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1727 a pathologist and as a practical surgeon. In the former capacity he shows more clearly than any other wri er whom I have consulted the great and essential difference between the local and constitutional forms of syphilis; and as a practical surgeon he gives, I think, the clearest and the wisest direc- tions when and how to use mercury, which, when all is said and done, is the only known treatment in the constitutional form of the disease ; and he, more clearly than any, or at any rate most, authors, traces the natural history of the disease when left to run its course uncontrolled, avoid- ing the erroneous and exaggerated estimate of the destructive power of syphilis into which John Hunter was betrayed. I do not say that Mr. Lee was entirely free from the besetting sin of specialists of seeing their speciality in every dubious case that falls in their way, but I do say that he was more free from it than almost any specialist that I have met with and that his writings on what he had made, or what had become, his speciality are a model of wide information, correct reasoning, and sound practical wisdom. But Mr. Lee was too great a man to remain merely a patho- logist and a specialist in venereal diseases. His bent was towards practical surgery and he had a genuine pleasure in its operative branch. These tastes had little room for exer- cise at King’s College Hospital, where Mr. Lee’s subordinate position and Sir W. Fergusson’s brilliant talents as an operator kept him in the background : and it was therefore with equal satisfaction on both sides that Mr. Lee and his old teachers and fellow students found themselves colleagues on the surgical staff of St. George’s Hospital, where though he was only an assistant he was allowed by the kindness of his seniors to do practically what he pleased in selecting cases to be under his own care and to perform any operations which might be sanctioned by a consultation. And he used this liberty freely during the two years he remained assistant surgeon. Mr. H. C. Johnson’s death in 1863 brought him on to the full staff and he could then not only carry out his own views still more freely but also expound them to the students in the wards and in the clinical theatre, and in this clinical teaching he excelled. It would be the exaggeration of a friend writing directly after his subject’s decease to say that he was a great surgeon, but he was an admirable officer in a hospital school, keenly inter- ested in his duties and unwearied in their discharge, in- genious and resourceful in the many exigencies of surgery, zealous in the instruction of the students, cordial in his intercourse with his colleagues, and, above all, solicitous for the welfare of his patients. His published works have stood the teat of time and criticism. The chief are his treatise on Practical Pathology, his Lectures on Syphilis at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and his treatise on Venereal Diseases in the " System of Surgery," which I edited. None of these books either are obsolete or are likely to become so, and I believe that I am giving utterance to the common opinion of surgeons in saying that in his own province he was unrivalled. This is high praise indeed for a man whose labours extend through half a century of constant change and progress, but I believe it is thoroughly well deserved. He was the last of the St. George’s surgeons of the direct school of Brodie and far from the least distinguished of them. His colleagues and pupils there will long keep his name in honour." Mr. Lee retained his vigour, both of body and mind, to an unusually late period, and it was only a few years ago that he retired at length from active practice and gave up his house in Savile-row. He was a man of strong character, of courage, and determination, but of a most kindly heart and genial disposition and was always regarded with great affection by his old pupils at St. George’s Hospital. During his long professional career it may be said that he made many attached friends and no enemies. He was twice married and his second wife survives him as do daughters by both marriages. THE LATIN-AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) THE first Scientific Congress which has ever been held in South America, organised by the Sociedad Oientifioa of Buenos Ayres, was opened in that city on April llth, 1898. The members numbered about 600 and included delegates and visitors from every republic in South America and also several delegates from Mexico, so that the organisers have every reason to be proud of the success which has attended this the first effort to collect together men of science and learning from the continent of South America. In point of numbers the Argentine Republic heads the list with over 300 members, then follow Chili, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, &c. The Congress was divided into seven sections, as follows : (1) Exact Sciences-(a) Pure and Applied Mathematics and (b) Astronomy, Topography, and Land Surveying; (2) En- gineering Sciences, Civil and Military, including Architecture; (3) Physical and Chemical Sciences ; (4) Natural Sciences, including Biology, Geology, and Palaeontology ; (5) Medical Sciences; (6) Anthropology; and (7) Sociology. But the first and second sections, the third and fourth sections, and the sixth and seventh sections were taken together, so that the Congress actually met in four sections. The Medical Sciences section being that which will more particularly interest your readers I append a ’I’ésu1lIé of the several meetings, with a list of the principal papers read. It will be seen that many of the subjects discussed were of local interest chiefly, but some are of universal interest, such as Leprosy, Tuberculosis, Vaccination and Small-pox, Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Relation to Sanitary Works, Subsoil Drainage and Changes in Atmospheric Pres- sure, Inoculation in Carbuncle and the Preparation of Anti- carbuncular Serum, the Microbiology and Therapeutics of Whooping-cough, the X Rays in Surgery, Suicide and Mental Diseases, and Gonococcus-its Toxin and Serum, &c. The President of the Medical Sciences Section was Dr. R. Wernicke, the secretary was Dr. Araoz Alfaro, and the meet- ings took place every afternoon from 2 to 7 P.]I’!. The attendance was good and the members were fairly repre- sentative, the discussion being carried on chiefly by the younger professors and teachers in the medical faculty and schools. Vaccination and Small-pox. Papers were read by Dr. DIAZ (Buenos Ayres) and Dr. MURILLO (Chili). Historical evidence showed that small- pox has always been a terribly destructive scourge in these countries, whole tribes of aborigines being destroyed in the last and preceding centuries. Chili has now the most complete and effective system of vaccination on this conti- nent, with a central board in Santiago and branch offices and vaccinators and inspectors all over the country. Glycerine extract of animal vaccine (calf) is almost universally used and in the Argentine Republic calf vaccine has been for some years exclusively used. But the organisation of the Vaccination Department is not nearly so complete in the Argentine as in Chili, there being at present no special and independent board. In Chili last year ;E10,000 were spent on the vaccination service, and 38,000 slides of vaccine were distributed ; in the Argentine Republic over 1,200,000 slides were distributed free of cost. The mortality has notably decreased in Chili and the River Plate and is now insignifi- cant, in fact almost nil, in Montevideo. It may be noted here that compulsory notification is applied in the Argentine Republic to small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria. typhoid and typhus fevers, cholera, yellow fever, puerperal fever, and tuberculosis, and that a staff of official disin- fectors is at the disposal of the public day and night. Leprosy. Dr. SoMMEE (Buenos Ayres) and Dr. CANABAL (Monte- video) pointed out the relation of leprosy to the low-lying and swampy districts on the borders of our great rivers, where also the mean temperature is highest, notably Corrientes, where there are probably now over 200 lepers. The disease has been slowly but surely making headway in the Argentine. The tuberculous form is most prevalent, although the analgesic has been observed. The spread of the disease was said to be undoubtedly due to contagion. As regards etiology, Dr. Sommer suggested that mosquitoes and other insects might possibly convey the poison, but he was not prepared with experiments to prove it. This idea was combated by several speakers. The meeting resolved that the resolutions of the Berlin Conference (October, 1897) should be adopted for this country. Tuberoulosis in the Argentine. Dr. GACHE showed that the death-rate from this disease was now from 7 to 8 per cent. of all deaths in Buenos Ayres and from 3 to 5 per cent. in the northern provinces, such as Mendoza, Catamarca, and Salta. The rate had notably decreased of late years. The inoculation with tuberculin was now compulsory with regard to all the cows of all the
