167THE AFTER-CARE ASSOCIATION.

but no other signs of."a morbid condition were discovered. Dr.W. C. Weber evidently has some doubt as to whether this casecan be correctly described as astasia-abasia. If regard is paidto the meaning of the term only, it is apparently descriptive ofthe condition as regards the inability to stand or walk. The

case, however, differs from all others described under thesame title, so.far as we are aware, in the fact that the knee-jerkwas lost. Considering the habits of the patient, the possi-bility of the condition being one of alcoholic neuritis, withsome functional element superadded, must be borne in mind ;but this does not throw much light on the case, which must beregarded as an interesting and obscure one.

AWARD OF THE RIBERI PRIZE.

DNE of the " blue ribbons " of medical distinction in Italyis the Riberi Prize, so called from the late Professor AlessandroRiberi, the celebrated Piedmontese surgeon who founded it.It is open to competition every five years, and its value isP0, 000 fr. (.&bgr;800). The competitors are of all nationalities,the subject must be one of purely medical interest, and"original research " is a conditio sine q I[â norc of the com-petition. Of the works sent in, three were declared by theadjudicators to be worthy of the prize-one by a Frenchman,another by an Italian, and the third by a German. Amongthese the prize has just been awarded "per prevalenza diEnerito (for preponderance of merit) to a physician of thesecond-named nationality, who turns out to be Dr. CamilloGolgi, Rector of the University of Pavia and Professor ofGeneral Pathology in that school. His subject was "SulleFebbri di Malaria" (On Malarial Fevers), and his essay,soon to be made pzcbliei jU1’is, will, it is stated, be found toenhance the honourable reputation he has already won inthat field.

___

THE AFTER-CARE ASSOCIATION.

THE After-Care Association, whose purpose is the succourof poor female convalescents on their discharge from lunatic-asylums, held a meeting last Monday, at 83, Lancaster-gate,the residence of the Earl of Meath, their president. SirB. W. Richardson pointed out to the meeting the im-mense good that the Association had been able to do, evenwith so limited a yearly income as 400, and appealed to allsuperintendents of asylums to endorse the value of such work,and so help by their powerful recommendations to secure fo theAssociation wider public support and facilities for extendingtheir useful labours. This is, we believe, the only charity ofthe kind in the United Kingdom, and its practical utility inconfirming in their convalescence the subjects of treatment inasylums is undeniable. The secretary, Mr. Thornhill Roxby,will give all information in answer to inquiries addressed to’him at the offices of the Association, in the Church-house,’Westminster.

___

DEATHS FROM STARVATION.

IT is no merely scientific interest which attaches to the!:eport which has just been issued by the Home Office on thenumber of deaths from starvation occurring in London duringr-he period of a year. We may recognise in it the :.1rst stepin the practical treatment of a social evil as long-standing asit is from its very nature obscure and evasive. The report in’question deals with thirty-one recorded cases in which thecause of death was ascertained by investigation in a coroner’scourt. On perusing it one fact is at once evident-namely,that starvation pure and simple plays but a subordinate partamocg the conditions preceding death. It far more com-

monly appears as an aggravation of pre-existing disease.and is thus only secondarily accountable for the fatal issue.A certain proportion indeed of the cases in which the onlyrecorded illness was hunger might with equal truth be

classified among disorders of nutrition. Such are six deaths

in infancy from insufficient or improper feeding. Pareand simple starvation is the verdict in only four cases, twobeing those of aged people, one of a man aged fifty to fifty-six, and one of an infant of twelve months. It is further

noteworthy that in almost no instance had parish relief beensought either by or for the sufferer. In one case, that of aman aged ninety, it was obstinately objected to. This is onefeature in the official return from which it is possible toderive some encouragement. A not unnatural desire to

retain the privacy of home, however humble, and the mastery,sometimes unwise, of one’s own actions renders many of thepoor very unwilling to relinquish the bare disorder of theirsolitary lives for the comparative comfort of the workhouse,with its needfal and inseparable restraints. Such prejudices,however unjust, do not soon die, and it is therefore all themore necessary that their fallacious character should be

proved. The influence of neighbours and parish officials alikemay be profitably exerted in this direction. In very manyinstances, moreover, out-door relief is practicable, so that

such a term as absolute starvation becomes under the circum-stances hardly distinguishable from voluntary neglect.Another ground of hope is to be found in the fact alreadystated, that disease in most of the cases quoted cooperatedwith want in the work of dissolution. The effect, therefore,though a lesson in precaution, was not starvation.

TOUTING TELEGRAMS.

A PRACTICE appears to have recently grown up which wewish to unequivocally condemn. It is that employed by theproprietors of certain preparations-doubtless often excellentthings in themselves-to bring their goods under the imme-diate notice of the profession by telegraphing to well-knownphysicians and surgeons a reference to the paper or journalwhere some favourable notice of the same has appeared.In these days we recognise that it would be ineffectiveto protest against many developments which a few

years back would have been held to be-to speak mildly-flagrant breaches of good taste ; but the annoyance whichthis particular form of touting may cause to many medicalmen is so acute that we consider it imperative upon us topoint out the fact; and that not only on behalf of the medicalman, but as a caution to the advertiser who may feel temptedtowards this method of casting his bread upon the waters.Many physicians and surgeons are compelled, at some j unctureor other, to treat their telegrams as private communications,and to arrange, during even a brief absence from home, tohave them forwarded at once to them, wherever they maybe, or even brought to them by hand at considerable incon-venience and expense. Let the enterprising advertiser con-sider whether a telegram transmitted to a medical man undersuch circumstances is likely to induce the recipient of thetelegram either to look up the reference or use the article.

ANTI-CHOLERAIC INOCULATION.

WE have received the following communication fromM. Haffkine:-"Anti-choleraic inoculations continue to

occupy all my time, and the process has now been applied toabout 16,000 persons. I try to work on as large a scale aspossible, because it is impossible to know beforehand in whatpart of the country cholera will make its next appearance. I

append the names of the places where inoculations have beenfreely made up till now : Agra, Alligarh, Lucknow, Delhi,Sanawar, Karsauli, Dagshai, Patiala, Rajpoorah, Chirat,Jhansi, Simla, Jatagh, Rawal-Pindi, Murree, Abbottabad,Peshawur, Sangrur, Nowshera, Naini-Tal, Almora, Ranikhet,Dworahat, Kainur, Pauri, Sakniana, Mussa Gali, Srinagar(Garhwal), Tehri, Mussoorie, Dehra Dun, Hardwar, Lahore, andMeean Meer. In all these localities it has been attempted tomake the inoculations upon persons who are living in preciselythe same environments as their uninocalated fellows ; that is