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livering letters among us, but if the community must havesafety from danger of this kind, it must ensure the personsimmediately concerned from want and from loss. Hithertolocal authorities have, as a rule, considered the cost of pre.cautions involving these considerations is a greater evil thanthe contagion from which safety is sought, and so long asthis feeliug prevails we must not hope to be able to shut outchances of contagion of the nature in question. At anyrate, the magistrate’s intervention would merely add anotherevil to the original one, without helping much to the removalof the latter.

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THE METROPOLITAN CEMETERIES.

A Parliamentary Return has been printed giving severalinteresting details respecting the metropolitan cemeteries.It shows the acreage of the several cemeteries, the numberof funerals that have taken place in each before 1852 andsince 1852, the number of dwelling-houses situated within200 yards of each cemetery, the number of persons permittedto be interred in one grave, and the drainage of the cemetery.

A DEVONSHIRE "WATERING-PLACE."

It is reported that the water-supply of Paignton, a health-resort in Devon, has been found to be derived in part froma duck-pond, which acts also as the sewage receptacle of afarmyard and house. The report, as a contemporary says,will doubtless be read with interest by the surviving visitorsto that place.

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The Vestry of Mile-end Old Town have had under con-sideration the offensive state of the water of Regent’s Canalin their district. A case was mentioned of a house abuttingon the canal, the owner of which had been thrice ill withfever, and whose medical attendant had threatened refusalof certificates of illness to his friendly society unless he re-moved from the vicinity of the canal.The Local Government Board has directed the attention

of the Stepney guardians to the fact that 13 per cent. of thebirths in their district are not accounted for in the returns oftheir vaccination officer, and requested an explanation of thislarge amount of arrears.The Local Authority of Aberdeen have been taking u-iea-

sures to prevent the letting of underground rooms as Jivingapartments, in contravention of the provisions of the PublicHealth (Scotland) Act, 1867.Mr. J. Lawrence Hamilton, L.R.C.P. Ed., M.R.C.S. Eng.,

is a candidate for the post of medical officer of health andpublic analyst for Marylebone, vacant by the death ofDr. Whitmore.

It is reported that an outbreak of enteric fever has occurredin Rochdale, suspected to have arisen from the disseminationof the infection in milk, and that the disease is spreading.The Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London have,

at the suggestion of Dr. Sedgwick Saunders, determined toappoint additional meat inspectors.The Local Government Board for Ireland have sanctioned

a loan of £8000 to the Armagh urban sanitary authority forwaterwoiks for that town.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

English urban mortality showed a marked decline last week.In twenty of the largest English towns, estimated to containin the middle of this year a population of seven and a halJmillions of persons, or nearly one-third of the entire populationof England and Wales, 5070 births and 3060 deaths wereregistered last week. The births were 115, and the death.215 below the average weekly numbers during 187S. Thedeaths showed a further decline of no less than 406 fromrecent weekly numbers, and the annual death-rate per 1000,which had been equal to 25’4, 25 0, and 24’1 in the threepreceding weeks, fell last week to 21’3, a lower rate thanhas prevailed in any week since the middle of July. Thelowest death-rates in the twenty towns last week were 12ain Plymouth, 16-6 in Bristol, 16’7 in Portsmouth, and ]both in Birmingham and Sheffield. The rates in the othertowns ranged upwards to 26’4 in Salford, 282 in Liverpool,28-9 in Leicester, 30-0 in Hull, and 31-7 in Sunderland.The high rates in the three last-mentioned towns were

mainly due to excessive zymotic fatality. During thethirteen weeks ending last Saturday, the death-rate inthese twenty towns averaged 23’2 per 1000, against 23 8 Sand 18’3 in the corresponding periods of 1878 and 1879,The deaths referred to the seven principal zymotic disease:

in the twenty towns, which had been 1009 and 912 in the twopreceding weeks, further declined to 657 last week; of these,399 resulted- from diarrhoea, 108 from scarlet fever, 57 fromfever (principally enteric), and 50 from whooping-cough. Theannual death-rate from these seven diseases averaged 46 per1000 in the twenty towns, and ranged from 1-4 and 1-9 inPlymouth and Portsmouth, to 9’8 and 11’6 in Sunderlandand Leicester. Scarlet fever showed the largest proportionalfatality in Sunderland and Norwich, and enteric fever inNorwich and Leeds. Ten of the 16 deaths from diphtheriain the twenty towns occurred in London. The 399 fatal cases ofdiarrhoea showed a decline of 212 from the number returnedin the previous week and were equal to an annual rate of28 in the twenty towns. The death-rate from diarrhœa.which did not exceed 16 per 1000 in London, averaged 39in the nineteen provincial towns ; the highest death-ratesfrom diarrhoea last week were 7’7 and 9’6 in Hull andLeicester. Small-pox caused two deaths in London, one in

’ Liverpool, and not one in any of the eighteen other towrs.The number of small-pox patients in the MetropolitanAsylum Hospitals, which had been 116 and 105 at the end

. of the two preceding weeks, further declined to 95 on Satur-; day last; 22 new cases of small-pox were, however, admitted

to these hospitals during the week, against 27 and 6 m thetwo previous weeks. The Highgate Small-pox Hospital

’ contained 8 patients on Saturday last.The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratory organs

; in London, which had been 124, 153 and 174 in the threepreceding weeks, further rose to 199 last week, and ex-

ceeded the corrected weekly average by 10; 121 resulted- from bronchitis and 51 from pneumonia. The annual death-

rate from lung diseases was equal to 2’8 per 1000 in Lon-don, and to 5’4 in Liverpool.

HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.

In eight of the largest Scotch towns, having an estimatedpopulation of rather more than a million and a quarter per-sons, the annual death-rate last week averaged IS’S per1000, against 20’3 and 18’9 in the two preceding weeks; ythis rate was 1’5 per 1000 below the average rate in thetwenty large English towns. The rates in the eight Scotchtowns ranged from 17’0 and 17’6 in Greenock and Glasgow,to 21-5 and 23’4 in Edinburgh and Perth. The fatal casesof the seven principal zymotic diseases in the eight towns,which had been 163 and 153 in the two preceding weeks,further declined last week to 134 ; they included 51 from

diarrhoea, 33 from scarlet fever, 18 from diphtheria, 17 fromfever, 9 from whooping-cough, 6 from measles, and not onefrom small-pox. The annual death-rate from these se-er.

diseases averaged 5’4 per 1000 in the eight towns, andwas 0-8 above the average rate from the same diseases inthe twenty English towns. The zymotic death-rate in theScotch towns last week ranged from 3 9 and 4 5 in Perthand Aberdeen, to 7’1 and 7’5 in Leith and Aberdeen.

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The tatal cases of diarrhoea in the eight towns, which hadbeen 69 and 53 in the two previous weeks, further declinedto 51 last week, and were equal to an annual rate of 2-1 per1000 ; in the twenty English towns the diarrhoea death-ratelast week averaged 2’8 per 1000. The largest proportionalfatality from diarrhoea in the Scotch towns occurred lastweek in Edinburgh and Dundee. The deaths from scarletfever in the eight towns, which had been 45 in the previous

; weeks, declined to 33 last week, of which 17 occurred in. Glagow, 12 in Edinburgh, and 3 in Dundee. The 17 deaths

referred to fever showed an increase of 8 upon the number

. in the previous week, and included 7 in Glasgow, 3 in

. Edinburgh, 3 in Paisley, and 2 in Greenock. Of the is

. deaths reported from diphtheria, five less than in the pre-vious week, 11 occurred in Glasgow, and 3 in Leith. The

. deaths attributed to acute diseases of the lungs (bronebiti,,pneumonia, and pleurisy) were 76 in the eight towns last

. week, against 61 and 68 in the two preceding weeks: theannual death-rate from these diseases last week was equalto 3’1 per 1000 in the eight towns, against 25 in London.

HEALTH OF DUBLIN.

, Excessive mortality again prevailed in Dublin last week.The annual death-rate in the city, which had been equal

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to 39’3 and 38.5 in the two preceding weeks, was equalto 36.0 last week. During the thirteen weeks which endedon Saturday last the death-rate in the city averaged noless than 34’6 per 1000, against 21-3 in London and 21’5in Edinburgh. The 217 deaths in Dublin last week in-cluded 63, or 29 per cent., which were referred to the sevenprincipal zymotic diseases, showing, however, a further de-cline of 8 from the high numbers returned in the two pre-vious weeks ; 33 resulted from diarrhoea, 10 from fever,9 from scarlet fever, 4 from measles, 6 from whooping-cough,1 from small-pox, and not one from diphtheria. The annualdeath-rate from these diseases was equal to 10’5 per 1000 inDublin, whereas it did not exceed 3’3 in London and 7’5 inEdinburgh. The 33 fatal cases of diarrhcea in Dublin showeda’decline of 11 from those returned in the previous week,and were equal to an annual rate of 5’5 per 1000 ; the death-rate from diarrhoea in London did not exceed 1 ’6 last week.The 10 deaths from fever, including typhus and enteric ortyphoid, exceeded the number in any week since the begin-ning of June. The deaths from scarlet fever were con-siderably less numerous than those in the previous week,while those from measles and whooping-cough showed butslight variation. Last week’s return exhibited but a slightdecline in the rate of infant mortality in Dublin.

HEALTH MATTERS GENERALLY AT HOMEAND ABROAD.

STREET IMPROVEMENTS AND ARTISANS’ DWELLINGS,METROPOLIS.

An important communication on Street Improvements andArtisans’ Dwellings in the Metropolis to the following effecthas been addressed by the Home Secretary to the Metropo-litan Board of Works. Sir William Harcourt states that hehad anxiously considered the applications with reference tothe various improvement schemes, and especially with refer-ence to Sir R. Cross’s letter of the 19th December, 1879. Hefully appreciated the difficulties which the Board of Workshad to contend with, and while he was most anxious to assistthem and facilitate the carrying out of improvements, he atthe same time could not forget that he was specially chargedby the Act to protect those who could not protect themselves,and to take care that no extensive displacement of persons ofthe working-classes should be effected until provision wasmade for their be’ng housed elsewhere. The Board them-selves had suggested that the matter should be broughtbefore Parliament next year in the shape of a Bill to amendthe 33rd section of the Metropolitan Street ImprovementAct, IS77, and obtain a full inquiry by a Select Committeeinto the whole matter, especially whether powers should notbe given to the Board to erect suitable buildings on thevarious sites, instead of only having the power to leasethem, which led to so much delay and difficulty ; and whilethe law remained as it was, the Secretary of State was will-ing to adopt the suggestion by Sir R. Cross in his letter onthe 19th of December, 1879, that if the Board would pro-ceed by stages he would be ready to consider an arrange-ment whereby successive portions of the land might becleared as soon in each as houses had been erectedsufficient to provide a number equal to the numberdisplaced. Therefore, in answer to the letter of the Boardon the 20th June last on the subject of the Newport MarketImprovement Scheme, the Secretary of State was of opinionthat the Board should at once take steps to acquire thewhole of the property known as Newport Market site, andthat the sites in Coppice-row and Old Pye-street, intendedto he appropriated, but not yet actually appropriated forworking men’s dwellings, could not be accepted by theSecretary of State as a provision for suitable accommoda-tion. The Secretary of State was willing that the buildingson the Newport Market site should be taken down in suc-cessive sections, and to Section 1 being taken down imme-diately, but after that he could not permit any furtherdemolitions until by the erection of additional buildings,either on Section 1 or on some other suitable area (to beapproved by him), working men’s dwellings had been pro-vided sufficient to give accommodation for a number equalto the number of those displaced from Section 1, and thesame rule must be applied to the other sections successively.If the Metropolitan Board of Works acceded to thatarrangement, it would be convenient that they should atance submit to the Secretary of State for his approval adivision of the area into sections. With reference to the

Tooley-street Improvement Scheme, the Secretary of Stateauthorised the pulling down of the block of houses therewhich had been vacated by their inhabitants. As regardsthe Gray’s-inn-road Improvement Scheme, he must with-hold his consent to the displacement of seventy-sevenpersons until the Board are in a position to assure himthat the plot, part of which it was proposed to let for theerection of labourers’ dwellings, and which it was said wouldaccommodate 300 persons, had actually been let for thatpurpose. The Home Secretary agreed to the ClerkenwellImprovement Scheme.

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SANITARY ORGANISATION IN RUSSIA.

The zemstvo of Korsown, in the government of Simbirsk,have decided to establish a new sanitary organisation oftheir district. To this end they have decided to divide thedistrict into eight sub-districts, to be administered by thedelegation of the province in conjunction with the MedicalCouncil and sanitary detachments. The staff of each sub-district will consist of a physician, a midwife, and severalassistant medical officers. Each township, it is proposed,shall have attached to it an assistant medical officer. Thegeneral management of the organisation will be devolvedupon a mixed body of medical and lay representatives ofthe district-some honorary, others appointed by thezemstvo. Honorary members will be required to paytwenty-five roubles yearly, and will have the privilege ofentry into the hospitals and ambulances of the district.They will be expected to inform immediately the MedicalCouncil of the appearance of any epidemic in their locality,and to keep a watch over its general sanitary state. Twogeneral meetings will be held in the course of the year-onein February, the other in July, and special meetings will beconvoked in the event of the appearance of any epidemic.The attention of the general meetings will be given to themeans of augmenting the pecuniary iesources of the organisa-tion, the supervision of the public health, measures to betaken against epidemics, the introduction of vaccination, theamelioration of hospitals and ambulances, the relief of thepoor, medico-topographical studies and vital statistics, theregulation of medical fees and the fees of midwives, and thegeneral sanitary requirements of the district. A generalmeeting of the medical men of the district will also be heldyearly, at which all will be required to be present. The pur-chase of instruments and drugs will rest with theMedical Council. The funds necessary to cover the ex-

penses of the organisation will be derived from the followingsources : the zemstvo, the rural townships, the ImperialGovernment for the treatment of soldiers, the provincialdelegation, private donations, and the annual subscriptionsof members.

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THE HEALTH OF INDIAN GAOLS.

We learn from The Indian Medical Gazette that Dr. Leth-bridge’s report on Bengal gaols for 1879 reveals an appallingtale of sickness and mortality. In an average population of18,483, 947 were constantly sick; there were 28,368 ad-missions into hospital and 1752 deaths, of which 341 werecaused by cholera. These figures give rates per mille of 51,153’4 and 948, which are almost unprecedented in therecent history of Bengal gaols. The Lieut.-Governor has ex-pressed his conviction that the chief cause of the increasedsickness was the adoption of the diet scale proposed by thePrison Conference and recommended by the Government ofIndia. Steps are being taken to remedy this, " but it isterrible to reflect," says our contemporary, "that so muchsuffering and death have been caused by a mistake whichought in these days to be impossible."

The sanitary condition of Preston has been the subject ofa long discussion by the Town Council. It was stated thatfour years ago 400 houses were, on account of their unwhole-someness, closed by the Health Committee, and now othersare being dealt with in a similar manner. The authoritieswould appear to be determined to do their work thoroughly,for the inspectors have, it seems, been ordered to "make aninspection of every house in the town."From New York we learn that yellow fever had broken

out on board the British barque Ermctgh, bound from Portde Paix for that city. Two of the crew had died from thedisease, and had been buried at sea, and the vessel had tobe towed into port from want of hands to work the ship.