1550

from 15 to 30 minutes. A post-mortem examination of adog showed a condition of cerebral congestion and throm-bosis of the superior longitudinal sinus. The conclusion isdrawn from these experiments that the fruit of Cltailletiatoxicaria contains at least two active principlee, one ofwhich causes cerebral depression or narcosis and the oth(r rcerebral excitation leading to epileptiform convulsions. Thelatter poison is very lowly excreted, so that a cumulativeeffect is produced by the administration of a series of

individually innocuous doses.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.

ON Thursday, July 5th, the Fellows of the College willproceed to the election of three members of Council. The

members of Council who retire by rotation are Mr. JohnLangton, Mr. Henry Morris, and Mr. F. Richardson CroSE’.Mr. Langton was first elected in 1890 and has served fortwo terms of eight years. Mr. Henry Morris was firstelected in 1893. Mr. John Tweedy’s term of office wouldalso have come to an end at the same time as the others,but as he was re-elected President last July he will thereforebe President at the time of election ; he will remain amember of the Council for another year. All nominationsof candidates for the vacancies on the Council must be madeon forms to be obtained from the secretary and the forms,when duly filled up, must reach the College by Monday,June llth.

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PERFORATION OF THE MEMBRANA TYMPANIDUE TO LIGHTNING.

IN the Brooklyn Medioal Journal for April Dr. W. C.Braislin has reported two cases of a very rare injury dueto lightning-perforation of the membrana tympani. On

July 30th, 1905, during a thunderstorm a large bathingpavilion at Coney Island, which was crowded with bathersseeking shelter, was struck by lightning. Five persons were

killed. One of these was a young man who was entering thepavilion between the subjects of the cases to be related.All the persons killed and most of those injured were

near the base of a fiagstaff which projected above theroof. All had just left the salt water and were stillin wet garments. In the first case the patient was

a man, aged 27 years. lie was burned and renderedunconscious for three hours. On recovering consciousnesshe noticed fulness, tinnitus, and impairment of hearing inboth ears. On August lst he came to hospital with his hairburned on the left side of the occiput and a burn on theback of the neck which extended across the left scapula anddown the arm to the elbow. The burn on the shoulder was

irregular, of the size of the hand, and purplish red. Therewas a blood-stained discharge from the left ear, which

began on the morning following the injury. Examinationshowed a round perforation of the drum one-eighth of aninch in diameter slightly in front of, and below the centre of,the membrane. The edges of the perforation were reddenedand raw. The remainder of the membrane was pale. On the

following day the membrane was uniformly red except at themargin of the perforation where it was everted, raw, andswollen. The wife of this patient was injured at the same timebut less severely. She was only momentarily unconsciousand immediately noticed that her hearing was defective andthat there was roaring tinnitus in both ears, which was worsein the left. Examination on August 2nd showed a smallperforation sealed with a blood red scab in the centre of theleft membrane just behind the umbo. In both cases no

lesion was found in the right ear. Dr. Braislin thinks thatthe injuries were due to the presence of water in the earswhich acted as a good conductor of electricity. At the timeof the accident the patients had only just left the surf. Exa-

mination with the tuning-foik disclosed no lesion of the

auditory nerve. Healing rapidly took place under drydressings, leaving only slight impairment of hearing.

WHAT IS WHISKY? THE APPEAL.

PROCEEDINGS were commenced at the Clerkenwell quartersessions on Monday last on the occasion of the hearing of theappeal against the decision given by Mr. Fordham in theNc rth London police court two months ago on the questionas to what is Scotch and Irish whisky. Any fresh factsforthcoming will be placed before the bench at Cleiken-

well, while the evidence o far taken has been furnished bywitnesses who appeared in the case previously and whosestatements were on all fours with those made on thatoccasion. The case will doubtless occupy attention forsome days and the decision will have an important bearingon the future conduct of the spirit trade.

THE CHILDREN’S COUNTRY HOLIDAY FUND.

THE appeal issued by the Right Hon. Alfred Lyttelton andthe Hon. W. F. D. Smith, the trustees of the Children’s

Country Holiday Fund, on behalf of the poor children inLondon elementary schools should meet with a liberal re-sponse. Nothing but good to the community can result fromsending into the country for a fortnight the children ofthe poor who during the summer holidays fill our courts

and alleys and the many mean streets which, in spiteof our advanced sanitary knowledge, still exist in our

midst. Healthy childhood means a healthy community.The Children’s Country Holiday Fund embraces in its opera-tions the whole of London and all children under 14 years of

age are eligible without regard to sex or creed. In 190439,000 children were maintained for a fortnight in thecountry by this organisation and last year the number wasonly slightly smaller. This year the committee hopes thatsufficient funds will be forthcoming to allow of giving notless than 40,000 children a sojourn among the green fields.Not only the wealthy and charitably inclined but those ofmoderate means may help this deserving object by sendingto the honorary treasurer, the Earl of Arran, at 18, Bucking-ham-street, Strand, London, W.C., a donation whether it beof pence, shillings, or pounds.

THE STANDARDISATION OF DISINFECTANTS.

IN discussing the question of the standardisation of dis-infectants in a leading article in THE LANCET of Feb. l0tb,p. 385, we said in view of the result,s of certain experi-ments made by Dr. Henry R. Kenwood and Dr. R. T.Hewlett on the destructive effect of organic matters on thegermicidal value of certain coal-tar disinfectants, " that itis obviously desirable that a carbolic acid coefficient shouldbe based on the most exacting requirements of actual

practice, taking into account the environment of the patho.genic organisms which, in some cases at any rate, is calculatedto weaken the germicidal agent." The same point is broughtout with some force by Mr. M. Wynter Blyth, B.A., B.Sc.,in a paper published in the April number of the BritishSanitarian. The Rideal-Walker test he rightly regards asa test on naked organisms in distilled water, the one condi-tion of all others which is least likely to be met with in prac-tical disinfection. The test, however, may be valuable usedas a control over the constancy of germicidal efficiency of agiven disinfectant preparation but to hold that the figureso obtained necessarily represents the efficiency of that

preparation in actual practice would be illogical in view ofthe fact that organic matters may very likely weaken thisefficiency. In other words, before the absolute efficiencyof a disinfectant can be declared its incompatibility, so tospeak, with the organic matters with which it is likely to