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causes of 11, or more than 6 per cent., of the deaths werenot certified.The death-rate in Dublin, which had been 292, 308, and

24’ 6 per 1000 in the three preceding weeks, rose again to29’4 per 1000 during the week ending Jan. 3rd. During thepast 14 weeks the death-rate has averaged 27.6 per 1000, therates during the same period being 17.in London and 17’2in Edinburgh. The 214 deaths of persons belonging toDublin registered during the week under notice showed anexcess of 35 over the number in the preceding week, andincluded 23 which were referred to the principal infectiousdiseases, against 22, 20, and 21 in the three precedingweeks ; of these, nine resulted from measles, four fromscarlet fever, four from diphtheria, three from diarrhoea,two from "fever," and one from whooping cough. These23 deaths were equal to an annual rate of 3.2 per 1000,the death-rates last week from these diseases being2’1 in London and 1.8 in Edinburgh. The fatal cases ofmeasles, which had been 10, nine, and seven in the threepreceding weeks, rose again to nine The deaths fromscarlet fever, which had been one and two in the two pre-ceding weeks, further increased to four last week. The fourfatal cases of diphtheria showed a slight increase upon thenumber in the preceding week. The deaths from "fever,"which had been five four, and four in the three precedingweeks, further declined to two last week. The fatal cases ofdiarrhoea, which had been five, three, and four in the threepreceding weeks, declined again last week to three The214 deaths in Dublin last week included 37 of childrenunder one year of age and 57 of persons aged upwards of 60years ; the deaths of infants showed a slight increase, whilethose of elderly persons were more than 50 per cent. inexcess of the number in the preceding week. Five inquestcases and 11 deaths from violence were registered ; and 7/,or more than a third, of the deaths occurred in publicinstitutions. The causes of 17, or nearly 8 per cent., of thedeaths in Dublin last week were not certified.

THE SERVICES.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.Lieutenant-Colonel T. B. A. Tuckey retires on retired pay.

Dated Jan. 3rd, 1903. Lieutenant-Colonel Ulick J. Bourkeretires on retired pay. Dated Jan. 7th, 1903. Major R. G.Thompson retires on retired pay. Dated Jan. 7th, 1903.

Captain T. H. Goodwin, D.S 0., has joined at Woolwich.Lieutenant J. C. Furness, R A. M C. (Militia), assumes

medical charge of the lst Army Corps Staff, Army PayDepartment, Fire Brigade, Military Police, Army Chaplains’Department, &c. Lieutenant-Colonel J. Hickman proceedsto Gravesend for duty. Captain K. M. Cameron joins atWoolwich Major G. Bray has been ordered to join theWestern District. Lieutenant F. G. Richards, on arrival inIndia from South Africa, is posted to the Station Hospital,Poona, for duty. Major C. S. Sparkes proceeds to Aldershotfor duty. Lieutenant-Colonel W. L. Reade assumes medicalcharge at Weedoh, vice Major Sparkes.

VOLUNTEER UORPS.

Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) : 2nd Middlesex :Surgeon-Lieutenant D. J. Duhig resigns his commission.Dated Dec. 22nd, 1902. lst Newcastle-on-Tyne : Surgeon-Lieutenant G. N. Wilson resigns his commission. DatedJan. 7th, 1903.

Rifle: 4th Volunteer Battalion the Royal Scots (LothianRegiment) : John Tarrat Titterton to be Surgeon- LieutenantDated Jan. 7th, 1903. 2nd (Prince of Wales’s) VolunteerBattalion the Devonshire Regiment : The undermentionedofficer resigns his commission :-Surgeon-Captain A. R.Rendle. Dated Jan. 7th, 19J3. 2nd Volunteer Battalionthe East Yorkshire Regiment : Surgeon-Major A. F. A.Fairweather retires under’ paragraph 111 Volunteer Regula-tions, with permission to retain his rank and to wear theuniform of the battalion on retirement. Dated Jan. 7th,1903. 4th (Nottinghamshire) Volunteer Battalion the Sher-wood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regi- Iment) : Surgeon-Captain W. T. Crawford resigns his com-mission. Dated Jan. 7th, 1903. 6th Volunteer Battalionthe Manchester Regiment: Surgeon-Major R T. Sparrowto be Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel. Dated Jan. 7th, 1903.2nd Volunteer Battalion the’ Highland Light Infantry : Thenotification which appeared in the London Gazette of

Dec. 19th, 1902, appointing John Freeland Fergus SecondLieutenant, to be cancelled, and the following substituted :-John Freeland Fergus to be Surgeon-Lieutenant. DatedDec. 20th, 1902.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS (VOLUNTEERS).Edinburgh Company : Divid Waterston to be Lieutenant.

Dated Jan. 7th, 1903.

VOLUNTEER INFANTRY BRIGADE BEARER COMPANY.2nd London : Surgeon-Captain J. N. Brown, from the

5th (West) Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps, to be Captain,and to command under paragraph 55A Volunteer Regula-tions (dated Dec. 23rd, 1902) ; Surgeon-Lieutenant E. C.

Montgomery-Smith, from the 5th (West) Middlesex Volun-teer Rifle Corps, to be Lieutenant (dated Dec. 23rd, 1902).

THE ARMY MEDICAL SYSTEM.

We have received a copy of a little pamphlet on TheArmy Medical System, what it is, is not, and ought to be, byOne who Knows." It is published by Sands and Co., 12,Burleigh-street, Strand, and its price is ls. As will be seen,its author does not give his name. As it consists of only 90pages it is easily read through, but it must not be imaginedon that account that the limited space given to their con-sideration affords any indication of the radical changes andreforms in the army medical system which are advocated,for these, if carried out, would altogether reconstruct themedical service. Within the compass of 90 pages the authormanages to touch upon, or to pass in review, a large numberof subjects and he shows very plainly that he is opposed tothe present system. He adversely criticises the practice ofgetting rid of the inefficient soldier as soon as possible byinvaliding him. He would have hospitals divided or

separate buildings provided for the reception of serious casesof sickness and convalescents and would conduct the formeron the lines of a civil hospital officered by the morehighly professionally skilled army surgeons. He holdsthat a man cannot be a military man and discharge purelymilitary duties and be at the same time an expert surgeon orphysician. The key-note of the pamphlet is, we take it, todevelop and to exalt everything appertaining to the strictlymedical and scientific side of a medical officer’s duties and topay much less heed to those of a purely military nature than,as he alleges, is now the case. " Until," he says, I I it isrealised that it is imperatively necessary to separate the truesurgeon or physician from the military man, to separate tbesoldier nurse from the cook nurse or clerk nurse and to adoptmeasures to carry out the same, no reform really wort,h

having can ever be anything else than a downright failure."He summarises his conclusions at the end of his pamphletunder nine heads and urges the taxpayer to study the subjectfor himself.

RECRUITING FOR THE ARMY.We have for many years past called attention to the

defective arrangements existing at our army recruitingdepots. Some of these are little short of a disgrace. Sofar from these depots being attractive and presenting induce-ments to young men to enter the service they are far morelikely to be repelled by the position of these buildings insome back street or other and by the nature of the accom-modation provided inside them. We have always con-

tended that recruiting offices should occupy airy and

prominent positions in seme of the main streets and not inthe sloms of a city or town, and that their inside accom-modation should be made as attractive, clean, and comfort-able as possible. In fact, everything should be done to

maintain, and to increase if possible, the self-respect of theintending soldier and to exalt the position of the army inhis eyes. It is time that something should be done and weare glad to learn that the subject is at last engaging theattention of the Secretary of State for War.

CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THEPHILIPPINES.

We learn on the authority of the Army and Navy Gazettethat the concentration camps which have been established incertain provinces of the Philippines by General J. F. Bell,U. S. A , have been denounced as furiously as our own con-centration camps were in South Africa. It has been proved,however, and is admitted by the native physicians, that theoccupants of these camps have enjoyed a far larger measureof health, comfort, and safety than they would have done intheir own homes. Our service contemporary also callsattention to the fact that Dr. Lair of the Pasteur Institute of

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Paris, as the result of his personal observations, states thatthese camps in South Africa were clean, comfortable, andwell supplied with food and medicines and in some instanceswere more comfortable than the quarters of the British

troops. The Boers themselves freely admitted that theso-called cruelties never had any existence. Dr. Lair’s reportseems to have attracted a good deal of attention in theUnited States.

BRITISH NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR AID TO THE SICK ANDWOUNDED IN WAR.

The report by this society of its operations in connexionwith the Transvaal war of 1899-1902 has just been issuedfrom the offices of the society, 5, York-buildings, Adelphi,London, W. C. It will be remembered that in addition to thework of supplying medical stores and other things necessaryfor the treatment of the sick and wounded this society sentto South Africa the Princess of Wales hospital ship and thePrincess Christian hospital train. Accounts of both theseauxiliaries to the treatment of the wounded are given in thesociety’s report and there is much interesting matter relatingto the general working of the society. Referring to Dr.C. W. J. Chepmell’s work in Natal the report says, "the mostnotable incident was the able manner in which he organiseda bullock transport to Ladysmith in anticipation of theraising of the siege of the place, by which the Red Crossstores were the first to be delivered, and almost immediatelyafter the relief column had arrived in that town."

RETIREMENTS IN THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE IN 1903.

Among the retirements which will take place in the

Army Medical Service in the course of the present year wenotice the names of Surgeon-General W. S. M. Price,Surgeon-General Sir W. D. Wilson, K.C.M.G., Surgeon-.General G. J. H. Evatt, and Surgeon-General T. O’Farrell;Colonel J. L. Notter, Colonel J. P. Rooney, Colonel J. F.

Supple, C.B., and Colonel W. McWatters ; and Lieutenant-Colonel S. H. Carter, Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Gormley,and Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Swayne, D. S. 0.

BRAVERY OF A MEDICAL OFFICER.

Captain H. C. French, R.A.M.C., has been awarded theRoyal Humane Society’s medal for gallantly jumping over-board from the transport Wahool in the Straits of Singaporeon Nov. 17th, 1902, in order to rescue a coloured stoker.What made the bravery of the act more conspicuous was that the locality abounded with sharks and that the vessel wasat the time going at considerable speed. Both CaptainFrench and the stoker were, we are glad to say, afterwardspicked up by a lifeboat. Captain French is a son of GeneralFrench. Another son, Major G. A. French, A.S.C., obtainedthe Royal Humane Society’s medal by a signal act of heroismsome years ago on the West Coast of Africa.

OFFICERS’ CHARGERS AND OUTFITS, QUARTERS ANDMESSES.

Special army orders have been issued in regard to pro-visions for the supply of chargers to officers of the army andthe grant of outfit allowance, tog6ther with instructions inreference to the furnishing at public expense of officers’quarters and messes at home stations.THE PREVENTION OF THE SPREAD OF TYPHOID FEVER.A report by Professor Koch on the means of combating

typhoid fever has just been published by the medical depart-ment of the German War Office. Professor Koch, regardingthe disease as essentially transferable, lays great stress,among other things, upon the complete isolation of the sick.

Correspondence.

THE NEW SYDENHAM SOCIETY’SCLINICAL ATLAS.

To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SIRS,-You have repeatedly accorded to the society whichI represent the valuable privilege of addressing its membersand others in your pages and I am emboldened by pastfavours to solicit another. The council of the New Syden-ham Society is desirous to place before the profession a

statement as to what has been done and what is in progressm respect to its great undertaking to publish a ClinicalAtlas of medicine, surgery, pathology, and all alliedoranches of professional knowledge. The decision to under-take such an atlas was arrived at after much deliberationmore than two years ago, and as the first year of its issueis about to be completed we are now in a position whichenables us to report as to what is likely to be accomplished.In the first place the council has had reason to congratu-

late itself in three several directions. The number of sub-scribers, although much below what it is hoped may beattained, is yet adequate, the cost of the work proves to bemuch less than was expected, and the supply of material isabundant. In the next place, the council feels that it is dueto the society’s members to offer some explanation of whatmay appear like unpunctuality. We are only just about toconclude the issue of the series for 1901 and to commencethat for 1902. Thus it may be said that we are a twelve-month behindhand. No one, however, who will give theslightest thought to what the production of such a work asthis is will feel any surprise at this. Our plates take along time in passing through the artists’ hands and to hurryis to spoil. Many months were consumed in inquiries as towhether the work would receive the support of the pro-fession and it was, of course, impossible to make prepara-tions before a decision was arrived at. We are engaged notin the reproduction of any existing work, but in the publica-tion of an original work of very large dimensions and in-volving the collection of an immense amount of material, alarge part of which now sees the light for the first time.The fact just alluded to must stand as the explanation not

only of a certain amount of delay in issue but of some wantof systematic arrangement which will become apparent.Any attempt at finality in such arrangement would be to theinjury of our work. New illustrations may be supplied latewhich it would be a great pity to exclude and unforeseenimpediments may be encountered in the production of anyone fasciculus. There is but little room for automatism inthe compilation of such a work as ours, and as the foremostaim of those engaged on it will be to make it useful as aclinical record of all that is susceptible of pictorial illustra-tion in reference to disease some latitude must be asked forin the matter of arrangement. We shall do our utmost to

study the convenience of the reader but shall not sacrificehis real interests by a too rigid endeavour to adhere to a cutand dried programme. He may now and then encounter

supplementary plates, or find a topic which he had thoughtconcluded again referred to. It must be remembered, also,in reference to the selection of subjects, that our atlas is aninternational one and is not intended exclusively for thehome profession.The issue of works for the year 1901 will be completed in

a few days by the publication of a double fasciculus illus-trating "Xanthelasma and Xanthoma as Symptoms ofFunctional or Organic Disease of the Liver." When ourmembers for that year receive this fasciculus they will havehad for the guinea subscription a printed volume (VonLimbeck’s "Treatise on the Clinical Pathology of theBlood," translated by Dr. Arthur Latham) and four fasciculiof the Atlas, which contain a total of 22 coloured platesand 21 uncoloured. Thus considerably more than was

promised has been accomplished, for the council’s under-taking did not go beyond the issue of four fasciculiof eight plates each and the addition of a printedvolume was only conditional on financial success. Whatmakes this result especially satisfactory is the fact thatit has been attained on a comparatively small list ofmembers. Now that our year’s work is before the pro-fession we may legitimately hope that our list will rapidlyincrease and if it does so we shall be able to afford muchmore. Without making any sort of promise I may say thatI am sanguine that instead of four we may be able to affordeight fasciculi a year, or their equivalent in an increasednumber of plates in each. If this can be done the Atlas willrapidly develop and will be likely to attract still furtheradditions to our members’ list. However this may be, it iscertain to become by far the largest and most comprehensivework of its class ever attempted.

In order to attain the results just alluded to all that isnecessary is that our members generally should bestir them-selves. They have their own interests in their own hands.In the hope ot giving a fillip to zeal in this matter thecouncil has decided to accord a small privilege in compensa-tion for trouble taken. It will issue to all who pay in one