683

investing public is concerned, any recommendation. Themass of information which it presents is so vast, and thestandard of accuracy attained is so high, that in its owndepartment it enjoys an unquestioned pre-eminence. Ilow

large this department is may be gathered from an interest-ing summary inserted among the prolegomena, which givesthe total amount, divided into various classes, of thesecurities quoted on the Stock Exchange. The aggregatecomes out at the overwhelming figure of £3,998,182,369, orwithin a trifle of four billions sterling. All these are not

only summarised in the volume before us, but every issue isseparately scheduled, and minute particulars are given on allthe points to which an intending investor looks. Mr.Burdett’s book is, however, by no means only a vast schedulecrammed with statistics. What we have above termed its

prolegomena comprise a series of articles on fiscal subjects !,of general interest, which will prove not only a valuable ’,repertory for the publicist, but also a most useful source ofsuggestion and information for the general reader. Withthis object the editor has made choice of such subjects asthe progress of legislation or the course of public events hasbrought to the fore, and it seems to us that his selection hasbeen justified by the happiest results. The present volumecontains, among others, dissertations on such subjects ofimmediate interest as legislation as to railway rates andfares, gas prices and profits, tramway enterprise in theUnited Kingdom, and a review of the legislation of 188G.These and other kindred subjects are all treated with afulness of information which will give to the articles a

permanent value, while at the same time they are markedby a terseness and literary style which take them altogetherout of the category of mere monographs.Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by LESLIE

STEPHEN. Vol. X. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.-Thetenth volume of this Dictionary has just been issued, andextends from Chamber to Clarkson. Its contents, with regardto literary style and, so far as we have been able to judge,accuracy, are fully equal to those of the preceding ninevolumes, upon each one of which at the time of its publica-tion we have felt justified in bestowing high praise.

Ellis’s Irish Educcction Directory and Scholastic Guide for1887. Dublin: E. PONSONBY.—This Directory, now in itssixth year of issue, contains full information as to the Irishuniversities and professional schools, and the institutions inIreland for promoting Intermediate, Technical, and PrimaryEducation, with complete alphabetical lists of Irish collegesand schools and copious alphabetical and classified indices.By all interested in Irish educational work this book willbe found useful.

Analpytical Records.KOLA PASTE.

(THOS. CHRISTY & Co., FENCauRCa-smREEm.)THE kola nut which comes from the West Coast of Africa

contains in addition to starch, sugar, gums, colouringmatter, &c., a considerable quantity of caffeine, and, it is said,some theobromine. Messrs. Christy and Co. prepare from ita cake resembling chocolate in appearance and to someextent in taste. It is made up with cocoa fat, is unsweetened,and by no means disagreeable. We have not as yet beenable to submit the preparation to thorough chemical exami-nation, but it is strongly recommended in heart affectionsand nervous depression, as well as in dysentery. Its intro-duction is interesting, and it certainly merits trial.MALTINE WITH CASCARA SAGRADA; MALTO-VIBURNIN;

MALTO-CARRAGEEN.

(THE MALTINE MANUFACTURING Co., BLOOMSBURY.)The ever-active Maltine Company send us three more

new combinations of maltine. Cascara sagrada, obtainedfrom the bark of the Californian Rhamnus purshianus, is a

valuable purgative and tonic. Dr. Garrod. recommends itfor chronic constipation, especially with haemorrhoids.Each fluid ounce of the maltine contains, one and a halffluid drachms of the fluid extracts. The usual dose is froma half to two fluid drachms. riburnin is the greenish-yellow bitter resin of the Viburnum prunifolium. The

peculiar constituents of malto-carrageen are yerbine, theactive principle of the Mexican yerba santa (Anemopsiscalifo rnica) and carrageen, or Irish moss. The mixture isemollient and expectorant.

EXTRACTUM PANCREATIS (Fairchild);PANCREATIC TABLETS (three grains) ;

PEPTONISING POWDERS IN GLASS TUBES (five grains).(BURROUGHS, WELLCOME, & Co., SNOW-HILL.)

BOTH the tablets and the tubes supply convenient meansfor the application of this well-known and valuable diges-tive agent. Each tube contains the quantity of powderrequired to peptonise sufficiently a pint of milk. We havetried this, following minutely the directions given, and inthree-quarters of an hour the milk had in the faintest

possible degree the peptonic taste. It was apparently butlittle changed, and we are convinced that infants wouldtake it easily. When the milk stood for some hours com-

plete peptonisation took place, and acetic acid no longeryielded a precipitate, but this is rarely necessary, and thebitter taste is a great objection. The tablets contain a con-venient dose for use in intestinal indigestion; one or twomay be taken an hour after meals. There can be no doubtas to the value of these preparations, or the trustworthinessof Fairchild’s extractum pancreatis.

TARASP.

(RICHARD DAVIES, MADDOX-STREET, LONDON.)

Tarasp is a natural aperient mineral water. It containe,according to our analysis, 116G grains per gallon of solidmatter, which consists chiefly of chlorides, sulphates, andcarbonates of magnesium and sodium. We also found

calcium, potassium, and lithium, and a notable quantity ofbromine. It is a very powerful aperient, and a completeanalysis of it would be interesting.

DEODORINE.

(W. T. SMITH & CO.)We have examined this preparation with great care, and

have been unable to discover any advantage that it possesses.It is a neutral and very weak solution, containing only0’337 per cent. of solid matter. Added in rather largequantities to a dilute solution of sulphuretted hydrogen, thesmell was not destroyed.

DRY SPARKLING COCA WINE.

(CORBYN, STACEY & Co., LONDON.)But that the coca taste is just perceptible, this might be

taken for ordinary dry champagne. It is an excellentstimulant, and is well adapted for those who suffer fromnervous exhaustion. It is evidently made from good cham-pagne, with a small infusion of coca extract.

BRAGG’S PURE FLOUR OF EGYPTIAN LENTILS; BRAGG’SPREPARED BAKED FLOUR FOR INFANTS AND INVALIDS.

(J. L. BRAGG, Wl&MORE-STRNET.)The microscope shows no trace of adulteration in these

samples. They are exactly what they are described to be.The alteration in the wheat starch granules effected by heatis easily observed.

CONDY’S POWDER.CONDY’S POWDER.

(COXDY & MITCHELL, LIMITED, TURNMILL-STREET.)

This is a powder containing a small proportion of alkalinepermanganate. It has no smell, and possesses of course theadvantages and disadvantages of the well-known Condy’sfluid.

DE JONG’S PURE AND SOLUBLE COCOA.

(DE ERVE H. DE JbNCr, WURMERVEER, HOLLAND.)This is an excellent cocoa, quite soluble in cold water, and

free from starch and excess of fat. It is a very concentratedpreparation.

684 THE PROPOSED RECONSTITUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

THE LANCET. LONDON: SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1887.

THE Special Committee of the Senate which has been 1

deliberating on the various proposals for reconstituting theUniversity of London, that have been suggested by theAssociation for promoting a Teaching University for London,and by the Special Committees appointed by Convocation,has at length presented its report to the Senate for con-sideration and approval. The scheme laid down in this

report will probably be adopted in all its importantparticulars, as it is recommended by a large and mostrepresentative committee including Sir E. FRY, ProfessorHUXLEY, and Sir JOHN LUBBOCK. It will thereforebecome the most important business at the ordinarymeeting in May, unless a special meeting of Convocationbe summoned for its consideration; but as an extraordinarymeeting at an early date is already contemplated for thediscussion of a communication from the Prince of WALES

on the Imperial Institute, and for taking steps for the

celebration of the jubilee of the University, the summoningof another special meeting is most unlikely and inconvenient.The new scheme differs from that drawn up by Sir E. FRY’sCommittee of Graduates, which would have materially c

increased the representation of the teaching element, and a

also from Sir P. MAGNUS’S modified scheme, which was (

passed by the Graduates in Convocation, and may be looked upon as a tertium quid, and will probably satisfy neither the teachers nor Convocation. Its production is, (

however, a distinct proof that the present constitution of the University does not satisfy the most active and

influential members of the Senate, and that the optimistic adulations of its work and mission which have alreadyappeared, and which will be repeated ad nauseam in this its Jubilee year, are not looked on as quite justifiableeven by the Senate itself. So far, the agitation for a localUniversity in London has borne good fruit, and has justifiedits existence. The nature of the changes contemplated bythe new scheme will be shown by a comparison of its

proposed objects and those of the University as it now exists.The original Charter of the University merely empowered

" certain persons eminent in literature and science " to act as

a board of examiners, and to confer degrees in all branchesof learning, except Divinity, on students in University andKing’s Colleges and some other affiliated institutions namedin the Charter; but in 1858 this restriction of studentship tocertain colleges and schools was abolished, save in thecase of candidates for medical degrees, and the Universitybecame an Imperial Examining Board open to all comers,collegiate or non-collegiate. In the scheme now proposedthe purposes of the University are to be so defined as

to include, "in addition to the existing purposes, the

promotion of regular and liberal education throughoutHer Majesty’s dominions, and especially in the metropolisand its neighbourhood." It thus aspires to do the duties ofboth an Imperial Examining Board and a local University.

We cannot conceive of the possibility of its combiningthese functions. A local University promoting regular andliberal education in the metropolis and its neighbourhoodmust control and regulate studentship and curricula of

study in the institutions within this area, whilst the

present University can never return to its early missionand demand regular certificates of study from its candi-dates. Either these certificates must be a sine qud nonbefore the degree can be conferred, as is the case in everyuniversity to which the name is properly applied, or theymust be altogether dispensed with, as at present in the

University of London. If teachers control the Universitydefinite courses of study will be imperatively laid

down, and attendance thereon for a suitable period willbe insisted on ; whereas if "certain persons eminent in

literature and science" continue to guide the fortunes ofthe University on the lines laid down by Lord BROUGHAM,and according to the views now predominant in Con-

vocation, it must remain an Examining Board open toall the world. We fear these changes, not altering thecharacter of the University, but merely, and to a small

extent, its ruling body, by allowing certain restricted powersto representatives of associated Colleges, will only serve asan excuse to delay the formation of a real Teaching Univer-sity in London. The details of these changes must be

left for further discussion in our next issue.

WHAT is fever? This-which is the commonest and most

constant indication of departure from health, which has inall time pressed itself upon the attention of the clinical

observer-remains at the present day almost as mysteriousas in the dawn of medicine. This ignorance certainly doesnot arise from lack of observation or experiment; and itcannot be said that hypotheses have ever been wanting. It

must be conceded, however, that hitherto no sufficientlysatisfactory explanation, which shall embrace the wholeseries of phenomena special to the febrile state, has beenafforded. Nay, even as regards the cause of the one moststriking phenomenon-the rise in the temperature of thebody-there is no common agreement. It is not so longsince the late Dr. MOXON, whose love of paradox was great,pointed out how little certain knowledge we possessed uponthe nature of fever, in a lecture published in this journal(THE LANCET, Dec. 2nd and 9th, 1882). We felt bound to

remonstrate with the line of argument he adopted, althoughthere was some justification for it, since few subjects havebeen more at the mercy of theorists or made more the sport ofingenious minds. It must, therefore, be deemed a fortunatecircumstance that we are enabled to review side by side themost recent teachings on the subject as developed in Dr.MACALISTER’S Gulstonian Lectures and Dr. MACLAGAN’S

essay on Pyrexia and Hyperpyrexia, which have justappeared in our pages. The standpoint of the two is

different, and their conclusions are not in entire accord; butthey represent the outcome of physiological teachingupon animal heat, and each suggest, according to theirrespective views, hypotheses more or less satisfactoryto explain the nature of fever. Of the two, Dr. MACLAGANtakes a somewhat wider view ; whereas Dr. MACALrsTER

presents us with the conditions of the problem expressed inthe terms of scientific analogy, and has, happily, availed