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composition of a great number of them is sulphur in

intimate mixture with white arsenic combined with alkali tomake it freely soluble. It is, in fact, crude arsenite of soda,,% most powerful poison, mixed with sulphur. It is an ex-

cellent remedy, we believe, for scab and tick, but owing tothe extreme risk attending the exposure of the sheep to sucha deadly compound, it is now being replaced very largelyby certain compounds of equal value as a remedy, but other.wise comparatively innocuous. We refer to the solutionsof tar acids (chiefly cresylic) in alkali which form milkyfluids with water. Is there, then, any necessity for furthercarrying on such a dangerous trade as the compounding ofarsenic, sulphur, and alkali exclusively for sheep-dippingpurposes when equally effective yet harmless preparationsare available? We think not. At any rate, if it must be

continued it is for the Departmental Committee to investi-gate and report upon the disastrous effects which the manu-facture of this compound has upon the health of the

operatives, and to urge the Government to put into forcemeasures to immediately stop such dangerous employment.

THE PUBLIC AND DISINFECTION.

THAT the man in the street has yet much to learn con-cerning his duty towards his neighbour is shown by a casewhich came before Mr. Plowden at Marylebone Police-courtupon Tuesday last. William Chapman owned or leased ahouse in Mansfield-road, and in this house his child FrankChapman had some six weeks ago suffered from diphtheria.Notice had been given that the premises were to be dis-

infected, but Chapman had disregarded the notice.To make matters worse, he had transferred the house

to a Mrs. Allen, who was ignorant that any infectiousdisease had occurred there, and the premises were used asa public-house. Thus there was every advantage for the

spread of infection. We are glad to see that a fine of .&bgr;5 5and t2 2s. costs was inflicted. Those who wilfully refuseto take measures for preventing the spread of infection aregenerally the first to cry out when the sanitary authoritiestake precautionary measures, but if householders will not

comply with the requirements of the law some one elsemust do it for them.

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EPIDEMIC POLIOMYELITIS.

IN the Journal of the American ltfedical Assooiation ofJan. 4th is an article by Dr. C. S. Caverly on the resultsof an investigation of an epidemic of acute anterior polio-myelitis which prevailed in the State of Vermont, chiefly ina single valley, during the summer of 1894. At the time therewas some doubt as to the diagnosis of the disease, butfurther investigations and opinions have cleared up difficultiesof diagnosis which at first existed. The epidemic invadedthe valley in the early summer. It prevailed with increasingseverity during July, apparently reached its climax about

Aug. lst, and steadily declined until about Oct. lst, the lastcase occurring early in that month. The early summer waspopularly considered to be unusually hot and dry, but thestatistics of humidity and temperature show little variationfrom the average. The territory mainly covered by thisoutbreak is a portion of the Otter Creek Valley about thirtymiles long and from twelve to fifteen miles wide. The city ofRutland is the chief town of the area. The towns affectedhave a combined population of 26,000. The starting pointof the epidemic was at Rutland. In this city occurred55 of the 132 cases of which Dr. Caverly has notes ;27 of the remainder occurred in a small town, Proctor,with a population one-sixth that of Rutland. This town suf-fered the most of all in the valley. The remaining 50 caseswere scattered over the rural districts in fourteen towns.Defective drainage in general did not seem to influence thedistribution of the disease. The water-supply was excluded

as an etiological factor. That the general sanitary sur.roundings and methods of living were in any wise responsiblefor the outbreak is also more than doubtful, since thedisease showed no partiality to that class of the populationwhose habits and surroundings are the most insanitary.The geological formation of the valley is not peculiar. The

prevailing formation is limestone. Dr. Caverly gives fourcases illustrative of the types met with. Of the 132cases 18 died ; 10 deaths were among males and 5 amongfemales ; the sex is not stated in 3. Seven of those whodied were known to have been under six years of age,three between six and fourteen, while one died at nineteen,two at twenty-one, one at twenty-two, and one at thirty-eight years. The percentage of deaths among adults washigh. Thirty cases were known to be maimed for from six tonine months after the initial attack. The muscular atrophyin most of these cases was marked. It is an interesting factthat during this epidemic, and in the same geographical area,an acute nervous disease paralytic in its nature affected

domestic animals. Horses, dogs, and fowls died with thesesymptoms. This epidemic is of importance in several par-ticulars : (1) from the simple fact that it was an epidemicof acute anterior poliomyelitis; (2) from the great numberof cases occurring; and (3) from the simultaneous affectionof the lower animals.

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THE SOIL.

THE Hungarian Journal Gyogydszat (Therapy) of Dec. 28th,1895, gives a long abstract of the address by Dr. Pooreon "The Soil in Relation to Health and Disease," whichappeared in our columns on Dec. 14th, 1895. In referenceto this paper and to Professor Haffkine’s communication on

preventive inoculations against cholera the editor, Dr.

Schachter, in his leading article says: "There is a most

interesting and important question which an article in ourcolumns deals with-viz., The Soil in its Relation to Disease.The Pathogenity of the Soil was the argument for the

propagation of cremation at our last Congress of Hygiene,but the unbiased hygienist does not see the fountain headof diseases in the soil. Quite contrary, he sees the fountainsof life and health. He has from a higher point of view that’love of the earth’ which Zola believes is instinctive in humannature. And if once the great hygienic importance of thesoil is better appreciated all round, it will perhaps becomesuperfluous to speak more of preventive inoculations againstcholera." Dr. Poore’s work on this subject appears to havebeen much appreciated in Hungary, the prosperity of whichis mainly dependent upon agriculture. We are pleased tohear that a Hungarian Translation of Dr. Poore’s Essays onRural Hygiene " is shortly to make its appearance.

THE BRITISH BALNEOLOGICAL AND CLIMATO-LOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE inaugural meeting and conversazione of the BritishBalneological and Climatological Society were held at

Limmer’s Hotel on Jan. 22nd. This new society, whichwas founded on Nov. 9th last with the object of pro-moting good fellowship among medical practitioners con-nected with British health resorts and with other branchesof the profession, to encourage the study of balneo-thera-peutics and medical climatology, and to advocate andsustain within the profession the interests and claims ofBritish climatology, promises to hold an important placeamong the various societies which have for their objectthe progress of the healing art. Sir Edward H. Sieveking isHon. President of the society, and among the list of Hon.Vice-Presidents are the names of many eminent members ofthe profession. Dr. Henry Lewis of Folkestone is the

acting President. The inaugural meeting was a most suc-cessful gathering, the proceedings being marked by an entire