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its maximum in 1876, which was certainly not the year ofmaximum small-pox mortality. Moreover, there is no reason-able ground for expecting that an annual default of14 or 15 per cent. in the official returns of infantvaccination would immediately cauee an increaseed small-poxmortality, unless small-pox were prevalent at the time, as wasthe case recently at Gloucester.The comparison of the declining rates of mortality from

other diseases than small-pox was dealt with at great lengthby Mr. Milnes. Because fever and cholera have declined con-currently with the decline of small-pox he argues that there isno justification for attributing the decline of smaU-pox to vac-cination. He refuses to recognise that fever and cholera arediseases distinctly due to insanitary local conditions, and thatno one would venture to assert that small-pox can be pro-duced by the same causes. Mr. Milnes is extremely auto-cratic in his methods of dealing with facts. With a view tomask the remarkable decline in the proportional child mor-tality from small-pox in recent years, he insists on treatingall deaths ascribed to chicken-pox as fatal cases of small-pox ;and he further insists, with a view to increase the pro-portion of smaU-pox deaths after vaccination, that all thecases of small-pox registered with "no statement as tovaccination" are vaccinated cases. The omission on thepart of certifying practitioners to give this information forinsertion in the death register is much to be regretted, butMr. Milnes’s assertion that all the "not stated cases arevaccinated cases is unjustifiable and certainly incorrect, asthe "not stated" cases include large numbers of cases

in which the deceased persons, although reported to bevaccinated, bore no marks of the operation.

Mr. Milnes devoted a considerable portion of his paperto the elaboration of the pet theory of the opponents ofvaccination that sanitation and not vaccination is the con-trolling factor of small-pox mortality. Because Dr. Farr’slife table of diseases shows that small-pox mortality in1861-70 was far lower in the healthy (that is, the rural)districts than in Liverpool it is asserted that sanitation ratherthan vaccination governs the mortality from this disease. Inanother part of the paper it is admitted that " small-pox is aquestion of exposure to infection," and yet Mr. Milnes doesnot recognise that this undoubted fact vitiates his conclusionsfrom the small-pox rates in healthy districts and in Liverpool.What is the relative chance of exposure to infection in ahealthy rural district and in a seaport town like Liverpool ?

Mr. Noel A. Humphreys, in his recent paper, gave atable showing that the proportion of child mortalityfrom small-pox at each of the six recent local epidemicsinvestigated by the Royal Commission on Vaccinationbore a constant relation to the amount of default of- infant vaccination in preceding years. In Warringtonand Sheffield, where the default of vaccination was undtr5 per cent., 23 and 26 per cent. of the deaths from small- ipox were of children under ten; while in Gloucester andLeicester, where the default was 68 per cent., the proportionof small-pox deaths under the age of ten years was 65 and71 per cent. respectively. These facts appear to have dis-turbed the opponents of vaccination, and Mr. Milnes, as theresult of elaborate calculation, comes to the conclusion thatthe " high proportion of children’s deaths in Leicester is dueto the high proportion of children’s attacks!" This cannotbe questioned, but had neglect of vaccination nothing to dowith the high proportion of children attacked ? 2 We morethan suspect that it had in Leicester and also in Gloucester,where 280 children under ten years of age died from small-p.x’last year.

Mr. Milnes, with reference to the sex-incidence of small-pox, asserts, with a view to depreciate the value of re-vac-cination, that "there can be no doubt that re-vaccinationis preponderatingly incident on the male sex." We venturevery much to doubt the probability of the accuracy of thisassertion, for notwithstanding the compulsory re-vaccina-tion of the army and navy, and of the postal service, verylarge numbers of female domestic servants are undoubtedlyre-vaccinated, and it is easier to persuade women than mento be re-vaccinated. It would be interesting to have someactual figures and experience on this point, on which Mr.Milnes seems to think there is no room for doubt. Therecan, however, be practically no question about the fact thatadult males, who appear to suffer from small-pox moreseverely than adult females, are as a rule exposed to

greater risk of infection than females, and if this, o a

higher case-mortality of small-pox among males, be thecause of the greater liability of males to fatal small-pox,

what becomes of Mr. Milnes’s attack on the value of re-

vaccination ? At the close of Mr. Milnes’s paper, a short discussion

followed in which Mr. Noel A. Humphreys, Dr. W. R.Hadwen, Mr. Shirley Murphy, Mr. Yale, Dr. E. J. Edwardes,and one or two others took part, and the usual vote ofthanks to the reader of the paper was passed.

THE DISCOVERY OF HUMAN REMAINSIN MARYLEBONE.

BY the kind permission of Dr. G. Danford Thomas we areenabled to publish the accompanying illustration, takenfrom a photograph of the remains of a body found in adisused house in Little Marylebone on March 2;th of thisyear. Workmen were engaged in pulling up the floor boardsof the second-floor back room when they found the remains.The body was partially clothed in a child’s shirt and bodice,which were much destroyed. There were also a pair of socksand a pair of boots in a good state of preservation. Underthe body was a portion of the Times newspaper of Nov. 25:h,

1879. A print dress was also wrapped round the body. Thelower part was wrapped in American cloth. Mr. Spurgin, thedivisional surgeon, who examined the remains, found that theywere those of a female child between six and seven years ofage. The temporary teeth were all present, and on removing

1765i

a piece of skin over the upper maxilla the first permanentmolar could be seen in the ramus of the jaw behind thesecond temporary molar, these showing the value of denti-tion in identifying the age of a dead body. The child hadbeen short and squat, as was evidenced by the length of thebones of the legs being out of proportion to that of the spine.There was a curvature of the spine, which might have been anatural deformity or due to the position in which the bodyhad been placed after death. The cause of death had

evidently been suffocation as a neckerchief of some silken orgauzy material was found pressed tightly over the mouth andthe tongue was protruded between the teeth. The body wasin a mummified condition, the skin of the head, face, andabdomen being of a leathery consistence. The parietes ofthe thorax had almost disappeared, and the contents of thethoracic cavity were represented by a heap of brown dust.The arms were separated from the body. The parietes of theabdomen were better preserved, brown in colour, and almostlike parchment. The only organ of which there were anydistinct traces was the liver, which was represented by abrownish mass about the size of a cricket ball. The boneswere brown in colour and pliable, easily crumbling to dust.A peculiar odour was emitted, somewhat resembling that ofold cheese. The fact that the leather boots were in goodpreservation would negative the supposition that the bodyhad been partially eaten by rats. The mummified conditionwas probably due to the fact that the body had been laid ina dry place where there was free draugbt. The time thathad elapsed since the body had been placed in the positionin which it was found, Mr. Spurgin thought, must havebeen ten or twelve years at the least, but the date ofthe Times newspaper would suggest a good deal longer thanthat, as it is not a common thing for a newspaper to lie aboutfor seven years, for, as above stated, the date of the Timtsfound with the body was 1879, and there was nothing in theappearance of the body to negative the supposition that ithad been there over seventeen years. The appearancepresented by human remains after a lapse of time variesgreatly, depending entirely upon surrounding conditions.In dry. elevated situations putrefaction goes on very slowly,and other cases are on record where the body of a child hasbeen found in the rafters of a house in a mummifiedcondition.

SOCIETY OF MEMBERS OF THE ROYALCOLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF

ENGLAND.

THE following letter has been sent to all the candidatesfor the vacart seats on the Council of the College.

West Hill, Putney, S.W.,18th June. 1897.

DEAR SiR,—Understanding that you are a candidate at the approach- Jing election to the Council of the College, the executive committee ofthis society has instructed me to ask you to be good enough to com- 1municate your on certain matters of interest to the Fellows andMembers. In explanation of this request from those who are notdirectly electors, I am to refer you to a resolution passed by the Council (in March, 1896, to the following effect: "That this Council represents Jthe Body Corporate of the College, and therefore the Members as well 1as the Fellows." I am further to add that should you be good enough to

"

favour me with a reply we propose to publish it, subject to your <

approval. IThe Committee of this Society feels that it is desirable that in future r

I the Fellows and Members should be in possession of something more 1than vague statements in the press as to the views of candidates oncurrent topics. I

The following are the questions to which I am directed to solicit areply :-

1. Are you in favour of granting the Members a limited direct repre- 1sentation on the Council :

2 Do you consider that the President should be elected by theFellows generally or as at present ?

3. How do you think that the representative of the’College on theGeoeral Medical Council should be appointed in accordance with theAct of 1858 ?

4. Will you support a literal interpretation of By-law 15, and do youconsider that the rights, privileges, &c., of a Fellow or Member referredto in the By-law are those in virtue of which he practises his pro-fession ? 1 remain, hithfully yours.

W. G. DicKmsoN, Honorary Secretary.

Concerning the ieplies received up to date Mr. Dickinsonwrites to us as follows :-

" Mr. JACKSON replies ’yes’ to the first question ; to thesecond he answers that he thinks that the President shouldhave been a member of Council for at least from two tothree years, and should be elected by the reformed Council ;

the third question he does not answer clearly, and repliesyes’ to the fourth."

’’ Mr. HowsE replies I no’ to the first question; I as at,present’ to the second and third ; to the fourth, which heobjects to as I vaguer than the by-law itself,’ he says he will’ support any legal interpretation which seems to me just andgood for the profession and the College."Mr. EDMUND OWEN prefers to reserve his freedom of

action and independence as a member of Council if elected,.and therefore declines to answer the questions."Mr. ANDREW CLARK coincides with the present policy of

the Council, and is in sympathy with their resolution ofMarch 16th."Mr. WATSON CHEYXE does not propose to pledge himseli

to any course of action if elected."

ANATOMICAL SOCIETY OF GREATBRITAIN AND IRELAND.

THE summer meeting of this society was held in TrinityCollege, Dublin, on June 10th and llth. In addition to an

unusually large number of British anatomists the followingforeign guests were present :-Professor Waldeyer (Berlin),Professor His (Leipzig), Professor Leboucq (Ghent), Dr.Otis (Boston, U.S.A.), Professor Disse (Marburg), Professor-Spalteholtz (Leipzig), Dr. de Bruyne (Ghent), Dr. Frohse(Berlin), and Dr. Koestner (Leipzig). Professor G. D. Thanetook the chair at 10 A M. on the 10th, and after seven newmembers had been elected the following programme wascarried out. Dr. T. H. Bryce, (Glasgow) : a Pair of NegroFemora, the left showing a remarkable development of thepopliteal surface. Professor Spalteholtz (Leipzig) : Stereo-scopic Photographs illustrating the Distribution of theArteries of the Human Skin. Professor Leboucq (Ghent) ::the Ossification of the Terminal Phalanges of theFinger in relation with Hyperphalangy. ProfessorBirmingham (Dublin) : Models illustrating the Topo-graphical Anatomy of the Abdominal Viscera. Dr.Kcestner (Leipzig) : Specimens of Malformed ChickEmbryos. Professor Sir William Turner (Edinburgh) :X Ray Photogtaphs of Mercurial Injections of the Arteriesof the Limbs and Kidneys. Dr. Otis (Boston, U.S.A.) dSome Points in the Structure of the Rectum. ProfessorA. Macalister (Cambridge) : A Study of Australian Brains.Mr. J. Cantlie (London) : On the Position of the Gallobladder. Professor R. Howden (Durham) : On a Case ofMarked Distension of the Colon. Professor Redfern(Belfast) : On the Development and Nutrition of Bone andCartilage. In the afternoon at 2.30 P M. the followingpapers were read: Professor Windle (Birmingham) andMr. F. G. Parsons (London): Note on some Points in theNomenclature of Comparative Myology. Professor W.Anderson (London) : The Peritoneal Relations of the SigmoidFlexure. Professor Disse (Marburg) : The Development ofthe Olfactory Nerve in Birds. Professor Spalteholtz(Leipzig) : Reticulated Tissue in Different Organs. ProfessorDixon (Cardiff) : The Development of the Eye-muscleNtrves in Mammals. Professor Cunningham (Dublin):(1) the development of the Sulcus of Rolando; and(2) the Development of the Calcarine Fissure. Dr. E. H.

Taylor (Dublin) : The Applied Anatomy of the Rectum. Inthe evening the members were entertained at dinner in theCollege of Physicians by the President of the RoyalAcademy of Medicine in Ireland. On Friday, June llththe meeting breakfasted with Professors Cunningham andBirmingham at the Zoological Gardens in Phoenix Park, afterwhich the following communications were made : Professorv. Bardeleben (Jena) and Dr. Frohse (Berlin) ; The FinerRamifications of Nerve Filaments in Muscle. Dr. C. J.Patten (Dublin): (1) Two Curious Modifications of the LowerJaw; and (2) Cervical Vertebras in which the Laminse havenot fused. Professor Cunningham (Dublin) : Models andSpecimens of the Kidneys. Dr. G. Ellict Smith (Sydney) : eThe Morphology of the Fornix and Margin of the CerebralCortex. Dr. W. Smyth (Belfast) : Absence of PectoralisMajor in a Living Boy. Dr. de Bruyne (Ghent) : theFunctional Adaptations of Phagocytosis. Professor Waldeyer aThe Anatomy of the Outer Wall of the Pelvis, with specialReference to the Position of the Ovary. Dr. R. J. Berry(Edinburgh) : The Anatomy of the Caecum and Vermiform