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professors in the School of Pharmacy-namely, Dr. J. N.Collie, F.R.S., Dr. J. R. Green, F.R.S., and Professor H. G.Greenish. Sir J. Crichton Browne, in returning thanks forthe guests, regretted the prevalence of enteric fever, pneu-monia, and dysentery in South Africa. He said that

enteric fever was now increasing out of all proportion todeaths from wounds. Every death from enteric fever repre-sented four cases of that disease. No doubt it was

endemic in South Africa, but he suggested that an

inquiry by eminent sanitary authorities who mightsuggest precaution, and would at any rate collect

information, would be useful on future occasions. The idea

abroad that medical treatment was of no avail in enteric

fever was mere folly ; they might have no specific, butthere was no disease in which skilled medical treatmentcould do more to ward off death and to alleviate suffering.In the course of the evening reference was made as

to whether a limited liability company should not be

considered to be a " person" " under the Pharmacy Actof 1868, and Mr. Remnant, M.P., promised to give thematter his best attention if it came before the House ofCommons.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.

ON Saturday, May 12th, on the occasion of her eightiethbirthday, Miss Nightingale was presented with a basket ofbeautiful flowers and a handsome album, containing thenames of over 650 nurses, past and present, who receivedtheir training in her schools at St. Thomas’s Hospital and atSt. Marylebone Infirmary, and the following illuminatedaddress :-

DEAR MIss NIGHTINGALE,-We, as your nurses, speakingfor ourselves and many others who have been trained inyour schools and are proud to bear the name of our dearchief, trust that you will allow us to offer you our heartycongratulations on this your eightieth birthday.We rejoice that you are still able to see some of us from

time to time, and to take a lively personal interest in ourwork.We feel grateful to you, not only for the benefits which you

have conferred upon us individually, but also for having byyour example and wise direction created a noble calling forwomen generally.We beg that you will accept this book, containing our

names, and a basket of flowers as our birthday offering.Names were received from nurses in Australia, various partsof India, South and West Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Algiers,North and South America, Russia, Finland, Denmark, andother continental countries, besides Great Britain andIreland.

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A FALSE ALARM OF PLAGUE IN SMYRNA.

LETTERS written from Uonstantinople state that on

May 8th the Conseil Superieur de Santé of that city receiveda telegram from Dr. Mizzi, Médecin Sanitaire at Smyrna,reporting that a case suspected to be one of plague hadoccurred in the practice of Dr. Amado of Smyrna. The

patient was a Jew, 60 years of age, a dealer in brushes andvery poor. Dr. Amado first saw him on May 5th when hissymptoms included headache, high fever, and slight bronchialcatarrh. On the 6th he was found to have in his rightgroin a bard painful bubo of the size of an egg. On the7th he was seen by Dr. Mizzi, five members of the HealthCommission, and Dr. Leoni (medecin Conak). The

patient, who had never been out of Smyrna, was

then slightly delirious, with high fever, and had rose spotslike those of enteric fever all over his body. There was nobubo other than the one already mentioned. A definite

diagnosis was not made, but the man was isolated outsidethe city and all sanitary precautions were taken. The directorof the Pasteur Institute at Constantinople was immediatelysent to Smyrna to make an investigation. It was announced

on May 8th that passengers from Smyrna to Constanti.

nople would be medically examined, firstly on board ship at. Smyrna, then in the Dardanelles, and finally on their arrival. at Constantinople. Reuter’s agent telegraphed from Con.

stantinople on May 13th that it had been established by abacteriological investigation that there had been no death

, from plague at Smyrna, and that the sanitary precautions! enforced in Constantinople against arrivals from that city

would probably be relaxed.

I ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.

Mr. John H. Morgan, one of the senior surgeons at

Charing-cross Hospital, at the election to be held in July,will be a candidate for one of the vacant seats on the Councilof the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Charing-crossHospital has not been represented on the Council sinceMr. Hancock’s election in 1863. Mr. J. Bland-Sutton ofMiddlesex Hospital will also be a candidate for a seat on theCouncil. It is understood that Sir Thomas Smith will notseek re-election.

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THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF PNEUMO-THORAX WITH A VALVULAR PERFORATION

OF THE PLEURA.

AT the meeting of the Société Médicale des Hôpitauxof Paris held on April 6th Dr. A. Béclère read a veryimportant paper on the Diagnosis and Treatment ofPneumotborax with a Valvular Perforation of the Pleura.M. Bouveret has pointed out that cough is necessary inorder that air might accumulate in the pleura at pressuregreater than that of the atmosphere. Only during the effortsof coughing, when the intra-bronchial pressure is greaterthan that of the atmosphere, can air be introduced intoa pleural cavity to a point beyond the atmosphericpressure. As the intrapleural pressure increases so do thedyspncea and the signs of pressure on the adjacentviscera, such as depression of the liver when the pneumo-thorax is on the right side and displacement of the heartto the right when it is on the left side. The most

important and the earliest sign of pneumothorax with avalvular opening is the presence of intrapleural pressuregreater than that of the atmosphere. Dr. B6cl6re hasinvented a very simple instrument which enables the

intrapleural pressure to be measured, and a valvular pneumo-thorax to be diagnosed with certainty and at the earliestperiod, and also to be treated in the best way. It consists ofa hollow needle, such as is used for hypodermic injections,which is connected by an indiarubber tube with a glass tubeabout six inches long and one-fifth of an inch in bore. The

glass tube is half plunged into a vessel containing water.The instrument having been sterilised and the usual anti-septic precautions having been taken, the needle is inserted(preferably obliquely) in an intercostal space. If the intra-

pleural pressure exceeds the atmospheric pressure gas willpass through the apparatus and escape through the water inbubbles, until the intrapleural pressure becomes equal to theatmospheric pressure. By this instrument also the patencyof pleural perforation in a case of a pneumothorax may beascertained. When the patient coughs gas will be driventhrough the apparatus and the water in the tube will bedepressed below the level of that in the vessel. If, when hehas finished coughing the column rises again to the level ofthe water in the vessel the air driven out of the pleural cavitymust have been replaced and the perforation must be patent.If, on the contrary, the level in the tube rises above that inthe vessel the air has not been replaced and the perfora-tion is closed. Dr. Béclère claims that this "capillarypuncture" of the pleura is the best treatment of valvularpneumothorax, as the use of the ordinary trocar is more

likely to lead to generalised subcutaneous emphysema. If