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under a surgeon-major-general of the Madras Service eightyears his junior ; and the second surgeon-colonel (at Banga-lore) is three years senior, by length of service, to his chief.Every administrative officer of the Army Medical Staff sent to India will in the future be superseded in this manner unlessselection be adopted or some other means be devised to do.away with this evil, and it appears to me that, not only forthe reason dwelt on here, but for many other and weightyconsiderations, selection is urgently necessary in the interestsof the department if efficiency is to be hoped for. By itsintroduction competent officers who can hold their appoint-ments for from three to five years can easily be secured, andthe fatal system of " extension of service " can be abolished.It is to be feared that without selection the Army MedicalStaff will continue to drift into inefficiency and its bestofficers will suffer disappointment. The senior executive<officers have now over thirty years’ service with, in many- cases, hardly any hope of promotion. As the departmentis now regulated, good, bad, and indifferent men all receivethe same treatment, and there is naturally little zeal. It maybe that with the new era which has now commenced at theWar Office this old bias will be swept away and that morelife and vigorous fitness will be infused into the department.Such a state of things would, without question, be of con-siderable benefit to the army.

I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,Dec. 30th, 1895. SELECTION.

THE RECENT DEATH SENTENCE FORCRIMINAL ABORTION.

To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SIRS,-Referring to the recent sentence of death upon amidwife who had procured abortion in a case which endedfatally, it may be well to remind those who are apt to regardthis crime as not after all very criminal that only twentyyears ago Alfred Thomas Heap of Manchester, nominally achemist, but really an abortionist, was convicted and hangedor this ofeenee. He had procured abortion by transfixingthe uterus with a Manchester spindle, in consequence ofwhich injuries the woman died shortly’ afterwards. BaronPollock, who tried the case, told the jury that if they weresatisfied that the prisoner had used the instrument for thepurpose of procuring abortion the death of the womanfollowing this unlawful act made it murder. The juryfound the prisoner guilty, but recommended him to

mercy, in ignorance of the fact that he had previouslyundergone five years’ penal servitude for the same

offence. No hope of mercy was held out, andno serious attempt was made to obtain any commutation ofthe sentence. But was he any more guilty than the womenwho make this a regular trade ? That the crime is very.common is too well known ; that to secure a conviction isvery difficult is equally true ; and those who commit it mustnot expect leniency from judges and jurors. There are few,if any, medical practitioners who have not at some periodof their student or professional career been tempted withheavy bribes to commit this crime; but it is one of theboasts of the profession that, with very few exceptions, allits members have been too honourable and right-minded tolisten to such temptations for a moment. And it is onlyright that severe punishments should be awarded to anypersons, whether male or female, who shall be convicted ofthis offence, as a warning to others.

I am, Sirs, yours truly,Jan. 4th, 1896. RECTUS.

BIRMINGHAM.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Christmas at the .Hospitals.THE entertainments at the various hospitals were this year

quite in keeping with the traditions of the season. Mostof the hospitals were tastefully decorated, and appropriatemottoes and devices placed in the wards among the ever-greens. At the General Hospital the presents from theChristmas tree were distributed by Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain.A programme of music was gone through, which gave muchpleasure and elicited hearty applause. The Queen’s Hospitalgifts were disbursed by Father Christmas and received withgreat glee by the children. Mr. Registrar Glaisyer presidedover the meeting, which was well attended and enthusiastic.

Christmas Holiday Lect1t.res.The Christmas holiday lectures promoted by the Midland

Institute were given this year by Mr. Jordan Lloyd, whoselected as his subject, " Invisible Life : how we study it,and what we know of it." It must be confessed that themanner in which the subject was treated made it com-plicated for a juvenile audience. However germs, bacilli, ormicrobes are described and their forms projected by the aidof diagrams and lantern, the subject must necessarily becomplicated. Young minds at a festive season are hardlylikely to derive much enjoyment from the contemplation oftyphoid fever germs or erysipelas bacilli, while the magnifiedassociations of diphtheria scarcely tend to bring comfort orcontentment at a period devoted to holiday amusements.

Hospital Sunday Fund.At a meeting of the committee for the periodical collec-

tions for local charities, presided over by the mayor, thereport was read, and a cheque for &pound;4163 16s. ld. was handedover to the General Hospital as the proceeds of the collec-tions at the various places of worship for the year 1895. The

report stated that there was a decrease in the amount ascompared with previous years, although strenuous efforts hadbeen made this time to exceed previous occasions. Certainreasons were set forth as to the causes of the diminution.The Hospital Saturday movement was considered to be agreat reason. The number of new claims for subscriptions,the formation of hospitals in the surrounding districts, anddeaths and removals all operated in the decrease. A sketchof the movement was given by the honorary secretaries,various speakers expressed opinions, and finally the chequewas received with grateful thanks by the hospital authorities.

A Costly Mistake.At the recent assizes held in this town the result of an

action by the widow of a Mr. Harrop showed the price of afatal error, which, terminating in a sad loss of life, was butjustly met by a substantial award. The deceased was in thehabit of taking phenacetine as a remedy for headache. InJune last he called at the shop of a retail druggist and askedfor a small quantity to take ; he was supplied with a whitepowder, the taste of which, he observed, was bitter. Shortlyafterwards he was seized with rigors and vertigo and diedon his way to the hospital within an hour of taking the dose.A lady, also, who had taken a similar powder from the samedruggist’s a few days before had died from convulsions withinan hour of its administration. The powder at the post-mortem examination of Mr. Harrop was found to be composedlargely of strychnine. The druggist stated at the inquestthat the bottle labelled " Phenacetine " had been supplied tohis order by the wholesale druggists. He had ordered at thesame time a small quantity of strychnine, which came in aseparate bottle with label, but the contents of which wereproved to be pure phenacetine. By some extraordinaryblunder the contents of the first bottle had come to be com-posed of one-third strychnine and two-thirds phenacetine.The wholesale druggists admitted the responsibility, and,a consultation being held, a settlement was effected upon thefollowing terms. The record was withdrawn, the defendantsagreed to pay &pound;2800 damages and plaintiff’s taxed costs, andthe retail druggist was to pay his own costs and undertake notto bring any action against the wholesale druggists in respectof the plaintiff’s death or its consequences. The amount is

undoubtedly heavy, though no monetary compensation canatone to the widow for the loss of her husband. The mannerin which the claim was met was honourable and just, worthyof the reputation, hitherto acknowledged, of the wholesalefirm. It stands out as a sad warning and points to theabsolute necessity of extreme care and precaution in dealingwith deadly drugs.Jan. 6th.

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SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.THE annual general meeting of the contributors to the

Royal Infirmary was held on Jan. 6th, the Lord Provost pre-siding. The annual report for 1895 showed that during theyear 10,032 patients had been treated in the wards ; of these,686 had died. The total number treated was in excess ofthe preceding year. The average daily number of patients