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Barrington Hospital, Limerick. The efficiency and increasing benefits bestowed by this

Charity are well maintained. During the past year 501patients were received into the hospital (the highesbrecord of intern patients), and 2530 were treated as externcases in the dispensary. The parts of the house and groundwhich were formerly held by the City Dispensary havebeen improved and put in good order. The old dispensaryrooms have undergone necessary renovation and cleansing,4lnd, as soon as the furniture has been supplied, will beready for the reception of private patients.

Union Medical Officers.At a largely attended meeting of the County Limerick

Branch of the Irish Medical Association, Dr. Thomas Hayes(Rathkeale) in the chair, the following resolutions werepassed without dissent:—" That union medical oiiicersshould be permitted to retire on a pension of two-thirds ofsalary and emoluments at twenty years, and upon full valueat thirty years’ service. That the fees for registration andvaccination should be equalised with those obtaining in Eng-land and Scotland. That we are unanimously of opinionthat the present salaries of Poor-law medical officers arewholly inadequate, and should be increased by 75 per cent."Jan. 19th.

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Influenza in France.ALTHOUGH Paris itself may be congratulated on being

’comparatively exempt from theseourge which is playing suchsad havoc in different parts of England, other districts ofFrance have not been so fortunate. In the coal-miningdepartment of the Pas-de-Calais quite a fifth of the popula-tion is hors de combat. At Cherbourg, seventy-three personssuccumbed to influenza in the first week of this month, and atSaint-Etienne the mortality has increased 45 per cent. Lille,Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Dunkerque are being severelytried; and at Prades, in the Pyrenees-Orientales, the meanmortality is tripled, in one instance four out of a familyof five persons having died. I may mention that in thefew mild cases I have been called upon to treat lately inParis, I have found five-grain doses of phenacetin every fourhours answer capitally, the pain ceasing and the temperaturebeing lowered rapidly.

The Length of the Urethrtt.To judge by the varying figures given by different

authorities, it would seem to be advisable to allow a largemargm when asked at an examination to state the lengthof the male urethra. The Union Med. du Nord-Est pub-lishes a list of measurements gathered from the writings oftwenty-one different anatomists, from which it appears thatwhile Richeb gives the length as 15 centimetres, Heisterallows more than its double-viz., 33.5. Sappey states thatthe length varies not only in different individuals, but alsowith age. Richet denies this latter assertion. A definiteunderstanding on this moot point is urgently required,seeing the popularity of Guyon’s instillation method oftreatment for gleet.

Yet another New Medical Society in Paris.In last week’s correspondence it was announced that an

association of foreign doctors practising in Paris had beenrecently founded, and reference was made to the two.year-old Continntal Anglo-American Medical Society. It is feltby English practitioners residing in this city that both theabove bodies are open to the same reproach in beingsomewhat too heterogeneous in the matter of membership,and it is thought that some effort should be made to bringmore closely together those British practitioners residing inFrance who, in addition to being subjects of Her Majesty,are possessed of British diplomas. It is accordingly incontemplation to create an association whose business itshall be to give such information to the public through itspublished official list as to enable them to distinguishbetween the real and the pseudo-English physicians, asalso to promote good-fellowship between men hailing fromthe London, Edinburgh, Dablin, and provincial schools of

medicine in the old country. I heartily wish the newsociety the success it deserves.

Breton Ignorance.M. 11’enan’m compatriots enjoy, rightly or wrongly, the

reputation of being rather behindhand in civilisation. Alocal doctor has just addressed a report to the Prefet ofMorbihan. from which it would appear that these primitivepeople have not been altogether maligned, at least in so faras ignorance of the laws of health are concerned. In 1884typhoid fever made its appearance in the commune ofLangoëlan, whose inhabitants, distributed over numeroushamlets, number 1350. Twenty-three hamlets and themarket town have been visited by the scourge, some ofthem several times in succession since the first outbreak, andtyphoid fever has evidently taken up permanent quarters inthe unlucky commune. Add to this that the mortality isenormous (at Kervoten seven cases with four deaths, andat Cosquer eight with five deaths), and it will be concededthat the state of affairs is serious. The reason is not far toseek; I give it in Dr. Langlais’ own words : "Les dejectionssont repandues it la porte, sur le fumier de la cour ; aumilieu de cette cour est creusé le puits, veritable drain quipompe tous les liquides et tous les germes. Chaquemaladeest un objet de curiosité qu’il faut visiter, n au’il fautserrer la main, qu’on doit embrasser, et l’on boit au m6meverre que lui." What a happy hunting ground for the livelytyphoid bacillus, and what scope for the sanitary reformer

Paris, Jan. 20th.

BERLIN.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Influenza.ACCORDING to official statistics, only 25 persons died in

Berlin of influenza between 1878 and 1889. Of these years1887 had the highest influenza mortality-namely, 7. Thenumber of deaths in 1889 was 54, in 1890 90, and in 1891,before Dec. 12bh, 286. Those are all the cases in whichinfluenza was expressly given as the cause of death in thedeath certificateq. In 1890 only June and November hadno deaths from influenza.; in 1891 only July and September.There were 5 deaths from this cause in the second week oflast November, 36 in the next, 61 in the next, 88 in thenext, and 80 in the next. The Berlin horses are said tobe suffering pretty severely from influenza. Kitasato, whoworks under Pfeiffer in the scientific department of Koch’sinstitute, has succeeded in cultivating Pfeiffer’s influenzabacillus in pure cultures to the tenth generation. In severaluncertain cases the diagnosis of influenza has been con-firmed by the finding of Pfeiffer’s bacillus in the blood.

An Explanation oj the Effect of Quinine.An explanation of the therapeutic effect of quinine in

malaria has at last been found. So long ago as 1867 Dr. KarlBinz, professor of pharmacology at Bonn, gave an explana-tion which was little noticed at the time, but has now beensignally confirmed by the discovery of the germ of malaria.He showed that quinine hydrochlorate, with neutral or

slightly basic reaction, is a strong poison for the protoplasmsof decomposing plants, and great)y hinders many fermentingand putrescent processes. A. Laveran, the discoverer ofthe plasmodium malariæ, has demonstrated that thisorganism disappears from the blood of malaria patientsafter the administering of quinine, and that quinine, ifpermitted to act upon it directly, kills it.

The Berlin Medical Society.At the general meeting of the Berlin Medical Society on

the 12th inst. Professor Virchow was appointed Presidentby an enormous majority. Of 137 votes, 135 were given forhim, one for Professor von Bergmann, and one for Professorvon Bardeleben.

New Books.

"Evolution" (a new view of Darwinism), by WilhelmRussbuldt; " On the threatening Physical Degenerationof civilised Mankind and the Nationalisation of the MedicalProfession," by Dr. Schallmayer ; "The Tasks and Aims ofHygiene," by Dr. Krocker; "On the Sanitation of Heli-goland in the years 1886-1889," by Dr. Lindemann ; " Onthe recently proposed Measures of Sanitary Police for