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NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Newcastle.

AT the Royal Infirmary a resolution has been carriedwhich can do the institution no good, while its propriety isvery questionable. It is " that a monthly statement beplaced on the table of the quantity of intoxicating liquorordered, and by whom." Some time ago exception wastaken to the quantity of soda water used, and aeratedwaters in general were objected to. I suppose some of the.governors will not rest satisfied until " Whittle Dene " (asthe pipe water is called in this district) is duly tabulated"how much" and "by whom." At a time when thegovernors are crying aloud for pecuniary support, this"cheeseparing" policy is scarcely to be commended, whileI know it is offensive to some of the medical staff. If thepatients get to think that anything ordered for theirbenefit by their medical attendant is given with a bad,grace, it is certain to react in a way detrimental to theinstitution. -- The Northumberland and Durham Miners’Permanent Relief Fund is probably one of the largestbenefit societies in existence, and seems to be managedwith much prudence. It was stated on the opening oftheir new premises in Newcastle on Saturday last thatthe membership now was just 100,000. They had distri-buted to widows and children jE234,000, for permanentdisablement 9116,000, for minor accidents 117,000, andto aged miners for superannuation relief 213,000. Verylarge figures these, but there are still larger-viz., thetotal income since the beginning of the Society has beenlittle short of jei,000,000. The management expenses wereshown to be below 10 per cent. on the income of theSociety--viz., JE90.000 per annum.

"Paste2cr’s Life and JVorl.:."This is the title of the last University free Saturday

night lecture, and was delivered last Saturday in New-castle to a large and appreciative audience by Mr. W. H.Hodgson, B.A. Mr. Hodgson’s matter and deliverywere excellent, and he did justice to the great Frenchphysiologist as a man of unrivalled ability, and one ex-hibiting the utmost devotion to science.Newcastle-on-Tyne, Dec. llth.

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

EDINBURGH.

Edinburgh University Court.AT the meeting of the University Court held on Monday

the following matters of interest were discussed andarranged. Consideration of the proposed alterations by theAberdeen University Court on Ordinance No. 16, as to thearrangement of the professional examinations for graduationin medicine at Aberdeen University, was resumed ; and thereply of the Aberdeen Court to the observations of theGlasgow and Edinburgh Courts and the remarks of theGlasgow Court and a minute of Senatus relative to thereply was considered. The minute of Senatus was in favourof the proposed alteration. The Court remained of opinionthat some of the proposals required further experience at theUniversity of Edinburgh, in which they had been carriedout, before it would be prudent to carry them further, andthat the appointment of an Executive Universities Com-mission made it inopportune to proceed with the proposedalterations before Her Majesty in Council under the Act of1858. The usual arrangements made for the appointmentof additional examiners in Natural History and ClinicalSurgery at the meeting on Monday, Jan. 20th, 1890, wereapproved of. The appointment of Dr. John Playfair to beone of the lecturers on the Diseases of Children, in succes-sion to Dr. Underhill, whose term of office had expired,was endorsed. On consideration of a minute of Senatus,the Court approved of the continuance of the salaries of thesecretaries and of the deans of facultiesfor the current session.

EdinburgA Health Lectures.On Saturday evening Dr. Noel Paton delivered the fifth

of the series of lectures to the Health Society on " Yege-

tarianism and the Use of Vegetables in Diet." He pointedout the manner in which the waste of the body is repaired,and then went pretty fully into the consideration of whatkinds of foods were necessary to replace the waste and toproduce the necessary energy. A comparison of animal andvegetable food stu6’g, with their relative proportions of

proteids, fats, and starches, was given ; and then Dr. Paton,summing up, said that vegetarianism was possible to thosewho had a good set of teeth, a sound digestion, plenty ofout-door exercise, and a knowledge of dietetics. Hence,vegetable diet was more to be recommended to the outdoorlabourer than to the dweller in towns. ’ Pulses were thebest forms to use, aud these, along wfth butter, lard, orvegetable oils, formed an excellent diet. The objectto be kept in view should be to combine the vegetablesso as to give the necessary food ingredients in theirproper proportions. In closing, Dr. Paton said that,while he was no champion of exclusively vegetable diets,he could not but feel that, among the poorer classesespecially, the use of vegetables in diet was sadly ignored.Money was needlessly squandered on flesh food, from theidea that it was strength-giving, while many of the cheapervegetable foods were of equal value with the more expensiveanimal food stuffs.

Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society.At the annual meeting of this Society, Professor A. R.

Simpson presiding, a most interesting account of the workof the past year was presented. Much valuable work hasbeen done at the Livingstone Memorial Training Institutionand Dispensary. Patients had been visited at their ownhomes, midwifery and other cases had been attended, andno fewer than 10,089 patients had been seen. Since 1880forty-four students had left the institution for the foreignmission fields. Six young men were received as studentslast year, making in all twenty-eight in connexion with theSociety at the present time. Eleven men finish theirstudies during the year, and will be prepared to go forth asfully qualified medical missionaries. Owing to the grow-ing success of the work there is need of more room andmore money, both of which, the managers hope, will soonbe forthcoming.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.At the annual meeting of the College, held on the 5th

inst., the following office-bearers were elected for theensuing year :-President : Dr. Thomas Grainger Stewart.Vice-President: Dr. Robert Peel Ritchie. Council: Drs. G.W. Balfour, R. Peel Ritchie, D. J. Brakenridge, Batty Tuke,James 0. Affleck, John Sibbald. Treasurer: Dr. PeterA. Young. Secretary: Dr. George Alexander Gibson.Librarian: Dr. George W. Balfour. Curator of Museum:Dr. Thomas A. G. Balfour. Curator of Laboratory ofResearch: Dr. John Batty Tuke. Registrar of Applicantsfor the Licence: Dr. George A. Gibson. Superintendent ofLaboratory : Dr. German Sims Woodhead. Representative eof the College in the General Medical Council: Dr. JohnBatty Tuke.Edinburgh, Dec. 10th. -

GLASGOW.

Election vf University Assessors.Under the Universities (Scotland) Act the General

Council of each University, which is understood to repre-sent specially the views and feelings of the graduates, isentitled to send three representatives to the UniversityCourt as recently reconstituted. In the case of Edinburghthis has been done without the trouble and expense of acontest; but in Glasgow it is otherwise, six candidates beingbefore the electors. The result of this election will deter-mine to a considerable extent the amount and the kind ofreform which may be looked for in the University fora considerable time, as the Court has, at first at anyrate, very important duties to perform; the interesttaken in the contest therefore is keen, and the votingwill be close. Two sets of candidates for the threeseats have been proposed. By the organisation knownas the University Club the claims of Dr. H. C. Cameron,Sir J. N. Cuthbertson, and Mr. David Hannay are

being pressed on the attention of the constituency; whileby the University Council Association the candidatesfavoured are Mr. M’Vary Campbell, Sheriff Guthrie, and Dr.D. C. M’Vail. The Club advocates university reform of ameasured and well-consiqered kind, more especially reformwithin, and upon the lines of the existing university

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organisation, and its candidates are pledged, though in asomewhat indefinite way, to support proposals for suchchanges. On the other hand, the Council Association, whileit also advocates reform, does so " with a difference;" itsviews are more thorough-going, and its proposals moredrastic, including such reforms as a fuller occupation ofextra-mural teaching by affiliation of colleges and otherwise,the widening of the basis of the Arts curriculum andexamination, the exclusion of teachers from any considera-ble share in the examination of their own students &c., andits candidates are distinctly pledged on these points. Theshow of hands at the meeting of Council called to electthe three assessors resulted as follows : the numbers were-for Dr. Cameron, 128 ; Sir J. N. Cuthbertson, 122 ; Mr. D.Hannay, 120; Sheriff Guthrie, 81 ; M’V. Campbell, 78 ;Dr. M’Vail, 66. Of course these figures give only a veryrough indication of the probable result of the poll nextweek, as the meeting was comparatively a small one,while the constituency is large and widely scattered.Probably a majority of voters will refuse to be influencedentirely either by Club or by Association views, andwill not vote for the candidates in sets, but will selectfrom among the six those whom they think most

worthy of honour. The Club was first in the field, andhas in the main strong candidates; if it succeeds in

carrying them, the senatorial party will have a powerful,perhaps even a preponderating voice in the decision ofthe Court. Negotiations, characterised by much astute-ness on both sides, for a compromise and the avoidanceof a contest, were engaged in between the two nominatingbodies, but they came to nothing-fortunately perhaps, asthe Council as a whole will now have an opportunity ofgiving its voice decisively on one side or the other on thereform question. The assessors appointed to the new Uni-versity Court by the Senate of the University are SlieriffBerry, Professor Leishman, and Professor Stewart.

The Disturbance in Glasgow University-Sir George Macleod is right in stating, in THE LANCET

of last week, that this disturbance was greatly exaggeratedand made the most of in the local newspapers. The para-graph which appeared in THE LANCET, however, was care.fully prepared ; the exact facts, so far as known to thewriter, were stated, and sensational reports excluded. Yotiicorrespondent regrets that he should have fallen into anyerror in describing the treatment which Sir GeorgeMacleod experienced. The matter has been under thEconsideration of the Students’ Representative Council,which has protested against the exclusion of students frorrgraduation ceremonies, has expressed regret for the recenioutbreak of violence, has offered to aid the Senate in futurein maintaining order, and made the claim that complaintregarding disturbances among the students should be senito it. The Senate sends to this a dignified and not unkincreply, acknowledging the above resolutions, expressingsatisfaction on receiving the reports of the Council, ancaccepting cordially the proffered aid in keeping order 01future occasions. The differences between students an(Senate may now be said to be happily settled.Glasgow llrr 12th

ABERDEEN.

The University.At a meeting of the Senatus held on Saturday, the

7th inst., Professors Hay, Pirie, and Stephenson wereelected assessors to the University Court in addition toProfessor Milligan, the present representative. An examina-tion for the Public Health Diploma was held recently, whenfive candidates were successful. At the examination inJuly last there were eleven or thirteen candidates, but onlythree were successful in obtaining the diploma.

Should there be ce Pay Hospital in Aberdeen?.’’In the Free Press of the 5th inst. there is a short article

by Dr. Robert John Garden on the question of a payhospital for Aberdeen. He divides those for whom a payhospital is required into two classes-viz, first, those oflimited means who could afford to pay but a moderate sumfor their board and treatment, poor paying patients," suchas small farmers, clerks, shopmen, students, &c.; andsecondly, those who have ample means, but who fromvarious circumstances find it inconvenient to be treated attheir places of residence ; these could afford to pay wellfor hospital treatment. Dr. Garden shows that it is im-

possible to have pay wards in the new hospital being built,,but has no hesitation in answering in the affirmative thequestion with which he heads his article, and he feels’convinced that if a pay hospital were started on a broadfooting, fair to all possible interests, it would not onlyprove a success, but be a boon both to the city of Aberdeenand to the north of Scotland.Aberdeen, Dec. 10th.

DUBLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Expenses of Medical Witnesses.AT the Munster Assizes this week an application Was

made to Mr. Justice Murphy with reference to the expenses.of medical men attending as witnesses-namely, that theyshould be allowed an amount beyond that granted by theTreasury, which was totally inadequate, on account of thelong distances witnesses had to come, and the high pricescharged for accommodation at Nenagh. Mr. JusticeMurphy said he would be glad to make the order askedlfor in cases where it was manifest that medical gentlemenhad been put to great inconvenience, but he could notinterfere with the decision which the judges had arrived at.If, however, a representation were made to the Treasury,something satisfactory might be done. I understand that,this matter was brought under the notice of the judgesabout a year since, when they decided that the rules laiddown by the Treasury should be adhered to.

Death of Mr. Jameson Dwyer of Cork.This gentleman, who held the responsible post of resident

medical superintendent of the Cork District Lunatic Asylum,died last week. He had been ailing for the past two yearsfrom an affection of the stomach which ultimately provedto be of a malignant nature. Mr. Dwyer immediately afterbeing qualified applied himself exclusively to the practiceof lunacy, and was some time afterwards appointed assistantmedical superintendent at the Castlebar, and afterwards atthe Mullingar Asylums. He left the latter institution totake charge of the Cork Asylum when Dr. Eames died in1886, having been appointed by Lord Aberdeen, who wasthen Lord-Lieutenant. Mr. Dwyer possessed considerable-administrative abilities, and effected many important im-provements in the Cork Asylum.

Notificatioo of Infectious Diseases.The Local Government Board have issued a notice to the

several urban and rural sanitary authorities in Ireland towhose districts the Infectious Disease (Notification) Act,1889, may extend. The Act provides that where an inmateof any building used for human habitation within a districtto which the Act extends is suffering from an infectiousdisease to which the Act applies, then, if not a hospital,every medical practitioner in attendance shall send to themedical officer of health for the district a certificate statingthe patient’s name, age, the locality, and the nature of thedisease, &c. In the case of a ship, tent, van, or shed, thename and description and the place situated must be givenin the certificate prescribed for the purpose. The penaltyfor not forwarding the certificate is forty shillings. The-Act applies to the following diseases-viz., small-poxycholera, diphtheria, croup, erysipelas, scarlatina, andtyphus, typhoid, continued, and relapsing fevers, also topuerperal fever, and any other infectious disease to whichthe Act has been applied by the sanitary authority.The Right Hon. Viscount Monck has appointed Mr.Meldon, President of the College of Surgeons, to be a.

Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Dublin.The many friends of Dr. Neville, who from delicate

health was obliged to leave Dublin some time since, will begratified to learn that he has now resumed practice.Dublin, Dec. 10th.

PROPOSED INFECTIOTTS DISEASES HOSPITAL ATTODMORDEN.—The late Mr. S. Fielden, of Centre Vale,Todmorden, had taken steps towards providing a hospitalfor infectious diseases at Sourhall for the whole of theTodmorden Union and the borough of Bacup. The plansare already in a forward condition.