344 CHICAGO EXHIBITION.

medical men practising here, are now frequently receivingletters asking if these reports are true and if the sanitarycondition of Aix-les-Bains is satisfactory as to water-supplyand drainage. We can unhesitatingly affirm that there isnot actually, and has not been, a single case of typhoid feveror other infectious and contagious disease in Aix-les-Bainsthis year. The general health of the town and neighbourhoodis excellent, the water is pure and abundant and the drainageis in perfect condition, the system being the tout à l’égout.The sewers are flushed out daily by the enormous quantity ofsulphur water flowing from the sulphur springs and bath-house. The sewage is conducted to the deep part of theLake Bourget, whence it passes on to the River Rhone.

We are, Sirs, yours respectfully,BRACHET, M. D.,L. BLAMY, M.D.,STANLEY RENDALL, M.D., M.R.C.S.,THOMAS LUIN, M.D.

CHICAGO EXHIBITION.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

Th.e Bureau of Charities and Correction.THERE can be no doubt that the directors of the Exhibition

have made very magnificent attempts to render their show acomplete up-to-date record of everything ; but of all the

ideas that ever came into the head of a directorate surelynone more merits the epithet ambitious" " than that of placinginside a building a thousand miles from the east coast of NorthAmerica an intelligible and comprehensive demonstration ofmodern facilities for dealing with the dependents and delin-quents of the world. It has only to be remembered how muchthere is in philanthropic work that is intangible and invisibleto realise how unlikely it is that such a demonstration couldever be practically satisfactory ; but this was the task thatthe Bureau of Charities and Correction, a section of the

Department of Liberal Arts at the Chicago Exhibition, setbefore itself, and though it may be somewhat of a failurewhen looked at from the standpoint of its first design it is stillexceedingly interesting to all whose business brings theminto relation with the poor, the insane and the criminal.The original scheme ran thus :-Provision for the mentally

defective This was to be illustrated by models and plans ofcustodial asylums of all sorts, by copies of the forms re-

quired by different countries to make the detention of theinsane legal, and by statistics showing the working expensesof various institutions and their favourable or unfavourableresults. -Provision for the sick and injured This was to beillustrated by models and plans of hospitals-general, specialand convalescent-by reports of such places and of dispen-saries and of all home missions to the sick, by charts andmaps, by accounts of all ambulance work, and by statisticsshowing the good done and the proportional expense in-

curred.-Provisionfor children: This was to be exemplified ina similar manner by models of children’s hospitals, correc-tional buildings and reformatories and by accounts of children’said societies, of organisations for placing out dependentchildren and of fresh-air missions.-Provision for paupers:Here models of the almshouses and workhouses of differentnations were invited, with detailed and statistical accountsof charity organisation societies and of relief societies allover the world.-Provision for the criminal classes : Heremodels and pictures of gaols and penitentiaries were required,with details concerning the registration and identificationof criminals, the methods of capital punishment, and thestatistics of crime and punishment all over the world.

It will be seen that this scheme was immense. Such in-formation, if it had been poured in from all the four cornersof the earth, would have been almost impossible to deal with.One section of one department of what is essentially a popularExhibition would have constituted itself an informal court of

inquiry into the ultimate ramifications of social science aswell as an international congress of hygiene and medicine,public, domestic and preventive. If the directors had obtainedwhat they sought they would have been at a loss how to dealadequately with the material at their disposal. The partialfailure that has attended their efforts has been due, however,not to any such plethora of support, but to the reverse. TheBureau has been neglected by exhibitors and the reasons areobvious. Firstly, whilst it is easy to obtain exhibits where itis to the advantage of the exhibitor to make a display, it is

not so easy where the only good that can come to the-exhibitor is the feeling that he is helping the diffusion ofuseful knowledge. Secondly, the department was very late inbeing organised, so that many of the foreign countries had;arranged the part that they would play in the Exhibitionbefore the Bureau of Charities came into existence. Thirdly,the Chicago Exhibition, though in its more usual featuresfairly cosmopolitan, is in its new departures essentiallyAmerican. This must be laid to the account of the geogra-phical position of the site There are certain things that are’always being exhibited and certain firms who must always beexhibiting. For such Chicago would have no terrors. But the-novelties at Chicago-and there are many-have not receivedmuch outside support. Those Europeans wishing to joincurious congresses or to make experiments in exhibitionhave naturally decided to wait until a less costly opportunityoccurs nearer home.The exhibition of the Bureau of Charities and Correction is.

not only largely American but, as might be expected, is largelysupplied from one or two of the States ; for only thoseolder States with a large population, large towns and some-history can have any light to throw upon the problems arisingout of the relationship between poverty, disease and crime.New York and Massachusetts provide a great proportion ofthe exhibits. New York State sends models of an idealalmshouse-and it is both a model and ideal affair, such as.would infallibly have roused the wrath of Mr. Bounderby-with an admirable essay on Poor-house Construction by Mr.Letchworth, the designer, a model of the new pavilion ofthe Utica (New York) State Hospital and one of the infirmaryblock of a Female Asylum at Newark, N.Y., and a splendidmodel of the State Reformatory at Elmira. This elaborate-piece of work shows not only the exterior of the vast

building, but all its internal arrangements, and is accom-panied by a very complete demonstration of the work of thetrade school. Amongst the contributions from this State-are also a set of charts prepared by the secretary of the-New York Board of Charities, Dr. Charles Hoyt, dealing withthe general aspect of the pauper question in his State andwith the immigration statistics of the port of New York andpresenting masses of new information in the concisest possibleform. There is a mcdel of the chair of "electrocution."’Massachusetts sends detailed accounts of the District NursingAssociation of the commonwealth, of the Reformatory Prisonfor Women at Framingham, of the Boston Children’s AidSociety and of the Massachusetts institution for the care ofdependent and delinquent children. This last charity is.so successful that a word must be said about its work-

ing. There are two main ideas-(1) that family life as

a training for the young should, whenever possible, takethe place of institution life ; and (2) that systematisedsupervision and care are absolutely essential to children trans-planted into strange families. As a proof of the soundness.of these ideas one has only to look at the figures. Theseshow that whereas in 1866 more than two-thirds of the de-

pendent children were inside institutions, and in 1876 more-than one-half, in 1892 less than one-third were in institutions.and more than one-half were supporting themselves in families.Massachusetts also contributes a series of eighty charts, pre-pared by Mr. Joseph Lee of Boston, which give a bird’s-eye-view of the sociology of his State, the plans for a new dipso-maniac hospital at Boston and an exhaustive account of theBoston City Hospital, illustrated by models. Illinois, as.

the State that owns Chicago, naturally presents accounts ofChicago charities, of.which the School of Agriculture (re-formatory) at Glenwood is the most important, and Marylandcontributes a splendid model of the best American hospital,the Johns Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore.

, It will thus be seen that if the Bureau has failed to carryout its enormous programme it still has collected a vastamount of valuable material and supplied a most instructiveexhibition ; and if a magnificent opportunity for a compara-tive study of the charitable and penal work of the world hasbeen lost-this is the very natural opinion of Mr. NathanielRosenau, the Director of the Bureau-it must be rememberedthat if such liberal demands as were made had been metwith liberal supplies the result would have been a great amountof information requiring much preparation to make it easyof assimilation. As it is, the Bureau places before the publica great deal of new and useful knowledge in a most digestibleform and renders it possible for all other nations to comparetheir efforts and results with those of America’s richestStates. In more than one direction.-notably in her care forneglected childhood-America need fear no such comparison.Chicago, Illinois.

345LIVERPOOL.—MANCHESTER.

LIVERPOOL.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Hosvital Sunday and Saturday.THE generosity of the public is still well shown by the

amount of the collections on Hospital Sunday and of the con-tents of the Hospital Saturday boxes. The weather on Hos-pital Sunday, which was on Jan. 8th, was most unfavourable,the frozen snow reducing the congregations to one-half oreven a quarter of their usual numbers. But whilst this mustaffect the amount of the collections in some instances, inothers the amount was not reduced and was even increased.The depression of trade has not had the effect which mighthave been expected.The Health Committee and Precautionary Measures against

the Importation of Cholera.Very elaborate measures have been adopted by the health

<committee to deal promptly with any cases of cholera or ofsuspected cholera arriving in any vessels from infected portsor elsewhere. The hospital at New Ferry on the Cheshireside can be approached from the river, and here any suspiciouscases can be promptly and successfully isolated. The screw-steamer Ant arrived on the evening of July 24th fromSt. Petersburg, having touched at Dieppe. Two of the crewwere complaining of illness, abdominal pains, cramps anddiarrhoea. They were removed the following morning to thehospital at New Ferry while the vessel was thoroughlyfumigated and cleansed, the clothing was disinfected.and the bedding destroyed. The bilges were pumped outand a fresh supply of drinking-water obtained. The mencremoved to hospital were soon convalescent, the diseasenot being cholera. When it is remembered how peculiarlyliable the River Mersey is to the importation of cholera fromany infected foreign port it will be seen that these precautions.are strictly requisite.

Small-pox.Although cases of small-pox are still reported as having

occurred within a short distance of Liverpool it is satisfac-tory to be able to state that the city itself is practicallyfree from it. The vaccination of infants is most satisfactorilyperformed. As regards revaccination there is still plenty ofroom for improvement; and seeing that it is practically com-pulsory upon so many employ&eacute;s of the Government there are’cogent reasons why it should be encouraged amongst allthose who would be peculiarly liable to any outbreak-thelarge number of men and women employed at the various’centres of industry. The admirable report of Dr. GuestGornall of Warrington on the recent epidemic proved con-clusively how the outbreak ceased when efficient revaccina-tion was adopted. Clearly, therefore, it is a warning to theinhabitants of this and other cities to adopt this prophylacticin good time so as to prevent the possibility of the diseaseassuming an epidemic form.

The Assizes.

Mr. Justice Lawrance has been piesiding in the CrownCourt since the 26th ult. In the case of an Italian who was

charged with murder at Wigan by stabbing it was shown that,he had been subjected to considerable violence and that theabominable practice of "purring" or kicking a man whenhe was lying on the ground still prevails in some parts of;Lanca,shire. The prisoner was found guilty of manslaughterand sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. In another.case of alleged wife murder the crime was reduced to that,of manslaughter, and the prisoner, who was suffering atthe time from delirium tremens, was ordered to be detained.during Her Majesty’s pleasure.Aug 1st.

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MANCHESTER.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Canal Doeks and the Hot Weather.IT is not surprising that the long-continued drought and

the intensely hot weather recently prevailing in Manchestershould have intensified the nuisance which for some time pasthas emanated from the somewhat concentrated sewage thatfinds its way from the Irwell into the docks of the Ship Canal.Within the last week or two, however, the weather hasbecome very close and sultry and as consequence the stench

in the neighbourhood of the Irwell has become well-nighunbearable. The daily papers have now taken up the subject,and more than one important meeting has been held duringthe last few days to protest against the further continuance ofthe nuisance. The opinion commonly held in the neighbour-hood is to the effect that the Mersey and Irwell Joint Boardhave been too forbearing in their treatment of the apatheticand unwilling sanitary authorities who pollute the Irwell andits tributaries. Salford is said to have expended manythousands of pounds in the construction of sewage tanks,and in experimenting with the various precipitating agents,but so far as can be gathered none of the other great townsin the district have taken any really effective steps inthe same direction. "What good is done," says one writer,by enforcing the purification of, say, 600, 000 gallons ofsewage per day, whilst 15,000,000 gallons per day are else-where being discharged in all its native impurity." TheLocal Government Board, too, are coming in for a shareof blame for not dealing promptly with the proposals ofthe local sanitary authorities who have submitted schemes ofsewage purification for the approval of the Board. It is saidthat the inspecting staff of the Local Government Board isnumerically insufficient to cope with the large amount ofadditional work laid upon them in consequence of the actionof the Mersey and Irwell joint committee and of othersimilar agencies in various parts of the country. This, how-ever, is surely a matter of mere detail, and it is to be hopedthat any deficiency in the inspecting staff, if it really exist,will be promptly adjusted.

2’he Infirmary Board and Small-pox.At the last meeting of the infirmary board the committee

of the Monsall Hospital were able to make the satisfactoryannouncement that during the previous week not a singlesmall-pox case had been admitted to hospital either from thecity of Manchester or from any of the outside districts whichhave arranged with that committee for the reception of theircases. According to the report of the medical officer ofhealth, the epidemic, so far as concerns Manchester, wouldseem to have almost come to an end, and yet the diseaseappears to be smouldering still in several neighbouring townsbetween which and our own city there is practically constantintercommunication. The number of patients in the small-pox hospitals does not now exceed 25 and the numbers havebeen steadily falling for several weeks past. Fortunatelythe authorities are still on the alert, and we may rest assuredthat recurring cases of small-pox will be promptly removed to ohospital and every available measure will be taken to preventanother outburst of this most troublesome disease.

Epidentic Diarrh&aelig;a.With the cooler weather of the last fortnight has come a

considerable reduction in the number of deaths from diarrhoealdiseases, which had been very prevalent and fatal of late. Thedeaths from diarrhoea and English cholera, which in the weekending June 24th did not exceed 19 in number, rose to 101in the week ending July 22nd. The earth thermometer,suspended at a depth of 4 ft. from the surface, registered59’5&deg; in the middle of that week. From this point,however, the earth temperature has slowly but steadilyfallen, until on Saturday last it stood at 59&deg;. Accordinglythe deaths from diarrhoea and English cholera fell last weekto 64, although even this number is, of course, greatly inexcess of the normal for the season of the year. Duringthe last five weeks deaths from the following causes havebeen registered in Manchester Diarrhoea, 365 ; Englishcholera or choleraic diarrhoea, 21 ; and gastro-enteritis, 87-together 473 deaths, which, inasmuch as they occurred forthe most part amongst very young infants, may fairly beattributed to the recent excessive heat.

_

The Onens College.The work of the summer session has been brought to a

close and the midsummer examinations for medical degreeshave been completed. The new medical school buildings inCoupland-street are now fast approaching completion, and itis to be hoped that the weather, having been so long favour-able, the builders will be able to hand over the new medicalschool to the College authorities by the commencement of theensuing winter session. For years past the old premises haveproved inconveniently small for the rapidly increasing numberof students ; and it is certain that unless the buildings nowapproaching completion had been provided, the work andthe development of our excellent medical school would havebeen seriously interfered with. The infirmary board have at