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SANITATION AND CHOLERA IN SPAIN.
1367 was 10½ d. The fever asylums showed a much higher daily cost. The Eastern Hospital, with an average daily number of 299 patients, 9d. a day ; the South-Eastern, with a daily average number of 287, was 10d. ; at the Western Hospital, the average number was 185 patients, and the cost was 6½d.; at the South-Western, with an average number of 128 patients, the cost was 9d. and a fraction; at the NorthWestern, with an average of 207 patients, the cost was 8¼d.; at the Northern, a fever convalescent hospital, with 497 patients as a daily average, the cost was slightly less than 9½d. The small-pox hospitals do not bear comparison with the above, owing to the small number of patients in the hospital, but, calculated on 372 days’ maintenance, the cost was Is. 4 3/4 d. per day. The total expenditure was necessarily large, but when it is recollected that it related to a population of nearly five millions, and that the hospitals serve a useful purpose in removing infectious persons from their homes, the most economical ratepayer will not be disposed to grudge the sum which he has to contribute.
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GRADUATION THESES. THE thesis or dissertation which is required by most Universities both at home and abroad from candidates for the M.D. degree represents in many cases a large amount of research upon various-perhaps some very uncommon—topics. These works are therefore valuable to authors, and it seems a great pity that it is so difficult to discover what subjects have been chosen by the enormous number of graduates who have been obliged to print their theses. As we have previously mentioned, the Russian medical faculties require very elaborate theses, and they generally contain valuable bibliographical references. Though most of the theses themselves are in Russian, the references are given in the languages in which the papers referred to were written, so that the bibliographical lists are intelligible to persons who are not acquainted with the Russian language. Quite recently, M. Petroff, a St. Petersburg publisher, has brought out, in addition to a catalogue dealing with theses in the Russian language from 1860-1888 published last year, a " Catalogue des Theses concernant la Medecine et l’Art Vétérinaire, presentees à 1’Academie de Medecine et aux Universites Russes "up to 1889, which is a supplement to the former catalogue, and especially interesting, as it contains references to a large number of theses in the German language, from the university of Dorpat, which the former catalogue did not.
the bedrooms had no light, no windows, no air except what they borrowed from other rooms. It was in these unventilated rooms that by far the larger proportion of cases of cholera broke out. Have these rooms been closed and declared unfit for habitation by the authorities ?’? In many houses the closets were situated in dark cupboards having no windows Do such closets or ventilators giving on to the outside. still exist?Y In other houses, even in some of the very best houses, the closet was placed in the middle of the kitchen, right away from the window, ventilating therefore into the very place where the food of the family Has all this been altered? was cooked and prepared. A Bureau of Hygiene was appointed to watch over the health of the town ; what has this Bureau done ? Spain is a poor country. The municipalities are not rich. They are not often in a position to defray the cost of vast sanitary works; but the indispensable measures of precaution suggested by the above questions would not involve in their application any great cost. Also a considerable portion, if not all the cost, could be imposed upon the owners of the property ; thus the public at large need not be heavily taxed. We would again ask, What has been done ? and this is a question, we urge, we have every right to put, because it is a matter of international concern. The gross neglect of the most elementary sanitary laws has rendered cholera possible, has helped its development to such an extent as to not merely bring disaster upon Spain, but to jeopardise the interests and security of many other States. Perhaps we are on the eve of a recurrence of similar disasters, and the responsibility of the Spanish authorities will be heavy, indeed, if they have not profited by the lesson of 1885 to take the very plainly indicated measures necessary to ward off such danger. -
SLANDER AGAINST A MEDICAL ASSISTANT. AN assistant to a medical man has received £35 damages, after an appeal to the Queen’s Bench Division, for slander. The slander consisted in a lady saying to another lady that the assistant had been divorced, and advising the said lady to ask the principal if it were so. The lady acted on this advice and saw the principal’s wife. On hearing the gossip the assistant resigned, and his resignation was accepted. He commenced an action against the lady. The judge in the court of first instance (Nottingham) said the words were spoken of the plaintiff in his professional character; otherwise they would not have been actionable. The appeal judges took the same view, and confirmed the finding of the court below. ___
SANITATION AND CHOLERA IN SPAIN. THE town and province of Valencia has won an unenviable notoriety throughout the world. It is celebrated as the seat of the most severe of recent cholera outbreaks. Now, after a brief respite of only four years, we are informed that the cholera has again made its appearance in thia same province. What, we should like to know, has been done during the last five year at Valencia to prevent the cholera returning to this town ? Unlike many continental towns, Valencia drains direct iato sewers. There are hardly any cesspools. The sewers, in some instances, date back to the time of the Moorish occupation. There are great underground passages some sixteen feet broad, and in several instances the fall is only equal to 3 in the 1000.
Of course it is impossible to efficiently flush such sewers ; water in a hot, dry climate is not plentiful. Even the newest sewers have been built on the old, bad principle, and are not self-cleansing. Some soil pipes are trapped ; during the cholera epidemic a great number of these drains were not trapped. Have they all now been put in order ? During the cholera epidemic houses and apartments wers allowed to be inhabited, though many of
THE CONDITION OF THE RIVER LEA. No question of sanitation has a more vital importance than that which deals with the purity and cleanliness of the rivers in this country, and more especially with those in the immediate neighbourhood of vast cities. The subject is continually being rudely brought before the public either by outbreaks of epidemic diseases or through means of the susceptibilities of the organs of special sense. For some years a sanitary war has been waging between the various parties to whom the interests of what concerns the River Lea and the inhabitants on its banks respectively have been entrusted. The latest phase of the conflict is the appearance of the Tottenham Local Board of Health at the Edmonton Petty Sessions before the local justices, in answer to a summons issued at the instance of the Lea Conservancy Board. After hearing as much of the case as to leave but little doubt of the insanitary condition of the river below the Tottenham outfall, technical objections as to the non-responsibility of the Tottenham Board of Health were urged, and the Bench decided that the responsibility rested with the Joint Drainage Committee of the Tottenham B B 3
E4xnboittlt,
GRADUATION THESES. THE thesis or dissertation which is required by most Universities both at home and abroad from candidates for the M.D. degree represents in many cases a large amount of research upon various-perhaps some very uncommon—topics. These works are therefore valuable to authors, and it seems a great pity that it is so difficult to discover what subjects have been chosen by the enormous number of graduates who have been obliged to print their theses. As we have previously mentioned, the Russian medical faculties require very elaborate theses, and they generally contain valuable bibliographical references. Though most of the theses themselves are in Russian, the references are given in the languages in which the papers referred to were written, so that the bibliographical lists are intelligible to persons who are not acquainted with the Russian language. Quite recently, M. Petroff, a St. Petersburg publisher, has brought out, in addition to a catalogue dealing with theses in the Russian language from 1860-1888 published last year, a " Catalogue des Theses concernant la Medecine et l’Art Vétérinaire, presentees à 1’Academie de Medecine et aux Universites Russes "up to 1889, which is a supplement to the former catalogue, and especially interesting, as it contains references to a large number of theses in the German language, from the university of Dorpat, which the former catalogue did not.
the bedrooms had no light, no windows, no air except what they borrowed from other rooms. It was in these unventilated rooms that by far the larger proportion of cases of cholera broke out. Have these rooms been closed and declared unfit for habitation by the authorities ?’? In many houses the closets were situated in dark cupboards having no windows Do such closets or ventilators giving on to the outside. still exist?Y In other houses, even in some of the very best houses, the closet was placed in the middle of the kitchen, right away from the window, ventilating therefore into the very place where the food of the family Has all this been altered? was cooked and prepared. A Bureau of Hygiene was appointed to watch over the health of the town ; what has this Bureau done ? Spain is a poor country. The municipalities are not rich. They are not often in a position to defray the cost of vast sanitary works; but the indispensable measures of precaution suggested by the above questions would not involve in their application any great cost. Also a considerable portion, if not all the cost, could be imposed upon the owners of the property ; thus the public at large need not be heavily taxed. We would again ask, What has been done ? and this is a question, we urge, we have every right to put, because it is a matter of international concern. The gross neglect of the most elementary sanitary laws has rendered cholera possible, has helped its development to such an extent as to not merely bring disaster upon Spain, but to jeopardise the interests and security of many other States. Perhaps we are on the eve of a recurrence of similar disasters, and the responsibility of the Spanish authorities will be heavy, indeed, if they have not profited by the lesson of 1885 to take the very plainly indicated measures necessary to ward off such danger. -
SLANDER AGAINST A MEDICAL ASSISTANT. AN assistant to a medical man has received £35 damages, after an appeal to the Queen’s Bench Division, for slander. The slander consisted in a lady saying to another lady that the assistant had been divorced, and advising the said lady to ask the principal if it were so. The lady acted on this advice and saw the principal’s wife. On hearing the gossip the assistant resigned, and his resignation was accepted. He commenced an action against the lady. The judge in the court of first instance (Nottingham) said the words were spoken of the plaintiff in his professional character; otherwise they would not have been actionable. The appeal judges took the same view, and confirmed the finding of the court below. ___
SANITATION AND CHOLERA IN SPAIN. THE town and province of Valencia has won an unenviable notoriety throughout the world. It is celebrated as the seat of the most severe of recent cholera outbreaks. Now, after a brief respite of only four years, we are informed that the cholera has again made its appearance in thia same province. What, we should like to know, has been done during the last five year at Valencia to prevent the cholera returning to this town ? Unlike many continental towns, Valencia drains direct iato sewers. There are hardly any cesspools. The sewers, in some instances, date back to the time of the Moorish occupation. There are great underground passages some sixteen feet broad, and in several instances the fall is only equal to 3 in the 1000.
Of course it is impossible to efficiently flush such sewers ; water in a hot, dry climate is not plentiful. Even the newest sewers have been built on the old, bad principle, and are not self-cleansing. Some soil pipes are trapped ; during the cholera epidemic a great number of these drains were not trapped. Have they all now been put in order ? During the cholera epidemic houses and apartments wers allowed to be inhabited, though many of
THE CONDITION OF THE RIVER LEA. No question of sanitation has a more vital importance than that which deals with the purity and cleanliness of the rivers in this country, and more especially with those in the immediate neighbourhood of vast cities. The subject is continually being rudely brought before the public either by outbreaks of epidemic diseases or through means of the susceptibilities of the organs of special sense. For some years a sanitary war has been waging between the various parties to whom the interests of what concerns the River Lea and the inhabitants on its banks respectively have been entrusted. The latest phase of the conflict is the appearance of the Tottenham Local Board of Health at the Edmonton Petty Sessions before the local justices, in answer to a summons issued at the instance of the Lea Conservancy Board. After hearing as much of the case as to leave but little doubt of the insanitary condition of the river below the Tottenham outfall, technical objections as to the non-responsibility of the Tottenham Board of Health were urged, and the Bench decided that the responsibility rested with the Joint Drainage Committee of the Tottenham B B 3