979 which includes all qualifications not considered up to on females, one; unnatural offences, two; indecency with the standard required for assistant surgeons. The scheme males, one male; defilement of girls under thirteen year& of aiding ladies of the assistant surgeon class to of age (Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, Section 4), obtain the higher qualifications in medicine has been three males ; defilement of girls under sixteen years of found to work satisfactorily. The students at present in the age (Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, Section 5), principal medical colleges and schools in India comprise three males ; concealment of birth, one female. 117 persons 83 European and native ladies training as assistant surgeons, were bitten by dogs; 381 persons were run over by carts. 116 as hospital assistants, and 125 in the midwifery, nursing and there were 165 attempts to commit suicide. and compounding classes. Lady Elgin has every confidence that the association will continue to under prosper Lady TYPHUS FEVER. Curzon’s guidance. Surgeon-General J. Cleghorn who joined the committee of the association in 1892 has recently retired THE report by Dr. Waldo on Typhus Fever in London from India and his place has been taken by Surgeon-General which we print this week presents several features of interest. The which were inflicted fever in R. Harvey, his successor as Director-General of the Indian ravages by typhus bygone- Medical Service. years can hardly be appreciated at the present time and the- ___ disease affords an excellent example of the effect of modern VOLUNTARY LATERAL NYSTAGMUS. sanitation on what is literally a filth disease. It is, however,. very infectious, although close contact with the afflicted IN the Journal of the American Medical Association of person is essential as the poison becomes concentrated around March Dr. William E. Gamble has the 4th, 1899, published the sick. Hence it is that medical men and nurses are so- case of a medical 24 who this student, aged years, possessed frequently attacked. This point is well brought out in Dr. very rare power. He had had no severe illness since child- Waldo’s report, one man being responsible for the spread of hood and had not had scarlet fever or Whilst diphtheria. the malady. It will be seen that he refused to enter the- school at the of 15 he discovered that attending age years " reception house" with the rest of the family; had he done: he could produce at will lateral nystagmus ; it was never so the centre of original infection would have been entirely involuntary. He had no difficulty in but he beginning, stamped out. This affords a useful lesson to the advocates. could maintain the movement for less than a minute only of the prevention of small-pox by isolation rather than by owing to exhaustion. He could not produce it in one eye vaccination. Such a proposition is all very well in theory alone. The vision in each eye equalled 20. Dr. Noyes in but presents enormous difficulties in practice, as has his "Diseases of the Eye" says that he has seen but one frequently been pointed out, one of the chief being the- case of voluntary nystagmus ; the patient acquired the ’ question as to how to ensure the quarantine of those persons. movement after been confined to his room for some having known to have been to infection. of weeks with trouble. exposed The "liberty eye ___ I - the subject" is so ingrained in Englishmen that it would prove a hard matter to induce anyone to enter and remain REPORT OF THE HEAD CONSTABLE OF in a " reception house " against his will. The evils of non- LIVERPOOL FOR 1898. compliance with such a request are well shown in Dr. THE number of apprehensions for drunkenness in Liver-Waldo’s report and might have led to far more serious. pool during the year 1898 was 4292, including 1361 females.consequencesc than were actually experienced. In the year 1888, or 10 years ago, there were 15,628 arrests for a similar offence, which shows a remarkable improve- LOCK HOSPITALS AND LOCK WARDS. ment in the morals of Liverpool. There were 353 prosecu- tions of parents or guardians for wilfully neglecting, ill- IN a letter published in THE LANCET of April 1st Mr. F. W. treating, or exposing children, resulting in 229 convictionsLowndes drew attention to the fact that one of the only six: with various terms of imprisonment. The number of con- 1Lock hospitals in the kingdom has been closed. From one stables, &c., holding certificates from the. St. John ]point of view this might perhaps be considered a good things Ambulance Association was 1396. The number of cases infor a special ward for syphilis in a general hospital is a far- which first aid was rendered by the police was as follows:better way of treating this only too common and disastrous. artificial respiration, 13 ; applying tourniquets, 26 ; applyingcomplaint.I To have been a patient in a lock hospital does. splints, 195; applying bandages, 342; and administering not] exactly serve as a certificate of good conduct and there- emetics, 21. Other first-aid, 97. The police also renderedfore in our estimation the establishment of a lock ward in a, assistance other than first-aid to 3608 persons in cases ofgeneral hospital is more in accordance with true charity. accident or sudden illness by removing them to hospital, But the closing of the Liverpool Lock Hospital acts with. &c., making a total of 4302 persons assisted, 39 rescuespeculiar hardship, for it is a fact, though one hard to be. from fire or drowning being included in this number.believed,’ that in all Liverpool not one general hospital Instruction classes in connexion with the Life-SavingotherI than the workhouse infirmary will receive a person Society have been recently formed and as a result of thesuffering from syphilis as an in-patient. So now, owing first examination 54 constables, &c., have received certifi-to’ the closure of the Lock Hospital, the only refuge for the- cates from the society. The new police horse ambulancesyphilitici is the workhouse. We cannot think that a city like system came into operation on April 25th last and thereLiverpool, which is wealthy, and which has a large Roman. are now six fully-equipped ambulances stationed as follows :Catholici as well as Protestant population, can possibly Royal Infirmary, Royal Southern Hospital, Northern Hos-continueI in a course of action so absolutely opposed to the- pital, Stanley Hospital, Central Fire Station (for nightteachings of Christianity. Granted that syphilis is a form service), and Old Swan Polica-station (for outlying dis-ofI disease often, though by no means always, acquired’ tricts). The number of turns-out from April 25th to through irregular sexual intercourse, that is surely no reason. Dec. 31st was 1173. The number of persons committedwhy the sufferers from it should be treated as outside the- for trial at the assizes was : for murder (of persons aged pale. A separate ward is a necessity on account of the need’ above one year), two males and one female; manslaughter,for guarding against infection, but there is no reason why a. five males and one female ; wounding and other actsgeneral hospital should not set aside one ward at least for- endangering life (felony), 38 males and two females ; the reception of such patients. Some of the metropolitan* malicious wounds and other like offences (misdemeanours), hospitals do so and why should not others ? If it be impos- we trust even now 20 males and seven females; rape, one; indecent assaults sible to re-open the Lock Hospital-and 980

it is not too late to take this step-for the sake of limits so all who have admired and benefited by them have humanity alone let one general hospital at least take pity a right to participate in the privilege of honouring his apon those sorely afflicted and by so doing affect for good memory. A very strong and representative committee, of the health of possibly many generations to come. which Sir Peter Eade, M.D., is the chairman, has been already appointed and has inaugurated a movement for erect- THE CHEMISTRY OF SAUSAGES. ing a statue to Sir Thomas Browne in the city with which he was so long associated, and there can, we think, be little THE of the sausage is not only complex but it composition doubt that a memorial of his name and is often obscure. In this the of this worthy reputation country preparation (as will be the result of their action. Sir Thomas Browne has it should be) useful article of food is confined to the employ- special claims on the medical profession, for he was a leading ment of minced beef and pork. The only exception probably physician in his day, but it was notably as a moral is the so-called black which is made with pig’s pudding" philosopher, naturalist, and charming writer that he shed blood and perhaps some heart and kidney. Abroad, how- lustre on the profession to which he belonged. ever, the sausage is compounded of a much wider range of substances. These include brains, liver, and horseflesh. The last substance is generally considered repugnant, while of CHELSEA CLINICAL SOCIETY. course it is fraudulent to sell sausages as beef or pork con- Two of this to all members taining horseflesh. Occasionally, however, sausages do not special meetings society open of the medical are be held kind contain meat at all but only bread tinged with red oxide of profession to (by permission of the at the Jenner Institute of Preventive iron and mixed with a varying proportion of fat. The director) remarkable feature of horseflesh is the high proportion of Medicine, Chelsea-gardens, S.W., on Tuesday, April 18th, and 25th, at 3.30 P.M. The of glycogen which it contains, and this fact enables the pre- Tuesday, April subjects discussion will be Recent to the sence of horseflesh to be detected with some amount of Investigations relating Prevention, and Treatment of Tuberculosis. certainty. The test which depends on a colour reaction Etiology, The is the order of the with iodine has recently been more carefully studied and following proposed proceedings. On 18th, the and with more satisfactory results, so that the presence of Tuesday, April Bacteriology Pathology ,, of Tuberculosis will be treated Professor Sims 5 per cent. of horseflesh in sausages can be detected. At by Woodhead, Professor Martin, and Professor Watson present there is no legal provision for a standard in regard to Sidney Cheyne. On 25th, Dr. C. Theodore Williams will the composition of sausages, but clearly there ought to be. Tuesday, April on Preventive and Climatic Dr. J. Edmund Limitations should be laid down as to the amount of bread speak Treatment, on General Preventive Treatment, Dr. R. and used, as to the actual proportion of meat substances present, Squire Maguire Dr. S. H. Habershon on General Treatment, and Dr. F. R. and as to the colouring matters added to give an attractive Walters on Sanatoria. appearance of fresh meat. Sausages are extremely liable to ___ undergo decomposition and become poisonous owing to the elaboration of toxic substances during the putrefactive AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS. process. Bad or rancid fat is very liable to alter the THIS disease has been known since about 1861 and Collins character of a sausage for the worse. Thus in some instances in 18961 succeeded in finding 72 cases with necropsies the use of bad or rancid lard has rendered the sausage after recorded up to that date. Dercum reports the following case a time quite phosphorescent, an appearance which indicates, of interest in which the necropsy was carried out in an of course, an undesirable change. The smoked sausage is a exceptionally full manner.2 A man, aged 53 years, had much safer article of diet than the unsmoked sausage, since suffered for six months from pain in both legs below the the curing process preserves the meat substances against knees, followed by an undue feeling of weariness in the legs decomposition by reason of the empyreumatic bodies present after walking. On admission to hospital there was moderate in the wood smoke which is used for this purpose. spasticity with increase of reflexes. He could now walk only with the aid of crutches. He lost the power of whistling, MEMORIAL STATUE OF SIR THOMAS BROWNE. the speecli gradually became indistinct, and the spasticity and involved the arms. At this FOREMOST among the names of literary eminence and progressed finally stage philosophy associated with Norwich is that of Sir Thomas he was quite bedridden. The feet swelled and eventually eczema rubrum in both Bed-sores were Browne, M.D., who resided there for 46 year,% and who died developed legs. formed on the the and the but after and was buried in the church of St. Peter Mancroft of that elbows, heels, sacrum, treatment the health and the sores dis- city in 1682. It was there that he wrote his chief works- general improved the " Religio Medici," " Christian Morals," ;‘ Vulgar appeared. The feet were in a position of extreme extension, Errors," and "Urn Burial "-the first and last of which the knees and ankles were rigid, the knee-jerks were much increased, and the muscles of the were firm but have not only obtained a permanent place in literature but leg generally wasted. The limbs were involved but to a have been regarded with a growing appreciation extending upper similarly less There was no cutaneous anaesthesia. At a up to the present time. It is fitting, therefore, that degree. later of the muscles of Norwich should be the place of any statue to be erected stage paresis deglutition supervened, the condition became one of feebleness and to his memory and in recognition of the distinguished general again position which his works have occupied, and will continue to prostration, there was paralysis of the sphincters, and finally there haematuria and cardiac failure, occupy so long as great thoughts, learning, and a charming appeared gradual in death. At the the arteries were found literary style command attention or constitute a claim on ending necropsy to be sclerotic. The cord seemed normal our admiration. Although Norwich was the scene of generally spinal Sir Thomas Browne’s life and labours his reputation and to the eye. Microscopic sections (prepared with thionin) his works belong to the world. The author of "Religio showed considerable atrophy of the anterior cornual cells and in this seemed to be of the Medici was a great and good man well deserving of being many pigmentary type- 44 a mass of is all that remains of honoured. The committee constituted for the purpose of occasionally pigment what was a cell." The anterior roots were perpetuating the memory of their distinguished citizen have spinal slightly Other cells the cornu and inter- very naturally made their first appeal to the inhabitants of atrophied. (in posterior mediate were normal and so were the roots. Norwich and its neighbourhood, but they consider that as the region) posterior interest and gratification derived from Sir Thomas Browne’s 1 American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. cxi., p. 690. writings have never been circumscribed within any local 2 Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, February, 1899.