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to be revaccinated. This person fell ill with the disease indue course and was admitted to hospital. It is incorrect to

say that quarantine is carried out without recourse to vaccina-tion and revaccination. True, vaccination is not put intopractice as it ought to be, and much which should be done inthis direction remains undone, to the continued peril of thepublic safety.

COMPENSATION OR NO COMPENSATION ?

In the article of Mr. Biggs referred to above, he says :"Another baseless assumption that is frequently used for thepurpose of discrediting us is that this Leicester method ofisolation, quarantine, disinfection and sanitation is so

excessively expensive as to be practically prohibitive. Now,I can show, on the contrary, that our Leicester method isextremely economical as well as effective. Besides, it is nowwell known that, however thoroughly a community is vac-cinated, so little reliance is placed upon this supposedsafeguard that on the outbreak of small-pox recourse is atonce had to the very measures which have been so per-sistently decried when used to the salvation of unvaccinatedLeicester. Comment from me is unnecessary, further thanto say that compensation for loss of time is not offered: but

’’

if, as a precautionary measure, bedding or clothing haveto be destroyed, their value is made good." When the"little bill " for compensation for loss of time and for

carrying out the other details of the Leicester systemis produced it will present a sufficient commentary on thisstatement. The heavy expenses already incurred may affordan instructive object lesson to all students of sanitation, butwill bring small comfort to the already overburdened rate-payers of Leicester. It is not long since one of these so-called " quarantine " persons walked into the presence of thesanitary committee (to the consternation of some of themembers) to complain of the otl a week awarded him as beinginsufficient, and, like Oliver Twist, he had called to ,askfor more. "

In face of these facts I ask, ’’ What has become ofthe Leicester system? " The present hospital and itsquarantine arrangements are utterly inadequate and havefailed in their professed purpose, as has been pointed outagain and again in THE LANCET. The hospital can-

not be regarded as an isolation hospital at all, forwith the first small outbreak of small-pox it is neces-

sary, nolens volens, to clear out all the fever cases.

To-day no cases are admitted excepting those of small-

pox, and the quarantine at the hospital is actually empty. ’,The majority of persons who have been exposed to contagion

’’

are now subjected to a process of surveillance at their ownhomes, and in this way it is proved that this so-called"system" is nothing short of lack of system. The fact is self-evident to every unbiased mind that we have been living in afool’s paradise, and that an outbreak of small-pox of moderatedimensions has been sufficient to prove that Leicester, so faras hospital accommodation and provision for isolation andquarantine are concerned, was ill-prepared to cope with thedisease. In fact, Leicester at the time of the outbreak ofsmall-pox was probably as little prepared to meet it as anyother large town. Our recent experiences may perhapsteach us a useful lesson, and when we have provided thathospital accommodation for infectious disease of which westand so sorely in need; when we have supplied means ofisolation and quarantine in practice and not in theory ; whenwe have adopted vaccination and revaccination as our firstline of defence-then, and then only, shall we be able toclaim that the "Leicester system" is a method worthy ofimitation and not a fantastic phrase which means nothing.

CHOLERA.

RUSSIA has of all countries suffered most severely from theepidemic. Its geographical position led to its being earliestattacked and the epidemic has continued, more or less, withvarying degrees of intensity, up to the present time. Duringthe latter half of February 305 cases of cholera with 59 deathsoccurred in the province of Podolia, and according to thelatest reports from St. Petersburg, the disease is said to be

spreading over Central Russia. The peasants are, it is stated,dying by thousands, and the greatest distress prevails through-

out the whole region. The governments most severely visitedby the epidemic are Astrachan, Ekaterinoslav and Moscow.Isolated cases of cholera have also occurred during thepresent month in the towns of Nijni-Novgorod, Oreland,Yaroslav and in the province of Kieff. In view of the possibleoutbreak of cholera in the Trans-Caspian Province it has beendecided, as a precautionary measure, to establish a sanitarycordon on the frontier of Khorassan and Afghanistan. Moreover,the Minister of Ways and Communications is about to makea sanitary inspection of all the Russian railways. A congressof sanitary officers will meet at St. Petersburg shortlyto consider the measures to be taken in the event of ageneral reappearance of cholera this spring and in thecoming summer.From L’Orient (Brittany) we learn that many cases of

cholera have appeared during the present month. Six deathsoccurred in eight days among patients presenting choleraicsymptoms, and on the 16th inst. it was stated that four freshcases had occurred.In connexion with these facts it is interesting to note that

frequently the earliest indications of an epidemic spread ofcholera in India outside its endemic area are the occurrenceof sporadic cases in various places or localised outbreaks ona small scale in March and April, and the disease has beennamed in consequence spring cholera, to denote the seasonof its prevalence.As regards the proceedings of the International Sanitary

Conference, it is believed that these have been confined tothe discussion of general questions. According to the specialcorrespondent of The Tintes, there is a general impressionthat the delegates from the greater number of the Powersconcerned will endeavour to remove or minimise, as far aspracticable, restrictions on traffic and commerce, and thattheir efforts in this direction will be supported by the dele-gates from this country and aided by the influence of someof the scientific experts from Germany and the Continent ingeneral.

THE PROPOSED MEDICAL SCHOOL ATCARDIFF.

ANOTHER step forward has been taken by the Council ofthe University College of South Wales and Monmouthshiretowards the establishment of the projected School of Medi-cine at Cardiff in connexion with the College. Last weekDr. A. W. Hughes was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Dr.J. Berry Haycraft Professor of Physiology, and it is expectedthat the formal opening of the school will take place in Octobernext. Both these gentlemen are well known as teachers

and investigators in their respective subjects, and, havingalready had considerable experience in the teaching and theorganising of teaching in medical schools, will considerablystrengthen the scientific branches of the professoriate ofthe University. We congratulate South Wales on obtain-ing the services of such well-trained professors for their newchairs ; but we cannot avoid pointing out that salaries of £350

per annum, without a share of the fees paid by their students,are quite insufficient to retain their services for any period of ,time should they be offered similar chairs in other medicalschools. Cardiff boasts of its goodly list of scientific insti-tutions ; but it will scarcely urge that its liberality in

endowing professorial chairs is also a feature of which it

may be justly proud. The University College of SouthWales has been very successful in passing its students atthe Preliminary Scientific M. B. Examination at the Universityof London, and this new departure will enable it toteach students for the intermediate M.B. examination andfor the second examination of the Conjoint Board forEngland and for the corresponding scientific examinations ofthe other licensing authorities. We have no doubt that allthis work can be well done at provincial centres ofeducation, provided the teachers and the material are

forthcoming, as they should be at a place of the size,position and importance of Cardiff. It is just possible thatthere may be some difficulty with regard to the practicalinstruction in anatomy, but this will mainly depend on thesize to which the proposed school will ultimately attain. Inaddition to the more strictly scientific part of the curriculum,

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it is also proposed to give a certain amount of clinical teaching and practical work to students at the CardiffInfirmary, and to provide systematic courses of lectures in -such advanced subjects as obstetric medicine and inmedical jurisprudence, thus aiming at a complete medical- education, both theoretical and clinical, and on a prac-tical as well as on a merely scientific basis. The training.is to be a thorough one, and the idea of the foundersof the medical school is obviously to keep the studentmainly, if not exclusively, in Cardiff. Early scientific educa-tion can be effectively and advantageously carried out in theprovincial colleges, but a complete medical training in the

practical branches of our art can only be obtained in the verylargest centres of population. Clinical material of suffi--cient variety and clinical teachers of the first eminence canseldom be found together in provincial cities or towns ; and’even if the latter exist there they will always be under a- temptation to move to larger areas. Medical science and artcannot be provincial without having the tendency to become- unduly narrowed.

THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE EDIN-BURGH UNIVERSITY AND THE COM-

MISSIONERS’ DRAFT FINANCIALORDINANCES.

A SPECIAL MEETING of the General Council of the Universityof Edinburgh was held last week and was summoned mainlyto receive and consider the report of the Committee on

Ordinances, more especially on the draft financial ordinancesissued by the Commission. The report deals, in the first

place, with the proposed scheme, pointing out that it is

intended that the class fees, instead of being paid to theprofessors directly, are to be paid to an official of the

University Court and are to go to a fee fund. Each

professor is to receive, firstly, the endowment on the Parlia-mentary grants attached to his chair and, secondly, a sumfrom the fee fund sufficient to bring up his salary tothe "normal salary," which is fixed by the Commis-sioners in each case. The normal salaries are to vary from£500 to £1400 a year. This so-called " normal salary,"the report points out, is really the maximum salary,as no provision is made for an increase beyond this. There

is, on the other hand, provision that the emoluments from a- chair shall not fall below what is called the "minimum salary."In so far as the salary may exceed the minimum rate, theonly guarantee is the fee fund, and the normal salary" canonly be attained if the fee fund is able to meet all the callsmade upon it. The report takes up, firstly, the fee fund, andcordially approves of the general principle underlying it;but the committee have had to consider whether the fees ofstudents should be collected into a separate fee fund for eachfaculty or go into a common fund, and on this importantpoint the committee does not come to a decision, consideringit could hardly do so without more knowledge as to the pro-vision the Commission proposes to make for the payment oflecturers &c. Taking up, then, the question of minimumsalaries, the committee approves of the principle that aminimum salary be guaranteed, but it highly disapproves of aseparate minimum for each chair. The reason for opposingthis is that a professor’s status is not affected by the subjecthe teaches or by the number of classes he teaches, neitherought his guaranteed minimum salary to vary with theseconditions. A varying or graduated minimum seems wrongin principle. The minimum ought to be as high as theUniversity can afford, but it ought to be the same for all.The committee considers that the irreducible minimum oughtto be .f500 a year. The proposal to which the committeeobject most emphatically in principle is that of a fixedmaximum salary, called by the Ordinance a "normal salary."- Quoting from the report by the University Commission of1878, as follows : "It is desirable, if possible, to give everyprofessor the incentive to exertion which the dependence of aportion of his income on the success of his teaching and thenumber of his students gives, " the committee adhere tothe principle expressed therein. The Commission, instead

of modifying or regulating the stimulus of material successas was desirable, has proposed to abolish it altogether, andthe committee regard this as a serious and fatal mistake. Thereport says : "As long as human nature is what it is, men,even learned men, will be incited to exertion by a regard fortheir own interests as well as by other legitimate motives.Scottish professors have not shown themselves to be moreinsensible to that influence in the past than other men." Ifthis plan be adopted, "every professor will be invited torealise the fact that his most assiduous exertions and moatbrilliant efforts, though they may double the number ofhis students, will add nothing directly to his own income;and, on the other hand, that his income will suffer no appre-ciable diminution even after he has emptied his class-room by the laziest reading of the dullest lectures." It is pointed out by the committee that the Senatushave recommended that after receiving the minimumeach professor should receive all his fees until a secondfixed point is reached, after which he should receive one-thirdof his fees, the remaining two-thirds going to the commonfund. Another scheme that has been proposed is that afterthe minimum salary is paid the surplus should be divided intothree parts-one to go to the professor, one to his faculty,and one to the University. The committee does not commititself to either of these, but it appears to think either of thembetter than that proposed by the Commission. As for thequestion as to whether or not there ought to be a superior limitand a maximum salary, the committee think that the maximumis determinable by consideration of the number of students aprofessor is competent to teach and to examine ineach class, and that the University Court should becalled upon to fix it in each case upon this principle. On thematter of vested interests the committee point out various faultsin the Ordinance, and they hold that in all future appoint-ments to chairs in medicine the University Court should haveliberty to revise the conditions of each chair. The objectionsto the Ordinance are summarised as follows :-1. The pro-posal of separate minimum salaries for each chair cannotbe justified in principle, whilst it would prove invidious inpractice. 2. The withdrawal from the professors of all directinterest in the success of their classes is an unnecessaryinterference with the natural incentives to energy and enter-prise. 3. The limitation of salaries to a rigid normal ormaximum, differing for each chair, is an artificial arrange-ment, calling for a constant readjustment in the future tochanging conditions, a readjustment which is not pro-vided for. 4. The proposed relations of the differentfaculties in regard to the fee fund would interfere withharmonious working in the Senatus and might lead to seriousinjustice.The main amendments proposed are :-1. There should be

a uniform minimum salary of £500 a year guaranteed to eachchair. 2. Each professor should retain a certain interest inthe fees paid for his class. 3. The upward limit ot salaryshould be determined by decisions of the University Courtfixing the extreme number of students to be taught in a

single class.The adoption of this report was moved by Mr. TAYLOR

INNES, Advocate, and seconded by Mr. SCOTT DALGLEISH,LL.D., and unanimously agreed to.The report of the Finance Committee was then submitted.

It criticises very severely the proposed financial arrange-ments by the Commission. It states that the committee doubtthe wisdom of the Commissioners’ plan of attempting to findsalaries for the non-medical chairs out of fees earned in themedical faculty. These fees, it is stated, are liable to violentfluctuations, and it is suggested that the Commissioners havebeen induced too readily to draw for general purposes uponthe medical fees in consequence of the attitude of themedical professors who represented to the Commissioners thatadditional chairs were not wanted in the medical faculty.How far this view is correct the report does not inquire, butit says that it is certain that a laige body of non-professorialmedical opinion is satisfied that greatly increased teachingpower and appliances are absolutely necessary if the MedicalSchool is to hold its own in competition with newer institu-tions. The report further states that the committee wasfavoured with a memorial which contains the fees for 1891-92,that the shrinkage there shown greatly exceeds the com-mittee’s estimate, and that the figures given by the MedicalFaculty prove that without any further shrinkage in thecurrent or future years the Commissioners’ surplus of £8225from the medical chairs has fallen below 2500. This reportwas also unanimously agreed to.