1141

to this fund., We hope that a much larger sum may stillbe collected both from.the profession in this country and ourbrethren in the colonies, who have lately been appealed to bycircular signed by the President, Sir Spencer Wells, andDr. Robert Boxall, honorary secretary. The members of our

profession have ever been ready to acknowledge worth when-ever found, and we sincerely trust that the memorial to beerected in his native city to the father of antiseptic midwiferymay in some measure compensate for the scant acknowledg-ment of his labour that he received during his eventful life.Any contributions will be acknowledged by Dr. Cullingworth,46, Brook-street, London, W.

’NOTES ON THE DISEASE CALLED CHOLERAMORBUS OR CHOLERA ASPHYXIA."

WE are indebted to the courtesy of the editor of The

Imperial and Asiatic Qzcccrterly Revierv for a proof of anarticle on this subject published in the October number ofthat journal. The article in question, which will be of interestto those engaged in any historical study of cholera, formspart of some "Miscellaneous Notes of the late Sir Walter

Elliot," and has special reference to the early history inIndia of the disease called cholera morbus, or cholera

asphyxia. The notes begin with an extract from the pro-ceedings of the Medical Board of the Madras Presidency,dated Nov. 29th, 1787, dealing with the alleged appearance ofcholera in that year at Arcot. This is followed by somesections referring to Hindu writings in which the disease issupposed to be noticed, to the remarks of the Dutch phy-sician, Bontius, in 1629, to those of Dr. Paisley at Madras in1774, to the Report of Cholera at Ganjam in 1781 by Mr.Jameson, secretary to the Calcutta Medical Board ; by Curtiusin 1782, by Dr. Duffin in 1777, and to notices in 1790 ofcholera in the Northern Sircars. A short notice is also added

giving references to papers by Dr. D. B. Smith in the " IndianAnnals of Medical Science," and to Dr. John Macpherson,and other authorities, for evidence to show that choleramanifested itself in 1503 in one of the first campaigns ofEuropeans in India. With regard to the descriptions given ofsome of these outbreaks of disease it is, and must alwaysremain, open to doubt whether they really referred to cholera.

THE OPENING OF A SCIENCE LABORATORY ATTHE LEYS SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE.

AN interesting and, from an educational point of view,important ceremony took place on Saturday last at the LeysSchool, Cambridge, where a science laboratory was openedby Lord Kelvin. A large number of members of the Uni-versity were present, and speeches were made by Dr. Moulton(the head master of the school), the Master of Trinity, andProfessors Jebb, Dewar, Armstrong and Michael Foster. In

his address Lord Kelvin insisted strongly on the importanceof maintaining both classical and science teaching in theschools, the one branch of study being complementary tothe other. As the scientific man could not be regarded asproperly educated and mentally trained without a good basisof literary knowledge, so the classical student was no lessdefective in culture unless he had enjoyed a certain amountof science training ; and he ventured to hope that the timewas arriving for a royal and easier and more pleasant roadto classical knowledge than had hitherto been trodden, whichwould allow more opportunity to the schoolboy to devote afew hours each week to scientific study and laboratory work.He contrasted the period when he went to the Universityfifty years ago with the present. Then there was no

science teaching at all in the schools and very little in theUniversity ; now science was finding its place in the schools,and the appliances and opportunities for its study in Cam-bridge were second to none in Europe. The opening of thislaboratory was an indication of a new era in school teaching.

He trusted that the boys would work in the laboratory forthemselves, and work hard, for hard work is real pleasure,and the knowledge obtained by it is a possession and a joyfor ever, which neither moth can devour nor rust corrupt.The Leys School is a Wesleyan foundation situated in

delightful grounds close to Cambridge, and in the eighteenyears of its existence it has been most successful. The new

laboratory is admirably constructed and equipped for teach-ing and experimental work in physics, chemistry, geology,and biology, and it is to be hoped that this example of pro-vision for the study of science will be followed in other

schools, and that boys will come from them to our uni-

versities and our medical schools, not merely with a smatter-ing of the subjects, whether they be classical or scientific orboth, but with such good, well-grounded knowledge that theywill be fitted to enter upon higher study with advantage.This is the root of the matter. This is the reform that is

really needed, without which, whatever our medical councils.and our university commissions may do, it is hopeless taexpect any great improvement in medical education or anymaterial reduction in the rejections at our examinations.The new laboratory at the Leys School has, therefore, ourhearty good wishes in the hope that the work in it may b&carried on upon the lines laid down by Lord Kelvin.

CEREBELLAR DISEASE.

IN a recent number of the Journal of the Anzerican MedicalAssociation Dr. Krause of Buffalo has published the recordof a case which he communicated at the recent meeting ofthe Association. The patient was a man aged thirty-six, whosefamily history and previous health gave no hint of any con-stitutional taint. In October, 1892, he sought advice onaccount of pain in the head, dizziness, and nausea, combinedwith a peculiar feeling of "being drawn backward." He

also suffered from loss of appetite, his gait was unsteady, histendency being to fall to the right and backward, and therewas sugar in his urine. His knee-jerks were brisk, there

was no paralysis evident, and he did not complain of his sight,but the eyes were not examined ophthalmoscopically ; stillthere were enough symptoms present to suggest the diagnosisof cerebellar disease-a diagnosis which was confirmed somemonths later. The right cerebellar lobe was found to be in acystic condition, the fluid which escaped from it being of aclear amber colour. The whole lobe seemed to be excavated,its remains merely forming the cyst wall. The case naturally’ .

suggests whether operation might have been followed byrelief. These cerebellar cysts are obscure in their origin ; itis scarcely likely that they are all gliomatous or hydatid. Theevidence so far seems to suggest at least a possibility thatsome are simple cysts, and if so, and if their position can be-even approximately guessed at, there seems to be no reasonwhy they should not become amenable to surgical treatment..

THE MODESTY OF THE MINORITY.

MANY persons are apt to grow pathetic over the ’’ rights ’’’ *

of the minority ; but to judge from a charming effusion.in an American publication, the Eclectic Medical Journal,pathos may be spared and pity may be wasted where thesense of superiority is so great. The account purports.to be upon a case of "uterine haemorrhage" in an old.

negro woman who for the greater part of ten months had.been kept to her room and her bed. What she complainedof we are not told, but she "had three doctors attendingher for a month" and rapidly grew worse instead of better..Then she tried the powers of three others ; but this timethey appear to have been consulted separately, and after" exhausting their medical vocabulary-calomel, blue mass,and opium-and knowing nothing else to do, they put her onmorphine .,.... "and as she was suffering a great deal she