1378

(Commonwealth Division of Economic Entomology),Prof. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (Professor of Anthropology,Sydney University), Mr. C. A. Sussmilch (Departmentof Technical Education, N.S.W.), Prof. N. T. M.Wilsmore (Professor of Chemistry, University ofWestern Australia), Prof. A. N. Burkitt (Professor ofAnatomy, Sydney University), and Prof. E. J. Goddard(Professor of Biology, University of Queensland).

New Institute of Anatomy at Canberra.Work has begun at Canberra on the construction of

the buildings for the Institute of Anatomy. Thisinstitution will house Prof. (now Sir) Colin MacKenzie’sgift collection of specimens of Australian fauna.The site selected adjoins the reserve for the buildingof the University. It is expected that the building,with fittings, will cost about £96,000, apart from£14,000 for a zoological reserve and quarters for thestaff, and the expenditure to erect a residence forProf. MacKenzie, who will act as director.

The late Colonel Bird.The death has occurred of Col. Frederic Dougan

Bird, one of our best-known surgeons. He wasborn at Richmond, England, in 1858, the son of Dr.Samuel Dougan Bird, and was educated at theScotch College, Melbourne, King’s College, and Univer-sity College, London, and the University of Melbourne.He qualified as M.B. in 1882, Ch.M. in 1886, andM.R.C.S. Eng. in 1883, and became demonstrator ofanatomy and lecturer on surgery in the Universityover thirty years ago. He was surgeon to MelbourneHospital for many years ; and acted also as Examinerin Anatomy and in Surgery at the University ofAdelaide. He was a Past President of the MedicalSociety of Victoria and President of the Section ofSurgery at the Adelaide Medical Congress in 1905.In 1913 he received the Honorary Fellowship of theRoyal College of Surgeons of England, and in thefollowing year left Australia with the first expeditionin the European War. He was Lieut.-Col. R.A.M.C.in 1914, Colonel Army Medical Service 1915, andConsulting Surgeon in Egypt, the Mediterranean, :Macedonia, and in England. He was mentioned threetimes in despatches and received the C.B. in 1916.

EDINBURGH.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

City Smoke.Prof. Lelean, taking advantage of every con-

venient opportunity for teaching, dealt with theproblem of city smoke at the weekly luncheon ofthe Edinburgh Rotary Club. He stated that theaverage man’s 40 lb. of air inspired daily mightcontain 285,000,000 particles of dust, soot. tar, andacid during the smoke fog. It was estimated thatthe total loss due to smoke in Great Britain was£40,000,000 per annum, of which £32,000,000 couldbe saved without injury to industry. That loss perhead per annum averaged 30s. for the whole country. In Edinburgh the trains and factories were primarysources of pollution. Glasgow had reduced its sootfuel by 50 per cent. in the last dozen years, owingto a vigorous administration of effective by-laws.The domestic producer was a more difficult problem.Prof. Lelean thought that the town councils shouldbe stimulated to promote the municipal supply ofsmokeless fuel at economic rates and to enforceeffective by-laws for the reduction of smoke. It isinteresting to note that the ordinary business man isnow concerning himself with the smoke problemand one hopes that the solution of it will be thusaccelerated.

Care of the Deaf.The problem of the deaf presents the same type

of difficulties as the problem of the blind. At theannual meeting in Glasgow of the Scottish Associa-tion for the Deaf, an account was given of the steps

taken to secure cooperation and unity among thevarious agencies dealing with the deaf throughoutScotland. It took two years to bring together theconstituent bodies under the united Scottish Associa-tion, and the first annual report is rather an indica-tion of the work lying ahead than a record of workdone. The Education Committee of the Associationis at present going into the questions of highereducation, the condition of backward children inordinary schools, and qualifications of teachers of thedeaf, whilst the Adult Welfare Committee has beenconsidering the boundaries of the missions to theadult deaf, the starting of a national magazine, andthe compilation of an official list of interpreters.

Moving the adoption of the report, the Duke ofMontrose called attention to the fact that blindpersons are entitled to be considered for an old-agepension at an earlier age than the ordinary person.He thought the same privilege should be given tothe deaf, for when a deaf man got past middle ageit was very hard indeed to find employment. Heurged that the time to get at the deaf was when theywere young and receptive to all kinds of instruction.On the motion of Dr. J. Kerr Love, a resolution waspassed to the effect that the Association was ofopinion that the hardships of the deaf and deaf-mutes in Scotland were of such gravity as to demandthe attention of the State, and therefore requestedthe Government to appoint a suitable committee toinvestigate these hardships with a view to theiramelioration.Dr. James Kerr described a recent investigation

into the deaf children of one of the institutions inEdinburgh. A striking development in one of theseinstitutions is the infant school to which the childrenare admitted at the ’’ babbling " stage, when theinstinctive impulse to speak is still strong. Theresults of training are said to be remarkable.As the result of the large amount of blindness

caused by the war, legislation has been rapidlypromoted to deal with the blind. But the corre-

sponding problem of the deaf and dumb cannot beneglected much longer. Dr. Kerr Love in Glasgowhas devoted himself for many years to the problemsof the deaf, and Dr. James Kerr, now on the Boardof the Edinburgh Institution, is bringing to bear hislarge experience in Bradford and London. It seemsprobable that the question will now be pressedrapidly forward.

Home for Mothers.One of the happiest extensions of the work of the

Edinburgh Children’s Holiday Fund is the TiredMothers’ Home near Leadburn, about nine milesfrom Edinburgh. This home has been in existencemany years. It. lies in a beautiful spot commandinga fine view of the Pentland Hills, and accommodates15 or 16 mothers, with three children each. Theexperiment began in 1910 with a furnished houselent by a friend, the mothers paying their ownexpenses. Later. another house was rented for amonth, and later still two small cottages. Thepresent home was bought in 1917, when a large numberof the beneficiaries were the wives of men on activeservice. It has been improved and added to fromtime to time. For some 30 years Mrs. Stirling Boydhas been the moving spirit in the Holiday Fund.The work of the Tired Mothers’ Home has been muchappreciated. At the meeting held to commemoratethe recent extension, the matron explained that eachmother was responsible for keeping her own roomand her children clean and tidy, and they took it inturns, two at a time, to help in the setting out of themeals and washing up.The managers of the Hoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh

have unanimously appointed Mr. Henry Maw (outof 120 applicants for the post) as successor to Mr.W. S. Caw, the secretary and treasurer, who retiresat the end of the year. Mr. Caw, who has been wellknown for a generation to the Edinburgh medicalworld, has a wide grasp of hospital affairs and policy.His successor has for eight years been secretary ofthe Clayton Hospital at Wakefield.