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absence of that mistrust and jealousy which have been said toexist among practitioners of rival health resorts. In the

absence of Dr. Ord the opening address was delivered byDr. Symes Thompson. The Hon. Secretaries of the societyare Dr. Septimus Sunderland and Mr. Aylmer A. Macfarlane.A report of the proceedings is given in another column.

A RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT.

WE are glad to see that justice has at last overtaken oneof the many scoundrels who tell lies about the generativefaculties. At Marlborough-street, upon Jan. 28th, HenryWalters, trading under the name of Albert Bell at 175,Wardour-street, was fined .620 and six guineas costs for

using the titles M.D. and "Doctor" without being a

duly qualified medical man. This is wholesome dis-

cipline for Henry Walters. He is one of the in-famous creatures who make money by distributingfilthy pamphlets through the post. He trades uponweak - minded individuals’ fear by talking nonsense

about spermatorrhcea, and advises the use of a "Self

Restorer," which, as his counsel admitted in court, herecommended as curing anything and everything in a month.Henry Walters is liar and a swindler, and we should beheartily glad to see a Bill passed which would render it legalfor him and the rest of the "self-abuse" curing (!) crewto be soundly flogged.

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INTUSSUSCEPTION IN INFANTS.

THE treatment to be adopted in cases of intussusceptionoccurring in very young children has for some years beenmuch debated. There are those who advocate distension ofthe bowel by air or liquid, and who consider that laparotomyshould never be performed. The upholders of this treatmentare now few in number. A second group of surgeons urgethat the time spent in inflation and injection is time wasted,that the method itself is often the cause of great danger tothe patient, and that it interferes with the success ofa subsequent laparotomy. These claim that laparotomyshould be performed at the earliest possible moment.In the New York Medical Record of Jan. 18th is printeda paper by Dr. Frederick H. Wiggin of New York, readbefore the New York Academy of Medicine. In thishe advocates strongly what may be called primarylaparotomy" for intussusception in infants. He supportshis opinion with the records of 103 cases which he hascollected. In THE LANCET of last year Mr. E. W.

Roughton published an interesting case in support of primarylaparotomy and urged many arguments in its favour. But

there is yet a third course, and that is the one which we

consider to be preferable. If carefully carried out, and if

employed within the first forty-eight hours after the com-mencement of symptoms, inflation and injection are harmless;if they fail, laparotomy may be at once performed withoutthe likelihood of its success having been at all diminished.That distension can effect a cure in many cases of intus-

susception no one will deny, but it is equally certainthat distension, if employed for too long a time or too

energetically or at too late a stage, when the intestinalwall has been weakened, may result in the rupture ofthe bowel and death of the patient. With inflation it is

very difficult to estimate the pressure employed, but withinjection, if a funnel be used, the pressure exerted by theliquid depends on the height to which the funnel is raised,and it is important to remember that each foot of height isequal to a pressure of half a pound per square inch of bowelwall ; the funnel should never be higher than 2 ft., causing ’’

a pressure of one pound per square inch. If, also, this

method be limited to cases seen within forty-eight hours of

1 THE LANCET, Feb, 23rd and March 2nd, 1895.

the onset of symptoms, and be not applied for more than,say, half an hour, the child will not be injured at all, andthe chance of success of the laparotomy which should imme.diately follow if the injection be unsuccessful will not

be in any way impaired. It can hardly be doubted thatabdominal section in infants does cause a great amount ofshock, sufficient in some cases to lead to death, therefore itis not advisable to have recourse to such a treatment until

, slighter and safer methods have been given a fair trial.

MEDICAL CERTIFICATES AND THE SCHOOLBOARD.

IT has been arranged to hold a conference on the abovesubject at 20, Hanover-square, on Thursday, Feb. 6th, at

2.30 o’clock in the afternoon. All who are interested in the

subject are invited to attend. We have devoted much timeand space to the consideration of this subject, and if theSchool Board can be brought to see sense and to behaveproperly it will only be by the thorough organisation of theprofession that body has insulted. Hence we hope that theattendance of medical men will be large.

THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCOVERY.

THE newly discovered radiations which proceed from thevacuum tube under the influence of the electric dischargeare rapidly opening up, as we suggested two or three weeksago, an entirely new resource in surgery. It is reported fromVienna, for example, that Professor Neusser has obtained

photographs showing gall-stones in situ and a calculusin the bladder, taken by means of what Professor Roentgenhas called the I I x rays. Again, it is stated that it has

been decided to utilise the same phenomenon by bringingit into practical use in the hospitals throughout Belgium,We had hardly anticipated the achievement of such import-ant results in medical science so soon, and it is to be hopedthat English investigators will not be behind their co-

workers abroad in the similar practical application of thismost remarkable discovery.___

CORTICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE MOVE-MENTS OF THE VOCAL CORDS.

IN the Proceedirtgs of the Royal Society an abstract of apaper by Dr. Risien Russell appears, which is of peculiarinterest, as it gives new information as to the cortical repre-sentation of the movements of the vocal cords. Hitherto an

adductor centre only has been supposed to exist, but Dr.

Russell’s researches make it evident that other movementsalso are represented in the cortex. It was found that both inthe dog and also in the cat there existed a focus, excitation ofwhich resulted in adduction of the cords, and near it another,excitation of which resulted in abduction of the cords. The

movements in the cat were quite easy to differentiate. Inthe dog, however, it was only after the adductor fibres in therecurrent laryngeal nerve had been cut that abduction couldbe produced. Sometimes, however, it was not necessary ,

to do this, as it was found possible to evoke the movementwithout it. Another effect also was found to be producedin the cords-viz., what is called acceleration of their move-ments-which it was found difficult to differentiate fromabduction. It was further found that in the anterior

composite gyrus below the abductor centre a focus existed,excitation of which caused the cords to be first broughtinto a position of moderate adduction, to which were super-added rapid, short, to-and-fro excursions. Further, it

was found that in the peripheral part of the area marked: out by Spencer as related to arrest of respiration threefoci existed, the most anterior of which was responsiblefor arrest of the cords in adduction-i.e., in the expiratory

stage of their ecursos, Excit4tiQli Qf the area behind

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this caused arrest in abduction-their inspiratory position ;and stimulation of the most posterior focus caused intensifi-cation combined with acceleration of the movements of thecords when stimulated. Many other little points are dealtwith in this paper, but the main results are those givenabove, and it will be seen that they constitute an importantaddition to the facts of cerebral localisation. Dr. Russellis to be congratulated on the fact that the centre for thevocal cord movements has now been differentiated by himin a manner similar to that in which he has differentiatedthat for the ocular movements.

ANALYSTS’ CERTIFICATES: AN IMPORTANT DECISION.

PUBLIC analysts would do well to note an important deci-sion given in the High Courts on Monday last. It appearsthat proceedings were taken some time ago against a vendorof milk in view of the report of the analyst that the milkcontained 11 5 per cent. of added water." The analyst didnot think it was necessary to say more, whereas it was

urged in defence that the prosecution must fail inasmuchas the certificate did not furnish any particulars as to thecomponent parts of the milk. That being so, the statementof the analyst that the milk contained 5 per cent. of addedwater was only an expression of opinion and precludedothers from interpreting for themselves the results of theanalysis upon which such an opinion was based. The magis-trate dismissed the case, and his decision was upheld bythe higher court. Mr. Justices Hawkins and Kennedythought that as it was admitted that milk naturally con-tained water it was necessary that the magistrate shouldknow what standard the analyst took. It would be wrong,they considered, to convict on a mere statement that therewas 5 per cent. of added water. The analysis should beclear and should afford materials on which the justices andthe accused also might know how the results had beenarrived at. We are under the impression that some publicanalysts hold the view that figures are better excluded froma certificate as likely to confuse rather than clear the issues.According, however, to this recent ruling such a certificatewould not conform to the requirements of the Act.

THE VENTILATION OF INDIAN FACTORIES.

THE processes of spinning and weaving can only becarried on satisfactorily in a moist, steamy atmosphere,and in India, where the air is usually very dry, the unre-stricted ventilation of textile factories becomes for this

reason almost impracticable. The requisite moistening ofthe atmosphere in such factories has hitherto been obtainedby watering the floor, all doors and windows being closed inorder to exclude the dry external air. Of course, the healthof the workpeople suffers under such conditions, but accord-ing to the Tivws of India of Dec. 26th, 1895, a remedy seemsnow to be available, for a remarkable experiment in liberalventilation with moistened air has been carried out at a largecotton mill in the interior of the country. The air-supplywas furnished by a fan worked by a steam-engine, and wasdelivered at the rate of 1,100,000 cubic feet per hour. Four

hygrometric observations, made at intervals of several hours,showed that the dampness of the air issuing from the dis-tribution-pipes in the weaving-room varied from 85 per cent.of saturation as a maximum to 69 per cent. of saturation as aminimum, corresponding to an increase of the humidity ofthe external air by an amount varying from 23 per cent. at7.15 A.M. to 37 per cent. at 2.45 P.M. The designs andspecifications of this ventilating and moistening apparatuswere furnished by Mr. John Wallace, C.E., of Bombay,editor of the Indian Textile Journal, who has alsodevised an automatic means of regulating the amount ofhumidity imparted to the air. This is the first successful i

attempt to moisten large volumes of dry air up to the require-ments of a cotton factory in India, and, as already indicated,the principle employed is the propulsion or "plenum" "

system, which was described and commended by THELANCET Special Sanitary Commission on the Ventila-tion of Hospitals and the Treatment of Infected Air.lThe unwholesomeness of cotton factories in India was

referred to in our columns on a former occasion,2 and allsanitarians will welcome an innovation fraught with so muchbenefit for the workers.

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LOGIC AND LIGHTS.

EVERY now and then we come across paragraphs in news-papers headed, "Reading in Bed." Then follows a horrify-ing account about some one being found dead, with thebedclothes smouldering and the room full of smoke, and theparagraph writer then proceeds to dilate upon the danger ofreading in bed. His logic is hopelessly at fault. Set out

syllogistically it is as follows: "Some artificial lights willset fire to a bed. Those who read in bed use artificial

lights. Those who read in bed will set the bed on fire."

This argument, involving what is known as the undis-

tributed middle, violates the fourth canon of the syllogism.The last case of this kind which has come to hand is that ofa woman who read in bed holding a candle in her hand. Pre-

sumably she dropped asleep and the bed caught fire, with theresult that she was suffocated. This was only to be expected;but if people would only make it a rule to have some sort oflight at some distance away from the bed by means ofwhich they can read or work while in bed we should hear ofno more of these accidents. A candle or lamp on a

table, given that the candlestick and table or lamp and tableare heavy enough not to be upset easily, is safe. A gas.bracket on the wall, or, better than all, an electric light, isagain safe. Little portable accumulators can easily beobtained and give quite enough light to read by. The lampis detachable and absolutely safe. Reading in bed is withcertain obvious precautions no more dangerous than readinganywhere else.

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A DANGEROUS VERMIN-KILLER.

WE are constantly reminded that however unexceptionablea principle may be it has to be interpreted by its applications.An inquest was held in Silvertown last Tuesday whichaffords a striking confirmation of this very practical truth.The subject of inquiry was a little girl who had died

suddenly, with all the signs of irritant poisoning, after

eating a piece of cake. Several other children had sharedthe mischievous dainty and had subsequently become ill

with similar symptoms. It proved on examination that

the cake was abundantly poisonous, and had been placedin what was supposed to be a safe place as a baitfor mice. No more natural conclusion could have beenreached by examination of these facts than that arrived atby the presiding coroner, that the truest precaution to beadopted with regard to this poisonous cake was to abandonits use. How it came about that a virulent poison shouldever have been sold in a form, not only rendering itsdetection impossible, but making it positively attractive toany child who might meet with it, we can hardly imagine.Perhaps no other form would equally attract mice, but thisis by no means clear. None at all events could have

been devised that would more surely conduce to such

an accident as that which actually occurred. Thecustom of poisoning household vermin is, for one

important reason, not the best mode of destroying, them, this method being accountable for their death

and subsequent putrescence beneath the floors or wainscoting1 THE LANCET, May 11th, 1895, p. 1203.2 THE LANCET, Dec. 1st, 1894, p. 1295.