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sitting in the afternoon. He urged them not to attempt toforce legislation. In order to make legislation speedy itwould be necessary to bring before the public such amultitude of facts that they would be convinced of itsdesirability and would not set up any hostile demonstration.Mr. W. H. Dickenson urged that the first care should be tostop the propagation of feeble-minded offspring. Dr. W. A.Potts, chairman of the Birmingham after-care sub-committee, described feeble-mindedness as a preventabledisease and mentioned as the principal causes heredity, in-sufficient nourishment in childhood, criminal parentage, andchronic alcoholism of parents. Dr. S. H. Perry, alluding tothe lack of nutrition in early life as a cause, contendedthat the municipality should supply sterilised milk as

infants’ food to poor people at less than cost price. A half-

penny rate, bringing in .66000, would provide for this andminimise the evil to a remarkable degree. A plea for betteraccommodation for non-pauper imbeciles was made byMrs. Pinsent. She said that paupers were providedfor and so should be the imbecile children of the work-ing classes. Parents, to whom the idea of the work-house was repulsive, would contribute towards the cost ofmaintaining their children. At the close of the conferenceresolutions were passed in favour of making compulsorythe Elementary Education of Defective and EpilepticChildren Act of 1899; that an inquiry should be heldto consider the advisability of confining pauper and non-pauper imbeciles in suitable establishments on a differentcertificate from that now required ; and that boards ofguardians should receive 4s. per week for every harmlesslunatic confined in homes provided by them to the satisfac-tion of the Local Government Board. The same subject wasalso brought before the recent meeting of the BirminghamSociety for Promoting the Election of Women Guardians byMrs. Pinsent, who strongly urged that the permanent care ofthe feeble-minded and epileptics should be in the handsof boards of guardians and not of city councils. Iobserve that Dr. Potts has been reading a paper on

the same subject before the members of the SanitaryInstitute in London. Dr. Potts detailed some facts learntby him in Birmingham and stated that out of 46cases on the list of his committee 18 were earningwages varying from 2s. to 12s. per week, the average wageper week being 7s. ld., so that these people were adding areally valuable sum to the weekly budget of the family.Ten out of these 18 were never likely to become permanentlyself-supporting and 23 out of the 46 cases should be segre-gated in a permanent home. Dr. Potts also stated that hehad recently visited a number of charitable homes aroundBirmingham and examined 862 children. He found that 94of these were so far mentally deficient as to require per-manent care. Dr. Potts also stated that he had generallyfound that one or both of the parents of feeble-mindedchildren were drunken. He urged the necessity of prevent-ing marriage among the feeble-minded.

April 4th.

MANCHESTER.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Hospital for Oons1tmpti’ves.THE annual meeting of the friends and supporters of

the Manchester Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of Jthe Throat and Chest was held on March 23rd. The

report told of increased work both at Bowdon, wherethe in-patients are treated, and at Hardman-street, wherethe out-patients attend. There was a deficit of &pound; 536 onthe year’s working. The Crossley Sanatorium at Delamereis not likely to be ready for patients till towards the endof the year. It may be remembered that Mr. W. J Crossleyis building this at a cost of between E70,000 and oE80 000,but an endowment fund of <& 100,000 is needed for itsmaintenance, towards which E56,417 have been obtained.The chairman, Mr. W. J. Crossley, expressed his sorrowthat consumption did not seem to be decreasing. It wasestimated that there were 160,000 consumptives in thecountry and, so far as he knew, only about 60 sanatoriums,with about 2000 beds, and these almost entirely for richpeople who could pay four or five guineas a week. He hopedcounty councils would quickly obtain and use powers forerecting sanatoriums, though he did not know that any hadas yet done so. The Manchester Hospital had large numbers

waiting for admission and while waiting their chances ofrecovery became less. He spoke of the danger of relapsewhen patients returned to " their old surroundings, theold infected dwellings, and suffered from want of food."Nearly 50 per cent. relapsed. Dr. J. Niven, medical officerof health, referred to the efforts of the corporation to preventconsumption by issuing instructions as to how to avoid thedisease and by sending medical officers to visit the homesof the people. But in many of the wretched homes theinstructions could not be carried out and the help of hos-pital treatment was necessary. He thought that the public,through the municipalities, should take up the question ofproviding hospital treatment for poor people.

Presentation of Address to Dr. A. Hodgkinson.Before the close of the annual meeting of the friends of

the Hospital for Consumptives a framed illuminated addresswas exhibited which the board of management and themedical board will present to Dr. A. Hodgkinson, the seniorphysician, on his retirement under the age limit rule. Inassociation with the late Dr. Shepherd Fletcher he foundedthe hospital in 1875 and the address referred to his devotedservices to the institution. The chairman said he wouldremain connected with the hospital as honorary consultingphysician. Dr. Hodgkinson was unavoidably absent but theaddress will be formally presented by the chairman.

Manchester Infirmary Board.Mr. W. Cobbett has been elected chairman of the infirmary

board and there is no doubt that he will prove an efficientsuccessor to the late Mr. John Thomson. He presided atthe meeting of the board on March 28th, when it was

reported that the plans of the proposed new infirmary build-ings at Stanley Grove had been referred to the building com-mittee with an instruction to ascertain to what extenteconomies can be effected. A resolution of sympathy withthe relatives of the late Dr. F. Renaud was passed.

PJaeh1tming a Body.On March 26th an advertisement appeared in the

Cheshire county newspapers of an unusual character. Itwas in the form of an apology from the Northwich burialboard for removing a dead body from Lostock Gralam burialground and undertaking to pay the costs of an action com-menced in the King’s Bench Division. It seems that therewas a dispute with the Lostock burial trustees as to the

position for a monument over the grave of the daughter ofa parishioner. An order of exhumation was obtained from theHome Secretary. The burial board sent men "at the dead ofnight" who took the body from the grave and buried it againin the burial board’s unconsecrated ground two miles away.This remarkable and most objectionable proceeding the boardsaid was covered by the Home Office order but this wasfound to be an error. The diocesan authorities said that afaculty should have been obtained and that the HomeSecretary had expressed personal regret that a licence wasgranted. This high-handed proceeding on the part of theburial board led to a writ being served on the board, whichwas followed by the board giving way, making a publicapology, and settling the action commenced against it bypaying the plaintiff’s costs. One feels some regret that themembers of the board instead of the all-suffering ratepayershave not to bear the expenses entailed. There is a strongfeeling that graves should be respected as sacred even byburial boards.

The Levenshulme Anthf}’aae Case.

Reverting to the case of anthrax which was mentioned inTHE LANCET of March 12th, p. 760, it may be remem-bered that the farmer who sold the heifer left theinfirmary while waiting to be conveyed to the MonsallHospital. He went home and died in a day or two.The young man, Cresswell, who dressed the carcass forthe Levenshulme butcher was taken ill and brought backFrom Sandbach and admitted to the Monsall Hospital,where he is said to be recovering. On March 22ndthe butcher was summoned before the magistrates. Thefacts of the case were as follows. The heifer was on the?arm of Pimlott, the owner, and on Feb. 23rd was

observed to be ill. Next day some medicine was given to.t but it did not improve and about mid-day Pimlott bled ito death when it was in a dying condition. Clarke, thejutcher, sent Cresswell to dress it and he called Clarke’sattention to the spleen which was enlarged. Notwithstandingihis he bought the carcass, paying a low price. ProfessorS. Del6pine certified Pimlott’s case as one of anthrax and

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steps were taken to isolate the farm. The inspectorascertained from Clarke that the whole of the beastwas sold except the tongue which was in pickle. The

tongue, with other tongues and meat in contact withit, was seized and handed to Professor Delepine. His

report was to the effect that he microscopically examinedvarious parts of the seven tongues and found that one

(numbered 691) was from an animal that had died fromanthrax or had been killed in the last stage of the disease.Anthrax bacilli were found still living and capable of rapidgrowth, were still virulent and capable of infecting animals.The defendant and his family, the solicitor stated, had

partaken of the meat but neither they nor their customers,so far as was known, had suffered in the slightest degree.In answer to Mr. Yates, the stipendiary, Professor Delepinesaid there was usually no great danger from eating the fleshof an animal which had died from anthrax provided thatthe flesh was cooked. The danger arose when the fleshwas not cooked before eating or was handled by personswith wounds on their hands. The defendant was tined .B10and costs and on the application of the prosecution 3 3sextra costs were allowed. It is clear that he was culpablycareless but without putting him into that class it is to befeared that the race of slink butchers, whose business con-sists in dressing up diseased meat for sale, is by no meansextinct.

April 5th.

WALES AND WESTERN COUNTIES NOTES.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

The Treherbert and .District Medical t1ttendanne Society."THROUGH the death of Mr. E. S. Warburton, who was

surgeon to the Treherbert collieries in the Rhondda Valley, avacancy has occurred in the position which he had held formany years and an alteration is to be made in the relationspreviously existing between the colliers and their medicalofficer. At all the collieries in the great Rhondda Valley thesum of 3d. in the &pound; is deducted from the colliers’ wages by themanagers and is paid over to the colliery surgeon who pro-vides all the necessary medical assistance and pays the

expenses of the practice, taking all the risk of the col-lieries working short time or being entirely closed, as manywere during the five months’ strike of 1898, when, as

there was no money being earned by the men, there wasno poundage for the surgeons, although there was no inter-mission in the medical attendance upon the colliers andtheir families. The Treherbert colliers have decided to giveup this arrangement which has worked well for many yearsand have established the "Treherbert and District MedicalAttendance Society," the object and rules of which followvery closely on the lines of a medical aid society and containsome of the objectionable features of the latter. It is pro-posed to appoint a "head doctor" at a salary of &pound;450 perannum and one or more assistants at a salary of L200 perannum, each to pay his own rent and household expenses.The society will provide and pay for a groom, horse, andconveyance and will also provide and maintain surgeriesand pay for all drugs and instruments required. Thenumber of medical assistants is to be increased or

reduced proportionately with the variation in the numberof members in the society, but whether the" headdoctor " or the society is to decide the need for additionalassistance is not stated. Any person may become a memberof the society who is employed in the collieries or other

public industries in the district and who contributes to thefunds 14 per cent. of his earnings, an amount, it will beobserved, equal to the 3d in the .6 formerly deducted in thecolliery offices. Among the objectionable features alreadyreferred to is the admission to membership of the societyof business and professional persons who contributesuch a sum as may be determined by the committee butnot less than 3d. weekly. No wage limit is fixed andthe surgeon would not in any way benefit by increasedcontributions demanded from well-to do tradespeople or pro-fessional persons. The single contribution either from thecolliers or other members, it should be stated, entitles notonly the head of the household but also his dependents tomedical and surgical attendance As it is not proposed thatthe colliers’ contributions should be less than formerly it isdifficult to understand what they are to gain by the altera.tion. They are promised that if the funds allow a nurses’

institute shall be established and that the moneys of the

society shall be applied for the medical benefit of themembers in any form approved of by a general meeting. Thepresident, treasurer, secretary, and three trustees of thesociety are to be paid for their services such remunera-tion as the committee, of which they are members, shalldecide, and as it will no doubt be the duty of one ofthese officers to collect each month the contributions ofthe members it is obvious that the management expenseswill not be small. One objection to the new scheme fromthe medical practitioners’ point of view is that momy con-tributed by the men expressly for medical attendance maybe used to pay lay officials and, further, that the reputationof the surgeon may be used by the society to obtain in-creased monthly contributions from employes in privateestablishment-! or from business or professional persons ; hemay indeed be exploited by the society entirely for its ownbenefit. The disadvantage to the colliers will be that theywill not be able to secure the services, or at any rate the con-tinned services, of surgeons with reputations equal to thoseof the gentlemen now practising in the Rhondda Valley.Most of these practitioners have been in the district for manyyears and they all have a distinct influence on the social lifeof the valley, but it is quite certain that there is not one ofthem who would have been satisfied for long with the exact-ing duties of a colliery practice on a yearly income of E450in a district, moreover, where house rents are high and livingis costly.

Prevention of Small-pox-Bristol Methods v. LeicesterMethods.

At a meeting of the Bristol health committee held onMarch 17th during a discussion arising out of a communica-tion received from the Imperial Vaccination League a

member of the committee took occasion to compare thesanitary condition of Bristol with that of Leicester to thedetriment of the former city and stated that Leicester wasquite at the top of the tree as regards health. In Januaryof last year this same gentleman persuaded the health com-mittee to send through the town clerk a letter asking theLeicester authorities for details of their method of dealingwith cases of small-pox. As at that time there were some20 cases of the disease occurring weekly in Leicester thetown clerk of that town no doubt thought he was being" chaffed " and made no response. The medical officerof health of Bristol (Dr. D. S. Davies) in a very exhaustiveletter to the local newspapers has shown that however

high Leicester may be in the sanitary scale Bristol isstill higher if judged by certain standards. For example,in the ten years 1893-1902 the average yearly infantilemortality-rate in Bristol was 146 and in Leicester 191and daring the same period the average annual diarrhoeadeath-rate in Bristol was 0’67 per 1000 and in Leicester 1’53per 1000. Dr. Davies’s comparison of the behaviour of small-pox in Bristol and in Leicester during the early months of1903 is very striking. He says : "In the first six months of1903 small-pox was introduced into Bristol oa 16 occasions-that is, on an average oftener than once every fortnight-butwas kept under absolute control by common-sense methodswhich I need not detail and only caused three deaths. InLeicester during the same period under the operation of the’ Leicester method’ small-pox assumed epidemic spreadand caused more than 300 cases and 21 deaths-i.e., seventimes as many deaths as in Bristol, although Leicester is acomparatively small town of 220,272 persons."

Cruelty to a Cow.A cattle dealer was recently fined 40s. by the Neath

magistrates for peculiarly gross cruelty to a cow. Inorder it is said that the cow might present a goodudder in the market on the following day the dealer

placed a rubber ring on each teat. A police constablefound the animal groaning and evidently in great pain whichwas at once relieved upon the rings being removed and themilk drawn off.

Vagrancy in Glamorganshire.The Bridgend board of guardians recently invited other

boards in Glamorganshire to confer as to the best means ofdealing with the increase of vagrancy in the county. A

meeting of members of the boards was held on March 31stwhen a motion was passed urging the President of theLocal Government Board to give speedy effect to his promiseto hold an inquiry into the question of vagrancy, havingregard especially to labour colonies and child vagrancy. A

suggestion that a labour colony on the lines of the Salvation