1446 LEEDS.-SCOTLAND.

charm, is a task compared to which the cleansing of theAugean stables was a trifle. No doubt there are applianceswhich with care and skilful management are effective asto manufacturing smoke and so, perhaps more doubtfully,with domestic fireplaces, but the evil of imperfect com-bustion has been allowed to grow until it is almost toomonstrous to be grappled with. Domestic grates are moredifficult to deal with than manufacturing furnaces but theattempt must be made and sometimes, in the case of thewell-to-do, it is done with success, but the poor householderis not equal to these things. The injury to commerce andthe amenities of life, to say nothing as to the lowering of thevitality of the people, would surely justify some combinationof bounties and penalties to aid in attaining to a higherstandard of purity in the air which we breathe.

The Port Sanitary Authority and Bad Foodstuffs.Mr. W. F. Dearden’s last official report on the port of

Manchester shows that in the month ending April 25th last225 vessels were inspected and on 90 of them insanitery con-ditions were found. A great amount of what are somewhatinelegantly called "foodstuffs"--a term indicating an alienorigin-now comes up the Ship Canal and requires constantwatching. During the month the amount condemned reacheda total of 22 tons 4 hundredweights, included in which were212 bags of onions, which no doubt were in a highlyodoriferous condition. So that, accompanying the greatbenefits which the Canal has brought with it to Manchester,there is the drawback that it renders the town more vulner-able as regards imported disease.

Cotton Districts’ Convalescent Fund.But for the existence of the Cotton Districts’ Convalescent

Fund the dark days of the cotton famine would be almostforgotten in Lancashire and Cheshire, where the cloudrested so long and heavily. This fund, however, continuesto spread abroad its benefits and at the same time to remindthose who remember them of the hard times of long ago.During the three months ending March 31st 492 patientswere sent to the convalescent hospitals at Southport,Buxton, and Cheadle at a cost of £1134 ls. 6d., as againstc81161 6s. lld. in the corresponding period of 1907, when 477patients were sent. They were sent from, it may be said,every manufacturing town in Lancashire and Cheshire.Manchester heads the list with 845, Salford sent 216, Bolton164, and so on till we come to Tyldesley, which contributed2. The total for 1907 was 1895.May 12th.

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LEEDS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Visit of the King and Queen.To the great gratification of all in Leeds, and notably, of

course, to those who are interested in the welfare of theUniversity, the Marquis of Ripon, as Chancellor, has beenable to announce that the King and Queen have graciouslyconsented to visit the city to open the new departments ofthe University. The building operations are now all but

completed and comprise an extension of the main building,which will provide adequate accommodation for the artsclasses and for the department of botany. A new

department for mining and metallurgy has been in

operation some time but has not been formallyopened. A new wing has been provided for mechanicalengineering and a separate block for electrical engineering.Some minor additions of a more or less temporary characterare also included in recent efforts. Though it is exactly 50years since the reigning sovereign has visited Leeds, for

Queen Victoria opened the town hall in the year 1858, itmust be mentioned that in 1885 King Edward (while Princeof Wales) opened the new buildings of the Yorkshire Collegeand that the present Prince of Wales (while Duke of York)paid a visit to Leeds in 1894 to open the new medical schooland the additions to the buildings in College-road.

2he University : Changes in the Staff of Demonstrators.Mr. S. G. Scott, M.A., M.B. Oxon., who has been demon-

strator in pathology and bacteriology since 1903, has resignedhis position on his appointment as demonstrator of histologyin the physiological department of the University of Oxford.During Dr. Scott’s residence in Leeds he has acted withmuch acceptance as honorary secretary of the Pathological

Club which was initiated by Dr. E. F. Trevelyan during histenure of office as professor of pathology. The members ofthis club, desiring to show their high appreciation of Dr.Scott’s work, decided to entertain him to dinner on the occa-sion of his leaving Leeds. A desire was expressed by someof Dr. Scott’s non-medical colleagues on the professorialand demonstrator staff to associate themselves with themembers of the club in bidding good-bye to one who hasbeen a favourite with all. Professor de Burgh Birch was inthe chair, and among the others who were present wereDr. Bodington, the Vice- Chancellor; Professor A. S. F.Gi iinbaum, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and manyothers. Consequent on the resignation of Dr. R. VeitcbClark, who has been appointed assistant medical officer ofhealth to the city, the post of demonstrator of physiologyhas been filled by the election of Mr. A. Hunter, M.A., B.Sc.,Ch.B. Edin. Mr. Hunter has acted as demonstrator in the

physiological department of the University of Edinburghunder Professor E. A Schafer and during the last two yearshas held a Carnegie fellowship and has been working atBerlin and Heidelberg on the biochemistry of the proteins.May 12th.

_________________

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The General Council of the University of Edinburgh.THE statutory half-yearly meeting of this body was

held on May 7th, Principal Sir William Turner occupyingthe chair. After the minutes of the previous meeting hadbeen adopted the business committee submitted its report.At the outset reference was made to the deaths of Sir PatrickHeron Watson, Professor Thomas Annandale, and ProfessorA. H. Charteris. Detailed reference was made to Sir P. H.Watson’s valuable services as a member of the generalcouncil of the University and of the active interest which hetook in university matters. The subjects of greatest interestwhich were dealt with in the report were those of autonomyand the relations of the Universities to the Education (Scot-land) Bill, 1908, at present before Parliament. With regardto the question of autonomy, two conferences had been heldbetween representatives of the four Scottish Universities,and these, it was stated, had been useful, and thecouncil decided that they should be continued. As bearingupon this question two memoranda were presented tothe council, one of which had been drawn up byMr. Buchan and submitted to the conference of repre-sentatives of the general councils in regard to autonomy.This memorandum pointed out the present position of theUniversities and the need of greater freedom, A secondmemorandum also submitted to the conference was written

oy Principal A. P. Laurie of the Heriot-Watt College andiealt with the quescion from other points. Both memorandawere important contributions to the urgent necessity forgranting without delay a measure of autonomy to theScottish Universities at least equal to that enjoyed by theEnglish Universities. At the meeting Sir John Batty Tukeexpressed anxiety as to the effect that the Education Billbefore Parliament might have upon the Universities-he wasafraid that the Scottish Education Department might have tooautocratic powers. The report in referring to the Oarnegia17rust showed that the Universities during the past five yearsiad rectived a sum of .6200,000 for buildings, for teaching,and for library purposes. An interim scheme of distribution’or the period from Jan. 1st to Sept. 30th, 1908, shows a totalIf £31,228, of which Z8750 go M the University of Edin-burgh. For the second quinquennial distribution from)ctober, 1908, to September, 1913, the amount reaches’£194,000, of which £52,500 go to the University ofEdinburgh and 65500 to the Edinburgh Extra mural School.Altogether the outlook for the Scottish Universities isbrighter. The number of students is maintained; theCarnegie Trust money has provided much needed help;here is a friendly understanding arising out of the inter-Jniversity conferences ; and there is the assurance that ereong the Universities will be granted such autonomy as willenable them to develop rapidly along the lines which are so)la.icly indicated by modern developments in science and ineducation generally.Extension of the Premises of the Royal College of Surgeons of

Edinburgh.The Dean of Guild Court of the city of Edinburgh has

1447SCOTLAND.—IRELAND.

approved the plans submitted by the Royal College of Sur-gaons for an important addition to its premises. Theextension is to be made to Hill Square and will supply addi- tional accommodation for the museum and provide labora- tory and workshop accommodation as well. Various strue-tural alterations have also been approved.

New Medical Superintendent of Larbert A sylum.Owing to the selection of Dr. G. M. Robertson to succeed

Dr. T. S. Clouston at the Edinburgh Royal Asylum, the

Stirling district board of lunacy has had to appoint a newsaperintendent to take Dr. Robertson’s place. It has selectedMr. Robert Brown Campbell, M.B., C.M., for the post. Dr.

Campbell is a graduate of Edinburgh of 1895 and is atpresent superintendent of the Inverness District Asylum.He has been assistant in the Orichton Royal Asylum, in theMontrose Royal Asylum, and in the asylum of which he hastill now been superintendent.

Glasgow Town Council and Ruchill Hospital.Another stage in the Ruchill Hospital dispute was reached

at the meeting of the Glasgow town council last week. Itwill be recollected that the troubles were primarily due toovercrowding and understaffing, that the resident physicians,after drawing the attention of the hospitals subcommitteeto the existing state of affairs, were dismissed, and thatfinally a commission appointed by the Local GovernmentBoard inquired into the state of matters and found theallegations of the resident physicians to be to a great extentwell founded. The next step after the presentation of thisfinding was that the corporation remitted it to the hospitalssubcommittee to consider and report. This proceedingevoked much criticism at the time as the hospitalssubcommittee was not considered to have enhancedits reputation by the way in which the whole matterhad been handled from the first and many would have pre-ferred to have a special committee appointed. After a seriesof meetings the hospitals subcommittee, in dealing with thefour points at issue, drew up in each case a majority andminority report, and these were presented to the towncouncil last week for approval. As regards the medicalofficer of health the majority, which numbered ten members,recommended that the statement and explanation of themedical officer of health should be regarded as satisfactory,and stated that he was not implicated in the questions ofunderstaffing and friction. The minority of four, on theother hand, considered that it was his duty carefully toexamine the daily returns and to call the attention ofthe committee to the excessive overcrowding of particularwards. The majority report on this point was acceptedby six votes at the corporation meeting. As regards thephysician-superintendent, in the majority report it was

recommended with the greatest regret that the physician-superintendent should be asked to tender his resignation.The minority recommended that the physician-superintendentshould be put on probation for six months. By a majority ofthree the town council accepted the minority report. In

regard to the matron, a majority of the committee recom-mended that, subject to disapproval of the tone and terms ofher address" to the sisters and staff of nurses, she should beretained. The minority recommended that the matron shouldbe censured for her general want of tact with the nursingstaff. By a large majority the majority report was passedby the town council. Finally, in dealing with the dismissedresident physicians, the majority report stated that, withoutcasting any imputation whatever upon their personalcharacter or professional ability, and with the full know-ledge that their complaint to the Local Government Boardhad been largely substantiated by the finding of the com-missioners, the committee regretted that they could notrecommend their reinstatement. The minority reportadvised that the dismissed resident physicians shouldbe reinstated subject to their agreeing loyally to obeythe regulations imposed upon them by the corpora-tion. By a majority the corporation decided notto reinstate the dismissed resident physicians. Thesederunt of the town council lasted continuously for11 hours and the debate was probably the stormiest on’record. Although such has been the finding of the towncouncil the general feeling of the community seems to bethat the resident physicians have been hardly treated andthat an error in judgment was made by the corporation inremitting the report of the commissioners to be dealt withby the hospitals committee, whose conduct also formedmatter for investigation by the commission.

Outbreak of Small-pox in ArbroatA.During the past few weeks there has been a rather serious

epidemic of small-pox in Arbroath. Ten cases in all haveoccurred since the beginning of the outbreak.

Proposed Extension of Aberdeen City Hospital.The public health committee of the Aberdeen town council

in a report on a recent visit to the city hospital, when thewards and nursing staff accommodation were inspected,recommends that a remit should be made to it to report as tothe propriety and cost of extending the building so as tomeet the growing requirements of the institution.

Ross and Cromarty Annual Health Report.Dr. W. Bruce, medical officer of health of Ross and Cromarty,

has just issued his annual public health report for that dis-trict for the past year. The birth-rate of 21’ 3 is less thanthat of last year and shows a very decided fall from that offive years ago. The death-rate was 15’ 8. Of the deaths,those from infectious diseases amounted to 150 and of thesefive-sixths were due to tuberculous disease. It is estimatedthat at present there are 250 cases of consumption in thecounty. In Lewis the disease is specially prevalent. Therewere during the year no fewer than 31 deaths from violence,mostly drowning. The infantile death-rate was 92 per 1000in the Black Isle and 89 ’ 8 in Lewis.

Forfar County: A_ppointment of Medical Officer of Health.The Forfar County Council met at Forfar on May 7th

for the purpose of electing a medical officer of health forthe county in succession to Dr. T. F. Dewar who has beenappointed to the medical officership of Fifeshire. The Earlof Camperdown presided. There were 11 applications forthe vacancy but only two of these were nominated, Dr.Norman J. Sinclair (Brechin) and Dr. A. E. Kidd(Carnoustie). Dr. Sinclair was appointed by a largemajority. A letter was read from the Local GovernmentBoard stating that it was prepared to allow the new officerto engage in consulting practice. Dr. Sinclair is a native ofAberdeen and a graduate of the University.

Kincardine County Council: Annual Health -Report.The county council of Kincardine met on May 7th, when

Dr. W. A. Macnaughton, the medical officer of health, sub-mitted his annual report. This showed that for the yearthe birth-rate was 23’ 2 per 1000 and the death-rate 12’ 9per 1000. The infantile mortality was 66 - 5 per 1000. Thedeaths from tuberculous disease numbered 40, or 1’4 per1000, the highest recorded for 17 years. Cancer andmalignant disease caused four deaths, as against 21 in 1906.One case of cerebro-spinal meningitis was notified and thedisease had a fatal result. The death-rate for Stonehavenwas 12’ 9 per 1000, the lowest rate which the medical officerhad recorded.May 12th.

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IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The New University for Ireland.THERE were published last week the names of the members

of the Senate of the new Irish University ; those of themembers of the governing bodies of two of its constituentcolleges now follow. The schedule of the Dublin College,issued on May 9th, contains the names of the members ofthe first governing body. They are : Denis Joseph Coffey,M.A., M.B., Ch.B. (President); Stephen James Brown; ArthurW. Conway, M.A. ; M. F. Cox, M.D. ; Rev. William Delany,S.J., LL.D. ; Alexander Dempsey, M.D. ; Robert Donovan,B.A.; Charles F. Doyle, M.A., K.C. ; Miss Mary T.Hayden, M.A. ; Hugh P. Lane; J. S. McArdle, M.Ch. ;J. A. McClelland, M.A., D.Sc. ; John McNeill, B.A. ; HenryC. McWeeney, M.A. ; William Magennis, M.A.; Right Rev.Monsignor Mannix, D.D. ; Joseph Mooney; Sir ChristopherNixon, Bart., M.D. ; Charles A. O’Connor, M.A., K.C.,First Serjeant-at-Law ; Miss Agnes O’Farrelly, M.A.; Patrick

J. O’Neill; *Alderman Gerald O’Reilly (the Right Hon. theLord Mayor of Dublin) ; Right Hon. Christopher Palles,

: LL.D., Lord Chief Baron ; Patrick Semple, M.A.; GeorgeSigerson, M.D. ; and Laurence Ambrose Waldron, M.P. A

i few others will be proposed. In the case of persons whosenames are marked with asterisks it will be proposed that the

l nomination shall have effect only while they hold the officesa description of which is attached to their names, and that if