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THE EYESIGHT OF SAMUEL PEPYS.To the Editor of THE LANCET. I

SIR,—I have read with interest the address of Mr. D’Arcy Power to the Samuel Pepys Club. As a literary achievementit shows both industry and ingenuity, but the arriving at adefinite prescription for Samuel Pepys, Esq., seems to suggestthat the modern quack method of -I diagnosis and treatmentby correspondence" need no longer be viewed with pro-fessional disfavour. The ease with which a specialist, onhearing Pepys’ symptoms, at once prescribed "+2 D. or+2’5 D. convex glasses" is very striking, as is also thefacility with which Mr. Power himself added +0’50cylinders axis 900. Of course, Samuel Pepys cannot trythese spectacles, and there is therefore no means of bringinghome to the prescribers any possible error arising out of the"correspondence" method, but the whole episode casts asomewhat lurid light on the specialist and his work. I amnot well enough versed in optics to criticise the theoreticalaccuracy of the prescription, but it would really be interest-ing to know on what grounds the "axis 90° " was arrivedat in the unavoidable absence of the patient ; it seems" uncanny," if it is not a little joke.

I note that Mr. Turlington advised Pepys against usingreading glasses which do magnify much," and that Mr.Power characterises this advice as ’’ snperlatively bad, forhe was clearly recommending Pepys to use concave glasseswhen in reality he needed convex ones." On the face of itthis is not so clear. I understand that concave glasses donot magnify at all, but rather diminish the size of an object.There is surely significance in Turlington’s word much," andit might be more fair to interpret his advice as a wise recom-mendation to use the lowest convex glasses that the patientcould read with, rather than indulge in the luxury of muchmagnification. The literal terms of the advice can hardly besaid to suggest concave glasses.

Incidentally, it does seem a pity, as Mr. Power suggests,that Mr. Pepys did not " sit upon his tubes and crush them,"seeing that a revolution of the laws of dioptrics was so

imminent, and depended with a fair amount of certainty onsuch a likely accident. It looks as if Providence had misseda splendid opportunity.

I am, Sir. yours faithfullv.Liverpool, June 22nd, 1 A. ROSS CARMICHAEL.

EMOLUMENTS IN THE INDIAN MEDICALSERVICE.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—In your annotation in THE LANCET of May 13thwith reference to I I M. B.’s letter re the Indian MedicalService you rightly state that it is Lord Morley’s disastroussuggestion to cut down the civil appointments at presentheld by the Indian Medical Service that has so harmed theservice, but at the same time you seriously underestimatethe bad pecuniary emoluments of the Indian MedicalService. As an example of the small opinion the IndianGovernment have of the worth of their medical men, theRoyal Engineers at home draw less pay than officers of theRoyal Army Medical Corps of corresponding ranks at home.In India the reverse is the case, and not only this, butthe R.E. officer draws more than an I. M.S. officer of

corresponding rank. You must remember that an R.E. getshis professional education at Government expense. An officerof the Royal Army Medical Corps draws actually less pay inIndia than while serving at home (officers of the IndianMedical Service draw slightly more pay than the RoyalArmy Medical Corps). Eighteen months ago the pay of theIndian army officers was raised and not the Indian MedicalService, so that now these officers draw practically the samepay as the Indian Medical Service in spite of not havinghad the previous long expensive education a doctor has toundergo.When an R E. officer goes into civil, he draws considerably

more pay than in military employ. An I. M.S. officer,on the other hand, draws 50 rupees less. For many years acivil surgeon will make practically nothing in private fees.Also, there is such a block in civil now, that one cannot getin under about eight years’ service.

Another crying grievance of the Indian Medical Service is

that the cadre is kept so small that leave is extremelyhard to get. One is entitled to two months’ privilege leaveevery summer, but, as a matter of experience, one is luckyto get it on an average every other year. Leave home, too,is extremely hard to get. Officers who have been serving forover five years find they are unable to get leave owing to theshortage. Then again the number of transfers a juniorofficer gets is nothing short of a scandal. One constantlyhears of junior officers having 12 or 13 transfers in his firstthree or four years.

I am afraid I have sent rather a long letter. You seemedsurprised that "M.B." should state that living has gone up100 per cent. and the purchasing power of the rupee down50 per cent., but this is well recognised out here. Polo,shooting, &c., are rapidly becoming the rich man’s sport asin England. I am, Sir, yours faithfully,May 31st, 1911. I.M.S.

THE BUBONIC PLAGUE IN EGYPTIN 1911.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-The apparent indifference of the authorities and ofthe public to the ravages of the plague in Egypt is verysingular. From the commencement of this year to Junethere have been more than 1400 cases, compared with some700 in the corresponding period of 1910. For the week

ending June 3rd the returns indicate a slight diminutionin the number of cases, perhaps owing to the weather,but the innumerable rats in the villages are probablybecoming more universally affected. The provinceswhich this year have suffered most severely are Assouan,with 491 cases, of which 307 proved fatal ; Keneb, 505cases, 392 fatal ; and Assiout, 186, of which 93 terminatedfatally. The type in some places is most virulent. LastDecember a native sanitary officer, despatched to endeavourto combat an outbreak in a village in the Delta, caught theinfection the day after his arrival and died within 24 hours.This failure to wage successful warfare against the plague isdue to the attempt to try natives in posts previously assignedto Europeans. In the sanitary department in country dis-tricts, unless British officials are augmented in numberand authority, and thus certain necessary precautions andcleansings enforced upon the fellahin, a recrudescence ofthe plague, with its attendant misery and injury to thetourist season, is much to be dreaded.

I am, Sir, yours faithfully,June 24th, 1911. TRAVELLER.

A YEAR’S COST OF RUNNING A MOTOR-CAR LIMOUSINE COMPARED WITH

THAT OF A BROUGHAM.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-A year ago I changed my brougham for a motor-car.The brougham, two horses and a coachman, and all other

expenses, including all renewals, cost on an average Z210a year. The mileage was estimated at 4000 = ls. 0½d. permile. The carriage was used for the purposes of the practiceonly, one horse in the morning and the other in the after-noon. The initial cost of a 15 h. p. Daimler Limousine, readyfor the road, with spare wheel and all accessories, was £543;the initial cost of brougham, two horses, harness, &c., wouldbe nearly 300. The first year’s expenditure on the car,including chauffeur (.E.90), insurances, rent, rates, petrol,new tyres, and all other expenses, amounted to £201 2s. 1d.,to which £108 12s. 2d. must be added for depreciation (i.e.,20 per cent. of initial cost) ; the total expenses for one yearwere, therefore, £309 14s. 3d. The miles run in the yearwere 5203, of which 1128 were for pleasure and 4075 forprofessional purposes. The cost of running per mile worksout at ls. 2¼d. Therefore £241 19s. may be stated as thecost of the car for one year to the practice as com-

pared with .6210 for the brougham. The total petrolused for all purposes was 294 gallons, or 17s milesto the gallon. As 500 miles were run with a defectivecarburetter which gave only 10 miles to the gallon in thetown with frequent stoppings, and only 13 miles in the open

country, and as on a holiday 816 miles were run on 35 gallons