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scope blood taken from influenza patients during fever,and found organisms hitherto unknown, which attractedspecial attention by the circumstances that they werefound only in the case of feverish influenza patients, anddisappeared from the blood as soon as recovery tookplace. Their number varied considerably. An exami-nation of his discovery by Koch and Pfeiffer showedthat his bacilli were the same as Pfeiffer’s. Dr.Canon is of opinion that the detection of this bacillusin the blood of a feverish patient completely sufficesto justify the diagnosis of influenza. It is interesting tonote that Dr. Pfeiffer saw and even photographed thebacilli now recognised as the germs of influenza two yearsago. Dr. Kirchner of Hanover believed that he had dis-covered the germ of influenza then. It was not so ; but thegenuine bacteria were in the photographs made for him byPfeiffer. Their importance was not even guessed at that time.

Berlin, Dec. 12th. _______________

EGYPT.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Drainage of Cairo.IT will be remembered that the Egyptian Government

employed Mr. Baldwin Latham two years ago to elaboratea scheme for the drainage of the capital, for which the feeof 800 guineag was paid. The native Ministry at that timewas.opposed to reform, and no further step could be takenuntil last spring, when the more enlightened Prime Ministerof ’to-day came into power. Egypt begged the six greatEuropean Powers, without whose consent she is powerlessto -effect any new expenditure of her own savings, toauthorise her to set apart half the octroi duties of Cairo topay for the city’s drainage scheme. France, pursuing herusual policy in this country, refused her consent; but hasnow imposed the following conditions which have beenforced on unwilling Egypt. Any projects for the sewerage ofCairo must be snbmitted before Jan. 31st, 1892, to a com-mittee of three engineers, English, French, and German,who are to report upon them to Egypt. If these three arenot unanimous their difference is to be submitted to a fourthengineer, as arbitrator. The arbitrator may be chosenby them, provided he is not an Egyptian employe, andprovided he is not of the nationality of any of the three.If they reject all the submitted schemes, they are em-powered to prepare their own project; if, however, theyselect one of the proffered plans, its originator is to receive:S200. The terms have been already advertised in threeEnglish journals, and are a ludicrous and ingenious deviceon the part of the French Government to delay a much-longed-for reform, the only objection to which is that it hasbeen proposed by Englishmen. The X200 prize is absurdlysmall, and will hardly tempt English sanitary engineers ofrepute to compete; but, on the other hand, the variousplans for dealing with Cairo sewerage which have beenalready brought before and rejected by the EgyptianGovernment will all be represented. The names of thethree jadges are not yet known, but it is said that Francewill nominate the chief engineer of the Paris drainage works.

The Tourist Season.In spite of the absence of all drains, Cairo is exceptionally

healthy, and the other towns of Egypt have a comparativelylowrateof mortality. The weather has been more than usuallybright and sunny since the beginning of November, thoughfor two hours on the morning of Dec. 7th we had not onlyrain, but passing hail and thunder. Exactly half an inchof rain fell on this occasion, and owing to the absence ofall street drains some of the lower parts of the town wereflooded for two or three days, requiring the service of water-carts to empty the pools. A new market has lately beenerected by the Wakfs under the supervision of the PublicWorks Department, a reform which has been greatlyneeded for years. Some energetic attempts on the part ofsanitary and veterinary employés to examine the meat soldby European butchers were met with such determinedopposition by French and Greek salesmen thah the practicehad to be abandoned. A native butcher selling unsoundmeat can be suitably punished, but the European, protectedby his consul, cannot even be 6aed. Some cooked porkbought from a European last week was found to containthe Cysticercus cellulosæ, and this is, I believe, the first timeit has been reported in Egypt.

ycawcntine Congrcss at Venice.The three delegates from Egypt have left for Venice.

They are Boutros Pacha, the Coptic Under-Secretaryof Justice, Mr. Miéville. the English President of theAlexandria Quarantine Board, and Dr. Mahmoud Pacha.Sidki, the Egyptian Vice-Director of the Sanitary Depart-ment. Egypt’r3 cause may possibly be further aided by oneof the English representatives, Dr. Mackie of AlexandriaThe Congress meets on the invitation of Austria, and willprobably resolve itself into a duel between French andEnglish, upon the vexed question of suspected ships passingthrough the Suez Canal without delav. The members forFrance are a very powerful trio, M. Camille Barrère, whowas French Minister in Egypt some five years ago, Dr.Brouardel. who has already officiated at many congresses,and Dr. Proust, the eminent professor of hygiene. The.constitution of the motley quarantine board at Alexandria!,is to be discussed, and it is to be hoped that some of itsfarcical proceedings will be put a stop to. A new tariQof taxation is to be proposed, raising the present fees almostthree times what they now are. This will have the effect ofenriching the finances of the Board and of relieving Egypt,while the Board itself will probably become even more in-ternational than it is at present. I may mention here thatan English gentleman who reached Alexandria at the end ofOctober from Syria was kept for eight days in quarantinethere, for fear of cholera. He was then in the third weekof a typical attack of enteric fever, which was not discoveredby the doctor and other officials who visited him every day.He and his friends were afraid to declare the nature ofhis illness lest the whole number of passengers shouldbe suspected of being cholera-stricken, and their imprisonment extended indefinitely. An inspection system whichcannot detect enteric fever is not likely to be very effi-cacious against cholera. On the other hand, quarantineregnlations against unclean pilgrims returning fromMecca to Egypt are, as the only method of enforcingcleanliness, of some value.

Cairo, Dec. 29th, 1891.

NEW ZEALAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

MR. F. C. BATCHELOR has published a very interestingpaper in the New Zealand Medical Journal on " A Year’/!Work in Abdominal Surgery." The paper was originallyread before the Otago Branch of the Association at theDunedin Hospital. During this period Mr. Batchelor’s con-nexion with the hospital has been practically severed, andpaper in its present form is the result mainly of private cases.Mr. Batchelor opened the abdominal cavity in twenty-nineinstances. They may be thus classified: Ovariotomies, 7;Tait’s operation, 6 ; Hegar’s, I Battey’s, 5 ; hysterec-tomies-abdominal, 2; vaginal, 1 laparotomy (for variousreasons), 7. These operations have been most successfullyperformed, for they have been conducted without a singlefatality, the patients making, according to the detailedtable which accompanies the paper, excellent and rapidrecoveries..Under the heading of the ovariotomy opera-tions Mr. Batchelor remarks that in the whole series thehighest registered temperature was 1004° on the third day.Tait’s operation was performed six times. In every casethe original condition of the patient was found to be soserious that the operation was considered absolutely neces.sary to save life or to render it bearable, and each case hadpreviously undergone prolonged medical treatment withoutrelief. As Mr, Batchelor very justly remarks, it is theoperation for the removal of the ovaries, normal or

abnormal, to induce the climacteric that is so open todebate. It is in this class of case that the enthusiasticgynaecologist in all parts of the world is so apt to overstepthe bounds of prudence. The symptoms necessitatingoperation in Mr. Batchelor’s opinion are described in detail,and every cage seems to have been very carefully weighed.The result of these six cases shows a cure in one instance,no apparent advantage gained in one case, and improve-ment more or less in the remaining four. Mr. Batchelorremarks that during the past year he has taken no new orextraordinary antiseptic precautions, but has simply, asberetofore, endeavoured to carry out strict cleanliness inall surgical proceedings, which it would be impossible to doin the wards of a general hospital in an admittedly insani-tary condition.

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St. Joltn Ambulance Association.This Association has a flourishing branch in Christchurch.

Mr. Hacon is to be congratulated on the results of hisefforts to promote the Association, for it has now beendoing excellent work for six years past. Branches, too,have been started in the principal towns of the colony, andmuch public benefit must accrue. There i", however, urgentneed for good nurses throughout the colony, and medicalmen in practice experience great difficulty in obtainingreally good nurses. A " Nurses’ Directory " has beenstarted in Auckland, and other parts of the colony woulddo well to follow the lead thus given. Good nurses receivegood pay in this colony, and they are sure of obtaining em-ployruent; for anyone who has once gained the reputationof being an efficient nurse is eagerly sought after. Nursescoming to this colony from England I should strongly adviseto go through the course of training such as is obtained atQûeen Charlotte’s Hospital, London. Nurses holding thesecertificates are not too readily found here.

Wanganui.Tourists will be glad to learn that the Wanganui river,

which has gained such a reputation for the beauty of itsscenery, is now provided with a new steamer specially builtfor the tourist demands. The steamer is owned by Mr.Hatrick, and is subsidised by the Government’. It isbelieved that she will do the journey to Pipiriki easilyin the day, thus meeting a want which has long beenfelt. She has just made her initial trip, doing twelve milesan hour, and gave every satisfaction. She was builb byMessrs. Yarrow and Co. of Poplar, and is so constructedthat she draws only sixteen inches of water, and can bedepended on to run regularly to Pipiriki, to which placeand back to Wanganui makes 120 miles of river travelling.She runs in connexion with Messrs. Cook and Sons, and thisenables tourists to readily visit the hot lakes from the westcoast or vice versâ. ___

Obituary.PROFESSOR BERKELEY HILL, F.R.C.S.

IT is with great regret that we record the death ofProfessor Berkeley Hill, which occurred on Jan. 7th at hisresidence in Wimpole-street. Mr. Hill’s death is a greatloss to the profession, and those who knew him best willmourn him most. Matthew Berkeley Hill, the youngestson of Matthew Davenport Hill, the first Recorder of

Birmingham, was born on June 12th, 1834, at the Vale ofHealth, Hampstead. Beikeley Hill was educated at

University College School, London, under Mr. Key, and alsoat Bruce Castle, Tottenham, the family school, which, at thetime he was a scholar there, had passed from the manage-ment of his uncle, the late Sir Rowland Hill, into the handsof his (Sir Rowland’s) brother, Arthur Hill On his father’sremoval to the neighbourhood of Bristol, in 1851, BerkeleyBill took up the study of chemistry under Mr. ThorntonHerapath, intending to take up the profession of analyticalchemist; but eventually turned his attention to the studyof surgery. He studied medicine at University College,with which he was connected during the whole remainingperiod of his life. Having taken the degree of M.B. andthe Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, and havingpassed a year as house surgeon in the Ormond-streebchildren’s Hospital, he went abroad in 1861 for furtherstudy at Berlin (where he made the friendship of Virchow),Vienna, and Paris. He also visihed several of the Italianhospitals, especially the one at Naples, which he describedas being then much behindhand.At the end of 1862 he commenced practice in Weymouth-

street, and shortly after was appointed assistant surgeon to’University College Hospital. In the spring of 1863 he "sat"for Sir Henry Thompson, who had been called to Brusselsto operate upon the late King of the Belgians. In 1864,1866, and 1869 he took a great part in promoting the passingof the various measures relating to contagious diseases. In1870 the storm began which ended in their temporary abro,gation. Berkeley Hill, as secretary to the Society (in con-junction with Mr. Curgenven) for the extension of theseActs to the civil population, spared neither strength,time, professional prospects, nor anything else in the cause.The abuse that was poured on him, in common with every

one who tried to diminish human suffering, especially ofthe innocent, by means of this legislation ; the falsehoodwhich assailed him on every side, never caused him for amoment to swerve from what he knew to be right. Thelabour was enormous, bat was cheerfully undertaken andpersevered in for years. At one time he debated whetherhe should not devote himself entirely to this work, andrelinquish practice altogether. In the autumn of 1870 hewent to the districts devastated by the Franco-PrussianWar to distribute the stores of the Red Cross Society, ofwhich Colonel Lloyd Lindsay, now Lord Wantage, was theactive chief. Berkeley Hill was elected on the Council of theCollege of Surgeons in 1884, and in 1886 was chosen one ofthe examiners for the College, and in 1891 Vice-President ofthe Council. Both in face and in character he greatly re-sembled his uncle, Sir Rowland Hill, especially in indomit-able perseverance, in fertility of resource, and in the abilityto grasp the salient points of every subject. In 1868 hemarried the youngest daughter of the late Sir ThomasHowell, of the War OJfice, by whom he had six children,five of whom survive him. Throughout his last illness hewas attended by devoted professional friends, among whommay be mentioned Dr. Barlow, Dr. Eustace Smith, Mr.Marcus Beck, Mr. W. Meredith, and Mr. Charles Stonham,whose care and skill were employed to save him from allpossible suffering.Like his father and his uncle, Berkeley Hill was really

public spirited—ready, that is, to sacrifice energy, time, andmoney without a thought of self-seeking or the gratificationof personal vanity. This was abundantly recognised by hiscolleagues at University College, who elected him Dean ofthe Faculty of Medicine for three years in succession, aterm of oflice which is unprecedented, and who selected himto be the first representative of the Faculty upon theCouncil of the College so soon as the much-needed reformof admitting professors to the Council Board had been con-ceded. The improvement of the discipline of the College,the proposed rebuilding of the Hospital, and the establish-ment of a teaching university in London were among thequestions which Berkeley Hill had much at heart, and in thefurtherance of which he took a large part.

It was the recognition of his unselfish public spiritedness,in addition to his surgical and scientific eminence, whichmade doubly certain his election to the Council of theCollege of Surgeons in 1884. As a councillor or committee-man he was invaluable. His attendance could always berelied upon, and his clear-headedness, attention to business,and impartiality in decisions were certain. Another strongcharacteristic was tenacity of purpose. Having put hishand to the plough, Berkeley Hill was the last man to lookback. His noble attitude with regard to the ContagiousDiseases Acts was the best evidence of this, but it was alsoabundantly shown in many minor actions. His enthusiasmwas easily aroused in what he regarded as a righteouscause, and although his decisions were at times im-petuol,isly taken, once arrived at he was not easily turnedfrom them. When it has been said that a man waspublic-spirited and tenacious of his purpose, it is almostunnecessary to allude to his honesty; and yet in this instanceit is well to do so, for Berkeley Hill’s honesty was absolute.He was incapable of deception by looL, word, or deed ; andalthough his practice was a large one, and he retained theconfidence of his patients in a manner quite unusual, it iswell to place on record that his success was due to his ster-ling qualities as a practitioner, and in no degree to thearts and little artifices known as professional "side," forwhich, in all its forms, Berkeley Hill had a good-humouredcontempt. In concluding this review of the moral quali-ties of the deceased, his kindliness and generosity musbhold the place of honour. How many students and pro-fessional friends have experienced his goodness and generositywhen stricken by illness or misfortune it would be hard tosay. Though rather impassive on the surface, he hadnevertheless a keenly sensitive nature, apt to be stirred bygenerous emotions, which evoked in him the neighbourlyactions of a true Christian and the hospitable instincts of athorough Englishman. No greater proof of this could begiven than in the tokens of personal regard and of genuinegriAf shown in the wreaths which at the funeral lay on thecoffin. Some of them were from men who, young andcareless, were in danger of wrecking their life had nob thewise counsel and the timely help of the elder man arrestedand turned them back again into the path he himself per-sued. The pleasure he felt when such a young man gaveevidence that the exertion had not been in vain was keen