559

Wanted, a Doctor! !Ib is not only in Eogland that the lamentable wave of

immigration flows so steadily towards the towns, to thegreat detriment of the rural districts and of the country ingeneral. Thia economic phenomenon is also a feature inFrench life, and in no class of society is it more markedthan amongst doctors. The towns tend to be overstockedwith them, whilst the country is insufficiently suppliedwith properly qualified men. The institution of the inferiordiploma of officier de santé—a diploma now condemned bythe new Medical Bill soon to become law-was designed tomeet this difficulty ; but the remedy has, by universal con-sent, proved inefficacious. The very moderate fees paid ineonntry districts are probably responsible in the main for thesparseness of the medical population in such places. Thefollowing pathetic appeal for a medical man, which Iextract from a Paris medical journal, is characteristic, andis confirmatory of the truth of the preceding remarks :"Vacances médicales.—Toute une population, d’environ6000 habitants, repartis dans un rayon de 4 kilom. autourde la résidence, demande ardemment un mciecin pourremplacer celui qui exerçait autrefois dans la localité. 11s’agit d’nn pays admirablement situe, a 6 lieues de Rouen,dans lequel les visites aux indigents sont pa3 ees 2 fr. par leBarean de Btenfaisance. Cette position conviendrait mer-veilleusement à un jeune medecin instruit et de parfaitehonorabilite." Can we wonder that the French peasantfalls so easy a prey to the enterprsing charlatan?

Paris, March 2nd.

NEW YORK.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Electrical Executions made Public.THE law changing the method of execution of criminals

in the State ot New York from hanging to electricityrequired that the execution should be in the State prisons,and that only a few officials should be present. Theseofficials were forbidden making any public statement of thedetails of the execution, and thus the newspapers weredeprived of the opportunity of filling their columns withthe over-wrought accounts of the sickening scenes which sointerest the mass of readers. The reporters hovered around-the prisons at each execution, but they learned so little thatit was impossible for them to make an exciting story of the- event. Not to be baffi ed in their efforts to utilise the excitingand entertaining scenes of an execution by electricity, thenewspaper men have succeeded in having the law so amendedthat reporters are now admitted to the prison and allowedto describe with pen and photograph all of the revoltingdetails. An execution has just occurred, and as a result ofthe new law the papers are filled with themost sensationalstatements and pictures which could be devised. Thevictim is fastened in the chair, the priest stands with prayer’book in hand on one side, the chief executioner, a physician,on the other; the reporters, with pencils or watches in hand,stand near. The chief executioner explains : "We purposeto-day to vary the method employed here by making thecontact through the hands instead of from the top of the’head to the leg, as has been the custom heretofore. Thehands will be placed in a salt solution in the two cells, andthe current will pass directly through the chest. Whilewe have many assurances that this method will be 8UC-cessful, we have retained the electrodes at the head-and leg, so that if it fails t? be satisfactory, a simpleturning of the switch will turn the current from thehead downwards as before," He added that this wasan experiment. Everything being in readiness, the reportstates that the victim’s voice, which had been low andhardly audible, rang out loud, and, with a wailing,struggling sound, dying away with the last choking utter-ance of a man in dreadful fright. "Let her go !" Thesewere his last words; the current was turned on; themurderer bounded up with a powerful convulsive movementas if he would burst the bands ; his chest arched out, andthe strap which held it creaked with the strain ; the facecontracted on one side, as if expressing ineffable pain; thelegs tugged at the straps, and one foot was drawn up side-ways ; the lips slowly opened and disclosed the teethtightly clenched. At the end of fifty seconds the currentwas turned off, when the victim’s chest slowly collapsed,

wibh a wheezing, coughing, gasping sound from his lips,and saliva was blown from his mouth and ran down the chin." Turn it on the other way," said the physician, when thebody straightened up again with a jerk, the legs struggledin the strapa, the chest was thrown out more powerfullythan before ; steam began to arise from the electrodes. Inthirty-eight seconds the current was turned off, and theman pronounced dead. " I think every physician here,"said the executioner, "will agree with me that the subjectwas dead, so far as his conscious being is concerned, theinstant the first shock reached him. It is now apparentthat he is dead muscularly also-that is, he is dead as ananimal. If there is any physician who does not agree withthis statement I wish he would say so." One of the phy-sicians present said, "I agree that the man became uncon-scious at the first shock, but I do not agree with the test ofit." Thus closed another act in the drama of "electro-cution," and the public has been made familiar with therevolting details. The new method has not gained inpopularity by this exposure.

Russian Hebrew Immigrants Spreading Typhus Fever.New York is threatened with an epidemic of typhus fever

through Russian Hebrew immigrants. Seventy-six caseshave been found during the last two or three days in thelodging-houses provided for these immigrants by the UnitedHebrew Charities Association. These immigrants landedon Jan. 10th form a vessel from Naples and Marseilles. Itappears that these typhus fever patients were only a smallpart of a shipload of Russians and Italians who had sailedfrom Marseilles about six weeks ago. They are part of agroup of 1556 Russian and Polish Hebrews who sailed fromOdessa to Constantinople four months since. They weresuffering from the hardships of famine. The managers ofthe Baron Hirsch fund were going to send them to Pales-tine, but their condition was so distressing that the Sultanwould not allow them to enter. Those who were too sickand exhausted to travel were left at Constantinople; otherswere sent to Argentine, and some to Marseilles to beshipped to the United Sbates. Many were sent ashore atNapoli suffering from typhus fever, and 267 embarked forthis country with 450 Italians. The health authorities aresearching the city for these immigrants, and all the sickare immediately removed to the hospitals for infectiousdiseases on North Brothers’ Island. The infected clothingis destroyed, rooms are cleansed and disinfected, and a con-btant watch is established upon all exposed persons.

The Public Health of Chicago.Attention has lately been drawn to the continued high

, death-rate of the city of Chicago from typhoid fever. Moreimportance is attached to this fact in view of the approach-

. ing World’s Fair to be held in that city. A recent writer, states that the statistics show that typhoid fever hasmaterially increased in Chicago since 1880, and that withinthe last two years it has risen to an extraordinary height.i During the year just ended there were 1977 deaths from: typhoid fever, giving the prodigious death-rate for this

disease of 16 61 per 10,000 of population, and a percentageof all deaths of 7’19. The cause of this remarkable

; prevalence of typhoid fever is not considered, but the paperquotes a significant statement of a former health officer ofthat city, " that the stream of filth coming through the

; city is a constant menace to the health of the citizens."1 At a late meeting of the Illinois State Board of Health aeresolntion was passed appointing Dr. John H. Rauch as a- Special Commissioner to investigate the charge that Chicago1 is suffering from an epidemicof typhoid fever due to a pollutedwater-supply; and, in view of the widespread publicity ofa the said charges, and their probably damaging influence upons the World’s Columbian Exposition, that the utmost expedi-b tion, consistent with thorough investigation, be urged.i Feb. 13th. 13th.

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Obituary.EDMUND SPARS HALL WILLETT, M.D., M.R.C.P.WE regret to record the death, at the age of sixty-four,

of Dr. Willett, part proprietor of Wyke House, the well-known private asylum near Brentford. Dr. Willett studiedat Guy’s Hospital and the Medical School at Bristol, became

qualified in 1850, and a year later took the M.D. degree at