678 ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.-HORSED AMBULANCES FOR LONDON.

vote any further sum of money towards a continued

prosecution of the subject. We come back thus to a con-

clusion, long ago arrived at by ourselves, that it is impossibleto prevent the formation of fog but that it is possible to

prevent its defilement with soot, as the Coal Smoke Abate-ment Society has shown. -

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.

THE committee which was formed, as we announcedin THE LANCET of Jan. 24th, p. 254, for the pur-pose of inquiring into various matters concerning St.Bartholomew’s Hospital has decided at least one pointof the terms of reference- namely, that the hospitalshall remain upon its present site. This decision was

arrived at by 14 votes to one. Sub-committees havebeen appointed to inquire into the question of cost

.and other matters. We learn that it is not intendedto enlarge the hospital but to make such alterationsas shall bring the hospital buildings into accord withmodern ideas. The determination to remain upon the exist-

ing site is, we think, a just and right one. We have already I

given our reasons for thinking that the present site shouldbe retained, while at the same time we pointed out the diffi-

culties in the way of such a decision. We need not repeatwhat we have said upon this matter, but we await

with interest the reports of the sub-committees which havebeen appointed to consider the financial side of the question.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGUE.

AS regards the Mauritius a telegram from the Governorreceived at the Colonial Office on Feb. 27th states that for theweek ending Feb. 26th there were 3 cases of bubonic plagueand 1 death from the disease. As regards the Cape Colonythe medical officer of health of the colony states that for theweek ending Feb. 7th 2 cases of bubonic plague, both in malenatives, were discovered at Port Elizabeth. The one case

was admitted to hospital on Feb. 4th and died on the 6th ;the other case, admitted on Feb. 6th, remained in hospital atthe date of the statement, Feb. 9th, being the only case inthe plague hospital at the end of the week under review. Nocase of plague had occurred at any other place in the colony,but rats were reported from Graaf Reinet on Jan. 31st to bedying in a suspicious manner. An investigation was madeand the disease from which the rats were suffering was foundto be plague. As regards Hong-Kong a telegram from theGovernor received at the Colonial Office on March 3rd statesthat for the week ending Feb. 28th there were 12 cases ofplague and 12 deaths from the disease. As regards Egyptno cases of, or deaths from, plague have occurred during theweek ending Feb. 22nd.

-

THE CARDIFF AND COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTHLABORATORY.

THE third annual report of the bacteriologist of the abovelaboratory, Dr. William G. Savage, illustrates again theusefulness and importance of such an institution and we

hope in the interests of public health that municipallaboratories will be the rule before long throughout thecountry. This hope is amply justified by the followingexamples of the work carried out in the Cardiff and CountyPublic Health Laboratory. Many waters from suspectedsupplies and proposed new sources have been investi-

gated. Data of value for determining the purity of

water-supplies were thus obtained which proved of much

practical utility in enabling opinions to be formed asto the purity of any given supply. Moreover, samplesof food have been bacteriologically examined and as a result

1 THE LANCET, Jan. 17th, 1903, p. 180.

a large proportion of the samples of diseased meat wasfound to be from animals suffering from tuberculosis and

half the samples of so-called sterilised milk proved to

contain organisms. A large number of specimens sent in bymedical men were examined during the year and as is

pointed out the identification of doubtful cases of diphtheria,typhoid fever, and other diseases is very greatly aided bybacteriological examination. Other work done in the labora-

tory has dealt with methods of disinfection, the extermina-tion of vermin, and the condition of sewage effluents andwaste waters discharged into streams from industrial works.

HORSED AMBULANCES FOR LONDON.

WE are glad to learn that the London County Council isconsidering in committee the formation of a service of horsedambulances for London. Such ambulances have existed in

Liverpool for some 20 years, while Blackpool, Birmingham,and Wolverhampton also possess them. The ambulances, how-ever, do not belong to the aforesaid municipalities but to thelocal hospitals. Here in London we have neither municipalnor. we think, hospital horsed ambulances, excluding thosepossessed by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. The AmbulanceCorps of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem possesses some,but these, so far as we know, are the only horsed ambulancesavailable in the case of a street accident. The very horsesof the two great omnibus companies are in better case thanis the casual citizen, for these hard-working and willinganimals are conveyed home in an ambulance should theyfall in the street, provided that they are not so badly hurtthat the merciful bullet has to be called into requisition.Every surgeon on the staff of a London hospital, and mosthouse surgeons, can recall cases of street accidents where

injuries have been gravely increased by the methods of con-veying the patients to the hospital. The surest way of

rendering a simple fracture of the leg compound is bycrowding the patient into a hansom, yet this is not un-

commonly the course pursued by the good Samaritan whoassists at a street accident. It is proposed, we believe,that the ambulance service should be in connexion with the

fire brigade. If this means throwing extra duties upon thefire brigade we hope that this part of the scheme will fallthrough and, moreover, we trust that a special ambulancestud will be provided, for a fire-engine horse is not the mostfitting motive power for conveying a case of severe accidentto the hospital, although the fire-engine horses are used forthe purpose in some cities.

-

Mr. Thomas Wilson, M.D. Lond., F.R.C.S. Eng., who hasheld the office of assistant obstetric officer at the General

Hospital, Birmingham, for the past ten years, has been

unanimously elected honorary obstetric officer in place ofDr. Edward Malins, the President of the Obstetrical Societyof London, who has resigned that post.

A CONVERSAZIONE will be given at the West London

Hospital by the Post-graduate College on Wednesday,March 18th, at 8.30 P.M. All past residents and past andpresent post-graduates are invited to be present.

WE are asked to announce that the meeting of the MedicalSociety of London on March 23rd will be a "clinical

evening" and that the papers on Diseases of Children setdown for that date are unavoidably postponed.

THE existing Vaccination Act is to be renewed for one

year, further legislation on the subject being deferreduntil a future session.