1421CANCER RESEARCH AT MANCHESTER-

absolutely negative results. These are the essential parts ofthe process. Hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid appears tobe necessary to decompose a sulphonated morphine derivativewhich is elaborated in the system. The choice of amylicalcohol as a solvent for morphine is in accord with the bestresults of experienced English toxicologists. Details are

given of four experiments with rabbits. An interestingportion of the research deals with the resistance of morphineto decomposition in cases of putrefaction of a body. A dogwas dosed hypodermically with 0’9 gramme of morphinehydrochloride in two days. The body was allowed to

decompose during two months, after which the employmentof the above process revealed the presence of morphine anda little oxymorphine in the liver and kidneys, and of oxy-morphine and a little morphine in the urine found in thebladder at the necropsy.

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CANCER RESEARCH AT MANCHESTER.

THE trustees of the Pilkington Cancer Research Fundare about to appoint a graduate in medicine or other

qualified person to carry out a research in this subjectand invite applications for the post. The appoint-ment will be for one year but may be renewed fora further period of one or two years and the holder

of the post will receive an income of £300 perannum with a grant for laboratory expenses. Applications,stating experience of research in biology and medicine, andgiving the name of the professor or head of a laboratory towhom reference may be made, should be forwarded to Pro-fessor G. A. Wright at the Victoria University of Manchester,from whom further information as to the conditions of the

appointment may be obtained. It may be explained, how-ever, that candidates must be prepared to give their wholetime to research into the cause, prevention, and cure of

cancer. ____

NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES BY

HOUSEHOLDERS.

MISUNDERSTANDINGS and difficulties with regard to noti-fication of infectious disease are happily now less frequentthan in the years which followed the passing of the first

Act on the subject. For ordinary purposes the respectivepositions of local sanitary authorities, medical officers of

health, medical practitioners, and householders in regard tonotification have become settled on well-recognised lines.

This is the case, for example, regarding the dual systemof notification prescribed by the Act. The universal

practice is for the sanitary authority to recognise thatnotification by the medical practitioner absolves the house-holder from himself notifying the existence of infectiousdisease in his house. In case of neglect to notify the sani-tary authority takes action against the householder only whenno medical advice has been obtained. We do not think thata local authority should depart from this custom withoutsome very special reason. A handbill which has lately beendistributed from house to house in the Caistor rural districtin consequence of the prevalence of scarlet fever, calls uponthe householder immediately to give notice to the medicalofficer of health of the district of any case of infectiousdisease "whether he employs his private medical man ornot," and the notice goes on to state the fine which

may be imposed for non-compliance with this demand.Now if the reason for this handbill is that some

medical men in the district are believed to be dilatoryin notifying, the sanitary authority has its remedy againstthem. But if this be the reason there seems no advantagein giving quite unnecessary trouble to every householder whohas a case of infectious disease in his house and obtainsmedical advice in the ordinary way. As a practical matter thedemand is sure to be disregarded. Moreover, the notice of

the sanitary authority may cause the position of the medical,officer of health, if he is also in general practice, to be mis-interpreted. We think that this notice should be withdrawnand redrafted.

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POST-GRADUATE STUDY IN LONDON.

IN spite of the excellent work which is being done by theLondon Post-Graduate Association, the Medical Graduate

College and Polyclinic, the West London Post-Graduate

College, and the North-East London Post-Graduate College,it must be confessed that the facilities for post-graduate studyoffered by London are far short of the requirements and thatLondon with its unique field for clinical work is in this

respect distinctly behind Vienna, New York, and Phila-delphia, not to name other cities. We are therefore glad tolearn that an important addition to the list of post-graduatenstitutions will shortly be made. In 1889 the Seamen’s

Hospital Society successfully instituted in connexion with

its branch hospital at the Royal Albert Dock the LondonSchool of Tropical Medicine for the training of studentsfor work in the tropics. The society now proposes to utiliseits Dreadnought Hospital at Greenwich for the purposes ofa London School of Clinical Medicine (as it is proposed toterm it) for ordinary post-graduate study. This hospital,containing as it does 250 beds and fed by a large dispensaryin the East India Dock-road, offers good opportunities forclinical work, particularly as it possesses special wardsfor venereal diseases and for tuberculosis and has facilitiesfor teaching operative surgery not elsewhere obtainable, whichhave long been known and recognised. Moreover, the recent,resignation of the principal medical officer, Mr. W. JohnsonSmith, has rendered a suite of rooms available for conversion.into laboratories, museum, library, lecture rooms, and so on.By the development of its out-patient and special depart-ments, by the addition to the present staff of teachers of

recognised standing and ability, and possibly by an affilia-tion for teaching purposes with other special hospitals southof the Thames, the school will be able to provide exceptionalopportunities for study in all branches of medical science and;art. The sister institutions at the Albert Dock and at.

Greenwich will be complemental and it cannot be doubtedwill be mutually helpful one to the other. The Seamen’s.

Hospital Society, in thus founding educational institutions,has avoided the possibility of its schools becoming a burdenon the charity by exacting guarantees that these shall not.only be self-supporting but that a proportion of any profit-,

shall be allocated to the charity.THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION OF BENZENE

AND ITS DERIVATIVES.

M. Chassevant and M. Garnier have made in the Journalde Pharmacie et de Chemie of July 16th an important,contribution to our knowledge of the pharmacologicalaction of members of the benzene series. The physiologicalaction of benzene is exerted chiefly on the nervous systemand causes convulsions, loss of muscular power (hpvotonie),and above all a lowering of temperature (hypothermie).These effects are increaed by the substitution of one or two-hydroxyl radicles (a fact which has been observed by previousworkers) or by the simultaneous substitution in the samemolecule of a hydroxyl radicle and a hydrocarbon radicle.On the other hand, these undesirable effects are suppressedby the substitution of hydrocarbon radicles, or of a

carboxyl radicle, or by the simultaneous substitution ofa hydroxyl and a carboxyl radicle. The toxicity ofbenzene undergoes, by the substitution of one or moreof the radicles studied, changes which depend on thenature of the substituted radicle, and vary with itsmolecular weight and with the number and position of these-substitutes. From a therapeutic point of view preference