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tion in domestic money matters. It were certainly preferable ifby the independent exercise of homely thrift any such necessitycould be done away with. Where this is impossible and thealternative method is employed it must in mere justice to thelife involved be guarded by the rules above-mentioned. Wewould therefore ask for these the careful attention of thenew Parliament. A further suggestion was brought for-

ward at this meeting-namely, that persons having chargeof even single nurse children should be subject to efficient

supervision. We have long advocated such an arrangement.It aims at the root of the baby-farming evil and it must, if

carried into effect, exercise a wholesome influence in its

repression. -

POISONOUS ICE CREAM.

SINCE Dr. Vaughan reported ice creams as containingmost deadly irritant poison medical officers of health havebeen quick to detect any poisonous agent in this sub-stance. Dr. George Turner, acting for the Public Healthand Housing Committee of the County Council, has beenable to demonstrate that in certain parts of Mill-lane,Deptford, the ice cream made by Italians is prepared underconditions which he deems to be favourable for its con-tamination. We are glad to see that the committee, insteadof deferring the matter by appealing for special legislation,have expressed the opinion that the proper remedy for thecondition indicated is the efficient application of the generalprovisions of the Public Health Act to places in which foodis prepared for sale and not the acquisition of further

powers dealing with articles designed for consumption. Ifthese powers are not sufficient an enactment must be

obtained but if Dr. Turner’s report is carefully studied andthe points to which he draws attention are mastered by theauthorities, they will find that they have full powers to actwhere ice creams are being manufactured in premises in whichpeople are living under unwholesome conditions. The generalpowers under the Act are very far reaching, and if ’,,properly put in force should cover all irregularities and

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provide for bad hygienic conditions in all places wherearticles for human consumption are prepared or manufactured.Typhoid fever is at present too rife to permit of any factors,however doubtful, involved in its spread being ignored.

HONOURS TO A PHARMACOLOGIST.

ON March 29th, 1792, was born, at San Miniato, in Tuscany,Gioacchino Taddei, who rose to be one of the lights of theFlorentine school, in which for many years he held the chairof Pharmacology. In the Arcispedale di Santa Maria Nuovahe taught the practice of his subject to successive genera-tions of students and contributed by precept and example toraise that branch of the procession to an efficiency unsur-passed in any other province of Italy. He sat as one of theTuscan group in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, where hisservices as a wise and liberal legislator, particularly in allquestions relating to the public health and to the highereducation, professional and lay, procured his subsequentpromotion to a seat in the Senate. Taking these facts intoconsideration, the I I Associazione Chimico-Farmaceutica Fio-rentina, " in cooperation with the Communal Council of

Florence, will at an early date cause to be unveiled on thefacade of Professor Taddei’s house a memorial tablet settingforth his signal contributions to science, to public health, andto his country’s unity and independence. The bestowalof such honours is a frequent and commendable practicein Italy. No doubt it is sometimes abused. Monu-ments and memorial tablets have from time to time beenerected not so much to honour the "illustrious obscure"as to gratify the self-advertising ambition of organisingcommittees and their presidents, whose activity, culmi-

nating in the ceremonial proceedings ind the inevitable

banquet, with its opportunities of speech-making, fructifiesin little else than a confirmation of the impression that"Italians are a carnival people. " But there can be no doubtas to the propriety of unveiling a tablet to Gioacchino Taddei.His scientific eminence would of itself justify the step, even ifhe had not been an exemplary citizen and an intrepid patriotin days like those of 1849, when espousal of the nationalcause meant social ostracism, confiscation of means, exileand not seldom death itself.

THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, NEWTOWN,MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

OUR attention has been directed to the decision of theNewtown Local Board to elect a medical officer of health in

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place of the gentleman who has recently held that office.We have received evidence of the esteem in which Mr. Palmer

is held by those who have had the opportunity of forming anopinion of his work. The appointment he holds is an

annual one, and it is open to anyone who may take exceptionto the action of this officer to seize the occasion of his re-election and to endeavour to introduce another medical man intothe office. The circumstances under which the Newtown LocalBoard have been led to adopt this course deserve the investi-gation not only of the profession but of the public, for thepublic cannot be well served if medical officers of health feelthey cannot be re-elected if they show the least independenceeither in the performance of their duties or in the ordinaryconduct of life. In the present case it was decided to adver-tise the office only upon the casting vote of the chairman.

CHOLERAIC DISEASE IN FRANCE.

IT is interesting to learn that Dr. Dujardin-Beaumetzspeaks of the malady that is now alarming Parisians as

a form of cholera fostered by bad drinking water andthe insanitary conditions that prevail in the environs.

Although unwilling to call the disease cholera, he describesit as of Asiatic origin, arriving in France from Persia

by the Caspian Sea, making its first appearance at Nan-terre at the end of March and subsequently spreading toAsnieres, Neuilly, St. Denis, Aubervilliers and Clichy.Later accounts speak of this malady as occurring also

at Suresnes, Courbevoie and Colombes. What is obviouslygreatly needed is an inquiry into the whole circum-stances of the disease, such as the Local Govern-ment Board makes in England whenever the prevalenceof any malady demands investigation. The suburbs of Paris

are, it is said, unable to provide themselves with satisfactorywater-supplies and hence water from the Seine and Marneare utilised to make up for the deficiency of other supplies.The inhabitants of these localities have a right to know

whether the water is to blame. Cholera in Paris may lead tothe introduction of the disease into England, though with usthere is less cause for alarm. Still, all English water-suppliesare not above suspicion, and there is no community so perfectfrom a health point of view as not to require the earnestattention of the sanitary authority.

THE POLLUTION OF THE MERSEY AND THEIRWELL.

AT a meeting of the Mersey and Irwell Watershed JointCommittee, which was held last week, the chairman (Mr.J. T. Hibbert), after congratulating Mr. Hulton, the clerk,on the success which had attended the passage of the Bill

through Parliament, commented on the action of a repre-sentative of the Local Government Board when the Bill was

brought before a committee of the House of Commons andstated that, while he thought some of the control by thisBoard was useful, he did not think that an important jointcommittee like that dealing with the whole watershed shouldbe treated as children. He further regretted that any au.