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being taken with domestic freezing machines which do theirwork on the same principle-that is, the alternate expulsionand reabsorption of ammonia. We do not remember a case

occurring before, so it may be assumed that the process is

fairly safe but that owing to a structural defect or

perhaps blocking of the pipes the unfortunate explosiontook place. -

THE OPENING OF LABORATORIES OF PHYSIO-LOGY AND PATHOLOGY AT LIVERPOOL.

IN our issue of Sept. 17th we gave a list of some of

those who are to be present at the opening of the new

Thompson-Yates Laboratories of Physiology and Pathology,on Saturday, Oct. 8th, at Liverpool. Additional names arethose of the Bishop of Liverpool, the Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge, the Presidents of the RoyalColleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh, and SirWilliam Turner. At three o’clock Lord Spencer, Chancellorof the Victoria University, will confer the degree of Doctorof Science upon Lord Lister in St. George’s Hall, after

which at half-past four the laboratories in University Collegewill be formally opened and inspected. After the ceremonytea and coffee will be served at the College.

SECONDARY HÆMORRHAGE FOLLOWING THEREMOVAL OF POST-NASAL ADENOID

VEGETATIONS.

IN the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, May 19th, I1898, Dr. W. Preble writes on this very unusual complica-tion. He removed vegetations from a girl aged eleven years.The bleeding was not severe. The operation was quitesuccessful and nasal breathing was restored. But on theseventh day a sudden haemorrhage occurred and the girl wasearried into the house fainting. Under cold syringing thebleeding stopped. It recurred and was stopped by pluggingthe posterior nares. On the eighth day a sudden gush ofblood came on and she <1ied before assistance could berendered. There was no history of hxmophilia. Dr. Preblehas collected 21 cases of serious primary haemorrhage afterthis operation (of which 4 proved fatal) and 5 cases of

secondary haemorrhage. Of the latter 3 of the patientswere French and 2 were Danish. There does not appear tobe any case of secondary haemorrhage recorded in Englishliterature.

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THE TRAVELS OF PROFESSOR KOCH.

UNDER the title of " Keise-Benchte " Professor Koch

has published 1 the text of the reports furnished byhim from time to time during the eighteen months of

his "roving commission" in Africa and India, where hewas engaged in investigating the rinderpest, the plague, andmalarial and other affections. They form an interestingvolume in which the main lines of his inquiries and theirresults are described with his customary lucidity. Professor

Koch was invited by the Cape Government to investigate therinderpest which had invaded the colony from the districtsnorth of the Zambesi. He arrived at Cape Town on Dec. 1st,1896, accompanied by his assistant, Dr. Kohlstock. Heestablished himself at Kimberley, in the vicinity of whichthe rinderpest was rife, and by the end of March, 1897, waswell advanced in his laboratory work upon a method of

protective inoculation for the disease. He was then

requested by the German Government to proceed to

Bombay to take charge of a scientific commissionwhich had been despatched thither to investigate bubonic

1 Reise-Berichte &uuml;ber Rinderpest, Bubonenpest in Indien undAfrika, Tsetse oder Surrakrankheit, Texasfieber, Tropische Malaria,Schwarzwasserfieber. Von Robert Koch. Berlin: Verlag von JuliusSpringer. (Reports on Rinderpest, Bubonic Plague in India and Africa,Tsetse or Surra Disease, Texas Fever, Tropical Malaria, and BlackwaterFever. By Robert Koch. Berlin: Julius Springer.) 1898. Obtainablefrom F. Bauermeister, foreign bookseller, Glasgow. Price 2s. 9d.

plague. Leaving his work on rinderpest immunisa-tion - already practically complete - in the hands ofDr. Kohlstock and Dr. Turner, the former being subsequentlyreplaced by Dr. Kolle, Professor Koch set out for Bombay.When he arrived on May 1st he found that the German Com-mission under Professor Gaffky had nearly finished their

labours, and by the end of June the Commission returned toGermany. Professor Koch, however, had in accordance withinstructions to proceed to German East Africa to investigatea disease resembling plague which had appeared there. Here,he says, he found a rich field for work, and whilst Dr.

Zupitza proceeded inland to collect material on the maladyin question he busied himself with studies on tropicalmalaria (which we propose to notice at greater length in afuture issue), Texas fever, and the Tsetse or Surra diseaseof cattle. It was in February, 1898, that he received atDaressalam, where he had established himself, materiawhich enabled him to declare the cases seen by Dr. Zupitzato be true bubonic plague. His labours were now at an end

and on May 20th he returned to Berlin. The reports nowpublished must, he says, be considered for the most part aspreliminary to more detailed accounts which he hopes toproduce when occasion serves. We fear that the new com-mission he has received to study malaria may delay theappearance of these more extended writings, and thereforeit is all the more satisfactory to have the present accountsof scientific work written at the time when the researcheswere in progress.

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NON-POISONOUS MATCHES.

ONE undoubted way of preventing phosphorus necrosis inmatch factories would be to eliminate altogether the yellowphosphorus in the manufacture of the match-head. The

difficulty is, however, to find a substitute which, like the

ordinary phosphorus match-head, will strike anywhere. The

safety match will, of course, not do this, the means

of producing ignition being the rubber on the box whichcontains non-poisonous or amorphous phosphorus. In other

words, the safety-match tip contains the elements of com-bustion while the rubber contains the excitant. Weare not prepared to admit that the entire adoption of

this system would be a source of serious inconvenienceto the public. However, several persons, prompted bythe publication of the recent cases of phosphoruspoisoning in certain match factories, have been seek-

ing for a composition which will do away entirely withthe use of poisonous phosphorus while at the same time itwill strike anywhere. No quite new direction in the prepara-tion of such a match appears to have been suggested. The

published composition of one in particular is the following :chlorate of potash, whitening, plaster of Paris, ground glass,glue, and amorphous phosphorus. There is reason to believethat red or amorphous phosphorus is not poisonous, for a caseis recorded in which a dog took as much as 7 oz. in twelvedays and remained without showing any signs of beingpoisoned. The only novelty in the above composition appearsto us to be the use of special diluents like whitening andplaster of Paris, which reduce the energy of the otherwiseviolent action between red phosphorus and chlorate of potash.These latter substances indeed form undiluted a very powerfuland dangerous explosive. It is this mixture which is used in

toy caps or the French am01’ces. By attenuating the mixturewith an inert powder such as whitening it is probablyrendered less active and therefore safe, while in the form ofa dry match tip it is said to strike anywhere. Now that

public opinion has been stirred in this matter it is probablethat attention will be given to non-poisonous matches withthe view of dispensing with the ordinary yellow phosphorus,the use of which involves unhealthy conditions to the opera-tives engaged in ordinary match-making. We have ceased

826

to look upon the match in the light of a luxury as in the 1flint, steel and tinder days of our forefathers, but the new Imatch must be satisfactory in all points before the publicwill take kindly to it.

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THE MALARIA COMMISSION.

THE Commission for investigating the various questionsassociated with malaria which has been appointed by theColonial Office and the Royal Society consists of the

following members :-Dr. C. W. Daniels, of British Guiana ;Dr. S. R. Christophers, of University College, Liverpool ; andDr. J. W. W. Stephens, John Lucas Walker Student inPathology in the University of Cambridge. Dr. Christophersand Dr. Stephens will proceed almost immediately to Paviato work in the laboratory of Professor Golgi and thence toRome to work in Professor Cetti’s laboratory. The Com-

mission will eventually proceed to Africa, when its first

work will in all probability be to determine the clinicalvarieties of malarial fevers occurring there.

LECTURES AND DEMONSTRATIONS FOR SANITARYOFFICERS AND STUDENTS.

A COURSE of lectures has been arranged by the SanitaryInstitute for the special instruction of those desirous of

obtaining knowledge of the duties of sanitary officers and ofother persons desirous of obtaining a practical knowledge ofsanitary requirements and regulations. The course will

consist of seventeen lectures delivered at the Parkes

Museum, Margaret-street, Regent-street, W., and will com-mence with a free introductory lecture on Oct. 17th.The lectures will be given at 8 P.M. every Monday,Wednesday, and Friday from Oct. 17th to Nov. 25th. The

lecturers for October are Sir Douglas Galton, Dr. Louis

Parkes, Dr. Herbert Manley, Dr. W. A. Bond, ProfessorA. Bostock Hill, Dr. J. F. J. Sykes, and Professor W. H.Corfield. Inspections and demonstrations have been

arranged in connexion with the lectures, and will includevisits to disinfecting stations, dairy premises, municipaldepots, artisans’ dwellings, offensive trades, waterworks,common lodging-houses, sanitary works in progress, refuseand sewage disposal works. There will also be demonstra-tions of meat inspection and diseased meat. The museumof sanitary appliances and the library will be opened freeto students attending the course. The fee for the courseis .E2 2s. Application should be made at once to Mr.E. White Wallis, secretary of the Institute, Margaret-street, W.

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THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT AND ENTERICFEVER.

AT the meeting of the Sanitary Committee of the LouthTown Council, held on Sept. 8th, the sanitary inspectorreported that on August 26th Mr. G. Briggs had been

notified by Mr. G. Gresswell as suffering from enteric feverand that the said Mr. G. Briggs had on Sept. 3rd wilfullyexposed himself while suffering from a dangerous and

infectious disease without taking proper precautions againstthe spread of infection in certain streets of the town. It

was resolved that proceedings should be taken underSection 126 of the Public Health Act of 1875 againstMr. Briggs. At a monthly meeting of the town council,held on Sept. 13th, this report of the committeewas submitted for confirmation and a long discussionarose about the above-mentioned case. Dr. Best, a

member of the town council, said that in his opinionit was dangerous to be in a railway compartmentwith a person suffering from typhoid fever. The medicalofficer of health said that Dr. Albert Gresswell had toldhim that there was no doubt about the diagnosis. On

the other hand, the Mayor said that Mr. George Gresswellhad written and said that there was no danger in the manbeing out and that Dr. Albert Gresswell had called upon him(the Mayor) and had said the same thing. Therefore he

thought that if they prosecuted Mr. Briggs the magistrateswould not convict. Eventually the matter was referred backto the committee. We should say that Mr. Briggs probablydid a great deal more harm by going out to himself than toanyone else. For all that, a person going about whilstsuffering from typhoid fever is undoubtedly a potentialsource of infection and it should be made plain that

" exposure " in the sense of Section 126 of the Public HealthAct of 1875 is illegal and should be punished. The danger,of course, of spreading infection is infinitely less in a caseof typhoid fever than in scarlet fever or typhus fever, butit exists for all that.

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HEALTH RESORTS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE.

THE public of Great Britain, and doubtless to a greaterdegree the public of other countries, still betray an almostcriminal slackness as to the sanitary conditions, equipment,.and administration of the health resorts " to which each

recurring summer the holiday-makers betake themselves.

Business men who, as members of their urban or rural

district councils, have, or ought to have, sanitary mattersconstantly before them, give not a thought to the drainage,the water-supply, or the isolation accommodation of the"health resorts to which at no small expense they sendtheir wives and their children. Much less do they takethe trouble to ascertain whether infectious diseases maybe prevalent in the locality, or if, perchance, the previousoccupants of the room or lodgings have suffered fromsuch diseases. What a reform might be brought aboutin the sanitation of many of our so-called "health-resorts " if, before selecting his annual camping-ground, thehead of the family were to ask for certain information fromthe local medical officer of health. Even if this course didnot commend itself to him he might, as Dr. Niven points outin his recent quarterly report on the health of Manchester,consult the Registrar-General’s quarterly return for informa-tion as to the deaths from infectious disease in each of the

principal watering-places of Great Britain, and thus avoidlocalities where these diseases have been recently prevalent.If parents will not take these very elementary and easyprecautions they must be prepared at times to pay the

penalty of their negligence.

THE VENTILATION AND WARMING OF DORMI-

TORIES, WORKSHOPS, ETC.

AN important report to the Local Government Board ha&recently been issued in the form of a blue-book on this

subject. The inquiry, which was obviously a practical one,was undertaken by Mr. W. N. Shaw, M.A., F.R.S., Lecturerin Experimental Physics in the University of Cambridge.The object of the inquiry was to ascertain whether, whereimprovements were found to be necessary, they could becarried out in such form that general principles might belaid down applying to the various requirements to whichthe guardians or managers to whom the schools belongmight give effect with the assistance of their respectivearchitects. The observations referred to dormitories,workshops, and other rooms in certain of the Metro-

politan Poor-law schools. The appendices contain details.of calculations and full particulars and notes as to

dimensions, aspects, &c., of the rooms indicated. The

report suggests not only the need of improvement andattention to provisions already made, but the possibility ofapplying better principles without any serious structuralalterations. The recommendations in many instances are

extremely simple; in other cases it is remarked that ordinary