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his certificate is signed, in others mere attendance inan ophthalmic department is recognised as sufficient."This difference, they stated, engendered a feeling ofinjustice amongst students of different schools, andwas unsatisfactory from the point of view of uniformityin the standard of requisite knowledge. The experi-ence of the Irish universities and colleges showedthat there was no great difficulty in conductingan examination in ophthalmology as an intrinsicpart of the final examination for degree or diploma.After the recent Summer Session of the GeneralMedical Council, the Registrar informed the Councilof British Ophthalmologists that their letter had beenconsidered by the Examination Committee of theCouncil, and that the greater part of the communica-tion was printed in full in the report made by thatCommittee to the Council on June 1st.Among the recommendations of the Committee

adopted by the Council were the following :--That the Ministry of Health be informed that on Mav 25th,

1922, the Council made certain recommendations to theLicensing Bodies for the improvement of the medical curriculum,one of which was that each student should receive instruction,inter alia, in the diseases of the eye, refraction, and the use of the ophthalmoscope. The Council thereby anticipated thewishes of the Departmental Committee as set forth in theirreport, which was not published until the autumn of that year.That the Council of British Ophthalmologists be informed

that it is too soon to judge of the effect of the resolution recentlyadopted by the Council.

It was stated in evidence before the DepartmentalCommittee that some of the worst results of ophthalmianeonatorum occur in cases which have from thebeginning been under the sole charge of a medicalpractitioner. It may be left to the General MedicalCouncil, acting with the vigilant assistance of theCouncil of British Ophthalmologists, to terminate thecondition of affairs which allows such a statement tobe made.

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ELEVENTH INTERNATIONAL PHYSIOLOGICAL

CONGRESS, 1923.Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer, presiding at the

Eleventh International Physiological Congress, heldat Edinburgh this week, noted that the severalspeeches of welcome, addressed to the delegates byCaptain Elliot on behalf of the Government, by theLord Provost on behalf of the City, and by thePrincipal on behalf of the University had becomeprogressively more intimate, beginning with thecountry at large, passing to the city of Edinburgh,and ending with the University. It was his duty andpleasure, he said, to tender the most intimate welcomeof all, that of British physiology. They had beforethem a counterfeit presentment of the greatest of allBritish physiologists-William Harvey-and thePresident asked their acceptance, as a memento of theoccasion, of a medal which had been designed fromthis bust by Mr. Pilkington Jackson, who had alsornodelled the bust from Harvey’s authentic portraits.The President desired especially to associate the nameof Lister with the gathering in Edinburgh, partlybecause he was for several years professor of surgeryin the University, but chiefly on account of the factthat the researches which preceded his great discoverywere researches in pure physiology and were inspiredby that great teacher William Sharpey, who migratedin 1836 from Edinburgh to London and to whom thespeaker and many other British physiologists owed,directly or indirectly, their introduction to the science.Incidentally it was of interest that both Harvey andSharpey were born in the same town, Folkestone,although at an interval of more than 200 years. ThePresident then welcomed the members of the Congresson behalf of the countrymen of Harvey and Sharpeyand Lister, and noted with regret the loss of 22 workersin physiology or allied subjects who had died sincethe last Congress was held, among them being F. A.Bainbridge. Wilhelm Hofmeister, François Franck,and Augustus Waller. It was fortunate, he said,that the president of a physiological congress was notexpected to give an account of the progress of thescience since the preceding meeting. The task would,

indeed, be a difficult one in view of the complexityof the science and the small part of it any one personcould be expected to master. There was, however,a particular subject which was arousing an extra-ordinary amount of interest, not only amongstphysiologists and physicians, but amongst the generalpublic. The subject concerned the internal secretionof the pancreas and was especially connected with theactivities of the Toronto School. On this accountthe Committee of the Congress had invited Dr.J. J. R. Macleod, the distinguished professor ofphysiology in the University of Toronto, to lecture tothe Congress on Insulin. The President then invitedProf. Macleod to read his address, of which an

abridged version will be found on p. 198 of our

present issue. ____

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE VACCINATION

ACTS.

THE present epidemic of small-pox in parts of thecountry emphasises the importance of securing theproper administration of the Vaccination Acts,and the necessity of ensuring that exemption fromvaccination is only obtained in conformity with thelaw. The Minister of Health has issued to boardsof guardians a statement of the legal provisions inthis connexion ; cases have been brought to hisnotice in which statutory declarations of conscientiousobjection to vaccination have been accepted by vacci-nation officers, although they have been made by someperson other than the legal guardian of the child, andvarious other irregularities have occurred which, he isadvised, render the statutory declaration of no effect.In some districts the prosecution of defaultershas entirely ceased. The statement points out thefollowing facts : -In ordinary circumstances the father is the person having the

custody of a legitimate child, and the obligation therefore restsupon him unless, by reason of his death, illness, absence orinability, or for any other cause, the mother or some otherperson has the custody of the child. The Vaccination Act of1907 provides that no parent or other person shall be liableto any penalty under Section 29 or Section 31 of the Vacci-nation Act of 1867 if within four months of the birth of thechild he makes a statutory declaration that he conscientiouslybelieves that vaccination would be prejudicial to the health .of the child, and within seven days thereafter delivers orsends by post the declaration to the vaccination officer ofthe district. It is clear, therefore, that if the father hasthe legal custody of a child and neglects to cause thechild to be vaccinated, he is not exempt from penaltyunless he himself makes a declaration of conscientiousobjection.The Minister considers it important that vaccination

officers should be accurately informed as to the lawon this point, and that the responsibility of parentsand guardians should be made absolutely clear.The statement also points out that a vaccinationofficer should scrutinise every statutory declarationwhich he receives with a view to satisfying himselfthat the declaration is in all respects in order, and thatthe duty of taking proceedings for enforcing theprovisions of the Vaccination Acts is imposed uponvaccination officers without any directions from theMinistry or the guardians,’ but it enjoins that theguardians should ascertain from time to timewhether those officers are performing these duties,and report to the Minister any case of continuedneglect on the part of a vaccination officer. In presentcircumstances the Minister considers it essential thatproceedings should be taken in every case of default.An Order has been made under the Vaccination Acts

prescribing a new form of notice of the requirementof vaccination, in substitution for Form A contained inthe First Schedule to the Vaccination Order (No. II.),1907. The effect of the Order is to eliminate fromForm A the form of statutory declaration, and to pro-vide that forms for this purpose may be obtained fromvaccination officers. The Order will come intooperation on Sept. 1st next, and the necessary formswill shortly be forwarded to registrars of births anddeaths, and to boards of guardians for distribution tovaccination officers.