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for giving medical attendance by night. These expenses haveThe number of applicants for admission far exceeded thenumber of available beds.

The Proposed Base Hospital for South Africa from Edinburgh.A movement has been set on foot by the Lord Provost of

Edinburgh for the equipment of a base hospital to be sentout to South Africa. A ladies’ committee is being formedby Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Mitchell Thomson to cooperatewith the committee of management. Several eminentmembers of the medical profession in Edinburgh have shownan interest in the undertaking. Sir J. R. Andrew Clark,Bart., a retired surgeon-major in the R.A.M.C., has beensuggested by the authorities at the War Office as the

representative of the Army Medical Department to accom-pany the hospital to the front. The hospital is to beofficered by surgeons and nurses from Edinburgh.

The forthcoming Public Health Congress in Aberdeen.At the annual congress of the Royal Institute of Public

Health, to be held in Aberdeen in the first week of Augustof this year, the Earl of Aberdeen will act as president.Lord Provost Fleming, Aberdeen, will be vice-president.The other arrangements are to be made by the Public HealthCommittee of the Aberdeen Town Council.

Northern Hospitals and Wounded Soldiers.The directors of the Stephen Cottage Hospital, Dnfftown,

recently offered to the War Office the use of four beds inthat institution for soldiers wounded in the Transvaal war.The War Office authorities have accepted this offer shouldthe pressure on the military hospitals render it necessary.The directors of the Turner Memorial Hospital, Keith, have.offered accommodation for two convalescent soldiers, thepresent large number of other patients not permitting abetter offer being made.Feb. 6th.

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IRELAND.(FROM OUR OWN UORRESPONDENTS.)

The Public Health of Dublin: A Committee of Inquiry.THE committee appointed on the suggestion of his

Excellency the Lord Lieutenant to inquire into the causesof the high death-rate prevailing in Dublin will consist ofMr. C. P. Cotton, M. Inst. C.E., ex-chief engineeringinspector, Local Government Board (Ireland), chairman ; ;Dr. Theodore Thomson, Local Government Board (England) ; Dr. J. W. Moore, President of the Royal College of Physiciansof Ireland ;Mr. R. L. Swan, President of the Royal Collegeof Surgeons in Ireland, and two representatives of theDublin Corporation-viz., Alderman the Right HonourableJ. Meade, P.C., and Alderman Dowd.

The Irish Field Hospital.The medical event of last week was certainly the depar-

ture, which took place on the morning of Feb. 3rd, of LordIveagh’s Irish Hospital Corps from Dublin for South Africa.Notwithstanding the severity of the weather the embarcationat the North Wall was witnessed by a very large crowd ofenthusiastic spectators. After the inspection of the corps atthe Royal Barracks by Major-General Gossett, C.B., com-mander of the forces in the Dublin District, which tookplace with due formality on Feb. lst, Sir William Thomson,the chief surgeon of the hospital, left Kingstown to joina South African mail steamer at Southampton. He willthus arrive some days before the corps in charge of Mr. G.Stoker can reach the seat of war and will be enabled tomake arrangements for their reception.

The Hardwicke Hospital, Dublin.At a meeting of the Board of Guardians of the North

Dublin Union held on Jan. 31st a letter was read from the’Chief Secretary replying to a resolution of the guardians infavour of obtaining possession of the Hardwicke Hospital onthe ground that the proximity to the kitchens and infirmariesof the workhouse was condemned by the city sanitaryauthority and proposing that a deputation should waiton him on the subject. The Chief Secretary statedthat he understood that the deputation was proposedwith the object of inducing him to legislate for thepurpose of handing over the property of the Board ofGovernors of the Hardwicke Hospital to the North DublinUnion. He found, however, that the hospital was inexistence at the time the guardians erected the buildingswhich were now said to suffer through its proximity.

In view of all the circumstances he could not adopt the viewsof the board in the matter without having before him inwriting the strongest reasons for doing so. One of theguardians stated that the death-rate in the vicinity of thehospital was higher than in any other part of the city. Ifthat assertion be true the matter might fitly form one of thequestions to be investigated by the new committee of inquirywhich is announced to meet in about a fortnight.

Apat7by o)the Sanitary Authorities in Cork.Owing to the prevalence of influenza and the serious

character of some of its complications the death-rate in Corkis at present exceptionally high, having advanced to 51 per1000 in December and to 58 per 1000 in January. Underthese circumstances Mr. D. D. Donovan, the superintendingmedical officer of health, took the very proper course ofrecommending that measures should be adopted to inform thepublic as to the infectious nature of the disease and that pre-cautions were advisable to prevent its extension, among whichhe mentioned notification and isolation where practicable.When, however, this report came to be considered by thePublic Works Committee of the Cork Corporation it was farfrom receiving the attention which it deserved. Accordingto the account of the proceedings as given in the Cork, Con-stitution of Jan. 31st, Mr. Rearden proposed that notice ofthe infectious nature of the disease, with suggestedprecautions, be posted on the dead walls around the

city. The chairman, on the other hand, said thatwith all due regard for the opinions of the medicalmen he did not think the disease so infectious as represented and he considered that notification would havea very bad effect. Mr. Moynihan expressed the opinion thatinfluenza was an undefined disease which to his mind wasnothing more than a cold. He did not approve of the publi-cation of notices declaring it infectious and proposed as anamendment to Mr. Rearden’s resolution that no action betaken. Dr. T. J. Browne, Local Government Board inspector,supported Mr. Donovan’s recommendations, but in the resultMr. Moynihan’s amendment was carried by four votes to two.

Forster Green Hospital for Consumption, Belfast.At the fourth annual meeting of this hospital, held on

Jan. 30th, it was reported that during 1899 the number ofpatients treated was 541, while those in the wards were 137.Of these 11 are tabulated as cured, 86 as much improved,while in 35 there was no improvement. There were fivedeaths. The experience of the physicians has been suffi-cient to show that cases of consumption can be perfectlywell treated in their own country and they regard as one ofthe most important functions of the hospital the instructionof the people in the healthy habits of life and in the causesand means of prevention of consumption. There is a defi-

ciency of .E32 4s. 5d. owing to the increased expenditure onthe large number of patients. A verandah on the south-west front of the hospital and a shelter placed in thegrounds have been made so that the "open-air treatment"

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is thoroughly carried out at the institution and the enlarge-ment of the hospital will shortly have to be consideredowing to the increase of patients.

City Analyst for Belfast.The Belfast Corporation hare decided, on the advice of the

Public Health Committee, that the chemist to be appointed inthe late Dr. J. F. Hodges’s place should be required to makeall analyses for the corporation, including those of water,and that his remuneration should be fixed at .E200 per annumto cover his attendance at court and at all meetings of thePublic Health Committee when required and that he shouldhave in addition an annual allowance of E50 for materials;that the fee for each sample analysed (exclusive of water)for other boards or the public should be fixed at 5s., the feeto include certificate (not for publication) ; and that the feefor attendance in court when required in connexion withprosecutions other than those in which the corporation aredirectly interested should be fixed at one guinea. Theoouncil will advertise for the appointment and then make itin committee.

Feb. 6th. ________________

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Medical Attendance during the Night.IN a review of the report of the Prefecture of Police

Monsieur G. Vilain considers the expenses of the organisation

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regularly increased irocn 1876, the year when the orgamsa-tion was founded, to 1896. From the beginning of 1897,when the service was reorganised, the expenses diminishedby 72,000 francs in three years. In this period of time thereceipts from patients who were visited at night amountedto 39,974 francs, making a total lessening in expenditure ofnearly 112,000 francs. M. Vilain points out that even allow-ing for a fee of 10 francs for every night call during 1899 thissum represents a profit of at least 10,500 francs to the nightmedical service. This bonus will be added to the estimatesfor the year of the Exhibition-viz., 1900-the ordinaryestimate being fixed at 145,000 francs. In the report sub-mitted to the Municipal Council the balance sheet for 1899was remarkable for a diminution in the expenses and anincrease in the receipts. This happy result is owing in

great part to a circular from the Prefect of Police, dis-tributed at all the police-stations, which is handed to everyperson making a claim on the night medical service. Thefriends of the patient are informed that they must pay thefees owing to the collector for the district, gratuitous attend-ance being reserved solely for the very poor. This circularhas certainly had the effect of cutting down expenses, andin one district, which formerly was noted for the calls madeupon the night medical service, several persons after havingbeen shown this circular have gone away without levyingany further tax upon the service.

Hospital Laboratories.In the recent debate upon the Budget at the Municipal

Council M. Henri Rousselle, chairman of the LaboratoriesDepartment, again put forward a motion that the variousprivate hospital laboratories should be suppressed and theirplace taken by a central laboratory for each hospital. M.Rousselle argued that this system would be much cheaper,as all instruments and apparatus could be used in commonwhich are now dispersed among different laboratories whoseseparate upkeep is very little less expensive than would bethat of a central laboratory. He said that culture stoves,autoclaves, and other apparatus could easily be used incommon, and the laboratory would be under the charge of adirector and two assistants who should be nominated by themedical staff of the hospital and chosen exclusively fromamong past house physicians and surgeons. The MunicipalCouncil, which thinks of nothing but expense, accepted thisview, but from the scientific point of view it has not been sofavourably received by hospital medical officers. The workdone in a medical laboratory is not comparable to that donein a commercial laboratory of which the Municipal Councilwas apparently thinking. The director of a medical labora-tory is an actual collaborator personally associated withesearch, and it would be difficult for him were he to be

Associated with eight or ten different medical men engagedrespectively in their own line of research, for he could notbe equally versed in all of them. Also, in many researchesthe medical man engaged wishes his work kept secret beforepublication, which would be a difficult matter in a publiclabor at bory. The view of a research laboratory current amongthe Municipal Council shows an absolute ignorance of themethods of scientific work customary in France. Even fromthe economic point of view the benefit is illusory. The pre-sent laboratories are carried on at but small expense and arequite sufficient for their present work. A central laboratorywould need a large and specially- constructed building andthe expense of building would be a hundred times greaterthan the sum to be saved by a common use of apparatus.Also if, as would be the case, every medical man were tobe engaged upon a research of his own his place would haveto be reserved for him and so private laboratories wouldbe practically reconstituted with the additional expense ofnew buildings for the public institution.

Influenza.Influenza is raging in Paris as it is in every capital of

Europe, and people are much exercised, for there is scarcelyanyone who is not affected primarily or secondarily by thedisease. Nevertheless, these fears are much exaggerated,for if the cases are numerous they are fortunately notserious. Dr. Bertillon, the head of the municipal statisticaldepartment of the city of Paris, in an interview on the

subject declared that influenza, which is endemic in Paris,has this winter become particularly prevalent owing to thevery damp state of the atmosphere. Here are the mortalityfigures from influenza during December and January. InDecember, 1898, there were three deaths registered frominfluenza, while in December, 1899, there were 20.

In January, 1899, there were 18 deaths, while inJanuary, 1900, the figure rose to 39, and 20 ’ofthese occurred in the first week of the month, althoughthe general mortality of Paris was not above the normal.The statistical department does not consider that a realepidemic exists-a view which, perhaps, has origin in thefact that a very severe epidemic was looked for during thewinter of 1899-1900, based upon the fact that influenza madeits appearance during the winter of 1889 and it was thoughtthat there would be a special exacerbation after ten years’time. Such an opinion holds good for most epidemicdiseases. The weather, however, continues unfavourable,the wind being constantly from the south. It must be,remembered that the figures given above only representdeaths, but it is certain that the number of personsattacked is very large.

Feb. 6th. ________________

ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Influenza and the Holy Year.LIKE the Horatian "pallida mors," influenza is knocking

at the door of the hovel and at the portal of the palace. QueenMargherita is not spared by the unwelcome visitant any more-than the subalpine peasant or the factory hand "in populouscity pent." Her Majesty is now, I am happy to say, in fullconvalescence, though not yet allowed to leave her apart-ment, and the State concert fixed for tc-day at theQuirinal has had to be postponed till that most Fhadowyof all periods, "a more convenient season." His Holiness.the Pope " sta bene," I have just been assured; thoughcertain changes in the "order of the day " at the Vatican arequite important enough for lay journalists to connect themwith another "deliquio" or "raffreddore" on the part ofDr. Lapponi’s august patient. These’ changes," it maybeopportune to state, are thus accounted for : the pilgrimageswhich were to have started this week from Upper Italy have,by influenza, been so reduced in numbers that the " Com-missione dei Pellegrinaggi per l’Anno Santo" has bad toadmonish their " personally conducting"

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bishops todefer them till their full complement can be made np.The Vatican, in so doing, is for once in harmony with theItalian Government, which sees in the influx of masses ofpoor people from disease-stricken communities a presentdanger for Rome, itself gravely visited by the same scourge.Even greater vigilance is being exercised at the Frenchfrontier in guarding against the introduction of infectivemaladies from that quarter. Not only influenza but small-pox is prevalent at Marseilles and Toulon ; indeed, thelatter disease has already found its way into Italy fromthose seaports. In view of the pilgrimages fromFrance, therefore, the Italian Government has despatchedto Ventimiglia, the frontier station, a fully equipped"servizio sanitario" to subject the pilgrims in question toa thorough examination, which is to exclude from Italy notonly the influenza patient but also every individual noteffectively vaccinated or revaccinated.

The Treatment of Influenza,While all the towns and villages are exposing in their

churches the images of their respective saints or tutelary"patroni" and "patrone," and are, through their priests,preferring prayers for the removal or abatement of theinfluenza scourge, the medical schools are formulating thetherapeutics hitherto found most efficacious in reaching thesame end. The University of Turin, represented byone of its most authoritative consultants, publishes a seriesof practical indications for the benefit of the practitionerand of the more intelligent of the laity-indications not moresignificant in their positive than in their negative bearing oninfluenza. Practically, I may say, these correspond with thefindings of the German Committee, which after the epidemicof 1890-92 obtained the opinions of 6000 medical men withinthe Fatherland as to their professional experiences in

presence of the disease. Never, according to the Pied-montese professor, was there more need of the I I medico incontradistinction to "medicamenti" than in the influenzavisitations of the last decennium. Yet, be says, "to-day wehave increased a thousand-fold the mania for phenacetine,salicylate of soda, salicylate of quinine, and such like," allthis, moreover, because the lay or non-professional world