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761 to the West African Commission. The present is the fifth expedition which the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has despatched to West Africa. Dr. Logan Taylor will remain on the coast for one year to carry out a series of experiments for the extermination of the mosquito in various districts. At the end of June the expedition arrived at Sierra Leone and entered upon the task of attempt- ing to get rid of mosquitoes in Freetown The party were cordially welcomed by the Governor, Sir Charles King- Harman, and other influential residents. Operations were started without delay, over 30 men being employed in the work. The Governor supplied 12 men and the necessary im- plements and carts. One gang was employed in destroying mosquito larvae in houses and attached areas. This gang cleared 2473 houses in 34 days and removed 558 cartloads of broken bottles and tins, in which the culex mosquito breeds. Another body of men had been engaged in draining breeding- pools of mosquito anopheles, destroying the larvae by means of oil. Major Ross is of the opinion that it is too early yet to speak emphatically, but the number of mosquitoes in the very centre of the town had certainly been largely reduced. There were hardly any to be found in Dr. Logan Taylor’s house, where formerly they used to swarm. The same state of affairs prevailed at. Government House, where Major Ross stayed with the Governor. Dr. McKendrick, of the Indian Medical Ser- vice, who had been deputed to watch over the opera- tions of the expedition on behalf of the Government of India, had not been bitten once during the whole month. In former days he would certainly have been bitten at least five or six times a day. Leaving Dr. Logan Taylor at Freetown Major Ross proceeded to Lagos, where he was accorded a warm reception by the Governor, Sir William Macgregor, and Mr. W. H. W. Strachan. The Governor of Lagos was enthusiastic in seconding the efforts of those engaged in preventing malaria in Lagos, the measures adopted by him being admirable. At Accra, also, Major Nathan, the Governor, was anxious to start similar work, and doubtless experts will be sent out immediately by the Liverpool School. On the whole Major Ross expressed himself as being well satisfied with his tour. Scientific measures against malaria had been started all down the coast from Gambia to Lagos. Major Ross believed that by minute attention to various details the coast would be made as healthy as India for Europeans. Old West Africans were sober and careful and generally lived in good health. It was the improvident newcomer who generally came to grief. With four governors on the coast all anxious to improve the health of their spheres great results were to be expected. Dr. Logan Taylor, in a cablegram just received, stated that "5000 houses in Freetown have been cleared of vessels of every description that previously served as breeding-ground for mosquitoes. Work going on steadily. Have 50 native assistants employed." The Liverpool Sanatoriitm for the Open-air Treatment of Phthisis. ine new sanatorium, wnien is a orancn or Lile ijiverpoci Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest, was informally opened for the reception of patients on Sept. 9th. The sanatorium, which has been erected in the Delamere Forest, is situated in the midst of its own grounds of about 45 acres, amidst the healthiest of surroundings. The applications for admission are already very numerous, so many afflicted people being anxious to test the efficacy of pure air in aid of treatment. The parent institution in Mount Pleasant will be retained for the treatment of out- patients and as a hospital of observation for the selection of cases suitable for treatment at Delamere Forest. The Lancashire Asylums Board and Asylum Accomodation : a 2VeM! Asylum to be Erected. A deputation from the Lancashire Asylums Board was appointed to interview the Commissioners in Lunacy and to urge that the committee of visitors for yVinwick Asylum should be authorised to receive chronic harmless cases from workhouses without their being sent in the first instance to one of the other asylums belonging to the board The question of the continued want of asylum accommodation in the county was again discussed at the last meeting of the board, when the following motion was carried :- That it be an instruction to the Sites Committee to select a site for a new asylum for acute cases in addition to the one they are at present engaged on. Donations to Liverpool Charities. By the terms of the will of the late Mr. John Westmoreland of Huyton, near Liverpool, who died on July 17th last, the following Liverpool charities have received legacies :- The Royal Infirmary, £ 250 ; the Hospital for Consumption- and Diseases of the Chest, ;f:250 ; the David Lewis Northern. Hospital, the Royal Southern Hospital, and the Infirmary- for Children, each .6100. - - The Royal Comnzission on Tctberc2t,losis. Among the newly appointed members of the Royal Com-- mission to inquire into the subject of tuberculosis in relation to man and animals will be found the name of Dr. Rubert W. Boyce, professor of pathology in University College,. Liverpool. The Annual Report of the lltedical Officer of Health. The annual report of the medical officer of health (Dr. E. W Hope) for 1900 occupies a quarto volume containing upwards- of 200 pages. It is furnished with a map of the city with its subdivisions and with diagrams pointing out the incidence of disease and its various classifications. A noticeable feature- of the report is the wide variation in the birth-rate and death- rate in different areas of the city. For instance, in the- fashionable district of Sefton Park the death-rate was only 10’7 per 1000, as against that of Scotland Ward, which was as high as 36-5 per 1000. In the matter of the birth-rate the- figures showed not quite so much variety, inasmuch as the- Scotland district afforded a birth-rate of 40’8, exactly" double that of Seften Park, which was 204 per 1000. the lowest of the 11 districts contained in the city. A large proportion of the inhabitants sought the benefits of hospital treatment, as was evidenced by the number of deaths occurring in those institutions. It is satisfactory to find that cases of typhus fever are a diminishing quantity, the- numbers being fewer than had ever been experienced during- one year in the city, this happy result being ascribed to- sanitary precautions. 731 cases of typhoid fever were re- ported, as against 988 in the preceding year, while the deaths were fewer by 62. The Notification of Infectious Diseases. Act has done much to diminish the number of cases of scarlet fever, in which there was a progressive decline, centres of infection being removed by the deportation, of the cases to the infectious hospitals. On the other hand, the unsatisfactory provision in hospitals for cases of diphtheria is to be deplored.’ The position in regard to alcoholism is difficult to explain. In many directions there- was a decided improvement ; other localities, on the other- hand, are becoming worse. The diminution of the offence- of overcrowding is noteworthy, owing to the supervision by the staff. Numerous investigations had been made during the year upon sewage disposal, and the sewage farm at West Derby, with its experimental bacterial beds, had proved of service. The special beds in connexion with the Fazakerley ,. has passed through the coke beds. The substitution of electric cars for horse cars and omnibuses had largely con- tributed to the improvement in the cleansing of the streets. The introduction into the smaller streets of the sanitary bin, instead of the old ash pit, had been attended with satisfactory results. Sept.10th. _________________ SCOTLAND. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.) Bequests to Medical Charities. THE law-agents under the will of the late Sir William, Laird have intimated the following bequests: Glasgow Royal Infirmary, .62000 ; Glasgow Western Infirmary, £ 1000 Alexander Hospital. Coatbridge, £ 1000 ; and the Victoria Infirmary and Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, each .6500. The Merchants’ House of Glasgow receives £ 1000 and a further sum of .S4000 is distributed among- various asylums for the blind and local convalescent homes. Royal Philosophical Soeiety of Glasgon. Lord Blythswood, the president of this society, has received from Lord Balfour of Burleigh a letter intimating- the King’s pleasure that the society, ’’ in respect of the- near approach of the hundredth anniversary of its founda- tion, shall hereafter be known as the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow."
