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doubt be only too glad to have their services, for they fullyacknowledge the capital work which Mr. Hankin has donein India. It is quite right, of course, that all the modernmethods of scientific research practised in Europe should beadopted and systematically applied in India, and we havefrequently urged that this should be done. But this is noteverything-it is only a means to an end; and we

shall regard it as a distinctly retrograde step and a

great injury to the progress of practical hygiene if

India be deprived of its staff of sanitary commissioners.There is, as everybody knows, a great deal of practicalsanitary work to be done in that country; questions bearingupon public health are constantly arising, and have to bedealt with in a prompt and practical manner ; inspectionshave to be made, and cannot be dispensed with if even theelementary details of sanitation are to be; attended to andpressed upon the notice of the local government authorities ;and how are these matters to be carried out except by abody of men selected for the purpose ? ?

THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN.

THE wars and rumours of wars and the rapid successionof incidents that have occurred of late of a more or less

exciting and unexpected character have tended to diminish,but not to obliterate, the impression which the dramatic seriesof exploits connected with the Chitral campaign made uponthe public mind. It was, altogether, an expedition in whichthe European and native armies of India did excellent andbrilliant service and dispiayed a spirit of pluck and fortitudeof which any nation might feel proud. The nature and

variety of the incidents and the difficulties that were so

manfully encountered and overcome in the siege and relief !,of Chitral were well calculated to excite the imagination, and their history makes up a fine page in the military records of India. We are glad to say that the medicalservice took a worthy and important part in that campaign,and we sincerely congratulate those of its members whoseservices have been recognised by Her Majesty and whosenames appear in the list of honours and rewards publishedin the London Gazette. Surgeon-Major-General ThomasMaunsell of the Army Medical Staff and Surgeon-ColonelGeorge Thomson of the Indian Medical Service are madeCompanions of the Bath in the Military Division.

CHOLERA-INFECTED VESSEL AT HOLYHEAD.

THE steamship Garlands came into Holyhead on the15th instant under stress of weather with the yellow flagflying. It then transpired that she came from the Black Seawith a crew of twenty-three men, and took -in water at

Constantinople. Four days after leaving Constantinoplesickness set in, and by Jan. llth there had been about tencases of so-called severe diarrhoea, besides three ofundoubted cholera, two of which had terminated fatally.The last death took place on Jan. llth. Directly informa-tion as to the arrival of the vessel reached the Local Govern-ment Board, Dr. Theodore Thomson of the medical depart-ment was instructed to travel down by night mail; and on hisarrival he, in cooperation with the medical officer of healthand the deputy health officer and sanitary officials, advisedas to additional measures of precaution and of disinfec-tion. Several days having elapsed without any recurrenceof illness amongst the crew, and no one being desirousof landing, the vessel was then, under the orders of theLocal Government Board, free to continue her voyage to

her destination-namely, Barrow-in-Furness. This incidentshows that we are by no means free from the risk of a

re-importation of cholera into this country. Russia is stillsomewhat widely affected by the disease, Asia Minor andthe Levant are infected, Egypt is not yet clear of infection,

, and Constantinople was a seat of the disease during thelast three months of the past year. It is not easy, on the

i information thus far available, to decide precisely what was, the source of the infection in this case, but the persistent

continuance of the disease and the large proportion of; persons attacked tends rather in the direction of the theory, of water pollution ; so, also, does the commencement of the

outbreak within a few days after filling up the water tanksf at so suspicious a place as Constantinople. Happily, our

, cholera organisation was instantly on the alert, and all thatL was necessary was carried out without resort to vexatious

restrictions.

A STUDY OF CHILDHOOD.

EVERY ONE who has read Professor Sully’s" Studies ofChildhood " must acknowledge the American child to be asubject worthy of study. But the following delicious pro-duction which we received from the medical man to whomit was sent shows, we think, that the child mind in thiscountry is equally interesting. The letter is written uponsmall pink paper, ornamented with a picture of a pony,and we transcribe it verbatim, omitting only names andaddresses :-

" Dear Dr. -,-I would be very pleased if you wouldlet me have a Baby for one guinea. We want it on The 4thof Febry for Mother’s birthday. We would like it fat and

Bonny, with blue eyes and fair hair. We Children are goingto give it to her ourselves please answer at once.-Yourssincerely, ARCHIE -."P.S.-Which would be the cheaper a Boy or a Girl? "

We commend this to the notice of Professor Sully. TheP.S. is delightful, and who is there shall answer themomentous question? The age of the writer-the eldestchild-we may add, is seven ; and the letter, except forcertain paternal instructions as to spelling, given withoutseeing the letter, is the unaided composition of "wechildren." We are honoured with the acquaintance ofa young lady aged five who one day remarked, "Father,dear, why is our baby such an unpleasant, commonlittle thing?" but this only shows from what different

points of view children may look at the same thing. Wefear that these children have not been instructed by"Baby Buds," or they would know that babies are not

procurable by the mercenary method suggested by theirletter, but it shows that the real child is still with us.

THE DUNSTABLE TOWN COUNCIL AND THEIRMEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.

SOME members of the town council of Dunstable haveodd notions as to the post of medical officer of health.When the late health officer’s term of one year for which hehad been elected came to an end, the town council met tofill up the vacancy, and then some curious views wereenunciated. One councillor said that as there were severalmedical practitioners in the town "the office ought to beshared all round "-in other words, it ought first to be

bestowed on one and then on another. This view received

support even from one who had reached the responsibleposition of an alderman. This gentleman did not care

whether the appointment was made for one year or for five,but he did hold that the office should be 11 fairy shared inrotation." It is hardly conceivable that those who are

presumably men of business and experience, and who areacquainted with the public matters with which they haveto deal, can enunciate such a doctrine as this. Do these

gentlemen change their managers or those who, in othercapacities, have charge of their interests once every yearor every five years, so as to give every other suitable

person in the town a turn ? Do they by any chance turn outtheir legal adviser every year ? It is, indeed, the first time