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kind. It is no doubt not advisable, even were it practic-able, to depart from a system of decentralisation by takingout of the hands of the local military authorities the

duty and responsibility of making adequate arrange-ments on occasions of this sort. We cannot see, how-

ever, how these arrangements can be considered adequate solong as soldiers about to take part in a long and trying fieldday are not provided before starting with a more substantialbreakfast than they seem to get at present, together withmeans of obtaining light refreshment and an abundance offluid en route and during halts. We know, as a matter of

fact, that sportsmen and civilians take care to secure a goodbreakfast before commencing any unwonted exertion, and ifthe existing regulations do not admit of this being done onfield days in the case of the soldier the War Office shouldissue the necessary authority and incur the cost of having itdone. It goes without saying, too, that the men shouldbe protected from the sun and the heat by suitable clothingand head-dress and by marching in as open order as possible.The so-called forage or field service cap is quite unsuitablefor such occasions ; either helmets should be worn or, whatwould probably be preferable, the slouched form of head-dress used by the colonial troops should be adopted by ourinfantry soldiers. But it is of little use merely to protectthe head against the direct rays of the sun so long as thedanger from heat exhaustion arising from insufficientnourishment and fatigue be not also guarded against. It isoften a matter of emulation with corps to " force the pace

"

in marching back to camp after a field day and it was on thereturn march that the soldiers, overcome with heat andfatigue, fell out in such numbers, and it is at such a time,therefore, that extra care should be taken.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY (SECOND) ANNUALCONVERSAZIONE.

THE exhibition held by the Royal Society on June 20Gh,although containing very little of an entirely novel character,yet fully maintained the high standard it has reached inrecent years. It frequently happens that the second or

June conversazione, generally known as "ladies’ night," ismore or less a repetition of the one given in May. This

year, however, we are glad to find that this is by no meansthe case, many fresh subjects of interest being broughtforward. An able demonstration of an apparatus for the pro-duction of short electric waves and the study of electro-

optic phenomena was given by Dr. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S.A beam of electric radiation was produced by a radiator, thewave length being about eight inches. External radiation is

prevented by enclosing the instrument in a zinc box. The

receiver is of the Branly type and is connected with a relayand an electric bell to indicate the impact of electric waves.Dr. Fleming showed that the latter could penetrate ordinaryinsulating screens but were at once stopped by those made ofmetal. Damp objects, such as a wet duster, a moist brick, orthe human body, were quite impervious. The refraction ofthese waves was also cleverly shown by turning the radiatorout of the horizontal plane when the receiver bell gaveno indication until a prism of paraffin wax or a

grating of parallel wire held at an angle divertedthe rays into the aperture of the receiver. The

spectra of the inert gases of the atmosphere were

exhibited by Professor W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. 1B1. W.

Travers, who have now succeeded in thoroughly separatingno less than five constituents from atmospheric nitrogen-viz., helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon, spectra ofthese five gases in a pure state being on view. It is

interesting to notice that krypton with an atomic weight ofabout 80’54 comes close to bromine in the Periodic Law,whilst xenon again, with an atomic weight of 128, is closeto iodine. An ingenious apparatus for the preparation of

these gases in the pure state was also shown. It consists

mainly of mercury levelling tubes, by means of which

atmospheric air is driven into a tube, cooled by liquid air,and thereby compelled to condense. Diminution of pressurethen causes the highest boiling liquid to vaporise away fromthe others, thereby practically bringing about fractional dis-tillation of the gases present. The photographic observationsof the solar eclipse of May 28th formed the interestingexhibit of the Joint Eclipse Committee of the Royal andAstronomical Societies. Many positives and negatives ofthe various stages of the eclipse were on view and

naturally many of the corona. Ordinary and chromo-

sphere spectra of the latter were also shown, and

among other attractive items in this collection were

some striking paintings by Mr. Wyllie, the well-known marine artist, of incidents which he witnessedwhilst accompanying the official expedition. Dr. WilliamJ. S. Lockyer showed some clever photographs of brightand dark lightning flashes, the effects being purely photo-graphic, probably caused by several sparks of varyingintensity taking place at the same time. The poisonouslotus of Egypt (Lotus Arabious) was shown by ProfessorWyndham Dunstan, F.R.S. This very curious plantpossesses the property of being extremely poisonous to

animals in its living condition from the formation of prussicacid due to the action of water on a glucoside it contains,an enzyme present converting the latter into this poisonand a yellow colouring matter, loto flavin. When, however,the plant is cut down and dried it becomes a most

useful fodder and possesses an odour closely resemblingfresh hay. Dr. W. J. Russell, F.R.S., showed some pictureson copper developed by iodine after contact with printer’sink and also after exposure to hydrogen peroxide. Someancient cameos and gems dating back to the second or firstcentury B.C. were exhibited by Sir John Evans, K.C.B.,F.R.S., and some of the Roman remains from Silchester byMr. W. Gowland. The latter included some fragments ofthe hearths of two of the old cupellation furnaces saturatedwith lead and copper oxide during the extraction of silverfrom argentiferous copper. Some very good experimentswere performed by Professor Hele-Shaw, F.R.S., and Mr. Hayon stream line motion analogous to lines of magnetic in-duction. They exhibited a specially constructed glass plateby means of which a large number of results may beobtained with very little trouble suitable for both educa-tional and research work. Last, but not least, Professor E.Ray Lankester, F.R.S., showed two ingenious models of

mosuitoes enlarged 28 times linear and some models ofhuman blood-corpuscles infested with the malaria parasite.

UNFOUNDED CHARGES AGAINST THE CARDIFFINFIRMARY.

THE working men of Cardiff and the colliers of the

surrounding districts subscribe about .E1COO per annum in

support of the Cardiff Infirmary, not by any means a largeamount when compared with the sums raised on HospitalSaturday in other large towns, Birmingham for instance. Butif the Cardiff workmen are grudging in pecuniary supportthey are only too ready to bring against the staff of theinstitution charges which are of the most trivial nature andwhich will not bear even the most superficial examination.The latest instance occurred last week when at a meetingof the working-men governors it was stated that a

collier who had met with an accident was sent bythe colliery surgeon to the infirmary and that althoughhe had a subscriber’s ticket he was sent homewithout having his injury attended to. Such is the state-ment which appeared in the Cardiff daily papers ofJune 12th. The actual facts are these. A collier in onecf the Rhondda valley collieries badly crushed three of his

1814

fingers and was attended immediately by Mr. Edwards, thecolliery surgeon, who was of opinion that with propertreatment the whole hand would be saved. At the end oftwo days the man suggested that he should see one

of the Cardiff Infirmary surgeons and Mr. Edwards I

readily acquiesced. Upon presenting himself at the out-patients’ room of the infirmary Dr. P. Rhys Griffithsmade a careful examination of the injured hand and cameto the same conclusion as the colliery surgeon, that therewas no necessity to amputate any of the fingers, and afterhaving the hand dressed he wrote to Mr. Edwards givingexpression to his views as to the mode of treatment to

be followed. It is thus evident that instead of receivingscant courtesy, as the working-man governor would have hiscolleagues believe, this particular patient received ex-

ceptionally good treatment at the hands of the infirmarysurgeon. It is a great pity that such charges as these shouldnot be investigated before finding their way into the dailypapers and not after. Those who bring them must surelysee that even the interval of the couple of days which mustelapse before explanation is possible may be long enough todo a considerable injury to the institution whose interestswe are convinced they have really at heart.

MARRIAGES BETWEEN PERSONS OF THE SAMESEX. I

THE determination of the sex of a new-born child withmalformed genital organs must often be a matter of consider-able difficulty. With the advance of years and the adventof puberty the changes which take place in the body and thedevelopment of secondary sexual characters usually enablea correct diagnosis to be made. It would seem hardlycredible that individuals could grow up and even enter the

marriage state without their exact sex ever having beendetermined. In two articles of great interest in the Revuede Gynecologie et de Cldr1l’l’.qie Abdominale, March-April,1899, and January-February, 1900, Dr. Francois Neugebauerhas collected notes of no less than 53 cases of marriagebetween persons of the same sex. He has also collected

from the literature 11 cases in which marriage engagementswere broken off on the discovery of an error having beenmade in the sex of one or other of the parties, and15 cases of " women living a life of prostitution who werein reality of the male sex. A careful examination by a com-petent observer will rarely fail to determine with certaintythe sex of a new-born child, but in many cases the matter isleft to the judgment of the attendant nurse or midwife, whohas not a sufficient knowledge of the various kinds ofmalformation of the genital organs to enable her to come toa correct conclusion. The unfortunate consequences that

may result from an error are illustrated by Dr. Neugebauer’scases and by the fact that two unhappy victims of such a

mistake were driven to commit suicide. In the 53 cases

recorded, in 49 a man had been married as a woman, inthree cases a woman had been married as a man, whilein one the person was said to be an hermaphrodite.The majority of the cases of the men appear to havebeen very evident cases of peno-scrotal hypospadias. Someof these cases, however, even when examined by trainedobservers, cannot be decided upon with absolute certaintyunless a microscopical examination of the supposed ovaries ortestes is possible. The legal relations of the correct

determination of the sex of a new-born child may be of the

greatest possible importance. The question of the right ofsuccession or inheritance to landed estate or to an estatelimited by entailment may depend upon a correct apprecia-tion of the preponderance of one or the other sex in thecase of an hermaphrodite. If the subject of such a mal-formation die a short time after birth the rights ofother people may rest to a large extent upon the

decision of the medical attendant in the matter of

the exact sex. In such cases no conclusion should be cometo without the most complete post-mortem examinationand if necessary a microscopical examination of the sexuaglands. The law in France with regard to the nullityof marriage between two persons of the same sex differs

from that in this country. If the person married is a mal.

formed woman incapable of sexual intercourse then accord-ing to the French law no ground exists for declaring themarriage void. Such a condition is, however, recognised byEnglish law as a sufficient cause for annulling the contract.If, on the other hand, the person is a malformed man therecan have been no legal marriage and it is of necessity nulland void. If the case is one of an hermaphrodite then nullityof marriage must exist since whatever the sex of the othercontracting party there must be identity of sex between thetwo persons. In view of the grave results that may ensuecases of doubtful sex should be investigated with the greatestcare, and in all cases where any doubt remains the child

should be brought up and educated as a male.

THE COLONIAL SURGEONS IN ASHANTI.

THE dangers which are at present threatening our country.men in the West Coast of Africa have a special interest forthe medical profession from the fact that of the 26

Europeans whom the revolted Ashantis are believed to havesurrounded in Coomassie no fewer than six are in theColonial Medical Service. Under the most favourable con.ditions these gentlemen have very arduous and responsiblepositions, and the climate in which they live is pro-verbially one of the most fatal in the world for whitemen. At present they are in a most critical position,shut up in a native town far from the sea and withno immediate prospect of being relieved. These victimsto duty, with whom we have to express the utmost

sympathy, are Mr. Patrick Joseph Garland, senior assistantcolonial surgeon, Gold Coast, Mr. Edward Herbert Tweedy,Mr. Albert John Chalmers, M.D. Vict., Mr. William Medly-cott Graham, M.B.Dub., and Mr. J. B. Hay, M.B.Edin.,assistant colonial surgeons, Gold Coast, the sixth being Mr.W. F. Macfarlane, assistant colonial surgeon, Lagos. Allwill unite in hoping that communication with Coomassie

may be soon restored and the Europeans enabled to maketheir way to the sea-coast.

THE RATING OF SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS.

THE Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine has recentlyattempted to obtain exemption from the payment of ratesand has failed to do so on its case coming before aDivisional Court. The ground of its claim to be excused wasthat the Jenner Institute came under the Act of Parliament

passed in 1843 which exempts "any society instituted forpurposes of science, literature, or the fine arts exclusively,"provided that such society fulfils certain other conditions.It was not contested that the Jenner Institute did not fulfilthese or that it was not instituted for purposes of science,but its difficulty arose from the application of the word

"exclusively." It is, of course, well known to our readersthat the Jenner Institute is not only responsible formuch scientific investigation and research but also that itmanufactures and sells antitoxin, mallein, tuberculin, andsimilar preparations for the benefit of members of themedical profession who are glad to be able to obtain themfrom such a source. It was not suggested to the DivisionalCourt that it carries on a profitable business in this respect;indeed, it was admitted that some of the preparations namedwere sold at a loss to the institute. The judges, however,held that giving full weight to the word "exclusively"in the Act under consideration they were bound to

consider the appellants liable, Mr. Justice Channell