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the Local Government Board, to inquire how the usual

regulations as to burial are modified when those who are

buried have died of cholera, and whether the cremation ofsuch bodies had been considered by the Board. In reply, hewas informed that the Board had not considered the question,but he expresses a hope that the attention given to the matterin Germany will have its effect here, and that it will receivefull and favourable consideration from the Local GovernmentBoard.

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SMALL-POX IN AUSTRALIA.

WE learn from the Sydney Mail of June 25th that con-sternation amounting to panic has been caused in Melbourneand Sydney by the landing of passengers at these places fromthe ss. Oroya, of the Orient Line, who afterwards developedsmall-pox. The ship touched at Albany and Adelaide, wasgranted pratique at both, and then went on to Melbourne,where a passenger was landed in an advanced stage of the- disease. On proceeding to Sydney other suspicious caseswere landed. Every effort has been made by the authoritiesto trace the passengers who landed at the respective portsand to secure their revaccination. But in a continent like

Australia, where compulsory vaccination is unknown (and, itis said, would be resisted), the prospect of a widespread and.serious epidemic is not at all improbable.

THE FUNCTIONS OF VISITING AND RESIDENTSTAFFS: THE BRISBANE HOSPITAL.

THERE has been some friction between the visiting and theresident staffs of the Brisbane Hospital. It appears that in1883 a change was made in the by-laws which took the chiefresponsibility for the treatment of patients out of the handsof the visiting staff and placed it in the hands of the residentmedical superintendent. At a meeting convened for the

purpose of considering the action of this rule and its bearingon the respective duties of the visiting and the resident-thehonorary and the paid-officers, Dr. Little, one of the

’honorary staff, complained that he was often left uninformed-of important facts in the condition of patients after seriousoperations, that in his rounds of the hospital he was notalways accompanied by one of the resident staff, and hemoved that the committee should return to the by-law of1883. Various views were expressed. Dr. Little was sup-

ported by one of his honorary colleagues. On the other side’it was hinted that the visiting staff were not always regularin their attendance. In the result it was resolved that thecommittee of the hospital enjoyed the confidence of thesubscribers and that no further action was necessary.;The question is one which seems to us to require more- definite settlement, otherwise the patient may fall betweentwo stools. Unquestionably the public consider the visitingofficer responsible for the treatment of patients, and that=the resident officer acts, except in emergencies, under hissupervision. - . ;. ;.

A BRITISH HOSPITAL FOR HYDROPHOBIA.

IT is indeed remarkable, we might even say disgraceful,’that after the Pasteur treatment of hydrophobia has foryears been in successful operation, and in face of the stillcecent prevalence of canine rabies in this country, we do tibt,possess among ourselves the means of treating this dreaded’rmalady promptly and effectually by preventive inoculation.’’There are at least three possible explanations which accountfor this evident omission. One is to be found in the fact thatrabies, though not a rare, is not a common disease, nor is itat any time generally prevalent. Then, again, its period ofincubation is relatively long. Consequently there has beenan absence of any general panic during its visitations, anda large proportion of its victims have been able to availthemselves of the treatment afforded at the Institute in Paris.

Probably, too, the attraction of a great name has not beenwithout its influence in drawing them thither. Yet another

cause must also be noted in accounting for our nationaldeficiency in this particular. This is the feeling againstvivisection which is still maintained in many quarters. Surelyno greater anomaly wears the a,spect of true sentiment thanthis unreasoning’ antipathy which, in order to spare the

sufferings of a few rodents, would permit a human being tolive and die in agony within reach of the only remedyproved capable, and amply capable, of relieving him. Bysome singular twist of logic it has been suggested thatmembers of our own profession are in some way to beblamed for the non-establishment of a British institution forthe treatment of rabies. We will not stop to discuss thisabsurd accusation. We are well assured that when the

public mind is opened to the arguments of reason on thissubject the voice of medical opinion will greet it with nouncertain sound. There can be no question that a Britishinstitute like that in Paris would prove most useful in

emergency. It need not be large or costly, and, what is

important, it would prevent injurious delay in treatment.

POST-GRADUATE CLASS AND LECTURES.

AT Charing-cross Hospital special series of clinicallectures and practical demonstrations, exclusively arrangedfor the convenience of practitioners and post-graduatestudents, are given at the hospital by members of the staffthroughout the year. The lectures for the year are arrangedin three courses, each course consisting of ten meetings andlasting ten weeks. Two of these courses are held during thewinter and one during the summer. The class meets on each

Thursday afternoon at 4 P. M. in the Board-room of the hos-pital and proceeds thence to the ward or other department inwhich the demonstration may be held. The fee at presentcharged for each course of ten lectures is one guinea. The

first of the two winter courses of the ensuing academical yearwill commence on Oct. 13th next and will be conducted bythe following members of the medical and surgical staff :Drs. Green, Bruce, Willcocks, Murray, Mott, Routh, Arkleand Messrs. Bloxam, Boyd, Waterhouse. Practitioners wish-

ing to join the class can receive any further information as tothe dates and subjects by communicating with the honorarysecretary (Dr. Willcocks) or the honorary treasurer (Mr.Boyd) at the hospital.

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THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OFPHYSIOLOGISTS.

THE Second Triennial International Congress of Physio-logists has this year held its sittings at Liege, with Pro-fessor Holmgren (Upsala) as President, in the Physio-logical Institute of the University. The Congress ter-

minated on Thursday, Sept. lst, after a banquet at whichthe Burgomaster of the city was present. More than 100

European physiologists attended the Congress ; of these

twenty-four represented Great Britain and Ireland, the

number of British members being larger than at the Congressat Basle four years ago. Professor Michael Foster and Pro-fessor Burdon Sanderson were present. The following Britishmembers made communications, illustrated for the most part’by experimental demonstrations :-On the first day : Professor’Halliburton (London) on Nucleo-albumins ; Dr. Starling(London) on the Fate of Peptone in Blood and Lymph ; Pro-fessor Sherrington (London) on the Action of AntagonisticMuscles under Reflex and Cortical Excitation (demonstration)On the second day : Professor Schafer (London) on somefurther Experiments on the Frontal Lobes ; Dr. Noel Paton(Edinburgh) on Crystalline Globulin from Urine (demon-stration) ; Professor Sherrington on Varieties of Leuco-

cytes (with demonstration) ; Professor Schafer on Structureof Striated Muscle (with demonstration) ; Professor Sherring-

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ton on Cortical Centres for Movements of the Anus and

Vagina, (demonstration). On the third day : Professor Gotch- (Liverpool) on Temperature and Excitability (with demon-.’stration); Dr. Bayliss (London) on the Depressor Nerve ;Professor Burdon Sanderson and Mr. Burch (Oxford) on the’Capillary Electrometer and Observations on Muscular Con-traction ; Dr. Waller (London), Myothermal Observationsupon Man (with demonstration). It was agreed to hold thenext Congress in 1895 at Berne, in the Physiological Instituteof the University, under Professor Hugo Kronecker. The

general secretaries chosen for the next Congress are—for theTrench language, Professor Arloing ; for the German lan-

guage, Professor Exner; for the English language, ProfessorSherrington.

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FEVER IN LONDON.

IT is somewhat disturbing to learn that the scarlet feverprevalence in London shows no sign of abatement, and thatthe admissions have begun to exceed the discliargcs from thehospitals. The result of this is that the hospitals are full,and already we hear of cases being treated at their own

homes. In the meantime the preparation of the new hospitalat Tottenham is being pressed forward. We trust that the

Asylums Board may be enabled to open this as quickly aspossible in order to prevent the home treatment of scarletfever. -

SICKNESS AND MORTALITY OF ROSS ANDCROMARTY.

DR. BRUCE, in his report for 1891, endeavours to give anidea of the diseases of this district. Taking the sickness

from the records of his own private practice for the threeyears 1870,1871 and 1872, and again for the three years 1883,1884 and 1885, he had the following number of cases :

Consumption, 30 ; whooping-cough, 30 ; epidemic pneu-

monia, 30 ; typhoid fever, 23 ; diphtheria, 14 ; and rheu-matic fever, 6. In the first three years he had three casesof cancer, in the latter three years ten cases. In the earlier

period no scarlet fever, in the latter twelve cases. Owing tothe large proportion of uncertified cases the death returns arevery incomplete, as we elsewhere remark, but we may give ethe chief factors in the order of fatality, if only to enhancethe reflections we make in another column. Consumptioncauses a mortality of 1’68 per 1000 living ; the deaths fromdiphtheria or croup, a "terrible record," are 131, or 0 ’543

per 1000 ; measles causes 73 deaths, equal to 0-300 per 1000living ; cancer 67, equal to 0 ’284 per 1000 ; diarrhoea 61, equalto a rate of 0258 ; typhoid fever 19, equal to 0080 per 1000 ;scarlet fever 14, equal to 0059 ; puerperal fever 13, equalto 0055 ; tetanus 11, equal to 0’047. We assume that these"tetanic" cases are mostly infantile, of the nature of trismusneonatorum, and if so they are not the least significant-indi-cation of the insanitary condition of dwellings and of the pre-ventableness of the mortality in these parts. ,

INTERNATIONAL DERMATOLOGICAL CONGRESS.

THE foreign and Austrian members of this Congress met on Ithe 6th inst. at a social gathering at the Kaiserhoff, when itappeared that in spite of the outbreak of the cholera epidemicthe attendance of members of the Congress from foreign Icountries will be a good one, though the arrival of manyFrench, English, American and German members was

delayed by the quarantine measures of the continentalstates. The Congress was opened on Wednesday at theUniversity Hall by Professor Kaposi, who addressed themeeting in the German, French and English languages, in’ presence of the officials delegated by the Austrian Ministers ;,;and the City of Vienna. Professor Hardy of Paris, havinbeen elected president, gave an address which he styled"Coup d’Œil sur l’État Actuel de 1a Dermatologie." He

gave a sketch of the development of modern dermatology from

tho time of the school of the St. Louis Hospital, where

Mayer, Cazonove, Gibert and Dovergic laid the first founda-

tion of scientific dermatology. lie then pointed out

the great merit due to Erasmus Wilson and Hebrn,, who

inaugnrated the anatomioal study of skin diseases and he ex-plained finally the importance of bacteriology and of modernneurology in the development of dermatology. The first

subject of discussion was leprosy, but as Dr. Petersen of

St. Petersburg and Dr. Arning of Hamburg were absent onaccount of the outbreak of the cholera in their respectivecountries, the thesis prepared by Dr. Arning was read by thegeneral secretary.

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THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL.

WE have been informed that the name of ex-ProfessorJohn Struthers has been mentioned in Scotland as a fittingsuccessor to the late Sir George Macleod in the GeneralMedical Council. Dr. Struthers resigned his seat for the

University of Aberdeen, much to the regret of most of hisfellow-councillors, who appreciated the good work he haddone on the Education Committee ; and although he hadnot, and as we are informed has not, any intention of be-coming a candidate, yet we understand that he would acceptthe Crown nomination if offered to him.

TYPHOID FEVER AND ICE CREAM.

DR. GEORGE TURNER is said to have informed the London

County Council that he has traced an outbreak of entericfever to the distribution of infected ice cream by Italianstreet vendors living at Deptford. The Council has properlyurged on the local sanitary authorities attention to this

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ERGOTISM AND EYE AFFECTIONS.

DR. RoBTNEFF relates in the Russian Op7tthalniie Rezaervsome results of an epidemic of ergotism which recently ragedin the Viatka Government, affecting 2000 persons. This was

due to diseased rye having been employed in the making ofbread. About two months after the commencement of the

epidemic a good many patients came to the dispensary, com-plaining of trouble with their eyes. Some of them had tem-

porary attacks in which vision was diminished to -f 1 -61 or

even less, the fundi being very pale ; and simultaneouslywith the eye trouble there was trembling of the limbs.Others complained of persistent impairment of vision, andthese were found to have cataract which could not be dis-

tinguished from ordinary senile cataract. Maturation took

place in from three to twelve months and was especially rapidin the case of children, some of whom were only six years ofage.

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THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE TOXICITY OFPHOSPHORUS IS AFFECTED BY TURPENTINE.THE utility of turpentine in cases of phosphorus poisoning

has been submitted to a very thorough investigation byDr. Bush of Dorpat, who employed cats, dogs, a rabbit anda cock for his experiments. The phosphorus was administeredin amounts larger than the minimum lethal doses, either hypo-dermically or in the form of emulsion by the mouth, andan hour or an hour and a half subsequently an emulsionof turpentine was given. The results showed that turpentinehas the power of hindering to a certain extent the toxic actionof the phosphorus. In addition to the use of turpentine incases of acute phosphorus poisoning Dr. Bush advises thatemetics should be given and that the stomach should bewashed out. He estimates that doses exceeding the lethaldose by 0’001 grm. per kilogramme of body weight may berendered non-fatal by means of turpentine. The explanationof its action is that it forms a compound analogous to theterebinthino-phosphoric acid described by Koehler and byhimself, this body being less toxic than the phosphorus con.tained in it.