838 SCOTLAND.-IRELAND.-PARIS.

men were addressed by the Lord Provost in the RoyalExchange -square.

Exhibition of Hybrids.Professor Cossar Ewart is organising an exhibition of

zebra and other hybrids to be held from April 2nd to 7thin the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, in aid of the War ReliefFunds. He will be glad to receive loans for the week ofhybrid beasts, birds, or fishes.

Recital in Aid of the Royal Army Medical Corps Fund.On the evening of March 14th a musical and dramatic

recital was held in the hall of the Edinburgh UniversityStudents’ Union in aid of the Royal Army Medical CorpsSouth African Fund. The Edinburgh University MusicalSociety performed several choral pieces, while Miss Clouston,Miss B. Stewart Richardson, and several students suppliedthe dramatic element. The hall was completely filled. Theaudience included General Chapman, C.B., and staff, and thePresidents of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeonsof Edinburgh.

Dundee Surgeon for South Africa.Dr. D. M. Greig of Dundee has received an appointment in

connexion with the South African Field Force. Dr. Greigserved in the Royal Army Medical Corps for three yearsafter he graduated and began practising in Dundee in 1889,where he holds the rank of Surgeon-Captain in the lstForfarshire Volunteer Artillery.

University of Aberdeen.Rev. John Marshall Lang, D.D., at present minister of the

Barony Parish Church, Glasgow, has been appointed Principalof Aberdeen University in succession to the late Sir WilliamGeddes. Dr. Lang is a graduate of Glasgow University andis the author of several religious works. In 1856 he wasinducted to the charge of the East Parish, Aberdeen, a postwhich he filled for two years, but otherwise he has had nospecial connexion with the " Granite City."-The prospectsof the University Buildings Extension Scheme have now con-siderably improved. Both the town council and the Uni-versity Court have agreed to adopt the " popular" plan,which provides for the removal of Old Greyfriars Churchand the erection of a new church at the junction ofQueen-street and Broad-street, and the latter bodyhas acquired at an expense of £10,065 the propertyrequired to provide a site for the new buildings,which will cost 10,000 more. For their part the

Greyfriars Kirk Session agree to withdraw the legal processraised against the two bodies first named on payment ofexpenses. The deadlock in the University Buildings Exten-sion Scheme has thus been removed, and if funds can beobtained it will be an easy matter to complete it in such away as not only to enlarge the Marischal College buildings,but also at the same time to bring about an important streetimprovement. -There are 67 entrants for the medical pre-liminary examination which commences on March 23rd.March 20th.

_

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The Dacblirz University Biological Association.AT the last meeting of the Dublin University Biological

Association, which took place in Trinity College on

March 15th, a paper was read by the President, Dr. W. R.Dawson, on the Pathological Study of Insanity. After thediscussion the following motion was proposed and passedunanimously :-That in the opinion of this association it is desirable to establish

a central laboratory for the Irish asylums devoted to the study ofpathology in relation to nervous and mental diseases.

The Dublin Public Health Investigation Committee.After a recess of a fortnight’s duration the Public Health

Committee resumed their sitting on March 20th at the CityHall.

Belfast Port Sanitary Authority.Mr. Agnew, Local Government Board inspector, held a

public inquiry at Belfast on March 14th in reference to anapplication made by the county borough council of Belfastto the Local Government Board to be constituted the "PortSanitary Authority " for the whole of Belfast Lough. At

present their jurisdiction is confined to that portion of thelough abutting on the city and authority is spread over

different bodies who have no means of carrying out therequired sanitary regulations. Evidence showed that whena ship arrived in Belfast Lough outside the borough limitscarrying the yellow flag then the medical officer of healthof the board of guardians took charge of the vessel and hehad to get the assistance of the Belfast Corporation publichealth officials for disinfection, &c., and the expenses had tobe borne by the districts outside the borough of Belfast whoreally had at present no arrangements to deal with suchcases. There is no question but that it would be muchwiser to have one central authority-the Public Health

Department of the Belfast Corporation-to deal with thewhole lough. The only opposition was from the local ruraldistricts abutting on Belfast Lough who claimed that theLocal Government Board had no jurisdiction to tax thedistricts in the neighbourhood of the lough except theyformed a joint board, a course which would ensure taxationand representation going together, They objected to beingtaxed for the benefit of the port of Belfast. The evidencetaken will be sent to the Local Government Board for itsdecision. The wise course would be to have one centralauthority vested in the city.

The Mater Infirmorum Hospital, Belfast.This new hospital is to be opened by the Lord Mayor of

Belfast on April 23rd, when addresses will be delivered byCardinal Logue, the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, the RightHon. W. J. Pirrie, and the Roman Catholic Bishop (Dr.Henry). It is expected that the institution will be openedfree from debt.March 21st.

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PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Degree of -Doctor of Biological Seience.BESIDES the degrees recognised by the State the universi-

ties of France can grant degrees exclusively scientific butwhich confer none of the rights or privileges belonging tothe State degrees and which must in no case be declared asequivalent to them. Of the seven faculties of medicine inFrance four possess the right to present for a universitydoctorate as regards medicine. These four are Paris,Bordeaux, Lyons, and Nancy. This last body is not contentwith her university powers and demands the right to presentfor a degree persons who have shown their especial know-ledge in biological science. The’ council of the Universityof Nancy has agreed to this proposition and acceptedit at a special meeting on Feb. 12th. The resolutionhas just been approved by the Minister of Public Instruction,and so, starting during the present scholastic year, theFaculty of Medicine at Nancy is authorised to present forthe new degree, which is the first of the kind to exist inFrance. The testamurs (attestations) in the higher studies inbiology which have to be submitted are three in number-one for anatomy, one for physiology, and one for micro-biology. The subjects of study for each testamur are alsothree in number, two of them being compulsory and dealingwith the special subject of the testamur, and the third beingoptional, which the candidate can choose from a givenlist. The subject must be approved by the professor andafter this the sole test consists in the candidate showingthat his knowledge of the question chosen is thoroughlyup-to-date (mise au point). The written dissertation mustbe accompanied by specimens or illustrations bearing on thequestion, such as sections, diagrams, charts, or anatomicalpreparations. A candidate who has gained his testamur

may present himself for the degree of Doctor in biologicalscience. A thesis is also required showing personal acquaint-ance with the facts of biological science, which thesis mustbe defended in public. Before the defence the manuscriptmust be submitted to the different members of the jury whowill decide as to its merits. The public defence of the thesisfollows upon this previous test.

The Sanitary Condition of Paris.The question of a supply of wholesome drinking-water

continues to occupy the attention of the sanitary authoritiesand has also come up in Parliament. The recent epidemicsin the schools have furnished Dr. Treille, a senator, with anopportunity for asking the Minister of Public Instruction aquestion. Dr. Treille said that he was not in sympathywith the modern theories of the microbial origin of the

889PARIS.-ROME.

disease. Water was not the principal cause of infectionand typhoid fever was due to the insanitary condition of oldbuildings and to disturbances of the earth owing to theworks recently carried out for repairing the drains andsewers. The Mirister, naturally enough, replied that the

organisation of the schools was perfect ; they were suppliedwith spring water for drinking and the water of the Seinewas only used for washing down the yards. The’ committeecharged with the inquiry into the causes of the epidemic haveunanimously agreed that the contamination of the drinking-water mains arose from an accidental communication

having been established between them and the mains con-veying the Seine water. Since an order was given for all

drinking-water to be boiled the epidemic has disappeared.The remarkable views of Dr. Treille are a strange confirma-tion of the blind confidence which the city engineers have inthe water which they supply, whence it follows that they arein the habit of saying, whenever an epidemic breaks out, thatthe fault rests anywhere but with them. Dr. Thoinot, thesecretary of the Consultative Committee of Hygiene, hasbeen put in disgrace for having, in a communication made tothe Academy, too freely made public the causes of theoriginal insanitary conditions which go far to render uselessthe great sacrifices which the city of Paris has made to

procure a really wholesome supply of drinking-water. Oneof Dr. Thoinot’s pupils, Dr. Arago, has just presented athesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, called "The Avre,the Vanne, and the Dhuys : a Study in Parisian Sanitation,"which he defended before the Faculty of Medicine at Parisand which has excited much interest. In this thesis heagrees with Dr. Thoinot and says that all water supplied bythe city should be boiled before using for drinking or in thepreparation of food. This statement, which is not veryre-assuring, has been reproduced widely in the lay press.The Assistance Publique is very busy preparing for hospitalaccommodation for cases of infectious diseases in view of a

possible epidemic and also in view of the increasednumber of cases of illness to which the Exhibition, as is

always the case, will give rise. It is intended to build a newinfectious hospital at Ivry just outside Paris close to thepresent infectious hospital, but as this cannot be ready for along time the Assistance Publique will for this year contentitself with enlarging and improving the present temporaryhospital at Aubervilliers. The existing huts will be restoredand two new wards, each containing 24 beds, will be erected.The total cost will be 71,000 francs and the AssistancePublique will thus have 418 new beds for infectious diseasesat its disposal, a number which after all is too little for theinevitable rise in the sick rate which the Exhibition is sure tobring about.

Spitting on the Pavement.In my letter in THE LANCET of Jan. 6th, at page 68,

I mentioned that the Municipal Council of Paris had decidedto put up enamelled metal notices in the chief streets

requesting the public, with a view to avoiding the dissemi-nation of infectious disease, to refrain from spitting on thepavement. This decision was taken on the initiative ofM. Fortin. The question came up again at the meeting ofthe council held on March 16th, when it was decided thatinstead of enamelled plaques posters should be providedlettered as follows : "In the interests of public health andto avoid the dissemination of tuberculosis you are requestednot to spit on the ground." These posters will be put up inthe streets and in the public gardens. The railway andomnibus companies are also to be approached with a viewto these posters being put up in the stations, waiting-rooms,railway-carriages, tramcars, omnibuses, and other vehicles.Measures are also to be taken to have both the roads andfootways washed down.March 20th.

____ ______

ROME.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

International Hygiene: The Lazzaretto of Mogador.ITALIAN diplomacy has scored a point in the interests

of international hygiene. The island of Mogador, oppositethe seaport of that name on the Atlantic littoral of Morocco,had for some time been used as a lazzaretto for the pilgrimsof the Sultanate who, on their return from Mecca, had tobe subjected to quarantine. The use of the island for

that purpose, however, was never agreeable to the Courtof Fez which, through the Government of Tangier, adoptedsomething more than a policy of "pin-pricks" towardsthe Powers at whose instance the lazzaretto was maintained.Matters, indeed, had come to this pass that, on the expiryof the last quarantine, the Governor of Tangier ordered thephysicians and agents of the " Council of InternationalSanitation " to be expelled the island and, at the same time,destroyed the buildings and huts in connexion with thelazzaretto. The situation had become very serious when,on the part of the " Council," the Italian envoy at Tangier,the Commendate Malmusi, undertook to re-establish thestatus qtlO antea. A better intermediary could not havebeen found, for Signor Malmusi is eminently a personagrata at the court of the Sultan, besides possessingmuch diplomatic experience and tact. He has succeededaccordingly, and has just announced to the Consulta (ForeignOffice) that all difficulties have been amicably resolved ; thatthe lazzaretto will be re-constituted on the old lines ; that theagents of the "Council" will remain unmolested at theirposts ; and that for purposes of quarantine and sanitaryinterests in general the island of Mogador is henceforth

international property.In Memory of Italy’s Surgeons fallen in Battle.

This afternoon witnessed a touching ceremony at theArmy Medical Hospital on the Caelian Hill. It was theunveiling in the atrium of the hospital of a memorialtablet inscribed with the names of 35 surgeons, military andnaval, who had fallen in action under the Italian coloursfrom 1848 to 1896. The King and Queen were present, accompanied by the ladies of honour and the officersattached to the royal person, by the Prime Minister(General Pelloux) and members of the Government andboth Houses of Parliament, and by a large attend-ance of the academic and clinical professoriate as wellas consultants, general practitioners, and leading citizens.The tablet, designed by the sculptor Tripisciano, is verysimple but artistically effective, presenting in bas-relief analtar on which the figure of Italy lays a laurel branch, whilea guardian angel bearing aloft a palm of victory and leaningon a lion which holds Italy’s banner in its paws, keeps watchover the altar consecrated to the fallen. The tablet, sur-mounted by an eagle supporting the subalpine arms in itsclaws, has the following inscription in golden letters:" To commemorate the medical officers who fell in the

campaigns of the Crimea, of Italy, and of Africa." Thencome in chronological series the officers’ names. The veilhaving been withdrawn Major-General Givogre of the armymedical staff, who is also director of the hospital, in a fewwell-chosen words detailed the circumstances in which thegallant officers had met their death, and he was followed byDr. Paolo Postemski, professor of pathology and clinicalsurgery at the Sapienza, who, speaking in the name of theRed Cross, made touching allusion to those of the organisa-tion who had fallen, two of them having been favouritepupils of his own. Colonel Chiaiso of the medical staff andColonel Ferrero di Cavallerleone of the combatant armyspoke eloquently for their respective branches of the service,after which their Majesties, having warmly congratulatedthe sculptor and having cordially received those relatives ofthe fallen who were in attendance, went round the hospital,pausing repeatedly at the bedsides and addressing con-

solatory words to the patients. The whole ceremony, whichwas highly successful, forms the closing chapter of a story ofprofessional skill, courage, and devotion to duty in thehighest degree honourable to Italy-a story which (for theAfrican campaign at least) has been brilliantly told by thearmy surgeon, Colonel Panara, in his book " Sulla Operositàdel Corpo Sanitario Italiano durante la Campagna d’Africa(1896)."

Professor -Robert.Koe7i in Italy.In May next Professor Koch, en route through Turin

to the scene of his studies in malaria, will repair to Salso-maggiore to investigate the treatment of tuberculosiswith inhalations from its richly iodised hot springs as anadjunct to his own lymph. Turin is preparing to give the

! illustrious bacteriologist a festive greeting and is already, organising a committee for the purpose of which the president, is the Senator Dr. Edoardo Maragliano, professor of clinical! medicine in the Genoese school, and himself a distinguished) worker in the serotherapy of tuberculosis.r March 18th.