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SEVENTEENTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF PRISONS.
1114
Quite
the furnace in their fellow workmen. Mr. Snell has ascerrecentlywe described how the German Government. tained that there is a very marked difference in the way aias owner of the railways, contracted with the Berlin munitemperature is borne when it is below 2000’F. and when above cipality for the thorough washing with hot water, soap, that heat. Up to that degree a man can look at the metal in1 and soda of every cattle truck that entered Berlin, and this though the cattle, as a rule, were in perfect health. a, furnace with comparative ease, but before it reaches 3000° he is compelled to wear coloured glasses. Now in cast-ironiThe movements of human beings cannot be watched and furnaces the heat of the metal is from 1800° to 2000° and1 controlled like those of cattle. It was clearly proved that E the men take no precautions ; but the heat of molten steel is cattle were infected by conveyance in railway trucks, and from 2700° to 2800°, while the heat of the gases in the furnace the necessary precautions were consequently enforced. It is would be about 200° or 300° more, and the men in attendance not so easy to say where or how a person contracts a disease-have to wear dark blue glasses to protect their eyes. The heat; whether the germ was absorbed in a railway carriage, in a of the metal in the Bessemer process is higher still, increas- cab, or in any of the many other places the traveller has freing to 3000° or 3200°, but the metal has not to be so long. quented. It should suffice, however, that pathogenic germs In have been found and undoubtedly exist in railway carriages or so carefully watched as in the Siemen’s furnace. for us to demand that as much care should be bestowed none of these cases, however, has Mr. Snell been able to associate any deep or superficial eye lesion as a result of the! on the purification of carriages that convey travellers as is There is already bestowed on cattle trucks. exposure of the eye to intense light and heat. A great deal more might be said on the hygiene of rail.. still another source of light which has been found to exert a prejudicial influence on the eye-namely, electricity ; ex- ways. We fear that the drainage and general sanitation of posure to the light employed in electlic welding-and sup- many railway stations are not all that could be desired. posed to be equal to 8000 candles-causes sharp conjunctivitis, With regard to railways, the abolition of the second class by with great pain and lacrymation, and, if it be allowed to some lines has led to a general improvement in the carriages enter the eye, optic neuritis, with retinitis and a central of the third class. These latter are, of course, by far the most se3toma in the vision, is extremely likely to occur. The important, for there are many more third-class travellers effects are due to the chemical rays, which are most intense than second or first class ; it is, also, the third class which Whether a passenger be travelling third or first towards the violet end of the spectrum, and the men are pays. obliged to use a screen made of dark ruby, non-actinic glass. class, he requires air to breathe, and should have at These, with many other details, are interestingly given in least room enough to be able to change his position comMr. Snell’s paper. fortably. It is injurious to health to "it in a narrow In the carriages of the Conspace for several hours. tinental railwa.ys, and even in some of the older third-class SANITATION ON THE RAILWAY. carriages of England, there is not enough room. Then, in many instances the light is altogether deficient. Time is OUR remarkson disease germs in railway carriages have precious, and much reading has to be done in railway been extensively noticed by both the British and Continental carriages ; the eyesight of innumerable travellers has doubtless been permanently injured by the insufficient light in railway press. We related that the experiments of Drs. Petri, Kolb, carriages. Again, warming and ventilating carriages, as we and Friedrich-the inoculation of 117 guinea-pigs with the have on many occasions remarked, have been greatly neglected. dust collected in railway carriages and the bacteriological We believe the movement of the train might be utilised as examination of that dust-proved that it contained pathogenic motive power for filtering or washing the air, and propelling it in sufficient quantities into the carriages. If the air was germp, and notably the bacillus of tuberculosis. The interest all over the carriage in a diffused manner there distributed of railattached to these facts presses upon us the necessity would be no draught. The supply might be calculated way reform in respect to sanitation. Spittoons ought to be almost Under such circumstances the mathematically. a to each contain which should supplied railway carriage, suitable liquid disinfectant ; but the careful washing windows need not be opened, and travellers would not srffer and purifying of the interior of railway carriages are from the dust and dirt which are blown about. The railway more especially needed. In view of this necessity the companies would, on their side, greatly benefit because their first-class and second-class carriages are very unsuitably rolling stock would last considerably longer. But the quesand ventilating railway carriages in a upholstered. The plain wooden seats of the third-class tion of warming and automatic manner has hardly as yet been carriages are preferable, inasmuch as they can be easily scientific As, however, the number of railway travellers washed. But when are they washed? How often is the inside studied. of a metropolitan third-class railway carriage scoured with increases every day, and as the average number of hours the has to pass in railway carriages also soap and hot water ? The number of bacteria in the dust travelling public the of rendering railway carriages healthy increases, necessity third-class is certain to be much of a carriage higher than in a first-class one, and if there is more facility for washing and safe becomes more and more important. It is time, the need of washing is still greater. In the other classes the therefcre, that the subject should be more carefully investiwoollen and stuffed seats and cushions are serious obstacles gated. to sanitation. On the French railway lines there is a large hand-pump which can be wheeled up to a railway carriage, SEVENTEENTH REPORT OF THE COMand while one attendant works the pump-handle another with a hose brings a spray, which is projected with great MISSIONERS OF PRISONS. This spray force, to bear upon the cushions, the seats, &c. generally consists of a mercurial solution. This is a very QUITE recently’ we noticed the first part of this report, and good precaution to take when it is known that the carriage is infected, but it cannot be applied as an everyday practice. briefly dealt with some of the statistics of incarceration and Wood’s woven wire spring seat, used by the Great Eastern prison mortality for the year ending March 31st, 1894. Railway Company and on some of the Highland railways, Part II. is now before us, and consists of the reports by the would be easier to clean. It is as soft as horsehair on each of fifty-seven local prisons. Tabulated and wool, and it does not harbour dust and is ventilated inspectors of statements the number of daily average prisoners engaged throughout. As the wire is galvanised and painted it can without injury be washed with soap and water. in employment are given, together with the value of their Whatever extra covering or cushion may be placed on this work, the various kinds of labour being detailed under wire spring seat should be made of such oil-cloth or leather the headings of manufactures, building, and employmert as to at least allow it to be wiped with a wet cloth. Thus in the ordinary service of the prison. Hard labour furnished, railway carriages could be kept comparatively free of the first class is principally enforced by means of the from pathogenic germs-if there was only a service appointed crank, the tread-wheel, and stone-breaking, and in some to clean them. But, unfortunately, while cattle trucks are nineteen cases is non-productive. In thirty-five of the prisons, rigorously disinfected, a railway carriage is never similarly however, crank and wheel la,bour is utilised in the grinding treated. If sheep or bullocks contract disease it may be of corn, the pumping of water, and the sawing of wood. traced to the cattle truck, and those interested in the cattle Second-class labour seems to be in every case productive, and trade have brought sufficient pressure to bear to ensure the consists of oakum picking, work at various trades, and constant whitewashing and purification of cattle trucks. employment in the ordinary services of the prison. Females .
______________
1
THE
LANCET, July 7th, 1894.
2
THE
LANCET, July 14th, 1894.
1115
’
,
.
.
are employed in the laundry, at needlework, and at other duties of a domestic nature. At Carnarvon prison the cooking, hitherto done by females, is now done by the male prisoners. The health of the prisoners and the sanitary condition of the prisons are, on the whole, reported to have been satisfactory, and the same may be said with respect to discipline. At Lewes the health of the prisoners has been above the average. The Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society has rendered excellent service in preventing the return to prison of discharged In one men, and is highly spoken of in the various reports. case-namely, at Ipswich-the chaplain expresses his regret that the funds of this society are not sufficient to send all willing youths to a seafaring life, or to give them in some other way an opportunity of learning a trade, in order that they may be rescued at a time when there is more hope of reformation being permanent. Complaint is made by the chaplain at Stafford that magistrates are constantly introducing fresh supplies of young children into prison, thus replenishing the springs of crime at their very source. This is all the more disheartening considering the great efforts that are being made to bring about a better state of things. In Cardiff and its surroundings the chief cause of crime seems to be drunkenness, and convictions for offences against the Sunday Closing Act have been rather numerous. The chaplain gives it as his opinion that for prisoners convicted of drunkenness over and over again ordinary imprisonment does them no good, and does not tend towards theiramelioration. He advocates that habitual drunkards should be sent to special institutions for an indefinite period. In nearly every case the chaplain’s report shows the behaviour at divine service to have been both reverent and attentive.
Traffic, introduced
by Messrs. Dobell, Gruggen, and De’Ath, pointed out by Dr. Thresh, into a discussion on adulteration and competition with foreign countries. The importance of the more careful supervision of dairies and cowsheds, and of cleanliness not only of the cows, but of the milkers also, was emphasised, and Dr. Thresh declared it a short-sighted policy to permit the present depressed condition of agriculture to be an excuse for doing nothing. Mr. De’Ath (medical officer of health of the Buckingham rural and urban districts) pointed out that the consumers of milk do not get what the producers sell, and that the public are defrauded by the middlemen. The fallacy that milk is valuable in proportion to its yellowness leads to the poorest skimmilk or cheese being made to look like the richest by addition of colouring matter-either anatto or a preparation of blood. This falsification is mainly done, not by the farmers, but by the milk-sellers. Cream is extracted from milk by centrifogal separators, and the skimmed milk is sent by thousands of gallons daily to London and other large towns to be mixed with new milk in proportions which are just sufficient to keep within the law as to the amount of drifted,
as was
in the mixture. This mixture is sold as butter fat, &c., milk at such a price that the market value of real new milk to the farmer is proportionately reduced and his means of meeting sanitary requirements are thereby decreased. This system of mixing skimmed milk with new is so profitable to those who practise it that firms can easily afford to pay the fines which are inflicted when they are detected. Obviously in these instances the action of the law should be directed against the vendor and not against the farmer. Dr. E. B. Forman, member of the London County Council, said that the Public Health Committee of the Council were endeavouring to get rid of cowsheds in London and to withdraw the milk trade from the hands of the lower class of milkmen. Mr. Hattersley (chairman of the Aylesbury Dairy THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE SANITARY Company) stated that they never took any milk from a farm which had not been first inspected by the medical officer of CONGRESS. health for the district and the water of which had not been’ analysed by their own analyst. Before coming to the conMR. F. VERNEY, the chairman of the Sanitary Committee ference that morning he found that out of 130 samples which of the Backs County Council, is to be congratulated upon had been forwarded to them for analysis forty-six were conthe success of the conference which was held under his demned, and consequently no milk was taken from these presidency at Aylesbury on the 31st ult. For some years farms. The Housing of the Working Classes Act gave rise to a this sanitary committee, led by Mr. Verney, has been trying I discussion, and it was remarked by several competent good to interest the Council in sanitary matters, but with so little observers that although directly the Act has been of little success that a proposal has actually been made to abolish service, yet that indirectly it had done an immense amount it altogether, the excuse being that the Council has no of good, especially in those counties in which a medical power to carry into execution any of the suggestions of officer of health had been appointed. The last subject introduced for discussion was that of the committee. According to the Bucks Adtertiser, a certain portion of the Council has "taken a delight Isolation Hospitals," opened by Mr. Phillpot and the Rev. in making the work of the sanitary committee a farce," P. L. Cautley. It was stated that in the whole county there and has referred back carefully prepared reports and was only one such hospital. Many speakers gave details of mutilated clauses beyond recognition. Disappointments and outbreaks which had resulted in serious loss of life, and in threats have only tended to increase the ardour of the chair- the expenditure of considerable sums of money, which outman, and last week he invited to the county town a number breaks could almost certainly have been prevented had means Dr. Bulstrode expressed the of well-known sanitarians, including Sir Thomas Crawford, of isolation been available. K.C.B., Dr. Bulstrode, Inspector of the Local Government opinion that an isolation hospital was an absolute necessity Board ; Mr. J. Torr and Dr. E. B. Forman of the London in every district properly administered, and exposed the folly County Council, and the medical officers of health for York- of waiting for a serious outbreak of disease and then proshire, Essex, and other counties, to meet in conference the viding temporary accommodation during the panic. We repeat that Mr. Verney is to be congratulated on the medical officers, inspectors, members of sanitary authorities and others interested in sanitary work residing within the success which attended his efforts in organising so successful county. In response to Mr. Verney’6 invitation the County a gathering-successful not only from the authority of the Hall was well filled, and a number of interesting topics speakers, but from the evident interest displayed by so many were discussed. In hia opening address Mr. Verney referred persons in the subject discussed ; and it is sincerely to be to the importance of educating public opinion, and read letters hoped that the Backs County Council will emphatically from Baron Rothschild and other county gentlemen wishing negative any proposal, if such be made, for abolishing the the meeting success. Sir T. Crawford took for his "text" Sanitary Committee. That such a retrograde policy should ever be contemplated is almost incredible, for such a coma letter written by Miss Florence Nightingale, in which she says, "What we require is not more literature, but hands to mittee, presided over by so earnest a sanitarian as Mr. work. Health in the home has not been carried home to the Verney, and advised by a competent medical officer, could not hundreds and thousands of rural mothers and girls, on whom but be of immense benefit to the whole of the county. so largely depend the health of the rural population. In fact, they do not believe in sanitation as affecting health and preventing disease." He hoped that the Conference would result in strengthening the bands of the Sanitary Committee. INTERCOLONIAL MEDICAL CONGRESS OF Sanitary administration under the Local Government Act, AUSTRALASIA. 1894, was discussed by Mr. Torr, Dr. Southey, Dr. Bulstrode, Dr. Whitelegge and others, and in a letter Mr. Fosbroke THE fourth session of the Intercolonial Medical Congress (medical officer of health of Worcester County) related how the work in his department had increased by leaps and of Australasia will be held in Dunedin, New Zealand during the week beginning Monday, Feb. 17th, 1896, under bounds, and how the countv bad derived benefit therefrom. The discussion of the Sanitary Protection of the Milk the presidency of Dr. F. C. Batchelor of that city. It has new
Quite
the furnace in their fellow workmen. Mr. Snell has ascerrecentlywe described how the German Government. tained that there is a very marked difference in the way aias owner of the railways, contracted with the Berlin munitemperature is borne when it is below 2000’F. and when above cipality for the thorough washing with hot water, soap, that heat. Up to that degree a man can look at the metal in1 and soda of every cattle truck that entered Berlin, and this though the cattle, as a rule, were in perfect health. a, furnace with comparative ease, but before it reaches 3000° he is compelled to wear coloured glasses. Now in cast-ironiThe movements of human beings cannot be watched and furnaces the heat of the metal is from 1800° to 2000° and1 controlled like those of cattle. It was clearly proved that E the men take no precautions ; but the heat of molten steel is cattle were infected by conveyance in railway trucks, and from 2700° to 2800°, while the heat of the gases in the furnace the necessary precautions were consequently enforced. It is would be about 200° or 300° more, and the men in attendance not so easy to say where or how a person contracts a disease-have to wear dark blue glasses to protect their eyes. The heat; whether the germ was absorbed in a railway carriage, in a of the metal in the Bessemer process is higher still, increas- cab, or in any of the many other places the traveller has freing to 3000° or 3200°, but the metal has not to be so long. quented. It should suffice, however, that pathogenic germs In have been found and undoubtedly exist in railway carriages or so carefully watched as in the Siemen’s furnace. for us to demand that as much care should be bestowed none of these cases, however, has Mr. Snell been able to associate any deep or superficial eye lesion as a result of the! on the purification of carriages that convey travellers as is There is already bestowed on cattle trucks. exposure of the eye to intense light and heat. A great deal more might be said on the hygiene of rail.. still another source of light which has been found to exert a prejudicial influence on the eye-namely, electricity ; ex- ways. We fear that the drainage and general sanitation of posure to the light employed in electlic welding-and sup- many railway stations are not all that could be desired. posed to be equal to 8000 candles-causes sharp conjunctivitis, With regard to railways, the abolition of the second class by with great pain and lacrymation, and, if it be allowed to some lines has led to a general improvement in the carriages enter the eye, optic neuritis, with retinitis and a central of the third class. These latter are, of course, by far the most se3toma in the vision, is extremely likely to occur. The important, for there are many more third-class travellers effects are due to the chemical rays, which are most intense than second or first class ; it is, also, the third class which Whether a passenger be travelling third or first towards the violet end of the spectrum, and the men are pays. obliged to use a screen made of dark ruby, non-actinic glass. class, he requires air to breathe, and should have at These, with many other details, are interestingly given in least room enough to be able to change his position comMr. Snell’s paper. fortably. It is injurious to health to "it in a narrow In the carriages of the Conspace for several hours. tinental railwa.ys, and even in some of the older third-class SANITATION ON THE RAILWAY. carriages of England, there is not enough room. Then, in many instances the light is altogether deficient. Time is OUR remarkson disease germs in railway carriages have precious, and much reading has to be done in railway been extensively noticed by both the British and Continental carriages ; the eyesight of innumerable travellers has doubtless been permanently injured by the insufficient light in railway press. We related that the experiments of Drs. Petri, Kolb, carriages. Again, warming and ventilating carriages, as we and Friedrich-the inoculation of 117 guinea-pigs with the have on many occasions remarked, have been greatly neglected. dust collected in railway carriages and the bacteriological We believe the movement of the train might be utilised as examination of that dust-proved that it contained pathogenic motive power for filtering or washing the air, and propelling it in sufficient quantities into the carriages. If the air was germp, and notably the bacillus of tuberculosis. The interest all over the carriage in a diffused manner there distributed of railattached to these facts presses upon us the necessity would be no draught. The supply might be calculated way reform in respect to sanitation. Spittoons ought to be almost Under such circumstances the mathematically. a to each contain which should supplied railway carriage, suitable liquid disinfectant ; but the careful washing windows need not be opened, and travellers would not srffer and purifying of the interior of railway carriages are from the dust and dirt which are blown about. The railway more especially needed. In view of this necessity the companies would, on their side, greatly benefit because their first-class and second-class carriages are very unsuitably rolling stock would last considerably longer. But the quesand ventilating railway carriages in a upholstered. The plain wooden seats of the third-class tion of warming and automatic manner has hardly as yet been carriages are preferable, inasmuch as they can be easily scientific As, however, the number of railway travellers washed. But when are they washed? How often is the inside studied. of a metropolitan third-class railway carriage scoured with increases every day, and as the average number of hours the has to pass in railway carriages also soap and hot water ? The number of bacteria in the dust travelling public the of rendering railway carriages healthy increases, necessity third-class is certain to be much of a carriage higher than in a first-class one, and if there is more facility for washing and safe becomes more and more important. It is time, the need of washing is still greater. In the other classes the therefcre, that the subject should be more carefully investiwoollen and stuffed seats and cushions are serious obstacles gated. to sanitation. On the French railway lines there is a large hand-pump which can be wheeled up to a railway carriage, SEVENTEENTH REPORT OF THE COMand while one attendant works the pump-handle another with a hose brings a spray, which is projected with great MISSIONERS OF PRISONS. This spray force, to bear upon the cushions, the seats, &c. generally consists of a mercurial solution. This is a very QUITE recently’ we noticed the first part of this report, and good precaution to take when it is known that the carriage is infected, but it cannot be applied as an everyday practice. briefly dealt with some of the statistics of incarceration and Wood’s woven wire spring seat, used by the Great Eastern prison mortality for the year ending March 31st, 1894. Railway Company and on some of the Highland railways, Part II. is now before us, and consists of the reports by the would be easier to clean. It is as soft as horsehair on each of fifty-seven local prisons. Tabulated and wool, and it does not harbour dust and is ventilated inspectors of statements the number of daily average prisoners engaged throughout. As the wire is galvanised and painted it can without injury be washed with soap and water. in employment are given, together with the value of their Whatever extra covering or cushion may be placed on this work, the various kinds of labour being detailed under wire spring seat should be made of such oil-cloth or leather the headings of manufactures, building, and employmert as to at least allow it to be wiped with a wet cloth. Thus in the ordinary service of the prison. Hard labour furnished, railway carriages could be kept comparatively free of the first class is principally enforced by means of the from pathogenic germs-if there was only a service appointed crank, the tread-wheel, and stone-breaking, and in some to clean them. But, unfortunately, while cattle trucks are nineteen cases is non-productive. In thirty-five of the prisons, rigorously disinfected, a railway carriage is never similarly however, crank and wheel la,bour is utilised in the grinding treated. If sheep or bullocks contract disease it may be of corn, the pumping of water, and the sawing of wood. traced to the cattle truck, and those interested in the cattle Second-class labour seems to be in every case productive, and trade have brought sufficient pressure to bear to ensure the consists of oakum picking, work at various trades, and constant whitewashing and purification of cattle trucks. employment in the ordinary services of the prison. Females .
______________
1
THE
LANCET, July 7th, 1894.
2
THE
LANCET, July 14th, 1894.
1115
’
,
.
.
are employed in the laundry, at needlework, and at other duties of a domestic nature. At Carnarvon prison the cooking, hitherto done by females, is now done by the male prisoners. The health of the prisoners and the sanitary condition of the prisons are, on the whole, reported to have been satisfactory, and the same may be said with respect to discipline. At Lewes the health of the prisoners has been above the average. The Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society has rendered excellent service in preventing the return to prison of discharged In one men, and is highly spoken of in the various reports. case-namely, at Ipswich-the chaplain expresses his regret that the funds of this society are not sufficient to send all willing youths to a seafaring life, or to give them in some other way an opportunity of learning a trade, in order that they may be rescued at a time when there is more hope of reformation being permanent. Complaint is made by the chaplain at Stafford that magistrates are constantly introducing fresh supplies of young children into prison, thus replenishing the springs of crime at their very source. This is all the more disheartening considering the great efforts that are being made to bring about a better state of things. In Cardiff and its surroundings the chief cause of crime seems to be drunkenness, and convictions for offences against the Sunday Closing Act have been rather numerous. The chaplain gives it as his opinion that for prisoners convicted of drunkenness over and over again ordinary imprisonment does them no good, and does not tend towards theiramelioration. He advocates that habitual drunkards should be sent to special institutions for an indefinite period. In nearly every case the chaplain’s report shows the behaviour at divine service to have been both reverent and attentive.
Traffic, introduced
by Messrs. Dobell, Gruggen, and De’Ath, pointed out by Dr. Thresh, into a discussion on adulteration and competition with foreign countries. The importance of the more careful supervision of dairies and cowsheds, and of cleanliness not only of the cows, but of the milkers also, was emphasised, and Dr. Thresh declared it a short-sighted policy to permit the present depressed condition of agriculture to be an excuse for doing nothing. Mr. De’Ath (medical officer of health of the Buckingham rural and urban districts) pointed out that the consumers of milk do not get what the producers sell, and that the public are defrauded by the middlemen. The fallacy that milk is valuable in proportion to its yellowness leads to the poorest skimmilk or cheese being made to look like the richest by addition of colouring matter-either anatto or a preparation of blood. This falsification is mainly done, not by the farmers, but by the milk-sellers. Cream is extracted from milk by centrifogal separators, and the skimmed milk is sent by thousands of gallons daily to London and other large towns to be mixed with new milk in proportions which are just sufficient to keep within the law as to the amount of drifted,
as was
in the mixture. This mixture is sold as butter fat, &c., milk at such a price that the market value of real new milk to the farmer is proportionately reduced and his means of meeting sanitary requirements are thereby decreased. This system of mixing skimmed milk with new is so profitable to those who practise it that firms can easily afford to pay the fines which are inflicted when they are detected. Obviously in these instances the action of the law should be directed against the vendor and not against the farmer. Dr. E. B. Forman, member of the London County Council, said that the Public Health Committee of the Council were endeavouring to get rid of cowsheds in London and to withdraw the milk trade from the hands of the lower class of milkmen. Mr. Hattersley (chairman of the Aylesbury Dairy THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE SANITARY Company) stated that they never took any milk from a farm which had not been first inspected by the medical officer of CONGRESS. health for the district and the water of which had not been’ analysed by their own analyst. Before coming to the conMR. F. VERNEY, the chairman of the Sanitary Committee ference that morning he found that out of 130 samples which of the Backs County Council, is to be congratulated upon had been forwarded to them for analysis forty-six were conthe success of the conference which was held under his demned, and consequently no milk was taken from these presidency at Aylesbury on the 31st ult. For some years farms. The Housing of the Working Classes Act gave rise to a this sanitary committee, led by Mr. Verney, has been trying I discussion, and it was remarked by several competent good to interest the Council in sanitary matters, but with so little observers that although directly the Act has been of little success that a proposal has actually been made to abolish service, yet that indirectly it had done an immense amount it altogether, the excuse being that the Council has no of good, especially in those counties in which a medical power to carry into execution any of the suggestions of officer of health had been appointed. The last subject introduced for discussion was that of the committee. According to the Bucks Adtertiser, a certain portion of the Council has "taken a delight Isolation Hospitals," opened by Mr. Phillpot and the Rev. in making the work of the sanitary committee a farce," P. L. Cautley. It was stated that in the whole county there and has referred back carefully prepared reports and was only one such hospital. Many speakers gave details of mutilated clauses beyond recognition. Disappointments and outbreaks which had resulted in serious loss of life, and in threats have only tended to increase the ardour of the chair- the expenditure of considerable sums of money, which outman, and last week he invited to the county town a number breaks could almost certainly have been prevented had means Dr. Bulstrode expressed the of well-known sanitarians, including Sir Thomas Crawford, of isolation been available. K.C.B., Dr. Bulstrode, Inspector of the Local Government opinion that an isolation hospital was an absolute necessity Board ; Mr. J. Torr and Dr. E. B. Forman of the London in every district properly administered, and exposed the folly County Council, and the medical officers of health for York- of waiting for a serious outbreak of disease and then proshire, Essex, and other counties, to meet in conference the viding temporary accommodation during the panic. We repeat that Mr. Verney is to be congratulated on the medical officers, inspectors, members of sanitary authorities and others interested in sanitary work residing within the success which attended his efforts in organising so successful county. In response to Mr. Verney’6 invitation the County a gathering-successful not only from the authority of the Hall was well filled, and a number of interesting topics speakers, but from the evident interest displayed by so many were discussed. In hia opening address Mr. Verney referred persons in the subject discussed ; and it is sincerely to be to the importance of educating public opinion, and read letters hoped that the Backs County Council will emphatically from Baron Rothschild and other county gentlemen wishing negative any proposal, if such be made, for abolishing the the meeting success. Sir T. Crawford took for his "text" Sanitary Committee. That such a retrograde policy should ever be contemplated is almost incredible, for such a coma letter written by Miss Florence Nightingale, in which she says, "What we require is not more literature, but hands to mittee, presided over by so earnest a sanitarian as Mr. work. Health in the home has not been carried home to the Verney, and advised by a competent medical officer, could not hundreds and thousands of rural mothers and girls, on whom but be of immense benefit to the whole of the county. so largely depend the health of the rural population. In fact, they do not believe in sanitation as affecting health and preventing disease." He hoped that the Conference would result in strengthening the bands of the Sanitary Committee. INTERCOLONIAL MEDICAL CONGRESS OF Sanitary administration under the Local Government Act, AUSTRALASIA. 1894, was discussed by Mr. Torr, Dr. Southey, Dr. Bulstrode, Dr. Whitelegge and others, and in a letter Mr. Fosbroke THE fourth session of the Intercolonial Medical Congress (medical officer of health of Worcester County) related how the work in his department had increased by leaps and of Australasia will be held in Dunedin, New Zealand during the week beginning Monday, Feb. 17th, 1896, under bounds, and how the countv bad derived benefit therefrom. The discussion of the Sanitary Protection of the Milk the presidency of Dr. F. C. Batchelor of that city. It has new