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and paralytic become again cedematous, and this return tothe wet type is usually an unfavourable omen. We are in-formed that the convulsive form of Pekelharing has notoccurred. Nothing resembling beri-beri has heretofore beenobserved in Dublin. The cause of the present outbreak appearsto be obscure. That it is associated with overcrowdingand bad hygienic conditions seems to be the opinion of Mr.Conolly Norman, the medical superintendent, who in report-ing on the epidemic reminded his committee of the constant"iterance with which he has drawn attention to the

dangerous overcrowding in the institution. We hear that the

asylum is not adapted to receive more than 1000 patients,and that the actual number of patients is 1500. This is verybad, and beri-beri is undoubtedly a disease of congested andunhealthy populations ; but it is not easy to see how it canhave originated de nùL’O in a temperate climate. In this con-

nexion it is interesting to observe that Mr. Norman drawsattention to the existence of dysentery, often accompanied byabscess of liver, as an endemic in the Richmond Asylum.

THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM.

THE opening of the University of Durham College of

Medicine, Newcastle-on-Tyne, for the winter session must ’,

alway be regarded by the profession in the north of England ’,,as an interesting event. It brings before the community the ’’

achievements of the institution in their midst, for the New- ’’

castle College of Medicine, within the compass of a

generation has developed from the smallest of local originsto be one of the most successful of the medical

schools in England. The resignation of Dean Lake, theWarden of Durham University, gave particular interest

to the recent ceremony. The President of the Collegeof Medicine, Professor Philipson, announced the fact thatthe Dean of Durham was occupying his official place amongthem for the last time, and referred in graceful language tothe valuable services which he, as Warden of Durham Univer-sity, had rendered to the Faculty of Medicine of the Uni-versity, furthering its advance and development in everymanner during the past quarter of a century. All interestedin the University in any capacity must feel Dean Lake’s

resignation to be a matter of the very deepest regret. TheWarden of Durham University has been, in Dr. Philipson’swords, the pioneer of higher education in northern England.

THE FATAL CASE OF CHOLERA ATTRIBUTEDTO INFECTION IN A LABORATORY.

FULL details of the fatal attack of cholera to whichDr. Oergel, assistant at the Hamburg Hygienic Institute,succumbed on Sept. 21st are published by Dr. Reincke.1The illness commenced with slight prodromal diarrhoea,which passed into typical cholera on Sept. 15tb, whenDr. Oergel was attacked with vomiting, cramps, and rice-water evacuations. He was removed to the Ellendorf Hospitalin a state of collapse, and, in rpite of all attention,passed gradually into a comatose state, pneumonia subse-

quently supervening. Bacteriological examination of the

dejecta on each day showed abundant cholera vibrios ;and the results of the post-mortem examination were

confirmatory of the diagnosis of the illness. In en-

deavouring to trace the precise etiology of the case

Dr. Reincke was unable to arrive at any distinct evidence ofthe manner of Dr. Oergel’s infection. The latter himselfbelieved that this occurred on Sept. 12th, when he acci-

dentally swallowed some water which had been sent fromThorn for examination ; bat it was shown that this waterwas free from any cholera organisms, although it was

suggested that perhaps the specimen he was dealing withmay have been contaminated with the cholera cultures

1 Deutsche Med. Wochensch., Oct. 11th,

with which he was then engaged. Another suggestion wasthat he was infected whilst making these experimentswith serum, some of which (highly charged with vibrios) onone occasion spurted into his mouth. Against this is thefact that this accident, when he immediately washed out hismouth, occurred on the 12th-viz., some days subsequent tothe first diarrhaeal symptoms. Dr. Reincke thinks thatDr. Oergel was infected in his laboratory work, which was atthe time largely concerned with cholera investigation; but hesays, as in other cases of laboratory infection, that it is onlypossible to rest content with this general fact. Dr. Reincketrusts that this lamentable event may not be wholly in vain,if it act as a warning to those who still believe that choleraorganisms can be handled with impunity. Dr. Oergel, whowas twenty-nine years of age at the time of his death, hadformerly been assistant to Professor L6ffler at Greifswald, andwas appointed to his Hamburg post in 1893.

THE September issue of the Bristol .11Iedico- Oltirll’J’gwalJournal is distinguished by an ably written account of therecent meeting of the British Medical Association in that

city, in which the writer points out certain defects, but

on the whole speaks in appreciative terms of the severalfeatures of the gathering, the general meetings, addresses,sectional work, and the serial festivities that contributedso largely to the success of the meeting.

WE are pleased to learn that the Queen has conferred onLeander Starr Jameson, M.D.Lond., the honour of a Com-panionship of the Bath. Dr. Jameson, to whose work wehave previously alluded, is the well-known and vigorousAdministrator for the British South Africa Company inMashonaland and Matabeleland, and has undoubtedly workedfor our country in a way that merited recognition.

THE German Hospital at Dalston celebrated its jubilee onMonday last, and at the same time the thirtieth birthday ofits present building; for the charity was founded in 1843,and the present erection was opened on Oct. 15th, 1864, byHis Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge.

DR. Louis VINTRAS has been elected physician to theFrench Hospital (Hôpital et Dispensaire Francais, Shaftes-

bury-avenue) in the place of Dr. Armand Ruffer, who hasresigned.

His Grace the Archbishop of York has accepted the

Presidency of the Church Sanitary Association.

Da. TEMPEST AxDBRSON, of York, is the new sheriff-electfor that ancient city.

THE ABERNETHIAN SOCIETY OFST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY SIR JAMES PAGET, BART., F.R.S.

THE inaugural meeting of the session of the AbernethianSociety was held on Thursday evening, Oct. llth, in theanatomical theatre of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, whenSir James Paget, F. R. S., delivered an address on the ScientificStudy and Practice of Medicine and Surgery.

Mr. E. W. Cross, President of the Society, in introducingSir James Paget, remarked that they were that night cele-brating the hundredth anniversary of the Abernethian Society,the oldest institution of its kind in the metropolis. Mr.Cross then introduced the speaker of the evening, remark-ing that to "Bart.’s men" Sir James Paget did not needmuch introduction, so closely had he remained connectedwith his old school.

I Sir JAMES PAGET, who was warmly cheered on ruing,

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animadverted not only on this being the hundredth year ofthe society, but on the fact that he was now attending theopening of its winter session after sixty years of member-ship. He thought that there had never, or at any rate, veryrarely, been an instance of anybody delivering addressesto the same society at so great an interval as that of

sixty years. There might be some, but few. He saidthat had he known that this was such an important occa-sion as the centenary of the society be would have come pre-pared to give some account of its origin and growth, andsome biographical references to the great man whose namethe society took, for not only was he one of the greatestscientists of his time, but as a writer of good, honest

English he might even in these enlightened days be takenas a literary model. So long a period had elapsedsince his (the speaker’s) connexion with the AbernethianSociety began, that he might, if he thus dwelt on generalmatters, become reminiscent, and so occupy the time ofhis audience with matter other than the subject of hisaddress. It had long been said that science and practicewere incompatible ; this was utterly absurd and unworthyof the belief of thoughtful men. Science and practice shouldgo hand in hand : a man could be a scientist and a generalpractitioner at the same time ; in fact, there had alwaysbeen some men in the rank and file of the medical professionwho had contributed in no mean degree to the discovery ofnew facts in pathology and therapeutics, and at no periodhad there been more of these than at the present time. Thereneeded to be more men who made their practice contributeto their science, rather than their science to their practice,and the lecturer thought that this majority was yearly nearerto becoming an accomplished ideal. The medical professionneeded more facts, more really ascertained and tested facts,and the only way to obtain these was by trying the so-calledfacts over and over again before taking them as granted.Sir James Paget next dwelt on the difficulty presented by theenormous number of "variables"; perhaps no science pre-sented so many as did human pathology. No two personsaccurately resembled one another, no two heads, no twokidneys, no two stomachs, and even no two thumbs wereexactly alike. Detectives studied these dissimilarities ; whyshould not medical men do so in greater measure? It wouldbe well if the profession imitated them more closely in manyrespects. If kidneys, stomachs, &c. were so widely differentin a normal state, and still more in a morbid state, how muchmore widely must they differ under the artificial conditionsproduced by the actions of medicines. He recommendedbis listeners to take as a motto the words of John Hunter,"Don’t think, try-be aecu?’ate, be patient." Where, it

might be asked, were practitioners to look for facts ? Hisanswer was, anywhere, everywhere, for all around us werethings that nobody had observed or had taken the trouble toinvestigate. To prove this, men had only to observe the newdiseases and new phases of old diseases which were beingyearly discovered, and the facts concerning them which werebeing continually added to our storehouses of knowledge.An example known to most of those present struck him asa peculiarly good one to illustrate his meaning. The diseaseknown as °° myxcedema " was first observed only twentyyears ago by the late Sir William Gull, and the result of thisobservation was that, though at that time little or nothingwas known as to the thyroid gland, they had now a muchlarger knowledge of that organ than of many others in thebody of probably greater importance in the human economy.In recommending the practitioner to select a subject for in-vestigation, the lecturer advised his audience to choose one ofthose for the study of which their daily work gave them thegreatest opportunities, and was thus the field in which theymight best add to the knowledge possessed by their profes-sion. Sir James Paget pointed out two lines of inquiry, whichof all others might be better worked out in private practicethan in the wards of a large hospital. The first of these wasthe study of the characters of mixed diseases. In the case oftwo hereditary diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer,what was the result in the offspring when one parent wassuffering from cancer and the other was tuberculous ? Atuberculous father and a cancerous mother, or vice versd- were these diseases each exclusive or did they mingle ?Were they incompatible ? This problem awaited earneststudy. It was well to observe closely the somewhat neglectedstudy of "family diseases " ; lamentably little was at presentknown about heredity, and by the careful noticing of detailsmuch might be learned. The second line of research wasthe more perfect inquiry into the action of drugs on

various organs of the body. Every year new substanceswere presented to us and asserted, often empirically, tobe of value in certain cases and in certain diseases ; a practi-tioner with a really scientific mind would never believe suchassertions based only on some physiological reason, until hehad by careful testing become himself convinced of theirvalue. We had heard much about the "fallacies ofmedicine." These were in reality nothing more or lessthan "fallacies of diagnosis." A drug might producebeneficial effects in one case of a certain malady, and bealtogether useless in another ; fallacy of diagnosis mighthere be suspected, and possibly under one name severalmaladies were being classed. If he defined scientific studyas a collection of hard facts he might be accused of taking alow estimate of its importance ; but deductions from in-sufficient data, and confusion of already ascertained facts,were only to be overcome by the careful accumulationand classification of tested and acknowledged conclusions.An instance in which a valuable drug had nearly fallen intodisuse in certain cases through insufficient observation offacts was that of mercury, which was believed to cure para-plegia. Now in some cases it failed to do so; this puzzledexperts until it was found that when the paraplegia arose fromsyphilitic disease of the spine it was cured by mercury, butthat when it arose from some other cause that drug was use-less. That unpleasant and harassing complaint which tookthe form of a succession of boils might arise from severalcauses and might be successfully treated according to itsorigin : if malarial, quinine was indicated; if gouty, liquorpotass2e ; whereas in yet another modification the adminis-tration of yeast was recommended. This testified to thedangers of the " fallacies of diagnosis." He did not wishto depreciate the value of theory in science, but hesuggested that all the sciences must work together, as

rivals perhaps, but never as enemies ; no one of themwas self-sufficient, no one but needed the friendly helpof the others ; but he warned his hearers against accept-ing statements from the faculties of other sciences withoutfull examination. A physiologist should not with blind faithaccept the statement of the chemist, or the chemist that ofthe physiologist. This investigation was necessary, and thescientific temper which prompted it was equally essentialto the true study of the practice of medicine and surgery.Finally, Sir James Paget somewhat surprised his audienceby recommending them all to be detectives, always to beon the watch, for whom nothing could be too trivial or

unimportant. Let them all exert to the fullest of theirpower the detective spirit in the tracking out and convictionof disease.

Sir James Paget resumed his seat amidst prolonged andenthusiastic cheering from the crowded audience of studentsand practitioners who filled the theatre.A vote of thanks was moved by Mr. Howard Marsh and

seconded by Mr. Anthony Bowlby, and was received withbefitting acclamation.

Sir James Paget made a short reply, and the meetingterminated.

THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOODPRODUCTS ADULTERATION

WE have received a copy of the Blue-book containing thereport from the Select Committee on Food Products Adultera-tion. The committee was appointed "to inquire into theworking of the Margarine Act and the Sale of Food andDrugs Act, 1875, and any Acts amending the same, and toreport whether any, and if so what, amendments of the lawrelating to adulteration are, in their opinion, desirable." The

proceedings commenced on June 25th and ceased with theParliamentary Session on Aug. lst, between which dates thecommittee held nine sittings and heard the evidence of eightwitnesses. The following are the words of the report agreed to:, , Your committee find that at this late period of the Session itis not in their power to conclude their inquiry. They havetherefore agreed to report the evidence already taken to theHouse, and to recommend that a committee on the samesubject be appointed in the next Session of Parliament."Although the minutes of evidence contained in this report

can be but a tithe of the complete hearing, yet already thereare unmistakable indications of the direction in which reformin the present administration of the Acts is most needed.