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recognised as privat-docent of External Pathology, Dr. NoèScalinci as privat-docent of Ophthalmology, and Dr. AnacletoRomano as privat-docent of Electro-therapeutics.TRAINED NURSES ANNUITY FUND.-A meeting

will be held on behalf of the Trained Nurses Annuity Fundat 19, Stratford-place, by kind permission of Emily, LadyAmpthill, on Wednesday next, April 27th, at 3.30 P.M.Lady Loch will preside and among the speakers will beMrs. Garrett Anderson, M.D., and Lady Helen MonroFerguson.THE STATE CHILDREN’S ASSOCIATION.- The fifth

report of the State Children’s Association dealing with theyears 1901-03 is a document which will repay careful

perusal. The association was founded in 1896 and seeks tobetter the condition of the large number of children

dependent on the rates, of whom 60,000 are wholly in chargeof the guardians. The objects of the association are :

(1) to obtain the dissolution of large aggregated schools, sothat the children may be brought up when possible infamilies or in small groups, where they will be in daily touchwith the varied interests and activities of social life ; (2) todissociate the children from all connexion with the work-house and the officials who have to deal with a pauper class ;and (3) to obtain for the State further powers of controlover neglected children. Through its Parliamentary com-mittee, by interviews and by memorials, the association hassecured attention from the Local Government Board to

necessary reforms, not only with regard to boarding out butto many points which concern the welfare of State childrengenerally. The report can be obtained (price 3d.) from theoffice of the association, 58, Old Broad-street. London, E.C.,or from Messrs. P. S. King and Son, 2 and 4, Great Smith-street, Westminster, S. W.

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: SECOND EXAMINATIONFOR THE DEGREES OF B.M. AND B.CH.-The Board of theFaculty of Medicine gives notice that on and after TrinityTerm, 1905, the whole of the regulations under the headIX. Forensic Medicine and Hygiene (see ExaminationStatutes, pp. 191, 192) will be struck out and the followingwill be substituted for them-viz. : " IX. Public Health andForensic Medicine. The examination shall consist of (1) awritten paper of three hours, (2) a vivâ voee examination.The subjects of the examination will be: Part I , PublicHealth.-1. Water.-Sources of supply. Questions relatingto (a) quantity, (b) quality, (c) storage, (d) distri-bution, (e) sources of pollution. 2. Food.-Diets inrelation to age and occupation. Principles involved in

estimating the sufficiency and wholesomeness of foods.Dangers due to specifically infective and toxic impurities.3. Air.-The chemical and bacteriological examination ofair with reference to its effects on health. Quantity andquality of air. Natural ventilation. Principles involved inartificial ventilation and warming of air. 4. Soil.-Prin-

ciples involved in the physical, chemical, and bacterio-

logical examination of soil with reference to its influence onhealth and to the presence of specific causes of disease.Ground and sub soil water. 5. D,7vellings. -Sites and struc-ture. Sanitary arrangements. The dwellings of the poor intowns and rural districts. The methods of the disposal ofexcreta in town and country. 6. Hospitals and schools.-Principles involved in the construction of general, surgical,and isolation hospitals and of schools. 7. Disinfection.-Ordinary methods of disinfecting rooms, clothing, bed-ding, and excreta. 8. Vitalstatistios.-The elementary inter-pretation of statistical data relating to births and deaths.Effects of age, distribution, density of population, occupa-tion, and infectious disease on mortality. 9. Offensive anddangerous trades. 10. Sanitary laws and administration.-A general knowledge will be required of the following : thelaw relating to the duties of medical officers of health ; therelations of the medical officer of health to the general prac-titioner of medicine ; general statutes and regulationsrelating to the notification and treatment of infectiousdisease, to the correction of nuisances generally, and ofinsanitary conditions in houses ; the law relating to vaccina-tion. 11. Infectious disease.-The prophylaxis againstenteric fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and small-pox,and the methods to be adopted in preventing the spreadof infectious disease. Part II., Forensic Medicine.-I. Theproceedings of legal tribunals with reference to medicalevidence and the conduct of medico-legal investigations.II. The subjects to which medical evidence relates-namely :

1. Life.-Expectation of life, life insurance, identity of theliving, proofs of criminal violence, general nature of injuries.2. Death.-Signs and modes of death, time of death, deathfrom natural causes, death by violence, accident, poisoning(including poisoning by gases), starvation, asphyxia. 3.Birth and reproduction.-Conception and gestation, livingand still-birth, criminal abortion, impotence, sterility,violation, unnatural offences. 4. Lunacy.-The laws re-

lating to lunacy."THE ROYAL WATERLOO HOSPITAL FOR CHILD-

REN AND WOMEN -The first section of the new buildingsof this hospital was opened for inspection by the press onApril 20th. At present, however, only the out-patientdepartment is apparently far enough advanced for use.

When fully completed the new buildings will contain pro-vision for about 200 beds with a separate nurses’ home. Theportion of the hospital now in progress provides forabout 100 beds, and the out-patient department, whichoccupies the whole of the lower ground floor, is ap-proached from Waterloo-road with separate entrances andexits. The ground floor contains the administrative offices,with accommodation for secretary, committee, matron,resident medical staff waiting-rooms, hall and entrance

porch, situate at the corner of Waterloo-road and Stamford-street. The first, second, and third floors are devoted tothe wards. Each ward has an open balcony facing Waterloo-road, with separate sister’s room and ward scullery. Thebath rooms and sanitary offices are separated by a venti-lated corridor on each floor. Provision is made for aday-room on the first floor, an isolation ward on thesecond floor, and an operating theatre on the thirdfloor. The fourth floor is reserved for the kitchen officesand bedrooms for the staff. A hydraulic patients’ lift andservice lifts from top to bottom of the building are provided.The floors are of fire- resisting construction throughout.Hydrants with fire-hose will be attached to each land-ing and an iron escape staircase will be provided outsidewith exits from every floor. The heating will be by hotwater, and electric light will be provided throughout.The front of the new buildings is of red brick and terra-cotta. The corner entrance porch is of glazed ware, the costof which is being defrayed by Messrs. Doulton and Co. as agift to the hospital. The contractors are Messrs. Hollidayand Greenwood, Limited, and the architects are Messrs.Waring and Nicholson of 38, Parliament-street, London, S.W.

Parliamentary Intelligence.NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

Another Weights and Measures Bill.A BILL introduced by Mr. BOUSFIELD to secure greater uniformity in

the administration of the law relating to weights and measures hasbeen read a second time in the House of Commons and referred to the

standing committee on law. It will be recollected that a Bill for theintroduction of the metric system of weights and measures was pre-sented in the House of Lords some six weeks ago. In the interval ithas been read a second time and considered and amended in com-

mittee. but an incident that occurred in the second reading debateof the Bill "to secure greater uniformity" seems to foreshadowits fate when it reaches the Lower Chamber. In the fourthsection of Mr. BousFiELD’s Bill it was proposed that afterJan. 1st, 1908, troy weight and apothecaries’ weight should be

abolished in favour of the metric system. Several members

approved of this. It was stated, indeed, that 20 per cent. of theMembers of the House were willing to support the introduction ofthe metric system. But as the debate proceeded it became clear thatthe retention of the section would wreck the Bill and Mr. BOUSFIELDwas compelled to promise that in committee he would withdrawthe proposal. Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, speaking later, said he was gladto learn of this decision. It was a wise one and he ventured to think

that the provision ought never to have been introduced into the Billat all. The fringe only of the question was touched and it raised verygreat difficulties without solving them. It certainly would haveraised against the Bill the opposition of those trades which weremore directly concerned with the troy and the apothecaries’ weightsand if the promoters had insisted on regarding it as a vital part ofthe Bill he would have felt bound to oppose it on behalf of the

Government.Tuberc2sdoais in Animals.

Another Bill which has been read a second time during the week andreferred to a committee deals with the question of tuberculosis inanimals. The promoters’ contention is contained in these words:

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"Whereas it frequently happens that it is impossible to detect thepresence of tuberculosis in a living animal from its outward appearanceand yet such disease may exist to an extent which may justify thecondemnation of the carcass after slaughter as unfit for human food,it is expedient to make provision for compensating the owner." Fromthe medical point of view three of the speeches were interesting.Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, who presided over the Royal Commissionwhich reported six years ago, complained that nothing had beendone to give effect to the recommendations of that Commission.If the question of tuberculous disease in cattle had been properlygrappled with in this country as it had been in certain continentalStates any grievance would, in his opinion, have been removed andthe question of compensation would not have arisen. It was with a

feeling akin to shame that they must contemplate what had been donein coping with tuberculosis successfully and practically and with theconcurrence of the people in a small State like Denmark, while noattempt was made in this country to stamp out this most destructivedisease. Dr. FARQUHAR’,30N pointed out that it was a very serious factthat while consumption among grown persons had decreased the samedisease among children was largely increasing and the problem waswhether this was not due to tuberculous milk, and Dr. HUTCHINSONprotested against the attempts to stop the Bill which was, in his

opinion, for the benefit of the public health.

S2cperann2cation of Irish Poor-law Medical Officers.Mr. T. W. RUSSELL has brought in a Bill to provide superannuation

for Poor-law medical officers in Ireland.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL. 13TH.Vivisection of Dogs.

Five minutes before midnight Sir FREDERICK BANBURY moved in asentence the following motion : "That in the opinion of this House nooperations for the purposes of vivisection should be performed ondogs." As was inevitable in the circumstances the proposal wastalked out."

An Error of Judgment.Mr. GRIFFITH BOSCAWEN asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord

Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention had been called to theaction of Dr. Tierney, J.P., in adjudicating at petty sessions at Clonesin cases where he had already acted as medical adviser to, and hadaccepted fees from, one of the parties: whether a specific case wasbrought before the Lord Chancellor on Jan. 2nd last; and, if so,whether any notice had been taken of Dr. Tierney’s conduct.-Mr.WYNDHAM replied : This case was brought to the notice of the LordChancellor who upon consideration of all the circumstances arrived atthe conclusion that official action in the matter was not called for.Steps were taken, however, to convey to the justice named an intima-tion that the Lord Chancellor considered he had been guilty of an errorof judgment in adjudicating in the case in question.

Medical Officers in the Highlands.Mr. CATHCART WASON asked the Secretary for Scotland whether he

would say what system, if any, was adopted by parish councils in theHighlands and Islands of Scotland to acquaint the medical officer ofthe sicKness of paupers, more especially those situated at a considerabledistance from his residence; whether the rules as to medical relief ofthe poor were strictly adhered to by parish councils in remote parishesin the Highlands and Islands of Scotlands, or whether these localbodies were permitted by the Local Government Board to place limita-tions on them to suit the convenience of the general public, and. ifso, whether the Board would take steps to satisfy itselt that a laxitywith regard to its rules was to the advantage of the paupers; andwhether the medical officers were required to visit the houses of paupersthroughout the parish at short intervals to ascertain if the pauperswere ill. or whether it was the duty of inspectors of poor to intimateto the medical officers when the paupers were requiring medical andsurgical attention. Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY replied : The matterstouched upon in the question of the honourable Member are dealtwith in the report (already submitted to the House) of the Depart-mental Committee appointed by the Local Government Board forScotland to inquire into the system of Poor-law medical relief, &e.That report wilt shortly be available and I beg to refer the honourableMember to the recommendations contained in it.

The Plague in India.Sir WALTER FOSTER asked the Secretary of State for India whether

he could give the number of deaths from plague in India and theBombay and Bengal districts respectively for the four weeks endingMarch 26th.-Mr. BRODRICK replied: Except as regards the BombayPresidency the returns of plague deaths in India received up to to-dav donot go beyond the week ended March 19th. The totals for the threeweeks ended on that date are 13,187 for Bengal, 24,390 for the BombayPresidency, and 102,962 for the whole of India, including the above.The number of plague deaths in the Bombay Presidency alone duringthe month of March was 35,416.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14TH.The Plague at Hong-Kong.

Answering Sir WALTER FOSTER Mr. LYTTELTON said : According tothe weekly telegraphic reports from Hong-Kong on the subject, whichare regularly communicated to the press as soon as received, therehave been 11 cases of plague and 11 deaths at Hong-Kong this yearup to April 9th. 1 have received no detailed report as to the occur-rence of plague during the current year but I have given instructionsthat a report of the acting medical officer of health on the epidemic ofplague during the first seven months of last year, which has just been ’,received, should be sent to the honourable Member.

Inoculation for Plague. ,

Sir JOHN ROLLESTON asked the Colonial Secretary whether, in viewof the results of serum inoculation for plague in India, he would

prohibit the use of plague serum in Johannesburg.-Mr. LYTTELTONreplied: I am not prepared to interfere with the local medical authori.ties in this matter and I am not aware of any reasons for the sug.gested prohibition of the use of plague serum to which no objection istaken by my medical advisers.

Adulterated spirits.Mr. MACVEAGH asked whether the attention of the Government had

been called to a recent decision of the Justiciary Appeal Court ofScotland declaring it illegal to describe and to sell as brandy a mixtureof patent spirits and brandy and upholding a conviction by theSheriff Court of Hamilton under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts forthis offence; whether they were aware that the officer,3 of exciseand customs were compelled by their regulations to allow, inthe Government bonded warehouses, German spirit to be labeledas brandy and English spirit as Scotch whisky, and whethersuch legislation would be promoted or such alterations in the exciseand customs regulations made as would render it impossible for thesefrauds to be perpetrated under official supervision. - Mr. CAVENDISHreplied that the regulations of the Boards of Customs and InlandRevenue merely prescribed that revenue officers were not to concernthemselves in any way with labels placed on spirits issued from bondfor home consumption beyond seeing that the labels did not containany expression implying official supervision. It was not possible underthe rules that German spirit should be labeled in bond as whisky.

MONDAY, APRIL 18TH.

Treatment of Lunatics.Mr. SLOAN asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of

Ireland whether his attention had been called to the practice of takinglunatics to the workhouses without first having them certified by amedical practitioner or examined by a magistrate as prescribed by law;and, if so, whether he would say in what circumstances it waspermissible to admit such cases without the necessary safeguards tothe safety of the persons; and whether instructions would be givenfor the carrying out of the law in this respect ?-Mr. WYNDHAM replied:A person of unsound mind who is primd facie destitute is entitled tobe admitted to a workhouse. It is not legally necessary that he shallbe certified by a medical practitioner or examined by a magistratebefore admission. But such a person may, after admission, be trans.ferred to a lunatic asylum if the circumstances justify the transfer.

Deaf an Dumb Children.Mr. CLANCY asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant

of Ireland whether he meant to deal this session with the question ofextending to Ireland the provisions regarding deaf and dumb childrenwhich have been in force in England for several years past and underwhich a sum of 2-37 090 for deaf, blind, and defective children inEngland has been placed on the Estimates for the current year, whileno grant is made for such a purpose in Ireland.-Mr. WYNDHAMreplied : I hope to be able to deal with this matter by legislationduring the present session but I cannot at present give a pledge.

Appointments.successful applicants for Vacancies, Secretaries of Public Inatitutione,

and others posses]sing information suitable for this column, areinvited to forward to THE LANCET Office, directed to the Sub.Editor, not later than 9 o’clock on the Thursdav morning of eachweek, such information for gratuitous publication.

ABBAX, G. STEWART, B.A., M.B., B.C. Cantab., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.Lond.. has been appointed Junior Assistant Physician to the RoyaBerkshire Hospital.

ADAM, J. WILSJN, M.B., C.M. Glasg.. has been appointed MedicalPhysician to the Aberdeen Dispensary.

ANDERSON, C. A.. M B.. M.S. Edin., has been appointed Assistant HouseSurgeon to the Portsmouth Hospital.

BURNET, JAMES, M.A., M.B., M.R.C.P. Edin., has been appointedRegistrar to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

COWIE, JAMES M., M D. Aberd., D.P.H., has been appointed MedicalOfficer of Health and Public Analyst for the County Borough ofBurton-upon-Trent.

ELLis, L. ERASMUS, M.D. Brux., M.1t.C.S. Eng., L.R.C.P. Lond.,L.S.A., has been appointed Clinical Assistant at St. John’s Hos.pital for Diseases of the Skin, Lpicester-square, London, W.C.

GLEGG. R. ASHLEMH:, M-B., D.P.H. Edin., has been appointedAssistant Medical Officer of Health of Leith, and ResidentPhysician to Leith Public Health Hospital.

LLOYD, WILLIAM. F.R.C.S., has been appointed Surgeon in Charge ofthe Nose, Ear, and Throat Department, St. Pdneras and GreatNorthern Dispensary, W.C.

Mom. D. R., M.A., M. B. Aberd., has been appointed Visiting Surgeonto the Hull and Sculcoates Dispensary.

PENTREATH, C. H. R., B.A., M.B., B.C. Cantab., has been appointedResident Medical Superintendent of the Government Sanatoriumfor Consumption, Cambridge, New Zealand.

WALL, CECIL, M.A., M.D. Oxon., M.R.C.P. Lond., has been appointedHonorary Physician to the Poplar Hospital.

Vacancies.For f further information regarding each vacancy reference should be

made to the advertisement (see Index).

BRADFORD ROYAL INFIRMARY.-Dispensary Surgeon, unmarried.Salary .E100 per annum, with board and residence.

BRIGHTON, HOVE. AND SUSSEX THROAT AND EAR HOSPITAL, Church-street, Queen’s-road, Brighton.-Honorary Consulting Surgeon,also Honorary Surgeon.