1087IN THE WAKE OF THE CONGRESS.

the rapid growth of commonplace modern buildings ; but

to the lover of art, mediasval and ancient, Rome must

be a source of unlimited delight and priceless instruc-

tion. It is in sculpture especially that her premierposition is most evident. The Museo Vaticano and the

Capitol contain the most precious products of the Greek

chisel which have come down to us. The Apollo Belvidere,the Laocoon, the Torso of Hercules, the Antinous, the DyingGladiator, the Capitoline Venus, and the Faun of Praxitelessilence all criticism, and give us the most vivid impressionof the exquisite delicacy of touch, the lucidity, the per-fection of the highest Greek genius in art. In comparisonwith these faultless works even the masterpieces of mediaevalpainting, powerful and impressive as they are, show a

deficiency in delicacy and self-restraint. The grand secretof Greek art-power with repose, emphasis without over-accentuation-has been in a large measure denied to themoderns; but we may admit this and still reserve a fullmeasure of appreciation for the mighty tumult of a geniuslike that of Michael Angelo.Rome has seen many strange sights, but few, we think,

more pregnant with possible benefit to humanity than theinternational parliament of science. We do not wish to setundue store by the obvious and immediate fruits of such agathering, which may well be somewhat scanty ; but surelyit is a most significant omen that thousands of the most- educated men of all the civilised nations should meet togetherunder the shadow of the Seven Hills on terms of mutual

amity and consideration to discuss what can be done proutilitate hominum. Such a gathering may fail in manypoints-and most of all through its very magnitude-but itis not quixotic to regard it as one of the rays foretelling thedawn of the time of universal peace, amity, and brotherhood.

(FROM A HOLIDAY CONTRIBUTOR.)

April 20th. jIF ever I was inclined to dispute Sir George Cornewall

Lewis’s well-known paradox it was after the close of the J

International Congress of Medicine and Surgery, when, emancipated from the Policlinico and its business, I i

started off on the hydrological excursions organised with a view to letting the Congressisti see for themselves the balneary resources of Italy and its islands. These excur- sions, indeed, were among the redeeming features of Ithat mighty, memorable, but by no means well-managed, 1veunion, and, though modestly posing as "recreation" or i"amusement," were in fact more fraught with practical Iinstruction than other more pretentious gatherings in the (programme, c

Nothing could have been more cordial than the reception accorded us by the Neapolitan Town Council or more r

happy than the address delivered in the Municipal Hall a

by the Syndic, Count del Pezzo. " Naples, " he said to his imultitudinous audience, numbering inter alios more than

seventy foreign Congressisti, " Naples always receives such r

guests with joy. Her choicest intellects have contributed a

with energy and power to the sciences that constitute the r

Encyclopaedia of Medicine and have held aloft and respected a

the banner of the Salernitan school. Why speak of Marco Aurelio Severino, of Tommaso Cornelio, of Lionardo p’da Capua, of Cirillo, of Cotugno, of Salvatore de Renzis, Iand of Tommasi? These names belong to the history of c

medicine, and are less interesting to us to-day than those 1past Neapolitan hydrologists-Iasolino and Maranta in the Ssixteenth, and Ausilio and Lanzani in the eighteenth, cen- Sturies." Turning to the sanitary rehabilitation of Naples as s

a special reason for welcoming visitors professionally qualified vto appreciate it, he dwelt on the lessons her medical engineers fhad derived from the great transalpine schools, and closed n

with a loudly applauded eulogy of the international character o

now assumed by all such undertakings in which humanity s

has at once a common interest and a common fruition. The bPrefect and Senator Signor Municchi followed with a most tiopportune sketch of Italy’s actual position in hydrological

science and balneary resources, and showed that in the newdeparture she was taking in this yearly progressing branchof the healing art she was simply reviving a Roman tradition,a tradition followed up by masters among the moderns likeCabanis, Fontenelle, and Montesquieu, who demonstratedthe influence of climate on the human race in health as wellas in disease. The meeting then proceeded to business (oneof the items of which was a telegram from his ExcellencyDr. Baccelli, conveying his deep regret that for weightycabinet reasons he could not participate in the excursions ofthe Nineteenth Section of the International Congress) andconcluded by resolving that the next Hydrological Congressdo meet in France at Clermont-Ferrand in 1897.Next day, magnificent in point of weather, saw us trans-

ported by train to Agnano. Arrived at the delightfullake of that name we had time to examine the springsof that prolific basin, particularly the so-called "Stufe"of San Germano, wherein the hot sulphur vapour (180° F.)issuing from the soil is collected for the treatment of therheumatic and gouty cases from the Neapolitan infirmaries.The famous Grotta del Cane was also visited, but the impres-sion of most interest was that formed by the "SorgentiTermo-Minerali" of Agnano itself (95° to 165°), resemblingthose of Vichy and Aix-la-Chapelle, used for bathing as wellas for drinking, and reinforced by mud baths of sulphur andiron. Before leaving this enchanting spot-a favourite onein classical times-Dr. De Santis presented each of us withhis learned monograph " Sulle Notizie Storiche, Archeo-

logiche, e Geologiche di Agnano. "The next halt was made at Chiatamontone, now fitted

up in the completest modern style for all cases in which thelocal waters require to be supplemented by electro-thera-peutics and massage-the latter adjunct to treatment havinglately been enriched by new appliances devised by ProfessorVolpe, a pupil of the celebrated Cantani, and for sometime assistant to Dr. Schreiber. A sumptuous repast in the" Stabilimento " prepared us for the next places of hydro-logical pilgrimage-Garuti, with its novel methods for themanufacture of oxygen for therapeutic purposes, andGariglia, another well-appointed "Stabilimento," rich invarious mineral-waters and provided with a "camera pneu-matica" for certain stubborn cases, an aid to treatmentunique, we were told, in Naples.But the day following this one was the most enjoyable,

including, as it did, under the divinest of azure skies, a seapassage from the Immacolata-wharf to Casamicciola in theIsland of Ischia. Two hours of a glorious series of viewsenjoyed from the deck of the Vittoricz, and taking in all thefinest effects of the incomparable bay, brought us to Casa-micciola itself, now smiling its sunniest, as if quite obliviousof the fearful earthquake that left it a mass of ruins in theJuly of 1883. At 10 30 A M. we were graciously received bythe Syndic in the noble Stabilimento of the Pio Monte dellaMisericordia, from which, having inspected its novel andhighly effective appointments, we proceeded to the not lessimposing edifice of the Belliazzi, constructed so as to drawperennial supplies from the famous Gurgitello, a source

(162°) containing, in rich proportion, carbonate and muriateof soda and a large quantity of free carbonic acid gas.The Congressisti then inspected, point by point, thenatural " Stufe," including that celebrated one adorned withstatue of the Virgin at the instance of Pope Innocent XIII.

in 1717, in gratitude for the thorough cure his Holinessierived from the Gurgitello. From this another start wasmade to the "Stabilimento Piesco," at the Manzi waters,

fine building in the gay, almost gaudy Pompeian style,*ich in "vasche" (marble-lined pools) and hydro-therapeuticappliances and deservedly resorted to by a European clientele,argely of German nationality. The medical resources of the

place having been duly noted, the next move was to thePiccola Sentinella, the hotel now occupying the site of thatold one so completely ruined by the earthquake of July,L883. Dr. Vinai of Turin, President of the NineteenthSection (Hydrology) of the International Congress, gave theirst toast-" Casamicciola and its future." He was re-

sponded to, in excellent Italian, by the venerable Dr. Labat,who spoke for the brotherhood of the nations. Other speeches’ollowed in various languages, Italian, however, predomi-nating, even when the toast fell to the lot of a Swissr German Cosgressista. The company then broke up,some for a carriage drive to the Porto d’Ischia, others on)oard the Vittoria to make a short cruise round the island,.ill at 6 P M. it reassembled for the passage home-a delight-’ul experience, rich in ineffaceable memories of the noblest

1088 CHOLERA.-THE PROPOSED NILE RESERVOIRS.

of Mediterranean gulfs commanded by the burning mountaindown whose verdant side streamed a sash of volcano vapourfine as the most silvery gossamer.

Another excursion on the same day was that to the islandof Capri-an excursion, however, which I did not join.Besides the picturesque attractions of the spot, enhancedby its historic connexion with the last years of the EmperorTiberius, of which such dramatic incidents are related bySuetonius, the event of the day was the speech (so I was

told) of Professor Todaro, Professor of Anatomy in the RomanUniversity and President of that department at the Inter-national Congress. It was at a banquet given to the Con-gressisti at the Quisisana Hotel, and its chief pointswere these : Early in this century the riches of the Gulf ofNaples for naturalists came to be appreciated by localinvestigators, and their reports attracted the special noticeof Cuvier, from whom the reported riches were communi-cated, always with fresh increment, through Milne Edwardsto Quatrefuges. Another and still mightier name to beattracted to the Gulf was Johann von Miiller ofBerlin, the most encyclopaedic of biologists, who, longinterested in the inferior vertebrata, had written a

classical monograph on them. A contemporary of his,Oronzio Costa of Naples, an investigator of rare powers, haddiscovered in these waters the amphioxus, already known toBritish and Russian naturalists as the Brane7tiostonta lanceo-latum. Costa recognised its true nature, and described it asthe first and lowest of the vertebrata. His description atonce engrossed von Muller’s attention, insomuch that he hadbarely read it when he said to his wife, "My dear, you mustcome with me to the Bay of Naples." Travelling in thosedays was effected by diligence, and it was not till after someweeks that the great German biologist and his lady reachedthe bay. Alighting at the Albergo di Roma at SantaLucia, he sent at once for a mariner to get him a

specimen of the amphioxus. This man turned out to beCosta’s own mariner, Giovanni by name, who forth-with in the grey morning, as the result of a "miraculousdraught " under Posillipo, obtained the animal and broughtit to von Muller, who was still in bed. Overjoyed with hispossession, von Miiller put it at once into alcohol, woke hiswife, who, tired with the long journey, was sleeping pro-foundly, and said, "My dear, get up immediately, we aregoing back to Berlin." " Von Muller’s enthusiasm was caughtup by his compatriot Krohn, who from his sojourn at Messinain 1844 drew his German friends to those waters, tilt year byyear, each spring and autumn, the Teutonic universities sentrelays of young naturalists to that seaboard-among themAnton Dohrn-a most accomplished student of nature, towhom we owe the scientific institute founded at Naples andopened in 1873. Since that year the Stazione Zoologicabecomes more and more the resort of biologists, and now thereis hardly a seat of learning in Europe which does not con-tribute to its maintenance in return for facilities affordedto the student for prosecuting research.On the 10th inst. took place the excursions to the imme-

diate environs, as they may now be called, of Naples-Torre Annunziata and Castellammare. These, highly successful astrips, were rather social than professional in their interest,and, while furnishing ample testimony to the improvement ofNeapolitan hotels and health resorts, need not be furthermentioned here. Of far more real importance to the medicalvisitor was the expedition on the day following to Telese,near Benevento, a spa for rheumatic and rheumatoid

patients on the main line of railway, supplied, moreover,with a "Stabilimento" as elaborately and effectively ap-pointed as any in the peninsula or islands. Telese, thoughduly noted and briefly described in the guide-books, deservesto be better known, and I was sorry that the Congressistihad by this time dwindled down to a skeleton of their

original phalanx, the bulk of them, no doubt, attracted tothe Tuscan resorts, at which magnificent preparations fortheir reception were on foot. Those of them, however, whostayed behind to accept the courteous invitation of the autho-rities of Benevento had no reason to repent their decision.One advantage of Telese, which it owes to its fine positionand its deliciously fresh air, is its capabilities for summervilleggiatura during months when even its maritime rivalsare beyond endurance sultry.

(To be concluded.)

THE PARKE MEMORIAL.-Mr. Percy Wood hasbeen commissioned to execute the bronze statue of Surgeon-Major Parke which is to be erected to the memory of thatlate distinguished officer.

CHOLERA.

Wn regret to observe that there are several indications thatour warnings and forecast as to the probable revitalisation.and progress of epidemic cholera during the present year are-.likely to turn out correct. As our readers must have

observed, there have already been fresh manifestations ofthe disease in several places, and such appearances in spring,are unfortunately often the precursors of other manifesta-tions on a larger scale later, although not necessarily atthe same places or confined to the same districts as those ir,which the earlier cases have appeared.According to official reports from Warsaw cholera has

again appeared in several parts of Russian Poland, in the-frontier government district of Plock, in the city of Warsaw,and in the Husiatyn district of Galicia. The results of

bacteriological investigations are stated to be confirmatoryof the nature of the disease. Fatal cases of cholera occurred,in North-East Galicia close to the Russian frontier as earlyas the 7th inst. Precautionary arrangements are stated tohave been taken with the view of localising the disease.No fresh intelligence has reached us from Turkey and

Constantinople as to the further progress of cholera there"and we may therefore hope that, for the present at any rate,the epidemic has only manifested itself on a very limited,scale or in sporadic form, as is frequently the case at this.early season.As regards the outbreak at Lisbon, the disease seems to.-

have prevailed to an extent out of all proportion to its fatalityor severity, for the number of deaths compared with thetotal number of persons attacked appears to have been.small. It is said, however, that the comma bacilli have;been discovered in the excreta of several of the sufferers.It would seem that the disease, as so commonly happens,had made its appearance several days before its existence-was reported or possibly suspected. The first cases arei

said to have occurred in the Alcantarà suburb, and to havespread thence to other districts of Lisbon. The water-

supply of the city is understood to be in a very unsatisfactorycondition, and if we may form a judgment from the accountswhich have been so far published of the outbreak, it wouldappear to be a mild form of choleraic disease attributable towater poisoning of some kind. It is evidently not a virulent eform of outbreak of Asiatic cholera, or the proportion ofdeaths would be larger than they are represented to havebeen. Sanitary precautions have been, or are being, takenon the frontier, and lazarets have been established at,

Badajoz, Valencia de Alcantarà, and Salamanca. Quarantine,has been established on all arrivals from Lisbon and the

country around the Portuguese capital. Measures of quaran-tine are almost of necessity adopted too late, even if previousexperience had demonstrated their assured efficacy. If onlJ1the money that is spent in their organisation and establish-ment, with that which is lost in trade and commerce, were’laid out in securing a really good water-supply for the popu -

, lation before any cholera had made its appearance, it seems

: to us that much good would be practically effected.

THE PROPOSED NILE RESERVOIRS.

ADVERTING to our remarks last week, we need make noapology to our readers for returning to this important subjectin connexion with a map which we have had prepared inorder to elucidate and facilitate its description.

It will be seen that we are concerned with two proposals--viz., the Wady Rayan scheme for a reservoir not far fromCairo; the other, the Nubian, for one at and beyond Assouanclose to the First Cataract. So far as we understand thematter, it is proposed, as regards the former, to take advan-tage of a natural depression at Wady Rayan and make alarge reservoir there, into which the water can be diverted bymeans of a canal from the river and stored up during the seasonof high Nile, when the volume of water is greatest and its.quality of the best. In this reservoir the water would be

purer and have a greater depth, but it would be more

stationary than in that of the Nubian reservoir, andCairo and its vicinity would be more directly benefited:The Nubian reservoir, on the other hand, would be

created in the bed of the river above Assouan by