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to believe the anonymous author of so odious a charge;and although we have now learnt, from a direct comrauni-cation, and to our great regret, that the accusation is madeby a member of our own profession, and one for whom weentertain a sincere respect, we must still decline, upon thegrounds already indicated, to admit that a case has beenmade out. No man is entitled in such a matter to be

judge and witness both. We shall hope that he is mis.taken until convinced by evidence of the fact that he iscorrect.

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ETHER AS A STIMULANT AT THE TEMPERANCEHOSPITAL.

IT will be seen that Dr. Ridge, in a letter which we printin another column, refutes the statements of the corre-

spondent of a contemporary (the Echo) that ether is usedat the Temperance Hospital instead of alcohol. We aremuch pleased to insert Dr. Ridge’s letter, and not sorrythat our allusion (which he calls a homily) to the subjecthas brought forth his reply. Whether our short notice ofa serious public statement be a homily or not, his rejoindercertainly partakes of that character, if not of that ofan actual sermon. We shall not follow him into all thevarious medical aspects of the alcohol question. He shouldknow that THE LANCET is not insensible to the responsi-bility of practitioners who prescribe alcohol, or who givemedical sanction to its use. It is a very frequent theme inthese columns. We are not prepared to argue that alcohol,like ether in Ireland, should be scheduled as a poison. Butwe look confidently to the profession to sharply define itsmedical and dietetic uses, and by such definition to assistin the abatement of our greatest national vice.

ENTERIC FEVER AT TEMPLE CLOUD.

AN oubbreak of enteric fever at Temple Cloud in theCluttonrural sanitary district is naturally causing local anxiety,because ib is believed to be due to contamination of drinkingwater. The Bristol Mercury has done good service in bring-ing to light the facts with regard to this matter. One mainsource of water-supply is an old coal-pit; and such a sourceis kno wn by experience to be in many instances a suspiciousone. Then there are local private wells, some of which arereferred to as indiffarent in point of quality; and lastly,there is a tributary to the Cam which is also resorted to.The guardians of Clutton are guardians of health as well asof pauperism, and, notwithstanding this, it is stated that intheir Poor-law capacity they allow the workhouse to pollutethe Cam, which stream they, as a sanitary authority, oughtto protect. This special pollution does not seem to haveinfluenced the enteric fever at Temple Cloud; but itsexistence naturally lessens confidence in the local sanitaryadministration. Whatever be the cause of enteric fever at

Temple Cloud, it is evidently a recurring one, and the leastthat the sanitary authority should do is at once to callupon their medical officer of health for a report on all thesources of water-supply which are resorted to in the village,together with an account of any means of contamination towhich they run risk of being subjected. And if any suchsources of contamination cannot with certainty be cut off orotherwise prevented, the authority having the duty of seeingthat their district is throughout supplied with a wholesomewater-supply should forthwith obtain advice as to an

alternative service from an extraneous source. Asthe matter now stands, the circumstances are wellnighunintelligible. The medical officer of health has re-

ported on certain drain nuisances, but he significantlyadd that the question of water-supply calls very stronglyfor the immediate attention of the sanitary authority.And 3 et, when the sanitary committee subsequently meet,they resolve that becaase the homes having either a

! deficient or an impure supply belong, with one or twoexceptions, to the same owner, the question "does notrequire any interference on the part of the Parochial

Sanitary Committee." What this means it is difficult todetermine. Everyone knows that the Public Health Actdistinctly refuses to admit that the responsibility of asanitary authority is ever removed by delegation of

duty to a parochial committee; and in the case of

Temple Cloud this is fortunate, for this special parochialbody is described as "almost defuneb." One thingis certain, that the question of ownership cf specialcottages has nothing to do with the duty of the sanitaryauthority itself to perform its functions of protecting thepublic of their district from preventable disease, and o

seeing that the inhabitants are provided with a prperwater-supply. And it is this that should be definitelypressed upon them either locally or, if this fails, fromwithout.

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"VENICE IN LONDON."

IN special reports on the subject we have dwelt at lengthon the difficulties of warming and ventilating theatres andplaces of public assembly. Ib is no easy matter to enjoyan evening’s entertainment without being exposed to foulair, overheating, or else violent draughts. For some time,however, Londoners have been able to avail themselvesof at least one opportunity of witnessing a magnificent spec.tacular representation without incurring such inconveniencesand risks. At Olympia there is such a vast expanse of

space that it would be indeed difficult to befoul the

atmosphere. The main building measures 500 ft. in

length, 300 ft. in width, and 120 ft. in height, or a

cubic capacity of 18,000,000 ft. The hall, it is true,can, it is stated, seat 10,000 persons; bub, even inthe extraordinary event of every seat being occupied,there would still be close upon two thousand cubic feetof air for each spectator, or about double as much as is

generally considered necessary in a hospital. The problem,therefore, at Olympia is not that of giving sufficient air,but of maintaining the temperature of the air at a properdegree of warmth. The space is so great that the impres-sion produced is that of an out-of-door entertainment.This agreeable result has been attained in a measure

by warning the water of the canals. What we sup.pose may be called the lagoon in the main buildingand the canals in the reproduction of modern Venice

present a surface of water measuring altogether a mile anda quarter. The Rosher system of hot piping is laid

throughout the canals, and the water is thus warmed; butit took more than a week of continual firing to warm thisimmense bulk of water. There are altogether threemillion gallons of water, and, as it is necessarily shallow,the surface of evaporation is correspondingly large.The water, therefore, readily parts with its heat,and thus warms the building ; but the process of

warming the water has to be actively carried on day andnight. The temperature of the water is never allowed tofalJ. Theoretically it is supposed to be kept at 60°F.;but during the recent extremely cold weather, whenoutside water was converted into ice, the temperatureof the canals at Olympia has fallen as low as 54’F.,and has seldom been above 57° F. A warming surface ofa mile and a quarter has converted the icy air coming infrom the outside into a soft atmosphere, in which the

spectator can sit on the terraces of the cafes overlookingthe canals, or watch the spectacular representation withease and comfort, as if it were a summer’s day. Hereand there, in corners, where they are not readily observed,the hot-air pipes may be found outside the water. Theythen part with their heat directly to the atmosphere.Olympia, therefore, as a place of entertainment, offers

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advantages similar to those of out of door pleasures, with-out the risk of the exposure to the rigour of our climate.The spectators may walk about or ride in the gondolas,stopping here to listen to the mandolin players or themelodious Italian singers, and there to watch the busy sceneon the canals, where close upon a hundred gondolas flitabout in every direction. The spectacular representationis one of the most gorgeous displays that has ever beenpresented to the London public. On the stage, whichmeasures 300 ft. by 450 ft., 1400 persons appear simul-

taneously, without causing any sort of encumbrance,or in any way interfering with the atmospheric condi-tion of the great hall. The large lake of warmed waterbetween the stage and the spectators, and the dis-tance of 120ft. from the surface of the water to the roof

above, constitutes a vast space where the air vitiated bythe performers and the spectators is diluted and mixed withthe unused supply. Thus an excellent entertainment canbe enjoyed without any of the risks and inconveniences thatmar the charm of even some of our best theatres.

A RIGOROUS EXPERIMENT.

INTERESTING and perhaps important in point of utility,an experiment lately carried out in the Russian army mustcome dangerously near to censure if tried in the light ofhumanitarian principles. In order to ascertain whethertents would suffice to shelter troops in the field dmingsevere winter weather, eight soldiers chosen at random

were, it is stated, made to pass the night, or as

much of it as they could endure, under such con-

ditions. Every care seems to have been taken to providethese men with warm and heavy clothing, and thesnow within the tent was beaten down and coveredwith mats and straw. The men slept comfortably fromnine in the evening until nearly four next morning, atwhich hour the thermometer showed that the temperature,originally registered as 31° F., had fallen to 4° below zero,within as well as outside the tent. Nature could thenendure no more ; sleep was impossible, and the soldiersonly saved themselves from freezing by taking exercise inthe open air. Everyone can understand the bearing ofsuch observations on practical warfare, and we would notlightly disparage their useful intention. Nevertheless, it issomething new to find the human species thus subjected tosuch an experimentum in corpore vili, and we sincerely hopethat military necessity will not-as we believe it shouldnot-call for its repetition. The recorded experience ofarctic voyagers-who have ofben camped out in tents-maysurely now suffice for evidence as to the amount and qualityof clothing and of tent appliances required to withstandthe extremes of winter cold.

THE DEBATE ON PHAGOCYTOSIS.

THE debate at the Pathological Society came to a closeon Tuesday last, having thus occupied three evenings. Ithas certainly been of great value, and it says much for theskill with which it has been conducted that the interest ina subject which involves of necessity many points and

arguments that are not easily grasped by the uninitiatedshould have been so well maintained. The paper withwhich Dr. Ruffer opened last Tuesday’s proceedings waswell worthy of the subject, and of one who is entitled to be re-garded as perhaps the foremost student of phagocytosis in thiscountry. It seemed to leave no debatable point untouched,and dealt in masterly fashion with the criticisms of Dr. Kleinand the alternative hypothesis of Buchner and his followers.One great merit of this paper was the care with which itsauthor avoided using the somewhat equivocal phraseologythat has spruDg up around this subject. There is no such

thing, he boldly said, as " immunity" in the absolute

sense, and throughout he preferred to speak of animalsas being "naturally resistant" or "artificially protected,"instead of using the hyperbolic terms that have becomecurrent. Phagocytosis, he maintained, is the only processwhich has been proved to be essential in the production ofthis resistance or protection, although " neither Metchnikoffnor any of his pupils has ever said that this was the onlycause of natural or artificial resistance." Mr. Ballance’slucid exposition of the active part played by the fixf-dtissue cells in inflammation and repair and the subordinater6le of leucocytes led up to the declaration that theformer are probably the chief agents in phagocytosis ;although the essentially chemical nature of the processeswhereby immunity is secured was also pointed out. Mr.Hankin’s interesting discovery of a proteid in the spleen ofche white rat having bactericidal properties-although dis-counted by the supporters of the exclusive phagocytosis doc-trine-undoubtedly gives strong support to the chemicaltheory of protection, and his speech was interesting as

affording a reply to some of the arguments of Dr. Ruffer.In replying on the whole case, Dr. bims Woodhead claimedthat all the evidence hitherto adduced spoke in favour ofphagocytosis being the agency at work in the living body,since the evidence on behalf of the humoralistic doctrine wasderived from blood-serum or its products, which probablydo not exist as such in the living animal. The summingup of Sir George Humphry was weighty and judicial, and histribute to English bacteriologists was felt to be well de-served. The debate will, we doubt not, go far towards openingup new paths of research in this extremely interestingquestion. ___

RECOVERY OF MEDICAL CHARGES.

IT is always gratifying to report the success of a medicalman in an action for recovering his charges. We have latelyhad occasion to notice the frequency with which suchactions are rewarded by success. A case has just beenreported in the Sussex Daily News, where, on March 8th,Dr. Whitmarsh of Brighton brought a claim against theRev. J. Moses, rector of Itchingfield, for £25 odd for attendanceon the defendant’s wife and daughter. Medical particularswere not given. The defence was that the visits were too

frequent and were over-charged. The defendant paid twelveguineas into court. The plaintiff, on the contrary, main-tained that there was no excess of visits, and that the chargeswere reasonable. His Honour (Judge Martineau) said that,in regard to the number of visits, one must trust to thehonour of the medical man. "If one thought that thedoctor was making a job by running up the bill unneces-sarily, the sooner one got rid of him the better." Tne juryfound for the full amount, and expressed their belief thatall the visits charged for were paid and that the chargeswere just. -

MEDICAL LEGISLATION IN NEW SOUTHWALES.

THE Minister for Justice has introduced to the LegislativeAssembly a Bill passed by the Legislative Council in 1890to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery in NewSouth Wales. The object of the Bill is to secure the regis-tration of all regular practitioners possessing respectablediplomas, including those registered under the Imperial ACDof 1886, or possessed of the degrees or diplomas of our

examining bodies. The diffiulty in such legislation is todeal with persons who have been practising for a certaintime in the colony without diplomas. Great care is needed

here, or the profession becomes identified with men who aresure to discredit it and to greatly injure the public. Thefollowing way of dealing with advertising quacks is some.what original. The 17th clause is in these terms :-" Anyperson who shall advertise as treating disease, injury,