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either the cholera vibrio or bacteriophage must be" educated " to act one upon the other, and its truevalue awaits the next epidemic season. The reportis a milestone in the progress of tropical researchwhich can be obtained gratis from the superintendentof the Government Press at Alipore, Bengal.

THE PROGRESS OF CREMATION

IT is now just nfty years since the first publiccrematorium in this country was opened at Woking,largely owing to the enthusiasm of Sir Henry Thomp-son who acquired in 1878 the ground on which itstands. There are now 28 crematoria in this country.During the year 1934 the municipalities of Birken-head, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Plymouth, and Stockportopened their own crematoria, Blackpool has sincedone the same, while Kent has acquired a suitablesite of twelve acres at Charing. But progress is.slow and the total number of cremations during 1934was only 8337, an increase of 866 on the previousyear. An important new move has now been madeby the Cremation Society which obtained legalauthority on July 8th last to conduct the businessof industrial assurance. In Sweden, Czecho-Slovakia,and Germany, where cremation is more popularthan it yet is here, a scheme of insurance has helpedto create a cremation-mindedness among the com-munity. Following this example a small weeklycontribution over a period of years will qualify for.associate membership of the society with the rightto cremation at death anywhere in Great Britain.The weekly contribution is only 4d. for five yearsif the proposer is under 45, and 3d. if he is under 18.An associate may insure further against funeral

expenses up to a maximum of 620. The CremationSociety is also promoting the formation of a NationalCouncil for the Disposition of the Dead which hasnow come into being and is making its first objectivethe State registration of undertakers which will

pave the way to the revision and codification ofthe law of burial. The Cremation Society wouldlike to remove the popular impression that cremationis expensive. Life membership of the society costsfive guineas and covers the cost of cremation atdeath at any crematorium in Great Britain. Theaddress of the society is 23, Nottingham-place,London, W.l.

DANGEROUS DRUGS TRAFFIC AT HOME

THE annual report of H.M. Government to theLeague of Nations for the year 1934 on the traffic inopium and other dangerous drugs deals with thequestion from a national rather than an internationalpoint of view. It is accordingly largely negative inmuch that it has to relate. No opium, coca, or

Indian hemp are cultivated in Great Britain or

Northern Ireland. There has been nothing new inlegislation or administration nor any official publica-tion during the year under review, except that abranch of the Home Office has been set up to dealwith all matters relating to dangerous drugs. It isagain reiterated that addiction to narcotics is not

prevalent in the United Kingdom, no difficulty hasbeen encountered in applying the Hague and GenevaConventions, and no important cases of illicit traffichave come to light. The limitation of the internalmanufacture of narcotic drugs has been applied inaccordance with the Convention of 1931, though somedifficulties have been encountered in securing com-pliance from countries outside the British Empirein regard to requests for the export to their govern-ments of heroin. Five firms only are licensed for the

manufacture of medicinal opium in Great Britain,two only for morphine and heroin, both in Scotland,and one for cocaine at Dagenham (Essex). Pre-

pared (or smoking) opium, which is still exportedfrom India and consumed in British colonies in theFar East, is a prohibited possession in this countryand its detection punished by heavy fine or imprison-ment, while the seized contraband is destroyed.During 1934, 86 persons were proceeded againstunder the Dangerous Drugs Acts ; in the case of 69convicted 41 were fined, in 13 cases more than :S5,and 28 were sentenced to imprisonment, two of themto penal servitude for three years.Much information may be gleaned from the statis-

tical tables appended to the report. More than50,000 lb. of raw opium were imported in the year,mostly from Asiatic and European Turkey. The chiefimport of cocaine was from the Straits Settlements.28,844 Ib. of raw opium were exported, chiefly to theUnited States. Of morphine, its salts and prepara-tions, 14,317 oz. left this country, chiefly for Canada,Australia, and India ; the consignment to Chinawas only 781 oz., or more than 200 oz. less than in1933. The total exports of heroin were less, 2099 oz.in all, chiefly destined for Australia, Canada,and South Africa. Of cocaine again exportswere less than in 1933, Canada, Australia, SouthAfrica, and India being the chief recipients. Of71,868 oz. of morphine produced in the licensedfactories 24,519 oz. were used for conversion intocodeine and 12,651 oz. in the preparation of heroin.

CHANGES IN GERMAN CRIMINAL LAW

IN Germany criminal law is changing rather rapidlyunder the Nazi regime with its bent towards racialimprovement, and Dr. V. Muller-Hess, who is directorof the Berlin Institute for Legal and Social Medicine,has been at pains to set out 1 how these changes arelikely to affect medical practitioners. Operationswith the patient’s consent are legal provided moralityis not offended. Abortion is now a criminal offenceand anyone advertising or displaying abortifacientsto the general public is liable to two years’ imprison-ment, a provision which does not apply to abortifacientpreparations advertised in medical journals. Wherea crime is suspected and an operation is considerednecessary to verify the facts it may be performedeven against the patient’s will-e.g., a blood-alcoholtest (Widmark) in proof of drunkenness of the driverin a motor accident, curettage in post-abortion orpost-partum cases. Where a person is held to be notresponsible for a criminal act through insanity or theeffects of alcohol or drugs the punishment is mitigatedbut he is detained in an institution if the public safetydemands it. This plea is therefore no longer putforward for the defence as if the prisoner be acquittedit might lead to his detention. As a measure for

reducing the number of persons of low moral standardfrom whom criminals are to a large extent recruitedsterilisation is now recommended. Thus a man of21 years or over can be castrated if his offence showshim to be a dangerous moral criminal ; should sexualperversion lead to homicidal risk castrationbecomes a means of ensuring the public safety.Dr. Muller-Hess and his colleague, Prof. F. Wiethold,admit that to decide whether castration should bedone is a difficult and involved problem; manydoctors hesitate to give their opinion on this, forlike the death sentence it is final. The whole scienceof sex must, they argue, be brought into consideration

1Münch. med. Woch., 1934, lxxxi., 1679 and 1729.