city commission of sewers

109

and also to account for the sudden accession and equally suddensubsidence of that pain and of the constipation, the latter

being also promoted by the action of the opium, now counter-acted by the sulphate of potass contained in Dover’s powdernot subjected to chemical transposition. i

At all events, will you permit me to throw out a hint to Iprevent what I believe to be a not uncommon error in practice- the prescription of Dover’s powder in combination with mer-cnry-with-chalk. Yours obediently,Devon, Jan. 1856. KRITES.

CITY COMMISSION OF SEWERS.

On Tuesday a Court was held for the despatch of publicbusiness, at which Mr. DEPUTY PEACOCK presided.

THE GUARDIANS OF THE EAST LONDON UNION.

Mr. DAw, the chief clerk, read the following letter,addressed to himself :-

" East London Union, Jan. 21st.

" SiR,—I am instructed by the Board of Guardians of theEast London Union to inform you, in reply to your letter ofthe 9th inst., requesting that certain information might besupplied weekly to the Court of Sewers, or to Dr. Letheby,that the returns made by the medical officers of this Union tothis Board are deposited at this office, and are open to theinspection of Dr. Letheby, or any person appointed by himduring the whole of Wednesday in every week.

" I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,"A. H. BAYLIS, Clerk.

"J. Daw, Esq., Clerk to the Commissioners of Sewers."

Deputy CONDER.—Is the information offered in that letterall that Dr. Letheby requires ?Dr. LETHEHY.—Y es; that is all.Mr. ABRAHAM said, he was very mucl1 surprised to find

that similar letters had not been received from the other unionsin the city. Dr. Letheby simply required to know of whatinformation he could avail himself in different parts of the city,so that his attention might be directed to those particularlocalities, and where he might learn whether there was any-thing in them calculated to occasion disease. He regrettedexceedingly that members of his own profession should havebeen so extremely illiberal as to refuse the very small amountof information asked of them, and who wanted to be raised tothe dignified position of assistant medical officers of health forthe city, which, if carried out, would divide the responsibilitybetween them and Dr. Letheby, and then nobody would knowwhom to blame for any omission.Deputy HARRISON moved :-That a complimentary letter, acknowledging the receipt

of the commtiniiiicatioi from the clerk to the guardians of theEast London Union, be addressed to that body, thanking themfor the readiness with which they had complied with thewishes of the cotnmission." (Hear, hear.)Mr. T. H. HALL, in seconding the motion, said, it was very

desirable for the various boards of guardians to obtain informa-tion which was useful to the city generally, and not costlyto themselves.The motion was carried unanimously.

THE SURGERY OF THE WAR.

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE BRITISH ARMYIN THE CRIMEA

DURING THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 29TH.

THE Inspector-General of Hospitals states :-That the healthof the army continues very satisfactory. There is an absenceof serious disease; and although the admissions under the headsChest Affections and Frost-bite may appear numerous, it is

satisfactory to know that the former for the most part is merelysimple catarrh, and the latter slight vesications of the fingers,toes, and tips of the ears. The few serious cases there are wereall occasioned by exposure when drunk. ’,The Land Transport Corps does not enjoy the same health

that the troops do, and more than one-half of the deaths whichhave occurred during the week have taken place in that corpsalone. Under the head of Fever, one-third of the admissionsand two-thirds of the deaths were in the Land Transport Corps- that is, 65 out of 182 admissions, and 11 deaths out of 15,

leaving only 4 of the whole army, which is as great an exemp-tion from serious febrile disease as can well be expected.The diminution of bowel complaints in the army is equally

remarkable, and here again 3 out of the 7 deaths which occurredtook place in the Land Transport Corps. It is difficult toaccount for this disparity of health between this corps and themilitary, as they are as well fed and clothed as the soldiers,and of late they have certainly not been over-worked. Num-bers of men have recently joined the corps, and, as they getbetter, matters will doubtless improve. Nearly one-half of theforce is composed of natives, not of the Crimea, but of rlsiaMinor and of other places, and they bear the winter ill.The following abstract will show the comparative sickness

and mortality between this and the preceding week :-

The ratio of admissions to strength in the army alone hasbeen 247 per cent.; including Land Transport Corps, 2’53;deaths to strength, army alone, 0 ’03; including Land Trans-port Corps, 0’07 ; sick to healthy, army alone, 6’65; exclusiveof wounds and injuries, 5’47; inclusive of Land TransportCorps and wounded, 6 46 per cent.

SCOTLAND.

ROYAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH.—THE KEITH MEDAL.-Atthe meeting of the Society on Monday evening, the 7th inst.,Professor Christison, in the absence of the President, presentedDr. Anderson with the above medal. He said it was a pec,,i-liar pleasure, as organ of the Society that evening, to presentDr. Anderson with that token of the Society’s approbation.The medal had been founded by Sir Alexander Keith, for the-best paper read during each successive biennial period, and thatgreat care and anxiety was taken by the Council on all theseoccasions, the eminence of those to whom the prize had beenawarded, was a proof. The first, in 1828, was presented to SirDavid Brewster; then, in succession, to Mr. Graham, Sir DavidBrewster again, Professor Forbes, Mr. Scott Russell, Mr.Shaw; then to their President, for his laborious MagneticalObservations; and the last to Professor Kelland and Mr.Rankine, for Elaborate Mathematical Investigations. Afteran interval of twenty-one years, the prize was again assignedto a chemist, for his two papers-" The Products of theDestructive Distillation of Organic Substances," and "the Crys-talline Bodies of Opium." Alluding to the light estimation inwhich some people held such recondite researches, characterisingthem as difficiles nugœ, the Chairman said,-In these days noman who respected himself would fall into such an error; theyremembered the discovery of chloroform, and who knew butthat Dr. Anderson’s researches might lead to some not lessinferior result? Beware, then, of speaking lightly on suchmatters. The Keith prize-said Professor Christison in con-clusion—was worthy the competition of all scientific men, andhe had great pleasure in awarding it to Dr. Anderson.BOTANICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH.—The third meeting this

session of the Botanical Society, took place on the 10th inst.,Colonel Madden, President, occupying the chair. The firstpaper, on some species of Epilobium, was somewhat tediousand lengthy, but considerable discussion ensued. The nextwas a communication on the Pollen Tube, its Growth, His-tology, and Physiology, by Dr. Martin Duncan, of Colchester,which Professor Balfour read to the Society. The discussionprincipally related to the continuity of cells and the growth ofthe tube, which Dr. Duncan announced to be upwards of aninch in four hours. A more minute examination was sug-gested, and we understand the subject will be resumed.A communication followed, entitled-, "Notes on the Chaul-moogra Seeds of India," by Charles Murchison, M.D. The