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proportion as the head is arrested high in the pelvis, inthe brim or above the brim, the necessity, the utility, andthe safety of the forceps become less frequent," and, " as acorollary from the preceding propositions, increasing cautionin determining on the use of the forceps, and greater skill incarrying out the operation, are called for."

(To be continued.)

BRADFORD MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

THE seventeenth annual meeting of this Society was heldon June 10th in the board room of the infirmary. The

report recorded a large increase in the communications tothe Society, in the number and attendance of members,and in the use of the now important library. During thesession a museum and pathological room had been added tothe infirmary, available to the purposes of members.

Dr. E. T. Tibbits was elected President for the ensuing,year, vice Dr. Burnie, who retires. Dr. Whalley was re-elected treasurer, with Mr. T. C. Denby to assist, and Dr.Goyder secretary. Drs. Craig, Dunlop, Burnie, and Rabag-liati were elected members of committee; Messrs. T. C.Denby and J. Appleyard, M.B., pathologists; and as

auditors, Mr. Hirst and Dr. Dunlop.A vote of condolence with the relatives of the late Mr.

W. H. G. Buckley, M.R.C.S., who had been ten yearstreasurer of the Society, and one of its first members, wasunanimously passed.

Reviews and Notices of Books.Children’s Lives, and How to Protect them. A Handbook

for ready reference. By WILLIAM LOMAS, M.D., M.R.C.P.,Physician to the Seaside Convalescent Hospital, &c. &c.

’Sampson Low and Co. 1879. - Those who have the careof children owe gratitude to Dr. Lomas for this clearand thoroughly sensible manual. It contains, of course,little that will be new to our readers, although there aresome matters of interest even for them; but to others itoffers a practical and trustworthy synopsis of the sanitationof childhood. The author has not made the mistake of

affecting originality. He starts no theories, and airs no

crotchets; but he tells what every mother ought to know,and tells it simply and well. If in some cases he has seemedto touch somewhat upon the province of the medical at.tendant, it is only because many, even in England, andthousands in the colonies, live so far from medical helpthat they are at times compelled to act, wisely or unwisely,for themselves. One of the best chapters in the book dealswith the treatment of children after recovery from severedisease. The too common custom of hurrying children

away to the seaside before they have gained strength tcstand the change, and often before they are fairly freefrom the taint of infection, is wisely reprobated, and thedangers of the lodging-house, enhanced by the frequencyof this practice, are pointed out. We heartily concur inthe advice which Dr. Lomas offers to the authorities of ou]national sanatoria, that they should place lodging-house,under systematic inspection, and should more frequentlyenforce punishment upon persons who are the means oi

bringing infection into their districts. Few things woulddo more to ensure the popularity of a watering-place thanthe knowledge that the danger of infection, now so com.monly dreaded, had been reduced to a minimum.

Transactions of the Clinical Society of London. Vol. XI,London : Longmans, Green, and Co. 1878.-BuZletin de laSociété Clinique de Paris. Vol. II. Paris : V. Adriar

Delahaye et Cie. 1879.-The appearance of the seconcvolume of the proceedings of the Paris Clinical Societyaffords an opportunity for contrasting its work with that o:its older sister, our own Clinical Society. The amount o:

work done by each is about the same, but the ParisianSociety holds more meetings, and its volume is repletewith original and suggestive work-therapeutical as wellas pathological. But what is most striking is the com-parative deficiency of purely medical subjects in the Englishvolume as contrasted with their redundancy in the French.For, excluding papers on dermatology (of which only threeappear in the French volume), we find only seventeen paperson medical subjects in our Society’s proceedings, as againstthirty-eight in our neighbour’s. It is time that our phy-sicians looked to their laurels, and bestirred themselvesin the cause of medical science. In justice it should beadded that all the communications read at the Paris Societyare not records of cases. The majority are, but some fewdeal with general therapeutical topics, such as the hypo-dermic injection of morphia in asthma and in dyspncea ; orare theses upon special subjects, as that on bronchial dilata-tion in tuberculosis, or that on the pathogeny of pneumonia-a clever paper by M. Fernet, in which he endeavours to showthat " acute so-called fibrinous pneumonia is a herpes of thelung, and this herpes is a trophic disorder due to a neuritisof the pneumogastric nerve." Most will concur with thePresident’s remark that the facts recorded by the authormight be admitted, but not his interpretation of them.

Amongst other interesting papers may be cited one byM. Rivet on aneurism of the arch of the aorta treated byelectrolysis with marked benefit; one on venous pulsationon the dorsum of the hand in the final stage of certain casesof pulmonary phthisis, by M. Peter, the President; tuber-culous ulceration of the palate, by M. Quenu; eruptions due

,

to chloral, by M. Mayor; generalised xanthelasma, byM. Chambard, this last being a subject fairly and thoroughlysifted in England. Of the contents of the English volume there

i is no need to speak here. Our pages have duly containedthe leading features of each of the papers (many of them of

high excellence and great practical value) as they were read., But there is one feature of the French volume which does

, not find its counterpart in the English. In this country we,

are content to let the journals record the discussions arising, out of the papers read before the societies, but in France aI full verbatim report of the remarks passed at the meeting

finds its place in the published volume. Do they managethese things also better in France ? Would its discussions

: gain in force and thought if our Clinical Society were to.

imitate its younger rival in this respect ? ’l

I Notesfor Students Pathological Anatomy. A Guide inthe Post-mortem Room. Part I.; pp. 29. By ROBERT J.

I LEE, M.A., M.B. Cantab. London : T. Richards. 1879.-These " notes " are intended to assist students when they

l commence the study of Morbid Anatomy. The authorI appears to have attempted too much; it would have beeni better if he had limited himself to the description ofthe way

a complete post-mortem examination is to be made, the organsr examined, and the more usual diseases recognised, withoutL the somewhat meagre explanations he has here and there

introduced. We notice several omissions; for instance, he! makes no mention of opening the pericardium before exam-r ining the heart, of examining the gall-bladder and bile-E ducts, or of investigating the intestine for signs and causesl of obstruction. Is it not rather misleading to speak of thel lung in red hepatisation as " firm," and in grey hepatisation, as "not quite so firm, more moist"? No instructions are

given in the methods of investigating many common sur-, gical affections, as stricture, fractures, aneurisms, diseases; of bones, and tumours.l Pott’s Disease, its Pathological and Mechanical Treat-L ment, with Remarks on Rotary Lateral Curvature. Byr NEWTON M. SHAFFER, M.D. New York: G. P. Putnamf and Sons. 1879.-The special feature of the first part off this essay is the distinctions in seat, cause, and terminations

52

of the dry and the suppurative forms of caries of the spine,or chronic spondylitis, as the author calls it. While agreeingwith Dr. Sayre in some of the principles of treatment, hestrongly advocates the use of a modification of Taylor’ssupport instead of the plaster jacket. It consists of a pelvicband to which are riveted two uprights of malleable steel,which are placed along the lines of the transverse processes,and are carefully moulded to the deformity; they are fastenedby straps round the chest and over the shoulders, and by azone of- plaster-of-Paris round the loins and lower chest.The apparatus is applied while the patient is recumbent,extension and counter-extension being maintained by assist-ants at the axillae and thighs. It is affirmed that this isa cleaner, lighter, more easily applied, and more efficientmode of treatment than Sayre’s.Notes on the Care oj the Sick, and Practica Advice to

th’ò8e in Charge of the, 7yin.g and the Dead. By ARTHUR]ERIZINCKMAN, Chaplain St. Agnes Hospital (late H.M.’s94th Regt.) London: G. J. Palmer. 1879.-We can,with all sincerity, recommend this little book as, the resultof the experiences of a man who has learnt to see andobserve in a liberal and systematic manner, to take note ofthings that are generally known but by no means generallypromulgated. In point of fact, he tells us how, in con-nexion with the treatment, the care and visiting of the.

sick, to do little things well, by reminding his readersforcibly but pleasantly, of many small matters in the

conduct of persons at the bedside that go to make up muchcomfort or discomfort for the patient. The author has had

practical work in connexion with the sick at home andabroad, and he has acquired the kind of liberality in dealingwith his subject possessed by comparatively few of his ownprofession.Atlas of Skin Diseases. By LOUIS. H. DURING, M.D..

Professor of Skin Diseases in the Hospital of the Universityof Pennsylvania, &c. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott andCo. 1879.-We have received Part V. of this excellent

atlas, containing plates representing hands and forearmsaffected with scabies, herpes intercostalis, and tinea sycosis,a. ,disease more common in America than England; andeczema vesiculosum of the arm and side of the chest. Dr.

Duhring is taking an immense amount of trouble with theissue of these plates, and they all reach a very high standard,whilst the letterpress is all that can be desired.

HEALTH OF LARGE ENGLISH TOWNSIN THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK OF 1879.

DURING last week 4932 births and 2531 deaths were re-

gistered in twenty of the largest English towns. The birthswere 250, and the deaths so many as 839, below the averageweekly numbers during 1878. The deaths showed a furtherdecline of 63 from the declining numbers in recent weeks.The annual rate of mortality per 1000 persons living, whichhad steadily declined in the sixteen preceding weeks from29’1 to 18’3, further fell last week.to 17’9, -the lowest re-corded death-rate in any week in these towns. The lowestrates in these towns last week were-9’5 in Portsmouth,13 in Leicester, 13’9 in Hull, 15’1 in Nottingham, and15’3 in Brighton. The rates in the other towns ranged up.wards to 19’9 in Bradford, 21-2 in Liverpool, 22’0 in

Norwich, 22’1 in Manchester, and 27’0 in Newcastle’upon-Tyne. The deaths referred to the seven principal.zymoticdiseases in the twenty towns were 359 last week, against 375and 399 in the two previous weeks ; they included 104 frommeasles, 84 from scarlet fever, 69 from whooping-cough, and30 from fever, principally enteric. The annual death-ratefrom these seven diseases averaged 2’5 per 1000 in the twentytowns last week ; it was 0’0 and O’S in Brighton and Ports-mouth, and ranged upwards to 3’9 in Manchester, and 4’6 in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Of the 104 fatal cases of measles inthe twenty towns, 79 occurred in London, and only 25 in thenineteen large provincial towns; the disease was somewhatprevalent in Bradford. Scarlet fever showed the largestproportional fatality in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Oldham ;and whooping-cough in Manchester and Bristol. Diphtheriacaused 3 deaths in Plymouth; and small-pox 11 in London,but not one in any of the large provincial towns. Therecent cold and wet weather has resulted in an unusuallylow death-rate from diarrhoea ; only 42 deaths were referredto this disease in the twenty towns last week, against 188,155, and 269 in the corresponding week of the three years1876-7-8. The number of small-pox patients in the Metro-politan Asylum Hospitals, which had slowly declined from207 to 195 in the four preceding weeks, further fell to 190 onSaturday last; only 28 new cases of small-pox were admittedto these hospitals during last week, a smaller number thanin any week since the end of October last.

INSTALLATION OF ST. KATHERINE’S NURSESAT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.

ON Tuesday, the 8th inst., a large company of ladies andgentlemen assembled in the library of University College towitness the presentation of the badges and warrants to thenew nurses who have been chosen by the committee of thehospital to receive this honour from the Sovereign.The Duke of Westminster occupied the chair, and stated

that he was there to show his gratitude to one of the nursesof the institution, who had so skilfully and tenderly waitedupon the late Duchess of Sutherland during her last illness.He rejoiced to see this recognition of the value of the art ofnursing, which had improved to such a wonderful extentduring the last few years. He stated that the two nurseswho were to be decorated that day had been chosen by thecommittee,of the hospital after consultation with the sistersuperior, and that they were the two oldest nurses stillworking at the hospital. He read a list of the names ofseveral superannuated and active nurses whose meritdemanded mention at such a time. Nurses Elizabeth Church(the senior surgical nurse) and Ellen Harrington (the seniormedical nurse) were then presented by the sister superior toLady Jenner, who pinned the badges of the order on to theirleft arms.

-

Sir Rutherford Alcock proposed a resolution thanking Her

Majesty for.this recognition of the value of trained nursing.He thought the Queen had by this act rendered a greatservice to the general public. Mr. Erichsen seconded theresolution in an eloquent speech. He considered thatnurs]-ugwas now raised almost to a profession. He renderedemphatic testimony to the marked improvement in nursingthat had taken place during the last twenty years. Nurseswere now a physician’s skilled assistants. But the publiclittle understood the cost at which the nurses do their work-it was at the expense of life, health, and premature deeay ?the mortality among them was 40 per cent. higher thanamong other women, and as many as 50 per cent. died ofinfectious diseases. Mr. Marney supported the resolution,which was carried by acclamation.Mr. Marshall proposed a vote of thanks to Lady Jenner

for-the very graceful manner in which she had dischargedher duty, and pointed out the special fitness of her beingselected to do it. In the absence of Sir W. Jenner, Dr.Russell Reynolds responded for Lady Jenner, and said thatwhile the nurse of the past needed no description, thenurse of the present was above it;; she was an intellectualautomaton, directing her work by sympathetic appreciationof the patient’s wants.Mr. Enfield, treasurer of the hospital, proposed a vote of

thanks to the chairman, which was seconded by the Masterof St. Katherine’s Hospital, carried, and briefly respondedto by the Duke of Westminster.The secretary of the hospital read the regulations for the

order, which differed materially from those sent to theauthorities at the Westminster Hospital, for a sum of dE50a year for three years, was granted to the hospital for eachnurse, instead of to the Nursing Institution.