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’THE ASSOCIATION OF FELLOWS OF THEROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF

ENGLAND.

A MEETING of the Committee of the Association of Fellowsof the Royal College of Surgeons of England was held at.5.30 P.M. on Oct. 20th, 1892, at 36, Grosvenor-street, Mr.George Pollock, President, in the chair. There was a very.full attendance. Letters of regret at inability to be presentwere read from Mr. Mayo Robson, Mr. Purnell, Mr. VincentBell, Dr. W. J. Collins and Mr. A. T. Norton. The

cminutes of the previous meeting, which had been held- over for confirmation, in order to allow of the entry ofimportant letters referring to certain matters at issuebetween the Association and an official of the Royal College,of Surgeons, were read and confirmed. At the previousmeeting a subcommittee, consisting of the President, Mr. T.Holmes, Mr. John Tweedy and the honorary secretary, was.appointed to draft a reply to statements made by the gentlemanreferred to in substantiation of allegations reflecting uponthe accuracy of documents issued by the Association. Thesubcommittee met on Oct. 15th and now presented the draftreply. This reply was considered clause by clause, carefullyrevised and unanimously passed. The honorary secretarywas directed to have it type-written in the amended form and-forwarded without delay to the official of the College. TheCommittee sat till 7 P.M., when it adjourned, there being notime for further business.

THE LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF THEROYAL INFIRMARY, EDINBURGH:

DEPUTY-SURGEON-GENERAL FASSON.

THE Army Medical Department may well feel proud of the!late Deputy-Surgeon-General Fasson, who received his train-ing in the Army Medical Service.

At the meeting of the Board of Managers of the EdinburghRoyal Infirmary, held on Monday, the following minute com-memorating the services of the late Deputy-Surgeon-GeneralFasson was approved of :-The managers record theirqense of the great loss sustained by the

Royal Infirmary in the death of Mr. Fasson. Appointed superintendent’of the infirmary in 1871, he brought to the work of his office a combinationof gifts and experience which singularly fitted him for its important duties,and these he has throughout discharged with eminent ability, unwearied:assiduity, and well-deserved success. That work included the difficultand responsible task of transferring the infirmary to the present{buildings, and the reconstruction, to a large extent, of its administra-tive department. Yet by no startling change, but by the steady intro-duction of improved methods of which he had satisfied himself wasreform carried out. Ever intent on schemes for securing smoother:and more efficient working of the hospital, he gladly welcomedand adopted suggestions from any quarter which tended in this’direction. Firm in his administration, exact in his demands uponhimself, and expecting equal fidelity and efficiency in others,fhis relations to all whose duties he had to superintend were- distinguished by great consideration and courtesy. It was in no- small measure due to the practical sagacity and foresight of Mr. Fassonthat the fever wards of the infirmary were in 1885 transferred to the-city authorities-a change which, as the event Ins proved, has been.greatly to the public advantage. The nursing department of theinfirmary underwent entire reconstruction during Mr. Fasson’s tenure- of office. This was a work in which he took a profound interest, and’the high position which the Royal Infirmary now holds among hos-pitals as a training school for nurses owes much to his ever-ready andhearty sympathy and cooperation. In providing the nurses with ade-quate accommodation Mr. Fasson warmly interested himself, and thebuilding of the new home, now nearly completed, was undertaken by themanagers largely upon his strong recommendation. The arrangementsfor its furnishing and occupation were engaging his attention in the lastdays of his life. The tone which happily pervades every depart-ment of the noble institution with which Mr. Fasson was so long,and honourably connected is undoubtedly to be ascribed to theinfluence which he quietly but most effectively exercised. OfMr. F%sson’s personal qualities it is impossible to speak toohighly. His gentleness, his perfect fairness, his unvarying cour-

tesy and his tenderness of heart endeared him to all by whom hewas known. These qualities ever worked outward from what were thedominating influences of his life-high principle and Christian character.The managers share deeply in the feeling of personal loss which Mr.Fasson’s death has evoked in all who in any capacity minister withinthe walls of the infirmary, and they are keenly sensible of the verydifficult duty which, through his death, has devolved upon them offinding a superintendent worthy to succeed him. They resolve that anextract of this minute shall be sent to his afflicted family, with theassurance of the managers’ heartfelt sympathy with them in theirbereavement."

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN thirty-three of the largest English towns 6280 births andd524 deaths were registered during the week ending Oct. 22nd.The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which hadbeen 17’8 and 17’3 per 1000 in the preceding two weeks,rose again last week to 18 0. In London the ratewas 17-7 per 1000, while it averaged 18’3 in the thirty-twoprovincial towns. The lowest rates in these towns were 7’9in Croydon, 124 in Birkenhead, 14’1 in Derby, and 14’9 inHalifax ; the highest rates were 21-3 in Burnley, 21’7 inLeeds, 22-9 in Oldham, and 23-0 in Preston. The 3524deaths included 387 which were referred to the prin-cipal zymotic diseases, against numbers declining from991 to 389 in the preceding seven weeks; of these, 94 re-sulted from diarrhoea, 88 from measles, 68 from diphtheria,58 from scarlet fever, 46 from "fever" (principallyenteric), 29 from whooping-cough, and 4 from small-pox.These diseases caused the lowest death-rates in Birkenhead,Wolverhampton, Bristol, and Blackburn; and the highestrates in Salford, Plymouth, Oldham, Sunderland, and Preston.The greatest mortality from measles occurred in Croydon,Plymouth, Oldham, Leicester, and Salford ; from scarletfever in Plymouth and Swansea ; from "fever" in Prestonand Sunderland ; and from diarrhoea in Bradford, Norwich,Sunderland, and Preston. The mortality from whooping-cough showed no marked excess in any of the large towns.The 68 deaths from diphtheria included 41 in London,5 in Birmingham, 4 in West Ham, and 4 in Manchester.Two fatal cases of small-pox were registered in Oldhamand 2 in Halifax, but not one in any other of thethirty-three large towns ; 3 cases of this disease were

under treatment in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitalsand 2 in the Highgate Small-pox Hospital on Saturdaylast. The number of scarlet fever patients in the’Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the LondonFever Hospital at the end of the week was 3936,against 3515, 3628 and 3797 on the preceding three Satur-days ; 484 new cases were admitted during the week,against 412 and 503 in the preceding two weeks. The deathsreferred to diseases of the respiratory organs in London,which had increased from 114 to 241 in the preceding sevenweeks, further rose to 267 last week, but were 72 belowthe corrected average. The causes of 82, or 2’3 per cent.,of the deaths in the thirty-three towns were not certifiedeither by a registered medical practitioner or by a coroner.All the causes of death were duly certified in Portsmouth,Bolton, Leeds, Sunderland, and in six other smaller towns;the largest proportions of uncertified deaths were registered inBirmingham, Liverpool, Preston, and Hull.

HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.

The annual rate of mortality in the eight Scotch towns,which had been 18’5 and 18’0 per 1000 in the preceding twoweeks, rose again to 19’0 during the week endingOct. 22nd, and was 1-0 per 1000 above the mean rate

during the same period in the thirty-three large Englishtowns. The rates in the eight Scotch towns ranged from8-6 in Perth and 14’1 in Dundee to 204 in Aberdeen and 25’1in Edinburgh. The 529 deaths in these towns included 39which were referred to measles, 15 to scarlet fever, 14 todiarrhoea, 10 to whooping-cough, 5 to diphtheria, 4 to" fever, " and not one to small-pox. In all, 87 deaths resultedfrom these principal zymotic diseases, against 78 and 75 inthe preceding two weeks. These 87 deaths were equalto an annual rate of 3’1 per 1000, which exceeded by 1’1the mean rate last week from the same diseases inthe thirty-three large English towns. The fatal cases

of measles, which had increased from 12 to 33 in the precedingfour weeks, further rose to 39 last week, of which26 occurred in Edinburgh, and 10 in Aberdeen. Thedeaths referred to scarlet fever, which had been 16 in eachof the previous two weeks, were 15 last week, and included8 in Glasgow, 3 in Edinburgh, and 2 in Paisley. The 10 fatalcases of whooping-cough exceeded by 2 the number in theprevious week, and included 5 in Glasgow, 3 in Edinburgh,and 2 in Paisley. The deaths from diphtheria, which haddeclined from 10 to 2 in the preceding three weeks, roseagain to 5 last week, of which 2 occurred in Aberdeen. The4 fatal cases of "fever differed but slightly from those