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Annotations."Ne quid nimis."

THE METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAY FUND.

WE congratulate the Metropolitan Hospital SundayFund upon having already collected JE11,100 inexcess of the total reached at this time last year;on August 5th JE70,600 had been received. This totalfalls far short of the 100,000 for which we regularly 1

plead, but it is satisfactory to know that, in spite ofthe many urgent appeals that are being made tothe charitable as a consequence of the war,the claims of the voluntary hospitals have not

been forgotten. At no time has the need beengreater, and never have our hospitals been called Iupon to discharge more onerous duties. How I

splendidly those duties have been performed every Ione should know, for it requires but little imagina- ition to picture the plight of the wounded had they .been without the help which hospitals have rendered they

both in this country and at the seat of war. At the icouncil meeting of the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday ]Fund held at the Mansion House on July 29th, Iunder the presidency of Sir Ernest Tritton, it was 1

announced that 246 institutions had applied to par- i

ticipate in the Fund, and that 69,297 were avail- iable for distribution. Of this sum 7t per cent. will 1

be set aside for the purchase of surgical appliances 72

and 212- per cent. for district nursing associations. 1

Apart altogether from the very urgent need of thehospitals and their merits, which should ensurethose needs being supplied, the promptness withwhich the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund 1distributes the moneys committed to its charge, the =

care with which it apportions them, and theeconomy with which it does its work ought toappeal to all. ____

THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE.

THE Fellows and Members of the Royal Societyof Medicine are to be congratulated on their satis-factory financial position. The removal fromCavendish-square to their new building in

Wimpole-street a little more than two years agonecessitated some heavy expenditure which wasnot relieved by the share which the Society bore inentertaining the International Congress of Medicinein the summer of 1913. The total expenditure ofthat year was JE13.255, including JE962 13s. for

extraordinary expenses. At the annual generalmeeting held on July 6th of this year under thechairmanship of Dr. Frederick Taylor, not only didthe income and expenditure account for the yearending Sept. 30th, 1914, indicate an excess of

receipts over disbursements of JE849 2s. 5d., but thebalance sheet showed that the general assets of theSociety were JE76,579 12s. 2d. in excess of theliabilities. The total expenditure for the yearamounted to ;E12,071 17s. 5d., with a total income ofJE12.920 19s. 10d. The subscriptions of Fellows andmembers amounted to £9593 10s., the admissionfees to £476 14s., and the Fellows’ voluntarysubscriptions to £333 18s. The total ordinaryexpenditure was less by £220 9s. 10d. than in the

previous financial year. The library expensesshowed an increase of ;E157 3s. lld. The passing ofthe accounts unanimously sufficiently showed thesatisfaction of the meeting, which was increased by

the statement of the President that, supposing noadverse influence intervened, the balance for thepresent year might be even larger than that for theyear they were considering. The removal to thenew premises has therefore been abundantlyjustified, though, as was pointed out by Dr.Taylor, a comparison of the balance sheets ofthe last few years showed that three or four

years before entering the new premises the

receipts were JE9000 or JE10,000, with expenses some-what less, while the receipts and expenses of thelast two years had come to about C2000 more, butthe difference between the receipts and expensespromises to be quite notable. This expectedfavourable balance will be used for reducing theloan at the bankers, which at the commencement ofthe financial year amounted to .f:26,OOO, and weagree with the President that it must be the objectof the Society to reduce the loan as soon as possible.The means available for this are the balance on thecurrent income and expenditure account, andadditions to the Building Fund, which this yearhave been rather small owing, no doubt, to themonetary calls which the war has made on membersand Fellows. As the President remarked, it wouldperhaps be too sanguine to expect any generousdonor at this crisis in the nation’s history to makethe Building Fund the object of his generosity, eventhough the treasurers might feel justified inaccepting the gift supposing it were made. Is ittoo much to hope that by the time the next annualmeeting is held the treasurers may be put tothe test ?

FUGUES.

A SHORT time ago Mr. A, well known to thepublic as a tennis player, was sentenced atWestminster police court to six months’ imprison-ment in the second division for unlawfullytrespassing on the London, Brighton, and SouthCoast Railway at Grosvenor-road railway bridge,contravening the Defence of the Realm Act.It appears that he entered a train at Brighton,went to sleep, and remembered nothing more

till he found himself on the railway line at theabove-mentioned spot. A signalman who saw himstated that he seemed dazed, weary, and wornout, although he came round in a short time. On

appeal at the London Sessions the conviction wasquashed, medical evidence having been forthcomingto show that it was quite possible and easy for Mr. Ato have got where he was without knowing any-thing about it, and the judge being satisfied thathe wandered on to the line unconsciously. Mr. A,in explanation, declared during the hearing ofthe case that he had been overworked, and thatwhen overworked he knew that he was apt to"lose himself " and to do things unconsciouslyor automatically. The case,.though comparativelytrifling in itself, belongs to a wide group whichis of much medico-legal importance. Broadlyspeaking, there are two main classes of case

to be considered-viz., cases of hysteria andcases of post-epileptic automatism. To dealwith the latter first, it is well recognised thatafter an epileptic fit, which may be either mildor severe, the patient may pass into a confusionalstate of variable duration, in which subconsciousactivity may reach a high and complex grade, sothat while he is in reality irresponsible and un-accountable for his actions, he may present little .

or no sign of aberration to the unskilled observer.Numerous cases of this sort are on record, and