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give a variety of statistical and other information relativeto the public medical institutions of the colony-namely,the Colonial Hospital at Port of Spain, the San FernandoHospital, eight district hospitals, three hospitals for yaws,the lunatic asylum, the leper asylum, and the house of

refuge. The total admissions to these various institu-

tions during the year ended March 31st, 1902. was 12,392,and there were 1681 deaths. At the hospital for yaws 88cases remained under treatment on March 31st, 1901, and736 cases were admitted during the ensuing 12 months-namely, 500 at St. Augustin, 140 at St. Clair, and 96 at Arima.There were, therefore, 824 cases under treatment, of whichDr. De Wolf says that 526 were cured, 13 died from variousintercurrent diseases, and 285 remained under treatment onMarch 31st, 1902. He is of opinion that the segregation andtreatment of the disease in hospital have led to satisfactoryresults and that the heavy expense incurred in establishingand maintaining this system has been justified. With

respect to treatment Dr. J. R. Dickson of the St. Clair

Hospital mentions that it consists chiefly of the internaladministration of iodides, principally iodides of iron OI

arsenic and iron, together with daily baths in which soft soapis liberally used, and the local application of antiseptics.such as carbolic acid lotion, zinc sulphate or copper sulphate,and an ointment or oil of iodoform, carbolic acid, or

mercury. When the tubercles were large and exuberant themost prominent were from time to time excised. Dr. F. A.de Verteuil of the Arima Hospital has found treatment bythyroid extract to be of the utmost value, especially whenthe eruption was tubercular, and a combination of salicylicacid and collodion proved itself a good local application tothe hard crust-covered tubercles. Both these gentlemenagree that daily baths and a liberal diet are of the first

importance in the treatment of yaws. The maximum and

minimum shade temperatures during the year were respec-tively 94’0° F. in April, 1901, and 61-0° in December, 1901,and also in January, 1902. The total rainfall for 12 monthswas 55’78 inches. The census of 1901 showed that the

population of the colony was 273,899.

THE HINDRANCE TO PROGRESS CAUSED BYTHE EXPENSES OF TRANSPORT.

IT is well-nigh an axiom that England discovers but thatother nations profit by the discovery. In the race forindustrial supremacy it is evident that the English nationmust soon lag behind if it does not bestir itself. Its oppor-tunities, which are not less favourable than those possessedby other countries, are not seized owing to a failure torealise their immense bearing on industrial success. One

great aim of this country should be to acquire a means oftransport which would cheapen the carriage of goods fromone part of the country to another. It is well known

that it is cheaper to import many goods from abroad intoEngland, including articles off food, than to send them

Ito London from the country districts near at hand.Brittany butter is a good deal less expensive than Englishbutter on account of the cheapness with which ic can betransported. English railway rates have done more than

anything else to cripple the resources of the land,and yet transport abroad is sufficiently cheap to make

growing to be profitable both for consumption in the

country and for consumption out of the country as well.

Surely this is an anomalous and reproachable state of

things. Still, we do not believe that the anomaly andthe reproach cannot be removed. England is a longway ahead of many other countries in regard to canal

ways. We possess, indeed, over 4000 miles of artificial

waterways. But the method of working them is archaicand utterly out of keeping with the clear indications ofmodern progress. The canal wa’erways of England,

it is true, are not idle, but they might as well be

so considering the extremely unscientific way in which

they are worked. It is hardly possible to estimatethe extent of the influence upon our industrial positionwhich the improved working of our waterways wouldhave if transport could in this way be made reasonablyrapid and cheap. And there is no reason why such afillip to this method of transport should not be given. If

railway companies pretend that they cannot cheapenrates some other method of transport must be found. In

Germany and Holland transit both by railway and wateris infinitely cheaper than it is in England. Why is it so ?

Surely, we might have a useful commission of inquiryupon this subject, which, however, we may anticipatewould find as an answer, apathy, mere apathy. We are gladto see that this and cognate. subjects have recently been dis-cussed at the Liverpool meeting of the Society of ChemicalIndustry, the discussion being opened by a paper by thePresident, Mr. Livinstein, who chose for its title, I I Educa-

tion and Legislation: their Influence on Trade and Industry."

THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTIONOF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.

THE latest annual report of the National Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Children, which is published in thismonth’s issue of the society’s journal, contains a highlysatisfactory record of progress. The total receipts for theyear which has just closed amount to £73,875, and this sumdoes not include the funds collected by the Scottishbranches which are under a separate administration. In

England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland there are now

934 centres of work. New and commodious offices havebeen opened in Leicester-square, London, a large partof the cost incurred in this undertaking being met

by colossal contributions from two friends of the society,Mr. Astor and Mr. Woolcott Thompson respectively. These

statements are in themselves remarkable. Their effect is

very greatly enhanced when we compare the present positionof the society with that which it occupied at the date ofits first report 13 years ago. Omitting Scotland for thereason above given we find that there were then 52 workingcentres and the income reached a total of £8871. The

number of cases under supervision was then 3947. Last year(over an immensely extended area) it was 32,787. When weremember that the object of the society is primarily that ofreformation, that it is teaching reckless people to live

reasonably and humanely with their own kind, and that its

efforts towards this object are coming to be understood andapproved even by the very people who might be expected tooppose them, we desire no further proof that it is workingon the right lines and deserves all the prosperity which maycome to it.

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ACROMEGALY AND MYXŒDEMA IN THEMIDDLE AGES.

ACROMEGALY and myxcedema are said to have been firstdescribed, the one by Marie and the other by Gull, in 1886and 1873 respectively. But the type of figure and featureproduced by these two diseases must have been recognised assomething markedly peculiar for many centuries. To goback no later than the eighteenth century every medicalman must have been struck by the acromegalic type of manyof Rowlandson’s characters, a fact which we have remarked

upon in THE LANCET. But we have recently come across afar earlier example which is so forcible in many ways that wethink it worthy of note in our columns. There is at presenton view in a little gallery in Ryder-street, St. James’s, S.W.,belonging to Messrs. Carfax and Co., an extraordinarilyfine painting by Piero di Cosimo. Many of our readers mayknow the "Death of Procris " by this master in the National