1726

zeal he had exhibited on many trying occasions. On the

part of the whole profession in Cork he wished Dr. andMrs. Lee many years of the happiness always associatedwith the performance of good works. Mr. Lee thanked thechairman for the kindly sentiments he had expressed. Any-thing he had done was a labour of love, and much as heappreciated the handsome presentation made to him hevalued far more highly the friendship and esteem of his

professional brethren.The Meath Hospital.

The ceremony of declaring open a bed, which has beenadded to the hospital as a memorial to the late Sir GeorgePorter, Bart., was performed on the 30th ult. at the hos-

pital by his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant, who wasaccompanied by the Countess Cadogan and a large party ofvisitors. A meeting was held before the ceremony, at whichViscount Powerscourt filled the chair and spoke in strongterms of the high qualities of the late distinguished surgeonwho for more than a quarter of a century had been hisintimate friend. In reply to an address which was pre-sented to his Excellency, Lord Cadogan delivered a gracefuland eloquent tribute to the memory of the late senior surgeonto the hospital, who had the honour to be also Surgeon-in-Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen in Ireland. As repre-sentative of Her Majesty his Excellency remarked that hecould say that she sympathised with the staff of the hospitalin the loss which they had sustained and that she wouldrejoice to hear of their doing honour to the memory of oneso deserving and so much regretted. His Excellency thendeclared the memorial bed open for the reception ofpatients. A brass shield attached to it bore the followinginscription :-"In loving memory of Sir George Hornidge Porter, Bart. D.L.,

senior surgeon of this hospital, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to Her Majestythe Queen in Ireland, Regius Protessor of Surgery University ofDublin, &c., who for nearly half a century most generously placed hisskill and experience at the service of the sick poor in this institution.Died 16th of June, 1895. This bed was permanently endowed bysubscriptions from his many friends and admirers as a tribute ofaffectionate regard. 1896."

Ulster Medical Society Annual Dinner.The annual dinner of the Ulster Medical Society was

held in the Grand Central Hotel, Belfast, on Nov. 26thand was in every respect a very great success. The room inwhich the dinner took place was crowded, seventy-threemembers and guests being present. The President, ProfessorSymington, was in the chair, and the following were thetoasts:—" The Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales, and othermembers of the Royal Family," proposed by the President ;" The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Prosperity to the

Country," proposed by ’Mr. Fagan and responded to

by the ex-president, Professor Sinclair; "The Queen’sCollege and the Belfast Medical School," proposed by thePresident of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland,Dr. DufEey, who was a guest, and replied to by thePresident of Queen’s College, Rev. Dr. Hamilton. Dr.Hamilton drew attention to the jubilee of the College inJanuary, 1897, at which, in addition to the inauguration ofthe Students’ Union by the Lord-Lieutenant and the

graduates’ banquet, Sir Joseph Lister, Bart., had kindlyconsented to open the new physiological and pathologicallaboratories. The toast of "The Dublin Medical School"was proposed by the President. Dr. James Little, thePresident of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, whowas a guest, in his very sympathetic and humorous replystated that many years ago he had dined with a formerPresident of the Ulster Medical Society in Belfast, and ofthose then present only two remained, both of whom hewas glad to see that evening- Professor Cuming andDr. Whitaker, medical officer of health for Belfast.Professor Cuming proposed "The Guests," to whichSurgeon-Major Mulvaney, Rev. Richard Leaver, and Mr.Seddall, the Commissioner of Police, replied. ProfessorByers proposed "The North of Ireland Branch of the BritishMedical Association," and the President, Professor Whitla,and the Secretary, Dr. John Campbell, responded. The lasttoast, which was received most heartily, was " The Presi-dent of the Ulster Medical Society," given by Dr. JamesLittle, to which Professor Symington replied. During theevening a musical selection was contributed by Mr. W. G.Mackenzie, Dr. McKisack, Dr. Leslie, and Dr. J. A. Lindsay,and recitations were given by Dr. J. S. Morrow and Dr. JohnSt. C. Boyd.

Dec. 8th., .

ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Massacre in the Somali Oountry.THE year closes as it commenced, with news of disaster

from what to Italy may in every sense be called the " DarkContinent." Captain Cecchi, a veteran African explorer andItalian Consul, had, in the interest of a private company,moved inland from the Benadir coast for exploratory pur-poses and had completed the first part of his enterprise.The success of this induced him to undertake a secondexpedition at the instance of another company. With anescort so small as to imply total absence of danger, andreinforced by officers of the navy attracted to his side byscientific among other motives, he fell after five hours’march into an ambuscade, from which he extricated himselfwith some loss. Retreating to the coast he had to fight hisway against ever-increasing hordes of natives till he himselfwas killed and sixteen others, partly officers, partly sailors.Their bodies have been recovered, and among them is thatof Dr. Alfredo Smuraglia, a young medical officer of thehighest promise, just entering on his twenty-seventh year.His death adds another to the many losses sustained by theprofession in these ill-starred African expeditions.

l7ce Maragliano Serum.

Statistics have placed it beyond doubt that as many as onemillion cases of diphtheria have already been cured by theBehring serum, and there is ground for believing that thatantitoxin would have scored a still greater success had itoftener been applied before the diphtheria poison had estab-lished a fatal foothold. The same results may yet beattained by the Maragliano serum in pulmonary phthisis ;but the nature of this latter disease is such that theantitoxin can never assert its power so rapidly andso decisively as in diphtheria. It is in private practioe,moreover, that Dr. Maragliano and his followers have hadmost success, and for reasons that are obvious. In suchcases the tuberculous patient generally sees the consultantin good time ; he is surrounded, as a rule, with the com-forts and the careful tendance of home; and he can oftenreinforce the cure by change of scene. In hospital prac-tice, on the other hand, the patient, in ninety-nine cases

out of a hundred, is far gone in the disease; his strengthhas been reduced by pyrexia or hœmoptysis; his nights havebeen impaired by harassing cough ; and his resisting poweris often low through mal-nutrition. And yet even in this latterless favourable type of case Dr. Maragliano, as shown in thesecolumns, has had most encouraging success. His followers,mainly in the Neapolitan school (which, by the way, was atfirst rather slow to adopt his treatment), have been not lessfortunate; and now Dr. De Renzi, the dean of Italian

clinicians, who for twenty-nine years has held thechair of clinical medicine at Naples, announces that hehas had forty-four cases of cure by the Maraglianoserum in his wards and equally gratifying results in privatepractice. Like all others of his colleagues who have used theantitoxin he found its efficacy most marked when the patientwas seen early and when complications were at their mini-mum. One lesson he profited by in his clinique, and thatwas (as Maragliano himself had inculcated) not to despairwhen even 200 injections had failed to achieve the effectdesired. He observed, indeed, that while improve-ment had declared itself even in the most intractablecases, he had only to suspend the treatment for a briefinterval to witness the rapid exacerbation of all thesymptoms and to resume the injections "in tutta fretta" "

(in all haste). Sero-therapy, said Dr. De Renzi to a col-league the other day, has a great future. It is rational andphysiological ; it corresponds to what the Father of Medi-cine meant by the &phgr;&ugr;&sgr;&tgr;s iaTpcK and what we modernsunderstand by the poteri fisiologici superstiti" (thesurviving physiological forces). In his own clinique Dr. DeRenzi had had convincing proof of the action of the

Maragliano serum "contro le proteine tubercolari." Withthe " tuberculine" of Koch inoculated in phthisical patientsto the amount of 5 milligrammes he had obtained a strongreaction; but applying the same I I tuberculine " to patientsalready under the Maragliano treatment the reaction wasmuch less strong, showing that, pro tanto, they had become

1727

immunised against the "proteine tubercolari." In propor-tion as he increased the number of injections of the

Maragliano serum he augmented the immunity against theaction of the tuberculous poison, until after thirty or fortyinjections the reaction to the same dose of tuberculine wasbarely appreciable or entirely non-existent. Dr. P. Schivardi,who reports these views of the Neapolitan consultant, addsthat in Dr. De Renzi’s opinion there is no remedy for phthisissuperior to the Maragliano serum. It seldom fails to relieve,and if applied in time and persevered with under reasonablyfavourable conditions it almost invariably results in cure.

Falsification of Wines : a lfarning.The extraordinary rainfall of last summer and autumn has

bad effects on wine culture which are simply disastrous.The quality of the grape has been poor beyond precedentand the wines made from it are correspondingly inferior instrength and colour. Spirit of the worst kind has beenadded by many producers to remedy the former defect, whileto make good the latter recourse has been had to colouringmatter evolved from catrame (tar). The wine so mani-

pulated and made noxious is, in terms of the law, pro-bibited from sale, and in Tuscany, particularly within thelast few days, the sanitary inspectors have sequestratedlarge quantities. At Florence alone about 1000 flasks havebeen seized and sent to the municipal laboratory for analysis.As soon as the nature and amount of the noxious adulterationare ascertained the producers will be denounced to the legalauthorities. So urgent is the danger to the consumer, espe-cially the foreign and experienced, that with commendablepromptitude the Enological Commission has been convokedby Signor Guicciardini, Minister of Agriculture, so as to inter-cept the wine before it is transferred from cask to bottle orfiasco. The Commission a.ppeals for aid to the press to putthe public on its guard, well aware that loss of custom is amore powerful deterrent to the adulterator than even the finesimposed by the 11 pretoie

" or sheriff.

The Health of Milan.Few Italian cities receive more English-speaking guests

than the Lombard capital, and few, it is fair to say, aremore keenly alive to the hygienic duties such large, if buttemporary, additions to their population impose. I haveindicated from time to time the increased vigilance of theMilanese sanitary authorities in the prophylaxis of infectivedisease-notably, in the practical extinction of small-poxthrough stringent re-vaccination. To-day I can give furtherconfirmation of the effective surveillance maintained over the

public health. During October, 1895, the deaths amountedto 9067; but for the corresponding month of the current

year they have sunk to 8669, in spite of an accession to thepopulation of nearly 7000 inhabitants. Again, in Novemberlast there is a decrease of 100 deaths, as against theNovember of 1895. The vast draina,ge works now in pro-gress may reasonably be expected to signalise their com-pletion by a still further lowering of the mortality.

Honour to Dr. Behring.Our Government have just conferred on the discoverer of

the anti-diphtheritic serum the well-merited honour of GrandCordon of the Crown of Italy.

Professor Durante.The Senator Professor Durante, who holds the chair of

Clinical Surgery in our university and is the recognised headof the profession in that department, has sustained a seriousaccident. Descending the staircase of a house in which hehad been visiting a patient he slipped and broke his leg.The fracture was reduced without delay and the apposedsurfaces kept in sitit by an apparatus of felt. Within afortnight he has so far recovered as to look forward toimmediately resuming professional work,Dec. 6th.f

MONTREAL.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

S’erum Diagnosis.THE serum diagnosis of typhoid fever is being carried on

with great Eatisfaction to the general practitioners by theProvincial Board of Health. A schedule of dirertiors for

taking the blood and sterilised paper on which to place it issent to any physician desiring it, or he may call at certaindruggists’ shops and obtain the paper ; these are attended toby the bacteriologists and a report furnished without chargenext day. Dr. Wyatt Johnson and Dr. McTaggart, the

experts of the Beard, brought the matter before the lastmeeting of the Medico-Chirurgical Society and made somereports, also demonstrating the method. Pfeiffer andVidal have been accorded the priority in urging themethod, and now by the dry method, as explained byDr. Wyatt Johnson, all that is necessary is that a dropof blood be taken from the cleansed finger, placed on thepaper and folded up. Two hundred and fifty-seven trials hadbeen made, and in 95 per cent. of the cases suitable fortrial an assured diagnosis was accurately made. The

clumping or aggregating of the bacilli is easily seen with aone-sixth dry objective. Forty-nine control examinationswere made from cases known to be suffering from diseasesnot typhoid, not one of which gave the reaction. In only onecase, which would have been positively pronounced as typhoidfrom the clinical conditions, was it impossible to get thereaction. As there was no means of verifying this case bysection, it does not necessarily detract from the valueof the test. The test may be got in two days, but

generally not before the fifth, and may be found up toone year or more after convalescence. Eighteen hospitalpatients who had been discharged well after typhoid werelooked up, some of whom had been out for several months; inseventeen the diagnosis of previous typhoid could be madebacteriologically. The difficulties that have been brought outgenerally consist in neglect of the instructions. Some sampleshad been literally cooked by too much heating, others hadbeen allowed to gather dust and germs, or too small a

quantity had been sent, and so on. Sufficient blood should dryon the paper to make a distinct scale. Dr. Wyatt Johnsondemonstrated his method, somewhat dramatically before theAmerican Public Health Society. He undertook to report inone hour on six cases. The specimens were given himwithout any information, the sources of the bloods beingindicated in a sealed envelope to be opened only after thetest. His report was definite and accurate in five, and thesixth was reported " doubtful, probably not typhoid ": it was acase of heart disease. In the discussion Dr. Adami, Dr.Finley, and others spoke of the great value of this method,and praised Dr. Wyatt Johnson for popularising it.

Civic Ht).3pital Mutters.

Civic hospital matters have given rise to much comment inthe press, lay and professional. Anything done in the

province of Quebec under civic or governmental controlmust have its Protestant and Catholic sections. It has beenso in the Civic Infectious Diseases Hospital, Montreal. The

building, a rather poorly constructed affair, was divided offand the Protestant portion was officered by medical men andnurses sent by the Montreal General Hospital, which insti-tution was to receive £1500 per annum for the service.

Recently, for alleged reasons of economy, the city councildecided to dispense with the staff on the Protestantside and put all under the health committee and themedical health officer of the city. At once loudprotestations were made from the English side of the com-munity, the medical society, the Ministerial Association, andthe English press. The clamour was avowedly based on thesupposition that the medical service would not be so satis-factory under civic control as before. The fine results,especially in the treatment of diphtheria with antitoxin, onthe Protestant side were referred to, and much pressure wasbrought to bear on the City Council to reconsider the matter.They, however, have not done so, and the cfficers previouslysent by the Montreal General Hospital, who had at firstrefused to vacate, have been required to give up attendance.

Sporadic Leprosy.A case of leprosy was discovered post-mortem in Montreal

a short time ago. It was in a Chinese resident, of whichkind of population we have five hundred. The man wasfound in a dying state in one of the low-class boarding houses,into which the celestials crowd themselves. No suspicionof leprosy arose until the coroner’s physician, unable toaccount for a peculiar eruption on the cadaver, tested scrapingsbacteriologically, and unmistakeably found the bacilli. A

thorough search was made through the Chinese quarter, butno other case was discovered.