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railway carriages and other articles coming into Russia fromAustria, a country in which there is absolutely no cholera,are to be disinfected. Naturally, the Austrians, who areexporters of such things as bacon, cheese, and fruit, protest,but we fear their protests will be unavailing. Governmentsthemselves need as much education as to the common-sense

aspect of cholera as the most ignorant of their populations.

LECTURES AT THE HOSPITAL FOR SICKCHILDREN.

As a part of the course of lectures which have beendelivered by the officers of this institution, Mr. John II.

Morgan has discussed the interesting subject of Diseases ofthe Urinary Tract in,the Young. The large experiencewhich is afforded by the practice of this hospital givesconsiderable opportunities for study of such affections, andthe lectures were enhanced in value by the exhibition of anumber of patients and of specimens and drawings from themuseum. Proceeding upwards from the meatus a numberof curious malformations and deformities were first describedand illustrated, and various means for remedying them werediscussed. Calculus and its treatment formed the subject ofthe second lecture; and in the third tuberculosis and variousfunctional diseases were described. The exceptional oppor-tunities for collective experience which is afforded by thepractice of this hospital has thus been utilised, and in theinterests of students and practitioners it is to be hoped thatthis system of lectures may be repeated.

CONTREXEVILLE.THE value of the waters of Contrexéville has been again

attested by some notes recently contributed to THE LANCET(June 20th) by Dr. Cruise. The waters are mildly alkaline,saline, and tonic. The alkalinity is due to the presence ofsalts of calcium and magnesium. Sulphate of soda and

magnesia give the waters their purgative action. The toniceffects are the result of the ferruginous and arsenical saltswhich the waters contain. The springs of Contrexéville areall cold, and vary somewhat in strength. The waters are ofmost service in the treatment of chronic affections of the

urinary organs, especially when associated with the presenceof concretions. Gout in its chronic atonic forms, hepaticdisorders, nocturnal incontinence of urine, and diabetes aresaid to be favourably influenced by treatment with thewaters. A stay at Contrexéville under the care of a residentphysician for three weeks is the usual course of treatment.But the waters are also imported into this country.

THE HYDROSTATIC TEST.

IN the Revista dos Cursos Praticos e Theoricos of theRio de Janeiro Faculty of Medicine, Professor Souza Limadescribes the examination of the body of an infant in cou-nexion with which, but for oral testimony, very serious anderroneous results under the criminal laws might have arisen.The child was well developed, 58 centimetres in length,weighing 3980 grammes. There were contusions of the

right temporal region, with slight emphysema and oedemaof the cheek, together with a small incised wound. On thefront of the neck a dark transverse line was seen indicatinga constricting agent. In the mouth a deep incised woundwas found, passing through the hard palate into the interiorof the cranium; the blood which had oozed from this wascoagulated. The lungs floated freely in water, even whensubjected to every test; and they were certainly not putrid,nor frozen, nor had they been macerated in alcohol; so that,according to the received medico-legal doctrines, the childmust have breathed, and, in fact, breathed after birth, forany respiration which is possible before birth must be so

incomplete as to prevent the lungs floating so decidedly inwater as these did. The case was apparently one of infanti-cide. The true explanation was, however, as follows: Thelabour was long and tedious, the presentation being a breech.After the birth of the trunk and limbs, the uterus contractedwith a kind of tetanic spasm, so that it was impossible tocomplete the extraction of the child without operativeprocedure. Embryotomy was therefore performed throughthe mouth. It is clear that under these circumstances no

respiration of any kind can possibly have taken place.Professor Souza, Lima thinks that unless the hydrostatictest is corroborated by other circumstances, it should not beimplicitly relied upon. -

CHOLERA AND CARDIFF PORT.

LAST year the sanitary organisation of Cardiff Portsufficed to keep imported cholera from reaching our shores.But though the port sanitary authority have their cholerahospital on the Flat Holmes Island, at a distance from thetown, it would appear that the boarding station for foreignvessels is within the docks, and the Corporation have, bymeans of a deputation, brought the matter under the noticeof the President of the Local Government Board. Un-

fortunately two authorities are concerned in this matterfor the Customs officers who first board the vessels are in no

way subject to the central health authority. Mr. Balfour,admitting that the matter is one of extreme importance"has promised that, it shall have his immediate attention,and it would be well if this promise were extended to allports alike, for in many of them vessels are submitted totheir first examination in localities which it is most im-

portant that cholera should not be able to reach.

THE PATENT MEDICINES STAMP TAX.

IN the House of Commons on Monday, Sir H. Holland, th&Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in reply to a question byMr. Warton, stated that although the Government did notpropose proceeding with the Poisons Bill, the Patent Medi-cines Stamp would be altered in form so as to make it clear-that it afforded no guarantee of the genuineness of themedicine. We understand that in future the words This

stamp implies no Government guarantee" will be printedon each stamp. This is a step in the right direction, and weare glad to find that the Government is prepared to dealpromptly with a subject of such importance to the health of ’the nation.

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ARSENIC IN GLAUBER’S SALTS.

A NOTE contributed to the British and Colonial Druggistby Sir Charles Cameron again draws attention to the con-tamination of drugs in common use. In a sample in Sir-Charles’s possession eight grains of arsenious acid were foundin a pound avoirdupois of the salt. The sulphuric acidof commerce is rarely free from arsenic. Sulphate of

magnesium and sodium prepared with an impure acidmight contain dangerously large proportions of arsenious>acid.

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FEIGNED AND HYSTERICAL APHONIA.

FEIGNED APHONIA is not the same thing as hysterical loss.of voice. Dr. Moure has contrasted the two conditions ina communication to the Revue Mensuelle de La7’yngologie.The counterfeit case was that of a boy aged twelve, who,whilst being examined with the laryngoscope, had thegreatest difficulty in preventing himself from phonating.The hysterical or nervous case was also that of a boyaged nine, who, like most hysterical cases, was an excel-lent subject for laryngoscopical examination. The applica-tion of electricity in the latter case caused the disappearance