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Rural Water-supplies.AN instance of some of the difficulties besetting

the provision of a rural water-supply is affordedby a recent number of the Municipal Engineeringand Sanitary Record, in which is given an

account of the present deadlock in the arrange-ments for providing a particular rural parishwith a wholesome supply of water. It appearsthat the present supply, which is derived from

a number of surface wells subject to pollution,has b3en condemned by the medical officer of

health. The rural district council is prepared totake steps to provide a satisfactory public supply, butthe project is opposed by the principal ratepayersof the parish, who carried the day at a parish meet-ing summoned to consider the question. It seems

likely that the resolution there passed, howeverunanimous, may not adequately express the opinionof the poorer inhabitants largely concerned, whomay be unwilling to take sides against their moreimportant neighbours. The poorer inhabitants are,therefore, to be compelled to continue in the use oftheir polluted water-supplies owing to the lack ofpublic spirit of the richer members of the com-munity, who can probably manage either to safe-

guard their personal supplies of water or to replacethem by some pleasant substitute. This is far from

being an isolated example of the many problemswhich confront those responsible for the provisionof water-supplies in rural districts; these problemsare largely the product of inertia and of selfishnessin combination. In such a case as the above, therural district council ought to overrule the opinionof the parish, and should apply its powers underSection 51 of the Public Health Act, 1875, to providea public water-supply. But the councils of ruraldistricts are cautious and conservative to the last

degree, and they know that the Act in question, whileconferring the power, does not impose the duty ofproviding such a supply. There is more than one

weak link in the legal machinery in this respect.For example, Section 3 of the Public Health (Water)Act, 1878, refers to the " dttty imposed on them[rural authorities] by the Public Health Act, 1875,of providing their district or any contributoryplace ...... with a supply of water, where dangerarises to the health of the inhabitants from the

insufficiency or unwholesomeness of the existingsupply," &c.; yet the most diligent search fails totrace in the 1875 Act the statement of any such

obligation as distinct from the grant of such powers.To the non-legal mind, intent upon public good, itappears that the law on the subject needs over-hauling, with special reference to the substitutionof obligatory for permissive clauses.The officers of rural authorities may find useful

leverage to hand in the new housing schemes.Under Section 6 of the Public Health (Water) Act,1878, every house erected after March 25th, 1879,must have a sufficient and wholesome supply ofwater for consumption and for domestic purposes,and the house cannot be occupied until a certificate

to that effect is given by the sanitary authority-onthe report of its inspector of nuisances or medicalofficer of health. In the past houses have crept intoexistence where that certificate has been obtained,almost as by stealth, in cases where the water-supplywas not really above suspicion, and where the onlyexcuse was that the. house, like the baby in the oldstory, was " only a little one." But a new attitudeis needed with the more serious question of theerection of houses in number previously neverdreamt of. The officers in question may now notfeel justified in approving water-supplies in bulkwhere before they approved, with some qualms attimes, supplies to individual houses erected at

infrequent intervals. If their reports do in effectprove adverse, the district council will be facedwith two alternatives-to drop the housing scheme,which will be likely to lead to trouble with theMinistry of Health, or to screw up its courage tothe provision of a proper water-supply. It is to be

hoped that the latter alternative will commenditself even before the pressure of public opinionand of the Ministry compels its adoption.

Annotations."Ne quid nimis."

IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM OSLER.

A PUBLIC meeting has been called in the lecturetheatre of the Museum at Oxford on Saturday,March 6th, at 3.30 P.M., to consider what stepsshould be taken to perpetuate, in some appropriatemanner, the memory of Sir William Osler. Invita-tions have been sent out in the names of ArthurThomson (Dr. Lee’s Professor of Anatomy), GeorgesDreyer (Professor of Pathology), C. S. Sherrington(Waynflete Professor of Physiology), J. A. Gunn(Professor of Pharmacology), P. E. H. Adams (Readerin Ophthalmology), E. W. Ainley Walker (Lecturerin Pathology), A. P. Dodds-Parker (Lecturer inApplied Anatomy), A. G. Gibson (Lecturer in MorbidAnatomy), Wm. Collier (Litchfield Lecturer inMedicine), and H. C. Bazett (Welsh Lecturer inClinical Physiology), all immediately concerned withthe teaching of medicine in Oxford. Many Uni-versity officials and heads of houses have intimatedtheir intention of being present. Notifications ofthe intention to be present should be sent to theinterim-secretary, Professor Gunn, at the Museum,Oxford.

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THE WAR EMERGENCY FUND OF THE ROYALMEDICAL BENEVOLENT FUND.

THE National Relief Fund has made a substantialgrant of JE10,000 to the War Emergency Fund tobe used for general purposes. This enablesthe War Emergency Fund to enlarge the scopeof its activities in a practical manner. TheCommittee of the Fund will now be able, forexample, to make liberal grants for the education ofchildren of medical men who held commissions inthe medical services during the war, and we cannotconceive any better destination for the money attheir disposal. Next, perhaps, to the education ofhis children the principal anxiety of the medicalman is that death in harness should not imply

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immediate poverty for his family, and this appre-hension, also, takes its rise largely from thefeeling that such poverty must lead to lack ofeducation. But the medical men who have takenthought for the position by insuring their lives,have found in existing circumstances the paymentof premiums a heavy burden, and the relief of thisresponsibility is one direction which grants fromthe War Emergency Fund may very usefully take.There is also the burden of the loan to purchasehouse or practice; interest charges are pressingheavily on many of the doctors who were awaywith the colours, while timely help will enablethem to make good a position which has beenjeopardised by world events, and not by personalrashness. We are able to say that any officers.applying for assistance on such grounds as we haveset out will be heard sympathetically. Communica-tions should be made to the Honorary Secretaryof the Fund at 11, Chandos-street, Cavendish-square, London, W. 1. ____

THE BLOOD PRESSURE IN PULMONARYTUBERCULOSIS.

IT is a curious fact that in spite of numerousinvestigations into the blood pressure in pul-monary tuberculosis, and the unanimity of mostobservers, the diagnostic and prognostic significanceof a low blood pressure in doubtful cases of tuber-culosis is commonly overlooked. French andAmerican writers attach great importance to thissign, and both Papillon and Regnault have foundit a useful guide at a stage when the physical exa-mination of the chest is negative. German writersare, on the whole, less impressed by the diagnosticvalue of this sign. In a recent publication,lReinhold Naucler has combined a review of the litera-ture of this subject with a long series of originalinvestigations. These showed that though con-

siderable individual variations of the blood pres-sure might be found in groups of cases classifiedaccording to Turban, yet the average pressure sankuniformly with the extent and severity of the disease.And even in the matter of individual cases thehighest pressures were observed in Turban’s stage I.,the lowest in moribund cases. Both diastolic andsystolic pressures were lowered by the disease, butthe diastolic was less affected than the systolicpressure. It was also noted that the fall of thepressure depended rather on the malignity of thedisease than on its anatomical distribution; insome cases characterised by considerable malaise,but by few and insignificant chest signs, the

pressure was extraordinarily low. Measurementsof the blood pressure in the same individual overa long period sometimes showed that a compara-tively high pressure might come down with a run ’if the disease was rapidly progressive, whereas inother cases an originally low pressure might fallonly a trifle during the further course of the

disease. A comparison of the blood pressure withthe weight curve showed that the average pressurewas higher among those who gained weight thanthose whose weight was stationary; and in theseagain it was higher than in those who lost

weight. There was also a definite parallelismwith regard to the blood pressure and haemo-ptysis. Not only was haemoptysis comparativelyfrequent among the subjects of a high bloodpressure, but the severity - of the haemoptysis alsocorresponded with the height of the blood pressure.

1 Acta Medica Scandinavica, vol. lii., Fasc. III., 1919.

Naucler contrasts these findings with those of Pro.fessor Bang and others, who have argued that thepressures in the systemic and the pulmonary circu.lations are independent of each other. It may be,as Naucler suggests, that the coincidence of a highsystemic blood pressure and haemoptysis is notdirect, and that both may be due to a third commonfactor. As to the value of the blood pressure inthe early diagnosis of tuberculosis, it is disappoint.ing to find that though it was subnormal in 60 percent. of Naucler’s patients in the first stage, bothin this and in the second stage perfectly normalpressures occurred frequently. It would thereforeseem that a low pressure is very suggestive oftuberculosis in doubtful cases, but a normal pressuremust not be interpreted as excluding tuberculosis.

THE CHADWICK PRIZEMEN.

THE Chadwick trustees have awarded a goldmedal and a prize of JE100 to each of the twomedical officers in the British service deemed tohave distinguished themselves most in promotingthe health of the men under their care. Theselection has been made by the director-generalsof the medical services, and at 5 P.M. on Monday,March 8th, in the lecture-room of the Royal Societyof Arts, Sir Robert Hill will present Surgeon-Commander Edward L. Atkinson, D.S.O., R.N., andSir John Goodwin will present Brigadier-GeneralW. W. 0. Beveridge, D.S.O., A.M.S., to Sir WilliamCollins, who will make the presentation. At theconclusion of the ceremony Sir John Goodwin willdeliver the first of a series of three lectures onMilitary Hygiene in Peace and War.

PSYCHICAL SCIENCES.

IN two numbers of the Anglo-F1’ench Review-namely, those for December, 1919, and January,1920-there appears an interesting article byM. Camille Flammarion entitled, Les SciencesPsychiques. The celebrated French astronomer

expresses his belief that the answers to questions,manifestations of levitation, and other phenomenaobtained by or through the agency of mediumsare genuine manifestations of the existence of aforce existing in the universe for which at presentthere is no name. He quotes what he wrote in1906: "Psychical manifestations confirm thatwhich we know from other sources-namely,that the purely mechanical explanation of Natureis insufficient and that there exists in theUniverse something besides apprehended matter.It is not matter which rules the world; itis an element which is both dynamic andpsychic." In another article written in 1888 hesaid,

"

The Universe is an intelligent, unknowableresultant of forces (dynamisme)." From observa-tions which he has made at varying intervals from1861 and onwards he concludes: (1) That gravitationcan be counterbalanced by contrary forces; (2) thatthe human being is possessed of an invisible forcewhich can move objects more or less heavy withoutbeing in contact with them; (3) that the levitationof heavy objects-for example, tables-can bebrought about by the simple contact of the handsof experimenters whose wills are united in thedesire to obtain such levitation; (4) still more, suchmovements can be obtained without any contact-for instance, a chair will move towards the experi-menter at his wish; (5) answers may be obtained toquestions, such answers being given by knockscorresponding to a conventional code of letters of