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with good results, and he advises that some such person beengaged permanently by the sanitary authority to deal withsmoke nuisance. It is certainly true that many sanitaryinspectors are not so well versed in the matter of smoke prevention as they might be.

.Lexden and Winstree Rural Sanitary District.-Dr. J. W.Cook has (as pointed out by him in a letter published in ourcolumns on Jane lst) been instrumental in providing thisdistrict with a portable fever hospital, designed by himself.It consists of two Radcliffe double tents with boarded floors,each tent containing four beds. There is in addition a belltent with beds for two nurses, and a large van on fourwheels. The van is fitted up as a kitchen and has provisionfor a hot-water supply. The floor-boards for the tent arecarried in a separate waggon, but apart from these every-thing appertaining to the hospital is stored in the van. Thewhole hospital can be transferred to any part of the districtand in less than two hours can be erected and made readyfor the reception of patients.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN thirty-three of the largest English towns 6861 birthsand 3130 deaths were registered during the week endingJune 15th. The annual rate of mortality in these towns,which had declined in the five preceding weeks from 17’7to 15-5 per 1000, further fell last week to 15-4. The lowestrates in these towns were 10-5 in Burnley, 10 in Ports-mouth, 10-9 in Croydon, 11-4 in Sunderland, and 11-7 inCardiff; the highest rates were 19-2 in Blackburn, 20 5 inPlymouth and in Salford 21’3 in Manchester, 23-6 in Bolton,and 23-8 in Liverpool. The 3130 deaths included 399 whichwere referred to the principal zymotic diseases, against 349and 294 in the two preceding weeks; of these, 133 resultedfrom measles, 77 from diarrhoea, 73 from diphtheria, 60from whooping-cough, 28 from scarlet fever, 23 from’; fever " I

(principally enteric), and 5 from small-pox. No fatal caseof any of these diseases occurred last week in Sunder-land ; in the other towns they caused the lowest death-rates in Bradfoid, Portsmouth, Croydon, and Gateshead,and the highest rates in Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester,West Ham, and Plymouth. The greatest mortality frommeasles occurred tn Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, Ply-mouth, and West Ham ; from whooping-cough in Birkenheadand in Huddersfield ; from "fever" in Norwich; and fromdiarrhoea in Plymouth and Blackburn. The mortality fromscarlet fever showed no marked excess in any of the thirty-three large towns The 73 deaths from diphtheria included 45in London, 6 in Liverpool, 4 in Birmingham, and 3 each inWest Ham, Manchester, and Hull. Three fatal cases ofsmall-pox were registered in Derby, 1 in London, and 1 inOldham, but not one in any other of the thirty-three towns,There were 19 cases of small-pox under treatment in theMetropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the Highgate Small-poxHospital on Saturday last, the 15th inst., against 29, 22, and23 at the end )f the three preceding weeks ; 2 new caseswere admitted during the week, against 7, 1, and 5 in thethree preceding weeks. The number of scarlet fever patientsin the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the LondonFever Hospital at t."he end of the week was 1637. against1503, 1524, and 1589 on the three preceding Saturdays;199 new cases were admitted during the week, against214, 187, and 179 in the three preceding weeks. The deathsreferred to diseases of the respiratory organs in London,which had been 193 and 163 in the two preceding weeks,further declined to 152 last week, and were 88 below thecorrected average The causes of 54, or 1-7 per cent., ofthe 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,Cardiff, Bradford, Leeds, Oldham, and in twelve othersmaller towns ; the largest proportions of uncertified deathswere recorded In Bristol, Birmingham, Leicester, Liverpool,and Hull.

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HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.

The annual rate of mortality in the eight Scotch towns,which had been 21.4 and 19 7 per 1000 in the two precedingweeks, further declined to 17’1 during the week ending June15th, but was 1 7 per 1000 above the mean rate duringthe same period in the thirty-three large English towns.The rates in the eight Scotch towns ranged from 14’2 in

Leith and 15-5 in Aberdeen to 18 4 in Greenock and 30Win Perth. The 492 deaths in these towns included 2,5which were referred to diarrhoea, 14 to measles, 12 towhooping-cough, 3 to scarlet fever, 3 to diphtheria, 1 to"fever," and not one to small-pox. In all, 58 deathsresulted from these principal zymotic diseases, against 60and 57 in the two preceding weeks. These 58 deaths wereequal to an annual rate of 2’0 per 1000 which correspondedwith the mean rate last week from the same diseases inthe thirty-three large English towns. The 25 fatal cases ofdiarrhoea corresponded with the number recorded in thepreceding week, and included 11 in Glasgow and 6 in Dundee.The deaths referred to measles, which had been 12 in eachof the two preceding weeks, were 14 last week, of which 5occurred in Glasgow and 4 in Edinburgh. The fatal casesof whooping-cough, which had been 17 and 11 in the two pre-ceding weeks, were 12 last week, and included 6 in Glasgow,2 in Edinburgh, and 2 in Aberdeen. The 3 deaths fromscarlet fever were within one of the number in the precedingweek, and included 2 in Glasgow. The fatal cases of

diphtheria, which had been 3, 8, and 1 in the three precedingweeks, rose again to 3 last week, of which 2 occurred inEdinburgh. The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratoryorgans in these towns, which had been 118 and 112 in thetwo preceding weeks, further declined to 87 last week. and.were slightly below the number in the corresponding week oflast year. The causes of 39, or nearly 8 per cent.. of thedeaths in these eight towns last week were not certified.

HEALTH OF DUBLIN.

The death-rate in Dublin, which had declined in thethree preceding weeks from 28’S to 22.1 per 1000, roseagain to 23’1 during the week ending June 15th. During,the past eleven weeks of the current quarter the death-rate in the city has averaged 28’4 per 1000, the rate duringthe same period being 16’9 in London and 18’9 in Edin-burgh. The 155 deaths registered in Dublin during the weekunder notice showed an increase of 7 upon the numberin the preceding week, and included 8 which were

referred to the principal zymotic diseases, against numbersincreasing from 5 to 11 in the four preceding weeks; ofthese, 4 resulted from "fever," 3 from whooping-cougb.1 from diphtheria, and not one either from small-pox,measles, scarlet fever, or diarrhoea. These 8 deaths wereequal to an annual rate of 1’2 per 1000. the zymoticdeath-rate during the same period being 2’1 in Londonand 1’9 in Edinburgh. The deaths referred to differentforms of "fever," which had been 1 and 2 in the two pre-ceding weeks, further rose to 4 last week, a higher numberthan in any week since the end of March last. The 3 fatalcases of whooping-cough also showed a further increaseupon the numbers recorded in recent weeks. The 155deaths registered in Dublin last week included 19 of infantsunder one year of age, and 26 of persons aged upwards ofsixty years ; the deaths both of infants and of elderlypersons showed a further decline from the numbers recordedin recent weeks. Five inquest cases and 3 deaths fromviolence were registered ; and 55, or more than a third, ofthe deaths occurred in public institutions, The causes of10, or more than 6 per cent., of the deaths in the citylast week were not certified.

THE SERVICES.

MOVEMENTS OF THE MEDICAL STAFF.SURGEON-CAPTAIN DODD has been transferred from Wool-

wich to Aldershot and appointed Assistant Instructor at the:Depôt of the Medical Staff Corps. Surgeon-Captain Grayhas been posted to Dublin on return from foreign service.The following officers have arrived in England on leave ofabsence: Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Edge and Surgeon-Captain Copeland from India, and Surgeon-Captain Rowanfrom Malta.

INDIA AND THE INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICES.The following appointments are announced :-Surgeon-

Major H. C. Hudson, Bengal Establishment, to officiate as.

Medical Storekeeper, Meean Meer, until further orders ; Sur-geon-Lieutenant-Colonel W. O’Hara to be District Mledical andSanitary Officer, Trichinopoly; Surgeon-Lieutenant-ColonelJ. A. Laing, to be District Medical and Sanitary Officerand Superintendent of Gaol, Bellary ; Surgeon-Lieutenant-