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writer stating that he had a hobby for collecting such docu-ments. The object of the offer, in so far as it proceededfrom the defendant, is obvious, and as the diplomas ofdeceased medical men cannot, except perhaps in the case of afew distinguished personages, be of any interest except totheir children or other relatives, willingness to pay for themon the part of a stranger should at once excite suspicionon the part of the possessor. James Allan, of Chislehurst,cannot complain that the punishment inflicted upon himwas in excess of his deserts, in spite of the fact that

witnesses, including the rector of Chislehurst, expressed’

themselves satisfied with the skill with which he treated his

patients. This was a bad case of impersonation, and if theprosecution had laid stress upon the points involved theproceedings could hardly have stopped where they did.We feel sure that those responsible for so carefully editeda work as the Medical Directory must keenly regret the

inaccuracy which in some way was admitted to its pages.Frost v. King Edirartl VII. National Memorial Association

for the Prevention. Treatment, and Abolition of, Ttcbcrawlos2s.

In this action, in which Mr. Justice Eve granted in lastMay an injunction to restrain the defendants from usingCardigan House, at Newport, Monmouthshire, as a hospitalfor surgical tuberculosis, a settlement has been arrived at.This was announced by counsel when the case was called inthe Court of Appeal, the terms being stated to be that thehouse should continue to be used as before until the expira-tion of six months after peace, and then should become aresidence for one of the physicians of the association and acentral dispensary for their work in Newport and Monmouth-shire. Conditions were added such as should make thesettlement a binding one and prevent any further litigationin the future, and it was provided that the defendants shouldpay the taxed costs of the plaintiff.

THE BELGIAN DOCTOR S’ ANDPHARMACISTS’ RELIEF FUND.

A MEETING of the Committee was held at THE LANCETOffices on Dec. 23rd, 1918, when Dr. SQUIRE SPRIGGE

reported that he had received through Lord Hardinge the

necessary forms to secure a passport for a representative ofthe Fund to go to Belgium, the only preliminary formalitybeing the favourable recommendation of the Belgian ControlOffice. Dr. Sprigge also reported a visit from Dr. Theo

Huyberechts, who had come as a member of the BelgianDoctors’ and Pharmacists’ Committee sitting in Brussels, toexpress the gratitude of that Committee to the Fund,testifying that the help of the Fund had been " beyondwords valuable."

Sir RICKMAN GODLEE called the attention of the Com-mittee to the fact that there remained at their disposalmany instruments still housed at the Apothecaries’ Hall.One selection, he said, had been packed and sent, under thesuperintendence of Mr. Samuel Osborn, to a Belgian

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hospital at Bruges, but many more, and some of verygood workmanhip, remained. Mostly they were old-fashioned but of excellent steel and make. He instancedsome knives by famous makers, and thought that metalmight be substituted for the wooden handles, when theywould be serviceable instruments to-day. ’

An article published in Le Belge Indépendant was

received by the Committee describing the establishment ofthe dispensary in Aldwych for the Belgian refugees at theopening of the war and the foundation of La Societe Belgede Médecine en Angleterre. Dr. Clement Philippe, withthe assistance of Dr. J. H. Philpot and Dr. H. A. Philp,..,t,organised the former movement, and for some time theDrs. Philpot and Dr. Des Vceux, with the assistance ofcertain refugee Belgian doctors, carried on very usefulwork. It may be remembered that this work was afterwardstransferred to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and nowthat the Belgian doctors are returning to their homes theBoard will continue its supervision over the remainingpatients. The article also described the preliminary circum-stances which led to the estabiiqhment of the BelgianDoctors’ and Pharmacists’ Relief Fund. This Fund cameinto being upon representations made, by Dr. Charles Jacobsmainly, to the Editors of THE LANCET and the B)’itish

u- Medical Journal, and the article in .Le Belge Indépendant:d bears witness to the generosity of the members of the British

professions, by whom some E25 000 has been subscribed,a the bulk of which has been expended on BeJgian sufferers

in Belgium.m As just sufficient money remained in hand it was decidedm to send to Belgium the full mensuality of .S800 for nextt, month.zr The following subscriptions have been received :—

tt 2 s. d.

j Dr. Alfred Cox (monthly) ... ... ... ... ... 1 1 0Lt.-Col. Frpmantle, R A.M.C......................... 10 0 0American Red Cross Commission for Belgium (monthly) ... 200 0 0

e Dr. D. Douglas-Crawtord ........................... 5 5 0

e

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Diet Kitchens for Military Hospitals.AN interesting experiment in the organisation of diet

kitchens has been made during the last two years in French: military hospitals. Begun in a tentative way to meet an

obvious need in one of those hastily improvised establish-ments dotted about the provinces in the early days of thewar, the experiment has now crystallised into a definitework of undoubted importance in the caring for the sickand wounded, and will possibly form the basis of a radicalchange in the dietary treatment of hospital patients through-out France.Even before the war the food given to the patients in

French civilian hospitals was bad enough to justify thewriter of a Paris guide-book in stating that" the catering isthe worst possible patients being fed almost exclusively ona beef diet with vegetables, mostly of the dried order, beefbeing given three times a day in the form ot soup once andboiled beef twice." The war naturally aggravated theseconditions, and in many of the hurriedly organised militaryhospitals the cooking was entrusted to. unskilled peoplewhose knowledge of catering for large numbers of woundedwas sadly deficient.The initial difficulties of this new phase of hospital

administration were hard to overcome. but a reform movementwas supported by General Rouget, the Director-General ofthe Service de Sante, Dr. Mourier, the under-secretary, Mr.Joseph Reinach, and many highly-placed persons, and thescheme from a small beginning is now assuming a definiteimportance. One difficulty lay in the fact that the cooks inmilitary hospitals are nearly always soldiers ; and in Francea soldier is theoretically supposed to be master of all

! trades, and credited with a superhuman versatility, while hismilitary duties come before all others. A woodcutter or a

bricklayer may be detailed to do the cooking for severalhundred men, and when he gained a working knowledge ofthe job he may be moved to the other side of France forpurely military reasons to attend the stoking of furnaces ina depot. It was realised that while the food supply was quiteadequate, everything was spoiled by this use of unskilledlabour, and that the only remedy lay in the appointment of °

specially trained cooks working under a surveillante.Early in January, 1917, Miss M. Oliver, daughter of

the late Dr. George Oliver, received permission fromthe French Service de Sante to open the first diet kitchenof the "Service des Regimes" at Hospital No. 75 atVichy. Two ladies took charge of the cooking with somevoluntary help in the distribution. The hospital was themedical centre of the 13th Region, and offered a good dealof variety in the clinical work, so the workers gained muchexperience in satisfying the individual needs of each case.The work was carried on till the following July, when thehospital was taken over by the Americans. By May theGovernment authorisation had been gained for starting adiet kitchen at the Villemin Hospital in the rue desRécollets, Paris. At that time there were there about 500beds. The majority of the cases were tubercuJous, andthe diet kitchen was opened for these and for two wards ofabdominal cases.Two months later a diet kitchen was started by two

lady workers in the Val-de-Grice Hospital, the oldest andbiggest military hospital in Fiance. principally to provideadditional purées and soups for Dr. Morestin’s famous

surgical division of wounded in head, jaw, and throat. As

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these men can only be fed through tubes, it is particularly i

necessary that attention should be paid to the assimilative I

qualities and to the nutritive value of the food. The success i

of this experiment was so marked that in November the work iwas enlarged so as to include the whole hospital : a large I

refectory was turned over to the Service des Regimes, as the t

diet kitchens are called, and fitted up by the hospital authori- i

ties with a range, two gas stoves, and every up-to-date con- <

trivance for a model kitchen. The whole of the 14 divisions I

of this great hospital, as well as the annexe containing 1another large division of head, jaw, and throat cases, is now (

provided with special diet, when necessary, by the diet <

kitchen. IThe next experiment was made at Epernay, where a diet

kitchen was opened on Jan. lst, 1918, in the principal bonefracture hospital in France. Unluckily, the German offensivein June put a stop to the excellent results obtained by theextra nourishment given through the diet kitchen, for theentire hospital had to be evacuated to a field ambulance farbehind the lines-the kitchen was trampled down and the

J

outfit scattered. The hospital will, however, soon go back ‘

to its old quarters when the diet kitchen will be re-

established. A fifth diet kitchen was opened in the LeV&eacute;sinet Hospital, near Paris, on July lst, 1918, where the

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work done in providing gassed patients with suitable nourish-ment has saved many lives. Diet kitchens have also beenwell started in St. Jacques Hospital, at Besancon. and inthe military hospitals at Troyes and Reims. The working of

]

the diet kitchens in each case is practically identical. The I

directress of the work goes round the wards and notes thediet cards filled in by the doctor, and measures out thequantity of food required by each case. The cooking isdone by paid workers under the supervision of the directress.The regular hospital fire is provided by the authorities, butthe expense of the special diet is covered by Miss Oliver’sService des Regimes," which also pays the salaries of theworkers.The excellent results shown since the establishment of

these kitchens have evoked unrestricted appreciation fromthe doctors in charge of the hospitals, as well as of theheads of the French Service de Sant&eacute;. The success is sonotable that Miss Oliver is now hoping to develop her workso as to provide every hospital in France with a Service desRegimes. The only difficulty is the lack of funds. Oncethis is overcome, and each hospital has its special dietkitchen, Miss Oliver wants to cooperate with the "Servicede Sant6" in the formation of a "Service de Cuisine,"where women cooks and women inspectors might be trainedto specialise in hospital cookery.French authorities, with a fine defiance of Voltaire, have

welcomed this practical aid, and the endowment of everymilitary hospital with a properly organised " Service deCuisine " will form one more link in the friendship betweenEngland and France.

Medical Demobilisation in }trance.Dr. Mourier, Under Secretary of State for the Service de

Sant&eacute;, has already made some progress with demobilisinghis own department. Red Cross hospitals have been dealtwith first, and in Paris alone eight closed their do)rs lastweek. A knotty point is the allocation of the enormousaccumulation of surgical material. As regards beds andfurniture, the proposal is to devote them to help rehabilitatethe devastated communes in the north of France. Medicalofficers themselves belonging to the earliest classes will bedemobilised at once and replaced. by more recent classes,who will as far as possible be detailed to their own districts,where they can get in touch with their practices. Ondemobilisation pay will be continued for some little time.Those who desire to remain will be retained in the services.as well as a certain number of indispensables. In Paris the

larger proportion of consultants attached to military hos-pitals have asked to continue their work.

Influenza in France.Influenza, which seemed to be dying out, has had a new

lease of life the last three weeks with the prolongation ofthe warm moist weather. The number of severe and fatalcases has, however, been much smaller than two months ago.Disinfection leaves much to be desired on account of short-ness of sanitary staff. A wealth of new suggestions fortreatment have been made to the Academy of Medicine andother learned societies. M. Armand Gautier has advised the

injection of quintue aud arrnend.1 drsaulved in Ilormdl saline.M. Albert Robin has obtained excellent results with this

remedy. M. Seu de Rouville and M. Netter have usedinoculations of oxide of tin in colloidal suspension. Theyhave had success in certain desperate cases, ob"erving thatthe inoculations have produced the maturing of fixationabscesses, provoked by turpentine injection after the methodof Fochier, in cases in which such injections had evoked noreaction-a condition tantamount to a fatal prognosis.Finally, MM. Grigant and Moutier have employed injectionsof blood serum from patients convdlescent of influenza,obtaining remarkable results when the injections were givenpractically from the onset of the ever.ivaternal and Infatitile Protection in Paris during the War.A central office was set up in Paris at the outset of the

war to assure protection for necessitous mothers andinfants in Paris and its neighbourhood in intimate rela-tion with all the maternities and with every local authority.M. Pmard recently reported to the Academy on the workdone by this central uffice. More than 100.000 mothers andbabies have received assistance during the last four years.In the last year of all 31.262 mothers claimed help before,during, or after their confinement, a large proportion of the34,125 births registered in Paris. Australia’s contributionto the work bus been invaluable. From Dec. 18th, 1915, toJune 22nd, 1918, the Franco-Australian League at Sydneyremitted to Mme. Michel, honorary president of the work, asum of more than 150.000 fr., and the same League atMelbourne a total of 550 000 fr., for which M. Pinard in hisreport tenders the warmest thanks. Mortality in Paris

during the first year of post-natal life has sensiblydiminished in the last 12 months ; from 155 per 1000births in 1914 the figure has fallen to 140, or less thanwhat it was before the war. Deaths due to enteritis fellfrom 1363 in 1914 to 762 in 1918, a result attributed tothe increase of breast-feeding and to the special cow’s milkreserved by the Government for hand-fed infants. Con-genital debility has, alas, increased as a cause of earlydeath in the last two years. This mortality stands in closerelation to the exhaustion of the mothers by arduous work,a condition which did not exist in the first year of the war.

French Doators and the Exoess Profits Tax.A considerable levy has been made on war profits in all

professions. The Association of Medical Societies of Francehas recently held a reunion at which the unanimous demandwas made for the exemption of the medical corps from thetax. Exc<-pt in the rarest cases the medical profession has,it is alleged, during the war only made paltry profits, sincethe overwhelming proportion has been mobilised and of theremainder most have given much of their time gratuitouslyto Red Cross work. The question has been submitted to thehighest financial authority, but should its decision beunfavourable to the doctors the Association has decided tomemorialise the Council of State, asking that the basis offiscal control should be the medical man’s ledger, the pro-duction of which is now contrary to the law of professionalsecrecy.

I Dec. 28th, 1918. __________________

CANADA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Influenza OM6.COMMENCING in late September, Canada has passed

through a terrible epidemic of influenza. It is yetimpossible to give any figures for the whole country, but thedeaths in Toronto reached as high as 150 on one day. In

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Canada the disease has not been made reportable or notifiableand no quarantine has been practised, but isolation has beenput into force to some extent by private practitioners and inhospitals. Toronto grappled with the epidemic by rapidlypreparing two emergency hospitals, one of which has notbeen used. Toronto’s health officer claims that that cityreached the crest of the epidemic much earlier than otherCanadian and American cities. Some physicians used aprophylactic vaccine and speak well of it, and the OntarioBard of Health participated in the making of such vaccine.That board discussed reporting, isolation, and quarantinein regard to influenza before the epidemic invaded the