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however, are known to be in the main very diiterent. Still,it has been clearly shown that what radium is capable ofdoing in the way of inducing chemical change sunlight willalso effect. It may be noted also that the same amethystcolouration appears in some x ray tubes after constant use.

THE LANCET SPECIAL ANALYTICAL COM-MISSION ON BRANDY.

COPIES of the report of THE LANCET Special AnalyticalCommission on Brandy, which was published in THE LANCETof Nov. 29th, 1902, have been in such request as to haveexhausted not only our stock of that number of the journalbut of the reprints that were issued. This demand has been

occasioned by the successful proceedings which have beenestablished throughout the country against vendors for sellingas brandy a spirituous liquid which proved to be not ofthe nature, substance, and quality of brandy, accepting thatword to mean a spirit obtained by the simple distillationof grape wine. The question is still occupying considerablepublic attention and it has been stated that the possibilityof strengthening the provisions of the Sale of Food and

Drugs Act, so that the sale of spirits may be brought undermore efficient and satisfactory means of control, is beingofficially contemplated. In these circumstances and in viewalso of the fact that inquiries for more copies of the

report continue to reach us we have issued a further numberof reprints in pamphlet form.l The report deals with theproduction of brandy at Cognac, the position of the industryin the Charentes, and the supply of genuine brandy to thiscountry.

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STRIÆ PATELLARES.1

IN the Britisfe Joornal of -Der?2tatology for Februarv Dr. J. L. Bunch has recorded two cases of the rare condition termed "striæ patellares." In the first case the patient wasa boy, aged 13t years. He had typhoid fever five monthspreviously. Convalescence was slow and he was still weakand poorly nourished. Above both knees were several

irregular pinkish transverse stride which appeared during theillness. They varied in width from a few lines to about

one-eighth of an inch and tapered off somewhat at the ends.During the illness he had suffered considerably from pain inthe region of the knees. Since the onset he had grownone and a quarter inches. In the second case the patientwas a girl, aged 12 years, who had suffered four monthspreviously from pleurisy and endocarditis. During the

illness she was kept recumbent and stride patellares appearedbut their advent was not accompanied by pain. Theywere pinkish-blue and similar to those in the precedingcase. A limited number of cases of striae patellareshas been recorded, principally in children after typhoidfever. Sir Dyce Duckworth observed unilateral strias

on the thigh after typhoid fever in a patient, aged 15

years. Several explanations of these stride have been given.It has been urged that unusual growth takes place in the

long bones, especially in the femora, owing either to absenceof pressure on the epiphyses during the prolonged rest inbed or to juxta-epiphyseal osteitis. Measurements of thelimb before and after the attack may show an increaseof from one centimetre to one and a half centimetres.It has also been alleged that the strim are due to ruptureof the subcutaneous tissue as a result of tension on

the skin in the position in which the child lies with thelegs drawn up. They are not peculiar to typhoid fever,though they have been observed after this disease most

frequently. They have been described by Tussat andBrissaud in pulmonary tuberculosis and by Chevallereau in apatient, aged 20 years, who was laid up for eight months

1 Copies of the reprint can be obtained from THE LANCET Offices,price 1s. each.

with colitis. Stride in other positions are well recog-nised. The best known are the linesa albicantes of

pregnancy. Strico may be produced by distension from

other causes, such as ascites or obesity. Kirstein andGilbert have described them on the chest in pulmonarydiseases. In the museum of the Hopital Saint-Louis areseveral models of linear stride ; in one they are the result oftyphoid fever but occur on the flank. Striæ are usually pinkat first and after a time become white. On microscopicexamination of a stria which was losing its pigment Dr.Bunch found changes chiefly in the elastic fibres and to a

less extent in the white fibres. The latter showed generalthinning and a few had ruptured. The interlacing of thenetwork of elastic fibres was much less marked than normal

owing to a new parallel arrangement of the fibres which hadbeen produced at the expense of the transverse elastic fibres.The latter were ruptured and retracted to the edge of thelesion where their broken ends were seen. These changeswere best marked in the pars reticularis of the corium.

THE AFTER-CARE ASSOCIATION.

ALTHOUGH the methods of treating the insane have madegreat strides of late there is still no provision, except that ofthe After-care Association, for looking after poor personsdischarged as recovered from asylums for the insane. As a

consequence many who might otherwise have a chance ofbecoming useful members of society relapse into their

former condition. This fact, we think, is somewhat of a

reproach to a civilised country. The association receives thesmall sum of .E.700 a year only in contributions, yet thereare 7000 persons discharged annually from the asylums inthis country. Many of these people are friendless and with-out assistance find almost insurmountable difficulties in

getting employment. The association endeavours to facili-tate the readmission of these poor people into social life byobtaining for them an interval of change of scene and air,by boarding them out in the country under proper care andsupervision, by giving them grants of money, and in otherways. By these methods an amount of good is done whichcannot be easily estimated. Certainly many people are

prevented from drifting into the asylum again and possiblythe procreation of mental weaklings is often hindered bythe judicious care which the association exercises over its

proteges. We therefore cordially endorse the council’s appealfor subscriptions. The secretary is Mr. H. T. Roxby, ChurchHouse, Dean’s-yard, Westminster, London, S.W.

UNGUENTUM ACIDI CARBOLICI.

THE periodical revisions of the Pharmacopoeia are

necessary not only for the introduction of new remediesbut also for the improvement and better description of oldand well-tried drugs and galenical preparations. Ointment

of carbolic acid has always been a difficult subject for theprescriber and the dispenser owing to the carbolic acid crystal-ising out. The official formula contains 1 of phenol in 25and has for a basis a mixture of hard and soft paraffins withsome glycerine. The tendency to separate is overcome byadopting a slight modification of the official formula, assuggested by Morley Taylor: phenol, 1 part ; hard paraffin,6 parts ; and soft paraffin, 18 parts. Undoubtedly this

formula is superior to the official one and is to be recom-mended especially for obstetric use and in all cases whereabsorption by the skin is not desired. But the desirabilitymay be suggested of inserting in the Pharmacopoeiaalternative formulae replacing the paraffin basis in thisand other ointments by vegetable or animal fats or oils-

e.g., olive oil, lard, and wool-fat-in cases where absorp-tion is required. The bases used for making ointments havebeen classed by Hallberg into (1) non-absorbed, protective,