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and we understand that a movement has just been originatedby Mr. E. Arnold, J.P., and others for the purpose of

forming an aid society in Wellington, New Zealand.

Such a project cannot fail to command the sympathyof all who have the good of their fellow men at heart.

It is a matter for thankfulness that good qualities, as

a rule, die hard, probably harder than moral defects. The

worst men are not wholly evil and the inmates of our prisons,in spite of the strength of temptation, are often by no meansthe worst men. There is always ground for hope that if metin a proper spirit and helped in time they will turn over thenew leaf and write on it something to their own credit andthat of humanity.

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THE DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.

IN a work planned on such a large scale as was the

Dictionary of National Biography it was to be expected thatcertain errors would creep in. A supplement containing sofar as is known all the necessary errata has been preparedfor presentation to the subscribers of the dictionary and thework has been carried out by the editor at the instance ofMrs. George M. Smith. The work, it will be remembered,consists of 63 volumes ending with Zuylestein and threesupplementary volumes were issued in the early autumn of1901. Those persons who have purchased the Dictionary ofNational Biography since the original edition came out willfind that in several cases errata mentioned in the supplementnow before us have been incorporated in the text of thereprinted volumes. The corrections, of course, deal mainlywith misprints, errors in dates, and other statements of fact,but certain additional information is given and naturally theerrata are indispensable to everybody who already possessesa copy of this invaluable and fascinating work.

EFFECTS ON THE BLOOD PRESSURE OF THERABBIT OF THE INJECTION OF THE

BLOOD OF VARIOUS ANIMALS.

RESEARCHES on the effects of the intravenous injection ofthe blood of various animals into the rabbit have been made

during the present year by M. G. Mioni in the University ofGeneva and the results are recorded in the Comptes Rendus dela ,Societe de Biologie for June. He experimented with theblood of the ox, the dog, the cat, the guinea-pig, and the rat.The blood was defibrinated. The globules were twice washedwith a saline solution and after subsidence they weredissolved in double their volume of distilled water. Thefluid was then reduced to an isotonic condition by theaddition of the required volume of a concentrated salinesolution and this extract of the globules was injected.The injection was made into the jugular vein andthe pressure in the carotid artery was measured. Theeffects differed with the different kinds of blood and

M. Mioni was able to establish the existence of three

groups. In the first group, comprehending the ox, the

dog, and the cat, no appreciable effect on the blood

pressure was observed to be exerted by the injection of theextract of these blood globules ; in the second group, in-

cluding the guinea-pig and the rat, the injection was, as a rule,without effect but sometimes lowered the blood pressure ; andin the third group, comprising the pig and the sheep, a well-marked depressive action was always visible. In the spaceof from about 45 to 50 seconds after the injection of theextract of the blood of these two animals into a rabbit itbecame excited, the blood pressure fell to 35-45 millimetres ofmercury, and the breathing became rapid. In some instancesin the course of a quarter of an hour gradual recovery tothe normal state took place ; in others the pressure fell stilllower, the respiration became dyspnceic, and convulsions soonfollowed by death occurred. It was remarkable, however,that if the animal recovered from the first injection a

second injection produced no appreciable effect on the bloodpressure. Post-mortem examination showed that the bloodof the rabbit operated on was liquid without any trace ofcoagulation in any part. The left heart was empty.

PROFESSOR ROBERT KOCH.

IN pursuance of an arrangement mentioned by our Berlincorrespondent in THE LANCET of July 23rd, p. 258, ProfessorKoch has, at the beginning of October, retired from his

position as director of the Berlin Institute for Infectious

Diseases. It is expected that in a few months he will pro-ceed to German East Africa for the purpose of continuinghis investigations of various tropical diseases, especiallythose communicated to cattle by the insects known as ticks.

"THE LAST DAYS OF SPECTACLES."

UNDER the above or a similar title some of our non-

medical contemporaries have lately given prominence to astatement that "Dr. Stephen Smith, ophthalmic surgeon tothe Anti-Vivisection Hospital, Battersea," has discoveredand has given a "public demonstration of " some methodof manipulating the eyeball by which he asserts that itsfaults of shape can be corrected and that consequently allerrors of refraction can be cured. It is somewhat difficultto imagine that any self-respecting member of the medicalprofession would give a "public demonstration" of thecharacter described; but all things are possible, and beforeattempting to judge of Mr. Stephen Smith’s alleged dis-

covery we will wait for it to be communicated to thecolumns of a medical journal, to the OphthalmologicalSociety, or to some other suitable professional tribunal.In the meanwhile we cannot avoid pointing out that

manipulation of the eyeball, under the name of

"massage," has been extensively practised both in this

country and on the continent for several years, and that

hitherto, so far as we are aware, no suggestion that it

could alter the shape of the globe, still less that it couldalter it in either of the two opposite directions of making ahypermetropic eye deeper and a myopic eye less deep, hasever previously been advanced, while the accuracy of such asuggestion is, we need hardly say, in the highest degree im-probable. It is much to be regretted that non-medical

journals should give publicity to such statements as thosewhich Mr. Stephen Smith is reported to have made and wecannot but think that some moral responsibility attachesto editors who suffer themselves to become the means of

bringing probably unfounded or mistaken assertions pro-minently under the notice of ignorant people.

VAGRANCY AND SMALL-POX.

AT a meeting of the Metropolitan Asylums Board heldon Oct. lst a letter was read from the London CountyCouncil stating that the corporation of Newcastle-on-Tynehad drawn the attention of the Council to the spread ofsmall-pox in England and Wales through the agency of

vagrants and had suggested that the Council should convenea conference of the sanitary authorities of England and Walesto consider the question which, the corporation stated, hadassumed such dimensions as seriously to threaten publichealth and morals. Copies of the report on the subjectby Dr. H. E. Armstrong, the medical officer of health of

Newcastle-on-Tyne, were inclosed in the report from the

corporation. This report contained a summary of repliesfrom 126 provincial medical officers of health made in answerto a circular letter on the question. From these repliesit appeared that in 57 out of 111 districts, each having apopulation of 20,000 and upwards, which had been invadedby small-pox during the recent epidemic the disease was firstintroduced by vagrants and in 25 of those 57 districts the