A NURSING EXHIBITION.

1589 fracture among other things, and we shall publish his paper upon them shortly-next week if possible. The General Electric Company of Berlin have effected an improvement in the Roentgen apparatus, so that it is now possible to observe peculiarities in the interior of the head and throat and especially the action of the lungs and heart by direct inspection with the fluorescent screen. This improvement is to be submitted for inspection to the Twentyfifth Surgical Congress now sitting at Berlin, when Dr. Virchow, Sir Spencer Wells, Dr. Guyon of Paris, Dr. Ollier of Lyons, Dr. Antona of Naples, and Dr. Lange of New York are expected to be present. Mr. F. C. Abbott has sent to us one of the best examples of the new photography applied to surgery that we have as yet seen. It is a photograph of a backward dislocation of the right elbow of a woman. Eight weeks before admission to St. Thomas’s’’Hospital she injured the right elbow by direct violence. Her medical man at that time diagnosed fracture of the humerus and put the arm in splints. The arm subsequently swelled greatly and was treated at an infirmary by the application of an icebag. On admission to St. Thomas’s Hospital, under the care of Mr. Bernard Pitts, the right elbow was found to be considerably swollen andL thickened, the forearm was semi-flexed, and there was greati limitation of movement. The diagnosis rested betweenL fracture of the lower end of the humerus with backward displacement and a backward dislocation of the forearm, and at first presented some difficulty owing to the swelling. The photograph, which was taken by Messrs. White and Stanley Kent, at once made the diagnosis plain, the displacement of the humerus being shown with admirable clearness. Mr. Basil Trevelyan sends us a successful photograph of the left hand of a patient who accidentally shot himself in the palm with a pistol. The photograph shows clearly the position of the bullet, although most careful exploration under an ansesthetic had failed to discover it. On cutting down at the place indicated in the photograph Mr. Trevelyan successfully extracted the bullet which was found to be resting upon the internal lateral ligament of the wrist-joint. The bullet had evidently glanced against the middle metacarpal bone and so was directed upwards and inwards for a distance of over three inches. Mr. C. Coppinger sends us some photographs which are of interest because they were taken directly on prepared sensitive paper, and hence the bones appear white and not black as in most photographs hitherto taken. He does not, however, give details of the process as to the time of the exposure or as to the kind of paper used. He also encloses a print of a case of tuberculous dactylitis.

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the large hall, and Messrs. Burroughs IVeUcome &. Co. have a notable display. Disinfectants and deodorisers are represented by Sanitas and the new non-poisonous " Electrozone,’ made from sea-water by electricity, the Arema Manufacturing Company, and the Red Cross Germicide Company. The Frame Food Company have an interesting exhibit of their preparations, and visitors with a predilection for tasting can exercise their propensity both at this stall and that of Messrs. Stephen Smith and Co. of Bow, who dispense Hall’s coca wine, and a new preparation of Liebig’s extract of meat with malt wine. Messrs. Reynolds and Branson, Messrs. W. H. Bailey and Son, Messrs. Southall Brothers and Barclay, Messrs. Down Brothers, and Mr. J. H. Montague of New Bond-street have some useful appliances on view, and Messrs. Edward Cook and Company have a large exhibit of their toilet preparations. The Bovril Co., Messrs. Welford and Sons with their stand of sterilised and peptonised milks and Messrs. Cadbury Brothers are also represented. The Gorham Patent Bedstead Company, Ltd., give practical demonstrations of their ingenious invention and the Bed Support Company have on view their " Excelsior"bed supports. During the progress of the exhibition, which will remain open till June 13th, many popular vocalists and instrumentalists will appear ; a conference of nurses will also take place and papers of interest. to the nursing profession will be read.

VITAL STATISTICS. HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.

A NURSING EXHIBITION. THE idea of a nursing exhibition was a happy one, and Mrs. Bedford Fenwick, the editor of the .Nlwsing Record, and those who have assisted her, are to be congratulated on the organisation of the exhibition, which opened at St. Martin’s Town Hall, Charing-cross, on Monday last. Nursing as a profession is growing every year, and appliances for the care: and comfort of the sick are daily increasing, but it is only the metropolitan nurse who has an opportunity of keeping: pace with this increase, and her sister in the country knows! little or nothing of the progress that is being made. In this! exhibition the latest and most approved appliances for thei comfort and welfare of the sick and injured are broughtj together and are likely to prove of great educational value to) the nurse as well as to the general public. One of the first things which will be noticed by the visitor is the effigy of a nurse on a Humber bicycle. This is, exhibited by Messrs. Debenham and Freebody of Wigmorestreet, Cavendish-square, by request, in order to show at special form of cloak for the use of district nurses who use the cycle in place of the somewhat expensive dogcart. Manyr of the exhibits are brilliant testimonials to the industry of the hospital nurses of the metropolis, who, amidst their arduous3 duties, have found time to construct models which exhibit ini a very striking way the practical application of many of the appliances. Literature is represented by a selection off Messrs. Cassell and Co.’s publications relating to nursing andi invalid cookery. Messrs. Maw, Son, and Thompson’s exhibitt of aseptic instrument cases occupies a prominent position ina ,

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IN thirty-three of the largest English towns 5609 births and 3668 deaths were registered during the week ending May 30th. The annual rate of mortality in these towns, which had declined in the three preceding weeks from 18’5In to 18-1 per 1000, further fell last week to 17-6. London the rate was 16-9 per 1000, while it averaged 1802. in the thirty-two provincial towns. The lowest rates in these towns were 8’5 in Swansea, 12’3 in Leicester, 12’8 in Derby, 13-0 in Norwich, and 14-2 in Bristol; the highest rates were 20-7 in Liverpool, 20’8 in Hull, 21-8 in Oldham, 23-0 in Sheffield, and 24-1 in Sunderland. The 3668 deaths included 542 which were referred to the principal zymotic diseases, against 562 and 591 in the two preceding weeks; of these, 195 resulted from measles, 151 from whooping-cough, 67 from diphtheria, 54"’ from diarrhoea, 48 from scarlet fever, 27 from fever (principally enteric), and not one from small-pox. No fatal case of any of these diseases was recorded in Brighton, in Blackburn, or in Halifax ; in the other towns they caused the lowest death-rates in Swansea, Derby, and Bradford, and the highest rates in West Ham, Salford, Oldham, Hull, and Croydon. The greatest mortality from measles occurred in Huddersfield, Croydon, Manchester, Sunderland, Hull, and Oldham; from scarlet fever in Bristol and Salford;. from whooping-cough in Croydon, Cardiff, Bolton, West Ham, Preston, and Salford ; and from diarrhoea in Hull and Plymouth. The mortality from " fevershowed no marked The 67 deaths from excess in any of the large towns. diphtheria included 40 in London, 4 in West Ham, 4 No fatal case of in Birmingham, and 4 in Liverpool. small-pox was registered last week in any of the thirtythree large towns. There were 19 cases of small-pox under treatment in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the Highgate Small-pox Hospital on Saturday last, May 30th, against 15, 20, and 22 at the end of the three preceding weeks; 3 new cases were admitted during the week, against 5, 6, and 5 in the threepreceding weeks. The number of scarlet fever patients in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and in the London Fever Hospital at the end of the week was 2679, against 2527, 2539, and 2596 on the three preceding Saturdays; 297 new cases were admitted during the week, against 238, 293, and 305 in the three preceding weeks. The deaths referred to diseases of the respiratory organs in London, which had declined in the four preceding weeks 292 to 217, rose again last week to 230, but were 44 below the corrected average. The causes of 47, or 1’3 per cent., of the deaths in the thirty-three towns were not certified either by a registered medical practitioner or by a coroner. All the causes of death were duly certified in Bristol, Leicester, Bradford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in twelve other smaller towns ; the largest proportions of