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separate article, for they have no necessary connexion withbestowing any permanent privileges, and are merely of thenature of social amenities which might or migh not befollowed or accompanied by any constitutional rapproche-ment between the Council and the Fellows. It is the more

necessary to make this distinction, because, whilst it hasbeen determined by the Council that meetings of Fellowsshall be summoned for consultative purposes separatelyfrom the Members, and that the Council shall invite theFellows to meet it on July 7th next at 5 P.M., in thetheatre of the College, or, in other words, that the

separate meetings of Fellows shall be inaugurated onthe day of the ensuing election, no mention whateveris mads of any bonâ fide meeting of Fellows in July,1893. On that day the Fellows present at the College at1 P.M. will be addressed by the President, but apparentlythey are nob expected, or to be permitted, to address the Pre,sident in reply, or to move any kind of resolution other than,it may b3 presumed, a vote of thanks for his congratulatoryremarks. This appears to us to be a decided omission onthe part of the committee, for the most convenient day inthe whole year for a meeting of Fellows in the theatre ofthe College would be the day of the annual election, and itwould be a substantial concession to the Fellows if such a

meeting were to be held every year, other meetings ofFellows being called by the Council when necessary, or inpursuance of a requisition signed by a sufficient number ofFallows. Of course the Council can at any time betweenthe present date and July, 1893, rectify the omission, andperhaps it was thought desirable to hold the first meetingof Fellows experimentally on July 7th next, and to

await the issue of events before finally committing theCouncil to a course which, to observers outside the

Council, seems to be the most convenient and reasonablecourse that can possibly be adopted. We fancy thatsome members of the Council are strongly impressedwith the idea that among the Fellows as well as theMembers there are, politically, two classes, the sheep andthe goats-the former timorous, deferential, subservient,and blindly following the official lead ; the latter bold, self-contained, independent, and not amenable to disciplinary in-fluence-and that it is absolutely necessary to adopt the mostrigid precautions to repress their natural aggressiveness, asit cannot be expected that the goats will ever be convertedinto sheep. Another leading idea in the same minds seemsto be an instinctive horror of the organisation known asthe Association of Fellows, Probably the mention of theAssociation in the Council chamber has the same effect as

waving a red fl}g before a bull; and the idea that theAssociation may derive some credit or aivantage from theadoption of any particular step may be sufficient to inducethese members of the Council to support measures whichwill prove leat acceptable and advantageous to this par-ticular organisation. If this is the keynote to any of theleast comprehensible decisions of the Council it is to be

regretted, for we fancy the Association will be content if thepolicy which it has been advocating is adopted by the Council,even though the credit for this result should bs ascribed tothe very members of the Council who have been the mostactive in opposing the concessions urged by the Association,with perseverance and success, upon the Council of the

College. --

THE VENICE SANITARY CONFERENCE.

THE renewal of the Venice Conference between repre-senta’ivea of Great Britain, France, and Ausbria at Parishas resulted in the signature of an amended Conventiondealing with vessels arriving at Suez on board which casesof cholera have occurred within the preceding s( ven days.The new Convention has not yet been published, bub it is

generally understood that it embodies very considerablemodifications of the conclusions arrived at in Venice,these modifications being in the direction of the viewswhich have all along been entertained in this country.The changes are especially favourable to the better class ofpassenger vessels, which carry a medical man and means ofdisinfection; indeed, instead of a general disembarkation ofpassengers which was formerly held to be necessary should acase of cholera occur on board, the persons who are to be re-garded as suspect are now limited to the actual attendants onthe sick, and even these can remain on board for the limitedberm of observation unless it is desired that the vesselshould proceed through the canal in quarantine as soon asthe disinfection is completed. Compulsory landing is nowconfined to actual cholera patients, and it is explained thatany real hindrance to commerce is hardly ever likely to occurunder the new regulations ; indeed, during the past sevenyears only two vessels out of many thousands would havebeen subjec:ed to any of these restrictions on the groundthat they were contaminated. In the eventof cholera actuallyappearing at Suez the regulations are more stringent; but thiswill hardly be objected to, for Suez is an Egyptian porb, andthe Government of Egypt have the same right as any otherGovernment to protect their ports from any actually pre.vailing disease that is broughb into them. A strong hopeis expressed that the European Powers who assented to theVenice Convention will agree to the modifications arrivedat in Paris, so that discussions of many years’ durationmay at last come to a satisfactory termination.

LEPROSY.

IN the Daily Neivs of June 13h appeared a communica.tion from the Berlin correspondent of that paper, giving anaccount of an interview he had recently had with the

English Red Cro,s nurse, Miss Kate Marsden. This ladyhad not long since returned from Siberia, where she hadbeen engaged in gathering information concerning leprosyin that part of Russia. The Queen and the Princess ofWales had actively interested themselves in the object ofMiss Marsden’s journey, and had furnished her with lettersof introduction to the Czarina. At S9. Petersburg thenurse was very well received. The Czarina and Czarewitchbetween them subscribed a large sum of money to help tomeet the cost of the nurse’s journey and the Czarewitch" provided her with a letter to the various governors of theprovinces through which she must pass, requesting them togrant her all the assistance in their power." Miss Marsdentravelled to further Siberia and there, in the district ofYakutsk, began her inquiries and personal examination con-cerning leprosy. The disease is said to affect in that part ofthe Russian empire a tract of country which extends to somethousands of versts. " No provision whatever is made for thecareof the sufferers." Whenever a personis ascertained to be aleper, he is " driven into the forests and never allowed tocome again into contact with his fellow creatures." The

lepers herd together in huts, "half built, half excavatedfrom the ground." There these poor creatures exist witha few old sheepskins for their only clothing; and for foodthey have " small quantities of rotten fish, and the bark oftrees,"-and that is all ! The rotten fish is left near the

leper huts by the relatives of these miserable outcasts.From this fact we may perhaps see reason to doubt theaccuracy of the statement quoted ab)ve to the effect thatthese Siberian lepers are not allowed to come into contactwibh the non-leprous population. Miss Marsden is re-

ported by our contemporary to have said that these leperswere "of all ages and ir all stages of disease, but in manyinstances their condition was such that they had lost allsemblance of humanity." These leper colonies are subject

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to no kind of supervision ; and their inhabitants live in acondition of indescribable filth and vice. Miss Marsdenhas succeeded in forming a committee at Yakutsk, con-sisting of the governor of the district, two priests, and someof the leading inhabitants of the neighbourhood. This com-

mittee proposes to take steps to obtain all that is needed toensure the establishing of a leper colony in the district andto place the lepers there under proper and kind supervision.Miss Marsden proposes to return to Yakutsk, to help inthis good work, On her return from Siberia her reportcreated so much interest in Moscow that a " Russian

princess, in one of the convents there, with five RussianBed Cross sisters, volunteered for service in the leprosy-stricken district." It may not be out of place to remarkthat we have our own lepers in India and elsewhere. i

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales did excellent Iservice a few years ago in directing public attention toEngland’s responsibilities in this direction. As a con-

sequence of the Prince’s action, Commissioners (bhree oftheir number were sent from England) have examined andreported upon leprosy and lepers, as the disease and itsvictims are seen in British India. This report, not quitecomplete, but very nearly so, was brought to London lastJanuary, and, we understand, has itself batn reported uponby a select committee appointed for that purpose by theNational Leprosy Fund Committee and by the two RoyalColleges of Physicians and Surgeons. We venture to

express a hope: that this good work, so energetically com-menced by the Prince of Wales, will be as vigorously pushedon in the direction of some practical outcome. From

America, from many of our own colonies, and from verymany other parts of the world, we hear of attention beingturned to the subject of leprosy, because, rightly or wrongly,people begin to fear that this dreadful disease is spreading-no doubi slowly--among people who were previously freefrom leprosy. It is very certain that if the disease is to be

stamped out at all, it is now, and not in the uncertainfuture, that a determined effort in this direction should bepromptly made. England has hitherto been often the firstamong the nations to lead the way in sanitary progress.We think it would be well worthy of her were she to takeprompt and decided measures for ensuring the proper andkind treatment and control of the leper populations, whichare only to.) numerous among the many races who are thesubjects of the Queen. ---

LORD WANTAGE’S COMMITTEE.

THE debate on the report of Lord Wantage’s Committeetook place on the lObh inst., on the return of Mr. Stanhope0o parliamentary work. We congratulate the War Ministeron his recovery and reappearance in the House. The resultof the debate was exacbly such as might have been anti-cipated. The report of the committee, the voluminousevidence on which ib was founded, and the conflictingopinions of the various speakers who took part in thedebate, all served to indicate that the subj ct was besetwith difficulties; and that if there was any general agree-ment as to the necessity of something being done, therewas praebically none as to what should be done. There is

complete unanimity as to the excellent quality of the Britisharmy in India and abroad. All the contention is about ourbattalions at home and the quality and sufficiency ofthe recruits by which our army at home and abroad hasto be maintained. Even had there been a strongly expressedgeneral agreement as to the nature of the measures

required, the fact of our being upon the eve of a

general election would have been a sufficient reason for a ’,War Minister’s refusal to do anything at the present time.It must be confessed that Mr. Stanhope had no greatdifficulty in making out a case for delay and further con-sideration. He is absolutely sceptical as to the probability

of improving the quality of oar recruits by an increased pay.We get youths now, and men of over twenty years of agewould not be attracted to the army in any large numbersby a small increase of pay to the individual, which would,however, in the aggregate amount to a very large sum. Itmust be borne in mind, too, that there is no going back.Once any increase of pay has been introduced, whether itsucceed or fails of its object, it can never be decreasedagain, We think, however, that sooner or later it willhave to be done as an act of equitable and fair dealing withthe soldier ; meanwhile, there is one source of unpopularityand irritation which should be removed, and that is the

stoppages now imposed upon the soldier. It is contendedthat instead of men we are getting boy soldiers and main.taining nursery battalions. If so, why do we not go a stepfurther, and imitate the navy in training up boys for sub-sequent service as soldiers? It] has been recommended bythe Dake of Cambridge and Lord Roberts is strongly infavour of that measure. There are a number of small reformswhich might be eifeoted. We are glad to see that) the lot ofnon-commissioned officers is to be made more attractive-a

highly desirable measure. If the nation cannot pay in one

way it should in another, and we are of opinion, althoughmany may not agree with us in this, that the day has comefor increasing the number of commissions to be given tointelligent and steady men for gallantry and good work assoldiers. There should be a suffieient stimulus in thisdirection for a young fellow of ambition to feel that all was

open and possible to him in a military career. While weconsider that there are still many small and irksome regula-tions and customs in the army, as affecting the lank andfile, which might be done away with and the removal of whichwould tend to lessen the differences between civil and militarylife without any inj My to discipline, no one can shut his eyesto the fact that the soldier’s condition has been enormouslyimproved of late years, and it is but justice to Mr. Stanhopeto declare that he has been second to none in his efforts inthis respect during his turn of duty as War Minister. Withregard to Lord Roberts and the Wantage Committee, wethink it is to be much regretted that the views expressed bythe Commander.in Chief in India, as set forth in The Times,were not embodied with the published tvidence in the formof an appendix. The position and rank of Lord Roberts, aswell as his experience and reputation, give him every titleto be heard ; and the evident care and thoughtfulness withwhich his views have been formulated, required that theyshould be put on record and thoroughly considered, as theywill surely have to be when the subject again comes up fordeliberation and debate in a new Parliament.

HORRORS OF THE HIGHWAY.

" THE nineteenth century omeletbe," says Mr. FredericHarrison, "entails a terrible smashing of eggs," as theshortened lives of our beasbs of burden in great cities toopainfully testify. The omnibus traffic, in London especially,is becoming more and more of a harrowing sight, itssacrifice of horseflesh adding another to the many trialswhich the humanely minded among us have to undergo aswe daily thread the streets. The strain imposed on thesepoor animals is somabimes appalling to witness, and hardlya week passes without numbers of them sinking under theirload and dying where they fall. Twice last week, betweenSloane-street and Piccadilly, a horse might have been seento succumb on the incline and after a few convulsive heart-heaves to breathe its last. In each instance ib was a caseof the cor ruptum of Boerhaave, not to be wondered at whenqhe severe and continuous effort that preceded it is con-sidered. The animals are as powerful as can be pro-cured ; they come mostly from France, specially importedfor their strength and endurance. Bub the omnibus which