1537LIVERPOOL.-WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES.

that her ctuid was nut well. Thereupon the public vaccinatorwould insist on seeing and examining the child. Then, ifthe child was really unwell, he would give advice and

prescribe remedies, concluding by announcing that he wouldcall again. On his return the child might be well, and themother, in gratitude for the good advice received, wouldallow the child to be vaccinated. Thus the private prac-titioner lost both his fee for medical attendance and hisfee for vaccinating the child. This was State competitionagainst the private practitioner. It augmented the burdensof the ratepayer and was doubly hard on the private practi-tioner, for he lost his patient and found his rates increased.Mr. Somers, however, recognised that the public vacci-nators held a very responsible position and he said thathe would like to see them better paid, but at the sametime they should not be put in a position to interferewith private practice. Mr. H. W. Pooler delivered a

very able speech in reply, backing each argument withnumerous statistics. He thought that the object of theirunion was to elevate the profession. Therefore it was more

necessary to urge private practitioners to vaccinate more

efficiently than to attack the public vaccinators who wereconsistently doing their duty. It was also the object of theirunion to try to obtain better fees ; why then should theystrive to hit at the public vaccinators who, comparativelyspeaking, were fairly well paid ? It was necessary to inquirewhy domiciliary visits had been instituted before condemn-

ing them on the slender grounds that sweets were given tothe children. The first point to ascertain was whether

domiciliary visits had secured a more efficient vaccination ofthe population. Statistics showed that during the five yearspreviously to 1877 there was an annual average of 4’7 per cent.of children unaccounted for. During the next five years theannual average rose to 5 8 per cent., and went on increasingtill for the five years preceding the year 1897 the annualaverage of children who were not vaccinated amounted to20’3 per cent. For 1898 the proportion was 21 per cent. Itwas then that the Act was passed authorising domiciliaryvisits, and before this law could be modified it was necessaryto prove that it had failed to produce the desired effect. I sheinterests of the population at large must take precedence overthe desire to protect the interests of any one particular class ofmedical men. The result of domiciliary visits was that inthe first year 164.000 more vaccinations had been effected.But had this injured the private practitioners? In the

t Birmingham district of Aston, during the year previously tothe Act, private pract.itioners had vaccinated 4620 childrenand the public vaccinator 2064 children. After the Act was

passed the average annual increa-e of vaccinations effected by the public vaccinator amounted to 928 ; but this had notin any way injured private practitioners. The number of

private patients whom they vaccinated had not decreased ; ithad remained stationary, or, rather, it had increased to thenumber of 24. Thus, and w:thout injuring private prac-titioners, the number of vaccinations effected in the singledistrict of Ast..n had been augmented to close upon 1000

per annum. Such solid advantages were not to be lightlyset aside.In the course of the discussion that followed this speech

protests were made that there was no desire to act againstefficient vaccination, but only to prevent interference withprivate practice. On the other hand, it was urged that theprivate practitioner was the undisputed master of the situa-tion during four months. It was for him to see that thechildren were vaccinated during that time and before thepublic vaccinator had the right to pay domiciliaryvisits. Ultimately the motion was rejected by a largemajority.The President (Mr. H. W. Langley Browne) then called

upon me to deliver an address and I had the pleasure ofexplaining the methods of organisation adopted by medicalmen in different countries on the continent, comparing whatwas done abroad with the movement in England. It is notfor me. however, to describe my own speech, and I willcontent myself with expressing my gratitude for the heartyreception which I received.

Dr. Kirby followed, pointing out the great service whichTHE LANCET had rendered by the articles that it had pub-lished on the economic position of the medical profession inthe Birmingham district. They had helped to awaken medicalmen to a sense of the dangers by which they were menacedand had rendered the w ork of organisation more easy. Afterthis the officers of the union were elected for the year andthe annual meeting was brought to a conclusion.

LIVERPOOL.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Work of the Malarial Expedition of the Liverpool Schoolof 2ropical Medicine.

THE Governor of Sierra Leone (Sir Charles King-Harman)has stated in a letter recently received by Major Ronald Ross,F.R S., that out of 400 public servants only three wereon the sick-list at the end of October, and these were notsuffering from malarial disease. The nursing home wasempty. His Excellency added that he had inspected thework which was being done by the Liverpool expeditionunder Dr. Logan Taylor, in draining and cleansing the town,and he had been surprised at the improvement which Dr.Taylor had effected. The inhabitants were much interestedin the mosquito question, and they had the intelligence toappreciate the good that was being done for them by theunited efforts of the Liverpool School and of the Governmentof Sierra Leone. The figures quoted suggest that the sick-rate in Sierra Leone has fallen below 1 per cent. This, ifit lasts, will be wonderful. Even in India the sick-rate

among European troops is about 10 per cent., and among thenative troops about 3 per cent.

The School of Trovical Medicine and Sir Alfred L.Jones, K. G’.M. G.

The following resolution of congratulation to the chairmanof the above school, Sir Alfred L. Jones, K.C.M.G., wasadopted at a special meeting of the committee :-That the Liverpool School of Medicine desires to express to its chair-

man, Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G.. warmest congratulations on thehonour paid to him by His Majesty the King. The committee of theschool wish to take this opportunity of expressing their own highappreciation of the value of their colleague’s (S r Alfred’s) services tohumanity by his foundation of this school and by his willing sacrificeof time, money, and energy in the furtherance of its objects.

The Hospital Saturday Fund.The annual meeting of the subscribers to the Hospital

Saturday Fund was held on Nov. 18th, the Lord Mayor beingin the chair. The annual report te,tified to the continuedsuccess of the fund, stating that the amount rai-ed wassteadily increasing. Firms were gradually being induced toadopt the weekly system of collection, the most efficientand beneficial to the fund, and also the easiest one forthe subscribers. The amount realied from the workshopcollections this year was .f.6645 15s. 2d., an increase on thatof 1900 of .E371 5s. 10d., or nearly 6 per cent. Unfortu-

, nately, the ladies’ street collection was somewhatlower-viz., .f.767 7s 3d., against .6829 7s. 6d. in the

! previous year, making a total of e7413 2s. 5d.,.! being a net gain for the year of E309 5s. 7d. That

amount, together with the Hospital Sunday collection,’ which showed a substantial increase, had been divided

amongst the medical charities of the city, the total amount.

so distributed being .f.13.365 10s. The expenses were heavierthan u-ual, the committee having found it necessary to

employ more asistance efficiently to carry out the organisa-’ tion, and also to provide a large number of additional boxes

to meet the growing demand.Presentation to a Police Surgeon.

The members of the F Division of the police force have: presented one of their late medical officers, Dr. T. Gerald, Garry, on his departure for Florence with an illuminated address as a token of the esteem and respect in which he was

held by the division. Dr. Garry was connected with theI police force for over six years.’ Nov. 26th.

WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Colour-blindness among Swansea Schoolboys.ONE of the medical officers of the Swansea School Board

[ (Dr. Rhys Davies) has recently been subjecting some of theboys attending the schools to the Holmgren wool test andhas also been testing their acuteness of vision and hearing.Altogether 1500 b’ys were examined, 50 being taken fromeach school, and 81, or 54 per cent., were found to be