893THE REGISTRATION OF NURSES.-OPEN SPACES ABOUT HOUSES.

identify trained nurses and authenticate their credentials.If in some cases the credentials themselves amount to a

guarantee of less than could be desired, the remedy for thatshould be sought in improved training first, and in restrictedregistration only after such an interval as shall have

afforded to the improved facilities of training a reasonable

opportunity of bearing fruit. One very important result ofbringing together in one view the various certificates and

qualifications which nurses rely upon to avouch their com-petency will probably be that the inferiority of imperfectmethods of training will be more clearly perceived by thenurses themselves and those who supervise their education,and improvements will in the result be introduced

for the correction of these defects. With this ob-

ject it would, we think, be in itself a good thingif the Register were supplemented by some explana-tion as to the effect of the various certificates placedupon it. Whether it is practicable to add such a

feature we cannot tell. Its value is obvious, and we doubtnot that the suggestion, if it has not already been con-sidered, will receive attention at the hands of the Registra-tion Board. But, even while putting it forward, we per-ceive that there would be serious difficulties to be sur-

mounted, and are prepared to learn that for the present atleast its adoption would not be wise. Another suggestionthat occurs to us upon an examination of the presentvolume, and one which would probably be with less

difficulty carried into effect, would be the addition to thepresent alphabetical list of names of a list arrangedaccording to localities. The primary object of the

Register is no doubt what we have above stated-

that is to say, the identification of trained nurses and the

authentication of their claims to professional qualifications.But, incidentally, it would often be a great advantage tohave a ready means of ascertaining the address of atrained nurse near at hand. Nurses are usually wanted inemergency, and often the most important of all qualifica-tions is the being within easy call. A local list would

greatly facilitate an inquiry directed to this point, and wehope to see it made a feature of future issues of the Register.

Annotations.11 Ne quid nimis."

OPEN SPACES ABOUT HOUSES.

IN the debate on the second reading of the LondonPublic Health Bills, Mr. Stuart urged that the LondonCounty Council should possess the same power of makingby-laws as to open spaces about houses as was enjoyed byevery urban authority in England and Wales, and referredto a recent article in THE LANCET in which this necessity,was pointed out. The Bills now before Parliament do not con-tain these provisions, but this circumstance is to be explainedby the fact that whereas urban authorities generally possessthese powers under a section of the Public Health Act of1875 which authorises them to make by-laws for new streetsand buildings, the London building provisions are not in-corporated in the Public Health Dills. The evident interestMr. Ritchie takes in municipal government, and the zealhe has shown in consolidating and amending the Housing ofthe Working Classes and the Public Health Acts, create the

hope that it is his intention to consolidate and amend theBuilding and Metropolis Local Management Acts. Therewould then be ample opportunity for incorporating the pro.visions as to open space to which Mr. Stuart referred. Forour own part we think it matter of little importance whetherLondon is to be dealt with in this respect by by-laws or bystatute. The question is really whether Parliament or theLondon County Council would be prepared to make the mostadequate provision. The Council at the present time is sofully alive to the necessity of air space within the metro-polis that there is no doubt the subject would be dealt withliberally. Whether the next Council will be equallyappreciative of this health necessity in London can only beseen after the next election in January. On this point weare quite prepared to trust Mr. Ritchie, who has in his owndepartment at Whitehall all the experience which wouldenable him to frame an admirable measure if he intendedthe details to be settled by Parliament. If our hopes arewell founded, we may at no distant time see London in oneway or the other given all necessary opportunity for pre-venting the crowding of houses, and for bringing to an endthe preparation of areas for improvement schemes, to whichthe London County Council now has to resort, at enormouscost to the ratepayers. -

HINTS TO BRITISH TOURISTS AND RESIDENTSIN GERMANY.

THERE has just been published in the form of a ForeignOffice paper, which may be procured for the modest sum ofone penny, an exceedingly useful collection of suggestionsmade for the benefit of British travellers and residents in

Germany, which all who contemplate visiting the Father-land would do well to peruse. The writer is Acting ConsulGeneral Goldbeck, who has been led by his experience ofhis office to believe, we doubt not with good reason, thrt hewill be rendering a valuable service to those who are in asense his special charge by pointing out to them what arethe unpleasantnesses to which they are most readily ex-posed, and how they may best be avoided. He runs overin a cursory way such topics as passports, the traveller’ssupply of money, Customs’ regulations, disputes with

cabdrivers, tradespeople or lodging-house keepers, taxesand the like, and he gives some valuable hints as to theselection of a place of residence. Many hundreds of Eng-lishmen will shortly be betaking themselves to the regionwithin which the writer of this paper exercises his repre-sentative office, and most of them will certainly find theiradvantage in first acquainting themselves with the ruleswhich are here submitted for their adoption and observ.ance. Not the least valuable of the acting consul’s hints isthat those who know how to set about it will easilyfind among the Germans the boon of what our neighboursthemselves call" English comfort."

POLYNEURITIS OR BERI-BERI AMONGFISHERMEN.

FROM time to time during the last few years cases havebeen reported in American journals which in their clinical

, symptoms are closely analogous to what has until recentlybeen considered to be a disease of the tropics-viz., beri-beri. In an important article in the Journal of Nervousand Mental Diseases, Dr. Putnam of Boston, taking ashis text a case which had recently come under his observa-tion, discusses the nature and etiology of this condition atsome length. The patient was a man of thirty-nine, themate of a vessel just arrived from the Grand Banks, whohad enjoyed good health until two weeks before he wasseen. He had then experienced pain on the inner surfaceof the thighs. The following day he was sick, and the legs

894

and thighs became swollen, and he was obliged to keep inhis bunk for several days, while a steady diminution ofstrength took place in his legs and feet. On examinationhe was pale, had difficulty in getting his coat on and oil’,and walked with a waddling gait. There was slight toe-drop, and difficulty in standing with his eyes closed. Therewas a feeling of numbness in the legs, but no marked impair-ment of sensibility. The inner surfaces of the thighs and thecalves were tender, and there was distinct pitting on pressurealong the shins. The knee-jerk was lost. On inquiringmore closely into the conditions under which the illnesscommenced, it was found that for nearly six months beforehis illness came on he had been on a vessel engaged infishing off the Grand Banks. The vessel was badly pro-visioned, and the voyage had been unduly protracted, sothat for a time the rations consisted only of molasses, friedpork, and pancakes, with bad water. Nine or ten menbesides the patient were attacked with illness, the prominentsymptoms being weakness and swelling of the legs, and oneof them, afterwards seen by Dr. Putnam at the MarineHospital, presented the typical symptoms of multipleneuritis, well-marked ankle- and wrist-drop, impairment ofsensibility in hands and feet, with tenderness on deeppressure of the muscles. Several other cases were after-wards seen, and by means of inquiries among medical men,information was obtained of similar symptoms in numerousothers exposed to the same conditions, and there seems tobe little reason to doubt that the disease has a stronganalogy to scurvy and to beri-beri, and that bad or in-sufficient food and water are important factors in itscausation.

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DISTRIBUTION OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

THE Earl of Meath, in an effective paper in the currentnumber of the Nineteenth Century, argues for the provisionin London and our large towns of improved facilities forthe distribution of dairy produce. He finds a text in a

description which he gives of the great dairy of Herr Bolleat Berlin, from which quantities, varying with the seasonfrom 35,000 litres to 50,000 litres of milk in its natural

form, or under the equivalent of milk products, are dailydistributed throughout the city. The salient featureof the system established and carried on under the

supervision of Herr Bolle is that the most exact care

is taken to prevent any adulteration or alteration of thesubstances sold while in the hands of the subordinateofficials whose duty it is to deliver at the customer’s door.Thus the milk is sent out from the central repository inlocked cans from which it is measured into the customers’

receptacles, an arrangement which doubtless effectuallyprevents the watering of the milk. Equally scrupulous isthe care taken to ensure the purity of the other produce, aresult which is the more easily attained by reason of thevast scale upon which the operations are carried on. It

appears, however, that the beginnings of this large enter-prise are very recent, and that ten years ago it originated in avery small dairy business. Indications of a more or lesssimilar movement among ourselves are not far to seek, for oflate years there has been a notable improvement in respectof cleanliness of appearance in the dairies of the metropolis.Nor is the improvement a matter of appearance alone.The exposure in THE LANCET of adulterations, thework of inspectors, and the growth of an enlightenedpublic opinion have done much to carry reform intothe heart; of the trade in foods, and in milk particu-larly. Still, there is much yet to be done, and thongh itwould probably be rash to expect that the introduction ofHerr Bolle’s methods into London, for example, would befollowed by success commensurate with that which hasattended them in Berlin, we hope that the suggestions made

by the Earl of Meath will not be wholly without fruit, anddoubt not that they are capable of being not only usefullybut also successfully carried into practice.

INFECTION THROUGH THE SOIL.

THE question is often raised whether there is any director indirect proof of the infectivity of the bodies of those

dying from specific fevers, or whether the soil of graveyardsmay become really dangerously contaminated thereby; butit is also one to which comparatively little attention hasbeen given by the experimentalist. One aspect of thematter has been lately studied by Dr. Justyn Karlinskiof Konjica, Herzegovina; in a series of experiments(Centralblattj. Eakteriol., ix., 13) undertaken to determinewhether the organs of the body undergo any change in tem-perature during the natural process of decomposition afterburial in the earth, and especially whether any differencesin this regard are to be met with in the case of infectedsubjects. His results show that invariably the putrefac.tive process is accompanied by a rise of temperatureabove that of the circumjacent soil ; and also thatthis rise in temperature is markedly higher whenthe parts examined have been taken from the bodiesof men or animals who have succumbed to infectivediseases than it is in the case of healthy bodies. Hefurther examined into the question of the survival ofthe pathogenic bacteria in the affected parts, and statesthat the typhoid bacilli may retain their vitality in thedecomposing spleen for three months, and are only com,pletely annihilated by rapid putrefaction and the presenceof a large number of the bacteria of putrefaction. Dr.Karlinski says that he had previously shown that typhoidbacilli could retain their vitality for a period of five monthsin soil, but that if the earth were thoroughly saturated withrain water they were destroyed in from seven to fourteendays. The part played by the soil in the origin of epidemicsshould not, he thinks, be under-estimated, since typhoidbacilli can only exist in water a comparatively short time.

ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE.

WE have dealt so recently with the present position ofthe service in connexion with the late correspondencebetween Sir Andrew Clark and Mr. Stanhope thereon, thatthere is no need for further remarks at the present time;but it may interest medical officers serving at home and inthe colonies to know that in India a lively correspondencehas been taking place in the Pioneer and other journalsregarding this subject, and especially regarding armymedical officers’ rank. The discussion has reference, how-ever, to the first, and not the last, portion of the correspond.ence between the War Office and Sir Andrew Clark.

CREOLIN IN DENTAL PRACTICE.

AN American dental journal publishes a communicationby Dr. Wm. H. Potter on Creolin as an Antiseptic. Creolinconsists of a mixture of the sodium salts of some resinousacids with the part of oil of tar known as "irod oil." Itis made from English pit-coal by distillation, and is of abrownish-black colour and syrupy consistence. It is not adefinite chemical compound, but a mixture of various in.gredients. It is insoluble in water, but quickly forms withit a brownish or milky emulsion. It also mixes with oiland glycerine, and is soluble in absolute alcohol, chloroform,and ether. Esmarch’s experiments seem to prove that itis a more powerful germicide than carbolic acid, and inquantities likely to be used is non-toxic. It is a reliablehaemostatic and a powerful deodorant, and does not

roughen the hands or injure instruments. Its disadvan.

895

tages are that the emulsion, besides being opaque, is

,apt to become sticky after being allowed to stand for

any length of time, and so clings to instruments. For

,dental purposes it is suggested that it may be of nse invarious ways. First, as a mouth wash, one or two drops ofcreolin added to half a tumbler of water forms an emulsion

pleasant to the taste, a powerful deodorant, a reliable

germicide and antacid. A second sphere of usefulness isin the treatment of fistulous tracts or any suppurating sur-face. In such cases it tends to diminish secretion, andinduce a healthy state of the tissues. It is also a good drugfor root canals, and will quickly deodorise a dead pulp. A

, minor use to which creolin may be put is that of takingrust off instruments, to accomplish which the full strengthshould be used, and the instrument rubbed with a rough,cloth.

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DISEASE OF THE CAUDA EQUINA.BECHTEREW has recently met with a case in which he

tas diagnosed affection of the conus medullaris and the.cauda equina. An abstract is given in the NettrologischesCentralblatt, No. 5, 1891. For some weeks before the patientcame under observation he had suffered from a gradually’increasing weakness in the legs, together with urinary’trouble and weakness. On examination there was loss of

’sensibility with regard to tactile and also to painful impres-sions on the penis, scrotum, perineum, and gluteal region.There was also similar impairment on the inner and posterioraspects of the thighs. There was much muscular weak-

mess, so that the patient could not walk without the help ofa stick. The knee-jerk was normal, and of the superficialTeRexes none were lost with the exception of the gluteal.There were incontinence of urine and obstinate constipation,although at times there was involuntary defecation. Therewas marked tenderness over the sacrum. The author con-- cludes that the case is one of lesion of the conus medullarisand cauda equina, and draws attention to the corre-

spondence of the clinical symptoms with those producedexperimentally in dogs by section of the cauda equina.

THE SANITATION OF TUNIS.

SINCE its annexation by the French ten years ago Tunishas taken a new departure. The city is being enlarged,Teconstructed, and, not least important, rehabilitated in asanitary sense. Hitherto its death-rate has been high, andthe offensive odours from which even its most fashionable

quarter is seldom free indicate the chief cause of its sicknessand mortality. Typhoid fever is almost endemic, and

though the winter season, when the city is most frequentedby foreigners, minimises the death-rate from this source,still the disease constitutes an ever-present danger. TheLac de Tunis, or El Bahira, as the land-locked sheet ofwater between Tunis and its port Goletta is called, hasfor forty centuries been the receptacle of all the drainageand refuse of the city, insomuch that its depth has gradually- diminished to little more than a metre in its deepest part,and its navigation is impossible for any but the lightest- craft. The prevailing winds lie between the north and east,and a glance at the map will make it at once intelligible howthe air currents between those two points, in passing overthat spacious cesspool, are fraught with foul smells, and as aoonseqaence with lowered vitality, disease, and death. Froma report now before us on " L’Assainissement de Tunis," welearn that elaborate steps are immediately to be takenfor the suppression of this nuisance. A " grand collecteur" "-a sort of. cloaca maxima-destined to reunite the wholedrainage of the city in a common stream will carry thesewage below the level of the Lac to a great reservoir con-structed ad hoc, whence it will be conveyed by specialsteam pumps and pipes to a distant point of discharge in

the Lac itself. This, however, is only provisional, theimmediate object being to purge the air of the odours which,in a north-easterly wind, make the much-frequented pro-menade of the Avenue de la Marine a far from salubriousor pleasant resort. The next and more important step willbe to divert the sewage from the Lac and carry it out tothe fields which surround the city on its three sides. The

fertility of these, already great, will be enhanced tenfoldby this accession of their natural manure, and the increasedfecundity of the Tunisian market gardens, famous for thequality and abundance of their kitchen produce, will be a newsource of wealth to the neighbourhood. Another project forthe development of the attractions of Tunis is the construc-tion of a sanatorium at Carthage, which will enable even theinvalid to avail himself in winter of the advantages of thatideal site, sheltered as it is from the north and interestingto all time for its mighty past, of which the relics are beingsteadily brought to light by Cardinal Lavigerie and theAbbe de Lattre. The sanatoiium in winter will be trans-

formed, in the hot season, into a resort for the seaside

sojourner, drawn thither by the cool refreshing breeze andthe admirable bathing facilities. We hope, however, Frenchenterprise will stop there, and not assume the developmentsit is prone to take at other frequented points of the Medi-terranean seaboard-the establishment of casinos and

gambling saloons. That, indeed, would be the ignoblestfate that has yet befallen the city of Dido.

THE "

MEDICAL HAT" QUESTION AGAIN! !IN our issue of Feb. 21st we took occasion to notice a

proposal that a hat of particular make should be used asa distinguishing mark of medical practitioners. It now

appears that the desire for peculiarity has not been limitedto this country. As if by a side wind of suggestion, medicalopinion in Berlin has, it is said, arrived at nearly the samepoint. There is a difference, however, and a material one.This time it is not the doctor, but his coachman, who isabout to undergo alteration. In future a white hat will befor him like the fireman’s helmet-a sign of urgency beforewhich ordinary traffic will be expected to give way. The

idea, it must be allowed, gives promise of some practicaladvantage, and many busy practitioners would be only toowell pleased if by so simple a device they could scatter theobstructions which in town practice render the daily rounda protracted and a devious task. By the sick whom they visitit should be hailed as an earnest of speedy relief. If, there-fore, any suitable distinction commends itself to professionaltaste, no serious objection, we presume, could be urgedagainst it. There would still remain the uncertaintywhether the charioteers of other interests would be willingto admit the claim of medicine to precedence on the road.On the whole, therefore, we should prefer, before advisingthe adoption of any scheme of hat reform, to watch theprogress of the new departure in the German capital. Thematter is not so urgent but that it may be still furtherconsidered.

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TREATMENT OF PNEUMONIA WITH LARGEDOSES OF DIGII-ALIS.

AT the last International Medical Congress ProfessorPetresco of Bucharest read a paper on this subject. He makesan infusion of sixty grains of powdered digitalis leaves to sixounces of water, a little syrup of orange being added tosweeten it. A tablespoonful of this mixture is given everyhalf hour. In spite of the largeness of the dose, he saysthat he has never met with a case of poisoning, andmaintains that these doses are therapeutic, and not

toxic. The best results are obtained in fibrinous or

croupous pneumonia. The author states that if usedin the way he describes digitalis will frequently cut

896

short an attack of true croupous pneumonia. In from

twenty-four to forty-eight hours after taking the drug acertain fall of temperature occurred, from 104° F. to J8°F.;this being accompanied by a decrease in the frequencyof the pulse and respiration. The digestive tract waslittle affected. The most marked changes were noticedin the pulse, which became slow, full, and of high tension.The conclusions to which Profeasor Petresco has come are

published in the Therapeutische Monatshejte, Feb. 1891.

They are as follows: 1. When given in therapeutic dosesdigitalis has a direct antiphlogistic action. 2. The dose

may be raised as high as from 60 to 120 grains of the leavesgiven as an infusion within twenty-four hours. 3. This

treatment may be continued for from two to four days if theseverity of the case requires it. 4. When improvementtakes place in the circulation and respiration, this is

speedily followed by a disappearance of all local signq andsymptoms. 5. The success of this treatment is confirmed bythe statistics. In an elaborate table of statistics ProfessorPetresco shows the superiority of digitalis over the othermethods. Thus the highest mortality in pneumonia (34’;) percent.) occurred when bleeding was practised, and the lowest(3 per cent.) when tonics, alcohol, &c, were employed.When digitalis, however, was administered the mortalitysank a low as 2’06 per cent. 6. From an experience ofa very great number of cases, both of his own and of othermedical men, he maintains that the doses, as given above,are perfectly harmless. 7. After a comparison of the variousmethods of treating pneumonia, Professor Petresco affirmsthat the expectant plan is not only without reasonablefoundation, but even dangerous ; and his experience hasdemonstrated that an attack of pneumonia may be abortedif the treatment is commenced at the very earliest stages ofthe disease.

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THE RECURRENCE OF INFLUENZA.

DURING the past few weeks there has been unmistakableevidence of a return of the influenza in epidemic form, andin the United States it has shown a severity surpassing theoutbreak of 1889-90. Chicago seems to have been one ofthe first cities of importance to have been thus visited, andin many other important towns of the Western States thedisease is very rife at the present time. It appeared in NewYork about three weeks ago, and has been gradually in-creasing in intensity, and the latest reports show that it hascaused a considerable rise in the death-rate there as in

Chicago. In this country, although sporadic cases havebeen noted in the metropolis and elsewhere during the pastwinter, it has as yet, so far as we know, only assumed theepidemic form in certain towns and villages of Yorkshire-notably in Hull, Sheffield, and Driffield-and also in Bir-mingham, where, however, it is said to be more limited,and of a milder character than last year. It is hardly to beexpected that the disease will be confined to these localities,and the coming week may witness a much wider extensionof its area. The occurrence of milder and brighter weathermay possibly serve to check its progress ; but, if the contraryconditions prevail, the probabilities, j judging from pastexperience, would be in favour of a severe recurrence of thedisease.

A DRAINAGE SYSTEM FOR DURBAN.

THE important town of Durban, South Africa, is at last Ilikely to obtain a system of drainage. The present mode ofdisposal of excreta and refuse by pails is very unsatisfac-

tory and expensive, costing as it does nearly z8000 perannum for a population of 12,000 Europeans. The engineer,Mr. Fletcher, has drawn up a scheme for a drainage systemwhich will cost under f5000 per annum for a population of20,000, and jE5350 even when the population has increasedto 40,000. The difficulty that has always been recognised

in connexion with any system of drainage for Durban is thedisposal of the sewage. The highest point of the townitself is only twenty-six feet above low water level, an

altitude that hardly suffices for removal by gravitation.Mr. Fletcher proposes to overcome this drawback by adopt.ing the Shone system of pneumatic pumping. The sewageof the town is to be conveyed by main and subsidiary sewerpipes to tanks at the Point, where it will be "screened"

"’

from solid matter. That matter will be at once destroyedin refuse destructors. The liquid sewage -containingnot more than 2 per cent. of solid matter-will then be

conveyed to the end of the north pier, and ejected into the seaduring the first four hours of every ebb tide. Mr. FIetcheradvances evidence tending to show that freshly removedsewage thus poured out into tidal water is taken out tosea, anddisposed of without risk, unpleasantness, or pollutionof the waters that wash the shore. He considers that thefear that the excremental matter thus ejected into the oceanmight be returned to the beach is set at rest by the destruc.tion of all solids in the sewage, by the dilution of all fsecsd’matter, by the tidal dispersion of the outflow, and by thedisinfecting agency of the sea itself. As the number of

persons who go out to South Africa in search of health is

constantly increasing, it is of great importance that one ofits principal seaports should be put into a thoroughly sanitarycondition, and we are sure the inhabitants will never regretthe initial expense of carrying out such work in a thoroughlyefficient manner.

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THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRADE ANDFACTORY SURGEONS.

WE offer our hearty congratulations to the FactorySurgeons on the triumphant vindication of their case beforethe Standing Committee on Trade of the House of Commons.The Rome Secretary’s proposal to abolish their office was.rejected by the overwhelming majority of thirty-nineto nine. We are delighted te see that the divisionson this subject followed no party lines, but thatmen of all parties vied with each other in declaringthat the r6le of certifying surgeon was a useMone, and essential to the working of sound factory legisla-tion. It would be invidious to make fine distinctionewhere so many did well, but the profession will rememberwith gratitude the able and persistent part played in thisdiscussion by Dr. Farquharson, Mr. Mundella, Mr. ShawLefevre, Mr. Chamberlain, Viscount Cranborne, andothers. Nor are we disposed to be very angry with Mr.Matthews for making his unfortunate and unreasonable

proposal. We can easily imagine that he was much pressedto do so. He should, of course, not have yielded to.

pressure in such a life and death matter as the re-

moval of the only impartial judges of the health-fitnessof children of tender years for factory labour. But hehas indirectly and unintentionally taken a course whichshould establish the claims of the factory surgeons, not onlyto have their present uses recognised, but to have their func-tions extended rather than curtailed. We cannot doubt thatthe Home Secretary will reconsider his views on this subject,in the light of the evidence that has been adduced, includingthe remarkable proofs furnished through Mr. Mundella, byDr. Barr, of the way in which many employers have exactedfees from parents in large excess even of the charges of the-certifying surgeon-a fact which so well explains the objec-tion of some parents to the certifying surgeons. Sir WilliamHouldsworth’s opposition to the certifying surgeons has verymuch surprised some of his friends. Probably the member forNorth-west Manchester has been imperfectly reported, andwe believe he may yet be found favourable to legislationthat will make the work of the factory surgeons stillmore real and effective than it is. They must not rest ontheir oars. The contest may yet be renewed under other

897

forms; but if factory legislation has any justification, thehumane and impartial oflice of the medical expert must bemaintained.

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HEALTH OF PROFESSOR TYNDALL.

THREE weeks ago a serious relapse placed Professor

Tyndall’s life in great jeopardy from pneumonia withdouble pleurisy. Improvement, however, took place, andby our last account the chest symptoms had, to a largeextent, subsided. There remained necessarily much weak-ness, but the prognosis is distinctly favourable if no furtherrelapse should occur.

FOREIGN UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCEBerne.-Dr. Tschirsch has been promoted to the Ordinary

Professorship of Pharmacognosis.Ghent.-Dr. Visscher has been promoted to the Ordinary

Professorship of Forensic Medicine. iParis.-The number of students entering for the diploma

of officer de santé during last year was only 358, as against3528 entered for the doctorate. Of these last, 114 werewomen, mostly Russians.Pennsylvania.-Dr. George E. de Schweinitz has been

appointed Lecturer on Medical Ophthalmoscopy in the

University.Prague (German University). -Professor J. Schnabel of

Gratz has been appointed to the chair of Ophthalmology.

DEATHS OF EMINENT FOREIGN MEDICAL MEN.

THE deaths of the following distinguished members ofbhe medical profession abroad have been announced :-Dr. Rull, Professor of Midwifery in the Faculty of Bar-celona, at an advanced age.-Dr. Julio M. Rodiguez ofMatanzas, Cuba.-Dr. Eicke of Lasdehren.

AT the usual weekly meeting of the London CountyCouncil on Tuesday, the Main Drainage Committee pre-sented a report with reference to the joint report of SirBenjamin Baker and Mr. Binnie, the chief engineer of theCouncil, upon the main drainage system of London. Theyrecommended that detailed plans be prepared of the newsewers on both sides of the river, as proposed in the jointreport. After some discussion the following rider was addedto the motion for the adoption of the report : "And thatthe committee be instructed to obtain a further report whichshall have special reference to the separation of the rainfallfrom the sewage, the better prevention of storm overflowsnto the Thames and Lea, and the better purification of theriver."

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A CASE of centenarianism which would probably havesatisfied even the late Mr. W. J. Thoms is afforded by theinstance of Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, G. C B., theSenior Admiral of the English Fleet, who completed his 100thyear on Sunday. He was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, onApril 12th, 1791. He had maintained active habits up to

Christmas, but since then, from illness, had kept his bed.

IT is reported that " the medical authorities of the

University Hospital at Bonn have decided to discontinuethe use of Dr. Koch’s tuberculin, as well as of Dr.Liebreich’s anti-tuberculosis remedy." We have not, how-ever, seen any official announcement to this effect.

NAVAL MEDICAL SUPPLEMENTAL FUND.-At thequarterly meeting of the directors of the above fund, held onthe 14th inst., T. Russel Pickthorn, Esq., Inspector-General, "in the chair, the sum of JE45 was distributed among theseveral applicants.

Pharmacology and Therapeutics.riPERAZIDINE AS A SOLVENT FOR URIC ACID.

IT is stated in a German pharmaceutical journal thatpiperazidine dissolves uric acid more readily than anyother substance of a basic nature. Urate of lithia requires368 times its own weight of water to dissolve it, but urateof piperazidine dissolves in fifty times its weight of water.It may therefore be expected that this drug will become afashionable, let us hope too an eflicient, remedy in gout andallied diseases.

THE EFFECTS OF STRYCHNINE ON THE STOMACH.

The effect of nitrate of strychnine on the functionalactivity of the stomach has been recently made the subjectof a careful research by Dr. Gamper of Sb. Petersburg, whoemployed for the purpose of his experiments four healthyyoung hospital assistants. He found that strychnine ia-creased the amount of gastric juice secreted, the generalacidity, and the quantity of free acid in the secretion.It also hastened the absorption from the stomach, andstrengthened the mechanical movements. Its effect, too,continued for some time after its administration had beenstopped. Like many other Russian observers, Dr. Gamperseems to have been highly impressed by the value of strych-nine in chronic alcoholism, declaring that it is the mosteffective of all drugs in such cases. The thesis contains along list of references to the literature of stomach affec-tions, published in six or seven languages during the lastten years.

THE ALKALOIDS IN NUX VOMICA.

The effective strength of preparations of nux vomica isbelieved to be very variable, and that there is good groundfor this belief is shown by analyses made by differentobservers. Thus, while some specimens of Ceylon nuxvomica have been found to contain as much as 5k per cent.of alkaloids, others from a different source have been foundto contain as little as 11 per cent. It is indeed impossibleat the present time, as a pharmaceutical contemporaryremarks, to fix what should be considered a fair average.

GELATINISATION OF INFUSION OF DIGITALIS.

Infusions of digitalis which have been kept some timeoccasionally become gelatinous or mucilaginous, the causeof the change not being very obvious. The matter haslately been engaging the attention of some Germanchemists, who have found that the peculiar thickeningreferred to depends upon the presence of pectin or somevery closely allied body. It has been noted that this sub-stance does not appear when the infusion is made carefullyfrom leaves which have been deprived of their longerstalks, especially when the process of maceration is stoppedin about fifteen minutes.

THE ACONITE ALKALOIDS.

The subject of the aconite alkaloids was discussed at arecent meeting of the Chemical Society, when a paper wasread by Professor Dunstan and Dr. Ince. These authorsinvestigated the alkaloid obtained by them from the rootof aconitum napellus. The yellowish crystals melted at188’4° C., and by crystallisation from the alcoholic solutionwere proved to be associated with a small quantity of agummy amorphous base. The alcoholic solution was foundto be, contrary to the statements of previous authors,dextro-rotatory, though the aqueous solution of the hydro-bromide is loevo-rotatory. Two aurochlorides were ob-tained without difficulty, and these compounds afford asatisfactory means of identifying aconitine, which may berecovered from them in a pure state. It is not appreciablyaffected by heating at a temperature below its meltingpoint, but at this temperature it is gradually convertedinto the uncrystallisable base aconite. Prolonged boilingin an aqueous solution induces a similar change, but not tothe sdnie extent unless an alkali is present. Boiling withwater acidulated with hydrochloric acid also produces de-composition. Dehydraconitine or apo-aconitine is a basediffering from aconitine by the absence of a molecular pra-portion of water. It may easily be prepared by heatingaconitine with saturated aqueous tartaric acid in closedtubes. The crystals melt at 186’5°C. It forms crystallinesalts, and in other respects closely resembles the parentalkaloid. By heating aconitine with water in a closedtube an amorphous base, apparently identical with aconite,was obtained. This substance is still under investigation