Purvis, ofBlackheath, with a drawing-room clock and two vasesbearing the following inscription: - presented to PriorPurvis, M.D. Lond., by the members of the West KentMedico-Chirurgical Society, in recognition of his valuableservices as treasurer extending over a period of thirty years."Mr. D. A. Fraser, M.R.C.S., L.S.A., has also been presentedwith a clock by the inhabitants of Burnham, as a mark oftheir approval of the manner in which he has dischargedthe duties of medical officer of health to that town.ROYAL MEDICAL BENEVOLENT COLLEGE, EpSOM.-

Founder’s Day at this institution was celebrated on the 6thinst., when a large gathering of the friends and old pupilsof the College attended to witness the distribution of prizes.

New Inventions.A NEW LITHOTRITE.

IT has occurred to me, during the operation of lithotrity,that having with much patience seized a fragment of stone,I have again lost it in the attempt to lock the instrument,the morsel being of such size that the threads of the screwwould not bite. An inspection of most old lithotrites willshow that this must be no uncommon accident, as it will beseen that the edges of the male screw are burred from theforce used to make it lock; and although theoretically itwould appear impossible to remedy this defect, as a fresh catchwould be necessary at every point of the screw, practicallysuch perfection is needless, and the instrument (which hasbeen ably made from my design by Messrs. Down Brothersof St. Thomas’s-street) answers sufficiently well. Its noveltyconsists in two locks, so set that whenever the crests of thefemale screw of the first impinge directly on the crests ofthe male screw, the second lock can be brought into play by

moving up the catch with the thumb without altering theposition of the operator’s hands. By this arrangement thepitch of a screw like this of fourteen threads to the inch isreduced to one of twenty-eight, and the chance of jerkingaway the stone is proportionately lessened; and althoughthe weight and length of the handle are increased, I considerthat no disadvantage, as it affords a firmer hand grasp.East Rudham. ALAN REEVE MANBY.

SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY AND CURE OF INEBRIETY.—The council of the Society had arranged for a Colonial andInternational Congress on Inebriety in London during thecurrent month, but the General Election has made post-ponement desirable. The Congress will meet when Parlia-ment sits.

ALAN REEVE MANBY.