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held on Feb. 3rd (Dr. J. A. Lindsay, president, in the chair), Dr. Calwell showed a girl with a peculiar nervous affectionof the arm. Professor Byers showed a multilocular ovariantumour, one cyst of which was dermoid and contained apultaceous mass of epithelium, hair, fat, and sebum. Dr.John Campbell showed a specimen of malignant diseaseof the uterus. After the exhibition of specimens an

interesting discussion on appendicitis was opened byDr. Darling (Lurgan), who related particulars of a

recent case. The following members took part inthe debate : Professor Sinclair, Dr. John Campbell, Dr.Calwell, Dr. McKisack, Professor Byers, Dr. Mitchell,Dr. Gaussen, and the President. The general tendencyof the discussion was to show that the great majorityof cases recovered under medical treatment, but that whenan abscess formed, or in recurring cases, surgical inter-ference was demanded, although the results of operationin cases in which during an attack of appendicitis therewas sudden perforation into the abdominal cavity were notsufficiently good to warrant this plan being recommended asa routine practice. The next meeting of the society will bea pathological one to be held in the laboratory of Queen’sCollege.

The Belfccst Maternity Hospital.The annual meeting of this hospital was held on Feb. lst,

and from the report it appears that during the last year302 patients were delivered in the hospital and 173 in theirown homes. 0 wing to the large number of patients and thecrowded state of the house the question of rebuilding thehospital is being considered. Financially, there is a balanceon the debit side. A new maternity hospital would cost.E6000, and it is said that there are already promises of£1000.

The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.The City Corporation of Belfast are at present promoting

a Bill to enable them to grant a site-a portion of the presentasylum grounds-to the new Royal Victoria Hospital, and attheir meeting on Feb. 1st a resolution was proposed that thereshould be inserted in this Bill an additional clause to grantthe sum of £5000, being equivalent to the value of the siteof the new Mater Infirmorum Hospital, to that institution.This, however, was not carried, those opposing it doing soon the ground that the Mater Infirmorum Hospital was

denominational while the Royal Victoria Hospital was forall classes, with a board of management representative of allcreeds and with doctors of all religions. Further, it was

thought that if this grant were made to the former hospitalall the other hospitals in the city would demand to be sub-sidised. A small sub-committee has been deputed by theexecutive committee of the Royal Victoria Hospital to con-sider the question of the choice of an architect for the newhospital and to report on this question to the central com.mittee. It has been decided that the architect shall not beselected by open competition.

Public Bacteriological Examinations in Belfast.The Corporation of the City of Belfast have taken a very

judicious course (on the recommendation of the PublicHealth Committee) in appointing Dr. Lorrain Smith, ofQueen’s College, Belfast, to conduct examinations for thePublic Health Department when required on typhoid fever,diphtheria, tuberculosis, &c., the total payments for oneyear not to exceed &100.

Influenza in the Nortk of Ireland.The epidemic of influenza is still very prevalent in Belfast

and the north of Ireland. A great many of the cases,especially in young people, are of the gastro-intestinal type,the onset being very sudden with vomiting and sometimesdiarrhoea, and accompanied with high fever. There are alsocases of the ordinary broncho-pneumonic type, but the severenervous cases are much less frequent than in formerepidemics.

Deat7i of Dr. Ringrose Atkins,The almost sudden death of Dr. Ringrose Atkins, medical

superintendent of the Waterford Lunatic Asylum, was heardof with great regret not only by medical men, but by thegeneral public of the South of Ireland. Last Tuesday hewas apparently in his normal health and went to visit a Ipatient. Before leaving the house of the patient he became suddenly attacked by violent pain and with difficultywas able to return to his residence. He was promptlyseen by Dr. Mackesy and Dr. Friel and later by hisbrother, Dr. Thomas G. Atkins, of Cork, but in spite

of all their anxious and assiduous care he graduallysank and expired on Friday morning. His death wascaused by kidney disease and obstruction of the bowels.Dr. Ringrose Atkins was a distinguished student ofthe Queen’s College, Cork, and afterwards obtained hisM.A. degree as well as his degress in Medicine and Surgeryat the Queen’s University of Ireland. In the year 1873 hewas appointed assistant resident medical superintendent atthe Cork District Lunatic Asylum and five years later waspromoted to the important post of resident medical super-intendent of the Waterford Asylum. The patholcgy of thevarious brain diseases had a great fascination for him. Hewas a frequent contributor to the medical journals and ashe had come to be regarded as an authority on alienist

subjects he was always listened to with great attentionwhen he took part in the debates in the psychological sectionat the annual meetings of the British Medical Association.He was also well known and highly appreciated as a popularlecturer. He travelled abroad every year, took photographicviews of various places of interest, and on his return deliveredlectures illustrated by lantern exhibitions. He attended theInternational Medical Congress at Moscow and only a fewweeks ago lectured in Cork before a very large audiencegiving his impressions of the manners and customsof the Russian people. A thoughtful observer of men andthings he was ever ready to devote his talents to betteringthe position of his neighbours. He was a warm advocate ofthe temperance movement, and it was well known that hetook the kindliest and most zealous interest in the poormentally afflicted creatures in the asylums over which hepresided with such distinguished ability. He died at thecomparatively early age of fifty, and the large and repre-sentative gathering at his funeral testified to the great-esteem in which he had been held.

Feb. 9th. _______________

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Vaccines of Definite Chemical Composition.M. PHYSALIS. an account of whose work appeared in my

letter in THE LANCET of Jan. lst, gave some more par-ticulars of his researches at the meeting of the Academyof Medicine on Jan. 31st. He had already shown, he said,that cholesterine and biliary salts when inoculated had apreventive action against the toxic effects of the poison ofthe viper. But it had been suggested that these productswere perhaps not quite pure and owed their action to thepresence of ferments. So he had repeated his experimentswith vegetable cholesterine and with biliary cholesterinespecially prepared by Professor Arnaud, of the Museum,Identical results were obtained. He had also made experi-ments with pure re-crystallised tyrosine (a) from the carrot,(b) from dahlia tubers, and (e) from albuminoid animalmatter. In all three cases protection from the effects of serpentvenom was complete, and the juices of the dahlia acted in thesame way. He considered that it was evident, therefore, thatvegetables contained prophylactic "vaccinal" substancesand that in many instances these " vaccines " were bodies ofdefinite chemical composition.

Action of the Toxin from Eel Serum.M. Mosso has established the poisonous qualities of the

blood of the eel, and in addition M. Richet has shown thatit is possible to " vaccinate " an animal against these effectsif one begins with a very small dose of blood and graduallyincreases it until a dose which would have been fatal ifinjected at first is reached. At the meeting of the Academyof Sciences held on Jan. 31st M. Camus and M. Gleyoutshowed that the toxicity resides in the serum and that itacts in the following way: it breaks up the blood-corpuscles and causes the hæmoglobin to be extravasatedinto the tissues. This action takes place even iro vitro, butin the blood of animals immunised by M. Richet’a methodthe haemoglobin was retained by the corpuscles both in thevessels and in vitro.

Repair of the Walls of the Bladder.At the meeting of the Academy of Medicine held on

Feb. 1st, M. Cornil showed two dogs in which he had beenable to verify the mode by which repair takes place in thewall of the bladder after an operation wound. In the first

472

.dog; an incision five centimetres in length had been-made’ in the bladder. Ten days later the edges ofthe linear wound were so well united that there remainedonly the faintest scar but the great omentum was adherentin the line of the suture. In the second dog a

portion of the bladder bad been completely removed by acircular incision and the great omentum was united withcatgut to the opening in the bladder. At the end often days the wall of the bladder in this case also was

completely restored by the peritoneum. M. Cornil concludesthat as wounds of the bladder heal with such extraordinaryrapidity in these animals they would under equally healthycircumstances do so in the same way in man.

The Treatment of Tuberculosis of the Genito-urinary Organs.It1is- true, said M. Desnos, at the meeting ’of the Thera-

peatical Society held on Jan. 25th, that local treatment must.not be forgotten in tuberculous affections of the genito-urinary tract and that it is a useful and even indispensableadjuvant, but the really important thing is the generaltreatment. As a part of this hygiene occupies the first

place, for all patients placed under favourable climaticconditions show great improvement. If the case is one ofthose showing a tendency to haemorrhage a high altitudeis most suitable. The seaside is suitable for those cases wherethegenital apparatus is affected, but is harmful for thosewhere the urinary organs are chiefly involved. In congestiveforms arsenical waters are useful. As to diet everythingwhich tends to irritate the urinary tract must be avoided, sono beer or other alcoholic liquors should be taken. A milkdiet is useless except in the case of acute cystitis. Over-

feeding gives good results, and from a therapeutic point ofview creasote and guaiacol are the best drugs to use. J

Re-opening of the Pastezir Laboratory at Constantinovle.The bacteriological laboratory founded by Pasteur at

Constantinople by request of the Sultan has just re-openedits doors after a long interval of idleness due to the incom-petency and carelessness of the State officials and from wantof funds. The French Charge d’Affaires, M. de la Boutiniere,protested from his point of view, while the Imperial Societyof Medicine addressed a strong protest from their pointof view, to the Palace. In this way the attention of theSultan was drawn to the precarious state of an institution inwhich he has always taken the greatest interest. Ordershave been issued that Dr. Nicolle shall want for nothing infuture and every possible guarantee has been given to himthat such shall be the case. It is therefore considered thatthe work of the institution will be greatly developed.Feb. 8th.

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BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Government and the Privat-Docents.I THE Government intends to modify the position of the

privat-docents at the universities. Hitherto the practice hasbeen that young men who have already distinguished them-selves by scientific work have to ask their respective facultiesto be admitted as privat.docents. They have to present tothe dean an essay on a special subject (the so-called habili-tations-schrift), and in the event of the faculty deeming them- fist to become members of the teaching staff they areauthorised to lecture. There is nothing exceptional in eithertheir rights or their duties and they are under the jurisdic-tion of the university in cases of ethical misdemeanourwithout any interference on the part of Govern-ment officials. In this way men of the most diverse

political opinions become permanently attached to theuniversities and privat-docents have sometimes been promi-nent in opposition to the Government. Although no incon-venience has arisen from the present state of things theGovernment is now endeavouring to obtain a power of con-trol over the privat-docents. It has been induced to takethis course by the fact that a privat-docent of the Faculty ofPhilosophy in Berlin has proved to be one of the most ferventSocial Democratic leaders in this city. The Governmentendeavoured to remove him but the attempt was foiled bythe firm attitude of the faculty, which rightly believed thatSocial Democratic opinions did not prevent a man from beingan able teacher of mathematics or medicine. Althoughthe privat-doeents are not State officials at all the new

Bill proposes to deal with them as if they were

appointed and paid by the Government. The facultieswill continue to have jurisdiction over them, but thePublic Prosecutor, if not satisfied with the decisions ofthe faculties in cases where complaints have been madeagainst the privat.docents, may appeal to the high court,which decides questions of discipline affecting Stateofficials. In this way the privat-docents will be brought intoa position of dependence on the Government to the greatprejudice of academical liberty. The Bill has thereforemet with general disapproval among university men. Nearlyall the professors of the four faculties of the Berlinuniversities have petitioned Parliament to reject it and therectors of the universities will meet in Berlin to discuss themeasures to be taken under the circumstances, fearing, asthey do, that this act of aggression may be followed byothers which will in course of time have the effect ofdestroying the old - established self - government of theuniversities.

Resignation of Professor Esmare7t.Professor Esmarch, of the University of Kiel, is about to

resign the chair of Surgery, which he has occupied since1857. He is known throughout the world by his treatise onmilitary surgery, which has been translated into nearly everycivilised language, and by his invention of artificial anaemia.He is one of the most experienced military surgeons, havingtaken part in no less than four great wars-in 1848, 1864,1866, and 1870. He began his academical career as privat-docent at the University of Kiel and assistant to the lateProfessors Langenbeck and Stromeyer. As he bad been asurgeon in the Revolutionary army of Schleswig-Holstein in1848 the Government of Denmark, to which Kiel thenbelonged, refused for some time to appoint him professor atthe university, but his nomination was eventually consentedto in 1857.

The Congress of Internal Medicine.This congress will meet this year in Wiesbaden under the

presidency of Dr. Schmidt, the well-known laryngologist ofFrankfort. The principal subjects of discussion will be:Clinical Education, by Professor von Ziemssen, of Munich,and Professor von Jaksch, of Prague; Intestinal Auto-infection and Intestinal Antiseptics, by Professor Miiller, ofMarburg, and Professor Brieger, of Berlin; Treatment ofDiabetes, by Professor Leo, of Bonn; the Bacillus of Syphilisby Dr. van Niessen, of Wiesbaden; Artificial Dilatationthe Stomach, by Dr. Weinhand, of Wiesbaden; ChronilMuscular Affections of the Heart, by Dr. Schott, of NauheimMedical men desiring to become members or to take part inthe proceedings should apply to Dr. Pfeiffer, permanentsecretary to the congress, at Wiesbaden. The congresswill open on April 13th.

The International Oongress of Hygiene and Demography.The German branch committee of this congress, which will

meet in Madrid from April 10th to 17th, has recently beenformed. Besides a great number of hygienists, statisticians,sanitary engineers, &c., the following prominent medical menhave been elected members of the committee: Dr. Pistor, ofthe Royal Prussian Government medical department; Dr.von Coler, general-staff-surgeon of the Army ; ProfessorBaginsky, Professor Giinther; Professor Guttstadt; Dr.Kohler, president of the Imperial Health Office ; ProfessorLassar, Dr. Strassman; and Dr. Wehmer, chief medicalofficer to the Berlin police. All the foregoing are membersof the profession in Berlin. The committee will also include:Dr. von Esmarch, of Konigsberg; Dr. C. Fränkel, ofHalle ; Dr. Loeffler, of Greifswald ; Dr. Wolfihugel, ofGottingen; Dr. Aub, and Dr. Buchner, of Munich; Dr.Gaffky, of Giessen ; Dr. Reineke, chief medical officer tothe town of Hamburg; and many others. The congresswill no doubt be attended by a large number of Germanhygienists and medical men.Feb. 7th.

ROME.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The English-speaking Practitioner in Italy.THE Santini Bill for the exclusion from Italy of all practi-

tioners who do not possess an Italian diploma was on the2nd inst. brought before the Chamber of Deputies in aninterpellation from its promoter, who asked Signor Arcoleo,