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into loose-bottomed cess-pits underneath the houses and

every day the subsoil necessarily becomes fouler and moresuitable to act as a breeding-place for noxious germs.

In spite of the magnificent climate the death-rate inEgyptian towns is very high. The average in 20 towns withan aggregate population of 1,436,989 (natives) was 32-7 7per 1000 for the week ending Dec. 16th, 1904, and forthe preceding week it was 33-2 per 1000. Lord Cromerquotes Sir Horace Pinching under the heading "InfantMortality " as follows : " The mortality in Cairo was con-siderably higher than in 1903. The increase was almostentirely due to a heavy mortality caused by gastro-enteritisamong children during the months of April, May, and Juneand to a severe epidemic of measles from which 750 childrendied. The gastric troubles to which so many infantssuccumb in this country are without doubt due to bad feed-ing. Children of under a year old are given unripe fruit andvegetables of all kinds to eat. The high mortality whichoccurs from measles is due to the absolute want of any careor attention to children when suffering from this disease."No doubt Sir H. Pinching’s view is correct to a certainextent but it should be remembered that it is during thethree months which he mentions that the Nile is lowest andmost foul. If Egypt were properly sewered an immensepurification of the Nile could not but follow. The river isthe sole source of water-supply that the country possessesand every effort ought to be made to keep it wholesome.

THE GERMAN CONGRESS OF INTERNALMEDICINE.1

THE German Congress of Internal Medicine met this yearat Wiesbaden from April 12th to 15th, Professor ERB

(Heidelberg) being in the chair.After the inaugural address, delivered by the PRESIDENT,

the nrst subject brought before the Congress was a discus-sion on

Heredity.Professor ZIEGLER (Jena) explained the biological process

involved. Heredity, he said, depended on the spermatic cellsand those of the ovule, which were very similar in animalsand in plants : their nucleus included so-called chromosomes-i.e., stainable formations of distinct number and shapeproduced by the division of the nucleus. They were of thegreatest importance for heredity. As the spermatic cell andthat of the ovule contained the same number of chromosomesthe influence of the mother and of the father was of equalimportance in heredity. The impregnated ovule cell re-

ceived one-half of its chromosome from the father and theother half from the mother and the mixture of the piternaland the maternal chromosomes had a great influence on thequalities transmitted by them to the young individual. Theaction of this combination (amphimixis) might be bestobserved when two different species of animals were mated.Professor Ziegler then explained that the germinative cellsmight differ according to the preponderance of the maternalor paternal chromosomes. In the procreation of new indi-viduals different combinations might act each time and sothe offspring of the same parents might exhibit differences.Professor Ziegler, in concluding his address, said that theconstitution of an individual and the liability to diseasesdepended on heredity according to natural laws.

lleredaty and Predispos"tion with Reqard to Tllberaulosis.Professor MARTIUS (Rostock) said that in an individual

case the question of hereditary conveyance of pathologicalor rormal psychical or bodily qualities could only be jd<1g-edaccording to the laws of probabilities. The practicalresults of theoretical research were not very great ; in con-tracting a marriage it must bj considered in the first placewhether the constitution of both partners was good.Secondly, when specific diseases had been prevalent in theancestry of one partner it was desirable that they should beabsent in the ancestry of the other. The hereditary natureof certain diseases, however, was not only manifest by theirprevalence in the ancestors ; as these diseases could not beexplained by exogenic influence a specific predisposition mustbe admitted. Some diseases could only be understood by

1 For this report we wish to tender our sincere thanks to the editor ofthe Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift, through whose courtesy ithas been forwarded to us by our Berlin correspondent.

supposing a specific hereditary debility of the organ. Pro-fessor Martius concluded that diseases proceeding fromexogenic causes might be combated and that intra-uterineinfection and direct toxic lesion of the germs (as by syphilisand alcohol) must be avoided. The better the constitutionof the parents the greater was the probability of healthyoffspring.

I I Thorax Parccl,rtians."Dr. ROTHSCHILD (Soclen) said that he distinguished

between the congenital and the acquired forms of this con.dition and he opposed the view that thorax paralyticus wasthe consequence of pulmonary tuberculosis. It was presentnot only in children of tuberculous parents but also in thosewho lived under bad hygienic conditions. He then describedthe anatomical symptoms of this form of thorax, the flatnessof the anterior thoracic wall being the most characteristicfeature.

In the discussion Dr. jESSEsr denied the existence ofcongenital thorax pa,ralyticus.

Dr. HANSEMANN supported the views of Professor Freund-namely, that the stenosis of the upper aperture of thethorax depended on a congenital shortness of the cartilageof the first rib. He said that thorax paralyticus and thegeneral state of nutrition were inherited.

Dr. AUFRECHT (Magdeburg) said that pulmonary tubercu-losis was not transmissible by heJedity, but he conceded theheredity of scrofulosis which made children more liable tobe invaded by tubercle bacilli.

Dr. TURBAN (Davos) made the interesting statement thatin certain tuberculous families the phthisical process had atendency to begin in every member in the apex of the rightlung and in other families in that of the left lung.

Dr. LUTHJE said that dogs of the same family when bredin and in presented certain anomalies of metabolism, such asincrease of the discharge of uric acid, polyuria, obesity, &c.

Dr. STAUBLl (Munich) gave an account of his experimentsin guinea-pigs concerning the quantity of agglutinin in theblood of foetuses the progeny of animals treated withenteric fever bacilli. He said (1) that a foetus having a fatherwith and a mother without agglutinating blood did not showagglutinin in its blood ; (2) that the offspring of motherswhose blood contained agglutinin had also agglutining sub-stance in their blood serum ; and (3) that their fcetuses werelike animals of passive immunity-i.e., those in which theagglutinating serum had not formed pontaneously but hadbeen injected. He drew the conclusion that the agglutinatingsubstance was conveyed through the placenta to the foetusbut that the capacity to form agglutinin was not hereditary.

Physiology and Pathology (Jf the Blood.Professor LEUBE (Wurzburg) spoke on the subject of the

pulse in the veins of anaemic patients. According to himthis venous pulse was produced by a relative insufficiency ofthe tricuspid valve.

Dr. HERING (Prague) reported an expeiiment where theheart was made to resume beating 11 hours after death byinjection of Ringer’s fluid into the coronary arteries. Theheart beat three and a half hours and it was remarkablethat both the auricles beat separately from the ventriclesand more often than the latter.

Dr. DENEKE (Hamburg) reported that he had made asimilar observation in the heart of a decapitated criminal.

Dr. SCHOTT (Nauheim) said that it was a clinical observa-tion that both the ventricles and the auricles beat syn-chronously.Alteration (If the Arteries produced by Tnjections of Adrenalin.

Dr. FiscHER (Bonn) said that intravenous injections ofadrenalin in animals produced aortic aneurysm by caus-ing necrosis of the muscularis and degeneration of theelastic fibres. An inflammatory reaction leading to typicalmesarteritis and endarteritis was the result. The arch andthe thoracic part of the aorta were liable to be affected first.Dilatation and hypertrophy of the heart occurred almost

always, myofibrosis and myocarditis occurred frequently,and sclerosis of the heart muscle sometimes. Cerebralhaemorrhages of greater or less extent were frequent, espe-cially in the cortex. The same alteration of the arteries,though not so marked or so regular, might be produced bythe intravenous injection of other toxic substances Therewas a ditference between arteriosclerosis in the humansubj ct and the above alteration, which might be termedarterionecrosis. Subcutaneous injections in guinea-pigs andintravenous injections in dogs were inefficacious, as differentspecies of animals showed different reactions.

(To be coHttMwed.)