1618

plague. Five licensees, it is interesting to read, performed2636 inoculation experiments for testing antitoxins. Every-where, the inspectors state, the animals were " suitablylodged and well cared for," and the report throughout makesit obvious to any fair-minded individual that not only isgreat care taken in the admission of investigators to theprivilege of a licence but also that no step is missed toinsure the experiment being performed with the greatestpossible consideration and humaneness.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGUE.

THE report of the medical officer of health on the state ofplague in Cape Colony for the week which ended on May 10thstates that during the period under notice 2 cases were

admitted to hospital, 2 persons were found dead, 3 personsdied (including persons found dead), 1 patient was dischargedcured, and 6 cases remained under treatment on May 10th.For the week which ended on May 31st 52 cases of bubonicplague and 50 deaths were reported at Hong-Kong.

A GAELIC MEDICAL MANUSCRIPT OF THESIXTEENTH CENTURY.

MEDICAL readers of Gaelic, and perhaps students of theCeltic language in general, will find something to interestthem in the April number of the Caledonian Medical

Journal. In the Manuscripts Department of the British

Museum there is an old Gaelic MS. written upon vellum and

catalogued as "Additional 15,582," which came into the

possession of the Museum by purchase in the year 1845. Dr.

H. Cameron Gillies of London, a well-known Gaelic scholar,has examined this work and made extracts from it, togetherwith annotations, a commentary, and translation which fill

about 50 pages of the above-mentioned journal. The bulk ofthe extracts are printed in letter-press with Gaelic or Celticcharacters, but there are also five pages of extremely clearand distinct photographic reproductions of portions of the

original. Dr. Gillies states that the manuscript bears thedate 1563 and belonged to a remarkable family of Highlandphysicians who were named Beatons or Macbeths and werefamou? in the medical tradition of the west and north ofScotland. The language of the manuscript is pure ScottishGaelic and is similar to the language of Argyllshire and thewest of Scotland at the present day. Dr. Gillies discussesthe question of Irish linguistic forms and affinities at somelength.

-

THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.

AT a meeting of the court of governors of the above Ihospital held .on May 29th an interesting account waspresented by the Weekly Board. The "Pr6cis of Transac-tions " contained many important items. The existenceof a clinical laboratory is now a necessity in every largehospital and consequently the establishment of one at

Middlesex Hospital supplies a want that has been severelyfelt. The court at once sanctioned the arrangements thathad been suggested by the medical staff. Amongst otherimprovements that have been undertaken is the conversionof the old " Laffan " ward into a special operatingtheatre for gynsecological cases. A new laundry is

in course of erection and is approaching completion atHendon and an extension is being made to the nursinghome. It thus will be seen that the authorities of theMiddlesex Hospital are energetically maintaining the

hospital in the state of efficiency of which they have alwaysbeen proud and that they do not hesitate to undertake

any alterations which are likely to prove of advantage inthe treatment and care of the patients. The first volume of

"Reports from the Cancer Research Laboratories" is nowin the press and will shortly be issued. The staff of the

laboratories is now engaged on a second volume of the

reports which the director hopes to have ready for the pressbefore the end of the year. The board has at present underits consideration recommendations from the Cancer Investiga-tion Committee as to the provision of additional laboratoryaccommodation and an increase in the present staff of thelaboratories. As is well known, there are exceptionalfacilities for the study of cancer in all its aspects at this

hospital and the present arrangements will not allow fulluse to be made of the large quantity of material available-for investigation. We sincerely echo the wish of the boardthat this work will not be kept back for want of funds.The work which has already been accomplished has receivedrecognition by the committee appointed by the Royal College-of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons.of England, and doubtless the department will benefit by the.fund which is now being collected to further a systematic-investigation of cancer-a work in which His Majesty the-King takes the greatest interest.

RARE AND UNUSUAL FORMS OF LEADPOISONING.

WORKERS in lead and lead ores and those who have tohandle or to mix paints containing lead are well known to beliable to suffer from lead poisoning. It is stated that no-

case is recorded of a child having had symptoms of lead

poisoning from playing with "tin soldiers, though childrenare in the habit of putting them in their mouths. In the

Pro,qrès Medical of May 10th Dr. Variot, however, recordsthe case of a child who developed paresis of the lowerextremities and other symptoms pointing to lead poisoning.It was found that a toy trumpet with a metal mouthpiece inwhich there was lead to the extent of 88 per cent. was used’

by the child and was the source of the poisoning in question.In a recent " These de Paris " Dr. Mabit states that he hasobserved cases of lead poisoning from bullets which had

lodged in the body and had not been extracted. Usuallyin such cases, says Dr. Mabit, no symptoms of saturnismarise because the bullet becomes encapsuled in a firm anddense coating of fibrous tissue and thus remains " isolated."Occasionally, however. portions or fragments of it undergosolution and absorption into the blood and thus bring aboutsymptoms of lead poisoning. Among the cases recorded

by Dr. Mabit is one of a young French soldier who waswounded by a bullet received in the war of 1870 duringthe siege of Paris. The bullet lodged itself deeply in thenape of the neck and was not extracted. Two years later he

began to suffer from anaemia, and later, in 1874, violentabdominal pains and colic followed. These symptomscontinued from time to time until 1880, when attacks

of gout and of eczema supervened. These troubles-were all traceable to lead poisoning from the bullet em-

bedded in the patient’s neck. The cases above recorded areof interest as illustrating some of the rarer forms of lead

poisoning. -

DURHAM UNIVERSITY MEDICAL GRADUATESASSOCIATION.

THIS association gave a most successful dinner at the Café

Royal on May 29th at which some 70 members and guestswere present. The President of the association (Dr. FrederickS. Palmer) occupied the chair and was supported by SirWilliam Selby Church, Bart., President of the Royal Collegeof Physicians of London ; Sir George Hare Philipson,President of the University of Durham College of Medicine ;Dr. James Little, ex-President of the Royal Academy of

Medicine, Ireland; Surgeon-General W. Taylor, C.B.,Director-General, Army Medical Service; Mr. A. WynterBlyth, President of the Incorporated Society of Medical

Officers of Health ; Sir James Crichton Browne; Dr. W. H.Allchin, President of the Medical Society of London ; Dr.