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he finds that when opening them suddenly at times when,his mind is not specially occupied all kinds of fantastic

designs in black and white appear before the eye, as if

he was looking through a kaleidoscope, and remain for

.a a 1’ew.; seconds and gradually fade away. The figuresshown (are often of familiar animals, fleur-de-lis, black

FiG. 2.

Market-street, Manchester, is here shown. The patient’s son.who leads him, remarks that the street is more thanusually crowded. So far as his (the patient’s) eyes tellhim, however, it presents a deserted appearance, as in thissketch.

’battlements, &c., and are always mixed up with a section of.a "chess-board." A wall-paper designer might get someprofit from glaucoma. On waking from sleep objectsappear visible about which the patient has not recentlythought or dreamt though they were once much in his mind.A woman’s costume fixed on a wire stand has more than once

FIG. 3.

The patient is lying in the bed shown. The figure standing at the footis a sudden apparition of himself when 20 years younger.

appeared in this way and has only very gradually vanished.A most peculiar instance, however, is illustrated below. The

patient being awakened by his wife bringing up a cup of teais conscious before receiving the cup that the space betweenthe door and the bed is occupied by the apparition of him-self as he looked 20 years ago-dressed in cricketing flannels,necktie flying in the wind, the face being flushed andindicating the joy of life. This apparition continued visiblesome time after he had received the cup of tea and hadinformed his wife of what he saw. (Fig. 3.)

The gummy feeling of the eyelids to which reference hasbeen made may be slightly relieved by bathing with warmwater and is an annoyance worth bearing patiently. But atrick played by the eye, as shown in the following sketch(Fig. 4), seems to go a little too far towards the region of

FiG. 4.

Wheel appearance caused by the eyelashes.

insult. The patient’s eyelashes now and then seem to formthemselves into a kind of wheel which will revolve withconsiderable speed for several seconds, the lashes beingmagnified to about three times their right size.The medical dictionaries and handbooks on eye diseases

give very scanty accounts of glaucoma, but it seems to belooked upon as incurable by oculists of great experience.Again and again, always in kind and sympathetic tones,comes the same best possible advice : I Your case is hopele"" ;keep up your spirits and general health."

" He who has doneall things well does for the -asking give a man power to eethe cheerful and even humorous side of blindness. Still,the particular joys of glaucoma are not always apparent andthe sympathetic paralysis with which it is accompanied issympathy not easily appreciated.

MEDICAL GRADUATES’ COLLEGEAND POLYCLINIC.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.

SIR WILLIAM H. BROADBENT, Bart., presided on

March 25th over the third annual general meeting of themembers and subscribers of the Medical Graduates’ Collegeand Polyclinic at 22, Chenies-street, London.The third annual report of the council began by pointing

out that the fact that new names were added almost daily tothe register showed that the Polyclinic filled a long-feltwant. Many of the members had frequently availed them-selves of the opportunity afforded them for obtaining anexpert opinion upon cases of unusual rarity or of peculiarinterest. The recommendations of members who hadattended practical classes had resulted in the attendancesbeing considerably augmented. The number of members andsubscribers for 1901 was 825. Most interesting discus-sions had taken place at meetings of the special com-mittees dealing with leprosy, yaws, climatology, andtuberculosis and much useful information had been brought tforward. It was announced that there were in course ot

constitution two new special committees for the investiga-tion of cancer and vaccination. In October, 1900, shortcourses of lectures on special subjects were inaugurated andthe arrangement worked so well that for the year 1901 thenumber had been doubled. The scale of charges for thepractical classes had been revised and the change had beenmuch appreciated by the members. The vacation session ofthree weeks held in September proved a great success. Thedetermination had therefore been arrived at to hold a similarcourse again. Arrangements had been completed wherebymembers could obtain instruction in operative surgery. Thecouncil felt assured that in the course of time the consulta-tion department would constitute a very special and much-utilised feature of the college work. The report contained9, table showing the nature of the investigations which hadbeen conducted in the laboratory during the past year and

986

contained a scale of charges for examinations of pathologicalspecimens. In the past year 150 clinical investigations hadbeen carried out. The museum was open all day to membersand was much resorted to for private study. The followinginstitutions were open to the members for clinical work :the Evelina Hospital for Children, the Dreadnought Hos-pital, Greenwich, the North-West London Hospital, the

Hospital for Diseases of the Throat, Golden-square, theWestminster Ophthalmic Hospital, the North London Hos-pital for Consumption, the Blackfriars Hospital for Diseasesof the Skin, the East London Hospital for Children, and theVictoria and Albert Docks Hospital. The report concludedwith the expression of the hope on the part of the councilthat the results obtained justified the support of the institu-tion by all members of the profession.

Sir WILLIAM BROADBENT, in moving the adoption of thereport and the balance-sheet, said that they were entitledto support from the public. Personally he regretted that theywere so dependent, but their income did not equal their

expenditure and they not only had to go to the public toreplace capital expenditure but they still had to rely on thatsupport for some part of their annual expenditure.

Mr. JONATHAN HUTCHINSON said that large donations hadbeen given to several institutions and he submitted thatthe Polyclinic had an equal claim to such benefits. Theyhad formed a committee to study cancer and he had notthe least hesitation in saying that money could not bedevoted to a more charitable purpose and with greatercertainty of producing good results than by its being givento the Polyclinic.

Dr. C THEODORE WILLIAMS spoke on the financial con-dition of the college and took a hopeful view of the

position of affairs.Dr. C. 0. HAWTHORNE drew the attention of the council

to the fact that it would be well if members of the councilwould also make themselves members of the college.The report and balance-sheet having been duly passed, Dr.

GUTHRIE RANKIN proposed, and Dr. R. PURDIE seconded,the following gentlemen as members for election on thecouncil :-Dr. T. B. Crosby, Mr. D. Dallaway, Mr. ReginaldHarrison, Mr. E. Jessop, and Dr. H. Tilley.A protracted discussion arose as to the right of members

to nominate other names for election than those submittedby the council. Finally Mr. C. G. D. MORIER proposed, andDr. L. WILLIAMS seconded, the name of Mr. T. J. Hitchinsas a candidate for the council.The following was the result of the ballot for the five

vacancies :—Dr. Crosby, 16 ; Mr. Harrison, 16 ; Dr. Tilley,15 ; Mr. Jessop, 13 ; Mr. Hitchins, 11; and Mr. Dallaway, 9A vote of thanks to Sir William Broadbent for presiding

was proposed by Mr. JAMES CAVTLIE and seconded by Mr.HITCHINS. This was duly acknowledged and the meetingended.

THE METROPOLITAN WATER-SUPPLY.

All 1

THE WEST MIDDLESEX WATERWORKS COMPANY.

THE West Middlesex Waterworks were projected at theearly years of the last century to supply a part of the WestEnd of London, which was at the time being rapidly" developed," and was without an adequate supply ofwater. The first Act obtained by the company authorisedit to supply Marylebone and certain parishes and places aE

well as "parts adjacent." The Select Vestry of Maryleboneobjected to the pavements being taken up for laying thepipes, but in the year 1810 the objection was overcome bythe action of Parliament and an Act was passed whicbincreased the authorised area of supply and this renderecimpossible any further interference on the part of the vestry.The earliest Acts obtained bv the company were 46 Geo. III..c. 119, 50 Geo. III., c. 32, and 53 Geo. III., c. 159, ancthese were the only Acts obtained by the company before thtyear 1850.2 At the middle of the last century the watei

1 Articles I., II., III., IV., and V. appeared in THE LANCET ofMarch 1st (p. 614), 8th (p. 692), 15th (p. 767), 22nd (p. 842), and 29th(p. 915), 1902, respectively.2 General Board of Health. Reports to the Right Hon. William

Cowper. M.P., President of the General Board of Health, on theMetropolis Water-supply under the provisions of the MetropolisWater Act, London, 1856.

ised by the company was abstracted from the Thames1t Barnes and passed into two subsiding reservoirswhich covered an area of about 16 acres ; thesereservoirs were partially supplied also by water whichcame through the gravelly beds of the district. From thereservoirs the water, passed through an iron pipe across thebed of the Thames to the Middlesex side and was pumped tothe customers. None of the water was filtered. Therewere service reservoirs at Kensington and at Barrow-hill, anda supply was given in all cases three times a week ’’ andmore frequently in parts of the district where it was

required." In July, 1855, water was first supplied fromHampton, where a new station had been erected. At thisdate the Barnes reservoirs were capable of holding a six daya’supply and filter-beds, three in number and having an areaof one and a half acres, had been constructed at Barnes.The company then proposed to abandon the service reservoirat Kensington in order to save the cost of covering it," 3 forit was situated within the five-mile radius and thereforeunder the Metropolis Water Act, 1852, it was necessary thatit should be covered or abolished. The reservoir at Barrow-hill, Regent’s-park was covered and it served to supply thehigher parts of the district, the lower parts being supplieddirectly from the distributing mains. The average quantityof water distributed daily was something between 6,000,000and 7,000,000 gallons ; the number of tenements suppliedwas 25,732 and the water was furnished to all parts of thedistrict daily, Sundays excepted, and in some parts twice aday." 4The authorised area of supply possessed by the West

Middlesex Company is a very large one and includes Barnes,Battersea, Bloomsbury, Brentford, Hanwell, Heston, Kew,Mortlake, the Strand, St. Clement Danes, and St. Paul’,Covent Garden. According to the statement presented toLord Llandaff’s Commission which was put in at the fifty-second sitting the districts actually in the County ofLondon supplied are the whole of Willesden, parts ofChelsea, Fulham, Hammersmith, Kensington, Paddington,St. Anne’s Soho, St. Marylebone, St. Pancras, St. JamesWestminster, St. John Hampstead, St. Margaret West-minster ; in the county of Middlesex, Acton, Chiswick,Ealing, and Hendon. The companies which supply districtswithin the authorised area of the West Middlesex Companyare the Chelsea, the Grand Junction, the New River, theLambeth, the Southwark and Vauxhall, and the ColneValley. 6The present arrangements for carrying on the business

of the company are briefly as follows. Water is abstractedfrom the Thames at Hampton, it is pumped to storageand subsidence reservoirs at Barnes and Barn Elms,and filtered at Barnes. It is then conveyed under theThames to Hammersmith whence it is pumped into the dis-tricts supplied, and to service reservoirs situated at Campden-hill (Kensington), Barrow-hill (Regent’s-park), and Finchley-road, Willesden. A supply can be sent to another reservoirwhich is situated at Shoot-up-hill either from Willesdenor from Barrow-hill. Of late years many improvements havebeen made in the works of the company and it happenedthat the improvements were made at a time when the fullstatutory dividends of the company had been regularly paidfor some years and the back dividends to which the shaie-

holders were entitled had also been fully paid. This, the; secretary of the company assured Lord Llandaff, was a

coincidence. It was nQt found necessary to charge any- repairs and renewals to revenue account from the year 1879’to the year 1886 (inclusive), but it happened that from 1897

to 1899 three filter-beds were reconstructed at a cost of’

.621,426, and during every year from 1887 to 1897 a con-siderable outlay was found to be requisite in improvements-e.g., a new engine, 18 new boiler,, ofiice alterations, &c. It7 would be interesting to know accurately if the plants of the1 metropolitan water companies which do not pay their full1 dividends have recently been as thoroughly overhauled as- has the plant of the West Middlesex Company., The most recent improvements and changes which have1 * been effected are shown in Table I., the second column ofwhich gives details of the state of the undertakir gr in December, 1901, according to the report of the Water* Examiner appointed by the Local Government Board.

3 Op. cit., p. 43. 4 Op. cit., p. 44.5 Feb. 14th, 1899.

6 Minutes of Proceedings taken before the Royal Commission onLondon Water-supply, p. 3487. Dyson and Co.

7 Op. cit., pp. 3488-89.