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ripe age of seventy years. His health had been impaired forseveral years, but he still continued the active duties of hisprofession until within a day or two of his death. Dr. Smith- adopted the diseases of children as a specialty at thecommencement of his professional career in 1853, and was"the pioneer in this department of medicine in the UnitedStates. His first contribution to the literature of this subject- appeared in 1854, and from that date to his death he was aprolific contributor to the current medical periodicals, thetotal number of his papers exceeding one hundred and fifty’in number. His work on "The Diseases of Children"

appeared in 1869 and passed through eight editions, the lastof which was recently issued under his personal revision.For a quarter of a century this work has maintained its posi-tion as the accepted text-book of the schools and thefavourite authority of the profession. Dr. Smith was fortwenty years Clinical Professor of Diseases of Children inBellevue Medical College. Dr. Lusk died suddenly on

- June 13th from an apoplectic attack at the age of sixty years.He was dean of the Bellevue Medical College and Professorof Midwifery in that institution. His reputation in the

department of obstetrics rests on his treatise on midwifery,which took the highest rank on the issue of the first edition.’It has been translated into several languages.

Medical Schools fail to Con8olidate.The attempt to consolidate the University Medical College

and the Bellevue Medical College has not succeeded. Thetrouble seems to have arisen when the scheme reached the

point of making up a faculty out of the existing faculties.The friends of the schools are greatly disappointed at theresult, for they anticipated the creation of the best equippedmedical school in the United States.

Food Adulteration in the United States.

According to Dr. Fremkel the extent to which foodadulteration is carried in the United States is a matter of’doubt. The estimates of competent authorities on thesubject vary between from 2 to 15 per cent. There is no

’question that the first figure is too low. The last is given bythe special agent of the Department of Agriculture, who has- examined the subject very exhaustively. Good judges’estimate the value of the food supply of the United States ata minimum of$4,500,000,000 annually. If we take the veryonservative estimate of 2 per cent. the loss to the consumerby adulteration amounts to$90,000,000 per year. Dr.McNeal, of Ohio, estimates the annual loss to the people of"the United States at one and one-third billion dollars ; and tothe state of Ohio. as the result of three years’ investigation, aloss of$78,000,000 annually, or 232,000 per day.Th.e Treatment in a Case Decided to be " Hearsay Evidence. "In a recent case where it was desired to prove that the

plaintiff suffered a severe injury to the spine the attempt was,made to prove that fact, not by the testimony of the physicianwho had attended her, but from the treatment that she hadreceived. Such proof, the appellate division of the Supreme’Court of New York think, was in the nature of "hearsay."The treatment of the plaintiff for a particular disease, itmaintains, was no more than a declaration of the physicianthat she was suffering from such a disease ; and as the- declaration would not be competent the court holds that theproof of the treatment was not competent.

The Anti-vivisection Bill in the United States Senate.Senator Gallinger has reported the Bill to regulate vivi-

section in the district of Columbia. He accompanies the Billwith a very full report which discusses the subject for and.against the Bill from the evidence presented to the committee.He appends a most impressive list of names of some of themost influential people in the country who favour and urgethe passage of the Bill. It is very plain that the efforts of,the vivisectionists to defeat the Bill have attracted unusualattention to this measure, thus arousing a large opposition’from very prominent persons who evidently do not clearlyunderstand the situation, but whose expressed wish andgreat numbers have influenced the Senate committee. TheBill provides-(1) for the use of anaesthetics in all painfulexperiments on living vertebrate animals, the so-calledinoculation experiments, test of drugs and medicines andcases of recovery from surgical procedure being expresslyexempted from this requirement; (2) for the licensing of allexperimenters by the district commissioners, except thosEwho are duly authorised officers of the Government of theUnited States or of that of the district of Columbia; (3) foi

the prohibition of vivisection in the public schools and inexhibitions for the general public ; and (4) for the inspectionof all places of experiment by inspectors to be appointed bythe President of the United States.

Prosecution of Quacks.It appears that since April, 1895, when the law providing

for the criminal prosecution of quacks was restored, the NewYork County Medical Society has caused the arrest of eighty-three persons for practising illegally, and it has obtainedconvictions in fifty-one cases. These persons have paid$3690 in fines, and a number of them have been sent to gaolbesides. The legal department of the society has a largenumber of cases pending. This fact alone is deterrent ofmuch illegal practice, and not only tends to prevent thepretenders from trying to establish themselves in New YorkCity, but also drives some of them to other localities where’the duty of prosecuting offenders is not undertaken by theprofession.

The Hosp’ital Fund of New York.The Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association, the

receipts of which for this year amounted to$61,500, havedistributed of this sum$50,000 among 35 institutions. Thesum of$8200 was designated for special purposes and$3300was reserved for expenses. The collections were$2500 morethan last year, and the number of "free hospital days was690,841.June 16th.

MONTREAL.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Victorian Order of Nurses.EVERYTHING just now is tinctured with Jubilee, from

politics to postage stamps. The chief scheme for a CanadianColonial commemoration is that of the Victorian Order ofNurses. This ambitious but somewhat visionary project isgreatly exercising the colonial mind, both lay and medical.The main feature of the project is to dot the cities in theDominion with "training centres," and the sparsely populatedparts with residential centres," in which a supply of trainednurses would be housed, to be in readiness to go to sickcalls where skilled nursing is not now available; theremuneration of the nurses to be from an endowment, thefriends of the sick to pay what they are able. The projectis receiving the backing of our highest social circles,and it will need it all to make it go. From a pamphletdealing with the duty and charm of nursing the sick, issuedunder the asgis of Lord and Lady Aberdeen, I take thefollowing : Some of the chief objects of the order will be:To provide skilled nurses in sparsely settled and outlyingcountry districts ; to provide skilled nurses to attend the sickpoor in their own homes in cities ; to provide skilled nursesto attend cases in cities at fixed charges for persons of smallincomes, the charges being paid to the funds of the order ;to provide small lying-in rooms and wards in cottagehospitals or homes ; to prepare trained nurses thoroughlyqualified to carry out these objects. It would not be a prudentthing to have the order started unless provision be madefor perpetuating it. It would take an endowment ofabout £200,000 to insure revenue to make this benefactiona lasting one for all the needy districts of Canada. Shallwe confess ourselves helpless in the presence of this urgentneed and dismiss the cry for help with the remark, ’ Bnt amillion of dollars is a great sum to raise’ ? Certainly amillion of dollars is a great sum to raise, but if the peopleof Canada can be fully informed and thereby awakened tothe greatness and goodness of this movement, a milliondollars will be forthcoming for the commemoration of theDiamond Jubilee of Her Majesty by such means as will causegratitude to grow continually in the hearts of the peopleof Canada towards the memory of Victoria the Goodand her representatives and subjects in Canada who pro-moted the order." The following paragraph from thepamphlet has given offence to some sensitive ones inthe medical profession : "In the sparsely settled partsof Canada what is needed now more than ever beforeis the presence in scores of localities of skilled physicianswho have forgotten the meaning of personal ease-menwho believe that the nobility of living is to help others

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and not to roll up riches. These country sections callfor competent medical men ; and if the medical men are

supplemented by trained nurses they could each cover

more ground. The trained nurses would also carryvaluable knowledge of a most practical sort into the’homes of the people." At first there was a chorus of praiseof the scheme from the leaders of the medical profession,’but now murmurs of dissatisfaction are heard. Two

provincial medical bodies have given public expression ofdisapproval of the scheme. One association in annualsession felt moved to express its " most unqualified dis-

approval...... on account of its dangers to the public."A Millionaire’s Will.

The body of the late Mr. J. H. R. Molson, the millionairebanker and brewer, who died last week, was taken to

Boston, U S., for cremation. Mr. Molson was one of themembers of a family whose name is indissolubly connectedwith the McGill University by reason of frequent and vastbenefactions. Among the many of Mr. J. H. R. Molson’scontributions were the land on which is erected the RedpathLibrary and £15,000 for the extended buildings of themedical faculty. Mr. Molson’s will contains a bequest tothe McGill University of .620,000 as an endowment forgeneral purposes ; E2000 for the Montreal General Hospital : £2000 for a crematorium to be erected in Mount RoyalCemetery, the bulk of the vast fortune going to relatives,there being no direct heirs.

Montreal Meeting of the British Medical Association.In my last communication reference was made to the work

of the Museum Committee of the British Medical Association,and among other things I stated that some disappoint-ment had been felt on account of the comparatively fewapplications for space by exhibitors up to that time. It

appears now that tue tables have been much sought after,and in consequence the exhibitors will be more numerousthan was originally anticipated by the committee. It isfurther expected that the successful work of this committeewill result in augmenting the funds of the executive by some£300 or £ 400. Altogether the Montreal meeting promisesto be in every respect a success.

Provoked Gangrene.Two interesting cases were shown recently at the Medico-

Chirurgical Society in which this diagnosis was reached.Both were young women; in one case there was on thelower third of the calf a round sore with a black crust the’size of a silver dollar. The patient stated that she had hadtyphoid fever, and also that she had had a similar sore oncebefore. The sore was a long time in healing, but ultimately-the patient went out well. The hospital physicians, thoughnot unanimous, were mostly of the opinion that the case was.as stated. The patient had acted rather queerly, and on oneoccasion succeeded in setting fire to her clothing. The agentused was thought to be carbolic acid, and the reason of theslowness in healing was the constant irritation of the part bythe patient. The other case was that of a hysterical young.girl who had destroyed the little finger of the left hand,.also by carbolic acid.

An Easy -Diagnosis.The liberty of the individual is well safeguarded in the

province of Quebec, so that when one wants to get a patient-in an asylum much formality is required. Lengthy papershave to be signed by two practising physicians who havemade independent visits to the patient. One of our asylumofficers recently stated in a discussion that he was oncerequested to accept a man as an inmate on a document inwhich the attending physician gave as the only basis of hisdiagnosis of dangerous lunacy the following: "He tellslies."

. A Medical Association’s Jubilee.The meeting of the American Medical Association of

Philadelphia held from June lst to June 5th was a notableone, being its fiftieth. The attendance was very large.The oratorical and scientific parts were excellent, and thehospitality was lavish. The serum typhoid test was dis-cussed at length at one of its sessions. Wyatt Johnston, ofMontreal, supported his dried blood method by enlargedexperience. There is a tendency now to consider theagglutination as a symptom rather than a test of typhoidfever. The normal blood of negroes frequently agglutinates.June 12th.

AUSTRALIA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Hospital for Plithisical Patients, New South Wales.LADY HAMPDEN has proposed that the record reign of

Queen Victoria should be commemorated in New South Walesby the establishment of homes or hospitals for phthisicalpatients, and at a meeting held at Government House it wasdecided to carry this proposal into effect. As has beenpointed out in previous communications, the need for suchinstitutions is beyond question, and their establishment nowwould be a very excellent permanent memorial of theQueen’s reign, and one in accord with her own wishes.

Inadequacy of Quarantine Arrangements at Port Phillip.The resources of the quarantine station at Port Phillip

Heads have been somewhat taxed recently, as two mailsteamers, the Nineveh and the Himalayeh, have come

into port with small-pox on board and the Melbournepassengers have been quarantined. As usual, they havegrumbled, said the case alleged to be small-pox was notsmall-pox, and that the arrangements for their reception atthe station were inadequate. Dr. Gresswell, the chairmanof the Board of Health, admits that the equipment ofthe quarantine station is not all that is desirable, butthat the arrangements must be always of r, more or lesstemporary character, and all the convenience of a first-classhotel cannot be expected. The mail steamer Polynesianarrived at Adelaide with two alleged cases of small-pox onboard, and was quarantined there pending investigation. Thecases, however, proved to be chicken-pox.

Outbreak of Dengue Fever.An epidemic of dengue fever has occurred at Normanton,

Queensland, to such an extent that nearly every inhabitanthas been affected. The warders in the gaol succumbed tothe disease, and the prisoners have been released and thegaol turned into a temporary hospital. Those who had beenlong resident in the district enjoyed immunity for a time, butat last were affected like the others.

The Diet of Australians.Mr. P. Muskett, in the first of a series of lectures at the

School of Arts, Sydney, on the "Alimentary Properties ofVegetables," said that an Australian annually would eat asmuch meat as two Englishmen, three Canadians, fourGermans, and ten Italians, and that the health of Australianswas suffering in consequence. Indigestion was the Austra-lian national malady. He advocated a much more extendeduse of vegetables. Excessive tea-drinking was anothercause of much ill-health among Australians.

New South Wales Medical Union.The fourth annual meeting of the New South Wales

Medical Union showed that this society was in a flourishingand vigorous condition. Its members’ roll had steadily in-creased and it had a good balance in the bank. In severalinstances during the year members had been threatenedwith legal proceedings, but on the council intimatingits intention to defend the cases the proceedings weredropped. The council had taken legal advice as to whetherany form of indemnity given to a medical practitioner wasbinding in law, and the opinion obtained was that all suchagreements are void in law. The following resolution wascarried unanimously at the meeting: "Where any society,syndicate, or organisation exists having amongst its objectsthe affording of medical aid to its members or to the public,or both to its members and the public, and the council shallby resolution have decided that such society, syndicate, ororganisation is prejudicial to the interests of the medicalprofession, no person pecuniarily interested in, or otherwiseconnected with, such society shall be eligible for member-ship of the union, and if such a person be a member he maybe expelled. No person who practises as a homoeopath shallbe eligible as a member."

St. John Ambulance Association.The annual demonstration of the Victoria Centre of the

St. John Ambulance Association was held recently in theTown-hall, Melbourne. The President, Sir William Clarke,Bart., was in the chair, and His Excellency the Governoraddressed the meeting. The work of the association hadsteadily progressed and it had now about 10,000 members,more than half of whom were qualified to render first aid.