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nurses. Surely the training which a nurse received in a largecounty infirmary like that at Londonderry was quite ampleto qualify her for nursing in a workhouse. At the weeklymeeting of the Limavady Board of Guardians held onMarch 27th a strong protest was made against the action ofthe Local Government Board in reference to the nursing’question on the grounds that (1) there would be an

inadequate supply of the class of nurses which it had been,made imperative to appoint, and (2) because the decisionwould practically exclude Northern probationers from obtain-ing the necessary qualifications, owing to the expense andinconvenience which would be entailed in their having tobe trained in hospitals so far from their homes instead ofinstitutions such as the county infirmaries. Evidently thereis a strong opposition to the recent action of the Local’Government Board.

Ulster Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital.The annual meeting of this hospital was held on

March 27th, when it was reported that during the year 18981565 patients had been treated at the hospital, of whom’201 were admitted as interns. The total receipts of the

hospital from all sources had been f.607 5s. 4d. and the.expenditure had been f.706 18s. 8d., leaving the debtof the hospital £100 more than in the last financial

year. The total debt of the hospital is E570 5s. 5d.The committee make special reference to the difficulty.of securing funds for hospital purposes and as theyhave patients from several counties in Ulster they proposeto endeavour to secure aid from the country. Electric lighthad been introduced into the hospital. It had been decided’to change the name of the hospital to that of the " BennUlster Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital," so as to perpetuate,the name of the Benn family who have done so much forUlster by the establishment and endowment of this andother hospitals in Belfast.

The Belfast Ophthalmic Institiition.The report presented at the annual meeting of the sup-

porters of this hospital which was held on March 27th showedthat during the year 1898 1889 cases were treated, of which1149 were eye cases, 370 ear cases, 270 throat cases, and100 intern cases. The importance of a re-arrangement andenlargement of the extern department and the absolute

necessity for a new operating room more in keeping withthe advance of modern surgery were dwelt on, and it was,said that these changes could be accomplished for f.300.A large number of students were receiving clinical instruc-stion. Financially the hospital was in a very sound condition,there being a balance of over £103. The report submitted’was in all respects very satisfactory.

March 28th. _______________

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Diagnosis of Tuberele Bacilli in Pleuritic Flicid.M. Besancon and M. Griffon have just made known a dis-

.covery which promises to be of the greatest use in the

diagnosis of the tubercle bacillus in cases where direct

microscopical examination is of no avail, as for instance inthe effusions of pleurisy. Until now the accepted method,has been to inject some of the suspected fluids into theperitoneal cavity of a guinea-pig, but this procedure oftenfailed to give any definite result even when the fluid.came from a patient undoubtedly the subject of tubercle.Possibly the serum itself possessed immunising qualities,or else the microbes were in so very dilute a solutionthat there were too few in the small quantity of fluidinjected to affect the animal. The cultivation methodwould have given good results if the operator could havebeen certain of always using a cultivation medium of aconstant nature. Such a medium, however, was not knownuntil M. Besan&ccedil;on and M. Griffon took to using agar-agar(g&eacute;lose) mixed with blood. Pus from a chronic abscess’connected with the ribs cultivated after this method gave atthe end of 10 days bacilli visible under the microscope.Pleuritic fluid from two patients, cultivated in the same waygave colonies visible to the naked eye at the end of 28<lays. Bacilli from these under the microscope are absolutelycharacteristic. As a control experiment two guinea-pigswere inoculated at the same time with the same fluid, andone of these animals which was killed at the end of 28 days

showed no visible lesion due to experimental tuberculosis.In this case, then, the presence of the tubercle bacilli couldnot have been demonstrated without the culture method, andit is evident that this mode of research will be very useful.

By it observers will be able to diagnose the presence orabsence of the tubercle bacilli in various effusions, such asthose into the joints, the tunica vaginalis, the peritoneum,or the meninges.

Army Medical S’tatistics for 1896.The seventh statistical report on this subject has just

been published by direction of the Minister of War. It isevident from the figures brought together therein by militarysurgeons that the sanitary condition of the army was muchbetter in 1896 than it was in the two preceding years. Theefficients who served as a basis for the calculations in thisreport numbered 508,825 of all ranks, of which 17,961were officers, 35,022 non-commissioned officers, 259,272privates with more than one year of service, and197,570 privates of less than one year of service. The

general sickness rate was only 573 per 1000. In 1895it was 631, and in 1894 it was 592. The total number ofdeaths was 2959, being a death-rate of 5’24 per 1000-by farthe lowest yet observed in the army. The chief diseasesshowing a diminution were influenza, typhoid fever, andacute pulmonary complaints. 12,339 soldiers had resigned orhad been invalided out for sickness, wounds, or other formsof weakness. This is a reversion to normal conditions follow-ing the doing away with the recruiting of young soldiersclassified as " bons avec infirmit&eacute;s." Out of 22,680 reservedmen called up during 1896 for periods of training 25 diedwith the colours, and 2048 were invalided. There is noreturn from the militia (l’arm&eacute;e territoriale).

The Lorvering of Temperature in TFeakly C7t,;Idren.At the meeting of the Academy of Medicine held on

March 14th M. Budin spoke upon the Lowering of Tempera-ture in Weakly Children. From certain observations which hehad made he considered himself authorised in stating that achild begins to lose heat from the moment of birth. Thisloss of heat may be very considerable in the case of a weaklychild unless the greatest precautions are taken to avoid it. M.Budin had noticed that children brought to the MaternityHospital for admission into the wards set apart for weaklychildren were often in a most deplorable condition. In

many of them the temperature was very low and they died infrom 24 to 48 hours after admission. Of 142 newly-bornchildren admitted to the hospital in the years 1895, 1896,and 1897 whose rectal temperature was but 33&deg; C. or evenbelow it 139 died-a mortality of 98 per cent. Of coursethis loss of heat is not the only cause of death in such casesfor other factors have to be considered, such as syphilis,digestive disorders, and the like. Loss of heat, how-ever, is a most important factor for, according toAl. Budin, if precautions are taken to obviate thisthe mortality even in very weakly children fallsfrom 98 per cent. to 26’5 per cent. In bringing thisclass of children from their homes to the hospital the

greatest care must be taken, and for many years past theAssistance Publique has charged the nurses who fetch thechildren to travel by express trains and in well-warmedsecond-class carriages. The same precautions should betaken by other than the official nurses. Children placed inthe revolving boxes (tours) of foundling hospitals or who aretaken into cold churches or to the Mairie run great risks,and it is of the greatest possible importance for the well-being of newly-born or weakly children that all causes ofchill should be avoided.March 27th.

ROME.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Reform of the Italian Universities.ALL the professions, not least that of medicine, are pro-

foundly interested in the great University Reform Billwhich was carried through its second reading last weekby its author, Baccelli, and which is about to undergothe inevitable modifications in "Committee of the wholeHouse." During the debates which preceded its advanceto that stage it was a significant fact that a largeproportion of the 20 "seats of learning" open to Italy’s31,000,000 inhabitants (half of whom are "analfabeti" or

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the next thing to it) were either wholly or partially closed s

by order of Baccelli himself owing to insubordination on tthe part of the students. Nothing, indeed, can be more c

radically unsound than the Italian university system, and it Iis to the honour of our profession that from its ranks have r

mainly come the men who have most effectively diagnosed i

the evil and most convincingly formulated the treatment. cWeed out the " groves " of the Italian " Academe " ; let their 1really vigorous developments have more breathing space androom to expand by extirpating the stunted " academicundergrowth" (as the minor universities may be called) ;and let the young brains of Italy have the chanceof moulding and forming themselves for professionalwork under the protecting, fostering shade of the true

"forest-giants of literature, science and philosophy-" hiclabor, hoc opus est." The Bill by which Baccelli undertakesto rehabilitate his country’s languishing university life maybe broadly described as an application to academic institu- ftions of the law of "natural selection with its consequent"survival of the fittest." He grants to all universities the completest autonomy in teaching, in administration, and in

(

discipline ; he. leaves them the freest possible hand in (adapting themselves to professional interests, scientific and

1

practical ; and he subjects them only to such outside pres-sure as may keep them useful purveyors for the wants of the

(

State. For this purpose he institutes a " State examina- ]tion through the portals of which alone the aspiring 1advocate, medical man, or engineer can become eligible ‘for the official posts the name of which in Italy (is Legion, so that according to the success with which

they turn out men capable of passing this examination will the university or universities prosper or decay. "The examiners appointed by the State may or may not bedrawn from the "seats of learning," but there will be noroom for "favour" or what may be called "academic

nepotism." Another provision which will practically extin-guish the smaller universities or reduce them to the rankof preparatory schools will be the raising of the feeswhich are still absurdly low, remaining fixed at the mediaeval standard of money values, and which have thusmade professional qualifications too easily accessible to classes more properly claimed by commerce, industry,or the useful arts. Still, the poor man’s son willhave his chance should superior gifts indicate him for one orother of the liberal callings; he will have the "borsa distudi (bursary), the scholarship, the " exhibition not:unknown in Italian academic life, reinforced, as Baccelli i

anticipates, by other bounties of the kind. Reduced in ’ numbers by such restrictive ordinances, the students in eachuniversity will be more manageable by the authorities whosehands will be strengthened by a "curator studiorum," afunctionary appointed by the State to keep a benevolenteye on academic life and to form the medium throughwhich the State can be appealed to in cases of "excessof jurisdiction" on the part of the profession or ofturbulence or contumacy on the part of the students. TheBill when it becomes law (whatever may be its modificationsin minor clauses) will, in Baccelli’s forecast, guarantee tothe students a more thorough and decorous curriculum ofstudy under teachers stimulated to a more honourable rivalrythan that of merely underselling each other; the "rector

magnificus " of each university will be appointed withoutintervention of those undergraduate elements which havehitherto bred nothing but tumult and disorder ; and the Stateexamination will keep the field open to the most proficientout of all the universities, respecting only the principle of"detur digniori." The free hand vouchsafed to each univer-sity will encourage that " flexibility of adaptation" bywhich courses of study or times and seasons may be modifiedso as to meet requirements special or general, local or

national, all under the pressure, however, of that " Stateexamination," superiority at which will constitute the uni-versity’s claim to attract the student or future professionalman to its balls. Relieved of its plethora of idle under-graduates who simply covet a "diploma" for the socialdistinction which it may give or the public "career" whichit may conduce to, the university will no longer deplete theindustries, the trades, and the handicrafts of the country bywithdrawing from them their proper personnel and inducingthe anasmia under which they have long laboured. EveryItalian interest, it is hardly too much to say, will profitby the academic revolution to be wrought by Baccelli’s Bill,the minor provisions of which cannot fail to emerge fromcommittee more effective and salutary after the thorough {

sifting which they will have received. Among its criticsthe best have been Baccelli’s own professional colleagues,one of whom, Dr. Tommaso Senise, privat-docent in MedicalPathology in the Neapolitan School and Member for the.modest constituency of Militello, made quite a parlia-mentary "hit" " by the able speech in which he pointed out,defects in the measure which would have to be removed,before its really beneicent provisions could attain theirend..March 25th.

CONSTANTINOPLE.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The New Hospital for Children.THE inauguration of the Hamidieh Hospital for Children

took place a fortnight ago. The need of a special hospital,for children has long been felt, as lack of proper care hasoften proved to be the main cause of the spread of infectiousdiseases amongst the children of this metropolis. The.hospital has grounds covering an area of about 40,000 square-feet, on which are erected nine separate blocks. All the-different parts of the building are constructed according to.modern requirements and are surrounded by beautifulgardens for recreation. The blocks are a good distance-apart from each other, so that children with infectiousdiseases can be isolated in separate wards. One of the-blocks is to be used for cases of diphtheria, another for

small-pox, a third for scarlet fever, and a fourth for measles.A fifth block is fitted up for cases about the nature of whichthere is some uncertainty. Three blocks are to be used bythe members of the staff. There is, moreover, a nice little-laboratory.

The Bitssian gospital.The Russian Embassy has just been authorised by the

Imperial Government to have a convalescent home on thebeautiful island of Prinkipo where convalescent patients.from the Russian Hospital will be sent. This is quite a.

novelty here, as none of the other large hospitals have suchhomes. The Russian Hospital enjoys little popularity, butthere is no doubt that a good many well-to-do convalescentswill take advantage of this new health resort. It may notbe out of place to remark that the British Hospital here ispractically a seamen’s hospital and is almost unknown to thegeneral public, whereas the German Hospital enjoys a first-class reputation, particularly for its surgical departmentunder Dr. Kambouroglou. The French Hospital comes next.A properly equipped British hospital could do good work forthe British colony and for numerous patients of differentnationalities.

Dr. Delacour.Dr. Delacour, physician to the French Embassy and

delegate of France to the Superior Council of Health, is toreturn to Constantinople towards the middle of April. Dr.Delacour is widely known here and he will be welcomed backby his old friends, especially by the members of the Frenchcolony. He had gone to Nice to recover his health. ,

March 22nd. _______________

AUSTRALIA.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Sydney Hospital.THE annual report of the Sydney Hospital showed that 3904

patients had been admitted during the year, of whom 390’died. The total number of attendances were : in the casualtydepartment, 26,192 ; medical, 25,775 ; surgical, 13,335 ; ;.eye, 7471; ear, nose, and throat, 6060; diseases of women,6119 ; skin diseases, 3456 ; and dental department, 3893 ;being a total of 92,301, as against 83,396 for 1897. Reference-was made to the honorary medical and surgical staffs, theresident medical staff, the compilation of a new hospitalpharmacoposia, the opening of the new buildings for thepathological department, the appointment of Mr. C. H.Helsham, B.A., as secretary, vice Mr. H. D. Russell, theresignation of the matron, Miss Gould, and other matters ofmanagement. The cost per bed for the year was E61 9s. lld.The income for the year was &pound;17,920 9s. 4d., towards whichthe Government contributed E2370 12s. 5d. subsidy on the &pound;for .f:. principle, &pound;8056 12s. for maintenance of patients