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. The Water-supply of Bolngor.A larger supply of water is required for Bangor, a healthresort on Belfast Lough much frequented by visitors. The

existing supply is taken from a catchment area of 300acres and cannot be enlarged, It gives 32 gallonsper head per day of the estimated population, while35 gallons are generally regarded as the average amountwhich a properly arranged town should supply for itsinhabitants. The urban council has decided to seek for

Parliamentary powers to obtain water from another area ofabout 800 acres, consisting of 60 per cent. pasture landand with a population in the entire district of only 130persons on a number of farmsteads. A storage reservoircapable of containing 42,000,000 gallons of water could bemade here, as well as filter-beds, and the residents of Bangorcould obtain 250,000,000 gallons per day, which should besufficient for their wants for the next 20 years. The engi-neers consulted, the public analyst of Belfast, Mr. J. F.Mitchell (medical officer of health of Bangor), and Dr. H.O’Neill of Belfast all approve of the scheme.

Queen’s Collerte, Belfast.Candidates applying for the chair of pathology in Queen’s

College, Belfast, are requested to forward their testimonialsto the Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, on or before Nov. 9th,1904, and the person appointed is to begin work on Jan. 5th,1905, after the Christmas vacation. Medical lectures beganon Oct. 18th.

The Belfast Medical School.The formal opening of the hospital work of the Belfast

Medical School took place on Oct. 24th, when, in the

presence of his colleagues and before a large audience ofstudents, Mr. A. Fullerton, assistant surgeon to the hospital,delivered in the large extern hall of the hospital an intro-ductory address which was greatly appreciated by all

present. On the motion of Professor T. Sinclair, secondedby Professor J. W. Byers, and supported by Dr. O’Neill,a very cordial vote of thanks was unanimously passed toMr. Fullerton.Oct. 25th.

___

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

M. Doyen’s Serum Treatment of Cancer.As briefly outlined in THE LANCET of last week M. Doyen’s

serum treatment of cancer has suddenly attracted much

public attention and has been the theme of many columnsin the newspapers. M. Doyen’s opponents, who are

numerous, joyfully unbosomed themselves to a host of

reporters seeking interviews, and M. Pozzi, M. Poirier, Dr.Sebileau, and many others went so far as to condemn whathe had done. The discussion has now taken a different

aspect, for there is now no longer much question as to

Mr. Crocker’s claim for the return of the 100,000 francs(t4000) paid to M. Doyen as fees on the understanding thatthe serum treatment would cure the cancer from whichMrs. Crocker suffered. Everyone concerned admits thatif the same sum had been offered to himself he wouldhave accepted it, and, moreover, acknowledges that a

medical man who has done all that is possible is not boundto return his fees in the event of non-success. The campaignagainst M. Doyen, however, turns upon the question of theuse of a serum- which might be looked upon as a secretremedy and which has been imprudently represented by himas a certain cure for cancer. M. Doyen has willingly accepted the challenge based on these imputations and has ’,replied that there is not the least secrecy about the composi-tion of his serum, for the manner of preparing it was made ’’

known by him at the Congress of Medicine held in Madrid in I1903, at the Academy of Sciences, and at the Academy ofMedicine in February, 1904. He added that it wouldbe unjust to show more severity to him than to Pasteur, toRichet, to Chantemesse, and to all other discoverers ofserums whose results had been accepted without the dis-trust manifested in his case. ’To give an instance, thecomposition of the anti-typhoid serum of M. Chantemessewas still undisclosed and that surgeon intended not to makeit known until the thousandth case had been reached. Hefurther added that he had never promised a positive cure ofall cancers-a promise which would be absurd and dis-

honest, but that he was making experiments some of which

had given him such a proportion of very favourable resultsthat he did not feel himself justified in withholding a chancefrom the unfortunate persons to whom the acceptedtreatment offered no hope. With these replies to his

opponents M. Doyen unfortunately combined some verysharp attacks on them and introduced personalities, com-plaining of the unprofessional (non-confraternel) behaviourboth of M. Pozzi, who had accused him of illegallytrafficking in a secret remedy, and of M. Debove, deamof the Faculty of Medicine, who had signed a certifi-cate to the effect that Mrs. Crocker had become worse sinceDoyen’s serum had been used. Previously to the FrenchSurgical Congress, which opened on Oct. 17th, he proclaimedaloud that in these circumstances it would be impossiblefor M. Pozzi to preside at the congress and for M. Deboveto retain his position as dean of the Faculty of Medicine,.for on the re-opening of the Chambers deputies would questionthe Ministry on the subject. After this public defiance the-opening of the Surgical Congress was awaited with eagercuriosity. It took place on Monday, Oct. 17th, at 2 P.M., inthe great amphitheatre of the Faculty of Medicine, andthere was a large attendance in expectation of a 1-1 scene.’"But by a clever stroke of policy the council (bureau) hadinvited the President of the Republic to honour the congresswith a visit, and consequently on this occasion, as on allothers, a strong force of police, with the prefect of police incommand, occupied the place of meeting and rendered anydisturbance impossible. The discussion on the treatment ofcancer, with M. Doyen as the principal speaker, was held onTuesday morning and the attendance, consisting of medicalmen, students, reporters, photographers, and others, was evenmore numerous than before. When M. Doyen appeared all hisfriends received him with prolonged cheering which was,however, accompanied with some hissing. He commencedhis speech by requesting his hearers to show respect to thescientific character of the place where they were assembled,as he himself intended to do-a remark which prodnced agood impression. He then read his paper very qarietly,mentioning all the previous circumstances in which hehad published his results already obtained, explaining overagain the mode of preparing his serum, and giving the-statistics, which for a period of four years unfortunatelyincluded a very large number of deaths but also included42 entirely favourable cases. In bringing his paper to a close-he said that the method deserved a trial and invited allthe surgeons to come and to see the results in his clinique.M. Doyen, in speaking, exceeded the regulation period often minutes, whereupon M. Pozzi, who was in the chair,showed conspicuous courtesy by granting him an extension<of five minutes " on the ground of the importance of hiscommunication." The discussion then commenced imme-

diately. M. Reynes of Marseilles and M. Folet of Lilleasked for the appointment of a commission to verify theresults which had been claimed by M. Doyen and whichseemed to them to be problematical. M. Poirier delivered,a speech in which he declared that the clinical andanatomical portion of M. Doyen’s communication con-

tained nothing which was not already known and thatthe micrococcus neoformans had not up to the presenttime been seen by anybody except M. Doyen himself. Asfor the results which had been described, he would bequite ready to accept them and to proclaim M. Doyen abenefactor of mankind if M. Doyen would agree to treatpatients selected by learned societies and to show them afterthey had been under his care for a year. M. Doyen repliedby offering to show M. Poirier preparations of the niicro-coccus neoformans in his laboratory but M. Poirier declined,saying that he was not an authority on the subject (incom-petent) and that it would be better to appeal to the judg-ment of competent bacteriologists such as M. Roux or

M. Metchnikoff. M. Doyen then invited M. Poirier to examinethe progress of cases in his clinique but the latter repliedthat he had no time for this as he was occupied in the-morning with his hospital work. Finally, when the

proposal to appoint a commission of control was renewedM. Doyen objected to the word "control" because it wouldfor a year bring his remedy under,public suspicion whichwould paralyse his researches, but he agreed to surgeonsselecting cancerous patients whom he would show after theyhad undergone treatment by his method. At the conclusionof his remarks M. Doyen was loudly applauded by themeeting and was escorted by the students to his carriage inthe court of the Faculty of Medicine. The proceedingsterminated without ,the disturbance which was expected-,--

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a result largely due to the pacific attitude of M. Pozziand the tact of M. Doyen, and there are grounds forhoping that the controversy is now at an end. OnOct. 24th M. Doyen received a visit from a commission ofeminent medical men who met at his clinic at 10 A.M. inorder to observe the experiments of verification. Amongthe members of this commission were’ M. Metchnikoff,assistant director of the Pasteur Institute and member ofthe Academy of Medicine;. M. Netter, hospital physician,a,qr4g6 of the Faculty, member of the Academy of Medicineand of the Comit&eacute; Consultatif d’Hygiene ; M. Variot,hospital physician ; M. Levaditi, M. Blondel, M. Gallois,M. Leredde, and M. Berthod. In their presence M. Doyenremoved two cancerous tumours of the breast, at the sametime taking from the tumours and from the glands severalfragments of cancerous tissue with all imaginable precautionsand using a fresh bistoury for each specimen. Each of thefragments was placed as propagation material in a tube ofculture bouillon made from cow’s udder. M. Metchnikoffcaused a tube of plain (non ensemencc) bouillon to be addedto these tubes as a control experiment and the tubes weredivided into two sets, one of which was conveyedby M. Metchnikoff to the Pasteur Institute, to beobserved by himself, whilst the other one was sealed in thepresence of the commission and left in M. Doyen’s in-cubator. At the same time two females suffering fromtumour of the breast were shown. Both cases are un-

questionably quite inoperable and are being at presenttreated by the serum. As they said themselves, their con-dition is now much better than it was. One of the casesis likely to become operable (to use M. Doyen’s expression)in a few days-that is to say, the glands are becomingsmaller and the oedema is disappearing, while the tumour isbecoming moveable and isolated and will be capable ofexcision, with prospects of complete extirpation which didnot exist before. The other patient, the place of whosebreast is occupied by a granulating mass surrounded byindurations en e7ci.rasse and whose case was declared to be

inoperable by Professor Roux of Lausanne and M. Jaboulayof Lyons, is now having her sixth injection. Both the patientherself and all M. Doyen’s assistants declare that her localsymptoms are already distinctly improved. The committeewill meet again before long in order to judge of the progresswhich has been made. The various operations carried out inpresence of the commission have been conducted in a mannerwhich leaves no room for suspicion. It remains to be seenwhether M. Doyen’s expectations will be realised, but it is atleast quite evident that he is acting in good faith.

Oct. 25th. _______________

BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Criticisms on German Jfedical Journalism.Dr. Hans Kohn, writing to the 1Jeutsche Nedicinische

Wochenschrift, draws attention to the enormous increase ofmedical periodicals in Germany. There were 230 medicaljournals published in the German language at the end of1903 and actually within nine months their number hasincreased to 240. There are, for instance, not less thanseven special journals for obstetrics and gynaecology, five fordiseases of the eyes, six for diseases of children, and threedealing only with the prevention of tuberculosis. A warninguttered by Professor Virchow several years ago against theundue multiplication of periodicals bad therefore evidentlybeen unheeded. The articles in German medical periodicalsare in Dr. Kohn’s opinion much too long and, unlike those inthe corresponding English publications, they contain too muchliterary padding. Another objectionable feature is that thesame article may eventually be inserted in several journals.When an author has read a paper, for instance, before theBerlin Medical Society it is published first in the proceed-ings of the society, it may then be inserted as an originalarticle in one of the important Berlin medical weeklies, thenin an enlarged form in some special "Archiv," and mayfinally be printed in several " Centralbliltter " and in theliterary columns of other medical papers. In this waythe 240 medical periodicals have always plenty of matterto fill their columns. Medical journals may be dividedinto several classes. One of these consists of theannual reports of medical societies printed and publishedby themselves with no special object of making a

profit. Another class is composed of medical journalsdistributed free of charge to all the members of the pro-fession. They contain only notices of articles published inother periodicals and the outlay incurred in their productionis met by the receipts from the advertisement columns whichare their principal feature. The third class includes those

journals the circulation of which is not large enough tocover the cost of production and which therefore to a greatextent depend upon advertisements. Chemical manu-

facturers and others sometimes insert advertisements onlyon condition that paragraphs recommending articles madeby the manufacturer in question shall be inserted in theeditorial columns and in order to maintain his journal theeditor must, even against his better judgment, comply withthese demands. The fourth class are the important medicaljournals which occupy a prominent position and have

many thousands of subscribers. In them the objectionablefeatures found in periodicals of inferior rank are carefullyavoided. Apart from the deterioration inseparable fromexcessive journalistic exuberance, Dr. Kohn says that theimmense number of periodicals is a hindrance to scientificwork, for even those that are restricted to a special branchare now more than one person can read and the reportssupplied by the " Centralbliitter

" must therefore be resortedto. In the hope of mitigating these evils Dr. Kohnrecommends that the university professors should advisetheir assistants to publish less and to present their ideas ina more compact form; they ought not to aU6w their. namesto be connected with a journal merely because they are onfriendly terms with the editor, and young men ought not tofound journals with a view to self-advancement.

The Medical Academy of Cologne.It has already been announced in these columns that the

Government intended to create medical academies in the

great provincial towns apart from the universities. The

object of the academies is to deal with post-graduate study,with the training of specialists, and with the so-calledpractical year which, according to the new regulations forthe medical examinations, every student has to fulfil pre-viously to becoming qualified. The expenses of theacademies are defrayed by the municipal authorities whoplace their hospitals at the disposal of the academies andmake arrangements for laboratories, amphitheatres, andother accessories of study, so that the State treasuryhas almost nothing to pay. The first academy was

opened on Oct. 10th at Cologne with unusual display.The Emperor sent Prince Frederic Henry of Prussia as hisrepresentative and Herr Studt, the Minister of Public In-struction, was present, together with the provincial and localauthorities. An address was read by the Mayor of Colognewho announced that the hospitals with 1500 beds couldbe utilised by the academy and that 500 other beds wouldbe ready within a short time. Professor Bardenheuer, thesenior surgeon of the Cologne hospitals and dean of the newacademy, said that this institution did not seek to com-

pete with the University of Bonn but .that it wouldconfine itself to the training of specialists and to

the providing of facilities for post-graduate study., In declaring the academy open the Minister of Public,

Instruction thanked the city of Cologne for the liberalsupport which it had given to the new institution. The

teaching staff of the academy includes the chief physiciansand surgeons of the Cologne municipal hospitals and a

good many of the leading Cologne specialists. More-over, several of the professors of the University of Bonn,

. which is only half an hour’s distance by train fromCologne, will deliver regular lectures. Another academywill be established at Dusseldorf, where a new hospitalof 1000 beds is to be constructed. It is remarkable thattwo towns so near each other as Cologne and Dusseldorfhave both been selected as the seat of academies. In

Frankfort, on the other hand, there is much opposition to. the plans of the municipal and Royal authorities. The

Medical Society of Frankfort has even passed a resolutionto the effect that an academy was not desirable for that

r city, because it meant government interference with the, management of the hospital and the appointment of hospitalphysicians. Similar apprehensions, as has been alreadystated in these columns,2 are entertained by many members1 of the profession. ,

Oct. 24th.1 THE LANCET, Jan. 9th, 1904, p. 129.

2 THE LANCET, loc. cit.