NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES

802

was appointed president for the ensuing year. A discussiontook place upon the proposed Factory and Workshops Act.Mr. Barr of Bury stated that there were in Lancashirealone children and young persons at work in mills to thenumber of 139,000 " half-timers " and over 300,000 "whole-timers," also that 1319 children per annum had been re-turned as unfit for work. ITpon these and other grounds itwas resolved to petition against the abolition of factorysurgeons.surgeons.

Cremation.The successful establishment of a crematorium in Man-

chester is now assured, though the whole of the requiredfunds have not yet been quite subscribed. The promoters dotheir best to bring the subject before the attention of thepublic, and at a public meeting held recently in Chorlton-cum-Hardy (one of our suburbs) the Rev. R. E. Healy,rector of St. Thomas’s, presiding, a resolution was carriedrecording hearty approval of the system of cremation as ameans of disposal of the dead in large communities.

Impure Air.The committee appointed to make a scientific investiga-

tion into the impurities of Manchester air have issued apreliminary report, which, amongst other things, states thatwith a prevalence of fog the mortality from respiratorydiseases at once showed a marked increase. From experi-ments made during three days of fog it was calculated thatin the neighbourhood of the infirmary there was carrieddown 6 cwt. of sulphuric acid per square mile. No wonderthat leaves and trees rapidly die here.

The late Alderman Schofield, T.P.Amongst those who, in the early days of sanitary reform,

did good work for Manchester in remedying sanitary mal-administration or neglect, the name of the late AldermanThomas Schofield stands out prominently. For more thantwenty years he was chairman of the ’Health Committee,and though of late years the methods pursued by it havebeen the subject of much criticism, everyone gave himcredit for acting in a thorough and bona-fide manner inhis efforts to grapple with many of the problems to be dealtwith by the sanitary administrators of a large communitylike this. For many years, also, he took a warm and activeinterest in the Royal Infirmary and its allied branches, aswell as other charitable institutions of the district.Manchester, April 1st.

NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Serious Charge against a "Professor."A MAN named Edward Moross, aged thirty-seven, who

has been lecturing in Newcastle for some time in theCentral Hall and advertising consultations free, under thestyle of "Professor Moross, M.E.," was brought up at theNewcastle Police-court on Saturday on warrant, chargedwith having committed a rape on Isabella Burnley, a

domestic servant aged seventeen. The prosecutrix said shearranged with the accused to have six private treatmentsfor deafness for two guineas. She complained to her sisterof what happened at the consulting-rooms of the accused.Mr. Baumgartner, the police surgeon, stated that he hadexamined the prosecutrix, and her condition might bedue to natural causes or to what she alleged. Prisonerwas further charged with having indecently assaultedFlorence Crossley, eighteen years of age, at the same

place. She stated that there was an agreement withthe prisoner that she was to be treated for neuralgiain the face in the presence of her sister, The fee was tobe five guinea,a. The prisoner, however, asked her to comeon the 14th ult. to his consulting-rooms, and said her sisterneed not attend. He, it was alleged, closed the door ofhis consulting-room when she went in. There was only alatch on it, but there was a curtain between the door andthe interior, and she alleged he indecently assaulted her.The prisoner was remanded, and the magistrates refused toaccept bail.

The Barber-Surgeons and Chandlers of Newcastle.The following " items " are culled from a continuation of

the paper read to the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries byDr. Embleton, and referred to in my former notes : " Itm.

for wyne and sugar at our dynners, 16.s’. 6d.; item. for beireafter dynner, 4s. ; itm. for tobacco, Is. 6d.; itm. for themusick’s dynner, 3s. ;item. geven to the musicks, 5s.; itm.for beire the next day at brickfast, 4s.; itm. geven to threetravelers’ cirnrgions, 6s. ; itm. to the mayd, Is.; itm. gevento the pore, 2s. ; itm. that night in wyne at GeorgeHorsler’s, 6.s. 6d ; itm. on gallon of brunte claret at GeorgeMallabarre’s buriall, 4s."

Newcastle Hospital for Women.The Newcastle Hospital for Women was founded in 1866,

and until recently was carried on in conjunction with thelying-in hospital, but its removal was necessitated by theinflux of patients (now about 3000 yearly), and a successfulbazaar in its interests was held last week, having beenopened by the Mayor.

Cumberland.The question of appointing a medical officer for the county

of Cumberland is said to be under the consideration of acommittee of the County Council. The terms of appoint-ment suggested are that the county medical officer shoulddevote his whole time to the service of the county,that he should hold the office at the pleasure of theCouncil, and that he should not be entitled on retirement toa pension or superannuation allowance. It is to be hopedthat the salary (which is not mentioned) may be in propor.tion to the responsibility of the office and the extent andimportance of the county.

, The Pork-pic Poisoning Case in Carlisle.The Medical Report of the Local Government Board in-

cludes a paper by Dr. Klein on a case of poisoning atCarlisle, which excited considerable attention about a yearago. Dr. Klein had submitted to him samples of pork andot gravy stock from the same source as the food whichwas more than suspected of having caused the outbreakof illness. As to the pork, it was known to be from thesame aninial or animals which was or were believed tohave caused the trouble, but of the gravy it could onlybe said that it came from the same establishment.Mice were fed on the gravy and bread, also on the

pork. Bacilli in gelatine cultures were obtained fromthe bodies of these mice, and used for experiments onother mice. Dr. Klein thus sums up:—" Wehave here to dowith a true infective disease, producible by feeding animalswith given samples of gravy stock and pork, and capableof being propagated by a particular microbe in artificialculture from the bodies of rodents fed with samples. Themicrobe here described is not the same as that describedby me ten years ago in connexion with the Welbeck andNottingham meat poisoning, nor is it identical with eitherof those to which veal and pork poisoning has been referredby me in recent reports to the medical officer. It is analtogether different species, as will be clear from my accountof its morphological and cultural character."

The Silloth Convalescent Institution.The annual meeting of the Cumberland and Westmor.

land Convalescent Institution at Silloth was held last week,the Bishop of Carlisle presiding. It was shown by thereport that during the year the number of patients admittedwas 647, as against 566 in 1889. The report of Dr. Leitchshowed that 527 patients gained weight and 66 lost weight,22 left in statit quo, and 32 had left before their timehad expired.

Sunderland Eye Infirmary.At the annual meeting of the Sunderland and North

Durham Eye Infirmary 1593 cases, it was stated, had beendealt with during the past year. The new building to beerected in Stockton-road has received support from theworking men of Sunderland to the handsome amountof over f800.lewcastle-upon-’1’yne, April lst.

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital.THE directors have decided to rebuild this hospital on its

old site. There were hopes that it might have beenacquired for the extension of the Royal Infirmary; but if thedecieion of the Sick Children’s Hospital directors is final,