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nothing to do with the Bradford Infirmary, although theactive partner in the firm, we are informed, used to be dis-penser at the infirmary. We have not the least doubt thatboth publican and schoolmaster could have got the identicalmixture at the infirmary, only it would not have been calledsuch a long name, and, of course, would not have been puffedin pamphlets "left on the bar window." The rejoicingsufferers whose story is here set forth live in Bradford.Now at Leicester we expect this kind of thing, but thatYorkshiremen should be so confiding is remarkable.

THE ROENTGEN RAYS AS A DEPILATORY.

NUMEROUS writers, both in Europe and America, havepublished accounts of the injurious effects produced on theskin hy a too prolonged exposure to the Roentgen rays, thesymptoms varying in rature and intensity from "sunburn"to dermatitis, vesication, and ulceration. Loosening of thehair, sometimes carried so far as to result in baldness, wasfrequently observed, and this peculiar property of the

rays has been ingeniously turned to useful account byDr. Leopold Freund of Vienna in the case of a child, fouryears of age, who suffered from a pigmented hairy nasvuscovering almost the whole of the back. The patient’s neckwas in the first instance submitted to the action of the

rays, and after t(n exposures lasting two hours each thehair commenced to fall out, apparently in consequence ofatrophy of the bulbs. Eight days later dermatitis wasfirst observed. The child was shown at a recent meet-

ing of the Gesellschaft der Aerzte of Vienna six weeksafter the discortinuance of the treatment, and all the partswhich had been exposed to the rays were then quite devoidof hair. The rays only act in this particular manner byslow degrees, from nine to twelve days being required forthe development of the effect. It was found that the hairof the scalp was more easily attacked by the rays than theabnormal hair of the pigmented nævus. There is muchreason to suppose that the Roentgen rays may therefore bea valuable addition to our methods of treating hyper-trichiasis. In the course of the discussion on this caseProfessor Kaposi suggested that the first stage of the actionconsisted in the rays irritating the deeper bloodvessels ofthe skin, and that the hair subsequently came out in con-sequence of the nutrition of the skin being thus interferedwith. He also remarked that the dermatitis caused by theRoentgen rays resembles that from which Alpine climberssuffer after exposure to the glare of sunshine reflected fromsnow or glaciers.

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PHYSIOLOGICAL INFLUENCE OF MUSIC.

MM. BiNET and J. CouETiER give in the Revue Scienti. fique an account of experiments made by themselves and 1others on human beings and animals of the effects of music on the heart and respiration. M. Patrizi, an Italian phy- siologist, had a patient with a wound in the skull which laid (

bare the brain. He was thus enabled to observe the actual effect of music on the cerebral circulation. Music occa- t

sioned an increase in the size of the brain itself. The 1

effect on the cerebral circulation was variable, the vessels i

being sometimes constricted and sometimes dilated. At iother times no effect was produced. MM. Binet f

and Courtier experimented on a musician. Isolated -i

notes, chords in unison, and discords were first tried. Both

major chords struck in a lively manner and discords t

quickened the respiration, the latter more especially. t

Minor chords tended to retard respiration. When melodies fwere tried it was found that all, whether grave or gay, produced quickened respiration and increased action of the f

heart. The lively tunes produced the greatest acceleration, f

The subject also sometimes unconsciously endeavoured to a

synchronise his respirations with those of the singer. In v

rallentando and clinainuenaclo passages the respiration wasretarded. Where the sound was wholly uncomplicated byemotional ideas, as in single notes or chords, the heart’saction was accelerated, but not in so marked a degree aswhen a melody either grave or gay was played. Duringoperatic pieces or those well known to the subject theacceleration attained its maximum. The subject had astrongly marked capillary pulse. The influence of music onthe capillary circulation was tested by a plethysmographattached to the right hand. The capillary tracing usuallyshowed a diminution of pulsation. This diminution wasoccasioned by the sound of single notes, chords, or discords.In sad melodies, especially minor ones there was almost no

diminution, whilst in lively airs the diminution was marked.

THE REGISTERS OF MEDICAL PRACTITIONERSAND OF MEDICAL STUDENTS.

THOSE who are interested in the numbers of medical menwill like to know that the Medical Register and the Registerof Medical Students for the year 1897 are now published andmay be obtained from the publishers, Messrs. Spottiswoodeand Co., 54, Gracecburch-street. As regards the principalfacts of the Medical Register for 1897 they have been alreadypublished by us, through the kindness of the Assistant

Registrar, on Feb. 6th. Speaking summarily, they show thatthe new registrations in 1896 were 1385, as compared with1446 in the preceding year. Nevertheless, the numberson the present Medical Register are 34,478, as compared with33,601 in the preceding year. Coming to the new registrationsof medical students in 1896, and therefore in the Registernow published, we find them to be 1741, as compared with1838 in 1895. Of these registrations 919 were in England,557 in Scotland, and 265 in Ireland. The respective Registersare full of various information and carefully prepared tables.They supply much material for reflection, and certainly nonefor anxiety as to the supply of medical men. Not the least

interesting part of the Students’ Register is the names of thevarious schools from which the students date as commencingmedical study.

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THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

THE Medical Society of London celebrated its 124th

anniversary on Saturday, March 6th, by a dinner in theWhitehall Rooms of the Hotel Métropole. The President, Mr.Reginald Harrison, occupied the chair, and 130 fellows andguests were present. Among the latter were Lord Lister,President of the Royal Society ; Sir William MacCormac,President of the Royal College of Surgeons ; Dr.

Dickinson, President of the Royal Medical and ChirurgicalSociety of London ; Mr. Butlin, President of the Patho-

logical Society; Dr. Savage, President of the NeurologicalSociety; Mr. Bigham, Q.C., M.P., Mr. Lawson Walton, Q.C.,M.P., Professor Bridge, Sir William Mackinnon, Sir J.Crichton Browne, Sir William Dalby, Sir Dyce Duckworth,Sir William Roberts, and Dr. Farquharson, M.P. Thetoast of "The Sister Societies" " was proposed in a

humorous speech by Mr. Fredeiick Treves. Lord Lister,in rising to respond, received an enthusiastic ovation, andin referring to the peerage which Her Majesty had con-ferred upon him he said that it was an honour entirelyunsought by him, and that in fact he was not asked before-hand if he would accept the honour. The kind way in whichthe members of his own profession had hailed his admissionto the House of Lords had been inexpressibly gratifying tohim. Sir William Dalby, in proposing the toast of "TheVisitors" twice 11 brought down the house," first by his grace-ful congratulations to Sir William MacCormac on his recoveryfrom his recent illness, and afterwards by a sympatheticallusion to the "cruel persecution" to which Dr. Culling-worth had been subjected. The toast was responded to by

753

Mr. Batlin and Mr. Bigham. A capital musical programme a

was provided, and the dinner was one of the most successful in recent years. The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society r

last year instituted a dinner which promises to be an annual r

function, and the other societies might well occasionally Iimitate the example thus set them by their elders. 1

THE PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS IN NEW YORK.

THE Health Department of New York has taken the step itof declaring pulmonary tuberculosis to be an " infectiousand communicable disease dangerous to the public health." S’

It has also ordained that notification of each case of the disease coming under the notice of medical practitioners in v:the city shall be made within a week of its first coming to 1the knowledge of the practitioners, and that public andprivate institutions and dispensaries shall also notify all

cases heard of ; but how far the duty is to be one forwhich remuneration is to be given is not stated. The h

provision of hospital accommodation for the poor suffering Cfrom the disease is enjoined by the medical members 0

of the department, these poor sufferers being regarded as 0active sources of danger to the community. All institu- a

tions taking in cases of the malady are to be systematically vand officially inspected, and the people generally are to be 1)educated to regard the malady in the grave light in which it (

is medically held, and to take in consequence adequate means Cfor its repression. A close supervision over individuals t

suffering from the disease in crowded localities and work- i

shops is to be maintained. The medical members of the c

department regard it as quite feasible, even in face of the 1

present estimate of 20;000 tuberculous citizens in New York, Eto restrict tuberculosis within the narrowest bounds, and (

eventually perhaps almost to exterminate it. Future com- (

paiative records from New York will prove to be of interest xin this connexion. To our way of thinking the whole schemeis Utopian.

THE PHYSIQUE OF THE ARMY.

WE are very glad to see that the question of the physique c

and stamina of the officers and men of our Army is attracting r:

attention. It is a subject of great and growing importance r

to which we have from time to time referred in the columns t

of THE LANCET for some years past. We are living in an age t

when the strain on physical and moral qualities, of which scompetitive examinations take little or no account, is often c

very considerable. Manliness, vigorous health, physical i

activity, and complete integrity of the sense organs in them- r

selves count for a great deal in the officers of our Army, Band they are usually accompanied by coolness of judgment, a dogged indifference to danger, and powers of endurance- i

the very qualities on which officers and men have had very frequently to rely of late in India and Africa. A com-

p::titive examination, we have always held, should be com- petitive all round, and the possessor of these physical aqualities or of any physical superiority should, in the interest of the State and the Army, reap some advantage from them. They enable an officer to endure fatigue, help himto resist disease, and inspire trust and confidence in themen he has to lead, and these are the very qualities that eminently fit a man for the military service. It is notorious,of course, that great mental and physical activity areof,ten combined in men of relatively small stature ;but these, if strong, healthy, and well proportioned, neednot-and, indeed, could not, considering the numbers theyrepresent-be excluded from competing for the militaryservices. As it is at present, hosever, we are excluding anumber of most desirable candidates because they maturementally very slowly and are not bookworms or havenot those studious habits which are very distasteful at the {

ages at which candidates are taken for the Army and Navy.The Board of Visitors to Woolwich and Sandhurst in their last

reports very wisely, in our opinion, express a hope that themilitary authorities will seriously consider whether it be notpossible to introduce into the examinations into and out ofboth the Royal Military Academy and the Royal MilitaryCollege a test for the physical capacity of the candidates.Although most people are agreed on the principle, it is whenwe come to apply it to practice that difficulties arise. Andit is in this respect that we may call attention to a com-munication in the Times of the 8th inst. for some practicalsuggestions as to how the regulations for admission intothese institutions might with advantage be amended with theview of securing this end.

THE NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE LONDON COUNTYCOUNCIL.

I WE congratulate Dr. W. J. Collins on attaining to thehonourable position of Chairman of the London CountyCouncil, the most important municipal post, after thatof Lord Mayor of London, in the world. The work

of the London County Council in relation to medicaland hygienic matters has been above reproach, so thatwe record with particular pleasure the election of a

medical man to preside over its deliberations for a time.Of Dr. Collins’s great abilities no one who has come intocontact with him can have any doubt, while we believe thathe will also display judicial impartiality and official dignityin the discharge of his new and onerous duties. With our

congratulations to Dr Collins on his election we shouldlike to couple a word of thanks to his predecessor. Sir

Arthur Arnold was an excellent chairman from every pointof view, and carries with him into the comparative privacyof ordinary membership of the Council the well-earned

respect of the citizens of London.

THE VAGARIES OF VISION.

ON Friday evening, March 5th, Mr. Shelford Bidwelldelivered before the Royal Institution a lecture on somecuriosities of vision, and performed a number of experi-ments to illustrate the phenomena known as persistence andrecurrence of vision. Perhaps the most interesting part ofthe lecture was that in which the lecturer attempted tothrow some light upon a curious little optical toy whichwas brought before the public about a year ago, consistingof a number of discs of cardboard having black lines drawnupon them in such a manner that when the discs wererotated the black lines would appear as continuous bands,which bands appeared to the eye to be coloured, the tintvarying according to the rate of rotation. The lecturer

- referred to some simple experiments which he had made in. which black lines were made to appear as red. If a piece of. brown paper is taken, a hole cut in it about half an inch. square, and a pin fastened across the opening midway betweenl and parallel with two sides with some stamp paper, and thej whole moved backwards and forwards before a lamp, the pinL will appear to have a border of red. Again, in the case ofL a printed book if placed before the eyes and alternately

screened and exposed, either with the hand or a piece ofb cardboard, the black lines will appear for about a second, to be of a red colour, the experiments showing that when-

ever a bright image falls upon the retina after short

; period of darkness the image appears with a colouredi border which, under ordinary conditions, is of a red colour.y The optical toy referred to is constructed on the principle ofy alternate periods of light and darkness, and whatever may bea the cause of the red colour appearing in Mr. Shelford Bidwell’se experiments it is probable that it bears some near relation toe the varying bands of colour on the rotating discs. It is not

e everyone who will be able to see these effects upon a first