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his interest in the outdoor life and West-countrydoings. In 1869 he followed his elder brother Jamesto St. Bartholomew’s Hospital where he qualified in1873, taking the F.R.C.S. fifteen years later. Imme-

diately after qualification he became house physicianto James Andrew, then resident midwifery assistantunder Robert Greenhalgh, and he acted temporarilyfor a period of six months as casualty physician. Hestarted practice as medical officer to the RoyalGeneral Dispensary in Bartholomew-close, to whichhe eventually became consulting physician and

chairman, and then moved into Aldersgate-street, astone’s-throw away. In the City his activities werenumerous. He became president of the Hunterian

Society and chairman of the City division of theB.M.A. He joined in the civic life and becamemaster of the Tinplate Workers’ Company. Amonghis minor appointments he was surgeon to the CityWaiters’ Provident Society, to the Hospital forSisters of the Poor in Paul-street, to St. Margaret’sHospital, Kentish Town, and to the Fishmongers’Hall Hospital for Officers. In 1908 he joined theR.A.M.C. section of the Territorial Army and duringthe war reached the rank of full colonel. It was thenthat he became interested in the transference of

syphilis from an infected mother to a new-bornchild and entered enthusiastically into the study ofthis subject at the Thavies Inn centre and the SheffieldHospital. This work led him to the conclusion that

syphilitic pregnant women could be treated advan-tageously with salvarsan up to the day of confinement,and that a mother whose blood gave a positiveWassermann reaction might after treatment bedelivered of a child whose blood was negative.This, if not new theory, was quite new practice, asalso that syphilitic children could safely be treated bysalvarsan immediately after birth.Adams was especially beloved by the staff of the

hospital near which he lived. To many generationsof St. Bart’s men he was known as " Father John."It was his habit to amble around the hospitaldiscussing all sorts of topics with the medical staffand the lay authorities, showing the lively interestwhich eventually led to his being made in 1904 agovernor of the hospital and serving on many of itscommittees.He was in his eighty-seventh year, and is survived

by five daughters and two sons. ’

WILLIAM BERTIE MACKAY, C.M.G., M.D. Edin.

Dr. William Mackay, who died in his car outside hishouse in Berwick on Jan. 23rd, was 74 and had onlyrecently retired from a practice of over 50 years inthe town. The son of J. R. Mackay he was educatedat Edinburgh Institute before proceeding for hismedical training to the University, where he graduatedwith honours in 1884. Three years later he joinedthe staff of the Berwick-on-Tweed Infirmary as

surgeon, a post which he held until his retirementin 1934. Berwick will miss him not only as a doctorbut also for his connexion with its municipal and civillife. He was sheriff for the burgh and J.P. for thecounty and borough, and was granted the freedomof the town. Keenly interested in the volunteermovement he served abroad throughout the war,first with the B.E.F., and was mentioned three timesin dispatches, becoming lieutenant-colonel and laterreceiving the C.M.G. He married Jessie, daughterof the late Alderman Darling, who survives him withthree sons and two daughters ; his son Ian had beenin partnership with him for some years.

INFECTIOUS DISEASEIN ENGLAND AND WALES DURING THE WEEK ENDED

JAN. 22ND, 1938

Notifications.-The following cases of infectiousdisease were notified during the week : Small-pox, 0 ;scarlet fever, 2459 ; diphtheria, 1737 ; entericfever, 19 (27 "expected ") ; pneumonia (primary orinfluenzal), 1321 ; puerperal pyrexia, 189 ; cerebro-

spinal fever, 30 ; acute poliomyelitis, 8 ; encephalitis.lethargica, 6 ; dysentery, 250 ; ophthalmia neona-torum, 100. No case of cholera, plague, or typhusfever was notified during the week.The number of cases in the Infectious Hospitals of the London

County Council on Jan. 28th was 4328, which included : Scarletfever, 788 ; diphtheria, 1429 (carriers 32); measles, 655;whooping-cough, 307 ; puerperal fever, 24 mothers (plus 12babies); encephalitis lethargica, 282 ; poliomyelitis, 0. At

. St. Margaret’s Hospital there were 17 babies (plus 4 mothers)with ophthalmia neonatorum.

Deaths.-In 125 great towns, including London,there was no death from small-pox, 1 (0) from entericfever, 48 (3) from measles, 0 (0) from scarlet fever,20 (2) from whooping-cough, 36 (3) from diphtheria,69 (14) from diarrhoea and enteritis under two years,and 73 (12) from influenza. The figures in parenthesesare those for London itself.

Sheffield reported the only death from typhoid. Liverpoolagain had 19 deaths from measles, Salford and Bristol each 3.Liverpool also reported 6 deaths from whooping-cough,Birmingham 4. Diphtheria was fatal in 24 great towns,Liverpool reporting 6, no other great town more than 2.

The number of stillbirths notified during the weekwas 284 (corresponding to a rate of 40 per 1000 totalbirths), including 41 in London.

THE LANCET 100 YEARS AGO

February 3rd, 1838, p. 672.From a report of a meeting of the Royal Institution on.

Friday, Jan. 19th, 1838.PROFESSOR FARADAY ON ELECTRIC INDUCTION

THIS was the first evening meeting of the members forthe season, and exhibited a

"

grand re-union " of scientific

men. Dr. Faraday having made a series of experimentsto ascertain the true laws of induction before the RoyalSociety, the results of which are now in course of publi-cation by that learned body, repeated this evening severalof the series, and presented them as a bonne bouche to thescientific gourmands who patronise Faraday’s exquisitecuisine.No science, according to the lecturer, has ever made

so rapid a progress as electricity, and none has been somuch retarded by the assumption of hypotheses, whichthe world at large have received with the most com-placent gullibility. It was stated, as an indisputableprinciple, by (Epimus, and admitted by Cavendish andPauillet, " that the action of electricity is in right lines,and with a force inversely as the square of the distance,"like common forces : and that air, glass, or other inter-posing substances, act as impediments to its transmission.Faraday controverts this theory altogether, and laboursby his experiments to prove, that electric induction is notproduced by a force acting in right lines, but in curvedor angular lines as well ; and that it is not transmittedthrough empty space, but can alone be communicatedfrom one body to another by the successive polarisationof contiguous molecules....At the conclusion Mr. Faraday congratulated the

members upon the improved appearance of the mansion,a handsome Corinthian colonnade having been erected onits front. He also alluded to a vulgar error, which wasgoing the round of the newspapers, " that salt was adesirable means of removing ice from the pavement."This he thought a most dangerous plan, by which dry iceof the temperature of 32 degrees, was converted into waterat zero, a footing not at all agreeable in his opinion.