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1701 Daughters, aged 59 and 50 years, of late M.R.C.S. Since father’s sudden death more than 30 years ago have endeavoured to support themselves by receiving paying guests at a small house of which they are the owners. Are obliged to ask help for the winter owing to the expenses arising from a severe accident to the elder applicant. Voted .e1O in one sum. Widow, aged 63 years, of M.R.C.S., L.S.A. Maintained herself as a nurse-companion for many years, but is now practically destitute. Receives a few shillings occasionally from a son recently made a bankrupt, and earns about a shilling a week by glove cleaning. Voted £ 12 in 12 instalments. Widow, aged 68 years, of M.R.C.S., who practised in London, but was incapacitated owing to ill-health and supported for several years by the applicant. No income and dependent on a son-in-law who can ill afford to help. Voted JE10 in two instalments. Widow, aged 68 years, of L.R.C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S.Eng. No income ; children unable to help; health failing. Relieved twice, .E24. Voted jE12 in 12 instalments. Daughter, aged 58 years, of late M.D. Lond. No income ; endeavours to support herself by letting lodgings and by needlework; eyesight defective. Relieved 26 times, .B196. Voted .86 in six instalments. Widow, aged 72 years, of M.D. Lond. Only income two small annuities and asks for a little help to obtain little comforts necessitated by her advanced age. Relieved four times, .E26. Voted 25 in one sum. Daughter, aged 55 years, of late M.D., L.S.A. Was a governess for many years, but is now in ill-health and quite unfitted to earn her living. Relieved eight times, 280. Voted .812 in 12 instalments. Daughter, aged 53 years, of late M.D. Edin. No income; endeavours to support herself by taking lodgers, but has had a very bad season. Relieved twice 212. Voted 210 in one sum. Widow, aged 55 years, of M.B.Cantab. Quite unprovided for at husband’s sudden death about seven years ago and has since endeavoured to support herself by taking in washing and acting as charwoman. Has two daughters in domestic service and is advised by one of them in Australia to go out there with the youngest child, aged 9. Relieved six times, JE77. Voted 25 temporarily and promised .812 towards passage money if friends find the balance. Widow, aged 49 years, of L.S.A. Left quite destitute at husband’s death from new growth a few years ago and dependent on a son, aged 17, earning 15s. a week. Health feeble ; very deaf; has lost her sight in one eye and is nearly blind in the other. Relieved four times, JE50. Voted B12 in 12 instalments. Widow, aged 53 years, of L.F.P.S. Glasg. No income; slight help from elder children, but has three dependent on hpr, the youngest having spinal curvature. Relieved three times, E36. Voted .E12 in 12 instalments. Widow, aged 50 years, of L. S.A. Two daughters, aged 17 and 15. Has endeavoured to support herself and them by letting lodgings, but has been obliged to sell most of her furniture. Relieved twice, B20. Voted .S12. Daughters, aged 57 and 52 years, of late M.R.C.S. Small earnings from needlework and slight help from friends. Relieved five times, .B56. Voted .B18. Widow, aged 75 years, of M.R.C.S. Has an Epsom College pension and receives a little help from a son, but has been obliged to incur heavy expenses for a daughter who has recently undergone a severe operation. Relieved seven times, E68. Voted .BlO. Daughter, aged 62 years, of late M.R.C.S. Assisted her mother to keep a boarding-house for 13 years in order to support her father, who was paralysed, and now acts as housekeeper to two sisters who are endeavouring to establish a school. Relieved once, .B12. Voted 212. Daughter, aged 51 years, of late M.R.C.S. Nursed her father, who was a pensioner of this Fund and Epsom College, for 10 years, and now finds it very difficult to obtain sufficient work to support herself. Relieved once, 212. Voted .B12. L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S.Edin., aged 52 years. No income; has been incapacitated by spastic paralysis for several years. Relieved five times, .E60. Voted .BI2. Daughter, aged 49 years, of late M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R.C.P. Edin. No income and has recently undergone a severe abdominal operation. Relieved once, £ 12. Voted .E12. Contributions may be sent to the treasurer, Dr. Samuel West, 15, Wimpole-street, London, W. Looking Back. FROM THE LANCET. SATURDAY, Dec. 3rd, 1831. Re.qearcltes to establish the Truth of the Linnaean IJ(1ctrine {If Animate Contagions, wherein the Origin, Causes, Tlode of diffusion, and Cure of Epidemic Diseases, Spasmodw Cholera, Dysentery, Plague, Small-pox, Hooping-Cough, Lepros,y, g’o. 4’e., are illetstrated by Facts, from the Natural History of - 3&!tK, of Animals, and of Vegetables, and -fr(o,,7t the Phenomena of the Atntosphere. By ADAM NEALE, M.D., &c. &c. 8vo, pp. 258. London : Longman and Co. 1831. In the introduction to the present work, Dr. Neale informs us that he has ventured to come forward as an advocate of the truth of the Liansean doctrine of animate contagions, believing that it is founded on facts, and on the ever- lasting nature of things, and that by its development alone physicians will be at length directed to the true method of curing diseases." Proceeding with these views, it is singular with what zngennity Dr. Neale has brought a multitude of curious facts in natural history to bear upon, and apparently corroborate, his favourite hypothesis. Every- thing that is obscure in the diffusion of epidemics, and in the cure of almost innumerable disorders, he lights up by the assistance of his insect coadjutors ; and not content with this, he even directs their energy to the overthrow of some old and seemingly satisfactory doctrines which that arch deceiver common sense" had applied to the explanation of various items in the history of disease....... For the entertainment of our readers, we shall quote a few of the anecdotes with which the volume abounds. Speaking of the plague, Dr. Neale states, p. 36 :- "Our knowledge of plague, after remaining for a long period in a very uncertain state, was destined to be augmented and rendered more accurate by the plague having been unluckily imported some years since (1831) into Malta, where it showed itself amongst the inhabitants first, and finally was communicated to some soldiers of the British garrison, then in Valetta." "Sir A. B. Faulkner, then physician to the forces in the island of Malta, has published an account of this epidemical visitation. From his volume we select the following case, which occurred to Mr. Stafford, a regimental surgeon, who attended the man. Its date was the 10th of July, 1813, and the name of the sufferer was Robert Clark, aged about 24. Spare habit, lively disposition-bad never been in hospital pre- viously-had mounted guard this morning, after a minute naked inspec- tion, when not a suspicious spot was to be seen on his body or extremities. His feet and hands had been carefully washed. About noon, Mr. S. says, I was sent for to visit him, he having been taken suddenly lame, while on sentry. On examining him, I found a small pimple in appearance, between the large and next toe of the right foot. The pain he declared to be excessive, and likened it to a burning coal. Whilst inspecting it, I could discover rising from it a red streak, which speedily ascended up the inside of the leg: and very soon after, a swelling took place in the inferior inguinal gland." We need not quote the ensuing description of the disease, as it differs in no respect from ordinary plague cases. But the really interesting part of the narrative is as follows :- "His description of the first attack was this -that he was standing sentry on the top of the arch, through which was the only passage from the city of Valetta, into the country: that a pest-cart had that instant passed through heavily laden with dead bodies, from which proceeded a horrid smell that the attack was instantaneous, as though he had been shot. I was instantly sent for, and was with him within three minutes, my quarters being near his post. My opinion (Mr. Stafford says) was, that from some defect in his shoe, some pest dust had got in, and was the true cause of his complaint. He had mounted guard at 7 o’clock in the morning, and had marched half a mile from his barrack to his post. " Now, as Mr. Stafford does not inform us what that is which he calls pest dust, and as we know of nothing dead which could produce such an effect, I think we are fully warranted in concl2zdiizg that this pimple on the foot had been caused by the sting of something living, and that this living substance was, in fact, an insect of some sort, which had escaped from the dead bodies contained in the pest cart, as it passed beneath the arch, and which st2azg the sentry in the foot, as just stated! ! " VITAL STATISTICS. HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS. IN 76 of the largest English towns 7648 births and 5167 deaths were registered during the week ending Nov. 27th. The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which had steadily increased in the four preceding weeks from 12’ 0 to 14-6 6 per 1000, further rose to 16’ 4 in the week under notice, and exceeded the rate recorded in any week since the middle of April last. During the first eight weeks of the current quarter the annual death-rate in these towns averaged 13 - 4 per 10U0, and in London the mean rate during the same period was 13’ 2. The lowest annual rates of mor- tality recorded in the 76 towns last week were 8’2 2 in Reading, 8-6 in Bournemouth, 8-9 in Handsworth, and 9-9 in Barrow-in-Furness; the rates in the other towns ranged upwards, however, to 26 5 in Wigan, 27 - 3 in Hanley and in Merthyr Tydfil, and 29-2 in Swansea. In London the recorded death-rate last week was equal to 15’ 6 per 1000. The 5167 deaths registered in the 76 towns last week showed a further increase of 561 upon the numbers returned in the four preceding weeks, and included 278 which were referred to the principal epidemic diseases, against 261 and 281 in the two preceding weeks ; of these 278 deaths, 61 resulted from whooping-cough, 58 from diphtheria, 55 from diarrheea, 44 from measles, 41 from scarlet fever, and 19 from " fever" " (principally enteric), but not one from small-pox. The annual death-rate from these epidemic diseases last week was equal to 0-9 per 1000, against 0-8 and 0-9 in the two previous weeks. No death from any of these epidemic diseases was registered last week in Cardiff, Gateshead, Brighton, Derby, Preston, or in eight other smaller towns ;
