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the letter of the Local Government Board to the EveshamGuardians in 1875, advising them against repeated prosecu-tions of persons who had already been fined for neglect ofvaccination. The magistrate admitted this plea, and sug-gested that the guardians prosecuting should communicatewith the Local Government Board on the subject. It wouldthus appear that an advising note of the Board may beregarded as over-riding the Vaccination Law. We do notsuppose that the Board will willingly accept this respon-sibility. -

ALLEGED NEGLECT OF A DISTRICT MEDICAL OFFICER.

Mr. Bircham, one of the general inspectors of the LocalGovernment Board, has been holding an inquiry into acharge of alleged neglect of one of the Poor-law medicalofficers in his district. It is alleged that he was dilatory ingiving attendance in a case which proved to be one of

strangulated hernia, and in obtaining the assistance he pro-fessed to need in performing the requisite operation forrelief of the case. In consequence of this delay, it is furthersuggested that the operation, performed by another medicalman, was too late to save life.

Scarlet fever is declining in Hull, but meanwhile theSanitary Authority and the School Board have come intocollision. The Sanitary Authority would have the schoolsclosed; the School Board do not apprehend the reason, and,judging from a discussion among its members, have not theremotest perception of what that reason is. This must bethe Sanitary Authority’s fault surely in not making theirreason for urging the step clear. In the course of discus-sion on the subject there would appear to be much nuisancein certain streets of Hull, which throws considerable doubtupon the efficacy of the sanitary administration there.Two paupers in charge of an ambulance belonging to the

Fulham Union Workhouse were recently brought before theHammersmith police magistrate for being drunk and dis-orderly while having charge of the vehicle. They werearrested at a public-house, a patient being left in the ambu-lance outside the house.At a recent inquest held at Manchester a verdict was

returned of "Death from erysipelas caused by vaccination. "

But it would appear that the erysipelas occurred a monthafter the operation and the reported evidence does not showwhat was the supposed connexion of the erysipelas withthe operation.At a special meeting of the Harwich Town Council a

proposal was made to increase the salary of the medicalofficer of health of the urban sanitary district. Mr. Kinsey-Morgan’s stipend has heretofore been £20 per annum, and,after considerable discussion," it was raised to £30 !

A milk-dealer was recently fined L5 at the Salford police-court for refusing to sell a specimen of milk to an inspectorwho had applied for one.

VITAL STATISTICS.

HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

In twenty-eight of the largest English towns, 6089 birthsand 3783 deaths were registered during the week ending the14th inst. The annual death-rate in these towns was equalto 23’3 of their estimated aggregate population, against 25 2in the previous week. The lowest rates in these towns lastweek were 14 -5 in Leicester, 16’5 in Norwich, and 17’5 bothin Bradford and Derby; the rates in the other towns.ranged upwards to 28’2 in Manchester, 31’3 in Wolver-hampton, 31’9 in Brighton, and 34 ’7 in Preston. The deathsreferred to the principal zymotic diseases in these townswere 577 last week, and included 182 from whooping-cough,129 from measles, 113 from scarlet fever, 56 from "fever"(principally enteric), 28 from diphtheria, and 25 from small-pox. The lowest death-rates from these zymotic diseasesoccurred in Birkenhead and Norwich, and the highest inBlackburn and Brighton. Whooping-cough showed thelargest proportional fatality in Wolverhampton, Salford, andBrighton ; measles in Preston, Blackburn, and Brighton ; scarlet fever in Hull, Brighton, and Caraiff ; and "fever" inPrestonandCarditf. Scarlet fever caused 14 more deaths in Hull,making 675 which have occurred there since the beginning ofJuly last. The 28 deaths from diphtheria in the twenty-eight towns included 14 in London and 12 in Portsmouth. Small-

pox caused 24 deaths in London and its suburban districts,and one each in Brighton, Nottingham, Bolton, Leeds, andHull. The number of small-pox cases in the metropolitanasylum hospitals, which had been 4S5 and 50! on the twopreceding Saturdays, were again 504 at the end of last week ;these included 96 in the Convalescent Hospital at Darenth.The new cases of small-pox admitted to these hospitalsduring last week further rose to 102, from 76 and 89 in the twopreceding weeks. The deaths referred to diseases of the

respiratory organs in London, which had been 612 and 511in the two previous weeks, further declined to 457 last week,and were 31 below the corrected weekly average. Toe causesof 104, or 2’8 per cent., of the deaths in the twenty-eighttowns last week were not certified either by a registeredmedical practitioner or by a coroner. The proportion ofuncertified deaths did not exceed 0’1 per cent. in London,whereas it averaged 4’4 in the twenty-seven provincialtowns. All the causes of death were duly certified inBrighton, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Derby ; whereas theproportions of uncertified deaths were largest in Salford,Oldham, Sunderland, Bradford, Birkenhead, and Bolton.

HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.

The annual death-rate in the eight Scotch towns, whichhad been equal to 22 9 per 1000 in the first week of thisyear, rose to 23’4 in the week ending the 14th inst., andwas almost identical with the average rate (23’3) in thetwenty-eight large English towns. The deaths referred tothe principal zymotic diseases in these Scotch towns, whichhad been 84 in each of the two preceding weeks, rose to 102last week; of these, 24 resulted from diarrhoea, 22 from"fever," 21 from measles, 19 from whooping-cough,8 from scarlet fever, 8 from diphtheria, and not one fromsmall-pox. The annual death-rate from these zymoticdiseases was equal, to 4’3 per 1000, and exceeded by0’7 the rate from the same diseases in the twenty-eight English towns. The highest zymotic death-rates mthe Scotch towns last week were 4’6 in Paisley and 6’0 inGlasgow. The 24 deaths from diarrhoea exceeded thenumbers in the previous week, as did the 22 deaths re-

ferred to "fever." The deaths from " fever" (which appear inthe Scotch return to include puerperal fever, which is notthe case with the English returns) included 9 in Glasgow, 8in Edinburgh and Leith, and 4 in Aberdeen. The 21 fatal casesof measles showed a marked increase upon recent weeklynumbers ; no fewer than 19 occurred in Glasgow, as did 12of the 19 fatal cases of whooping-cough. The deaths fromboth scarlet fever and diphtheria were less numerous. Thedeaths attributed to acute diseases of the lungs (bron-chitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy) were 140 last week;these exceeded the number in the previous week by 5, butwere 51 fewer than those returned in the corresponding weekof last year.

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HEALTH OF DUBLIN.

The rate of mortality in Dublin, which had been equalto 39’0 and 36’0 per 1000 in the two previous weeks, furtherdeclined to 35’1 in the week ending 14th inst. The 234deaths in the city showed a further decline of 6 fromrecent weekly numbers; 38 were referred to measlefl, 3 todiarrhoea, 1 to scarlet fever, 1 to diphtheria, 1 to "fever,"and not one either to small-pox or whooping-cough. Theannual death-rate from these principal zymotic diseaseswas equal to 6’6 per 1000 in the city, while the rate fromthe same diseases did not exceed 3’7 per 1000 in Londonand 3’1 in Edinburgh. The fatal cases of measles, whichhad been 39 and 38 in the two preceding weeks, were again38 last week. Only one death was referred to "fever,"showing a further decline from recent weekly numbers.The deaths of infants considerably exceeded the numberreturned during any week of 1881, while those of elderlypersons were somewhat less numerous.

PRESENTATION.—A number of gentlemen recentlywaited on ex-Provost Henderson at his residence in John’s-place, Leith, and presented him with a handsome silversalver, which bore the following ioscription :-" Preseucedto John Henderson, Esq., M.D., F.R.C.S.E., bc formercolleagues in the Town Council and other fellow-citizens, asan expression of their high esteem fur him and a iiieinoiialof his long and faithful services to the burgo. of Leith.—12th January, 1882."