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wards of 50,000 attendances, of which 17,000 had been attheir own homes; and more than 62,000 prescriptions weremade up at the dispensary. The number of cases attendedis not recorded; but the remuneration must have been atthe rate of rather more than a shilling for each visit to apatient, the visits of patients being left out of account.

For the class of work done, when allowance is made for

regularity of payment and exemption from bad debts, wethink this is a very satisfactory result indeed, and one onwhich everybody concerned may be congratulated. We

regret to see that the income is divided between only threemedical practitioners; for we think that all such institu-

tions should be thrown open to the profession, and, whenfairly and well managed, should be generally supported bythem.

KALI-KUTKI : A NEW TONIC.

MR. M. C. CooKE, in a late number of the Pltarrta-ceutical Journal, gives a description and an account of

the properties of this plant, which has long been con-

sidered to be the black hellebore, but which really be-longs, not to the Ranunculacese, but to the Scrophu-la.riacea3. Though unknown in the English market, itis well known throughout India. The drug consists partly Iof the root and partly of the stem of the plant. The root

part is very light and brittle, about the size of a goose-quill, brownish-white in colour externally, and deep blackinternally, with short waxy fracture. It is stated to be a

very valuable tonic, Assistant-surgeon Moordeen Sheriff

considering it equal to gentian and calumba, and superiorto chirayta. As a dose, ten or twenty grains as a tonic, andfrom twenty to forty as an antiperiodic, are recommended.

A SIGNIFICANT FACT.

DURING these times of scepticism as to the protectivevirtue of vaccination, it may be of some interest to learn alittle fact which has lately come to our knowledge, on theaccuracy of which perfect reliance can be placed. A

military surgeon, having recently had occasion to examinea large number of English recruits, found that 60 per cent.of lads unprotected by vaccination had been the subjects ofsmall-pox, as against 1’90 per cent. of protected recruitswho bore traces of small-pox. Remembering that these are Imen who have escaped any permanent damage from the disease, what must be the percentage of attacks in un-protected cases generally ? 2

SMALL-POX AT CROYDON.

AFTER lingering in the town of Croydon in a sporadicform for some time, small-pox has now become epidemic,and one of the district medical officers has no less than

twenty-one cases under treatment. For many weeks pastthe guardians have been urged to provide a proper hospital,many of the cases having been treated at home for want ofone, and others in the workhouse, in close proximity toother inmates. Last week the guardians resolved to erecttwo wards, each 30 ft. long by 22 ft. wide, at a cost of £200.It having transpired that common cabs have been used forthe conveyance of small-pox patients, a reward of £2 was

offered for the conviction of any future offender in this

respect. ____

A NEW FOOD FOR THE POOR.

AT a meeting of gentlemen* at the Whittington Club, Mr. Low submitted specimens of a patented combination of extractum carnis a,nd granulated Brazil tapioca. Each

packet is said to contain the essence of half a pound ofbeef, with 60 per cent. of the finest Brazil tapioca. He pro- ,

posed to introduce the food in penny packets as a bene-volent action, and stated that it had been already used inthe German ambulances. The proposal seems to us to betoo good to be true, but we should be glad to hear of thepoor being able to buy such useful food at so reasonablea rate.

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MR. CHILDERS.

THE First Lord has been advised by Mr. R. Ellis to takea short coasting cruise for the further improvement of hishealth. As he is naturally an excellent sailor, there is

every reason to believe that more decided and permanentbenefit will accrue from this than from any other mode oftravel. He left Newhaven for Portland in the Black EagleAdmiralty yacht, on Monday evening last.

THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL.

A MEETING of the Executive Committee of the GeneralMedical Council was held at Soho-square, on Wednesday,

the 25th January, when the usual routine business con-

nected with the annual publication of the ’Register wastransacted. Dr. Quain, who has for several years filled theoffice of treasurer to the Council, has been elected to the-vacancy in the Executive Committee caused by the retire-ment of Mr. Caesar Hawkins.

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT.

THE appointments under this Act have undergone a,

slight change. We announced that Staff-surgeon S. S. D.Wells was appointed from H.M.S. Ganges to the vacancy atDevonport, caused by the promotion of Dr. T. R. Pick-thorn. The Admiralty have now removed P. Digan, Esq.,from Southampton to Devonport, and have appointed JohnAndrews, Esq., retired naval surgeon, to fill the vacancy atPlymouth.

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ACCORDING to the Acaderny, the country of 11 Manimes,"where Dr. Livingstone was said to be at the date of sheikSaid’s letter to Dr. Kirk, appears to be the " Manyema"country round lake Ulenge, west of Tanganyika, which Dr.Livingstone announced his intention of exploring in thelastest letter received from him in Europe, dated May 30th,1869.

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THE local authorities of Oxford have adopted a generalscheme of drainage, proposed by Mr. Baldwin Latham, forthe whole district. The sewage is to be pumped up anddistributed over the adjacent meadows. The carrying outof the scheme is estimated to cost £40,000, and is cal-

culated to meet the requirements of Oxford for a generationor two to come.

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MR. ROBERT GLADSTONE, the Treasurer of St. Mary’sHospital, has been presented by Mr. Humphry Nicholls, ofManchester, with £9000, to be applied to the funds of thatinstitution, and an additional .S9000 for the Barnes Con-valescent Home at Cheadle, Hulme. Mr. H. Nicholls has.now given a total of £20,000 to the institutions.

THE cartoon in the current number of Vanity Fair hasfor its subject Professor Huxley. It is one of the cleverest

productions of the artist, S. Carlo Pellegrini, though, as inthe case of Sir W. Fergusson, the letter-press is scarcelycharacteristic enough.

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IN the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos list, the secondwrangler is a son of Mr. Glaisher, F.R.S., the well-knownmeteorologist and assistant to the Astronomer Royal.