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summoned recently at Greenwich police court for unlawfullyusing the title " Dental Surgeon." Upon the question whetherthis title could be used by an unqualified person there waslittle to be said, the defendant’s advocate being contentto point out that the employment of the term "dentalinstitute" or "dental surgery" was not treated as an

infringement of the law. The defence raised, however,arose out of the use of the term dental surgeon" byappending it to the defendant’s name in the London

Telephone Directory. Brattle had been described as a dentalsurgeon in the last three issues of that volume, andit was stated that he had written on April 26th to the

telephone authority to ask that the entry might be altered.It was mentioned that he proposed to have himself describedhereafter as " Incorp. Dent. Soc.," being a member of a bodyknown as the Incorporated Society of Dental Operators. Thequestion whether such a description could legally be objectedto was not discussed. As, however, the British DentalAssociation had not communicated with the defendantuntil after April 26th and the offence was chargedin the summons as having been committed on May 21st,the point was taken that the defendant, having thendone his best to get the description in the directoryaltered, could not be convicted in respect of it. Itwas not questioned that the correction that he askedfor on April 26th could not be made before thenext half-yearly issue of the directory. The magistrate,Mr. Symmons, observed with regard to this that thedefendant had not complained to the telephoneauthority that he had been rendered liable to penalties bythe description applied to him, but had only asked for it tobe altered, and he also pointed out that even if the defence

suggested prevailed proceedings might be taken in respectof a date earlier than April 26th, and a summons wasaccordingly applied for and granted charging the use of thetitle on April 24th. A fine of £3 with 3 guineas costs wasinflicted for the offence alleged to have been committed onMay 21st, the magistrate being willing to state a case inorder that the point referred to above might be considered bythe High Court if the defendant so desired.

An American Decision Affecting the Sale of fflil7,.The Court, of Appeals of the District of Columbia recently

affirmed the conviction of a milk dealer named Dadecharged in the police court of the district with selling, inviolation of the Pure Food and Drugs Act, milk which wasfound to contain cowdung. The evidence consisted ofexpert testimony showing the presence of bacilli coli and

streptococci. Section 7 of the Act under which proceedingswere taken provides that for the purposes of this Actan article shall be deemed to be adulterated in thecase of food " under certain specified conditions, including’’ Sixth. If it consists in whole or in part of a filthy,decomposed, or putrid animal or vegetable substance,or any portion of an animal unfit for food, whether manu-factured or not, or if it is the product of a diseased animal,or one that has died otherwise than by slaughter." Theinformation which related to milk purchased from one ofthe defendant’s wagons charged him with selling adulteratedmilk ’’ in that it did consist in whole and in part of a filthy,decomposed and putrid animal and vegetable substance."The judgment of the Court of Appeals reviewed the scientificevidence given at the police court, which traced the presenceof bacilli coli and streptococci to contamination with fæces,directly through carelessness during the process of milking orindirectly through dust and other similar causes, and which hadtreated the presence of bacilli coli and streptococci togetherin large numbers and in the circumstances detailed beforethe court as "strongly conclusive " of direct fæcal con-tamination. One of the arguments for the appellant hadbeen based upon the impossibility of securing a milk-supplywholly free from bacteria consistently with the carrying onof the trade in milk at a commercial profit. This considera-tion, the court declared, did not affect the conviction beforeit, as the contamination proved had been so great as to bringthe case within the statute "beyond the domain of specula-tion," the foreign matter proved to be in the milk beingcapable of elimination by the adoption of cleanly methods.The dividing line between pure and impure or adulteratedfood was declared to be in each instance a question of fact,allowance being made for the alleged necessary presence ofbacteria which might or might riot be harmless.

METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAYFUND.

THE following are among the amounts received at theMansion House. Total up to date, about .638,000.

St. Columba’s Church of Scotland, Pont-street ...... ?20 2 s. 0 d. St. Columba’s Church of Scotland, Pont-street ...... 280 0 0-St. Mark’s, North Audley-street ............... 247 0 0St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge .................. 205 0 0St. Jude’s, South Kensington ......... ,..... 156 0 0St. Peter’s, Vere-street .................. 132 0 0Bickley Parish Church .................. 122 0 0St. John’s, Paddington .................. 101 0 0’Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Church, Hampstead ......... 100 0 0Penge Parish Church ..................... 95 0 0St. Michael’s, Paddington .................. 35 0 0St. Bartholomew with St. Matthew, Sydenham ...... 85 0 0St. Paul’s, Portman-square .................. 85 0 O.Union Chapel, Islington .................. 71 0 0St. James’s, Paddington ......... ’" ...... 70 0 0

Christ Church, Chislehurst ............... 70 0 0Hampstead Parish Church .................. 62 0. 0St. Mark’s, South Marylebone ............... 58 0 0,Stoke Newington Parish Church ............... 53 0 0St. Andrew’s, Wells-street .................. 52 0 0St. Luke’s, Westbourne Park ............... 48 0 0Lewisham Parish Church .................. 46 0 o.St. George’s, Perry Hill ................. 45 0 0Wellington Barracks Chapel.................. 44 0 &’Christ Church, Hampstead .................. 43 0 0St. Barnabas’, Pimlico ................... 41 0 0’Dutch Church, Austin Friars ............... 41 0 0Weybridge Parish Church ................ 38 0 0’St. Luke’s, Battersea ................. 38 0 0St. James’s, West Hampstead ............... 37 0 0’St. Cuthbert’s, West Hampstead ............... 34 0 0Highgate Presbyterian Church ............... 33 0 oHillingdon Parish Church ................. 32 0 0,Orpington Churches .................. 30 0 0Lord Feversham ......... ... 30 0 0St. Mary, Graham-street ............ 30 0 0St. Michael’s, Betchworth .................. 29 0 0All Saints, St. John’s Wood .................> 29 0 0St. Paul, Camden-square ............... 28 0 0St. Stephen’s, Batterea ..............", 27 0 0Walton-on-the-Hill Parish Church ............ 26 0 0Old Malden Parish Church .................. 26 0 ()St. Mary, West Kensington.................. 26 0 0Highbury Quadrant Congregational Church ......... 25 0 0St. Martin’s-in-the Fields .................. 25 0 0St. German’s, Blackheath .................. 25 0 0Christ Church, Westminster ............... 25 0 0Gordon-square Catholic Apostolic Church ......... 25 0 0St. Philip, Sydenham............ ... ... 24 0 0-St. Saviour’s, Brixton .................... 24 0 0Bromley, Kent, Wesleyan Church ............ 24 0 0St. John’s, Hoxton ..................... 23 0 0St. Alban’s, Acton .................... 23 0 0Holy Redeemer, Chelsea .................. 22 0 ()St. Augustine’s, Highbury................. 21 0 0Paddington Congregational Church ............ 20 0 0St. Andrew’s, Stockwell .................. 20 0 0St. Alban’s, Holborn .................. 20 0 0’Merton Parish Church .................. 20 0 0Christ Church, North Finchley ............... 20 0 (t.

THE SEVENTEENTH INTERNATIONALCONGRESS OF MEDICINE (1913)

SECTION OF GENERAL PATHOLOGY.THE President of this section is Professor Shattock. The>

section will meet in the drawing office, Royal College ofScience.The first discussion, jointly with the Section of Anatomy,

is on the Excitatory and Connecting Muscular System of the-Heart. The anatomical side will be taken by Professor His,Dr. Josue will speak on localisation of function, and Dr. T.Lewis and Dr. Ivy Mackenzie will also act as reporters. The-

subject has been deeply studied during the last few years,and will be sure to arouse much interest.The Pathology of Fats and Lipoids is another subject on

which much work has been done recently. Dr. Iver Bang,of Lund, and Dr. Sigmund Frankel are introducing it. Their-views are well known to be divergent.The third is the Grafting of Normal Tissues, reporters-

Professor Borst and Dr. Burrows ; the fourth the Pathologyof Shock, introduced by Dr. Crile and Professor Yandell’Henderson ; and the last the Effect of Radio-active Substances-on the Tissues. This will be opened by Dr. Hertwig and Dr.Lazarus-Barlow.

Among the contributors of independent papers are Professor-Aschoff, Professor Adami, Professor Warthin, Dr. Charles

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Singer, Professor Brodie, and Professor Mackenzie, andamong the subjects so treated are Hyperblastosis, Tetany,Gastric Ulcer, the Influence of Asphyxia on the Kidney, andthe Rigidity of Calcified Arteries.

Information can be obtained from Dr. Leonard Dudgeon(acting secretary), St. Thomas’s Hospital.

A SURGICAL EXCURSION.

FOR some little time several of the sections of the RoyalSociety of Medicine have held meetings in some of the

provincial centres, but the Section of Surgery had never metout of London until a few days ago, when, in response to aninvitation from the surgeons of Birmingham, it held one of itsmeetings in the General Hospital, Birmingham.Some 15 or 20 members of the section responded to

the invitation. In the morning, from 11 until 1 o’clock,operations were performed in the theatres of the_ Queen’sHospital and of the General Hospital, and in the afternoonseveral cases were exhibited at the General Hospital. Mr.Gilbert Barling showed a number of cases illustrative of thesurgery of the nervous system ; these included several inwhich tumours of the brain had been removed, and in some ofthem several years had elapsed since the operation. Mr. W. F.Haslam showed a case of multiple papilloma of the rectum,the papillomata extending upwards from the anus nearly to thesigmoid. Mr. G. Heaton showed a case of myxoedema whichhad been treated by grafts of the thyroid placed in theanterior abdominal wall, between the peritoneum and themuscles and also amongst the muscles ; he also exhibited acase in which he had removed a mass of tuberculous glands inthe small omentum that had caused jaundice by pressing onthe common bile duct. Mr. A. Lucas showed a hydronephrosiscaused by the pressure from an abnormal renal artery.Professor J. T. J. Morrison showed a patient on whomhe had performed an extensive Estlander operation for

empyema, and one on whom he had operated for gall-stonesunder spinal anaesthesia. Mr. W. Billington demonstrated astriking case in which a large renal calculus was easilypalpable through the abdominal wall, and another in whichan abdominal tumour was present, probably an enlargedgall-bladder. Mr. A. W. Nuthall showed several cases, amongwhich may be mentioned one of chronic hypertrophy ofthe tibia and one of osteitis deformans. Mr. SeymourBarling showed a cystic hygroma of the neck. Mr. E. M.Woodman showed a case of dermoid cyst of the skull, anda case with spontaneous displacement of the ulnar nerve atthe elbow, occurring whenever the elbow was flexed.

After an interval for tea, provided in the board room ofthe hospital, the section met in the lecture theatre, when Mr.H. Lawford Knaggs, of Leeds, read a paper on Retroperitoneal.Rupture of the Duodenum. Mr. Jonathan HutchinsonTead a paper on the Treatment of Dupuytren’s Contractionby an Improved Method, and also a short note on the valueof kangaroo tendon for buried sutures. The visitors werethen entertained at dinner by the surgical staffs of theQueen’s Hospital and the General Hospital, and they returnedto London by the last train. Such visits as these cannot but

help the surgeons of one part of the country to know and toappreciate- the work done in other centres, and it was hopedby all present that this meeting will be followed by manyothers equally successful.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OFENGLAND.

MEETING OF COUNCIL.AN ordinary meeting of the Council was held on June 12th,

Sir RICKMAN GODLEE, the President, being in the chair.The congratulations of the Council were given to Sir W.

Arbuthnot Lane on his receipt of a baronetcy on the occasionof His Majesty’s birthday.A report was received from the Board of Examiners in

Anatomy and Physiology for the Fellowship, stating thatat the recent examination 124 candidates were examined,and of these 49 were approved and 75 rejected.A report was received from the Court of Examiners

respecting candidates found qualified for the Diploma of

Fellow ; it stated that 57 candidates presented themselves,and 32 of these acquitted themselves satisfactorily, of whom29 were at present entitled to receive the Diploma, and theCouncil resolved to issue Diplomas to these.

In accordance with a report from the Board of Examinersin Dental Surgery, it was resolved to issue Diplomas inDental Surgery to 49 successful candidates.

Mr. William Thorburn, of Manchester, was elected a

member of the Court of Examiners.The thanks of the council were given to Sir Henry Morris

for his services as visitor to the examinations of theEgyptian Medical School at Cairo.A letter was read from Sir Henry Morris reporting the

proceedings of the General Medical Council, and the thanksof the Council were given to him for acting as the repre-sentative of the College on the General Medical Council. -The SECRETARY reported the receipt of the replica of the

portrait of the late Sir Henry Butlin by the Hon. JohnCollier, presented by Lady Butlin, and he stated that it hadbeen hung in the entrance hall to the Museum. TheCouncil resolved to offer to Lady Butlin their appreciativethanks for the gift.The PRESIDENT stated that the vacancy on the Board of

Examiners in Dental Surgery occasioned by the retirement ofMr. P. Sidney Spokes will be filled at the next ordinarymeeting of the Council.The PRESIDENT reported that a meeting of the Fellows

would be held on Thursday, July 3rd, for the election offour Fellows into the Council in the vacancies occasioned bythe retirement in rotation of Mr. Edmund Owen and Mr.C. H. Golding-Bird, by the death of Mr. Clinton T. Dent,and by the resignation of Mr. W. Bruce Clarke.The following examiners were appointed: Elementary

Biology : George P. Mudge, Walter G. Ridewood. Anatomyunder the Examining Board in England : John Cameron,John E. S. Frazer, Andrew M. Paterson. Physiology underthe Examining Board in England : Charles F. Myers-Ward,Ernest H. Starling. Anatomy for the Fellowship: C. H.Fagge, Robert W. Reid, James Sherren, Gordon Taylor.Physiology for the Fellowship : Edmund W. W. Carlier,John S. Edkins, Francis Gotch, Herbert W. Lyle. Mid-

wifery under the Examining Board in England : Henry R.Andrews, W. Blair Bell, George F. Blacker, George D.Robinson. Public Health-Part I. : R. Tanner Hewlett ;Part II., Richard D. Sweeting. For the Diploma in

Tropical Medicine-Bacteriology: John W. H. Eyre.Diseases of Tropics : Charles W. Daniels.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN the 96 English and Welsh towns, with populationsexceeding 50,000 persons at the last Census, and whoseaggregate population at the middle of this year is estimatedat 17,852.766 persons, 9037 births and 4027 deaths wereregistered during the week ended Saturday, June 14th.The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which hadbeen 13-4, 13-5, and 12. 1 per 1000 in the three precedingweeks, further fell to 11.8 per 1000 in the week under notice.During the first eleven weeks of the current quarter the meanannual death-rate in these towns averaged 13-9, against13’8 per 1000 in London during the same period. Amongthe several towns the death-rates last week ranged from2-9 in Gillingham, 3-5 in Enfield, 3-6 in Ilford, 4-6 in

Ealing, and 5’6 6 in Bournemouth and in Smethwick, to 16 - 4in Middlesbrough, 16’5 5 in Dewsbury. 17-4 in West Bromwich,18’7 7 in Stoke-on-Trent, 21 - 2 in Dudley, and 23-9 in Stockton-on-Tees.The 4027 deaths from all causes were 102 fewer than

the number in the preceding week, and included 308which were referred to the principal epidemic diseases,against 367 and 339 in the two preceding weeks. Of these308 deaths, 100 resulted from infantile diarrhoeal diseases,83 from measles, 56 from whooping-cough, 32 from diph-theria, 22 from scarlet fever, and 15 from enteric fever,but not one from small-pox. The mean annual death-ratefrom these diseases last week was equal to 0-9, against1’1 and 1 - 0 per 1000 in the two preceding weeks. Thedeaths of infants under two years of age attributed to diar-rhcea and enteritis, which had been 70, 81, and 105