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of good which its supporters claimed and foretold. This is Ia very different thing from proclaiming that State regula- tion is a proven failure in theory and practice, a view whichwe do not counsel our readers to take.

Amongst other questions that arose in the course of the

sittings of the Congress that of the treatment of venerealdisease at hospitals engaged a large amount of attention.

Professor FOURNlER made one remark which suggests thatif in some respects the out-patient departments of our

London hospitals still leave much to be desired, at any

rate in one point-that of consideration for the feelingsof the patient-we are ahead of similar institutions on the

continent. Professor FOURNIER urged that out-patientsshould be seen singly, not in batches. The idea of anyother procedure. would not enter the head of those

responsible for our medical charities. Our custom of afford-

ing the out-patient a comparative degree of privacy has been regarded by our continental confreres as an exampleof our proverbial national prudery. We trust that theywill recognise that by protecting the patient’s self-respect ata time when it is sorely abased we are not only kind to thesick but greatly increase our chances of obtaining a trueclinical or family history. The Congress dealt with severalother allied questions and if there is no immediate practicaloutcome from its deliberations good must at least result from the accumulation and the interchange of knowledge Iin an important branch of medicine which are engenderedby such a gathering.

Annotations." Ne quid nimis"

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND THE ARMY.

ON page 1088 of our present issue we publish a stirring Iaddress by Surgeon-General Sir William Taylor, K.C.B.,Director-General of the Army Medical Service, on the

Medical Profession in Relation to the Army, which he

delivered at University College, London, on Oct. 15th. SirWilliam Taylor’s clear words require no exposition from usand we earnestly hope that his address will be read with themarked attention which it deserves. The Director-General

considers the establishment of the Medical Staff College inLondon to be a most important innovation, and, as will be

seen by our account of the inaugural dinner of that college (see page 1071), this view has the powerful support of the ISecretary of State for War. Both the Director-General and

Mr. Brodrick press upon the medical profession as a wholethe necessity of supporting the Royal Army Medical Corpsin various directions to which we shall take an early Ioccasion to refer.

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COMPLIMENTARY DINNER TO PROFESSORW. ERB.

A COMPLIMENTARY dinner to Professor W. Erb, M.D., ofHeidelberg, was held at the Trocadero Restaurant, London,on Oct. llth on the occasion of his visit to London to

deliver the inaugural address at the Post-Graduate College,West London Hospital. Dr. D. W. C. Hood, C.V.0., wasin the chair and covers were laid for over 90. Professor

Erb, in replying to the toast of "Our Guests" proposedby the chairman, referred to the visit which he had made to London many years ago on the occasion of the meet-ing of the International Medical Congress which made I

a very deep impression on him, especially the Englishhospitality which he had experienced, and which he foundfrom the present visit had not changed He was a German

and was quite content to be a German, and proud of it,but if he was forced to change his nationality he wouldlike to be an Englishman. He had come to London to givethe opening address in the Post-Graduate College of theWest London Hospital. The college was a new institu-tion and was flourishing. Medical science was growing so.rapidly that it was quite impossible even for specialists tofollow every advancement ; it was still more difficult forthe practitioner who had such a little time even to keeppace with modern literature in medical science. It was a

good idea for men in practice to come from time to timeto the college to fill up the gaps in their knowledge andto receive in a condensed form the latest teaching inmodern medicine and surgery. They had the same thing inGermany, where it was called a " vacation course," the ideabeing to allow every medical man in practice opportunitiesfor post-graduate study. A vacation ouur-e in Germany lastedfor five or six weeks and comprised every kind of instructionin every speciality. The Government had directed that atBaden such a vacation course was to be held twice a year.The teachers were paid by the Government and the classeswere free ; everyone could choose what he liked. Such acourse strengthened the medical profession in its battle

against quackery. England and Germany were pursuing thesame path for the improvement of the medical profession,and though he did not forget what the French had done hemust say that in the great development of medical science inthe last century England and Germany had been the leadingnations. The English and German nations were united ineverything that contributed towards progress and were rivalsill the best sense of the word. He hoped that they would bealways active in the "ame direction and would do everythingto improve, and to increase the progress of, medical science.He asked them to drink to that future time when English-men and Germans would be ever together in the path ofprogress which leads to the improvement of the science

of medicine. After this toast had been honoured Pro-

fessor Erb rose again and said that he had forgottento speak a word about the future prosperity of the Post-Graduate College of the West London Hospital. He was sure

that it would prosper, as he understood that the dean of the

college was Mr. L. A. Bidwell who had great powers of

organisation and devoted much trouble and attention to

secure its success. Mr. Bidwell in acknowledging the toastsaid that 145 fresh students had joined the college. He

pointed out that the hospital attached to the college was theonly one in London the practice of which was reserved forqualified practitioners. Dr. F. G. D. Drewitt proposed "The

Visitors," which was replied to by Sir Thomas Barlow, andSir Felix Semon gave the toast of "The Chairman," which

was suitably acknowledged.GOLD MINERS’ PHTHISIS.

WE recently published a paper on the above subjectby Dr. Thomas Oliver. In our issue of Sept. 6th,p. 707 we published a letter from Dr. G. A. Turner, theacting medical officer of health of the Transvaal, sayingthat the Public Health Department of that colonywas most anxious to obtain every information whichwould enable it to deal with the disease of gold miners’phthisis, which is, of course, a pneumoconiosis akin to drygrinders’ "rot," or, perhaps, even more like the diseaseknown in this country as " ganister disease." We now learnfrom Reuter’s Telegram Company under date Oct. 14th thatthe Johannesburg Chamber of Mines is in its turn anxious totake steps to lessen the mortality among gold miners. It

therefore offers three awards of R500, .f.250, and .f.100 for