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pass a long incubative period whilst the poison is beingdeposited, and it is not till the system is saturated, or

a larger dose than usual absorbed, that the definite

symptoms are produced. The water committee of theTown Council have been severely censured for the

apathy they have hitherto shown in the matter, but weare pleased to hear that they are at length awakeningto the importance of dealing energetically with the dan-gerous state of affairs. Fortunately, the remedy is simple,but we fear, if it is to be dealt with effectually, expensive. Inthe first instance, they must determine what is the peculiaraction of the water-supply on the lead pipes of the town.This could be at once adopted as a preliminary step; butfor a radical cure they will be obliged to institute a

thorough examination of the existing service pipes, andremove all that show the slightest incrustation withcarbonate of lead, and replace them with pipes enamelledwithin. Indeed, if the water from the Redmires reservoirproves to be as we have stated, then for permanent safetythe whole of the service pipes that supply water from thisreservoir should be enamelled. Further investigation mayshow that, on the whole, it may be cheaper to look for afresh water-supply than to lay down an entirely new serviceof pipes ; but in any case no old pipe should be allowed toremain that shows the slightest incrustation of carbonate oflead. -

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THE NATIONAL LEPROSY FUND.

AN influential and representative assembly, which in-cluded two princes of Hawaii and the brother of thedeceased hero, met his Royal Highness the Prince of

Wales on Monday last, at a subscription dinner at theHotel Metropole, for the advancement of the leprosy in-vestigation fund, which is to form a fitting memorial tothe late Father Damien. The report of this meeting will befound in another column. His Royal Highness, in an elo-quent and powerful speech, whilst admitting that personallywe had little to fear, set forth the prevalence and extensionof the disease in India and some of our colonies, and madeout a strong case, on grounds both of philanthropy andpublic policy, for making a serious effort to control anddiminish the ravages of the disease. As an important pre-liminary, and to enable such steps to be taken intelligentlyand to the best advantage, it was proposed by the Com-mittee, if the funds permitted, to found two scholarshipsto investigate the disease, one to study in Englandand Europe, the other to, if possible, track itscauses in its native haunts in India and the colonies.The idea that the disease is ever likely to againobtain a foothold in this country may safely be dis-

missed ; but the very magnitude of the evil (it beingestimated that in India alone 200,000 lepers exist) hastended to paralyse efforts which otherwise might havebeen made to cope with it. We may fairly hopethat now that public interest has been excited in

sympathy for the noble self-sacrifice of Father Damien,the movement may bear good fruit by rousing the rulers ofIndia from their expectant attitude to grapple seriouslywith the disease. They have not hesitated to spend enor-mous sums in taking measures for the prevention andrelief of the frequent widespread famines which from time totime have devastated the country, and great as is the magni-tude of the evil of leprosy, it is far less than that of the

periodical famine?, and only requires similar energy and amuch less expenditure to deal with it. At present strictsegregation appears to be the best means of controlling thedisease. The travelling scholarships may, and doubtlesswill, help us towards a better and more accurate know-ledge of leprosy ; but in such a disease, so slow in its

development and chronic in its course, past experienceforbids us to hope for any immediate and striking result

from this or any other single means. It is only by theslow gathering of many rivulets of information, collectedfrom a wide area and over long periods of time, that a riverof knowledge may be formed, perhaps by the inspiration ofgenius, into a mighty flood which may sweep away thedisease into the ocean of the historic past. We are happyto add that the honorary secretary announced that £ 200had been promised at the dinner, making jE7000 out of theJE12,000 required to carry out the schemes contemplated bythe Father Damien Committee.

OPHTHALMOSCOPIC DEMONSTRATIONS.

THE first of a series of six lantern ophthalmoscopicdemonstrations, to be continued on Tuesday eveningsin the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, KingWilliam-street, Strand, was given by Mr. Adams Froston the 14th inst. The object of this course is not

to teach merely the pathological aspects of the fundus,but to place before students and others the greatimportance of having a knowledge of the normal fundus.The tendency is to devote too much attention to its abnor-

malities, and to neglect its normal variations. It is onlyby examining a large number of normal eyes that pro-ficiency can be obtained in recognising abnormalities.As we have not yet arrived at any method of showingthe interior of the eyeball to several observers at

once, except by means of drawings, Mr. Frost has hadan extensive series of drawings of the fundus of the eyemade. These, again, can only be shown to a few

simultaneously, and that forms one great difficulty in

lecturing on this subject. To overcome this difficulty,Mr. Frost has had most of these drawings painted onglass slides, by means of which he is able to givethis series of demonstrations. The first three lecturesare to be devoted almost entirely to the physiologicalvariations of the fundus, and the remaining three to itspathological conditions. Many excellent pictures of a veryhigh character were then shown, among which may bementioned as particularly fine a case in which the scantypigmentation of the pigment layer of the retina renderedthe choroidal vessels visible, a microscopical section of theretina showing its different layers, and another showing theretinal reflexes around the optic disc. By manipulation ofthe lantern the curious effect known as parallacticmovement of the floor of the cup was admirablydemonstrated. It was pointed out that although thesepictures represented the fundus, they ought not to usurp theplace of ophthalmoscopic pictures. It was impossible tobecome good ophthalmoscopists or to acquire actual know-ledge of the fundus without practice. Drawings necessarilyfixed everything, whereas in the eye itself the appearanceswere constantly changing with the position of the mirror,the nature of the light falling on the fundus, and also of the eblood stream, and the thickness of the particular tissues.Altogether there was an amount of softness in life which itwas impossible to put into a picture. The slides were all nuin-bered, so as to form a ready reference for questions that mightbe asked at the end of each lecture. The lecturer investedhis subject with an unusual amount of interest, and wasfollowed throughout with much attention by his audience.

HORSEFLESH.

A PROSECUTION is reported from Reading under the" Sale of Horseflesh Act of last year, which has resultedin the conviction of an offender, and, it may be hoped, inthe suppression of a considerable contraband traffic. Theseizure was made in circumstances which would appearlikely to have occasioned some difficulty in securing a con-viction, since the meat in question was not exposed for sale,but was kept in a shed, and said to be in transit to