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thoroughly satisfactory manner of the facilities thus offereddepends, I repeat, on the provision of sufficient water and onthe intelligent understanding by the inhabitants of the

purport of drainage. The British people were just as ignorant.as the Egyptians, and far less docile and easy to teach.Nevertheless, though there are still dirty and careless peoplein England who degrade and destroy the sanitary accom-modation provided for them, the construction of sanitaryclosets has, on the whole, worked well and largely contri-buted to the notable reduction in the death-rate. There isno reason why, with the exercise of tact and by carefulteaching, that which has been done in England should not belikewise achieved in Egypt.

BRISTOL AND THE WESTERN COUNTIES.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The University of Bristol.AT a recent meeting of the Bristol city council it was

- decided, with hardly any opposition, to support the

University by a rate of 1d. in the E. This will mean anaddition to the University income of £7000 per annum ;£4000 will go to meet ordinary expenditure, while f:3000 areto be reserved for special purposes, particularly scholarshipsand exhibitions. By the recently published will of the lateSir Frederick Wills the University funds are to receive£5000. The scheme for the establishment of a hostel forwomen students has now gone so far that arrangements arebeing made to open a hall of residence in time for the comingsession. It is hoped to begin in commodious premises, witha large sunny garden, situated in a high and healthy part ofClifton. The hall will provide separate study-bedrooms,common rooms, library, and all the essential requirementspossessed by the women’s colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.

17Ie Bristol Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Women.The annual meeting of the Ladies’ Auxiliary" of this

institution was held on April 27th. The report showed thatduring 1908 34,620 houses had been canvassed by ladies andthe record sum of L823 collected.

Sanitary Inspectors’ Association.The quarterly meeting of the south-western centre of

the Sanitary Inspectors’ Association was held at the Guild-hall, Bath, on May lst. The delegates were received bythe Mayor of the city. Mr. Moss-Flower opened a dis-cussion on "The Need or Otherwise of the InterceptingTrap in House Drainage." Subsequently the old Romanbaths and the modern bathing establishment were inspectedby the visitors, who were entertained by the Mayor.

Death Certification by a Midwife.An inquest was held at Crowlas, Cornwall, on April 26th,

relative to the death of the twin children of a local miner.Evidence showed that the mother of the children wasattended in her confinement by a registered midwife andthat one child died two days after birth and the other livedsome five days later. The midwife gave a certificate that thechildren had died owing to premature birth, and the grave-digger of Crowlas Cemetery buried the children on the" authority" of this certificate. Eventually the coroner

ordered the exhumation of the bodies and a post-mortemexamination. The medical evidence showed that death wasdue in both cases to congenital inanition. The coroner (Mr.E. Boase) said that the midwife had behaved in an extra-ordinary manner and he should report her to the county com-mittee as being unfit to be entrusted with a certificate, andhe should draw the attention of the local authorities to thenecessity of framing regulations for the management of thecemetery, as the grave- digger had stated in his evidence that" he considered he could bury six weeks’ old children, whichhe termed stillborn, upon the certificate of a nurse." Thejury returned a verdict in accordance with the medicalevidence and added riders endorsing the views of thecoroner.

The Taunton Association to Aid Consumptives."The annual meeting of the friends of the "Taunton

Association to Aid Consumptives " was held recently, underthe presidency of Dr. H. T. Rutherfoord. The report statedthat nine patients had been admitted to the sanatoriumduring the past year and ten patients had been discharged.

The financial statement was satisfactory and showed a

favourable balance.National Poor-law Officers’ Association.

The Devon and Cornwall Branch of the National Poor-lawOfficers’ Association held its quarterly meeting at Bodminon April 24th, when Mr. J. Pethybridge delivered an interest-ing address dealing with the proposals of the Poor-lawCommission. After some discussion the general opinion ofthe members was that the suggested change in Poor-lawadministration was not desirable.

The Exeter City Asylum.At a meeting of the Exeter city council held on

April 28th the resolution which was passed at a previousmeeting to enlarge the City Asylum at a cost of E10,000 wasrescinded by 27 votes to 22.

The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Bath.The annual meeting of the governors of the Royal Mineral

Water Hospital, Bath, was held on May lst under the

presidency of Colonel M. Ricketts. The report stated thatas the year closed on Dec. 31st last instead of in March asheretofore, the period under review was therefore only ninemonths. During that time the daily average number ofin-patients was 144, compared with 147 in 1907-08. Therehad been a slight increase in annual subscriptions anddonations but a deficit balance of E1018 remained. Thecommittee regretfully records the death of Dr. CharlesCoates who had been connected with the hospital for so

many years.May 3rd.

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BIRMINGHAM.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

A IJefWiency in Medical Inspection Reports.MEDICAL inspection reports from various surrounding

towns and districts continue to appear and are published ina more or less abbreviated form. All the published reportsshow a certain average of bodily and mental defects whichmight have been thought to be easily recognisable withoutthe expensive machinery now at work, yet none give anysatisfactory account of the relation of defects to the bodilyphysique, though occasionally, as in Dr. W. C. Garman’srecent report for Wednesbury, a statement appears thatthe children are below the normal standard and theaverage height and weight is given. No general attempthas yet been made to show any correlation betweenthe unsatisfactory physique and the actual bodily de-ficiencies, and still less has there been any attemptto estimate the relationship of the physique of the childrento that of the parents and to the staple employmentsof the district. At present, it would seem, a large Stateorganisation is engaged in performing the duties of the

parents, for any ordinarily thoughtful and careful parents,considerate of and desirous for the welfare of their children,would readily recognise the majority of the disabilities men-tioned in the published records of medical inspection, andwould have them attended to either by their own medicaladviser or at one of the numerous medical charities. If theirnatural inclinations do not induce them to exercise proper .

parental care, parents should be stimulated to their dutiesby the imposition of penalties for neglect rather than

encouraged to neglect them and transmit them to a Stateorganisation, and they might also be called upon to reportto the proper authorities any physical or mental disabilitieslikely to interfere with education. If this were done thenthe scientific skill at present largely occupied in mere re-cording could be utilised to investigate the relationshipbetween the physical condition of the children and theirenvironment and heredity, an investigation which promisesmuch more useful information to the State than that which is

published in this neighbourhood as the results of medicalinspection.

The Women’s Hospital.Three very satisfactory features are noticeable in the

annual report of the W’omen’s Hospital. They are thereduction of the death-rate to 0 - 77 per cent., a diminishedexpenditure, and an increasing income. The total number ofnew and old patients treated was 18,845, or almost 1200 lessthan in the previous year. The number of new out-patientswas 3573, being 181 more than in 1907. 742 in-patients