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aeclimatisation is not commonly reckoned with, and the

man or woman tresh from a holiday plunges with renewedenergy and the fullest confidence in medias res. He

flings himself into the occupations and anxieties of his

business or profession, she slips into the hundred tasks of

a busy domestic existence, forgetful of the sudden transitionfrom the complete leisure of the holiday to this turmoil ofthe town. Thus any baneful effect of changed environmentis helped by the sudden over-exercise of mind and bodyrecently accustomed to only the easiest and most pleasantexertions. We believe that many a disappointment, tran-

sient, perhaps, but temporarily at any rate often keen

enough, might be averted if people so contrived theirreturn from a holiday that a few days’ interval was

allowed before the real work of life was resumed. In

these few days the system is, so to speak, comfortablyswitched on to the old lines again and the human engine ispermitted to run the better for the acquired and properlystored vigour of the holiday.

DINNER TO MR. ALFRED WILLETT.

MR. ALFRED WILLETT, who has recently retired from thepost of surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, was on theevening of Tuesday, Sept. 30th, presented with his bust andentertained at dinner by his old house surgeons. DuringMr. Willett’s term of office 44 men have held the post ofhouse surgeon and of these 28 attended to do honour totheir old chief. Of the others two are dead, some are inIndia, some are in South Africa, and the rest were preventedfrom coming owing to professional engagements. The bust

is the work of Mr. Hope Pinker and is an admirable like-ness. The presentation was made on behalf of his colleaguesby Dr. W. S. A. Griffith who was in the chair. Mr. Willett,in acknowledging the gift, expressed his pleasure in beingonce more in the midst of his house surgeons and saidthat he was rightly proud of the positions which they nowoccupied. No man could have had more loyal assistantsand his relations all the years during which he had pos-sessed a house surgeon had been of the most pleasantdescription. "I should like," adds a correspondent whowas present, "to say that everybody who had the

privilege of working for Mr. Willett always felt that

he was working for a great man. He was always justand always generous. He never tolerated slackness, but

although he expected and obtained hard work no one wasmore ready to give a man credit for that which he did or

tried to do." The arrangements for the dinner and the

organisation of the gathering were excellently carried out byMr. W. G. Spencer, Mr. F. C. Wallis, and Mr. H. J.Paterson. The dinner was held at the Imperial Restaurant.

THE INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE : ITS PAST ANDPRESENT HISTORY.

THE Asiatie Quarterly Review published this monthcontains an elaborate and interesting article by Surgeon-General W. B. Beatson, I.M.S. (retired), late DeputySurgeon-General, Lahore Division, on the "Indian MedicalService, Past and Present." It is the purpose of thearticle to trace out in continuity the evolution of the

present medical service in India and the sundry andmanifold changes through which it has passed from a

very elementary and initial stage to that of its latest

development and organisation with the prestige which

rightly belongs to it. Surgeon-General Beatson has hadrecourse to ,the records left by early writers and

explorers, because, as he rightly says, the originatorsof the existing Government medical service in Indiamust be sought for among the English adventurers whoduring the latter part ,Qf the sixteenth century, fol-

lowed in the footsteps of .European traders who werethe

geographical discoverers of the period. The romantic-stories and glowing accounts of the riches of the.

’,gorgeous East" brought home by travellers who followedin the footsteps of the Portuguese first attracted notice

in this country and led to ambassadors being sent to

Akbar, the greatest and most enlightened of the MoghulEmperors of India. Between the years 1610 and 1620 both

English and Dutch traders were permitted to establish fac-tories at Surat, very much to the disgust of the Portuguesewho had been settled on the western coast of India for

nearly a century. Surgeon-General Beatson’s article beingmainly historical and extending to 48 pages does not readilylend itself to an analysis and summary statement, but it willsuffice to say that those who are desirous of ascertaining-the very influential part which members of the medical

profession have played in the history of our rule in Indiawill thank us for calling attention to it.

HONG-KONG COLLEGE OF MEDICINE FORCHINESE.

A MEETING of the General Council and students of this

} college was held on August 28th in the Legislative Council} Chamber, when Sir W. J. Gascoigne, K.C M.G., officer

administering the Government, presented the diploma of thecollege to five students who had completed the curriculum

, of study and passed the professional examinations. Amongthose present were the Hon. F. H. May, C. M. G. (rector ofthe college), Dr. Francis W. Clark (dean), Dr. J. C.

Thomson (honorary secretary), Dr. Ho Kai, C.M.G., Dr.

, R. McLean Gibson, Dr. Hunter, Dr. G. H. Bateson Wright,Major M. J. Whitty, R.A.M.C., and Major S. F. Clark,R.A.M.C. The names of the licentiates, according to the-Hong Kong Daily Press, were Mr. Tee Han Kee, Mr. Lau

Lai, Mr. Ho Ko Tsun, Mr. Lee Yin Sze, and Mr. Chan FaiKwong. In presenting the students to Sir W. J. GascoigneDr. Francis Clark said that the fact of Chinamen attendinga course of training in Western medicine was a proof ofthe foresight of the founders of the college, of whom

Dr. Patrick Manson, C.M.G., was one. The diploma was inthe following form :-We, the Dean, Lecturers, and Examiners of the Hong-Kong College

of Medicine for Chinese, hereby declare that -, having attendedcourses of lectures during a period of five years in the various depart-ments of professional study required by the College, has been examinedand duly satisfied the Examiners in each of those subjects; that he isqualified to practise Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery; and that byauthority of the Court of the. College he is hereby granted the title ofLicentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Hong-Kong College ofMedicine for Chinese. [L.M.S.H.]In witness whereof we have hereto set our signatures on this

28th day of August in the year Nineteen Hundred and Two, being theyear of the Chinese Cycle Yam Yan.

THE PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY OF TUBERCU-LOUS AND OTHER FORMS OF MENINGITIS.

IN a communication published in Le Progrès Medicalof August 23rd last Dr. Faure and Dr. Laignet-Lavastinegive an account of the pathological changes observed micro-scopically in 17 cases of tuberculous and other forms of

meningitis examined at Professor Ballet’s laboratory. Thecases included 13 of tuberculous meningitis, two cases of

meningitis due to the pneumococcus, and one each of

meningitis due to the enterococcus and Eberth’s bacillus.The pathological changes observed may be summarised asfollows. Apart from the appearances of perivascular exuda-tion of serum and leucocytes into the meshes of the pia-arachnoid membranes, which changes could also be tracedalong the perivascular channels of the blood-vessels penetrat-ing the cortex, the cortical nerve-cells themselves were fullof powdery materials or grains which produced a "dusty"appearance. Many of the cells appeared to be globular orswollen. The cell-nuclei often looked as though they weredried up or "calcined," while ,the protoplasmic prolonga.tions (dendrites) were pale apd. the outlines’of several of the