54

Roux of the Pasteur Institute was much impressed by thiscontrivance and said it was the best thing of the sort hehad seen. In the corking of the bottles, as in every otherdetail, everything is, as already stated, done by machinery,the alcohol is never in contact with anything that has beentouched by the hands of the workers.

Finally, there is an exact reproduction of a Russian depotfor the retail sale of brandy, or vodki as it is called. It con-sists of a counter well protected with strong wire so thatno one can reach over towards the bottles which are onshelves behind. In front there is only a little standing roomfor the customers, there are no glasses, and no one is allowedto drink on the premises. The attendants are employed bythe Government, they receive fixed salaries, they are in nowise interested in pushing the sale, and they are forbiddento give credit. One of the great objects was toabolish the village taverns or dramshops which havebeen the ruin of so many peasants. On the otherhand, the utility of the tavern as a place of social intercoursecould not be denied, consequently out of the profits made bythe monopoly of the sale of alcohol no less than 826,000subsidies, amounting to 1,500,000 roubles, were granted totemperance committees in 1897. The mission of these com-mittees is to create establishments where all the advantagesof social intercourse can be enjoyed without the necessity ofdrinking alcohol. Therefore they establish cheap restaurants,reading-rooms, libraries, and halls for popular lectures,concerts, &c., and this they are now able to do out of theprofits from the sale of alcoholic liquors. But though thelow-class taprooms or public-houses have been abolishedstill inns and restaurants are necessary. Therefore the

retailing of alcohol to be drunk on the premises is sanctionedat railway stations, in hotels, high-road inns, and suchplaces, but this is done in such a manner that inn-

keepers have no interest in pushing the sale ofalcohol. They only receive a commission of 10 per cent.on the vodki they sell. If a higher commission is given itis because they have a long way to go to the nearest Statedepot. But it will be said that the innkeepers could refillthe bottles with some spurious alcohol brought from anillicit distillery. To meet this, the sale of vodki on draughtis absolutely prohibited. Every purchaser must have anentire bottle, so bottles that only hold enough for one

drink are provided. These contain six centilitres of vodki,and the retail price in Russia of these bottles is equal toabout seven farthings of English money. On the bottle alabel indicates the quantity and the alcoholic strength of thevodki. The cork is sealed with the Imperial arms. The

price at which it is to be retailed is also stated so that the

innkeepers cannot in any way increase the profit he is tomake. Apart also from these printed statements the colourof the wax indicates the strength and value of the con-tents of the bottle. Deception is not practicable andif it were practicable the penalty is 15 years in Siberia.The State takes back the empty bottles if they retaintheir labels and the number of the factory. The Statealone has the right to fill the bottles and the Imperialseal is the guarantee of the purity of their contents. As the

profit on the sale of alcohol is only about 10 per cent. no oneis particularly interested in pushing the trade, and thereforethere is no attempt to increase the demand. Also it is

strictly a ready-money trade, so that drunkards cannot getinto debt with the publican. Nevertheless, but for the smallbottles some form of fraud might still be possible. If a

publican can draw the cork from a bottle and pour out onlya part of its contents there is no knowing with what he mayrefill the bottle. The Russian innkeeper, however, must servean entire bottle to his customer ; the consumer alone has theright to break the seal, and to serve a bottle with a brokenseal is a penal offence. This rule can be easily observed, asthere are bottles small enough to contain sufficient for onedrink only.The results of this great reform have been beneficent,

financially and morally. The State sells a litre of alcohol for3 francs 92 centimes. The cost of production, including exciseduty, indemnities to towns which by the abolishing of thelicensing system have lost a source of income, &c., amountsto 3’26 centimes. No indemnity whatsoever was paid to thedramshop keepers. Many of them were very rich and inany case had done harm enough to debar themselves fromany claim for compensation. In 1897 the 66 centimes ofnet profit per litre of alcohol brought in a revenue of47,000,000 francs. But what is even more advantageous,districts that were ten years in arrears in the payment

! of direct taxation are now clear and are paying regu-larly all their taxes. The Emperor Alexander III. indiscussing this scheme had said that any reduction

, of indirect revenue due to the taxing of alcoholi would be compensated by an increase in direct taxation

arising from the greater prosperity of the people. Thisanticipation has been realised. Drunkenness has been very

. greatly reduced, there are less crime and debauchery, andj there is a consequent distinct improvement in public health.1 The deposits made in the savings-banks have increased in a

marked manner, and this improvement would have beenl even more emphatic but for the very serious famines thatr have prevailed in different parts of Russia.

To sum up, the position stands thus. The retailer makesi less profit out of the sale of alcohol than he does out of any-. thing else which he may have to sell ; therefore he is not at all! desirous to induce his customers to drink, he would much

prefer to sell them food, coffee, or tea. Then as the alcohol is absolutely pure it is not so injurious to the consumer. As

all the low-class dramshops are abolished the peasantry are) no longer induced to run into debt for the sake of drink;

but, on the other hand, the temperance committees receive. funds from the State which enable them to provide rational; enjoyment for the peasantry. The results are a notable

decrease in drunkenness and crime and a corresponding, increase in public revenue by the more regular payment of, direct taxation and in private prosperity, as indicated by the

increase of deposits made in the savings-banks.! Now, without going all the way to Russia to study the. details, technical processes, administrative complications,

&c., of this great and radical reform, the entire subject canbe thoroughly investigated here in Paris and within a few

. yards of the Eiffel Tower. This, indeed, is a unique oppor-

. tunity. All those who devote so much time to studying anddiscussing the great question of temperance reform, theprevention of the diseases due to alcoholism, &c., have nowwithin easy reach a practical, complete, technical, and

: general example and illustration of one of the boldest, themost far-reaching and systematic efforts that any modernEuropean Government has ever ventured to make when seek-

; ing to grapple with this terrible and menacing problem.Paris, July 1st.

PLAGUE IN AUSTRALIA.

(FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

THE returns of plague at Sydney for the week endingMay 19th are as follows: remaining at the beginning ofthe week, 86; admitted, 23; discharged, 0; died, nine;remaining at the end of the week, 100. The totals up to theend of the week are as follows : cases, 239 ; deaths, 82 ;recovered, 57; "contacts," 1351; "contacts" remaining,140 ; cases among " contacts," seven.The second series of inoculations, begun last week, pro-

ceeds slowly though steadily. An average number for eachof the past nine days is 200. No excitement and compara-tively little interest in it are manifested. Two factors, how-ever, have to be considered besides the great abatement inthe panic with which the public were stricken at the date ofthe former inoculations. The present series has been carefullyorganised and steps have been taken to secure inoculation ofthe remaining workers in, and inhabitants of, the first

infected.area, a considerable proportion of whom were inocu-lated on the earlier occasion. Candidates now have to applyfor tickets, which are dated for some day later thanthat of application, and they must present themselves onthat day or procure a fresh ticket. Business firms maymake application for their employes by letter and receive bypost tickets dated for different days, so as not unduly tointerrupt business. Government departments may followthe same course or, if they choose to provide themselveswith a medical man, may be supplied with enough prophy-lactic to inoculate all of the staff who desire it. Ticketsare allocated to days in limited numbers ; half of the numberare distributed by post as just mentioned, the other half arereserved for applicants in person. Tickets are distributed topersons and by post every morning; inoculations are per-formed every afternoon. Two afternoons a week are reservedfor women and children. The city townhall furnishes a

place ; the staff consists of two medical men, two preparators(medical students), and two clerks.

55

The number of persons in whom plague has developedafter inoculation has been 11. One was attacked on

the day of inoculation, one each on the first, second,and third days therefrom, three on the fourth day. andone each on the fifth, seventh, fourteenth, and thirty-second days. All of these recovered, and most ofthem had conspicuously light attacks. One other patientwho died said that he had been inoculated, but hisname did not appear in the lists; his family knew nothingof it, but a fellow clerk said that he thought he hadbeen inoculated, because though he never told himso directly, he had expressed an intention of submit-

ting himself, did take leave one ’afternoon, and fortwo or three days thereafter complained of his arm. Theinformant seemed certain that he had been inoculated. Noreason for this secrecy coming to light, it seemed possiblethat he gave a false name to the registering clerk.

Of the total deaths mentioned above 27 have occurredbefore removal to isolation ; eight occurred at one or otherof the general hospitals where their cases were identified,though they had either already died before official in-

spection or were too ill for removal; and 19 diedat their residences. Sometimes the cause of deathin these cases was uncertified and the cases were

brought to notice by a coroner; sometimes the patientwas seen alive by a member of the medical staff but diedsoon afterwards ; sometimes very acute cases were reportedby medical men but died before they could be examined ; andoccasionally the unexpected occurrence of death first gavethe medical attendant reason to think of plague and causedhim to refer the case to the medical staff. In five of the 27cases the date of attack could not be ascertained ; theremainder died on days after attack from the first to the

eighth as follows : 1, 3, 7, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. In all cases of pre-decease the diagnosis was made by post-mortem and bacterio-logical examination.

Chinese have now been attacked in eight instances;seven of the patients have died. The dates of discoverywere April 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 26th, and May 8tb,9th, 15th, and 17th. Possibly the latter dates offer ahint of tendency in the disease to take hold of theseAsiatics. At all events, special search-parties have beenorganised by the Department of Public Health and nextweek they will go through the three small Chinese quarterswhich exist in Sydney. In all the cases there is

strong reason to believe that the patient had beenremoved from some better or more populous residence to the unimportant place in which he was found. In one suchcase the sufferer was found in a room attached to a mission

chapel where no one lived ; another patient assertedthat he had been tramping over the country in search ofwork and had arrived in Sydney by train from a remotestation the day he fell ill and was discovered-a storywhich his appearance belied and which was easily shown tobe false by the police and by the guards of the only trains bywhich he could have travelled. Especial care was taken toprocure substantial evidence of the facts, although it is

apparent that a tramp could not have acquired plague in thebush under existing conditions.Two litres of Yersin-Roux serum arrived in bottles holding

20 cubic centimetres each and the use of it was commencedat the end of last week. The results could not be mentionedin sufficient detail in this communication, were they com-plete ; they seem, however, to bid fair to be satisfactory, andit may be noted that all patients thus far treated have a pulseof much greater strength than is usual at the correspondingdate of illness in untreated cases be they mild or severe.From this it may be inferred that the serum is an efficientantitoxin at least.May 21st.

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BIRMINGHAM.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

University of Birmingham.HER MAJESTY in pursuance of the provisions of the

Charter of the new university has been pleased to

appoint Oliver J. Lodge, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., Pro-fessor of Experimental Physics in the University College,Liverpool, to be Principal of the University ofBirmingham. This appointment has given general satis-faction to all interested in the university. Dr. Lodge’s

reputation is a wide and substantial one. His work onelectricity and light and his researches in the field ofexperimental physics and allied subjects have madehis name familiar and popular as a writer and teacherof the first order. Having just completed his forty-ninth year Dr. Lodge may look forward to his reign inthis new sphere with hopefulness and confidence, while hiscolleagues will rest assured that they will have the asso-ciation of an eminent atd active director in all questionsaffecting the progress and distinction of the University. Inillustration of the activity of the students at presentengaged at Mason College a meeting was held on June 12thfor the purpose of forming a University companv of Volun-teers. The Dean of the Medical Faculty-Dr. B. C. A.Windle-presided and much enthusiasm was exhibited. The objectis to get a sufficient number of drills completed beforeAugust 6th and then to appear as a complete company onSalisbury Plain.

A New Asylum.An inquiry under the auspices of the Local Government

Board was held on June 21st for the purpose of borrowingf.249.250 for the buirding a new asylum at Hollymoor.The Town Clerk explained the objects of the inquiry andgave details of the necessity and the approximate cost.He stated that the authorised accommodation for patientsat the existing asylums of Winson Green, and at RuberyHill was for 1429, but as the members had been forsome time increasing this was found to te insufficient.Thus the number of patients in the two asylumsin 1891 was 1205, in 1900, 1528 The increase was

stated to be normal in proportion to the increaseof population, amounting to about 40 per annum. Tomeet the increase temporary provisions were made in 1897by a lease of Sandwell Hall at a rental of £300 per annum.giving accommodation for 150 male patients. Another

building had also been provided for a time to meet thedifficulties of the increase which would be for female patients.It was pointed out that all these additional premises wereheld on limited leases only and that the necessity of per-manent buildings was obvious from the statistics adduced.The expense will be a heavy tax upon the ratepayers,for though the Government, recognising that lunacy is anational and not a local misfortune, contribute towards themaintenance of the inmates the cost of the new buildingsmust be borne by local taxation; fortunately this extendsover a series of years.

Inebriate Homes.

Corngreaves Hall, near Birmingham, was the scene of ananimated gathering on June 13th, when it was formallyopened as an inebriate home for women. The building hasbeen acquired by the Worcester Diocesan Church of EnglandTemperance Society. It is intended for the reception ofinebriate women of any denomination, the age-limit beingfrom 20 to 45 years. No person will be admitted for less.than 12 months and patients are strongly advised to enterfor two years. Accommodation is provided for 30 patientsand arrangements are made for three grades, payment beingaccordingly. Employment and recreation will be duly pro-vided. Under the present able administration the results arelooked forward to with cheerfulness and hope. The boardhas appointed two representatives from Birmingham on themanagement, taken from the justices of the city roll.

Hospital Saturday.The sum paid into the bank for this year’s contributions

amounts to £16,111, as compared with £16,521 last

year. This falls short of the £20,000 asked for, but under-existing circumstances it must be regarded as a valuablecontribution.July 3rd.

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LIVERPOOL.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

A New Hospital in Liverpool for the Treatment of TropicalDiseases.

IT is proposed to erect a new hospital in Liverpool for thespecial treatment of tropical diseases, as the accommodationprovided in the Thompson-Yates Ward at the RoyalSouthern Hospital has become too limited for the number ofcases applying for treatment. At the banquet at the Adelphi