580

agreeable to the taste, must be placed exceedingly low in thescale of direct or absolute nutrients.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,THOMAS VOSPER,

Brewer-street, Nov. 13th, 1865. Analytical Chemist.

P.S.-While well-made clear beef-tea furnishes about 220grains of solid matter to the pint, that prepared from Liebig’sExtract, in accordance with the directions usually given, wouldyield only about 120 grains; and, therefore, not less than twentypints of the latter would be daily needed.

THOMAS VOSPER,Analytical Chemist.

COLOURING MATTER OF THE BLOOD.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—As I find that the recent researches of Dr. Stokes, re-garding the theory that the colouring matter of the blood isthe oxygen-carrier, are now exciting great interest in the phy-siological world, and that they are looked upon as original, itis a duty which I owe to myself to claim priority in the pro-mulgation of that theory.

In a thesis transcribed in 1863,. and which was in the handsof the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh inMarch, 1864, I most emphatically maintain, from facts andarguments there adduced, that the oxygen attaches itself tothe colouring matter of the corpuscles in going the round ofthe circulation.

Although this is a comparatively unimportant point in thegeneralization attempted to be arrived at under the head" Pigment" in that dissertation, I consider it incumbent uponme, in order to avoid any misunderstanding when my workappears, to inform the profession, through the medium of itsrecognised organ, that I claim to have anticipated ProfessorStokes in the enunciation of the hypothesis in question.

Reference to the same thesis will also show that Dr. Bealehas been more than anticipated in regard to the developmentof cells in exudation; for I there maintain that suppuration, leucocythemia, &c., are merely attempts at sanguification underrestricting circumstances.—I am, &c.,

JOHN RHIWEN ROBERTS, M.D.Castell, Bangor, Nov. 2th, 1865.

JOHN RHIWEN ROBERTS, M.D.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

SINCE my last letter, typhus has continued to spread andgather strength in Newcastle and Gateshead. The officer ofhealth for the latter town (Dr. W. Robinson), in his report tothe Town Council, states that the mortality had reached ashigh a point as 38 per 1000, or, taking the average for the lastlive weeks, 30 per 1000. There had, in fact, been an excessof deaths over births of 13.The Northumberland and Durham Medical Society has com-

menced its seventeenth session, and Dr. Humble has been re-elected president. The monthly meetings of this Society inthe comfortable library of the Infirmary, whose well-storedshelves are open to all members, must be regarded as one ofthe few luxuries of medical life here in winter, affording as itdoes an admirable medium to our brethren in the North forsocial and scientific intercourse. It is gratifying to learn fromthe report for 1864-5 that "it will be found, on comparing theannals of the Society, that the past session has in no way de-tracted from the progress which has been steadily going onduring previous years. This progress has manifested itself inthe good attendance at the usual monthly meetings, in thenumber and importance of the communications presented, andthe ample display of pathological specimens which have beenoffered for observation." " Special reference is made in the

report to the loss of a valued member by resignation, Dr. J. G.Glover, whose removal to London was much regretted. Dr.

Philipson is thanked for his able and valuable contributions and statistics on the prevalent diseases of the district, and themembers are urged to assist the object he has in view as muchas possible. Another member receives the hearty thanks ofthe Society, having compiled an index to its Transactions fromthe commencement in 1848.At the meeting on the 12th of October, Mr. H. Armstrong

exhibited a specimen of Aneurism of the Aorta, with a tubularsac extending the entire length of the thoracic aorta, and occu-pying the place of the left lung, which was almost completely

absorbed. The progress of the disease extended over betweenthree and four years, the leading symptoms being cough, dys-pncea, and difficulty of deglutition. One of the most marked

physical signs in the case was the presence of a distinct systolicbruit.

Dr. Wm. Murray exhibited a specimen of Diphtheritic FalseMembrane, from a fatal case of diphtheria in the practice ofDr. Ward, of Blyth. It had been found loose in the trachea,unconnected with mucous membrane.

Dr. Phitipson read his third report for 1865 on the PrevalentDiseases of the District.

Dr. Embleton read his report from the Newcastle and Gates-head Fever Hospital on Typhus and Small-pox for 1864-5 ;and also a paper on the Cattle Plague, or Typhus, with noteson the cause of the outbreak in Newcastle by Messrs. Wilkin-son and Stephenson, Government Inspectors of Cattle. Thetables in the two former papers show the footing that typhushas got in our midst, and that at the present moment theepidemic has reached a point of severity only attained by thatof 1848. Dr. Embleton, in his important paper, describes ina graphic manner the wretched habitations of our labourers ;and, in conclusion, says In such conditions of domesticarrangement, to say nothing of the uncontrollable dietaryirregularities of the people, we cannot marvel that the bloodbecomes deranged, that typhus is nursed, becomes intensified,and is rendered epidemic. The wonder is that disease anddeath are not more prevalent than they have been; and I trustI am not overstepping the limits of propriety when I say thatthe municipal authorities are much to blame for allowing suchhot-beds as those which have from year to year been distinctlyindicated to exist in the midst of our industrial population.A few weeks or, at most, months ought to suffice for the ex-tinction of typhus if those in power would or could adopt andenforce the proper means for securing that desirable end ; andyet this is the second year during which the fever has gone onrapidly gaining ground until it has exceeded nearly all previousexperience here, and the foundations are being certainly laid fora much more serious epidemic in the winter and spring ensuingthan even that of the past year." As to the cattle plague inNewcastle, to which upwards of 250 cows have already fallenvictims, it appears to have been pretty clearly made out thatit was imported with a cargo which arrived in this port by theLord Raylan from Rotterdam on the 2lst of August last ; andthe same vessel has since brought two cargoes with diseasedanimals. The inspectors think very naturally that importa-tion from liotterdam, and other ports where the disease isknown to exist, ought to be prohibited ; or the cattle, upontheir arrival here, should be put into quarantine for ten days.They conclude their report by expressing their belief that thedisease is neither atmospherical nor engendered in our byres.An animated discussion followed these papers, and a com-

mittee was appointed to draw up and present a report on theneglected state of the town to the Town Council, and warningit of the present and impending epidemics.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, lTov. llth, 1865.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS: PROXIESFOR COUNTRY FELLOWS.

I WE long since expressed the opinion that if the countryFellows of the College of Surgeons of England really desiredto obtain the right of voting by proxy, they had only tomemorialize the Council in sufficient numbers to show that

they were in earnest, as a body. The movement had beendiscredited by the remarkable smallness of the numbers

attending the meetings held at the anniversaries of the BritishMedical Association in London and Cambridge, and the coldshade thus thrown over the movement repressed its vitality.We are glad to see that Mr. Watkin Williams has taken the hintand circulated a memorial. If the Fellows are in earnest, andwill sign this numerously, there is no doubt of their success,as in our opinion there can be none as to their claim to thisprivilege. ,

MARRIAGE.—On the 8th inst., at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton, ArthurLabouchere, Esq., younger son of the late John Labouchere, Esq., of BroomeHall, Surrey, to Maryanne Adelaide Susan, eldest daughter of Alfred Hall,M.D., of Brighton, and granddaughter of the late John Cressy Hall, Esq.,Barrister-at-law, of Swanwick Grange, Derbyshire.-No Cards.