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invalided 65 6, and the daily sick 62’42 per 1000 of strength,all in excess of the proportion in the preceding year. Theadmissions were much higher than among the troops servingin the United Kingdom, but the deaths and daily sick corres-pond very closely in the two branches of the service.

THE INFIRMARY FOR CONSUMPTION,MARGARET STREET.

WE regret to learn that through the apathy of the mainbody of the governors of the above institution, the homœo-pathic party were enabled at the special general meeting onWednesday, to outvote by three the old body of governors,including the majority of the executive committee andmedical staff.

After the notice convening the meeting had been read,the Rev. W. R. Mowll, M.A, moved a resolution to theeffect that Drs. Jagielski and Marsh should cease frompractismg homoeopathy at the Margaret-street Infirmary;further, that Dr. Jagielaki should take his name from theHomoeopathic Directory, and that Dr. Marsh should resignhis appointment at the Homoeopathic Ho’-pital, or resigntheir appointments at this infirmary. This was secondedby Captain Hunter Baillie, and spoken to by Dr. Cholmeley,one of the consulting physicians, who in an able speechpointed ou the incongruity of the present state of things,and said that; nowhere in the United Kingdom was there aninstitution officered by a mixed staff of allopaths (so called)and homoeopaths. He also stated that, should the resolu-tion be lost, he and the six members of the staff whothought with him could no longer conscientiously retaintheir appointments, and read a letter from Dr. T. Hawksley,the senior consulting physician (who was too ill to be pre-sent) in favour of the resolution.An amendment was moved by Dr. Dudgeon (a governor

of only six months’standing), and seconded by Mr. D. Bryant(a governor of about three months’ standing), which wasspoken to by Drs. Jagielski and Marsh, and carried bytwenty against seventeen.Of the twenty who voted for the amendment in support

of homceopatby, we understand that several have only re-cently become governors of the institution-that is, betweenthree and six months, and since the question in disputehas been on the tapis. Of the seventeen who voted in theminority, all are old governors, and have for years giventheir time and services to the institution, and one of them,Mr. W. H. Baillie, for about forty years.Lord Grimthorpe was in the chair, but, voted with the

homoeopathic party, as did also Dr. Cooper Torry.The seven gentlemen of the staff who have decided to

resign are Dr. T. Hawksley and Dr. W. Cholmeley, the con-sulting physicians; Mr. F. Carr Beard, F.R.C.S., the sur-geon ; and Dr. Featherstone Phibbs, Dr. Julian Willis, Dr.Robert Walford, and Dr. Scudamore Powell, the visitingphysicians. The majority of the executive committee alsointend to resign-viz., the Rev. J. J. Coxhead, M.A., Rev. W.R. Mowll, M.A., Lieut.-Colonel Hollway, treasurer; JosephLott, Esq., solicitor; Captain W. Hunter Baillie, J. A. Pepys,Esq., and St. Leger Bunnett, Esq.In again expressing our regret, we would warn other

institutions by the fate of this one (an infirmary which hasbeen of immense value to the suffering poor). so that theymay be on their guard against this thin end of the homoeo-pathic wedge.

THE SEAMEN’S HOSPITAL, GREENWICH.

THE annual meeting of the governors of and subscribersto this institution, which takes up the work carried on bythe late Dreadnought, was held on the 16th inst, under thepresidency of Sir Andrew Clark, Bart., M.D. The sixty-sixthannual report, which was read by the secretary, stated thatthough the institution had suffered severely during thegreat commercial depression, the committee had not beencompelled to draw upon their reserve funds in order tomake the income meet the expenditure. The number ofpatients treated last year was 2267, and of these 1452 weredischarged cured and convalescent, 477 had been relieved,87 died, and 194 remained under treatment at the close of

the year. There were also 5H59 out-patients during 1886,making a total of 269,782 patients treated at the institutionsince its foundation. Sir Andrew Clark gave an account of

a visit of inspection he had paid to the hospital, and, com-mending its management, he urged its claims to the supportof the charitable public. The report was adopted, and thecustomary votes of thanks brought the proceedings to a close.

PROSECUTION OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH INEDINBURGH.

THE committee appointed to consider and report on theProsecution of Original Research in connexion with the

Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, have issued theirReport to the President and Fellows of the College. Thecommittee recommend (1) that the College establish andmaintain in the neighbourhood of the infirmary a laboratoryfor the prosecution of original research ; (2) that the College’vote £1000 for the establishment of this laboratory, and,year by year, a sum not exceeding the third of the clear-surplus of annual income over annual expenditure for its-maintenance, including the payment of salaries. It issuggested that the laboratory be placed under the care of acurator and committee, with a scientific man as superin-tendent, at a salary of not less than X200 per annum, andan assistant, to reside on the premises, at a salary of £80;(3) that the laboratory be open without fee to Fellows andMembers of the College, and to any investigator, on certainconditions; and (4) that the committee should be empowered,.if sufficient funds be at its disposal, to offer yearly a medaland money prize (not exceeding .C21) for original work con-ducted within the laboratory or elsewhere, the results to be-embodied in essays to be submitted to the committee, andto be specially connected with medicine, therapeutics"gynaecology, and psychiatric medicine.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

IN twenty-eight of the largest English towns 5788 birthsand 3453 deaths were registered during the week endingFeb. 12f,h. The annual death-rate in these towns, which had

steadily declined in the preceding five weeks from 26’5 to19 6 per 1000, further fell last week to 19-5. During thefirst six weeks of the current quarter the death-rate in these-towns averaged 22.3 per 1000, and was 2-2 below themean rate in the corresponding periods of the ten years1877-86. The lowest rates in these towns last week were14-9 in Nottingham, 15 3 in Leicester, 16 in Derby, and 16 9°in Leeds. The rates in the other towns ranged upwardsto 25 8 in Manchester, 26 9 in Liverpool, 271 in Wolver-bampton, and 30’1 in Huddersfield. The deaths referred to-the principal zymotic diseases in the twenty-eight towns,which had declined in the preceding four weeks from485 to 367, further tell last week to 340; they included 95 fromwhooping-cough, 77 from measles, 61 from scarlet fever, 43:from diphtheria, 32 from diarrhoea, 31 from "fever" (princi-pally enteric), and only 1 from small-pox. No death fromany of these zymotic diseases was registered last week inDerby, whereas they caused the highest rates in Norwich,Liverpool, and Hudder,,field. The greatest mortality fromwhooping-cough occurred in Oldham, Sunderland, Hudders-field, and Norwich; from measles in Halifax, Bristol, andHudderfield; and from scarlet fever in Birkenhead, Liver-pool, and Sheffield. The 43 deaths from diphtheria in thetwenty-eight towns included 17 in London, 4 in Liverpool,.3 in Birmingham, 3 in Manchester, 3 in Hudderafield, 2 inPortsmouth, 2 in Norwich, 2 in Oldham, and 2 in Hull.Small-pox caused 1 death in Manchester and 1 among theresidents of London and its outer ring, but not one in anyof the twenty-six other large provincial towns. Only 3small-pox patients were under treatment on Saturday lastin the metropolitan hospitals receiving cases of this disease.The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratory organs inLondon, which had declined in the preceding five weeksfrom 731 to 364, rose again last week to 373, but were somany as 244 below the corrected average. The causes of 89,or 2’6 per cent., of the deaths in the twenty-eight townslast week were not certified either by a registered medical