318 THE METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAY FUND DISTRIBUTION.

we fancy, in courts of law, that many of them are, in

fact, instances either of misplaced gratitude of an evanescentnature or of fortuitous circumstances. Still, this does

not by any means increase their value. The subject hasundoubtedly a certain psychological interest ; for what bentof mind must those persons have who, by iteration andreiteration, are convinced that the claims of quack medicine

vendors, outside stockbrokers and turf prophets are worthyof credence ? The cynical remark of CARLYLE that there areso many millions of people in the world-mostly fools-would,we fear, appear to be not less applicable now than in his days,for of a certainty the cost of these advertisements is eventuallypaid out of the pockets of the British public and not out ofthe purses of their shrewd authors.

In conclusion we would appeal to members of our

profession to acquaint their patients and their friends, asthey may have opportunity, with the real worth of the claimsof those magnificent institutions, our great general hospitals;and to impress on them the folly-nay, rather, the positiveharm-of lending their names because they are asked" and,we may add, because they are too good-natured and some-times too indolent to refuse.

Annotations.

THE METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAY FUNDDISTRIBUTION.

" Ne quid nimis."

IN the course of a very brief report the Committee of Dis-tribution appointed by the Council of this Fund have dealtwith the claims of a hundred and seventy-six institutionsand the awarding of £40,118. It appears that the investiga-tion made by the committee has resulted in adverse criticismin sixteen cases, one of which proved upon examination bythe light of explanations afforded by its committee to beopen to no reproach and has accordingly received an awardupon the full merit basis. The remaining fifteen have

been less able to meet the criticisms of the committeeSeven of them appear to have acquiesced in the stricturespassed upon them, five others have tendered explana-tions but without fully convincing the Distribution Com-mittee of their freedom from blame, and three have beenaltogether refused any participation in the Fund. It is wellthat these facts should be generally understood, for it is plainthat the efEect of such criticism must be most salutary, andthe public will place confidence in the administration of theFund when they perceive that the supervision exercised by i

the Council through the Distribution Committee is very farfrom being a dead letter. Another point of equal import-ance is that to which, in moving the adoption of the report,Sir Sydney Waterlow called attention-namely, that the awardsare made not simply upon the basis of the work done by thevarious hospitals, but also and even more directly in propor-tion to their needs. Of two institutions doing practicallythe same amount of work one may stand greatly in need ofhelp and the other in little or no need at all. It is most

proper that this aspect of the case should receive the con-sideration of the Distribution Committee, and we shouldhave supposed that it was generally understood that this is,and must be, the fact, if it had not been that the House ofLords’ Committee manifests some imperfect appreciation ofits being so. We have repeatedly stated this in the pages ofTHE- LANCET, and have again and again explained the

manner in which the committee proceeds ; but there is still

occasion to repeat the statement, since some, at least, whomit most concerns to understand these matters appear still to.be under some misconception respecting them. In con-nexion with the Hospital Sunday Fund we may be allowedto express our gratification at the honour conferred byHer Majesty on the Lord Mayor in appointing him KnightCommander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michaeland St. George. Sir David Evans has been most assiduous,and courteous in all the functions of his high office, and has,well sustained the character of the Mansion House, not onlyfor hospitality, but for ready and sympathetic help to theneedy in their distress. When honours are a reward forsuch services they benefit alike the State which gives and thecitizen who receives them.

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HEAT STROKE IN AMERICA.

THE phenomenal neat-wave wmcn lor upwards 01 a week:visited the chief cities of the United States not only derangedtraffic and business to a remarkable extent, but was thecause of much sickness and mortality. It was stated that

July 28th was the hottest day that had been experienced inthat city for twenty-one years, and the death-roll then wassuch as to exceed the highest mortality ever known in

twenty-four hours. On the 29th a temperature of 107° inthe shade was registered, the deaths numbered 223, includ-ing 111 children under the age of five. Although on the30th there was a fall in temperature the death-rate still

remained excessively high, and it is stated that the total

mortality in New York for the week ending at noon on the31st amounted to 1434. Similar reports came from Chicago,and the same intense heat, with all its attendant dis-comforts and dangers, was generally experienced in the

districts east of the Mississippi. No doubt the effects,were the more severe since associated with the excessive’

temperature there was an abnormal degree of moisture inthe atmosphere. The effects of heat on the human organismare not only seen in the occurrence of heat apoplexy or sun-stroke where the attack is sudden, the patient becomingcomatose and hyperpyrexial, but in less severe cases it

produces great nervous prostration and even cardiac depres-sion. It was noted in New York that the worst effects were

observed in the more densely populated districts of the city,and it is to be observed that not only did the human popula-tion suffer, but there was also a great mortality among thehorses from the same cause-on one day as many as 1 in 5of the horses employed by the tramway lines succumbing tothe heat. As part explanation of these dire results it mustbe remembered that the conditions of life and habits of these

large cities are ill-adapted to defend the inhabitants againstsuch an abnormal rise of temperature.

"IN AID OF SICK CHILDREN."

ON Friday, July 22nd, there was held in the EdinburghMusic Hall an exhibition of wild flowers, gathered all overScotland by children, to whom prizes were given for themost effectively arranged specimens. Sixteen hundred was.the number of the juvenile competitors, and there wereon view in the hall 1642 exhibits, of which no fewerthan 881 were bouquets of wild flowers prepared by children ;.while there were, in addition, 185 bouquets arranged byseniors, to say nothing of 254 bouquets of grasses. The

spectacle was admired by numerous relays of visitors of allranks throughout the day, to whom it was matter of equalsurprise and delight that the highways and byways, themountain sides and the river valleys, the moors and themarshes, could be made to yield so rich an assortment offloral colour at once delicate and glowing, and that

the artistic taste and neat-handedness that groupedthe flowers in such a variety of graceful forms were