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which from his description is clearly a lymphomatouscondition strictly confined to the thorax.Perhaps the most extensive series of observations

on the occurrence of spontaneous tumours in mice iscontained in the papers published by Miss Maud Slye.This author records " 5000-6000 malignant neo-

plasms " among 61,700 necropsies-that is to say,over 8 per cent.2 This percentage is again higherthan that found by Heidenhain in his inoculated mice.In an earlier paper Miss Slye 3 recorded 87 cases ofsarcoma in a series of 12,000 autopsies on mice dyingat all ages. She especially emphasised that onlytumours of undoubtedly sarcomatous nature wereincluded and that lymphomatous conditions wereomitted. The number of sarcomata found byHeidenhain in his stock appears to be distinctly higherthan that observed by either Murray or Miss Slye.This is the only significant difference between therecorded observations on the occurrence of spontaneoustumours in mice and the tumours appearing inHeidenhain’s series.

Conclusion.Since the frequency of malignant new growth in

Heidenhain’s series is not greater than the number ofspontaneous tumours recorded in the observations ofMurray and Miss Slye, Heidenhain’s experiments ceaseto have the significance which he attaches to them.This conclusion has also been reached by B. Fischer-Wasels 4 in a recent detailed critical review ofHeidenhain’s results.

MEDICINE AND THE LAW.

INFANT LIFE PROTECTION.IT is notorious that distinguished lawyers have

often been at fault in the making of their wills.They are equally fallible, it appears, in the framingof proposals for legislation. Lord Darling who, aftermany years of public service as a High Court judge,is now giving valuable help in the improvement ofthe law, has introduced an Infanticide Bill whichignores that aspect of foeticide which affects theobstetrician confronted with an obstructed labour.The need of amending the law has long been known ;Mr. Justice Talbot lately drew attention to it afreshat Liverpool. It is a felony (punishable by penalservitude for life) to procure miscarriage. It ismurder to kill a fully-born child. But to destroy achild while it is being born and before it is fully bornis no offence whatever. To remove this anomalyLord Darling’s Bill proposes that " whosoever shallin the course of the delivery of a woman of a childwilfully do any act from which the child dies beforehaving an existence separate from that of its mothershall be ... liable on conviction on indictment topenal servitude for life." This rather clumsilyframed proposal takes no account of the fact thatoccasions may arise when a practitioner has tochoose between losing the life of the mother anddeliberately destroying the life of the child. As the

ILord Chancellor pointed out on the second readingof the Bill, such cases, if they arise, must be safe-guarded and protected by legislation. The Bill hastherefore wisely been referred to a Select Committeein order that this point, among others, may be con-sidered and the anxiety of the medical professionand of midwives removed. Oddly enough, exactlythe same mistake was made 20 years ago. In 1908-a year when infant life protection attracted muchattention in Parliament-Lord Robert Cecil intro-duced a Bill to remedy the same anomaly and madethe same omission. Any person (so ran the Bill of1908) who shall wilfully destroy the life of a childduring the birth thereof and before the same shallhave been fully born, shall be guilty of felony, and,being convicted thereof, shall be liable to penalservitude for life. In Standing Committee the

2 Jour. Cancer Research, 1927, xi., 54. 3 Ibid., 1917, ii., 1.4 Münch. med. Woch., June 1st, p. 149.

omission to take account of the medical professionwas made good. " Any person who shall wilfullydestroy " was altered into " Any person who shalldestroy .. in such a manner that he would havebeen guilty of murder if the child had been fullyborn," and the following proviso was attached," Provided that a person shall not be guilty of anoffence under this Act who, by means employed ingood faith for the preservation of the life of themother of the child, destroys the life of any such childduring its birth." These words provide a perfectlyproper safeguard, and something of the kind isessential if the present Bill is to pass into law.

The Existing Legal Position.The legal position is fairly clear. There is neither

murder nor manslaughter unless the person killedis a person in being. To kill an unborn child whilestill in its mother’s womb is no offence. This doctrineis laid down in Coke’s Institutes and is good law still.If the child is born alive and afterwards dies byreason of some felonious act done to it in the mother’swomb or in the act of birth, the person who com-mitted that act is guilty of murder. So thought SirEdward Coke, and, though Lord Hale was inclinedto disagree, modern English authorities supportCoke’s opinion. The last edition of Jervis on Coronerscites a case in point. A man was sentenced at Leicesterassizes 30 years ago to 18 months hard labour formanslaughter of a female child ; he had struck hiswife about the face and body during July ; in Augustthe child was born and was found to be severelybruised ; it died a few days later. The Court ofCriminal Appeal, it is believed, would confirm such aconviction to-day. It is important, of course, toknow the legal meaning of " fully born." The lawdoes not deem a child to be fully born-so as to bethe possible subject of murder or manslaughter-until its whole body is brought alive into the worldhaving an independent circulation and breathing (orcapable of breathing) with its own lungs so that itpossesses (or is capable of possessing) an existenceindependent of connexion with the mother. It hasbeen held that a child was completely born thoughthe umbilical cord was not severed. It has beenheld, too, that a child born alive can be the subjectof murder though it has never breathed. It has beenheld also that the fact that the child had breathedwas not conclusive proof that it was born alive, sinceit might have breathed and none the less have diedbefore birth.

The Gap to be Filled.Meanwhile there is a gap between the offence of

procuring abortion and the offence of killing a fully-born child. That gap must somehow be filled. LordRobert Cecil’s Bill was refused facilities 20 years agoon the ground that it could hardly be described asnon-contentious. It should not be difficult to re-draftLord Darling’s Bill or to equip it with safeguardswhich are reasonable and universally acceptable.except possibly to those whose religion does notpermit the sacrifice of the child in order to save themother’s life. Even from this quarter oppositionwould hardly arise, since protection must obviouslybe afforded to medical men who take a different viewof their duty.ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE

AND HYGIENE: ANNUAL DINNER.

THE annual dinner of this Society, which waspresided over by Prof. J. W. W. Stephens at theCafe Royal, Regent-street, London, on June 20th,marked the twenty-first anniversary of the Society.The principal guest was the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery,M.P., Secretary of State for Dominions and for theColonies, the other guests being Dr. E. Brumpt,Professor of Parasitology in the University of Paris ;Dr. W. H. Welsh, Professor of the History of Medicinein Johns Hopkins University ; Sir George Maxwell,Deputy Chairman of the Colonial Medical Research

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Committee ; Col. T. R. StJohnston, Administratoiof St. Kitts, Leeward Islands ; Admiral A. Gaskell, SiIMatthew Fell, Air Vice-Marshall D. Munro, Directors-General respectively of the Medical Department ofthe Navy, Army, and Air Force ; Sir James Berry,President of the Royal Society of Medicine ; Mr.H. W. Carson, President of the Medical Society ofLondon ; Sir Walter Fletcher, Sir James Michelli,and Sir Squire Sprigge, the Editor of THE LANCET.

After the loyal toasts had been proposed from thechair, Prof. Stephens welcomed Mr. Amery, statingthat though he might have addressed him as soldier,sailor, linguist, and administrator, he preferred towelcome him as a student of tropical medicine. Mr.Amery’s deep interest in the subject had coveredmore than a quarter of a century, and he was asdevoted to the question of proper colonial adminis-tration as was the late Joseph Chamberlain, towhose conceptions the two great schools of tropicalmedicine in London and Liverpool were due. Therecent foundation of the Committee of MedicalResearch, he said, formed an example of Mr. Amery’srecognition of the need for that scientific investigationwhich was the mainspring of medicine and the directobject of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine andHygiene. It would be both the pleasure and the dutyof the Society to support the Colonial Secretary inall efforts to combat the scourge of tropical diseases.

Mr. Amery, in proposing the toast of the Society,said that no one could occupy the position thathe held without recognising not only the intrinsicimportance to the State of tropical medicine, butalso the urgent necessity of its scientific maintenancefor the welfare of the whole of the Empire, where thepolitical and economical importance of the Dominionsform a standing element of the British Commonwealth-a fact that was increasingly in evidence. None ofthe many responsibilities of the Colonial Office, he held,was of greater importance than that where it func-tioned as a ministry of health. There was a time whenthe diseases of the tropics were regarded as inevitableconcomitants of a tropical climate, for it was onlyin the last generation that we had learnt that tropicaldiseases were not more inevitable than the diseasesof our own climate and that there was no reasonwhy the tropics should not be made habitable, notonly for the natives but for the white men residentthere. Once that fact emerged it cast a new lightupon our commercial possibilities as well as upon ourmoral responsibilities arising from Imperial control.Referring to the work of Joseph Chamberlain, hesaid it was on Nov. 25th, 1898, that the Secretaryof State for the Colonies informed the Colonial Officethat he had under his consideration the importanceof reducing the mortality of tropical climates, andthat he had decided, after consultation with themedical authorities on the means of action, to estab-lish a school of tropical medicine in London (soonto be doubled in Liverpool, through the generosityof Sir Alfred Jones) while he also proposed to encouragescientific research in tropical diseases. An act ofgreater merit had been done by no Secretary of State.Mr. Chamberlain was more immediately concernedwith the problem of the white administrators andtraders, but the Colonial Office now realised that theproblems of white and native health in the Empirewere inseparable-the mosquito and the tsetse-fly linked them together. Our conscience and ourinterest alike were steadily bringing us to the beliefthat in the health of the native peoples must besought the master-key for their happiness andprosperity. There was no form of native educationso calculated to civilise or strengthen a sense ofpersonal responsibility as education in health, andno theme for mutual cooperation between Govern-ment and Government more fruitful, politically as

well as physically, than cooperation in the fields of hygiene and sanitation. The medical training ofthe natives and the evolution among them of a health conscience were now prime objects among statesmen, 1

and this ideal had led to a great expansion of ourEmpire. When Joseph Chamberlain first realised -

the importance of tropical health there were on theGold Coast 21 medical officers ; to-day there were100 ; in Nigeria 7, to-day 161 ; in Ceylon 34, to-day363 ; in Fiji 8, to-day 68. This was an indicationof the development which had taken place in theColonial medical services, the strength of whichto-day was 1700 officers, and it was growing everyyear. With this growth there had been a widerrecognition of the importance of securing men of

high personal and professional attainments, whileimprovement both in salaries and in general con-ditions of service had been steady. He hoped thatin the near future they would be able to create some-thing in the nature of a single Colonial medical service.Just before the war the ordinary salary of medicalofficers in East and West Africa was from £400 to2500 a year; to-day the salary for West Africa wasfrom £660 to £960, and in East Africa £600 to £900.Before the war the head of the medical departmentof the Gold Coast received, including duty pay,£1200 a year, while to-day he received 1960. Thecreation of larger organisations like the West AfricanMedical Service meant greater openings for theright medical men to secure the best posts. A singlecolonial medical service would enable the best brainsin research or administration to be available for thoseColonies which needed them most, irrespective ofthe actual immediate revenue of the Colony.The general level of medical work in the Colonies,

continued Mr. Amery, had never stood so high as itdid to-day, while the increased number of officersavailable enabled more attention to be paid aliketo research and the prevention of disease; forcolonial medical officers were not left continuouslystruggling to overtake disease after it had occurred.It was also more possible now to give leave to officersfor the purposes of study. Further attention wasalso being paid to colonial nursing. Anyone wholived under tropical conditions realised the value ofgood nursing, and he congratulated all those whohad devoted themselves for so many years to supply-ing the Colonial Empire with a sufficiency of fullyqualified nurses. Among the striking advancesthat had been made in tropical disease work were thenew hospitals at Singapore, at Accra on the GoldCoast, and at Mulago in Uganda ; the forming of amedical school in West Africa, the Sleeping SicknessCommission organised by the League of Nations, andthe improvement of the work on malaria-the resultsof activity at the Singapore base directed againstmalaria would have been amazing to the last genera-tion. Mr. Amery also quoted figures showing thewonderful fall in the death-rate among Europeanofficials in West Africa, and although he had noexact figures to cite in regard to the native popu-lation, there was no doubt of the steady improvementin their health, while confidence in our methods andinterest in the work itself had also been establishedamong the natives. He concluded by referring tothe need for coordination among different countries,and mentioned the fact that two years ago he appointeda chief medical officer at the Colonial Office becausehe saw that it was necessary for someone to keep intouch with the medical services throughout theEmpire, and to link the work with the outside fieldof scientific knowledge and personal ability whichthis country afforded.

Dr. Andrew Balfour, Director of the LondonSchool of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in replyingto the toast, referred to the help which the Societyhad received from its past presidents, Sir Jamesantlie, Sir William Leishman, and Sir PatrickNlanson, and from the Secretaries. Over £3000, heaid, had been raised towards the provision of amansion house for the Society. Not since the days)f Joseph Chamberlain had there been a ColonialSecretary like Mr. Amery, who, it might be said, hadoreathed a new spirit into the Colonial Office.especially in regard to medical work. In addition,0 the appointment of a chief medical officer to theColonial Office, Dr. A. T. Stanton, a Fellow andMember of the Council of the Society, we owed to

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him the foundation of the Colonial Medical ResearchCommittee, with which Sir Walter Fletcher had beenso closely associated. " Mr. Amery and his ablecoadjutor, Mr. Ormsby-Gore," concluded Dr. Balfour," are believers in the personal touch, familiarisingthemselves with the conditions obtaining in manyparts of our far-flung Empire. May I express thehope that it will be possible to extend this personaltouch and appoint liaison officers in matters medicaland sanitary to act as helpers and advisers to mentoiling in isolation and under difficulties."

Lieut.-Colonel W. P. MacArthur proposed the toastof " The Guests," making special reference to Prof.Welsh, who had recently accepted the chair of medicalhistory in the Johns Hopkins University.

Sir Squire Sprigge, replying on behalf of the guests,referred to the assistance which the Colonial Office

were always ready to give to those who desiredinformation that would be of practical use.

Dr. P. H. Manson-Bahr, proposed the health of" The Chairman," to which Prof. Stephens brieflyreplied.

INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE :THE ANNUAL DINNER.

THE annual dinner of the I.M.S., which tookplace on Wednesday, June 20th, at the TrocaderoRestaurant, London, under the presidency of SirHavelock Charles, was well attended, the followingofficers being present :-

Major-Generals : B. N. Deare, A. A. Gibbs, G. F. A.Harris, R. W. S. Lyons, Sir R. C. MacWatt, J. B. Smith.

Colonels: J. Crimmin, V.C., H. M. Cruddas, C. M.Goodbody, T. A. Granger, C. R. M. Green, J. A. Hamilton,H. Kellock McKay, A. J. Macnab, R. A. Needham, J. J.Pratt, R. G. Turner, F. Wall, C. N. C. Wimberley.

Lieut.-Colonels : A. W. Alcock, F.R.S., W. G. P. Alpin,J. Anderson, S. R. Christophers, Sir Frank Connor, A. G.Coullie, D. G. Crawford, J. M. Crawford, B. H. Elliot, G. H.Frost, H. Greany, J. B. Hanafin, E. C. Hepper, E. C.Hodgson, E. V. Hugo, Dalziel J. B. Hunter, S. P. James,Davenport I. Jones, J. Kirkpatrick, W. H. Leonard, T. M.Macrae, J. Masson, F. O. N. Mell, A. Miller, F. O’Kinealy,J. S. O’Neill, Sir Leonard Rogers, F.R.S., E. R. Rost,S. Browning Smith, R. Steen, Ashton Street, W. A. Sykes,D. W. Sutherland, C. Thomson, G. Sloane Thomson, W. H.Thornhill, E. L. Ward, D. P. Warliker, A. C. Younan.

Majors : Norman Briggs, Sir T. J. Carey-Evans, H. S.Cormack, A.W. Duncan, P. K. Gilroy, N. H. Hume, M. L. C.Irvine, J. C. John, R. N. Kapadia, Rigby G. Lynn, V.illahadevan, N. B. Mehta, R. V. Morrison, M. A. Nicholson,M. J. Quirke, M. A. Rahman, J. Rodger, E. C. A. Smith,H. Tait Caldwell, D. R. Thomas, G. Y. Thomson, F. R.Thornton.

Captains : M. P. Atkinson, D. P. Bhargava, J. E. Gray,A. C. Hayden.

Lieut. F. T. Harrington.Dr. N. G. Horner, the Editor of the British Medical

Jourital, was also present as a guest.It is a feature of these dinners that there should

be no speeches, and the speaking was .confined to abrief address from the Chairman, wishing prosperityto the I.M.S. In his speech Sir Havelock Charlesbriefly alluded to the record of the Service beforeand after the war, and especially to the vast fieldsfor medical research and administrative capacitywhich lay before the officer of the I.M.S. In referenceto the critical times which the Service had gonethrough recently and the reforms which have beeninstituted to meet them and to make the career ofthe officers attractive to the medical profession, theChairman emphasised the fact that now more thanever an efficient medical service was of the highest importance to the future welfare and progress ofIndia.At the close of the proceedings Colonel J. Anderson

and Colonel J. J. Pratt were asked to accept a pieceof plate as a token of the appreciation of the officersof the I.M.S. on their retirement from the positionof hon. secretaries of the Dinner Committee, whichthey had held ever since the inauguration of theannual dinner.

Public Health Services.REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH.

THE following are some of the 1927 health statisticsof a group of districts :-

C.B. = County Borough. B. = Borough. U.D. = UrbanDistrict. R.D. = Rural District. — = No information.

Brighton.Dr. Duncan Forbes says that for the first time

in a normal year the deaths in Brighton exceeded thebirths-namely, by 19. The same thing occurredin 1917 and 1918, but these were war years, and,in 1918, influenza carried off 367 persons. Thediminution of births does not relieve the housingdifficulty, because it does not reduce the number offamilies, nor does it relieve the education committee,because school accommodation has to be found forthe larger number of children now born in the out-skirts. Dr. Forbes gives a review of the questionof slum areas. As long ago as 1877, Dr. Taaffe,the then medical officer of health, reported about 27slum areas in the eastern part of the town. Noaction was taken, however, until about 1890-1900,when 459 houses were demolished in three areas,

together involving 2158 residents. The decline inthe building of new houses began in 1906 when 305were built, and during the three years 1911-13 onlyan average of 37 per year were built. In 191’) thecorporation began building houses, and have sinceerected 1294. In 1919 it was estimated that 3000houses were required to deal with overcrowdingand slum clearance. In January, 1928, the positionwas that two unhealthy areas, each housing some1000 persons, had been represented, but the rate ofprogress in slum clearance depends on obtainingbetter (and cheap-rented) houses for the populationof these unhealthy areas. Three schemes to assisthousing and rehousing are referred to. Under theSmall Dwellings Acquisition Act a proposed Brightonscheme sought to provide three-bedroomed housesof the non-parlour type at a weekly rental of 16s. 10d.,which is compared unfavourably with a Cambridgescheme to provide similar houses at a rental of14s. 2d. A second proposal is to promote privateenterprise by guarantees of 90 per cent. of the cost