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the Town Commissioners were ordered to proceed with adrainage scheme the town has increased enormously, and diffi-culties as regards the drainage have consequently multiplied.Fortunately for the University the Colleges have nearly alladopted their own system of sewage removal, and so to acertain extent are independent of the town; still, the un-fortunate undergraduates who have to live in lodgingssuffer, and complaints from them are not infrequent.

THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL.

FROM Milan, under date the 7th inst., a correspondent-vnites:--l’ His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil has been suffer-ing from fever since the 3rd inst., on which day he returnedto Milan after a prolonged visit to Lake Como, during whichhe stood for hours admiring the scenery from the bridge ofthe steamboat under a glowing sun. In the evening hisMajesty had a sharp rigor, and next day the temperaturewas so high that by the advice of his travelling physician,the Vicomte di Motta Moja, he abandoned his intention ofjourneying to Lucerne, and kept his bed. The fever- diminished during the day, but in the evening it againrose, and on the morning of the 5th it was still high.Professor Semmola, the head of the Neapolitan school,whose clinique the Emperor when in Naples attendedwith characteristic interest and assiduity, was sum-

moned by telegraph, and, pending his arrival, her

Majesty the Empress, with the approval of the Vicomte diMotta Moja, called Dr. Verga in consultation. Yesterday (the6th) his Majesty’s condition still inspired grave fears, andprayers for his recovery were, by the Empress’s command,offered up in a special morning service in the Church of SanFrancesco. To-day (the 7th) Professor Semmola arrived, andthe next bulletins will be watched with painful interest.Considering that the Emperor’s health has for some timebeen such that, but for high reasons of state, he wouldresign the cares that link with Empire’; considering,moreover, his Majesty’s intense, not always prudent, activityin such insanitary centres as Naples; considering, finally,the grave risks, in what the Italian physicians call sub-continuous fever,’ of complications,-it is difficult to ex-

aggerate the anxiety with which Professor Semmola.’s

prognosis is awaited." -

THE ETHICS OF MEDICAL ELECTIONS.

THE medical profession at Melbourne during the past yearhas been in a state of ferment by no means conducive tothe cultivation of fraternity, due to the action taken by thecommittee of the Medical Society towards one of its

members, who was attacked (it seems to us most unfairlyand unreasonably) for having, when applying for election tothe vacant office of physician to the Melbourne Hospital,issued a circular setting forth his claims to the post. The

controversy is not of very recent date, and may surely beallowed to sink into oblivion; but as our opinion has beendirectly sought-although we may remark that the Registrarof the Royal College of Physicians has already clearly ex-pressed the opinion that the member in question violated norule of the College by his action-we cannot wholly pass thematter by in silence. What we have to say amounts

imply to this. Let the profession of Melbourne at onceput an end to these unseemly displays of ill-feeling bysetting about in a determined fashion to alter the modeof election to the hospital offices. At present the electionto the staff takes place every four years, and the electorateconsists of some 3000 subscribers, who are canvassed by thecandidates and their supporters, and who also receive fromthe candidates cards urging them to give votes in theirfavour. It is needless to say that the dignity of the profes-sion is thereby dragged in the mire, and the scene before the

polling place last August must have resembled a boroughelection in the old days, with the additional scandal ofleading physicians and surgeons personally touting forthe support of the country voter. The candidate to

whom we have referred did no more than is invariablydone in any hospital election in Great Britain -viz ,issued a statement of his claims to the suffrages ofthe electors. And yet his conduct is held by many of hiscolleagues to be worthy of condemnation, whilst those whocirculated cards and employed other modes to gain voteswere thought to be beyond reproach. It seems to us thatno other course was open to him, so long as a large body oflaymen are considered fit judges of medical qualifications.Surely it is time that this absurd, and to the medicalprofession degrading, method of appealing for support toan unenlightened constituency should cease? All such

appointments should be made by a select committee, whoalone can sift and decide the merits of the candidates. Nordo we see much advantage in the quadrennial term of office ;although, if the ?node of election were altered, much that isdisagreeable in these repeated contests would be obviated.We trust, then, that we have heard the last of a systemwhich cannot but tend to lower the dignity of our pro-fession, and lessen the respect in which it is held by thepublic at large. -

MYXO-FIBROMA OF THE FIFTH DORSAL NERVE.

THIS interesting case, recorded by Dr. Bruce and Dr. Mottin Brain, No. 38, presented a history of rheumatism for fouryears before the growth extended into the spinal canal, asshown by the slowly increasing symptoms of pressure onthe spinal cord. The diagnosis lay between syphiliticgrowth, vertebral caries, tuberculous growth, sarcoma, or anuncommon non-malignant tumour. Syphilis was not likely,because of the history and of the failure of antispecifictreatment. No cause or sign of vertebral caries existed, andtubercular tumour and sarcoma were improbable, because ofthe absence of signs elsewhere and of the very slow courseof the disease. Myxomata of nerves are not uncommon, norare those commencing in the meninges rare; but this tumourbegan in the nerve and spread on to the cord-a decidedlyrare course. Such a tumour might have been successfully

treated by surgical interference.RICHMOND RURAL INFECTIOUS HOSPITAL.

THE inhabitants of this district, and especially those ofMortlake, are taking objection to a site for an infectioushospital which was sanctioned after public inquiry someconsiderable time ago. That the site is small is an un-

questionable fact, but that it is unsuited for a small hospitalwill probably be a more difficult one to prove.

THE BALANCE IN THE BOWER AND KEATS CASE.

THE committee of the Bower and Keats case are now

winding up the affairs with which they are charged. As

we intimated some time ago, they found themselves in theposition of having a sum of over X500 more than was

required to meet the expenses, notwithstanding that thelegal expenses were very large. The consent of the subscribers

*

was procured to the committee disposing of the surplusat their discretion. In the circular asking for this power,the committee expressed its inclination to give most ofthe money to some of the benevolent societies of the pro-fession, and some of it to members of the profession whohad been harassed by unprincipled or unsustained charges.We understand that the committee have made some progressin this distribution. They have resolved to give .E100 toMr. Hodgson, late of Lewisham, who was put to S500

expenses in his successful defence against charges by a