826

to look upon the match in the light of a luxury as in the 1flint, steel and tinder days of our forefathers, but the new Imatch must be satisfactory in all points before the publicwill take kindly to it.

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THE MALARIA COMMISSION.

THE Commission for investigating the various questionsassociated with malaria which has been appointed by theColonial Office and the Royal Society consists of the

following members :-Dr. C. W. Daniels, of British Guiana ;Dr. S. R. Christophers, of University College, Liverpool ; andDr. J. W. W. Stephens, John Lucas Walker Student inPathology in the University of Cambridge. Dr. Christophersand Dr. Stephens will proceed almost immediately to Paviato work in the laboratory of Professor Golgi and thence toRome to work in Professor Cetti’s laboratory. The Com-

mission will eventually proceed to Africa, when its first

work will in all probability be to determine the clinicalvarieties of malarial fevers occurring there.

LECTURES AND DEMONSTRATIONS FOR SANITARYOFFICERS AND STUDENTS.

A COURSE of lectures has been arranged by the SanitaryInstitute for the special instruction of those desirous of

obtaining knowledge of the duties of sanitary officers and ofother persons desirous of obtaining a practical knowledge ofsanitary requirements and regulations. The course will

consist of seventeen lectures delivered at the Parkes

Museum, Margaret-street, Regent-street, W., and will com-mence with a free introductory lecture on Oct. 17th.The lectures will be given at 8 P.M. every Monday,Wednesday, and Friday from Oct. 17th to Nov. 25th. The

lecturers for October are Sir Douglas Galton, Dr. Louis

Parkes, Dr. Herbert Manley, Dr. W. A. Bond, ProfessorA. Bostock Hill, Dr. J. F. J. Sykes, and Professor W. H.Corfield. Inspections and demonstrations have been

arranged in connexion with the lectures, and will includevisits to disinfecting stations, dairy premises, municipaldepots, artisans’ dwellings, offensive trades, waterworks,common lodging-houses, sanitary works in progress, refuseand sewage disposal works. There will also be demonstra-tions of meat inspection and diseased meat. The museumof sanitary appliances and the library will be opened freeto students attending the course. The fee for the courseis .E2 2s. Application should be made at once to Mr.E. White Wallis, secretary of the Institute, Margaret-street, W.

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THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT AND ENTERICFEVER.

AT the meeting of the Sanitary Committee of the LouthTown Council, held on Sept. 8th, the sanitary inspectorreported that on August 26th Mr. G. Briggs had been

notified by Mr. G. Gresswell as suffering from enteric feverand that the said Mr. G. Briggs had on Sept. 3rd wilfullyexposed himself while suffering from a dangerous and

infectious disease without taking proper precautions againstthe spread of infection in certain streets of the town. It

was resolved that proceedings should be taken underSection 126 of the Public Health Act of 1875 againstMr. Briggs. At a monthly meeting of the town council,held on Sept. 13th, this report of the committeewas submitted for confirmation and a long discussionarose about the above-mentioned case. Dr. Best, a

member of the town council, said that in his opinionit was dangerous to be in a railway compartmentwith a person suffering from typhoid fever. The medicalofficer of health said that Dr. Albert Gresswell had toldhim that there was no doubt about the diagnosis. On

the other hand, the Mayor said that Mr. George Gresswellhad written and said that there was no danger in the manbeing out and that Dr. Albert Gresswell had called upon him(the Mayor) and had said the same thing. Therefore he

thought that if they prosecuted Mr. Briggs the magistrateswould not convict. Eventually the matter was referred backto the committee. We should say that Mr. Briggs probablydid a great deal more harm by going out to himself than toanyone else. For all that, a person going about whilstsuffering from typhoid fever is undoubtedly a potentialsource of infection and it should be made plain that

" exposure " in the sense of Section 126 of the Public HealthAct of 1875 is illegal and should be punished. The danger,of course, of spreading infection is infinitely less in a caseof typhoid fever than in scarlet fever or typhus fever, butit exists for all that.

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HEALTH RESORTS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE.

THE public of Great Britain, and doubtless to a greaterdegree the public of other countries, still betray an almostcriminal slackness as to the sanitary conditions, equipment,.and administration of the health resorts " to which each

recurring summer the holiday-makers betake themselves.

Business men who, as members of their urban or rural

district councils, have, or ought to have, sanitary mattersconstantly before them, give not a thought to the drainage,the water-supply, or the isolation accommodation of the"health resorts to which at no small expense they sendtheir wives and their children. Much less do they takethe trouble to ascertain whether infectious diseases maybe prevalent in the locality, or if, perchance, the previousoccupants of the room or lodgings have suffered fromsuch diseases. What a reform might be brought aboutin the sanitation of many of our so-called "health-resorts " if, before selecting his annual camping-ground, thehead of the family were to ask for certain information fromthe local medical officer of health. Even if this course didnot commend itself to him he might, as Dr. Niven points outin his recent quarterly report on the health of Manchester,consult the Registrar-General’s quarterly return for informa-tion as to the deaths from infectious disease in each of the

principal watering-places of Great Britain, and thus avoidlocalities where these diseases have been recently prevalent.If parents will not take these very elementary and easyprecautions they must be prepared at times to pay the

penalty of their negligence.

THE VENTILATION AND WARMING OF DORMI-

TORIES, WORKSHOPS, ETC.

AN important report to the Local Government Board ha&recently been issued in the form of a blue-book on this

subject. The inquiry, which was obviously a practical one,was undertaken by Mr. W. N. Shaw, M.A., F.R.S., Lecturerin Experimental Physics in the University of Cambridge.The object of the inquiry was to ascertain whether, whereimprovements were found to be necessary, they could becarried out in such form that general principles might belaid down applying to the various requirements to whichthe guardians or managers to whom the schools belongmight give effect with the assistance of their respectivearchitects. The observations referred to dormitories,workshops, and other rooms in certain of the Metro-

politan Poor-law schools. The appendices contain details.of calculations and full particulars and notes as to

dimensions, aspects, &c., of the rooms indicated. The

report suggests not only the need of improvement andattention to provisions already made, but the possibility ofapplying better principles without any serious structuralalterations. The recommendations in many instances are

extremely simple; in other cases it is remarked that ordinary