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nite evidence on which we could all rest, that theincubationofa disease is proved by the occurrence of a certain symptom ordefinite class of symptoms, we could account for umch thatis mysterious. For example, in vaccinia can it be that,trusting entirely to the local phenomena, we sometimes havean apparently good vaccination which never has inoculatedat all? If that be so, there is a reason why the occurrenceof small-pox in a person who seems to have been thoroughlyvaccinated should still remain susceptible to small-pox.The suggestion, though it stand alone, is all-sufficientto indicate the practical importance of proving inocula-tion before pronouncing it as the protection affordedby some but not all the symptoms of a communicable affec-tion. The division of diseases of the communicable typeinto different classes or groups according to the stage of in-cubation which is presented is a practical acquirement ofthe most important every day value, both in curative and ’,preventive science Dr. Squire has not in the least degreeover-estimated this part of modern knowledge. It is quitetrue, as he showx, that to know when to retain at home asick person labouring under communicable disease, whento send him from home, and when to separate him fromthe actual or presumably unaffected, is a direction of prac-tical skill as eminently creditable to the profession ofmedicine as it is useful to the public. To remove thehealthy from the affected is good practice in the case of allthe diseases of the fust and second of the groups of the quickand short incubation series. To remove in the third seriesmay be sound practice. To remove the fourth or long incuba-tion class is less important and may be a practice that is

quite at fault and prejudicial. Lastly, from the study ofthe incubation period we learn how to assign the best meansof disposing of the affected during convalescence. It seemsto be a true reading of natural phenomena that the diseasesof short incubation have a prolonged convalescence, andremain long sources of communication, while the diseaseswhich show a long incubation give a quicker convalescence,and a more rapid freedom from danger as a centre of com-mumeatifm of disease. Here there is a practical lesson thatcannot well be over-estimated. Keep the cases of shortincubation at home. They will infect others and be injuredthemselves by removal.In the discussion which followed, the President, Dr.

Squire, Dr. Tripe, Mr. Shirley Murphy, Dr. Bate, Dr.Dixon, Dr. Heron, and Dr. Dudfield took part.

Reviews and Notices of Books.Report o2i. the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.3I.S.

11 Clballei6.qer" the Years 1873-76. Prepared underthe superintendence of Sir C. WYVILLE THOMSON, F.R.S.Zoology. Vol. II. 1881.

THE second volume of the Report of the Chctllengerexpedition contains an immense amount of new and valuableinformation in the departments of Zoology to which it is de-voted. The lively interest that is taken in the scientific results ofthis very important expedition is sufficiently shown by thestatement made by authority in The Times of the 16th ult.,that the sale of the parts already published by Her Majesty’sStationery Office has been so extensive that the number ofcopies necessary to be reserved to make up even a limitededition of the work in its complete form will allow little ifany margin from which persons who begin by purchasingthe later volumes can rely upon being able to complete themhereafter with the earlier numbers. The moral therefore isthat those who desire to obtain complete copies of this workshould at once secure the volumes that have already beenissued.The present volume contains two reports. The first is a

report on certain Hydroid, Alcyonarian, and MadrepoianCorals, by H. N. Moseley, M.A., F.R.S.; and the second isa report on the Birds collected during the voyage, by PhilipLutley Sclater, M.A.Mr. Moseley commences his report with a carefully drawn-

up description of Milleporidse in general, and of Milleporanodosa in particular. The hard tissue, by him christened

Coenosteum, consisting of a widely spread basis, rises in aseries of projecting, short, irregular tubercles. These presentpores on their surface and canals in their interior, occupiedby the ccenosarc or soft part of the coral; the ccenosteum

and the ceenosarc together constituting the hydrophyton.The growth of the coral commences by the formation of athin film, which is exactly moulded to the adjacent surface.In homology with this continuous layer other parallel layersare gradually formed, and certain transverse laminse or

tabulae which divide the cavities of the calicles into a seriesof chambers, shutting off the living tissue from the aban-doned dead structures beneath. The pores of Milleporaare occupied by two kinds of zooids. In each system ofcalicles the central larger one is occupied by a short andbroad "gastrozooid," provided with a mouth; whilst thesurrounding smaller calicles lodge longer and more slender" dactylozooids," which have no trace of mouth. Thegastrozooids are short, thick cylinders, about half a milli-metre in height, with a short conical hypostome, and four,five, or six tentacles arranged equidistantly in one whorljust below the extremity of the hypostome. At the summitof the bypostome is the mouth, which in the living expandedanimal has a conspicuous glistening white appearance,owing apparently to the presence of large gastric cellsaround the aperture, which strongly reflect the light. The

dactylozooids are about three times the length of the gastro-zooids ; they are cylindrical and tapering ; they have notrace of a mouth, but bear tentacles at irregular intervalsfrom base to summit, the number of tentacles varying fromfive to twenty; they seldom carry their bodies expandedstraight, but usually bent in several curves, and appear tobend over towards their gastrozooid from time to time as ifto convey food. When a portion of the coral has been

placed living in reagents, it is found, after becominghardened, to be bristling all over with shraves of threadsshot from the nematocyst around the mouths of the calicles.The body of the zooids, when seen in transverse section, isfound to consist of an ectodermal layer of cells, beneathwhich is a layer of membrane and an internal mass of endo-dermal cells; their bodies contain muscular fibres arrangedlongitudinally. The canals and spaces in the calcareousccenosteuin are occupied by a network of soft tissue, whichwith the external layer of ectoderm constitutes the ccenosarc.Only a thin layer of about 0 5 mm., or one-fiftieth of an inchin thickness, is living. Two furms of nematocysts wereobserved : One which appears to be confined to Hydrozoa,and not to occur at all in Anthozoa.—viz., that in which abladder-like enlargement of the thread occurs at that part ofit which is in immediate proximity to the mouth of the cell,the bladder being armed near its summit by three spinesset in one whorl. The other form is large and ovoidal,with a thread beset in part of its length with recurvedspines; these also occur in hydroid polypes, but are notof so characteristic a form as the three-spined kind. Itis a subject for regret that no trace of generative organscould be detected in connexion with any of the zooids.Mr. Moseley, however, is perfectly satisfied that the Mille-poridov are true hydroids, as maintained by Agassiz in 1859.He is also convinced that the Styiasteridse, the second greatdivision of the Hydrocorallinae, are Hydroids, and not Antho-zoans, and he gives an elaborate description of the hardand soft parts of the several genera of these animals, whichhe divides into twelve genera, named respectively, Spora-dopora, Pliobothrus, Errina, Distichopora, Labiopora, Spini-pora, Allopora, Stylaster, Stenohelia, Conopora, Cryptohelia,and Astylus.Part II. of Mr. Moseley’s report is devoted to the

Helioporidse, Part III. to the Deep-sea Madreporaria.The number of these was comparatively small, but allare described, and the new forms are all shown in wood.cuts, and in the plates, which are most beautifully exe-

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cuted, and do great credit to Mr. Moseley’s skill in delinea-tion.The second section of the volume is occupied with a

Report on the Birds collected during the voyage of the

Cltalle2?ge7- by Philip Lutley Sclater, which comprises alsoa report on those collected in the Philippine Islands by theMarquis of Tweeddale, and other reports on the birds col-lected in special regions by Dr. Fuisch, M. Salvadori,Mr. Forbes, Mr. Saunders, and Mr. Salvin. Mr. Sclateralso contributes a list of the eggs collected during the ex-pedition, and there is a short note by Mr. A. H. Garrod onthe gizzard and other organs of Carpophaga latrans. Thirtycoloured plates illustrate the more important new birds that ihave been found, some of which are most gorgeously coloured.

A Treatise on Foreign Bodies in Surgical Practice. ByALFRED POULET, M.D., Adjutant Surgeon-Major, In-spector of the School for Military Medicine at Val-de-Grace. Two Vols. New York: W. Wood and Co.London : Sampson Low and Co. 1880.

THESE volumes are issued as a portion of " Wood’s Libraryof Standard Medical Authors." They are the result of avery great amount of labour on Dr. Poulet’s part, and are avaluable storehouse of useful and curious ioformation on a

subject from its very nature rich in remarkable details andincidents. Ancient and modern literature in many languageshas been ransacked for all kinds of cases of foreign bodies,and anyone desirous of acquainting himself with the historyof foreign bodies in any situation will find these volumes anecessary and very valuable help. But having said this muchwe are not able to speak any further words of praise. It is

t a wearisome book to read, and every page bears evidence ofthe author’s painful efforts to be very complete, and verysystematic, and very theoretical. All extraneous mattersthat can possibly be dragged in are made to swell the amountof information given ; and the author appears not to be ableso to group the facts bearing on his subject as to present alltheir points in their due proportion, and so he seems to us tofail in giving clear pictures of the different states he tries todelineate, and still more do we find wanting precise practicalindications for treatment. Indeed we have the impressionthat the book is the outcome of wide and careful reading-what has been called paste and scissors-not backed up byextensive practical experience. In the preface one of thereasons why the book has been written is stated to be theignorance of students and young practitioners on the subjectof the treatment of foreign bodies. We will not attemptto dispute the fact now and here, but we feel sure no

such student would ever think of going to Dr. Poulet’swork for help in time of difficulty, for he would soon belost in the maze of bewildering details. It must forma feature in all college and public scientific libraries, andno doubt it will be often quoted by other writers whcwill reap advantage from Dr. Poulet’s labours.

New Inventions.DISARTICULATING STETHOSCOPE.

THIS instrument, designed by Dr. Whittaker, is contrivedchiefly for convenience in carrying. One half the stem iscontained within the other half, the screw-thread keeping

1". - I

it fixed. For use, the smaller tube is unscrewed and

applied the reverse way to the larger, and fixed by the

screw, forming a stem similar to the ordinary stem of astethoscope. Fig. 2 represents the ear- and chest-pieces asarranged for carrying ; one fits within the other. When

required for use, they are separated, and the fitting" jointsenable them to be fixed firmly and instantaneously to theirrespective ends of the stem, ground accurately to receivethem. The chest- and ear-pieces, when arranged for carry-ing, take up no more room than a medal or a couple ofcoins, while the stem takes up the same room as an ordinarypencil ; both may be carried in the waistcoat-pocket, andnever noticed. The advantages will at once be obvious,since it is difficult to conceive an awkwarder instrumentthan the stethoscope for carrying ; and if the instrumentcan be made to equal the ordinary stethoscope in its acousticproperties, this ingenious device is sure to meet with

approval. A comparative trial with this invention showsthat (possibly owing to the necessarily flat surface ofthe chest-piece) in the latter respect it hardly comes

up to the awkward but reliable wooden stethoscope. Itis made by Hilliard of Glasgow.

THE EXAMINATIONS FOR THE FELLOWSHIPOF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF

SURGEONS.To the Eclitor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-I am glad to see that the results of the recentexaminations at the Royal College of Surgeons of Englandare of sufficient importance and gravity to demand a leadingarticle in THE LANCET.With the examinations for the membership you deal

fully, the Fellowship Examinations you merely characteriseas

" peculiar," and dismiss with a very short notice. As amember of the profession deeply interested in all that con-cerns medical education, I beg to call your further attentionto the examinations for the Fellowship, about which " theschools" are just now deeply exercised, and I fear notwithout some jeason. The feeling abroad is, that howeverwell prepared the candidates may be, only a certain pro-portion are allowed to pass, and that the process of elimi-nation is attended with so much uncertainty that men whohave already distinguished themselves as demonstrators ofanatomy, senior house-surgeons, &c., frequently "fail tosatisfy the examiners," while men of a very inferior statusas frequently manage to get through.When it is remembered, moreover, that each rejection

brings a fee of five pounds to the College exchequer, themoney question is, to say the least of it, not satisfactory. Iventure to think that the fee ought not to be redemandedevery time an unfortunate candidate presents himself forre-examination (it is not so, I believe, at the London Uni-versity examinations), and that a severe and very searchingexamination might be possible, with results less at variancewith the judgments of those who, having known the candi-dates and their work for long periods, are not likely to errin their opinions regarding them.The present uncertainties and peculiarities which lead our

. best men to expect one or more mishaps almost as a matterI of course, and to accept a pass, if it falls to their lot, as a, happy piece of luck, will not tend to raise the standard of’ the examination, or add to the dignity and value of the

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.I am, Sir, yours obediently,

June, 1881. CHIRURGDS.

* * If our correspondent will consult the last balance-sheet of the College, he will find that the two exaniina-

1 tions for the Fellowship entailed, last year, a total loss of} 217 18s. 4d.-ED. L.