923 in disease of the retina and with the fine terminations of the arteries. In microscopy it is well known that the insertion THE FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CON- ’of a Gifford’s screen between the light and the section adds GRESS OF MADRID. greatly to the detail by absorbing the red rays where MEDICINE, structures have been stained red. By the kind courtesy (FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) - of the Westinghouse Electrical Company I have been able to examine a number of fundi, both normal and diseased, THE JOURNEY. by means of the mercury vapour lamp, the light of which is produced by allowing a direct current to THERE are two routes by which Madrid may be reached- flow through a vacuum containing mercury, from a the longer but more comfortable and healthy journey by sea to an iron the resistance in the tube platinum electrode, to Lisbon or Oporto, and the overland route through Paris. been first broken down a of tension. having by spark high The latter course is most to be men This when examined is seen to be likely adopted by busy light, spectroscopically, and in the Sud will be the train chosen. deficient in red rays, being very rich in blue and violet. The general Express light, although brilliant, is diffuse and produces an "after Now, the Sud Express is as ill-contrived a train as any so- image" of very short duration. On looking at the fundus called train de lqtxe can well be. In the first place it has no by this light the background" appears pale green instead direct communication with any train from London ; the of the usual the vessels out red ; appear purple, standing traveller must either leave London in the morning and with unusual distinctness ; the arteries being the same from 15 to 18 hours in or he must travel all colour as the veins can be traced to their finest ramifica- spend Paris, tions. The choroidal vessels are of a deeper purple night by train and boat in order to reach Paris at an the will and over the whole the retina can be seen glistening, uncomfortably early hour in morning and then being especially well marked along the arteries and veins. have to wait several hours for the Sud Express to start. The optic disc appears with a white centre and green edges. It must also be noted that places in this train should This illuminant ought to be of considerable utility in on ordinary occasions be booked at least 24 hours before the differential diagnosis of retinal and choroidal disease, starting, as the trains are constantly full, and those who visit since the perspective of the retina, choroid, and sclera is some other Spanish towns after leaving Madrid on their very clear. Although the lamp in its present form is hardly return should bear in mind that a Spanish telegram may need suitable for ophthalmoscopic work, alterations could be 24 hours to travel 500 miles. Travellers by the Sud Express - easily made for this purpose. A somewhat similar effect can have to change into a Spanish train at the frontier be produced by using an arc lamp and screening off the red and the change is for the worse, for the French train, rays, but the same definition and detail cannot be obtained though dusty and ill-ventilated, is not overcrowded, as as with the mercury vapour lamp. the seats are all numbered. Luggage should be in a I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, handy form, as it is safer in the carriage with the M. S. MAYOU, F.R.C.S. Eng., traveller, and no charge is made for excess of weight if Chief Clinical Assistant to the Royal Eye Hospital. it is taken in the carriage-only 66 pounds are allowed March 20th, 1903. free and have been cut open before now in ______portmanteaus the luggage vans. The sleeping-cars in the Sud Express PROFESSOR GRASSI’S RECENT are divided into compartments, each containing four narrow PAMPHLET. bunks, one above and one below on each side, with just enough space in the middle for one man to undress. There To the Editors of THE LANCET. is no place in which to secure money or jewellery and the SIRS,-Professor Grassi has recently published a pamphlet only means of ventilation in this small space occupied by entitled I I Documenti riguardanti la storia della scoperta del four persons is the window, for the door opens into the modo di trasmissione della malaria umana " which I find he corridor. There are dining-cars in this train de luxe, but has dedicated to me. The work is of a polemical character. the food is not first-class and the attendance is insufficient. Lest from the fact of the pamphlet being dedicated to me it There is but little in the scenery along the route to interest might be supposed that I indorse the views therein expressed, the traveller, except glimpses of towns the names of which are I beg to say that in many instances I do not, and, moreover, familiar to him since his school days, as the most beautiful that I was not consulted about the dedication. country-i.e., the Pyrenees-is passed during the night on Yours trulv. the way south, but on the return journey there is very much Queen Anne-street, W., March 20th, 1903. PATRICK MANSON. to admire. The Sud Express is the best means of returning to England for the sake of the scenery through which the line ERRATUM.-In the letter headed " On the Problem of passes and of the quaint sights from the windows of the train Glycosuria and Diabetes " and bearing the signature such as a woman and a girl ploughing with a yoke of oxen, "Rusticus," published in THE LANCET of March 21st, the carts drawn by oxen, or the same patient beast tramping a monotonous round to draw water from a well, or it be a word ’’ maintains " in the first line of col. 1, p. 839, ought to may be mentions. woman working a water-wheel with her feet, as the convict works the treadmill, or threshing-floors with oxen treading out the corn. The trees will interest every stranger-forests THE LONDON LICENTIATES’ AND MEMBERS’ of cork oaks, mostly small, stunted trees with curiously SOCIETY.-A meeting of the members of this society was held gnarled and twisted boughs, then the dull, weird, grey-green at the rooms of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical olives, Spanish chestnuts and acacias, and lastly mountain- Society, Hanover-square, W., on March 10th. The chair pines and larches with stone-pines intermixed, and here was taken by Dr. W. Bezly Thorne who in addressing and there in warm valleys agaves and aloes growing the meeting pointed out that there were two courses before wild in the open air, though these latter are rare in them-viz., to approach the University of London with a Spain. The line, too, passes near (seldom through) little petition that men holding the diplomas of the Conjoint old-world, walled towns ; occasionally these little towns still Board should be permitted to present themelves for the have the fortifications made during the Peninsular War, but final examinations without matriculation ; and, secondly, to it is very remarkable that there are practically no modern approach one of the provincial universities to allow such fortifications on the Pyrennean border. The landscape as men to enter for the pass examination for their M.B. degrees. the train approaches the Pyrenees affords views of rocky Mr. Elliott Blake spoke upon the various injustices suffered gorges and of beautiful wooded valleys with streams coursing by London "Conjoint men" and was of opinion that the through them, bordered by bold cliffs and sometimes by society should be continued as a permanent one. Dr. A. boulder-strewn mountains, but there are so many tunnels Douglas Cowburn did not think that any good would result on the railway that the passenger can only catch glimpses from a petition to the University of London. Mr. F. W. of what must often be striking scenery. Often there are Collingwood gave reasons for thinking that affiliation with small square watch-towers standing alone on the tops of certain provincial universities would be impossible and the hills like the Peels in Northumberland and these proposed that a petition should be prepared for presentation recall the days of the borderland wars between France, to the University of London. An executive committee was Navarre, and Spain. Sometimes in place of these border appointed for this purpose and it was also decided that fortresses there are monasteries with their out-buildings all the society should become a permanent one with an annual walled in so that they also might be fortresses on occasions subscription of 58. to be forwarded to the secretary, Mr. even as the churches might be which in these border town, F. C. Langford, 142, Peckham Rye, London, S.E. are very large and massive, with tiny windows made high 924 up tin the walls, so that even these sacred places Oporto is well worth a visit by those who wish to know could be made defensible in case of invasion. The how port is made and are interested in the most medixval houses in some of these little towns are them- sanitation hidden behind a modern mask. Visitors to Oporto selves curious and picturesque, being three- and four- vid Lisbon should not take their tickets to Madrid through storeyed buildings stained to pleasing shades of colour by a London agency, as in that case they will have to age and lichens and pierced with small windows very spend an uncomfortable night in Pampilhosa, whereas the inadequate for the admission of air and light to the rooms direct and proper route is through Barca d’Alva. Those within. Another sight which is characteristic of the who travel from Lisbon or Oporto to Madrid may spend Peninsula is that of four or five boxes, each about five feet a profitable day in Salamanca, the oldest university town high by three wide, marked "Bulls," on an open cattle- in Spain. From Lisbon to Madrid is only 11 hours’ journey truck of a goods train which are intended for the bull- by the Sud Express, but this train only runs on Mondays fights performed in every town and even village throughout and Thursdays and places must be booked the day before. Spain. It is certain that the representatives at the Congress There is, however, a daily express at 9.30 P. M. which will be invited to be present at a bull-fight-to English is almost as fast and cheaper. The scenery on this line minds the most unsportsmanlike amusement ever devised. is most interesting and the train gives glimpses of the The bull-ring itself with its crowds of people in gay-coloured aqueduct which supplies Lisbon, of fields tilled by men dresses and the initiatory procession are worth seeing, dressed in white shirts and breeches as if they meant to but the show itself is not only cruel but stupid. play cricket where there is no grass to play on, although on Railway tickets to Madrid and back by the ordinary express the sides of the hills there are quite large flocks of sheep trains may be obtained for the price of a single fare by any and goats with shepherds watching them. Women, too, work member of the in the for are less than from 6d. to 9d. Congress. -- _ - _ fields, wages very small, The alternative way of reaching Madrid-viz., by sea to per day, and the children must be fed somehow, if only on Lisbon-is far preferable for those who are good sailors and chick-pease and oat-bread. The vegetation along the line can afford the time, for the voyage lasts from three to six must attract the attention of the least observant traveller, days, though it might be made shorter and more convenient for orange and lemon trees, bamboos, carob trees, Indian if a sufficient number of passengers would club together and corn, cacti, yuccas and agaves and great aloes which flower charter a vessel for themselves, as the regular boats only run in the open air during the summer, eucalyptus trees, and once or twice a week. By this plan visitors to the Congress palms and tree-ferns growing along the sides of the railway would not only have a healthy and pleasant holiday and save are not common sights with us. themselves much of the unpleasing tedium of the railway journey, but they would also be able to see Lisbon, one of the and most towns in Lisbon is quaintest picturesque Europe. THE built on the side of a steep hill sloping down to the river which here opens out into a lake, or rather series of lakes, a ORGANISATION OF THE PROFESSION. most beautiful site, and from the of the hill there is a top (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) most charming view over the town to the river. Everyone who travels to Madrid through Lisbon should visit the Botanical Garden at the latter town to see the The Battle of the Clubs at Cheltenham.-The Profession tropical plants growing luxuriantly in the open air which at organises, wins in a First Encounter, and is subsequently Kew can only be cultivated under glass. The garden is in signally defeated. the outskirts of the town and therefore it easily accessible ; IN January, 1901, 14 of the junior practitioners of Chelten- is situated on the of a hill, a convenient site, in that slope ham met and discussed the evils of club the more hardy plants occupy the higher ground and the together practice. more delicate ones are below and sheltered from cold winds. In a somewhat loose and informal manner they consti- The grounds are said to cover ten acres and are well laid out tuted an organisation. The Oddfellows and members of with winding paths and here and there a small pool of water other benefit societies paid only 3s. a year for medical for seems and aquatic plants. The soil poor and thin stony, aid and if chose the members also enter the but the flourish there. From the lower entrance the they might plants whole of their families for another 5s. a The visitor passes through an avenue of Washingtonias which year. practi- tioners who a resolution to the are amazingly large seeing that they were planted only gathered together passed 20 years ago. Within the garden there are clumps of effect that henceforth it would be considered derogatory lofty cocoa-nut trees and many varieties of Phoenix, i to the dignity of the profession to accept less than 4s. Bourbon, and very large fan-palms and great tree-ferns. a year per member or 10s per family. It was likewise Here are also many sorts of cacti and agaves and decided that if any practitioner resigned his post as aloes in flower (with names scratched on their leaves in true medical officer of a friendly society because he could cockney style) and great bushes and even hedges of plants not obtain this rate of payment no other member of the which in England are only seen as small bedding-out profession was to take his place. These proposals having plants, such as lantana, veronica, and datura arborea. met with general approval it was determined to try a test The cannas and begonias make but a poor show and the case and Dr. R. Davies threatened to resign his post as geraniums (which in Devonshire will cover a cottage) are medical officer of a benefit society unless the subscription thin and weedy and the roses are only of the most ordinary was raised from 3s. to 4s. per member. The members of varieties. Moreover, much space is wasted on common Dr. Davies’s lodge, in reply, acknowledged that the pay- plants and trees-possibly because they are rare in Portugal. ment they made was not sufficient, but they explained That part of the garden also which is intended for the that if they increased the amount they would place botanical students needs supervision, for here are plants themselves at a disadvantage in respect to other lodges. without labels and labels without plants and labels on the Therefore, the three months’ notice was duly served and wrong plants, and occasionally a whole family of plants accepted. The friendly society advertised for a new medical is characterised by a simple initial with no explana- officer in the local papers, but no one replied. Then it tion of that initial. There is but one greenhouse and again advertised, this time offering the very terms which that poorly furnibhed with comparatively common plants. Dr. Davies had insisted upon, but received no other reply The banana trees, too, are shabby and poor and there are but than that sent by Dr. Davies himself. The friendly society few plants in bloom to be seen in the garden and no care was consequently obliged to reappoint its medical officer and seems to be taken to insure a succession of flowering plants, this at the new and higher rate of payment. This, then, was but the wealth of tropical vegetation more than atones for an emphatic victory for the medical practitioners, and now these minor faults and it must be remembered that in thi, Mr A. A. Dighton. who had a large lodge of Oddfellows, Lisbon Butanical Garden there are no potted plants put out made a similar application, but he was at once met with for the summer months only, but there are to he sem great a flat refusal and therefore he resigned. Knowing that the trees and bushes indigenous to Brazil, Syria, New Holland, medical men of Cheltenham were well disposed to each &c., planted out and left in the garden throughout the other and that they would not compete against Mr. Dighton, winter-e g. (among many others), cocos Au6tralis, cocos no attempt was made by the lodge to secure the services Romanzowiana, and cocos flexuosa as lofty trees, and of a local practitioner. Advertisements were consequently nicotiana colossea 10 feet high. In a word, the Lisbon sent to some Yorkshire newspapers and replies were Botanical Garden, which is open free all day, is a delightful received. place in which to spend an hour or two even for the visitor By this time, and with but one exception, all the medical who has forgotten his botany practitioners of Cheltenham had signed a declaration that