malaria and preventive measures

1294

rising to .eeoo. He was allowed to do other work and heldthree other important appointments. He resigned in 1902.During this period no report was issued by the medical,officer. The first report was issued in 1903 by Dr. JamesKerr who was appointed in 1902. His salary was Z800per annum, rising to 1000, and he was not allowedto hold any other appointment. Let us give the Boardcredit for what it has accomplished. When it com-

menced work the prospect was enough to appal the mostardent lover of education. The Board was hamperedby a badly drawn Act and by the fatal British love of

compromise. As a Board it acted with conspicuous un-fairness for years towards the medical profession and wasnot infrequently extravagant. But within the last few years,owing to wholesome checks administered by the result ofRegina v. Oockerton and the refusal of the medical pro-fession to give certificates, the Board was beginning to settledown. Of the conduct of its individual members we can saynothing but praise. They have ungrudgingly devoted theirtime and their talents to the service of the children of the

poor and they have left the new education authority a soundsystem upon which to carry on the work which the SchoolBoard organised.

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MALARIA AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES.

ONE of our correspondents has recently had the oppor-tunity of meeting some of the invalids from the Englishregiments quartered temporarily in the hinterland behindAden during the progress of the Boundary Commissionwhich is working under General Maitland to decide on thefrontier which Turkey is to accept. It appears that the

Hampshire Regiment landed in Aden in February, 1903,1100 strong, being actually over strength. 300 men were

despatched to take part in the Somaliland campaign, wherethere are certain obvious risks contingent on active serviceand a fair chance of a medal for the survivors when the

fighting is all over. The rest of the regiment, all pre-sumably in good health after service in India, were marchedup to the hills where they left sandy wastes behind themand got into a hilly country where tea and coffee are grown.A few weeks ago, or about a year after the regimentlanded from India, the principal medical officer held an

inspection and decided that 75 per cent. of the men wereunfit for duty. We understand that there have been 32deaths in this regiment in Aden and that about half ofthese were due to malaria. The ordinary causes of sicknessmust have accounted for a few of the 75 per cent. but the

great bulk of them are being invalided for malaria withthe ordinary symptoms of intermittent fever, sweats and

consequent debility, anasmia, and enlarged spleens. Thereare pools of water in this hinterland near the soldiers’

damping grounds and many mosquitoes and the regimentwas paraded daily for a preventive dose of quinine while anon-commissioned officer stood by to see that the men reallydrank the prescribed dose. But we are informed thatthere were no mosquito nets provided by the authoritieseither for officers or men and the officers naturally sufferedin a similar proportion, four having been already invalidedhome and three now being in hospital in Aden. The

fever-stricken men blanched as if from prolonged haemor-rhage, crawling about like chronic invalids, are now beingsent home, and as their mission was a political one theywill probably get no medal to compensate them. Butwe now know that malaria is a preventable disease.

Why was this regiment not supplied with mosquito netswhich are now served out even to black soldiers in theSoudan? 7 If our information is incorrect we shall be gladto have it authoritatively denied but if it is correct in

,substance we hope that the matter will be inquired into.We have heard it whispered that in India troops in

barracks even in malarial stations are not yet supplied withmosquito netting, though the hospitals are well providedwith it. It is only fair to the Indian Government to statethat the Dublin Fusiliers who were relieved by the HampshireRegiment and the Buffs" who were sent to Aden last

October have both suffered less from malaria than the

unfortunate Hampshires.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND VENTILATION.

IN an annotation which appeared in our issue of Oct. 10th,1903, p. 1033, the substance of the report which a select

committee of the House of Commons had presented in regardto the ventilation of the House was embodied. This topichas again been disturbing the equanimity of Members with-out, so far as we can see, any very urgent reason and theanimated discussion upon it which on April 28th occupiedso large a part of the valuable time of our legislativeassembly does not appear to have produced any particularresult. As we pointed out at the time there is really verylittle to find fault with in the ventilation and Mr. T. W.Russell was probably quite correct in saying that a greatdeal of nonsense was talked about the matter. This opinionseems to have been shared by Sir M. Foster, Sir W.

Foster, and Dr. Farquharson, all of whom are well qualifiedto form a competent judgment on such a point. The onlyserious defect in the arrangements which the committee’sreport brought to light was that the air inlets were placedin the floor and covered by matting over which those whoentered the chamber had to pass, so that particles of dustand mud from the boots of the persons concerned wereintroduced into the air current and so disseminated. This,of course, is by no means a satisfactory system and thesooner it is amended the better. We do not suppose thatMembers would take kindly to Mr. Weir’s suggestion thatthey should leave their boots at the door, even though theassistance of I I eight Japanese girls in their native costume" "

was available to this end, but some inexpensive structuralalterations overcoming the difficulty should be quite feasible.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE BY MEANS OFILLUMINATING GAS.

IN the Boston Medioal and Surgical Journal of March 24thDr. F. Holyoke has published a case of attempted suicide bymeans of illuminating gas which presents several points ofinterest. The inhabitants of a tenement house were dis-

turbed by moaning in one of the rooms during the afternoonand evening. At 8 P. M. they knocked at the door but werenot answered. The police were called in and on breakingopen the door found the windows closed tightly and gasescaping from two jets. The air was unbreathable and a

man, aged 44 years, was lying unconscious in an easy chair.He was removed from the room and seen by a medicalman within ten minutes. He was perspiring profuselyand his clothes were drenched with sweat. The pupilswere dilated, the face was cyanotic, the limbs were

relaxed, and the pulse was imperceptible at the wristbut a feeble cardiac impulse could be felt at the rate

of 140 a minute. Respiration was very slow and gaspingand the jaw had dropped. After artificial respirationthe breathing became more rapid. Strychnine and nitro-

glycerine were injected and the pulse was restored. At

9.30 P. M. the skin was pale and cold and the limbs were rigidand convulsed. The pupils were dilated and did not respondto light. There was a naphtha-like odour from the breathwhich did not disappear until the fourth day. The rectal

temperature was 96’ 8° F., the pulse was 142, and the respira-tions were 32 and shallow. Large mucous rales were heardover the lungs and persisted until the second day. The

temperature did not become normal until the third day;then it rose steadily until the sixth day when it reached