1357LIVERPOOL.-SCOTLAND.

1000 of the population. There was a marked reduction inthe number of deaths as compared with the previous year,the total of which amounted to 31,653. In both urban andrural districts the births of males exceeded those of females.In the urban districts the disproportion in numbers betweenthe two sexes was further increased by a greater femalemortality, the reverse being the case in the rural districts.The corrected death-rate for 1896 was 16 61 per 1000, ascompared with 18’3 per 1000 in the previous year; whilefor the seven years 1889-95 the average death-rate was18’7 per 1000 of the population. Infant mortality showsa considerable reduction, which is mainly due to climaticconditions. In the matter of dairies, cowsheds, and

milk-shops the report states that inspections under theLocal Government Board order were very unsuccessfullycarried out, the conditions of cowsheds in a large numberof districts being insanitary. Childwall appears to be avery healthy urban district. Five births and only onedeath, and that of an infant six weeks old, who diedfrom whooping-cough, were registered there during the

year. The birth-rate in Garston was 31-5 per 1000 of thepopulation and the death-rate 14’1 per 1000, a reduction ofmortality as compared with the figures of 1895. In thisdistrict there was a zymotic death-rate of 2 31 per 1000,whilst the hospital accommodation is complained of as

being too limited. The report deals most favourablywith the districts of Great Crosby and Little Crosby,not a single case of infectious disease occurring in thelatter district in 1896. The death-rate of Prescot was 19 7per 1000, which, although lower than that of the previousyear, might be regarded as much above the average ofurban districts, the zymotic death-rate being 3 57 per 1000.In Skelmersdale the birth- and death-rates both show areduction as compared with the previous year equal to 4’7and 25 per 1000 respectively. There was an increase in thezymotic death-rate and the proportion of infant deaths tobirths rose considerably. The birth-rate of Southport was alittle lower than in 1895, whilst the death-rate was the lowestever recorded in that borough-viz., 14’46 per 1000. Thezymotic death-rate was slightly higher than in the previousyear, and the great preponderance of zymotic diseases in therural as compared with the urban wards is regarded asmost unsatisfactory. Mr. Sergeant points out that inthe rural districts the habits of the people in thematter of "unrestrained and reckless inter-communica-tion" greatly favour the spread of infection. In Warring-ton the birth-rate was 36’8 per 1000, the same as the

previous year. The death-rate, 19 per 1000, showed a

decided improvement. Measles was very prevalent, causing63 deaths, against 111 in the previous year. The health ofWidnes was, on the whole, favourable, the statistics of mor-tality showing an improvement on the previous year.Similar reference is made to the two rural divisions of

Wigan. The Hospital Sunday Fund.The Hospital Sunday F’und.

The Hospital Sunday Committee, in their twenty-seventhannual report, deplore a falling-off in the Hospital SundayFund as compared with last year. On the other hand, theHospital Saturday Fund showed a steady increase and morethan counterbalanced the loss of £330 on the former fund.By the addition of the two funds the grand total wasbrought up to £11,871 8s. lld., leaving the sum of £ 11,400,which was distributed among the various medical charities.The Lord Mayor questioned the policy of fixing theSunday collections for the month of January andfelt that the date should be made to approximatemore closely to that of the Saturday collection. Adifference of opinion, however, prevails on this point.Sunday last was observed in Bootle as Hospital Sunday, andcollections were made at the various churches and chapels inthe borough and neighbourhood in aid of the funds of theBootle Borough Hospital. The new mayor (Dr. J. McMurray)attended in his official capacity the morning service at TrinityPresbyterian Church and the evening service at St. Mary’sParish Church. The mayor’s procession was one of the largestseen in Bootle for some years past.Work at the Medical School of University College, Liverpool.The winter session is now in full swing, the total number

of students being about the same as last year. The numbersin the anatomical department are well maintained and therooms are crowded. The students are working well andthere is a plentiful supply of anatomical material. Great

progress has been made with the formation of the anato-mical collection and a new museum is among the urgent

needs of the department. The new outbuildings andmacerating accommodation have been of great use, espe-cially during the past four months. Professor A. M. Patersonhas been engaged on the dissection and maceration of an:Indian elephant, the bones of which have been maceratedcompletely (in sand) in the very short period of four months.Professor Paterson exhibited them on Friday night at the Bio-logical Society. The new laboratories in course of erectionare approaching completion and part of the physiologicaldepartment will be in use after the Christmas holidays. Themedical students’ annual dinner will take place on the27th inst. ; the chair will be taken by Mr. Rushton Parker,the Professor of Surgery in University College.

.Liverpool Medical Institution.The biennial dinner of the Liverpool Medical Institution

was held on Nov. 6th. The chair was occupied by Dr. Caton(the President), who was supported by the Lord Mayor andother prominent citizens. About 140 gentlemen sat down todinner.

Police Borse Ambulance Service.The offer of the Watch Committee to provide a horse

ambulance day service for the Royal Infirmary, the Northern,.Royal Southern, and Stanley Hospitals has been accepted.The hospitals are to provide the stabling. The Watch:-Committee will also provide a horse ambulance at the centralfire station for the night service of all four hospitals and asecond at Old Swan for the service of the outlying districts.When this service is completed Liverpool will be in an uniqueposition with regard to its ambulance arrangements, no othertown in the United Kingdom being similarly equipped.It will be necessary for the police to purchase threeambulances and six horses. No addition to the police force,will be required.

Nov. 15th. _______________

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh.THIS society was formally opened on Friday of last week.

by an address from Dr. T. Barlow of London. The lecturerdiscoursed on Infantile Scurvy to a large audience ofsenior students and a representative body of professors andlecturers. He described the clinical features of the conditionand the anatomical changes which occurred in various-parts, but more especially in connexion with the bones. He-

pointed out the association of these. He then argued from the-phenomena present and from the effect of treatment that thecondition was scurvy and not rickets. He thought that thecondition was on the increase, and that it was attributableto the feeding of children on patent foods and on sterilisedmilk too much diluted. The address was illustrated by anumber of diagrams and coloured drawings as well as bypreparations in spirit. It was listened to with marked attention and was much appreciated. The vote of thanks wa&

proposed by Dr. Carmichael, the president of the society,and seconded in a very felicitous speech by Professor Fraser.

Aberdeen University.Mr. George Dean, M.A., M.B. Aberd., has been appointed

Bacteriologist to the Antitoxin Department of the BritishInstitute of Preventive Medicine, Sudbury, in succession toDr. Wm. Bulloch. After graduation Dr. Dean spent sometime in Berlin and Vienna, devoting himself mainly to the-study of pathology and bacteriology. Since 1891 he has heldthe posts of assistant to the Professor of Pathology inAberdeen University and assistant pathologist to theAberdeen Royal Infirmary; more recently he was also-

appointed pathologist to the Royal Hospital for SickChildren. As university assistant in pathology he has,conducted classes in morbid anatomy and histology and onadvanced bacteriology, besides assisting Professor Hamiltonin the general work of the department, including the researchwork in expeimental pathology and bacteriology. Dr. Deanhas taken a great interest in local medical societies and issecretary of the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society. His.

departure from Aberdeen will be a great loss to the medical-school and to the profession generally in the north of Scot-land. Fitting expression was given by his medical brethrento their high appreciation of his services when they met in’large numbers in the Palace Hotel on the evening of the 9th.inst., under the genial presidency of Professor Hamilton, to

1358 SCOTLAND.-IRELAND.

congratulate him on his promotion to a new sphere of workand to present him with a handsome testimonial.

A OtJmplimenta’l’Y Dinner to Dr. C. 0. Ha?vt7torne.

On Nov. 12th, in the Windsor Hotel, Glasgow, a compli-mentary dinner was given to Dr. C. 0. Hawthorne on theoccasion of his leaving Glasgow. The attendance numberedabout ninety, and was of a representative nature, amongthose present being Professor McCall Anderson, ProfessorMurdoch Cameron, Dr. Yellowlees, Dr. Wallace Anderson,Dr. Alexander Robertson, Dr. Lindsay Steven, Mr. HenryClark, Dr. Middleton, Dr. Newman, Dr. Allan, and Mr. HenryRutherfurd. Over forty apologised for their inability to

attend, including Professor Cleland, Professor McKendrick,Professor Coats, Professor Ferguson, Professor Bower, and Dr.Hector Cameron. In their letters, and especially in the speechof Professor W. T. Gairdner, who was in the chair, there wasevident a feeling of very sincere regret that Dr. Hawthorne wasabout to leave Glasgow, and that his valuable and untiringservices to the medical profession, and particularly to theUniversity, should be lost to the city. Dr. Hawthorne, inyeply, referred to the regret with which he left the serviceof the University and Queen Margaret College, and advocatedthe equalisation of the conditions of examination in themedical faculty of the two bodies. He paid a warm tributeto the inspiring influence in the school of Professor Gairdner,who had done so much for the advancement of its name andfame. Dr. Hawthorne received a most enthusiastic welcome,and carries with him the warmest good wishes of the

profession in Glasgow.The Disciplinary Powers of the Scottish Universities.

I am glad to note that at a meeting of the EdinburghUniversity Court on Tuesday last a proposal was under con-sideration to obtain penal and disciplinary powers over

graduates so as to empower a university to remove from itsa-oll of graduates any graduate who may have been foundguilty of a criminal offence or other misconduct. The Courtwhile alive to the difficulties of the proposal agreed to-confer with other universities on the whole matter and withthat view to appoint representatives to a joint committee.This action on the part of the University of Edinburgh isvery satisfactory. There had been some reason to thinkthat the University of Edinburgh was behind the otheruniversities in its desire to acquire such powers as are

’obviously needed in bodies which qualify so large a numberof medical practitioners. But its action on Taesday leads tothe hope that this feeling has been changed. Consideringits position as a school of medicine and its great influenceover the other Scottish Universities, it is gratifying to have toreport such a change. It is especially so in view of the nearapproach of the meeting of the General Medical Council,to which, doubtless, the action of the leading university ofScotland will be duly reported.Nov. 17th.

______________

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The University of Dublin.THE opening meeting of the Dublin University Biological

Association will be held in Trinity College on the evening ofthe 25th inst., when the President, Mr. Robert Woods, will- deliver an inaugural address dealing with the subject of"’ Suppurative Middle-ear Disease and its Relation to theExanthemata." The speakers will include Dr. DundasGrant, President of the British Laryngological Association,Dr. Henry Swanzy, Dr. Joseph O’Carroll, and Professor J.Mallett Purser.

The Richmond Asylum.The medical superintendent of the Richmond District

Lunatic Asylum, Mr. Conolly Norman, at the fortnightlymeeting of the governors which took place on the 16th inst.reported the death of one male patient from beri-beri andthe occurrence of no less than fourteen fresh cases in thefemale house.

The Jubilee Medal.Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer the

Jubilee Commemoration Medal on Surgeon-Major-GeneralA. F. Preston, M.B. Dub., Principal Medical Officer inIreland.

Municipal Honowrs to Medical Men.Sir R. Jackson, C.B , F.R C.S.I., and Dr. John J. Cranny

were elected Commissioners for the Pembroke Township ofDublin on the 15th inst.

The Typhoid Fever .Epidemic at Ligoniel.Thirteen new cases have occurred up to Nov. 9th, which

shows a distinct decline in the epidemic. Since Oct. 6th therehave been six deaths. The question of the water-supply isa most difficult problem. The Water Commissioners onlyrecently came into possession of the springs supplying theupper portion of Ligoniel (these are the contaminatedones), which before this belonged to the board of guardians,who were the water authority of the district. The Com-missioners say that the springs were under the control andin custody of the guardians and the whole surroundingswith the possibilities of contamination were fully knownto them. They say that no steps were taken to guardagainst pollution and that the tank containing the waterseemed never to have been cleaned out since it was made.The Commissioners cannot, they say, without the fullestinvestigation and for the strongest reason consent to abandonany of the waters supplying the village. Ligoniel is 600 ft.or 700 ft. above sea level ; the Commissioners’ filters are only200 ft. above sea level. Hence it will require from nine totwelve months to provide steam engines, a reservoir, andmains for the purpose of raising filtered water from thefilters to Ligoniel. The Commissioners having no means ofproviding a temporary supply decline to take the responsi-bility of cutting off the water. They will take any stepspossible which the guardians may suggest to remove or

remedy the causes of danger, but they throw on the guardiansthe responsibility of cutting off the water-supply. Last weekthe Commissioners ran off all the water in the pipes, thefountain, and the reservoir, which they cleaned out. Theinhabitants of Ligoniel have wisely been advised under presentcircumstances to boil all the water used.

Serious Condition of Omagh Asylum.At the meeting of the governors of the Omagh Asylum

held on Nov. lltb, Dr. George P. O’Farrell, Inspector ofLunatics, presented a report, the result of a very careful

inspection of the asylum by himself, his colleague, Dr.Courtney, and the consulting architect of the Board ofControl. He thinks greater efforts should have been madeto remedy defects in connexion with the old system of

drainage and sanitary appliances which were to be removedon the completion of the new works. In regard to thepercentage of deaths on the average number resident in1896 it gave a high average for an Irish asylum-viz., 9’8.But this average had been largely exceeded in the currentyear, as since Jan. lst last there has bean an unusual amountof serious sickness and a heavy mortality. From Jan. lstuntil Oct. lst there had been 338 cases of sickness, with 79deaths, the majority of which were due to phthisis or otherrespiratory diseases. Throughout the present year therehad been an epidemic presenting in many cases symptomsof typhoid fever but which in the asylum books were

described as influenza in accordance with the opinion of theconsulting and visiting physician of the institution who statedthat in his large practice in the surrounding country he hadseen many similar cases which were undoubtedly of an

influenza nature. On the male side there had been 83 suchcases with 18 deaths, and on the female side 40 with 5deaths. There were five cases of erysipelas among thepatients, and one man was attacked with unmistakeabletyphoid fever. Apart from the question of overcrowding andsanitation Dr. O’Farrell reports that the condition of theasylum is not quite satisfactory. There is a relatively largenumber of excitable patients in certain divisions, andmany express frequent complaints of violence or discontentwith their treatment. The number of such cases was greaterin the Omagh Asylum than in the neighbouring asylums. Thechanges among the attendants by resignation and dismissalwere frequent, and there were numerous charges of intem-perance amongst them brought before the board. An insti-tution was improved by raising the knowledge and status ofthose in immediate and constant charge of the patients.Sufficient attention was not devoted to the recreation of thepatients ; the food was not satisfactory, and a more liberaland varied dietary might be introduced. Dr. O’Farrell didnot blame the management of the institution, which hadbeen thrown into confusion by the structural works in progress.He recommended the formation of a visiting committee to