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in terms of warning and conservatism as to unnecessarysurgical interference, and especially removal of parts, andwe feel sure that Dr. Dennis in these views expresses the

general feeling of the best surgeons. The most obviousfact to practitioners is the large number of such cases thatresolve and remain permanently quiescent.

THE GENERAL HOSPITAL, BIRMINGHAM.

AT a meeting of the committee of this institution, held onSept. 26th, a recommendation was adopted, to be laid beforethe governors, for the removal of the hospital to a new site. In1889 Miss Ryland left a sum of f:25,000, under certain condi-tions, for the increased accommodation of in-patients, pro-vided that these terms were fulfilled withm five years ofthe bequest. The issues involved are a new site or sites, orpartly on the present and partly on a new site or sites, tothe satisfaction of three persons named in her will. Much diffi-culty has been experieneed in obtaining a suitable locality fora new hospital, and considerable discussion has taken placeas to the best manner in which the wishes of Miss Rylandcould be carried out. It is proposed in the scheme to buildan entirely new hospital for 300 beds. The sum estimatedfor this, over and above the bequest mentioned, and thevalue of the present site, is £70,000, a large demand uponthe liberality of the town, but one which there is everyreason to think will be met in a manner worthy of thetraditions of the great industrial centre whose wants thehospital has admirably ministered to for more than a

century. ------

THE ALLEGED CASE OF CHOLERA IN THE

MERSEY.

THE steamship Picton arrived in the Mersey from

Wilmington, U.S.A., with cotton, on the night of Monday,Sept. 29th. She was visited by Dr. Imlach, the quarantinemedical officer, who found one of the crew suffering fromdiarrhoea of a somewhat suspicious nature. It appearedthat he had himself taken four aperient pills, as well as some castor oil given him by the captain, which had causedthe diarrhoea. The vessel had, before leaving V’ilmington,steamed from Carthagena and other Spanish ports to

Baltimore, and from thence to Philadelphia. She after-wards went to Wilmington. Three months have elapsedsince she was at Spain, and as the port sanitary authoritieswere satisfied that the case was not one of cholera, andthat there was no cause for any alarm, she was no longerdetained, but permitted to go into dock.

CAB LOITERING IN THE STREETS.

PUBLIC attention has not been directed too soon to the

increasing difficulty and danger experienced by foot-

passengers in our London thoroughfares. The condition ofthe Strand is a noteworthy example. Those who con-

stantly traverse this great central roadway have noticedthe daily, even hourly, obstruction of traflic which is one ofits most familiar features. The more observant must alsohave noticed the fact that it is not the regulartraffic alone which must be blamed for this result,but that it is in a very large measure the outcomeof an abuse which has been distinctly provided for by theMetropolitan Public Carriage Act. Many of tlie vehicleswhich crowd and jostle one another are empty cabs, thedrivers of which, regardless alike of convenience and

rule, have converted the street into a veritable promenade.This practice may be enterprising and business-like, but itis neither legal nor convenient. The Act already men-tioned provides that "no carriage shall ply for hire else-where than at the stand or place appointed for this purpose,"and a penalty has likewise been attached to the offence of

obstructive loitering. It needs but a brief police order,.therefore, to briug about a decided thinning of the over-grown street trallic, and it is much to be hoped that this.mandate will no longer be withheld.

SCARLATINA WITHOUT PYREXIA.

DR. WERTUEIMER mentions in the Münchener Medi-cimisclce Wochenschrift a case of scarlatina occurring in a.

child seven years of age, in whom, though the eruption waswell marked, and the tonsils and tongue presented theircharacteristic appearance, there was absolutely no pyrexiaeither morning or evening, the highest point reached being99.6° F. The pulse, however, was rapid, being from 116 to120 during the first three days. There was no albuminuria ;desquamation began on the ninth day. Dr. Wertheimeralso mentions a second case occurring in a child of aboutthe same age, where, though all the distinctive signs ofscarlatina were present, the only time there was anyabnormal temperature was the evening of the second day;then it was 100.6°. Here, too, there was marked rapidityof pulse, and he suggests that this is probably an importantsign in diagnosing the rare cases of apyrexial scarlatina,His opinion is confirmed hy Dr. Beetz, who immediatelyafter the appearance of the article reported two otherapyrexial cases where the pulse was also very rapid.

THE TAXATION OF REVOLVERS.

THE dangerous folly of carrying revolvers was once

more illustrated in a case recently tried in the North London,Police-court. In this instance a young man, described a&

being most respectably connected, though without occu-pation, was accused of threatening to shoot a policemanwith whom he had had an altercation. Though he had,been drinking he was not intoxicated. A revolver, loaded,in two chambers was taken from him. The case is exactlytypical of its kind, and requires no further explanationto show the hazard and the uselessness of this custom of

habitually carrying firearms. Entirely needless for pur-

poses of self-defence, they may become at any angrymomeqtthe instruments of hasty and irreparable crime. Anotherminute and the policeman might have been a corpse andhis assailant a foredoomed murderer, all for the sakeof a petty difference of opinion. Most persons, we feel’

mre, will agree with us that the time is overdue forome restrictive measure which will abate this growingnuisance. We would, therefore, advocate once more the.mposition of a sufficiently heavy tax upon the possession)f these weapons, and of registration in each case of sale.ro regulate by such restraints an idle practice and a.

constant menace to public security implies no injury to,)ut rather a needful care for, private rights.

LONDON SLAUGHTER-HOUSES AND COWSHEDS.

THE London County Council have issued the usual noti-fication that Oct. 16th had been fixed for hearing applica-tions for licences for slaughter-houses and cowsheds, TheSt. Pancras Sanitary Committee have decided in theinterval to inspect those which are situated within theirdistrict, and to oppose the renewal of those licenceswhere there had been wilful neglect on the part of thelicensee. It is stated that, as regards the slaughter-houses, many of the licences in the east and northof the parish might be extinguished without causinginconvenience to anyone, as the public abattoirs attachedto the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington are

almost on the boundary of the parish. There is no doubtthat many slaughter-houses still exist which are never

used, but the owners apply annually for a licence for thereason that its possession increases the saleable value of

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the premises. Great changes have in recent years takenplace in the meat-supply to London. The slaughter of allanimals in the Deptford Meat Market on arrival, and the largesupplies of dead meat which are now received into London,have materially affected the use of private slaughter-houses,which, instead of growing with the population, have forsome time been actually decreasing. The action of theSt. Pancras Sanitary Committee is therefore well timed,and might with advantage be followed by other sanitaryauthorities in the county. __

THE LATE SURGEON-MAJOR C. W. S. DEAKIN,F.R.C.S.

A MEMORIAL BRASS will be shortly erected by his brotherofficers to the memory of the late Surgeon-Major C. W. S.Deakin, F.R.C.S., I.M.S., in the Station Church, Thelum.This officer, it will be remembered, lost his life from entericfever in November, 1889. His brilliant surgical powerswere well known throughout the provinces of India inwhich he served, and, had he lived, ought to have led himeventually to a high position in the service. By his earlydeath the members of the Indian Medical Service lost anhonest and fearless brother officer, and a surgeon whosepowers were of an exceptionally high order.

THE RIVER LEA.

THE attention of the Local Government Board has beendirected by a number of inhabitants of West Ham to thefoul state of the Channelsea river. This river is nothingmore than a small creek connected with the Lea and

passing through Stratford, receiving, it is said, at times,sewage from the Leyton outfall, from the West Ham out- fall, and from houses on the banks. The Local Govern-ment Board will be rendering useful service if they wouldinstitute an inquiry into the whole condition of the Lea,and particularly into the sufficiency of the means whichare being adopted for the prevention of its pollution. TheLea Conservancy Board appear to be satisfied with theuse of black ash waste for treatment of the sewage, butit is open to serious doubt whether so sluggish a streamas the Lea ought to receive any sewage eftlucnt. We trustthe memorial of the inhabitants of West Ham will bringabout the needed inquiry. _

DEATH OF DR. C. HANDFIELD-JONES, F.R.S.

WE regret to record the death of Dr. Charles Handfield-Jones, F.R.S., at his residence, 24, Montagu-square, on the30th ult., at the age of seventy-two years. For many yearshe had been Consulting Physician to St. Mary’s Hospital,and was the author of several valuable contributions tomedical literature. The funeral will take place to-day(Saturday). The procession will leave Montagu-square athalf-past ten in the morning for Marylebone Cemetery,East Finchley. -

CHOLERA INTELLIGENCE.

ACCORDING to official returns from Spain, 1814 fresh casesof cholera and 959 deaths occurred during the month ofSeptember, thus bringing the totals since the beginning ofthe epidemic up to 4870 attacks with 2516 deaths. Thereis but little fresh news as to the distribution of the diseasein the Peninsula, but it is evident that the city of Valenciais still most severely attacked. At Massowah the epidemicis decreasing ; indeed, on the 29th of last month it was

regarded as having ceased. No fresh intelligence comesfrom Aleppo, but quarantine restrictions are maintainedand renewed against arrivals from the Gulf of Alexandretta.From a report made to the Russian Government by aphysician entrusted with a special mission to Persia, it

would appear that cholera is tending to recede from the-southern boundary of Russia, such extension as is takingplace in that part of Asia being in the direction of Meso-potamia ; and it is predicted that its movement is vic2 Vanand Bitlis to Mosul and Bagdad. Two rumouis of cholera,in this country, one in the Port of Liverpool (alluded to-at greater length in another column) and one in theSt. Ceorge’s sanitary district, near Bristol, both turned out.on inquiry to be mere attacks of so-called English cholera.

THE opening meeting of the ninth session of the West,London Medico-Chirurgical Society will take place this day(Friday), at 8P.M., in the board room of the West LondonHospital. The President, Mr. T. G. Alderton, will deliverthe introductory address, and Dr. Thudichum will read a.paper on Ulcerations and Perforations of the Nasal Septumand Osseous and Soft Palate.

DR. WILLIAM DUNCAN performed total extirpation ofthe uterus per vaginam on the 22ad ult., for carcinoma ofthe uterine body, in a woman aged fifty-seven. The-

patient is progressing uninterruptedly towards recovery.We hope to publish details of the case later on.

IT is reported that two cases of small-pox, supposed tohave been imported from Pernambuco, have been received!into Southampton Hospital. All the other members of thecrew are under medical supervision, and it is not likely

. that the disease will spread.

, WE understand that on the 21st inst. the honorary. degree of D.C.L. will be conferred on Surgeon Parke (of- the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition) by the University of[ Durham.

__

THE death is reported at Sitapur, India, of Surgeon-Major;> Kyle Cotter. The deceased, who was a native of Cork"

died from an attack of cholera on Sept. 22nd.;

AbstractsOF

INTRODUCTORY LECTURES ETC.DELIVERED AT THE

MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF LONDONAT THE

Opening of the Session 1890-91.

ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL.

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY A. WINTERBOTTOM, F.R.C.&

THE address opened with a general greeting to all present"as fellow.students," and continued with a short ex--

planatory preface of the lecturer’s object in endeavouring.to interest his audience in a historical sketch, the subjectof which was the 11 Evolntion of Medicine and Surgery as a..Science up to the founding of our First College, and theEvolution of St. George’s Hospital as a School." But beforedealing with this matter Mr. Winterbottom referred to.,

changes and reforms which have taken place at St. George’sHospital during the past year, and laid strong emphasis.upon the value of that reform which duplicates the staff ofhouse physicians and house surgeons. He contended thatit ottered the possibility of an " all-round" advantage, andsaid: " To the students (and I place what is to theirbenefit in front, because the welfare of the sick is dependent,upon the early training of those who attend them) the advan-tages are difficult to over. estimate. They can gain in super-vision, in careful direction, in particular clinical study andinstruction, and in opportunity for individual experience and