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be greatly increased by the transfer of convalescents toGore Farm. Another matter brought up at the meetingwas the scale of fees to be paid to the certifying medicalpractitioner, not being the medical superintendent of theasylum, under section 24 of the Lunacy Act of 1890, whenit was resolved, on the recommendation of the General

Purposes Committee, that it should be a guinea for a singlecase, and half a guinea for each of two or more cases seen atthe same visit.

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CHOLERA INTELLIGENCE.

No further cholera intelligence has been issued by any ofthe Spanish authorities, but M. Proust declares the disease isstill prevailing in Valencia, and the French Government notonly maintain but have continued to mature their arrange-ments for medical inspection and disinfection along theFranco-Spanish frontier; and so far no case of importedcholera has occurred in France. On the other hand, welearn that cholera has for some time past been prevalent inthe Trans-Caucasian provinces of South-eastern Russia,and that seventy fatal cases had occurred at Baku, on theCaspian, before the knowledge of it was allowed to transpire.The weather in Southern Russia generally, and especiallyin and about the port of Baku, has of late been exception-ally hot, the mid-day temperature in the shade ranging, atthe latter place, from 1130 to 118° F., and the maintenanceof this excessive temperature will, it is feared, lead to afurther extension of the disease. No fresh news has beenreceived as to cholera either in Persia or in Mesopotamia,but the occurrence of the disease at Baku is most likely dueto an importation by boat from the former country. Wereferred last week to the quarantining of pilgrims fromBritish India on the shores of the Red Sea, and it is sinceannounced by the Turkish authorities that cholera hasbroken out at Mecca, thirteen attacks having proved fataltip to July 29th. -_

COLOUR-BLINDNESS IN CHILI.

IN a graduation thesis on colour-blindness in the Uni-versity of Santiago (Chili) Seuor Conrado Rios states thathe has examined 1200 male persons, including 520 boys offrom five to fifteen years of age, with the result that3 per cent. of the boys and 2-1 per cent. of the men pre-sented more or less colour-blindness. He also examined320 females, including 143 girls of from five to fifteen yearsof age. One girl could not distinguish between blue andviolet, and a few confounded faint &bgr;hades of green with

yellow. Some other girls also showed a little hesitation inpicking out certain colours, but none of the adult womenpresented any want of appreciation of colours at all. Theseresults are not quite in accord with an examination madesome years ago by a Swedish commission of 500 navalcadets and other persons in Chili, when only one or twocases of colour-blindess were found. The author believes,however, that colour-blindness is decidedly less prevalent inChili than in England, Sweden, and other countries wherealcoholism is more common.

THE DORCHESTER SEWERS.

THE medical officer of health of Dorchester reported to hisauthority that a low-lying main sewer in the meadows waswaterlogged. The report was referred back to him, and hemaintained his original position. Mr. Lemon, civil engineer,was then called in, and he confirmed the medical officer ofhealth, Mr. Day, in his opinion. On this a Mr. Gregorycose and declared that the medical officer of health had over-

stepped his duties, having " gone into engineering matters,which he was afraid he knew nothing about." Mr. Gregoryis evidently a gentleman of wide culture and learning, and

it must be assumed that in taking upon himself to define ahealth officer’s functions, and the way these are limited to" professional duties," he has a right to regard himself as anexpert. We also assume that he is an accepted teacher inthe English language, for after having quoted standardworks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, &c., he laid it down that"waterlogged" properly meant "lying like a log on water,"and he triumphantly asked whether the Dorchester sewerlay like a log on water. Unfortunately all the time thesewer in question remains in the state described byMr. Lemon--that is to say, it is "charged above the suffit"or " waterlogged"-and the sooner the matter is put rightthe better.

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THE NEW INFIRMARY AT HALIFAX.

PLANS for the proposed new infirmary at Halifax weresent in for competition by five firms of architects invitedfor the purpose, The Building Committee, on the recom-mendation of Mr. Waterhouse, who had been asked to actas assessor, accepted the plans of Messrs. Wourthingtonand Ellgood of Manchester, those of Messrs. Horsfall andWilliams of Hatifax being highly commended, althoughsome of the medical members of the committee urged apostponement of the decision to allow of careful scrutiny ofthe plans by the committee. Opportunity is, however,afforded for modification of the plans on the recommenda-tion of the committee. The estimated cost is £59,510.

THE MORTALITY OF WIDOWERS FROMPHTHISIS.

IN a paper on Tuberculosis in Belgium MM. Destreeand Gallmaerts come to the conclusion as the result oftheir investigations that, in comparing the mortalityfrom phthisis of bachelors, married men, and widowers,the last are very much more subject to this diseasethan either of the other classes. The same statementholds good for all ages, and it is, they say, also truethat widows are more liable than single women to die ofphthisis. The authors do not think this is to be explainedexcept by direct contagion of wife to husband or husbandto wife. They cannot think irregularities and excessesindulged in by widowers can be answerable for it, foradvanced age does not seem to make any difference. Theywould ascribe it to infection occurring during married life,the disease claiming its second victim some time after thedeath of the first.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN ELEMENTARYSCHOOLS.

THE National Physical Recreation Society has adopteda series of resolutions setting forth a scheme of physicaleducation which its supporters propose to introduce intothe curriculum of elementary schools. With the objectwhich they have in view of secming due attention to thedevelopment of this part of a child’s faculties we thinkthat all discerning persons will sympathise. It is, indeed,difficult to over-estimate the importance of well-chosen

bodily exercise, whether regarded from the hygienic pointof view or from that which, according to common usage,would be termed the strictly educational. There is indeedno such antagonism as is often assumed to exist betweenwell-conceived physical training and intellectual education.On the contrary, the former may be ancillary, and not onlyancillary, but also very helpful to the latter. The exercisewhich circulates the blood and freshens the spirits is a

powerful stimulus to mental activity and greatly facilitatesthe work of the teacher. It is well therefore that its im-

portance should be pointed out to those who have control ofthe education of children, and that theyshould be encouragedto organise their work with a view to the requirements of the