1149

the Board of Agriculture, and for which a special Act of 1

’Parliament is required. The deputation also suggested the compulsory notification of disease amongst horses ; they also 1

;alluded to the importation of horses from abroad, by means of which, it was stated, influenza had been 4

imported into the city, especially by horses from American iand Canadian ports. They strongly advocated a com- ]

pulsory system of inspection and the isolation of all imported horses. It seems most anomalous thathorses can be landed from abroad without inspection 1

and sent about the country from stable to stable irrespec-tively of diseased conditions ; legislation on this pointis absolutely necessary, as the powers now possessed bylocal authorities are restricted to ordering the slaughterof horses found to be affected with glanders. As a

result of the interview between the Liverpool deputationand the Board of Agriculture a scheme was agreed on,in the absence of Parliamentary powers, which is muchthe same as that adopted by the London CountyCouncil, viz.-to isolate horses in sheds somewhere in

the suburbs under the supervision of the veterinarysuperintendent. The owner of a horse which is suspectedof being infected with glanders can send the animal to theisolation shed, the mallein test, with his consent, will beperformed, when, if the horse reacts to the inoculation, itwill be placed in a separate shed and frequently treatedwith mallein. Should the horse recover the owner must payfor its maintenance and treatment; but if, on the other

hand, it develops symptoms of glanders the animal is to beslaughtered, the owner receiving as compensation one-fourthof its original value. As an estimate of the disastrous resultswhich would accrue to Liverpool by the spread of this disease,we may mention that it is computed that 12,000 horses,some of great value, are employed by team owners, whilsttramways, cabs, and omnibuses employ between 6000 and7000 more.

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THE PERSISTENCE OF EXCITABILITY IN DIVIDEDNERVES

THE duration of the excitability of the distal end of adivided nerve is a point that has attracted the attention ofmany observers, and Longet, more than half a century ago,stated as a fact which has been very generally acceptedthat after division of the facial, hypoglossal, and sciatic

nerves in the dog the most remote branches of the distalportion ceased to respond to stimuli after the lapse of fourdays. The first part of the Archives de Physiologie for thepresent year contains a short communication from ProfessorArloing, a practised and careful experimenter, in which

some strictures are made upon Longet’s statement andevidence is adduced showing that the irritability of thedivided nerve is not always uniform in the date of its

departure and that considerable variations may be observedboth in different genera and even in different animals of thesame species. Thus Ranvier observed that whilst irritabilitymight persist in the dog for four days, it was lost in therabbit, guinea-pig, and rat in the course of forty-eight hours,and after the lapse of sixty-two hours in the pigeon.Ranvier also pointed out that it disappeared more quicklyin young animals than in adults and in vigorous animals thanin those that were ailing. Professor Arloing himself foundthat in the horse, ass, and mule the persistence of irritability inthe branches of the facial nerve after section of the trunk was

remarkable, being prolonged in some cases to the thirteenthday. The particular instance in which the functional

activity of the nerve lasted to the thirteenth day was in anass in which the facial nerve had been divided. Differentnerves seem to vary in their faculty of retaining their

irritability, for whilst in one case the peripheric extremity offoe divided facial nerve retained its excitability for five days,

the corresponding portion of the divided median and of themoderator of the heart had both lost their excitabilitybetween the fourth and fifth day. A physiological andhighly valuable test is thus afforded. of the existence ofcertain doubtful nerves. Professor Arloing, for example, hasin this way satisfied himself of the presence in the cervical

portion of thp vagus nerve of the ass, besides the cardiacinhibitory, car diac accelerator fibres, and motor fibres for thelarynx and oesophagus, of yet a fourth set which is charac-terised by the retention of its excitability for three weeksafter section, and which he regards as the ordinary motornerve of the myocardium. ,

THE ABUSE OF MATERNITY CHARITIES.

WHEN other charitable medical institutions are trying toadminister charity without abuse it behoves the authoritiesof lying-in hospitals and maternity charities to do the same.There is some reason to believe that tickets for the midwifeare granted loosely to those who can afford to pay theordinary fees. This is contrary to public policy and to theunderstanding with the good charitable people who subscribe.We feel persuaded that the committees of such charities willnot resent a reminder on this point. The midwife should notbe the almoner of letters and evidence should be forthcomingin every case of the circumstances of the patient.

THE LATE DR. WILLIAM SHARP.

DR. WILLIAM SHARP of Rugby died at Llandudno onApril 10th, aged ninety-one years. He was born at Armley,near Leeds, studied medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s

Hospitals, and became qualified as L.S.A. in 1826. Next yearhe took the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons of

England, studied in Paris for a time, and settled in Bradfordin 1828. In 1840 he was elected a Fellow of the RoyalSociety in recognition of his advocacy of local museums. In1843 he removed to Hull and in 1847 to Rugby. Dr. Sharpwas a prolific writer, and in 1856 the degree of Doctor ofMedicine was conferred on him by the Archbishop of

Canterbury. This Lambeth (or Cantuar., which might, bythe way, be mistaken for Cantab.) degree supplies an

interesting chapter in medical history and is dealt with atlength in another portion of our issue.

THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN MOSCOW.

AT present, when the attention of the medical world is

being drawn to Moscow, any information concerning the

medical schools, laboratories, and institutions of that cityis of interest. Some time ago the committee of organisationof the International Medical Congress issued a series of papersgiving descriptions of some of these institutions. The first

one that has come to hand ("Le Laboratoire de Physiologie de1’Universite Imperiale de Moscou," par M. le Dr. B. N. Popov)gives a short account of the Institute of Physiology of theUniversity of Moscow. This institute was founded in 1862,when Professor Einbrodt was elected to the chair of

Physiology, and has since that time gradually expandedfirst into two chairs-histology and physiology-and theninto a double professorship, Professor Chérémétevesky nomin-ating Professor Morokhovetz as professor agrege. Professor

Morokhovetz, as a result of careful planning and of visits tothe various large Continental laboratories, has been able tofound and equip a physiological institute, which appears tobe exceedingly well arranged and to be supplied with all therequirements of a modern laboratory. A list of the papers,fifty-one in number, that have come from this departmentsince the year 1857 is worth studying as indicating what hasbeen done in a very quiet way during the last forty years.In a second pamphlet (" Appareils et Instruments à l’Usagedes Physiologistes construites d’apres les dessins de M. le