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Annotations." Ne quid nimis."

THE LANCET RELIEF FUND.

THE annual report of the Almoners of this Fund will

be found on page 124. In the case of an institution such as

THE LANCET Relief Fund, founded for well-defined objects,the history of the past will form largely the experience ofthe future; and a retrospect of the incidents of the year’swork just concluded reveals no new features. The majorityof the cases brought to the notice of the Almoners are stillthose of the widow and orphans suddenly plunged into griefand distress by the loss of the husband and father uponwhose existence their own practically depended. The

details of these cases plainly reveal the struggle to makeboth ends meet which prevailed whilst the bread-winner wasyet alive. It is not easy to picture a more distressingposition than that of a mother of a family who, as sheturns away from the death-bed of her husband, almostbefore she has realised the severity of her own personallos, is compelled to contemplate the worldly side of that lossas she finds that the entire support of herself and of herchildren is gone. During the past year 73 applicationsfor assistance were received. Of these, 24 were relieved

by gifts of money ranging from ;E5 to .130, whichinvolved the expenditure of .S318. Many letters from

those who have benefited have again been received

- expressing gratitude for the prompt relief which has

enabled them to bear, and oftentimes to overcome,their difficulties. To those who have so ungrudginglyhelped us in carrying out the work of the Fund it is

again our privilege to make public acknowledgment ofour indebtedness-to Sir William Selby Church, Bart.,K.C. B., the President of the Royal College of Physiciansof London ; to Sir Henry Greenway Howse, the President

9f the Royal College of Surgeons of England (to whom,as one of our Almoners, we offer our congratulationsen the distinction of knighthood conferred upon him byHis Majesty the King) ; to Sir William Turner, K.C.B.,the President of the General Medical Council; and to theveteran Sir Henry Pitman, for many years the registrar ofthe Royal College of Physicians of London. The applicationform of THE LANCET Relief Fund will be found in our pre-sent issue and can be readily detached for use in case ofneed. We again take an opportunity of asking those of ourreaders who may have occasion to assist in furthering anyapplication made for relief to note carefully the conditionswhich entitle applicants to participate in the benefits of theFund, as it is still found that many requests are made inbehalf of cases outside the scope of its working. All

applications should be made on the prescribed form andshould be sent to the Secretary of THE LANCET Relief

Fund, THE LANCET Offices, 423, Strand, London, W.C.

THE NECESSITY FOR AMENDMENT OF THE

REGISTRATION ACTS.

IT is an indubitable fact that our very loose system ofregistration of deaths opens the door to both crime andfraud. The latest example of this which has come underour notice was the cause of an inquest held by Mr. S.

Brighouse, who is one of the county coroners for Lancashire,concerning the death of a child, aged two months, namedJames Gallagher. The coroner in opening the case relatedthe following remarkable story. The child was born onOct. 9th and was attended for illness by Mr. W. Hamilton

of Wigan. He last saw the child on Dec. 10th and onDec. 12th the mother told Mr. Hamilton that the childhad died that day. Mr. Hamilton therefore gave her thecertificate. On Dec. 13th the mother registered the deathand obtained a club paper by which she would be able todraw <E2 for funeral expenses. The registrar handed overthe burial certificate which the woman promptly lost.

Curiously enough, it was found the same evening by themanager of a firm of undertakers, Mr. Johnson. He calledthat same night at the address given and found that thechild was still alive. The mother demanded the certificateback but Mr. Johnson refused to part with it and handed itover to the police. On Dec. 13th the mother again went tothe registrar and said that she had made a mistake andthat the child had died at 2 A. m. that morning. The

registrar told her to get another medical certificate.On the 15th the representative of the undertaking firmcalled again and found the mother washing the child whowas still alive. On the 18th the mother appeared at the

registrar’s office with another certificate and the registrarpromptly forwarded the whole story to the police who com-municated with the coroner who ordered an inquest and apost-mortem examination. The mother, who gave evidence,said that she quite thought that the child was dead whenshe went for the first certificate. Mr. Hamilton, who hadattended the child, said that he gave the certificate on themother’s statement because from what he had seen of thechild he had every reason to anticipate his death. He had

made a post-mortem examination and had found the cause ofdeath to be pneumonia. The jury returned a verdict of

"Death from natural causes." As we understand that

proceedings may be taken against the mother we are

thereby precluded from commenting upon her conduct, butit is obvious from the facts which we have recounted that itshould be made obligatory for any medical man before

giving a death certificate to satisfy himself of the fact ofdeath. For such certificates a fee should be made legallypayable.

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SILLY ADVICE.

JUST recently a great deal has been heard from the

clergy as to their objections to having lay managersset over them to decide as to what they shall or shall notteach. This being so it is somewhat remarkable to finda parish priest going out of his way to advise unorthodoxtreatment in the case of illness. We have upon variousoccasions animadverted upon the conduct of religioushouses which sell some elixir or salve warranted to

cure all and sundry diseases ; we have also rebukedvarious clergy of the English Church for issuing circularsprescribing three drops of carbolic acid as a cure for"fever" or for undertaking medical treatment in other

forms. Such persons, however, though foolish, were of noinfluence outside their proper spheres and therefore not ofmuch importance. But from a correspondence which wehave had forwarded to us we are sorry to have to put onrecord a grave dereliction of duty on the part of a metro-politan parish priest who is by no means a fool, who is onthe contrary a brilliant writer, an able preacher, and whohas given up most of the good things of this world in

pursuit of his calling. It appears that a supporterof the Rev. Mr. - is afflicted with some incurabledisease of the oesophagus. The Rev. Mr. - there-

upon wrote to his supporter and said, "I I wish youwould try Mr. Simms, 36, High-street, Oxford, for yourtrouble you have which prevents you from swallowing. Hehas some wonderful stuff which has an effect in dispersing, growths’ of many kinds. I really think that it would beworth trying." The sufferer accordingly, at the earnest

request of his wife, wrote to Mr. Simms and receive-i an