465MANCHESTER.-SCOTLAND,-IRELAND.

Ptomaine Poisoning.An inquest held by the Manchester city coroner on

August 9th illustrates the risks people run of ptomainepoisoning and the prevalent ignorance, spoken of alreadywith almost wearisome iteration, as to the proper feeding ofinfants. A family ate some braised beef which had beenbought from a confectioner. The father, mother, andchildren were all taken ill afterwards and the youngest child,16 months old, who had, like the rest, eaten this braised beef,died. The confectioner had bought the beef from a butcheron the Thursday. It was cooked immediately and pressed thesame evening. On the Saturday evening the last of it was soldto the unfortunate family who suffered so severely, and theconfectioner had been told of eight other people who hadbeen made ill. The butcher s,; id that he bought the meat freshon the Tuesday from the abattoirs, put it in brine, and soldit two days later. On the Saturday evening the beef waseaten, the whole family was ill on the Sunday, and on theWednesday, in spite of treatment, the baby died. Dr. Scott,who attended them, said that the child died from ptomainepoisoning and that the " poison might exist in an article offood without being discoverable by ordinary individuals."These "cadaveric alkaloids " are of such frequent occur-rence and so unsuspected that they should stimulate inquiryas to some method of detection.

Death Certificates.The city coroner made some strong comments the other

day about giving certificates of death. It seems that twostudents from St. Mary’s Hospital attended a confinementand the newly born child died. They could not, of course,give a certificate and the mother’s sister was told to gofrom person to person at the hospital and eventually, itis said, obtained a certificate signed by a medical man,"purporting that the person supplying it was present atthe birth." " The coroner said that, " as a matter offact, the doctor was not present and had no businessto supply the certificate." The jury gave a verdict of"Death from natural caases." In the absence of further

explanation it must be allowed that the coroner was right inhis remarks. Although a difficulty as to the death certificatemay cause inconvenience to friends, from which a good-natured medical man will wish to relieve them, it does notjustify him in going beyond the strict facts of the case andin giving an inaccurate certificate.August 14th.

SCOTLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Work in Scotland under the Inen’J’iates A efs.

Dr. James C. Dunlop has just issued his report on the workdone in Scotland under the Inebriates Acts. At the com-mencement of the year there were in Scotland six institu-tions licensed or certified for the treatment or reformation ofinebriates. Of these one was a State reformatory, four werecertified inebriate reformatories, and one was a licensedretreat. During the year no fresh certificates or licenceshave been granted, but all the above-mentioned six havecontinued. The number of persons being dealt with inthese institutions, or temporarily absent from them at thecommencement of the year, was 107 ; of these 27were in a retreat, 47 were in certified inebriate re-

formatories, 12 were in the State inebriate reformatory, and21 were temporarily absent from reformatories. Admissionsduring the year numbered 108, 63 being to a retreat, 36 tocertified inebriate reformatories, and nine to the Stateinebriate reformatory. Discharges during the year numbered102, of whom 62 were from a retreat, 31 from certifiedinebriate reformatories, and nine from the State inebriatereformatory. There were transfers from certified inebriatereformatories to the State inebriate reformatory. At the endof the year there were in all 113 persons being dealt with,of whom 28 were in a retreat, 56 were in certified inebriatereformatories, 16 were in the State inebriate reforma-tory, and 13 were temporarily absent from reformatories.The total number of persons dealt with during the yearamounted to 215, of whom 100 were patients in a retreat, 18were reformatory inmates sentenced under Section 23 of the1898 Act, and 97 were reformatory inmates sentenced under

Section 24 of that Act. As was the case last year, there isin Scotland only one retreat licensed in terms of the HabitualDrunkards Act, 1879, for the reception and treatment ofvoluntary patients. This retreat, Invernith Lodge, situatedin the county of Fife and conducted by Mr. J. Q. Donald,has accommodation for the treatment of 30 inmatesand is licensed for the detention of 22 cases admittedin terms of the 1879 Act. Dr. Dunlop states thathe visited and inspected this retreat on several occa-

sions during the year and was satisfied that the institu-’tion was being conducted in an exemplary manner. It is

interesting to note that out of the 185 cases discharged sincethe opening of this institution it has been possible to tracethe subsequent history in 142. Out of these 78, or 55 percent., have by remaining free from the habit, given evidenceof successful issue. To put it more exactly, 45 have beentotal abstainers for a period of at least a year, while 33 bybeing abstainers since discharge, though the period elapsedhas not amounted to a year, may be considered as hopefulcases. Dr. Dunlop in his report points out that this retreatis only for persons of the moneyed classes, and that thereis no licensed accommodation for the voluntary receptionand treatment of male inebriates of the poorer classes, andnone for the voluntary reception of female inebriates ofeither the moneyed or the poorer classes.

Appointment to the Clecair of Physiology, Glasgo71J.The King has been pleased, on the recommendation of the

Secretary for Scotland, to appoint Dr. Diarmid Noel Paton,superintendent of the laboratory of the Royal College ofPhysicians of Edinburgh, to be Regius Professor of Physiologyin the University of Glasgow, in place of Professor JohnGray McKendrick, who has recently resigned. The newprofessor of physiology is the eldest son of the late Sir NoelPaton, R S.A., and was born in 1859. He was educated atEdinburgh Academy and University and also at Vienna andParis. He was Baxter scholar in natural science in 1882 andbiological Fellow of the University of Edinburgh in 1884. Hewas appointed lecturer on physiology in the School of Medicineof the Royal Colleges, Edinburgh, in 1886, and three yearslater received the appointment which he will now vacate.He served on the Royal Commission on Salmon Fisheries in1900. His numerous publications consist mainly of paperson physiological and fishery subjects.

Partick and Cerebro-spinal Meningitis.At the monthly meeting of the Partick town council held

this week Dr. G. A. Brown, medical officer of health, reportedthat during July four cases of cerebro-spinal meningitiswere removed to the hospital. Of the four cases, threeoccurred in one family and all affected were children. Atthe next meeting a proposal is to be brought before thecouncil to add this disease for a period of two years to thelist of compulsorily notifiable diseases under the InfectiousDisease (Notification) Act. As noted in THE LANCET, thismeasure has already been adopted by the health committeeof Glasgow.August 14th.

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IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

University Education in Ireland.MANY letters have appeared in the morning papers on this

subject, especially with reference to the Royal Commissionof inquiry which will meet in October. A section of theRoman Catholic laity has expressed its opinion that whatis called the" Bonn University scheme " should be con-

sidered. It proposes that Trinity College should be re-

organised and practically transformed into a mixedcollege for Protestant and Roman Catholic students. As

might have been anticipated, Dr. Walsh, the Roman CatholicArchbishop of Dublin, has written that such a schemewas futile and would only uselessly delay the timeoccupied by the Commission of inquiry. In a sub-sequent letter the Archbishop stated that there is "no

college within the University of Bonn and thereforethere is no college there with two faculties of theology,Roman Catholic and Protestant, with two places of worship;therefore Bonn supplies no precedent for the adoption of the