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7ch inst. The minutes of the previous meeting were read andconfirmed, and the accounts for supplies to the hospitalduring the past month were examined &c. The number ofpatients relieved during the past month amounted to 2002, ofwhich 578 were cases from accidents. The managing com-mittee acknowledged numerous subscriptions for the monthending February. The meeting then adjourned.

Richmond Lunatic Asyl2crri.An Order in Council has been issued by the Richmond

Lunatic Asylum sanctioning the expenditure of E4000 to

complete the erection and equipment of the now temporarybuildings provided to meet the overcrowded condition of thelunatic asylum, and also the sum of £2000 for fitting upPortrane houses and offices for the accommodation of patientsand to meet preliminary expenses in connexion with theerection of the new buildings.

Dublin University Calendar for 1895.The’ Dublin University Calendax for 1895 has just been

published by Messrs. Hodges, Figgis, and Co. I note that thenumber of electors on the roll of Trinity College is 4506, thereturns having been brought down to the date of the lastwinter commencements. Efforts have been made to super-vise the general information afforded in regard to the studentsocieties &c. The subscribers to the Graduates’ Tercen-tenary Memorial have their names set forth with the amountof their benefactions. To this fund for the building of aDublin University Union consisting of voluntary societiesand organisations of the University a sum has been madeavailable up to Dec. 31st last of .E6900, and there can beno doubt that this will yet be considerably added to. Inthe meanwhile the board have granted as the site of theUnion buildings that occupied by the present No. 29, in theLibrary square, and the plans for the structure are underconsideration. A glance at the calendar shows that morethan the usual care has been expended upon its revision.

Remarkable Case of Longevity. r

A remarkable case of longevity has been brought under t

notice, that of a woman named Margaret McVey of Down- 1

patrick, and on the coffin her age was stated to be 105.From other information since obtained it appears that the deceased was born at Ballykinlar in Jane, 1780, and was therefore 115 years old. She was married, had two children, and up to the time of her death was healthy, strong, andsensible. She remembered the battle of Ballynahinch well,and up to a short time before her death attended BallykinlarChapel.

The Battle of the Clubs at Cork.We are promised a curious development in connexion with

the recent prosecution of students for snow-balling. Soonafter the proceedings in the police-court the West Cork -Eaglemade some comments which Mr. J. M. Lynch, one of thedefendants, considers libellous, and he has accordingly causeda writ to be issued in his behalf by a solicitor.

Charge against a Poor-law Medical Officer.The Killarney Dispensary Committee held an important

investigation last week relative to a charge of neglect ofduty against Mr. Paul R. Dillon. A Mrs. Sullivan, in a longletter originally addressed to the Local Government Board,stated that her son, a dispensary patient, received an

injury to his head ; that Mr. Dillon, on visiting him, "merelygave directions to give the patient a powder and applymustard to his feet," but" did not examine the head of thepatient, though being told that he had received a hurt onthe poll " ; that the following day Mr. Dillon was asked ifhe had brought his instruments, and "then only examinedthe patient’s head " ; that the patient died in about fortyminutes after the medical man’s departure; that at the inquestanother medical practitioner stated he made a post-mortemexamination and ascertained that "death resulted from bloodbeing clotted on the brain, the result of a fall." Mr. Dillon’sexplanation to the committee gave a different aspect to thecase. He stated that the messenger told him the patient hadhad a fit the previous night and was very bad. On arrivingat the house he learned that the patient had been drink-ing, and at that time he heard nothing at all with regard tothe patient having had a fall. As a matter of fact, the youngman was actually dying from apoplexy, and treatment wasordered rather with a view to comforting the motherthan in the hope that any good would result to the patient.The committee heard the evidence of several others, and

after an exhaustive investigation entirely exonerated Mr.Dillon from blame in connexion with all the charges.Who Pays : the Guardians or the Poor-law Medical Officer?As the remuneration of country dispensary medical officers

is often so wretchedly inadequate, the result of the contestbetween the Midleton Poor-law guardians and Dr. Blanchardwill be looked forward to with keen interest by many,Dr. O’Connell, dispensary medical officer, through ill.health.was for some months incapacitated from discharging hisduties, and Dr. Blanchard had been acting as his locum.tenent. The latter applied to the guardians for remunera-tion, but as he has not elicited a satisfactory reply he haaput the matter in the hands of a solicitor, and the guardianshave requested the Local Government Board to advise themas to what their legal obligations may be.The National Calf Vaccine Institute, newly opened at

Sandymount-green, near Dublin, is a welcome addition toour means of obtaining an adequate supply of unexceptionablelymph. The medical director is Mr. J. Knox Denham, andProfessor McWeeney is the bacteriologist.March 12th.

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Liabilities of a Traveller affected with an InfectiousDisease.

EVERY perambulating Englishman is familiar with th&tracasseries to which he may expose himself at the hands offoreign and mostly small hotel proprietors when either hehimself or a member of his family has the misfortune to con.tract an infectious disease during his sojourn at the hostelrypatronised by his party. The first thing the landlord gene-rally does is to order the removal of the sufferer. In additionto this, damages are very commonly claimed to recoup thehouse for the real or imaginary prejudice caused by the pre-sence of the patient. Now, it need hardly be said that com-pulsory removal may entail great danger, nor must it be

forgotten that the presence of a case of scarlet fever has notunfrequently been successfully concealed from the otherdenizens of the establishment, in which case it is hard to,

appreciate the loss of credit or custom incurred by Boniface,The right of the landlord to enforce removal and the paymentof damages is rarely contested by the victim who has thennothing to do but submit. Now the travelling public shouldknow that by a judgment delivered by the Sixth Chamber ofthe Pa,ris Cour d’Appel on Feb. lst, 1895-a judgment confir-matory of the ruling of the Civil Tribunal of the Seine, datedJune 30th, 1893-the position assumed by the landlord insuch a contingency is untenable. In the judgment it ?

expressly stated that damages cannot be claimed from avisitor for the trouble and possible loss caused by the pre-sence in the hotel of a member of that visitor’s familyaffected with an infectious disease, provided that themedical attendant delivers a certificate to the effect that riskto life would attend removal to another house. The travellercan resist removal even if the landlord has served him witha formal notice to quit at the very onset of the illness. It is

held that the illness is an accident beyond the sufferer’scontrol, and that, further, such an unfortunate occurrenceforms part and parcel of the obvious risks attending hotel-

keeping. It is ruled, however, that the visitor is. responsible for the expenses incurred for the cleansing, and disinfection of the premises occupied by him. I have heard of extravagant charges being made at con-

tinental health-resorts after the death of a visitor whosedisease was indubitably non-infectious. It is mostly at the

i smaller hotels that these annoying claims are made, and1 visitors cannot be blamed for showing fight. But when thes disease is of an infectious nature it is better to come to3 some friendly understanding with the landlord, whose posi’1 tion is, after all, no enviable one under the circumstances. Should he prove recalcitrant, it is wiser to forego one’s right:- when possible and seek accommodation elsewhere, for an un-3 willing landlord and hotel staff are not exactly aids to the

successful steering of a severe case of illness to recovery.s It is only right that I should bear testimony to the goodr feeling almost invariably shown by the landlords of the be:’i. hotels here in Paris under such trying circumstances, and itd is not unreasonable to expect visitors, even though they Lll-

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cognisant of the rights conferred by the above-mentionedruling, to meet their Amphitryon half-way.

arebral Complioations of Influenza.Professor Cornill has recently had under observation three

women affected with encephalopathy of influenzal origin. Ineach instance recovery ensued. The first two cases werealmost similar, the only difference being that in one instancethe motor paralysis was on the right side and was accom-panied with aphasia, whereas in the other the left side wasaffected and aphasia was absent. In both cases the

early symptoms were identical: persistent and severe

headache, followed by sudden loss of consciousness ; partialcoma with stertor, lasting in one case three weeks, in the ’,other four days only ; hemiparesis, retention of sensation, Ifacial paralysis, visual troubles, inequality of the pupils,paralysis of the sphincters, and no loss of tendon reflexes. Thecondition might at first have been mistaken for that of acutemeningitis, later for encephalitis or small haemorrhagesinvolving the motor centres. But recovery is against bothhypotheses. The retention of sensibility, the facial paralysisand that of the sphincters, as also the ocular trouble,distinguish the condition from hysterical hemiplegia. Thethird case quoted was that of an hysterical woman, and thehemiplegia was accompanied with ana;sthesia ; but here alsothere were noted facial paralysis, inequality of the pupils,and aphasia, which was quite distinguishable from nervousmutism, so that there could be no mistake about thediagnosis-hemiplegia complicating influenza.

Successful Laparotomy for Revolver Wound of the Abdomen ina Pregnant Womot.

M. Albarran presented to the Société de Chirurgie on the27th ult. a young woman aged nineteen years who wasadmitted to the H6pital Cochin for a bullet wound in theumbilical region at a spot four fingers’ breadth from the medianline. Five hours and a half after the receipt of the wound shehad vomited only once-during her removal to hospital. The

patient was collapsed, and there was ascertained to be somedulness at the lower part of the abdomen. A penetratingwound with internal haemorrhage was diagnosed, and im-mediate laparatomy was had recourse to. During the pre-parations for the operation the state of the breasts led to avaginal examination, and a pregnancy advanced to from thefourth to the fifth month was detected. Four wounds of thesmall intestine, necessitating the resection of twenty centi-metres of the bowel, were seen directly the abdomen wasopened; a fifth intestinal wound was sutured, and search forthe source of haemorrhage which continued revealed a per-foration of the mesentery involving a branch of the superiormesenteric artery, which was tied. The fundus of the graviduterus was the seat of a small wound through which pro-truded a loop of the umbilical cord. Wishing to terminatethe operation promptly, M. Albarran resected the loop on alevel with the uterine surface, the stump being returned intothe uterine cavity. The abdominal incision was then quicklyclosed. The next day abortion took place, but nothing ofinterest occurred afterwards to retard complete recovery.March 12th.

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BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Mayor of Berlin on Löffler’s Bacillus.Ix America when diphtheria is prevalent the bacteriological

examination of suspected cases is made in municipal labo-ratories free of charge. The medical club of the Luisenstadtquarter accordingly asked the municipality to follow theexample of America and to make similar arrangements inBerlin. In the name of the town council the mayor answeredthat there was no need for this examination, as it wasnot yet proved that LoBler’s bacillus is really thesole cause of diphtheria. In the Medical Reform a

medical man asks ironically if the mayor would beMknowledged as an authority on bacteriological questions,alid, if not, on whose advice it was that he formed hisopinion on the etiology of diphtheria. The other medicalournals join in blaming the mayor for his peremptoryand not over-polite answer. The question will now be takencp by the " medical stores," an establishment similar to theArmy and Navy Stores, where the members of the profession

1 Académie de Médecine, March 5th.

can obtain medical articles at lower prices than in the.ordinary shops. The directors of these stores now under-take general bacteriological examination. Practitionerswho desire to have their cases investigated procurefrom the stores pieces of sterilised cotton-wool packedin small sterilised glasses. A bit of the cotton-wool is to be

pressed on the suspected membranes, then put back into theglass, and sent in a small box to the laboratory of the stores,where the examination is performed by a specially appointedbacteriologist. The practitioner receives an answer on

the following day. This system of providing for the pro-fession an easy means of bacteriological examination indoubtful cases is very good, but as it is carried on by aprivate establishment the work, of course, cannot be donegratuitously. Although the charge of three marks is verymoderate, it is still much too high for the poorer classes. Itis, therefore, to be hoped that the mayor and town councilmay change their opinion as to Lofiler’s bacillus and providefor these investigations, a course which will be of thegreatest advantage for the health of the population.

Improvements in Hospital Construction.At the last meeting of the Berlin Hygienic Society

(Gesellschaft fiir öffentliche Gesundheitspfiege) HerrSchmieden, a leading hospital architect of Berlin, read apaper on Recent Progress made in Hospital Construction.He said that the pavilion system was now generally adoptedthroughout the world, even in countries like Russia, wherethe cold climate seemed to be an obstacle. Wood, which atfirst was often employed, is now completely abandoned, andonly stone is used. Formerly the pavilions had but one floor,a system which requires much space ; now they often consistof two, and in British hospitals even of three or four

storeys, a design which not long ago would have been regardedas unhygienic. The usual ground plan is the rectangularone ; there are a few exceptions where the want of spaceinduced the architect to build circular pavilions. But thisform, Herr Schmieden said, should not be generally acceptedbecause it looks very ugly and makes a proper distribution ofthe buildings very difficult. Among recent buildings the newmunicipal hospital of Hamburg, one of the largest in theworld, which contains 1500 beds and has no fewer than fifty-eight pavilions, is the most remarkable. Herr Schmiedenespecially mentioned the day rooms with their glasssides, which can be let down in warm weather, so

that the room then forms an open balcony. All thearrangements for heating, ventilation, &c. are excellent.The operation rooms are models of their kind. They werebuilt and furnished in accordance with the ideas ofDr. Schede, the chief surgeon, and consist only of iron,glass, and Dutch tiles, without any woodwork. Another newhospital which invites the attention both of medical men andarchitects is the Kaiser Friedrich Hospital for Children inBerlin. Special efforts have been made in the diphtheriapavilion to isolate the mild cases from the serious ones,and both of them from the convalescents. For this pur-pose the pavilion has been built in a novel way, whichHerr Schmieden termed the "stage system." The build-ing consists of three distinct parts, which are completelyseparated each from the other. The patients are received,according to the degree of the illness, in one of thefirst two wards. When the acute stage of the diseaseis over they come into the convalescent ward, from whichthey are -discharged without entering any other portionof the edifice. The physician and nurses live in the diph-theria pavilion and never come to the other parts of thehospital. This is, Herr Schmieden said, of the utmost

importance, as in other hospitals infection has often beenconveyed by the nurses of the different wards livingtogether. Herr Schmieden then drew the attention of themeeting to the great Policlinico Umberto in Rome, whichall visitors to the last International Congress will re-

member. This hospital, designed for 900 patients, will cost20,000,000 lire. The ground floor of the pavilion consistsof open halls and not of sick wards, those being onlyon the first and second floors. This arrangement, HerrSchmieden said, is a very good one in hot climates, but itrequires a great deal of space. A novel feature has beenintroduced in the operation room. To avoid infection theoperations are performed in a sort of glass cage, so that theprofessor can be seen but not heard by the students who arein the room outside the cage. The architect then, speakingof England, said that the cost of hospital building wasmuch higher there than on the Continent. In Germany a