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Thus in the endeavour to protect the patient neither shouldlaws be made the working of which is vexatious to thosewho have the care of the insane, nor should they be socumbersome as to prevent the possibility of early treatment.

Annotations.

THE DEATH OF M. BERTHELOT.

" NA quid nimis."

THE death of M. Berthelot, under painfully dramatic D

circumstances, following so closely upon that of M. Moissan e’

creates a wide gap in the ranks of distinguished French a4.

chemists. The illness of his devoted wife had sorely itaffected the health of the great savant and the news tc

of her sudden death proved to be such a shock to him c

that he never rallied and he entered the unknown s

practically in her company. M. and Madame Berthelot v

died in Paris on March 18th. Marcelin Pierre Eugene o

Berthelot was born in 1827 in Paris and was the a

son of a physician. His genius quickly showed itself i

in the early years of his education and his success s

in gaining a prize in an open competition on scien- 1tific subjects decided his career. At the age of 24

years he entered the College de France, in which he

occupied the position of assistant to the lecturer on chemistry 1

and thus his opportunities of gaining an insight into the i

teachings of chemical science widened. In spite of thenumber of great and fruitful investigations which he under-took with extraordinary energy and skill, he found time toserve the Government of his country. He was Ministerof Public Instruction in 1885, four years after he had been elected a life senator, and in 1895 he was appointed ’Minister of Foreign AfEairs. Berthelot’s contributionsto chemical science are known on account of theirimmense importance the wide world over. He attackedthe great problems of the constitution of matter with

extraordinary energy and success. He laid the founda-tions of organic synthesis and was practically thefounder of thermo-chemistry. Oar knowledge of the

chemical constitution of glycerine and the fats is largelydue to Berthelot’s keen insight and analytical acumen.

He showed that the fats were natural glycerine ethers ofvarious fatty acids. The outcome of these researches was astimulus to the industry of glycerine making and the manu-facture of stearine candles. The results of his beautiful in-

vestigations on this subject were embodied in a work

entitled ‘° Sar les Combinaisons de la Glycérine avec

les Acides," a masterpiece of research which gained for

him the admiration of the whole scientific world. In the same masterly manner he produced his comprehensivework, 11 Chimie Organique fondee sur la Syntbese" " in1860. In 1879 he published the fruits of his attack on

thermo-chemical problems (" Mécanique Chimique fondee surla Thermochimie "). Lastly, chemical literature was con-siderably enriched by the publication of his classical work"Les Origines de l’Alchimie." France and the wholescientific world have indeed lost a giant of research in the death of M. Berthelot ; he has left a magnificent record offruitful labour, he has gone before as a splendid example tothose who are engaged in the earnest pursuit of the samemomentous problems, and for years and years to come theresults of his genius must shine forth.

THE IRISH UNIVERSITY QUESTION.THE Irish University question bristles with as many points

of dispute as does a sea urchin with prickles, and it is

almost impossible to discuss it without entering upon regionsof controversy where the medical man is an intruder. But

t is not difficult to see that the scheme of the late Chief

Secretary cannot commend itself to scientific teachers and;tudents. The scheme, it is understood, provides that

rrinity College, Dublin, which is the university of Dublin,should be abolished and that a new university bearing theold name should be founded, including Trinity College ; pQueen’s College, Cork ; Queen’s College, Belfast ; and a newcollege for Roman Catholics in Dublin. Maynooth ; Queen’sCollege, Galway ; and Magee College, Londonderry, were tobe affiliated institutions. The present Royal University wasalso to be done away with and all its existing graduates wereto be attached by Act of Parliament to the University ofDublin. This scheme, like most schemes which try to pleaseeveryone, pleases no one, so that the consolidation of forcesaimed at by the scheme could be only consolidation

in appearance. Trinity College is naturally unwillingto lose its ancient prestige and to become a mere

college of a university created by Act of Parliament. Thesenate of the Royal University does not receive a deathwarrant with pleasure, the leaders of Roman Catholic

opinion, both clerical and lay, condemn the scheme,and Lord Justice FitzGibbon in his refusal to acceptit may be taken to express the opinion of a largesection of non-Roman Catholics. Moreover, all theheads of the various college;; concerned object in the

main, though here and there support is forthcoming.There is another scheme which finds some support-namely,that the University of Dublin should in future consist of twoColleges, Trinity College as at present, and the hypotheticalNew Roman Catholic College. But to this scheme both

parties concerned object. The Roman Catholic Hierarchyand many of the Roman Catholic laity are apparentlywilling to have their new College made an integral part

of the existing Royal University. This is the scheme whichwas adopted in the minority report of the late Royal Com-

mission and signed by Sir Edward Fry, Sir A. W. Ruoker,and Mr. S. H. Butcher. ___

THE UNION OF THE LONDON MEDICALSOCIETIES: THE POSITION OF THE

MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

As our readers know, the Medical Society of London hasstood aloof from the combination of the London medicalsocieties and reference was made to the matter by Mr. C. A.Ballance, the President of the Medical Society of London, inhis speech at the recent festival dinner of the society. We

regret that our necessarily brief note upon this dinner couldnot include fuller details of the speeches, but the followingpassage in Mr. Ballance’s speech is of great interest at the

,

present moment. "Perhaps it may be expected of me,",

said he, "that I should say something about the union of’ societies (of which many of us are members) which has

recently taken place and which has been so much before ur,during the last two years. London is so vast that no one

society and no union of societies can satisfy the whole wantsof the profession, There must and ever will be many

-

societies, but we the Medical Society of London wishthe union of societies which has taken place a

brilliant future and great prosperity. No one can doubtthat union is a good thing and that it is better to pull

f together, rather than in isolation. I have already° expressed the good wishes of the Medical Society to thee union of societies. May I also express an earnest hope thate

we, the Medical Society of London, may be the recipients.of the same kindly feelings, the same hearty sympathy,and the same friendly and generous acts from the union

of societies as we have been accustomed to receive from

each of the uniting societies before they became amalga-is mated into one great and powerful body. There are three

is societies of considerable antiquity in London which are allit doing good work and whose membership is for the most part.

822

made up of general practitioners. I refer to our own

society, to the Hunterian Society, and the Harveian Society.I should like to throw out the suggestion that in someway or other these societies might be affiliated together.They would still have to carry out their ordinary workseparately and in different parts of London, but perhapswe might meet once a year altogether for some

common object or purpose, and later perhaps we

might become affiliated to the specialist and scientificsocieties which have united together and which will havetheir home in future at 20, Hanover-square." It will be

seen that Mr. Ballance furnishes a reason for the absenceof the Medical Society of London from the great coalitionwhich has not been hitherto put forward-at least, we do notremember to have heard the argument before. We cannot

help regretting, for our part, that this or other reasons pre-vailed with the Medical Society to the extent of preventingtheir adherence to the new amalgamation, but we are certainthat all members of the new amalgamation, a large pro-portion of whom will rightly be general practitioners, willcontinue to wish good fortune to the Medical Society ofLondon.

____

THE STANDARDISED SAUSAGE.

THE sausage is a common subject of jest since it is sooften regarded as a convenient vehicle for materials whichwhen undisguised certainly do not appeal to us as beingsuitable or even wholesome for the purposes of food.Whatever objectionable plan may have been practised inregard to the compounding of sausages in past timesit seems probable now that on the whole sausages are

made with wholesome ingredients, thanks to a careful

system of inspection of our meat supplies. Though,however, the sausage may contain innocuous substances

there can be little doubt that it affords opportunityfor the perpetration of considerable fraud upon its

patrons. This is not surprising when we find that there isabsolutely no legal or authoritative definition of a sausage.The sausage that contains 90 per cent. of bread and10 per cent. of meat is just as much a sausage as that

which contains meat and bread in the inverse proportion. Itis clearly illogical and unfair to the purchaser that suchshould be the case. As a rule, the sausage is looked

upon as supplying the place of meat and as a meaty and notfarinaceous food, and doubtless it is bought with the ideathat it supplies the same nutritious qualities as does meatitself. Moreover, the average price of sausages per pound is approximately that of the meat of which they are sup-posed to be made. When, therefore, the sausage contains,say, 75 per cent. of bread and the purchaser is charged from8d. to 10d. or Is. per pound for it, a very decided fraud is

surely being perpetrated upon him. At all events, it will be

agreed that bread is very dear which costs as much as 10d.or so per pound. Such a figure in point of fact representsabout ten times as much as the value of bread at the

present time. In our view this species of fraud is everywhit as bad as putting a cheap substitute in butter orcoffee and yet the practice continues unhindered and uncon.trolled by any statute. Purchasers of the sausage are

to be found largely amongst poor people and the fraud is

practised probably for the most part in poor neighbourhoods.Generally speaking the tampering with the nourishingquality of food is bad enough but when the practice affectsthose who struggle most for a living, who find it hard to

procure nourishing meals at all, it becomes monstrous. Surelyit is time that the sausage should be standardised andthat the selling of a commodity by that name should be anoffence unless it is proved to contain a reasonable amount ofmeat. There is nothing to be said against a well-madesausage which is prepared with sound meat. On the

contrary, it affords a valuable, convenient, and appetisingfood, and that being so, the sausage should be standardisedso as to prevent it from being loaded with a cheap substitutewhich is nearly always bread or broken and waste biscuits.We can see no difficulty about introducing such a desirablereform and abolishing a palpable fraud. The practice maynot poison people but it certainly swindles them.

THE VIRTUES OF THE OLD APOTHECARIES.

THE medical profession is generally supposed to have beenat a very low ebb in point of learning and disinterestednessduring the middle years of the eighteenth century. It is

instructive, therefore, to find an apothecary, who was alsowell known in literary circles in his day, taking up thecudgels in his colleagues’ behalf. In his once much-admired work on the " Government of Children," publishedin 1753, James Nelson complains that, owing to the preva-lent distrust of the medical profession, parents are unwillingto call in a practitioner when their children are ailing.The passage in which he defends the profession as a wholeis curiously modern in tone and even in detail.

As for the calumnies, the sneers, and the misrepresentations ofignorant and designing people, such as apothecaries and physiciansbeing in league together, and playing into one another’s hands; theeleven-pence in the shilling; the cramming people w h phvsic theydo not want; and much more of the like nature ; these are things thatscarcely deserve any notice. I have now been full thirty years in thebusiness; have seen and done far from an inconsiderable share; haveattended with physicians of every rank, from those who first enter’dinto practice up to those who have reach’d the summit; yet cannotcharge either any single physician, or myself, with even an attemptto enter into an association to the prejudice of mankind. Onthe contrary, I have seen some who have laboured with dis-interested zeal for their benefit; not merely because they couldnot have their fees, but because they would not take them. HereI cannot help observing how much the world is misled by appear-ances ; because people see an apothecary with a good suit ofcloaths on, they conclude he is above want; and because they seeanother in a chariot, they pronounce him rich: so too because a veryfew physicians make fortunes, they conclude that all the professionare wealthy. But how fallacious is all this ! There is no profession,no trade in the kingdom, which we call genteel, that has so few richmen in it as the different branches of physic Many a man in it,sensible that the world would have no opinion of his skill, if heappeared to disadvantage, keeps up a part with aching heart; many achariot is in daily danger of breaking down; and many owe theirstability more to their own patrimony, to their wives’ portion, or someother fortunate event, than to the produce of their business.

SANITARY ADMINISTRATION IN PAIGNTON.

THE high standard of sanitation which some " healthresorts " are accustomed to claim for themselves wouldnot always be maintained were there not in each placea candid friend or an outspoken medical officer ofhealth. Paignton enjoys the somewhat unusual position ofpossessing both in some degree. The candid friend tells us" that illness of various sorts seems to be epidemic " and allegesthat cases of infectious illness are continually being heardof. Apparently, too, until quite recently illness and malaisewere attributed to a sewer which leaked, and bathersencounter sewage near the shore under certain conditions oftide and wind. Isolation accommodation is said to be in-

adequate and owing to cases of enteric fever occupying thehospital cases of scarlet fever have to Le left in their homes.Although it does not appear that the zymotic death-rate isa high one, a town such as this, with a population of some9000, ought not to have such a prevalence of scarletfever as is indicated by the notification returns, while asregards enteric fever its continued presence year by yearis not a reassuring circumstance; nor ought a healthresort of this character to have an infantile mortalityof 125 per 1000 births. We are told also by a local criticthat the water is unsafe to drink unless it is boiled buton the other hand it is alleged that such boiling is onlycalled for in consequence of the hardness of the existingsupply. Similarly the floating sewage is accounted for bythe presence at times of the Channel fleet, the disposal of the