1123

sident, before declaring the meeting closed delivered a shortaddress, in which he congratulated the members on theincreasing merit of their work, particularly on the practicalside. On this he dwelt mainly in the interest of thosemembers whose sphere of duty lay in districts remote fromthe schools, and whose professional efficiency could not butbe augmented by the fresh contributions made to their

armoury by such expositions and discussions as those theyhad been listening to for the last three days.Rome, Oct. 24th.

THE BACCELLI BANQUET IN ROME.

AN Italian correspondent writes: " We are in all theheat and turmoil of a general election, and among thecandidates presenting themselves to the constituencies noneis surer of his seat than Dr. Guido Baccelli, who offers him-self for one of the divisions of Rome, which he has

already represented in five successive parliaments. Onthe evening of Saturday, the 15th, the honourable gentle-man was entertained by his committee and a selectnumber of his supporters at a great banquet in the’Anfiteatro Umberto I.’ The company was restricted to 480,and a brilliant assemblage of ladies occupied all the boxeson the first tier. The chair was taken by Prince FabrizioColonna, who gave the toast of the evening in a few effectiveperiods, in which he dwelt on the great professional dis-tinction óf their guest and of the signal services he hadrendered to Italy in his capacity of Minister of PublicInstruction and as a member of Parliament. Dr. Bac-celli’s reply was in his happiest vein. Limiting himselfat the outset to the moral and material interests ofRome, he referred to the ordeal, chiefly financial, she isnow passing through, and augured for her a successfulissue from her crisis, thanks to the same means alreadyshowing themselves efficacious in other cities similarlycircumstanced-the revival and re-invigoration of indus-trial and commercial life. From the financial question hepassed to others closely connected with it, and referred tothe great impulse to her material prosperity which Romewill derive from the International Exposition she is tohold in 1893, the year in which, by a happy coin-cidence, the International Medical Congress meetswithin her walls, reinforced as that will be by the Ex-hibition of International Hygiene. By that time Romewill have added much to her traditional attractions,notably the Passeggiata Archeologica,’ or archaeologicalpromenade, in which her noblest and most interesting ruinswill be skilfully connected by a well laid-out roadway, sothat the visitor may take them all in during the course ofa single carriage-drive or pedestrian stroll. Coming toquestions of practical importance for the inhabitants, moreespecially the rising generation, Dr. Baccelli desoibed hisscheme for a school of physical training, in whichthe young civilian and the military recruit mightdevelop their bodies in well-graduated gymnasticsunder the eye of medically qualified superintendents. Anoble rivalry between citizen and soldier might by thismeans resuscitate the best traditions of Rome, including, asit is meant to do, not only the ordinary discipline of theTurnverein, but rifle practice, and the feats of the swimmingschool. Interest in the working classes has been a well-

known feature of Dr. Baccelli’s work ’in the municipalityand in Parliament, and on this subject he gave furtherpledges of practical effort in their behalf, while he pointed tothe Policlinico, or great hospital for the observation andtreatment of ailments, medical and surgical, as principallyinspired by solicitude for the labourer and the artisan whenvisited by disease or physical casualty. In its wards, hesaid, the humblest in the land will share the advantages ofa professional skill and attendance hitherto reserved for theprivileged classes. From local affairs he next took hisaudience to the colonial policy of Italy, and dwelt onthe ampler horizons opened up to the surplus popu-lation by territorial acquisition in the Dark Continent.In this connexion he indicated how the vast penal estab-lishments of Italy might be relieved by transferring &

considerable portion of their inmates to reformatories inthe Abyssinian bill country or Red Sea littoral, therebyremoving them from the contaminating atmosphere-of the prison, and giving them a fresh start in lifeunder conditions favourable to moral resuscitation. Thereclamation of the waste lands of Italy-the true ’Italia,Irredenta -notably the Roman Campagna, had alreadyshown how a convict population might be usefully em..ployed ; and now Italy’s African colonies would multiplysuch opportunities of restoring the criminal classes tomoral health and to the service of society. The remainderof his very brilliant speech was devoted to a review of thepresent state of political parties, among which he franklyreasserted his claim to be considered as a ’ Constitutionalistof the advanced Progressist wing.’ A glowing tribute tothe virtues of King Humbert formed the peroration, and)Dr. Baccelli sat down amid plaudits such as rarely greetthe orator of the purely forensic or political kind. Theconstituents of the pri7no collegio (first electoral division),of Rome are to be congratulated on their candidate, whosereturn is so assured that (as I write) he may really be calledtheir representative."

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OFEDINBURGH.

PUBLIC HEALTH MEDICAL SERVICE.

THE following resolution, in reference to the conditionsupon which health appointments should be held, was passedby the Edinburgh College at its meeting on the 4th inst. :

" That the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh,which has during the last two hundred years taken a deepinterest in all matters connected with public health, andhas for many years conferred a diploma in public healthupon candidates who have undergone a special examinationon the different branches of sanitary science, having takeninto consideration the numerous appointments of medicalofficers of health made and to be made under the provisionsof the recent Local Government Act, and being fully aliveto the necessity of securing the satisfactory administrationof the various Sanitary Acts, would venture to urge uponthe Board of Supervision the importance of relieving all,superintending county health medical officers, alreadyappointed, from practice, and of appointing in the futureonly those who are free from practice, so that they may beenabled to devote their entire energies to the discharge ofttheir special duties."

Certified by G. A. GIBSON, M.D., Secretary.

LIFE ASSURANCE AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

WE have been asked to publish the following particulars relating to the Scottish Provident Institution, omitted byan oversight from the table of contracts from prospectuses which appeared in the Supplcment of our last impression.