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from a careful consideration of all the facts be led to the

conclusion that in the vast majority of recorded cases where

malignant growths have been said to be cured the growth wasnot cancerous, but we must express our dissent from the view

maintained by some that the disease in all such cases was n.t

really malignant because it was cured." We have hope in thefuture. The discovery by Professor JENSEN of an inoculableform of malignant disease in mice has made it easy now forus to try the effects of remedies in a way which was im-

possible when we were limited to cases occurring in human

beings. We think that by this discovery Professor JENSENhas done much to further the advance of the study of cancerand we heartily approve of the action of the Royal Collegeof Surgeons of England in according to him the Walker

prize. Not merely, however, in the cure of cancer when

it exists but in the prevention of the disease the greatestfuture advance will lie.

Annotations.

THE METROPOLITAN WATER BOARD AND THECONTAMINATION OF THE RIVER LEA.

" Ne quid nimis."

THERE has been considerable speculation amongst waterexperts during the week as to the reasons which have led theMetropolitan Water Board to drop its Bill providing forthe better protection of the water-supply drawn from theriver Lea. It would appear that the Water Board

contemplated in its Bill the removal of one of its intakesfrom the Lea to a point higher up the river, a stepwhich seemed highly desirable owing to the increasingvolume of sewage which was poured into the river fromthe town of Hertford above the old intake. The supplyof water taken from the river below the sewage outfall

amounts, it is stated, to 32,000,000 gallons per day, whilethe Hertford sewer discharges about 2,000,000 gallons of.crude sewage per day into the river above this point.These figures and statements if true are not calculated toinspire the confidence of the consumers living in the Easterndistricts of the metropolis in the quality of the water

supplied to them. On the contrary, a feeling of alarm mayvery justifiably arise, especially as it is common knowledgethat the Metropolitan Water Board must have realised theseriousness of the situation or it would not have pro-moted a Bill dealing with it. The alarm is not likely tosubside now that it is announced that the Lea ValleyBill has been withdrawn. We understand that the subjectwill be discussed at the next meeting of the Board and it isto be hoped that the reasons given for the withdrawal of theBill will be reassuring to the public. Meantime it is con-

jectured that an alternate scheme has been proposed whichpossibly provides for the diversion of the stream of sewagedischarged from the Hertford sewer. It is also stated thatthe Water Board is seriously considering the scheme pro-moted some years ago by the London County Council forobtaining a supplementary supply of water for Londonfrom the Welsh hills. But obviously such a schemecannot meet the immediate needs of the situation as

regards the alleged pollution of the river Lea above theWater Board’s intakes. We may point out that thissource of pollution of the water-supply derived fromthe Lea by the old East London Waterworks Companywas referred to in the articles on the London water-supplywhich appeared in THE LANCET in 1897; the state of the

sewage effiuent is described there as varying considerably.

Sir Alexander Binnie has given it as his opinion that a timewould come, if the present state of things continues, "whenthere will arise among the teeming millions of London anepidemic which will startle the world " and compared withwhich the scope of previous outbreaks of water-borne epi-demics will pile into insignificance. These are very strongwords and seem to us to warrant a very searching inquiry intothe real facts of the case. We have again and again pointedout that though the actual volume of the water provided bythe Thames and the Lea may meet the existing needs oftLe metropolis for drinking purposes it mukt not be forgottenthat year by year the strain put upon these rivers as channelsfor the disposal of sewage effluents is increased and the riskof pollution consequently is greater.

THE PLACE OF CRIMINOLOGY IN THECURRICULUM OF LEGAL EDUCATION.

THE conflict between medical and legal opinion withregard to the criminal responsibility of the insane, which afew years ago was wont to give rise to so much acute andoften acrimonious controversy in the Courts of Justice, hasin our days ended in what may not unfairly be claimed as afull though tacit acceptance of the views of medical science.The crude psychology which inspired the M’Naughten rules,if it has not been explicitly repudiated, has at all events beenabandoned in practice ; and in criminal cases nowadays thereis little fear that expert evidence of the fact of mentaldisease will be discounted on the score of any obsolete test of

responsibility. But while this change of attitude is verysatisfactory so far as it goes, it would certainly be ratherrash to assume that it is the result of any profound know-ledge and appreciation of the teachings of modern psychiatryand that the legal mind is so well informed on all that relatesto the scientific study of the criminal that it will be ableto give an unprejudiced consideration to the practicalsuggestions which may be founded on that study in the nearfuture. It is to be feared that this permeation of the

law by the modern spirit is still an ideal the realisationof which is somewhat remote and only attainable

through strenuous efforts in which the medical professionmust zealously cooperate. On this account peculiar interestattaches to the noteworthy example recently set us

by our Gallic neighbours who have formally intro-duced the study of criminology into the curriculum of

legal education. By a decree of the Council of the Universitya course of instruction in criminal anthropology, mentaldiseases, legal medicine, and cognate subjects has been insti-tuted in the Paris Faculty of Law. The course will extendjver two terms and will comprise lectures delivered by theprofessors in the faculties of law and medicine, supplementedoy clinical instruction. Attendance- on the course will be

recognised, after the usual examination tests, by the

granting of a certificat d’études de sciences pénales. Ingranting of a certificat d’études de sciences pénales. In

view of the generally hostile attitude hitherto adopted bythe French magistracy to the ideas of the criminologists,his step is of very great significance. Nor, it may be

emarked, is the tendency which it indicates confined toFrance. In the University of Berlin a series of lecturesm criminal anthropology has just been inaugurated and,hough not in any formal connexion with the faculty of law,nust exercise a considerable influence on legal opinion. Of

ourse, the method of procedure in criminal cases in France,hich demands of the juge d’instruction a good deal offisight into the criminal temperament, makes the need ofuch a system of training more apparent than it is in

England. Such differences, however, as arise from this

ause are relatively slight and superficial and do not affecthe fundamental factors of the question, which are essen-ially the same in all civilised countries. It is, therefore,) be hoped that when the long-talked-of reorganisation of

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legal education in England eventually takes place some-thing on the same lines will be established here and thatit will be recognised as absurd that men should be calledupon to judge of the quality and motive of diseased conductwho have never been trained to the study of morbid thoughtand action in the wards of the prison and the lunatic

asylum. It is not to be denied, however, that in this country,at all events, there exists a feeling among those who havehad practical and personal experience among criminalsthat there is some risk of overdoing " cri minology as asubject of education. This risk attaches more especially tothe application of general results to individual criminals,but the question is one which it is desirable to follow outin the hope that lawyers and medical men may be able tobring their divergent opinions into greater harmony witheach other.

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THE TREATMENT OF RECOVERABLE CASESOF INSANITY.

IN the management of cases of mental disorder in whichthe prospects of recovery are favourable the general practicewould probably be correctly described as based upon theprinciple of as little interference as possible, incidental

symptoms only, such as insomnia, violence, and refusal offood, being treated. The general practice may, in fact, becompared to that adopted in the case of maladies such asthe specific fevers which must be allowed to run theircourse. On the other hand, there are not wanting those whoadvocate and employ methods which aim directly at cure.The relative merits of "expectant" and active methods ofdealing with the cases in question are capable of demonstra-tion by means of a comparative trial. In a pamphlet whichwe have received and which is entitled "A Plea for themore Energetic Treatment of the Insane " the author, Mr.Charles Williams, whilst disclaiming any desire to reflectupon asylum physicians, nevertheless considers that theyas a class are deficient in the quality of zeal. There

are, he contends, various methods by which at anyrate some small addition to the recovery-rate of asylumsmight be made but this does not appear to be

considered worth having. Amongst the methods instancedare the treatment by thyroid extract, electrical treat-

ment in various forms, the prolonged warm bath, theTurkish bath, suggestion and the production of some

somatic disorder which would favourably influence the

course of the mental disease. Some of these methods lendthemselves to adverse criticism. There are others which,whilst not mentioned in this pamphlet, are in good repute.A perusal of modern treatises upon insanity in which we findadvocated various methods calculated to bring about cureor to hasten recovery in recoverable states does not supportthe view that recoverable cases are best left to nature andthe nurse, though the convincing proof which a comparativetrial of the kind we have suggested would afford is not

’

furnished. Such a study, however, may well raise a doubtas to whether the average conditions under which the workof our public asylums is done are likely to foster that zealwhich is the basis of all achievement or are compatible withthe prosecution of research, the elaboration of methods oftreatment, and the application of these with thoroughnessin individual cases. The erection of ’’ acute hospitals " forthe treatment of recent and hopeful cases in certain rareinstances at public asylums is evidence that such a doubt islegitimate. But whilst the motive which actuates such a

development in a county asylum is admirable and the planitself an advance on the average conditions, the asylum isstill an isolated community and subject to the disadvantagesin respect of scientific progress which isolation in no smalldegree connotes. The opinion is, and has for some time been,held by many able workers in the department of psycho-logical medicine that such progress is most likely to accrue

from the association of wards for mental cases with

ordinary hospitals wards, an arrangement by which it iscontended that collaboration would be facilitated andthe advantage of laboratories for various branches of re-

search work insured to the worker in the special department;whilst his activities would be stimulated by the presence ofstudents and his output largely increased by the assistanceof zealous clinical clerks working under his directions.

THE CLOTHES BRUSH.

THE brushing of dusty clothes in the living rooms of the

household is opposed to cleanly sentiment, apart altogetherfrom the evil to health which, as the bacteriology of

dust distinctly indicates, might easily be caused by theprocess. The imagination does not require to be stretchedvery far to realise that the clothes brush might be

easily responsible for the dissemination of disease.Dust is rarely, if ever, free from micro-organisms andamongst them pathogenic entities have been recognised.Dust is, in fact, an enemy of the human race, a vehicle ofdisease, and should everywhere and on every occasion,however trifling, be prevented as far as means can be

employed to that end. The clothes brush is a vigorous dust-producing agent and since its application is indispensable itshould be used in a manner as far as possible consistentwith hygienic requirements. Clothes, of course, must bebrushed just as carpets must be beaten but both processescreate a nuisance which is different not in kind but only indegree. Just, therefore, as there are grounds reserved forthe beating of carpets remote, as they should be, from humanhabitation, so also ought there to be in a household con.ducted on hygienic lines a special room relegated to the

brushing of clothes. Enthusiastic sanitary reformers would,no doubt, suggest that provision might also be made for

trapping the dust by some such simple measure as

suspending a damp sheet across the room. The dailyclothes have a large capacity and a singular affinityfor dust which may contain the seeds of a common

cold or a sore-throat or even of blood poisoning and

tetanus, so that the suggestion that the clothes brush shouldbe handled in a less indiscriminate way than is usually thecase can hardly be regarded as chimerical. If dust has been

proved to be pathogenic the scattering of it broadcast bymeans of the clothes brush must be a violation of hygienicprinciples. The brushing of clothes is, in fact, a clumsy andan insanitary procedure which might with advantage be

superseded by some more effectual and less offensive method.The use of some kind of vacuum brush for the purpose would,sanitarily speaking, be ideal.

SOME RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE MATERIAMEDICA.

THE Journal de Pharmacie et de Chemze gives particularsof two new preparations of iodine which may prove of

therapeutic value. It has been suggested by M. Chassevantthat chloroform has advantages over alcohol as a solvent ofiodine. The 10 per cent. solution when applied to the skincauses a brown stain which is less persistent than that pro-duced by tincture of iodine. It does not cause desqua-mation, even in concentrated solution, or itching, or

dermatitis, as is so often the case with alcoholic pre-parations of iodine. When applied in this manner

iodine is readily absorbed and may be detected inthe urine ten minutes after the solution has been

applied. It is thought that iodine exists in solu-tion in different allotropic forms, the chloroformicsolution being violet in colour and the alcoholic solutionbrown. M. Chassevant considers the chloroformic solutionto be the most suitable preparation for the internaladministration of the drug. A new preparation of iodine