458 proceeded to the railway-station and commenced the return journey at a quarter past six, reaching London about ten o’clock, highly delighted with their excursion and deeply impressed with the hospitality and courtesy of Surgeon- General Madden and the officers of the Army Medical Staff at Netlev Hospital. These officers who, together with Surgeon-General Madden, exerted themselves so much to make the visit enjoyable and instructive, are Deputy Surgeon-General Cayley, Sir Thomas Longmore, Brigade Surgeon Godwin, Surgeon-Major Notter, Surgeon-Major Tomsett, Surgeon-Major Edge, Surgeon-Major Stevenson, Surgeon-Major Routh, Surgeon Daiies, Surgeon Pope, Surgeon Bean, Surgeon Addison, Quarter:Master Kyle, Quarter-Master Johnson, and Quarter-Master Macintyre. GARDEN PARTIES AT HAMPSTEAD AND NORMANSFIELD. On Friday afternoon the members of the Congress were entertained at a garden party by Sir Spencer Wells in his beautiful grounds at Golder’s Hill, Hampstead. There was a very large gathering, who much enjoyed the pure air and unbroken view of the Harrow Weald, with its typically English woodland scenery. The band of the Coldstream Guards enlivened the proceedings, whilst from time to time there were given some fine performances on the organ. Dr. and Mrs. Langdon Down entertained the members of the Congress at a garden party at Normansfield on Saturday, August 15th, when a very large number accepted the hos- pitality. ’, BANQUET GIVEN BY THE VETERINARY SURGEONS. The President and Council of the Royal College of I Veterinary Surgeons gave a banquet at the Hôtel Metro- pole on Friday evening, Aug. 14th, to the foreign veterinary surgeons and others attending Section III. of the Congress of Hygiene and Demography. The President, J. D. Lambert, Esq., C.B., P.V.S., occupied the chair. The fol- lowing guests were present:-Dr. Chauveau (Paris), Pro- fessor and Dr. Arloing (Lvons), Professor Railliet (Alfort), Professor and Dr. Bang (Copenhagen), Professor Perroncito (Turin), Dr. Ostertag (Berlin), Professor Nocard (Alfort), Professor Menard (Paris), Professor and Dr. Raphael- Blanchard (Paris), Dr. Sergius Ivanor (Russia), Dr. Sims Woodhead, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Hime, T. J. Reeves, Esq. Ernest Clarke (secretary Royal Agricultural Society) and many members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons also attended. VISIT TO BECKTON GAS WORKS. A number of members were invited by Sir Donald Currie to luncheon on boaro the Dr1lmmond Castle on Friday, Aug. 14th, which was reached by a special steamer which started from Westminster Pier and conveyed the guests to the steamer. After luncheon the party left by train tovisit Beckton Gas Works and the Drainage Outfalls. SANITATION IN INDIA. THE Reports of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India are, as a rule, both able and interest- ing public documents, and that for 1889 forms no exception to the rule. It was, we believe, the late Dr. Bryden, who had a sort of genius for devising statistical tables and casting them into the best form, who first of all designed and published tables similar to those at present in use. Be that as it may, there cannot be a doubt about the value of the information in these reports to the statesman, the sta- tistician, the epidemiologist and medical inquirer generally. To a man who has wandered about amid these tables and knows the country, so to say, there is scarcely a subject connected with the prevalence and pathology of Indian diseases about which he cannot get some foothold of fact and find some sure pathway to useful knowledge. The reports are a mine of information of various kinds, and worthy of more attention and study than they usually obtain-out of India, at any rate. That for 1889 gives us, unfortunately, little ground for thinking that effective sanitary work is progressing in India ; on the contrary, the health of the European troops seems to have been steadily getting worse of late years. The report is more unfavourable than its predecessors. The daily sick-rate, which affords a pretty good index to the amount of in- efficiency, has increased, and this is accompanied by a rise in the death- and invaliding-rates; and these lesults are not limited to one, but affect the European troops in all the three Presidencies. The increase in the daily sick-rate is no doubt mainly attributable to a remalkable increase in venereal diseases to which we have before called attention, and Sir William Moore would account for it by the abolition of lock hospitals. The army in India is composed, under the short service system, of younger men, and has a much smaller proportion of married men than formeily. There were no less than 423 fatal cases of enteric fever among the troops in fndia in 1889. In 1883 the total deaths were 10-88, and the invaliding 33 per 1000. From that time to the present the daily sick and death-rates have been going up. In 1888 the mortality rate was 14-84, and the invaliding rate 23, per 1000, as against 16-60 and 26 per 1000 for deaths and invaliding respectively in 1889. The death-rate from enteric fever has risen in all the three Presidencies ; and it caused 37 per cent. of the total mortality in 1889, as against 25 per cent. in the preceding year. The following table shows the percentage respectively of enteric fever, hepatitis, dysentery, and pneumonia in the total deaths of each Presidency in 1889 : It is astonishing how widely spread typhoid fever is in India. There appear to be hardly any military stations free from that disease. The report repeats the old story off the great liability of young soldiers to this fever during their first two years of Indian service-a matter about which there can be no doubt whatever. The following table is interesting in comparing and con. trasting the admission and death-rates per 1000 from enteric fever in the European troops, native troops, and gaol population of India :- One of the main points in this report is that calling attention (at pages 26, 27) to the important advance made in the investigation of the pathology cf enteric fever by the discovery of the Eberth.Gaffky bacillus in specimens of spleen and mesenteric glands forwarded from India to Prof. Bernhard Fischer of Kiel, to which we have already directed attention. For diagnostic purposes this observation is valu- able in that it establishes the identity of the fever with that prevailing in Europe, and thereby indicates that the source of this disease must be sought for in the contamination of ingesta, and that climate must be considered but a secondary influence. Inquiries should not be allowed to stop here, but these should be prosecuted with a practical end in view. Attention should be directed to the causes and conditions affecting the origin and development of this bacillus, and the methods by which it gains an entrance into the body. We notice that Surgeon A, M. Davies, the assistant professor of hygiene at the Army Medical School, Netley, read a paper at the late International Congress of Hygiene, in which he suggested that the specific bacillus need not originate directly and immediately from a pre-existing bacillus or germ derived from a pre-existing case of the disease, but that it may acquire bpeciiic disease-producing properties from some variety or other of bacillus developed by a process of evolution under favouring conditions. If this ingenious hypothesis be correct, and a micro-organism, by the circumstances of its environment, may be endued with pathogenetic properties which did not originally belong to it, it will serve to explain many things connected with the prevalence and varieties of the disease known as
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proceeded to the railway-station and commenced the returnjourney at a quarter past six, reaching London about teno’clock, highly delighted with their excursion and deeplyimpressed with the hospitality and courtesy of Surgeon-General Madden and the officers of the Army Medical Staffat Netlev Hospital. These officers who, together withSurgeon-General Madden, exerted themselves so much tomake the visit enjoyable and instructive, are DeputySurgeon-General Cayley, Sir Thomas Longmore, BrigadeSurgeon Godwin, Surgeon-Major Notter, Surgeon-MajorTomsett, Surgeon-Major Edge, Surgeon-Major Stevenson,Surgeon-Major Routh, Surgeon Daiies, Surgeon Pope,Surgeon Bean, Surgeon Addison, Quarter:Master Kyle,Quarter-Master Johnson, and Quarter-Master Macintyre.GARDEN PARTIES AT HAMPSTEAD AND NORMANSFIELD.On Friday afternoon the members of the Congress were
entertained at a garden party by Sir Spencer Wells in hisbeautiful grounds at Golder’s Hill, Hampstead. There wasa very large gathering, who much enjoyed the pure air andunbroken view of the Harrow Weald, with its typicallyEnglish woodland scenery. The band of the ColdstreamGuards enlivened the proceedings, whilst from time to timethere were given some fine performances on the organ.
Dr. and Mrs. Langdon Down entertained the members ofthe Congress at a garden party at Normansfield on Saturday,August 15th, when a very large number accepted the hos- pitality. ’,
BANQUET GIVEN BY THE VETERINARY SURGEONS. The President and Council of the Royal College of I
Veterinary Surgeons gave a banquet at the Hôtel Metro-pole on Friday evening, Aug. 14th, to the foreign veterinarysurgeons and others attending Section III. of the Congressof Hygiene and Demography. The President, J. D.Lambert, Esq., C.B., P.V.S., occupied the chair. The fol-lowing guests were present:-Dr. Chauveau (Paris), Pro-fessor and Dr. Arloing (Lvons), Professor Railliet (Alfort),Professor and Dr. Bang (Copenhagen), Professor Perroncito(Turin), Dr. Ostertag (Berlin), Professor Nocard (Alfort),Professor Menard (Paris), Professor and Dr. Raphael-Blanchard (Paris), Dr. Sergius Ivanor (Russia), Dr. SimsWoodhead, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Hime, T. J. Reeves, Esq.Ernest Clarke (secretary Royal Agricultural Society) andmany members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeonsalso attended.
VISIT TO BECKTON GAS WORKS.A number of members were invited by Sir Donald Currie
to luncheon on boaro the Dr1lmmond Castle on Friday,Aug. 14th, which was reached by a special steamer whichstarted from Westminster Pier and conveyed the guests tothe steamer. After luncheon the party left by train tovisitBeckton Gas Works and the Drainage Outfalls.
SANITATION IN INDIA.
THE Reports of the Sanitary Commissioner with theGovernment of India are, as a rule, both able and interest-ing public documents, and that for 1889 forms no exceptionto the rule. It was, we believe, the late Dr. Bryden, whohad a sort of genius for devising statistical tables and
casting them into the best form, who first of all designedand published tables similar to those at present in use. Bethat as it may, there cannot be a doubt about the value ofthe information in these reports to the statesman, the sta-tistician, the epidemiologist and medical inquirer generally.To a man who has wandered about amid these tables andknows the country, so to say, there is scarcely a subjectconnected with the prevalence and pathology of Indiandiseases about which he cannot get some foothold of factand find some sure pathway to useful knowledge. The
reports are a mine of information of various kinds, andworthy of more attention and study than they usuallyobtain-out of India, at any rate. That for 1889 gives us,unfortunately, little ground for thinking that effectivesanitary work is progressing in India ; on the contrary,the health of the European troops seems to have beensteadily getting worse of late years. The report is moreunfavourable than its predecessors. The daily sick-rate,which affords a pretty good index to the amount of in-
efficiency, has increased, and this is accompanied by a risein the death- and invaliding-rates; and these lesults arenot limited to one, but affect the European troops in all thethree Presidencies. The increase in the daily sick-rate isno doubt mainly attributable to a remalkable increase invenereal diseases to which we have before called attention,and Sir William Moore would account for it by the abolitionof lock hospitals. The army in India is composed, underthe short service system, of younger men, and has a muchsmaller proportion of married men than formeily. Therewere no less than 423 fatal cases of enteric fever among thetroops in fndia in 1889.In 1883 the total deaths were 10-88, and the invaliding
33 per 1000. From that time to the present the daily sickand death-rates have been going up. In 1888 the mortalityrate was 14-84, and the invaliding rate 23, per 1000, asagainst 16-60 and 26 per 1000 for deaths and invalidingrespectively in 1889. The death-rate from enteric feverhas risen in all the three Presidencies ; and it caused 37per cent. of the total mortality in 1889, as against 25 percent. in the preceding year.The following table shows the percentage respectively of
enteric fever, hepatitis, dysentery, and pneumonia in thetotal deaths of each Presidency in 1889 :
It is astonishing how widely spread typhoid fever is inIndia. There appear to be hardly any military stationsfree from that disease. The report repeats the old story offthe great liability of young soldiers to this fever during theirfirst two years of Indian service-a matter about whichthere can be no doubt whatever.The following table is interesting in comparing and con.
trasting the admission and death-rates per 1000 fromenteric fever in the European troops, native troops, andgaol population of India :-
One of the main points in this report is that callingattention (at pages 26, 27) to the important advance madein the investigation of the pathology cf enteric fever by thediscovery of the Eberth.Gaffky bacillus in specimens ofspleen and mesenteric glands forwarded from India to Prof.Bernhard Fischer of Kiel, to which we have already directedattention. For diagnostic purposes this observation is valu-able in that it establishes the identity of the fever with thatprevailing in Europe, and thereby indicates that the sourceof this disease must be sought for in the contamination ofingesta, and that climate must be considered but a secondaryinfluence. Inquiries should not be allowed to stop here,but these should be prosecuted with a practical end in view.Attention should be directed to the causes and conditionsaffecting the origin and development of this bacillus, andthe methods by which it gains an entrance into the body.We notice that Surgeon A, M. Davies, the assistant professorof hygiene at the Army Medical School, Netley, read apaper at the late International Congress of Hygiene, inwhich he suggested that the specific bacillus need notoriginate directly and immediately from a pre-existingbacillus or germ derived from a pre-existing case of thedisease, but that it may acquire bpeciiic disease-producingproperties from some variety or other of bacillus developedby a process of evolution under favouring conditions. Ifthis ingenious hypothesis be correct, and a micro-organism,by the circumstances of its environment, may be enduedwith pathogenetic properties which did not originallybelong to it, it will serve to explain many things connectedwith the prevalence and varieties of the disease known as
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enteric fever. It is noteworthy that in the last ten
years, and especially of recent years, there has beenan increase in the total fever mortality. The per-centage liability to contract enteric fever at certain
ages and periods of service, the influence which season hasupon its prevalence, and many other interesting subjects ofinquiry, are set forth in the volume under review. Weregret that within the limits at our disposal we are unableto touch upon the sections dealing with the native army andgaol population; but we may refer to the concluding para.graph of the report, which, adverting to Surgeon-Major D. D.Cunningham’s further observations and experiments, says:these show that in Calcutta cholera is associated withmany different species of comma bacilli, and that there-fore Koch’s theory of the existence of a single specificcholeraic comma bacillus must be abandoned. Thismatter was, however, the subject of discussion at the lateInternational Hygienic Congress.
THE BRITISH DENTAL ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association, which has been remarkably successfulin binding together the scattered members of the dentalprofession and in giving them a distinct line of action and adefinite policy, commenced its annual general meeting in theExamination Hall on Thursday morning. As a preliminaryto the more important business, a conversazione was givenby the president elect, Mr. J. S. Turner, and the vice-pre-sidents, Sir Edwin Sounders, Sir John Tomes, F. R S., andDr. John Smith, LL.D. of Edinburgh, in the Whitehalliroom of the Hotel M6,,ropole. The meeting extends overthree days, and finishes up with a garden party at Caterham,given by Sir John Tomes.The programme of business is a good one, and includes
such subjects of interest to the general profession as
"Methods of Research in Bacteriology," " On the Choice ofAnaesthetics in Dental Surgery and Operations about theMouth"; a "Case of Tllberculosis of the Palate treated byKoch’s Method"; and a "Demonstration of Cultures ofthe more important Micro-organisms." There are alsopapers on Dental Education-a question which seems yetunsettled amongst the dentists themselves. The technicalpapers include both mechanical and surgical matters relatingto dentistry. In the demonstration department no less thanfifteen gentlemen are announced to show their differentmethods of performing special operations on the teeth.Each operator is provided with a miniature operating room,furnished with all the ordinary conveniences of a dentalsargery.There is to be an exhibition of a large number of micro-
scopic slides, and also of microphotographs on the screen ofphysiological and pathological sections, and several micro-scopists of well known skill will demonstrate the latestmethods of making and mounting sections for the micro-scope.The headquarters of the Association are in the H6bel
Metropole, where the London members entertain thevisitors on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to lunch, in theWhitehall R)om. On Thursday Mr. S. J. Hutchinson, thePresident of the Odontological Society, and the Council,give a conversazione to friends and members of the Associa-tion in the South Kensington Museum; and on Friday themembers and friends dine together at the H6tel Mebropole.This is the second regular annual general meeting held inLondon, and the numbers present promise to far exceedany previous meeting of the Association.The President (J. Smith Turner), in his opening address
on Thursday, said that people seemed to think that theircomplement of thirty-two teeth was inexhaustible, andparted with them on the slightest provocation. The mouthformed a happy hunting ground for every charlatan with anostrum to palm off upon a greedy public. After havingdealt with the causes which lead to the premature decay ofthe teeth he said, 11 civilization has been blamed formuch. I am inclined to blame the liberties we have takenwith nature and her unerring precedes for much of thedental distress now existing. With all the appearances ofhealth and strength the teeth have been starved, andthe great factors in healthy teeth so keenly competedfor by the more active parts of the body must besupplied in our daily diet. In feeding a regiment we
are feeding men who have been chosen for certainphysical qualities and certified health, but with growingchildren in schools it is different, and although the powerwhich makes one substance out of others may supply thewell-covered frame, the absence of lime salts is the taletold to the dentist." Speaking of the British Dental Asso-ciation, he said: "When the British Association wasestablished eleven years ago, there were certain definiteobjects in view. Some of them concerned the Asso-ciation, and others the general public. They could bedivided into objects social, political or legal, and educa-tional. All of these the Association had tried to followwith varying degrees of success. In testing the provisionsof the Dentists Act they had in view the desire to awakenthe public to the fact that they are daily preyed upon bypeople who make pretensions to having what they do notpossess. They had been successful in showing the MedicalCouncil that they had certain claims to their consideration,and these claims had been acknowledged satisfactorily.The next meeting of this Association is fixed to be held
at Manchester. A fuller account of the proceedings will befurnished in our next issue.
ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN NATURALISTSAND PHYSICIANS.
THE sixty-fourth annual meeting of this large scientificand medical association (it comprises no fewer than thirty-two sections) will take place at Halle on Sept. 21st to 25th.From the programme we extract the following as likely tobe of especial interest to medical readers :—
Seetion 11. Geneml Pathology and Pathological Anatomy.Professor Chiari (Prague) : On Cerebellar Changts due toHydrocephalus. Dr. Unna (Hamburg) : Protoplasm Stain-ing. Professor Eberth (Halle): Reparative Processes in theCornea. Dr. Haasler : Compensatory Hypertropby of theLungs. Dr. Gerdes: Changes of the Cerebral Cortex inDementia. Dr. Ackermann : Morbid Changes in the HumanPlacenta.
Section 14 JMeC!’Me.—Discussion on Koch’s Treatmentof Tuberculosis ; opened by Dr. Aufrecht (Marburg).
Section 15. <S’«r.—Professor v. Bergmann: The Cureof Defects in Bjne?. Professor Mikulicz: GangrenousHernise. Profeqsor Scbonhorn : Acute Tuberculous Osteo-myelitis. Dr. Fraentzel: Treatment of Tuberculous JointDisease by Injections of Iodoform Glycerine.
Section 16 Obstetric;; and G-mcccodogy.-Dr. WinterFever during Labour. Protessor Kaltenbach : The Treat-ment of Endometritis. Dr. v. Heril’: Etiology of NephritisGravidarum. Dr. Pantzer : Relations between Basedow’sDisease and Female Genital An’ections.
Section 17. Diseases of Children. - Papers on Vaccinationby Drs. Pott. Risel, Pfeiffer, and Biedort. Koch’s Remedyin Children’s Diseases, by Drs. Kanke, Ganghoefer, andE. Leser. Dr. B6kai: Oa Intubation. Dr. Rebn : Here-ditary Syphilis. Dr. Unger : Ventricular Meningitis.
Section 18. Neurology and, Psychiatry.-Dr. Flechsig:Pathological Anatomy of Tabes Dorsahs. Dr. Mendel:Pathological Anatomy of Bisedow’s Disease. Dr. Siemer-ling : New Facts in Chronic Progressive Ophthalmoplegia.Dr. Binswanger : Pathological Anatomy of ProgressiveParalysis. Tnere are also sections on Diseases of the Eye,Diseases of the Ear, Lityrigology and Rhinology, Dermato-logy and Syphilis (where the subject of tuberculin is to bediscussed), Hygiene and Medical Police, Forensic Medicine,Medical Geography and Climatology, Military Hygiene,Dentistry, and Veterinary Medicine.
ARMY ORDER.
War Office, Aug. lOtb, 1891THE following Royal Warrant is promulgated to the army
by his Royal Highness the Commander-in. Chief, with theapproval of the Secretary of State for War.
ROYAL WARRANT.Alteration of Ranks of, and Grant of Sick Leave to,
VICTORIA R. Officers of the Medical Staff.
VICTORIA R.Whereas we have deemed it expedient to alter in some
I respect the designations of the departmental ranks of our
