883PARIS.-BUCHAREST.

obstinate and reluctant county council, the depart-ment fixed the salary at .El 000 a year, together withvouched expenses, expressing the opinion that such asalary was necessary in order to attract the bestcandidates. Under pressure from the county council,however, the department has now assented to a

salary of .E800, agreeing that " sufficiently satis-

factory candidates " can be attracted by that sum.The fall in demand from " the best " to " sufficientlysatisfactory " is ominous, particularly in view of thenecessity to the health of the metropolis of an efficienthealth service in the County Dublin.

A MEDICAL CENTENARIAN.

Last Saturday Deputy Inspector-General WilliamConnolly, R.N. (retired), of Corrig Road, Dunlaog-haire, Co. Dublin, received the congratulations of

many friends on celebrating his hundredth birthday.Dr. Connolly became a Licentiate of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Ireland in 1856, and immediatelyentered the Royal Navy as a surgeon. After a

distinguished service he retired in 1886. His servicelife therefore covered a period of extraordinaryrevolution in the Navy. Dr. Connolly is in excellenthealth of body and mind.

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

CHEMICALS IN BREAD.

THE recommendations of the commission appointedby the Academy of Medicine to study the introductionof chemicals into flour were discussed at a meeting ofthe Academy on March 17th. In its report thecommission criticised severely the use of chemicalsin this way, but Prof. Desgrez upheld the oppositeview, insisting that this employment of certainchemicals was warrantable both from the ecomonicand the hygienic point of view. He had conducteda series of experiments on animals, and had come tothe conclusion that the chemicals in question wereharmless. He accordingly asked the Academy todefer its decision pending the outcome of new experi-ments which he would like to see conducted by theSociété d’Hygie-ne AZimentai’te. The Academy in itsunanimous rejection of Prof. Desgrez’s amendment,incorporating the above views, condemned all chemicaltreatment of foodstuffs, and intimated that no

experience could be too lengthy in forming an opinionof the harmlessness of chemicals applied to articles ofdaily food. The ill-effects of such chemicals may take

long to appear, but when they have appeared theymay be irremediable.

THE DOCTOR-DENTIST.

Reference has already been made in these columnsto the proposal that dentistry shall be practisedin France only by duly qualified doctors. At the

opening of the discussion of this proposal at the

Academy of Medicine this principle was advocatedby a member of the commission appointed to study it.But at subsequent discussions opposition from variouscompetent quarters has been strongly voiced, and thecritics have included an ex-Minister of Health, Mr.Paul Strauss. Among the arguments broughtforward against the ultimate suppression of thedentist without a medical degree is the unsatisfactoryexperience of countries which have attempted thisinnovation. Its critics would rather see the non-

medical dentist given a better training than hereto-fore. Opposition is, of course, inevitable on the part

of the non-medical dentists themselves, however muchthey may be assured that the proposed change willimply professional and social promotion.

CERTIFICATION WITHOUT EXAMINATION.

The Court of Appeal of Grenoble has given judgmentin the case of a retired officer whose wife induced aDr. Thilly to certify him as insane without havingexamined him. As a result of his certification thisofficer was admitted to a lunatic asylum. He objectedstrenuously and his friends, intervening on his behalf,-secured his judicial examination by a board of threeexperts who came to the conclusion that he was.sane. Meanwhile he had been confined in the asylumfor 63 days. Accordingly, he sued his wife, Dr..

Thilly, and the medical superintendent of the asylumfor 400,000 francs. After losing the case in the firstinstance he appealed against the verdict as far as thetwo doctors were concerned. The Court of Appealupheld the original verdict acquitting the medicalsuperintendent of the asylum, but it awarded8000 francs to the officer as damages againstDr. Thilly, who had also to contribute towards the-costs of both suits.

BUCHAREST.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE IN RUMANIA.

INDUSTRIAL hygiene is relatively new in this

country, because formerly Rumania was almostwholly agricultural. Only since the war, whenRumania acquired new territories abounding inindustrial enterprises, has the problem of the regulationof industry cropped up. Those responsible have e

naturally tried to copy the most modern foreignsystems, and are working out a system that willcover the hygiene of workshops, of individual workers,and of working-people outside their employment.An Act passed in 1930 provides for periodic com-pulsory medical visits of all employees at the cost ofthe employer, but fails to lay down penalties for thosewho do not comply with this regulation. The lawof 1928 fixes the minimal age for factory workers at14 and makes employers verify the ages of adultsfrom their birth certificates. The minimal age fornight workers is 18. The law prescribes that inmines and in factories where the work may be badfor the lungs (brush and twine factories, flour mills,spice mills) employees must be examined quarterly.Pregnant women must not be employed after theend of the eighth month, or within six weeks afterchildbirth. During this free period they get a,

subsidy from the sickness insurance office, which

provides them also with free medical help. Workingwomen, who breast-feed their babies, may be admittedto industrial establishments only if there is a suitableplace, with a competent nurse, where their childrencan be left. This obligation refers to undertakingswith 50 hands or more.As regards the .health of workers outside their

employment there are as yet no orders and enactments.The authorities seem to feel that at present this sideis best left to private organisations.

REDUCTION OF THE HEALTH BUDGET.

Owing to economic difficulties the revenues of theState have so greatly decreased that expenditure isbeing restricted in every direction. As might be.expected, expenditure on health services has beenthe last to be curtailed, but the already unsatisfactory