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obstructions put by the responsible Governmentdepartment in the way of a local authority whichwished to make the office of medical officer ofhealth effective.

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.At the meeting of President and Fellows last week

Sir Arthur Chance, F.R.C.S. Irel., was elected an

Honorary Fellow of the College. The honour is arecognition of gratitude to Sir Arthur Chance forhis services to the College while representative ofthe sister College on the General Medical Council.Sir Arthur Chance is a past President of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Ireland, and is surgeon tothe Mater Misericordiæ Hospital. At the same

meeting Dr. Bethel A. H. Solomons was elected aFellow.

High Mortality in Dublin.The death-rate of Dublin has been abnormally

high during the past few weeks, even for Dublin.

Scarlet Fever in Belfast.The scarlet fever epidemic-which has now raged

in Belfast since October, 1909-is slowly wearingitself out, for the report of the health of the cityduring the period between Feb. 15th and March 14th,presented at a meeting of the city council held onApril lst, shows that 132 cases were notified.

A Rise in Salary.The salary of the medical officer of health of

Belfast has been raised from ;E800 to ;E900 by twoannual increments.

The National Insurance Act in Belfast.At a meeting of the Belfast Trades Council on

April 2nd a resolution was unanimously passedexpressing the opinion that the present panelsystem of obtaining medical certificates has proveda complete failure both in regard to the interests ofthe insured persons and of the Approved Societies,and calling upon the Chancellor of the Exchequerand the Irish Insurance Commissioners to insti-tute a State Medical Service for the insuredpersons, failing which a State Medical Serviceshould be initiated for the purpose of issuingmedical certificates to insured persons when ill.At a meeting of the Belfast Local Medical Com-mittee held on March 31st Mr. R. J. Johnstone waselected chairman, in place of Sir John Byers, who,through pressure of work, has been obliged to

resign. A resolution was unanimously passedthanking Sir John Byers for his services, anddeeply regretting his inability to continue in office.

The late Colonel Frederick S. Heuston, A.M.S. ’,I regret to announce the death of Lieutenant-

Colonel F. S. Heuston, at Greystones, co. Wicklow.He had a distinguished career in the Army MedicalService, from which he retired two years ago.A Tipperary man by birth, he received his medicaleducation at the Carmichael school in Dublin,and took the Fellowship of the Royal College ofSurgeons. He entered the army in 1884, and sawmuch active service, beginning with the BlackMountain Expedition in 1888. In 1894 he wasseconded for service with the Chinese Government,and took part in the opening of the ImperialMedical College at Tientsin, of which he was forsome time president. He served in the Chino-Japanese war, and was decorated by the ChineseEmperor, while he was also a C.M.G. In the SouthAfrican war he was twice mentioned in dispatches.In his younger days Heuston played for the IrishInternational Rugby team in three successive years, I

1881, 1882, and 1883. He was a brother of Mr.Francis T. Heuston, surgeon to the Adelaide

Hospital, Dublin, to whom the sympathy of theprofession will be extended.April 7th.

PARIS.

_ The Proper Hours for Meals.

Professor Bergonie, of Bordeaux, has invented anelectric bed in which the passage of the currentthrough the body of the subject sets up organiccombustions similar to those brought on by mus-cular exercise and leads to reduction of obesity.Professor d’Arsonval has recently communicatedto the Académie des Sciences the results ofM. Bergonie’s studies by means thereof on theenergy of the organism. By studying closely thehourly variations of energy in a subject whosemode of life is known and regular and whoseweight is constant at the same hours, it becomespossible to construct a curve of the needs of energyof the subject for every hour. It is known that80 per cent. of the energy is taken up in main-taining the body heat, and that the calls on thisenergy for heat production are in inverse pro-portion to the temperature of the surroundingmedium. In civilisation, where activity is pro-longed far beyond sundown and for a part of thenight, the draught upon energy at these hours isconsiderable. On the other hand, between 10 P.M.and 6 A.M., during sleep, the heat demand is nil, andenergy is stored afresh for use with great intensityon waking. M. Bergonie concludes that the hoursat which it is suitable to take into the system bymeans of food the sources of this energy must beregulated by these considerations; but it is necessaryto take note of the period that elapses betweenthe time of taking food and that at which its diges-tion and assimilation have set free all the utilisableenergy, just as in the electrical power house theengineer must calculate the time that elapsesbetween the coaling of the fire and the augmenta-tion of the voltage in the circuit. M. Bergonie hasdiscovered that the least suitable hours for mealsare between noon and 1 P.M. and between 7 and8 P.M.-that is to say, precisely those hours whichin Europe modern usage has set apart to meals.It is true that these meal hours have varied

considerably down the ages, and that in thelast century they were earlier than at present.According to M. Bergonie the meal hours thata rational hygiene would prescribe would be as

follows: the principal meal of the day should betaken at 7.30 A.M. or as soon after as possible, so asto obtain all the necessary energy for the day’s workand to restore the liver, emptied by the night’sabstinence. A second meal of 300 to 400 calories,for which a luncheon of milk, sugar, and cakeswould suffice, should be taken about 4 P.M.

Finally, a third light repast of 700 to 800calories at 8.30 or 9 P.M. would complete the

alimentary Régime. M. Bergonie adds that ina family which has accepted his views thisrégime has been followed for six years, andhas furnished excellent results as regards the

general health of all the members. These viewshave aroused much surprise in France; in Englandit would be necessary, in conforming with this

régime, to have breakfast a little earlier and of theold-fashioned solid sort, to reduce luncheon to asort of tea, and to postpone and reduce the eveningmeal.

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Amœbic Dysentery in France.A communication by Professor Landouzy to the

Académie de Medecine suggests that there is a

gradual acclimatisation of amoebic dysentery inFrance. Already 14 cases are known in personswho have never been out of France, and amongthese have occurred seven hepatic abscesses and fivedeaths. Four of the victims had associated withcolonials in France and appear to have been ’,directly infected, but the others had had no suchexposure. Professor Landouzy reported the case ofa mariner at the Hopital Laennec, aged 38, whohad always served on boats plying in the north ofFrance. There was no suspicion of dysentery. The

patient was cachectic, with an enlarged liver, andhad suffered for months from vomiting and diarrhcea(not bloody). Chemical reagents showed a feeblehaemoglobin reaction however. Hepatic cancer

was diagnosed, but at the necropsy made 24 hoursafter death an enormous hepatic abscess was dis-covered with the characteristic intestinal ulcera-tions of dysentery, both abscess and ulcerationsshowing amœbæ. Inoculation into a cat provednegative. Professor Landouzy reported anothercase, that of a ,man who had spent a yearin Morocco and returned without any signof dysentery, though he had lost flesh andwas easily fatigued. A little later he sustainedin an automobile accident a severe contusionof the liver, and three months afterwards a

sharp febrile attack with a large abscess of theliver containing amœbæ ensued. This man was an

unwitting germ carrier. From these observationsProfessor Landouzy presages an indigenousamoebiasis which is gradually becoming acclima-tised and is giving rise to numerous germ carriers,in whom the disease may break out on the occasionof a traumatism, and who especially may beunconscious and unrecognised conveyers of it. Thespecial danger is that the medical man is apt tothink of dysentery only in connexion with patientsreturned from the colonies. Professor Landouzysuggests that special search be made for the amoebain all cases of rebellious diarrhoea of unexplainedorigin and accompanied by cachexia, even thoughthere may be no blood in the stools and no hepaticsymptoms. Moreover, returned colonials who haveattacks of dysentery must no longer be regardedas incapable of spreading the disease, but the sameprecautions as are used in the colonies must berigorously insisted on in their case. M. Vaillard,president of the Conseil Superieur de Sante de1’Armee, while admitting the possibility of contagionthrough returned colonials, protested againstexaggerated fears. Although the numbers ofreturned soldiers and civilians during the past30 years had greatly increased, the number of caseshad not increased, and the discovery of a reallyspecific remedy in emetine now rendered possiblethe sure sterilisation of such cases. In this viewhe was supported by M. Bertrand, director of theService de Sante of the Navy.

Hospital Sanitation.Considerable attention has been directed to a

recent article in the Presse Médicale by Dr. Raoul ;Brunon, physician to the General Hospital atRouen and director of the medical school there.He alludes to the millions spent in Paris by theAssistance Publique for the construction of newhospitals, no expense having been spared in makingthem comfortable to the verge of luxury, andinsists that no improvement in hospital statistics

can be looked for unless regulations such as

those which have sufficed to render the oldest

hospital buildings sanitary are adopted generally.These necessary conditions are adequate floor spacefor the beds, continuous ventilation of the wards,and the necessary minute personal attention to eachpatient many times a day. Even the newer hos-

pitals, if lack of room causes overcrowding, tooclose proximity of beds, and insufficient air space,or if a deficiency in the personnel precludesthe proper washing of individual patients andthe daily disinfection of the floors, walls,and furniture, will show statistics as un-

satisfactory as those of the older buildings. Whena town undertakes the construction of costlyhospitals they cannot for the same expenditure pro-vide the same number of beds for the community.Overcrowding soon occurs and with it insanitaryconditions. In an old hospital if the walls andfloors are washed every day, if the wards are

frequently emptied and disinfected and are alwaysproperly ventilated, there will be less infectious-ness present. M. Brunon instances the hospitalmortality from broncho-pneumonia in whooping-cough and measles as due to contagion of the

hospital wards. In the old General Hospital ofRouen, under his direction, not a single case ofdeath has occurred from measles or whooping-cough for many years, thanks to rigorous asepsisand ventilation, while at Paris the mortalityfrom measles is still severe. In 1887 the mor-

tality from measles exceeded 40 per cent. at

Paris, in 1898 the mortality was such that theChef de Service demanded the closing of the

whooping-cough wards after 103 children had diedtherein in ten months. In 1899 the mortality frombroncho-pneumonia after measles was still about30 per cent. It is to-day 14 per cent. at the EnfantesMalades, 12 per cent. at the Trousseau, and 9 percent. at the Hopital des Enfantes Assistes.April 6th.

VIENNA.

Professor Wenkebach appointed Successor toProfessor von Noorden.

Professor Frederick Wenkebach, the director ofthe medical clinic of Strassburg, having beeninvited by the Austrian Ministry of Education tobecome the successor of Professor von Noorden inthe first medical clinic of Vienna, has accepted theoffer thus made to him. As already mentioned inone of my letters, Professor von Noorden wasinduced by reasons of a personal nature to

resign his post and to relinquish his clinic, afirst-rate and completely modern institute. Pro-fessor von Noorden has founded in Viennaan excellent institute for the investigation of theprocesses of metabolism, and his successor, whois 50 years of age, and a Dutchman by birth, hasdone a great deal of work in this direction, so thatthe departure of Professor von Noorden will be com-pensated to some extent. Professor von Wenkebachwill take over the clinic in the month of May in thecoming summer term. He was recommended bythe senate of the university ".primo et unico loco,"an honour accorded only to very few professors.

The Winter Term of the Austrian Universities.Last winter the Austrian universities were very

well attended by students, and in particular themedical and biological institutes could not accom-modate all those who sought admission. It seemsthat apart from the natural increase of population