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DR. GREGORY, the Medical Officer of Health of the West-

houghton Local Board, in a recent report to his sanitaryauthority, pronounced it his opinion that 25 per cent. of thedeaths registered would not have occurred "had yourboard, or inspector, or predecessors, or all of you done yourduty." Although the death-rate in Westhoughton lastyear did not exceed 19 per 1000, the medical officer of

health is so confident that it may be reduced that he hasoffered to devote the whole of his stipend for 1878 tocharitable purposes, if the sanitary condition of the town-ship is not previously improved. This offer shows not onlyan encouraging confidence in the value of sanitarymeasures, but a simple trust that the sanitary authoritywill earnestly carry out such measures as may be proposed;it is to be hoped that he is not doomed to disappointment inthis trust.

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THE annual meeting of the (Dreadnought) Seamen’s HospitalSociety was held on the 3rd inst., Capt. the Hon. F. Maude,R.N. (who presided in the unavoidable absence of the LordMayor) being in the chair. The report and the resolutionsthat followed show that vigorous efforts are being made,and must for some time be made, to put the Society on asound financial footing. Speeches bearing mainly uponthis point were made by the Right Hon. A. S. Ayrton, Mr.George Duncan, Mr. Lidgett, the Consuls-General for

Norway, Sweden, Hungary, and Austria, Mr. Milward, Q.C.,and others. The hospital has, during the year, receivedmore than 2000 patients; and as the old Dreadnoughtestablishment is more cosmopolitan in character than anyother hospital in the kingdom, we shall await with interestthe publication of the annual medical report.

THE more vigilant scrutiny into the merits of applicantsfor hospital relief, instituted by the Central Relief Societyof Liverpool, seems to have had considerable effect in

lessening the number of cases administered to by the Ladies’Charity and Lying-in-Hospital of that town. The report ofthis institution, read at a meeting of its subscribers on the7th inst., also referred to the increasing numbers of candi-dates for midwifery instruction. The in-door hospital casesbeing found insufficient for the purpose, it has been deemedexpedient to allow the pupils to avail themselves of thedistrict midwives’ cases in out-door labours. This changehas caused the autumn lectures to be suspended, so as not

to overcrowd the list of those waiting to complete theircourse of instruction.

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THE Chairman of the Brown Institution Committee has

given notice to the Senate of the University of Londonthat an arrangement has been entered into between thatCommittee and the Council of the Royal AgriculturalSociety, under which a scientific inquiry into pleuro-pneumonia and the foot-and-mouth disease will be carriedout at the expense of the Society, by the Professor-Super-intendent of the Brown Institution, the veterinary assistantat the institution being permitted to act from time to timeas the Society’s veterinary inspector at a fixed scale ofremuneration.

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THE fifth annual Congress of German Surgeons will beheld at the Berlin University from the 5th to 8th of Aprilunder Von Langenbeck’s presidency. The invitation to

members has been issued with a wish that the Congressmay be, more than has hitherto been the case, an occasionfor exhibiting and demonstrating anatomical preparations,pathological specimens, bandages, instruments, apparatus,photographs, drawings, and plaster-of-Paris casts. Weunderstand that the number of specialists attending lastyear’s meeting was rather less than was expected.

PROFESSOR FLOWER, F.R.S., will commence his course ofnine Lectures at the College of Surgeons on Monday next,February 14th, "On the Relation of Extinct to ExistingMammalia," in conclusion of his course of 1873. Theselectures will be delivered on each Monday, Wednesday,and Friday, in the theatre of the College, at 4 P.M., untilcompleted. Professor Parker will then begin his courseof nine lectures "On the Shoulder-Girdle, and Fore limbof Vertebrata." The lectures of Professor R. Brudenell

Carter, F.R.C.S., "On Questions in Ophthalmic Surgery,"and of Professor Turner, of the University of Edinburgh," On the Comparative Anatomy of the Placenta, with specialreference to the Human Placenta," will not take place untilJune.

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THE President of the Local Government Board appears tobe animated by a laudable desire to obtain a practical know-ledge of the difficulties which it is alleged, by manufacturersand others, would operate against the application of a goodRivers’ Pollution Act. Mr. Sclater-Booth lately visited themanufacturing districts in Yorkshire, where he inspectedvarious sewage and other works, and was enabled to observethe fouling of some rivers at the points where they receivepolluting matter. The experience gathered in this way will,we hope, be utilised in the course of the present session,which, it is felt by all who are not manufacturers, shouldnot be allowed to pass without introducing a satisfactoryBill for securing the purity of running streams.

THE annual report of the sanitary condition of Newingtonfor 1874-5 has recently been issued. The mortality of the-district, which contains a population of about 90,000, was2567 per thousand annually. In the mortality tablescollected by Dr. Iliff, medical officer of health, 54 deathsare referred to cancer, while one death comes under the-ominous heading of execution. There was no specialmanifestation of zymotic disease brought under notice inthe year. A good deal of improvement was effected in thematter of drainage, but it is clear from the instances givenof the contamination of water supplied to dwelling-housesthat much more remains to be done.

THE Medical Superintendents of Lunatic Asylums inIreland have memorialised the Chief Secretary on thesubject of their superannuation allowance which they allegeto be inadequate and unfair as compared with the pensionsaccorded to other civil officials. One undoubted grievanceof the class is the obligation of serving a long term ofyears continuously in one asylum before being entitled to,superannuation. A deputation which waited upon the

Government representative last week urged that medicalsuperintendents should be paid directly by the State insteadof by the ratepayers. The stereotyped answer was given onthe occasion.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

DR. Lusg has given notice that he will, on Feb. 14th, askthe Secretary of State for War if the changes in the ArmyMedical Department, indicated in his speech towards theclose of the last session of Parliament, are likely soon to becarried out.Mr. Gibson has also given notice that he will ask the

Secretary for War whether his attention had been called toa published statement to the effect that the next competi-tive examination for entrance in the Army Medical Servicehad been dispensed with in consequence of there having’been only six competitors for forty vacancies.A Bill will be introduced by Mr. Cowper-Temple to amend

the Medical Act of 1858 in regard to the registration ofwomen.