889NEW YORK.-OBITUARY.

Molokai, save to bring supplies or to inspect as thboard of health twice each year, do so with the ex

pectation of never returning. At a cost of some$10.001per month the Hawaiian Government maintains this openair leper hospital in order to perfectly quarantine, and thufinally stamp out, leprosy among the Sandwich IslandersVigilance is used to separate anyone who is suspected untiit is definitely known whether or not he is a victim of thldisease, and if so he is promptly exiled to the islandChildren who are born of parents who are lepers, after

passing a given age without showing any signs of the diseaseare removed from Molokai and kept in confinement for Ecertain number of years so that they may neither contrac1the disease nor be the means of spreading it ; then if found"clean" by the board of health they are permitted to gcanywhere. Such children are educated at the expense of thEGovernment. Thus, after thirty years the Government hasthe satisfaction of believing that effectual means have beendevised for the care of unfortunate lepers in the most humanemanner, while attempting to suppress the disease which wasso threatening to the population and fair name of theHawaiian Islands.

Immigration Figures for 1897.The Immigration League publishes the following facts.

The total immigration for the year 1897 was 230,832, being adecrease in 1897 of 112,435 as compared with 1896. Thetotal number of illiterate in 1897 was 44,580, by far thelargest percentage being from Austria, Hungary, Italy,Germany, and Scandinavia. The fact that immigration,which was 1-3 larger in 1895, has fallen in 1897 belowthat of 1895 is another illustration of the law thatthe number of immigrants depends upon the degree ofindustrial activity in this country. And this leads totwo important conclusions: first, that immigration willincrease again rapidly as business activity increases ; and,second, that the present is the time when the immigra-tion laws can be amended with the least hardship to

immigrants and the least disturbance to the immigrationservice. In regard to European immigration in 1897 it maybe noted that while the proportion of the total immigrationfrom south-eastern Europe has not diminished, the proportionfrom north-western Europe, which was 52 per cent. in 1895and 39 per cent. in 1896, is only 38 per cent. this year-asteady decline. Of immigrants from particular countries theSwiss, Scotch, and Portuguese have this year fallen below thenumber of 2000, while the Poles have increased again abovethat number. The proportion debarred and returned issteadily diminishing, having been 1 per cent. in 1896, andbeing 0’8 per cent. this year.

Establishing a Standard for Cream.The official journal of the milk trade states that during

1896 there were received in New York city nine millionquarts of cream-a daily average of nearly 25, 000 quarts-and ,320,000,000 quarts of milk. Cream comes to the city eitherin forty-quart tin cans or in glass bottles. According to itsmethod of manufacture it is divided into two classes: gravity,or hand-skimmed, and machine or separator cream. The

proportion of machine cream to the gravity is about ten toone. About one-half of the cream supply of New York issold to families, the other half is sold to ice-cream factories,bakers, and confectioners. The gravity cream is largelytaken by the ice-cream maker, restaurants, and hotels. Itsfat contents varies, although the great bulk of it ranges from12 to,16 per cent. The machine cream is separated fromthe milk by the use of some one of the several centrifugalseparators. Nearly all the cream served to families isseparator cream, and though brought to the city in forty-quartcans it is put into pint, half-pint, and quart bottles beforedelivery. The bottling process is now under the regulations,of the Health Department, and must be done in such manneras to prevent contamination from dust or by other im-purities. Most cream delivered in New York is at leastseventy-two hours old before it reaches the city. Thoughthe fat in the cream varies greatly there is no standard testas yet applied. The exact composition of the cream or

creams is usually unknown both to the dealer or the pur-chaser. Every dealer knows practically how good a creammust be in appearance for his customers and secures froma wholesale dealer cream having about that appearance.Whatever the character of that cream the retail price at themilk stores is nearly the same, being about five times asmuch as milk. The sale of cream is absolutely withoutcontrol or supervision. Anything passes as cream which the

consumer is willing to accept, whether it oontains 10, 15, 20,or 25 per cent. of fat. It is now proposed to establish astandard by which to determine the different qualities ofcream based on the fat contents, and to pass an ordinanceregulating the sale of cream accordingly.

Critelty to Convicts.It has been a practice in the State of Georgia of leasing

convicts to private parties. The charge of great cruelty hasfrequently been made against those employing convicts. Ithas been found that the rate of mortality in private campsis double that in public camps. A recent investigationconfirms these reports. In one camp thirty negroes and onewhite convict slept chained together in a room 15ft. by17 ft. with the window nailed up. In another camp forty-six negroes and fifteen whites slept in a room 19 ft. squareand less than 8ft. high. The Governor of the Statecontemplates pardoning all the convicts in private campsas the only way in which he can rescue them before theexpiration of their terms.Sept.18th.

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Obituary.EDWARD MEACHAM, M.R.C.S. ENG., L.S.A.

MR. EDWARD MEACHAM, a medical man well-known andrespected in Manchester, died at his house in Red Bank on the18th inst. His career was rather remarkable. He was bornin London in 1824 and went to Manchester in 1846, wherehe was appointed labour master for the Chorlton Union.For many years he was occupied in missionary and philan-thropic work in the poorest and most squalid districts ofManchester, and resolved to study medicine in order to

augment his means of usefulness to the poor. He threwhimself into this new task with characteristic earnestnessand zeal, undeterred by the fact that the days of earlymanhood were passed. He became a Member of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons of England in 1857 and Licentiate ofthe Society of Apothecaries in 1862, and for thirty years wasPoor-law medical officer of the St. George’s district. Nearlythirty years ago he established the Manchester MedicalMission, of which he was superintendent. Living amongthe poor and for the poor, his life may be said to have beenspent in their service. He was not a strong man, but heshowed much energy in, and great devotion to, his work. Ofcomparatively humble origin, traces of which he retained,and with few personal wants, a very moderate incomesufficed him, and he worked for others, not seeking publicity.He was a "total abstainer," and no doubt found his effortsin aid of temperance in a district like Red Bank andAngel Meadow more impressive from his own example. Hewas a member of the Manchester Medical Society and theManchester Medico-Ethical Association, and was formerlyfor a short time surgeon of the General Hospital for SickChildren. He was sincerely respected by his medicalbrethren. A pathetic addition to the story is that his wife,who had always sympathised with him in his work, died fourdays after her husband. -

H. H. J. STERLING, M.R.C.S. ENG., L.S.A., R.N.MR. STERLING was educated at the Royal Naval School,

New Cross, and afterwards became a pupil of the lateDr. Jones, a physician to the Metropolitan Free Hospital.Mr. Sterling matriculated at the London University withhonours and studied medicine at University College. Afterpassing College and Hall he entered the Royal Navy in 1860as assistant surgeon. He served on H.M.S. Adventure andHibernia. A few years after he was invalided fr om theservice and retired on a pension. Mr. Sterling’s state ofhealth prevented him from undertaking the arduous duties ofactive private practice, and he lived a quiet, retired, andstudious life. He died on Sept. llth, aged sixty years.

DEATHS OF EMINENT FOREIGN MEDICAL MEN.-Thedeaths of the following eminent foreign medical men bavebeen announced :-Dr. Radolf Berlin, Professor of Ophthal-mology in Rostock and Rector of the University, died atLinthal, in Switzerland, oa Sept. 12th, at the age of

890 MEDICAL NEWS.

sixty-four years. He was in early life assistant to Arnold Pagen-stecher and for a time also in the surgical clinic in Tubingen.He was afterwards appointed Professor of ComparativeOphthalmology at the Veterinary School in Stuttgart. In1890 he was appointed to the chair in Rostock in successionto Professor von Zehender. Numerous papers on ophthal.mological subjects have appeared from his pen.-Dr. J.Brasseur, formerly connected with the Gazette Midicaleof Li6ge, and President of the Li6ge Medical Union.

Medical News.UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM : FACULTY OF MEDI-

CINE.-At the College of Medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, inthe third examination for the degree of Bachelor ofMedicine, the following candidates have satisfied theexaminers :-Second-class Honoacrs.-Claudia Anita Prout Rowse, London School

of Medicine for Women, and Francis Pope, Mason College,Birmingham.

Pass List.-Wilfred Frank Burn, Henry Coxon Coxon, and LeopoldStanley Davison, College of Medicine, Newcastle-upon Tyne;Selina fitzberbert Fox, London School of Medicine for Women;Edward Gofton, William John Harrison, James Andrew Hartigan,and Lawrence Fielder Hemmans, College of Medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; Herbert George Harris, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital;John Tyrer Johnson, College of Medicine, Newcastle-upoa-Tyne;Margaret Joyce, London School of Medicine for Women; RalphAlbert Rogers Lankester, University College, London; RobertFletcher Moorshead, University College, Bristol; Robert AtkinsonMorland, Guy Broughan Picton, and Norcliffe Roberts, College ofMedicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Harold Robert Dacre Spitta, St.George’s Hospital, and Carl Wahlgren von Bergen, College ofMedicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

FOREIGN UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.—Jena : ;Dr. Ferdinand Gumprecht has been appointed ExtraordinaryProfessor of Forensic Medicine.-Giessen: The UniversityMedical Museum has received a valuable collection of skullsfrom Dr. von Holder, of Stuttgart. - Tiibingen : Dr.Winternit-z, privat-docent of Midwifery and Gynæcology, has been granted the title of Professor.— Vienna: Dr. Haberda has for the present taken charge of the Forensic MedicineInstitute, in place of the late Professor E. von Hofmann. ’

FOOTBALL CASUALTIES.-On Saturday last thefollowing accidents occurred. In a match, Ardsley Parishagainst Barnsley Reserve, the Barnsley goal-keeper fracturedhis leg.-A young man, aged twenty-five years, while playingat Bolling Hall, Bradford, fractured his ankle.-At Farnhamduring a match a player of the Farnham club fractured hisleft ankle.-At Warwick a young man, playing for WarwickVictoria’s Reserves against Coventry St. George’s, broke hisleg, and a player (right wing of the Warwick United)fractured his humerus.-In the course of a match playedon Durdham Down, Clifton, between Redland GroveCollege and Westbury Park, a member of the formerteam, aged fifteen years, was struck on the side of the headwith the ball. He continued for a short time to take part inthe game, when he complained of illness and retired. Deathoccurred some few hours later. At the inquest held onSept. 27th the medical attendant stated that he was ofopinion that an artery of the brain had been partiallyruptured.LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.—The October list of

the Religious Tract Society contains the names of severalbooks of unusual interest. "Pictures of Southern China,"from the pen of the Rev. James Macgowan, of Amoy,sketches the prominent features u daily life in Shanghai,Foochow, Kushan, Amoy, SWANTOW, Hong Kong, andCanton. "Old Smoa; or, Flotsam and Jetsam fromthe Pacific Ocean," is a book possessing considerableethnological value. It is written by the Rev. J. B. Stair,who spent the years 1838 -1845 in Samoa. " PhilipMelanchthon," by the late Rev. George Wilson, M.A.,is a sketch of the life and character and influence ofthe great Reformation theologian. Its appearance this yearis a timely recognition of the fact that four centuries havepassed away since the birth of the great friend of Luther.On Oct. 18th the society will publish a work from the pen ofthe Bishop of London. It is entitled The Story of SomeEnglish Shires," and consists of seventeen chapters, eachdealing with a separate county. The bishop’s aim has been

to produce not merely a series of historical sketches, but hehas attempted to show that " places have characters of theirown as much as men."

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES AND,MONMOUTHSHIRE.-At a meeting of the council of thisCollege, held at Cardiff on Sept. 24th, Mr. H. SpencerHarrison was appointed Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturerin Biology for a period of three years.

MEDICAL MAGISTRATES. - Mr. R SmitbrL.R C.P., L.R C.S., F.R.C.S. Edin., and Mr. Caleb Joyce,M.B. Melb., have been appointed Justices of the Peace forthe districts of Carnarvon and Beaconsfield, Tasmania,respectively.

MEASLES AT ST. ASAPH.-The National andyRoman Catholic schools at St. Asaph were closed on Sept. 20thowing to an epidemic of measles. The schools at Bagilitiand Greenfield have also been closed through the samecause. A conference of local authorities is to be held atFlint to consider the subject of providing an isolation hos-pital for the northern part of the county.

PAUPERS’ JAM AT BEDWELLTY.-At the last.meeting of the Bedwellty board of guardians attention wasdrawn to an entry made in the report-book by the medicalofficer that the jam supplied to the inmates of the work-house was very inferior. The chairman remarked that thiswas not to be wondered at considering that "the mixture "’cost only 22d. per pound. The question was eventuallyreferred to a committee.

PRESENTATIONS TO MEDICAL MEN.-Mr. J. M.Jones, L.R.C.P. Edin., L.F.P.S. Glasg., medical officer tothe Chirk Castle Lodge of Oddfellows, has been the-recipient of a handsome mahogany bookcase from themembers of the club as a testimony of appreciation of hisservices. - Mr. John F. Wilkinson, M.B., Ch.B. Melb.,Australia, on his leaving Bright, Victoria, after a residence-of ten years, was entertained at a social meeting andpresented with a purse of sovereigns by the residents ofthe district.

VACCINATION FEES.-At the meeting of theSt. Thomas’s (Exeter) board of guardians, held on Sept. 24th,a letter was read from Mr. J. D Shapland, M.R.C.S.Eng.,L.S.A., public vaccinator for Exmoutb, in reference tovaccination fees claimed by him. The clerk to the guardians-said that the fees were for work done by Mr. Shapland’s son,who was not authorised to act as deputy; the guardianscould not, therefore, he added, legally pay the money, butthe Local Government Board had, however, agreed to.sanction the payment. After some discussion it was decidedthat the amount should be paid, subject to the sanction ofthe Local Government Board.

MEMORIAL TO A MEDICAL MAN. - On the24th ult., at the Children’s Hospital, Western Bank, Shef-field, Mrs. Cleaver formally presented to the institution a,portrait of her late husband, Dr. Cleaver, who in his lifetimetook great interest in the work of the hospital. In Octoberlast year the Lady Mayoress opened the new wing, part ofthe cost of the erection of which was defrayed by theCleaver Memorial Fund-a fund formed to place in the.hospital some permanent token of the late Dr. Cleaver’swork. The amount realised was nearly .E700. It will bean interesting connecting link between the early days of theinstitution and the future.

POISONING BY MORPHIA. - On Sept. 21st an-

inquest was held in Bristol upon the body of a sailor, agedtwenty-nine years, who had died from the effects of morphia.poisoning. The evidence showed that on Sept. 18th thedeceased was intoxicated, and his brother, who was on

affectionate terms with him, wishing to quiet him, gave himnine grains of morphia in some beer, being under the Impres-sion that by administering the morphia with the beer itsstrength would be diluted." The deceased appeared to havetaken the morphia about 10 P.M., and about midnight amedical man was sent for, but in spite of every effort beingused death occurred at 7 A.M. on Sept. 19th. The deceased’sbrother had taken the morphia from the surgery of a

veterinary surgeon where he was employed as a servant.The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.