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investigation is an important contribution to the chemistryand probably geology of the subject, and as a journaldevoted, amongst other subjects, to chemistry we need

offer no apology for expanding the possibilities opened upby his researches in these columns.

THE LATE MR. MOLONEY.

MR. J. A. MOLONEY, the well-known African traveller, hasjust died at the age of thirty-eight years. He was the son of

Captain Moloney, of the 60th Rifles, and formerly practisedmedicine in London. In 1890 he accompanied the StairsExpedition as medical officer, and in 1895 commanded an

expedition of the Chartered Company to the country lyingwest of Lake Nyassa.

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THE GREAT FAMINE.

A SMALL book having for its title, "The Great Famine:a Retrospect of Fifty Years (1845-1895),"1 has been

written by Mr. W. P. O’Brien, C.B., who was formerlyan Irish Poor-law and Local Government Board In-

spector. Mr. O’Brien having, as he aptly puts it,"passed the now fateful limit for Her Majesty’s civilservants of threescore years and five," has devoted hisleisure years to a narrative of the more important events of ’,the Great Famine period. He speaks, therefore, from thestandpoint of no onlooker, but as one of those who

during that trying period was intimately connected withthe districts more especially invaded. He devotes the

opening chapters to the condition of all classes of the

population of Ireland before the famine ; he recalls thefact that it was only in the year 1845 that the Poor-law Relief Act of 1838, which extended the Poor-law

system to Ireland, could be said to be in anythinglike general operation throughout the country; and hetells us that of the 8,295,061 inhabitants who at thattime made up the population of Ireland, considerablyover a third were then dependent upon that root whichwas so soon destined to fail and leave them destitute.The evidence given before the historical Devon Commissionis largely quoted from by Mr. O’Brien, to show what inthose times was the pitiable condition of the Irish poor,and had we space we should much like to quote some of thepathetic passages. In the chapter devoted to the previous

failures of the potato harvests we are told that between 1739and 1842 Ireland was visited by a partial failure of the cropsno less than eight times-once in the last century and seventimes in this. The effects of the failure of the potatocrop in 1845 were but slight as compared with those

which resulted from that in 1846, when the people werecounting on a plentiful supply. The onset of the potatodisease in that year was sudden and sweeping, andis graphically described by the late Father Mathewin these words : " On the 27th of last month [July]I passed from Cork to Dublin and the doomed plant bloomedin all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest. Returning onthe 3rd inst. [August] I beheld with sorrow a wide waste of

putrefying vegetation. In many places the wretched peoplewere seated on the fences of their decaying gardens, wring-ing their hands and wailing bitterly the destruction that hadleft them foodless." Mr. O’Brien deals fully with the severalGovernment and private relief measures which were under-taken to cope with the misery and want thus caused, andit was in the practical administration of many of thesemeasures that he was called upon " to take an humble part."This portion of Mr. O’Brien’s book is extremely interesting andinstructive, since it deals in an unbiased fashion with thevarious degrees of success and failure which attended theseveral measures tried. Not the least instructive in an

administrative sense is that part which relates to the

1 Messrs. Downey and Co., 12, York-street.

manner in which the Government ReliefWorks failed to alarge extent in their object, by reason of the fact that eventhose who had already a means of livelihood flocked to

receive the certain Government wage which was ofEered.

Although, too, the wages paid were higher than any givenbefore in Ireland the price of provisions had so risen thateven these wages were insufficient to support a numerousfamily. Many of the workers were physically broken downfrom insufficient food, and in respect to this point an officerof the Board of Works is reported to have said that -" as anengineer he was ashamed of allotting so little task-work fora day’s wage, while as a man he was ashamed of exactingso much." In discussing the various rival schemes whichwere brought forward to support those of the Government,Mr. O’Brien relates the incidents connected with the Bill in-troduced by Lord George Bentinck for advancing 16,000,000for the purpose of railways in Ireland. This Bill wasdefeated on its second reading by a large majority, and inthe list which is given by Mr. O’Brien of Members who votedin the division we note with interest the name of ThomasWakley, the Founder of Tun LANCET. In the chapterwhich is devoted to Ireland after the famine, the writerrelates how that during these terrible experiences the popu-lation had fallen to 6,198,984, a reduction which, althoughdue in no small degree to the deaths occasioned by thefamine itself, was chiefly to be explained by the fact that-as Mr. Bright afterwards expressed it-the Irish peasanthad had hiseyes turned towards the setting sun. In con-

clusion, we can only say that those of our readers who areanxious to obtain a faithful and unimpassioned, but never-theless graphic, account of these stirring times in Irish

history will be amply repaid by a perusal of Mr. O’Brien’sbook.

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AN IMPORTANT BILL.

THE Australasian Medical Gazette announces the intro-

duction of an important Bill, the direct outcome of the

discussion on tuberculosis at the Inter-colonial Medical

Congress held at Dunedin in February last. The Public

Health Acts Amendment Bill, introduced by the Hon.Mr. Carroll, places on the master and owner or charterer ofany ship the duty of preventing anyone embarking on theship as a passenger for New Zealand who is suffering fromany form of tuberculosis. On arrival in the colony the masterof a ship is to deliver to the health officer a true list of all

passengers and a declaration as to whether any of themare suffering from that disease, the penalty for a falsedeclaration being 50. No passenger suffering from tuber-culosis is to be allowed to land, and should any such

person do so both he and the master of the vessel areliable to a penalty of £ 10. If within three months of

landing in New Zealand any passenger is found to be

suffering from tuberculosis he shall, until the contrary is

proved, be deemed to have been suffering from that "

disease when he landed in New Zealand. The master ofa ship is liable to a penalty of E50 if he allows a tuber-culous patient to occupy the same cabin as another

passenger. The Act is not to apply to Her Majesty’s landand sea forces. Tuberculosis and syphilis are declaredto be infectious diseases and infectious disorders, and thuscome under the provision of the Public Health Act of

1876, which contains provisions for dealing with suchdiseases. Finally, the Bill proposes to increase from Z100to £ 500 the bond which shipowners or masters have toenter into for every lunatic, idiot, deaf, blind, or infirm

person who is likely to become a charge upon anycharitable institution. While giving every credit to the

New Zealand Government for the intent with which it has

introduced this Bill, we rather doubt the possibility of carry-ing out so drastic a measure, and we are sincerely sorry for