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Sir George M. Humphry. The toast was replied to by ’,the President. " The Kindred Societies " was; given by Mr.Edmund Owen in facetious and eloquent terms, and thePresidents of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical, Patho-

logical, and Clinical Societies-Dr. Dickinson, Dr. Buzzard,and Mr. Butlin-replied. The toast of " The President" was

proposed by Sir William Broadbent, who drew attention tothe arduous labours of Mr. Thornton, mentioning that he wasone of the first to adopt the antiseptic treatment, and that hehad met with signal success as an ovariotomist and in otherforms of abdominal surgery. Mr. Thornton on rising wasmost warmly received. He said that he was sorry to haveto apologise for not being present at some of the meetings,but that severe illness was his excuse, and he was sure from

the sympathetic attitude of his audience that it had forgivenhim his involuntary absence. He cordially thanked the

society for its kindness in receiving the toast of his

health, and also thanked those who had so ably filled thechair whilst he was away. The health of the HonoraryTreasurer was enthusiastically received. In his reply Mr.Cripps Lawrence said that he was retiring at the end of theyear after three years’ service. The toast of "The Secre-

taries," replied to by Dr. Cagney and Dr. Cock, brought theevening to a close. An excellent selection of music bymembers and their friends added greatly to the enjoyment ofthe meeting. Songs were given by Mr. G, Tate, Mr. Staples(violin obbligato Mr. Roughton), Mr. Sidney Cole, and byMr. Mervyn Dene, who also kindly accompanied.

MEDICAL TREASURE-TROVE IN SWITZERLAND.

OUR knowledge of the medico-military organisation of Iancient Rome owes not a few of its most distinctive details toSwitzerland. Windisch, for Example, the Vindonissa of

antiquity, has proved to the Swiss archaeologist a real mineof surgical treasure-trove, lying as it does at the junction ofthe Aare and the Reuss and commanding on the one side thetwo Italian h:ghways (from the Great St. Bernard and fromComo) and on the other the communications with the Rhineand Danube. Here was found the celebrated monument

with inscription to Tiberius Claudius Hymnus, surgeon ofthe Twenty-first Legion. Here, too, has been unearthed

quite an armamentari1l’1n chi9’urg’[cu1n in the shape of medi-cine chests, instrument cases, with pincers, scalpels,needles, catheters, and such-like in fine preservation. Dr.

Conrad Brunner of Zürich has based on these discoveries a

highly interesting monograph entitled "Die Spuren derRomischen Aerzte auf dem Boden der Schweiz," and theenthusiasm he has awakened in the medical branch of

archseological research bids fair to fructify in even more

precious discoveries. Not many days ago there was dis-

interred at Baden-im-Aargau, not far from Windisch, a

Roman house containing fourteen apartments, varyingin size, and with walls painted with designs of the

highest interest for the classical scholar. When ex-

posed to the light of day there appeared about thestructure a number of jib7Ûae and vases and in the apart-ments themselves such a quantity of surgical instrumentsas to favour the conclusion that the house was neithermore nor less than a hospital. This is in many respects anovelty in medical archaeology. We have very clear notionsas to what the valetudinaria or infirmaries for slaves on

, patrician estates were like ; but a building for the woundedor ailing Roman soldier presents points of interest, as

hitherto no such buildings have been found in their

integrity. Moreover, when we add that never either inSwitzerland or in any other scene of Roman military occupa-tion has there been found so large an assortment of

surgical instruments as in this newly discovered hospitalnear Baden we have said enough to awaken scholarly andprofessional curiosity in the spot and to lend additional

ittraction to the picturesque "Kurort," known since the-first century A.D. on the banks of the Limmat.

THE HEALTH OF SIR WILLIAM MAC CORMAC.

SIR WILLIAM MAC CORM AC during the past week hasmade further satisfactory progress. He is now able to be

up several hours daily and is steadily gaining strength. The.

empyema cavity which was opened three weeks ago hascontracted to quite small dimensions, and during the lastfew days there has been scarcely any discharge from it.

WE understand that Dr. Thorne Thorne, C.B., and,Dr. S. Monckton Copeman, of the Medical Department of-

the Local Government Board, are engaged in visiting certaincities on the continent of Europe to ascertain the resultsobtained in vaccinations by the aid of calf lymph preparedin glycerine. -

ALTHOUGH the result of the election of direct repre-sentatives in the General Medical Council has not yet beenannounced, we are able to say that the names of the success-ful candidates in order are Dr. Rentoul, Mr. Brown, andDr. Glover.

___

DR. BERNARD O’CoNNOB of Lincoln’s-inn, a graduate inmedicine of the Royal University of Ireland and a prac-

tising barrister, is a candidate for the vacant coronership inEssex.

Pharmacology and Therapeutics.LOCAL APPLICATION OF SALICYLATE OF METHYL IN

RHEUMATISM.

DR. LANNOIS and Dr. Linossier have shown by experi-ments that salicylate of methyl is easily absorbed by thehealthy skin and is readily found in the urine and aecesafter a local application has been made. These results,suggested the use of external applications instead of internalones. They, moreover, found that volatile bodies, andespecially those which, in spite of a high boiling point,possessed a certain vapour-tension at the ordinary tempera-ture, were capable of being absorbed by the healthy skm ingreater quantities than the usual therapeutic doses. In thecase of guaiacol and salicylate of methyl the power ofabsorption was found to be regulated by invariable laws andso allowed as precise a dose to be given as could be throughthe alimentary canal. The medicine should be applied tothe joint on gutta-percha, which is to be covered up with,cotton-wool and bandages. It is important that thisdressing should be impermeable, otherwise the vapours willdiffuse into the atmosphere and will not have the same

tendency to pass through the skin. These observations werebased on twenty-four cases, full notes of which are given.Four of these were cases of acute rheumatism, eleven sub-acute, seven chronic, and two of the gonorrhaeal type. Somesuccess was also obtained by this method in several.cases of neuralgia and other peripheral pains. Pain is saidto be usually relieved about six hours after the application.Dr. Lannois and Dr. Linossier have also shown that theelimination by the urine commences about half-an-hour afterapplication, attains its maximum between the sixth and,seventh hour, and that 80 per cent of the total amount which.is eliminated is contained in the urine passed during thefirst twenty-four hours.

THERAPEUTIC NOTES ON THE USE OF EBGOT.

Ergot is most familiar to us in conuesion with uterine dis--turbances, but it may often be useful!y employed in otherclasses of cases. One of its principal effects is to causecontraction of the small arterioles, and on this account ithas been recommended in cases of haemoptysis, bsmatemesis,and other hemorrhages. Opinions difter a good deal as to itsefficacy in these conditions, and it is always difficultto decide whether the arrest of the haemorrhage was

post or pfJ’opter, but nevertheless it is a drug that may be

1704

’tried. Various neuralgic pains are said to sometimes yieldto ergot and it certainly does good in some cases of

migraine. In one case great relief was obtained afterbromides and all the other drtigs usually given in this

malady had been tried. In this case the patient had sufferedfor years, and although the administration of ergot did notactually prevent attacks it so far mitigated them as toallow the man to continue his work (which was thatof a gardener).

PREPARATION OF PILLS OF IODIDE OF POTASSIUM.

M. Dnyk proposes a method of preparing pills of iodide ofpotassium which consists essentially in avoiding all aqueous’excipients. which always favour deliquescence of the pills.The excipients which he uses are the powder of benzoin orolibanum and alcohol. To ten parts of finely divided iodideof potassium he adds three parts of powder of benzoin or

olibanum, and then, with the aid of a few drops of alcohol,reduce the mass to the form of pills. These pills quicklyharden, but at the same time they preserve their property ofdissolving quickly in the gastric contents. They keep’’unchanged for several months, even though exposed to amoist atmosphere. After some weeks they generally acquirea thin brownish pellicle which does not give the reactions offree iodine.

THE ANTISEPTIC VALUE OF IODOFORM.

This question has been re-investigated by Lomry, who hassucceeded in explaining the different results obtained by’bacteriological experiment and surgical experience. Heconfined his investigations to the pyogenic strepto- andstaphylo-cocci, because it is concerning these that the realdifferences exist. With infected wounds in dogs, as inhumanbeings, he found that iodoform aided the healing process.In vztro the growth of cultures was markedly diminished bythe addition of iodoform to the nutrient medium. Thenegative results of previous observers are due to their

employing culture media in which iodoform is insoluble ; ifvarious kinds of serum in which iodoform is slightly solubleare used the effect is very appreciable and explains the.action in suppurating wounds. By further experiment it wasalso shown that the virulence of the micro-organisms isdiminished and their toxines partly neutralised by iodoform,and so far from injuring leucocytes iodoform actuallystimulates phagocytosis. But since it is not bactericidal,ordinary aseptic precautions should not be neglected andclean iodoform should be used, and iodoform dressings,,xenewed daily, so that leucocytes which have done theirwork may not remain as food for surviving microbes.

ON THE PLAN OF CONSTRUCTION OFHOSPITALS AND INFIRMARIES.

WE have received the following very interesting communi-cation from a correspondent who is really able to speakauthoritatively concerning the points which he advances

rtentatively and upon which he seeks a definite pronounce-ment. He thinks that the fashionable pavilion system ofhospital construction is wrong. That such a definite pro-nouncement would be desirable at this moment is undoabted.

Infirmaries, large and small, are constantly being built

throughout the country. There is one in process of construc-tion at Birmingham, and at Manchester the erection of twolarge new infirmaries is now much talked of-the rebuildingof the Royal Infirmary and of St. Mary’s Hospital. If the: statements made below are sound the question of planof construction must evidently be one of very great im-portance to the boards of management of these institutionsas well as to others in large towns, where the difficulty ofobtaining space is so great on account of the expenseinvolved. Those of our readers who know Manchester mustbe aware of the commanding situation of the Royal Infirmaryin that city- one of the finest sites in the kingdom. If the

necessary extension of the building can only be obtained byegpansion on the pavilion system the fine open space so muchprized by the inhabitants must to a great extent be destroyed.

1 Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie, vol. liii., p. 787.

But if two pavilions may be fused together into one block,and the building be carried upward the difficulty, which atthe present time is causing much concern to the public atManchester, could be obviated.

"During the summer," he writes, "a discussion of thegreatest importance to those interested in the plan of con-struction of hospitals and infirmaries appeared in our con-temporary, The Builder, and, as one of the writers said,’ there is no architect cognisant of the difficulties attendanton hospital construction who does not desire to know, first,what are the demands of medical science, and secondly, bystudy, to comply with them as far as possible. This issurely a doctor’s question.’ For thirty years or more medicalmen have demanded that wards should be constructed onwhat is known as the ’pavilion’ system, and everywhere,throughout the length and breadth of the land, almost everynew hospital has been erected in accordance with thisdemand. This was largely due to the septic infection whichcarried off so many of our countrymen iia the crowded hutsof the battlefields of the Crimea and to the statisticsadduced by the late Sir J. Y. Simpson in his work on’ Hospitalism.’ Simpson’s statistics have been, we think,refuted by Mr. Timothy Holmes, inasmuch as he showedthat the cases admitted into large infirmaries are often of adesperate character, while those in country infirmaries andthose operated on by private practitioners are for the mostpart of a trivial character. Mr. Holmes also showed con-clusively that the death-rate of a hospital gives no adequateindex of its healthiness, but that many other factors have tobe taken into consideration. The pavilion plan, in short, cameinto vogue probably on entirely insufficient grounds, and thequestion now is, Is it necessary that it should be continued? 2The ratio2iale of the pavilion system consisted in the freeventilation of all parts of the ward by the opening of thewindows in order that there might be no accumulation ofseptic material on the walls or furniture of the wards. Butthe introduction of antisepticism into surgical practice andthe adoption of mechanical methods of warming andventilating our wards have completely revolutionised theconditions under which both medical and surgical practiceare now carried on, so that it may appear to many that adefinite pronouncement as to whether the pavilion system isrequired under the changed conditions is now called for.On theoretical grounds the argument that block-wardsmay be in all respects as healthy as those on the pavilionsystem seems indisputable ; but the writer has made it hisbusiness to inquire from those actually practising in theformer whether they consider them less healthy than thelatter. One correspondent from St. Bartholomew’s Hospitalstates that he is quite sure that the feeling of the staffwould be that the block wards are not in any degree lesshealthy than the newer pavilion ones. This opinion wouldbe founded on the fact that the results obtained are as goodas any that are ever published from any other hospital.’Another correspondent from Guy’s Hospital states that’the newer parts of the hospital are built on the block

system with a central spine and four rows of beds.

They are occupied by the medical cases, but occa-

sionally surgical cases are temporarily transferred tothem....... We have never had anything going wrongwith our surgical cases in these wards....... 1 do notthink that there can be any serious objection to the " spine"

"

system if space is limited. I should choose the pavilionsystem if there were any choice. But I do not think that ourexperience at Guy’s shows any evidence against the doublepavilion system.’ A correspondent who some years ago hadmedical control over more than 1000 patients in a provincialworkhouse infirmary states that all the beds were placed inblock wards, and except on account of the dangers of openwindow ventilation there never was any question as to theirhealthiness. Mr. Timothy Holmes, who with the late Dr.Bristowe was appointed a commissioner by Government toreport on the hospitals and infirmaries of the United Kingdom,states in reply to my letter that’ he would dissuade fromthe great expense which would be incurred by adopting thepavilion system-the waste of ground, the ugliness of theresulting structure, and the expense of administration.’An eminent architect has also been consulted, who is anacknowledged expert on hospital construction. He says thatthough accustomed by the prevalent fashion to the pavilionsystem he could detect no flaw in the argument for the blockplan. As regards the method of ventilation, on which thewhole question turns, it is not proposed at present to speak in