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society to be held to-day (Friday) at 8.30 P.M. in the rooms iof the society, West London Hospital.

THE first meeting of the 1902-03 session of the

Hunterian Society will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 8th,at 8.30 P.M. Dr. Seymour J. Sharkey will deliver the first

Hunterian lecture on the Cardiac Muscle from a Clinical

. Point of View. _____

THE RECENT ELECTION OF A DIRECTREPRESENTATIVE ON THE GENERAL

MEDICAL COUNCIL.

WE have received for publication from Sir Victor Horsleythe following letter with regard to his re-election addressed

To the Rergistered Medical Prccetitioners of -Englandand Wales.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,-I beg to thank you sincerelyfor the honour you have conferred upon me by my re-elec-tion to the General Medical Council. I appreciate veryhighly this renewed expression of confidence on the part ofmy professional colleagues and hope that it may be justifiedby my work in the future.Cavendish-square, W., Sept. 29th, 1902. VICTOR HORSLEY.

The following letter has also been addressed to us : —

To the Editors of THE LANCET.SIRS,—I shall feel obliged if you will kindly allow me

through your columns to thank the 3105 registered prac-titioners who recorded their votes in my favour at therecent election of a Direct Representative. Although un-

successful, the fact that I polled such a large number ofvotes--far beyond the number I anticipated-is exceedinglygratifying, and shows that there is a widespread feeling inthe profession in favour of the principle so strongly advo-cated by the late Sir Andrew Clark, that the Direct

Representatives should be drawn from the ranks ofthose who are in general practice. As I consented onlyat the last moment to allow myself to be nominatedas a candidate, there was no time to organise an

election committee or to prosecute any canvass for votes.Had I had time to do so (probably in view of the

large number of votes I received) the result might havebeen different. Further, I had the whole medical pressagainst me, including the British Medical Journal, which, Imaintain, should have remained neutral. I am, however,encouraged by the gratifying reception my candidature hasmet with at the recent election to hope that I may yet havethe honour to represent my fellow practitioners in theGeneral Medical Council.

I am, Sirs, your obedient servant,JOSEPH SMITH.

15, Bath-road, Bedford-park. Chiswick, Oct. 1st, 1902.

OPENING OF THE NEW NATIONALSERUM INSTITUTE FOR DENMARK.

THE Danes have been able to effect in a country with apopulation of two and a half millions what we cannot manageto carry out in England with all our wealth and population.Perhaps when the population is small individual lives are ofgreater value than they are to us with our teeming millions.In 1894 Professor Salomonsen, the Director of the UniversityLaboratory of Medical Bacteriology, appreciating the greatpossibilities of the serum treatment, made a request to theMinister of Ecclesiastical and Educational Affairs for a sumof 550 with which to carry on the manufacture of anti-diphtheria serum in the university. In 1895-96 the grantwas made to the laboratory which, in addition to carryingout experimental work in connexion with serum therapeutics,mdertiook (1) to keep in view, as far as possible, during thecarrying out of these experiments the production of largequantities of anti-diphtheritic serum ; (2) to ensure the

thorough training of young medical men in the general

: technique of the manufacture of the different anti-sera ;and (3) to dispense free of cost to such hospitals andmedical men as might require it all the anti-diphtheriticserum which under these conditions the laboratory wasable to produce. The work done under these conditionswas so satisfactory and the results obtained so good thatthose in authority saw that not only as a serum manu-factory but alo as a school some more permanent pro-vision would have to be made, and at length ProfessorSalomonsen, having obtained a site from the Minister ofWar on the Island of Amager just outside the old forti-fications of Copenhagen, has been able to plan and toerect a most convenient institute which, under the control ofthe State, is still to be kept in connexion with the teachingdepartment of the university, Dr. Madsen being appointedresident director under the general supervision of ProfessorSalomonsen. Here, in a most convenient building, are roomsfor the preparation of media, incubating rooms, bacterio-logical, chemical, and other research laboratories, darkrooms, cool rooms, directors’ rooms, and a splendid suite ofresidential apartments. Excellent accommodation is pro-vided for large and small animals, and there are even a

pond for aquarium work, a capital exercising ground forthe horses, and a series of rooms and apparatus for the

preliminary treatment of horses, the separation of serum,&c., whilst sufficient land remains for the erection of anyfurther buildings that are likely to be required for sometime to come.

In the opening address delivered on Sept. 9th by ProfessorSalomonsen to a large audience of scientific men and Stateofficials great stress was laid by him upon the necessity ofkeeping this institution in close touch with the universityand especially in connexion with the teaching of generalpathology which promises to play so important a part in thedevelopment of medical science.At a reception and banquet given by Professor Salomonsen

on the day of the opening and at a dinner given by Dr.Madsen on the following day the State and the Universitywere most heartily congratulated on the success of the move-ment and Professor Salomonsen and Dr. Madsen on the con-venience of the laboratories and the perfection of the generaland special arrangements. At these meetings the State wasrepresented by the Minister for War and the Minister forEcclesiastical and Educational Affairs ; Germany by Pro-fessor Ehrlich, Professor Weigert, Dr. Morganroth, and Dr.Lassar ; Norway by Dr. Armaur Hansen and Dr. Malm andby the medical officers of health of Christiania ; Sweden byProfessor Svantr Arrhenius and Professor Retzius ; andGreat Britain by Professor G. Sims Woodhead, Dr. Dean,Dr. W. Bulloch, Dr. W. A. Turner, and Miss Fitzgerald ofOxford, who is at present working in the institute. Therewere numerous other representatives from various towns inScandinavia.

In an exceedingly well got up volume (in English, by theway) are printed as a kind of I I Festschrif t " contributionsfrom the University Laboratory for Medical Bacteriology tocelebrate the Inauguration of the State Serum Institute,edited by Carl Julius Salomonsen. As these are of per-manent interest it may be well to give a list of them : (1)The Rise and Growth of the State Serum Institute, by theeditor; (2) General Pathology as a University Subject, bythe editor ; (3) Physical Chemistry Applied to Toxins andAntitoxins, by Svantr Arrhenius and Thorald Madsen ; (4)The Molecular Weight of Diphtheria Toxin, by SvantrArrhenius and Thorald Madsen ; (5) Studies on DiphtheriaToxin, by Georges Dreyer and Thorald Madsen ; (6) theFate of Typhoid and Cholera Agglutinins during Activeand Passive Communication, by Thorald Madsen and AxelJorgensen ; (7) Coli Agglutinins and their Course of Forma-tion, by Ernest Levin ; (8) the Decrease of Antibodies onthe Organism Indicated by a Formula, by Thorald Madsen ;(9) the Unreliability of the Neutral-red Reaction as gene-rally employed for the Differentiation of Bacillus Typhosusand Bacillus Coli, by Mabel Purefoy Fitzgerald (Oxford) andGeorges Dreyer ; (10) Histogenesis of the Nodules producedby Subcutaneous Infection Saccharomyces Neoformans (San-felice), by Vilhelm Jensen ; (11) A New Apparatus for RapidDelivery of a given Quantity of Fluid, by Georges Dreyer ;and (12) a Chemotactic Experiment, by the editor.The representatives from Great Britain were greatly

mpressed by the evidence of scientific activity afforded, not)nly in the Serum Institute, but in the numerous other well-equipped laboratories of the university, veterinary, andagricultural high schools. The eamaraderie and good feeling

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manifested throughout the whole proceedings were particu-larly noticeable and were certainly greatly appreciated bythe British representatives, especially as marked by a

reference to the marriage of Dr. Bulloch to Miss AnnaI Molboe of Copenhagen which had been celebrated the day

before the opening of the institute.

SANITATION AT LEICESTER.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL SANITARY COMMISSIONER.)

The New Crematorium.THE town of Leicester has always taken a leading part

in the agitation against vaccination. One of the principalarguments brought forward against vaccination is that

though small-pox is undoubtedly less prevalent than it usedto be before vaccination was rendered compulsory this is dueto improved sanitation and not to vaccination. In the faceof such an argument it is but natural to expect that thevery greatest care would be bestowed on all sanitarymeasures so that proof might be forthcoming to show thatsmall-pox can be kept in abeyance even without vaccination:Therefore, the anti-vaccination agitation should have pro-duced at least one good result-namely, it should havesecured a notable improvement in the general sanitation ofthe town. In this respect it must at once be acknowledgedthat the local authorities have shown commendable zeal instriving to act consistently with this principle. They haveattempted to deal with insanitary conditions and haveeffected many notable improvements. The last of thesehas been the erection of a crematorium. In this respectLeicester is only following the example, not merely of themetropolis, but of various provincial towns, such as Sheffield.Bradford, Hull, &c. Nevertheless, the Leicester crema-

torium is a credit to the town. If it is not among thefirst erected it is certainly among the best, and there are ,,

still many important centres where there are no crematoriumsat all. In these circumstances my first desire on reach-

ing Leicester was to visit the crematorium, notwithstandingthe fact that this is but a matter of detail when comparedwith such problems as isolation hospitals, domestic and

public drainage, the flushing and ventilation of sewers, &c.About one and a half miles beyond the last street or

consecutive row of houses to the north-east of Leicesterthere is a new and as yet almost unoccupied cemetery.It is situated in a beautiful undulating country ; fine

timber, nursery gardens, luxuriant hedgerows, and a brookafford a pleasant relief to the eye on leaving the busytown. On the highest part of the cemetery there are twochapels connected together by cloisters and outbuildingsserving as offices or waiting-rooms. The crematorium is anannexe on the east side of the southern chapel. In the naveof this chapel there are rows of seats on each side and abroad vacant space in the centre where the coffin is placedfor ordinary funerals. A beautifully carved oak screen anda sea green plush curtain conceal the chancel When, how-ever, a cremation is to take place the curtain is drawn asideand reveals a catafalque which stands in the place generallyoccupied by the altar. The pedestal is likewise orna-

mented with artistic carving in oak. The bier is justthe same height as the catafalque. On it the coffin is

brought from the outside, and as there are small rollersboth on the bier and the catafalque the coffin silently glidesfrom the one to the other when gently pushed forwards.There is no shock and no jolting of the coffin in an unsteadyeffort to lift it from one place to the other. At the endthere is a folding iron door about two feet square, which isornamented by a hood likewise of artistically carved wood.The religious service proceeds as the coffin rests on the

catafalque. At the moment of committal an attendanttouches an electric bell: the iron door is then opened and ahandle is turned by a man who is waiting inside the crema-torium ; this sets a revolving or endless chain in motionwhich draws the coffin off the catafalque through the littledoor into an intervening space between the chapel and thecrematorium. The little iron door is then closed andnothing more is seen of the coffin. There is no noise, themovements seem to take place automatically, and no humanhand touches the coffin after it has been placed on thecatafalque, all further, movements being done by machinery.

- Between the chapel wall and the interior of the crema-r torium-that is, of the furnace itself-there is no open space where the coffin could be reached or touched by any one.From the chapel where all can see it the coffin must eitherenter the furnace or be brought back into the chapel.

Hence no doubts can be entertained as to the identity of theashes subsequently withdrawn from the crematorium. Butfor still further security permission is given for two friendsor relations to enter the crematorium building and to witnessthe entire process. Within this building stands the crema-torium, a solid fire-clay brick structure about 10 feet square.The door of admission is of iron lined with fire-clay bricks.The pigeon-hole chamber is about three feet square and fromseven to eight feet long ; its floor is on the same level as the

. summit of the catafalque in the chapel beyond. OppositeI

this admission door there is an inspection door and the coffin. lies between these two doors. The flooring, however, is; perforated so that some of the ashes fall into a smaller

chamber beneath. This furnace was designed by the lateMr. Henry Simon, President of the Manchester CremationSociety, and was erected by Messrs Henry Simon, Limited,of Manchester. There is a third-and this is the lowest-inner chamber which contains a coke fire. The fire hasto be lighted some hours before the apparatus is used,and it then receives air through the grate in the usualmanner. It is only when the walls and air-passages havebeen thoroughly heated that the body can be introduced.Then the direct supply of air to the furnace is shut off andair is admitted only in the side passages or hollow portion ofthe wall. This air is thus heated and it descends from abovedown into the fire. Thus the incinerating chamber is filledwith heated air and a state of incandescence is produced.The degree of heat can be regulated and is generallyworked up to 2000° F. In the inspection door thereis a circular aperture about four inches in diameterprotected by mica. The brilliancy of the light producedby the incandescence is such that there is no difficulty inseeing through the mica all that occurs within the crema-torium. There is therefore no danger of opening the crema-torium before the operation is completely terminated.Flames are scarcely visible ; there is no smoke or noise.The coffin alone might produce a little smoke if not pro-perly made. It should be of dry oak, poplar, or pine boardsof not more than three-quarters of an inch thick. Woodenpegs and not nails should be used, nor should there be anypaint or varnish. But the coffin may be covered with a thinwoollen material and lined with thin zinc.

In front of the crematorium there are two hoppers for

feeding the furnace and only coke is used. The only smokeseen is when faggots are being burnt to light the fire. Whenthe hopper is filled with coke a door is closed over it, andthen a slide is pulled up by a handle and the coke falls outof the hopper into the furnace. Thus no heat is lost in re-

plenishing the fuel and the air currents are not divertedfrom their ordinary course. The system is to produce amaximum draught during the preparatory heating of thecrematorium, but during the process of cremation the

damper in the chimney is half closed and, as already stated,the door of the furnace is completely closed. Only heated airreaches the fire. As yet only one body has been cremated-that of a woman about 50 years of age. There was

some delay and the operation commenced some 20 minutesafter the appointed time. It lasted one and a half hoursbut might have been accomplished more promptly had thefuneral been more punctual Nevertheless, in spite ofthis delay it was not necessary to add more fuel or to rakethe fire, and this is considered a great advantage, as

these operations, it is thought, are likely to hurt the

feelings of the mourners ; indeed, no fuel was addedafter 2.50 P. M. The coffin was not placed within thecrematorium before 3.30 P.M. and it was all over by 5 P.M.Within 14 minutes of the termination of the operation theashes can be swept out of the two incineration chambers.This is done with asbestos brushes and the ashes are pushedinto a small opening at the extreme end where there is ashaft down which they glide to a hopper that opens underthe catafalque in the chapel. Here the friends hold an urnin which they receive the ashes. These consist only of theinorganic residue of the bones and are but silvery greypumice-like fragments. Nothing can’ be i more pure andmore clean than these ashes. ". ’ ..

In the crematorium building there is a small pilotfurnace which serves to draw off the fumes from thecrematorium and where,’if necessary, these could be burnt