171

by May lbt, 1903, to Dr. S. Rutherford Macphail, Rowditch,Derby. The twenty-second annual meeting of the societywill be held during the present summer-namely, on

August 15th-at Inverness. __

THE PREVALENCE OF SMALL-POX.

THE following figures show the number of patientsadmitted to the various hospitals of the MetropolitanAsylums Board for the dates mentioned : on Saturday,July 12th, there were 3 fresh cases ; on Sunday, the

13th, there were 2 fresh cases ; on Monday, the 14th, therewere 11 fresh cases ; on Tuesday, the 15th, there were 4

fresh cases ; and on Wednesday, the 16th, there were 11

fresh cases. ___

PROPOSED JOURNAL FOR THE ARMY MEDICALSERVICES.

THE Director-General of the Army Medical Service hasissued a circular regarding the proposed establishment of ajournal for the Army Medical Services. Sir William Taylorbelieves that a journal devoted to matters of professionaland scientific interest would confer many advantages and begenerally welcomed by army medical officers. Such publica-tions are issued by the medical services of ContinentalPowers. It is hoped that a journal conducted upon suchlines as are set forth in the circular in question would notonly enable medical officers to keep in touch with what is

going on in the British service but with the advances andchanges that are taking place in other armies. The proposedjournal would to a great extent take the place of the presentappendices of the Army Medical Department Reports, butwould contain, in addition to original articles of a medical,surgical, and scientific nature bearing upon army hygiene,reprints and translations from military, medical, and otherjournals. In these and other respects such a publicationwould serve to draw out much information now latent andto focus a large amount and variety of useful and interestingknowledge which is now comparatively lost or rendered

unavailable from being dispersed in so many different direc-tions. The Director-General is naturally desirous of elicit-

ing the views of his department on the subject and of

ascertaining the amount of support which the proposal wouldbe likely to meet with. -

ADMINISTRATION OF HIGHLY VOLATILEANÆSTHETICS.

WE noted in a recent issue an apparatus used in France for the exhibition of the more volatile anaesthetics, such aschloride of ethyl. It is stated that the apparatus in question"hermetically seals the mouth and nose." That chloride of

ethyl and some of its congeners and mixtures must be givenby some apparatus which enables the administrator to

minimise the access of air is obvious owing to their greatvolatility, but we think that it is open to grave questionwhether the danger of their use is not accentuatedwhen the patient is permitted to breathe only such airas is contained in his lungs at the time of the adminis-

tration. It is patent that the requirements of the normalman are, as regards oxygen, more than met by ordinaryrespiration and that even a temporary exclusion of atmo-spheric air may safely be permitted. The danger lies in thefact that not only are many people unable to forego theirsupply of oxygen for any period without peril, but that thestruggling which not uncommonly is associated with com-plete exclusion of air is in itself liable to produce syncope.The tide of fashion, which exists in anaesthetics as in othersublunary matters, is at present setting in favour of chlorideor ethyl under various disguises and there is only toogreat a liability to forget that such volatile bodies are

I depressants and that their capacity for danger culminateswhen the mouth and nose are hermetically sealed."MEDICAL EXCURSIONS TO GERMAN WATERING-

PLACES AND HEALTH RESORTS.

WE understand that the committee which organisesmedical excursions to German watering-places and healthresorts has arranged an extensive and varied programme.The number of the party is limited to 400, and it is statedthat a great many names have been already received, so

that early application on the part of those intending tojoin the excursion is advisable. Every information may beobtained from the secretaries, Dr. W. H. Gilbert, Baden-Baden, and Dr. P. Meissner, 81 Kurfiirstenstrasse, Berlin.The amount of the subscription is 150 marks £7 10s.).

THE NAVAL MEDICAL SERVICE.

THE communication from the Warden of the London

Hospital Medical College which appeared under the aboveheading in the Times of Monday last, July 14th, is worth theattention of our readers. The letter has already been pub-lished in our columns 1and commented upon, but our remarkswill bear repetition. The Warden very wisely and pertinentlyrecommends that a naval surgeon should be allowed to hold

a house surgeoncy for six months at his hospital after, andnot before, entering the naval medical service whilst

counting his time and pay during the time he holds

that post. By so doing the loss of time and seniorityentailed by his taking up the appointment of house surgeonto a civil hospital before entering the naval service would beovercome. This, as matters stand at present, deters medicalcandidates for the navy from seeking such posts. We have

already expressed our concurrence in this view and we mayadd that we likewise concur in the other proposals containedin the Warden’s letter. If his suggestions were adopted wethink that they would prove valuable and a considerablenumber of very desirable candidates who are now lost to theservice would be secured.

____

THE CEREBRO-SPINAL FLUID.

THE nature of the cerebro-spinal fluid has recentlybeen the subject of investigation by Professor E. Cavazzaniof the University of Ferrara, who gives his results inthe first fasciculus for 1902 of the "Archives Italiennesde Biologie." First, in regard to its alkalinity, whichhe determined by " lacmoid," he finds that in the

dog the mean is 0 - 093 per cent. of NaOH and in

the ox 0’104 per cent., the fluid being obtained from

animals killed by bleeding. In other cases the fluid was

obtained during life by aspiration through the atlanto-

occipital ligament. In dogs that were curarised the meanwas 0’089 NaOH per cent. and in two normal rabbits it was0’099 and 0-085 per cent. The importance of thesenumbers consists in the evidence which they afford that thecerebro-spinal fluid is not a mere filiration of the plasma ofthe blood, since it presents less than half the alkalinity ofthe blood. In the next place, the effects of various

reactions, such as tincture of guaiacum, hydrochinone, gallicand pyrogallic acids, peroxide of hydrogen, and ortho-

toluidine, have led him to the conclusion that the cerebro-spinal fluid contains a ferment to which he has given thename of cerebro-spinase. This ferment possesses the powerof destroying the reducing agent which is normally presentin the cerebro-spinal fluid and is capable of oxidising glycose.Professor Cavazzani adduces reasons for supporting the viewsof Knoll attributing variations of pressure in the cerebro-

spinal fluid to venous influence. At the beginning of

1 THE LANCET, May 3rd, 1902, p. 1281.