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famous for the most intense forms of plague. Poona surpassedall previous records by its terrible mortality last Augustand now Bombay returns the highest death-rate it has everknown. For a city the average weekly mortality of which is500 it will be seen that the 2637 deaths which occurred lastweek are a terrible record. This is a rate of over 167 per1000 per annum. Of this great mortality probably -250deaths occurred from small-pox. Ordinary diseases, espe-cially those of the respiratory system, are said to be unusually ’,prevalent, colds and coughs troubling nearly everyone. It Iwill not probably be far wrong to estimate the past week’smortality from plague at 1600, although the official returnsonly give 569. It is said that numerous cases occur inwhich both plague and small-pox have attacked the sameperson, the condition of the patient being then pitiable in the.extreme.For the whole of India the deaths from plague rose from

1869 to 2137. In Bengal the disease is fast spreading, anda fresh outbreak is developing in Calcutta. Patna recordedno less than 675 deaths and for the city of Calcutta therewere 106 deaths. Since the returns were published thedisease has still further increased in Calcutta and there arenow from 25 to 30 deaths occurring daily. An increase ofplague is also reported from the Punjab, within theJullunder district.

In view of this increase-of plague in. several parts of India itis interesting to recall the great powers possessed by localgovernments through the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897, butwhich, admittedly of the greatest value if properly enforced,cannot be carried out in India. The attempt to do so hasmiserably failed everywhere and has led to a most lamentablespirit of antagonism. Dissatisfaction, sedition, and panichave invariably followed. By slow degrees the enforcementof the harsher regulations has been dropped and even themilder measures are only imperfectly carried out. At the

present moment the only machinery really existing is thatwhich the Venice Convention insists upon. The consequenceis that it is impossible to say how many deaths from theepidemic are now taking place. The Government apparentlycan do nothing. All depends upon the action of the peopleand their native leaders.Feb. 15th.

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MANCHESTER.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Women Students and the Manchester Royal Infirmary.AT the meeting of the Board of Management of the

Manchester Royal Infirmary held on Feb. 26th, a letterwas received from Dr. Hopkinson, Principal of OwensCollege, acknowledging the receipt of a communication fromthe House Committee as to the admission of women studentsfrom the College to the hospital practice at the infirmary onthe same terms as men except to the surgical out-patientdepartment. In it he said the Council of the Collegewere glad to know "that such students will now by thejoint action of the College and of the Royal Infirmary beable to obtain satisfactory qualifications for the medicalprofession in Manchester." 50 years ago such a step as thiswould have been considered absolutely shocking ; now itcomes as a matter of course. Sir J. W. Maclure, Bart.,M.P., said he had the greatest confidence that the newarrangement would be beneficial to society and to theinfirmary itself, but he thought it a very prudent course

that the exception had been made as to the out-patients.Inspection of Food in Manchester.

The enormous waste of food constantly going on is notvery often brought to mind, but the report of the MarketsCommittee to be presented to the City Council gives someimpressive figures. In 1899 under the head of ’’ meat andfish 177,822 lb. were condemned and destroyed, and of‘°fish’’ 147,996 lb. 11,307 head of game, rabbits, poultry,&c., were confiscated, besides a large quantity of small fruits.The same thing is, no doubt, going on in every town, largeand small from London downwards throughout the wholecountry. The money loss must be very great and theutilisation of all this food would cheapen existence. Thereis evidently plenty of scope for the discovery and use ofinnocuous methods of food preservation.

Ladies’ Sanitary Work.Among the more interesting examples of work in aid of

the prevention of disease in Manchester is that of the Ladies’Health Society and the Ladies’ Society for Visiting theJewish Poor, which is carried out under the sanction anddirection of the medical officer of health. It is a goodillustration of the cooperation of voluntary philanthropiceffort with that of the constituted authorities. The formerof the two societies deals with a larger population and awider area than the latter, for though the number of poorJews in Manchester is considerable they chiefly live, as istheir custom, in what is truly the Jewish quarter ofRed Bank and Strangeways. The health visitors havemade 8631 inspections of houses in the course of a

systematic house-to-house visitation during the last quarter.When met with dilapidation of the houses, dirt, overcrowd-ing, and sickness are reported to the health office. It isremarkable how much variation there is in adjoining districts.Four per cent. of the houses were dilapidated, but in onedistrict, that of West Hulme, the proportion rose to 24 percent. 12 per cent. of the houses were dirty, but in EastHulme the proportion was 38 per cent., while in CentralHulme only 0’1 per cent. was reported as being dirty.Birds of a feather still bear out the adage and continue toflock together. It is’ curious that while in the Jewishquarter of Red Bank 9 per cent. only of the houses had sickinmates, in the Gentile district of West Ancoats the per-centage of houses with cases of sickness was no lessthan 44. It can scarcely be assumed that the clean-liness of the Jews in Red Bank greatly outshonethat of the dwellers in Ancoats-though both might beimproved-and the explanation must be sought probablyin their religious ceremonial customs and possibly intheir racial peculiarities. Temperance in the use of alcoholwill no doubt be found more frequently in Red Bankthan in Ancoats. The health visitors distributed no fewerthan 8471 leaflets on (1) the prevention of diarrhoea ;(2) the prevention of consumption ; (3) precautionsagainst measles; (4) precautions against whooping-cough ; (5) suggestions to householders ; and (6) howinfants should be fed. A supply of disinfectingpowder was left at 8028 houses, several hundredweight ofsoap were sold-no doubt at a cheap rate—dry lime andbrushes were given, and during the quarter the tenantswere induced to cleanse and whitewash 2029 rooms,closets, yards, and the like. 102 neglected children werefound and looked after, while 993 families were helped invarious ways, such as in regard to the care and treatment ofchildren and as to food and clothing. This work is so goodthat the only regret is that it merely touches the surface ofthe mass of ignorance, idleness, vice, and poverty that liesfestering in our midst. More help is needed both in workersand in means before this mass can be inter-penetrated andleavened into wholesome life.March 6th.

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SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Royal Edinburgh Asyl2rn.z.THE statutory annual meeting of the corporation of the

Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the Insane was held on

Feb. 27th, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh presiding. Themanagers’ report for the year 1899 stated that the ordinaryrevenue amounted to £54,993 2s. 6d. and the ordinaryexpenditure, including interest, to E50,133 15s. 9d., leavinga surplus of .E4859 6s. 9d. From this surplus the sum ofE1703 13s. had to be paid as the annual instalmenttoward the liquidation of the debt on the West House.Of the free surplus £3252 13s. Sd. was derived fromCraig House and Myreside, and from intermediate patients.S8 13s. 4d., amounting together to £3261 7s. There was adeficit of £417 13s. 3d. on the receipts on behalf of patientsat the lowest rate of board and patients maintained at theexpense of the parochial authorities. In the managers’report for 1898 it had been intimated that the pauper rate ofboard was to be raised from £31 to £32. The managersgreatly regretted to have to report that the increase of 20s.had not been sufficient to meet the expenditure and thattherefore they had no alternative but to recommend thatthe rate of board for pauper patients should be raised to Z33per annum from April 1st. During the year there had been adecrease in the cost of provisions, but a large increase onthe cost of fuel, an increase under the head of attendants’

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wages, and a decrease in the value of labour performed bypauper patients. There would be no change in the rate ofboard for intermediate patients which was now £42 perannum. During the year 1899 the sum of £2968 4s. 6d. hadbeen expended on New Craig House, and on the West Housethe sum of £1479 Os. 10d,, principally in connexion with anew sewerage system. The indebtedness of the corporation onCraig House and the West House together at the end of theyear 1899 was £111,655 9s. lld. The managers recordedtheir sense of obligation to Dr. T. S. Clouston for his untiringlabours to promote the interests of the institution. In

moving the adoption of the report the Lord Provost, afterreferring to the honourable work carried on by the institutionand the satisfactory nature of the report for the year, wenton to make some remarks on charities in Edinburgh. He

thought that there were too many of these and he wasof opinion that the number should be much decreased

by uniting some of them. He regretted to say that anumber of these charities published no accounts, and hethought that citizens could do much by refusing to subscribeto such charities as were conducted on these methods. The

report of the Charity Committee showed that through theagencies of the Charity and Bevan Funds the sum of£675 9s. Ild. had been expended during the past year insupplementing the boards of 60 patients, most ofwhom would otherwise have been classed among the pauperpatients. The report of Dr. T. S. Clouston, physician super-intendent, stated that the total number of patients in theasylum on Dec. 31st was 912, including nine on probation.The admissions during the year had been 428, of whom 212were men and 216 women. The total number of patientsunder treatment during the year was 1373. The admission ofprivate patients who paid the lower rates of board had to berestricted as there was not sufficient accommodation in theWest House for that class. There had been no specialpeculiarity in the causes or characters of the newcases of the year. Alcoholic excess had been thecause of insanity in 25½ per cent. of the cases, thisbeing almost exactly the same proportion as in the pre-ceding five years. He wished that he could report even thebeginning of an improvement among the population in thismatter. It was precisely those men and women to whosebrains alcohol was most dangerous who took it to excess.The persons most apt to acquire the craving for alcoholicliquors were the nervous, the weak, those predisposed toinsanity, and persons living sedentary lives or lives ofdulness and monotony. If sturdy and vigorous out-doorworkers only took alcohol in excess it might do themmuch harm, but there would not be such a largeproportion of them thereby rendered insane. There werefew persons who had had an opportunity of study-ing the effect of alcohol on the brain who would notheartily approve of most of the recommendations ofLord Peel’s Commission which had recently been pub-lished. The Inebriates Act (1898), touching as it did thepressing question only in its criminal aspect, had donevery little good and excited very little interest. If therewas to be legislation on that subject let it be effective.He thought some of their legislators had become victimsof the monomania of fear and suspicion in connexion withthis matter. From the arguments put forward againstsuch legislation one might suppose that no remedy couldbe devised for this crying evil without endangeiing theliberty of the subject and the British constitution itself.With regard to the causation of mental disease it was a factlittle realised that purely moral and mental causes played acomparatively small part as compared to bodily and physicalcauses. In only 11t per cent. of cases in which the causewas known had trouble and anxiety, worry, or mental shockproduced the disease. The remainder of the cases were due tosuch causes as drink, faulty development, gross brain diseases,strong hereditary disposition, child-bearing, and similar bodilycauses. The recent epidemic of influenza had caused morecases of insanity than all the public and private anxiety inconnexion with the war. With regard to the question as towhether insanity was increasing, he agreed with the verdict Iof "not proven" which had been given by the most com-petent recent investigators. There were, he believed, onlytwo great methods to lessen the great nervous disturbancesin civilised societies-viz : (1) to live according to physio-logical and moral law, and (2) to arrange suitable

marriages, and even with these methods in operation itwould take many generations to effect any great change.Dr. Clouston then referred to the question of phthisis in

asylums. Formerly the phthisis-rate in the Royal EdinburghAsylum had been a very high one, now it was well below theaverage. In the last report of the Scottish Commissioners inLunacy special attention was directed to the question of isola-tion wards for phthisical patients and he thoroughly agreedwith all that had been said in that report. An isolationblock would by-and-by have to be provided in the WestHouse. In Craig House they had, so far as he knew, nophthisical patients. Votes of thanks to Dr. Clouston and tothe Lord Provost terminated the proceedings.

Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.On the evening of March 3rd the Faculty of Physicians

and Surgeons of Glasgow gave a professional conversazioneto the members of the profession in Glasgow and the westof Scotland in celebration of the tercentenary of their

incorporation. There was a large response to the Faculty’sinvitation, the various rooms being crowded in the course ofthe evening. The company were received in the large hallby Dr. Hector C. Cameron, President, and the membersof the Council. At 7.45 the President in a brief addressexplained the occasion of the gathering and gave a cordialwelcome to the members of the profession present, whoincluded a number of medical ladies. Sir William Gairdnerfollowed with a few sentences of congratulation tothe President, in which he made pointed reference to thedistinction he had acquired as a surgeon, more especiallywith reference to the history of antiseptic surgery. In thevarious rooms demonstrations were arranged with the projec-tion microscope, lantern, &c. Dr. John Macintyre and Pro-fessor Magnus Maclean gave a number of physico-electricaldemonstrations illustrative of skiagraphy, phonography, andwireless telegraphy. In other rooms were displa3ed Ep(e.mens of new drugs, pharmaceutical preparations, andsurgical dressings by Mr. John Macmillan; Messrs. Weissand Sons and Messrs. C. Ash and Son, Limited, of London,gave exhibitions of surgical and dental instruments; while invarious corridors there was a large collection of medical

portraits and prints and articles of ajchasological and artistic-interest.

Academic Honours to Medical Men.

Among the six gentlemen to whom the Senatus ofAberdeen University offer the honorary degree of LL.D. atthe next graduation are Dr. John Mitchell Bruce, M.A.,of London, and Surgeon-Major David Prain, I.M.S., M.A.,of Calcutta. The career of Dr. Bruce, who graduated M.A.at Aberdeen in 1866 and subsequently proceeded to thedegree of M.D. of London University, is too well known toneed mention. Surgeon-Major Prain graduated as M.A. atAberdeen in 1878 with honours in natural science, and asM.B. in 1883 with highest honours, subsequently becomingM.D. He afterwards gained the highest place in the com.petition for the Indian Army Medical Service, and wasappointed curator of the Calcutta Herbarium. On the re-tirement of Sir George King two years ago he was electeddirector of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. Surgeon-MajorPrain has made numerous valuable contributions to theliterature of botany.

IRELAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The Irish Hospital in South Africa.LORD IVEAGH has received a telegram informing him that

his hospital had arrived at Cape Town all well and hadbeen ordered to Naauwpoort. Sir William Thomson tele-

graphed that the whole staff arrived well and in good spirits.7%c late Mr. Wheeler.

A portrait of the late Mr. W. I. Wheeler has just been pre-sented to the Lady Superintendent of the City of DublinNursing Institution by the past and present nurses of thestaff.

The Legal Position of the Medical Officers to CountyInfirmaries in Ireland. .

A legal decision of great interest to medical men has justbeen pronounced by the Court of Queen’s Bench in Dublin.The argument occupied some days and were sustained oneach side by lawyers of the foremost position. The facts ofthe case as stated were briefly as follows. About 18 monthsago, just as the new county councils were being installed,Mr. William G. Jacob was unanimously appointed