759

urged that the farmers, relying on the statement that suchpreservatives were harmless bought and used them withouthaving the slightest idea that they were doing wrong. As

these were the first cases of the kind brought before themthe magistrates took a lenient view and only ordered thatthe defendants should pay costs. The corporation of Leighwas complimented by the chairman of the magistrates forbringing these cases into court and he said that farmers

should not be led away by plausible advertisements. It is

to be feared that the standard of education attained by theaverage working farmer is as yet scarcely sufficient for hisguidance in such matters. -

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGUE.

A TELEGRAM from the Governor of Mauritius to the

Colonial Office states that during the week endingAugust 28th there were 4 fatal cases of plague in the

colony. As regards Egypt, the weekly return issued bythe Director-General of the Sanitary Department states

that from August 18th to the 24th there were at Alexandria2 fresh cases and 3 deaths. The cases remaining undertreatment were 8 in number, all of them at Alexandria.As regards Hong-Kong a telegram from the Governor

(received at the Colonial Office on Sept. 9th) states that

for the week ending Sept. 6th there occurred 1 fatal case

of plague. -

THE PREVENTION OF SPITTING.

WITH reference to the prevention of spitting in public-asubject with which we dealt in an annotation in our lastissue-it may be of use to county councillors having thehealth and cleanliness of their localities at heart if we referthem to previous issues of THE LANCET and call theirattention to the action taken by certain Welsh countycouncils in this matter. Under the Local Government Actof 1888 county councils are given the power to make by-laws for the "good rule and government of their county,"and a by-law with reference to spitting has not only been

drafted in the counties referred to by one of our Wales andWestern Counties correspondents, but has also been sub-

mitted to the Home Office for approval and sanction. The

proposed by-law was as follows : "A person shall not spiton the floor of any public carriage or of any church,chapel, public hall, waiting-room, schoolroom, theatre, or

shop, whether admission thereto be obtained upon paymentor not." For the infringement of this by-law a maximumpenalty of .65 is provided The Home Secretary clearly did

Inot think the by-law ultra i,,ires so far as the powers given Ito county councils are concerned, but he declined to approveof it as affecting churches, chapels, schools, and shops.Its application is thus to be limited to public carriages,public waiting-rooms, public halls, and places of publicentertainment, while the walls or sides of the places inquestion, as well as the floors, are not to be spat upon.It will be observed that no attempt has been made to

include public highways or public-houses, the by-lawdealing only with places where its enforcement is clearlywithin the bounds of possibility. Even in the limitednumber of places enumerated above the principle uponwhich the Home Office sanctions the application of the

by-law is not quite clear, but it would seem to be

implied that certain places are more under private con-

trol than others and should be privately regulated. Andin any case a conviction might be followed by an appealas to whether the by-law was a good by-law under the Act,notwithstanding the sanction of the Home Secretary. As

it stands, however, the existence of such a regulation inany locality, even though with a limited application, should

1 THE LANCET, March 22nd (p. 851) and June 28th, 1902 (p. 1862).

tend to call attention to the fact that promiscuous spitting-without regard for others is at all times and in all placesunnecessary, disgusting, and insanitary.

THE PREVALENCE OF SMALL-POX.

THE following figures show the number of cases-

admitted to the various hospitals of the MetropolitanAsylums Board for the dates mentioned. On Sunday,Sept. 7th, there was 1 fresh case ; on Monday, the 8th,there were 4 fresh cases ; on Tuesday, the 9th, there were no,fresh cases ; and on Wednesday, the 10th, there were no-

fresh cases. ____

PULMONARY CONSUMPTION AMONG MINERSON THE RAND.

THE publication in THE LANCET of June 14th, p. 1677, ofa paper on Gold Miners’ Phthisis in the Transvaal by Dr.Thomas Oliver of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is receiving the

attention of the authorities in South Africa which the-

important question deserves. It is announced from Johannes-

burg that a Government commission is to be formed’’ which will probably be composed of State engineers,doctors, mine managers, miners, and an explosives expert "’to inquire into the causes of phthisis among miners. The-

respirator, it is stated, is being submitted’ to practicaltests and important information is being obtained. It

is worthy of note that the appearance in our pagesof the article alluded to at once attracted the attentionof the Mining Journal, one of the most important tradejournals in this country and which for a few weeks.

in succession devoted considerable space to the dis-

cussion of the malady. As far back as Nov. 23rd, 1901.there appeared in the Mining Journal a letter on "RockDrill Miners," by Mr. Nicholas Trestrail, C.E., Redruth, whosaid : " It is surprising to see the number of men returning-from foreign mines who in a comparatively short time

continuously working rock drills are reduced from strong,healthy individuals, first to mere shadows, and then death."Happily there is now the prospect of something beingdone for the Transvaal miners. In our issue of Sept. 6th,p. 707, we published a letter, entitled, "Gold Miners’

Phthisis," sent by Dr. G. A. Turner, acting assistant.

medical officer of health for the medical officer of healthof the Transvaal, requesting medical men when reportinga case of death from this disease to notify the same to the-public health department of the Transvaal and to add, if

possible, the name of the mine where the deceased was

employed. As it is understood there are still some case&

of gold miners’ consumption in the mining districts ofNorthumberland the South African Government might.possibly receive some assistance from the north of England.

THE STUDY OF MENTAL FATIGUE IN SCHOOLWORK.

WE have received from Dr. Giuseppe Biller of Bologna amonograph of much interest giving in detail the results ofhis investigations on " an hour’s work done by the childrenof public schools." The object of the inquiry was to studythe amount of mental fatigue in a day’s work and in the-

cycle of the year among boys and girls of an average age of11-2L years. The mental test used was the average correctnessof arithmetical sums in division set in examination papersfor an hour’s work at the beginning and end of the schoolday, and at the commencement and termination of the-scholastic year. The conclusions arrived at were that the

quantity of work produced during each successive quarterof an hour affords no rule but becomes more inaccurate ;in the afternoon work is both less in quantity and worse thanin the morning. At the end of the school year work was

always more in quantity but worse in kind. MentaL