EMIGRATION.

340 the investigations which have been made of late as regards the condition and the medical treatment of the leper are such as to give special encouragement to communities amongst whom lepers exist to properly house, clothe, and feed them, and to provide them with proper medical treatment, with the certainty that much of their disease will be arrested or mitigated, and their naturally miserable existence rendered much more endurable. The College of Physicians, at its last meeting, adopted the report of its Committee as its own, and has thus given the profession what was much needed-viz., a distinct and authoritative decision as to the value of the Beauperthuy plan of treating the leprous.

EMIGRATION. THE thirty-third and last Report of the Emigration Commissioners hasjust been issued, and contains much valuable information as to the general and sanitary condition of the large proportion of our population who have emigrated from this country during the past year. It appears that a total of no less than 295,213 persons left the United Kingdom in 1872, of whom, however, 118,190 were English, 19,541 Scotch, 72,763 Irish, and 79,023 foreigners, whereas the nationality of 5696 persons was not distinguished. These statistics show that, during the past year, a largely increased number of foreigners passed through the United Kingdom for emigration purposes. This fact indicates distinct sanitary aspects to which we desire to call special attention, because it clearly increases the responsibilities of port sanitary authorities. Vessels arrive at Hull, Great Grimsby, and other eastern ports, from the Baltic with consignments of German, Swedish, Danish, and other emigrants ; they are sent across to Liverpool by the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway; they usually remain at Liverpool some few days, and, as we are informed, are most admirably supervised by Dr. Trench, medical officer of health for that town. It is, however, of the utmost importance that these emigrants should be inspected before they are permitted to land in the United Kingdom, especially when they arrive in the autumn months from ports infected with, or suspected of, cholera. And we have learnt lately that instalments of foreign emigrants are occasionally brought up the Thames for transhipment, and detained for some little time at lodgings in the East of London. There can be little doubt that cholera was introduced into Whitechapel in this way some few weeks ago, and was rooted out only by the energetic and combined action of the central and local authorities. The sanitary authority of the port of London is already fully alive to the importance of the matter, inasmuch as arrangements have been made whereby the medical officer of the port shall have ample opportunities for the examination of emigrants arriving under these special circumstances. The importance of this question can hardly be exaggerated, because we are but just becoming alive to the enormous influence exerted by the shipping on the general health of the home population. In summarising the general emigration statistics of the past year, we find again, almost as a matter of course, that the increased use of steamers has much diminished mortality on the voyage. Among 230,531 emigrants in 545 voyages to North America, the deaths were only 102, which, taking the voyage at twelve days, is equal to a mortality of 13-38 per 1000 per annum. The emigration from the East to the West Indies indicates a larger mortality than usual, and may be taken to show the inexpediency, on climatic and general sanitary grounds, of despatching ships from Calcutta late in the season, when they encounter adverse winds in the Bay of Bengal, and so do not arrive at the Cape until the cold weather has commenced. Steamers in lieu of sailing ships have, in several instances, been lately employed for the conveyance of coolies between India and British Guiana, and, as to sanitary aspects, with great success. A variety of important sanitary measures as to immigrants have been passed by the Canadian Government

during the past year, all tending very materially to conduce to the welfare of the increasing population of that colony. from this country, as well as from the United Kingdom as a "place of call," is now assuming very large proportions, and we trust that the work hitherto conducted by the Emigration Commissioners will be well and efficiently performed by the Board of Trade, to whom the conduct of all matters connected with emigration was transferred at the end of last year. We still believe, as our special report

Emigration

on Emigrant Ships indicated, that the medical inspectors. of the Board should have more work to do, and be saddled with far more responsibility.

Foreign Cleanings. FEEDING WITH PEPTONES IN DISEASE OF THE

STOMACH.

A RECENT number of the Gazette Médicale has an article on the above. About two pounds of lean meat, chopped into pieces, are put into a china pan, with one litre of water containing two-thousandths of hydrochloric acid. The pan is then put into a Papin’s kettle, perfectly sealed, and subjected to maceration for about fifteen hours. The contents are then crushed in a mortar until they constitute an emulsion, and then put back into the kettle again for about fifteen hours. The substance" thus obtained must be then completely neutralised with bicarbonate of soda, and evaporated afterwards to the consistence of pap. When thus prepared this soluble meat is generally well accepted by patients. Milk and pounded biscuit may, however, be added for variety, and in order to avoid too great uniformity of food. CHANGES IN THE URINE OF SATURNINE SUBJECTS.

At a late sitting of the Societe de Biologie, Dr. Bouchard, of La Charite Hospital, made a communication on the above subject. During the acute stage of symptoms, when the patients do not take food or bring up what they eat, the quantity of urine may diminish considerably, and, furthermore, the proportion of urea and extractive matter is much less than in an equal quantity of normal urine. On the other hand, the proportion of other substances is greater (for instance, the quantity of colouring matter is ten and even twenty times more considerable than in the normal condition), and they very likely proceed from the rapid to Dr. Bouchard, destruction of blood-globules. the action of lead does not hinder the elimination of urie acid, and he has not been able to detect the presence of this principle in the blood nor in the serum of blistered surfaces.

According

POISONING BY SNAILS.

In the June number of the Montpellier Medical Dr. Dumas, relates the circumstances of a case of poisoning of seven individuals who had eaten snails at dinner. They were all affected with sickness, diarrhoea, giddiness, fever, &c. No doubt could be entertained as to the cause of the poisoning. The seven persons had all eaten of the snails, whereas they had not all eaten of the other dishes served up at the dinner. The pan in which the snails had been cooked was in perfect condition, and had been freshly tinned. The poisoning, therefore, took place through the snails themselves. It is well known that they often feed on poisonous plants, such as belladonna, digitalis, and hemlock, and on the field from which the snails which were eaten had been gathered were found boxwood, euphorbia, and prickwood. It is on account of this that snails gathered to be eaten are generally submitted to a few days’ previous fasting. A CAUSE OF RECURRENCE OF VESICO-VAGINAL

FISTULA.

In the last number of Archives Médicales, Dr. E. Bourdon draws attention to a cause, not generally known, of return of vesico-vaginal fistuJae. By the word <( recidivation" he does not mean, of course, incomplete cicatrisation of the original fistula, or a new fistula produced by parturition, but to causes of recidivation already well known-such as menstruation, protracted retention of the catheter in the bladder, inflammatory softening of the cicatricial nodules,