564 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF NEW YORK.

THE BENEVOLENT FUND OF THE BRITISHDENTAL ASSOCIATION.

IN the report of the annual meeting of the British Dental SAssociation at Edinburgh, which appeared in our issue of Sept. a

6th, pressure on our space compelled us to omit the first annual fi

report of the above Benevolent Fund,which was inaugurated n

last year at Plymouth. The managing committee, through its v

chairman, Mr. John Tomes, reported that the fund was poriginally intended to be applied only to the relief of dnecessitous members of the Association, their widows and c

orphans ; but, several most urgent cases having a1Ïsen during 1the year, it became necessary to extend the field of usefulness, i

and the rules as now amended permit of help being given to lany deserving cases of necessity, with the sole proviso that Ithe recipients must be registered dentists or the widows or corphans of such, strict inquiry being made. The treasurer 1(Mr. A. J. Woodhouse) reported that the donations and I

subscriptions promised and received amounted to j684:818s., ,and that relief had been administered to the extent of about,Í,120 in eight cases in all. Sir Edwin Saunders, one of thetrustees, said that i530 had been invested in Consols, andthe vice-chairman, Mr. Dennant, explained that the com-mittee had no intention of pauperising those aided, but ofrelieving " the distress of the widow, the helplessness of theorphan, and the dire misfortune of sudden calamity over-taking a professional brother." Their desire was to help thewidows to earn their own living, and to find homes andeducation for the orphans. Mr. S. J. Hutchinson, whoacted as honorary secretary (in the absence of Mr. OakleyColes), stated that a local committee for Scotland had beenformed by the Scottish Branch at this meeting, and that inthe two dental schools in London, and in that of Edinburgh,it was proposed to establish free scholarships in the event ofany of the pupils now being educated at the cost of the fund,deserving free education at any of these hospitals, whichwould most likely be granted by the medical staff ofevery dental school in the kingdom.

REPORTS OF THE STATE BOARD OFHEALTH OF NEW YORK.

A VALUABLE series of special reports has been issued bythe State Board of Health of New York, each report dealing 4with some one special subject, and being complete in itself ; iand in this respect they very much resemble the reports of Ithe inspectors of the Medical Department of the LocalGovernment Board in this country. But they are by nomeans confined to medical subjects ; one, for example, givesan exhaustive account on the drainage of the Tonawandaand Oak-Orchard Swamps, and another deals with thesystem of sewerage for the village of Peekskill, and theselatter might justly form a type of the species of report which,in our opinion, should issue from the engineering departmentconnected with our Central Sanitary Board. From thediagrams attached to some of the reports, we observe thatthrough-ventilation of house-drains is strongly advocated,but the arrangement of openings by which it is effecteddiffers from that suggested in the annotated model bye-lawsin use here, for the two openings are much on the samelevel, both being secured by means of pipes carried to thetop of the house. A more certain way of ensuring a throughcurrent of fresh air would be to have the inlet openingnearest to the house side of the drain-trap on the groundlevel, the more distant one, or the outlet one, alone beingcarried above the house. So also, the sewer itself is venti-lated by means of a pipe carried up above the house. What--ever advantages attach to this system, it could not be en.forced here under the Public Health Act, which limits anyregulations as to ventilation &c. to house drains, the publicsewers not being included.

THE PROPOSED NEWBURY DISTRICT HOSPITAL.At a meeting of the general committee held last week, itwas decided to obtain plans for a hospital of eight beds,allowing 1200 cubic feet for each patient, with provision foran extension to twelve beds.

THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC.

CHOLERA still clings with much tenacity to Naples and toSpezia, both of them towns where the sanitary circumstancesare eminently favourable to the extension of a disease whichfinds its principal means of diffusion in conditions of excre.mental pollution. At Naples the diminution in the fatality,which commenced some ten days ago, is still steadily inprogress, the more recent records showing that about 150deaths take place daily. In Spezia the severity of the epi.

L demic is liable to considerable fluctuations. Thus, on the. 18th inst. the deaths were nine in number, next day they, rose to thirty, now again they are reduced to seven and nine3 a, day. In the other parts of Italy previously infected not material outburst has taken place, but the diffusion of ther disease in the province of Naples is considerable, and a freshr province-namely, that of Ascoli, is now reported as in-1 fected. At Rome another case has occurred, but it may be, hoped that the means of isolation and other measures avail.Lt able will prevent any extension of the disease. In Francee the epidemic is more quiescent ; a few deaths occur almostd daily in Toulon and Marseilles, and at Perpignan, wherei- the largest mortality is now maintained, five deaths a day are)f not unusual. As regards Spain, the contradictory statements.e as to whether cholera is really prevalent or not are stillr- maintained, but it is quite certain that the Government feelie no hesitation upon the point, for they daily record the cholera.d deaths in the province of Alicante, and now also in that10 of Tarragona, and they maintain by means of the troops a;y sanitary cordon round the places that are infected. The

m extension of the disease into the province of Tarragona hasin taken place notwithstanding the cordon. On the subject ofh. land quarantines it is noteworthy that Dr. Proust, the chiefof French sanitary inspector, has reported that the extensionsd, of cholera which have taken place, both into Italy and Spain,ch of themselves suffice to show that quarantines in populousof districts are not only useless but that they become centres

from which the disease diffuses itself. He now advocates,in the place of these effete measures, the rigorous enforce.ment of measures of public health, coupled with propermedical inspection at certain centres along the principallines of human traffic.

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QUARANTINE AND INFECTED PORTS.

by At Gibraltar quarantine on vessels arriving from Italy is1139 extended from seven to fourteen days, and all vessels arriv-Lf; ing from Indian ports are subjected to twenty-four hours’of quarantine. All arrivals from Spanish ports are subjected

cal to a quarantine of fourteen days, and all arrivals from theno Mediterranean ports of Spain are ordered to quit Gibraltar.ves Vessels from Naples are subjected to ten days’ quarantineIda in the rest of the continental littoral of Italy.the Quarantine at the frontier of Italy, in the provinces ofese Turin, Cuneo, and Port Maurizio is abolished.ch In Greece vessels from Tunis are subjected to a quarantineLent of five days’ observation.the Vessels arriving from Spanish ports are refused admittancehat in ports of Morocco. The same regulation is still maintainedted as regards vessels arriving from France, Italy, and Algeria.;ted From Nice it is reported that the quarantine at the Var foraws passengers arriving at that town from the East has beename abolished.the At Malta passengers coming from England are to make,ugh before embarking, a statutory declaration that they haveling not been during twenty-one days immediately precedingund their departure from England in any district on the Con-

tinent infected by cholera. This declaration must be pro-3uti. duced on arrival at Malta, otherwise passengers will not behat- allowed to land and the vessel will be kept in quarantine.en- The infected districts are Italy, Spain, and France south ofany Lyons. Arrivals from French and Spanish ports in thetbiic Atlantic will be subjected to twenty-one days’ quarantine.

Arrivals from ports beyond the Smz Canal are admitted to- pratique, provided no passengers or merchandise have been-

shipped at any ports in Egypt, in the Red Sea, or the Medi-TAL. terranean.k, it At Pernambuco vessels arriving from Europe are subjectedbeds, to quarantine ranging in length from twenty-four hours ton for ten days.

At Odessa and other Black Sea and Sea of Azoff ports,