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number of street accidents of late years is most deplorable,and still more so is the apathy which rests content with thepresent condition of affairs. In 1869 the number of streetaccidents amounted to 1703; last year the number hadrisen to 3032; of these 124 persons were actually killed. Theconstruction of subways at the most crowded points of ourthoroughfares, an intelligent regulation of the traffic, andthe restriction of the passing of heavy vans to certain hours ofthe day need enforcement. The supervision of the commonlodging-houses seems to be efficiently conducted by the police;it is satisfactory to note a decrease in the number of infectiousdiseases that have occurred in these houses, which show as55, against 96 of last year. The disinfecting process carriedout seems also to be good, as it appears that very seldoma second case of fever occurs in the same house. The ChiefCommissioner acknowledges the great kindness and con-

sideration shown by members of our profession with whomthe officers have been brought in contact in the performanceof the duties connected with the Common Lodging-houseAct.

_____________

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

THE forty-eighth annual meeting of the British Associationfor the Advancement of Science has been held during thepast week at Sheffield. Biology was better represented thanis often the case, the President, Dr. Allman, being himselfeminent in this department. His inaugural address, deliveredon the 20th inst., was an admirable exposition of the doctrineof the unity of organised beings, as shown in the all-per-vading distribution of the material known as protoplasm,-truly the physical basis of life. The address of Mr. St.

George Mivart, as President of the Biology section, was alsoa thoughtful and well-considered statement of the presentposition of biological science. Taking Buffon and his worksas the text of his address, Mr. Mivart urged the claimsof that once popular naturalist to serious attention, and heespecially dwelt upon the questions of variations in animallife and of pyschology in animals. The President ofthe sub-section of Anatomy and Physiology, Dr. Pye-Smith, in his address on Monday last, brought into strongrelief the aims of physiological inquiry, and vigorouslyattacked the prevailing spirit of antagonism to such inquiryin this country. This address was full of pointed sarcasm andindignant protest. The claims of vivisection have seldombeen so forcibly or thoroughly put. On Monday eveningProfessor Ray Lankester gave a lecture on Degeneration inAnimal Life-in other words, the process by which organs be-come less and less adapted to the complex requirements oflife, pointing out towards the close of his lecture that in somerespects civilised man had undergone a like downwardchange.

THE MURCHISON MEMORIAL.

Fourth List of Subscriptions.ae s.

The Dean of Lichfield 1 1Dr. Morehead (Edin-

burgh) .................. 5 5Dr. Lockie (Carlisle)... 2 2Dr. Vereker Bindon

(London) ............... 1 1Dr. Cleghorn (St. And.) 1 1Dr. Moir (St. Andrews) 5 5

Surg.-Maj. Alex. Grant 1 1Prof. Gairdner (Glasg.) 5 5Dr. H. Gueneau deMussy (Paris) ......... 10 10

Professor Smith Shand(Aberdeen) ............ 1 1

Dr. Struthers (Leith)... 2 2Rev. Dr. Nolan ......... 1 1

Berkeley Hill, Esq.... 3 3

ae s.

L Dr. J. Risdon Bennett,F.R.S................... 3 3

; Dr. Andrew Fyfe ...... 1 1! Rev. J. Wale Hicks

(Cambridge) ......... 1 1L Dr. G. C. Child-Chaplinl (Arbroath) ............ 1 1i Prof. Charcot (Paris)... 3 0- Messrs. Harper andi Jackson (Barnstaple) 1 1Surg. - Major Stewart

1 (Secunderabad) ...... 1 1John Rae, LL.D....... 1 1C. Falconer, Esq....... 25 0

Miss L. Milne............ 5 0Alex. Shaw, Esq....... 10 10Dr. F. J. Mouat......... 1 1

Correspondence.MR. SAVORY AND MR. LISTER.

"Audi alteram partem,"

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SiR,—When, a few weeks ago, I heard that Mr. Savory wasgoing, at Cork, to criticise Listerism, I was rather pleasedthan otherwise. Pleased because I like criticism. I like tosee a strong man that has been honourably associated with anold system, take his sword in hand and do such battle as becan with the Iconoclast. History would fail to repeat itself,and we should begin to doubt the courage or ability of menover forty to show a proper resistance to " every wind of doc.trine, " if the revolution in surgery which has been effected-even on Mr. Savory’s own showing-were to pass unchal-lenged. I was the more pleased, probably, because I feltsure that it was not possible for even such an ableman as Mr. Savory to abolish antisepticism, or to showthat it had not to be considered as a principal factorin the astounding diminution of "surgical calamities" "

which we have happily seen within recent years. Theresult justifies the feeling of pleasure with which I antici.pated Mr. Savory’s attack. It is really a vindication. Andthe more closely it is studied the more will it appear that ifMr. Savory sees no objection to such a way of expressingthe practical and scientific value of Mr. Lister’s contribu-tions to the prevention of blood-poisoning in the practice ofsurgery, Mr. Lister need scarcely complain. Mr. Savoryadmits that it is only within the last few years that thetransmission of septic fluids into the blood has become un-common. We all know how common it was up to fifteen or

twenty years ago. A brilliant amputation was performedbefore an admiring theatre. Two or three days after theman was not quite right. He was dull about the eyes, hadhad a rigor, his pulse was quick, he was hot. In a day ortwo more he was dead.

Now, as Mr. Savory says, this is an exception, and whenit occurs it is a disgrace-" the disgrace of the occurrence ofblood-poisoning." Well, history will infallibly say, even ifthe details of Mr. Lister’s method are superseded, that theman who has done most to take that " disgrace " out ofsurgery is Mr. Lister. And I confess that from an oratorand an observer like Mr. Savory I should have been pleasedto see a great deal more praise towards Mr. Lister than isto be found in this address. The prevention of blood-poisoning has probably done more for the reputation of sur-gery and the saving of life than any improvement in surgerysince the discovery of the ligature. It is an illustration ofthe too historical want of magnanimity in contemporariesand rivals that the tone of an address on this subject shouldhave been throughout stinted and critical in its allusions tothe surgeon who has conspicuously had most to do in bring-ing about the change. Leading London surgeons have not,as a body, accepted antisepticism. At Bristol, or at New-castle, or at Glasgow, or in other provincial towns, it can beseen carried out as faithfully and with as brilliant resultsas in Mr. Lister’s own wards. And many surgeons inthe metropolis, who have respect for their peace of mindand their reputation, are studying and practising it withmore or less skill and faithfulness. But the rulers of sur-gery in the metropolis have not taken kindly to it. I shoulddoubt whether there is one member of the Court of Ex-aminers-that is, one of the examiners in surgery in theCollege of Surgeons of England-who practises antisepticsurgery in the scientific sense of that word, or who hascarefully put himself into a position to form an accuratejudgment on the subject. A student examined by themwould not be likely to come away with the feeling that oneof the great duties of the surgeon was to acquaint himselfwith the details of antiseptic surgery. The Court of Ex-aminers, in other words, does not represent modern surgery.This is not the place to comment further on such a seriousstate of matters, or on the need for some change in our ex-amining system by which it will be made to tell a littlemore quickly in favour of progress. We clearly want the