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gas used was equivalent to 33 grammes of cyanide to 100cubic feet of space. Shelves were fixed across the windowof the room, and on them the cages containing animalsand insects were placed for easy examination. House flies

exposed in the ordinary wire traps were killed in from two tofour minutes after effervescence began in the cyanide jar.Bed-bugs were placed in tubes plugged with two inches ofcotton, and these were put inside a Florence flask pluggedwith five inches of cotton. The bugs were therefore underseven inches of cotton. The room was closed in this experi-ment for 25 minutes, when all were removed at once to theopen air and examined. Out of 60 or 70 insects two veryyoung ones were alive. In a Florence flask with the mouth

wrapped thickly with cotton mosquitoes (culex pungens)were killed in four minutes. Small black ants in test-tubes

plugged with one inch of cotton were killed in five minutes.Rats in cages fell in convulsions in from two minutes to threeand a half minutes from the beginning of the evolution ofgas and ceased to move in from 30 to 40 seconds after

falling. Mice and guinea-pigs succumbed more easily thandid rats. Dr. Fulton and Dr. Stokes conclude that in hydro-cyanic acid gas an exceedingly rapid and powerful agent isavailable for the destruction of all animal and insect pestswithin all fairly tight enclosures, and they point out that byits prompt action on mosquitoes, rats, and flies it is likely tobe useful in the prophylaxis of yellow fever, malaria,filariasis, plague, and enteric fever. The gas is, of course,extremely dangerous to man, but they say that it is by nomeans unmanageable. After each of the experiments theroom was entered instantly for the purpose of removinginsects and animals, no other precaution being used than thesuspension of respiration while in the room.

AN OPERATION FOR THE REMOVAL OFPROMINENT ALVEOLAR PROCESS OF

THE MAXILLA.

AN undue prominence of the anterior portion of the

maxilla, even when edentulous, is often a source of much

trouble to the dental surgeon who is anxious to insert a

satisfactory and artistic denture. In the January issue ofthe International -Dental Journal Dr. W. Howard records acase where the difficulty was overcome by removing a por-tion of the prominent bone. An incision was made from the

region of the canine on one side to that on the other, the

line taken being along the summit of the alveolar process. Themuco-periosteum was raised and the bone was exposed forsome distance both on the labial and the palatal aspects. Thealveolus was then removed with bone-clippers to a depth offrom one quarter to half an inch from the canine to the canine.The rough edges of the bone were smoothed and the muco-periosteum was then replaced and trimmed, a sufficientamount being allowed for shrinkage. The edges of the

wound were united with catgut sutures. The result was inall respects satisfactory from an æsthetic point of view.

IMMUNITY FROM SMALL-POX.

WE have received a letter from a correspondent pointingout that although the statistics recently published in relationto the present outbreak of small-pox afford useful informa-tion regarding the number of vaccinated and unvaccinatedpersons attacked by the disease, yet no mention is made ofcases occurring in persons who have not only been

previously vaccinated but have also had small-pox. One

attack of the disease protects for a considerable periodagainst a second attack, and should the patient againsuffer from small-pox after an interval of some

years the attack usually runs a mild course. Similarly,vaccination of a person who has had small-pox is rarelysuccessful, but we are far from suggesting that such is

always the case. We do not know of any recorded case of

small-pox attacking a person who not only has previouslyhad the disease but has also been subsequently successfullyvaccinated. Many small-pox patients state that they havehad a previous attack, but if careful inquiry is made intothe symptoms, distribution of eruption, and duration of

illness, and if the scars, if such be present, are examined,the alleged first attack usually proves to have been

chicken-pox. Dr. J. MacCombie, writing in Professor T.

Clifford Allbutt’s "System of Medicine," states that in three-fourths of the cases of so-called second attack that havecome under his notice he was able to satisfy himself thatthe first attack had been one of chicken-pox, and in most ofthe others there was not sufficient evidence to show whetherthe first attack had been small-pox or not.

NURSING OF THE SICK POOR IN WORKHOUSES.

THE President of the Local Government Board has

appointed from among the officers of the department a com-mittee (consisting of Mr. Grant Lawson, M.P., Parliamentarysecretary, Mr. W. E. Knollys, C.B., chief general inspectorand one of the assistant secretaries, and Dr. A. H. Downesand Mr. A. Fuller, Poor-law medical inspectors, with Mr.R. H. A. G. Duff as secretary) to consider this subject. Thecommittee will inquire and report as to the qualifications ofnurses and probationers, the difficulties in obtaining anadequate supply of these officers, and the regulations neces-sary to define the respective duties of the master or matronand of the superintendent nurse.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGUE.

A TELEGRAM from the Governor of the Cape of GoodHope, received at the Colonial Office on Jan. 15th, states

that for the week ending Jan. llth the cases of plague inthe Cape Peninsula numbered 0. At Port Elizabeth therewas one case, that of a coloured person. At Mossel

Bay the cases numbeied 2, both Europeans. In all the

other places the cases numbered 0. The deaths from plaguethroughout the whole colony numbered 0. The area of

infection remained unchanged; and the cases of plague inpersons under naval and military control numbered 0.

As regards Mauritius, a telegram from the Governor receivedat the Colonial Office on Jan. 17th states that for the week

ending Jan. 16th the cases of plague numbered 27 of which,

21 were fatal. -

THE INVESTIGATION OF CANCER.

SUNDRY paragraphs having appeared lately in the dailypress concerning the investigation of the cause and treat-

ment of cancer we think it well to state that we have

authority to say that a draft scheme has been drawn up byan eminent surgeon which has been submitted to andreceived the approval of various leading members of the

medical profession. It is proposed to raise a sum of moneysufficient when invested for the income to defray the expensesof the investigation, and at a meeting held on Oct. 23rd,1901, at which the Presidents of the Royal College of

Physicians of London and of the Royal College of Surgeonsof England, as well as:nearly all the members of the specialfinance committee in connexion with the laboratories of those

colleges respectively, were present, it was unanimouslyresolved :—

That we cordially approve of a proposal which has been made to raisea sum of money, the interest of which shall be devoted to the investiga-tion of the causes, prevention. and treatment of cancer. We are of theopinion that under the control of a suitably elected advisory committeean effective scheme could be drawn up, and that a convenient andsuitable place for the investigations would be the laboratories belongingto the Royal Colleges.We understand that considerable interest has been shownin and towards this movement by several highly placed and