174 IRELAND.-PARIS

pellagra, malaria, and puerperal conditions has beendue, Dr. Dublin argues, to an insanitary environmentrather than to any lack of native resistance. The

prospects for an improved environment are good.True there are some differences in racial immunity ;but the negro has higher resistance against someillnesses, e.g., neurasthenia, diabetes, even if he hasa lower resistance to others. His black skin appearsto aid him in resisting erysipelas, snake-bites, and inrecovering from wounds.

IRELAND

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

THE POPULATION OF THE FREE STATE

THE first attempt at an estimate of the populationof Ireland was made in 1672 by Sir William Petty,who also gave figures of those employed in the

major occupations ; his estimate of the populationwas 1,100,000. Between Petty’s estimate and thefirst census-taken in 1813-14 estimates were

made showing a gradual increase until the figurealmost reached 6,000,000. None of these had muchclaim to accuracy and the first enumeration of

importance was that of 1821 which showed a furtherincrease. Thereafter a census was taken in thefirst year of each decade until 1911. In 1921 the

taking was suspended owing to the disturbed stateof the country, and in 1926 the first census of theIrish Free State was carried out. The final volume,containing the General Report, was issued last week,and under the editorship of Mr. Stanley Lyon worthilycompletes the task undertaken by his predecessor,the late Mr. John Hooper.The population of the Irish Free State on the

night .of April 18th, 1926, was 2,971,992, being lessthan the population of the same area in 1911 by168,000, or 5-3 per cent. It is pointed out that

during these years certain abnormal causes of declinewere at work : (1) the withdrawal of the British

Army of 25,242 with some 34,000 dependants ; (2)the number of Irish soldiers killed in the Great War-about 27,405 ; (3) the number of officers and menwho joined the British Army during the war andremained in other countries ; and (4) the disband-ment of the Royal Irish Constabulary, many of whomleft the country. Despite the general decline in

population the urban population was steadily increas-ing. Since 1841 the population has decreased bymore than half, and except in Dublin city and countythe decline has been more or less uniform all over the

country. The Irish Free State has a smaller propor-tion of females than any other of the 22 Europeancountries, the ratio being 972 females to 1000 males.On the other hand, the proportion is greater than inthe United States, Canada, South Africa, NewZealand, or Australia, where the influx of settlers

keeps the female population low. During the

period 1911-26 births outnumbered deaths by237,333, so that some 405,000 persons must haveemigrated, the number of immigrants being negligible.Of the persons engaged in various industries 53 percent. were engaged in agriculture, which occupiedin all 648,575 persons, or nearly a quarter of the

population. It is noted that the proportion of

persons over the age of 65 in the Irish Free State isthe highest in the world, being exactly double thatin the United States. The report contains muchinformation-such as that relating to housing andovercrowding-which is invaluable not only to thestatistician but to the social reformer and the doctor.

PARIS

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

CHANGES IN FINGER-PRINTS

A RECENT communication to the French Academyof Medicine must have had a peculiar interest forthose whose finger-prints are in the possession of thepolice and who, however unwilling they may beto turn over a new leaf, might like to turn over anew finger-tip when next examined. This communica-tion was made by Prof. Leonidio Ribeiro, of Rio deJaneiro, who has taken the finger-prints of 200

lepers in all the forms and stages of the disease,and has observed more or less advanced changes inthe pattern of the finger-print in 80 per cent. of them.These changes were observed even when there was nomacroscopic lesion of the hand or fingers. A micro-scopic examination, however, made after removal ofsections of skin during life, showed active localchanges and the bacillus of leprosy. The changes inthe pattern of the finger-prints were not permanentin the cases reacting to treatment with chaulmoograoil. A common change was the appearance of whitelines cutting transversely the tracings of the finger-tip ; and it was suggested that the demonstrationof these lines may facilitate the early diagnosis of

leprosy-a possibility of great interest. Prof. Ribeirohas found that sclerodermia with sclerodactylitisalso alters the pattern of the finger-print, but thechanges in the markings are quite different from thoseobserved in leprosy.

THE MEDICAL FOREIGNER IN FRANCE

The tightening up of the regulations governingthe study and practice of medicine by aliens in Franceseems to be justified by recently published figures.By 1931, 9-9 per cent. of the medical practitioners inParis were aliens. In the Seine area in that year,28-2 per cent. of the persons qualifying to practisemedicine were aliens. Between 1909 and 1930, thenumber of French medical students has increased byonly 50 per cent., whereas the number of alien studentshas increased by 300 per cent. Between 1920 and 1930,there has actually been a diminution in the numberof French students in Paris, whereas in the sameperiod the number of aliens has risen from 429 to1511. A similar state of affairs exists in the provinces.In Tours, for example, 58 per cent. of the studentsare aliens. Why this invasion The material facilitiesfor the study of the preliminary subjects in medicineat any rate, are inadequate, according to currentBritish standards. But the general reputation of theParis school of medicine stands high, and greattraditions and great personalities such as Pasteurand Calmette, dead as well as living, exert an

undeniable attraction. But what is probably the mostimportant factor of all affecting students migratingfrom other European countries is res angusta domi.

A BOGUS DIAGNOSTIC REPORT

The diagnostic dossier supplied to a woman patientby an unqualified practitioner has come into the handsof a distinguished neuropsychiatrist who has expressedhis appreciation by publishing it in full. The followingsamples are only a fraction of the whole, but theyprove that Madame A. got her money’s worth,whatever may have been the fee she paid. An

introductory note explains that in the absence ofmore explicit information, the figure 1 is equivalentto normal. This poor lady’s velocity of the internalsecretions was only 0-68, whereas her thermic loss