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Sir WILLIAM KING opened the formal proceedings bytracing the history of the hospital and describing its growthand various extensions. He claimed that the new part ofthe hospital was the most perfect of its kind in the south ofEngland.The MAYOR in a brief speech observed that the Duke of

Connaught, a soldier, laid the foundation-stone and theDuke of York, a sailor, would open the building, which wasmost gratifying to a naval and military town like Ports-mouth.

Sir JOHN BAKER moved a vote of thanks which wasseconded by Lord NORTHBROOK on behalf of the county andsupported by Dr. WARD COUSINS who spoke on behalf ofthe medical staff of the hospital and pointed out the im-mense advantage that a properly constructed hospitalwas for the cure of the sick and injured, and expressedhis conviction that the other two blocks would be builtbefore long.The Duke of YORK, in reply, said : In the name of the

Duchess and for myself I cordially thank the speakers fortheir kind words and for the vote of thanks. I need not sayit has given us both the greatest pleasure to come here to-dayto take part in the ceremony of opening this new addition tothe Portsmouth Hospital. But it gives me a special pleasurebecause I come here as the member of the third generation ofmy family who have been connected with this hospital, as thePrince Consort laid the foundation-stone of the originalbuilding and the Duke of Connaught laid the foundation-stone of this building in 1897 in commemoration of thesixtieth year of the Queen’s reign. I can only say I con-gratulate you on the completion of these additions whichcannot fail to be of the greatest value to the sickand poor of this community, and I wish to commendthis hospital to your care and liberality, feeling sure

that it will receive at your hands the same considera-tion in the future that it has always received in thepast. I wish the hospital every success and prosperity andI trust that sufficient money will soon be raised to completethe remaining buildings. I have great pleasure in declaringthe new wing of the hospital to be open and at the request ofthe committee I name the two women’s wards "Victoria" "

and "The Duchess of York " and the two men’s wards"Albert" and "Connaught."Afterwards the Royal party inspected the building and

partook of tea. On the Duchess being told that one of thesurvivors of the Arno disaster was a patient in the hospitalshe asked to be taken to his bedside and there she spoke afew words of sympathy to the poor fellow who was deeplytouched by the fact that Royalty showed an interest in hiswelfare. :

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN 33 of the largest English towns 6900 births and 4505deaths were registered during the week ending Feb. 25th.The annual rate of mortality in these towns which had been21’9 and 19 5 per 1000 in the two preceding weeks roseagain last week to 20’6. In London the rate was 21-5 per1000, while it averaged 20’0 in the 32 provincial towns. Thelowest rates in these towns were 13’8 in Burnley, 14’1 inLeicester, 15’3 in Portsmouth and in West Ham, and 15 4 inBristol ; the highest rates were 23’3 in Sunderland, 25’8 inManchester, 26-7 in Liverpool, and 32-0 in Blackburn. The4505 deaths in these towns included 363 which were referredto the principal zymotic diseases, against 403 and 340 inthe two preceding weeks ; of these, 100 resulted from diph-theria, 97 from whooping-cough, 69 from measles, 44 from"fever" (principally enteric), 29 from diarrhoea, and 24 fromscarlet fever. No death from any of these diseases wasrecorded last week in Plymouth; in the other towns theycaused the lowest death-rates in Leicester, Preston, Hudders-field, and Halifax, and the highest rates in Swansea, Wolver-hampton, Birkenhead, and Blackburn. The greatest mor-tality from measles occurred in West Ham, Bolton, and Man--chester; from whooping-cough in Bradford, Birkenhead, andSunderland ; and from " fever " in Wolverhampton andBlackburn. The mortality from scarlet fever showed nomarked excess in any of the large towns. The 100 deathsfrom diphtheria included 29 in London, 12 in Leeds, 11 inSwansea, 9 in Sheffield, 6 in Liverpool, 5 in Blackburn, 4 in

y West Ham, and 4 in Birmingham. No fatal case of small-h pox was registered last week either in London or in.f any other of the 33 large towns ; and two small-pox patientstf were under treatment in the Metropolitan Asylums Hospitals..

The number of scarlet-fever patients in these hospitals-,f f and in the London Fever Hospital at the end of last weeke was 25’75, against numbers declining from 2939 to 2587 ons the eight preceding Saturdays ; 241 new cases were admitted. during the week, against 265, 253, and 202 in the three pre-

ceding weeks. The deaths referred to diseases of the

respiratory organs in London, which had been 481 and 413.1in the two preceding weeks, rose again last week to 484, butwere 50 below the average. The causes of 59, or 1’3 per. cent., of the deaths in the 33 towns were not certified either-1 by a registered medical practitioner or by a coroner. All

l the causes of death were duly certified in West Ham, Bristol,j Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in 11 other smaller-

towns ; the largest proportions of uncertified deaths were regis-i tered in Wolverhampton, Preston, Sheffield, and Hull.

HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.

The annual rate of mortality in the eight Scotch towns,.which had been 31’2 and 28’0 per 1000 in the two precedingweeks, further declined to 24’1 during. the week ending,Feb. 25th, but exceeded by 3’5 per 1000 the mean rateduring the same period in the 33 large Englishtowns. The rates in the eight Scotch towns ranged from16-0 in Dundee and 21-9 in Aberdeen to 26-8 in Edinburghand 29-0 in Greenock. The 737 deaths in these towns.included 23 which were referred to whooping-cough, 19 tomeasles, eight to diarrhoea, five to scarlet fever, five to diph-theria, and four to "fever." In all, 64 deaths resulted from,these principal zymotic diseases, against 101 and 76 in thetwo preceding weeks. These 64 deaths were equal to an,annual rate of 2-1 per 1000, which was 0-4 above the meanrate last week from the same diseases in the 33 large.English towns. The fatal cases of whooping-cough, which.had declined from 43 to 31 in the three preceding weeks,.further fell to 23 last week, of which 10 occurred in Edin-burgh and nine in Glasgow. The deaths referred to measles,.which had been 22 and nine in the two preceding weeks,rose again to 19 last week, of which nine were recorded inAberdeen, seven in Glasgow, and three in Edinburgh. Thefive fatal cases of diphtheria exceeded by one the number inthe preceding week, and included two in Glasgow. Th&deaths from scarlet fever, which had been six and 11 in thetwo preceding weeks, declined to five last week, of whichthree occurred in Glasgow. The four fatal cases of "fever "’

showed a further decline from recent weekly numbers andincluded two in Edinburgh. The deaths referred to diseasesof the respiratory organs in these towns, which had been 346,and 285 in the two preceding weeks, further fell to 233 lastweek, but exceeded by 116 the number in the correspondingperiod of last year. The cause of 34, or nearly 5 per cent"of the deaths in these eight towns last week were not

certified. ’

HEALTH OF DUBLIN.

The death-rate in Dublin, which had declined in the three-preceding weeks from 31’8 to 27-3 per 1000, rose again to30’3 during the week ending Feb. 25th. During the pastfour weeks the rate of mortality in the city has averaged30-3 per 1000, the rate during the same period being 20-8 inLondon and 26-8 in Edinburgh. The 203 deaths registeredin Dublin during the week under notice showed an increaseof 20 upon the number in the preceding week, and included12 which were referred to the principal zymotic diseases,against eight in each of the two preceding weeks ; of these,four resulted from " fever," three from scarlet fever, threefrom diarrhoea, and two from whooping-cough, but notone either from small-pox, measles, or diphtheria. Thes&bgr;’12 deaths were equal to an annual rate of 1’8 per 1000,the zymotic death-rate during the same period being1-7 in London and 30 in Edinburgh. The deaths referredto different forms of "fever," which had been four and twoin the two preceding weeks, rose again to four last week.The three fatal cases of scarlet fever exceeded the numberrecorded in any week since November last. The deaths fromwhooping-cough, which had been two and four in the twopreceding weeks, declined again to two last week. The 203’deaths in Dublin last week included 38 of infants under oneyear of age and 52 of persons aged upwards of 60 years;he deaths of infants showed an increase, while those of

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<elderly persons were below those recorded in the precedingweek. Three inquest cases and three deaths from violencewere registered ; and 76, or more than a third, of the deathsoccurred in public institutions. The causes of 14, or nearly- 6 per cent., of the deaths in the city last week were notcertified.

THE SERVICES.

ROYAL NAVY MEDICAL SERVICE.THE following appointments are notified :-Staff Surgeon

W. J. Colbourne to the Boscazven, for the Agincuurt. Sur-geons : H. C. Whiteside to the Bosea7z.,en for the -Dolp7tin; ;S. D. T. Halliday to the St. Vineent, for the Martin; J. M. G.Swainson to the Boscarven, for the Seaflower A. A. Forresterto the Boswrven, for the Wanderer; W. G. Westcott to theLion, for the Liberty ; F. J. McKenna to the Impregnable,for the Nautilus; J. A. Moon to the Bosea,7vet; ; G. B.Brown to the Sharpshooter; H. L. Norris, W. W. Keir,P. H. Bannister, H. W. M. Rees, and H. C. Gardner to theVietory, for disposal ; C. Shepherd, J. Stoddart, E. C.

Sawdy, and M. W. Falkner to the Vit,irZ, for disposal; J. A.Forrest and R. S. Osborne to the 1M/M’e, for ’disposal;J. K. Raymond and F. R. Mann to the Pembroke, additional,for disposal; and H. Huskisson to the Cambridge.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Clery joins at Woolwich. Major

C. E. Nichol is posted to the Station Hospital, WesternHeights, Dover, for duty. Major Faunce is held in readi-

ness to embark for Malta. Lieutenant R. E. G. Phillipsjoins at Woolwich and holds himself in readiness for servicein India.

INDIA AND THE INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICES.

Captain J. 0. Pinto (Madras) is appointed to’officiate asCivil Surgeon of Amraoti until further orders. CaptainC. G. Spencer, R.A.M.C., and Lieutenant H. J. Walton(Bengal) are placed on special duty under the Governmentof India in the’Home Department. Lieutenant-Colonel T.’Grainger, Officiating Civil Surgeon of Champaran, is

appointed to act as Civil Surgeon of Darbhanga. The

appointment of Major J. Shearer, D.S.O., Bengal Establish.ment, 27th (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Infantry, to beSecretary to the Principal Medical Officer, Her Majesty’sTorces in India, is confirmed.

THE HEALTH OF THE NAVY.We have already alluded in a summary way to the results

- embodied in the recently published Statistical Report of theHealth of the Navy in 1897 by Sir Henry Norbury, K.C.B., theDirector-General of the Royal Naval Medical Service. Theseresults are, speaking generally, very satisfactory. They showthat progressive improvement has been taking place of lateyears and that during the year under review it has not onlybeen maintained but that, as compared with the previousyear, and, still more, as compared with the average ofthe previous 10 years, the aggregate number of cases of,disease and injury during 1897 exhibit a decreased ratioper 1000, and that as regards the death-rate that for 1897 isbelow that of any year since 1856 when the reports firstappeared in their present form. The most unfavourablereturns are from the West Coast of Africa and are mainlyattributable to the Benin Expedition which gave rise toan increased amount of invaliding. The surgeon ofthe St. George, Surgeon Frank H. A. Clayton, givesan excellent article descriptive of the Benin Expeditionand of remittent fever, of which his ship had a severe

experience-viz., 456 cases. He speaks highly of thevalue of antipyrin in the initial stage of the fever.The medical officer of the llridgeon, Surgeon Charles S.

Facey, speaks of the fever on board that ship as of avery severe type. The bsematozoon of Laveran was foundin many of the cases of malarial fever which were

under treatment; pigmented spherical bodies were theforms most frequently seen and, in addition to these,crescentic bodies occurred in a few patients but alwaysassociated with the spherical variety; amoeboid movementwas visible in all of them. There is a brief but interestingnote in connexion with the Irtdefatigable on the West IndianStation about three cases of poisoning by the manchineeltree-in one case giving rise to vesication of the mouth, lips,and tongue from biting the fruit, and in the cases of two

officers to an acute form of ophthalmia from standing underthe tree in a shower of rain. The text and figures dealingwith Mediterranean fever (newly introduced into the

nomenclature) and enteric fever prevalent at Malta andPhalerum Bay are interesting and the whole report for1897 is well worth reading.

THE ANNUAL REPORT ON ARMY RECRUITING.

The medical profession take an interest in common withthe rest of the nation in the maintenance of the army andone of the duties of army medical officers brings thema good deal into active connexion with the subjectof recruiting. We may therefore briefly allude tosome of the results embodied in the annual reportof the Inspector-General of Recruiting just issued. Thereturn shows that the total number of recruits enlistedfor the regular army during 1898 was 40,729 ; with theexception of the year 1892, during which 41,659 were raised,this is the largest number of recruits in any year sincethe introduction of short service. There was a netincrease of 9980 men during the year. This increasewas not, however, entirely due to recruiting, specialinducements having been offered to reservists to re-

join the colours, of which 4479 men availed themselves.A large augmentation in the establishment of the Army was,it will be remembered, authorised during the past year.Although the whole of this increase was included in theEstimates for 1898-99 it was decided that the augmentationshould be carried out gradually and spread over a series ofyears and this is now being done. During the past year animportant and, as we think, salutary change was also madein the pay of soldiers and increased facilities for obtainingemployment in civil life have been afforded to soldiers afterleaving the colours. It is too early yet to feel confident ofthe continued success of these beneficial measures, but theresults so far seem to be very promising.WHITAKER’S NAVAL AND MILITARY DIRECTORY AND

INDIAN ARMY LIST, 1899.As a multum in parvo encyclopsedia of the names of officers

of the three sister services the present issue of this hand-book would be hard to beat. For purposes of reference an

alphabetical list of officers employed under the Union Jackand the Royal Standard is frequently of great convenienceto all those who have anything to do with either or all ofthe services, and Whitaker’s is the only list of the kind withwhich we are acquainted. The addition of the Indian Armylist is a special feature of the present volume and greatlyenhances its value.

THE LATE INDIAN FRONTIER CAMPAIGN.

From the official statistics called for in Parliament byMajor Rasch showing the extent of in efficiency among thetroops during the Indian frontier campaign of 1897-98attributable to the results of venereal disease, it appearsthat the total number rejected, because they were dis-

qualified for field service on that account, was 989 and that492 were incapacitated during the campaign for the samereason.

DEATHS IN THE SERVICES.

Lieutenant-Colonel Poole Robert Gabbett, R.A.M.C., atSouthsea, on Feb. 27th. He entered the Army in 1871and became Surgeon in 1873. Ten years later he attainedthe rank of Surgeon-Major and reached that of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1891 and of Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonelin 1895. Until recently he was Principal Medical Officer,Barbadoes.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S LYING-IN HOSPITAL.-TheEarl of Hardwicke presided at the annual meeting ofgovernors of this hospital on Feb. 27th. The reportstated that during the year 1112 patients had beendelivered in the hospital and 1070 at their own homes. The

expenditure had amounted to Z4123 lls. lld. and the

ordinary income to .E3501 17s. ld. The Prince of Wales’sFund had made a grant of Z300 to the hospital and L50 tothe convalescent home. The enlargement of the hospitalwas nearing completion and the new nurses’ home would beopened about midsummer. The chairman, in moving theadoption of the report and accounts, made an urgent appealfor contributions towards the f.7000 still needed for the worksat the hospital and the new nurses’ home.