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here, in the famous Kremlin, are the ancient docu-

ments which ten the story of the evolution of the

empire. Geographically, also, Moscow is the centre of

the present Russian empire, and in whichever direction,if any, the territorial expansion occurs Moscow will be

the focus of all business organisation, being in touch alikewith Siberia and Tartary, with Finland and the Crimea.But whether Moscow is an ideal place for a medical congressis another question. It is a difficult city to reach, and whenreached it has but indifferent accommodation to offer to thevisitor. There are few hotels, and only one of any siza,while the use of Meblivomanna Komnatie, or large blocks offurnished apartments under the supervision of a landlady,is not one into which the ordinary traveller quickly falls.Let us hasten to add that every attempt has been madeon the part of the organisers of the Congress to make thevisitors comfortable and to avoid the annoyance and incon-veniences of arrival in a strange city ; but Moscow does notlend itself to the sudden addition of 7000 persons belongingto what in Russia are the upper classes within a few hours.

Consequently, we know that many visitors to the Congresshave been very uncomfortable, while the impossibility ofexplaining their wants to a population which speaks for allpractical purposes nothing but Russian has added to theirtroubles.

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The Congress informally opened on Aug. 18th, when allmembers were invited to attend a general meeting in thePalais d’Exercice, and then meet the committee of the

seclLn under which they were enrolled and obtain anyinformation or tickets which they required. This palace,which is popularly known as the Manége, is well-fitted forthe purpose to which it has been put, as the headquartersof l’usiness arrangement, for it is an enormous building in thecentre of the city, easily accessible, near the University, andnot a great distance from the cliniques. But the generaltr( u’1le and turmoil of travel upset the fore-planned arrange-ments. Everyone was hot, dusty, and dirty, and in a shorttime the true uses of the preliminary meeting were lost sightof, the various alcoves which were designed to be the head-quarters of differtnt sections were completely deserted, whilethe centre of the building was used as a smoking promenadeby everyone who was not struggling around the posterestante,the restaurant, and the lavatory. The first two, it should

be said, were admirably worked, but of the shameful

inadequacy of the last a plain word must be spoken.One urinal and one water-closet were placed at the disposalof the whole Congress, and both were in the same littlewooden hut, divided from each other by no partition.Moscow is according to European ideas very inadequatelysupplied with latrines, while the unblushing publicity of theEast concerning the performance of all the offices of natureto a great extent prevails ; but those responsible for thearrangements of the public meeting in the Manége ought tohave remembered that the meeting was an international one,and not an oriental one.

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The arrangements for the reception of ladies were muchbetter, but there were, of course, by no means so many ladiesto be provided for. They were well looked after by a com-petent local committee, who had taken a’l pains to makeorderly provision for probable wants. From this little factone lesson may be deduced, and that is that the numbers whoattend these congresses are now so large that proper organi-sation for comfort is impossible. Thousands of personssurging into a foreign town cannot be made to feel at home,tbough hundreds possibly can. If the congresses could beconfined to delegates the standard of comfort wouldbe much higher, and the scientific character of the

meetings would lose nothing by such a limitation.But as these congresses are at present constituted

an enormous number of people have to be provided for, andtemptation must be placed before them to pay their guinea.and attend, for without a good sum of money in hand themeetings must result in a pecuniary loss, while there is no-very clear reason why any State, or any individual, shouldmeet that loss. But speculation on this point would lead usto speculation upon the uses of scientific congresses, a large.subject not now under consideration.

On Thursday evening, Aug. 19th, there was a well-attended sou e3 in the Galleries of Commerce, all members-of the Congress being invited to be present. The galleries.are enormous new buildings constructed over vast arcades,with shops on either side, and form a prominent feature ofmodern Moscow, all the more prominent because their

ornate, white facades in modern Italian style abut on the.old red walls of the Kremlin. The programme of the eveningincluded performances by Russian, Cossack, and Tziganechoirs, while refreshments were provided in the different,

galleries with truly Russian magnificence.

I A generous offer has been made by a number of merchant.princes in Moscow, who propose to endow an infirmaryfor epileptics and the weak-minded of both sexes to"

commemorate the Congress.

THE FIRST GENERAL MEETING.

Those who were fortunate enough to be present at th&opening ceremony of the Congress witnessed an extremelybrilliant sight. The organising committee, in selecting a.

suitable place for the three general assemblies, have beenplaced in a position of no little difficulty. To find a buildingcapable of accommodating even a moiety of the 7000)members of the Congress, many of whom are accom

panied by ladies, was an obvious impossibility. Inultimately selecting the Grand Theatre (Bolshvi Téatr) theproblem appears to have been solved in the best possiblemanner. This fine theatre, the largest in Europe, stands inthe centre of a plain, just outside the Kitai Gorod, or

" Chinese Town," a characteristic part of the city of Moscow,surrounded by walls which almost rival those of theKremlin itself. The interior of the theatre was entirelyrenovated last year for the occasion of the gala spectacleat the time of the Coronation. On this occasion every seatappeared to be occupied some time before the openingof the Congress, which was fixed for 1 o’clock. As seen.from the stage the sight was certainly a striking one.

The prevailing dress appeared to be the ordinary eveningdress of civilisation, but in all parts of the house this wasrelieved by more than a sprinkling of uniforms and decorations, and orders of all nationalities were worn by a goodlynumber of those present. The stage was occupied by theofficial representatives and delegates of the vaxious.nationalities, and here, as was to be expected, there wasa brilliant array of official uniforms and decorationso.Throughout the house, too, the summer toilettes of theladies present, of whom there were many, added conspicuous touches of colour. Her Imperial Highness theGrand Duchess Elizabeth, the wife of the Grand Duke Serge;occupied the stage box on the left side. Punctuallyat 1 o’clock the audience rose as the august patron of theCongress, the Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovitch, took his.seat at the centre of the table, which occupied the wholelength of the iront of the stage. To his Highness’s right-was the Minister of Public Instruction, his Excellency Count.,Delianof, and to his left Professor Sklifosovski, the Presidentof the Organising Committee of the Congress. At the table-were seated also the Mayors of Moscow and St. Petersburgand many of the represeLtatives of foreign countries. Theremainder of the stage was completely filled by foreigndelegates and members of the national committees. Theback of the stage was occupied by a full-length portrait ofthe Emperor, surrounded by numbers of tropical plants andtrophies of flags of all nations.The Grand Duke having declared the Congress officially

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open, Count Delianof rose and delivered a short address oFwelcome in the Latin tongue. He spoke of the lofty aimswhich had brought the members together and wished success

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to their joint labours. Professor Sklifosovski, as presidentof the Organising Committee, who spoke in French, thengave a brief address. He welcomed the members of theCongress in the name of the oldest of the Russian universities.Russia, he continued, was no longer separated, as in the past,by a Chinese Wall from the rest of Europe. It had been theflot of Russia to protect the West from those fatal Asiaticinfluences which had for so long prevented her own develop-ment. He then passed on to discuss the question oflanguages. The multiplicity of languages had, he said, inthe past been one of the great bars to international inter-course, and he proposed that an attempt should be made atthe present Congress to come to some decision on the ques-tion of what language or languages should be employed atthis and succeeding international gatherings. He suggestedthat each nation should elect two representatives, whoshould collectively form a committee to discuss this

subject.Professor Roth, the general secretary, then gave an

account of the preliminary labours of the organising andexecutive committees. The present Congress was largerthan any of its predecessors, the number of membersexceeding 7300. Prince Galitzin, the Mayor of Moscow,then welcomed the members of the Congress in the name ofthe city of Moscow, and added that to commemorate the’event the municipality had decided to offer a triennial prizefor the best work on some selected medical subject, under.conditions already described in THE LANCET. The speechesof the representatives of foreign countries then followed.’The majority spoke in French, bat the German and Austrianrepresentatives spoke in German, the English in our owntongue, and the Czech and Bulgarian in Russian. The firstand the most eloquent address was that of Professor vonKoller, surgeon-general of the Prussian army, whose speechwas received with loud applause. Space will scarcely permitof more than the mention of the many countries whose- delegates addressed the house at more or less length. Therepresentatives spoke in the following order : Germany,Austria, Czech, Hungary, England, Belgium, Denmark,France, Mexico, Italy, Japan, the United States, Spain,Norway, the Netherlands, Roumania, Portugal, Sweden,Turkey, and Switzerland. Professor Tarnovski, of theRussian Medical Council, and M. Dekhteref, representingthe city of St. Petersburg, then spoke ; the latter, in thecourse of his speech. cordially inviting the members of theCongress to visit St. Petersburg after their labours in Moscowwere at an end.

Professor Roth then read the names of the representativesof foreign countries. The names, particularly the morefamiliar ones, were received with loud applause, whichin many instances was not silenced until the owner ofthe name had risen and bowed his acknowledgments.Germany is represented by Professor Virchow, Professor

Leyden, Professor Ziemssen, and Professor Waldeyer; Austriaby Professor Gussenbauer, Professor Hlava, Professor Pertik,and Professor Riedeger ; Belgium by Professor Crocq ; GreatBritain by Sir William MacCormac, Sir William Stokes,and Professor Simpson, of Edinburgh ; the United States byDr. Sayer, Dr. Senn, and Dr. Billings ; Spain by Dr. Robert,-of Barcelona; France by Professor Lannelongue, ProfessorLe Dentu, Professor Grass6, and Professor Pinard ; Italy byProfessor Dantona, Professor Bottini, and Professor Lom-’broso ; and Switzerland by Professor Kocher and Dr. Roux.

After the addresses of the delegates, many of whom ofnecessity spoke with great brevity, there was an interval offive minutes. On the house re-assembling Professor Virchowat once ascended the rostrum on the left side of the stageto read his address on 1; The Continuity of Life as the Basis.of Biological Science." His appearance was the signal for adoud outburst of applause, and it was some moments beforethe veteran professor could begin his speech. The subjectof his address had been changed almost at the last moment,his original communication on "The Role of the Vessels inInfiammation " being reserved for one of the sectionalmeetings. The beginning of the address, which was

delivered in German, was devoted to an interestingrésumé of the various views of the nature of life which hadbeen held at different times and by different observers, andof the successive discoveries which had widened man’s

knowledge of the nature and mechanism of vital action.Paracelsus had held that the life of a living organism wastwofold ; there was the life of the separate parts, the

"vita propria"; ; and the life of the whole, or "vitacommunis." The speaker then passed in brief review the

great discovery cf Harvey of the circulation of theblood, the labours of Malpighi, the discoveries of Pasteur,and the great philosophical work of Darwin. All thesehad brought us nearer to the secret of what life isand what is its source, but it still remains a secret.

Only two or three years remain to the opening ofanother century, and the orator concluded his address byexpressing the hope that before the close of the twentiethcentury the problem of life might be solved.The second address was that of Professor Lannelongue,

of Paris, who received a scarcely less enthusiastic welcomefrom the audience than the preceding orator. The subjectof his address was The Surgical Treatment of Tubercu.losis." Professor Lannelongue, who spoke in French,said that in former times local affections of all sorts,now known to be tuberculous in character, had beencalled by a number of different names. It was onlyby the recognition of the so-called tuberculous nodulethat the common origin and character of all these differentaffections had been established. Later still the discoveryby Koch of the tubercle bacillus had proved beyond adoubt, not only their identity, but also their intectiouscharacter. What was the duty of the surgeon in viewof these conclusions ? ? Obviously he must endeavour toremove the local centres of infection, which threatened thewhole organism-to remove them as early as possible andas completely as circumstances would allow. The objectionswhich had been raised to this method of reasoning do notbear criticism. It had been said that the tubercle bacilliare accompanied by other micro-organisms, the action ofwhich will continue although the centres cf tuberculousinfection are removed. Bat the presence of other organismsis in the majority of cases the result of the open con.

dition of the specific tuberculous centres, allowing accessto the body of extraneous micro - organisms whichwould not otherwise obtain access to the tissues. Insuch cases there is doubtless a mixed infection. Themethod of surgical interference was in many such cases notavailable, particularly if it was uncertain where the originalsource of infection was situated. In these cases conservativemethods must be followed ; immobilising, extension, rest,and bloodless methods generally gave better results than

operation. Sometimes good results could be obtained by theinjection of microbicidal flaids into the tissues at thecentre of infection. But the number of such cases waslimited. In a majority of instances the watchword of thesurgeon should be "Agir tôt, agir vite"-remove at theearliest opportunity the source of the infection-the tuberclebacillus.

Dr. Lauder Brunton, of London, who wore his Doctor’sgown of scarlet cloth, then read an address on "TheRelations between Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology,and Practical Medicine," which will be found in anotherpart of our present issue. Dr. Lauder Brunton spoke inFrench, and as the hour at which he rose was already alate one he greatly condensed his interesting address.

THE LATE MR. JOHN PHILLIPS, C.E.-Mr. JohnPhillips, who recently died at his residence, Disraeliroad, Putney, in his eighty-first year, had a considerableshare in the introduction of the sewerage system whichrescued London from the cesspool abominations and renderedit a healthy well-drained city. The evidence given by himbefore the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission in 1847 con.tains some woeful pictures of the filthy state of the basementsin many localities due to overflowing of the cesspools. Theegg-shaped sewer, now universally used, was invented byhim-a question easily settled by reference to the Blue-booksfor 1847 (report of the Sanitary Commission)-and the firstsewers of that section were laid down by him and the lateMr. John Roe, who was surveyor to the Holborn and FinsbtiryCommission. He was also the inventor of street gullies, andwas among the first to make use of stoneware drain-pipes.During his active years Mr. Phillips held the appointment ofchief surveyor to the Metropolitan Commissioners ; he had,however, for many years lived in retirement, occupying him-self with antiquarian studies relative largely to the pasthistory of Putney and the connexion between it and thefamilies of Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Cromwell, Earl ofEssex. Papers on these subjects were published by him inthe Antiquarian in 1880, and in the Antiquarian Magazinein 1882.