and that the sum charged was fair and proper, if the Commissioners of Sewers were entitled to recover at all. His defence, however, was that the arch was only a surface arch of four and a half inches thick; and, although the bricks fell, that fact did not affect the stability of the wall, which was not a dangerous structure. It was underpinned by the Metropolitan Board of Works to meet the level of the street, and was, although an old wall, perfectly sound. Before the district surveyor called to inspect the premises the arch had been repaired, and the surveyor to the Commissioner of Works warned the district surveyor not to proceed with the work, as it was not necessary.-Evidence in support of this statement having been given, Sir Thomas White thought the district surveyor had acted precipitately, and dismissed the summons. THE SMOKE NUISANCE AT SOUTH SHIELDS. AT the South Shields Police Court, J. I. Pascoe and others (Tyne Plate Glass Company) were summoned upon a charge of non-consumption of smoke at their works.Mr. J. J. Hindmarch, sanitary inspector for the borough, stated that he watched the chimney at the works in Oyston Street for half an hour, and during eight minutes of that period dense smoke was emitted therefrom.-Mr. Pascoe said the company was very wishful to do anything that could be suggested for the consumption of the smoke.The Stipendiary Magistrate (Mr. Yorke) said there were efficient means for the prevention of the smoke nuisance, which could be done at a very small cost. Really, eight minutes was an excessive time for dense black smoke to be emitted, and he must inflict a penalty of 40s.-The same defendants were then charged with non-consumption of smoke at their works at Cookson's Quay.-Mr. Hindmarch proved watching these works for half an hour on the 2nd inst., the result being as follows: Dense smoke, 10 minutes; moderate, 6 minutes; and 13 minutes none. -Mr. Pascoe said the stokers were leaving the company's service, one of them that night and the other the next day, and they were trying to make as much smoke as possible. -Mr. Hindmarch, in reply to the Bench, said he thought the stokers might perhaps have been acting maliciously.The Stipendiary said as it might possibly have been done wilfully he should inflict the mitigated penalty of 20s. in this case. Thomas J. Nixon was next charged with nonconsumption of smoke at his brick manufactory in Westoe Lane. Mr. Hindmarch said he watched the defendant's works for half an hour on the 2nd inst., and during that time dense smoke was emitted for fifteen minutes, moderate smoke for ten minutes, and for five minutes no smoke. In witness's opinion the defendant had not boiler power to carry on the works, and in consequence the men had to be constantly firing.-The Town Clerk (Mr. J. Moore), who prosecuted in this and the following case, reminded his Worship that this was the third time the defendant had been summoned for the same offence, although he had not been convicted. - The Stipendiary ordered the nuisance to be abated, and fined the defendant 37.-The next case was that of Charles W. Anderson, owner of the Hilda Colliery, the charge being that of having emitted black smoke from the hauling engine so as to be a nuisance.-Mr. Hindmarch proved the case, dense smoke having issued for thirteen minutes, moderate smoke for a like time, and no smoke for four minutes.-The Stipendiary fined the defendant 37., and ordered the nuisance to be abated. T. J. Swinburne, owner of the Phoenix Flint Glass Works, Park Street, was charged with a similar offence. -Mr. Hindmarch stated that in the half hour during which he watched the works dense smoke issued for twelve minutes, moderate smoke for six minutes, and no smoke for twelve minutes. Witness said that by using proper fuel and stoking with proper care he had no doubt the nuisance could be prevented.-Mr. Thomas Bell, manager of the works, was called for the defence, and he stated that it was impossible to melt flint glass and consume the smoke as well. They could not possibly ventilate their furnaces They in the same way that boiler furnaces are ventilated. They could not use coke instead of coal.-In cross-examination, witness said they now used the Hilda small coal, but they had tried the large coal, and also the Acomb coal. had also tried coke and a mixture of coke and coal. They had got rid of the smoke, but they could not produce the glass.-The Town Clerk suggested, as a very important question had been raised, that the case should be adjourned, in order that scientific opinion might be got on the point. -The Stipendiary concurred, and the case was adjourned for a month. Legal Notes and Queries. THE KEIGHLEY GUARDIANS AND VACCINATION. THE Local Government Board, through their solicitors, have informed the Keighley guardians that unless within one week directions be given to the vaccination officer, the Attorney-General will be instructed to apply to the Queen's Bench Division for a rule nisi for an attachment for contempt against the members who recently voted for a resolution rescinding all portions of resolutions which have been or can be construed into a general order to prosecute persons for non-vaccination. Review. The Study and Practice of Public Medicine. By W. H. CORFIELD, M.A., M.D., Professor of Hygiene, etc. THIS lecture was delivered by Dr. Corfield at the opening of the Session at University College. Dr. Corfield commences by pointing out the extent to which sanitary science is cultivated now as compared with a few years since, and the necessity for all medical men obtaining a thorough knowledge of its laws and of the means by which unnecessary suffering, disease, and death may be prevented. That although the study of sanitary science is not compulsory on medical men, yet, as it is their mission to relieve pain and disease, they are morally bound to acquire all knowledge which conduces to those ends. Thus Sir W. Jenner says that the first and most important aim of medicine as now taught is to prevent disease; and if it cannot be prevented, then to cure it. The experiments of Dr. Jenner to extirpate small-pox are those which have most successfully attained this end, and we cannot comprehend the amount of sickness and the number of early deaths which vaccination prevents, unless we read accounts of the disease as it ravaged these islands before his time. Small-pox has prevailed again most extensively of late, though neglect of proper primary vaccination and of revaccination. In Bavaria and in the Rhenish Provinces, where vaccination is strictly enforced, the mortality is about 4 per 1,000, in London 16, and it was 66.5 in Prussia before the vaccination law was passed. In consequence of this difference a law was passed in 1874 making vaccination of infants and revaccination of children of riper years compulsory for the whole German Empire. Dr. Corfield then goes on to ask where are the blackdeath, sweating-sickness, and the plague? Where is scurvy, that decimator of our armies and navy? They are where typhus will soon be, and where enteric will be some day, as we now know the circumstances which favour the spread of each, and can therefore pay special attention to their causes. As regards other infectious fevers we know that the great means of checking them is isolation, and that therefore special hospitals are absolutely necessary, and intercourse with infected persons must be stopped until all danger of communicability has ceased. He also reminded his hearers of the possibility that gout, rheumatism, rickets, and many other chronic diseases are also prevent able by proper diet, pure air, and exercise, which are more effective agents of cure than pharmaceutical preparations. Until quite recently educated people expected a physician to find a specific remedy for every disease, but now if a child has, say, scarlet fever, the parents do not expect a cure from a specific, but they do expect that the medical man will prevent its spread. Dr. Corfield considers that a more important matter for our consideration even than the prevention of zymotic diseases is, 'What can we do against our great endemic plagues, with phthisis at their head?' We have long known that general unsanitary conditions, hereditary taint, bad air and good, as well as certain employments, are favourable to these diseases; but it is only lately that Dr. Buchanan's investigations have shown the relation between the prevalence of phthisis in certain localities and the want of proper subsoil drainage. Again, a very large number of deaths occur from rickets, although the Registrar General's list of diseases does not specifically include it; and yet no child should die from rickets, as poorness of blood, arising from improper feeding, deficient air and light, overcrowding, and poverty, are its chief causes. Another reason for degeneracy of the population is early working in factories or other places which are improperly ventilated, and the use of tea and coffee by growing children, instead of milk and other nourishing diet. It is true that milk is dear, but it need not be so if the grass lands were manured with the sewage which we throw away by turning it into our rivers and thus polluting them. Dr. Corfield dwells at some length on the utility of sewage farms, and speaks in very high terms of the fruits and vegetables grown on them, if by proper management the soil do not become saturated, and the sewage be passed through and not merely over the surface of the ground. Dr. Corfield next considers the connection between outbreaks of typhoid and scarlet fever which have been traced to infected milk, and advises that all dairy farms should be placed under sanitary supervision. He then refers to our water-supply, and dwells emphatically on its pollution by sewage, which should be employed in irrigation of our farms. He points out the varied knowledge requisite for an efficient medical officer of health. Hygiene,' as this knowledge is now termed, is usually defined as the art of preserving health; the art by which we contrive to lengthen our lives; but it is more than this, it is the science which studies the causes of diseases, and points out the means for their prevention; for to prevent disease we must study its causes, we must find out the conditions which favour it, which tend to make it spread. Hygiene, then, links physiology-the study of healthy action-with pathology, and shows how we pass from health to disease. We shall only refer particularly to one point in Dr. Corfield's lectures, and we do so because he has entered into it at considerable length, viz. the utilisation of sewage. We quite agree with him in the necessity for applying the valuable manure, which is at present worse than wasted, by being thrown into our rivers, but we are not sure that our knowledge of the methods of its application is sufciently advanced to use it in all cases by irrigation. The produce of rye grass, and of some vegetables, is enormous. Some of the finest celery and largest strawberries we have ever seen were grown on a sewage farm, but certain chemists assert that the proportion of water contained in the grass and vegetables is greater than when they are grown in the ordinary way, and that milk especially, obtained from cows fed upon the rye grass, will not keep so long as ordinary milk. We are not at all convinced that these assertions are true, indeed we very much doubt them; but before local sanitary authorities generally form sewage farms, we think that the matter should be more fully and critically investigated. LUNACY is enormously on the increase in Liverpool. In 1859 there were ninety-six patients in the Union Asylum; now there are 462. Correspondence. All communications must bear the signature of the writer, not necessarily for publication. AMBULANCE FOR INFECTIOUS CASES. (To the Editor of the SANITARY Record.) SIR, The Goole Local Board have recently had an ambulance built which answers well, and perhaps a short description of it may be of use to others besides Dr. Symes. The idea of the vehicle was taken from that figured in Dr. Swete's Handbook of Cottage Hospitals,' but closed sides with windows were, for infectious cases, considered preferable to the open body with curtains recommended by Dr. Swete. The body is something like that of an omnibus, seven feet long, three feet nine inches broad, and four feet high, opening with a door at the back. The sides are boarded for the lower two-thirds, with sash windows above, two of which will let down. In the bottom is a wooden tray for the patient to lie upon, six feet by two feet, sliding on rollers, and with handles at the ends and sides, so that it can be lifted out and carried upstairs. The tray lies along one side of the van; and being narrower than the body, the remainder of the breadth forms a gangway for the person who accompanies the patients, and who sits on a stool. The undercarriage was that of a second-hand phaeton; the wheels are respectively two feet six inches and three feet six inches diameter, with patent axles. There is a driving-box in front on the top of the van. The whole machine is very light, so that one horse can easily draw it. It was made by a local coachbuilder, and cost H. FRANKLIN PARSONS, M.D. 221. Goole, June 12, 1876. WATER ANALYSIS AND TYPHOID GERMS. (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR, Mr. Wanklyn, in his reply to my remarks on his statement at the Society of Arts, has not joined issue with me on the points submitted to him, but has gone off, and given a summary of the albuminoid ammonia process for the detection of organic matter in water. I certainly understood that Mr. Wanklyn admitted, with many other analysts, that whilst this process affords a satisfactory estimate of the quantity of albuminous matter in the water, it does not absolutely show the whole. That my statement is sufficient for my purpose is shown by the following quotation from Mr. Wanklyn's Essay on Water Analysis published in the Manual of Public Health, 1874. In speaking of the colour produced by the action of the Nessler test on the distilled water, he says, 'If indeed it yields a brownish precipitate, then it contains very much ammonia; but if it remain quite colourless, it is free from all trace of ammonia (i.e. it does not contain so much as 005 milligrame).' Now that is just my contention, viz. that Mr. Wanklyn could not detect the presence of a dozen 'typhoid germs,' if Dr. Klein's be the true germs, for, as before stated, it would take many more than a dozen to make up the bulk of one blood corpuscle, and this would not yield 005 milligramme of ammonia. I may mention that Dr. Klein only says 'I hope to be able to show that organisms occur in the mucous membrane of the intestine in enteric fever in such numbers and so definitely arranged that their importance cannot be questioned for a moment.' He does not say absolutely that these micrococci, which resemble the Crenothrix polyspora, are the cause of typhoid. Finding that the micrococci are so very much smaller than starch corpuscles, and so different in their behaviour, Mr. Wanklyn abandons that part of his argument, and says instead, 'I can assure Dr. Tripe that just as no germ is capable of surviving the passage through a furnace at a white or red heat, so in like manner no germ will survive the passage through a considerable stratum of good porous filtering material.' Now, this was not the point, because the passage through a considerable stratum of material signifies the lapse of a sufficient amount of time for the germ to die and become oxidised, but other chemists of equal standing with Mr. Wanklyn differ from him as regards ordinary filters, or even filtering beds, as most believe that water once fouled can only be purified by the long-continued action of natural influences. In support of this assertion I refer to the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Pollution of Rivers, and to the conclusions published in the sixth report. Indeed, Dr. Letheby was of opinion with others, that a moist heat of 212° Fahr. does not destroy the contagious principle of infectious diseases, and if so, it is quite possible that the temperature of boiling water, even assisted by the action of the alkaline permanganate solution, might not destroy the vitality of the germs. This, however, is a statement to which I do not attach much weight in the present controversy. I will allude to one more passage in Mr. Wanklyn's reply, to which I wish to draw attention. 'I showed that when a dirty river water is passed through some six inches of the filter, it becomes as pure as West Middlesex water, and that by repeated passage through the filter, it becomes as pure as a deep spring water.' It is quite intelligible that by repeated passage of a small quantity of water through a filter, and consequently repeated exposure of each drop to the air, the organic matter should become oxidised; but that is not the point in dispute, which is, whether or not ordinary filtration of water in bulk will remove the organic matter contained therein. We are not to treat this matter as a laboratory experiment, but as a question of allowing water fouled with excrementitious substances to be employed for domestic purposes simply after filtration only. Every tittle of evidence is to the effect that foul water should never be used, if good water can by any possibility be obtained; and it was because Mr. Wanklyn's statement unquestionably led to the inference that filtration is equivalent to purification, that I raised my protest against his theory. In conclusion, I must say that if the filter be as perfect as described, there cannot be any necessity whatever for any one in future to consult Mr. Wanklyn or any other analytical chemist as to the purity of their drinking water, because it would be money absolutely thrown away. All that it is necessary for a person to do, if Mr. Wanklyn's opinion be correct, is that he should buy a filter and see that it is used, and thus put typhoid germs and all other forms of organic impurities at defiance. I cannot help saying that in the recent cases of foul wells which have been ordered to be closed, this fact, if it be one, should have been brought to the notice of the bench, and thus prevented a decision being given against their owners to their great pecuniary loss. June 13, 1876. JOHN W. TRIPE, M.D. Medical Officer of Health for Hackney. Notice of Meeting. STATISTICAL SOCIETY. THE eighth ordinary meeting of the present session will be held on Tuesday, the 20th instant, at the Society's Rooms, Somerset House Terrace (King's College entrance), Strand, W.C., when a paper will be read 'On the Validity of the Annual Government Statistics of the Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts,' by the Right Hon. James Stansfeld, M. P. The chair will be taken at 7:45 P.M. APPOINTMENTS OF HEALTH OFFICERS, INSPECTORS OF NUISANCES, ETC. ASHBY, Alfred, M. B. Lond., F.R.C.S., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Combined Urban Sanitary Districts of Grantham, Newark, Sleaford, Little Gonerby, Ruskington, and Spittlegate, and Rural Sanitary Districts of Grantham, Newark, and Sleaford, for three years, from July 23. BURTON, Mr. Thomas, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Ashborne Urban Sanitary District, vice Coates, resigned. GRIMSLEY, Mr. Charles, has been appointed Clerk to the St. Asaph Union and Rural Sanitary Authority, vice Wynne, deceased. JEROME, P. C., Esq., has been appointed Treasurer to the Ashborne Urban Sanitary Authority, vice Bradley, resigned. JONES, Mr. J. P., junior, has been appointed Clerk to the Corporation and Urban Sanitary Authority, Denbigh, vice Wynne, de ceased. MILLS, Mr. John, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the TOZER, Mr. James, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Crediton Urban Sanitary District for the ensuing year. VACANCIES. ABERDARE URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Principal Surveyor and Engineer: 300l. per ann. Application, 22nd inst., to R. Orton Gery, Clerk. BLACKPOOL, CORPORATION AND URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT Of. Clerk and Collector, 100l. per ann.: Inspector of Nuisances, 70l. per ann. Applications, 20th inst., to W. N. Charnley, Town Clerk. BRACKLEY RURAL, COMBINED WITH SEVERAL OTHER RURAL AND URBAN SANITARY DISTRICTS. Medical Officer of Health. 700l. per annum. Application 17th instant, to the Chairman of the Central Committee of Delegates, under cover to W. Tomalin, Clerk to the Committee, 26, St. Giles Street, Northampton. BRAINTREE RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health for the Finchingfield Sub-District, 20l. per annum. Application, 17th instant, to Frederick Smoothy, Clerk to the Authority. CHESHIRE. Public Analyst. 100l. per annum, and 6s. per analysis. Application, 20th instant, to Charles W. Potts, Clerk of the peace, Chester. DERBY URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT. Assistant Sanitary Inspector. Application, July 1, to Joseph Jones, Clerk to the Authority. FESTINIOG. Certifying Factory Surgeon. HOVE, TOWN AND URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT OF. Chief Surveyor: 400l. per ann. Application, 19th inst., to the Town Clerk, Town Hall, Hove. LLANELLY URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Assistant Surveyor. LOWER DARWEN URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Surveyor. NEWTON AND LLANLLWCHAIARN URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances: 2007. per annum. Application, 22nd instant, to William Cooke, Clerk, Newtown, Montgomeryshire. STOURBRIDGE URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health 50%. per annum. Application, 20th instant, to John Taylor, Clerk to the Authority. STRATTON RURAL SANITARY AUTHORITY. Clerk. YORK RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health: 150l. per annum. Application, 22nd instant, to Henry Brearey, Clerk to the Authority. NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES. A HEALTHY PARISH. THE REV. W. C. Talbot, Rector of Hatfield, Herts, writes to the Times: 'I have observed in your columns from time to time special obituary notices of persons who have died at advanced ages. I have thought that the following account of the ages of persons still surviving, taken from the list of permanent out-door paupers of the small Union of which I am Chairman, may possess some interest in the same direction. On going through the list of permanent paupers I find the following results: thirty-four over 70 years and under 80, giving an average age of 74'38; and twenty-one over 80 (one of whom is 96), giving an average of 84'90. Among persons above the rank of paupers still surviving, a still more remarkable list of longevity might be given, and if I were to extract from the register of deaths in my own parish, the same record of the healthiness of our neighbourhood would be yet more convincingly shown. The oldest man buried here within the last twelve months reached the age of 97. I may add that a tombstone in the churchyard records the death of an inhabitant who died in the present century, aged 107. REFORMED FUNERALS, upon the Earth to Earth principle, as advocated in the Times, and dispensing with all proces sion. Explanatory pamphlet, with list of charges, gratis on application.-LONDON NECROPOLIS COMPANY, No. 2 Lancaster Place, Strand, W.C. Patent Earth to Earth Coffins. NOTICE. THE SANITARY RECORD is published every Saturday morn- Original Paper. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING TEMPERAMENTS.* BY SAMUEL WILKS, M.D., F.R.S., Physician and Lecturer on Medicine, Guy's Hospital. (Continued from page 408.) I MIGHT mention here also, as a corollary to my proposition, that the spread of specialities in medicine tends to encourage that spirit of quackery of which I have been speaking. I have no objection to a speciality in pure surgery, for any man who is accustomed to use a particular tool will of necessity gain a greater facility in its application than others. But as regards internal complaints the system is simply absurd; you have only to review some of my statements already made to see the correctness of my view. The public have suffered much by the system. We are now by this time agreed that the mere administering to temporary troubles, or those which to the patient appear to be seated in one organ or the other, is not the highest aim of medicine; it is essentially born of ignorance. The laws of disease are discoverable by ascertaining the different causes in operation which influence the body for ill, and by ascertaining the different susceptibilities of each particular body. Now the first or exciting causes are better known than the latter, or the predisposing. We are, for example, constantly speaking of the effects of cold, of heat, of vitiated air, of alcohol, but it is very remarkable how variously susceptible are different persons or constitutions to the influence of these agencies. The predisposition to particular ailments, that is,the temperament or idiosyncrasy, must be taken into account, and in attempting to ascertain this we have to meet with a difficulty of a most formidable kind, and for this reason, that we are often by no means assisted by the patient or his friends in the inquiry, but have to judge as well as we can for ourselves. In the case of consumption, I find at my insurance office that hereditary tendency is never allowed by the applicant, for if a member of the family have died of phthisis, it is said to be due to some accidental cause, as exposure to cold, to dissipation, to grief, or any other fanciful reason. The public require instruction in this view of the case, and to be taught that it is to their interest to unfold or expose their peculiarities to themselves and to those of whom they take advice, so that they may guard themselves and their belongings from all those influences which may be injurious to them. am sorry to say that most people attempt to hide their weaknesses, and the medical man is often obliged to form a judgment for himself. If, for example, a mother be so unfortunate as to have a half-witted child, she feels bound to defend it against the ill-natured criticism of her neighbours, and by so doing she has gained the habit of extolling her child's merits to such a degree that, when in the presence of a strange medical man, she dilates on its remarkable qualities, of which quickness and cleverness constitute the principal features. The doctor is so accustomed to this that when the story is ended he generally concludes that the child is an idiot. The fondness of the mother makes her conduct explicable, but does not render it less foolish, * Read before the National Health Society, June 7, 1876. I for nothing is really so important in considering the question of health, and the prevention of disease, as the discovery of the peculiar characteristics of each person, and the class of agents which are likely to affect him injuriously. The predisposition is vastly more important than many think. One of the most striking examples of this is seen in the case of twins. In a very interesting paper by Mr. Galton, he mentions some remarkable instances of twins living in different countries, and exposed therefore to different influences, yet having similar diseases break out upon them at the same moment, and even dying of the same complaint at the same age. And yet these diseases, had it not been for this remarkable coincidence, would never have been regarded as having a constitutional origin. Even mental changes and insane delusions occurred exactly at the same period of age. The influence of sex in the transmission of peculiarities is also very important. Medical authors speak of some which descend on boys and others on girls. A case is related by an ophthalmic surgeon where all the children of a family squinted, the boys with the right eye and the girls with the left. Amongst horses, I am told, the fact of hereditary transmission of disease is most marked. The reason why parents are often blind to the peculiarities of their children is owing to the fact that they themselves partake so much of the characters of their offspring. This is one great cause of evil training, whether it be mental, moral, or physical. A peculiarity or tendency to any remarkable characteristic is apt to be propagated to the offspring, and in them may even be exaggerated. The child not only is inclined to follow its instincts by pursuing a peculiar path, but is assisted on the way by the parent, who also instinctively regards the peculiarity as a merit or a virtue. If what I say is true, it is a fact of the utmost importance in considering the moral and physical training of the young. The question is this given a particular propensity inherited by a child, will his instincts direct him to acts which shall counterbalance that propensity, or will they not rather lead him on in the direction of its further development? Now this question cannot be answered by any theoretical considerations; it can only be solved by observation. I have often heard it maintained that the instinct will rightly prompt in the cause of health, but my own experience has shown this to be far from correct. If a child be fond of exercise, or of a sedentary habit, it may be thought to be pursuing a plan best suited for its organisation; or if it has a liking for a particular article of food its instincts will guide it right. This, I say, is a question to be solved. Perhaps if we take mental peculiarities, and ask ourselves whether most persons endeavour to counteract them or foster them, we shall arrive at a correct answer respecting analogous physical characteristics. Does a shy child instinctively know its weakness, and court society until he or she has lost the peculiarity, or does he not rather yield to it and develop it? Does not a highly sentimental and dreamy girl pursue a life which encourages her characteristics. In fact we know that a child's inclination is involuntarily directed towards any pursuit from tendencies implanted in its nature; and we may also observe, and this is a very important fact in the matter of training, that the parent's idiosyncrasies running in the same direction, the peculiarities may be fostered by either the father or the mother. Now, although it is not so self-evident, the same law, I believe, is followed in our physical nature. A child is born with certain inherited peculiarities which tend to increase by the continuance of those same influences which set them going in the parent. A drunkard begets children of weak mind, and with a strong propensity to drink; their children continue in the habit, become epileptic, idiotic, or markedly deformed, and in this way happily the family become extinct. What we first want to ascertain, in considering the large question of national. health, is, what do we mean by the normal Englishman, and what are the varieties of him? Now, probably, the more highly civilised a country is the greater the diversity of form, of temperament, and of character; different, however, as these are, there must be national peculiarities. An hotel-keeper abroad, for example, knows his Englishman at once. Whatever opinion we may hold as to the origin of man we must regard his surrounding of climate and food as having been mainly instrumental in producing his modifications. In the orthodox view, as originating from a single pair, no other conclusion can be framed than that climate was instrumental in producing the different races. Now these races, when of the lowest kind, as in uncivilised nations, show no peculiarities amongst individuals; these seem as much alike as the sheep in a flock; they are all employed in the same manner, they eat the same simple food, and their mode of life is remarkably uniform. There seem to be no especial temperaments amongst the African tribes, who live on vegetables, or in some savage islands where the inhabitants subsist on fish. If it be true that a perfect uniformity of character exists where the food is of one kind, we may gain a clue to the diversity of temperament from the variety of food used in civilised life. The nature of the soil implying different occupations will also have its effects, also the influence of light and the density of the atmosphere. Thus it has been thought that bilious temperaments prevail in hot, and phlegmatic in cold climates. The soil and the occupations of its inhabitants necessarily dependent on it produce in our own small island different types, as the agriculturists along the eastern border, the manufacturers in the centre, and the miners amongst the western hills. It is remarkable how few have studied the different temperaments of Englishmen. Most medical writers having been content to take the different varieties as described by Hippocrates as existing amongst the Greeks, and with him divide all persons into the sanguineous, the bilious, the melancholic, and the phlegmatic, according as each possessed a superfluity of blood, of yellow bile, of black bile, or phlegm. Now although these terms are to a certain extent applicable at the present day, and are still in use, yet better ones, no doubt, could be found suited to the English soil and its inhabitants. Climatic influences are seen in such well-marked cases as the negro drooping in this country, and the want of proper development in the English child if brought up in India. Medical men of late years, when speaking of temperaments, have distinguished them in reference to certain tendencies to disease, as for example, the gouty, consumptive, or nervous. This nomenclature has been very useful, but it would be preferable to have a division framed after the Greek model, on a healthy basis, for then we could speak of the different types of man, which would include at the same time their proclivities to special forms of disease. What we really want to ascertain in studying the health of the community is the variety of type amongst our countrymen, then to discover what are the tendencies in particular families and individuals, how these have come about, and by what means we can best avert the development of any morbid susceptibilities. I cannot do more here than touch upon this question, to show its importance. For example, gouty persons are apt to have a variety of complaints, and the diseases of which they die are of a particular kind; now it is important to know why England, before all other countries, is apt to produce this disease called gout, and what are the circumstances which favour its development in any individual; in the same way, why consumption is so common a disorder, and what are the circumstances which favour its development in particular cases. You will see that the person who is inclined to the one affection or the other inherits with the disposition a peculiar frame of body, so that observation will show to what temperament every one belongs; not only is there a tendency to certain morbid changes, but the whole character of the man in health possesses its own features. Now, in all probability, the same causes which we see constantly in operation, ready to induce certain phenomena in these individuals, are really the same which, operating through several generations, have produced the very constitution which he inherits. For example, take a model man, put him on our island, feed him well with a large amount of animal diet, malt liquors, and wines, subject him to certain atmospheric conditions, etc., and you would probably produce an individual of the sanguineous and gouty type-a well-made man with plenty of vigour, both animal and mental, good-tempered, and social, given to generous impulses, as well as to generous living. This class of man is produced under certain favouring circumstances, and the tendencies of his life are to perpetuate his characteristics and peculiarities. These may be averted in later generations by judicious marriages, otherwise the worst parts of this constitution are propagated from father to son, and, the strong tendencies remaining, the younger generations become a prey to the vices of their inheritance. Any peculiarity is likely to be fostered until it reaches a morbid degree, and then an actual malady is set up. In considering, therefore, the question of 'prevention better than cure,' it is absolutely necessary that a study of these temperaments should be made. Suppose you had influence in some part of the country where you may be residing, and you see a young family growing up with the peculiarities of the gouty or arthritic temperament which I have mentioned. Place those children in a position where all their propensities will be fostered, where, surrounded by society, their inclinations towards free living are favoured, a rapid development of their inherent evils takes place; on the other hand, let the young men be placed in a position where activity and temperance are encouraged, their morbid proclivities may all be counteracted. The children of this type, you may remark, are robust and healthy-looking, and always, in my experience, have an early liking for wines and strong drinks. But England strangely enough produces another tendency-that to consumption. Circumstances of climate, I apprehend, have given a start to this proclivity, and the tendency is developed into a diathesis in the course of generations. The child born of consumptive parents is generally well formed, but not robust, the framework is well proportioned, and the whole organism shows great activity. There is |