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midwives out of 524 who had applied. It was recommendedthat as the regulations were very stringent and so manyof the women were illiterate a trained obstetric nurse shouldbe appointed as inspector of midwives at a salary of £104a year. The council has increased its grant of f.500 to theUniversity of Liverpool to £1000.August 23rd. __________________

IRELAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

National Yeterinary Association.THE members of the National Veterinary Association

opened their annual conference on August 15th in thelecture theatre of the Royal Dublin Society, where they werereceived by Mr. C. Uniacke Townshend, Vice-President, whowelcomed them on behalf of the Royal Dublin Society. ThePresident of the association, Mr. Clarke Allen, delivered aninteresting address in which he alluded to the fact that sincethey last met in Dublin four years ago Professor Koch hadstartled the world by stating that tuberculosis of thelower animals was not the same as tuberculosis in manand that the one could not be transmitted to the other.The interim report of the commission which was appointedto investigate the question and of which a very distinguishedVice-President of their association, Professor D. J. Cun-ningham, was a member, did not support the view of the great German scientist. The members of the veterinary ’,profession had good reason to doubt its truth and wereaware of the loss of valued colleagues from tuberculosiswith which they were accidentally inoculated while makingpost-mortem examinations.

Infantile Mortality in Dublin.At the meeting of the public health committee held on

August 16th the death-rate for the previous week wasreported to be 28 1 per 1000 and of this large mortality noless than five deaths in every thousand were due to diarrhoea.Sir Charles Cameron said that he was issuing a circularsetting out what precautions should be taken to reducethe mortality from this cause. Professor Antony Rocheaddressed a letter to the papers on August 18th inwhich he described the method adopted by the Liverpoolsanitary authorities in connexion with the matter.

Depots were established throughout that city where parentscould obtain pure milk for infants supplied in small separatebottles. As appeared in the last report of the Liverpoolmedical officer of health, this had the effect of diminishingthe infantile death-rate from diarrhoea. The council of theDublin Sanitary Association met on August 18th and calledattention to the fact that diarrhoeal diseases had causeddeaths in this city during the previous four weeks numberingsix, five, 15, and 33 respectively, and mentioned the well-established fact that when the subsoil temperature at adepth of four feet below the surface reaches 56° F. diarrhoeicaffections become prevalent each summer.

Small-pox in Dublin.No new cases of small-pox have been reported in Dublin

and the three patients in the isolatien hospital are conva-lescent. All the members of the Royal Irish Constabularystationed at the Dublin depot who have not been vaccinatedwithin the last two years are now having that operationperformed by order of the authorities.

The Belfast Board of Guardians.The proceedings at the last meeting of the Belfast board

of guardians tend to bring popular representative govern-ment into contempt, the lively discussion," "generalwrangling," "disorder," "interruptions," "uproarious sceneof excitement," "uproar," and "low personal remarks," as

reported in the daily papers of August 17th, being a disgraceto any body of individuals who are supposed to have charge ofthe poor. The whole farcical proceedings centred round thequestion of a proposed consumptive sanatorium, and it mustbe admitted that a letter from the Local Government Boardin Dublin had the effect of making matters ridiculous at theoutset of the meeting. As already reported in THE LANCET,two inspectors of the Local Government Board held a publicinquiry some considerable time ago (in December, 1903) inreference to the suitability of a place known as the Abbey,in the neighbourhood of Belfast, which the guardians wishedto acquire as a consumptive sanatorium. These in-

spectors have already reported and now the Local Govern-ment Board writes, after all the correspondence and the

inquiry, that if the guardians are prepared, after full con-sideration, to place a definite scheme before it and ifthey are satisfied that the Abbey is the most suitable sitefor their purposes, the Board will be ready to give itsdecision on learning fully the guardians’ views. Evidentlythe Local Government Board is unable to make up its mindon the question and wanted to know if the guardians werein the same state, and the discussion which ensued showedthat the guardians are so divided in their views. The-matter was finally referred to the infirmary committee.While an immense deal of public time was beingwasted in unseemly discussion matters requiring serious-attention were being neglected. As an example, a reportfrom the works committee revealed a serious state ofaffairs in the children’s infirmary, for Miss Ward, the

lady superintendent, reported that " the patients in thechildren’s infirmary are infested with vermin, and owing to.the walls and woodwork it is impossible to keep the beds freefrom these pests. The beds in use are old and so constructedthat insects get into crevices at the joints." The membersof the works committee not only confirm these statements-but say that during their inspection of this departmentthey observed a loose board on the ground floor and on,

lifting it there was some sewage matter lying beneath it.When it is considered that this is the state of an institution,over which the guardians who wrangle at length on personalmatters are the responsible authorities it is little wonder-that some people think that the Local Government Boardshould dissolve the Belfast board of guardians and appointtwo or three paid officials to manage the workhouse.

Small-pox in the North, of Ireland.It is to be regretted that small-pox continues to spread,

throughout Ulster. At Monaghan attention was drawn at ameeting of the guardians on August 22nd to the part played’by the professional tramp in spreading the disease, especiallythose coming from places like Armagh and Clones, where theepidemic is prevailing. If tramps were dealt with as the" work-shys " are treated in Switzerland the nuisance whichis present all over Ireland would gradually cease. In Switzer-land able-bodied vagrants are arrested and sent to a home ofcorrection where they are forced to labour or to a farm wherethey must keep pace with the voluntary worker. There are 21cases of small-pox in Armagh where there is not adequateaccommodation in the view of the Local Government Board,which recommends that instead of cases being treated in thefever hospital (which is close to the infirmary) an additionalshed should be erected to accommodate, say, 30 patients.The fever hospital should be cleared of the small-pox casesand thoroughly disinfected and reserved for other forms offever. At present the enteric fever cases are being treatedin the infirmary wards reserved for consumptives and thereis no accommodation for the " contacts." The Newryguardians on Sept. 3rd are to consider how they will

arrange to accommodate small-pox cases should the diseaseappear in their area. Enniskillen and Omagh are also.

making preparations.Increase of Dispensary Medical Officers’ Salaries.

The Banbridge board of guardians at its meeting onAugust 22nd decided to increase the salary of Dr. W. J.Cowden of Dromore from S80 to .6110 per annum and thatof Dr. J. Taylor of Tanderagee from £100 to £120 perannum. Dr. Cowden has had a service of five and Dr.

Taylor of 25 years.The Belfast Maternity Hospital.

The new Belfast Maternity Hospital, which will be of so.

much value to the medical school, is to be opened in.November by the Countess Grosvenor, wife of the ChiefSecretary for Ireland.

I August 23rd.

___

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORESPONDENT.)

The Nen Nursing School.THE first school for sick nurses, which is open to all

classes, has just been opened in Paris. The scheme wasinitiated by Madame Allegret, the head of the lycée for

girls at Versailles, and Madame Alphen-Salvador. Theschool includes a hospital of 30 beds and as many privaterooms. In consideration of a fee of 800 francs perannuor,payable quarterly in advance and guaranteed by the relatives

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-of the pupils, the school takes such pupils completely underits charge, boards them, lodges them, and gives them fullinstruction both theoretical and practical. The practicalinstruction is given daily at the bedside of the patients inthe hospital attached to the school and when the pupils arenot on duty here they go from nine o’clock till 12to the various hospitals in Paris so as to familiarise’themselves with the nursing of all kinds of diseases.Lectures are given every day from five to six o’clockand include the subjects of anatomy, physiology, generaland professional hygiene, minor surgery, massage, generalmedicine, diseases of children, the nursing of patients-suffering from cutaneous diseases, the elements of pharmacyand professional etiquette (devoirs). The first year is ayear of probation and if the pupil finds the work suits hershe undergoes at the end of her first year an examination,after which she begins the second year of her studies andsigns an agreement to serve the administration for four years.At the end of the second year she receives her diploma ofassistant and from that moment begins the exercise of her.profession. The school pays her 1200 francs per annum andthis salary increases by 100 francs every three years, that isto say, at each renewal of the agreement. The school paysthe salary whether the nurse is at work or not and when anurse is sent to look after a patient in a private familythe conditions of her stay are regulated by the work whichshe has to do and the administration receives the report ofher work but she herself is prohibited from taking any fee.In return for this the school pays all the expenses of the

pupils. If a pupil wishes to break her agreement during thethree years to which it refers she must pay an indemnitywhich varies from 250 to 1000 francs. Uniform is a necessity.When attending on a patient the uniform is of pink cotton.When going about a town the uniform consists of a dark bluewoollen dress with linen collar and cuffs.

Tobacco and the Sense of Hearing.At the Congress of Otology at Bordeaux M. Delie read a

paper upon Tobacco and the Auditory Sense. Tobacco, hesaid, exercises a direct and selective action upon the audi-tory nerve and nicotine brings about circulatory troubles,owing to its exciting action upon the great sympathetic. Italso gives rise to, or stimulates, a trophoneurosis which endsin neuritis of the auditory nerve. Tobacco should be used inmoderation and practitioners should warn patients in whom Ithere is already auditory trouble that its action is specially harmful in their case. In persons who are already sufferingfrom arterio-sclerosis or who have a family history of sucha condition it ought to be forbidden, and all the more if theyare comparatively young.

Should a Medical lYTa.n Recommend a PharmaceuticalChentist ?

The question has recently come up as to whether amedical man has the right to recommend a particularpharmaceutical chemist to his patients for making upprescriptions. The Tribunal of the Seine has already givenjudgment on this point and it is as well to recall the judg-ment now that the matter is being discussed afresh. Thecourt declared that it is the business of the medical manto ascertain that the drugs which he orders are suppliedin an active condition. If he knows that any particularpharmaceutical chemist sends out defective medicines he

can—nay, should-recommend his patients to go to anotherpharmacy for their medicine. As this judgment did notplease the particular pharmaceutical chemist to whom itreferred the Court of Appeal was applied to and this court- simply confirmed the judgment of the court below.

The Poison of the Bee.At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences which was

held on July 25th M. Phisalix read a paper giving the results’of some researches which he had carried out upon the

poison of the bee. He stated that sparrows form verydelicate physiological tests for this poison. If a sparrowbe stung in the pectoral region by two or three bees

symptoms of poisoning supervene in five minutes at thelatest. The earliest symptom is general and progressiveweakening of motor power, the bird sinking down on itsfeet; if it tries to fly it almost immediately falls. The

paresis gradually increases until all that the bird can do isto flutter along, scraping the ground, it oscillates, and itsmovements are incoordinate. Then follows a generalised andincreasing tremor-in fact, a regular chorea (danse de SaintGuidans), in which the muscles of the feet, the head, the

wings, and the eyes are all affected, Respiration graduallyfails and the bird opens its beak as if gasping for breath. In.

telligence is not affected and the bird will defend itself withboth beak and claws, but towards the end the chorea isfrequently interrupted by periods of somnolence. The para.lysis increases and the bird dies in two or three hours fromrespiratory failure, though the heart goes on beating forsome minutes after the respiration stops. Post-mortemexamination shows that the blood in the heart is black andcoagulates rapidly, while the area of the stings in thepectoral muscles is of a light yellow colour due to com-mencing mortification. If a solution of the venom be madeit can be analysed physiologically and as inoculated by thebee it is found to contain three principles-one convulsive,one stupefying, and one which gives rise to acute inflam-mation (phlogogène). The existence in the poison of an insectof two poisons directly opposed to one another is a newlydiscovered fact which may be compared with the observationsof M. Bouchard upon the poisons of urine.

X Rays and Constipation.At the congress for the furthering of science which was

held at Grenoble from August 4th to llth M. Albert Weil reada paper upon the results of some observations which he hadmade as to the application of the x rays upon a limited areaof the abdomen. He used as strong an application of the raysas the skin could support without injury and he found thatwhen this treatment was repeated twice or thrice a week ithad an action upon the intestines which allayed spasms andproduced healthy motions in patients who had hitherto beenunaffected by every kind of medication.

Obituary.Dr. Dureau, the librarian of the Academy of Medicine,

Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, died on August 12th,universally regretted.August 23rd.

BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Serum Treatment of Puerperal Septicœmia.AT a recent meeting of the Berlin Medical Society

Professor Bumm read a paper on the Serum Treatment of

Puerperal Septicasmia. He said that there was a difficultyin making a proper estimate of the action of the serumand that recoveries might be attributed to nature as wellas to the serum treatment. He has used Marmorek’s,Menzer’s, and Aronson’s serum, the result being as

follows. Streptococcic puerperal peritonitis : five cases

were treated by injections of great quantities of serum

without success. Genuine septicæmia : in two cases

the serum had not the least effect, one case in whichgreat masses of streptococci were present in the bloodrecovered after three injections, while two cases com-

plicated by endocarditis were not influenced. Py2emia: no: effect was produced by the serum. Streptococcic endo-. metritis : of 35 cases five died, nine recovered without amanifest action of the serum, and in 21 the injection pro-. duced an immediate decrease of the temperature together

with an improvement in the patient’s general state. Although: the advantages of serum treatment were very doubtful it wasj at least harmless and Dr. Bumm recommended that it shouldj be tried in severe cases. In recent cases without generalj infection it should always be used. Prophylactic injections

should also be given with a view to prevent cases frombecoming septic.

; The TValdschule of Charlottenburg.3 According to an article published in the Vossiseke Zeitiing: a so-called "forest-school" (Waldschule) was opened onr August 1st by the municipal authorities of Charlottenburg, ar suburb of Berlin. This institution is a new departure in, school hygiene. It was found long ago by school teachers) that a good many children fell behind in the ordinary schools

because they were anaemic, badly fed, and neurasthenic,although not suffering from any definite illness. In certain

) towns, Nauheim, for instance, special classes limited to ag comparatively small number of pupils have been formed for

such children and in these classes great attention is paid to1 hygienic measures such as bathing and to the reduction oft school hours. Another plan was suggested some years ago3 by Professor Baginski, the well-known specialist for the