1650

dying" are so few that necessarily but few phthisicalpatients can gain admission. It is therefore of the

utmost importance that the friends of the patients shouldbe made acquainted with the infectious nature of thedisease and it behoves every medical man attending suchcases to see that due precautionary measures against thespread of the malady are taken, the most important ofwhich are the reception and disposal of the sputa andthe treatment of linen which may become soiled bythem. These are too well known to our readers to needfurther explanation. -

ATAXY OF THE RIGHT ARM.

DR. OLMSTED gives an account in a recent number of theAmerican Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases of the caseof a man, twenty-seven years of age, who suddenly developeddiplopia associated later with slight failure of vision. Therewas apparently weakness of the right external rectus butno change in the fundi. About three months after theonset of diplopia he experienced numbness in the thumband in the index and middle fingers of the right hand,and a pricking sensation in the right lip and side of

the face. There was difficulty in writing. There was

nothing significant in his family or personal history. He

was a well-developed man with normal gait and appear-ance and with no evidence of disease of abdominal or

thoracic viscera. There was slight lateral nystagmus ondeviation; the pupils were equal and reacted normally. The

<right arm became, several months after he was first seen,distinctly ataxic and there was much impairment of muscularsense and later also of sensation to pain, although tactile sensi-bility remained unimpaired. The left knee-jerk was active,the right very sluggish, and it was also noticed that on

rising suddenly from a sitting to a standing posture there wasa tendency to go forward and a little to the right. The fieldsof vision were markedly contracted for both white and red,the contraction being greater in each temporal field. Thefundi appeared to be normal. Dr. Olmsted does not ventureon a diagnosis but promises to watch the case and reportits future progress. -

DIPHTHERIA AT GREAT YARMOUTH.

AN action was heard on Dec. 7th and 8th in the

Queen’s Bench Division, before Mr. Justice Lawrence and acommon jury, in which a tailor named Alexander sued atown councillor and a member of the Sanitary Committeeof Great Yarmouth, by name Foulsham, for breach of con-tract in neglecting to supply a sanitary water-closet to ahouse which plaintiff rented from defendant. It was allegedthat in consequence of this neglect two of the plaintiff’schildren contracted diphtheria and died. In March, 1894,the plaintiff and defendant entered into a verbal agreementwhereby the plaintiff agreed to take the house in questionand the defendant agreed to provide a water-closet and tofix it properly. The plaintiff entered into possession of thehouse and the closet was fixed, but according to the plaintiffthe work was improperly done. All the Alexander childrenwere attacked by sore throat and two of them died fromdiphtheria. The defendant denied the allegations and saidthat if the drains were defective they were rendered so bythe carelessness of the plaintiff. The two children who diedhad attended the Wesleyan school. The plaintiff said thatthe drain had been constantly flushed with water. Dr.Dudfield expressed the opinion from what he had heardin evidence that the children had caught diphtheriafrom bad drains. Mr. Hassall, the sanitary inspector,said that until diphtheria broke out no complaint had

been made as to the state of the plaintiff’s pre-mises. When he examined the place the drain was

blocked owing to want of flushing and the house and yard

were very dirty. The fall was quite enough. Dr. Bately, themedical officer of health of Great Yarmouth, and Sir HughBeevor, M.D. Lond., gave it as their opinion that the twochildren had contracted diphtheria from school infection. A

bricklayer said that he had found the drain upon one occa-sion stopped with a house-flannel. The jury found for theplaintiff, damages .cZ50. Counsel for defendant asked for a

stay of execution on the ground that the amount of damageproved could not amount in the circumstances to the sumawarded by the jury. A stay was accordingly granted.

A MEDICAL ALDERMAN OF THE CITY OFLONDON.

ON Dec. 8th the ratepayers of the Langbourn Ward met toelect a new alderman in the place of Sir Joseph Savory whohas succeeded to the position of Alderman of Bridge Withoutvacant by the death of Sir Stuart Knill. Sir John Lubbocknominated Dr. Thomas Boor Crosby who had been a memberof the Court of Common Council for twenty-one years. Mr.Fortescue Flannery, M.P., seconded the nomination, andthere being no further nominations Dr. Crosby was declaredduly elected, the election being unanimous. On Dr.

Crosby rising to accept the position he was receivedwith hearty applause. It is with the greatest pleasurethat we join our congratulations to those of Dr. Crosby’sbrother citizens, for it is no small pleasure to us to

be able to chronicle the election of a member of our

own profession to the ancient and honourable office ofan alderman of the City of London. Thomas Boor Crosbyreceived his medical education at St. Thomas’s Hospitaland qualified as L.S.A. and M.R.C.S. Eng. in 1852. In1860 he became F.R.C.S.Eng. by examination and in 1862graduated as M.D. at the University of St. Andrews.He has been President of the Hunterian Societyand chose for his presidential oration in 1871 the subject of" Modern Medicine." He is a Lieutenant for the County ofLondon and is in practice, together with his son, at

Fenchurch-street. We have lately seen a medical manChairman of the County Council and we now look forwardto the possibility of a member of the same noble professionreaching an even higher post-namely, that of Lord Mayorof London.

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MEDICAL RELIEF.

THE last of the course of eight lectures given at thePortman Rooms by various well-known medical men and

others interested in charitable work was delivered by Dr.J. B. Hurry on Dec. 9th, the subject being " The Self-supporting Dispensary and District Nursing Association."Dr. Hurry argued that the average working man cannotafford to pay for the expenses of a long illness out of his

ordinary wages. Hospitals and Poor-law relief do not

entirely meet the want and besides they tend to pauperisethose who should possess self-reliance and the wish to doall for themselves that they can. Medical attendance has, itis well known, been for years organised on a provident basisand in Dr. Hurry’s opinion the time has now come for

nursing to be provided on the same system. Dr. Hurry’smodel scheme is shortly as follows. The benefits of theinstitution can be enjoyed under three conditions. Firstly,those members who were desirous of laying by somethingagainst a rainy day could pay in small sums, weekly, wesuppose, as an insurance premium in the same way in whichordinary friendly societies are managed. Secondly, personswho have not insured beforehand can become members bypaying an entrance fee which should be high enough to makethe applicant consider whether it would not be wise in futureto become an insuring member by paying in beforehand.Thirdly, cases of emergency can obtain benefit by obtaininga subscriber’s letter which should represent a sum equal to