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horses and milch cows, we must remember that the healthof man is directly concerned in the latter, whereas the healthof horses has no such bearing. And, further, the horse isnot exposed to any such exhausting process as an artificiallyinduced excessive lactation, so that whatever is needed tomaintain a horse in reasonable health can hardly be deemedexcessive in the case of a cow supplying milk for humanconsumption. Having regard to all these considerations, itis somewhat startling to find that in Glasgow the pre-scribed space for the town-stalled cow is only 400 cubic feet,that in Kilmarnock the same has hitherto been al’owed,and thab in Oldham as few as 350 cubic feet have been sanc.tioned. Kilmarnock now makes a slight advance to 500and Oldham to 600 cubic feet. The majority of townsfrom which information could be obtained require some800 cubic feet, and the Local Government Board havealso advocated that as a minimum standard. Accordingto recent experience, such a standard cannot be regardedas excesdve; and, if health alone had to be consideied,it must necessarily be regarded as falling short of that whichought to be provided in the case of milch cows, whether intown or in country places. The main objection raised

against a healthy standard has been the contention thatwarmth is necessary to maintain the flow of milk. But, asDr. Russell asks, is this warmth to be the heat of the cowherself, preserved by enclosing her in an atmosphere loadedwith impurities from her own pulmonary, cutaneous, andintestinal excretions ? He definitely states that no con-ditions could well have been more surely devised for thecultivation of the bacillus of tubercle than those of a cowdrained by the forced secretion of her milk, living in anatmosphere heated by her own body, and loaded with herown organic impurities. A free flow of milk from tuber-culous cows is, in the first instance at least, profitable to thefarmer; but, quite apart from the danger which it involvesto our milk-fed children, it surely cannot, in the end, paythe farmer to produce tuberculous cows by such means ashave hitherto been so common, and such as Dr. Russell so

graphically describes. The cry of farmers is for compensa.tion in the case of cows found to be tuberculou?, and thiscry has in the main led to the Royal Commission on Tnber-culosis. But surely, so long as there is any chance of profitas the result of keeping cows under conditions which mustcertainly tend to tubercle, the case can hardly be one forcompensation to the owners of these cows. Dr. Russell’s

memorandum, which is primarily addressed to his own

authority, deserves the serious consideration of all sanitaryauthorities and dairy farmers; and so long as such con-ditions obtain as he describes, so long will it be importantfor parents and householders to boil or otherwise cook allmilk used for the purposes of human consumption.

CHOLERA OCCURRENCES.

IN Syria the villayets of Aleppo and of Damascus have nowremained free from cholera since early in January ; and inBeyrouth the disease would seem to have almost disappeared,a few mild or suspicious attacks alone having occurred atHalessa and the immediate neighbourhood of thab place.The Hedjaz is also free; Yemen district is, however, stilllooked upon as "suspect," although no definite occurrencesof cholera would appear to havebeen reported thence. Thecholera epidemic in Japan caused 4020 deaths in 1891.This is much less than in 1890, when 31,463 fatal cases wererecorded. Ib is also to be hoped that the 1891 outbreakclosed the epidemic period, for no fatalities were recordedduring the month of December. From Teheran comesrecent intelligence to the effect that cholera is widelyprevalent amongst the inhabitants of Herat, and that thedisease is extending. Within the last two years we havehad repeated information as to cholera in Persia, but it

was mainly towards the western portion of that empire, andin connexion with the epidemic in Mesopotamia; but thisby no means implies that the disease at Herat has notbeen imported owing to unreported occurrences of cholerain Persia. Herat lies some fifty miles beyond the westernboundary of Persia, and at the present moment the diseaseis stated to be spreading eastwards towards and across thePerso-Afghan frontier, along the main road from Herat toMeshed ; Kuh-Sam, the last Afghan town in the directionof the frontier, is already attacked. Russia is takingspecial precautions against the spread of the disease fromAfghanistan into Russian territory.

PARLIAMENTARY MATTERS.

MR PEASE has procured from Mr. Bilfour the consentof the Government to a Select Committee on the registra-tion of midwives. This is undoubtedly the way in whichto settle this vexed question, and to give a fair hearing toall opinions. Ib may be questioned, however, whether Mr.Pease would not have sho wn more discretion in waiting for a-newparliament. Members are thinking now of little but theirconstituencies. Dr. Cameron hopes to induce the Governmentto order more perfect returns from the authorities of church-yards and cemeteries as to the number of burials of stillbornchildren. With regard t3 the present position and prospectsof the Gresham University and the action of the Governmentin regard to if, we may rf fer our readers to a leading articlein our present issue.

EFFECT OF DEEP INSPIRATION ON THEASSIMILATION OF FAT.

ACTING ou Professor Chudnovski’s advice, Dr. A.

Pavperbcff has made a series of obeervations on the effectof deep or forced inspiration and expiration on the assimila-tion of the fatty matters contained in f, od. The obser-vations were made on nine healthy young persons, someof them being carried out in winter, others in summer.

The sittings were held once a day in a large and well-ventilated room, each subjecb making from 120 to 200forced inspirations and expirations. By analyses of thefseces during the three periods—before, during, and afterthe forced inspirations-it was found that the amount offatty acids in the feeces in all cases diminished during thesecond period, the average diminution being 1’246 per cent.In the third period the quantity of fatty acids, as com-pared with that excreted in the first, diminished slightlyin some cases and increased slightly in others. All that canbe stated therefore as the result of the experiments is thata slight ircrease in the assimilation of fat takes place while.forced or deep respiration is going on. The above researchis published as a "preliminary note" in the Vrach, No. 61892.

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INTRA-CRANIAL SURGERY IN ITALY.

IT is cheering to witness the advance of surgery in Italy,which now bids fair to resuscitate the best traditions of

Fallopio, Tagliacozzi, and Scarpa. Intra-thoracic andintra-abdominal surgery owe not a little to her recent,

operators, prominent among whom may be mentioned poorCount Loreta of Bologna, whose tragic end on July 23rd,1889, as described in THE LANCET of Aug. 3rd following,is one of the saddest pages in the annals of the profession.His reeection of the liver, and, still more, his digital divul-sion of the cesophageal and pyloric orifices of the stomach,did not require the commemorative tablets in the BolognaHospital and University to perpetuate their author’s pre-eminence among his contemporaries. His influence andteaching are still active for good in the direction whichwould have pleased him most-that of intra-cranial

surgery. In Florence, the week ending March 12th has been

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signalised by a brilliantly successful operation in this de-partment. Professor Baiardi, of the Spedale della Maternitythere, had under his charge in the children’s ward a littleboy of four years and two months, suffering from " generalcortical epilepsy," according to the ofiicial bulletin, "andidiocy." Having trepanned the cranium, Professor Baiardi(assisted by Drs. Mattucci and Giarre) removed two greattracts of bone in the parietal regions, "in correspondencewith the zona motrix of the cerebellum." From the first

day after the operation the little patient’s eye, nearlyalways wandering, uncertain, and unconscious, "si mostibsereno ed animato da un lampo di intelligenza" (showeditself serene and enlivened by a flash of intelligence), the11 habitual restlessness was replaced by calm," and "sleepcame to restore the feeble limbs of the child, which, a preyto sickness at the threshold of life, had neither conscious-ness nor instinct, could neither speak, nor walk, nor indi-cate its bodily requirements in any way; did not even knowhow to masticate." The recovery, vigilantly watched andassisted, is already so far satisfactory as to warrant everyconfidence in the lasting success of Professor Baiardi’s

operation. --

THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON VACCINATION.

THE question which was recently addressed to the Pre.sident of the Local Government Board as to the date whenthe R)yal Commission might be expected to report affordsan indication of an impatience which is not without justifi-cation. The Commission has already sat for nearly threeyears, and still sits weekly. The Commissioners beganqaking evidence under their third heading : " The case

against vaccination, and especially against its continuing tobe made compulsory," on Dec. 4th, 1889, and witnessesto the same effact have since then almost continuouslyoccupied their time. We have no desire that any impropercurtailment of evidence under this heading should be made;indeed, some of the most verbose witnesses whose evidencehas as yet been published have rather helped than hinderedthe cause of vaccinatior. But we do hope that some limit’will be put to mere verbiage, whether coming from one or theother side, and that the essential points on which the publicdesire authoritative guidance will not be lost amid a massaf unintelligible and irrelevant material, such as is regardedby some people as constitating " evidence."

REPORTED INFLUENZA AT NICE.

THE reports circulated in some portions of the daily pressconcerning the prevalence of influenza at Nice and in theRiviera generally, and the large exodus of visitors from thatfavoured resort, appear to be greatly exaggerated. A

- correspondent at Nice informs us by telegram that

though influenza has been present there since November,the cases have at no time been numerous, and the mortality-rate has been small. The disease has now almost disappeared,nd the health of the town is unusually good.

THE SLIPPERY STREETS.

THE unusual, and so far unseasonable, phenomenon of’continued frost which has distinguished the present month.has been comparatively free from some of its most familiar’disadvantage!? It has attained to no extreme severity, hasnot gravely affected public health, or occasioned a waterdrought with all its present and subsequent inconveniences.One inseparable drawback, the slippery street, is, however,of too near and pressing importance to be overlooked,and we are not, therefore, surprised that this bas been dulymarked for amendment in the daily press. Attention hasbeen drawn to the perilous labour of overweighted horses asAhey struggle to make their uncertain way along our chief

thoroughfares, guiltless as many of these are of any reliableattempt to provide a secure foothold. Ashes and sand maybe had in abundance, and are even stored, evidently foruse, at central points of traffi&bgr;; yet there is lacking theintelligent energy required to utilise them. The matter

clearly calls for inquiry on the part of civic authorities,and we trust that, should the present thaw prove to be ofa transient character, the doorstep, the pavement, and theroadway, alike well dusted over, will bear witness to theprudent sense of those whose care they are. At least thismuch is due to the safety of man and beast.

DIPHTHERIA IN THE NEWBOTTLE DISTRICT.

DIPHTHERIA, evidently of a very infectious character, isprevailing around Newbottle and New Harrington in theHoughton-le-Spring rural district, and it is stated that in20 per cent. of the cases the result has been fatal. The

sanitary authority seem to recognise the special influenceof the elementary schools in this diffusion, for they havenot only closed them, but they have, in addition to pro-cesses of disinfection, ordered the destruction of books,maps, and other school property by which the infection

may be retained. -

THE PURITY OF CHLOROFORM.

IN a daily contemporary a curious mixture of "fact andfiction recently appeared anent the dangers of impurechloroform. While we heartily concur in the generaltenour of the writer’s remarks, we feel bound to set himright in his facts. He refers to the researches of the youngerDr. Du Bois Rey mond upon Pictet’s chloroform, but omits tomention the eminent chemist’s name or to credit him withhis undoubtedly meritorious efforts to free chloroform fromsome of its dangers. The writer then quotes Dr. Da Bois Rey-mond, j -iia., and avers that "this high authority" eayschloro-form is often administered in a room "not designed for thepurpose," and inferentially implies that thereby risk is run.This seems to us refining a little too far. If a room is largeenough for a dwelling-place and is not lighted by illuminat-ing gas, we fail to see why chloroform cannot reasonably begiven in it, and no houses, save possibly those of the verypoor, are without one such room; while in the case of the

indigent, as a rule, the doctor sends the case to the

hospital. Ventilation and absence of lighted gas are

really the only desiderata. Again, exception is taken to the

quality of the chloroform in general use, which is stated tobe less pure than that described in the Pharmacopoeia. Sucha gratuitous statement cannot, of course, be answered, asno evidence one way or the other exists ; but what thewriter in question does not seem to be aware of is that theimpurities upon which Dr. Du Bois Reymond lays such stresswere those found even in the best samples of the drug,whether B.P. or not, but existing in so minute a quantitythat a very large amount of the drug had to be crystallisedbefore an appreciable amount of the refuse chloroform wasobtainable. Nor could such impurities be discovered byordinary tests. This being so, the statement-not strictlyaccurate, by the way, as the t1ndard books give the rules fortesting chloroform-that nowhere is "the physician (sic)enjoined to test his chloroform before mixing it, isof less importance than at first seems apparent. Asa rule, chloroform is not administered "pure," because,unless some spirit be added to it, it very rapidly under-goes decomposition, and is unfib for use ; but the addi-tion of alcohol obviates this, and if it be kept cool andout of contact with light it remains constant. Persons whoundertake to give chloroform should of course respire thevapour themselves, test its reaction and smell, and this ill

always done ; but to fractionate or freeze and distil themother liquor is a task which, were the average medical