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may head the poll. Mr. LAWSON TAlT’s reputation asa surgeon, his enthusiasm on the subject of reform, andhis determination are qualities of no small value in quicken-ing the latent energies of any corporation; we shouldview his election as an advantage to the College, andwatch his progress in the Council with lively interest. The

provincial Fellows can well look after his candidature.

Mr. WALTER RIVINGTON is a popular candidate amongstthe members of our profession; he has done good work inthe cause of reform, is an excellent speaker, and capable of

carrying into effect his convictions. All three of these

candidates enjoy the full confidence of the Association ofFellows and its sister Association of the Members of the

College.Let occasion be taken now to urge upon the present

electorate, the Fellows, either to attend personally at theCollege on July 4th, or to apply for their voting-papers fromthe Secretary. The last day of application for voting-papers is the 24th of June. Let each Fellow, in consultationwith his compeers, and by self-examination, make up hismind on this question of rational progress in College dis-

cipline ; let him be assured that no revolutionary or crudeprogramme is contemplated; it is to promote steady pro-gress and to admit representatives of the Members of the

house into the house; then, having arrived at a conclusion,let him record his vote, without fear and without favour.

Annotations.OPENING OF THE NEW MASSAGE BATHS

AT BATH.

IN THE LANCET of Sept. 15th, 1888, we directed theattention of our readers to the new thermal system then inprocess of construction at Bath. An entirely new set ofmassage appliances, together with all that is new in thermaltherapeutics, which has stood the test of experience else-

where, in this country, and on the Continent, have beenembraced in this redevelopment of the baths at Bath, whichhave been constructed at the cost of the municipality underthe direction of the local medical men. The annual exodusof English invalids to the continental spas and thermal in-stitutions has roused the energy of the local authorities ofour own inland health resorts. The extension of "local self-

government" has given power to the legally constitutedmunicipal authority to find the ways and means to carry theirgood intentions to a practical result. At a cost of 25,000the municipality of Bath have effected such improvementsin their thermal system as to bring it into fair rivalry withthe best continental spas. It is opportune that at the headof the municipality for the present year is a gentleman ofour own profession-a position Mr. Freeman could only haveoccupied as some recognition from his fellow-citizens of thegreat services he has rendered the city of Bath, his pro-fession, and the public in bringing to their present excel-lence the massage baths of Bath. These were formallyopened on Thursday, the 13th, by the Duchess of Albany.The Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne were to haveperformed this function, but the Princess was prevented byindisposition, and her Royal Highness’s place was suppliedby the Duchess of Albany. Considerable disappointmentwas at first felt; but the young widowed Duchess, by her

Iurbanity and unaffected manner, soon satisfied all require-ments, and it is not too much to say gained the affectionate

"Ne quid nimis."

interest of all present. The whole function was dis-

charged both by the Duchess of Albany and the Mayorwith admirable tact. Some 300 medical men, consistingof consulting physicians and surgeons from London, anda large body of general practitioners, assembled with thetreble object of (1) participating in the ceremony, (2) satis-fying themselves by general inspection of the value ofthe improved system, and (3) of paying a mark of respectto their professional brother the Mayor. The baths and

dressing-rooms were duly inspected, and much interest wasdisplayed in the details and appliances for the thermaltreatment of arthritic, uterine, and throat diseases by thenatural waters of Bath, which spring from the earth

naturally heated and ready for use. The architect hasutilised a portion of the site of the old Roman baths, wherethis could be done with due regard to the archfeologicalinterest of the ancient remains. There are Aix massagebath-rooms lined with ancient patterns of Minton’s tiles, inkeeping with the history of the place. A variety of Aixappliances are fitted in these rooms. There are deepreclining baths fitted with douche and spray. Lifts areconstructed to raise and lower the crippled. There is a

reclining massage bath, suitecl to the paralytic or helplessinvalid. There are vapour baths for the rheumatic and

gouty, by which vapours can be driven with regulatedforce on to the skin for ready absorption. There are sitzbaths for the treatment of maladies peculiar to women.

Indeed, every mechanical appliance of proved value in thethermal treatment of disease can now be found at Bath.Mr. Freeman, the Mayor, and the whole municipality maybe congratulated on the result of their labours-at oncevaluable to their city and the public at large,--the invalidbeing now relieved of the necessity of a journey to the Con-tinent for efficient massage and thermal treatment of disease.

QUARANTINE AT SOUTHAMPTON.THE imposition of a seven days’ quarantine on the

R.M.S. Ne1-’a, with her crew and passengers at Southampton,has led more than one to inquire whether quarantine is stillin force in the waters of Great Britain. The vessel in

question entered the port of Southampton on June 13th,two deaths having occurred on board from yellow feverduring the voyage from South America, and a third havingollowed almost immediately after arrival. The facts seemto have been communicated to head-quarters, and an orderfor quarantine was at once issued. Such an order, as is

doubtless known, is never issued by the State Departmentfor Public Health-namely, the Local Government Board,-but is given under one of the ancient powers possessed bythe Privy Council Office; and the circumstances of the yellowfever occurrence were admirably adapted to its exercise onthis occasion. The last time yellow fever reached our shoreswas in September, 1865, when the disease had little or noconsideration for our quarantine authority and their onequarantine station ; indeed, it chose to reach Swansea, andsince the Privy Council only maintain a single quarantinestation at the Motherbank, off the Isle of Wight, the onlyquarantine that could then be put in practice was to ask afew questions and to take certain action as to the vesselafter the crew had already actually dispersed. But on thisoccasion the Neva. ran straight for a port close to the Mother-bank, and hence the provisions of a statute the existenceof which had been wellnigh forgotten by the public were atonce put into operation, and both the crew and passengerswere ordered to the two hulks lying off Ryde. What the

precise object is of detaining a large body of healthy personsin this way will be by no means clear to the general public.Cholera is a true source of danger to this country, and yet tin the case of cholera-infected vessels the healthy are atonce eliminated from the sick and are set free, tlie old