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author inclines to the belief than an infectious agencymust have been at work. May not infantile palsy be akinto acute specific fevers or acute lobar pneumonia, with its

localisation in the cord instead of in the akin or lungs?

METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAY FUND.

BY permission of the Lord Mayor, the first meeting of theCouncil of the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund was heldat the Mansion House on the 23rd inst. Professor Marks,in the absence of the Lord Mayor during the former part ofthe meeting, presided, and was supported by Sir ReginaldHanson, Bart., Sir J. Risdon Bennett, Canon Gilbert, D.D.,Canon Ingram, M.A., the Rev. S. B. Burnaby, Mr. Wakley,Mr. Burdett, the Rev. Mr. Simpson, Mr. Carr Gomm, Dr.Glover, and others. On the arrival of the Lord Mayor sometime afterwards, Prof. Marks was requested to retain pos-session of the chair. The annual report of the Council statedthat the Fund for the past year had reached .640,607 7s. 8d.,against .E40.399 7s. 7d. collected in the previous year, andwith an average of 31,573 7s. 9d. in the last fifteen

years. The congregation of St. Michael’s, Chester-quare,again headed the list of contributors with 1028. Thetotal amount available for distribution, after allowingsufficiently for liabilities and the annual current ex-

penses, was 39,125. Of this total .E37,525 was nowrecommended to 107 hospitals and 50 dispensaries. Four

per cent. of the total collected- £ 1600-had been set apartfor the purchase of surgical appliances. The retiringmembers of the various committees, together with theofficers of the Fund, were then duly re-elected, after whichthe meeting terminated. -

DIPHTHERIA AT ENFIELD.

DIPHTHERIA has prevailed in Enfield to an extent that I

has caused considerable local alarm, and the Local Govern-ment Board have called for a report on the subject from themedical officer of health. By some the epidemic characterof the disease has been held in doubt, but the sceptics are, itis stated, now convinced of the danger with which thedistrict is affected.

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THE USES OF COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION.

THE effort made by Dr. Tatham of Salford to utilise theinformation obtained under the system of compulsory noti-fication of infectious diseases for more than mere local

purposes has so far been extremely successful. No lessthan twenty-five towns have responded to his request forweekly information of the number of cases notified in theirrespective districts, and Dr. Tatham, in return, has nowtaken upon himself the task of compiling the data received,and of despatching a summary of them, in a tabular form, tothe medical officers of health of each of the contributingdistricts, for their " confidential" information. Dr. Tathamand his authority, who are evidently giving him theirsupport in the matter, deserve great credit for the usefulexperiment they have inaugurated.

TETANUS AFTER HYPODERMIC INJECTION.

A CHILD six years old suffering from miliary fever wastreated first with quinine administered in pilules and byinunction, and then by a subcutaneous injection of thealkaloid. One month later the fever had disappeared, butthe child complained of pains in the left arm and at the pointof injection; trismus supervened in three days, tetanusdeveloped, and death occurred on the sixth day. If thiswas really a case of traumatic tetanus, the period ofincubation was rather longer than the usual seven tofourteen days.

THE HEALTH OF THE CROWN PRINCE.

THE reports which reach us from San Remo are of areassuring character. It appears that a small sloughrecently took place in the situation of the growth whichwas observed in the early part of November, and it is

thought by the resident physicians that some exfoliationof cartilage is taking place. The débris was, we believe,sent to Professor Virchow, but, according to the accountsfrom Berlin, it has not yet reached him. Although peri-chondritis may take place in any chronic affection of thelarynx, it is very rarely a prominent feature in cancer, inwhich disease, moreover, it need scarcely be pointed out, areparative process, such as now seems to be going on, is rarelymet with. We shall probably have further details afterSir Morell Mackenzie arrives at San Remo.

DEATHS OF EMINENT FOREIGN MEDICAL ANDSCIENTIFIC MEN.

THE deaths of the following foreign medical and scientificmen are announced :-Dr. Gustav Hoffmann of Breslau,Medical Privy Councillor, who began the study of medicineafter being obliged to retire from the army, in which heheld the rank of captain, in consequence of wounds receivedat the siege of Frederica in 1850. At the age of thirty-sixhe worked up for the matriculation examination, and, thoughconsiderably handicapped by his wounds, he passed throughhis medical studies, and subsequently gained as high dis-tinction in his new profession as he was expected to haveobtained in that to which he first devoted himself.-Pro-fessor de Bary, the well-known botanist of Strassburg, atthe age of fifty-seven.-Dr, Gustav Wertheim, ExtraordinaryProfessor of Dermatology in Vienna.

SHIP COMPANIES AND CARE OF INVALIDS.

IT seems very probable that ship companies will have avery growing responsibility in connexion with the treat-ment of delicate people. The number of patients takingall the risks and discomforts of the sea for the sakeof its greater benefits, or some sunny climate beyond, isgreat and increasing. On the whole, we do not think thateither ship officers or ship owners are insensible to theirduties in connexion with the conveyance of sick passengers.But an instance is reported to us in a letter. The writer

complains that " they were landed at Santa Cruz, en routeto Orotava, in the night, and that at that inconvenient timethey had to find rooms. The place was very full, and no littledifficulty was experienced. They got to bed about two o’clockin the morning. One poor fellow fainted at the landing-place, and at the time of writing was laid up at Santa Cruz,Surely a large company which advertises to take delicatepeople to Teneriffe, or any other health resort, should orderits officers to arrange the landing of passengers by day. Littletime would be lost, and much gratitude would be gained.

FOREIGN UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

Constantinople (School of :MediciDe).-Dr. Ahmed Bey hasbeen appointed Director of Studies in place of Dr. AhmedPasha, deceased.

jDoa.—Dr. Theodor Wyder, privat-docent in Berlin, hasnow been definitely appointed to the chair of Obstetrics andChildren’s Diseases. Dr. Wyder is a Swiss by birth, and waeducated at Zurich, Tubingen, and Strassburg.

Ghent.-Dr. A. de Cock has been promoted to the Pro-fessorship of Clinical Surgery.

- Xb?M6e/y.—The candidates who are likely to be broughtforward for the Professorship of Pathology and Thera-peutics, which will be vacated by Professor Naunyn’s