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cution so seldom available, that future writers will doubtlessbe content to make use of Dr. Gowers’ patience and industryby referring to his plates, which are as faithful as they areelegant, instead of wasting their time in producing imitationsanew.

It is not possible to speak in terms of equal approbation ofother portions of the work. There are not a few signs ofhurry. Many passages are not free from obscurity, and thisis culpable because Dr. Gowers has afforded us sufficientproof that he can write clearly and compactly and well.When a second edition is called for, as doubtless it will be,we shall be glad to find that these minor faults are removedby a recasting of the systematic portions of the work.

Water for Nothing. Every House its own Water-supply.By SHIRLEY HIBBERD, Esq., F.R.H.S. London:

Effingham Wilson. 1879.MR. HIBBERD proposes, as many have proposed before,

that the rain-water which falls on the roofs of houses shallbe stored and used, after filtration, for drinking purposes.The obvious objection, that the washings of a town, or evena country, house are by’no means pure water, but a dirty in-fusion of soot, dead leaves, and the droppings of birds, ismet fairly by Mr. Hibberd, who points out that mechanicalcontrivances exist. He instances Buck’s patent percolator,by which the rain which falls in the first period of a

shower-say the first fifteen minutes-is allowed to run

away, or is stored separately for garden use. The roof,once well washed, becomes a good gathering-ground ; andif the water were kept loosely covered, in as cool a place aspossible, it would no doubt be good. Certainly it would bevery much better than much of the water now used fordomestic purposes; and the system advocated by Mr. Hibberdmight be adopted with advantage in a large number of cases,and might in many a detached house or small village afforda solution of the difficult water-question.But while we agree with much that Mr. Hibberd urges,

and commend his pamphlet very heartily to sanitarians, weare compelled to point out that in some respects he over-states and even misstates his case. The rain water of townsis by no means pure, even when caught before it touches theearth; and Dr. Angus Smith has shown that in Manchesterit is little better than a weak and dirty solution of sulphuricacid. On the other hand, the evils, such as goitre andurinary calculus, which Mr. Hibberd asserts are, "beyonddispute," due to the mineral salts of hard water, have neverbeen traced to such a source, and are quite unlikely to arisefrom it. The quantity of lime and magnesia salts consumedin the food we eat is immensely greater than could be ob-tained from any water used for drinking purposes. It must,moreover, be remembered that soft water acts strongly onlead, and that if Mr. Hibberd’s suggestions were adopted itwould be necessary to avoid altogether the use of lead pipesor tanks in houses. Finally, we must point out that toler-ably frequent cleaning of the tanks and filters would beimperatively necessary.

Report of the Chemical Analyser to Government, Bombay,for the year 1878-79. Bombay: Government CentralPress.

SURGEON-MAJOR LyoN, the Chemical Analyser to theBombay Government, gives in this report the results ob-tained from 1473 analyses made within the year. Many ofthose results are of interest, not only for India, but also inEngland, and we must congratulate the Government on thevaluable knowledge they have acquired. The exceedingbadness of much of the water used for drinking purposes isagain pointed out, and we are glad to observe that someimmediate action is proposed. Great impurity was also ob-served in the water obtained by melting some artifically-

prepared ice, and the fact serves to remind us of the carerequired in choosing the water for ice-machines. It is acommon fallacy to suppose that clear ice must always consistof pure water. Another interesting observation relates tothe storing of water for ships’ use. The analyst found thatgood water would keep well in a teak-wood tank that hadbeen charred inside, but became rapidly offensive in an un-charred tank which had been caulked inside with cotton andother matters. The details of the medico-legal inquiriesmade during the year are also of much interest.

HEALTH OF LARGE ENGLISH TOWNS.

FORTY-FOURTH WEEK OF 1879.IN twenty of the largest English towns, containing nearly

a third of the entire population of England and Wales,5450 births and 3103 deaths were registered in the weekending last Saturday. The births exceeded by 268, whilethe deaths were 267 below, the average weekly numbersduring 1878. The deaths showed a decline of 25 from the

increasing numbers in recent weeks; and the annual death-rate, which had been equal to 19’5, 20’9, and 22’1 in thethree preceding weeks, was last week 21’9. During thepast five weeks of the current quarter the death-rate in thetwenty towns has averaged 20’9 per 1000, against 21’6 and21-3 in the corresponding periods of 1877 and 1878. Thelowest death-rate in the several towns last week were 13’9in Portsmouth, 15’4 in Plymouth, 16’4 in Oldham, and 16’7in Wolverhampton. The rates in the other towns rangedupwards to 23’9 in Sheffield, 24’4 in Leeds, 24’7 in Man-chester, and 25’8 in Liverpool. The deaths referred to theseven principal zymotic diseases in the twenty towns, whichhad been 468 and 475 in the two previous weeks, declinedlast week to 442 ; 154 resulted from scarlet fever, 79 frommeasles, 77 from diarrhcea, 58 from whooping-cough, and 49from fever. The annual death-rate from these seven diseases

averaged 3’1 per 1000 in the twenty towns, and ranged from00 in Portsmouth and Plymouth to 5-2 in Liverpool and 5’3both in Sheffield and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The fatal casesof scarlet fever in the twenty towns, which had steadily in-creased from 94 to 166 in the seven preceding weeks, de-clined to 154 last week, and were 46 less than the numberreturned in the corresponding week of last year; this diseaseshowed the largest proportional fatality last week in Sun-derland, Bradford, Liverpool, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.The deaths from measles were most numerous in Liverpooland Sheffield. No less than 15 of the 24 deaths referred todiphtheria occurred in London; 3 were also returned inBirmingham, and 2 in Liverpool. Fever, principally enteric,was also more fatal in London than in the provincial towns;the 49 deaths from this disease included 32 in London and5 in Liverpool. Small-pox caused two more deaths in Londonand its outer ring of suburban districts, but not one in anyof the nineteen large provincial towns. The MetropolitanAsylum Hospitals contained 37 small - pox patients on

Saturday last, 7 being new cases admitted during theweek.The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratory organs

in London, which had been 190, 318, and 396 in the threepreceding weeks, further rose to 402 last week, and exceededthe corrected average number in the corresponding week ofthe last ten years by 50.

MR. WILLIAM THOMAS, M.R.C.S., Surgeon to theChildren’s Hospital, Birmingham, and Professor of Anatomyto the Queen’s College, has been elected President of theMidland Medical Society. The inaugural meeting of thesession was held on the 3rd inst. at the Grand Hotel, andthe usual yearly address was delivered by Sir WilliamJenner, his subject being, "The Treatment of TyphoidFever." The attendance was very large, nearly all thepractitioners of the town and district being present. SirWilliam Jenner was afterwards entertained at supper bythe members of the Society.