EXTRACT FROM REMARKS.

Remarks accompanying a Nosological Return of the Sick and Wounded of H.M.S.Discovery, between April 1, 1875, and June 30, 1876, employed on Arctic Service.

Causes. The case of Shepherd, who was attacked in January, was evidently caused by the absence of light, fresh meat, and vegetables, and the cold, impure air, and moisture incidental to an Arctic winter, acting upon a constitution debilitated by indulgence in excessive drinking, added to his wilful neglect of the sanitary arrangements, and surreptitiously abstaining from the fresh beef, preserved meat, and vegetables, whenever he found the opportunity.

As regards the remaining fifteen cases, they have all occurred in men on sledge journey, with whom, in addition to the usual incitants to scurvy-viz., absence of light, fresh meat and vegetables, and the presence of cold, impure air and moisture-the excessive fatigue consequent upon dragging a heavy sledge through deep soft snow, or having to smooth a road through heavy ice hummocks, monotonous and depressing nature of the work, sameness of diet, total absence of fresh food (excepting pemmican), and the necessary exposure to cold and wet, have in my opinion been quite sufficient to account for the present outbreak. BELGRAVE NINNIS, M.D., Staff-Surgeon.

Medical Officers' Reports.

DERBY.-The medical officer of health, in his quarterly report issued on the 30th Dec., says there have been between forty and fifty cases of small-pox since July 27, the date of the reception of the first case into the Derbyshire Infirmary. Out of this number only two deaths have taken place, and these were unvaccinated persons. The disease was imported from Liverpool into Derby in the person of Lillie Taylor, aged 14, who was taken to the infirmary.

HEALTH OF WESTMINSTER.-The annual report of Dr. Barnard Holt, the medical officer of the Westminster district, states that so far as the death-rate was concerned it might be considered a very satisfactory report, showing as it did a decrease amounting to 136 deaths less than last year. An examination of the zymotic table, however, showed that scarlet fever, whooping-cough, measles, and diarrhoea had been very prevalent, and exceeded the numbers given in the previous year; the cases of fever were less, and there had not been any death from small-pox. There had been 1,952 births registered, and 1,674 deaths; of the last number 108 were of persons belonging to other parishes. A table showing the comparison of deaths from zymotic diseases during the past three years, 1874-75-76, gave the following results: Small-pox, 1, 0, o; measles, 20, 23, and 43; scarlet fever, 2, 60, and 81; whoop

ing-cough, 25, 42, and 54; diarrhoea, 91, 64, and 73; dysentery, 1, 0, and 3; cholera, 2, 1, and I; fever, 43, 35, and 18. The remarks made in the last annual report of the complications surrounding_the Artisans' Dwellings Act were too true, inasmuch as nothing had been done in those parishes where representations had been made of the unhealthiness of the existing dwellings and the necessity for their removal. In compliance with the directions of the sanitary committee, inspection had been made of the property in the parishes comprising the district, and a report forwarded to the Metropolitan Board of Works detailing the results and putting before the board the existing illnesses in the places commented on. The report was sufficient to justify the board in acting, and it remained to be seen what steps would be taken both in reference to the report and the subject generally. That a serious evil existed could not be doubted. The improvements carried out at the Pimlico gasworks have been of great advantage, the atmosphere of the neighbourhood of works having been much healthier since their execution. The water-supply, both as to quantity and quality, was considerably improved, and no complaint had been made of its impurities, a great improvement upon the previous year. Nothing having been effected respecting the ventilation of the Scholars-pond Sewer, the attention of the board was again called to the great evil. The only means then adopted consisted in a gas pipe communicating with the sewer, the gas being permitted to escape in a line with the first floor windows of the adjacent houses. It was certainly a crying shame that the Commissioners of Sewers should not be compelled to ventilate the sewers in a proper and efficient manner. Every precaution had been taken against the spread

of disease.

SANITARY STATE OF THE WAR OFFICE. IN reply to Mr. Coope,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that, with a view to carry out the recommendations of the Committee which had investigated the sanitary condition of the War Office, an estimate had been prepared of the cost of the works which would be necessary in order to put the building in a more satisfactory state, and that, this estimate having been considered and sanctioned by the Treasury, the works would be proceeded with at once. With regard to the opinion of the Committee that a new building was desirable, he could only say that the Government were very seriously considering what steps they ought to take in the matter.

and coroners' inquests, but the Government did not think it wise to introduce it at the present period of the session, when there were so many other measures under consideration.

METROPOLITAN STREET IMPROVEMENTS BILL.

SIR C. RUSSELL asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention had been called to the proposed demolition of houses occupied by the working classes in the Metropolitan Street Improvements Bill; and, if so, whether he proposes to take measures for the protection of the interests of those to be removed.

Mr. Cross replied that he had placed himself in communication with the Board on the subject, and that they had, as upon all other occasions, shown the utmost willingness to meet his views. He had no doubt, therefore, that they would take care that there should be no destruction of houses before some provision had been made- he would not say for individuals, but for the accommodation of any class of people who might in consequence be sufferers.

(Friday, March 9.)

LOANS FOR SANITARY PURPOSES. MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply to Mr. Whitbread, stated that the last published returns of loans to urban sanitary authorities showed that the sanction of the Local Government Board had been given to loans amounting to 1,835,797, to urban sanitary authorities. Since that time, although the accounts were not completed for the year 1876, sanction had been given to the urban authorities for the borrowing of 2,506,459., showing an increase of 670,6627. In the case of the rural sanitary authorities the amount, by the last returns, was 137,8087., and during the year 1876, 200, 6927., showing an increase of 62,2847.

Mr. Whitbread asked if the right hon. gentleman would inform him what had been asked for and not what had been sanctioned.

Mr. Sclater-Booth said that would take some time to ascertain, but he would endeavour to obtain the information.

THE RECENT POLAR EXPEDITION. CAPTAIN PIM asked the First Lord of the Admiralty when the report of the committee on the outbreak of scurvy in the recent Polar expedition would be laid upon the table of the House, and whether the summary of the same which had appeared in the newspapers might be considered as substantially correct.

Mr. Hunt: The report in question has not yet been presented to the Admiralty, but I have heard from the Chairman of the Committee that he will shortly be able to present it to the Admiralty. As soon as I get it I shall be happy to lay it on the table of the House.

THE LIMEHOUSE SMALL-POX HOSPITALS.

MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply to Mr. Ritchie, said he was informed that the Fulham Small-pox Hospital would be open for the reception of patients immediately, and that of Deptford shortly afterwards, when no further patients would be sent to the Limehouse Small-pox Hospital.

REPRESENTATIVE COUNTY BOARDS.
On the motion to go into committee of supply,

Mr. Clare Read moved that no readjustment of local administration will be satisfactory or complete which does not refer county business, or that relating to the administration of justice and the maintenance of order, to a representative county board.' What he would propose was, that these boards should be composed one-third of magis. trates to be appointed by quarter sessions, and two-thirds of members sent direct from the boards of guardians, and he would not limit the choice of the guardians to rate

payers who were not magistrates. He would leave with the quarter sessions the entire administration of justice, and of the police, the county buildings, weights and measures, the appointment of analysts, and the licensing. What he would take from the quarter sessions would be the management of lunatics, bridges, cattle disease, valuation, and registration of voters. New duties, in addition to these, would no doubt be found for the boards. There were, for instance, certain sanitary matters which might very well be referred to these boards. Arterial drainage might also properly come under the cognisance of this

board.

Mr. Sclater-Booth said that various Acts of Parliament had created new administrative bodies for carrying into effect union, sanitary, and educational matters. He had stated on a previous occasion that the sanitary areas had become so stereotyped that they must be accepted, if not as final, at least as settling the question to a large extent; and it was impossible that any Government or any House of Commons would endeavour materially to break down the powers which had so recently and by successive Acts of Parliament been conferred. With regard to lunatics, the obligation to provide asylums was imposed on the magistrates, who defrayed the expense out of the county rate, while the maintenance of the patients was charged to the various unions. The Acts of Parliament relating to this subject were very numerous, and it would not, in his opinion, be wise to interfere with them. There were several classes of lunatics that did not find their way into the county asylums, but were distributed in workhouses and elsewhere. In London those classes were controlled by a board of management, whose expenditure fell upon the common fund of the metropolis. Whether the county system should be brought into harmony with the metropolitan was a matter which required careful consideration, and could not be hastily decided, but he certainly felt disposed to say that the maintenance of lunatics should be charged on a wider basis than at present. He asked the House to recollect that when he succeeded in passing the Rivers Pollution Act he reserved to himself the right to re-open the question as to the administration of that measure at any future time, and he would candidly confess that so far as rivers within the county boundary were concerned, he considered the board suggested would be the proper one to put the law into force. Rivers which ran through several counties, however, ought to be managed by a conservancy board, and some measure might hereafter be found necessary for facilitating the setting up of such bodies. He would be most happy to relieve the already overburdened Local Government Board of large masses of the work it now had to perform. If the poor law system were ever revised in a liberal spirit a great deal might be done in this direction; but if decentralisation were carried out, in one respect there would be always great pressure from without to increase the centralising power of the Government in others. The hon. gentleman had spoken with so much moderation that it would be ungracious to ask him to withdraw the resolution he had proposed. The Government would not ask him to withdraw his resolution, but would agree to it.

Mr. Stansfeld said that, in 1871, he passed the Local Government Board Bill, and the policy of that bill was to unite, under the supervision of one department, not only the poor law, but sanitary matters. In 1872 he introduced the Public Health Act, and that constituted as units of local government throughout the country the rural and urban sanitary authorities, and he maintained now that these were the future units of local government.

The resolution was agreed to without a division.

ACCORDING to the last return presented to the Health Committee of the Town Council by the deputy medical officer of health, the number of births in Liverpool during the year 1876 was 20,426, and the deaths 14,347. Fever caused 398 deaths, and small-pox 4,203.

Law Reports.

INFECTED CLOTHING.

L. SAMSON, of Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, appeared to answer a summons for exposing certain infectious clothing. In December and January several persons had smallpox in the defendant's house, one case-that of a childproving fatal. During that time the washing was regularly sent to the laundress, and to show the danger attending it, the disease was spread to other persons. A soldier, who had been stopping at the house of the laundress on furlough, left on January 15 for Birmingham, and died from small-pox on the 18th, three days afterwards. A woman who washed his clothes was also attacked with the disease. Mr. Harding then said that the vestry had not issued the summons for the purpose of obtaining a heavy penalty, but to show to the public that it is impossible to stamp out an epidemic like small-pox if clothes were sent to be washed in that manner. Mrs. Pain, a laundress of Clifton Street, was called and proved receiving the washing; her daughter and niece, who sorted the clothes, were attacked with small-pox. The defendant, a foreigner, said at first he did not know it was small-pox. Both he and his wife said chloride of lime was used with the clothes before sent out to the laundress. Mr. Bridge had no doubt that the clothes were not disinfected, but as the defendant was a foreigner it would make a difference in the amount of punishment to be inflicted. He fined the defendant 27. and 25. costs.

HASTINGS WATER.

AT the assizes at Lewes, the case of Hatchard v. Parsons' was tried, an action to recover damages for a libel, to which the defendant pleaded that the alleged libel was published for the public benefit, and was a fair comment upon a matter that affected the public interests. The plaintiff was a clergyman, at the time the alleged libel was published living at St. Leonard's. He was possessed of considerable property at that place, and took an interest in the affairs of St. Leonards and Hastings. The defendant was the proprietor of the Hastings Observer. Some excitement had been created in Hastings during 1874 and 1875 on account of the character of the water-supply, and a good deal of discussion took place in the medical journals. The plaintiff took an opposite view to the town council, and the course adopted by him caused a good deal of dissatisfaction. An article appeared in the defendant's paper which represented the plaintiff as an enemy to the town, and alleged that his object was to ruin the town out of revenge for his plan for improving the water-supply not being carried out; it also alleged that the plaintiff had been the means of causing the articles to appear in the medical journals which were calculated to cause mischief and injury. Mr. Day contended on behalf of the defendant that the article was nothing more than a fair and reason. able comment upon a subject which was of so much importance to the town where the newspaper that contained it was circulated, and that it was published without malice, and in the interest of the public. The jury adopted this view, and returned a verdict for the defendant.

THE HARROGATE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.

AT the Yorkshire Assizes, on Saturday, March 3, the case of Deville v. the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners, which was an action for salary, was heard before Mr. Justice Lopez. Mr. Seymour, in his opening statement, said that Mr. Deville, whom he represented, was a gentleman who had obtained the degrees of physician and surgeon, and who had filled the most important offices in connection with his profession. He had resided for many years in Harrogate, and had practised as a physician there. In 1841 the Harrogate Improvement Act was obtained and commissioners were appointed. In 1868 they took

steps to apply the Local Government Act of 1858, by which they became, in fact, the Local Government Board for the district. Subsequent to the passing of the Health of Towns Act, 1872, they became the Urban Sanitary Authority, and after the passing of the Health of Towns Act, 1875, were for the first time made a corporation. The learned counsel then read various sections of the Act of Parliament with reference to the appointment of medical officer, one of which stated that when the Local Government Board subscribed a portion of the salary of a medical officer the Urban Sanitary Authority could not discharge that official without the sanction of the Board in London. Dr. Deville was appointed Medical Officer of Health for Harrogate in 1873 under the compulsory provisions contained in the Act of 1872. He discharged the duties of his office with satisfaction down to March 1876, he having continued in office after the passing of the Act of 1875. From time to time the Local Board had claimed from the Board in London contributions towards his salary. When his term of office for 1875-6 had expired he was re-appointed, and the usual form setting forth the qualifications of the person appointed as medical officer was forwarded to the Local Government Board by the Harrogate Improvement commissioners. In answering one of the inquiries it was stated that there was no vacancy in that office. Then followed a letter from the Local Government Board, stating that before they considered the re-appointment of Dr. Deville they desired to be furnished with a copy of his annual report, which the Act of Parliament prescribed he should forward to them. Mr. Bateson, the clerk of the Harrogate Authority, wrote in reply to that, stating that Dr. Deville had been unable, owing to circumstances not under his control, to forward his report. That report was forwarded, and there was sufficient subsequent correspondence with the Local Government Board to show that they had sanctioned his appointment. When Dr. Deville took office he was a member and vice-president of the Yorkshire Association of Medical Officers of Health. This associatiation held a meeting at Leeds on April 26 last. Dr. Deville was requested to read a paper. He saw no objection to do so; as a professional man he thought it his duty to do so. He read a paper, the contents of which he thought he need not go into. It contained some recommendations which would be very beneficial if carried out. It spoke of overcrowding, of the importance of having proper drainage and water-supply, but it contained nothing which was injurious to Harrogate. A report of the paper and a discussion was published in the newspapers, and was seen by the Harrogate Urban Authority. There was no doubt that they were nettled by it, but why should they be? because when a man becanie medical officer of health he did not take his salary as hush money. The Authority wrote to Dr. Deville asking him to attend a meeting to explain his conduct, but he did not do so, and they gave him notice to terminate his connection as their officer. The learned counsel then read a voluminous correspondence which took place between the plaintiff, the defendants (the Urban Sanitary Authority), and the Local Government Board in London. Dr. Deville, the plaintiff, examined by Mr. Cave, said he was a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, and of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. He was appointed medical officer to the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners in April, 1873, and fulfilled the duties of the post until April, 1876. The list of queries as to his qualifications produced by Mr. Bellamy, chief clerk to the Local Government Board in London, he had duly signed. In April, 1876, the quarterly report_which he should have sent to the Local Government Board was delayed on account of several changes in the officials of the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners, which rendered it impossible for them to get at the necessary documents. The clerk to the Improvement Commissioners then wrote to the Local Government Board in London, stating that he (Dr. Deville) had not sent his report, which had been inquired for, on account of circumstances over

which he had no control, and that it should be forwarded during that week. He took a strong interest in sanitary matters, and had received a communication from the Social Science Association asking for suggestions as to the sanitary improvement of watering places. In April, 1876, he read a paper before the Yorkshire Association of Medical Officers of Health, in Leeds, the title of which was 'Suggestions for the Modification of the Health Act with reference to Watering Places.' The paper had no special reference to Harrogate, and he only alluded to certain results of observations at Harrogate that the assembly before which he was speaking might be able to form an estimate of the results and working of the Health Act. His recommendations in a more stringent form had been adopted by the Social Science Association. He had no intention by the paper to injure Harrogate, or any person in it. He only wished to promote sanitary science, and the improvement of the condition of watering places in general, and to protect the health of visitors. The paper was published in the local newspapers, and it appeared, from a subsequent correspondence he had with the Commissioners, and their proceedings as reported in the local newspapers, that they considered his paper was displeasing to the lodging-house and hotel-keepers of Harrogate. Plaintiff stated that on receiving the letter he immediately informed the Board, through their clerk, that he could not accept the notice unless the sanction of the Local Government Board were obtained to his dismissal, and he reported to the Local Government Board the whole of the proceedings, and sent a copy of the paper which he had read.

Cross-examined by Mr. Wills: There was a letter from the Local Government Board in 1873, formally sanctioning his appointment. He did not know if between that time and 1876 there was any further sanction of his appointment, but he always supposed he was properly appointed. There was a report of his paper in the Leeds Mercury. There was a discussion, but not on his paper; it was about infectious diseases. He took part in that discussion, and amongst other things he said that the hotel keepers would not see me on their steps, no, not for a thousand pounds.' He said that in the heat of debate. He also stated that is was to the interest of the hotel. keepers and lodging-house-keepers to keep him ignorant of any disease. He had stated that the statement he had made had no reference to Harrogate, and he dared say it applied equally to other watering places. On March 21 he signed and sealed a document which was referred to as the agreement between himself and the Authority.

Ke-examined by Mr. Seymour: When he made the statement with reference to the hotel-keepers and lodging. house-keepers, the matter under discussion was not his paper, and bis observations applied to a former state of thingsan outbreak of small-pox some years before. The last season at Harrogate was the best ever known there, and the death-rate was the most favourable of any watering. place.

Mr.

At the conclusion of the plaintiff's evidence, his lordship asked what question there was for the jury. Wills replied that there was no question for the jury at all, and submitted that there was no case. The learned counsel for the plaintiff had proved the existence of an agreement executed by Dr. Deville, but they had not put it in.

Mr. Cave: There is no proof of an agreement.

Mr. Wills, continuing, said that no contract, such as was necessary under the Sanitary Act, had been shown to have been made. It had been proved that Dr. Deville was appointed under a resolution, and so long as that resolution remained uncancelled he was entitled, he admitted that the plaintiff was entitled, to exercise the functions of his office. The only contract he could discover was but an implied one. The 173rd section of the Sanitary Act, 1875, empowered an urban authority to make contracts, and when an undertaking represented a value of 50/., a contract was to be entered into. There were cases under the 11th and 12th Victoria, showing that when a

Corporation made an appointment of an officer, the appointment was good as long as the period over which it extended lasted, and that such an appointment need not be made under the hands or seal of the Board. But it was provided that when an officer of a Board sought to raise a question of breach of agreement in a civil court the proceeding would fail if there had been no contract under seal. The Sanitary Committee's resolution only appointed Dr. Deville for one year, subject to a proper agreement being made, and no proper agreement had been put in. Besides, the Local Government Board, when asked for its approval of the appointment in April 1876, only approved of the appointment of the sanitary inspector. Ultimately, after some discussion between the parties, a nominal verdict was entered for the plaintiff in the amount claimed, judgment being reserved, the cause to be argued in the Superior Court.

BRIEF NOTES OF CASES.

INTERPRETATION OF Statutes.

1876. Taylor v. Oldham Corporation Local Act.— Powers of a local authority to construct a sewer under a private road-street' in the Local Act-interpreted to in395; 35 L.T., 696). The preamble of an Act cannot be clude any road.' (46 L.J., Ch. D., 105; L.R., 4 C.D.,

resorted to in order to ascertain its intention unless there is an ambiguity in its enacting part. General provisions do not override special provisions. Clauses in Local Acts vesting sewers in a local authority confer an absolute property in the subsoil occupied by the sewers; not a

The Funeral Rites and Ceremonies of all Nations. By PAUL LORRAIN. London. 1682.

The Last Act, being the Funeral Rites of Nations and Individuals. Collected and arranged by W. TEGG. London: Tegg and Co. 1876.

WE review these books together, for although nearly two centuries have intervened between the dates of the two publications, they treat precisely upon the same subject, and we do not recollect to have ever seen any similar work having appeared in the interval. One often meets in books of voyages and travels with isolated descriptions of how the shuffled-off coil of mortality is treated in other lands than our own, and we are correspondingly interested in the knowledge there acquired; but sustained works upon the subject are strangely few in number, at least works which profess to afford information as to how burial customs are celebrated throughout the whole world.

The book of Paul Lorrain was dedicated to Samuel Pepys, and is apparently a translation of some treatise which had captivated both Lorrain and Pepys, at all events we gather so from the dedicatory epistle. The treatise is written in a quaint style, and is an excellent example of the literature of the period, a period when it was usual for the author to sit down and evolve out of his personal knowledge, his reading, and his memory, at least an originally worded series of chapters bearing upon his subject. It was a period, too, when it was customary to draw largely upon classical history, and nowhere can this practice be better evidenced than in the Hydriotaphia, or Urn Burial,' of Sir Thomas Browne, published in 1658, or a few years previous to the appearance of Lorrain's volume. It is just possible that the interest created by Browne's work acted as the incentive for the production of the former.

The work of 1682 begins with the funeral rites of the Egyptians, because that people has always been acknowledged the most ancient,' and a very fair description, for that day, is given of these obsequies. After this follows a description of the funerals of the Grecian peoples. We do not remember to have read before that it was compulsory for any Greeks to be buried with their faces turned to the East. But if the work before us is to be credited, this provision is contained in the sumptuary laws relating to burial, promulgated by Demetrius Phalereus. That this custom was not universal, however, is manifest by the fact that the Phoenicians buried their dead with their faces to the West; and still stranger, the people of Megara interred their departed friends with their faces downwards, the same way in which Diogenes willed to be buried, though probably not for the same reason. The funeral rites of the Romans also occupy some twenty-five pages of this curious book, and here is to be found some most interesting reading. One sees here that the functions of the mourning women' very much resembled the 'keening women' in parts of Ireland. Next in turn are related the burial customs of the Persians, and one wonders how the author could have said so much concerning them, or, for the matter of that, of the last rites practised by the Turks and Chineses.' The chapters which treat also of the mourning customs of the ancient Americans, of the Japanese and other islanders, and of the Tartar races, are replete with interest. The same may be said of the chapters which describe the rites practised by the ancient and modern Jews, by the Schismatics,' and by the Christians. Nor does the author bid us adieu until he has informed us of living sepulchres, fiery sepulchres, water burials, airy obsequies, and burials above ground,' occupying some thirty pages for this purpose. He finally gives the reader a rare discourse concerning the Right of Burial, and Laws on that behalf.'

The work entitled 'The Last Act' is entirely made up of extracts, and although the extracts are reliably enough chosen, the bulk of them do not please us. The book is divided into two parts. We fail to see why, unless it be that in the first part we observe a very tedious assortment of extracts, which do not tend to exercise the risible muscles, and in the second part not a few which do. We may be too fastidious, but we cannot help saying that the information yielded by this work could have been expressed in one half the number of pages by any good adapter, who was accustomed to read first, and then to condense the meaning of what he read into a reasonable number of words. Here there is little but scissoring to be seen, and we think this a mistake, because the subject is one worthy of original treatment, and not mere compilation from history, books of travel, and newspapers. We should probably have never seen the book but for the late stirring up in the public mind concerning modern cremation and earth to earth interment, subjects which, by the way, are strangely neglected or but indifferently explained.

Taking the book, however, as a mere servant of the day, it contains an extraordinary quantity of very curious matter relative to funeral rites and customs, and will serve to while away a few unoccupied hours. We miss many

things in it that we remember to have read as having been extracted from burial registers, and which would have proved even more interesting than what has been given to us, but possibly they did not come within the ken of the compiler. We fail to find also any record of some very strange interments which have taken place during the last two years, which is all the more remarkable because we see figuring at full length the whole of Victor Hugo's oration at the tomb of Madame Blanc in April of last year. We have openly expressed our conviction that the subject chosen by the compiler and publisher is worthy of different treatment, and we trust that when his scrap book contains the cuttings and gleanings of a few more years he may be induced to remodel the whole, and carry to it a more painstaking system of treatment.

Correspondence.

All communications must bear the signature of the writer, not necessarily for publication.

INFANT MORTALITY.

(To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-Infant mortality being once more the subject of public discussion, kindly permit me a little space of your valuable journal. It is contended that atmospheric influence is the chief cause of infantile deaths. I maintain that nurses, and the feeding of little children in ignorance of all the principles upon which a child's welfare is based, are the chief factors of infant mortality.

I speak from experience of many years among the poorest and most suffering members of our infant community, and after ten years' labour among them, I am still of the same opinion that the diet of little children during their first years of life is the most correct record of the causes of juvenile suffering, early consumption, scrofula, tabes, and many other diseases.

I could quote an endless succession of instances which all tend to prove the one fact that if a babe can be fed either by a healthy mother or a correct substitute for the natural, it will have a chance to live. Hygiene, however advisable for a babe, is not so imperatively needed as a correct food. With the advice of my friend, the late lamented Baron von Liebig, I have succeeded in saving a large number of children's lives, and I need hardly say through the diet suggested by this distinguished philosopher, Baron von Liebig's Malted Food Extract. One little baby, about two months old, and fed exclusively by the mother, was suffering intensely from a number of abscesses, one on his little hand, almost the size of the latter, and many on the back. At short periods these abscesses were operated upon. The physician ordered the mother at once to wean the child, as her food tended only to add to the child's sufferings. Liebig's Malted Food Extract was given to The result was a more this little patient exclusively. correct circulation of the blood, an alkaline agency, and consequently a speedy recovery. This age, so different to former times, yields to the most unnatural fashions; mothers in general look to science and art wherewith to substitute nature, or

"They resign into a stranger's hand,

That boon so much within their own command.' Hence it is that the lament arises of generations degenerating. The medical faculties abroad are of one accord that there is a lack of those ingredients in the blood of our rising generations which to our forefathers gave that Herculean power and health. The nutritive salts or alkalies are so much wanting, too, in the diet of our little children, that when they reach between the ten to twentyfive years, they fill the endless wings of our hospitals, cripples' homes, etc. It is truly alarming, and more so as we find that the most intelligent little children, the germ