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Ethedine as an Anesthetic. Abstracts of some importantcases in medicine and pathology conclude the number.The Rivista Medico. Farmaceutica Florida. No. 1,

September, 1879.-The first number of this latest additionto medical serial literature contains several articles ofvalue : On the Origin of Bright’s Disease, by Dr. Leopold;on a case of Tetanus treated successfully with Curara andChloral, by A. Brian; and a paper on Eserine, by Dr.Jurkowski.

Luxurious Bat7aizg. A Sketch. By ANDREW W. TUER.Illustrated with twelve folio etchings, initials, &c., bySutton Sharpe. London : Field and Tuer; Simpkin,Marshall, and Co. 1879.-A splendid specimen of modernprinting, binding, and publishing. The etchings are re-

markably fine, and the garb in which they are presented tothe reader is sumptuous beyond conception by those whohave not seen the book. Apart from its merits as a literaryand artistic work it will serve admirably as a present.

DISTRIBUTION OF PAUPER LUNACY INENGLAND AND WALES.

ACCORDING to the recently issued Report of the Com-missioners in Lunacy, no less than 62,107, or nearly 89 percent. of the 69,885 persons of unsound mind registered on1st January last were pauper lunatics. With regard to the7778 private lunatics, the Report affords no means for locallydistributing them in accordance with their previous resi-dence. The variations in the local incidence of insanitymay, however, be very safely inferred from the recordednumbers of pauper lunatics chargeable to the various poor-law unions of England and Wales. These variations are,moreover, sufficiently well marked to afford material for theconsideration of some of the conditions which govern the

proportion of recorded lunacy in different populations. The

Lunacy Commissioners’ Report tells us that the averageproportion of the registered insane was on the 1st Januarylast equal to 2’78 per 1000 of the population; of this, 2’47per 1000 represented the pauper lunatics, while the pro-portion of private lunatics was 0’21. It is the local dis-tribution of the pauper lunatics that we propose at presentto discuss. It may be stated, in the first place, that thisproportion of pauper lunatics in England and Wales hassteadily increased from 1’61 per 1000 of the popula-tion in 1859, to 2-47 in 1879. The real interest of thisincrease centres in the elucidation of how much of itis due to increase of lunacy, and how much to themore general registration of cases of lunacy, or to thelarger proportion of them that are treated as pauper cases.Pauper lunatics, as recorded in the tables of the LunacyCommissioners’ Report, are of three classes, those in lunaticasylums, those retained in workhouses, and those residingat home with relatives and others. All these three classesare included in the proportions of pauper lunacy ; it is clear,therefore, that the increasing tendency in recent years totreat pauper lunatics in asylums ought not to affect eitherthe varying proportions from year to year, or in differentlocalities ; there is, however, very good ground for believingthat the increase of accommodation for the asylum treat-ment of the insane has the invariable tendency to increasethe proportions of the registered insane. In the metro-politan registration division the proportion of pauper lunaticsto population on Jan. 1st last was equal to 3’54 per 1000,against 3’47 on Jan. 1st, 1878. This is a higher proportionthan prevails in any other part of England or Wales, andit is worthy of note that it is the metropolis which has ovided by far the largest proportional amount of asylumaccommodation, if we take into account the asylums forimbeciles at Leavesden and Caterham. The highest pro-portions of pauper lunacy in the English registration countieson Jan. lst last were 3’05 per 1000 in Berkshire, 3’06 inWarwickshire, 3’38 in Oxfordshire, 3’40 in Worcester-shire, and 3’51 in Wiltshire. It will be noticed thatmost of these counties are mainly agricultural in character.

The following counties showed the smallest proportion of

pauper lunacy :-Durham 1’34, Staffordshire 1’53, Yorkshire1 Derbyshire 1’85, Cornwall 1’94, and Northumberland1’96. In each of these last-named counties a large propor-tion of the male population is engaged in mining operations.It would appear from a comparison of these pauper lunacyrates in these agricultural and mining counties that theproportion of the registered insane is in inverse proportionto the educational condition and general intelligence of thepopulation. The evils of urban aggregation and defects ofsanitary condition in the mining districts do not seem suchimportant factors in the proportion of insanity as themental depression and inactivity which, together with lowdiet, prevail in agricultural districts. It is worthy of notethat the proportion of pauper lunacy in Lancashire, where

L the amount of asylum accommodation is far smaller than, it is in the metropolis, did not exceed 2’22 per 1000, whereasþ in London, as we have before stated, it was 3’54 per 1000.

I It will be interesting to inquire how, and at what periods,the excess of more than 50 per cent. in the proportion ofr

registered pauper lunacy in the metropolis, compared withthat in Lancashire, has accumulated.

Analptical Records.PATENT COMPRESSED EFFERVESCENT.

(MESSRS. WHEELER & CO., 7, GEORGE-YARD, FENCHURCH-STREET.) .

THIS preparation presents the compound known as citrateof magnesia in a novel and convenient form-namely, inthat of hard cubes of about is. side, each cube beingsufficient for a tumblerful of effervescent drink. In thisform the evolution of the carbonic acid, instead of takingplace tumultuously, as in the ordinary sherbets and citrateof magnesia preparations, proceeds, from the hardness of thematerial, gradually and steadily, so that the tumblerful ofliquid can be drunk leisurely. We need hardly again pointout that all articles sold as citrate of magnesia do notstrictly deserve that appellation, consisting as they do ofbicarbonate of soda, citric acid, and a little sulphate ofmagnesia.

THE PERFECTED COD-LIVER OIL.

(MESSRS. ALLEN & HANBURYS, PLOUGH-COURT, 37, LOMBARD-STREET.

Messrs. Allen & Hanburys have as nearly as possiblesucceeded in depriving cod-liver oil of its nauseating smelland taste. They present in their "perfected" " article theoil in a beautifully bright and but very little coloured state.It is said to contain the whole of the medicinal and nutritive

properties belonging to the ordinary oil. Many persons towhom the taste of the oil has hitherto been an obstacle willdoubtless be able to take it in this its more perfected form.

ZOEDONE.

(MESSRS. R. EVANS & CO., WREXHAM.)This elegantly got-up effervescent drink is an excellent

vehicle for phosphate of iron, its most important constituent.It is practically free from ferruginous taste, and is a bright,sparkling, and pleasant non-alcoholic beverage.

, FELLOWS’ COMPOUND SYRUP OF HYPOPHOSPHITES.(MESSRS. S. M. BURROUGHS & Co., 8, SNOW-HILL.)

Fellows’ Syrup contains the hypophosphites of iron,: quinine, strychnia, manganese, lime, and potash, - the

strychnia amounting in a dose of one drachm to gr.I The preparation therefore includes a number of powerful. nervine tonics. These are almost completely dissolved inl the syrup. The reaction of the preparation is practicallyneutral-an advantage in many cases where the acid solu-. tions of quinine and iron are objectionable or inadmissible.! The compound is skilfully prepared, and the difficultiert

of keeping the remedies which it contains in solution, andt in a form in which they are not liable to change, have been. very successfully overcome.