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St. Mungo’s College, Glasgow,The winter session was opened on Oct. 15th, when an

interesting address was delivered to a large gathering byDr. David N. Knox on the History of Surgery in the RoyalInfirmary. j

Obituary.Many will learn with regret of the death at Cradock, Cape

Colony, of Mr. Robert Fergus Hutchison, M.B., Ch.B. Aberd.,son of Mr. Thomas Hutchison, Ingleside, Cults. Dr.Hutchison had for some time been in weak health and morethan a year ago he went to South Africa where he at firstshowed signs of recovery, only to be seized some weeks agoby a fatal illness. The deceased, who was 28 years of age,graduated in 1898. He subsequently devoted himself to

bacteriological work and pursued his studies in London andParis, returning to Aberdeen a few years later as assistantto Professor D. J. Hamilton. In the line of research whichhe had chosen Dr. Hutchison gave promise of attaining highdistinction.

The Mitchell Family and Marischal Cullege, Aberdeen.The suggestion that some fitting memorial of the late Mr.

C. W. Mitohetl of Jesmond Towers, Newcastle-on-Tyne,should be secured for Marischal College, Aberdeen, has beenreceived with general favour. There is already in the picturegallery of Marischal College a bust of Mr. Mitchell’s father,the late Dr. Charles Mitchell, and a proposal has informallybeen made to the effect that a companion bust of Mr. C. W.Mitchell might also be procured for the picture gallery. Thetotal sum which father and son gave to the University ofAberdeen was upwards of £54,000. Dr. Mitchell gave in all.f:33,OOO towards the extension scheme, while Mr. C. W.Mitchell extinguished the debt on the University amountingto £21,171. The cheque for the final instalment of this sumwas recently received from Mrs. C. W. Mitchell who is

deeply interested in the extension scheme.Rectorial Address at the University of Aberdeen.

The Right Hon. C. T. Ritchie, M.P., Lord Rector of theUniversity, is to give his rectorial address on Oct. 29th andon the occasion of his visit is to be entertained by theSenatus.

Oct. 20th. _______________

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.THE annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians of

Ireland was held on Oct. 19th when the officers for theensuing year were elected. A motion expressing regret forthe recent death of Sir George F. Duffey was passed insilence. Dr. L. Atthill tendered his resignation of the officeof representative of the College on the General MedicalCouncil and Sir John W. Moore was elected thereto.

The Granard Union Trouble.At the last meeting of the board of guardians which took

place at Granard on Oct. 19th a resolution was passedappointing as master the official who was recently dismissedby sealed order of the Local Government Board. A concilia-

tory letter was read from Dr. J. M. S. Kenny in which he againexpressed "regret for the unpleasantness of the past." Oneof the guardians proposed that it should be thrown into the

waste-paper basket. It was afterwards, however, decidedto forward it to the bishop, Dr. Hoare. Major Fane, whorepresented the Local Government Board, said that theBoard would appoint a master very soon and he warnedthe guardians that if it became necessary to replace themby two paid guardians it would cost the ratepayers .E500per annum.

Monkstown Hospital.At a meeting of the committee of the Monkstown Hospital

held on Oct. 15th Sir Charles B. Ball was appointedhonorary consulting surgeon to the institution.

Smiley Hospital, Larne.The Smiley Cottage Hospital, Larne, founded through the

munificence of Sir H. H. Smiley, Bart., Larne, and endowedby him to the extent of .E5000, is now completed and willbe ready in a few weeks for the reception of patients. Thereare wards for male and female patients, each for six adults,and there are in addition spacious (lay rooms so designed

that in case of emergency four additional beds may be placedin each, which will bring the total accommodation of theground floor up to 20 beds. There is an admirably fitted-up operating room and the most up-to-date sanitary arrange-ments have been supplied. The hospital will be under themanagement of a representative consultative committee anda ladies’ working committee. The medical staff will be themedical men resident in Larne and Ballyclare.

Queen’s College, Belfast.The session opened on Oct. 20th in the medical faculty.

Dr. Max Freund has been appointed Professor of ModernLanguages in place of Dr. A. L. Meissner, and Dr. John,McLiesh has been selected to lecture on Vaccination. Greatsorrow has been felt at the news of the death on Oct. 18thof Professor J. Purser who for many years was professor of’mathematics and who trained three senior wranglers, Allen,Larmor (secretary of the Royal Society), and Orr. Oldfriends of the late Dr. Charles MacDonall will be pleased tohear that an interesting book by him, "The Origin of theLegend of the Holy Grail," edited by his widow, has just.been published.

Royal Trictoria Hospital, Belfast.On Oct. 20th in the extern room of the new Royal

Victoria Hospital Dr. J. Walton Browne, senior surgeon,delivered an interesting opening address before a crowdedaudience of students and practitioners. After welcomingthe students at the beginning of a new winter session Dr.Browne gave a full and very much appreciated account ofthe history of the Belfast School of Medicine from its earliestbeginnings up to the present time when clinical work begins.in the new and beautiful hospital recently opened by theKing. —At a meeting of the corporation of the hospital heldon Oct. 19th a motion was passed authorising the board ofmanagement to sell or to let all or any portion of the oldhospital property belonging to the corporation situated inFrederick-street and Lancaster-street, Belfast. The citycorporation had the first offer of the place to use it as a.temporary fever hospital until the new city hospital wasready but it declined. The income derived from the oldhospital is to go to the support of the Shaftesbury Ward inrecognition of the generous treatment which had alwaysbeen received from the Donegal family.

-Death of Dr. William Dobbin.Dr. William Dobbin of Banbridge, co. Down, died

recently in Belfast, in his sixty-first year. For some monthspast he had had symptoms of intestinal obstruction and onOct. 16th Professor Thomas Sinclair resected a portion of thecolon, but the patient’s strength failed and he died on thenight of Oct. 17th. Dr. Dobbin was the eldest son of aPresbyterian clergyman, the Rev. W. Dobbin of Annaglone,co. Down. He studied at Queen’s College, Belfast,where he had a very distinguished career. In 1867 he

graduated as M.D. in the Queen’s University and in 1886.he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons inIreland. He practised in Banbridge, where he was medicalofficer of the dispensary district and here he gathered roundhim a large clientete who greatly esteemed and valued himfor his professional knowledge. He leaves a widow, one

daughter, and two sons, one of the latter being a member ofthe North-east Bar and the other an M.D. of EdinburghUniversity.Oct. 20th.

__________________

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Cerebro-spinal Fluid of Patients in the Secondary Stage-of Syphilis.

AT the meeting of the Hospitals Medical Society whichwas held on Oct. 9th M. Ravaut communicated in his ownname and in that of M. Thibierge some statistics based uponthe cytological examination of the cerebro-spinal fluid in118 patients suffering from the secondary stage of syphilis ;54 of these patients had either no obvious secondary sym-ptoms or only showed roseola and mucous or cutaneous

plaques. Seven of these only gave a definite lymphocytereaction, whereas out of 55 patients who showed pigmentarysyphilides, papular syphilides, or syphilitic psoriasis, 41showed a definite lymphocyte reaction, in some cases

very marked. Two patients suffering from syphiliticalopecia and two other patients in which facial paralysis

1199

had supervened during the secondary period showedmarked lymphocytosis. Of five patients suffering from

syphilitic iritis one only showed lymphocytosis. In allthe patients who showed the cellular reaction the quantityof albumin, which only exists in very small quantity in normalcerebro spinal fluid, was much increased. It would seem,therefore, that these facts prove that in patients affectedwith secondary syphilis there exist together with certaincutaneous reactions nervous reactions which are to be

diagnosed by an examination of the cerebro-spinal fluid andthese nervous reactions would appear to develop on parallellines with those of the skin. The reactions should be

regarded as one of the many manifestations of syphilis andwhen present would appear to show that the treatment should be very thorough.

A Scheme for a Hospital for Infectious Diseases. Among the new buildings included in the great plans

which have been taken in hand by the Assistance Publiqueand which have been approved by the Prefect of the Seineand by the Municipal Council is a hospital for infectiousdiseases which it is intended to build at Ivry-sur-Seine, inthe district of Vitry, a building which is intended to replacea very poor hospital at present in existence at La Porte deFlandre. Here it is intended to treat patients sufferingfrom typhoid fever, from small-pox, from diphtheria, andshould occasion arise thoe afflicted with plague or cholera.The prospect, however, has no charms for the inhabitantsof the neighbouring quarter of Paris-namely, that ofthe Port-a-i’Anglais in the division of Vitry. Theyhave protested for some long time but the Assistance

Publique has taken no heed. This body promises toisolate the building in an absolutely satisfactory fashion,but the promise has not assured those interested in thematter and they have sent a petition to the Prefect ofthe Seine begging him to ask the administration of theAssistance Publique to give up the idea of building ahospital for infectious diseases at a distance of only 250metres from the communal school at Port à-l’Anglais whicheducates no less than 900 pupils. The Assistance Publique,however, declares that the fears of the inhabitants of Ivryare groundless and the best proof which is brought forwardof the harmlessness of the proposed hospital is the fact thatit will be situated almost alongside a large almshouse wherethere are some 2500 aged persons for whom nobody seemsto have any fear.

French Congresses.The sixteenth Congress of the French Association of

Surgery was opened at Paris on Oct. 19th in the largetheatre of the Paris Faculty of Medicine. The seventhcongress of the French Association of Urology will be openedat Paris on Oct. 22nd in the Faculty of Medicine.

A Ne7v Method of Suicide.A nurse at one of the hospitals has just tried

a new way of committing suicide-namely, by swallow-ing two tubes of Eberth’s pure culture of the typhoidbacillus. On the following day and the day after thatshe felt no inconvenience. On the third day she hadsome headache but no fever. On the sixth day shefelt heavy and stupid and experienced great weakness inher legs, being obliged to take to her bed. On the seventh

day her temperature was in the morning 37.6° C. and in theevening 38 60 C. On the eighth day she had two attacks ofepistaxis and her temperature in the evening was 40-20 C.Several ro,e spots were also visible. On the tenth day serumreaction was positive. Otherwise the typhoid fever followedits normal course but it was a very severe attack and the

patient had in all 176 baths. The remarkable points ofthis case are the very short duration of the period ofincubation-namely, only two days-and the rapid appear-ance of the rose spots, eight days after infection. Thephysicians who reported the case-viz., M. Doflocq and M.Voisin-explained the very short duration of the incubationperiod by the large quantity of bacilli which were introducedat one time into the digestive tract.

Oct. 2lst. ________________

BERLIN.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Professor Behring on Tuberculosis.THE most remarkable feature of the recent Congress of

German Naturalists and Medical Men was the address on

tuberculosis delivered by Professor Behring. He com-

menced by remarking that tuberculosis was an extremelycommon and widespread disease. A series of necropsiesmade by Professor Naegeli at the Pathological Institute ofZurich showed that in every instance signs of tuberculosiswere present in persons over 30 years of age, in 96 per cent.of those from 18 to 30 year, in 50 per cent. of those from 14to 18 years, in 33 per cent. of those from five to 14 years,and in 17 per cent. of those from one to five years. Similarresults were obtained in living persons by Dr. Franz, anAustrian army medical officer, who found that 68 per cent.of the men of an Austrian regiment reacted positively tothe tuberculin test. it had been said that everybody wassomewhat tuberculous, and this was true, but tuberculousinfection did not always mean pulmonary phthisis. To pro-duce phthisis two factors were necessary-namely, (1) atuberculous focus and (2) bodily conditions which favouredthe development of tuberculosis. Professor Behring was ofopinion that communication of pulmonary tuberculosis to

’ adults by contagion had not yet been demonstrated. In thecases of butchers, laboratory servants, and others who con-

tracted cutaneous tuberculosis it had never been proved thatpulmonary tuberculosis had ensued. The speaker then alludedto the statistics concerning nurses, prisoners, and otherclasses of the community which were especially liable to

develop phthisis. It was, according to him, not their free’

exposure to infection but the conditions of their life which

predisposed them to phthisis, the process being in realitythe conversion of a latent focus of disease into an activeone. Medical men engaged in laryngological practice wereexposed to continual risks of infection, but neverthelesstuberculosis was not frequent among them because of the

, absence of other prejudicial influences, such as insufficiencyof food. The fundamental theory of Professor Behring isthat tuberculosis nearly always begins at the earliest periodof life and that the germs are communicated to childrenby milk. He said that his views might at first sight appearrather peculiar, for if infants were not suckled by themother the milk on which they were fed when brought up

, by hand was boiled or even sterilised. Adults, on thecontrary, usually drank milk without previously boiling itor taking any other precaution. The cause of the liability

t of infants to become infected was not the contamination of3 the milk alone but in a great degree the condition of theirs gastro-intestinal canal which by reason of its great per-

meability was not capable of protecting their systemsagainst the invasion of germs. Dr. Romer, Professor

f Behring’s assistant, found that in newly born animalse albuminates penetrated through the mucosa into the circula-te tion quite unaltered, just as if they had been directly intro-Iduced into the blood ; in the intestines of adult animals, on

the contrary, the albuminates were transformed into solublepeptonates previously to being absorbed. Attenuated

d cultures of anthrax bacilli given with their food to newly,-

born guinea-pigs appeared afterwards in the blood. Cultures

dof tubercle bacilli administered in the food always pro-t duced tuberculosis of the glands in newly born and veryd young animals ; with older animals, on the other hand, thisoccurred only sometimes and not unless very virulent

n cultures in great quantities had been taken. Although the

h virus was ingested and infection communicated at a veryearly age, iuany years might pass before the disease

of became recognisable by the tuberculin test. Under pre-judicial influences, such as exhausting illness, chills, badfood, unwholesome dwellings and the like, the tuberculous

d infection might then develop into pulmonary phthisis.From this point of view Professor Behring spoke favourablyof the hygienic and dietetic treatment of pulmonary phthisis.His principal object, however, was to discover a method

r- which, like Jenner’s vaccination against small-pox, would actagainst tuberculosis and would eventually render sanatoriumsand other therapeutic measures unnecessary. Speaking of

in the tuberculosis of cattle he stated that this disease was

;d more prevalent in these animals than was generally believed ; ;..

the presence or absence of latent tuberculosis could beascertained by the tuberculin test with absolute certainty.He then alluded to the method devised by him which enabledcattle to be immunised by injections of an antitoxic sub-stance and which was being more and more used by farmers.Immunising substances were found in the milk of immunisedcows and he had reasons for believing in the possibility ofpreserving these immunising substances so that they mightbe sent abroad without losing their efficacy. Concerning

of human tuberculosis Professor Behring stated that hison researches were not yet finished; he said that for the