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The area of the districts involved in the first out-break is coincident and coterminous with the areaserved with water by the Dearne Valley Water Boardfrom a supply obtained from the water filtering intodisused workings at the Dearne Valley Colliery. Thewater from these old workings is collected in anartificial pound of brick and concrete, whence it ispumped to a treatment tank designed to free it from-an excess of sodium carbonate. From the treatmenttank, after sedimentation and some degree of filtration,the water is delivered through mains to the variousparts of the district. No definite cause for pollutionwas discovered, though analysis gave evidence of suchpollution. The gathering area, however, above theold workings of the colliery showed that the groundwas mainly arable land in cultivation, the villages onit having largely conservancy methods of sanitation,while a wood in the area was much fouled during thecoal strike, between April and July, 1921, by persons.seeking fuel. The subsoil, consisting of sandstone, wasextensively fissured during the hot, dry weather ofJune, 1921. While, therefore, the pollution cannotbe directly proved, there are reasonable grounds fortracing the first outbreak to the water-supply, and thepollution of the water-supply to the access of infectedmatter from the gathering ground through the fissuredstratum of sandstone. Chlorination of the water-,supply led to satisfactory control of the first outbreak.Curiously enough, the chlorination appears to have’contributed indirectly to the second outbreak, involv-.ing the village of Bolton-upon-Dearne alone. Thisvillage was at the end of the water main, and wasinsufficiently supplied with water. This fact, com-bined with the foolish prejudice of individuals againstthe chlorinated water, led a number to make use ofthe water from a pump drawing water from a shallowwell in sandstone. It was shown that a quarry closeto the well was much polluted with excrement, thesandstone being, moreover, markedly fissured ; alsothat pollution of a neighbouring field as a result ofa local fair had been a subject of complaint. Removal-of the pump-handle speedily checked this outbreak,while an additional main was carried to the villageby the water company to relieve the deficient supply.The urgent need for isolation hospital accommoda-tion was in large degree met by a redistributionof the cases of infectious disease in the feverhospitals of the districts affected and of neighbouringauthorities, and by the use of a school lent by theWest Riding County Council. The nursing staff wasreinforced by a number of the county council’shealth visitors, to whose assistance Dr. Shaw refersin appreciative terms.The main lesson to be drawn from this interesting

and extensive outbreak is one which has been impressedon public health authorities already many times in thepast-the urgent need for making certain that publicwater-supplies are effectively safeguarded from allpossible sources of pollution.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL

MUSEUMS.

A SUCCESSFUL meeting of this Association has beenheld at the Army Medical Museum, Washington,D.C. A large attendance was present, includingrepresentatives of the medical service of theAmerican and Canadian Governments. In hisopening reniarhs the Chairman, Dr. James Ewing,of Cornell University, emphasised the growing im-portance of the Association because of its devotionto the interests of the science of morphology,which must ever remain the fundamental branchof medicine. A programme dealing with museumtechnique and morphological pathology was pre-sented and discussed. Bulletin VIII. (Journal ofTechnical Methods) and Bulletin IX. (Sir WilliamOsler Memorial Bulletin) were ordered to be publishedand will be distributed in the near future. Upon therecommendation of the Council, the Exchange Bureauand Bureau for the preservation of the results of

medical research of this section of the InternationalAssociation of Medical Museums was transferredfrom the McGill University Medical Museum to theUnited States Army Medical Museum in Washington,D.C. At the close of the scientific programme themeeting adjourned to inspect the large recent acces-sions to the Army Medical Museum and a series ofspecial exhibits from members of the AmericanAssociation of Pathologists and Bacteriologists andits conjoint societies, the International Congress ofOphthalmologists, the Canadian Army MedicalMuseum, and the Pathological Museums of Pittsburghand McGill Universities, which had been set up in thespacious halls of the Army Medical Museum underthe wgis of the International Association of MedicalMuseums.The following officers were elected for the ensuing

year :-President : F. B. Mallory, Boston ; FirstVice-President : H. T. Karsner, Cleveland ; Second.Vice-President : H. Marshall, Virginia ; Third Vice-President : R. A. Lambert, Yale. Councillors :A. S. Warthin, Ann Arbor, Mich. : James Ewing,New York ; W. T. Coplin, Philadelphia ; W. G.MacCallum, Baltimore ; William Boyd, Winnipeg ;H. E. Robertson, Mayo Clinic. Rochester; MajorG. R. Callender, Washington, D.C. ; Major James F.Coupal, Washington, D.C. ; H. S. Haythorne,Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Carl V. Weller, Ann Arbor, Mich. ;Stuart Graves, Louisville, Ky. Secretary-Treasurer :Dr. Maude E. Abbott, McGill University, Montreal.Assistant Secretaries : Dr. Harold Segall, Montreal ;Dr. W. W. Beattie, Montreal.An interesting feature of the afternoon session was

the presentation of the testimonial from the MedicalDepartment, U.S. Army, to Dr. Daniel Smith Lamb,assistant and pathologist at the Army MedicalMuseum from 1865-1920. The presentation was

made by Brig.-General Walter D. McCaw, assistantsurgeon-general, who, in a brief talk, outlined the workof Dr. Lamb and called attention to the results of hislabours as illustrated by the collections of the institu-tion in which the meeting was being held.

WOOD AS FOOD.

IN several places on the north coast of 6-LL)eria thenatives eat wood, not because they must, but becausethey like it. Wood is generally eaten even when fishis plentiful, their favourite dish being prepared byscraping off thin layers immediately under the barkof larch logs, chopping them fine, and boiling them upwith snow. It generally turns out that dietetic habitswhich at first sight seem curious have a rational basis.The virtues of cod-liver oil no longer rest on empiricalexperience and a vague idea that its efficacy wasproportional to its nastiness ; the reputation of freshvegetables was gained in the days before the Dutchtaught us to grow turnips and hardy cabbages, andwhen something like scurvy was an annual experienceof the early spring. It is interesting to guess thereason for wood-eating. The cellulose which formsso large a part of a herbivorous diet is now recognisedas being a subsidiary source of energy through thefatty acids produced in the stomach and bowels bycellulose-splitting bacteria. But the modified formsof cellulose which form the mass of tree trunks arehardly attacked by the bacteria of the alimentarycanal. It is possible that the Siberians have bypractice and habit so altered their intestinal flora thatthey can deal with lignin with advantage, but thisseems a troublesome way of getting energy when fishand milk are available, and it appears hardly likelythat the explanation of wood-eating lies along theselines. But if the habit suggests at the moment norationale, it is curious to note that it falls in line withthe tastes of some other animals. The fondness ofrabbits for bark and the immediately subjacenttissues is well known; if the bark is young so muchthe better, and rabbits will often prevent regenerationof woodland from the stools of forest trees or coppice

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which have been cut down. Everyone knows, too,that if they want an ash wand nicely cleaned they canget an admirable result by giving it to hutch rabbits-if the hutch is large enough to take it. It is, perhaps,worth noting, too, that these same invaluable experi-mental animals are peculiarly fond of hard, woodyleaves-as, for example, holly, gorse, or hawthorn, andsometimes seem actually to prefer them to cabbage ormilk-thistle. Ponies, also, are apt to be possessed ofa devil or some curious appetite, and will set to workon big forest trees and kill them by cleaning off thebark and conducting tissues down to the hard wood.These and other examples of similar tastes suggestthat there is something particularly good in the outerlayers of trees, and it is natural to think that itprobably resides in the young conducting tissuesrather than in the outer bark. Of its precise natureit is idle to speculate. Perhaps the point will engagethe attention of the experts in vitalimentation, whomay be directed to an interesting note in the lastnumber of Food and Cookery and the Catering World.

CONSERVATION OF WATER-SUPPLY.

A MEMORANDUM on conserving and supplementingexisting supplies of water has been issued by theMinistry of Health to the county and district medicalofficers of health, together with copies of recentmemoranda relating to chlorination and shortage ofwater. We have referred repeatedly to the variousaspects of the problem presented by the droughts of1921 and the beginning of 1922,1 and little needs to besaid to emphasise the existing necessity for preventionof waste, which forms the first subject dealt with inthe above-mentioned memorandum. Authorities areurged to consider the advisability of organising specialmeasures for the detection and prevention of all formsof waste. Division of areas of supply into zones, inorder to avoid unnecessarily high pressure, is suggested;public warnings against waste are advised, andfavourable mention is made of the possibility ofreplacement of defective washers by water authorities,free of cost to the consumer. With reference torestriction of ordinary consumption, an average of16 gallons per head per day (exclusive of water usedfor trade purposes) is stated to be quite adequate inmost towns under present conditions ; in many places,however, the amount used is twice or thrice thisfigure, with no commensurate gain and much waste ofpumping, power, and money. The use of potablewater for manufacturing and sanitary purposes, whenother supplies could be obtained, is discouraged, andthe collection of rain-water by householders is stronglyurged. Intermission of supply, whilst useful forsaving water where houses contain storage cisterns, isnot advised unless absolutely necessary. Whereverpracticable, compensation water should be inter-mitted when not required for power or manufacturingpurposes. As regards the supplement of existingsupplies, the measures indicated for consideration area pooling of the resources of neighbouring waterauthorities and employment of additional sources ofsupply, including water not usually intended fordomestic use, but specially treated by means set outin Circular 241 of the Ministry of Health relating tochlorination. In this connexion it is not out ofplace to make mention of a precaution devised by theHealth Department Laboratory of Chicago, U.S.A.,for the protection of tourists and travellers on holidayin places where they cannot be assured of an altogetheruncontaminated water-supply. Calcium hypochloritetablets, containing each 20 to 30 mg. of chlorine, putup in glass phials and retaining their potency forabout four weeks if kept lightly stoppered in a cool,dark place, are issued, together with directions foruse, upon application at the City Hall. This solici-tude for the health of the individual urban consumershould spur the rural authority to raise its standardof water-supply to that of the towns. Our own

1 THE LANCET, 1921, ii., 353, 668, 671, 1234; 1922, i., 145,148, 448, 658.

), Ministry of Health, in a letter accompanying then memorandum referred to above, advises special- attention on the part of medical ofticers of health tos, problems arising out of shortage of water-supply ini- districts unprovided with piped water.

BREAST-FEEDING AFTER WEANING.

THE successful re-establishment of breast-feedingwhen the supply of maternal milk has failed, or whena child has been weaned for some other reason, hasuntil recent years been regarded as an unlikelyphenomenon. A member of the Central MidwivesBoard informs us that midwives often complain of theuselessness of attempting to enlist medical help incases of difficult breast-feeding. The exhibition of areputed galactagogue with a warning to the motherthat she will probably have to resort to artificialfeeding in the end is usually the net result of anappeal to a practitioner by midwife or mother. Theresults obtained in the re-establishment of breast-feeding after long periods of weaning by the simplemethods in use at the Mothercraft Training Society,founded by Dr. F. Truby King in 1917, are remark-able and the institution, well-known among medicalofficers of welfare centres, deserves wider recognitionby those in general practice than it has hithertoreceived. The following table, taken from the annualreport of the society recently issued, gives some typicalcases. :-

There are 3 beds for mothers and 20 cots available,and during the 17 months covered by the last report146 infants and 72 mothers were admitted as in-patients and 609 new cases as out-patients, the totalout-patient attendances amounting to 3523. Themajority of these cases had been referred to the societyfor advice, especially with regard to breast-feeding.Other work done includes the training of fullyqualified nurses, midwives, and previously untrainedwomen in mothercraft ; simple practical courses arealso arranged at regular intervals for young mothersor girls about to marry. Lectures and demonstrationsare given to associations of midwives, health visitors,and so forth. The hon. medical director of the societyis Dr. R. C. Jewesbury, while Dr. J. S Fairbairn actsas hon. consulting physician. We are informed that,should there be Rurticient demand, demonstrationsfor practitioners will be arranged at the house ofbhe society. 29, Trebovir-road, Earl’s Court, S.W. 5,Mid in view of the excellent, results achieved we

rwould urge our readers to avail themselves of the’acilities offered.

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THE Voluntary Hospitals Commission have decided.0 convene a conference of representatives of Local3hospital Committees which will be held on Tuesdaymd Wednesday, July 18th and 19th, at the Ministry)f Health. It is hoped that all local hospitalommittees will be represented by their chairmanmd secretary, but other members of committees will)e welcome if they care to attend, and no limit will be)laced upon the number of representatives from anylarticular committee. Cards of admission will only)e sent to those persons whose names have beentotined to the Commission not later than July 10th.