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CLAIM FOR MEDICAL FEES.-At the BarryCounty Court Mr. C. Jones of Penarth recently sued a con-tractor of Barry for three guineas for medical attendance.Evidence showed that an accident occurred at some cementworks and the plaintiff sent for Mr. Jones and instructed himto attend the injured man. The defendant denied giving anyinstructions, but his Honour Judge Owen gave judgmentfor the amount claimed with costs.

DR. CHRISTOPHER ADDISON, editor of theQuarterly Medical Journal, informs us that all communica-tions should in future be addressed to ’’ The Editor,7, Leopold-street, Sheffield," and that the journal will in futurebe issued in the months of November, February, May, andAugust, instead of in October, January, April, and July, ashas previously been the case.

ASSAULT UPON A MEDICAL MAN.-At theMerthyr Tydvil Police-court on July 30th a man, aged 30 years,was summoned for assaulting Dr. H. J. Pechell. While in astate of intoxication he entered Dr. Pechell’s surgery for the

purpose of begging and resisted the efforts that were madeto remove him. The magistrates inflicted a fine of El and<costs for the assault and also sent him to prison for 14 daysfor begging.THE INEBRIATES ACT.-At a recent meeting of

the Monmouthshire County Council a discussion occurredupon the question of providing inebriates’ homes and the- case mentioned in THE LANCET of August 5th (p. 344) was-quoted. Eventually it was decided to appoint a committeeof five to consult with the Glamorganshire County Counciland the boroughs of Cardiff and Swansea for the purpose ofappointing a joint committee upon the subject.YARROW CONVALESCENT HOME, BROADSTAIRS.-

’The Yarrow Convalescent Home at Broadstairs was visitedlast week by a party of friends to commemorate the fourthyear of its establishment. It was founded in 1895 for the.accommodation of 100 children whose parents are refined and- educated but who are in reduced circumstances. The insti-tution being fully endowed no subscriptions are asked fornor will they be received. Its usefulness is best indicatedby the fact that since its opening 3490 children have been;admitted, the average stay being about four weeks, and duringthe summer months it has always been full. The trustees,however, are anxious that it should be more generally knownthat the home is eminently adapted for a winter stay. TheLondon office is 73A, Queen Victoria-street, London.

DIPHTHERIA IN LONDON.-In the seventh four-weekly period of the current registration year, that which- ended on July 15th, there was a decided increase in theamount of diphtheria notified in London over that recordedin the like preceding period ended on June 17th. Not onlyso, but the July period was that which has given the highestnumber of cases notified during the present year, the severaltotals from Jan. lst having been 959, 957, 791, 645, 820, 904, .and now 1192. A comparison of this July period withthat of June shows that whereas in June all save one

of the sanitary districts were invaded in July noteven one wholly escaped. The weekly average of226 cases in June was replaced by one of 298 in

July. Then, again, in June only three districts had

upwards of 50 cases each, with an aggregate of 208,but in July there were nine such districts andtheir combined cases made a total of 644. No fewerthan eight of these districts are in the southern group ofsanitary areas. Other nine districts had only 24 cases in.all. Yet other five had between 30 and 50 each and a grandtotal of 196, leaving 20 districts with 328 cases amongstthem, or an average of 16 each. Of the 43 sanitary areas the15 in the southern group contributed 675 cases, or 45 each asan average. The registered deaths in the June period hadnumbered 110, or 28 per week, against 150 as the corrected.average of the corresponding periods of the ten years1889-98 ; and the case mortality yielded had been 12-17 percent. In July the several weeks showed respectively 28 deaths(nine below the corrected decennial average for the correspond-ing week of 1889-98), 25 (12 below the average), 31 (eightbelow the average), and 37 (three below the average), and thetotal was 123, a weekly average of 31, as compared with 153,the sum of the corrected decennial averages. The casemortality yielded was only 10’3 per cent. In the OuterCircle in the June period there were 45 deaths, of which 22

belonged to West Ham registration district. In July thesame circle contributed 50 deaths from diphtheria and WestHam district claimed 27 of these. In that region diphtheriahas apparently become endemic.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.-El Progreso M&eacute;dico ofHavana, a monthly journal which ceased to appear for sometime owing to the disturbed state of Cuba, has just recom-menced under the editorship of Dr. Gabriel Oasuso. One ofthe articles is a notice of Dr. Rafael Cowley y Odero, a well.known physician and medical journalist who fell during therecent campaign. Another article on Elephantiasis of theUpper Limb is accompanied by a striking illustration of anegro whose right hand is affected by the disease inquestion.NATIONAL VETERINARY ASSOCIATION. - The

annual meeting of this association was held at Plymouth onAugust 2nd and 3rd under the presidency of Mr. W. H.Blaye, F.R.C.V.S., of Plymouth. The President in thecourse of an interesting address urged the importance of aveterinary officer for the inspection of meat and added thatthey had it on the authority of a commission that plumbers,carpenters, printers, bricklayers, and tram-conductors consti.tuted the majority of present-day inspectors of meat. Mr. JohnDunstan read a paper on Tuberculosis and its Prevention inCattle and suggested voluntary and legislative methods of

dealing with the disease. Mr. Mathew Hedley of Dublin waselected President for next year and it was decided to holdthe meeting in Dublin. There was a reception at the Guild-hall, the invitations being issued by the mayor. The annualdinner of the association took place on August 3rd.

KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON.-In the Faculty ofMedicine the following prizes, &c., have been awarded :-Recommended for the Associateship: Matthew Louis Hughes.Sambrooke Exhibition: Albert Angelo Myers and HaroldBenjamin Day. Medical Entrance Exhibition: CharlesHarrison Barber and Herbert Sydney Flook, B.A. Warne-ford Scholarship: Thomas Henry Jones, John James, andEardley Lancelot Holland. Senior Scholarship: Not awarded.Second Year Scholarship : Matthew Robert Cecil MacWatters.Junior Scholarships : Harold Benjamin Day and AlbertAngelo Myers. Tanner Prize : William Henville Lowman.Todd Prize : Frederick Burroughs Jefferiss. Hygiene Prize,Pathological Anatomy Prize, Obstetric Medicine Prize, andMedicine Prize : Arthur Edmunds. Surgery Prize andClinical Surgery Prize: William Henville Lowman. Pro-fessor Rose’s Surgery Prize: Victor Richard F. Kroenig.Anatomy Prize: Edward Augustine Bell. Physiology Prize:John Alexander Drake. Chemistry Prize: Matthew Robert C.MacWatters and William Wellesley Campbell. MateriaMedica Prize : Matthew Robert C. MacWatters.

Parliamentary Intelligence.NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

Vaccination Prosecutionsv accination Prosecutions

Mr. PICKERSGILL has notified that during the next session of Parlia-ment he will introduce a Bill to declare that no prosecution under theVaccination Acts can be commenced by the vaccination officer withoutthe consent of the hoard of guardians.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3RD.

Companies and Medical Practice.Ox the occasion of the third reading of the Companies Bill the LORD

CHANCELLOR explained that the Select Committee which had been con-sidering the Bill had inserted in it clauses with reference to medicalpractice and the practice of pharmaceutical chemists. The effect ofthese clauses, his lordship said, was to provide that a company couldnot be formed to do that which a private individual was not permittedto do without examination and qualification. It is understood that theDill will be proceeded with next session.

H O U S E OF COMMONS.

TnURSDAY, AUGUST 3ltD.

Rabies.Mr. WHITMORE asked the President of the Board of Agriculture

what progress had been made with the extirpation of rabies in EnglaT!dsince his last statement.; and whether he could now say when it wouldbe practicable and expedient to revoke the muzzling orders which were

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still in force.-Mr. LONG replied : Perhaps I may be allowed to give the a

number of cases of rabies which are known to have occurred in Great 1Britain since 1896. the year prior to the commencement of our opera-tions against the disease. In that year 438 cases were confirmed ; in 1897,151 cases ; in 1898 17 cases ; and during the present yea)’, so far as it hasgone, only one case has been confirmed. With regard to the revocation of the muzzling orders we have now made arrangements for obtaining the same security against the introduction of the disease from Ireland las exists in the case of foreign countries and so soon as these arrange- ments are in effective operation I hope to be in a position to withdrawthe orders from the Midland and West Riding areas, to be followed atno distant date by the revocation of those in force in Lancashire andthe metropolitan area, if no further cases occur.

Tuberculosis. ’

Mr. CHANNING asked the President of the Board of Agriculturewhether he now proposed to take any steps to give effect to the recom-mendations of the Commission on Tuberculosis as regards what theCommission held to be the most important part of the inquiry, the elimination of the disease by the provision of guaranteed tuberculin, and the services of qualified veterinary surgeons gratuitously or

otherwise ; and whether, in any case, the Board of Agriculture wouldprepare and distribute a clear and concise statement of the methodof elimination which was recommended by the Commission andof the results of the adoption of this method in Denmark andother countries, and on certain estates in the United Kingdom.-Mr. LONG: Since the hon. Member last called my attention to therecommendations of the Commission on Tuberculosis nothing hasoccurred which would suggest that there is any general desire on the ’part of agriculturists that the Government should gratuitously provide 1

tuberculin and the services of a veterinary surgeon for the purpose of enabling stockowners to test their animals for tuberculosis, and in thesecircumstances I could not fairly ask the Treasury to supply funds for the purpose. With regard to the issue of literature on the subject Imay remind the hon. Member that the Royal Agricultural Society recently gave extensive circulation to a very concise and practicalleaflet, but I propose during the recess to bring up to date our in- formation as to the methods of dealing with the disease and the resultsobtained in Denmark and other countries, so as to enable me todetermine whether we can usefully supplement the particulars alreadyin the possession of agriculturists on the subject.

The Operation of the New Vaccination tct.

Sir WALTER FOSTER asked the President of the Local GovernmentBoard if he could state the amount of vaccination which had been per-formed during the first six months of this year under the provisionsof the Vaccination Act of last year as compared with the amount of vac-cination which was performed during the first six months of last year.-Mr. CHAPLIN: The returns which I have obtained up till now show thatthe total number of certificates of successful primary vaccinationreceived by the vaccination officers during the first six months of thepresent year was 353,992 as against 277,821 in the first six months of1898-that is to say, there has been an increase of upwards of76,000 primary vaccinations or of more than 27 per cent. in thefirst six months of the present year as compared with the correspond-ing period of 1898. I think it is right that I should add that theseresults have been obtained in the first six months of the Act notwith-standing the difficulty of giving effect to an entire change of methodthroughout the country from stational to domiciliary vaccination andalso in spite of the fact that in numerous cases there was very con-siderable delay in the fixing of fees and in the appointment of officersand that in some cases, such as Leicester for instance, the necessaryappointments are not even made yet.

The Treatment of Criminal Lunatics.Mr. ARTHUR O’CONNOR asked the Home Secretary if he had yet had

an opportunity of considering the representations of the LunacyCommissioners with regard to the increasing numbers of criminallunatics in county and borough asylums, and to the hardship whichthe practice inflicts upon the ordinary patients, and the indisciplineand danger which it involves ; whether Broadmoor was fully occupied ;and whether further accommodation could be furnished so as to enablecriminal lunatics to be treated elsewhere than in ordinary asylums.-Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY: The question of providing additionalaccommodation for criminal lunatics is engaging my serious attention,and inquiries are now in progress with a view to obtaining a site for thebuilding of a new criminal lunatic asylum. I propose in the course ofthe autumn to make the necessary application to the Treasury. Themale accommodation at Broadmoor is fully occupied, but there arestill vacancies for females at that establishment. It is intended thataccommodation in the new asylum shall be provided both for maleconvicts becoming insane as well as the other more serious cases ofcriminal lunatics, but of course it will in no case be possible to relievealtogether county and borough asylums from their statutory obligationto receive criminal lunatics.

MONDAY, AUGUST 7TH.

Disease among Soldiers in India.

Mr. PIRIE asked the Secretary of State for India if he was aware ofthe unreliability of the stated ages of British soldiers and that in arecent experiment as to verification of their ages accurate informationcould only be obtained in about 50 per cent. of cases ; whether, in viewof the increasing prevalence of enteric fever in India, as well as tothe prevalence of other terrible diseases among our troops in India,he would take steps on behalf of the Indian Government that theregulations as to the age of 20 years, under which no British soldier wassupposed to be sent to India, should be strictly observed ; and whetherhe would in future require that every British soldier accepted forservice in India by the Indian Government should produce conclusiveproof, by birth certificate or otherwise, that he was of the actual agestated on his attestation papers and thus diminish the excess of fatalityexisting at present from the exposure of immature men to the ravagesof those diseases.-Mr. GEORGE WYNDHAM, Under Secretary of Statefor War, replied: Every care is taken to observe the rule that no

soldier less than 20 years old shall be sent to India. No soldier is

allowed to embark unless after medical examination lie is declared fitto serve in that country.

The Leicester Board of Guardians.On the second reading of the Appropriation Bill Mr. HENRY BROAD-

HURST said that he desired to take the opportunity of making a lastappeal to the President of the Local Government Board to suspend theproceedings against the Leicester Board of Guardians. He assuredthe right hon. gentleman that the guardians had been electedto prevent all forms of public vaccination and that if theywere to appoint a vaccination officer he would have nothing todo except to draw his salary. If the right hon. gentleman carried hispolicy to the bitter end, he would have to accommodate in prison 45guardians, six of whom were ladies, and if other guardians were

elected to take their place, they would act in the same way as theirpredecessors, and in course of time the whole population of Leicesterwould be requiring prison accommodation.-Mr. HAZELTj, supportingthe appeal, said that he was not there to defend the guardians, but hewarned the President of the Local Government Board that if he per-sisted in his present course he would bring disaster to the cause he hadat heart-namely, the extension of vaccination.-Mr. CHAPLIN saidthat it was impossible for him to stay proceedings, because the matterhad passed out of his hands. He understood that the guardians hadnot yet agreed to obey the order of the High Court. This wasa matter with which he had nothing to do and which must bedecided between the High Court and the guardians. The

question at issue was not the question of compulsory vaccination,because that question had been decided last year. The issue was thatthe guardians by refusing to appoint the necessary officers were doingtheir best to prevent facilities being given to those who desired vaccina-tion. Leicester as a matter of fact was the only locality which hadrefused to apply the law, and although there might be no small-pox thereat present an outbreak might very well occur there as at Gloucester.It certainly was far from being the case that nobody in Leicester desiredvaccination. In the first six months of 1898 the vaccinations in Leicester-shire, in which the town was included, were 234, but in the first sixmonths of the present year they were 1977. The plain fact was that theLeicester Guardians had deliberately set themselves in defiance of thelaw and in doing this they were impeding and preventing people whodesired vaccination from availing themselves of it.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8TH.The Contagious Diseases Act in Cape Colony.

Mr. HENRY J. WILSON asked the Secretary of State for the Colonieswhether he was aware that girls of 12 and 14 years of age had under-gone examination several times in Capetown under the ContagiousDiseases Acts; whether he could state under what Act of the CapeLegislature such examinations could be enforced in regard to girls ofthese ages ; whether a magistrate suggested that criminal prosecutionsshould be instituted against persons who would pass such children;and under what Act, if any, such criminal prosecutions could be insti-tuted.-Mr. CHAMBERLAIN replied: The hon. Member has called myattention to a report in a Cape newspaper of a case in which two girlsof the ages of 12 and 14 years were charged with soliciting, and it wasstated that they had been several times examined at the Lock Hospital.The magistrate is reported to have made the remark quoted in thequestion. The Contagious Diseases Prevention Act of the Cape Colony(No. 39 of 1885) does not specify any limit of age for persons to beexamined. I do not know whether any such prosecution as the magi-strate suggested could be instituted.

The Vaccination Question.Mr. LABOUCHERE asked the President of the Local Government Board

whether he had received complaints from public vaccinators withreference to the effect of the glycerinated calf lymph supplied from thelaboratory of the Local Government Board and what action he pro-posed to take in the matter; whether his attention had beencalled to the decision of the magistrates in Derby who haddismissed summonses against defaulters under the VaccinationAct in consequence of the prosecutions not having been sanctionedby the guardians; and whether, under these circumstances, hewould reconsider his position in respect of the powers of vaccina-tion officers to institute proceedings without this sanction.-Mr. T. W.RUSSELL replied: The Local Government Board have received manystatements as to the satisfactory results of the glycerinated calf lymphissued by them, but during the present hot weather there have beensome communications as to want of uniformity in the results obtained.There is reason to believe that this want of uniformity is largely due tosome change which the lymph has recently undergone owing to thegreat variation between the temperature at which it is kept in thelaboratory and that to which it is exposed after issue. The occurrence,which is believed to be temporary only, is receiving very careful in-vestigation with a view to its prevention. My right hon. friend’sattention has been called to the decision of the Derby magistratesreferred to in the second paragraph. The magistrates do not seem tohave had before them the circular issued by the Board to the guardians,in which it was explained that the power and the duty of taking suchproceedings are vested in the vaccination officer under the VaccinationActs passed prior to the Act of 1898 without any order of the Board ordirection from the guardians, and they appear to have given theirdecision under a misapprehension. There is no reason for reconsideringthe position in respect of the powers of vaccination officers to instituteproceedings.

Sir WALTER FOSTER asked the President of the Local GovernmentBoard (1) whether his department had been able regularly to meet thedemand for glycerinated calf lymph during the past half-year ;(2) whether the demand had increased from month to month ;(3) whether the public vaceinators had been satisfied with the efficacyof the lymph supplied; and (4) whether he was likely at an early dateto be able to supply the lymph for the use of private practitioners.-Mr. T. W. RUSSELL : The reply to the first paragraph is in the affirma-tive. It was originally estimated that a supply of 1000 tubes of lymphwould meet the requirements of public vaccinators, but the demandsteadily increased until in one week it reached 2287 a day. During thelast two months the issue has averaged 1790 a day. I have replied tothe third paragraph in the answer I have given to the question put tome by the hon. Member for Northampton. I cannot at present makeany promise as to the supply of the lymph for the use of private

practitioners.