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this, as well as to carry out the wishes of a hand ome con-tributor to the funds, the directota have determined uponextensive additions to the buildiug. At present no pro-vision is made for the isolation of cases of infectiousdisease which may occur, and for this purpose a separatebuilding is proposed. Auyoue visiting the tidy and cheetfulwards will see at a glance how zealous and enthusiastic is

the management. Drs. Stephenson, Garden, and Macgregorform the staff; but no one will more readily than thesegentlemen admit the large share of the hospital success whichis due to the kind care of Miss Lumsden, the matron.The pathology question was again before the managers of

the Aberdeen Infirmary on the llth inst. It will be re-

membered that the new professor of pathology requestedaccess to the material for instruction afforded by the in-firmary, but the considerable difficulty in the way was thefact that the institution was already served by a pathologistwho has done the work most acceptably for some twelveyears-there was, in fact, no vacancy in the office of patho-logist. In May last the whole subject was remitted to acommittee to report, and they ascertained that Dr.Rodger was willing to offer every facility to the professor inthe use of material from the dead-house and the museum.The committee, by a majority, reported in favour of Dr.Rodger retainiog his present position, but that ProfessorHamilton should make half the post-mortem examinations.This compromise is so evidently unsatisfactory that themanagers williugly agreed to the motion of Dr. Struthers,that the whole subject should lie over for three months, inthe hope of a private settlement. Everyone will feel re-lieved should the matter be thus amicably arranged ; but itis highly important that able and active officers should haveno feeling of insecurity in their position ; and certainly abad precedent would be established were Dr. Rodgerforcibly removed from office, or felt himself called upon toresign in consequence of undue pressure. The question ofthe appointment of an assistant physician has been post-poned.As the new material celluloid is coming into use in the

manufacture of catheters, tracheotomy tubes, &c., it may notbe amiss to mention the narrow escape from a disagreeableaccident which a patient of mine had a few days ago. Thecatheter seemed so suitable for use by my patient him-self, that I placed it in his hands, and in this way it hadbeen passed a very few times. As it was the first of thiskind which I had used I was curious to know my friend’sexperience, and on examining the instrument before useluckily detected a crack, which went almost co’npletelyround the tube. A few inches of a broken catheter in aninflamed bladder would have been exciting enough, andmention of my escape may place others on their guard.

IRELAND.

(From our own Correspondent.)

THE following resolution " of the Council of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons was adopted on the 7th inst. :-" Thatthe Inspection Committee be instructed not to receive certi-ficates from any school in which evening lectures aredelivered." This resolution naturally created great dissatis-faction among a numerous class of students, those attendingevening lectures on account of being engaged in businessduring the day. That no notice had been given by theCollege until after Novembar 25th, the last day for register-ing students, was looked on as an additional hardship, asthere was no time to enter at any other recognised school ofmedicine. A meeting of those interested was held, and amemorial prepared for presentation to the Council. Accord-

ingly, a deputation of night-students had an interview withthe Council of the College on the 14th inst., and stated theirviews through the spokesman, Mr. Carroll, who pointed outthe hardship which must necessarily ensue should theCouncil refuse to modify their resolution. A division of theCouncil afterwards took place, when only two membersvoted for excluding night-students altogether, while theremaining memhers voted for their recognition during thepresent term. The following resolution was then adopted :—

" That the re’olntion of December 7th in reference to nightlectures shall take effect from April lst, 1883, after which it

shall be 6-t)ict)y enforced." It is believed that if zhN depu-tation had asked for better terms they would have 01t finedthem ; and there are some, and not a small numher either,who are of opinion that any resolution of the College ref mit gto receive t-er-ifiL!atts 4-f night lectures is altogether illegal,and could not be upheld ir properly opposed.The returns for the hve medical schools in Dublin show

that the Ledwich s’ill hold-! the highest place aa regards thenumber of students receiving instruction within its waits.The following are the numbers for the present session :Ledwich, 230, or 9 increase ; Trinity College, 225, or 9increase; Carmichael, 134, or 25 decrease; College f Sur-geons, 132, or 8 decrease ; Catholic University, 116, or 16increase. These make a total of 837, or exactly one morethan those registered in the session of 1S81-2.The Medical Section of the Academy of Medicine held its

first meeting at the College of Physicians on the 15th irrst.,when the President of the Section, Dr. William Mo,,re,PIesldent of the College, delivered the inaugural address.Dr. Moore spoke of the improvements in the diagnosis ofdisease whicn bad taken place during the past twenty-fiveyears. He referred to the thermometer, which was often ofservice in difficult cases, and alluded to the advances madein the diagnosis of cardiac disease. He believed that theprognosis depended less upon the various murmurs heard tlauon the vital condition of the organ itself, the prognosis bringmore important than the diagnosis. He next referrtd toClaude Bernard’s experiments, which had thrown light onvarious affections, and spllke of abdominal aneurism, thespecific nature of fevers, bacilli, and of cerebral and spioatdiseases. It was sometimes very puzzling to diannnaebetween organic and functional diseases ; and he detailedvarious cases which occurred in his practice as examples ofthe difficulties occasionally met with.Last week, Mr. Harrington, master of the Carrick-nn-

Sbaunon Workhouse, and his wife were found dead in theirbed. A fire had been lighted in their bedroom the previousevening, and the fatal result was attributed to the imperfectventilation of the apartment, and the large amount of dde-terious gases given off from the coal, which was of a veryinferior kind.During the September quarter the returns of pauperism in

Ireland show a decrease of 1174 in the number of workhouseinmates, and an increase of 810 in the number of personson out-door relitf as compared with the previous quarter.The prevalence of the following zymotic diseases was re-ported by the various registrars :-Measles in 56 districts,scarlatina in 40, diphtheria in 4, and fever in 53. Tnreedeaths from hydrophobia were recorded during the quarter.The late Dr. Handsel Griffiths, who was Assistant-

Librarian to the Royal College of Surgeons, died from ty phoidfever in 1877, and since then his wife has also died, leaviugthree orphan children behind her with but scanty means ofsupport. A committee has been formed to collect funds forsupporting and educating the three boys, and as the case isa deserving one, it is to be hoped that the amount requiredwill be obtained.The death is reported of Dr. John Burgess Allen, of Gorey,

a well-known practitioner in that place. Deceased, whowas in his fifty-third year, succumbed from congestion of thelungs.

_____

PARIS.

(From our Paris Correspondent.)

THE discussion on typhoid fever which has been carriedon at the Academy of Medicine for the last two months

is, like the prevailing epidemic, on the wane. I shallendeavour to summarise it as briefly as possible in this letter.The first part of the discussion was taken up with the

etiology of the disease, most of the orators being evidentlyconverted to the faecal, or what the French authors are

pleased to term the English, theory of its origin. Dr. NueiGueneau de Mus?y is the principal representative of theEnglish theory, and he endeavoured to prove that typhoidfever in general, and the present epidemic in particular, maybe clearly traced to the contamination of drinking water and

alimentary substances by dejections of patients sufferingfrom the disease. This theory Dr. Guéneau de Mussy hassustained for several years, and in 1877 he made a com-

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munication to the Academy of Medicine in support of it.He believes more than ever in the English theory; but hethinks, also, that the germ of typhoid fever may have anotherhabitat or another medium for its culture. Founding his argu-ments on this view, he insisted on a more scrupulous attention tosanitary measures, both public and private, particularly to theprivies and cesspools. The latter he totally condemns, as, also,the practice, introduced into this city about twenty years ago,of emptying their contents into the sewers, which, in theirturn, are emptied into the Seine. Dr. Rochard, an oldacademician, endeavoured to show, in the most eloquentterms, that while he conceded the probable correctness ofthe theory of the faecal origin of typhoid fever, there areother elements to be taken into consideration which, nodoubt, play a great part in the development of the disease,such as cosmic influences, overcrowding, and want of clean-liness ; but he does not wish it to be inferred from this thathe believed in the spontaneity or the production of the diseasede novo, adding that the microbe of typhoid fever exists in theair and develops itself as soon as it can find a favourable soil.Other speakers followed, all sustaining, in more or lessdefinite terms, the theories above enunciated. M. JulesGuérin then came forward, and suggested that, in thepresent state of our knowledge of the etiology of typhoidfever, it would be of more practical interest and utilityto discuss the means, on clinical grounds, by which thedisease may be successfully combated, instead of wastingtime in going over the already frequently trodden ground.As to the therapeutics of typhoid iever, Professor Hardy

stated his preference for the old classical treatment,which consists of the administration of purgatives duringthe first ten days; the application of dry cupping to thechest; draughts composed of extract of cinchona andalcohol; and of acidulated drinks during the second andthird weeks. He sometimes prescribes the sulphate ofquinine, but never exceeds 75 centigrammes, or abouteleven grains daily. Dr. Hérard had always obtained goodresults from the administration of quinine, but in largerquantity than that employed by Prof. Hardy-as much asthree or four grammes, or about one drachm daily. He alsoprescribed salicylic and carbolic acids in minute doses, whichhe considers powerful antiseptics and antipyretics. Dr.Legouest believed that the proper quantity of quinine inthese cases would be two grammes (thirty-one graius) daily,which he learned from long experience in the military hos-pitals ; and is inclined to think that when sudden deathoccurs in typhoid fever, it is attributable to the malignancyof the disease itself. Most of the speakers seemed to laygreat stress on the necessity for reducing by every pos-sible means the excessively high temperature that exists mthis fever, by the employment of salicylic and carbolicacids, and the use of cold baths; but, according to Dr.Dujardin.Beaumetz, hyperpyrexia is certainly a iiiani-festation of the gravity of the disease, and to treat thismanifestation only would not constitute the proper treat-ment, as the temperature would be simply kept in abeyanceby the remedies employed, but the disease would continueits course all the same. Moreover, he asserted that it wasimpossible to lay down any definite rules for the treatmentof this terrible affectiou, but patients must be treatedaccording to existing indications, as in all epidemics there isa certain morbid agent, a something unknown, which rendersthem so different from one another. That which dis-tinguishes the present epidemic of typhoid fever in Paris,is the frequency of bedsores over the sacrum, which re-

minded one of the description given by Trousseau, andalso the frequency of diphtheritic symptoms. Under thesecircumstances the statistics of the treatment employed wouldbe of little or no value. Dr. Dujardin-Beaumetz was ofopinion that in these cases simple "expectation" wouldbe far preferable to the use of powerful remedies whichmay be more harmful than otherwise. Professor Vulpitn,after having given a fair trial to some of the drugsreputed to possess antiseptic properties--iodoform, boracicacid, salicylate of bismuth, the carbolate of soda andsalicylic acid-has given the preference to the latter,and administers it in doses of five or six grains everytwo hours, or six or seven grammes in the twenty-four hours.He has employed it on account of its known property oflowering the temperature, which it does in a more persistentmanner than carbolic acid or any of the other substancesnamed. The general state of the patient is favourablymodified, but the duration of the malady does not appear tobe sensibly influenced by the treatment. M. Vulpian, how-

ever, concludes that although salicylic acid may not be con-sidered a curative agent for typhoid fever, yet it exerted asufficiently modifying influence on the disease to entitle itto a place among the best medicines that are employed inthe treatment of this disease. His confidence in the drug issuch that he would recommend its use as a prophylacticduring epidemics of typhoid fever. With this view he wouldadminister it even to healthy subjects indoaesof twogrammesdaily. Professor Germain Sée condemned the use of carbolicacid internally, not only in typhoid fever but in everyother form of disease attended with great depressionof the vital forces, as it is a most dangerous remedy.producing toxic effects even in small doses, particularly onthe heart which it depresses in a very marked manner. Heconsiders salicylic acid an untrustworthy remedy in typhoidfever, whether as an antiseptic or antipyretic. To fulfilthese indications he considers nothing equal to the sulphateof quinine, which he administers in doses of two grammesdaily ; a larger quantity would produce toxic effects, and asmaller would he useless. In concluding this letter I sendthe following as a therapeutic curiosity :-Dr. Lancereauxadopts what he terms the treatment of indications-tepidbath", administering at the !o1ame time the tincture of digitalis,and in case of excitement and wakefulness he adds to it thetincture of opium in doses of one gramme to one grammeand a half, which he found very beneficial in the ataxic formsof the disease in patients addicted to the use of spirits, andin individuals worn out by fatigue or other causes, Hecombats tympanites by purgatives and enemata of icedwater; complications of the respiratory organs by cuppingand ipecacuanha. Against the fetor of the alvine evacua.tions he employs enemata of carbolic acid, which at the sametime aids in lowering the temperature; he also employscarbolic dressings in the furuncular eruptions that accompanythe disease. Of fifty-two patients treated in this way byDr. Lancereaux from the 28th of September to the 15thof November only five died.

Paris, Dec. 19th, 1882.

TENEMENT HOUSES IN AMERICA.

(From a Roving Correspondent.)(Concluded from p. 1010.)

AT Boston, Mass., during the last ten years much hasbeen done to secure the health of the inhabitants. It is tobe regretted, however, that up to the present time theHealth Commissioners have had no control over the sanitaryarrangements and construction of habitable houses withinthat city. In consequence, although the Corporation haveestablished a separate building authority to which all plansare referred, the sanitary arrangements of many Bostonhouses leave much to be desired in the interests of the healthof the townspeople. It is always unwise to have a dividedresponsibility, and in any case where matters of health areconcerned to separate the supervision and control of the

sanitary condition of habitable houses from the Health

Department, is almost, if not quite, as foolish as to attemptto separate the dieting of a patient from the control of thephysician who has charge of the treatment of the diseasefrom which he is suffering. It is surprising to find this fataladministrative mistake in a city like Boston, which is

certainly entitled to rank high amongst American towns forits culture and sound public life. Doubtless attention hasonly to be called to the subject to ensure its immediaterectification. Nothing could be more detrimental to thebest interests of the citizens than this divided responsibility,and the sooner it is altered the better it will be for thehealth of the city. Great praise is due to the Board ofHealth for the good sanitary work they have done in Bostol’during the past ten years. Few, if any, cities have betterquarantine arrangements, few have officers more imbued witha genuine enthusiasm for their work, few take greater precau-tiuns to ensure the health of all classes, and no American citykeeps its streets and thoroughfares cleaner or in better order.Still, when alt this is said something remains to be done,and it is not a little remarkiibie to find that in its regulationsfor the construction and maintenance of tenement housesBoston is much behind Chicago. Indeed, the whole of the