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half. The floor space allotted to each patient is ninety squarefeet, the air space 1400 cubic feet. Each ward has accom-

modation for thirteen patients on the female side and nine-teen on the male side. In one male ward there is accom-

modation for twenty-five beds. Small wards with six beds are

provided for special cases. Each ward has small projectingwings for sink, lavatories and sanitary adjuncts. All the

ward floors are fireproof, of coke breeze concrete upon rollediron joists ; the floors are of Canadian maple in narrowwidth, and are of wax-polished and impervious surface ; thewalls are of cement plaster finished with parian ; all the

passages, corridor, roofs and staircases have a dado, four feetsix inches high, of parian cement; all angles are rounded; thestaircases are of stone, the ward windows are all alternatelydraw-sash and French casements; rounded balconies face theairing yard to allow of patients getting an airing. The hos-

pital is heated with hot-water pipes. The ventilation includesthe admission of heated air into the wards and the dischargeof vitiated air by appliances of the latest and most approvedtypes. The buildings will be lighted throughout with theelectric light.

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PROFESSOR BILLROTH’S JUBILEE.

THE past few days have witnessed a series of festivals atVienna in commemoration of the commencement of the

teaching career of Professor Billroth at the above-mentionedschool. The event indeed has been converted into a sort of

congress, which was inaugurated on the 8th inst. by theassembling of the former pupils of this distinguished surgeonin order to testify their gratitude for the advantages they hadderived from his instructions. On this occasion Professor

Czerny of Heidelberg was deputed to present to ProfessorBillroth a volume containing a record of his principal surgicalworks, and entitled Contributions to Surgery. " In the eveningof the same day a dinner was given to Professor Billroth, Iat which numerous congratulatory speeches were made. The

jubilee extended to the llth, on which day his friends andadmirers assembled to listen to an address by ProfessorAlbert. The commemoration has excited great enthusiasmin the medical world of the Austrian capital.

ABUSE OF EYE HOSPITALS BY WEALTHY PEOPLE.

A CORRESPONDENT in an evening contemporary writes

apparently in justification of wealthy persons going into theophthalmic hospitals. He says, "The reason why people go tothe Ophthalmic Hospital is because, however much wealth theymay have, they get the best surgical treatment. " This follows,somewhat inconsistently, an account of his own experience ofthe hospital, with which he was dissatisfied. He adds, " Ibelieve it is quite true that very rich men go to the Ophthal-mic Hospital. An Australian landowner was in when I was.He had come from Australia for the purpose. " Wealthy andwell-to-do people who go to hospitals are without excuse.They are not objects of charity and they take up beds meantfor the poor. It is idle to say that the best surgical treatmentis there. It is also to be had from the same surgeons privately;and it is mean and unjust not to pay for it. Such publicstatement of abuses of eye hospitals should make the

governors more vigilant to exclude such unfit cases. Other-wise subscriptions will fall off.

THE HOWARD SOCIETY’S REPORT.

THE wise and practical benevolence which characterisedthe great prison reformer is commonly represented in theproceedings of the Society which bears his name, and of thisfact we have received fresh proofs in its recently publishedannual report. While admitting, however, the general excel-lence of the matter contained in this work, we may selectcertain subjects with which it deals as of special interest andimportance. Among these public opinion will rejoice to note

as a familiar evil marked for amendment the notorious

inequality of legal sentences. No one probably will disputethe pernicious effect of that kind of magisterial good naturewhich has often impeded justice by condoning grave personalerrors-as cruelty, drunkenness and the like-while scourgingby heavy penalties the most petty sins against property. The

report again strikes hard at the system of I I association " amongprisoners still widely practised in America and by no meansunknown in Europe, or even in Great Britain and her depen-dencies. It would institute everywhere in place of this amethod which would separate prisoners from each otherwhile allowing them intercourse by visitation with the non-criminal outer world. It exposes with critical penetrationthe fallacy within that emasculated humanity which educates,feeds and clothes, but will not chastise, the offender againstlaw. The frequently long detention of prisoners awaitingtrial and their unwholesome and indecent herding togetherin many court-houses have given rise to protests on the partof the Association which have not been fruitless of improve-ment. Not the least sensible observation contained in the

report is that which condemns the still too common imprison-ment of children and youths, for whose misdemeanours amore effectual deterrent would usually be found in the freeadministration of the birch.

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THE SEMMELWEISS INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL.

WE have already informed our readers of the movement onfoot for the erection of an international monument toSemmelweiss. We gladly revert to the subject, and directthe attention of our readers to the notice of a meeting tobe held on Oct. 24th, at 5 P.M., in the library of the RoyalCollege of Physicians, and to be presided over by SirAndrew Clark, Bart., President of the College. We earnestlytrust that he will then be supported by practitioners of

every class, and not least by general practitioners who feelgrateful to Semmelweiss for shedding such a flood of light onthe simple means by which the conveyance of puerperal fevermay be avoided, of which means the more perfect obstetricantisepticism aimed at by every good practitioner is the con-summation. It is understood that subscriptions will be limitedto one guinea. There will be the more need for numbers.We wish every success to the movement. It is understoodthat the practitioners of Scotland and Ireland will be askedto participate. -

DIPHTHERIA AT ALBRIGHTON.

A STORMY meeting of the parishioners of this place,situated in the Shifnal rural sanitary district, took placerecently, to discuss the sanitary state of the village, whichhad been blamed for the prevalence of diphtheria. Various

allegations were made as to the circumstances of the drainage,sewage disposal and water-supply which, if true, deserve theearnest attention of the authority. But, inasmuch as some

divergence of opinion appeared to exist as to the facts, thematter seems one that requires the intervention of the Shrop-shire County Council or of the Local Government Board.

THE SOCIETY OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OFHEALTH.

THE Birmingham and Midland Branch of the Society ofMedical Officers of Health held last week its first meeting ofthe present session, and Dr. Alfred Hill, the President of the

branch, read a paper on Cholera, giving an account of thedifferent invasions of England by this disease, and especiallyof cholera prevalences in Bilston, and he contrasted thecalamities that occurred on these occasions with the immunityenjoyed by England at the present time. The circumstances

under which cholera was spread were, he said, well under-

stood in this country, and he dwelt upon the evidence that wentto prove that cholera was a water-borne disease. The da,nbers