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end the military and nursing staff of the Royal VictoriaHospital, and a distinguished company.The report, which was read by Surgeon-Colonel J.

Lane Notter, Professor of Hygiene, stated that the workof the session had been satisfactory, all the surgeons on

,probation who had undergone the final examination had

proved themselves fitted to receive Her Majesty’s commission.After distributing the prizes Major-General Sir Wm. Butlerdelivered an address, which will be found in anothercolumn, to the young officers. The Director - Generalin complimentary terms expressed their indebtednessto Sir William Butler for presenting the prizes andfor his valuable and interesting address. Sir JosephFayrer then offered his congratulations to the sur-

geons on probation upon the successes which they hadachieved, and specially addressing himself to the young’Indian officers spoke of the grand career before them in aservice which had produced so many brilliant men, a servicewhich he thought would be even better in the future than ithad been in the past. The Principal Medical Qfficer pro-posed a vote of thanks to Sir Joseph Fayrer for his valuableremarks and this brought the proceedings to a close. The

company was afterwards entertained at luncheon by theofficers of the Army Medical Staff.The following lists show the positions of the young officers

recommended for commissions in their respective services :—

ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE.

* Gained the Herbert Prize of E20, the Martin Memorial Medal, andthe Pathology Prize presented by !Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart., K.C.S.I.

t Gained the Maclean Prize for Clinical and Ward Work.1 Gained the Parkes’ Memorial Medal.§ Gained the first Montefiore Prize of 20 guineas and Bronze Medal.

THE AMERICAN VICTORIAJUBILEE FUND.

WE have received the following with a request for its

publication.The Executive Committee of the American Victoria

Jubilee Fund bega to inform the subscribers that the listsfor endowing beds in hospitals are now closed, and thetotal obtained amounts to more than .64300. The surplus tobe given to the Prince of Wales’s Fund will remain open forthe present, and donations to this will be acknowledged bythe hon. treasurer, Mr. Walter H. Barns, 22, Old Broad-atireet. Mrs. Ralph Vivian having written to Sir FleetwoodEdwards asking him to bring to the notice of the Queen theFund which had been collected in her honour, and to

participate in commemorating the sixtieth anniversary ofHer Majesty’s reign, has received the following reply -

" Osborne, July 28th, 1897."DEAR MRS. ViviAN,—I have laid your letter of the I

25sh inst. before the Queen, who desires me to say Ihow touched she is, and also how grateful to your-self and to all those who have contributed to andcollected the American Victoria Jubilee Fund. HerMajesty is deeply sensible of the kindness thus evinced, andgreatly pleased that the handsome sum thus realised is to bedevoted to so good and useful a purpose as the endowment ofthe beds in the hospitals you name, while the surplus is to bedevoted to the Prince of Wales’s Fund. The Queen trustsyou will be kind enough to express her sincere thanks to allthose concerned for their very kind action.

Believe me, yours very faithfully," (Signed FLE:E.TWOOD J. EDWARDS."

THE SEWAGE DIFFICULTY INMANCHESTER AND SALFORD.

THE treatment and disposal of sewage is a very seriousluestion for all cities and towns, and now that the countycouncils have power to appoint committees to look after thepollution of rivers and streams we may expect progress in thisimportant matter. The pollution of our rivers ought to be andmust be prevented, and whether the effluent be obtained byfiltration through land or by treatment with chemicals orboth, it must be of such a nature as to be fit to enterthese rivers. The time, however, has arrived when it maybe considered which is the best method for a particular dis-trict. A deputation recently waited on the ParliamentarySecretary of the Local Government Board, their object beingto obtain a relaxation of the rule according to which sewagepurification must be carried out by means of filtration throughland. The deputation wished that artificial filtration shouldbe allowed. The members of the deputation were representa-tives of the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee-namely,Sir J. T. Hibbert (chairman), Sir Henry Roscoe (chemicaladviser), Mr. R. A. Tatton (chief inspector), Dr. Hewitt, andMr. J. Brierley.

Sir J. T. Hibbert pointed out the great importance ofthe subject to the Mersey and Irwell districts, whichcontained seven county boroughs, with a population of1,148,000; eleven non-county boroughs, with 249,000 in-habitants ; sixty-two urban district councils, ruling 620,000persons ; and ten rural district councils under whose juris-diction were 127,000 inhabitants. The total rateable valueof the district was .69,731,000. The Joint Committee dealtwith four rivers-the Mersey, Irwell, Irk, and Medlock-onthe banks of which were 394 manufactories. The committee

was formed under the Act of 1888 and had almost succeededin keeping solid matters out of the streams. The committeecongratulated themselves that there were schemes every-where for preventing the pollution of rivers. The policyof the committee was to deal with every authority, largeor small, on the same principles. Action had beentaken against both Manchester and Salford, but as yetneither had laid a satisfactory scheme before the committee.The committee, knowing the difficulties of Manchester andSalford in getting suitable land for filtration purposes,instructed their chemical adviser (Sir Henry Roscoe) andtheir chief engineer (Mr. Tatton) to report on the subjectof precipitation and filtration. Mir Henry Roscoe reported :"I I am of opinion that the adoption of artificial filtersis a move in the right direction, especially in the caseof laree towns having difficulties in acauirins sufficientarea of land and of a suitable character for the puri-fication of its sewage. Land filtration, so far as thechemical results are concerned, is superior to artificialfiltration. Unfortunately, however, the volume of effluentthat can be treated permanently on land is small as com-pared with the volume that can be filtered by artificial filters."Mr. Tatton stated: I I There seems, therefore, to be ampleevidence to show that if filters are constructed to conformwith the principles which have been laid down satisfactoryresults may be obtained. The reasonable view to be taken ofthe matter seems to be that, instead of any hard and fastrule being laid down, each case should be treated on its ownmerits ; that if suitable land can be obtained it should beused, but that if it cauaot be got artiiicial niters should besanctioned, but with stringent restrictions as to the volumeof sewage allowed on a given area." The committee there-fore, on the strength of these reports, approached the LocalGovernment Board to have a more open mind on the treat-ment of sewage.

Sir Henry Roscoe also pointed out that the only land thatManchester could purchase was not fit for a sewage filterand that Salford and other Lancashire towns were in thesame fix. In addition to the want of a sufficiently poroussoil the climate was against land filtration, and the mostsuitable land became waterlogged. He argued that eachcase should be treated on its merits.

Dr. Hewitt stated that Salford’s experts said that asatisfactory effluent could be obtained from the sewage byprecipitation and artificial filtration. Oldham and Roch-dale had taken land only to find it unfit for the purposes offiltration.The Parliamentary Secretary (Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P.)