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articulate speech, and will supplement his observations oncaptive quadrumana by inquiries into the gorilla vernacularas it exists in the forest fatherland of the king of apes. His

later communications will no doubt be awaited with interest,and may be expected to confirm still further the belief he

evidently holds as to the evolution of human speech from anaboriginal, sub-human and rudimentary type. We may beallowed to risk a further suggestion. May not the calls ofother animals, the songs of birds, the hissing of reptiles, andthe whole and varied catalogue of sounds known in the lowercreation be regarded as representing so many stages in thedevelopment of language ? If Professor Garner’s researches,so far as they have gone, indicate anything, it is the probabletruth of this assumption.

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TEA AND TOBACCO IN WORKHOUSES.

THERE is nothing more gratifying to human nature than tohave liberty in the use of a valued luxury without either adread of after consequences or a conscientious prick at hearton the ground of self-indulgence. Happily, we are not with-out luxuries which can be thus enjoyed, the observance ofmoderation being always understood. Among them we maynumber the cup that cheers but not inebriates, and also thatmuch valued solace of tired leisure-tobacco. So familiarto our minds do both appear that many of us would includethem rather among the necessaries than the amenities

of life. Guided no doubt by such considerations as

these the Wandsworth Board of Guardians have intro-

duced a novelty in their system of supply which cannotfail to be warmly appreciated not only by the poorunder their charge, but by all who are wisely con-

siderate of the reasonable preferences of appetite. Fromthis time forth every male inmate of their union over sixtyyears of age will be allowed one ounce of tobacco per weekand every woman a daily half-pint of afternoon tea. The

tobacco privilege has also been conceded by the parish ofSt. Olave’s, Southwark, and by some other boards of

guardians. These kind and inexpensive grants will do

something to encourage a belief in the reality of publiccharity. Given under the above-mentioned conditions theycan hardly be accused of exhibiting a pauperising attractive-ness. By engendering contentment they will do somethingto brighten the life, perhaps even to amend the health, of theolder workhouse inmates, and we would therefore commendthe example of the above-named parishes to others equallyopen to reason and reform, though not yet so forward inliberality.

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ALUM IN BAKING POWDER.

ON Aug. 25th at Ilkeston, a grocer was summoned underthe Food and Drugs Act on two charges for selling bakingpowder containing injurious ingredients. From the evidenceof Mr. Hehner, the powder in question contained 35’5 percent. of alum. The alum was used instead of tartaricacid to expel the carbonic acid from bicarbonate of soda.Scientific witnesses, both expert analysts and medical men,were not agreed as to whether the powder would proveinjurious when employed to "raise " bread. It was urgedfor the defence that the chemical process which followed on

mixing the powder with the dough rendered it en-

tirely harmless. In the end the summons was dis-

missed, the magistrates holding that baking powder wasnot a food and that the powder in question was not

sold to the prejudice of the purchaser. This decision is to

be regretted. Practically it sanctions the use of alum in apowder which is only used for one purpose-that is, to giveporosity and lightness to bread. Bearing this in mind, andnot supposing for a moment that baking powder is per seafood, it is a moot point whether the powder in question couldnot be regarded as being sold to the prejudice of the pur- I

chaser. It consisted of alum and bicarbonate of soda. Thesesubstances when moistened interact, carbonic acid gas escapesand there remains a residuum of sodium sulphate andalumina. Apart from the fact that there is formed by thisdouble decomposition a salt of strong purging qualities—Viz.,Glauber’s salt-it is important to consider what is likely to bethe action of the newly formed alumina. It is well knownthat alumina when precipitated in the presence of certainsoluble matters will render them insoluble. This is especiallythe case with soluble nitrogenous matters. In the chemicaltreatment of sewage, for example, a large proportion of the-soluble nitrogenous matter is removed by adding to the

sewage a mixture of sulphate of alumina and an alkali

(generally lime). Alumina as a gelatinous precipitate is thusproduced, which then, combining with the organic matterin solution as well as that in suspension,, subsides as a

"sludge " in the precipitating tanks. The same method is

adopted for fixing otherwise soluble colours or dyes, thealumina compound formed giving rise to the so-called’’ lakes.’’ Further than this, alumina combines with solublephosphates to form insoluble phosphate of aluminium.

Surely, in the light of these facts, it is seriously to

the prejudice of a purchaser if, when he buys a baking-powder, he receives one which is calculated to reduce

very materially by reason of the nature of its ingredientsthe food value of his " stafE of life " by rendering both thenutritious and the bone-forming constituents in it insolubleand indigestible. If baking powders must be used, alumshould not enter into their composition, especially as thereare other comparatively inert and equally effective agentsprocurable. When a baker uses alum in his bread or flour,proceedings are successfully taken against him under the-Food and Drugs Act, and it is reasonable to expect that thesame Act should protect the purchaser against alum intro-duced into his bread in any other form, not excepting that ofa baking powder.

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PUBLIC HEALTH IN SWITZERLAND.

THE "playground of Europe," writes a holiday contributor, has lately become its sanitary asylum since the out-break of cholera on the North Sea and Gallo-Batavian coasts.has sent the moneyed classes of those regions to the Bernese-Oberland. As I write, however, under date the 5th inst., asensible diminution in this invasion of the panic-stricken has,been registered in Switzerland-a diminution largely due tothe announcement that in one of the most frequented hotelsin Zurich a case of cholera had occurred. But an official

inspection of the hotel referred to has dissipated this report,reducing it to the prosaic truth that fumigation, as a dis-infecting precaution, had been practised on sundry Germans.hailing from Hamburg. No case of death from cholera, nDcase even of illness from that cause, has been officiallyrecorded in the Confederation. Meanwhile prompt effort has.not been wanting on the part of the Swiss authorities tominimise the chance of the introduction of cholera.L’itat général of the public health has just (5th inst.)been announced by the Bureau Sanitaire Fédéral as ’excel-

lent,’ but, all the same, the measures taken by the Bureaufor the safeguard of the sanitary position are exhaustive andvigilant. M. Dreyfus, Chef du Bureau d’Emigration, is nowin Bale, armed with full powers to send back across the-

frontier the emigrant trains arriving by the Chaumont route.Some 250 to 300 passengers by this train were stopped byM. Dreyfus at the frontier ; among them the Jews were in aminority, the bulk being composed of Germans, Tyrolese,Italians, and even Americans. On examination, a consider-able number had to return whence they came, in some casesleaving their effects behind them; while advertisements,chiefly in the press, gave prominence to the fact that

arrivals by emigration trains from Atlantic or North Sea ports