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were, under such conditions, an utter impossibility." Thedifficulties in solving this problem are very great. Private

enterprise is slow to come forward. The city councilreceives more abuse than thanks when it closes insanitarydwellings or clears them away. The builders of cottageproperty who sail close to the wind as regards the

"building by-laws," and have reduced jerry-building toa fine art, are loudest in their denunciations of the

corporation if they erect " barrack dwellings " or any otherdwellings for the working classes, and say the corpora-tion are becoming " speculative builders." But the corpora-tion buildings in Ancoats appear to have brought down thedeath-rate in places by over 40 per cent. Our freedom, whichis sometimes licence, would perhaps rebel against the pro-ceedipgs said to be taken against dirty people and dirtyhouses in Berlin. There the former may be removed to a kindof workhouse in which they are detained while their housesare thoroughly cleansed and they themselves instructed in

cleanly habits. A certain stratum of our population willalways be filthy unless compelled to be clean, and is thus aconstant danger to those around. Various schemes forspreading the people wider apart are at present in thetalked-of " stage, and may perhaps get no further.

Hospital Sunday.The amount collected at the various churches and chapels

on Feb. 10th.-Hospital Sunday-has not yet been pub-licly announced. It is stated that the various hospitalsof Manchester and Salford had last year an aggregatedeficit of £12,310. Still their work increases and some ofthem, rather than curtail it, are driven deeper into debt.In addition to the increased calls on the people in connexionwith war and famine, which have no doubt diverted moneythat might have gone towards the support of the hospitals,another factor in the case has been the higher cost of coalsand provisions, which has made hospital expenses heavier.The need, therefore, for large collections is manifest, but theexperience of past years is not encouraging. In 1874a sum of C6248 was collected, while last year it was only£3893. If all attending the various places of worship gavea trifle a larger sum than this should be obtained. But whatis done by the great multitude who do not go to church ?

Hospital for Skin Disease.At the annual meeting of the Manchester and Salford

Hospital for Skin Diseases held on Feb. 8th it was

announced that a room was being built where the " light"treatment for skin diseases can be carried out. Towardsthis object the chairman, Mr. W. C. Jones, promised to

defray the cost of the building and the necessary instru-ments to the extent of £500. Dr. H. G. Brooke visitedCopenhagen last summer and was very favourably impressedby the excellent results of this treatment in the handsof Professor Finsen.

More Bacteria Beds.The Rivers Committee of the Manchester City Council

have resolved to extend their experiments with the bacterio-’logical method of treating the sewage of the city. Hithertothey have had at Davyhulme two beds of half an acre each.They are now going to construct ten half-acre beds,which may be taken to mean that the two experimentalbeds have done their work satisfactorily. By graduallyextending the bacterial beds the committee will beable to "test the efficiency of the system ere they committhe work absolutely to it." It is calculated that to deal withthe whole of the sewage 46 acres of beds will be required.’In the meantime this method is carried on alongside thechemical precipitation method, which has been in use forsome years.

Typhus Fever in Ancoats.At the meeting of the Manchester City Council on Feb. 6th

Councillor Dr. C. H. Braddon moved the reception of a reportfrom the medical officer of health respecting the recent out-break of typhus fever in Ancoats. He gave an interestingsketch of a severe outbreak of the disease in the winter of1862-3 when he had charge of the Workhouse Hospital inBridge-streat, together with the FeverHospital near btrange-ways. Since that time he had not seen a case of typhusfever and " he believed that few medical men of the presentgeneration had seen a case of real typhus." Daringthat epidemic the late Sir William Roberts had a

severe attack of the disease and nearly lost his life. Dr.Braddon said that care had been taken to disinfect everyhouse in which the disease had been found, and beside

the cases in hospital between 20 and 30 individualswere isolated at Clayton, where they were kept inquarantine. "The epidemic seemed likely to affordanother instance of the vast importance of the sanitarypowers which were exercised by local authorities in thesedays." In one house a man and two children were found" down with typhus," the wife having been previously takento the hospital. Both parents died. The chairman of the

sanitary committee said that the medical officer found thehouse locked and got in through the window; and that "theaction of the medical officer of health in connexion withthe outbreak was worthy of the highest praise."

Memorial to the late Professor Tom Jones.The amount promised towards the memorial to the late

Professor Tom Jones is already over £600. There has beenno systematic canvassing, as it is desired that all dona-tions should be the result of the personal wish of the giversto share in this tribute to the memory of a valued andlamented friend. The form of the memorial cannot bedetermined till the amount of the fund is known, but it mayprobably be decided that an exhibition or prize will be themost fitting mode of commemorating the work to whichhe devoted his life.

Feb. 19th. __________________

WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Precautions against Plague.AT a meeting of the West of England and South Wales

branch.of the Incorporated Society of Medical Officers ofHealth held at Newport on Feb. 14th the area of the branchwas defined to include the counties of Hereford, Gloucester,Somerset, Monmouth, Devon, Cornwall, the northern portionof Wiltshire, and the six South Wales counties. The next

meeting of the branch will be held at Plymouth on April llth.Dr. Edward Walford of Cardiff introduced a discussion uponthe desirability of uniformity of action by port sanitaryauthorities with respect to methods of dealing with cholera,yellow fever, and plague under the Local Government Boardorder of Nov. 9th, 1896. In the course of this discussion itwas made apparent that the only means of ascertainingwhich foreign ports were infected was by a careful study ofthe columns of the daily papers and that each port medicalofficer of health made out day by day his own list of infectedports and was guided by this list in deciding which vesselsshould come under the Board’s regulations. Dr. D. S. Daviesof Bristol pointed out that the plague regulations of 1896 werepractically the cholera regulations of 1892, and that whereascholera is a human disease the infection of plague may betransmitted by rats or fleas, and that although a ship mayhave left an infected port a considerable time beyond theincubation period of plague in the human being, yet theremay still be danger from rat infection when the cargo is dis-charged. At Bristol every vessel from an infected port iskept 10 feet from the wharf, planks to the vessel are all takenup at night, and the ropes connecting the ship to the wharfare guarded with thin iron. collars. At the close of thediscussion it was resolved to request the council ofthe society to represent at an early date to the LocalGovernment Board the urgent necessity for a revisionof the existing plague regulations in view of the specialcbarac eristics of plague, the method of its spread and intro-duction by infected animals, and the possible spread of thedisease from one home port to another. Dr. J. Howard-Jonesof Newport and Dr. W. H. Symons of Bath, at the close ofthe meeting gave very instructive details of the card systemof tabulating statistics and general information which theyhave each had in operation for some time.

Isolation Hospital Accommodation in Carmarthenshire.The county of Carmarthenshire is very ill provided with

the means of isolating cases of infectious disease. Appa-rently there is no fever hospital in the entire county,which has an area of nearly 600,000 acres and a popu-lation of 150,000 people. The house committee ot theCarmarthenshire Infirmary have drawn the attention ofthe Carmarthen Town Council to the importance of estab-lishing a suitable hospital for the borough and at thelast meeting of the council the medical officer of healthand the borough surveyor were asked to repcrt upon thewhole question. ’ As there is a population in the county

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town of only a little over 10,000 persons it seems a pity thata scheme for the whole county, or at any rate for thosedistricts immediately surrounding Carmarthen, should notbe formulated.

Cardiff Police Surgeons.For nearly 20 years Dr. Thomas Wallace has held the post

of police surgeon to the Cardiff Corporation and, as alreadystated in this column on Jan. 26th, the watch committeerecently decided to appoint three surgeons, allotting to eachone a separate district. On Feb. 18th Dr. James JosephBuist was elected to the central division, Mr. MarmadukePittard to the Grangetown division, and Mr. J. LlewellynTreharne to the Roath division. Mr. Treharne, who isthe surgeon to the prison at Cardiff, was elected chiefsurgeon and will be required to examine recruits, lunatics,&c. Dr. Wallace was a candidate for the central division.The duties of the police surgeons include attendance uponthe constables and firemen at a fee of 4s. 6d. per annumfor each man, a sum which is considered by many medicalmen in Cardiff to be quite inadequate to the servicesrendered.

Deat7is under ChZoroform.Two deaths occurred in South Wales recently during the

administration of chloroform. On Feb. 12th a marriedwoman at Swansea, who was about to be operated upon ather own house for varicose veins, died under the anaesthetic,and on Feb. 15th a girl, 15 years of age, died under similarcircumstances at the Cardiff Infirmary, where she had beenattending as an out-patient. She had come on that day fromher home to have her tonsils excised. In the latter case,although there were attempts at vomiting at the beginningof the administration of the anesthetic, there was foundon post-mortem examination to be no food in the stomach,and the other organs were in a normal condition.

Queen Victoria Convalescent Home, Bristol.The convalescent home at Bristol, which was opened in

November, 1899, by Queen Victoria and which was intendedprimarily to relieve the wards of the Royal Infirmary and of i,the General Hospital, has never, owing to lack of funds, been ’,fully occupied. The treasurer of the home, Mr. P. Vaughan,has therefore offered to contribute the sum of £10,000conditional upon an additional £20,000 being raised by theend of March next, and it is anticipated that this amountwill enable the governors to make the fullest use of theinstitution. The citizens of Bristol are so noted for theirphilanthropy that there ought not to be any doubt as to thefulfilment of Mr. Vaughan’s munificent offer.

Bath -Eye Infirmary.The annual meeting of the subscribers of the Bath Eye

Infirmary was held on Feb. 11th. The medical reportshowed that the in-patients numbered 282, as compared with268 in 1899, and that there were 2047 out-patients as against2117 in the preceding year. The average period of residenceof each in-patient was 12 days, and the daily cost for mainten-ance was 8td. The financial statement showed a favourablebalance. The best thanks of the committee were awardedto Mr. W. M. Beaumont, the honorary medical officer.

Taunton and Somerset Hospital.The annual meeting of the governors of the Taunton and

Somerset Hospital was held on Feb. 14th, under the pre-sidency of Mr. H. J. Badcock, J.P. The medical reportstated that 846 in-patients had been admitted against 824 inthe previous year. The daily average number of in-patientswas 84-6 and the average duration of their stay was 32-7 days.The out-patients numbered 4191, as compared with 3968 in1899. The President reminded the subscribers that the Kingwas a life governor of the institution by virtue of a consider-able contribution which His Majesty, when Prince of Wales,gave towards the Victoria Jubilee Nursing Institute inconnexion with the hospital.

Conference upon Housing Reform.One of the most gratifying features of the present agita-

tion in favour of improved housing accommodation for theworking classes is the activity which is being displayed inthe direction of improvement by the leaders of the workingclasses themselves. On Feb. 16th a conference consisting of191 representatives of trades unions and similar organisa-tions was held at Bristol to consider what practical stepscould be taken to secure housing reform in the west of

England and south Wales. The members of the conferencewere drawn from an area extending from Swansea toSwindon and from Cheltenham to Exeter. Mr. W. Thompson,

a member of the Richmond (Surrey) Town Council, gave an.account of the municipal cottage dwellings which have beenerected in Richmond. The Bristol corporation are nowbuilding 34 cottage houses, but it is not anticipated that therenta,ls received from them will, as at Richmond, be suffi-cient to pay the interest and repayments upon the capitaloutlay. All the speakers at the conference who were at allconversant with the subject urged the desirability ofincreasing the period for the repayment of loans contractedunder Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act,1890, to at least 60 years.

Feb. 18th. ________________

SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Preparations for a Small pox Epidemic in Edinburgh.EDINBURGH as yet presents a clean bill of health as far as,

small-pox is concerned. The public health authorities, how-ever, have issued a circular to the medical men in the townrecommending a general revaccination. They undertake tosupply lymph to medical men free of charge, and to make anallowance of 2s. for every person successfully vaccinated.Cases of small-pox continue to occur in various towns nearGlasgow. A few fresh cases have appeared in Dundee.The medical officer of health of Aberdeen reports to the town.council that in the past month four cases of small-poxoccurred within the city. The first two cases had beeninfected in Glasgow, and these led to the infection of twoother cases. One was the case of a porter in the service of thesanitary department who, being only temporarily employed,had not been revaccinated, but who in the absence of thegreater number of the staff on New Years’ Day at the timeof admission of the first case had inadvertently beenpermitted to assist in the removal of the infected clothingo-The other case was that of an unvaccinated child in the-hospital who lay in the scarlet fever ward nearestthe small-pox pavilion, the ward and the pavilion beingseparated by from 40 to 50 yards of open space.This case appeared to have originated by aerial infection.In acknowledging the receipt of the report on this case theLocal Government Board stated " that it seems to the Boardto point to the necessity of entire structural and adminis-trative severance of the treatment of small-pox from that ofany other disease." The hospital authorities are advised thateven substantial barricades, cutting off all communication orintercourse between pavilions in the same enclosure usedfor other diseases and pavilions used for small-pox in bulk,with complete administrative adjuncts and staff attached,do not prevent the invasion of small-pox.

Glasgow University.The February meeting of the University Court was largely

occupied by a discussion on the form in which the Universityaccounts have been kept and presented. At a previousmeeting Dr. D. C. McVail had adversely criticised themanner of keeping the accounts and bad insisted that thiswas not in accordance with the terms of the legal ordinance.As a consequence the whole matter was remitted to theFinance Committee, which at the current meeting reportedthat "the accounts are in order and in proper form." Thecourt adopted this decision though Dr. McVail maintainedhis position and entered his dissent. He took the same

position in reference to a proposal to erect a room for theaccommodation of students in the cloisters. The FinanceCommittee reported against this suggestion on the ground ofthe expense and the court agreed to their recommendation,Dr. McVail again dissenting.-The celebration of the ninthjubilee of the University which is to be held in June next iscausing much activity in academic circles, and elaboratearrangements are being made to make the various ceremoniesworthy of the event. A large number of representativesfrom home and foreign universities and scientific corpora-tions have been invited, and the occasion is likely to be oneof much interest. The fact that the International Exhibitionis also to be held during the summer will make the cityspecially attractive for visitors.—The free lectures havebeen continued during the season and have as before securedlarge audiences.

University of St. Andrews.The University Court has made the following appoint-

ments : Dr. Robert Thornton to be ’assistant in the department of medical jurisprudence and public health in the place