548

which this method can be applied is, of course, limitedin another way-viz., by the surgical conditions presentwhich are quite peculiar to the eye. When the fragmentof metal or other missile is large the eye is usually irre-parably damaged and its removal is imperative; when, onthe other hand, the object is very small it seems to bedoubtful whether any indication of its presence could beobtained. The Roentgen rays would seem to be most

likely to prove serviceable in the recognition of shot or

other moderate-sized fragment of metal or of glass embeddedin the anterior portion of the sclerotic or in the vitreous,especially if surrounded by blood. Such cases are ex-

tremely difficult, if not impossible, to diagnose by any meanswhich up to the present time are at the disposal of the

surgeon. Dr. Lewkowitsch deserves much credit for the

ingenuity of the method he has devised for the applicationof these rays, and especially for the arrangement of theapparatus by which double images can be obtained and theexact position of the foreign body determined. The originalphotographs, it is due to Dr. Lewkowitsch to say, show the

images much better than is possible in the reproductions bymeans of process blocks. -

THE FUTURE OF THE ABERDEEN SCHOOL.

IN his address to the graduates at Aberdeen Universityon July 27th the Principal, Sir William Geddes, took a

survey of the past achievements of that school and auguredfavourably from them as to its future. If, he legitimatelyargued, with the scanty resources previously at her command,Aberdeen has put forth such eminently satisfactory results,what may we not expect from her when the extension scheme(already described in THE LANCET and steadily advancingto completion) shall have placed her on more even termswith her hitherto better-equipped rivals ? 7 Thanks to local

benefactors, conspicuous among whom stands forth the lateMr. Mitchell, she has doubled her old teaching accommoda-tion and furnished the various laboratories with means ofresearch. One-third of the scheme yet remains to be

accomplished, but Sir William Geddes was able to showfrom the response already made to academic appeals thatby April 2nd, 1900-just four centuries after the foundation-stone of King’s College was laid-the coping-stone of com-pletion will be placed upon the younger college. On all

this the Principal enlarged with justifiable pride and

exhorted the young graduates to improve upon the achieve-ments of their predecessors, and, while themselves proudof their alma mater, to make their alma mater equallyproud of them. Judging by the energy with which AberdeenUniversity has surmounted obstacles apparently insuperablewe can share his hope that to the bulk at least of his

young audience he will not have spoken in vain.

THE SURVIVAL OF TYPHUS FEVER.

TYPHUS fever has long been the reproach of Liverpool.Though greatly reduced in its proportions it still lingersthere in spite of all the efforts of the sanitary authorities.It looks, indeed, as if students of this disease would soonhave no other field for its observation. It is dis-

appearing in Ireland. Doubtless Glasgow could still

supply a few cases. But in the hospitals of the Metro-

politan Asylums Board of London last year there were

only 3 cases, all in the Eastern Hospital ; all the patientshappily recovered. In any general hospital of London itis a veritable rarity, but in Liverpool the disease stillhas a habitation and a name. There were last year in the

city, according to Dr. Hope’s report, 162 cases, of which 24died. Even in Liverpool the increasing rarity of it makes

diagnosis difficult, especially in the dirty and dark con-

ditions under which the poor in Liverpool live. The first

cases, it is said, usually occur among 6children. The

symptoms are obscure and the eruption much covered andconcealed. The ages at death of the cases were as follows:from two to five years, 2 ; from five to ten years, 1;ten to fifteen years, 1 ; twenty to thirty years, 1 ; thirtyto forty years, 8 ; forty to fifty years, 8 ; fifty to sixtyyears, 1 ; and sixty years and upwards, 2.

THE STATE AND ANTITOXIN.

, THE question addressed last week in the House of

Commons to the President of the Local GovernmentBoard by Mr. Harry Samuel serves to show how slow

this country is to move in certain directions affectingthe public weal. The query related to the use of theantitoxin of diphtheria and was based upon the recent

report of THE LANCET Oommissioners.1 It will be

remembered that this report showed conclusively thatthere was a great variation in the potency of the varioussamples that are to be procured in this country, and as

it is now proved that the best results are only to beobtained by using antitoxin of full strength it seemed

only right that some means should be provided whereby theantitoxin supplies should be tested and standardised beforebeing allowed to be sold. Such a duty would, of course,have to be undertaken by a central authority, and our Com.missioners, who strongly urged this procedure, pointed outthat in Germany there is a State institution for this verypurpose. However, Mr. Chaplin turned a deaf ear to thearguments in favour of such a course being adopted in thiscountry, sheltering himself under the plea that the depart-ment of which he is the official head had only to do with theprevention of disease and not with its treatment. This is

all very true, but we fail to see why it is not considered tofall somewhere within the function of the State to safeguardthe people in a question of primary importance to their

welfare. The prophylactic treatment of diphtheria with

antitoxin surely comes within the purview of the Presidentof the Local Government Board. In this respect its

influence is quite as marked as in the case of vacci-nation. Diphtheria is becoming the most widespread ofinfectious diseases, and it is one of the most deadly.The light which scientific investigation has thrown

upon its nature has revealed a method of averting its

worst effects, provided that the remedy employed be of suit-able quality. From the knowledge at present obtained it is

beyond dispute that lives have been saved by the right useof this remedy. It follows that if it be wrongly used liveswhich would otherwise be rescued must be sacrificed. The

State, in its care to prevent disease, can take no heed of theravages that disease produces once it has gained a footing.It is none of its concern that a remedy should be freelyused in a condition in which it is known to be comparativelyineffective when by a slight extension of its sphere of actiona Government department could ensure uniformity and safetyin the method employed.

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THE HEALTH OF THE BRITISH TROOPS ININDIA.

WE are extremely glad to notice that the gravity of thepresent position is fully appreciated by the Government,and that an inquiry is about to take place-probably by asmall committee constituted of independent persons-with aview of ascertaining the amount of preventable contagiousdisease in India, and whether any steps can be taken to

remedy it. Everybody admits that the extent of the evilin the British Army in India is already enormous and thatit shows signs of increasing. There is unfortunately, how-ever, a good deal of dispute as to what should be done.It is contended, on the one hand, that the increase of

1 THE LANCET, July 18th, 1896.

549

venereal disease in the European Army is entirely attri-

butable to the abrogation of the Contagious Diseases Actsin India, and that the first thing to be done is to restore

this system of legislation. On the other hand, it is

alleged by some of those who have no sympathy with theopponents of the Acts that the system had proved a com-parative failure in India and that its reintroduction could notconsequently be recommended on sanitary grounds. While

we recognise the practical difficulties attending the applica-tion and working of legislative measures in India in this

direction we nevertheless believe that the system previouslyin force was not as efficiently carried out as it might havebeen. If we are warranted in trying to prevent or limitthe spread of such diseases as small-pox or scarlet fever, weare certainly justified in endeavouring to do so in the case Iof syphilitic disease. Every other country has recognisedthe correctness of this view and adopted repressive measures,and if our previous attempts in India in this respect wereinadequate to cope with the evil others must be tried. We

repeat that we are therefore glad that the subject is aboutto receive attention.

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ANOTHER GLOUCESTER OBJECT LESSON.

IN the daily press of last Saturday, which contained

copious extracts from the report of the majority of the Vac-cination Commission, there also appeared an item of news ofsingular significance in face of the conclusions at which theCommission is said to have arrived. This was a statement

to the effect that on the previous day at Gloucester a publicdemonstration had been held by anti-vaccinationists to

welcome the release from prison of a defaulter under the Acts.It is not, perhaps, so much a matter of surprise that thisshould happen in Gloucester, where, after a suspension often years, the law is now being enforced, for during thisperiod the anti-vaccination crusade has been, as we all

know, most vigorously conducted, and there must be

many in that city to whom compulsory vaccination mustseem a thing to be resisted to the death. But what is indeed

surprising, nay, more, profoundly disheartening, is the factthat those people who have suffered so much from the disease,which vaccination prevents and mitigates, should neverthelessseize the first opportunity to show that this bitter lesson hasbeen taught them in vain. We are told that the defaulter in

question was in the service of the Midland Railway Company,and that the crowd which accompanied him in his progressthrough the streets contained many of the employes of

this company in their uniform. What makes the affairmore shameful still is the notorious fact that in this

recent epidemic, of the two great railway companieswhose lines converge at Gloucester, the servants of the

Great Western Railway Company hardly suffered at all,whereas the disease was rife amongst the Midland men,the fact being that the former company required theirmen to be re-vaccinated, whilst the latter declined to

put any pressure upon them at all. Let us hope, forthe sake of human nature, as well as our belief in the

intelligence of such men, that none of those who took partin this demonstration (which, of course, may have been

largely based on the personal popularity of the offender)had suffered in their own families from the visitation of

small-pox. It would, indeed, be incredible if any man, whosehome had been recently decimated by reason of his ownperversity in failing to secure for his children protectionfrom the plague which smote them down, could be so wilfullyand grossly blinded by unreason as to continue in the delusionhe hitherto held. Have the wives of such men and themothers of those dead children no voice in the matter ; andis there no sense of shame amongst the people of Gloucesterto permit such an exhibition of heartlessness and ignoranceto be made in their midst ? 7 It is said that Gloucester has

been converted by its recent object-lesson, but we await forsome overt sign of this conversion" which shall prove to theworld that the vast majority of its citizens no longer havepart or lot with those whose baseless propaganda have beenthe direct cause of so much misery and death.

POISONOUS FOOD.

EVERY year presents a more or less alarming tale ofobscure cases of poisoning by food, and the present year bidsfair to "beat the record." There can be no doubt that insome instances poisoning could have been avoided by takingadvantage of the abnormal appearance, taste, or smell fre-

quently evinced by unsound foods, although these charactersare not always a certain indication of unfitness. It is to

be feared, however, that poor persons, by reason of theirimpecuniosity, are often led to partake of what they havebought although it may be distinctly objectionable, as fromtheir point of view to reject it would be waste. On

the other hand, there is reason for believing that

food which is apparently, to the senses of sight,taste, and smell, free from objection, may prove to be

injurious. In these cases it is difficult to suggest how thedanger can be avoided. The poison is probably a ptomaine,the product of the action of certain bacteria upon nitro-

genous substances. The ptomaines closely resemble theamines and in this way bear some relation to the poisonousalkaloids. Their action is quite distinct from that of foodsuch as milk or ice cream which has been exposed to

unhealthy surroundings, to sewer emanations, or to some

other source of pollution. Fatalities due to the consumptionof unwholesome ice cream are of comparatively commonoccurrence. At Bradford last week a number of personswere taken ill, all of whom recovered, however, excepta boy. In the evidence given in the coroner’s court it

appears that the retailer of the ice cream admitted thecream was sour, but it was also shown by an inspectorthat there was a seriously defective drain in the shop.Instances of true ptomaine poisoning are afforded in twocases recently reported, one from Crawley in Sussex and theother from Liverpool, in both of which rabbit - pie was

undoubtedly the fons et origo niali. Ptomaines were also

probably responsible for some cases of " poisoning by pottedmeat " also reported from Liverpool on Aug. 14th, in whichsevere gastro-enteritis was the principal symptom. A whole

family were seriously affected and the eldest child is reportedto be in a critical condition.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN MACCLESFIELD.

MACCLESFIELD seems to be rather unfortunate in itsmethods of dealing with infectious disease. Apparently itpossesses only one small hospital for the reception of suchcases, and in this building there is no provision for isolatingone kind of infectious disease from another. Consequentlythe majority of cases arising in the town have to be

dealt with in their own homes and many cases havehitherto been attended by the house surgeons of the

infirmary. Some doubts of the wisdom of this custom arosein the minds of the governors of the infirmary, and onJuly 6th, 1896, they-or at least the house committee--

appealed to the members of the medical staff for their opinionon the subject. On July 16th, 1896, the medical staff repliedthat they saw no reason why the house surgeons should notattend infectious cases. At a meeting of the governors onAug. 8th the whole question came up again and it was finallydecided that the matter should be left in the hands of

the house committee, where as a matter of fact it was

before. It was argued at the meeting that the honorarymedical staff visited infectious cases in their private practiceand then saw cases in the infirmary and that, therefore, the