45

THE LANCET.

LONDON: SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1909.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.

Royal College of Surgeons of

England.AFTER each annual meeting of the Fellows and Members

of the Royal College of Surgeons of England it has been

our custom to comment on the proceedings and to review

College politics. This year we have postponed our com-ments until after the succeeding meeting of the Council

in order that we might learn the replies of the Council

to the resolutions carried at the annual meeting, for

we are thereby enabled to gauge more accurately the

mental attitude of the Council towards the Members.

There is little need for us to mention that we are fullypersuaded of the moral justice of the claims of the Membersto representation on the Council. We are, moreover, certain

that the justice of the claim will in time he recognised andthe franchise granted, but meanwhile there is much work tobe done, for the task is not so much to convince the Councilof the justice of the claims of the Members as to convincethe Fellows; for if there is one certainty in the matter

it is that the Council will never attempt to obtain anymodification of the Charter in opposition to the opinionof the majority, or what the Council considers to be

the majority, of the Fellows of the College. The poweris in the hands of the Fellows, and on the Fellows theevent of the matter really depends. We are aware that

some of the Members have put their trust in the Government,relying on the mild platitudes of the Lord President of the

Privy Council, but we cannot help thinking that the hopeis vain, for the Government is now, and will be for a longtime to come, so fully occupied by its own affairs that it willhave no time to devote to the constitution of a medical

corporation. Medical matters, important though they ma3be, have never yet received their meed of attention from an3Government in this country, and we see no reason to thinlthat the present Parliament is more inclined to uphold theclaims of medicine than were its predecessors.

These things being so, it behoves the Members t,

endeavour to enlist the Fellows on their side by makiniit clear to the Fellows that the Members claim not to forr

a large party in the Council but to have representativethere. At present the suggestion stands, as mentioned in thememorial sent to the Government by the Society of Membe]of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, that to tl

present 24 members of the Council shall be added eiglother members of Council who must all be Members ai

elected by Members of the College. An addition of 33 pcent. of new members is certainly a great change andcan understand that the Fellows look askance at such

suggestion. We agree that the proposed number of t

additional members of Council is perfectly reasonable wb

e consider the 17,000 Members of the College ; but if it be

cknowledged that the consent of the Fellows is an indis-ensable condition for the representation of the Members

hen it is clear that the scheme of representation mustsuch as to commend itself to the Fellows as a whole.

Ve would therefore advise that the demands of the

Members should be modified in two particulars. In the

irst place, the number of suggested additional members

)f Council should be reduced to three or four ; and

;econdly, it may reasonably be left to the electors to deter-nine whether they wish to be represented by Fellows orMembers. There can be no necessity for insisting on

Members being represented only by Members, while this

would render ineligible some of the very best Members fromthe general practitioner’s point of view, because they are alsoFellows. Nor must it be forgotten that probably a majorityof the Fellows are now in general practice. We feel sure thata moderate scheme such as we have indicated would have

much more chance of being adopted. The reasons for

wishing for the presence of representatives of the Memberson the Council are many. The moral right to representa-tion is not necessarily the most important of these reasons,though it would suffice in itself, even if there were no otherreason. The main argument in favour of the representationof the Members is that only by such means can the viewsof those in general practice be adequately put before

the Council, and it must not be forgotten that those

in general practice form an enormous majority of the medicalprofession. It is difficult to express in figures the relative

proportions of the two branches but we shall probablyunderstate greatly the case if we say that those in generalpractice outnumber consultants 15 times. This being so, itis essential to the well-being of the profession that on the

governing body of such an important medical corporation asthe Royal College of Surgeons of England there should bethose who can represent adequately those who form at leastfifteen-sixteenths of the medical profession. We feel little

doubt that the majority of the Fellows will be found to

assent to some such scheme as we have outlined above.

There is undoubtedly in the Council always a body infavour of the claims of the Members and the hands of

this section would be greatly strengthened if the Memberswould moderate somewhat their demands.

: The actual proceedings at the annual meeting were of

no great importance. The action of the Council in over-

riding the voting with regard to the admission of women

) is probably to be explained by the smallness of the majority; when the total number of Members is considered, or eveni the number voting; it showed that there was no very

s general feeling in either direction and the Council doubt

e less considered itself justified in acting as it thought best.s With regard to any defects in the taking of the poll,e it must be borne in mind that it was no easy task to

communicate for the first time with so large a body ofd constituents. When a second ballot has to be taken the

r task will be much more easy and the register of the Memberswill be kept up to date. We think that it was a mistake for

a a certain number of the Members to add some words to the

tie voting card, because it vitiated the results, and also it mighten give an opportunity for the Council to say that the Members

46 THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON MEN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS.

were unable to give a simple reply to a simple question. A of the subject very unwilling to deny the possibility of theharmless resolution carried at the meeting was to the effect fractures being directly the effect of the stroke. Perhapsthat women when admitted to the diplomas of the College the most surprising result of a lightning stroke is to.

should have equal rights with men. So far as the Members be seen in those cases where no real harm is produced,are concerned the rights are not very obvious, though they though the injury to the clothing may make it certain.

will become very real when representation is granted. The that the lightning did hit the person, and even a

point of importance for the Members at - present is the watch-chain has been fused without injury to its owner.

obtaining of some form of representation on the Council: It is, however, more common for temporary unconscious--the exact form is of less importance than the fact of ness to be present, even if perfect health is regained.representation, and that that will come before long;we cannot A very curious effect is sometimes produced. The person

doubt. An important reform needed in the Royal College of struck is killed and yet he remains in the very attitude in

Surgeons is the true application of By-law XV., in which it which he was at the moment of death. Eight farm labourers.is stated that, "The Council will at all times protect were resting at dinner time under an oak when they were alland defend every Fellow and Member of the College struck and killed by the same flash of lightning. When

who may be disturbed in the exercise and enjoyment of found they appeared to be still eating. One held a glass,the rights, privileges, exemptions, and immunities acquired another was carrying a piece of bread to his mouth, and a

by him as a Fellow or Member thereof." If this by-law has third had his hand on a plate. In another case a woman

any real meaning it asserts that it is the duty of the Council was struck while picking a poppy. The body was foundto support any Fellow or Member who is interfered with in standing with the flower still in her hand. The most

the exercise of his profession. If the Council would but probable explanation of these occurrences is the instantaneous.interpret it in its plain and simple meaning more good would onset of rigor mortis, and it has been shown experimentallybe done for the medical profession generally than by any that in animals killed by electricity the onset of rigor mortis.other means which we can imagine. The Council claims that can be hastened by increasing the strength of the current, so-its sole object is by its charters defined as the promotion of that it is not difficult to understand that with the enormous,

the science and art of surgery. This appears to us to be an strength of current of a lightning flash rigor mortis mayattempt to minimise the functions of the College. The by- appear without any interval and so the limbs would remainlaw is either meaningless or it means that the Council will fixed in the positions in which they were at the moment ofsupport a Fellow or Member whenever his rights as a death. This early onset of cadaveric rigidity is followed by its.medical practitioner are infringed. We value to the full equally early departure, so that it has even been said that inthe excellent library and the unrivalled museum of the cases of death by lightning there may be no rigor mortis atCollege, we appreciate the thoroughness of its examinations, all, but the explanation seems to be that its very early onsetbut until the College fulfils its obligations in supporting its and departure may cause it to be unnoticed. A similarFellows and Members in the exercise of their profession, phenomenon is observable in the bodies of animals whichwe cannot but think that it has failed to attain to its fullest have been hunted, and in both cases it may be attributable toapossibilities. Now, if ever, is the time for development, the excessive muscular contraction in one case caused by thefor no one can fail to see that the position of the Royal electric stimulus and in the other by the violent exertion.College of Surgeons of England, as of all corporations, is This early passing off of rigor mortis is followed usually bybecoming increasingly difficult in the face of the rivalry of early decomposition. Sometimes persons and animals arethe Universities. Prudence, as well as justice, demands that carried many yards by the stroke and at the same time theythe authorities of the College should try to make the

may suffer in one way or another or no harmful result mayinstitution of service to the Members. We trust sincerely follow, and this sudden transportation is also seen in thethat the New Year may bring forth the beginning of a case of non-living substances. Stones and pitchforks have:-liberal policy on the part of the College. been carried 50 yards or more.

Perhaps the most curious accompaniment of a lightning

The Effects of Lightning on Men shock is the stripping off of the clothes. This appears to ber

The Effects of Lightning On Men very common. Dr. G. WiLKS of Ashford, Kent, describes a,

and the Lower Animals. case in which a man was struck by lightning while standingON page 34 of this issue of THE LANCET we publish an by a willow tree. Immediately afterwards his boots were-

account of the effects of a lightning stroke in Krugersdorp. found at the foot of the tree and the man was lying on his

A Cape I I boy " and a mule were struck by lightning. The back two yards off, absolutely naked except for part of the

"boy "was unconscious and died three days later. The mule left arm of his flannel vest. He was conscious but much burnt

was killed at once and was found to have a fracture of the and his left leg was broken. The field around was strewn

spine; the "boy" had a fracture of the dorsal spine and of with fragments of the clothes which were torn from top tothe right humerus. The question arises whether these injuries bottom. The boots were partly torn. FLAMMARION men-

could be directly due to the lightning or might have been tions a case in 1898 in which three women were standingcaused by the fall at the time of the accident. The remark- round a reaping machine when one of them was struck byable effects of lightning which have been recorded by careful lightning and killed ; the two others were uninjuredobservers, and about which there can be no reasonable doubt, but they were stripped absolutely naked, even theirmake anyone acquainted with even a portion of the literature boots being removed. He also mentions another case

47THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON MEN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS.

in which a farmer was ploughing with two oxen. The

4nan and the animals were struck by lightning and killed;the man was stripped bare and his boots were found

.30 yards away. It would be possible to quote many otherinstances but the fact is not rare and is fully proved. The

explanation is more difficult. It was suggested by the lateSir WILLIAM BROADBENT at the discussion at the Clinical

Society of London of the case reported by Dr. WILKS thatthe stripping of the clothes was caused by the rapid forma-tion of steam which by its sudden expansion would tear the

.garments. When trees are struck the bark is frequentlytorn off and this is probably somehow caused by the

- electricity passing down the cambium layer between thebark and the wood. In Dr. WILKS’S case the willow tree was

stripped of its bark. In a tree the most moist, and

therefore the best conducting, material is the cambium

layer, and probably the current passes along it but how

the bark is removed is not definitely known. It is not

unreasonable to imagine that the same explanation appliesto the removal of bark and the removal of the clothes.

Little less remarkable is the shaving effect which is

sometimes seen. Two men who were in a windmill were

.struck by lightning. They were both rendered deaf and the

hair, beard, and eyebrows of one were burnt. A woman

who was struck had the hair of her head completelyfemoved. Sometimes the hair returns and sometimes the

part is permanently bald. Several cases have been recorded

in which the pubic hair has been removed by lightning andit appears to have been noticed more frequently in the caseof women.

In the case at Krugersdorp bones were broken and a fewother similar cases are recorded. Probably in some of

them the fracture was caused by the fall. FLAMMARION

mentions a case in which eight sheep were struck, all

their bones had been broken as though crushed in a

mortar ; the fall would not account for this. In the

case of the Cape boy" " at Krugersdorp there is

evidence that the lightning was the direct cause and

not merely the indirect cause of the fractures of the righthumerus and the dorsal spine. A burn was found on the

right arm and another burn over the dorsal spine. The

burns probably point to the sites of entrance and egress of

the electric current, and it is found that the greatest injuryis usually done at these points. When an electric current is

passed through a number of persons holding hands it is ’,

generally felt most by those at the end of the chain, andseveral cases have been recorded in which only those whichmay be called the terminals of a series of animals are

damaged. Five horses in a line received a stroke of

lightning ; only the first and the last were killed. On anotheroccasion five horses in a stable were struck ; the only one to

escape death was the one in the centre. Several remarkable

accounts have been recorded where alternate animals of a

series have been killed. During a storm in 1901 lightningentered a stable where there were 20 cows and it killed ten

of them. The first, the third, and so on, were killed,while the second, the fourth, and so on, survived. It is

certainly difficult to explain cases such as these but it

would be unwise to deny the possibility of their occurrence.Cases of complete incineration are not rare, but more

remarkable are the instances in which the body of a mankilled by lightning has appeared to be unaltered but whentouched it has crumbled to dust. In 1838 three soldiers

took shelter under a tree and a stroke of lightning killedthem all, but they all remained standing, and even their

clotnes appeared to be intact, but when touched the bodiesfell into a heap of ashes. The lower animals appear to be moreliable to be struck than human beings. In part this greaterliability may be only apparent, for animals are much more

likely to be exposed to thunderstorms, but when men andanimals are exposed together the animals are more often

struck than the men, and when both are struck the animals

are the more liable to be killed. PLINY says that man

is the only animal that lightning does not always kill ;all the others die on the spot." Probably animals are betterconductors than man but animals do sometimes survive. A

whole herd of cattle or. sheep may be destroyed by lightning.216 sheep out of 288 have been struck and on one occasion2000 goats are said to have been destroyed at one time. In

a storm cattle and sheep herd together, and this fact prob-ably increases their danger. A curious case is recorded byFLAMMARION. In a sheep-fold were some black and somewhite sheep; the black were struck by lightning and killed butthe white escaped. This was possibly merely a coincidence.In another case an ox was struck; all the white hair on itshide was destroyed but the red hairs were left. This is to

be explained probably by the different conductivity of thetwo varieties of hair.

In a certain number of cases of injury from lightning ithas been recorded that representations of surrounding objectshave been found imprinted on the victims’ skin. Nearlyalways the picture is a representation of a tree and the

question naturally arises whether it is really a copy of atree or merely a branching mark made by the electricity.We are not aware of any case in which a photograph of atree at the scene of the accident has been shown to be

identical with, or even to resemble closely, the mark onthe skin. While not- denying the possibility of such

lightning picture-making, we consider that the evidence

is quite insufficient. In one case a woman was mindinga cow and- they were both struck by lightning when

sheltering under a tree. The cow was killed but the

woman, though for a time unconscious, soon revived; onher breast was seen a representation of the cow. Here

also a healthy scepticism is reasonable, for the picture ofthe cow was only seen by peasants. In the summer of

1865 a Dr. DERENDINGER was returning home by train ;when he got out at the station his purse was missing. It

was of tortoiseshell and on one side it had a monogram of

two D’s intertwined. Some time later Dr. DERENDINGER

was called to see a stranger who had been found uncon-scious under a tree, having been struck by lightning. The

first thing he noticed on examining the man was that therewas on the thigh a picture of his own monogram, the inter-

twined D’s ; he resuscitated the man who was taken to the

hospital. Dr. DERENDINGER said that his purse would

probably be found in the patient’s pocket and so it proved.This case is certainly more easily understood, for the metalof the monogram would prove a good conductor and so wecan imagine how its image might be impressed on the skin.

48 NEW MEMORANDUM AS TO REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH.

Similar cases are recorded of the imprinting of money andother metallic objects on the skin by lightning strokes andit is common to find burns of the body over metallic bodiessuch as watches. A remarkable case has been reported oflightning printing. Near Bath in 1812 six sheep werestruck dead by lightning. When the sheep were skinnedthere was discovered on the inside of the skins a facsimile of

part of the adjacent landscape, recognisable by those whoknew the neighbourhood. The evidence of the existence of

the picture and its resemblance to the landscape is by nomeans conclusive, but there was some evidence and it wasdetailed at a meeting of the Meteorological Society of

London in 1857 ; but so much time had elapsed since the:occurrence that the facts may have become modified.

Lastly, we have to consider whether any benefit ever

follows a lightning stroke. The evidence is not voluminous

but a certain number of cases have been recorded of

amelioration of symptoms. An innkeeper, who had hadmuch rheumatism so that he walked with a stick, wasstruck by lightning. He was unconscious for a time and

his sight was affected for ten hours, but when he recoveredhe was able to walk,’ his rheumatism was so much im-

proved that he could do without his stick, and his sight wasalso better. Chronic rheumatism appears to be the maladymost commonly reported as cured or improved by a lightningstroke ; less satisfactory is the evidence of the removal of atumour. A few cases of paralysis have recovered under theinfluence of lightning but certain cases of paralysis are

very amenable to any sudden shock. We are told of a

woman who had been paralysed for 38 years recovering theuse of her legs after a lightning stroke. A man who had

had the whole of his left side paralysed since infancy wasstruck by lightning. For 20 minutes he was unconscious

but some days later he began gradually to recover the useof his limbs and the recovery was permanent, and the sightof the right eye was better than it had been before ; unfor-

tunately, the accident made him deaf.

The New Memorandum as to theAnnual Reports of Medical

Officers of Health.ALTHOUGH instructions as regards the annual reports of

medical officers of health were issued by the Local Govern-ment Board at a relatively recent date it has apparentlybeen considered advisable to re-issue such instructions with

certain modifications and additions, and every medical

officer of health, in view of the preparation of his report forthe year 1908, will do well to make himself thoroughlyfamiliar with the memorandum now issued and signed byDr. ARTHUR NEWSHOLME, the medical officer of the Board.For the most part the arrangement and text of the

memorandum remain as before, there being, however, a

general endeavour to render the instructions rather more

precise than formerly, so as to leave the medical officer ofhealth less scope for what may be called sins of omission

and to encourage references to matters which have recentlyacquired importance. From the official circular which

accompanies the memorandum and which is signed by Mr.JOHN LITHIBY, an assistant secretary of the Board, we

gather that one of the reasons which prompted re-issue

was a desire on the part of the Board to assist the

endeavours of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in

dealing with glanders, anthrax, and hydrophobia, this latter

department having expressed a desire for the notification ofcases of these diseases in man in instances where the facts

point to the possibility of infection having been derived

from an animal or its carcass, or where inquiry under theDiseases of Animals Acts seems to the medical man con-cerned to be primâ facie desirable. The Local Government

Board is therefore inviting medical officers of health to

intimate to the clerk to the local authority under theDiseases of Animals Acts cases or suspected cases of thesediseases and the Board also expresses its willingness to

extend the provisions of the Infectious Diseases (Notification)Act, 1889, to the diseases referred to.

In the former memorandum of the medical officer the

annual report of the medical officer of health was asked forwithin a month or six weeks of the end of the year for which

it was made, a maximum limit of three months beingallowed. In the present memorandum the maximum remainsthe same while the minimum is extended to two months, andit is pointed out that no delay need occur through awaitingthe returns of the Registrar-General, as the chief rates

required are embodied in the Somerset House returns for thelast quarter of the current year, which is published about sixweeks after the end of the year. Much stress is rightly laidin the memorandum on the question of milk and other foodsand we are glad to see that the important subject of

tuberculous milk is emphasised. A request to be informed of"the number of carcasses and parts of carcasses condemnedfor tuberculosis " will doubtless lead to more attention beingpaid to the subject by medical officers of health both in

urban and rural districts. Information is also asked for

with respect to human tuberculosis, whether any form of

notification is in operation in the district and, if so, the

number of cases notified, the action taken with regard tosuch cases, and the hospital accommodation available.

Attention is drawn to the question of the "plumbo-solvency" of water, the- administration of the Midwives

Act, and the Notification of Births Act, 1907, stress, beinglaid upon the relation of these measures to infantile mortality.Medical officers of health are reminded that it is expectedthat each point referred to will be mentioned in the annual

report and the extent of action or the absence of action oneach of them definitely stated. All this means a consider-

able expansion in the bulk of some annual reports and we canforesee parsimonious local authorities raising questions overthe printing bill. We are, however, in entire agreement withthe demand for positive statements and we wish that thememorandum could have embodied definite directions as

regards the printing of the reports. We feel some sympathyfor the medical officer of health who is called upon to write

three copies of his report, and it is in consonance with someof the best recognised traits of human nature that in

the circumstances brevity should be studied. We note

that emphasis is laid in the memorandum upon the

importance of the medical inspection of school children beingcarried out under the supervision of the medical officer of

health and upon the need of cordial cooperation between the

49

sanitarv and education authorities in order that the

administrative proceedings of both bodies should be recipro-cally helpful. We trust that both the central authorities

concerned will insist upon this cooperation, because in certaindirections we see signs of divisions which cannot fail to

be disastrous to the general interests of the medical

inspection of school children upon which the nation has so

recently embarked.

On the whole, then, the memorandum is decidedly helpful,and if its instructions are generally carried out by medicalofficers of health their annual reports will possess a greatercollective value than formerly. For our own part we havefor many years followed these reports very closely and wehave endeavoured, so far as our space will allow, to extractfrom them such material as is of more general interest.The reports of the large towns usually contain matter whichis of this nature, but of course in the reports of the smaller

sanitary districts material of general interest is less likely tooccur and a bare record of the death-rates for one year is

not of much value. Still, we frequently find subjectsof great interest dealt with in a thoroughly scientific

fashion in the smaller printed reports and for this reason weare always glad to have such reports sent to us. We are

fully aware of the disabilities under which medical officersof health at present suffer and of the difficulties which

beset them in their attempts to set out unreservedly the

sanitary and insanitary circumstances of their districts,but there is prospect, we hope, that, if the Housingand Town Planning Bill is allowed next session to

reach the statute book containing the provisions whichhave been introduced as regards security of tenure

of county medical officers, the position of all medical

officers of health may soon be improved. In the meantime

the memorandum which is the subject of this article will

strengthen their hands by leaving them no choice but to dis-cuss the general and special conditions of their districts intheir annual reports. We cannot help thinking, too, thatmuch greater interest would be infused into annual reportswere each medical officer of health to take up some specificsubject each year and work at it thoroughly in so far as hisown district is concerned, and perhaps the Society of

Medical Officers of Health might determine certain subjectsto be worked at in each year, so that a sort of combined

effort and inquiry might be made all over the country at thesame time. At one time the subject of isolation hospitalsmight be gone into ; at another, that of enteric fever or

infantile mortality; and by this means greater interest in the Iepidemiological problems which still await solution would bediffused amongst all medical officers of health. We should

welcome reports framed in this spirit and it is clear from

the final paragraph of the memorandum here in question thatefforts such as these would be appreciated by the Local

Government Board.

THE annual dinner of the West LondonMedico-Chirurgical Society will take place at the WharncliffeRooms, Great Central Hotel, on Friday, Feb. 12th, at

7.30 for 8 P.M. punctually. Communications should bemade to Mr. Aslett Baldwin, the honorary secretary to the ,,

dinner committee.

Annotations.

THE SNOWSTORM : AN ANALYSIS IN LONDON.

"Ne quid nimis."

THE remarkable fall of snow in London on Tuesday last musthave had an unusual scouring effect upon the air judging fromthe comparatively large amount of impurities which the snowcontained. In an analysis made in THE LANCET Laboratory ,

of some snow taken ofE the roof the following results,expressed in grains per gallon of the melted snow or per10 pounds weight of the snow, were obtained: Suspendedmatter (chiefly soot, small particles of coal, and tarrymatters), 30 ’ 32 grains ; total solids in solution, 12 ’ 04 grains,of which 7 84 grains were organic matter ; free ammonia,0 - 07 grain ; organic ammonia, 0 - 01 grain ; nitrates, traces ;common salt, 1’ 33 grains; and sulphuric acid, 3’ 36

grains. The amounts of ammonia and sulphuric acid areremarkable and point to the domestic fire as their source.

The quantity and quality of the matter in suspension werealso unusual, quite a small heap of material resemblingcoal-dust being obtained in the analysis when operatingonly upon less than two pounds of the snow. There

can be little wonder that the snow presented such a markedsullied appearance in the streets, carrying to the ground, asaccording to this analysis it did, so much of the products ofcoal-tar distillation. The fall was so heavy that hundreds oftons of sulphuric acid and ammonia must have been broughtto earth. -

SANITARY CHANGES IN TURKEY.

OUR Special Correspondent in Constantinople writes:"The sudden turn of political events in the Ottoman

Empire which resulted in the grant of a free constitution hasbrought new ideas and new aspirations into the national

life of the many different peoples living in Turkey,stimulating them to fresh efforts and infusing them withhitherto unknown vitality. They are, as it were, awakeningfrom a long condition of impotence and beginning to realisethe vast chances and possibilities, as well as responsibilities,opening before them. The former rule that held everybranch of public existence in a close grip is yielding moreand more under the invigorating influences of a liberal

Government to new forms and systems of freedom and

fortitude. Of course, much of the present manifestation ofenthusiasm is unreasonable, being the result of the first

impulses of eagerness due to such momentous junc-tures. Yet as the general aspect of affairs is exceedinglyhopeful and bright, so are the prospects of public health, ofhygiene and sanitation. Great changes and improvements areimpending in this direction. It would be advisable, perhaps,not to attach too much importance to the grandiloquence ofsome of the reformers who are inexperienced. There are, for

instance, much talking and planning at present with regardto enlargement and embellishment of, and radical sanitaryalterations in, the city of Constantinople. There is talk of

broadening the streets, of creating parks and public gardens,of introducing electric communications along the shores ofthe Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, of rearranging the in-efficient system of water-supply, of thoroughly modifying theexisting utterly defective methods of refuse and sewagedisposal, and so on. Now, to accomplish all these alterationsand improvements much money is needed. The Ottoman

Government, however, is at present exceedingly poor, poorerperhaps than it ever was. All the available means, and

very scanty means they are, are used for political purposesand for the solidification of the new constitutional status. The

time, therefore, for hygienic and sanitary modifications, on a