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the Humber formed the subject of a paper read by Mr. ‘

T. H. Easterfield, B A., which must have had more thanpassing interest for the inhabitants of Yorkshire.On Sunday evening last the Bishop of Ripon prpached in

’Holy Trinity Church, Leeds, on the subject of Science andReligion. Religion and Science, he said, in every agecould only be reptesented to that age through the human- instrumentality of the men of science or the men of religion,and the mutual hostility might be chargeable rather to theinfirmities that belonged to man than to anything whichessentially belonged either to religion or science.

BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE.

THE address of Mr. Charles Umney, F.I.C-, F.C.S.,President of the British Pharmaceutical Conference, whichheld its sitting at Leeds last week, was mainly occupiedwith the topic, " Fashion in Medicine." In this the views

’expressed corresponded to a great extent with those enun-ciated by Dr. Broadbent, who spoke very strongly at therecent meeting of the British Medical Association atBirmingham on the rage for new drugs. Another point onwhich Mr. Umney laid stress was the traffic in patentmedicines, and the damage to the public by the sale ofpoisonous drugs under cover of the medicine stamp.Mr. Umney prefaced his remarks by referring to the ever-widening field of pharmacology and its application to medi-cine and surgery, which rendered a complete summary ofwork and progress during the preceding year more and moredifficult to produce and less suitable to the limits of a pre-sidential address. It cannot be contended, he remarked,that medicine, striving year by year to become a lessinexact science, knows no fashion ; although it might beurged that there was in medicine a licence for adoptingfashions without parallel in any other profession or calling,solely due to the rapid strides of science.During the past thirty years the materia medica has

multiplied to no inconsiderable extent, old remedieshave been discarded, a legion of new drugs introduced,crystalline and resinoid principles adopted to the almostentire exclusion of the crude substances from which theyare prepared, and synthetical substances often take theplace of alkaloids, which were a novelty but a generation- ago. Notwithstanding, however, the disuse into which along list of crude substances has fallen, certain drugs areas much relied upon to-day as they were half a centuryago; and this is not to be wondered at when we re-

member that the medicinal value of such crude drugsas opium, cinchona, &c., depends upon the presence ofcertain well-defined chemical principles, which we areaccustomed to isolate; and upon the proportion of whichin the crude substance it is customary now to assess bothmedicinal and commercial value. It is the practice alsoto standardise these and similar drugs to containa definite proportion of chemical constituent, so thatthe physician may use these remedies with greater pre-cision. Other drugs, the use of which still continues—suchas jalap, scammony, aloes, gamboge, &c-are not prescribedas frequently as formerly, and to some extent this has arisenfrom lack of uniformity in the substances themselves.’Sarsaparilla and some other drugs, though almost discardedby therapeutists, are still largely used by the public.Among external medicaments, lard as a basis for ointmentshas been almost entirely displaced by solid and semi-solid hydrocarbons, or the more easily absorbed lanoline.Plasters have been discarded for the use of oleates of

powerful inorganic bases such as zinc, mercury, and bismuth.Concentrated percolates, which represent the entire activeconstituents of potent drugs, are now largely used, such asthe pharmacopoeial liniments of aconite and belladonna.Want of uniformity, even when freshly prepared, or changeand decomposition on being stored, have diminished theesteem in which such preparations as grey powder, anti-monial powder, or green iodide of mercury were formerlyheld.

Although the legitimacy of most of these charges must beacknowledged we cannot shut our eyes to the fashion thatprevails in discarding antiquated though well-tried remediesin favour of newly introduced drugs. It is fashionablewith some to prescribe medicines in the most concentrated

form in which the ingredients are compatible, regardless ofpotency. A concentration of two or three times over andabove that which may with safety be practiFed is nowan every-day requirement. " Elegant pharmacy" has some-thing to answer for, its products having been appreciatedby the eye and palate of the public, without correspondingadvantage to the physician in continuing his art of pre.scribing. Still more may be said of the fashion of orderingready-made physic. This practice, which is increasing byleaps and bounds, has been condemned by a leading Londonphysician of half a century’s experience, who writes:"There has grown up a habit of prescribing ready-made

physic, of using compounds which contain a variety ofdrugs, each having different properties-a practice in whichthere is mental proclivity to regard the disease as suitableto the physic rather than to take the trouble to find aremedy that is suitable for the disease. This system isunpractical, unscientific, and least calculated to promote aknowledge of the medicinal legitimate use of medicine. Infact, the art of writing a rational prescription is in dangerof being lost. "

Reflection must convince us that medical art isdeprived of much opportunity, pharmacy undermined, thepublic not benefited, but, on the contrary, seriouslydamaged, by a fashion that has of late years both pre.vailed and greatly increased, and which may be describedas the injudicious selection by the public of medicines tobeused as household remedies. Many are of such compositionthat they should not be sold without being placed under therestrictions which accompany the sale of substances similarin composition included in the schedule of poisons in thePharmacy Act.

In the year 1860 the revenue received from medicine-stamp duty was £43,000; in the year 1889, ;f203,OOO; andduring the current year it is computed that f220,000 andupwards will be realised. Whereas in 1860 there were

about 10,000 vendors, there are at the present time but23,000, indicating, notwithstanding the total sales are fivetimes as large as they were a generation ago, that theregistration of vendors has only increased to half thatextent, and the sale, consequently, by each licensed vendorhas practically doubled. It will, perhaps, surprisesomepeopleto learn that the amount paid by the public for patent medi.cines is not far short of a million and a half sterling annually.The medical profession is aware that a section of the publicbecomes habituated to the use of hydrate of chloral, opiates,and other narcotics solely from the cloak that is adroitlyspread around this matter by the medicine-stamp regula-tion. A refusal to supply poisonous patent medicinesexcept under a medical prescription is resented by thepublic, and the patent medicine vendor, who may be agrocer, stationer, or any individual, without the faintestknowledge of drugs, may, for the small fee to be paid for alicence, sow poisons broadcast.The time has at last come when those who practise

legitimate pharmacy may, without arrogance, view theirrelation with the medical profession, and with the GeneralMedical Council in particular, with the greatest satisfactionand pleasure. The British Pharmaceutical Conference hasin some degree contributed to bringing about a betterappreciation of pharmacists by the medical profession, formany of the more important communications that haveappeared in the " Year-book of Pharmacy have from timeto time been the subject of favourable comment in themedical press, and have not been without their influenceupon medicine and surgery.

THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS ANDSANITATION.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

IT is not within our province to discuss the politicalmerits and significance of the Trades Union Congress. The

Congress was of a representative and important character,and among the matters brought before the delegates wereseveral that bore upon sanitation and public health. Nota day passed but some subject came forward of interest tothe profession.

The Congress met at Hope Hall, Liverpool, on Monday,Sept. 1st, to elect its officers and transact formal business.

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No less than seventy-six resolutions were printed on theagenda paper, and, with the exception of two or three thatwere withdrawn, they were all dealt with by the Congress.The second of these numerous resolutions had a direct

bearing on forensic medicine. It was pointed out thatcoroners’juries appointed in cases of accidents very generallyhad no knowledge of the questions brought before them.How cou)d a Tradesman judge the cause ot an accident in acoal mine? Cases were related of the extraordinary ignor-ance displayed by jurymen. It .was suggested that men ofthe same trade as the deceased should sit on the jury, andas these would in most cases be workmen, they could notafford to lose a day’s wages, and ought therefore to be paidfor their time. To this it was objected that if a workmansat on a jury and made his voice heard lie would becomea marked man, and might have some difficulty withhis employer. A delegate from Bradford related that theCorporation of that town had enacted certain by-laws toprotect the workers from the woolsorters’ disease, which wasso prevalent in that town. But though these by-laws weregood enough, there was no Efficient body of inspectors to seethem carried out. The right to challenge juries when suchby-laws had not been applied should exist. A delegatefor Glasgow insisted on the preventable loss of life atchemical works, and that the truth as to what really tookplace was unknown to the public because the workmen en-gaged did not dare to relate what they knew. A resolutiondemanding that workmen should sit on coroners’ jurieswhen an accident had occurred to one of their fellow work-men was carried.The question of the inspection of factories and the sani-

tary condition of factories was discussed on several occa-sions, and the delegates frequently confirmed much of theinformation given in the special reports on sweating pub-lished by THE LANCET. The insufficient number of factoryinspectors was a subject of very general complaint. AtSheffield the inspector could not get round to the factoriesmore than once in six to nine months. At Bradford thewoolsorters did not dare to complain when the fan whichshould draw away the poisonous dust was not in workingorder. Mr. Davies of Birmingham, who had been a

factory inspector for six years and a half, bore testimonyto the excessive size of the districts one single in-

spector had to control. Other delegates bore witnessto the frequency with which women were made towork longer than the time prescribed by the FactoryAct. Mr. Frenchman, delegate of the East-end Londontailors, related how for many years he had worked in asweating den with women as late as twelve o’clock at

night. Mrs. McConnell, of the Female Bookfolders’ TradeUnion, explained that in her trade women worked fromfifty-four to fifty-six hours a week for from 6s. to 7s. Theirhealth was not only injured by insufficiency of food, butthey had to go out in the wet streets to get their meals, andthen come back and work the rest of the day in damp clothes.She thought that where a number of persons worked togetherthere should be a dining-room on the premises. Mrs. Skelley,of the Liverpool Tailoresses’ Union, declared that mem-bers of her trade were unanimous in demanding theappointment of more inspectors, and these in some casesshould be women. The workwomen would be able to speakmore easily to a woman inspector, especially if their com-plaints related to sanitary matters. She had found veryoften that when the inspector was about to visit a tailor’sworkshop the women were sent to other parts of the house,and were thus never seen by the inspector. In many shops,though the women were supposed to be allowed an hourfor dinner, either at 12 or 1 o’clock, they were often keptby stress of work till 4 and 5 o’clock. This irregularityin the meal hour, coupled with excessive work in unwhole-some, overcrowded workshops, contributed greatly to ruinthe health of tailoresses. Not only are the wages insufficient,but numerous fines are inflicted which greatly reduce theearnings, especially of female workers. In some workshopswomen are charged ld. per week for a peg to hang theirhats and cloaks upon. Other employers charge Id. forthe lavatories, some 3d. a week for washing the floor of theworkshop, yet the women have to do the scrubbing them-selves ; the money they pay is supposed to be spent inbuying soap and brushes. In the face of all these facts,resolutions were carried demanding the abolition of fines infactories, the increase of factory inspectors, and thenomination of some women as inspectors, together withmen who had a practical knowledge of the " tricks of thetrade."

Somewhat akin to this subject is the dead set madeagainst subcontracting, or, in other words, sweating. Aresolution was unanimously carried demanding that con-tracts in connexion with public works should not be givenout, but the work should be done by the municipalbodies themselves or given to workmen’s associations. The.cont) actor, who so generally employs the sweater, wasdenounced hip and thigh. A resolution was carried stating,that, " seeing the evils of the sweating system are so

enormous and widespread, this Congress deeply regrets,after such an extensive inquiry by the Lords Committee,nothing has been done by them to try and reduce themisery or the sufferings of those affected thereby, and we.instruct the parliamentary committee to bring all the influ-ence possible to bear on members of the House of Commonswith the object of obtaining beneficial legislation." Mr.Louis Lyons explained that in many East-end tailors’ work.shops the workers had only 120 to 180 cubic feet of space to-woik in, while a convict in a prison enjoyed 400 to 500 cubic-feet. The garments were made under conditions wellcalculated to spread disease, and it was a mistake toimagine that only very cheap clothes were made insweating dens. Clothes ordered for the Royal Familyhad been traced to the East-end. A woman, hethought, required more space in a workshop thana man, though she generally had much less. Veryoften there was but one closet for both men and women,and sometimes this was situated in the very centre of theworkshop. He urged that before a place could be opened’as a workshop a licence should be obtained, and thislicence should not be granted till the premises had beenduly inspected. He could show that naval uniformshad been made in noisome cellars, and so badly made thatthey split after they had been worn but a very short time.Why should not workshops be controlled like public-housesand theatres ? A resolution was carried in consequence ofthese arguments demanding that notice must be served onthe local authority as to intention of opening a workshop,and within six days of receipt of this notice a sanitary andtechnically qualified inspector should visit such place to see-whether it is sufficiently lighted and decent sanitary accom-modation provided for both sexes. The workshop must beproperly ventilated in proportion to the number of persons.to be employed therein; "and in all cases there shall benot less than 600 cubic feet of space provided for each personemployed." With a view to abolishing sweating, anotherresolution was passed, demanding that goods should bear astamp showing where they had been made, so that if theywere not made by the person from whom they were pur-chased, the purchaser might know by whom and in whatplace they had been manufactured. Another resolutionwas passed as follows :-" That it be an instruction to theParliamentary Committee to prepare a Bill for the prohibi-tion of the employment of workpeople in underground:workshops or cellars where this is not rendered absolutelynecessary by the nature of the business, and to provide,where such underground workshops are so renderednecessary, for a more thorough system of lighting andventilation."The Congress was strongly in favour of extending the

provisions of the Factory and Workshops Act to domesticworkshops, and the delegate of the laundresses wanted tocomprise in this all places where washing was done. Shegave a striking account of the insanitary condition oflaundries in the Fulbam district, where women had tostand and work ankle deep in muddy water. The Congressfurther showed its interest in sanitary matters by unani-mously passing a resolution in favour of the compulsoryregistration of plumbers, who should not be allowed to workas plumbers till they have passed the examinations insti-tuted by the Worshipful Company of Plumbers of London.

Finally, there was considerable discussion about theinsanitary condition of ships at sea; but this is a subjectwhich may be reserved for a separate study. For themoment enough has been said to show that sanitary ques-tions engaged a large share of the delegates’ time andattention, and to indicate in what manner the trade unionswould wish to see these questions settled.

YELLOW FEVER ON AN IRONCLAD.—H.M.S. Buzzardis reported to have arrived at Halifax with several casesof yellow fever among the crew. At one time there werenineteen cases on board. One death has occurred, andseveral of the ship’s company are said to be still downwith the disease.