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to go to Mr. Pennington’s surgery to acquaint him with thefact that Dr. Casey had been called in. The account of

Dr. Casey’s evidence runs: "He considered it necessarythat the finger should be at once amputated, as it was in astate of mortification and was rotten. Chloroform was

accordingly administered and respiration immediatelyceased." As Dr. Casey does not mention the presence ofany second medical man, we can only infer that either headministered the anaesthetic and operated, or was preparedto operate single-handed, or entrusted the chloroform tothe nurse, either of which proceedings cannot but be deemedopen to grave criticism. The want of professional good- fellowship which the evidence appears to bring out lends anadditional regret to the case. Without wishing in any wayto impute or even to suggest carelessness in the administra-tion of the chloroform, we feel bound to’express most empha-tically that no operation requiring an anaesthetic shouldbe undertaken, save under the most urgent circumstances,without the presence of two or more duly qualified surgeons.

EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION WITH MILK FROMTUBERCULOUS COWS.

DR. KARL HIRSCHBERGER has made, at the request ofDr. Bollinger, a series of experiments in the PathologicalInstitute at Munich on the inoculation of animals withmilk from cows in various stages of tuberculosis. He

attempts to answer the following questions : - 1. Dotuberculous cows frequently give infectious milk, or is theirmilk only exceptionally infectious ? 2. In which forms oftuberculosis is the milk infectious-in localised or only ingeneral tuberculosis ? He made twenty experiments, andcalls attention to the fact that inoculation alone can givedecisive results, because it is very diiricult to observetubercle bacilli microscopically in the milk, and impossibleto discover their spores. On the strength of his experi-ments he states that the danger of infection from the milkof tuberculous cows does not only exist, but is very great,being found in 55 per cent. of all cases examined. Themore the tuberculosis has spread the greater is this danger;but even in mild case3 of localised tuberculosis the milk is,he considers, more or less infectious.

FALSE EVIDENCE IN CORONERS’ COURTS.

MEDICAL men are liable to have loose and false statementsmade of their conduct even before coroners, and under other

public circumstances. Even eminent men are not free fromthis risk. Lately at Birmingham, at an inquest held on theillegitimate and recently born child of Ada Dugard, hermother made the statement that she was quite unaware ofher daughter’s pregnancy, though she had taken her to theWomen’s Hospital, where she was treated for dropsy, andhad been seen repeatedly by Mr. Lawson Tait, who wouldnot allow her to speak. Mr. Lawson Tait was of courseable to give a very different version of the facts, and hassince done so in the local papers. He shows that both

by his assistant and himself the pregnant woman and hermother were clearly told of the pregnancy, and advisedaccordingly. The coroner was misunderstood to say that hehad known several cases where an illegitimate pregnancywas mistaken for dropsy. He has since disclaimed any suchmeaning, especially with reference to Mr. Tait. We accept,of course, his disclaimer. But we exceedingly regret that hedid not adjourn the inquest to have the case elucidated inall its legal bearings and its moral significance. It does notmatter much to a man of Mr. Tait’s reputation to havehis conduct misrepresented. But when such extraordinaryfacts happen and such statements are made, it would bebetter for the coroner to clear them up in his own court.The bold and blind resistance to facts which young women

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who become illegitimately pregnant show is a matter of com.mon and painful experience among medical men. But their

mothers, though very much to be pitied, are not to be ex-cused when, as in this case, they asperse the skill or the

kindness of those who advise them. Opportunity should begiven to hear those who are aspersed. A coroner’s court

may otherwise become a mere occasion for gossip and libel.

THE POTATO DISEASE IN IRELAND.

As might have been expected after so damp a summer asthat just over, the potato crop this year bsa not been a.success. The tubers have been unusually heavy and watery.Reports from Ireland state that in some districts diseasehas been markedly prevalent, and is believed to have givenrise to fever of low type and to choleraic diarrhoea. It isnot remarkable that symptoms like those of a semi-typhoidcharacter should arise from this cause. Potato disease or

blight there is good reason to believe is as much a parasiticand infectious disorder as typhus or typhoid feveritself. According to Berkeley and other authorities itis produced by a vegetable fungus, and the diarrhoea to.which it gives rise in the human subject is probably septic.The leaves, the stems, and the tubers of the potato are in-vaded in succession, and commonly at an early stage in thegrowth of the plant. As regards the human sufferer, noremedy can of course give a satisfactory result until thepoisonous diet is discontinued. In the case of the vege-table, docking of the stems, combined with a top dressing ofearth, has occasionally been of service in saving its esculentpart; but here again a difficulty is apt to arise, inasmuchas healthy growth underground is dependent on the actionof sun, rain, and atmosphere on the parts exposed tothem. Nevertheless this method has repeatedly succeededin the past, and should not be lost sight of. For the rest,the maintenance of dry soil, either by thorough drainage orby admixture of sand with the natural earth if damp andtenacious, should prove beneficial, especially in a countryso copiously watered as Ireland.

ON BRAIN AFFECTIONS IN LEAD POISONING.

DR. EDGREN, writing in a Swedish journal, demurs to theview that coma and convulsive symptoms in lead poisoningare necessarily connected with renal affections, and mentionsthe case of a woman in the Serafina Hospital at Stockholmwho had been working for a year and a half in a.

manufactory of glazed china. Once only during the wholetime she was under treatment, and then immediately afteran epileptiform seizure, was a trace of albumen found,which on the next day had entirely disappeared. Theconvulsive attack differed from ordinary epilepsy, as theclonic convulsions preceded the tonic, and no dilatation ofthe pupil took place. Both in this case and in another ofless gravity lead was found in the urine ; in the latter,.to the amount of four milligrammes in six litres.

THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

A DISCUSSION of much practical interest was latelycarried on at Oldham Police-court respecting the abatement,of the now almost universal smoke nuisance. Dr. Patterson,medical officer of health, appeared as prosecutor, and thedefendants were three prominent spinning-mill companies.Their alleged offence consisted in allowing the emissionof an amount of black smoke in excess of that sanc-tioned by the local sanitary authority-namely, such anamount per hour as would pass from the chimney duringtwelve minutes. In the course of the case a magisterialorder was quoted which has materially added to the com-fort of Bolton. By this injunction manufacturers areobliged to adopt and maintain some emcient form of smoke-