391

Professor Tweedy further maintains that it iswrong to regard the cervix as consisting of tissueprone to stretch, and adduces as an argument infavour of this assertion the hypertrophy of thecervix which takes place in procidentia uteri. It is

easy, however, to demonstrate on any well-markedcase of procidentia uteri that the accompanyingelongation of the uterine cavity is due primarily tostretching, and that the permanent elongationwhich eventually occurs is a later phenomenon.Professor Tweedy believes that when pregnancyoccurs the internal os opens and the ovum findsroom for its growth in the upper region of thecervix, so that he is an upholder of the view thatthe lower uterine segment is really derived fromthe cervix. This view, of course, may turn out ulti-mately to be the correct one ; at present the mattercan only be regarded as non-proven. We do not,however, think that the arguments put forward bythe author of this paper would be sufficient tocause those obstetricians to change their opinionswho hold that the lower uterine segment developswith the rest of the uterine cavity in the veryremarkable growth which occurs during pregnancy.

THE SUPPLY OF MEDICAL STUDENTS.

WE have received from the General MedicalCouncil the following statement giving the numberof medical students in actual attendance on coursesof professional instruction in January of the presentyear, for each period of the curriculum:-

JM, men. w, women.

The totals for the several areas in the order givenare 4238, 3093, and 2159, with a grand total of9490, of whom 6798 are men and 2692 women.The figures should be compared with those for Mayof last year which appeared in THE LANCET ofJuly 27th, 1918 (p. 113). The grand total of medicalstudents has received a quite astonishing additionin the last six months, as will be seen from thefollowing summary :

Total Medical Students in Attendance.January, 1917 ... 6682 ......... May, 1918 ...... 7630October, 1917 ... 7048 ......... January, 1919 ... 9490

Evidently nothing has occurred to make the pro-fession of medicine less attractive as a career inthe eyes of parents and their adolescent children.The numbers of women entering on a medicalcareer are still increasing, but their ratio to menstudents has diminished in consequence of thevery large influx of the latter in the last six months.

THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE constitution of this society has received animportant emendation in the admission of personsnot actually engaged in psychological work. At aspecial general meeting held in London on Feb. 19thit was unanimously resolved to admit othersinterested in the various branches of psychology,and to institute three special sections, devoted

respectively to the educational, industrial, andmedical aspects. Further particulars of this

interesting development may be obtained from thehonorary secretary of the British PsychologicalSociety, the Psychological Laboratory, UniversityCollege, London, W.C. 1.

THE Governors of the London Hospital decidedon Wednesday last to fill the vacancies on thehonorary medical staff, left by the retirement ofDr. F. J. Smith and Dr. Henry Head, with whole-time paid officers, consisting in each case ofdirector, three clinical assistants, with laboratoryand clerical staff.

____

Dr. Addison, President of the Local GovernmentBoard, has appointed Miss Janet Mary Campbell,M.D., M.S., to be a medical officer of the Board inspecial charge of the work of the Board in respectof maternity and child welfare.

THE following lectures will be delivered at theRoyal College of Physicians of London, Pall MallEast, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in March andApril, at 5 o’clock :-Milroy Lectures: Dr. John C.McVail (March 13th, 18th, 20th),

" Half a Century of

Small-pox and Vaccination"; Goulstonian Lectures:Dr. W. W. C. Topley (March 25th, 27th, April 1st)," The Spread of Bacterial Infection"; LumleianLectures : Sir Humphry Rolleston (April 3rd, 8th,10th),

"

Cerebro-spinal Fever."

A CONFERENCE on Post-war Developments relatingto Public Health has been arranged by the RoyalSanitary Institute for March 13th-15th, to be heldat 90, Buckingham Palace-road, London, S.W. 1.Among the subjects on the programme are: CityHygiene in Relation to Employment, to be intro-duced by Dr. W. J. Howarth; the Public HealthAspect of Tuberculosis, by Dr. Noel D. Bardswell;Public Health Propaganda and Social Work, byProfessor H. R. Kenwood; Welfare Work in Factories,by Dr. Edgar L. Collis; and Child-Welfare Work, byDr. Flora Shepherd.

URBAN VITAL STATISTICS.(Week ended March 1st, 1919.)

English and Welsh Towns.-In the 96 English and Welsh towns,with an aggregate civil population estimated at 16,500.000 persons, theannual rate of mortality, which had increased from 15’0 to 35’7 in thefive preceding weeks, wa. again 35’7 per 1000. In London, with a

population slightly exceeding 4,000,000 persons, the annual death-ratewas 32’4, or 1’8 per 1000 below that recorded in the previous week;among the remaining towns the rates ranged from 13’0 in Coventry,163 in Grimshy, and 16.6 in Gulingham, to 56.0 in Salford, 561 inTvnemouth. 62’1 in Wakefield, 65’6 in St. Helens, and 66-7 inBlackburn. The principal epidemic diseases caused 200 deaths,which corresponded to an annual rate of 0’6 per 1000, andincluded 51 from whooptng-oough, 48 from meables, 47 frominfantile diarrhoea, 38 from diphtheria, 12 from scarlet fever, and4 from enteric fever. Measles caused a death-rate of 13 in Sheffieldand in Middlesbrough. 1’5 ill Warrington, and 4’0 in Rotherham ; andwbooping-cough of 1.7 in Wolverhampton, 1.9 in Stoke-on-Trent. 2-0in Rhondda, t6nd 2’3 in Great Yarmouth. The deaths attributed toinfluenza, which had inereased trom 224 to 3054 in the five precedingweeks, further rose to 3889, and included 808 in London, 196 inLiverpool and in Manchester, 159 in Birmingham, 130 in Leeds, 129in Bradford. 96 in Salford, 94 in Neweastle-nn-Tyne, and 90 in Leicester.There were 1095 cases of scarlet fever and 1172 ot diphtheria under treat-ment in the Metropolitan Asylums Hospitals and the London FeverHospital, against 1088 and 1185 respectively at the end of the previousweek. The causes of 81 deaths in the 96 towns were uncertified, ofwhich 15 were registered in Birmingham, 12 in Liverpool, 7 in Man-chester, and 6 in Gateshead.

Scotch Towns.-In the 16 largest Scotch towns, with an aggregatepopulation estimated at nearly 2,500,000 persons, the annual rate ofmortality, which had increased from 17’0 to 38’4 in the six precedingweeks, further rose to 40 0 per 1000. The deaths from infiupnzanumbered 78, while in 618 deaths classified as due to other conditionsinfluenza was a contributory cause; in the previous week thesenumbers were 75 and 5U3 respectively. The 1037 deaths in Glasgowcorresponded to an annual rate of 48’3 per 1000, and included 37flom whooping cough, 9 from measles, 4 from diphtheria, 2 fromscarlet fever, and 1 irom infantile diarrhoea. The 266 deaths in Edin-burgh were equal to a rate of 41’2 per 1000, and included 9 fromwhooping-cough, and 2 each from scarlet fever and diphtheria.