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when injected under the skin or into the veins has the pro-perty of reproducing the morbid phenomena of the diseasein question. This microbe grows in gelatine and serum ofblood at 16° to 20° C,, especially at the surface, and thereforebelongs rather to the aerobic class of germs. It assumes

the form of round colonies of a greyish-white colour, whichdo not liquefy the gelatine until their development is faradvanced.

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THE WILLESDEN INFECTIOUS HOSPITAL HUTS.

AT the present moment, when sanitary authorities arebeing pressed to make arrangements for isolating cases ofcholera should that disease make its appearance in our

midst, the Willesden portable hospitals, consisting of a

framework covered with the well-known Willesden paperand canvas, deserve notice, as offering very substantialadvantages in connexion with the provision of temporarybuildings for isolation purposes. They can be erected withgreat rapidity, and they are, compared with certain othermeans of isolation, by no means costly. They can be wellventilated, and may be regarded as adapted to by far thegreater number of months in the year in our climate. It is,indeed, contended that they answer in the winter, but weare not aware of any experiments showing how an

adequate temperature can be maintained in severe weatherwhilst the needed ventilation is maintained. But under

any circumstances, they will be eminently useful in faceof the possible emergency which now presents itself.With regard to all temporary hospital provision, we cannotomit to point out that those authorities and other bodieswho intend to resort to them must remember that a sitehas to be in readiness, that drainage and water-supply andother requisites are needed, and that these cannot be pro-vided on the spur of the moment, although the hospitalitself may be ready for erection.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA VOLUNTEER CORPS.

WE have received from Western Australia copies of a cor-respondence relative to the appointment of a medical officerto the Volunteer force in that colony, apparently in dis-regard of the regulations of the service with respect to

qualification. It is stated that a gentleman whose qualifica-tions consisted of the membership of the Royal College ofPhysicians of Edinburgh and the licence of the Society ofApothecaries of London, but who held no surgical diploma,was appointed surgeon-major of the volunteer corps.Against this appointment a protest was entered, on theground that he was not eligible in accordaece with the

regulations for such appointments. This protest has beendisregarded by the local authorities, and the question hasbeen sent home for decision by the Secretary of State forthe Colonies. In this country it is indispensable that

medical officers should possess two diplomas or licences-one to practise medicine and the other surgery-andbe registered under the Medical Act." It would be a

great mistake to sanction the appointment of medicalofficers in the colonies with inferior qualifications, andit would appear specially ill-advised to appoint to a

military corps a medical officer who holds no surgicalqualification. In England there is no such appointment assurgeon-major to a Volunteer corps, the highest grade beingsurgeon. If the authorities in Western Australia have

thought fit to make the higher appointment, we see no ob-jection to it, but such a step should involve a rigid adherenceto the qualifications deemed necessary in an officer holdingsuch a position. To appoint a gentleman who possesses in- ’adequate qualifications to a post which involves a certainamount of supervision must have the effect of preventing agood and well-qualified class of men from entering the

Volunteer force. We trust the whole question may receivecareful investigation at the Colonial Office, and regulationsbe framed which will prevent the adoption of so unsatis-factory, and apparently unjustifiable, a course as that whichhas been followed in the present instance.

THE HEALTH OF FINCHLEY.

THE medical officer of health of the Finchley Urban Sani-tary District has contradicted the statement which has beenextensively circulated with regard to the extreme prevalenceof whooping-cough in his district. In his ordinary fort-nightly report to the Local Board he stated (more by way ofapology for not giving, as he usually does, the exact numberof cases of each infectious disease of which he had been in-formed in the several sub-districts, than by way of emphasis-ing the prevalence of the disease) that two of the medical menwhom he had asked as to the number of cases they were at-tending had told him that they could not give the number evenapproximately. It is now explained that they did not meanthat the number was too great for them to count, but thatthey could not do so without an examination of their books,and that to busy medical practitioners would mean loss oftime having a pecuniary value, for which, in this district asin most others, they would not be repaid. As a matter of

fact, the health of the district is very satisfactory, the death-rate during the fortnight to which the report in questionreferred having been at the yearly rate of 9’6 per 1000.

LIGATURE OF THE BILE DUCT.

Tm effects of ligature of the bile duct have been sooften investigated that the subject would seem not tooffer much room for further exploration. Neverthe-

less, Dr. Canalis has, at the instigation of Bizzozero, re-opened the investigation. The principal facts that havebeen noted in the liver of guinea-pigs after ligature of thebile duct are destruction of the hepatic tissue during thefirst hours after ligature, a proliferation of the epitheliumof the biliary channels, and a new formation of connectivetissue and of biliary canaliculi in the destroyed portions ofthe liver. Dr. Canalis has further observed a great numberof karyokineticl figures in the epithelium of the biliarycanaliculi, and also fusiform and round cells in the newly-formed connective tissue. He has also noted the transformationof a large number of hepatic cells on the fourth day afterligature, which is the more surprising, as some observersbelieve that the hepatic cells themselves are purely passiveduring the process.

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"THE RUSSIAN MILITARY MEDICAL SERVICE.’A SAD picture is drawn by

"

1:Stepmak," writing III

The Times of the 18th inst., of the moral condition of themedical department of the Russian army. It is well knownthat bribery and peculation are almost universal amongstRussian officials; but according to "Stepniak" the postsoccupied by medical officers are so largely administrativethat they offer peculiar facilities for making money bycollusion with contractors. Thus the charge of a hospitalis considered a specially valuable appointment, and largebribes are demanded by the high administrative officer fornominations of this kind. In some cases even an annualtribute is enforced, the amount of which depends upon theextent to which so-called " savings " and 11 economizes " canbe practised. It is well understood by the Russian peoplethat in case of another war the soldiers would have badbread and bad provisions generally; they would have tomarch barefoot, as contractors would arrange to deliver

1 Karyokinesis is the term used to signify the collective changes inthe division of a nucleus.