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To aumit or cloubt. me susceptibility ot mice appears to be

very much less marked, and these animals would seem to befar less active agents in the spread of plague than rats. Thereis, however, evidence that they can aid in spreading the

disease and it is believed that they did so to some extent inFormosa, in Jeddah, in Alexandria, and perhaps elsewhere.Cats, the third group of animals mentioned, appear to beeven less susceptible than mice. Scattered examples of whathave been believed to be attacks of plague in cats have beenpublished from Poona, Worlee, Jawalapur, and elsewherein India, and from Hong-Kong, Jeddah, Mongolia, Hoihow,Mauritius, and Oporto ; but it is perhaps open to questionwhether in any instance there has been scientific proof thatthe animals have in truth suffered from the plague.

YELLOW FEVER IN CUBA.

DR. D. L. LAIKÉ discusses in the November number ofthe Revista de Medicina y Cirugia (Havana) whether it ispossible to stamp out yellow fever. On the whole he is

hopeful, but he points out that though the great diminutionin the number of cases which has been observed since theAmerican sanitary authorities have isolated the cases in

hospitals seems to point to the probability of thoroughhygienic measures carried on for some years beingcrowned with success, the pathogenesis of yellow feveris still so enveloped in mystery and previous periods ofdiminished virulence have led to such illusory hopes that itwill be wise not to count too much on the total suppression ofthe disease.

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ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL AND THE PRINCE OF

WALES’S HOSPITAL FUND.

Mr. Timothy Holmes and Mr. C. L. Todd, the treasurerand secretary respectively of St. George’s Hospital,write in the Times of Jan. 9th concerning a matter whichthey naturally have near at heart-namely, the financial

position of the hospital. They refer to the fact that thepecuniary position of the hospital is considered by theauthorities of the Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund to besuch that the institution is not to be assisted from thatFund. Mr. Holmes and his colleagues point out that this isnot the case. There is an increase, it is true, in thedividends accruing from funded property. These dividendsfrom 1873 to 1883 averaged about .S4000. In 1898 they hadrisen to 13,662. But there has been a great falling off inthe income from subscriptions and donations. " The averageof subscriptions and donations from 1873 to 1883 was over.EIO,600 and in the next decade over ,69200. It is now

below .E8000.....,. And there can be no doubt that thecause of the limited subscription is the general belief thatthe hospital has immense realised property and is in no want-a belief which, the Governors fear, the report of the Princeof Wales’s Hospital Fund will tend to confirm." The writersof the letter conclude :—

It must be far from the mind of the managers of the Fundto injure a hospital of which the reigning Sovereign is alwayspresident and of which His Royal Highness the Prince ofWales is a gracious and liberal supporter. Yet there can beno question that individual hospitals lose subscriptions in

consequence of their friends preferring to give to the Fundand some of our former subscribers have given this as theirreason for ceasing to contribute. To the other hospitals thisis more than recouped by the sums allotted from the Fund.But to St. George’s which receives nothing the loss is un-compensated. The Governors therefore feel it their duty todo all in their power to urge on the public the need forincreased support, and trust that they may have your power-ful aid in that effort."

There were not wanting those who on the inception of thePrince of Wales’s Hospital Fund feared that it would have adepressing effect upon the Hospital Sunday Fund. These

fears have not been realised, but it would seem that, secon-darily at any rate, the existence of the Fund has lessenedthe amount of subscriptions to certain hospitals whiledoing a splendid work for them. It is never safe toassume that any institution can do without the offer-

ings of the charitable because of the existence of a fund

the benefits of which may be available. We therefore

support the plea of St. George’s Hospital for increased sub-scriptions and at the same time hope that the disbursers ofthe Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund will appreciate thesound logic of Mr. Holmes and Mr. Todd and at the nextdistribution will place St. George’s Hospital on the samefooting as similar institutions.

PRONUNCIATION OF THE WORD "ANGINA."THE November number of the St. George’s Hospital

Gazette contains a ehort article by Dr. John W. Ogle to theeffect that the second syllable of angina is short (angïna)and not long as commonly pronounced. Dr. Ogle derivedhis information in 1879 from the Archbishop of Oanterbury(then Bishop of Truro), to whose notice the question hadin that year been brought by Professor H. A. J. Munro.The pronunciation of Latin vowels, whether long or

short, is usually determined by their position in a lineof poetry. Angina occurs twice in hexameter lines,but the early editors of the printed editions having made uptheir minds that the second syllable was long, altered thereading of tre MSS. to suit their preconceived views. In

Serenus Samonicus, "De Medicina Prsecepta," v. 282, theoriginal reading of the MS. was-

" Angna tum vero mixtum sale poscit acetum."

One printed edition, however, altered this into-" Verum angina sibi mixtum sale poscit acetum,"

and another variant was-" Ast angina," &c.

A line of Lucilius (quoted by Nonius) reads in the MSS.-"

...... quos una angina sustulit hora,"but has been altered by the editors into-

"...... angina una quos sustulit hora."

HEROIN IN RESPIRATORY AFFECTIONS.

DR. HENRY D. FULTON, from an experience with this drugextending over five years, is able to give an account ofits therapeutic value. The diseases treated were simplebronchitis, bronchitis with measles, the bronchitis of

influenza, chronic catarrhal bronchitis, phthisis, and pneu-monia. In December, 1898, when the epidemic of la grippewas at its worst in Pittsburg, Pa., the effects of heroin as acough-relieving agent were prompt and definite, the degreeof comfort afforded to the patient being in marked contrastto that derived from the usual remedies. " In those cases inwhich the patient is harassed by almost incessant cough, orby severe paroxysms occurring in the night, so greatlyinterfering with rest ...... and leading to an exhaustedcondition the following day, its good effects were especi-ally noticeable." In la grippe the range of its influenceis limited apparently to allaying the cough, as it doesnot otherwise influence the course or duration of the

disease. In phthisis its use is followed by most satis-

factory results in securing freedom from cough andtherefore promoting rest at night. In one case of

phthisis with laryngeal disease and a peculiarly distressingcough the effects were most gratifying. In three other

cases of phthisis it proved useful. The administration of

the drug was begun early in the afternoon (in the case oflaryngeal phthisis) and continued every three hours till nineo’clock in the evening, the dose being 3 th of a grain. In

1 New York Medical Journal, Dec. 30th, 1899.