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action. Nothing will bring it more rapidly into disreputeas a legitimate therapeutic agent than the fact that all whohave used it, or intend to use it, are kept ignorant of itscomposition. It follows, therefore, that, until such dis-closure be made, Dr. Koch’s liquid runs the serious risk ofbeing.classed as illegitimate. May I ask if any of theuniversities or colleges has sanctioned the use of this secretremedy by individual graduates and diplomats, who havehad it supplied to them and have used it, and also if theyhave been guilty of any infringement of their qultlificationas practitioners ? Perhaps the universities :md collegesmay answer this through the columns of your old-estab-lished journal.-I am, Sirs, yours truly,

J. CHRISTIAN SIMPSON, M. B. Edin.J. CHRISTIAN SIMPSON, M.B. Edin.

DISINFECTION IN LONDON.To the Editors oj THE LANCET.

’SIRS,-In the report of THE LANCET Special Sanitary’Commission upon this subject, it is stated that "the dis-trict of St. Pancras has built itself a steam pressure stovewhich is a copy of the stove employed by Mr. Lacy, whoformerly did all their disinfecting work." The high pressure steam stove in use in St. Pancras is the Nottinghampatent steam disinfector, and was erected by Messrs.Goddard, Massey, and Warner of Nottingham. It came

specially under my notice in a paper read in April,1889, before the Society of Medical Officers of Health byDr. Tomkins of Leicester. It is constructed on a prin-ciple similar to that introduced by Professor G. van

Overbeck de Meyer of Utrecht. The Sanitary Committeeof the St. Pancras Vestry visited the Fever Hospital atHornsey and there saw the chamber in practical working.The St. Pancraa machine, like each of its predecessors, hadsuggested improvements of detail introduced during con-struction. It was erected in the months of September andOctober, 1889, displacing a hot, dry-air chamber, andcame into use concurrently with the Infectious DiseaseNotification Act. During these two months Mr. Lacy dis-infected the bedding, clothing, &c., the parochial officers- doing the fumigation &e. The cost of disinfecting the’oedding &c. during this period nearly equalled the cost ofthe new chamber. These are the facts concerning St. Pancras.

I am, Sirs, yours obediently,JOHN F. J. SYKES,

Medical Officer of Health.’Vestry Hall, Pancras-road, Jan. Gth, 1891.

P.S.-As to the methods pursued in St. Pancras, I beghere with to enclose you copies of my Annual Report for&889, and would refer you to pages 18-20.

JOHN F. J. SYKES.Medical Officer of Health.

NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Workmen’s Dwellings in Newcastle.CANON FRANKLIN, who has given much attention to

’the housing of the working classes in Newcastle, in a speechn the Central Hall last Saturday gave some of his experi-ences in this city, which are not a little startling. He:stated that there were four miles of underground dwellings’in Newcastle, places where the light never came in exceptfiltered through a dark medium, and with dripping walls.Such tenants saw nothing but misery in their houses, and’could not afford to live upstairs. He believed houses weredearer in Newcastle than anywhere else. To be near theirwork men must live in hovels underground, breathing a- damp atmosphere, or pay a higher rent than they couldafford, and were thus, he believed, often driven into thepublic-house for comfort. He also mentioned the fact’that lately more than 1000 people were driven out of one’street to make room for post-office and other extensions.Canon Franklin in this matter has taken up a great andimportant matter, and it is to be hoped he will continue todirect public attention to it, so as to move our rather inertand dilatory municipal authorities. He has likewise veryopportunely shown that a long-wished-for Act of Parliament- comes into force this week, which if acted upon must havebefore long a beneficial efl’ect. It provides that any four rate-payers may sign a requisition calling on the medical officer’af health to visit any property they consider unfit for

habitation. The medical officer must then visit and report.If he considers the houses unfit for habitation, the corpora-tion is bound to close them, and before closing them it mustprovide suitable dwellings for the disposessed tenants. Hesuggests that a small association of independent citizensmight be formed into a vigilance committee to look afterthe insanitary dwellings of the poor.

Sunderland.The sanitary state of Sunderland is not at present good,

av evidenced by the death- rate of last week-viz., 32’5 per1000. This, I believe, is the highest rate of the past year,and exceeds the birth-rate. It is to be hoped that this stateof things is exceptional, and depends upon the climaticchanges we are experiencing in the north now in commonwith the other parts of England. Mr. T. W. Backhouse hasforwarded a cheque for £200 in aid of the building for theSunderland Eye Infirmary. Mr. Arthur Backhouse hassent a cheque for a similar amount, and flOO has been con-tributed by the Wearmouth Coal Company. The secretaryof the Sunderland Infirmary has also received £500 fromMr. Arthur Backhouse in aid of that institution.

A Consumption Hospital for Newcastle.Mr. Arthur T. Wear, of this city, and one of the honorary

medical officers of the Chest Hospital, has written a letterto the Newcastle Journal, pointing out the need for aproperly equipped consumption hospital for Newcastle. Hecites the death tables, which indicate that in the year 1889the deaths from consumption in this city, out of a total fromall causes of 4033, were 387, and also that the industries ofthe district and its geographical situation favour consump-tion and all pulmonary affections. Mr. Wear has donegood service in drawing the attention of our citizens tothis acknowledged want, which, if once properly taken inhand, could be soon supplied, and the present prosperoustimes are most opportune. I believe that the workingclasses of Newcastle—I mean, of course, the artisans-could easily build and support such a hospital, but it willrequire time and work before they see its necessity.

South Shields.I regret to notice the death from typhoid fever, after a

very brief illness, of Mr. T. M. Hall, the secretary of theIngham Infirmary at South Shields. Mr. Hall was a son ofthe late Mr. J. L. Hall, J.P., and at the time of his deathwas only thirty years of age. He was much respected bythe profession at South Shields and deeply regretted by all.

It is reported that there is another extensive outbreakof typhoid fever at Stockton, and that the distribution ofthe cases pointa to a common cause.Newcastle-on-Tyne, Jan. 7th.

SCOTLAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

EDINBURGH.

Health of Edinburgh during 1890.THE mortality of Edinburgh last year was 4990, making

the death-rate 18-4 per 1000. Of the total deaths, 1880 wereunder five years, and 1237 above sixty years of age ; ofthese, 243 were above eighty, 26 above ninety, and 1 abovea hundred years. Diseases of the chest caused 1660 deaths,and zymotic diseases 695, of which 44 were due to typhoid,85 to diphtheria, 46 to scarlatina, 241 to measles, 243 towhooping-cough, and 35 to erysipelas. The intimations forthe year numbered 6825, and included 6 cases of typhus fever,500 of typhoid, 361 of diphtheria, 1197 of scarlatina, and 4761of measles. In the City Hospital 1578 cases had been treated.There were 7177 births registered during the year.The Edinburgh Public Health Committee and the Koch

System.A little time ago the committee of the Victoria Dispen-

sary made an application to the Public Health Committeeto have some beds set aside in the City Hospital for thereception of cases of phthisis to be treated with Koch’sliquid. The committee resolved to recommend the magis-trates and Town Council to decline to receive such cases.They will certainly have the support of the profession herein this decision.

Edinburgh University Beturnsfor 1890.During the past year the total number of matriculated