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fessorship of surgery is an innovation and designedto attract someone who is keen on teaching andresearch. The professor of pharmacology willhave hospital beds at his disposal and a free fieldfor research in the treatment of Egyptian diseases,and occupants of these chairs will presumablybecome professors in the faculty of medicine whenthe University takes shape. The lecturer on

pathology will have a specially attractive field ofwork open to him, for many pathological problemsstlll await solution in Egypt. The lectureships aredesigned to encourage research among Egyptians,some of whom are already being trained in England.But we are informed that none of the appointmentsare earmarked for any local or other candidate.The selection will be made, in the first instance, bysmall expert boards in England, the final selec-tion taking place in Egypt on the recommendationsof these boards. We wish every success to thispractical effort for placing medicine on a substantialfoundation in Cairo.

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THE AFTER-HISTORY OF WAR NEPHRITIS.

Merklen and Desclaux examined 26 men who hadbeen temporarily discharged from the Army forchronic nephritis one year previously, and sum-marised their observations as follows: 1. Six menhad no albuminuria nor any signs of renal or

cardiac disturbance. There was no rise of bloodpressure, and the heart was of normal size onradioscopic examination. They might therefore beregarded provisionally as cured. 2. Three menshowed cardio-vascular symptoms only, such as anincrease in size of the left ventricle, accentuationof the second aortic sound, a high blood piessure,and palpitation. 3. Seventeen cases, or two-thirdsof the total, showed various symptoms of chronicnephritis, and albuminuria was present in everycase. Though it is impossible to form a generalprognosis in nephritis owing to the variablecharacter of the affection, the writers feel justifiedin concluding that at the end of a year the majorityof men who have been discharged from the Armyfor nephritis will still present symptoms of thecondition.

AN ANTHROPOMETRIC SURVEY.

THE data obtained by the late Ministry ofNational Service when examining recruits in regardto their fitness for a soldier’s life are in the

possession of the Minister of Pensions and, in replyto a deputation from the British Association,Colonel A. L. A. Webb, Director of MedicalServices, stated on July 18th that the variousregional reports had been arranged and wouldshortly be ready for publication. Measurements,such as height, body-weight, and chest perimeter,in relation to age and occupation, have greatobjective value, while other data are more or lessvitiated by the personal equation of the recorder.Many attempts have been made to obtain simplecriteria of working ability. As long ago as 1846Mr. John Hutchinson read before the RoyalMedical and Chirurgical Society a paper, fullyreported in our columns at the time, dealing with amethod of detection of disease by the spirometer.This engine long fell out of repute, but recently adefinite minimum standard of vital capacity wasset up as a condition of admission to the Air Force,and Professor Georges Dreyer laid stress upon thismeasurement in a paper read before an Inter-AlliedSanitary Congress of Aeronautics held at Rome inFebruary last. A single observation of certain

1 Bull. et Mém. Soc. Méd. de Hôp. de Paris, 1919, xliii., 434-7.

anatomical and physiological data, carefully madeand recorded, may have value when dealing withthe population as a whole, but how much greaterwould be the value of continuous exact records,such as are now within the grasp of the Ministryof Health. The policy of the Insurance Com-missioners has been to demand from its medicalstaff a number of entries so vast as to alienate mostpanel practitioners for all time from statisticalmethod. These entries are recalled at the endof each year, thus rendering them unavailablefor further reference. A tithe of this labourspent on a continuous record card would haveproduced results far exceeding in value those of theNational Service inquiry. The panel conference,which we deal with elsewhere, had something ofthis possibility laid before it last week.

THE CEREBRAL COMPLICATIONS OF MUMPS.

THOUGH a typically harmless disease, mumpsmay rarely be attended by serious and even fatalcomplications. In the Index Catalogue of theSurgeon-General’s Library six deaths from mumpsare recorded. Death is probably always due tocerebral complications. About 150 cases of cerebralcomplications have been reported. In the Archivesof Internal Medicine for June Lieutenant R. L.Haden, U.S. Army, has published nine cases whichwere observed at Camp Lee, Va., U.S.A., among 476cases of mumps, and he has reviewed the literatureof the subject. The nature of the cerebral com-plications has been much discussed. Before theadvent of lumbar puncture it was considered asmeningismus, but with demonstration of pleocytosisof the spinal fluid it was looked on as meningitis.In simple mumps, according to Dopter, the cerebro-spinal fluid is normal. Many things point to theconclusion that the lesion is an encephalitis andnot simply a meningitis. In most cases the cerebralsymptoms are out of all proportion to the meningealreaction, as shown by the condition of the cerebro-spinal fluid. The common symptoms are highfever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Usuallythere is only slight rigidity of the neck and Kernig’ssign is not well marked. Numerous cases of involve-ment of the cerebrum alone are on record. Inthese there are no definite meningeal signs, andthe cerebro-spinal fluid is normal. Among thesymptoms observed in 31 cases reported by Ackerwere unilateral convulsions, monoplegia,hemiplegia,aphasia, disturbances of speech, psychoses, dis-turbances of sensation, and stupor, These point toaffection of the brain substance. Other symptoms,such as bradycardia, headache, vomiting, and opticneuritis are probably due to intracranial pressure.The few necropsies recorded have shown congestionof the brain with only serous meningitis. In thenine cases reported by Lieutenant Haden thesymptom-complex was fairly uniform. Usually asthe parotitis was subsiding the temperature rose,with little change in the pulse-rate, severe head-ache, nausea, and vomiting. Often the patient hadorchitis. On examination he was dull, answeredquestions slowly, showed slight stiffness of theneck, a suggestion of Kernig’s sign, and variablereflexes. Lumbar puncture yielded clear fluidunder increased pressure with lymphocytoses. Ina few cases increased pressure was the onlyabnormality. Smears and cultures were madefrom the fluid in all cases, but in only one wereorganisms (Gram-positive cocci) found. Such coccihave been described by several observers as the

organisms causing the disease, although a filterable