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it must not give an opening to spies and black- (mailers, and it must not entail great adminis-trative machinery or expense. On the basis ofthese principles measures have been proposedgiving the sanitary authorities powers to maketreatment compulsory for patients notified bymedical men as being a source of infection, forpersons convicted under the vagrancy law of pro-fessional immorality, and for persons accused ofcertain crimes and suspected of being infectedwith venereal disease. Under the present systemof regulation in Sweden it is impossible to takesummary measures except in the case of the pro-fessional prostitute. According to the Commission’sscheme, not only would the " whole-time " prosti-tute be subject to compulsory treatment, but thiscould also be prescribed for the occasional prosti-tute and other women infected with venerealdisease, as well as for men known to be sourcesof infection. It is also pointed out in this MajorityReport that under the present system the syphi-litic

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whole-time " prostitute is kept in hos-

pital for treatment only as long as there are

infectious manifestations of the disease. Accordingto the Commission’s scheme, such a patient wouldbe kept under observation as long as thedisease was infectious, whether there were anydemonstrable symptoms or not. In a MinorityReport, signed by Professor Johansson and Hrr.Westerberg, compulsory measures against infec-tious venereal disease are described as superfluous Iand unjust. The signatories say that the majority’sproposals entail notification of venereal diseaseand tracking down sources of infection, stepswhich they consider harmful as well as ineffective.In defence of this opinion they point out that atpresent many infectious patients seek medical aidvoluntarily, whereas compulsory treatment wouldprejudice hospitals and doctors with this class ofpatient, who would shun them. Further, it isurged, the Commission’s scheme is involved, andopen to the abuses of circumlocution, mistakes ofidentity, and false notification. In the campaignagainst venereal disease compulsory measures

should be directed rather against institutions suchas brothels, which are perfect hot-beds of infec-tion, than against the individual. Thus, it isevident that, as with so many other proposals by theSwedish Royal Commission on Venereal Disease/this particular scheme is regarded with disfavourin certain quarters.

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THE VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC DENTISTRY.

Dr. F. J. Waldo, coroner for the City of Londonand the Borough of Southwark, embodies a varietyof matter in his annual report of inquests held byhim during the past year, and his remarks on thevalue of scientific dentistry are very timely. Theconnexion between dentistry and inquests is not atfirst apparent, but a coroner holds inquiries uponoccasions when evidence pointing to starvation givesreason to suspect an

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unnatural " death, and Dr.Waldo refers in his report to examples of deaths dueto lack of teeth or to the presence of septic stumpsonly-of death, that is to say, which might havebeen averted by the dentist’s care and by the supplyof artificial teeth. He relates also that a report ofan inquest upon a case of this class, held by him,was read with a most gratifying result by Mr.Edwin Tate, who by a gift of .25000 thereuponinaugurated a fund to be administered at St.

1 THE LANCET, March 18th, 1916, p. 629.

Bartholomew’s Hospital for the provision of artifi.cial teeth for necessitous and deserving out-patients.We congratulate Mr. Tate upon his generosity and thecoroner upon having prompted him to set an examplewhich we hope may be followed by others. Well.to-do persons, who so easily procure for themselvesartificial teeth when those fail with which natureendowed them, do not realise that for their poorerneighbours inability to masticate their food impliesnot merely discomfort, but loss of health, and evenin extreme cases of life itself. No doubt otherhospitals would gladly profit by similar gifts to thatwhich St. Bartholomew’s Hospital has received.Although artificial teeth may be too expensive gifts.for hospitals to provide for their patients out oftheir ordinary funds, a sum of not many hundredpounds per annum, earmarked for that purpose bytheir givers, would supply a substantial numberof sets to patients for whom it is too late to recom-mend conservative measures in dentistry.

THE CONSERVATION OF INFANT LIFE INSCOTLAND.

THE infantile death-rate in Scotland is about thesame now as it was 60 years ago. This matter ofserious national importance receives attention in areport by Mr. D. W. Kemp to the Convention ofthe Royal Burghs of Scotland,1 which ancient andhonourable body represents two-thirds of the popu-lation. A chart, prepared by Dr. James C. Dunlop,shows a curve of the infant mortality in Scotlandfor the period 1855-1915. In the report is empha-sised this most unsatisfactory and disappointingstate of affairs, especially considering the largesums of money spent in public health, in dealingwith slums and housing, the improved foodand milk supplies, as well as the advances inmedical and obstetrical science. Mr. Kemp adds:" But for the numerous voluntary agencies working

for the welfare of infancy during the last decade,the death-rate would probably have been muchhigher." In the report are reproduced fromTHE LANCET a leading article and a letter con-cerning the preservation of infant life. Our corre-

spondent’s idea, it will be remembered, was toenlist the active sympathies of the public, thepersonal interest in a particular baby being stimu-lated by monthly bulletins or otherwise. We trustthat Mr. Kemp’s report, which is to be circulatedall over Scotland, will accelerate the efforts beingmade to reduce the deaths of infants and to promotechild and maternity welfare.

POISONING BY DAFFODIL BULBS.

AT a recent meeting of the PharmaceuticalSociety in Edinburgh a paper was read by Mr.W. G. McNab in which he described the uncom.fortable consequences of the error of a cook who,it would seem, was sadly ignorant of the botanyof the kitchen garden. Briefly, the cook, in con-cocting a soupe à l’oiqnon, had mistaken the bulbsof the daffodil for those of the onion, and neither theappearance of the bulbs nor her tearless eyes whilepreparing them for the pot told her that anythingwas wrong. The soup was served, and everymember of the family, cook as well, experiencedsymptoms of nausea followed by violent vomiting1 Third Report on Infant Mortality in Scotland, and the Executive

Meetings of the National Association for the Prevention of InfantMortality and the Welfare of Infancy, by D W. Kemp (Assessor forDornoch), Representative of the Royal Burghs Convention to theNational Association.

2 THE LANCET, Jan. 29th, 1916.