THE RE-OPENING OF KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL

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several years after the injury. Pagenstecher of Elberfeld 5has recently added one more to the list of cases that havebeen successfully treated by surgical operation, includingsuturing-viz., an instance of a heart-wound three and ahalf centimetres long resulting from a stab inflicted near theapex of the heart on a boy aged 17 years. The records of casestaken from these various sources point on the whole to thehopefulness of early and prompt surgical operation in cases ofwounds of the heart and must serve to encourage surgeons whohave hitherto hesitated to resort to operation on the peri-cardium and heart.

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THE PREVENTION OF CONSUMPTION.

THE following resolution, signed by Sir William Broad-bent, has been passed by the Council of the NationalAssociation for the Prevention of Consumption: "Havingunderstood that apprehension is entertained as to the spreadof consumption from sanatoria established for the treatmentof this disease the Council of the National Association forthe Prevention of Consumption desire to express their

opinion that there is no danger of communication from anywell-conducted hospital for consumption, or from any sana-torium where the open-air treatment for this disease is

properly carried out ; and, further, that the inhabitants ofhouses in the immediate neighbourhood of such institutionsare perfectly safe from local propagation from this source."

THE RE-OPENING OF KING’S COLLEGEHOSPITAL.

THE re-opening of the wards in King’s College Hospitaltook place on Oct. 18th. A luncheon was provided by thegovernors and committee, acting in a private capacity ashosts, and about 80 guests were present. Viscount Dillon,the chairman of the hospital, and Mr. Awdry, the treasurer,pointed out the great advantages in the wards from the

re-flooring and electric lighting which were now completethroughout. They also emphasised the fact that thework had been done so expeditiously that the hospitalhad only been closed for ten weeks. The committeetrusted that as the excellence of the work just com-

pleted became known they would be enabled through theirfriends and the press to meet the remainder of the ex-

penditure. The total cost has been about .63000. The grantfrom the Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund and donationsfrom friends and supporters of the hospital given withoutpublic appeal amount to £800, leaving a deficit of £2200, tomeet which further donations are urgently sought.

LUNACY IN QUEENSLAND.

IN Queensland there are " hospitals for the insane" atGoodna, Ipswich, and Toowoomba; there is also at Rock-

hampton a receiving house with accommodation for a few- cases. The annual report by Mr. J. B. Hogg on these insti-tutions shows that on Dec. 31st, 1893, they contained 1573patients-1022 males and 551 females. The number onDec. 31st, 1897, was 1507, so that there was an increase of66 patients during the year. Since the end of 1890 the

asylum population has increased by 491, or an averageincrease of 61 patients each year. Calculated on the esti-mated population of 498,523 at the end of 1898 the asylumpopulation was 3 15 per 1000 of the general population-or, inother words, one out of every 316 people in Queensland neededasylum care. During 1898 there were 293 admissions (194males and 99 females) ; this was 43 more than in 1897 andwas the largest number up to that time received in one year.Mr. Hogg says that there is a probability of the increasebeing largely due to the after-effects of the epidemics ofdengue and influenza. Of these patients 169 were natives of

5 Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift, August 10th, 1899.

Great Britain and Ireland; 84 were natives of Australia, and16 were coloured aliens; eight of them were admitted ascriminal lunatics. There were 113 discharges and 119 deaths.The cost of each patient for the year varied from E24 19s. atIpswich to Z25 19s. at Goodna. The hospital at Goodna,which contains 1037 patients, is liable to inundations.Mr. Hogg states that the wards on the lower levels have beenrepeatedly flooded even up to their eaves ; in January theywere flooded up to the window sills and the patients had tobe moved out of them to wards on higher ground.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD AND THEST. OLAVE’S BOARD OF WORKS.

THE dispute between the St. Olave’s Board of Works andthe Local Government Board in regard to the suspension bythe former of the medical officer of health of the district

(Dr. W. A. Bond) is not yet at an end. The Local Govern-ment Board, it will be remembered, ordered the re-instate-ment of Dr. Bond, but the Board of Works demanded a

public inquiry. The Local Government Board have declinedto review their previous decision, and have notified theirintention of issuing an order to remove Dr. Bond’s suspen-sion. The Board of Works met on Oct. 17tb, when thecommunication to this effect from the Local GovernmentBoard was read. Nevertheless they resolved by a majorityof one not to re-instate Dr. Bond.

THE DEATH-RATE OF ABERDARE.

THE Aberdare District Council has always carried out theduties devolving upon it as the sanitary authority in a veryperfunctory manner, but the report of the medical officer ofhealth, Mr. D. Davies, for the past quarter ought toawaken the council to a sense of its responsibilities. Duringthe period named the death-rate from all causes was

equal to 31 per 1000 per annum and the zymotic death-rateto 11 per 1000. In 1898 the zymotic rate was 4’1 per1000 and the rate of infantile mortality was 225 per 1000births, or equal to the rate that prevailed in Preston. Thearea under the control of the Aberdare District Council is

15,000 acres in extent and has a population of 48,000 persons.This extensive and populous district has for its sanitary staffa medical officer of health who is also in general practiceand one inspector of nuisances who devotes the whole of histime to the duties of his office. The Infectious’Diseases

(Notification) Act was only brought into operation at theend of 1897 after repeated efforts to adopt its provisions hadproved abortive, while neither the Infectious Diseases Pre-vention Act nor the Public Health Acts Amendment Act has

yet been adopted. -

RAPID DISAPPEARANCE OF POST-NASAL ADE-NOIDS AFTER INFLUENZA.

THE influence of one disease on another is an interestingpathological question much in need of elucidation. Anumber of observations have been recorded of the co-existenceof two and even three diseases, but comparatively nothinghas been done in investigating the subject. All that is knowncan be summed up thus : when two acute diseases-exanthe-

mata, for example-co-exist each usually appears to run itscourse without being affected by the other; when an acutedisease supervenes in the course of a chronic one the latteris often beneficially influenced and even cured by the former.This latter fact is not surprising, for intoxication by a drug isa disease, and conversely (according to modern views) most,if not all, acute diseases are intoxications by microbial pro-ducts (toxins). Hence to cure by a disease is strictly analogousto curing by a drug. In La France Médicale of Sept. lst Dr.Chauveau has described a new illustration of the curativeinfluence of an acute on a chronic disease-the effects ofinfluenza on post-nasal adenoids. A child, aged nine years,