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636 only 15, or 27-22 per 1000, were finally discharged. The greatly increased prevalence of malarial fever in 1893 is attributed to the severe rainfall and mass of vegetable d6bris washed down by the hurricane in the preceding year. There is probably no place that affords better opportunities for the study of the relation of Laveran’s parasite to malarial fever than the Mauritius, and we trust that we shall be furnished later with the results of the examination of the blood of patients exhibiting the phenomena of these fevers. The pathological cause should be determined beyond all doubt, and it should also be ascertained whether the cyclical growth and development of the parasite correspond with the cyclical periodicity of the fever, and whether the appearance of the young amcebas in the corpuscles and that of their sporulation correspond with the apyrexial and fever accession pexiods of the disease. A considerable part of the report is, of course, devoted to the health statistics and sanitary state of the European troops in India. The prevalence of venereal diseases and the grave amount of inefficiency to which they give rise, as well as the prevalence of enteric fever among our troops moving in India., naturally receive a good deal of attention. The average strength of the warrant officers, non-com- missioned officers, and men in India for 1893 was 69,865 ; the admissions into hospital were 98,983 ; and the deaths 919, of which 881 took place in India, and 38 (being those of invalids) on the passage to or after arrival in England. The rates of sickness for each of the three commands is shown in the following table :— The section of the report devoted to Egypt is interesting. The general health of the troops in this command during the year was not very satisfactory and compares unfavourable with that of the previous year. There was a slight decrease in the death-rate, but the sick-rates are increased, more especially at Cairo. The greater part of the troops had only arrived in the country during the year. The sanitary state of the barracks and hospitals was well attended to and satis- factory, which cannot be said, however, of places outside them in their vicinity. We have only a very brief space left for the papers in the appendix to the report. That on the progress of hygiene is well worth reading, as it briefly summarises the chief points which have attracted attention during the year and furnishes the reader with a good deal of useful information concisely stated; and the report on the Congress at Budapest also contains a large amount of valuable material, not only about the congress, but about the systems of water-supply and sewage disposal &c. of various places which the Professor of Military Hygiene visited en ’J’o1de. Brigade-Surgeon- Lieutenant-Colonel Stevenson, Professor of Military Surgery, and Surgeon-Major Whitehead, the Assistant Professor, con- ! tribute an excellent paper on the operations performed at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, during 1894, accom- panied with a description of, and comments upon, the more interesting and striking cases. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel W. S. Pratt, gives a good and instructive report of the Eighth Congress of the Association Frareaise de Chirurgie, held at Lyons in September last, with a set of diagrams. Surgeon-Major James, contributes a very full and elab- orate report, illustrated by diagrams, of the late epidemic of bubonic plague at Hong-Kong, which seems to have been very carefully and well prepared ; and the volume contains, in addition, several papers of surgical interest by other members of the Army Medical Staff. VACCINATION GRANT.-Mr. James T. T. Ramsay, L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S. Edin., L.F.P S. Glasg., public vaccinator for Witton and Livsey, Blackburn Union, has been awarded the Government grant for three years’ efficient vaccination. VITAL STATISTICS. HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS. IN thirty-three of the largest English towns 6676 bhths lind 6683 deaths were registered during the week ending March 2nd. The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which had increased in the five preceding weeks from 18 ? to 29-6 per 1000, further rose last week to 32’9. In London the rate was as high as 38’5 per 1000, while it averaged 28 9 in the thirty-two provincial towns. The lowest rates in these towns were 15’1 in Derby, 16’1 in Norwicb, 17-0 in Sunderland, 18 5 in Gateshead, and 19’lin Leicester; the highest rates were 38-5 in London, 39 2 in Plymouth, 43-4 in Halifax, 49 2 in Nottingham, and 55’5 in Liverpool. The 6683 deaths included 330 which were referred to the principal zymotic diseases, against 316 and 317 in the two preceding weeks ; of these, 113 resulted from whooping-congh, 67 from measles, 47 from diphtheria, 36 from diarrhcea, 35 from "fever" (principally enteric), 30 from scarlet fever, and 2 from small-pox. No fatal case of any of these diseases occurred last week in Swansea, Derby, or Huddersfield ; in the other towns they caused the lowest death-rates in Hni], Bristol, and Bradford ; and the highest rates in Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton, Salford, and Brighton. The greatest mortality from measles occurred in Plymouth, Bolton, Preston, and Sheffield; from whooping-cough in Brighton, Cardiff, Birkenhead, Manchester, and Halifax; and from " fever " in Salford. The mortality from scarlet fever showed no marked excess in any of the large towns. The 47 deaths from diphtheria included 31 in London and 2) each in West Ham, Birmingham, Manchester, Salford, and Oldham. One fatal case of small-pox was registered ir London and 1 in Liverpool, but not one in any other of the thirty-three large towns. There were 68 cases of small-pox under treatment in the Metropolitan Asyttua Hospitals and in the Highgate Small-pox Hospital on Saturday last, the 2nd inst, against 56, 67, and 75 a the end of the three preceding weeks ; 8 new cases were admitted during the week, against 18, 18, and 19 in the three preceding weeks. The number of scarlet fever patients in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the London Fever Hos- pital at the end of the week was 1621, against 1667, 1657, and 1658 on the three preceding Saturdays; 143 new caaea were admitted during the week, against 149, 159, and 152 in the three preceding weeks. The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratory organs in London, which had been 480, 840, and 1120 in the three preceding weeks, further rose to 1449’ last week, and exceeded by as many as 945 the corrected average. The causes of 122, or 1’8 8 per cent., of the deaths in : the thirty-three towns were not certified either by a registered medical practitioner or by a coroner. All the causes of death i were duly certified in Bristol, Bolton, Oldham, Bradford, and I in seven other smaller towns ; the largest proportions of I uncertified deaths were registered in Birmingham, Preston, I Halifax, Sheffield, and Hull. HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS. The annual rate of mortality in the eight Scotch towns, which had increased in the four preceding weeks from 23 & to 41-1 per 1000, further rose to 42-8 during the weekend- ing March 2nd, and was 9 9 per 1000 above the mean rate during the same period in the thirty-three large English towns. The rates in the eight Scotch towns ranged from 24’9 in Aberdeen and 26 0 in Greenock to 39-1 in Leith and 53’6 in Glasgow. The 1236 deaths in these towns included 51 which were referred to measles, 30 to whooping-congb, 10 to scarlet fever, 9 to diarrhoea., 8 to "fever," 5 to diph- theria, and 2 to small-pox. In all, 115 deaths resulted from these principal zymotic diseases, against 115 and 118 in the two preceding weeks. These 115 deaths were equal to an annual rate ot 4-0 per 1000, which was 2-4 above the mean rate last week from the same diseases in the thirty-threelarge English towns. The fatal cases of measles, which had increased from 26 to 54 in the three preceding weeks, were 51 last week, of which 21 occurred in Edinburgh, 15 in Glasgow, and 13 in Aberdeen. The 30 deaths referred to whooping-cough were within 6 of the number in the preceding week, and included 18 in Glasgow and 4 in Leitb. The fatal cases of scarlet fever, which had been 6 and 4 in the two preceding weeks, rose again to 10 lasa week. of which 4 occurred in Glasgow and three in Edinburgh. The 8 deaths referred to different forms oj
