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1415 walled-in yard for exercise, and the attendants in charge are, as a rule, without any experience or training to make them suitable for taking charge of lunatics. It is not possible to provide in workhouses as they are adequate or satis- factory accommodation for lunatics, because all the wards, yards, and grounds are already appropriated for the various classes of inmates-the lunatics having their share (such as it is) in accordance with the original plan of the building. Improvements have been made in some of the larger work- houses, but not to any extent sufficient to justify us in modifying the general opinion as to the unsatisfactory con- dition of the insane in workhouses.’ The Commissioners go on to state that : ,’lunatics in workhouses are officially inspected and reported upon by the inspectors of lunatics, as well as by the inspectors of the Local Government Bjard, so that the Lunacy Department in Ireland is in a position to concur in, or dissent from, our opinion, which is that auxiliary asylums, such as Youghal, would be infinitely pre- ferable to workhouses for the accommodation of chronic harmless lunatics.’" The inspectors add that "we have already stated in our last report, that we were impressed with the improved condition of the insane removed from workhouses to the Youghal Auxiliary Asylum, and we con- sider that the results of the change are most satisfactory, and deserving of our warm approbation, as the condition of these patients is certainly much preferable to that of the insane inmates of any of the workhouses of Ireland." Pacvccte <M<M.s.—In Ireland ace )mmodation for the insane who are able to contribute towards their maintenance is pro- vided : 1. In licensed houses, of which there are 12. 2. In establishments which may be denominated lunatic hospitals. These establishments are not kept for profit and were originally endowed by private individuals. Of these there are four-Bloomfield, St. Patrick’s Hospital, St. Vincent’s, and the Stewart Institution. 3. A certain number of private patients who are able to contribute small sums towards their maintenance are received into district asylums. On Jan. lst, 1907, the number of patients resident in licensed houses and lunatic hospitals was 845 (390 males and 455 females), show- ing an increase of 27 on the number resident on Jan. lst, 1906. The inspectors again draw attention to the want of pro- vision for the care and training of imbecile children. The report, which is a very full one, contains the usual statistical tables and the reports made by inspectors when visiting the various asylums. Looking Back. FROM THE LANCET, SATURDAY, Nov. 14th, 1829. CLAIMS OF THE AMERICANS TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE ERGOT OF RYE. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-I am not disposed to dispute with Mr. James Morss Churchill about the name of the man who first made use of the ergot of rye, or at what period of the world the discovery of its properties may be dated ; that gentleman has, however, yet to prove, that Dr. Stearns, of New York, became acquainted with it through European intelligence. Dr. Stearns himself has publicly declared his ignorance of its ever being employed medicinally, in America or elsewhere, at the time he was first led so to make use of it, and, in the absence’of better authority than I have yet seen offered to invalidate that declaration, I feel it my duty to give it support, or, at least, not to impeach its accuracy. It is not sufficient to assert he did not make the discovery, more especially in relation to his own country, and therefore to recognise presumption and supposition as opposed to matter of fact, or to what has never been contradicted. Mr. Churchill must be aware of Dr. Stearns’s enunciation, and in the 29ah Number of his Medical Botany (a valuable work, certainly), from which the principal part of his com- munication in THE LANCET ot the 24th ult, is extracted, he says not a word which can possibly be construed to affect the credit of our .. Transatlantic brethren," or their claim to the discovery. Jonathan is, therefore, even caressed by Mr. Churchill himself. Mr. Churchill had then the opportunity to express his doubts and witticisms ; why, it may be reasonably asked him, did he withhold them ? 7 Fair play is a jewel. If the "borrowed plumes" of Dr. Stearns were even to be arraigned, Dr. Bigelow’s observations (if nobody else brushed his recollection) were before him; but Mr. Churchill thinks proper (unaccountably so) to be silent. CAmerarius, and the mhlwives, might have bungled on with the ergot to the present period, and it is very likely our knowledge of its properties would have been as much spread now as it was then. Desgranges, to whom Mr. Churchill wishes to concede all the merit, might have lent his talents in the laudable work of propagating its acquaintance, but under him the prejudice of the people was unmoved. He also found himself too weak for the giant, and, unfortunately for his posterity, the ergot, like an ungrateful churl, disregarded his labours, and, leaving this world without a disciple that either could, or would, continue the goodly work, sunk again to be forgot among the weeds, reviling the man who could thus impiously disturb the tranquility of its ancient slumber. Harvey is said, and very justly, to have discovered the circulation of the blood, and yet long before his time the subject had attracted the notice of others. To say, then, that he was indebted to his forefathers for the first glimpse into the secret, is what Harvey himself, I presume, would not deny, nor indeed, in the abstract, would the admission of the fact lessen the value of his discovery, or subject him to the scandal of shining in "borrowed plumes." The same might be urged of, perhaps, all recent discoveries, and more especially of those which belong to medicine and surgery. "There is nothing new under the sun," has long become a trite adage, nevertheless it was a cunning observation of Solomon, and the experience of every age, since his time, has given additional proof of its truth. After all, therefore, which has been said by Mr. Churchill on the discovery of the medicinal qualities of the ergot of rye, in his endeavour to rest that discovery on old Cmerarius, the midwives, or Desgranges it comes to this, that Dr. Stearns, not to mention his declared ignorance of these ladies and gentlemen, will be the individual whom the pro- fession even of this country will consider the most entitled to the honour of having succeeded so well in diffusing so extensively a knowledge of this valuable article of the materia mediaa.1 Yours very obediently. I Liverpool, Nov. 2, 1829. THOMAS WEATHERILL. VITAL STATISTICS. HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS. IN 76 of the largest English towns 8407 births and 4499 deaths were registered during the week ending Nov. 9Lh. The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which had been equal to 15’ 7, 14 6, and 15 - 7 per 1000 in the three preceding weeks, declined again to 14’ 6 per 1000 in the week under notice. During the first six weeks of the current quarter the death-rate in these towns has averaged 15’ 2 per 1000, the rate in London during the same period being 14’ 1 per 1000. The lowest death-rates in the 76 towns last week were 6 4 in Croydon, 7’0 0 in Waltbamstow, 8’3 in King’s Norton, and 8’4 in Eist Ham ; the highest rates were 20 5 in Liverpool, 20’7 in Stockton-on-Tee, 21’8 8 in Halifax, 23’3 in Merthyr Tydfil, 23 5 in Wigan, and 25-6 6 in Hanley. The 4493 deaths from all causes were 311 fewer than the number in the preceding week, and included 391 which were referred to the principal epidemic diseases, against 747, 563, and 499 in the three preceding weeks ; they included 132 from diarrhoea, 76 from measles, 55 from diphtheria, 54 from whooping-cough, 48 from scarlet fever, and 26 from "fever" (principally enteric), but not any from small-pox. No deaths from any of these epidemic diseases were registered last week in Tottenham, North- ampton, Huddersfield, Wigan, Aston Manor, or in six other towns ; the annual death-rates therefrom, however, ranged upwards to 2’6 6 in R9ading, in Stockport, and in Oldham, 2’7 in Walsall and in Swansea, 3’0 inWarrington, 3 4 in Barrow-in-Furness, and 6-2-in Merthyr Tydfil. The fatal cases of diarrhoea, which had decreased from 660 to 212 in the five previous weeks, further fell to 132 in the week under notice, the highest death-rates from this cause 1 Vide "Looking Back" in THE LANCET of Oct. 12th, p. 1042, and Oct. 26th, 1907, p. 1186.
