1133SCOTLAND.-IRELAND .—PARIS.

imagine any case which seemed to him to have been morefully proved up to the hilt than that the process of vaccina-tion was a great preventive of small-pox, an expression ofopinion which it is to be hoped will have its effect. He addedthat relatively to the total number of vaccinations performedthe, number of deaths following vaccination was trifling, andwith the improvements in the process was a constantlydiminishing quantity. The figures at the present momentfor Scotland, he said, showed that by the administra-tion of the law there were vaccinated successfully about 95per cent. of the children born, and about 97 per cent. oi allthose born who lived six months were traced and only about2 per cent. were not accounted for. There was no causefor a conscience clause in Scotland. This clause was theresult of the particular circumstances in England, where thelaw was not so wisely administered as it was in Scotland.Lord Balfour concluded by saying that he could not hold outany hope of introducing legislation similar to the English law.The Relationship of Human Tttberoulosis to that of Bovines.Under the above title Dr. D. J. Hamilton, professor of

pathology in the University of Aberdeen, and his col-

league Mr. J. McLauchian Young, F.R C.V.S., lecturer onveterinary hygiene, have published in pamphlet form a

very detailed account of 20 experiments on the infection ofcalves with tuberculosis of human origin. The experimentswere arranged in four series, in the first and second of whichthe object of the inquiry was to ascertain whether humantuberculosis could be communicated to the calf (1) byfeeding with tuberculous sputum and (2) by sub-cutaneous inoculation. The third series of experimentshad for its object the repetition of some of the

foregoing made (1) with caseous glands and (2) withtuberculous sputum, the latter being given by sub-cutaneous inoculation, by inhalation, and by intravenousinjection. In the fourth series the purport was to provewhether or not the human bacillus gained in virulence bybeing transferred from one bovine host to another. Theysum up their results in ten conclusions, the principal partsof which are as follows. Although human tubercle is

probably not so virulent for the calf as that derived frombovines, yet it can be readily inoculated upon that animal bya variety of methods. When administered by the mouthtuberculous sputum induces an abdominal lymph-glandtuberculosis without necessarily the intestine being in anyway involved. When tuberculosis from a human source hasbeen ingrafted upon a calf it gains enormously in virulenceby being reinoculated upon a second calf. These results area direct contradiction of those alleged. to have been obtainedby Professor Robert Koch and Professor Schutz.Among the honorary degrees conferred by the University

of Aberdeen on April 8th were two of medical interest.The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon ProfessorDewar, professor of experimental philosophy in the Uni-

versity of Cambridge, and upon Sir Frederick Treves.April 14th.

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IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Small-pox in Dublin.THE epidemic of small-pox in Dublin would seem to have

so far been effectively checked. There have been only about75 cases with three deaths. The number of so-called " con-tacts," however, is large and there has been much difficultyexperienced in isolating and disinfecting them.

Royal College of Sllrgeons in Ireland.The President and council have appointed Dr. E. Wolfenden

Collins, formerly surgeon to Jervis-street Hospital and seniordemonstrator ot anatomy, School of Physic, Trinity College,now in practice at Sydenham, to represent the College atthe coming International Medical Congress at Madrid.

Rainfall in March ’in Ulster.March has been in the north of Ireland a record month

from a meteorological point of view, as rain to the extent of4’ 77 inches fell, and there was not one of the 31 days onwhich rain did not fall. During the past 28 years therehave been only three in which the rainfall had been heavierduring March-1881, 1896, and 1897. The year’s rainfall sofar is 13’ 12 inches, that is, almost twice as much as inthe same period of 1902, while the average for the past 28

years has been 9’07 inches. There are no such recordsexcept in 1884 (13-40 inches) and 1877 (14-87), for a periodof 28 years. March opened wet and continued dull anddamp until the close ; only on two days was the fall as lowas 0 01 inch. The present year has broken the record forits rainfall up to the present date and there has not foryears been such a cold, miserable Easter. On Easter Mondaythe ground was covered with snow and this has beensucceeded by cold wet weather.

The Irish Medical Association.The medical men residing and practising in Downpatrick

Union met on April 8th in the Dispensary, Downpatrick,Dr. J. M. Heron, J.P., being in the chair, and decided toform a North Down Branch of the Irish Medical Association,the first meeting to be held for convenience in Belfast on

April 30th. The following resolution proposed by Dr. R. H.Sproulle and seconded by Dr. G. Browne was carried :-That we, the medical officers of the several dispensaries in Down

Union and the other medical men associated with us, beg to tender ourbest thanks to Dr. F. P. MacLaughlin and Dr. J. W. Olpherts for theirunselfish efforts to try to improve the position of the Poor-lawmedical officers generally, and we also express our entire approval oftheir actions in trying to secure our rights.A vote of thanks was also passed to the President of theRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dr. L. H. Ormsby)and to Sir Thomas Myles (late President) for advocating thecause of the Irish medical dispensary officers.April 14th.

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PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

; Tetanus following Injections of Gelatinised Serum.! IT is well known that injections of gelatinised serum

possess the power of increasing the coagulability of theblood and this treatment has been employed with successin cases of inoperable aneurysms or in cases of internal

! haemorrhage. Unfortunately, however, gelatin is notL always prepared from bones, but as a matter of cheap-’ ness is frequently made from the hoofs of horses or

i cattle and is thus often infected with the bacillus( of tetanus-a bacillus very resistant to the ordinary process’ of sterilisation which is employed in the case of gelatin.i Various fatalities have occurred from tetanus following) injection of gelatin and at the meeting of the Academy’ of Medicine held on April 7th M. Chauffard related 18t cases in which fatal tetanus had followed gelatin injec-

tions, while M. Dieulafoy had just experienced the nine-teenth. M. Chauffard therefore proposed that gelatinisedserum should be inserted in the Codex so as to guarantee its

. being prepared with every possible precaution to avoid the. presence of the bacillus of Nicolaier. That is to say, the

gelatin should be sterilised in an autoclave at a tem-

perature of 1150 C. for half an hour and the rightto prepare gelatinised serum should only be given toauthorised firms and those the firms who have at presentthe right to prepare serums and so possess all the neces-sary plant. A long discussion then took place and M.Chantemesse objected to the clause about special firms,for gelatinised serum was not an organic serum. Alsohe thought that exposure to a temperature of 115° C.for half an hour would modify the gelatin and would

t deprive it of its coagulating powers. M. Pouchet

_ replied that thorough sterilisation would not affectthe coagulating powers of gelatin. M. Richaud hadshown that commercial gelatin always contained lime andin his opinion the coagulating powers were due to thatfact. M Gley reminded the meeting of some experiments

i which he had made with M. Richaud and which he hadr related to the Society of Biology. There he had shown, that decalcified gelatin loses its coagulating powers,t all the more so if, in addition, it were neutral. The

coagulating powers of gelatin depend, therefore, on the

acidity of the gelatin and upon its percentage of lime.

. M. Nocard agreed that it would be a good thing to limit thepreparation of the gelatin to certain firms and he thoughtthat the method of preparation and of sterilisation should be

n laid down in the Codex. M. Brouardel agreed to this and

r the matter was eventually referred to a special committee.

0 Acne Itnsacea and Phototherapy.At the same meeting of the Academy of Medicine

8 M. Leredde gave a most interesting account of his experience

1134 PARIS.-BERLIN.-NEW YORK.

of the above-mentioned treatment. Acne rosacea is in

general a most stubborn complaint and has to be treated fora long time with ointments, scarification, and electrolysis.Phototherapy, however, has advanced the treatment veryconsiderably and Finsen has met with success from thismethod even in severe cases which had lasted for a longtime. M. Leredde gave an account of eight cases treatedby him in this manner, in all of which a good result wasobtained. At first the treatment took a long time, for he wasafraid that if he gave sittings of over half an hour trouble-some scarring would result. But little by little he foundthat the patient could safely be exposed for just as long atime as in cases of lupus and he had never met with anyscarring as a sequela. Following out these lines of treat-ment he had been able in two or three weeks to cure cases ofacne rosacea which had resisted other much more severemethods for months.

Jejunostomy.At the meeting of the Society of Surgery held on April 1st

M. Riche read a paper upon three cases of jejunostomywhich had occurred in his own practice. In inoperablecancer of the stomach jejunostomy was preferable to gastro-enterostomy. Jejunostomy gave the stomach complete rest,it was easy to do, and in cases of necessity it could be per-formed under cocaine. The best method was jéjunostornieen T," in which the gut was divided, the lower end wasfixed to the abdominal wall, and the upper end of the gutwas fixed to the lower end.April 14th.

BERLIN.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Bariuna Chloride as a Cardiac Tonic.DR. SCHEDEL of Nauheim recently read a paper before the

Verein fiir Innere Medicin on the action of chloride ofbarium on the heart. Making his preliminary experimentson himself he found that when he took 0’ 02 gramme (one-third of a grain) twice a day after meals his pulse-rate fellfrom 55 to 51 and from 66 to 61, whilst his blood pressureas measured with Gartner’s tonometer showed a rise of10 millimetres. When the dose was increased to 0.06gramme (three-quarters of a grain) the rise in the bloodpressure amounted to 30 millimetres. The effect was

perceptible even three days after taking the last dose andno undesirable result was experienced. Chloride of bariumwas then administered to 19 patients, some of whom sufferedfrom heart disease and asthma, while others were the sub-jects of pulmonary tuberculosis, leuksemia, or chlorosis,in consequence of which their blood pressure was low.Under this treatment the patients improved very much ;cyanosis and oedema disappeared ; the pulse became

regular, full, and less frequent ; the blood pressure rose ;and the secretion of urine increased. The effect on theblood pressure only continued for three days as a rule, butthe improvement in the pulse and in the patient’s generalcondition was apparent even after the lapse of eight days.Chloride of barium might therefore replace digitalis in thetreatment of many organic diseases of the heart, whetherof the muscular substance or of the valves. In the dis-cussion Dr. Aronson of Ems made a reference to the actionof chloride of barium on the intestine. He said that inveterinary medicine intravenous injections of it were givenfor colic and that the treatment had been followed by seriouscomplications and even by death. To this Dr. Schedelreplied that toxic effects occurred only when large doseswere given ; with small doses such as he recommended noaction on the intestine was observed.

The Congress on Venereal Diseases.The German association for the prevention of venereal

diseases held its first meeting at Frankfort on March 9th and10th, Professor Neisser of Breslau being in the chair. The

meeting was attended by a great number of medical men aswell as by members of the general public, and included alsoa certain number of ladies. The Government was representedby Dr. Kirchner of the Government medical department, theinternational association by Dr. Dubois of Brussels, and theFrench association by a delegation consisting of Dr. Gaucher,Dr. Chartin, and Dr. Fournier. The first subject discussedat the meeting was the legal responsibility of venerealpatients. Professor von Liszt of Halle, one of the lead-ing criminologists of Germany, recommended that suchpatients should be required to appear before a court

of justice if they were suspected of having conveyed in-fection to previously healthy persons. Men and women iffound guilty must be equally liable to punishment andno special provision should be made for prostitutes; official,

prostitution would therefore cease to exist. ProfessorFraenkel of Halle spoke against these proposals. Hesaid that under this system the prisons would very soonbe overcrowded ; if prostitutes were imprisoned new recruitswould very soon appear, and so on. Prisons and hospitalsof enormous size would become necessary. Moreover,when venereal patients knew that their medical attendantmight possibly be compelled to give evidence respectingthem before a court of justice they would as muchas possible avoid consulting a medical man. Professorvon Liszt’s views did not meet with the approval ofthe meeting ; in particular Herr Clausmann, of theCologne police, explained that they were hardly capableof being put in practice. The right of control ofprostitutes should, as hitherto, be left to the police. Thesecond subject of discussion related to the education ofpublic opinion by the medical profession. Dr. Cnyrim ofFrankfort and Dr. Block of Hanover were of opinion thatabstinence and chastity might be recommended to youngpersons as the best prophylaxis against infection. Theirviews were opposed by the celebrated physician ProfessorErb of Heidelberg, who drew attention to nervous troublescaused by abstinence. Herr Clausmann said that he did notbelieve in the alleged efficacy of education, which had failedin the case of tuberculosis and would be a failure in venerealdiseases likewise. Dr. Kirchner stated that this view’waserroneous, for the mortality from tuberculosis had decreasedfrom 51 in 10,000 in 1875 to 21 in 10,000 in 1900, a resultdue, among other circumstances, to the better training ofthe public in hygienic matters. Finally, the control andcompulsory medical examination of prostitutes were dis-cussed. The debates on this subject were rather animatedas there were two parties in strong opposition to one

another. One party, though dissatisfied with the presentsystem, advocated a reform of the control and the medicalexamination of prostitutes ; the other party, consistingespecially of ladies, believed that the control shouldbe abolished altogether as being immoral and in-efficacious. Professor Neisser was of opinion that thecontrol of prostitutes should be withdrawn from the

police and left to the medical profession. There should be

special sanitary commissions for that purpose the membersof which would undertake the examination of prostitutes,would supervise their treatment, and would be entitled togive them certicates of health. Dispensaries should be estab-lished where the women were to be attended. The policeshould interfere only if the women defied medical control.Professor Lesser of Berlin seconded Professor Neisser’s pro-posals and explained that medical inspection should in thefirst instance be a voluntary one and should be made com-pulsory only when prostitutes were proved to withdraw them-selves from medical examination.April 13th.

_________________

NEW YORK.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Lack of Surgeons in the United States Navy.THE demand for young medical officers in the United

States navy is great. Assistant surgeons are needed badlyat the present time in the medical corps of the navy, there

being 27 vacancies in that grade. Surgeon-General Rixeyis using his utmost endeavonrs to draw young medical meninto the service. The work ut the medical corps is increasingyearly. The strength of the navy is now 38,000 and withinthe next six years it will probably be 80,000. Besides theroutine work, such as physical examinations, there are 14naval hospitals, naval stations, navy yards, and receivingships where the services of surgeons are required.

The Methods of Quacks in New York City.The Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the

Charity Organisation Society is taking strong measures torestrict the operations of certain individuals and firms whofor years have been reaping a rich harvest by playing uponthe credulity of consumptives. Their mode of procedure isstated by the New York Evening Post to be as follows : (1) Toopen a set of offices, handsomely appointed and filled withmedical works, a variety of bottles stuffed with queer matter,and to have scattered about mysterious instruments knownas inhalators or the like ; (2) to trade on the name of