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in the University of Rome, publishes in the Poli-clinico, Sezione Pratica, of Feb. lst an open letterto the Director-General of Public Health drawingattention to the frequency of disease of the milkteeth, with statistics of an examination of 1000children between the ages of 3 and 6. Thesestatistics show a percentage of 49’6 of cases ofdental caries with 1522 teeth so diseased. 673children had teeth encrusted with tartar ; 66were suffering from gingivitis; and 14 had truepyorrhcea alveolaris. In 289 cases the jaws did notmeet properly. He points out the necessity of

proper care and supervision of the temporary teethfor the sake of the children’s digestion, and thepreservation and proper alignment of the perma-nent set.

A Curious Incident.

Recently M. Rosa, of Bergamo, was examining awounded man in the out-patient room of thehospital, when the man who had committed theassault entered and attacked the doctor. The latterwas obliged to make use of his revolver and shothis aggressor in the abdomen. He proceeded im-mediately to extract the bullet. The wound provednot to be serious. The man was placed underarrest in the hospital.April llth.

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SOUTH AFRICA.Insane Persons in Prisons.

THE report of the Director of Prisons for 1912,which has just been issued, shows that during thatyear only 485 lunatics and’ suspected lunatics werereceived into penal institutions, as compared with766 in the previous year. This reduction is doubt-less mainly due to the operation of the Prisons andReformatories Act of 1911, which prohibits the in-carceration of lunatics in gaol in districts wherelunatic asy ums and public hospitals (other thaninfectious diseases hospitals) are provided. Thereduction in the number of persons admitted to

penal institutions on the ground of lunacy is

especially notable in the case of Europeans. Only72 European males and 10 European females wereso dealt with in the Union prisons in 1912, as com-pared with 170 and 22 respectively in 1911. Thenumbers are still, however, large enough to call forfurther consideration of any possible means of

avoiding the necessity for confining lunatics and

alleged lunatics in the same institution withcriminals. Out of the 485 cases dealt with by theprison authorities, only 318 were certified as insaneand removed to lunatic asylums. The remaining167 were discharged after a period of incarceration.

Miners’ Plathisis.Dr. W. Watkins-Pitchford, the director of the

South African Institute for Medical Research,Johannesburg, delivered an interesting lecturerecently on the industrial diseases of South Africa.The lecturer devoted himself almost entirely toa consideration of the facts regarding pulmonarysilicosis. He pointed out that the Transvaal Miners’Phthisis Commission of 1903 was of the opinion thatprobably 21 per cent. of all the underground minerswere actually or probably affected with silicosis ;that a similar commission in 1912, after examining3136 underground miners, found that 990, or

approximately 32 per cent., were suffering fromminers’ phthisis in one or other of its stages, andthat about two-thirds of the cases were in the

stage of early or moderate fibrosis. The lecturerconsidered that, owing to the different manner inwhich the investigations of these two commissions

were carried out, their respective estimates cannotbe justly compared. He pointed out, however,that, although the general conditions of under-

ground hygiene were better in 1912 than in

1903, yet the number of rock drills employedhad more than trebled in the interval. Thedirector expressed the opinion that a scrupulousobedience to the spirit of the mining regulationswould have resulted in the total abolition of’pul-monary silicosis from the goldfields of the Rand,but, as he naively put it, silicosis still remains atrammel and a menace to the gold-producingindustry of South Africa. In other words, the regula-tions are there, but they are not properly enforcedby the Government, and they are disregarded bythe miners in their desire to draw big wages evenat the risk of health and life.

I Medical Matters in Parliament.Dr. John Hewat recently asked in the House

of Assembly what had been done to give effectto the recommendation of the House last sessionwith regard to the appointment of a LeprosyCommission. The Minister of the Interior

replied that, after careful consideration, theGovernment had come to the conclusion thatno good purpose would be served by the appoint-ment of such a commission, but it had underconsideration proposals for extending the asylumaccommodation so as to bring all cases under treat-ment, and that exhaustive departmental inquirieswere already being made. In reply to a questiona few days later from Mr. P. G. Kuhn as to whetherthe Government intended to introduce a Bill toconsolidate the Medical Acts of the various parts ofthe Union, the Minister of the Interior replied thatthough the Government considered such legislationto be highly desirable it would be unable to intro-duce such a Bill during the present session.

Report of the Economic Commission.The report of the Economic Commission, which

was appointed as a result of the miners’ strikein July last, has been presented to Parliament.The report is not without a medical interest.The Commission considers that the cost of livingfor whites is about 40 per cent. higher on theWitwatersrand than in America (the most expensiveof the other countries examined) and nearly 80 percent. higher than in any European country. Wageson the Witwatersrand are nearly 40 per cent. higherthan in America (where money wages are materiallygreater than in any other country examined), andnearly 225 per cent. higher than in any Europeancountry. When allowance is made for cost of livingas a whole it would seem that the workman on theWitwatersrand is better off than the workman inAmerica and much better off than the workman in

Europe. The report as a whole is an extraordinarilyable document, and it should be of the greatestvalue to the Government in dealing with the manyeconomic and industrial problems with which it isfaced.March 3rd.

AUSTRALIA.

Tenth Australasian Medical Congress,THIS congress met at Auckland, New Zealand, on

Feb. 14th, and was well attended, a considerablenumber of Australian practitioners making the some-what uncomfortable sea trip. The special functionsincluded services at the various churches on Sunday,the 15th; a reception by the President, Dr. A.Challinor Purchas, and Mrs. Purchas on the 14th;