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UNITED HOSPITAL ATHLETICS.

THE students of our great metropolitan schools of medi-,cine are placed at a disadvantage as regards athletic sports,-for since the hospitals are of necessity placed in the most-crowded parts of the City, it requires an effort and rather alarge expenditure of time and money to reach an available,cricket or football ground. Hospital life, too, has a generaltendency to promote and encourage a state of mind whichis rather the reverse of energetic, for a student from the.first becomes imbued with the idea that so long as he iswithin the hospital gates he is doing some work; and

though men waste an enormous amount of time over thefires in the dissecting-room and library, in the operatingtheatre, and while going round the wards, it is a matter ofahe greatest difficulty to persuade more than perhaps oneinfifty that it is a good thing for mind and body to spend,an afternoon occasionally at football or cricket. Hencehospital athletics are not up to the standard thatthey should be, though it is a subject for congratulationthat during the past two years there has been a distinctimprovement in nearly all the branches of athletics-,especially so in cricket; and that two new challenge cups11ave been started-viz., one for lawn tennis, and one for’cross-country running. We take the opportunity of im-pressing upon freshmen of the coming session the desirabilityof devoting to healthful recreation some of the time which is.often simply frittered away. Even university men, who scornto work regularly in the afternoon at Oxford or Cambridge,when they come to London are quite as neglectful as any othersin taking an occasional 11 afternoon off." The consequenceis that a large number of men " knock up " when clerking orslressing. If a student were to carefully estimate the numberduring the year at his own hospital who thus have to take aforced holiday, lie would be surprised at the large percentage.The United Hospitals Athletic Club is by far the oldest

of the United Hospitals Clubs. It was inaugurated in 1867,and on May 31st in that year the first annual sports wereheld at the Lillie Bridge grounds. The meeting soon in-creased in importance, and became one of the athletic eventsof the year. It commanded a much larger attendance ofspectators than nowadays, for it was then the only hospitalathletic meeting of the year, and the committee were

always very careful to provide an excellent band; but aseach hospital now aims at an ambitious meeting of its own,the united meeting is shorn of part of its interest and of alarge amount of its support.The Challenge Shield was won by St. Bartholomew’s this

year for the fourth time in succession, their representativesgaining 8 firsts out of a possible 11, and 2 seconds and athird in the remaining three events. Never has there beensuch a hollow victory, the previous best being 6 wins outof 11 by St. Thomas’s in 1880. The best "records" for thevarious events, which are now published for the first time, areas follows :-100 yards ......... B. B. Connolly (Gu3,’.) ...... 101/2 sec.220 yards ..... {L. Stokes (Guy’s ) ..... }..... 224/5 see.F Little (St. George’s)440 yards ......... T. A. Guinness (King’s) ...... 514/5 sec.880 yards ......... W. Kent Hughes (St. Barthol.) 2 min. 2½ sec.1 mile ............ H P. Ward (King’s) ......... 4 min. 364/5 sec.3 miles ............ A. Quennell (St. Bartholomew’s 16 min.120 hurdles ......... J. G. Gravelev (Guy’s) ...... 16 3/4 sec.

G. R Nunn (Guy’s) ... )Putting weight ...... {G Power (Guy’s) .... 37 ft.

J. Orford (St. Thomas’s)High jump......... A. E. Nuttall (St. Barthol.) ... 5 ft. 72 in.

H. M. Massey (St Thomas’s) 20 ft. m-Long Jump ..... {A. H. Olding (St ’ Thomas’s) ... } 20 ft. 10 in.Throwing hammer... C. T. Dent (St. George’s) ...... 90 ft. 4 in.

The best individual performance has been accomplishedby G. R. Nunn, who in the year 1867 gained 4 firsts and asecond. The Shield has been won by St. Bartholomew’s,Guy’s, and St. Thomas’s five times each ; by King’s andSt. George’s, three times each; and by London, once.The Rugby Union United Hospitals Club was started in

the winter of 1874, and in the beginning of 1875 the firstInter-hospital Cup Ties were played. The final this year,:after a very good game between St. Thomas’s and St. Mary’s,resulted in a win for the former by two tries and a touchdown to nil; the forwards of St. Thomas’s proved too power-ful for the other hospitals, and it is mainly to them thattheir success was due, though the excellent play of Tollerat three-quarter was invaluable. There is perhaps moreinterest taken in these ties than in any other, and thestandard is alsohigherasarule. The Club varies in the number,

of its outside matches; this year there were but few, so wecannot judge as to its position in the football world; themembers can, however, send a very powerful team into thefield, and include several international players among theirnumber. The ties this vear resulted as follows :-Firstround: St. Thomas’s beat Guy’s ; St. George’s beat Charing-cross ; London drew with St. Bartholomew’s; St. Mary’sand Middlesex had a walk over ; University College a bye.Second round: St. Thomas’s beat University; St. Mary’sbeat London; St. Bartholomew’s beat St. George’s; Middle-sex a bye. Semi-final: St. Thomas’s beat St. Bartholo-mew’s ; St. Mary’s beat Middlesex. Final: St. Thomas’sbeat St. Mary’s. The Cup has been won by Guy’s fourtimes, by St. George’s three times, by St. Bartholomew’s,London, and St. Thomas’s twice each, and by Middlesex once.The Cricket ties were started in 1884, and contests have

been held annually. On each occasion Guy’s have provedvictorious, but they were disqualified in 1886 through a mis-understanding on their part as to the eligibility of one oftheir players. The Final this year was played betweenGuy’s and St. Bartholomew’s, and was won by the formerby six wickets; J. C. Shenton made 149, not out, for Guy’s,out of a total of 186. He had previously made a "record" "for the ties by scoring 172, not out, against MiddlesexHospital. United hospital cricket has made great stridesduring the last two years; not only are the ties more keenlycontested and productive of better cricket than formerly,but the United Hospitals Club is fast establishing itself asone of the best teams about London, having beaten thisyear such clubs as Richmond and Hampstead, and nothaving suffered a defeat for two years. The Cup ties wereas follows :- First round: London beat King’s; St. Bartholo-mew’s beat Westminster ; Guy’s beat Middlesex ; St.Thomas’s beat St. Mary’s ; University beat Charing-cross.Second round: Guy’s beat University College; St. Bartholo-mew’s beat London; St. Thomas’s a bye. Semi-final: Guy’sbeat St. Thomas’s; St. Bartholomew’s a bye. Final: Guy’sbeat St. Bartholomew’s.The Association Football Club began their inter-hospital

contests in 1884, and these, like those at cricket, have beenwon each year by Guy’s. The ties were as follows :-Firstround : St. Bartholomew’s beat Westminster; St. Thomas’sbeat London; St. Mary’s beat Charing-cross ; Guy’s beatSt. George’s. Second round: Guy’s beat St. Thomas’s;St. Bartholomew’s beat St. Mary’s. Final: Guy’s beatSt. Bartholomew’s, after a close and exciting game, by onegoal to none.The Rowing Club contents itself with only indulging in

Cup ties, and the members have not yet managed to get aneight together for Henley. The results this year were asfollows :-First heat : St. Thomas’s beat Middlesex easily.Second heat : St. George’s beat Guy’s by half a length, thelatter being the same distance ahead of St. Bartholomew’s.Final heat : St. Thomas’s beat St. George’s. Winners:1885, London; 1886 and 1887, Middlesex; 1888, St. Thomas’s.The Lawn Tennis contests were won by St. George’s for

the second year in succession. They were only inauguratedlast year.The Cross-country Challenge Cup was won by St. Thomas’s

easily ; last year the first contest was won by the repre-sentatives from St. Bartholomew’s.

Obituary.JAMES T. HILLIER, M.R.C.S. &c.

WE grieve to record the death of Mr. James T. Hillier ofRamsgate, which took place on Wednesday, the 29th ult.,at the railway station, just as he was about to start on ashort visit to a friend, and was in the very act of showinghis ticket. The deceased gentleman, who was only sixty-one years of age, and was apparently in excellent healthand spirits up ’to the very moment of his death, was a pupilof St. Bartholomew’s, and had been in practice in Ramsgatefor nearly forty years. During that time he had made him-self a wide circle of friends, both within and without theprofession, by his widely known scientific attainments, andby his kind and genial disposition. Mr. Hillier was one of aclass of practitioners now becoming rare among us-menwho found time, amid professional toil, to cultivate awide acquaintance with natural science. He was an excel-lent field botanist, and an earnest and zealous microscopist,especially in the department of marine zoology, in which