audit, in about six months, it will be objected to, and the question of whether the costs can be paid out of the rates will be raised. Reviews. Our Canal Population. By GEORGE SMITH, F.S.A. had died from typhus was lying unburied in the same cabin with its mother, who was ill of the same disease. These infected boats are not isolated, as a gentleman jumped into one to cross the canal, and found it a veritable fever den.' When the fever barge arrives at its destination, it pushes its way amongst the others, and lies there unnoticed by any sanitary authority, and perhaps even a doctor is not sent for. The children run ashore and play with others at the wharves, the wife makes purchases at the shops, and infectious diseases are thus spread broadcast amongst those with whom they come in contact. Mr. Davenport also says that small-pox cases and dead bodies were frequently carried through the Nantwich district to Wolverhampton.' In addition to these a case was mentioned at Polesworth where a woman was confined in one of these cabins, without a friend in the world beyond the man who called himself her husband, who had left her to shift for herself. Some women on the bank went to her assistance, and she recovered in a few days. FEW persons are aware that our canal population equals that of a large town, being above 100,000 in number. They are a distinct class in themselves, living and floating on our rivers and canals in a state of wretchedness, misery, immorality, cruelty and evil training that carries peril with it.' This population lives in about 25,000 boats or barges, which ply our canals, that are about 4,710 miles in length, as well as in many cases upon the rivers into which the canals discharge themselves. Some of the cabins are com. paratively clean and comfortable, but the majority are the most filthy holes imaginable, swarming with bugs and other vermin, often heated to much too high a temperature by rarely living in the cabin, except occasionally in summer. All the bargees or boaters are not of this low class, as those who ply on the river Thames or on the Surrey Canal are more respectable, the mother and children The boaters we have described are those who make long voyages between the midland counties and the north, but as they constitute the great majority, something should be done to remedy these shocking sanitary and social scandals. It may be said that the young men and women, and even the children, are frequently healthy looking and stalwart, because their lives are passed during the daytime in the open air, but that is no reason why they should be totally uneducated, and should lead lives which make them brutal, vicious, and utterly selfish. We have no statistics relating to boaters and their families, and therefore do not know how many die during early childhood from preventable diseases, and help to spread infection amongst the population living on the banks of the canals, or at the places where their journeys terminate. At any rate some stringent measures should be passed by the legislature to prevent overcrowding, to diminish the risk of infection when epidemic diseases occur in the boats, and if possible to compel the attendance of the children at some school. The recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Factory Acts, recently presented to Parliament, refer amongst other classes to the canal population. The Commissioner recommends that young females and children over three years of age should not be allowed to reside in these stoves placed in them, and frequently so offensive as to cabin, etc. The following is extracted from the Potteries The inspector of the Nantwich Rural Sanitary Authority abundantly confirms all that Mr. Smith has said as to the state in which the boaters live. He had found malignant small-pox on board a boat which was carrying the infection all through the district. In another boat a child who Mr. Smith proposes some more stringent regulations, in which we quite agree with him. They are as follows: 1. That no girls under eighteen years of age should be allowed, unless married, to live and work on the boats; 2. That no boy under thirteen years of age shall sleep or work on the boats; 3. That every person above eighteen years of age should have at least 75 cubic feet, and every boy between thirteen and eighteen should have 50 cubic feet of space in a cabin; 4. That the names of the boatowner and captain should be painted on each boat, and that the tonnage and number of persons allowed to live and sleep on the boat should be entered on a register; 5. That the workshop inspectors, sanitary inspectors, or others to be specially appointed, should be empowered to enter the cabin and detain the boat until all the law required was carried out; 6. That power should be given, as in the case of workshops, enabling the inspectors to summon the captain or owner for default in carrying any of these regulations into effect; 7. That a proper certifi cate as to the date of birth should alone be admissible as proof of the age of children; and, lastly, that after two years the children should be compelled to pass the second standard of the Education Act. We shall conclude this brief review with an epitome of some of the evidence given before the Royal Commission. One witness said that a man and his wife and four, five, six, or seven children frequently lived together in the cabin. He could not tell if the births were registered. The manager of the North Staffordshire canal stated that the boat-children are in a worse position now, as regards education and morality, than they were twenty-five years ago. Another witness said that the boaters worked nearly as much on Sundays as on other days, as they were unwilling to lose a turn, and consequently there was no opportunity to send a child to school. If the recommendations of the commission be carried out that no child above three years of age shall be allowed to reside on the boats, many of the moral scandals will be avoided, but unless some regulations as regards the amount of cubic space for those who reside in the cabins be enforced, as well as some means for preventing the spreading of epidemic diseases, be adopted, injury to the health of the boaters and their families as well as of those with whom they mingle, will not be effectually prevented. We therefore think that the recommendations contained in the report of the commission are insufficient to meet the sanitary exigencies of the case, and to prevent the horrible social evils we have so briefly described. SEEDS OF DISEASE.' THIS is the title of a lecture delivered by Dr. Arthur Ransome before the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. The lecturer began his lecture by putting the question, why should not all sanitary reform be left to the medical officer of health? He replies that the sanitary association should still act energetically, (1) because it is not the function of the corporation to investigate questions of sanitary science, nor to invite discussion upon its principles. (2) Because the mechanical carrying out of sanitary work, would have but little permanent effect without the direct teaching of sanitary laws. (3) Because in this way the association can give no small help to the constituted authorities of the community, and (4) Because the association can obtain information which cannot be procured by any public officials. After giving this introduction Dr. Ransome said that under the term 'seeds of disease', he wished to speak of certain sources of disease and death, and the means by which they may be prevented. He believes that these sources of disease are living organisms which act upon the human body and produce the diseases known as zymotic. Before vaccination was introduced, small-pox caused one death in every ten, and amongst children under ten years old, the mortality was as large as one third of the deaths from all causes, and that at the present time the average number of deaths from zymotic diseases is at least one-fifth of the whole. Dr. Ransome considers that Drs. Beale and Saunderson have succeeded in showing by the microscope the germs of small-pox, and the mode of their reproduction is such that no man accustomed to observe the ways of living beings would hesitate to pronounce at once 'that this object was a living being.' It is true as regards epidemic diseases generally that the object by which they spread is invisible to the eye, but as each shows regular and definite changes, has a limited term of life, and throws off particles which will reproduce the like, we could on these grounds scarcely refuse their claim to be living organisms. We cannot perform analogous experiments on children to these of Pasteur, but the history of the cholera attacks which followed the use of the water of the Broad Street pump are just as conclusive as his, for upwards of 500 people were carried off in ten days, all of whom lived within 250 yards of this pump. tion amongst the nation. 'Here then is the practical lesson, that all the favourite resting-places of these germs must be rooted out, and all that will foster or predispose to their growth must be done away. Hence the value of the general work of this sanitary association, and the urgency of its precepts with regard to cleanliness and purity in all things-in dwellings, in clothing, in person, in food and drink, and in the air we breathe.' It will be at once seen that, with a living thing to combat, we must prevent the spreading of the disease by isolation and disinfection, for if the subtle thing is permitted to escape, then it is hopeless to arrest its course. Isolation of the rich in houses specially provided for them is therefore of the first importance, and the precautions to be adapted in ordinary dwellings must be carried out with the greatest care when isolation in special houses cannot be arranged. In the meantime we must try to find out the favourite nests, the breeding-places, the mode of growth, and the more usual food' of those organic (living) things which give rise to zymotic diseases. In order to carry on such an inquiry we must have not only a local, but a natural system of registration of disease, by which we could track the course of these diseases from place to place, and trace them to their original place of outbreak, in the same way as meteorologists have had their stations in different parts of the earth, and thus deduced the laws of storms and the doctrine of cycles of atmo. spheric states. How important would it be if we could obtain similar records of epidemics, and if these tornadoes of disease could be brought within our knowledge as plainly as atmospheric disturbances.' The only means of obtaining this knowledge is for a return to be made to the officer of health of every case of epidemic disease which may occur in either public or private medical practice, so that proper disinfection and isolation can be carried out. An old writer (Place) has said: Epidemics are a present from the poor to the rich, as a recompense for their neglect.' Let us not look at the matter in so selfish a light, but endeavour to prevent these and other remediable diseases out of a spirit of common humanity, and not merely as an act of self-preservation. We have contented ourselves with giving an abstract of Dr. Ransome's address, without any comment, as the subject is one too large for full discussion in this journal, and anything short of that would fail to be satisfactory to ourselves or our readers. Correspondence. All communications must bear the signature of the writer, not necessarily for publication. A STEP IN ADVANCE AT COVENTRY. (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-In your issue of Saturday last you noticed under the above heading a memorial which has been presented to the Local Government Board by the sanitary authority for this city, asking that it might be made compulsory upon householders to give notice to the local sanitary authority of the occurrence of infectious disease in their houses. As no immediate action is likely to be taken on the memorial, the sanitary authority have now passed a resolution to invite the medical men of the town to make an early report of all cases of infectious disease coming under their notice, and have agreed to pay a fee of 3s. 6d. for each report. I think it will be allowed by all who are conversant with the many difficulties under which the medical officer now labours, that both the memorial and resolution strike at the root of the gravest of those difficulties, for we really have not any reliable and early source of information of the outbreak of disease except when a death occurs. Secondly, the influences which retard the progress of epidemic diseases, are those which will stop or prevent putrefaction or fermentation, viz., cleanliness, heat, and certain metallic salts. The realisation of this fact is important, and shows that we have a living thing to deal with, and not agents such as those we meet within a chemist's shop. Arsenic may remain untouched for years and do no harm, but the most minute portion of the living poison may rest undisturbed for weeks or months, and then During the past two years medical officers have been suddenly begin to grow and spread destruction and desola-racking their brains to find some method of checking the frightful fatality occurring daily from scarlet fever, but with little results, the cause of the failure being to a great extent the fact that no organised system exists of reporting immediately the first case or cases occurring in any district; on the contrary, the fever nearly always gets a week or two's start of the medical officer, and, its infective properties being so powerful, that time is ample to sow the seeds of a serious epidemic, so that the golden moments are lost when, by the isolation of two or three cases, hundreds of lives might be saved by thus stamping out the disease. The Coventry Sanitary Authority was led to adopt this course from the experience gained during an epidemic of scarlet fever occurring last year and the previous year. The disease existed chiefly amongst the artisan class, and these people were found, for want of some supervision, to expose their children and those of their neighbours in the most reckless manner to the infection. Children were frequently sent to school from infected houses; the little sufferers were even sent themselves in the earlier and later stages of the malady. In more than one instance I discovered children being taken to a day nursery during working hours while suffering from the fever, the mothers taking them home and nursing them at night, and going direct to work in a factory in the morning. I need scarcely say that this conduct has been found to spread the disease in large numbers of cases. It was dealt with when discovered; but how much mischief had been done before the discovery? For several months last year the number of cases of scarlet fever in the district was so small, that had it been known where they existed they could easily have been dealt with so as to prevent any further spread of the disease; but for the want of that information, the necessary steps could not be taken, and it continues to exist with fatal results. If a large number of cases are reported by the medical men, the subsequent dealing with them will no doubt be a matter of difficulty; still if only one inspector were appointed to visit the houses as frequently as possible, much might be done by him to prevent the wholesale spread of disease which has hitherto taken place; in case of an epidemic large staff of inspectors would no doubt be necessary. The working of the system, I dare say, will be watched with interest by many, and I hope before long to be able to report favourably upon it. MARK A. FENTON, M.D., Medical Officer of Health of Coventry Urban Sanitary District. Coventry: April 17, 1876. a VACCINATION IN ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER SQUARE. (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-With regard to your notice of my last annual report on the sanitary condition of St. George's, Hanover Square, I shall be glad if you will allow me to mention that the vaccination returns sent to me are by no means complete, but that I believe that vaccination is efficiently carried out in the parish. The reason that I gave for epidemics of small-pox being now-a-days so much more fatal than they ought to be, was that re-vaccination is not sufficiently practised. W. H. CORFIELD, M.A., M.D. (Oxon.), 10, Bolton Row, Mayfair, W. testimony is forthcoming of the diminution of paludal fevers wherever this natural therapeutical agent is made available. Mr. Joseph Bosisto, of Melbourne, who has given much attention to the peculiar properties of the Eucalyptus, has come to the conclusion that its purifying qualities are due to the presence of a volatile acid and a volatile oil, contained, the first in most parts of the tree, the latter in the leaves only. The volatile oil is exhaled as well as the acid, and their aroma may be detected in the air by persons travelling in the bush, giving an invigorating and healthy tone to the atmosphere. Messrs. Whitaker and Grossmith, of 120, Fore Street, City, have had the happy idea of combining the oil distilled from the leaves of the odorata species of Eucalyptus with a toilet soap, which is very agreeable in use, giving out a pleasant juniper-like odour. It thus forms a valuable purifier of the skin, as well as a disinfectant of the air, and is highly to be recommended for use in the sick room, both by patient and attendant. Travellers in marshy countries, or cities where fever is rife, will also find this soap a valuable adjunct to their toilet necessaries, from its disinfectant as well as its purifying characteristics. NESTLE'S MILK FOOD. THIS food, prepared in Switzerland, composed of milk, wheat, and a little sugar by a new method of Mr. Nestle's invention, comes to us endorsed by the recommendation of many eminent physicians both English and foreign. The combination contains all the elements necessary for the complete nourishment of infants, and is an excellent food for children and invalids. For infants especially, its unvarying composition gives it a decided advantage over the feeding-pap frequently made without proper care, by unskilled and careless persons. As an adjunct to a scanty supply of breast-milk Nestle's milkfood will be found of great value. A great argument in its favour is that children like it very much, and take it with avidity, and, from the best evidence we can obtain, thrive on it. It is very easily prepared, with water only, and we recommend it to the attention of mothers and nurses as a wholesome, nutritious, and agreeable food, suitable for all ages and from the earliest periods of infancy. APPOINTMENTS OF HEALTH OFFI CERS, INSPECTORS OF NUISANCES, ARKWRIGHT, Mr. Thomas, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances HOMER, J., Esq., has been appointed Treasurer to the Leyburn Rural Sanitary Authority, vice Grime, resigned. HURFORD, Mr. T., has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Chard Rural Sanitary District, at rool. for one year. KENDALL, Walter Benger, L.R.C.P. Edin., M. R.C.S. Eng., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Kidsgrove Urban Sanitary District. REDWOOD, Thomas Hall, M.D. Univ. Durh., L.R.C.P. Lond., WEBB, Charles Frere, M. R. C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S. Eng., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Basingstoke Urban Sanitary District at 60l. for one year. WILCOX, William, L.R.C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S. Eng., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the North Walsham Urban Sanitary District. 878. Improvements in the manufacture of gelatine capsules or cases for containing and preserving food, medicine, and various substances, solid and liquid. Donald Nicoll, Clement's Inn, Strand, London. 1075. Improvements in the preparation of farinaceous food and other alimentary substances. Nicholas William Lobb, South Lambeth, London. 1080. Improved apparatus for ventilating coal mines, and for other similar purposes. William Robert Lake, Southampton-buildings, London.-A communication from Francis Murphy, Streator, Illinois, U.S. 1179. Improvements in closet and other valves and apparatus for cleansing, watering, controlling, regulating, and arresting the flow or discharge of water and preventing waste thereof. Philip John Davies, King's Cross-road. 1357. Improvements in apparatus for ventilating confined spaces, which apparatus is also applicable for the cure of smoky chimneys. Henry Lacy, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. ABSTRACT OF SPECIFICATIONS. 809. Lavatories. G. T. Blundell and J. W. Blundell, Limehouse. The chief features of novelty in this invention are as follows:-The peculiar arrangement and disposition of the various parts of lavatories and their construction, in such manner that either the water used may be measured by the person using it, and may be constructed that the quantity to be used cannot be exceeded, or by a modified form the user may regulate the supply. To effect these objects they make use of the power developed by the water running from the basin or other vessel, and where it compresses or displaces air in the air-tight container, thus causing the level of a corresponding amount to be raised, stored, or measured. Or they let the water flow from a higher level into a chamber which contains the quantity to be measured for use. Or the apparatus may be so arranged that the measurer may be dispensed with. 1238. Enabling persons to enter places filled with smoke. E. G. Brewer Chancery-lane. A cap or hat with internal webbing resting on the top of the head. Air drawn in through smoke filtering appliances; smoke excluded by mantle fastened by a string to the neck of the wearer; refreshing vapours supplied to the nose; lantern fitted with smoke filter. 3294. Generating and purifying ozone. W. R. Lake, Southampton Buildings. The ozone This invention relates to the employment of a glass vessel either round or of other convenient shape, and of glass in which open glass tubes are arranged round the inside with a flat stick (of phosphorus set in each tube. In the middle of the vessel and next to the tubes is a hollow glass plunger, which is raised or lowered to graduate the height of the water in the tubes and bottom of the vessel. which is generated in the tubes rises into an ozone chamber attached to and above the vessel, which is constructed of wire-cloth, with alkaline or other chemically prepared stuffs between said wire walls. Above this ozone chamber is preferably a dome (of glass), into which the acid and other products of the crude ozone accumulate. 3327. Dry ash closets. J. E. Seddon and C. Ellis, Bolton. This invention relates, first, to apparatus for receiving, sifting, and distributing the ashes; and secondly, to a flanged slab placed in the foundation beneath the seat to insure the correct position of the pan or night-soil receptacle. 3339. Stoves. J. C. A. Rohde, Hamburg. According to this invention air is made to enter the chimney through specially arranged screens, and caused to impinge against the flame for complete combustion. The heat ascends into a hood for warming a room. 3371. Invigorating beverage. J. P. Eccles, Liverpool. The peculiarity of this liquor consists in its combining the nutritive qualities of beef extract with the strengthening one of wine and the tonic ones of cinchona. At the same time producing a wine that will keep in any climate, and that is agreeable to the palate. 3772. Lighting and heating. W. Boyd, Forest Hill. This invention relates to an improved lighting and heating apparatus to be placed in any convenient part of an apartment or building, and from which the light and heat alone will be given to the apartment, the whole of the products of combustion being carried to the outside of the building. The apparatus is composed of an inner and an outer chamber, the inner chamber being open at bottom and top, but the outer chamber closed at the top, and having near its base an opening or openings fitted with metal pipes or elastic tubes. The base supporting these chambers also carries a gas or an oil burner placed within the inner chamber, and if desired a gas and air burner or burners. The chambers are made preferably of a cylindrical form and of white or of coloured glass or a semi-opaque material, in order that the apparatus may be used both for lighting and heating. Oxygen is admitted at the bottom of the inner chamber, and the heated air and products of combustion passing up this chamber are drawn between it and the outer chamber and thence to the chimney or other outlet. INTEMPERANCE IN AMERICA. DR. DE MARMON, in the New York Medical Journal, says: 'For the last ten years the use of spirits has, 1. Imposed upon the nation a direct expense of 600,000,000 dols.; 2. Has caused an indirect expense of 700,000,000 dol.; 3. Has destroyed 300,000 lives; 4. Has sent 100,000 children to the poorhouse; 5. Has committed at least 150,000 people to prisons and workhouses; 6. Has determined at least 1,000 suicides; 7. Has caused the loss, by fire or violence, of at least 10,000,000 dols, worth of property; 8. Has made 200,000 widows, and 1,000,000 orphans.' AUTOMATIC PURIFICATION OF WATER. A CURIOUS instance of the automatic purification of water is supplied by the following case. According to the reports of the Water Department of Philadelphia, the impurity in the form of sulphuric acid, from the drainage of the coal mines amounts, at Schuylkill Haven, to nearly ten grains in a gallon, an amount destructive to all animal life in the water above Reading. It seems, however, that near the latter place three creeks, the Ontelaunee, about six miles above, the Tulpehocken, and Wyoming Creek, at Reading, drain magnesian limestone regions, and thus tend to neutralise the effect of the sulphuric acid by forming sulphate of lime and magnesia at Reading, reducing the amount of acid per gallon to 265 grains, and below Valley Creek, at Valley Forge, the amount is said to be reduced to 15 grain per gallon, or about the same as at Fairmount Dam. The analysis of the water at Fairmount in the years 1842, 1854, and 1865, gave respectively 302, 1417, and 1508 grains to the gallon, whilst the lime remained about the same; the magnesia also increased steadily from 230 to 835 in the same interval. COAL DUST AND COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS. Ar the last meeting of the Royal Society, Mr. W. Galloway read a paper showing to what extent, so far as is at present known, coal dust influences coiliery explosions. The latter portion of the paper had reference to the climatic conditions affecting explosions arising from coal dust influence. If, said Mr. Galloway, we assume that the magnitude of some colliery explosions has been determined by the presence of coal dust in the workings, and that the hygrometric state of coal dust changes with the humidity of the air with which it is in contact, then it is an obvious conclusion that explosions of this kind will be most likely to occur where the air in the mine is driest; for at such times not only will the coal dust be most easily raised into the air by the local explosion (which we may suppose to happen at any rate), but it will also be turned more easily than when it contains a larger proportion of moisture. A number of such considerations leads to the conclusion that explosions whose magnitude is due to the influence of coal dust will happen most frequently during cold weather, and, similarly, we might expect to find that the magnitude of those explosions which occur during cold weather is sometimes traceable to the influence of coal dust. The statistics show that the frequency of explosions occurs thus:-December, 10; February, 6; March, 6; July, 5; October, 4; November, 4; April, 3; May, 3; June. 3: January, 2; August, 2; September, 1. While much still remains to be learnt, Mr. Galloway suggests for the present the practical method of watering the roadways and airways of coal mines to 'lay' the dust. POLLUTION OF RIVERS. ACCORDING to the report of the medical commissioners on the sanitary qualities of river waters, published in Boston, U.S., in 1874, of all kinds of refuse, human sewage is the one most to be feared. Similar in kind, but less in degree, are the washings of clothing, and filthy rags supplied to paper mills. Next in order, but of a different kind, are waste liquors, containing animal matters, especially such as are in a state of decomposition. First among these are tanneries and slaughter-houses, whose waste liquors are said to possess from five to ten times the manurial power of average sewage. Next are glue factories, wool screenings, shoddy and woollen mills, and soap works, others are principally dirty or offensive; while dye and chemical stuffs form the principal pollution of a large class of works, and enter secondarily into the waste products of many other industries; but it is plainly desirable on sanitary grounds to avoid the admission to drinking water of any kind of filthy or refuse matter. HEALTH AND SEWAGE OF TOWNS. THE following are the questions to which replies have been requested by the Executive Committee of the Society of Arts for the use of the conference to be held on May 9 next: 1. Name of city, town or other locality; 2. Population at last census; 3. Deathrate in 1875: 4. State how the water-carried sewage is dealt with; 5. How many water-closets used; 6. When water-closets are used, what treatment does the sewage undergo or has undergone by filtration, precipitation, or farming? state if not under any treatment, as at Manchester, etc.; also how many years has the treatment been in action; if abandoned please state when; 7. What has been the total cost of construction to the locality for sewers up to end of 1874? 8. What has been the annual outlay for maintenance? 9. What was the net annual cost of dealing with the sewage in 1875? 10. What method in water sewage has been found successful as respects preventing the pollution of rivers, commercially and otherwise? does your sewage contain any manufacturing refuse? 11. State how night soil is dealt with; 12. Are the ashes mixed with the night soil? 13. How many middens, ashpits, pails, tubs, and the like, known as 'dry methods? 14. When by the dry method, what processes are adopted to get rid of the products? 15. What has been the gross cost of disposing of the night soil in 1875? 16. What have been the receipts in 1875 17. State the cost of the scavengering distinct; 18. What has been found in your locality to be the best method of disposing of the night soil in respect to cleanliness and profit? 19. Are there any obstacles, either social or legislative, which impede the progress of improvement in the sanitary condition of your locality, and if so what are they? 20. Can you offer suggestions for the removal of them? 21. What has been the cost of legal proceedings in respect of sewage in any form, and how many injunctions have been obtained against your locality? 22. State any additional facts which you consider desirable to be discussed; 23. Please forward a copy of your last report. THE NITRATES AS WATER PURIFIERS. THE Scientific American informs us that Dr. Mensel states he has observed that, in many cases, at least, the nitrates have been converted into nitrites through the action of bacteria. The following facts sustain this theory: well-water containing no ammonia, and when fresh no nitrites, but some bacteria, after standing a fortnight gave the reaction for nitrites. In this case, the nitrates were the only nitrogenous compounds in the water when it was fresh. Salicylic, carbolic, and benzoic acids, alum, and table salt in short, all antiseptics and antizymotics-hinder or retard the formation of nitrites. Water containing nitrates did not, in the presence of bacteria, produce nitrites; they appeared in from two to fourteen days after adding some carbohydrate, as sugar, gum, or starch. A few other carbonaceous compounds convert nitrates into nitrites, but slowly and weakly. Antiseptics stop this decomposition. Freshly distilled water, boiled with sugar and saltpetre, and sealed up while boiling, contained no nitrites after standing for weeks, because no putrefaction can take place without bacteria. Putrefying albuminous substances, brought into contact with nitrates, yield nitrites. UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. EXAMINATION IN STATE MEDICINE. The AN examination in so much of state medicine as is comprised in the functions of officers of health will be held in Cambridge in June, 1876, beginning on Tuesday, June 13. Any person whose name is on the medical register of the United Kingdom may present himself for this examination provided he is twenty-four years of age. examination will be in two parts. Part I. will comprise :-Physics and chemistry. The principles of chemistry, and methods of analysis with especial reference to analyses (microscopical as well as chemical) of air and water. Microscopic examination of flour. The laws of heat, and the principles of pneumatics, hydrostatics and hydraulics, with especial reference to ventilation, water-supply, drainage. Construction of dwellings, disposal of sewage and refuse, and sanitary engineering in general. The examination in Part I. will begin on June 13, and will occupy two days. Part II. will comprise: Laws of the realm relating to public health. Sanitary statistics. Origin, propagation, pathology, and prevention of epidemic and infectious diseases. Effects of overcrowding, vitiated air, impure water and bad or insufficient food. Unhealthy occupations and the diseases to which they give rise. Water-supply and drainage in reference to health. Nuisances injurious to health. Distribution of diseases within the United Kingdom, and effects of soil, season and climate. The examination in Part II. will begin on June 15, and will occupy two days The examinations in both parts will be oral and practical as well as in writing. Candidates may present themselves for either part separately or for both together at their option. Every candidate will be required to pay a fee of four guineas before admission to each part of the examination. Every candidate who has passed both parts of the examination to the satisfaction of the examiners will receive a certificate testifying to his competent knowledge of what is required for the duties of a medical officer of health. All applications for admission to this examination, or for information respecting it, should be addressed to Professor Liveing, Cambridge. Candidates who desire to present themselves for examination in June next must send in their applications and transmit the fees to Professor Liveing, Cambridge, on or before May 30. Cheques should be crossed Mortlock and Co.' No fees can in any case be returned. The applications of candidates, whose names have not been on the register three years, should be accompanied by a certificate of birth or other proof of age. The following suggestions have been drawn up by the syndicate for superintending the examination in State medicine as some guide to candidates preparing for that examination. Part I. The principles of chemistry are sufficiently set forth in any of the ordinary manuals. Candidates will be expected to understand the application of the general laws to such cases as occur in the practice of an officer of health, but will not be expected to show an acquaintance with those details of chemistry which have no direct bearing on sanitary questions. No importance will be attached to the use of any particular chemical notation. not expected that officers of health will in general be able to act as public analysts, but that they will know the methods of analysis and enough of the practice to obtain approximate results and to interpret correctly the results of professional analysts. The kinds of applica tions of the several sciences of which the candidates are expected to show a competent knowledge will be best understood by a perusal of Parkes's Manual of Practical Hygiene.' Part II. For the laws of the realm upon sanitary matters candidates are recommended to study the Public Health Act, 1875, published by Eyre and Spottiswoode. 'Sanitary Statistics' are to be regarded as including the leading statistical facts in respect to population, births and deaths in the United Kingdom; the method of registering births and deaths; the mode of determining birth-rates and death-rates, and the conditions or circumstances or prevalent diseases by which these rates are chiefly influenced. The rest of Part II., besides the subjects expressly mentioned, is to be understood as including those of vaccination, disinfectants, the management of outbreaks of infectious diseases, with the construction of hospitals temporary or permanent; endemic diseases; the qualities and suitableness of various waters used for domestic purposes; the inspection of factories, mines, workshops, and common lodging-houses. It is The following list of works, with the names of the publishers, will probably be found valuable to some of the candidates, but the necessity of reading all or any one of them is not urged upon them. On Parts I. and II. Parkes's Manual of Practical Hygiene,' Churchill; E. Smith's Manual for Officers of Health,' Knight; E. Smith's Handbook for Inspectors of Nuisances,' Knight; Hart's 'Manual of Public Health,' Smith, Elder and Co. On Chemistry. General principles. Fownes' Manual of Chemistry,' Churchill ; Bloxam's Chemistry,' Churchill; Roscoe's 'Lessons in Elementary Chemistry,' Maxmillan; Attfield's Chemistry,' Van Voorst. On Analysis: Bloxam's Laboratory Teaching,' Churchill ; Thorpe's Quantitative Analysis,' Longmans; Sutton's 'Systematic Handbook of Volumetric Analysis,' Churchill; Wanklyn and Chapman's Water Analysis,' Trübner; Hartley's 'Air and its relations to Life,' Longmans. On any part of Chemistry, for reference: *Watt's Dictionary of Chemistry, Longmans. On Physics: Ganot's Physics,' Longmans; Lardner's Hydrostatics and Pneumatics,' edited by Löwy, Lockwood. On Microscopy: Hassall's Adulterations Detected,' Longmans. On Sanitary Engineering, Water-supply, Sewage, etc.: Latham's Sanitary Engineering,' Spon; Tomlinson's Warming and Ventilation, Lockwood; Burnell's Well-sinking, Weale's series, Lockwood; Corfield's Treatment and Utilisation of Sewage.' Macmillan; *Reports of Royal Commission on Pollution of Rivers, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1870, and following years; * R. Angus Smith's Air and Rain," Longmans. On Statistics: Lewis's Digest of the English Census,' Stanford; 'Statesman's Year-book,' Macmillan : * Reports of the Registrar General, Eyre and Spottiswoode. On Construction of Hospitals: Miss Nightingale's Notes on Hospitals,' Longmans; Oppert's Hospitals, Infirmaries, and Dispensaries, their construction, interior arrangement, and management," Churchill. The examination papers set at the examination in October, 1875. can be obtained at the Cambridge Warehouse, 17, Paternoster Row, London, price 1s., or by post is. 2d. The books thus marked are books of reference. NOTICE. THE SANITARY RECORD is published every Saturday morning, and may be ordered direct from the Publishers. Annual Subscription, 175. 4d.; free by post, 19s. 6d. Reading Covers to hold 12 numbers of THE SANITARY RECORD have been prepared, and may he had direct from the Publishers or through any Bookseller, price 35. each. |