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the air current through the sewer affected the number ofmicro-organisms found in the sewer air; it was foundthat a considerable increase in the velocity of the air currentdid not produce an increase in the number of micro-organismsfound in the sewer air. He also found that the results of

experiments on large sewers hold good for small sewers. In

regard to the actual kinds of micro-organisms in sewer air,Mr. Laws supplies a table of those he identified. It is, heconsiders, specially noteworthy that two organisms present insewage in large numbers-the bacillus coli communis and themicrococcus ureas—were not found in sewer air; and he notesthe fact that organisms capable of liquefying gelatine were alsoalmost entirely absent. It is remarkable that all the micro-

organisms found in sewer air belonged to the non-pathogenicclass. It will be seen that Mr. Laws’s observations tend toshow that the organisms found in sewer air probably do notconstitute a source of danger to the health of human beings.He admits, however, that the evidence of sewer air havingsome causal relation to disease cannot be ignored, and sug-gests the possibility that the danger of sewer air may beindirect; that, for instance, it may contain some poisonouschemical substance capable of producing serious effects in

the presence of a large excess of carbonic acid.

VOICE PRODUCTION.THE Council of the British Medical Association have lately

directed a certain " Memorial on Voice Training " to be for-warded to public schools, universities, and other public insti- 1

tutions, at the instigation of the Section of Laryngology at .the meeting of the Association at Nottingham last year.One unfortunate consequence of this is that the memorial is

being largely used as an advertisement by the practitionersof a remarkable form of quackery, who, however, so farbelieve in themselves and their work that each is mainlyintent on teaching the only method of the old Italian schoolof singing, and denying that his fellow worker has any claimto similar privileges. Even we are favoured with communi-cations from professors of elocution, &c., teeming with

remarkable scientific justifications for their systems. Theyinstruct us how people should be taught to speak and sing bymeans of physiology, amplified with theories evolved from theprofessors’ own vocal experiences. As soon would one teach aboy to run with the help of an anatomical text-book ! We cannotrefrain from quoting a text-book on elocution recently placed inour bands:—’’ Physiologists tell us that those ventricles [of thelarynx] communicate with the brain ...... and they communi-cate with the spinal cord, and have for their function theexpansion and condensation of air ! " Far be it from us to

deprecate the proper training of the voice in all, whetherlikely to become professional voice-users or not. Nothing willtend so surely to the preservation of the beauties of the

language. But we would affirm that correct production is tobe taught on common-sense principles, such as using thelungs and making the lips, tongue, and teeth bear the onus ofarticulation. Teach the boys and girls to read aloud as wasdone in our parents’ days, and they will not need voice-trainers when they grow up. Speech is common-sense

science, thanks to the teachings of Graham Bell, AlexanderEllis, and others. Song is a pure art, which science has asyet failed to demonstrate. Yet what matter when every sing-ing master knows all about it, and that every other master iswrong. -

THE LIFE-SAVING SOCIETY.

IN less than one month of the summer of last year over400 verdicts of "accidentally drowned" were recorded inEngland alone, and the annual loss of life in the UnitedKingdom attributable to this cause is over 6000. Under

these circumstances a society that has for its object thepromotion of technical education in life-saving and resusci-tation of the apparently drowned should receive the cordial

support of the public. The Life Saving Society, of whichthe Duke of York, K.G., is honorary president, was estab-lished in 1891 with this main object in view, and theannual report for 1892-93 is a most satisfactory one. The

society has made every effort to induce schools, swim-

ming clubs, athletic clubs, the police, her Majesty’sforces, and the public generally to make the subject oflife-saving one of paramount importance and to widelydisseminate a knowledge which at any moment may prove ofinestimable value; and various national institutions and

organised societies, not only throughout the United King-dom, but also in India, Australia, and New Zealand, haverecognised the praiseworthy aims and objects of the

society. The illustrated poster containing detailed instruc-tion for the rescue and resuscitation of the apparentlydrowned, issued by the society, ought to be exhibited in

every public place of the English-speaking world, and theadmirable practical handbook on the methods of rescue,

release, and resuscitation drills should be in the hands of

every lover of the useful art of natation. The report, whichcontains valuable information respecting the formation of

classes, particulars of the national life-saving competitionfor 1894, &c., can be obtained at the offices of the society,3, Clarendon-square, London, N. W.

EPILEPSY AND ERRORS OF REFRACTION.

THE paper on this subject by Mr. Work Dodd recently readbefore the Ophthalmological Society, and which subsequentlyappeared in the winter number of Brain, is of such im.

portance and suggestiveness as to deserve more than the

passing notice which it has already received at our hands.lBriefly stated, it may be said to be a plea for the carefuexamination of the refraction in all cases of epilepsy and theprescription of suitable glasses in the cases in which con-siderable error is present. The plea is founded upon the resultsobtained by Mr. Work Dodd in 100 cases of epilepsy in whichthe plan has been followed. Precautions seem to have beentaken to obtain a physician’s diagnosis in each case, but evenwith such precaution it might have been well to furnish someparticulars as to the characters of the fits themselves,especially with reference to the important diagnostic signs oftongue-biting and relaxation of sphincters in order that

readers might see for themselves that the patients were reallysuffering from epilepsy. Everyone who has much experienceof "fits" knows what an extremely difficult thing it is in

certain cases to say whether they are epileptic or hysteroid,and for the purposes of such an inquiry as this it wouldhave been desirable to see that no doubtful case had creptin. We have raised this point, not in any spirit of carp-ing or unnecessary criticism, but because it behoves us, incircumstances in which the issues are so important, to pointout not only the strong points of the case but also its weak-nesses. Granting, however, that Mr. Work Dodd’s 100

patients were epileptics, he has at least clearly indicatedsome interesting points in which they differ as regards theirrefraction from normal individuals. Thus, in 50 "normal" "

patients it was found that 6 per cent. were emmetropic,70 per cent. simply hypermetropic, 2 per cent. simplymyopic, 16 per cent. astigmatic, while 6 per cent. sufferedfrom other errors of refraction. In the 100 epileptics,on the other hand, the corresponding percentages were 7, 42,6, 42, and 3. The prominent points brought out in comparingthese numbers are : (1) that among epileptics hypermetropiais present in 20 cases per cent. less than among normal

individuals, and (2) that astigmatism of all kinds occurs in26 cases per cent. more of epileptics. These, it will be seenso far as numbers are concerned, practically compensateeach other, so that refractive errors do not seem to be morecommon among epileptics than others, but only to be

1 THE LANCET. Feb. 17th. 1894.

765

different in kind and perhaps in degree. It is scarcelylikely that if a larger number of normal individuals wereexamined this difference would be materially altered, so

that we may accept as a fact the statement that epi-leptics di:Eer in the character of their refractive errors

from other people. Such an admission, of course, makesit easier for us to suppose that treatment which isdirected to the correction of these errors may reasonablybe expected to meet with a certain measure of success.

But when we come to consider the cases recorded in

the paper, more especially with reference to the results

of the treatment adopted, we have to point out the gravefallacy implied in regarding the improvement which fol-lowed the fitting of the patients with glasses as due

entirely to the correction, for in every case which so

improved, as we understand the record, ordinary medicaltreatment, by which we are presumably to understand

drugs, dieting, and the like, continued to be applied to thepatients. To admit that all the good done was the resultof the wearing of glasses is certainly to go a considerablestep further than the facts justify us in going. Such anadmission would imply that ordinary medical treatment isinsufficient to arrest or even to diminish the number of fitsin cases of epilepsy, and this we feel sure no one, and leastof those who have most experience of epilepsy, would beprepared to admit. There is probably no disease in whichin the majority of its victims the result of medicinal treat-ment is at once so obvious and so gratifying as in cases ofso-called idiopathic epilepsy, and it is indeed matter for

surprise that among Mr. Work Dodd’s cases such a smallnumber as 13 per cent. only should have remained free fromfits, even with medicinal treatment alone. We notice in the

large table which is incorporated in the paper that a consider-able number were either not ordered glasses or did not wear

, them, and it would have been interesting to know whether inthese patients medical treatment alone was efficacious, and, ifso, to what extent. In making these remarks on a subject ofso much importance we do not wish in the slightest degreeto minimise the importance of correcting refractive errorsassociated with symptoms, whether these occur in conjunctionwith fits or in individuals not so affected. All that we wishto point out is that Mr. Work Dodd’s cases do not con-

vince us that the correction of errors of refraction in

epileptics is really a very important element in the success-ful treatment of the disease. From the data with whichhe has furnished us it is impossible to draw any suchinference, but if such results as he has recorded had beenarrived at without the aid of medicinal treatment they wouldhave been of the utmost importance and would undoubtedlyhave evoked the greatest interest. We have little doubt thatsuch a research as is here indicated will be undertaken in thenear future, and we await with no little interest the results Ifof the investigation. -

ABBAZIA AND THE ISTRIAN RIVIERA.

A NEw health resort is always a valuable accession tothe medical practitioner’s resources, importuned as he isso apt to be by patients for whom the familiar "sun

traps" and "winter cities" and places of shelter fromwind and cold have lost their charm, which means in

many cases their efficacy. Not altogether unknown to the ’,connoisseur in medical climatology, Abbazia has lately, Iand by a variety of incidents, come prominently to thefront as a haven of refuge for the weakly in heart and ’lungs. The place to which Billroth repaired for thealleviation of cardiac and pulmonary distress, and which

certainly smoothed and lengthened out the evening of hisdays; the retreat to which the imperial heads of Germanyand Austria have turned for a quiet breathing-time from the ’,glare and tumult inseparable from exalted position in IEuropean capitals, Abbazia needs but to be known to i

justify the favour it has found with personages so dis-

tinguished. On the eastern coast of the Istrian triangle,it is a small township at the foot of the Karst moun-

tains, on an arm of the Adriatic, called the Quarnero,which forms, according to Dante, the Oriental limit of

Italy. It derives its name from an old conventual establish-

ment, the ruins of which are still traceable on the seaboard,and its almost simple attractions as to climate, scenery, andthe repose that so effectively ensures the enjoyment of both,have already marked it out as a resort for the ailingand the brain-weary. It is completely sheltered fromthe north by the last spur of the Julian Alps, and even inwinter its delicious air is undisturbed by the atmosphericvisitations that so often neutralise the charm of other healthresorts. It lies an hour and a half distant by carriagedrive from Fiume, which, however, may be reached from itin three-quarters of an hour by sea ; and its neighboursare Volosca; with which it is municipally connected, andLovrana-the Laurana of the Romans, so-called from the

superb laurel groves in which Abbazia also abounds, andwhich from their lovely shade of green and the deliciousperfume wafted from them proved so grateful to the dyingBillroth. The capabilities of the place, as we have said, arenow fully recognised, and already the managers of the South-Austrian Railway Company have afforded facilities not onlyfor reaching it quickly and conveniently, but for making aa prolonged sojourn amid its amenities of mountainand seaboard. Ere long it will have ceased to be

the well-nigh exclusive resort of the Austrian, Hun-

garian, and German aristocracy, for whose accommoda-tion it now boasts some forty luxuriously appointed villas.The Adriatic littoral has many attractive spots quite near it,now made accessible by an admirable steamboat service-theimperial chateau of Miramar, with the melancholy interestit owes to the late Emperor Maximilian, being one ofthe most prominent of these. At the International Exposi-tion of medicine and Hygiene, about to be opened in con-nexion with the International Congress at Rome, a specialfeature will be the plans and descriptive illustrations ofhealth resorts, particularly on the Italian mainland and sea-board. In this the medical profession cannot fail to be

interested, and it will be the fault of those who wish tomake Abbazia popular if it does not figure among the newerand at the same time more attractive places of sojournaccessible to the invalid or " candidate " for the rest cure.

THE WALKER PRIZE.

THE committee appointed by the Council of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons of England to state conditions for givingefEect to the proposals of Mr. Charles Clement Walker for thefoundation of a prize with a view to the encouragement of theinvestigation of cancer have recommended the adoption of thefollowing regulations :-(1) The prize shall be awarded forthe best work in advancing the knowledge of the pathologyand therapeutics of cancer done either partially or whollywithin the five years preceding the year in which the prizeshall be awarded ; (2) the first award shall be for the periodending Dec. 31st, 1895, after which the prize shall be awardedquinquennially ; (3) the prize shall consist of .tlOO except onthe first occasion, when it will be z60 ; (4) the prize shall beawarded at the quarterly meeting of the Council in the Aprilimmediately following the termination of each period, andwill not be awarded unless the committee appointed to judgeshall consider some work deserving of it ; (5) the committeeshall consist of five members chosen by the Council, but notof necessity members of the Council, and they shall beappointed not less than one year prior to the date of theaward of the prize ; (6) the grounds upon which the prize isawarded shall be made public ; (7) the prize shall be open toforeigners as well as British subjects, members of the Council