486

Stepney, Poplar, and Battersea. The fatal case ofsmall-pox was that of a person belongng to Hammer-smith. The 236 deaths from measles were slightlybelow the average number in the correspondingperiods of the 10 preceding years ; this disease was pro-portionally most fatal in Finsbury, Shoreditch, Stepney,Poplar, Southwark, and Battersea. The 70 fatal cases ofscarlet fever were 15 below the corrected average number;among the various metropolitan boroughs the greatest pro-portional mortality from this disease occurred in Hammer-smith, Finsbury, Southwark, and Bermondsey. The137 deaths from diphtheria showed a marked decline fromthe average in the corresponding periods of the 10 pre-ceding years ; this disease showed the highest proportionalfatality in ’ St. Pancras, Hackney, Finsbury, Shoreditch,Poplar, Bermondsey, and Camberwell. The 98 fatal casesof whooping cough were only about one-half of thecorrected average number; among the various metropolitanboroughs this disease was proportionally most fatal in

Stepney, Battersea, and Deptford. The 37 deaths referredto "fever" showed a slight decline from the average numberin the corresponding periods of the 10 preceding years ; thehighest "fever" death-rates occurred in Fulham, Hamp-stead, Islington, Holborn, Bethnal Green, and Woolwich.The 948 deaths from diarrhceal diseases were slightly lessthan the corrected average number ; among the various

metropolitan boroughs the greatest proportional mortalityfrom these diseases was recorded in St. Pancras, Hackney,Finsbury, Shoreditch, Poplar, and Battersea. In conclusion,it may be stated that the aggregate mortality from theseprincipal zymotic diseases in London during July was morethan 28 per cent. below the average.

Infant mortality in London last month, measured by theproportion of deaths of children under one year of age to

registered births, was equal to 177 per 1000. The lowestrates of infant mortality were recorded in Hampstead,Stoke Newington, Holborn, Greenwich, Lewisham, and

Woolwich ; and the highest rates in St. Pancras, Hackney,Shoreditch, Stepney, Poplar, and Southwark.

THE SERVICES.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL R. W. FoRD, D.S:O., is appointedDeputy Surgeon of Chelsea Hospital. Lieutenant-ColonelG. W. Brazier-Creagh, C.M.G., holds himself in readiness toembark for South Africa at an early date. Major G. J. A.Tuke has been instructed to join at Woolwich for duty.Lieutenant R. F. M. Fawcett and Lieutenant W. L. Steelehave left Aldershot for service in South Africa. Surgeon(on probation) J. C. Hastings has joined at Aldershot.The undermentioned Majors to be Lieutenant-Colonels

(dated July 20th, 1901) :-Arthur Mercer Davies, HenryWilliam Hubbard, Thomas Edward Noding, John Robert

Yourdi, John Chislett Culling, Robert Isaac Dalby Hackett,George Turner Trewman, Henry Halcro Johnston, EdmondMunkhouse Wilson, C.M.G., D.S.O., Edmund John ErskineRisk, William George Birrell, Michael Dundon, CharlesWilliam Stanford Magrath, Alfred Vavasour Lane, GeorgeEdward Weston, George Harrison Younge, Richard FrancisO’Brien, Charles William Thiele, Frederick Peter Nichols,John McLaughlin, Francis Joseph Lambkin, William Lloydlteade, Henry James Peard, Samuel James Rennie, JohnCarmichael, George Washington Brazier-Creagh, C.M.G., andFrancis Tichborne Wilkinson.

Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Farrant, West SomersetRegiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, has been appointed to themedical charge of troops at Taunton, vice Lieutenant-ColonelE. H. Joynt, late R.A.M.C., resigned.

VOLUNTEER CORPS.

Artillery : 1st Banff : Surgeon-Lieutenant S. Clarkretires under paragraph 111 Volunteer Regulations.Dated August 10th, 1901. Rifle: : lst Volunteer Battalionthe Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) :Surgeon-Captain F. Shann to be Surgeon-Major. Dated

August 10th, 1901. 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Princessof Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment) : Surgeon-CaptainS. H. Snell resigns his commission. Dated August 10th,1901. 1st (City of Bristol) Volunteer Battalion the

Gloucestershire Regiment: Surgeon-Captain A. W. Prichardato be Surgeon-Major. Dated August 10th, 1901. 1st Volun-teer Battalion the Royal Sussex Regiment: Surgeon-Captain.J. Turton to be Surgeon-Major. Dated August 10th,1901. 2nd Volunteer Battalion the York and Lancaster-Regiment : John Power Shine to be Surgeon-Lieutenant.Dated August 10th, 1901. 2nd (Renfrewshire) VolunteerBattalion Princess Louise’s (Argyll and Sutherland High-landers) : Surgeon-Lieutenant J. B. Stevens to be Surgeon-Captain. Dated August 10th, 1901. 5th Volunteer BattalionPrincess Louise’s (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) : Sur-

geon-Lieutenant J. P. Brown to be Surgeon-Captain. Dated

August 10th, 1901.SOUTH AFRICAN WAR NOTES.

The following have been discharged from hospital to.

duty :-Civil Surgeon Digby Manfold French and Civil

Surgeon Thomas Caldwell.Civil Surgeon C. R. Hodgson is on passage home in the-

Avoca.DEATHS IN THE SERVICES.

Surgeon-General Charles Richard Francis I. M.S. (retired),at his residence, Spencer-park, London, S.W., aged 82 years.He at one time was principal and professor of medicine at theMedical College of Calcutta and examiner to the Universityof Calcutta. Subsequently he became secretary to the sur-geon-general with the Government of India, retiring in 1875.

Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, Henry C.Woods, M. V. O. (retired), late of His Majesty’s yacht, has,been appointed for service at the Admiralty as member ofa committee on the pay and promotion of naval medicalofficers.

Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets John S.Dobbyn has been awarded the Greenwich Hospital Pensionof £ 50 a year.

THE METROPOLITAN HOSPITALSUNDAY FUND.

THE following is a list of the grants awarded by theCommittee of Distribution of the Metropolitan HospitalSunday Fund for the year 1901 :--

GENERAL HOSPITALS.

Charing Cross Hospital, £ 1050 ; French Hospital, £ 266 13s. 4d.;German Hospital, £ 441 13s. 4d.; Great Northern Central Hospital,E716 13s. 4d.; Guy’s Hospital. E2250; Hampstead Hospital, £ 200;Italian Hospital, £ 50 ; King’s College Hospital, J31250; London Hos-pital, .E4500; London Homoeopathic Hospital, E458 6s. 8d.; PhillipsMemorial Homœpathic Hospital, £ 29 3s. 4d. London Temperance.Hospital, E666 13s. 4d.; Metropolitan Hospital, E616 13s. 4d. Milclma ay,Hospital, .6225; Miller Hospital and Royal Kent Dispensary, £ 250,North-West London Hospital, £ 341 13s. 4d.; Poplar Hospital, £ 433 6s. 8d.:Queen’s Jubilee Hospital, C83 6s. 8d. ; Royal Free Hospital, £ 875; St-George’s Hospital, E1937 10s.; SS. John and Elizabeth Hospital,.£ 58 6s. 8d. ; St. Mary’s Hospital, E2COO; St. Thomas’s IIospitai.E966 13s. 4d.; Seamèn’s Hospital Society, £ 1041 13s. 4d. ; Middlesex.Hospital, E1783 6s. 8d. ; Tottenham Hospital, JE258 6s. 8d.; UniversityCollege Hospital, £ 1133 6s. 8d. ; Walthamstow, £ 70 16s. 8d. ; West HamHospital, .6375; West London Hospital, ,8600; and Westminster Hospital,B1291 13s. 4d.

CHEST HOSPITALS.

Citv of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, ,8666 13s. 4d.;Hospital for Consumption, Brompton, £ 1583 6s. 8d.; North LondonConsumption Hospital, Hampstead, £ 458 6s. 8d. Royal Hospital forDiseases of the Chest, City-road, £ 333 6.’;. 8d. ; and Royal NationalHospital for Consumption, Ventnor, £ 291 13s. 4cl.

CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS.Alexandra Hospital for Hip Disease, W.C., £ 125; Banstead Surgica]

Home, £ 20 16.’,’. 8d.; Barnet Home Hospital, £ 34 3s. 4d. ; Belgrave Hos-pital for Children, S.W., £ 100 ; Cheyne Hospital for Incurable Children,S.W., E83 6.’. 8(l. ; East London Hospital for Children, Shadwell, E.,,8583 6s. 8el.: Evelina Hospital for Sick Children, Southwark, S.E.,,8291 13s. 4d.; Home for Incurable Children, Maida-vale, W.,R66 13s. 4d. ; Home. for Sick Children, Sydenham, S.E., 2108 6s. 8d.;Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, W.C., je833 6s. 8d.;North-Eastern Hospital for Children, Hackney-road, N.E., £ 291 13s. 4d.: :Paddingtou Green Hospital for Children, W., £ 241 13s. 4d. ; St.Mary’sPlaistow, E., ,8212 10s.; St. Monica’s, Brondesbury, N.W., ie8710s.;Victoria Hospital for Children, King’s-road, Chelsea, S.W., £ 433 6s. 8d.;Victoria Home, Margate, B25; and " The Vine," Sevenoaks, £ 33 6s. 8d.

LYING-i-N HOSPITALS.British Lying-in Hospital, Endell-street, W.C., .E33 6s. 8d. ; City of

London Lying-in Hospital, City-road, E.C., £ 45 16s. 8d. ; ClaphamMaternity Hospital. P-36 6s. 8d. East-end Mothers’ Home, £75; GeneralLying-in Hospital, Lambeth, S.E., £ 35 ; and Queen Charlotte’s Lying-inHospital, lllarylebone-road, W...B333 6s. 8d.

HOSPITALS FOR WOMEN.Chelsea Hospital for Women, S.W., .E341 13s. 4d. ; Hospital for

Women, Soho-square, W., £ 208 6s. 8d.; Grosvenor Hospital for Women

487

and Children, Vincent-square, S.W., .8125; New Hospital for Women,Euston-road, W.C., C236 6s. 8d.; Royal Hospital for Children andWoman, Lambeth, S.E.. 208 6s. 8d. ; and Samaritan Free Hospital,Lower Seymour-street, W., L433 6s. 8d. ,

OTHER SPECIAL HOSPITALS.Cancer Hospital, Brompton, S.W., £ 500 ; London Fever Hospital,

Islington, N., .8583 6s. 8d.; Gordon Hospital for Fistula, Vauxhall-bridge-road. S.W., B22 10s.; ; St. Mark’s Hospital for Fistula,City-road, E.C., .S125 ; National Hospital for the Diseases of the Heart,,Soho-square, W., .866 13s. 4cd. ; Female Lock Hospital, Harrow-road,W., .E208 6s. 8d. ; Hospital for Epilepsy, Paralysis, and other Diseasesof the Nervous System, Regent’s-park, N.W., £ 41 13s. 4d.; NationalHospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, W.C., deferred ;West-end Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System, £ 125 ;Central London Ophthalmic Hospital, Gray’s Inn-road, W.C., B100;Roval Eye Hospital, St. George’s-circus, S.E., £ 175; Royal LondonOphthalmic Hospital, City-road, E.C., £ 625; Royal WestminsterOphthalmic Hospital, Charing-cross, W.C., £ 108 6s. 8f:. ; WesternOphthalmic Hospital, Marylebone-road, W., £ 33 6s. 8d. ; City Ortho-pædic Hospital, Hatton-garden, E.C., £ 166 13s. 4d. ; National OrthopaedicHospital, Great Portland-street, W., £ 104 3s. 4d. ; Royal OrthopaedicHospital, Oxford-street, W.. £ 100 ; Royal Sea-Bathing Hospital,Margate, .E291 13s. 4d. ; St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin,oe66 13s. 4d. St. Peter’s Hospital for Stone, Coveut-garden, £ 66 13s. M. ; ;Central London Throat and Ear Hospital, Gray’s Inn-road, W.C.,oe31 13,s. 4d. ; London Throat Hospital, Great Portland-street, W., £ 25 ;Metropolitan Ear. Nose, and Throat Hospital, Grafton-street, W.,oel2 10s. ; Royal Ear Hospital, Frith-street, W., £8 6s. 8d.; DentalHospital of London, Leicester-square, W.C., £ 140 3s. 6d. ; and NationalDental Hospital, 149, Great Portland-street, W., 20 16s. 8d.

CONVALESCENT HOSPITALS.

Metropolitan Convalescent Institution, Sackville-street, W., £ 533 68.8d.;Bexhill Convalescent Home, Sackville-street, W., .E316 13s. 4d. AllSaints’ Convalescent Hospital, Eastbourne, £ 333 6s. 8(!. ; ; Ascot PrioryConvalescent Home, £ 58 6s. 8d. Charing-cross Hospital ConvalescentHome, Limpsfield, £ 58 6s. 8d. Chelsea Hospital for Women Coii-valescent Home, St. Leonards, £ 37 10s.; Deptford Medical Mission Uon-valescent Home, Bexhill, £ 20 16.’!. 8d.; Mrs. Gladstone ConvalescentHome, Mitcham, £ 25; Friendly Societies’ Convalescent Home, Dover,X16 13s. 4d. ; Hahnemann Convalescent Home, Bournemouth, £ 25 ;Hanwell Convalescent Home, £ l6 13s. 4d. ; Herhert ConvalescentHome, Bournemouth, £ 16 13s. 4d. ; Herne Bay Baldwin-BrownConvalescent Home, !25; Homœopathic Convalescent Home,Eastbourne, £ 16 13s. 4d.; King’s College Hospital ConvalescentHome, Hemel Hempstead, £ 54 3s. 4d. ; Mrs. Kitto’s ConvalescentHome. Reigate, £ 58 6s. 8d. ; ; London and Brighton FemaleConvalescent Home, nil: Mary Wardell Convalescent Home forScarlet Fever, jE75; Morley House Convalescent Home for Work-ing Men, £ l75 ; Police Seaside Home, Brighton, £ 41 13s. 4d. ; St.Andrew’s Convalescent Hospital, Clewer, £ 116 13s. 4d. ; St. Andrew’sConvalescent Home, Folkestone, £ 208 6s. 8d. ; St. John’s Home forConvalescent and Crippled Children, Brighton, £ 75 ; St. Joseph’s Con-valescent Home, Bournemouth, £ 50 ; St. Leonards-on-Sea ConvalescentHome for Poor Children. :B83 6s. 8d. ; St. Mary’s Convalescent Home,Shortlanrls. £ 15 ; St. Michael’s Convalescent Home, Westgate-on-Sea,B29 3,. 4d.; Seaside Convalescent Hospital, Seaford, £ 83 6s. 8d. ;and Warley Convalescent Cottage Hospital, Essex, £8 6s. 8d.

COTTAGE HOSPITALS.Beckenham Cottage Hospital, £ 45 16s. 8d. ; Blackheath and Charlton

Cottage Hospital..662 10s.; Bromley, Kent, Cottage Hospital, £ 83 6s. 8d.;Bushey Heath Cottage Hospital, 237 10s. Canning Town CottageHospital, £ 41 13s. 4d. Chislehurst, Sideup, and Cray Valley CottageHospital, C4113s. 4d. ; Eltliam Cottage Hospital, 33 6s. 8d. ; EnfieldCottage Hospital, £ 45 16s. 8d.; Epsom and Ewell Cottage Hospital,l54 38. 4d.; Hounslow Cottage Hospital, £ 22 10s.; Livingstone CottageHospital, .E65; Mildmay Cottage Hospital, £ 41 13s. 4d.; Reigate andRedhill Cottage Hospital, £ 66 13s. 4d. ; Sidcup Cottage Hospital,£ 31 138. 4d. ; Tilbury (Passmore Eclvarcis) Cottage Hospital,.SS6s. 8d.; Willesden (Passmore Edwards) Cottage Hospital, £ 37 10,q. ;’BVimbMon Cottage Hospital, £ 33 6s. 8d. ; and Woolwich and PlumsteadCottage Hospital, £ 29 3s. 4(.L

INSTITUTIONS.

Estahlishment for Gentlewomen, Harley-street, £ 91 13s. 4d.;S. Saviours Hospital and Nursing Ilome, £ 100 ; National Sanatoriumfor Consumption, Bournemouth, £ 75 ; Invalid Asylum, Stoke Newing-ton, l41 13s. 4d. ; Firs Home, Bournemouth, £ 16 13s. 4d. ; St.Catherine’s Home, Ventnor, £ 25; and Friedenheim Home for theDying, .E208 6s. 8d.

DISPENSARIES.Battersea Provident Dispensarv, £ 70 16s. 8d; Bloomsbury Provident

Dispensary, £ 10 ; Brixton, &c., Dispensary, £ 40 ; Brompton ProvidentDispensary, £ 18 6s. 8d. ; Camberwell Provident Dispensary, £ 58 6s. 8d. ;Camden Provident Dispensary, £ 10 16s. 8d. ; Chelsea, Brompton,and Belgrave Dispensary. £ 33 6s. 8d. ; Chelsea Provident Dispensary,£ 10; City Dispensary, £ 91 13s. 4d. City of London and East LondonDispensary, R18 6s. 8d. ; Clapham General and Provi(teiit Dispensary,.E20; Deptford Medical Mission, £ l5 ; Eastern Dispensary, .E33 6s. 8d. ;Hast Dulwich Provident Dispensary, ,B26 13s. 4d. ; Farringdon GeneralDispensary, £ 36 13s. 4el.; Finsbury Dispensary, £ 33 6s. 8d. ; ForestHill Dispensary, £ 31 13s. 4d.; Greenwich Provident Dispensary,oe19 3s. 4d. ; Hackney Provident Dispensary, ;E9 7s. 4d.; HampsteadProvident Dispensary £ 33 6s. 8d.; Holloway and North Islington Dis-pensary, oe43 6s. 8d. ; Islington Dispensary, £ 41 13c, 4el.; Kensal TownProvident Dispensary, £ 8 6s. 8d.; Kensington Dispensary, 247 10s . ;.’Kilhurn, Maida Vale and St. John’s Wood Dispensary, £ 31 13s. 4d.Kilhurn Provident Medical Institution, £ 25 ; Leman-street ProvidentDispensary, )2it. : London Dispensary, .812 10s. ; London MedicalMission, Endell-street, 83 6s. 8d. ; Margaret-street Infirmary for Con-sumption. nil,’ Metropolitan Dispensary. £ 38 6s. 8d. Notting-hillDispensary and Maternity (Provident), £ 7 lOs. ; Paddington ProvidentDispensary, £ 25 ; Portland Town Dispensary, £ 14 3s. 4d. ; PublicDispensary, .E39 3s. 4(l.; Queen Adelaide’s Dispensary £ l6 13s. 4d. ; ;Royal General Dispensary. £ 20 16s. 8d. ; Royal Pimlico ProvidentDispensary, £ 50 ; Royal South London Dispensary, £ 33 6s. 8d.;St. George’s and St. James’s Dispensary, £ 40 St. George’s, Hanover-square, Provident Dispensary, B25; St. John’s Wood and Portland Town

Provident Dispensary, .826 13s. 4d.; St. Marylebone General Dispensary,.825; St. Pancras and Northern Dispensary, .825; South Lambeth,Stookwell, and North Brixton Dispensary, .863 6s. 8d. ; Stamt’ord Hill.Stoke Newington, &c.. Dispensary, £ 48 6s. 8d. ; Tower Hamlets Dis-pensayy, £ 33 6s. 8d. ; ; Walworth Provident Dispensary..810; WandsworthCommon Provident Dispensary. jE6 13s. 4d. ; Westhourne ProvidentDispensary and Maternity, £ 10 les. 8d. ; Western Dispensary,£ 46 13s. 4d. ; Western General Dispensary, 104 3s. 4d. ; WestminsterGeneral Dispensary, £ 29 2s. 4d. ; Whitechapel Provident Dispensary,

£ l9 3s. 4d. ; and Woolwich Provident Dispensary, .810.

Correspondence.

"WAS LUIGI CORNARO RIGHT?"

"Audi alteram partem."

To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SIRS,-Mr. E. H. Van Someren’s paper, under the abovetitle, published in THE LANCET of August 10th, is one of

great practical interest. It emphasises the harmfulness ofa dietetic custom which is becoming increasingly prevalent-I refer to the practice of feeding children almost exclusivelyon soft pappy food. Mr. Van Someren says, in effect, that themanifold varieties of indigestion and the long array of evilswhich follow in their train are chiefly due to defectiveinsalivation ; that if food be properly masticated and in-salivated it will pass into the stomach involuntarily and in acondition best suited to the requirements of gastric digestion ;and that if this habit be persisted in for a few weeks it willbe impossible for the individual to swallow food that is im-

perfectly insalivated owing to the development of a reflexmechanism controlling certain muscles of the mouth andthroat ; further, that owing to the habit of bolting food inearly life the reflex in question fails to be developed. Thisview carries with it the assumption, which, indeed, cannotbe denied, that our ancestors masticated their food more

efficiently than we do ours.Now, Sirs, how comes it that the modern human tends to

bolt his food from early years ? Is it because he is congeni-tally more prone to do so than were his ancestors ? Or are weto suppose that the human has always needed to be educatedin eincient mastication and’ that our ancestors were more

thorough and persevering in this respect than we are ? Onneither of these assumptions can we explain the moderntendency to bolt food. This results from the fact thatchildren are fed on soft food which can be readily swallowedwithout mastication-that we are, in fact, a pap-fedpeople. Under the head of pap we may includeall food which can be swallowed with little or no preliminarymastication-such as bread-and-milk, rnsks-and-milk, thenumerous children’s foods prepared with milk, milk puddings,potatoes and gravv, bread soaked in bacon fat, and poundedmeat ; these, with an occasional biscuit (variety not specified)and a thin slice of bread and butter, constitute, according toan eminent authority on children’s diseases, the correct dietaryfor the young human from the time of weaning till the age oftwo years, and I am positively dismayed when I think howwidely this pernicious system prevails. If asked what is themost important fact to insist on regarding the feeding ofchildren after the teeth have appeared I should reply--Lettheir food be of a kind which compels them to masticateadequately, whether they like it or not. It is manifestlyquite impossible to teach a child at 10 months, or even onemuch older than this, properly to masticate if we give it paponly.The evils which result from this system of pap-feeding fall

under two heads :-1. Those (referred to by Mr. Van Someren) connected with

the imperfect preparation of food for the stomach. Underthe present system a crude mess is allowed to flop downinto the stomach without any proper preparation by themouth. Is there any wonder that a child with a sound

digestion is such a rarity? So hugely, indeed, do digestivetroubles loom in the pathological life of the child that itwere an almost justifiable exaggeration to say that he hasbut one malady-indigestion. It has long been an aphorismwith me: Keep a child’s digestive system healthy and youkeep the child healthy; and the best way to do this is todiscard the use of paps and instead of casting about for thelatest marvel in patent foods to give any plain food we like,provided it. is of a kind which necessitates thoroughmastication.