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great privations, yet came through both dry and wet seasons Iwithout a single case of beri-beri-a great credit to his fore-thought and judgment. He tells us that the katjang-idjoe

I

bean has a most unpleasant flavour, and that the nativeswill always avoid eating it if they can. When he had

it for them he issued 3 lb. daily to each man,

and himself saw that they ate it. It takes longto cook, so he boiled it for 20 minutes before he

put the rice (ly lb. per man) into the pot with it,boiled the whole down to a sort of porridge, and served thisout. Thus treated, the unpleasant flavour disappears, andnot only are the rice and bean eaten, but the extractives andsalts are not lost, as happens when the beans are boiledand the water thrown away. Even polished rice may besafely used if cooked in this way, we are told. Dr.

Moszkowski had a further triuniph, for he gave each man’7-k gr. of quinine every fifth and sixth day, and though hesays they at times met veritable swarms of anopheles he hadhardly a case of malarial infection, and he escaped altogetherhimself. The history of this expedition is most satisfactoryand written with considerable literary skill, and the authoris to be congratulated on the success he attained, in spiteof all his hardships, in overcoming the two great sanitarydangers of that region, beri-beri and malaria. But in futurewe are to expect that, thanks to the work of Mr. E. A. Cooperand Dr. Casimir Funk (THE LANCET, Nov. 4th, p. 1266), theleader of an expedition will be able to take all the specialsubstance required to keep beri-beri away from his men in aone-ounce bottle in his pocket. Of such are the triumphs ofmedicine.

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THE FAR EASTERN ASSOCIATION OF TROPICALMEDICINE.

As was announced in THE LANCET of May 27th, the

second Biennial Congress of this Association will be held atHong-Kong from Jan. 20th to 27th, 1912, under the

presidency of Dr. J. Mitford Atkinson. The papers will be

classified so as to give, if possible, a day to each ofthe following groups : I. Protozoology, Helminthology.II. Cholera, Plague, Leprosy, Tuberculosis. III. TropicalFevers, including Malaria, Beri-beri, Dysentery. IV. Surgery,Obstetrics, Infantile Diseases. V. Climate, Hygiene, Sanita-tion. Medical men in the Far East willing to introducesubjects for discussion should communicate at once with

the secretary, Dr. Francis Clark, Hong-Kong Papersmay be read in English, French, or German, but a briefabstract in English should be sent in. Papers have alreadybeen promised by Dr. J. Mitford Atkinson (Hong. Kong),presidential address on the Progress of Tropical Medicineduring the Past 25 Years ; Dr. J. C. Dalmahoy Allen (Hong-Kong), on Blood Pressure ; Major Weston P. Chamberlain(U.S. Army), on Prevention of Beri-beri among Philippine(Native) Scouts by the Use of Under-milled Rice; and

Captain E. B. Vedder (U.S. Army) on (1) the Substance inRice Polishings which Prevents Polyneuritis Gallinarum andBeri-beri ; (2) an Experimental Study of the Action of

Ipecacuanha on Amoebse ; Dr. C. Noel Davis (Shanghai), Dr.H. Fraser (Kuala Lumpor), and Dr. Victor G. Heiser

(Philippine Islands), papers on Beri-beri; Dr. Richard P.

Strong (Philippine Islands), on (1) Immunisation againstPneumonic Plague; and (2) the Etiology of Beri-beri; Dr.Lawrence G. Fink (Burma), on Blackwater Fever in Burma ;Dr. Paul C. Freer (Philippine Islands), on Resultsof the Past Two Years’ Work on the Study of TropicalSunlight ; Staff-Surgeon Dr. Fiirth (Kiautschou) on NeuereUntersuchungen uber Flecktyphus ; Dr. George A. Finlayson(Straits Settlement), on Malaria as a Factor in the Etiologyof Biliary Calculi ; Dr. G. Montagu Harston (Hong-Kong), on(1) The Care of Children in the Tropics, and (2) The Care of

the Eyesight in the Tropics ; Dr. C. Montague Heanley (Hong-Kong), on the Laboratory Diagnosis of Syphilis ; Dr. GregoryP. Jordan (Hong-Kong), on Carbon Dioxide Snow, its Use inPrivate Practice in the Tropics ; Dr. K. Justi (Hong-Kong),on the Diagnosis of Malarial Fever in the Absence of the Para-sites from the Peripheral Blood ; Dr. 0. Mtiller (Hong-Kong)on the Surgical Treatment of Dysentery ; Sir Allan Perry,M.D. (Ceylon), on Indian Native Coolie Immigration ; Dr. J. M.Swan (Canton), on Some Rare Conditions which have beenmet with in the Treatment of Vesical Calculi in South China ;Dr. Gordon Thompson (Pakhoi), on Surgical Work in SouthChina ; Fleet Surgeon Dr. Uthemann (Kiautschou) on, (1)Stadtanlage und Saniture Einrichtungen in Tsingtau ; (2) DieNotwendigkeit der Qnarantanebestimmungen an den Kusten-platzen Ostasiens nach Mölichkeit in Ubereinstimmung zubringen ; Dr. G. Duncan Whyte (Swatow) on Tuberculosisin South China; Mr. J. P. A. Wilson (Johore), Professor

Cheng Hao (Canton Army Medical School), Major S. P.

James, I.M.S., and Dr. J. A. F. de Moraes Palha (Macau)on subjects not yet announced. The Governor, SirFrederick J. D. Lugard, will open the congress with anaddress of welcome on Jan. 20th. A social programme is

being arranged. The subscription is 10s. 6d. (S6Hong Kngcurrency).

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VALVULAR LESIONS OF THE HEART PRODUCEDBY EXTERNAL INJURIES.1

IN 1905 Dr. Ranelletti had an opportunity of examining acarpenter whose health had been completely broken in coi3-sequence of an accident in which, while he lay on the

ground, a wooden door fell on him from a height of aboutsix feet. The door struck him in the prseoordial region, theimmediate effects being severe retrosternal pain, partialloss of consciousness, and agonising oppression in the chest.Dr. Ranelletti, at his first visit to the patient, about six weeksafter the accident, found evidence of insufficiency of the aorticvalves, together with incipient hypertrophy of the heart ;another examination made four years afterwards showed thatthe aortic insufficiency had been followed by aortic stenosis.Recognising the great interest of such a condition, not onlyfrom the professional point of view but also in connexionwith the compensation of injured workmen, he has now

collected in book form the clinical and pathological detailsof 100 recorded cases more or less analogous to the above,the resulting lesions being either immediate rupture of thevalves or else the production of some form of endocarditis.The chapters on etiology, diagnosis, pathological anatomy,and medico-legal considerations are well deserving of

perusal, though, or because, they suggest a vista of legalprocedure.

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THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OFENTOMOLOGY.

THE intimate connexion between entomology and diseasehas been realised only of recent years in a scientific manner.Though vaguely presaged by much older philosophy thedoctrine of insects as disease-carriers is of yesterday in

practical therapeutics. Yet in a brief time much valuablework has been done in tracing the relationship of the mosquitoto malaria and yellow fever, of the tsetse fly to trypanoso-miasis, of the cattle tick to Texas fever, for example, and itis easy to see that medical successes will not stop at these

points. The appointment by Government in 1909 of an

Entomological Research Committee to make further investi-gations into the relation existing between insects and diseasein tropical Africa removed from Great Britain the reproach of

1 Le Lesioni valvolari del Cuore di Origine traumatica. By Dr. A.Ranelletti. Rome: Armando Di Fabro. Pp. 181, with three illustra-tions. Price 3 lire.