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as constituting one of the most common and noticeable ofthe abnormalities exhibited by feeble-minded children, andtheir combined effect is thought to constitute one of the

greatest aids to diagnosis. The inquiry further showed thatthe feeble-minded are smaller and more poorly developedphysically than ordinary school children, the disparityincreasing with age.

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HONG-KONG COLLEGE OF MEDICINE FORCHINESE.

THE Hong-Kong College of Medicine for Chinese wasfounded in 1887, largely through the efforts of Sir Patrick

Manson, Mr. James Cantlie, the late Rev. Dr. Chalmers, andthe late Dr. William Young, for the purpose of teaching medi-cine, surgery, and midwifery to Chinese and such others asmight avail themselves of the instruction given. The Collegehas its headquarters in the Alice Memorial Hospital and theaffiliated Nethersole Hospital is also open to students for pur-poses of clinical study. Students before matriculation must

pass a preliminary examination in English, Latin, or classicalChinese, geography, elementary mathematics, and one modernlanguage. The course of study extends over five years andincludes more subjects than were required in English schools50 years ago ; the examination papers are also quite up tothe English standard of that day and moreover containquestions on such quite modern topics as the treatment ofappendicitis, the microbial pathology of various diseases, theexamination of blood-stains, sphygmography, the theory ofchemical valency, and the respective significance of free andalbuminoid ammonia in drinking-water. Candidates on

passing receive the diploma of Licentiate in Medicine andSurgery of the Hong-Kong College of Medicine for Chinese(L.M.S.H.). The teaching staff includes 16 lecturers, ofwhom 13 hold British qualifications. There were 35 studentson the roll in December, 1905, and five diplomas were grantedcuring the year then completed.

PATHOLOGICAL GLUTTONY.

THE literature of depraved appetites is considerable and isdiscussed at some length in Gould and Pyle’s "Anomalies andCuriosities of Medicine." Morbid appetite most commonlymanifests itself in the tendency to eat filthy or loathsomefood, and this tendency again is allied to fetish worship.Many savages, for instance, consume their own excrementsand assign ritual or religious reasons for this act. The humanurine and faeces are by them regarded as containing the soul,and to devour them is to become repossessed of a sacredtrust. That form of savage cannibalism which enjoins theeating of kinsmen and parents is based on the same

grounds of reasoning. It is a question, however, whethercannibalistic and ordure-eating savages do not really derivetheir instincts from the lower animals. Dogs have

notoriously depraved appetites. Some - famous gluttonshave certainly seemed to be casts-back to the lower carni-vora. Such was "the Great Eater of Kent," affectionatelyeulogised by Taylor the Water-Poet. This Man of Kentwas seen by Taylor to make a meal of a whole calf. He

was admired in his day as a supreme instance of a jollyfellow, but his feats were such as to suggest the morbid andabnormal. Tarrare, a Frenchman, who died at Versailles, aged26 years, during the latter half of the eighteenth century, wasperhaps the most prodigious and revolting of those instancesof what might be called pathological gluttony. He ate " a

quarter of beef in 24 hours," and could quickly assimilatelarge serpents. Lorenze saw him devour a cat, the hairs ofwhich he voided after an interval of half an hour, much asa bird of prey might do. This man was manifestly a

reversion to type. Of his family, although less sensationalin their cravings, are the earth-eaters, wood-eaters, chalk-,peat-, bog-, insect-, and perhaps even seaweed-eaters, while

the chewers and the whittlers may te said to belong to thesame morbid category. -

THE HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION ANDDISEASES OF THE CHEST, BROMPTON.

AN important and valuable innovation is proposed tobe introduced at the Hospital for Consumption and

Diseases of the Chest, Brompton. A joint sub-committeeof the committee of management and of the medicalcommittee has been appointed to draw up a scheme

whereby it is hoped the economic value of the hospitalmay be considerably increased. At the present time a ladyalmoner is appointed to attend in the out-patient depart-ment in order to render assistance in various ways to

those patients who require it. It is now proposed to extendthis department and so to make an endeavour to reachthe patients in their own homes, to superintend the

hygienic precautions which are necessary to preventthe spread of tuberculosis, and to make inquiries as tothe state of health of those members of the patients’families who are dwelling in the same house. It is suggestedthat patients should be invited to bring other members oftheir families to the hospital so that they may be examinedfor evidences of tuberculosis. By pursuing such measures asthese the work of the hospital will be rendered even morevaluable than it is at present. As we have frequentlypointed out, it is only by educating the public in the

elementary laws of hygiene that any satisfactory stand canbe made against the spread of tuberculosis. We trust thatthe endeavours which the Brompton Hospital hopes to makein this direction will be generously supported by the public,for considerable expense will be incurred if the proposalsnow being considered are to be carried out in a thoroughlysatisfactory manner.

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THE GERMAN SURGICAL CONGRESS.

THE thirty-fifth congress of the German Surgical Societywill be held in Langenbeck House, Ziegelstrasse; Berlin,from April 4th to 7th. Members who by March 20th havepaid their subscriptions for 1906 to Herr Melzer (Berlin N.,Langenbeckhaus, Ziegelstrasse, 10/11) will receive their

cards of membership by post. These cards may also beobtained at Herr Melzer’s office in Langenbeck House onApril 3rd and 4th but it is recommended that theyshould be procured in advance. The proceedings will

commence with a general meeting for the transactionof miscellaneous business at 10 A.M. on April 4thand there will be a second general meeting in the

afternoon of April 6th. Intimations of discourses or

demonstrations should be sent not later than March 3rd to

Dr. W. Korte (Berlin W. 35, Potsdamerstrasse 39), togetherwith a short synopsis and a precise statement whether a

discourse or a demonstration is intended. Communications

arriving at a later date can only be accepted if time permits.Patients arriving from abroad can be accommodated inthe Royal Surgical University Clinic, Nos. 5-9, Ziegelstrasse.Preparations, apparatus, and instruments should be sent

to Herr. Melzer at Langenbeck House. An evening willbe set apart for demonstrations of the Roentgen raysif sufficient material is forthcoming. The Congressdinner will take place on April 5th at the Savoy Hotel,Friedrichstrasse. Intending members should communicatewith Dr. W. Körte, sending introductions from three mem-bers, and will be admitted at- a committee meeting to beheld on April 3rd. The following subjects have been

selected for discussion at the Congress : (1) questions inmilitary surgery, illustrated by the experience of the Russo-Japanese war ; (2) the surgical treatment of ulcer of thestomach ; (3) the further development of a high operationin cancer of the rectum ; and (4) Bier’s method of treatingacute inflammation by vascular engorgement. The time