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to go to the hospitals but now they clamoured for admission.Dr. Hope said that the committee had 700 beds availablefor ordinary infectious cases, 180 beds for small-pox, and 40beds for sea-borne cases. Of the total 300 beds were on a sitewhich did not belong to the corporation and it was proposedto replace these on land acquired by that body. To emphasisethe urgency for further hospital accommodation it was

pointed out by Mr. J. Utting, M. R. C. S. Eng., L. R. C.P.

Edin., a member of the city council, that not long since200 persons applying for admission could not be accommo-dated through lack of beds.

The Oliver Lodge Fellowship.Mr. Charles G. Barkla has been elected to the Oliver Lodge

Fellowship recently founded at University College, Liverpool,to promote research in physics. Mr. Barkla is a formerstudent of the college and after graduating at the VictoriaUniversity was elected to one of the research scholarshipsby the Royal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. AsOliver Lodge Fellow he will work in association with Pro-fessor Wilberforce in the physics laboratory at UniversityCollege and will assist that gentleman in physical research.The annual value of the Fellowship is 6100 and the holder iseligible for re-election. The Fellowship was founded inhonour of Principal Oliver Lodge of Birmingham University,formerly the professor of physics at University College,Liverpool.

-Bolton Infirmary -Tnq?liry.Judge Bradbury’s report on the allegations of mismanage-

ment at the Bolton Infirmary was issued on June 6th. Hishonour holds the charges of negligence of the staff in the treat-ment of patients entirely to be unfounded ; neither was thereany ground for the charge of negligence and inability of thehouse committee to manage the institution. It was admitted,however, that certain members of the honorary medical orsurgical staff had received payment for professionalattendance on patients at the infirmary. This washeld to be a breach of the rules of the institution andwas to be regretted. The judge also held that the refusal ofthe infirmary committee to admit the medical advisers ofemployers to examine patients could not be justified. Withthe exception of the two points indicated, which in no wayaffected the efficiency of the institution, the work had beencarried on in a highly satisfactory manner and deservedthe entire confidence and support of the public. As fundswere required the judge enclosed a donation of f:1O, thusshowing in a practical manner his appreciation of the goodwork at the hospital.

Proposed Cooyercctive Convalescent Honae at -7,iverpool.The Cooperative Union, Limited, North-Western Section,

held a sectional conference at Blackpool last week with theview of deciding as to the establishment of convalescenthomes on the lines of the Scottish Cooperative ConvalescentHome, West Kilbride, Ayrshire, as a health-giving resortfor indigent cooperators. Two convalescent homes are con-templated-one on the coast and one inland, probably inYorkshire. Meantime the idea is to erect one at Norbreck,about two miles from Blackpool, at a cost of 625,000. Thecommittee proposes to raise the money by shares, so that eachcooperative society becoming a member of the CooperativeHomes Association may take up a 61 share for every 40of its members, and for every .61 subscribed a society maybe entitled to a recommendation.June 10th.

NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Resignation of the Medical Officer of Health or Gateshead.Dr. Reginald Green, the medical officer of health of

Gateshead, who has resigned his post, has been unanimouslyelected by the King’s Norton Urban District Council to bemedical officer and medical superintendent of the isolationhospital. Ten years ago Dr. Green graduated in medicineand surgery at Durham University ; he was appointedjunior medical officer of the Gateshead Dispensary andwhile working there he took his M. D. degree. A little laterhe took his B. Hy. degree, having been trained in theNewcastle Sanitary Department. A vacancy occurring Dr.Green was appointed medical officer of health of Gatesheadand about a year ago took the D. Hy. of Durham University.

Dr. Green will be much missed in Gateshead, where he hadbecome generally popular and not least amongst his pro-fessional brethren.

Consumption Sanatorium for Northumberland.It is now some considerable time since the first sanatorium

for consumption was built in the United Kingdom and eversince sanatoriums have been springing up in many of thedifferent counties of England with one notable exception-Northumberland. The Northern Counties Hospital for Con-sumption and Diseases of the Chest made an attempt tocollect subscriptions for this purpose many months ago andwas successful in collecting about £1000. This is practi-cally where the matter rests except for a public meet-ing which was held at the Royal Infirmary some weeksago, at which meeting a free site was promised forthe proposed sanatorium. This site, however, is a longdistance from Newcastle and would be consequentlydifficult of access. One reason, perhaps, why more interestis not taken in this matter is the fact that the authoritiesof the Royal Infirmary are pretty fully occupied with thebuilding arrangements of the New Royal Victoria Infirmary,but seeing that it will be almost four years beforethis building is finished and probably two more beforeit is in full working order I think that this matter is

sufficiently pressing to require more attention than it hashitherto received. The building of the new infirmary ismaking slow but perhaps satisfactory progress. A largenumber of the foundations have been laid and this hasentailed a very large amount of excavating work which,however, does not appear a great deal to the casualpasser-by,June 10th.

___________________

WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES NOTES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Rhondda Health Report.DR. J. D. JENKINS, the medical officer of health of the

Rhondda District Council, has just issued his first annual

report, from which it appears that the estimate of the popula-tion made by the Registrar-General was not realised at thecensus of 1901, the official estimate being more than 20,000in excess of the 114,000 persons actually enumerated. Thedeath-rate during 1901 was 21’6 per 1000, and the infantilemortality rate of 222 per 1000 births was only exceeded inone of the 33 great towns of England and Wales-viz.,Burnley, where the rate was 223 per 1000 births. The birth-rate was 40’1 per 1000. The prosperity of the district isindicated by the fact that of the 19,578 houses only 134, orabout one in every 200, were uninhabited at the time of thecensus enumeration. The division of one house into twotenements is strikingly shown in the statement that

among 2399 houses in which infectious disease occurredin 1981 as many as 1270, or more than half, were

occupied by more than one family. The averagenumber of persons in these infected houses was 6-7,while for the whole district the average number per housewas only 5’9. The water-supply of the Rhondda appearsto be anything but satisfactory. One portion of the two

valleys is supplied from works owned by the district councilwhich obtained powers several years since to supplement itssupply either by sinking below the coal measures or byenlarging the present catchment area. No progress hasbeen made with either of these schemes and during summerdrought supplementary supplies are obtained from undesir-able sources, such as disused levels, while street watering andsewer-flushing have to be discontinued when they are mostneeded. To this last, indeed, Dr. Jenkins attributes in somemeasure the large amount of autumnal diarrhoea-as many as327 deaths, equal to a death-rate of 2’85 per 1000-occurringduring 1901. The portion of the district served by thePontypridd Waterworks Company had an intermittent supplyfor more than two months during the summer of 1901 andthe water was frequently discoloured. This discolouredwater has in former years been the indirect cause of seriousoutbreaks of typhoid fever and it is a little difficult to under-stand why the district council does not insist upon efficientfiltration.

Compulsory Closing of Sunday School.In consequence of an extensive outbreak of measles in the

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district the medical officer of health of Blaenavon inMon-mouthshire (Mr. A. B. Avarne) has advised the sanitaryauthority to require the closing of the public elementaryschools for three weeks and has requested the religiousbodies to close their Sunday schools for a like period. Thisaction on the part of the medical officer of health was verymuch resented by a clerical member of the school board, whoobjected to close the Sunday school with which he wasparticularly connected and brought out the oft-explodedargument that disease was much more readily spread bychildren visiting one another’s houses during the time theschools were closed than if they were congregated in school-rooms holding 40 or 50 scholars. The question of closingSunday schools in Wales is always a difficult one to dealwith and prompt day-school closure is frequently rendered ofno avail on account of the assembling of children in schoolson Sundays.

Treatment of Epileptics.At the Poor-law Conference for South Wales and Mon-

mouthshire which was held at Abergavenny on June 5thDr. J. Milson Rhodes of Manchester opened a discussionupon the treatment of epileptics. Dr. Rhodes in the autumnof last year visited several colonies and special hospitals forepileptics in the States of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Maryland, and Massachusetts, and has recently presentecl areport upon his visit to the committee of the proposed colonyfor epileptics to be established at Warford, near Manchester,so that he was able to put before the conference many detailsand suggestions of importance. Mr. F. T. Bircham (LocalGovernment Board Inspector for Wales) suggested that anepileptic colony and an idiot school should be established forWales where non-pauper as well as pauper cases might betreated, and it was eventually decided to approach the countycouncils of South Wales and Monmouthshire on the subject.The question has already been discussed within the pastthree years in the Glamorganshire County Council andendeavours to obtain information from private practitionersin the county as to the approximate number of non-pauperpatients who would be likely to take advantage of such aninstitution if one were established were made.

Outbreak of Glanders.

An outbreak of glanders has occurred in the stables of thePontypridd Tramways Company of such a serious characterthat the service on the short four-mile length of tram linesbetween Pontypridd and the Rhondda valleys has been dis-continued. The Health Committee of the GlamorganshireCounty Council has recommended that all the horses belong-ing to the company should be slaughtered and that thecouncil should pay to the company.B2 for each horse foundafter post-mortem examination to be affected and full valuefor each animal not affected. This action on the part of thecouncil is to be commended, for the disease might readilybe carried to the horses stabled and working underground,of which there are many hundreds connected with eachcolliery.

Vaccination Qucstions.At the meeting of the Exeter Board of Guardians

held on June 3rd it was reported that there had beenan increase of 1700 vaccinations and revaccinations as

compared with the corresponding quarter of 1901. Adiscussion took place owing to the fact that personswho could well afford to pay the fees had been revacci-nated at their homes at the expense of the ratepayers.One guardian proposed that these persons should be asked torefund 2s. 6d. each, being the difference between the cost ofrevaccination at their own homes and at the public vaccina-tor’s residence. This was seconded. Another guardianwished to have the names published in the half-yearlyreports as the recipients of parochial relief. Eventually,after it had been explained that people had a rightto be vaccinated where they liked, the matter dropped.-At the meeting of the St. Germans (Cornwall) Board ofGuardians held on June 5th it was stated that the vaccina-tion fees for 1901 amounted to £ 29, whereas this year theamount was already .6160. The finance committee recom-mended that revaccinated persons who were thought to beable to pay for the operation should be asked to do so. Thechairman said that his name would be on the list and it wasstated that the names of colonels, bankers, magistrates, andex-judges would also be found. One gentleman had all hisservants revi-tccin(1ted at ore time, costing the ratepayers 8.

It was, however, explained to ’;the guardians that everybodywas entitled to be vaccinated free of cost.I June 9th.

- ..

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

.Association for tlu! Prevention of TicbereuZosis.THE annual meeting of the Dublin Branch of the National

Association for the Prevention of Consumption and OtherForms of Tuberculosis was held on June 9th in theHall of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, thePresident, Sir Christopher J. Nixon, being in the chair. The

honorary secretary read the annual report which dealt withthe failure of the public health committee of the corporation tobring about voluntary notification of pulmonary tuberculosisand with other matters. The report alluded to the factthat no provision exists in Dublin for the examination ofthe sputum of consumptive patients who are unable to

pay a fee and to the necessity for a city bacteriologicallaboratory for the purpose of dealing with cases of tubercu-losis as well as with patients suffering from diphtheria,enteric fever, and other infectious diseases. The adoptionof the report was moved by the President of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr. Lambert H.

Ormsby, who suggested that the Board of Agriculture andTechnical Instruction for Ireland should include a bacterio-logical laboratory in the projected buildings to be erectedin Upper Merrion-street. The Right Hon. Horace Plunkett,who was present, alluded to the matter later and said: " Onthe question of the establishment of a bacteriologicallaboratory which had been referred to by the President ofthe College of Surgeons, who had thrown out the suggestionthat the department might include it in their multifariousinstitutions-they could not do it out of their own funds ;but if the Treasury would defray the cost, and if the Collegesof Physicians and Surgeons would assist them to run it theywould be very glad to add it to their responsibilities." Thechairman in closing the proceedings bore testimony to theinvaluable assistance given to the association by the LordLieutenant from its commencement. Referring to theestablishment of a sanatorium for consumption he remarkedthat it was discreditable that the city of Dublin, in whichthe hospitals generally were out of all proportion greaterthan the wants of the people, should have nothing in theshape of such a sanatorium.

Royal College of Smgeons in Ireland.The new Court of Examiners in Surgery at the Royal

College of Surgeons in Ireland to hold office for the comingyear has recently been elected as follows :-Dr. F. ConwayDwyer, Mr. Thomas E. Gordon, Mr. Joynt, and Dr.Edward H. Taylor.

Tlte Outbreak of S’naall pox in Belfast.Up to the present time the number of cases of small-pox

admitted into the fever hospital in the Belfast Union is 22.The type of the disease is so far, on the whole, mild, with afew severe cases, one of which, that of a woman, aged70 years, proved fatal. No new cases have been admitted sinceJune 5th. As stated in THE LANCET of last week, the publichealth committee has decided to erect temporary buildingsfor small-pox patients at Purdysburn, a course of actionwhich has aroused considerable opposition. In the first

place, at a meeting of the asylum committee on June 9ththe resident medical superintendent of the Belfast DistrictLunatic Asylum, Dr. William Graham, pointed out thatit was the duty of the committee to take every pre-caution for the protection against infection of a body ofhelpless and irresponsible persons, many of whom werequite incapable of exercising that forethought and prudencewhich sane persons adopted in protecting themselvesagainst the risk of contagion. He pointed out that someof the blocks of the proposed permanent infectious diseaseshospital were only separated from the asylum grounds by thecounty road, and that if the land was to be continued to beused for the patients’ employment and recreation it wouldbe absolutely necessary to isolate the infectious hospitalground by a high wall. Further, the present supply of

drinking-water for the asylum was derived from springsrising from the infectious hospital site and once the buildingswould be brought into occupation another supply would haveto be obtained. Sir George P. O’Farrell, the IQpector of