CHOREA ELECTRICA.

587

phenomenon " and recommended as the most effectual means years spent at Guy’s Hospital, and Dr. Lasso de la Vega. The for the prevention of such cases the isolation of convalescents company, consisting of graduates and students of Cadiz and frcm acute cases prior to discharge from hospital. The Seville, assembled in the large academic hall of the school careful supervision of cleanliness in all patients about to be founded in Seville by the deceased. Led by the Dean the discharged should also be insisted upon, and under this gathering passed into the street and so into the Church of routine would be included the freedom of the head from the Mother of God, which is the chapel of the medical lice or other vermin. school. The centre of this long narrow building, roofed with carved wood, was occupied by a stately catafalque, THE HUNTERIAN SOCIETY. four squares of black and gold terminating above in a __

THE annual Hunterian oration will be delivered in the London Institution, E C., on Wednesday, Feb llth, at 830 P.M., by Mr. T. H. Openshaw, C.M.G. The subject of the oration is "John Hunter : His Influence on Surgery, with some Remarks on the Treatment of Appendicitis." Any member of the medical profession can be present at the delivery of the oration. The annual dinner of the society will take place on Friday, Feb. 13th, at 7 P. M. in the Trocadero Restaurant. ___

SHELL-FISH AND SEWAGE CONTAMINATION.

question of the pollution of shell-fish with sewage glad to see, not going to be dropped. Indeed, the subject is being discussed throughout the country by all municipal authorities and we may hope that as a result some important step in sanitation is likely to be advanced. In a recent report presented to the sanitary committee of the corporation of the City of London the medical officer of health, Dr. W. Collingridge, publishes the results of a very interesting inquiry into this question, while it is established beyond dispute by the experiments of Dr. Klein that cockles and oysters are frequently polluted with sewage. Further, there can be no doubt that shell-nsh in general are often the origin of an outbreak of enteric fever. Similarly the public health committee of the London County Council presented a long report upon the subject at a meeting of the Council on THE

is,

we are

Feb. 3rd, and after some discussion the recommendation of the committee was adopted,"that a letter be addressed to the Local Government Board expressing the Council’s hope that in the interests of the public health the Board will as soon as possible take steps to obtain an amendment of the law so as to prohibit under heavy penalties the laying down of all edible forms of sbell-nsh in sewagepolluted creeks or other dangerous localities and the sale of such shell-fish for human consumption, and that all unpolluted layings, fattening beds, and storage ponds at present in use may be protected from pollution by sewage by any person

or

funeral urn. On the conclusion of Divine service the cnmpany returned to the large hall where eloquent and touching addresses were delivered by Dr. Laborde and Dr. Lasso de la Vega. -

CHOREA ELECTRICA. CHOREA electrica, a rare nervous disease of children, was first described by Dubini in 1849. Most of our knowledge of it, however, dates from the observations made by Henoch 20 years ago. In the Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift of Dec. 22nd, 1902, Dr. Ludwig Bruns of Hanover gives an, account of the main varieties of this disease based on a study of 30 cases. The disease is found to cecur exclusively in children of both sexes, the ages varying from nine to 1& years. The characteristic attacks consist of sudden muscular shocks or contractions limited to the neck and shou’der muscles-viz., the sterno-mastoid, levator anguli scapula, pectorales major and minor, and the trapezius. The muscular contractions are sharp and sudden "as though induced by an electric shock "-hence the name chorea electrica. The disease, adds Dr. Bruns, is not related to Sydenham’s chorea. He recognises three varieties of chorea electrica -viz., chorea electrica proper, a hysterical variety, and an epileptic variety. The hysterical variety of this affection is readily cured by the therapeutics ordinarily employed for hysteria. He records a case of this as exemplified in a girl, aged nine years, the child of a highly neurotic mother. Separation from the mother with firm and judicious management soon cured her of the trouble, The epileptic variety is very refractory to treatment, as the condition is due to a grave lesion of the cerebral hemispheres. Hydrotherapy, an open-air life, and a diet that is digestible and free from irritating or highly stimulating ingredients are among the general methods of treatment for the epileptic form and the same remarks apply to chorea electrica proper, which is rather more amenable to such treatment,

sanitary authority.’’ THE BRITISH GYNÆCOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE LATE

DR.

FEDERICO RUBIO Y GALI.

Dr. Federico Rubio y Gali of Seville died on August 31st, 1902, at the age of 75 years, as mentioned in THE LANCET of Oct. llth, p. 1023. He was one of the most eminent surgeons in Spain and in recognition of his great reputation and high professional position he was among the distinguished foreigners who received the honorary diploma of F.R.C.S. Eng. on the occasion of the centenary of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Another notable Spanish medical man, Dr. Salvador Cardenal Fernandez of Barcelona, received the honorary Fellowship at the same time.1 Dr. Rubio’s obsequies were solemnised at Seville on Dec. 6th in the presence of a great concourse of sympathetic friends and amid the animated scenes of an impressive ceremonial. We have received a long and minutely detailed account of the proceedings, for which we are indebted to a correspondent, who makes particular mention of the kind reception given to him by Dr. Ramon de la Sota y Lastra, Dean of the Seville Medical Faculty, Dr. Laborde, who retains pleasant memories of two 1

THE

LANCET, August 4th, 1900,

p. 339.

THE Fellows of the British Gynxcological Scciety and their friends attended the annual dinner on Jan. 29th at the Cafe Monico, Piccadilly-circus, London, W., in large numbers. Sir John Halliday Croom, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, was accorded an enthusiastic reception on taking the chair as president of the society. Dr. S. Buckley, President of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynæcological Society, in the course of his speech while giving the toast of " The British Gynaecological Society," discoursed on the fame of the names that occurred in the lists of its officers. The society, he said, was known throughout the gynaecological world and be described how the formation of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society had been followed by excellent results in securing good fellowship amongst its members. Sir John Halliday Croom, in acknowledging this toast, well sustained his reputation for wit and humour. The next speech was by Dr. H. Macnaughton- Jones who was intrusted with the task of proposing the toast of "Universities and Medical Corporations " He deplored the disappearance of the Queen’s University in Cork. He showed how many brilliant men had been trained for useful service to the State