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spread of infection from vagrants occurred with varying results. In the circumstances the Council had decided to

accede to the suggestion of the corporation and to convenea conference to consider the question of the agency of

vagrants in the spread of infectious diseases and the pre-ventive or remedial measures which might be adopted. The

conference is to take place at the County Hall, Spring-gardens, Charing Cross, London, S.W., on Thursday,Nov. 10th, and the Council expressed the hope that the

Metropolitan Asylums Board would delegate a member toattend the conference. The letter was referred to the

hospitals committee with power to appoint a delegate.

BETHLEM ROYAL HOSPITAL.

THIS Royal hospital will be ready for the reception of

patients on Oct. 17th. During the period of closure many important improvements have been effected-viz., a newsystem of drainage, more thorough precautions against fire,installations of the electric light, redecoration of the wards,and many other alterations for the benefit of the patients.Instructions for persons applying for the admission of

patients are as follows-viz. :-Persons of unsound mind presumed to be curable are eligible for

admission into this hospital for maintenance and medical treatment,except-

1. Those who have sufficient means for their suitable maintenance ina private asylum.

II. Those who have been insane more than 12 months and are con-sidered by the resident physician to be incurable.

III. Those who are in a state of idiocy, or are subject to epileptic fits,or whose condition threatens the speedy dissolution"of life, or requiresthe permanent and exclusive attendance of a nurse.N.B.-" A preference will be given to patients of the educated classes

-to secure accommodation for whom no patient will be received whois a proper object for admission into a county lunatic asylum."A limited number of patients are received on payment of JE2 2s. per

week (only), paid monthly in advance.

Applications should be addressed to the Resident Physician,"Bethlem Royal Hospital, London, S.E."

THE DECLINE IN THE CONSUMPTION OFLIGHT WINES.

IT is curious that when Bordeaux wines or clarets

were never cheaper, more abundant, and purer than theyare in the present day the public demand for them shouldso decidedly have diminished. The fact is that nowadaysclaret is not understood by the majority of people and it

must be admitted that unless it is handled properly claretmay easily be an unpleasant and uninteresting beverage. On

the other hand, there is no finer wine-no wine of a more

wholesome character or possessing more delicacy of flavour-than a light, sound, relatively non-acid claret when propercare is devoted to it. Claret is well worth while under-

standing but it is to be feared that many persons fail to

appreciate claret because it is not potent enough and,besides, it is a delicate wine which will not keep. Manyindividuals prefer a rough-and-ready wine which can be re-served for future use after a portion has been usedthe remainder not perceptibly changing or becoming sour.Such wines, of course, lack delicacy and are "heavy," andowing to their comparatively high alcoholic strength keepwell and in a more or less drinkable condition. Economicalmotives presumably lead some people to select comparativelyheavy wines-a little strong wine " goes further," they find,than a light delicate one. It needs very little to prove, how-

ever, that the sound light wine is more wholesome than theheavier descriptions of wine and the alcoholic allowance ismore likely to be exceeded in the latter case. Sound claret,after all, contains but little free acid and, in fact, in thisrespect it invariably contains the least proportion of acid ofall wines. Again, red Bordeaux wines are certainly less

acid than white wines, while they contain practically no

sugar compared with white wines. In health the individual

would undoubtedly be better for drinking a pleasing light

claret rather than a glass of ardent spirits and water.Good sound claret need not contain more alcohol than doesale or stout while it is free from the extractive matters of thelatter. It is well known that in countries where the staplebeverage is vin ordinaire the people who are content withsuch a simple but withal generous drink have sober

inclinations, show a good bill of health, and are free from thedemoralising influences of spirit-drinking. Yet in this

country the same advantages may be enjoyed, so good,cheap, and abundant is the supply of light claret imported atthe present time. The decline in the consumption of lightwines in favour of heavy wines or the drinking of ardentspirits would appear to be evidence that a demand for morevigorous and rapidly acting stimulants has arisen and the

social and moral aspects of such a demand are worth seriousreflection.

____

THE annual meeting of the Incorporated Society ofMedical Officers of Health will be held at 9, Adelphi-terrace, on Friday, Oct. 14th, at 5 P.M., when Dr. J. F. J.

Sykes, medical officer of health of the metropolitan boroughof St. Pancras, will deliver a presidential address uponPublic Health and Architecture, illustrated by a largenumber of plans and drawings. The annual dinner of the

society will be held the same evening at the Trocadero

Restaurant, Piccadilly-circus, London, W.

THE Odontological Society of Great Britain gives noticethat it is prepared to receive applications for grants in aidof the furtherance of scientific research in connexion with

dentistry. Application for particulars should be made tothe honorary secretary, Scientific Research Committee,

Odontological Society, 20, Hanover-square, W.

THE opening meeting of the seventy-fourth session of theHarveian Society of London will be held at 8.30 P.M. onThursday, Oct. 13th, at the Stafford Rooms, Titchborne-street, Edgware-road, London, W. Mr. C. R. B. Keetley

; will deliver the Harveian lecture for the year, the subjectT being Plastic Surgery. -1

H.R.H. the Duchess of Albany will open the new operat-t ing theatre at the National Hospital for the Paralysed andt Epileptic, Queen-square, Bloomsbury, to-day (Saturday),

at 3.30 P.M. -

Sir Dyce Duckworth has been appointed to the vacancy inthe offices of medical referee to the Treasury and medical

adviser to the Pensions Commutation Board caused by the

0resignation of Dr. Lionel S. Beale.,

y THE Lettsomian Lectures of the Medical Society 6fLondon will be delivered on Feb. 6th and 20th and

March 6th, 1905, by Dr. G. H. Savage, the subject beingr; Mental Disorders.

INSTITUTE OF HYGIENE.

THE opening ceremony of the Institute of Hygiene tookplace at 34, Devonshire-street, London, W., on Sept. 30th.The institute has been founded to further variousbranches of popular teaching in hygienic matters and thefirst step has been the establishment of a permanent ex.hibition of hygienic products and appliances. This exhibi-tion is under the charge of a registered medical man, Mr.W. G. McDowell, who is there to explain the composition,character, or properties of the various articles exhibited. Inhis opening address Sir JOSEPH FAYRER declared that thepermanent exhibition of hygienic products and applianceswould be of advantage to medical men and others in

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demonstrating the progress made in the various depart-ments of manufacture which are auxiliary to the work ofthe physician and surgeon. At that exhibition medical men,students, and all those interested in hygienic sciencecould procure trustworthy information concerning foods,appliances, clothing, and everything affecting the health ofthe person and the home. Sir Joseph Fayrer particularlyemphasised the important point that the institute wouldbe self-supporting and it was satisfactory to know that

already applications had been made for spaces to exhibitwhich would nearly cover the working expenses. As time

progressed and the advance of scientific inquiry revealedmore and more of the laws which controlled and regulatedhygienic questions the collection of object lessons wouldalso increase and in that way the knowledge acquired by thestudy of the great questions concerned in the preservation ofhealth and the prevention of disease would become morewidely diffused and so form part of the common stockof knowledge of all educated persons and thus influence

beneficially the domestic and social questions involvedin the preservation of the public health. Preventablediseases the result of insanitary conditions killed manythousands yearly, and considering the large number of casesof illness for each death it was calculated that 78,500,000days of labour were lost in the country annually whichrepresented a loss of .67,750,000 per year. The knowledgethat would be diffused by the Institute of Hygiene wouldgradually tend to mitigate such conditions and to obviate thiswasteful expenditure of health and life and in so doing itwould promote not only the moral but also the physicalwelfare of the people. Sir Joseph Fayrer concluded byasking all to give the institute their warm support in everyway possible.

Dr. J. W. H. EYRE, in proposing a vote of thanks to SirJoseph Fayrer, said that there was abundant evidence ofthe ability of the institute to succeed and he hoped it wouldcarry out to the full its aims and objects.

Dr. J. STRICKLAND GOODALL of Middlesex Hospitalseconded the vote of thanks which was carried withacclamation.

Sir JOSEPH FAYRER, in reply, said that knowing thosewho were concerned in the institute and those who were

responsible for carrying on its work he was satisfied that itssuccess and prosperity were assured.

After an inspection of the exhibits the proceedingsterminated.

Obituary.NIELS RYBERG FINSEN.

THE announcement of the death of Professor Finsen at

Copenhagen on Saturday, Sept. 24th, at the early age of 43years no doubt came as a surprise to many. Few were aware

that his brilliant work had been carried on for years in a con-

dition of chronic illness which would have paralysed the

energies of most men. 20 years ago Finsen had an attack of

rheumatic fever which seriously damaged the heart. For a

long time the symptoms were ambiguous, hepatic enlarge-ment and ascites being the most prominent features. Nearlyfive years ago, however, it was obvious to those who knewhim that Finsen was a doomed man, and it was only bythe frequent performance of paracentesis and the mostcareful regulation of his dietary and great self-denial thathe was enabled to exist. In this condition he lived andlaboured with a quiet heroism directing the work of the greatLight Institute, the Mecca of lupus patients throughout theworld. :

A correspondent informs us that about a month agoFinsen returned from a visit to Rungsted, a little seasideresort in Zealand, near Copenhagen, without having derivedthe benefit which was hoped for from his stay there. Every time he spoke he was seized with a fit of coughing but

nothing availed to break down his courage or to abate his interest in his work. Five or six days before his death he .took to his bed and both he and his medical attendant, Dr. Flöystrup, recognised that the end was near. On the Saturday afternoon he sent for the staff of the hospital and took leave of them separately, pressing their hands and isaying a few kind words of appreciation and thanks to each,looking the while perfectly calm and self-possessed himself.

He died suddenly half an hour later, his wife and Dr.

Forchammer, the head of the clinic, being with him. Weare informed that the necropsy showed chronic pericarditiswith calcification.

Niels Ryl)(,,rg Finsen was born on Dec. 15th, 1860, at

Thorshavn, the capital of the Faroe Isles. He was theson of Hannes Finsen, the governor of the islands. He

passed some of his early years at school at Reykyavik in

Iceland, his father being descended from an old Icelandicfamily. He studied at the University of Copenhagen for

eight years and took his degree in medicine in 1890. In thesame year he was appointed professor of anatomy in the

Surgical Academy and held the appointment for three

years. As a student he was only moclerately successful inexaminations and graduated in the second class. It is

probable that this was largely owing to his attention beingalready specially directed to the influence of light uponliving organisms, and it is said that this was caused by theobservation that he found that he was able to work betterin the well-lighted room of a fellow student than in his own.While holding the professorship of anatomy he was engagedin experimental work, and following the researches of Downesand Blunt on the influence of light upon bacteria and thoseof Widmark on the power of the actinic rays to cause

inflammation of the skin he was led to a long series ofinvestigations which demonstrated the value of light in thetreatment of disease.

In 1893 he published his first essay on the red light treat-ment of small-pox. He argued that the blue and ultra-violetrays have an irritant action upon the vesicles of variola andthat if they can be excluded many of the vesicles abort,pustulation is diminished, the secondary fever is consequentlylessened, and scarring is slight and in some cases abolished.His second essay embodied a series of experiments onlight as an irritant, a remarkable piece of work inwhich the influence of light upon animals of variousclasses was systematically investigated. Then came the

publication of the treatise upon the treatment of lupusvulgaris by the chemical rays of light worked out in detailand showing a skilful adaptation of scientific principles topractical use in therapeutics. His next work was to renderthis valuable addition to the means of treating diseaseavailable for the sufferers from lupus. At first he found itdifficult to obtain the necessary support, but in 1895, with theassistance of two wealthy Danes, Mr. Hagemann and MrV. Jorgensen, he was enabled to open the first Light In-stitute at Copenhagen. The good work done led the Stateto grant a loan free of interest and the institute was resortedto by patients from all parts of the world and its removal tonew and spacious premises became necessary. Over 2000

patients have been treated since the foundation. In additionto the large clinic a laboratory was established and a staffappointed to investigate the further development of photo-therapy. The work done in the institute has been given tothe world in a series of monographs in a special publicationin Danish and German.Finsen fortunately lived to see the success of his great

work and early attracted the interest of the Royal Familyof Denmark and particularly of Queen Alexandra. Her

Majesty, when Princess of Wales, presented the apparatusto the London Hospital, and with the financial assistanceafforded by Sir Alfred Harmsworth and others that hospitalhas been enabled to carry out the Finsen treatment in

England, and already 450 patients have been under treat-ment there. Other hospitals have followed this example.Like most departures in therapeutics the light treatment wasat first received with scepticism, but it has stood the test oftime and every year adds to the number of patients success-fully treated by its means. It has drawbacks, it is true; it isexpensive and slow and is only applicable to the skin exceptin rare instances, but its results must always make thename of Niels Finsen honoured in the history of medicine.Finsen’s personal qualities impressed all who came in con-tact with him. His intense devotion to his work, his con-stant struggle with rare courage against his physicaldisabilities, his modesty and total absence of self-seeking endeared him to all. When awarded theNobel prize of 100,000 crowns (about .E8000) he wished togive the whole sum to the Light Institute to carry on hisgreat work and it was only with difficulty that his friendsprevailed upon him to allow one-half to be placed at interestfor the benefit of his family, the rest going to the institute.

Finsen was always a poor man. He had nothing but asmall salary as the director of the institute and we are glad