241JUVENILE S1WIORIN(L-DEOHLORINATION TREATMENT OF DROPSY.

had to deal was that of the publication ot the proceedings 1of the various sections. There are some societies the

published transactions of which form the chief attraction in 4

the case of many members. This applies particularly, of I.course, to those societies the membership of which is to alarge extent a country one. We may instance the Societyfor the Study of Disease in Children and the Society of.An2sthetis,ts. In the case of both these bodies much painshave been bestowed upon, and great value has been attachedto, the yearly volumes of " Transactions." Members of suchsocieties need not fear, it set ms to us, that they will in anyway be losers if the proposed amalgamation comes into

force. The monthly publication which is alluded to in thereport should adequately fill the place of the specialist"Transactions." Reading the report, as we have done, in.a critical spirit we find little to cavil at, and we look forwardconfidently to the materialisation of the scheme when thesocieties have onoe more considered the matter in detail.and have nominated their representatives.

JUVENILE SMOKING.

Now that the evils of smoking by juveniles are acknow-ledged by a Select Parliamentary Committee it may be pre-sumed that some endeavour will be made to stop the sale oftobacco and cigarettes to children below a certain age. TwoBills drafted with this end in view were submitted to the con-sideration of the committee which agreed with the aims of boththat introduced by Lord Reay and that drafted by Sir RalphLittler, K.C., but the members concluded that the latter wasthe more workable of the two. They therefore were led torecommend that legislation should proceed on the lines ofair Ralph Littler’s Bill, to which, however, they suggest that.certain important additions should be made. It cannot be

supposed that the proposed measure will operate smoothly- Qr that its provisions will reach all offenders. The

utmost that can be hoped for is that it may be ableto deal with particularly flagrant cases. The age limit,for one thing, will be certain to give rise to difficulties.In Sir Ralph Littler’s Bill it is enacted that the person whcsells or delivers cigarettes (the use of this word implies th(giving of a cigarette to be an offence) to any child under th(age of 16 years shall be liable to a penalty, and further thaievery child under the age of 16 years who shall be found ii

.possession of cigarettes or found smoking tobacco in an;form shall be liable to a similar penalty. It will b

admittedly therefore a good defence it the age is proved t,

be above 16 years but in an addition to the Bill suggestelby the committee it is provided that "police constableshould be empowered to stop all youths apparently under II16 seen smoking in any public place and they should Ialso be allowed to confiscate any tobacco found upon them."

I

We have put the word ‘ ‘ apparently " in italics as its reten-tion might lead to distinctly unjustifiable proceedings. There- are scores of youths surely who are over 16 years of age andwho might even be 18 years of age, who, neveitheless, are"apparently under 16." The same word is used again in afurther clause added by the committee which is as follows ;" The Act should apply to all children apparently under theage of 16." The use of the word "apparently" in thelauses of any Act in which limits are laid down is

calculated to render its successful administration verydifficult. We should think that such a word has a tooindefinite meaning for employment in a statute. We can,however, well understand the object of using the word ; the.police and the public are asked to differentiate broadly between"the little nipper"—the undeveloped boy-and the youthwho is well on the road to manhood. It would be better

therefore, we suggest, if the word " apparently " could bereplaced by the word "obviously." It is of no use attempt.ing to differentiate too finely in this matter. Lastly, there

will be a difficulty in regard to the suggestion that the

juvenile purchaser of tobacco in any form, who is genuinelyemployed by his father to fetch tobacco for him, should beexempted. If legislation is seriously demanded in thismatter and is to be effectual no uch exemption can beadmitted. No child under a certain age is allowed tobe supplied with drink at a public-house for the pur-pose of carrying that drink to his parents’ home and

though the associations of the public-house are not

comparable with those of tobacco shops, yet for the

purposes of the Act there seems to be no difficulty inmeeting this provision nor is there any particular hardshipforced on anyone. There can be little doubt that smoking inthe case of juveniles is an evil and where it exists everyendeavour should be made to suppress it, but that this can beeffectively done by statute we have little confidence. The

youth who smokes is, as a rule, not without a knowledge ofI the subtle ways of the world and the devices of unprincipled

men, and in a great number of cases he will be encouraged topursue his pernicious habit in a surreptitious manner as soonas the law prevents him from smoking in the present unchecked

- and open way. He is generally the wicked sort of boy who

-

will likely enough find greater zest in smoking when he

f realises that he is setting the law at defiance at the same

0 time. In a word, the Juvenile Smoking Bill does not reach

l- the root of the matter. The moral training of the class of

h small boy who smokes wants considerable strengtheningh and above all parents should be brought to feel a strongersense of responsibility in regard to their duties to their

bo offspring than they have shown in the past.- "

-

THE DECHLORINATION TREATMENT OF DROPSY.

IN the Fcottish Medical Jo2trnal for February Dr. F. D.Boyd has called attention to the value of the dechlorinationtreatment of dropsy-a method which we owe to the Frenchand which has had little vogue in this country. Widal pointedout that in renal disease when sodium chloride accumulatesin the body oedema results and albuminuria increases. On

the other hand, when sodium chloride is withheld from dietthe albuminuria diminishes and oedema may disappear. Dr.

Boyd relates the following striking example of the value ofthis treatment. A man, aged 57 years, was admitted into hos-pital with swelling of the legs, the abdomen, and the hands.For 25 years he had suffered from attacks of bronchitis everywinter. Ten years before admission he first noticed swellingof the ankles. In the last four years he had suffered from

frequent attacks of dyapnoea and had seldom been free fromoedema of the legs. For three months he had been confinedto bed. On admission there were bronchitis, generalanasarca, ascites, considerable effusion into both pleuralcavities, and dilated heart. The radial artery was thickenedand the blood pressure was low. The urine was scanty andcontained albumin but no formed elements were found. A

light diet and one and a half pints of fluid were givenin the 24 hours. During the next six days the oedema

slightly increased and the arterial pressure rose. Thena salt-free diet, consisting of bread made without salt, meat,fish, and fowl cooked without salt, and potatoes cookedwithout salt and eaten with fresh butter, was prescribed.The amount of fluid taken was kept at one and a half pintsin the 24 hours. On the second day improvement began ; the

’ arterial pressure fell, and the quantity of urine more than, doubled. Diuresis was maintained until all cedema had dis-

appeared. The intake of chlorides on this diet was aboutl two grammes in the 24 hours. There was an enormousl excretion of chlorides which followed closely the excretionrof water. The weight of the patient fell from 190 to 1323 pounds and in 17 days he became free from the oedema,’ which had lasted for years. Cryoscopy showed a markede depression of the freezing point of the blood, indicating