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the year the Conservator has been actively engagedin reporting on many discoveries of human remains,which in several instances have been added to thecollection. Among the more important discoverieson which he has reported are the following : forthe British Museum, a collection of skulls from Urof the Chaldees ; for the Torquay Natural HistorySociety, a human skull found near the entrance ofKent’s Cavern ; and for the British School ofArchaeology in Jerusalem, a report on the Galileeskull. Much progress appears to have been madein the preparation of the catalogue of the collectionof human skeletons, one of the largest departmentsin the Museum ; in this work the Conservator hasfor some years had the assistance of Miss M. L.Tildesley, who contributes a separate report on

the progress of the work. As we announced at thetime,l the greatly extended odontological room

was formally opened on May 23rd by the President,Sir Berkeley Moynihan, in the presence of themembers of the Odontological Section of the RoyalSociety of Medicine, who, with the Zoological Society,have recently made numerous valuable donationsto the collection. The whole collection has beenrearranged by the honorary curator, Sir FrankColyer, and is now much more accessible for thepurposes of study. Appended to the annual reportis a list of publications connected with the Museum,the results mainly of research which is activelypromoted there. The number of visitors and studentswho used the Museum during the year was 7578;the requests from teachers of ambulance and scienceclasses for permission to visit the Museum on

Saturday afternoons, accompanied by their pupils,continues to increase, the yearly total of studentsattending on these occasions amounting to over 3500.

A SYRINGE FOR BLOOD TRANSFUSION.

TRANSFUSION of blood is now so frequently andgenerally employed that any simplification of techniqueis to be welcomed. In our present issue (p. 22)Dr. R. R. Macintosh describes an apparatus whichseems to combine simplicity with efficiency. The

only difficulty that we can foresee is that the later

part of the blood drawn into so large a syringe mightnot be well enough mixed with the citrate solutionto prevent partial clotting. The formation of evena very small clot would result in blocking of thenozzle. Probably this is avoided by using an excessof citrate, such as is contained in 2 drachms of asaturated solution. The necessity for this would beregarded by some as an objection to the method,but the apparatus will commend itself to those whoare not influenced by that consideration. For medicaluses the syringe should prove particularly useful,as it is more common in medical practice to givefrequent transfusions of relatively small amounts ofblood.

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MEDICINE ON A MODERN LINER.

THOSE who go down to the sea in ships can do so Iwith increasing confidence that if they should needmedical attention they will get it. Now that thelarge Transatlantic and other steamship companieshave begun to offer their medical officers adequatepay, a sufficient staff, and first-class equipment forthe care of the sick, their passengers can rely on theservice of cautious and capable surgeons, no lessbrilliant, although perhaps less erratic, than thetraditional ship’s doctor. At the invitation of theCanadian Pacific Railway our representative visitedlast week the refitted Empress of Australia, a vesselof 21,850 tons displacement, 615 feet long, with abeam of 75 feet, oil-fired engines of 10,000 h.p., anda sea speed of 18 knots, running up to over 20 at arecent trial. The vessel possesses all the luxuries ofthe sea, attractively decorated saloons, writing-rooms,lounges, a gymnasium, and a swimming bath, as wellas nurseries, and very comfortable cabins for both

1 THE LANCET, May 28th, p. 1142.

first- and third-class passengers. The whole ship isventilated by fresh air supply, and every cabin andother space is heated by electric radiators. Themedical equipment leaves little to desire. The medicalofficer has a large and attractive cabin, next to whichis a waiting-room for patients, and beyond that theoperating-room. Here are seen the first-classpassengers and hither are transported all requiringsurgical treatment from other parts of the ship,crew or passengers, who are first seen in the dispensary,which is forward, and on the deck below. Theoperating-room is well equipped with table, sinks,sterilisers, lights, and instrument cupboards, also anincubator, and good work can and has been donehere. Below is a hospital for the third-class passengersand for the crew, six beds in two tiers for men, eachof whom is allowed an iron locker for his effects ;a bed-pan locker, bath, w.c., filter (Chamberlandpattern), a fan, and an electric heater, as well as amess place. Outside is a cabin for the two hospitalattendants, and in the passage is a telephone bywhich the doctor can be quickly found whereverhe is. On the adjacent female side there are alsosix beds with equally satisfactory equipment, andanother, curtained off and wider, for a labour case.Our representative found the infectious section thebest he has seen. Set up upon a large poop, conl-pletely cut off from the people of the ship, it has anominal capacity of 14 beds, but these can beincreased. They are in five sections, women to port,men to starboard. There is no suggestion of skimpingabout this place, or of makeshift, but the baths(fresh water, hot, cold, and shower) and the water-closets are just as good as elsewhere in the ship orbetter. Fans, radiators, filter, telephone, fire ex-

tinguisher, everything is complete, a steam disinfectornot forgotten. The infectious diseases most apt tocause trouble are measles, chicken-pox, and diph-theria, but luckily they rarely all appear together.Dr. Gardner, the staff surgeon, finds no difficulty incarrying out the necessary microscopical work onboard. The cabin accommodation is, for all classes,very good, an electric bath and radiant light bathgive comfort to travellers with rheumatism on theirway to healing springs. There is a laundry whichcan wash 5000 pieces of linen a day ; but this shipburning oil makes less demand than most on thelinen we carry with us. Cooking is done with coal,baking by electric mixers and electric ovens. Thereis a steam dish washer, a travelling grating carries thedirty cup or plate into a chamber where fierce, fine-jets of steam clean it thoroughly, and it is delivereddry and shining to be put away. The rotary platecleaner in the first-class pantry takes into little boxesthe plate, soap, and a myriad of tiny soft lead balls(like shot but not hardened with antimony) ; thismixture being heated and revolved together the platecomes out clean and polished.The accommodation for the crew is distinctly good,

though bunks are still arranged along the ship’s side,a danger in case of collision. There are many messplaces and all are good. The dressers or sideboardsare all of metal, probably steel, galvanised-; this is todiminish insect infestation. Each man has a steellocker for his clothes, and cubic space probably inexcess of standard. The washing basins of the men,as we had occasion to note in another ship recently,are not made with good enamel, consequently theywill never look clean. When there are hot watersupplies all over the ship elsewhere, it seems wrongthat hot water should not be supplied for the crew,who certainly need it. A great advance is that thereis a man whose duty it is to keep these annexes inorder. The company provides holders, too, for latrirepaper rolls, but does not seem to provide the rolls,judging by the litter of torn newspaper over the floor.The recent improvement in these places in ships issurprising; 15 years ago it would have seemed

hopeless to expect a seaman to have a self-flushingcloset, with plentiful headroom, no difficult corners toclean, daylight, forced ventilation, a basin and a

fresh-water tap alongside him. Wonderful have been