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certainly is a very general opinion, and it seems to methat Professor Schiff will have to follow the example ofProfessor Ptthmllnsprts, in Kingsley’s "Water Babies "-i.e.,"get up very early in the morning and eat his breakfastovernight" "in order to prove" the contrary; and yet Idaresay, like that distinguished person, he too will do it,"at least to his own satisfaction."-Yours sincerely,Park-street, W., Feb. 26th, 1886. VICTOR HORSLEY.

P.S.-The last paragraph of Dr. Huggard’s letter will befully criticised in my paper in the forthcoming April numberof Brain.

___________________

LIVERPOOL.

(From our own Correspondent.)

A YEAR’S PORT SANITARY WORK.

DR. J. STOPFORD TAYLOR, the medical officer of health,has just presented to the Health Committee his annualreport on the work done by the officers of the port sanitaryauthority, 1885. Of a total of 20,894 vessels which enteredthe port during the year, 4078 were inspected, of which 2841were British, 3873 were found in fair sanitary condition, and205 defective. In 72 the forecastles, peaks, deck-houses,or cabins required cleaning, as well as painting or lime-washing ; in 12 the bulkheads were defective; in 80 therewas deficient ventilation; in 22 the closets were faulty;and in 19 the deck over the quarters occupied by the

crew required caulking. The improvements mentionedin former reports continued, and all suggestions of theinspector were readily complied with. The conditionof the French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Greekvessels had been fairly satisfactory during the year; theGerman, Danish, Belgian, Dutch, Swedish, and Norwegiancontinued to be kept in excellent order. The Liverpool-owned vessels were, as a rule, in very good condition, andso also were most of the English ships. The steamers carry-ing Lascar crews appeared to a casual observer to be crowdedand untidy, but on inspection there was sufficient room,and the crews’ quarters were in a very fair condition. TheSpanish ships had shown a decrease, which might, in ameasure, be accounted for by the epidemic prevalence ofcholera in Spain. ,

THE LATE REV. HUGH STOWELL BROWN.

Liverpool has sustained a severe loss in the death of thewell-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown.The deceased was a warm supporter of the local medicalcharities, whose claims he used to advocate long before theinstitution of Hospital Sunday, in the establishment ofwhich he took a warm interest, and was from the first amember of its committee.

THE DISPENSARIES.

The annual meeting of the Liverpool Dispensaries washeld last week. A resolution to abolish the honorarymedical appointments, substituting a paid chief medicalofficer at each of the three dispensaries, was carried by asmall majority. A great change has taken place in theposition of these institutions within the last thirty years.Formerly the honorary appointments were eagerly soughtand keenly competed for by local physicians and surgeons,who subsequently rose to the highest position. But of lateyears this has not been so, and there has been compara-tively little competition for the honorary offices, althougha pecuniary honorarium has been added of forty guineasannually. Thcre is much to be said in favour of the proposedchange. It is to be hoped that better accommodation willbe provided for the resident medical officers, both presentand future, at the North Dispensary, which was built agreat many years ago, in which the apartments, especiallythe bedrooms (if, indeed, they deserve such a name), aresimply wretched. It speaks volumes for the patience ofthe resident medical officers that they have so long enduredsuch a state of things.

THE LORD BISHOP AT THE ROYAL INFIRMARY.

The Right Rev. Dr. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool, preached onSunday last in the chapel of the infirmary at the afternoonservice. The chapel, which is the gift of a former president,was filled to overflowing by the patients and officials. Themusical part of the service was well rendered by a choir ofnurses. After the service the bishop visited the wards.

NORTHERN COUNTIES NOTES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

NEWCASTLE INFIRMARY.

IT was stated at the annual meeting of this institutionand some points of which I briefly alluded to in my lastletter, that the idea generally prevails that all in-patientsare admitted in consequence of being provided with a letterfrom a governor who is a subscriber to the hospital of twoguineas a year, and that these letters are sometimes thought-lessly given to impostors who, on the strength of them, arewithout question received into the hospital. This is notthe case; no patients are admitted whose cases are not realand generally pressing ones; and, further, it is shown thatmany are received who have no letter. It is shown in thereport that of the 2846 admitted in the past year, only 1294.or less than one-half, were provided with letters. Cases ofaccident are always received the moment they reach thedoor. It was also pointed out, as regards the fact of thenumber of casuals relieved being double that of five years ago,that one cause has had a powerful effect on the increase of late-namely, the large amount of distress which has prevailed inthe district. " Hunger and nakedness have produced disease,whilst the sufferers, often clerks and artisans who have onceheld a respectable position in society, having been long withoutemployment, have not the means of procuring food, muchless of applying to their ordinary medical advisers forrelief." It was also shown in the report that the financialposition of the infirmary is far from being satisfactory, asevidenced by the fact that the annual subscriptions haveremained nearly stationary in amount for nearly a quarterof a century, and for the past year have been actually lessby about .E150 than they were ten years ago. Altogetherthere was a deficiency of income of over .E5000. Theinfirmary had received from the Hospital Sunday FundX1916 14s. 7d.—more than last year by .E169 3s. 5d.

THE MATCH-POISONING MANIA.

The match-poisoning mania appears to be extending inthe North. A case is reported from Sunderland in which ayoung man, aged twenty-two, during some depression ofmind from ill-health, attempted to destroy his life. Hesteeped the heads of a box of matches in some hot tea, whichhe swallowed. Fortunately the rash act was observed by hisfather, and immediate steps were taken to counteract thepoison, so far apparently with success.

DEATH FROM LEAD POISONING.

An inquest has been held by the city coroner of Newcastleon the body of Eliza Jane Hutchinson, who had died rathersuddenly. It was shown that the deceased, a single womanaged twenty-eight, had worked for three years at a whitelead factory in Newcastle, and had been under treatmentthree months ago at the Newcastle Infirmary for leadpoisoning. In her last and fatal illness she was seized withsickness, pain in the head and limbs, and then appearedto go into a fit of an epileptic nature, from which she didnot recover. The verdict was " Death from natural causesaccelerated by the effects of white lead poisoning." It is tobe feared that these cases will recur from time to time,unless some means can be devised for doing without femalehands in the manufacture of white lead.

NEWCASTLE CLINICAL SOCIETY.

The annual banquet of the Clinical Society took place onthe 19th ult. at the Central Station Hotel in this city. Dr.Limont presided, and in addition to being well attended bypractitioners in the district, the entertainment was veryspirited and successful. Dr. Campbell undertook theonerous and important post of secretary, and he and theother promoters are to be congratulated on the result.

DEATH OF DR. MORRIS, CHESTER-LE-STREET.

Great regret has been felt here in medical circles by thealmost sudden death of Dr. Walter Cameron Morris, anactive general practitioner at Chester-le-Street. Dr. Morrisreceived a severe chill in the course of his arduous duties,which brought on acute enteritis, from which he neverrallied, dying on Feb. 12th, after five days’ illness. He wasattended by Dr. Drummond of this city, and also by Dr.Wards of Pelton Fell. Dr. Morris held several importantpublic appointments, as well as being ordinary medical

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attendant to the Earl of Durham and the household atLambton Castle. He was in his thirty-sixth year, andleaves a widow and two children.Newcastle-on-Tyne, February 22nd.

EDINBURGH.

(From our own Correspondent.)

THE LATE DR. SIDEY.

By the death of Dr. James A. Sidey Edinburgh has lostone of its best-known practitioners, and a citizen of wideculture and marked literary tastes. In addition to his veryextensive general practice, Dr. Sidey held the post of Sur-g,eon to the Calton Prison, one of the most extensive penalinstitutions in Scotland, and one which has of late yearsundergone great improvement in its sanitary and domesticarrangements under his advice. Striking evidence of thewide respect in which the deceased gentleman was held wasforthcoming last Monday on the occasion of his funeral,which was attended by a very large gathering of his pro-fessional brethren and of the general public, notwithstandingthe extremely inclement weather which prevailed.

SMALL-POX AT QUEENSFERRY.Some anxiety has been felt in the neighbourhood of Edin-

burgh during the last few weeks in consequence of an out-break of small-pox which has occurred in and around

Queensferry, a small town about eight miles from this city.The occurrence was the more alarming from the fact thatnearly 2000 operatives are employed there in the construc-tion of the Forth railway bridge, a gigantic piece ofengineering work, which it will take several years to

accomplish. It was feared that the disease might spreadrapidly amongst these workmen, and Queensferry be-come a focus whence its ravages might spread in variousdirections. By the prompt action of the local sanitaryauthorities, and especially of Dr. James Hunter, the medicalofficer in charge of the works, this risk has been obviated;for at an expense of about £500 a floating hospital has beenfitted up on board the Hugomont, which provides for thecomplete and early isolation of cases as they arise. The shiphas been arranged on the general plan adopted in the floatinghospital on the Thames, and is moored in the Firth of Forthat a safe distance from the shore. Arrangements forthorough fumigation and disinfection have also been com-pleted, and it is anticipated that the disease will shortly beentirely stamped out.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

At the last meeting of this Society, Professor DouglasMaclagan, Vice-president, in the chair, several importantpapers were read relating to physical science. Sir WilliamThomson dealt with an interesting point in regard to

Newton’s law of attraction; he finds that in the case of

particles of matter at distances of less than ten micro-millimetres from one another the general law that attractionvaries inversely as the square cf the distance does not holdtrue, but that a mutual attraction in an enormously increasedratio comes into action. As an explanation of this deviationfrom the Newtonian law he offers the ingenious suggestionthat there are mutual movements established amongst themolecules of the contiguous particles of matter, in virtue oftheir close contiguity, analogous to those which result inthe cohesion of the molecules, of which each of the particlesof matter is itself made up; and that this, superadded tothe ordinary gravitation of masses of matter, explainsthe sudden increase in mutual attraction observedwhen dealing with these minute distances. A paper byDr. John Aitken on the effect upon climate of the smallconducting power of snow was communicated by ProfessorTait. Dr. Aitken finds that although the temperature ob-served on the surface of snow may be several degrees belowzero, that registered immediately underneath the snow layeris not below 32°F. This accounts for the fact that advancedvegetation may be found to have taken place under a thicklayer of snow; but although the vitality of vegetableorganisms is thus preserved by the presence of a layer ofsnow which prevents radiation of heat from the soil beneath Iit, such a. soil is cut off from the absorption of heat from the

sun’s rays so long as the covering of snow persists, and as aresult there is great retardation of the season in regionswhere a great thickness of snow must be removed beforethe sun’s rays gain access to the surface of the soil.Edinburgh, March 2nd.

ABERDEEN.

(From our own Correspondent.)

DEAN OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY.

PROFESSOR STEPHENSON has been appointed Dean of theMedical Faculty in room of Professor Brazier, who latelyresigned both that office and the secretaryship, which hasnot yet been filled up. Many graduates and students willhave pleasant recollections of Professor Brazier as the kindand genial secretary who was ever willing to give them thebenefit of his advice and lend a sympathetic ear to theircomplaints.

THE PHYSIOLOGY CHAIR.

Mr. J. illegregor Robertson, M.A., M.B., C.M., MuirheadDemonstrator of Physiology in Glasgow University, is acandidate for the Chair of Physiology in Aberdeen University.He graduated with honours in Medicine and Surgery in1880, and has since then devoted himself to physiology.He has also written a text-book on "Physiological Physics."

MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR THE CITY.

Dr. Matthew Hay, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence inthe University, and Dr. Theodore Thomson, Resident Assist-ant Medical Officer to the South-Eastern Hospital, London,are candidates for the post of medical officer of health forAberdeen. Dr. Hay’s professorial duties occupy him onlyone hour a day for three months in the year, so that prac-tically he could devote the whole of his time to the workof the sanitary department. In his letter of application,Dr. Thomson says he acquired his special public healthtraining under Dr. Littlejohn of Edinburgh, and during thelast two years he has made a special study of the variousforms of acute infectious diseases, with their prevention,and the kindred subjects of isolation and disinfection.

ABERDEEN ROYAL INFIRMARY.

In their report to be submitted to the next general meet-ing of the managers of the Royal Infirmary, the Special Sub-inquiry Committee recommend that the medical staff shouldbe increased by (1) a medical officer for diseases of women,(2) two assistant physicians, (3) a surgeon for diseases ofthe ear, (4) a medical officer for diseases of the skin, (5) asecond assistant surgeon, and (G) two additional houseresidents, a surgeon, and a physician. The Committee ofManagement must be sadly perplexed by the number ofplans for the reconstruction of the hospital submitted fortheir consideration. Mr. Saxon Snell has sent in a thirdsketch plan which shows an extension of the medical sideof the present building, a new surgical pavilion, and theadaptation of the surgical side of the present building forclinical and administrative purposes. This scheme provides236 beds, at an estimated cost of £25,000. The financialproblem is not the least of the difficulties in the question ofremodelling the hospital, and it must be disheartening tothe managers, and more particularly to those speciallyinterested in and working out the proposed changes, to findthe income for the past year fall short of the expenditureby no less a sum than .E95G.

SMALL-POX AT -NVOODSIDE.

Small-pox has made its appearance among the rag-workersat Woodside, near Aberdeen ; but the cases were at onceremoved to the local epidemic hospital, and so the disease isnot likely to spread. Almost every year rags give rise toone or two cases of small-pox among the workers in the ragdepartment of the Woodside Paper Works, but promptisolation has hitherto prevented an epidemic.

OPERATION FOR CANCER OF THE STOMACH.

At a recent meeting of one of the Medical SocietiesProfessor Ogston gave a short account of an operation whichhe had performed on a patient suffering from cancer of thestomach. Excision of the pylorus, the seat of the disease,was meditated, but the cancerous affection was so extensivethat this was neither advisable nor possible, and Dr. Ogstontherefore determined to make a duodenal fistula. A loop of