AUaUST, 1898. 



There was a large attendance at the 

 imonthly meeting of the Royal Society on 

 Monday, August 8th, when the President, 

 His Excellency the Governor (Viscount 

 Oormanston, G.C.M.G.), presided. 



Apologies were received from the senior 

 Vice-President (Sir Jas. Agnew, K.C.M.G.) 

 and His Lordship the Bishop of Tasmania. 



The Secretary (Mr. A. Morton) also 

 read a resolution passed by the medical 

 section of the society, requesting Dr. 

 Sprott to read his paper on Typhoid and 

 the Metropolitan drainage scheme. 



NEW MEMBERS. 



The following new members were 

 balloted for and elected : — Rev. C. H. 

 Talbot, and Messrs. W. H. Dawson, Oscar 

 E. Hedberg, and W. T. Brown. 



TROUT FOR ENGLAND. 



His Excellency called attention to the 

 photographs in the room of some trout 

 from the Great Lake, sent for exhibition to 

 England. He had been allowed to select two 

 of the fish to send to two of the principal 

 sporting papers, in order that the great and 

 gi'and sport in fishing — for it was such — 

 to be obtained in Tasmania might be made 

 more generally known in the Old Country. 

 Sportsmen at Home might, during the 

 close season there, come to Tasmania 

 and enjoy splendid fishing. 

 PAPERS. 

 ■" Notes on a surgeon of the tudor 

 PERIOD, AND HLS WORK." By Arthur 

 H. Clarke, M.R.C.S., etc. 



Dr. Arthur H. Clarke read a paper on 

 the surgeon of the Tudor period and his 

 work, which was full of quaint interest to 

 the medical profession. The paper dealt 

 mainly with a part of a book by Wm. 

 Clowes, one of Queen Elizabeth's " chi- 

 rurgeons," surgeon to St. Bartholomew's 

 Hospital and to Christ's Hospital, 

 and a prominent Fellow of the com- 

 pany of Barber - surgeons, and who 

 had served as an army surgeon for many 

 years. The description given of amputa- 

 tion of the limb in those days without 

 anaesthetics was of a very striking 

 character. 



^' Cause and prevention of typhoid 

 fever, with special reference to 



THE proposed METROPOLITAN DRAIN- 

 AGE SCHEME OF HOBART." (Diagrams.) 

 By Gregory Sprott, M.D., etc., Health 

 Officer for the City of Hobart. 

 Dr. Sprott, who was received with 

 applause, first spoke of the present being 

 an opportune time to lay before the Society 

 certain facts and figures connected with 

 the cause of typhoid fever generally and 

 modes of prevention, with special refer- 

 ence to the proposed metropolitan 

 drainage scheme, as a ^guide to voting 

 upon it. He traced the .istoryof typhoid 

 <also called enteric fever, and frequently 



designated as "low," "colonial," "fog," 

 and "fall" fever) from the days of the 

 early Greeks. It was found to-day in all 

 parts of the world, and was the scourge of the 

 new world. In 1830 Drs. Scott and 

 Milligan reported that an epidemic of it 

 occurred among British troops stationed 

 at Hobart, and which was then described 

 as " colonial fever." Experiments recently 

 made proved that the vitality and multi- 

 plication of the bacillus were increased bj-^ 

 the increase of temperature in the 

 soil. It was found in the liver, 

 spleen, and other glands, but verj^ 

 rarely in the blood. It was chiefly 

 found, however, in the abdominal dis- 

 charges of those afflicted, and, contrary to 

 popular opinion, in the saliva and urine, 

 and therefore great care had to be taken 

 in effectually destroying these. In the 

 soil, if it contained much organic matter, it 

 multiplied to an alarming extent, and was 

 common in everv Australasian city in 

 summer time ; iDut in winter it was 

 checked, because the temperature was not 

 favourable. Operations for developing 

 cultures of the bacilli were explained. The 

 bacillus revelled in njoist, porous soils, and 

 especially in a filth-laden soil. He re- 

 gretted to think that there were still 

 citizens who argued that when Hobart 

 had cesspits in use, and consequently soil 

 pollution, there was no typhoid. The 

 instance he had quoted showed there was 

 then typhoid in the city ; but if the 

 argument was good, then we ought 

 to ^revert to a system which had been 

 characterised as one of the greatest blots 

 of the 19th century. AVe were now suffer- 

 ing from the eff'ects of that very system, 

 which polluted the soil, and from the 

 neglect and shortcomings of our fore- 

 fathers in that very respect. Pollution of 

 soil in yards and gardens was a very fertile 

 means of increasing the trouble, unless 

 very active vegetation was going on. 

 Household slops, and other refuse thrown 

 about, and surface gutterage led to soil 

 pollution ; also dirty interiors of houses 

 of aU kinds, which harboured the 

 bacilli. The channels of infection 

 were next explained, the lecturer lay- 

 ing especial emphasis on the dangers of 

 unboiled milk, unboiled drinking water, 

 and eating raw vegetables that had come 

 in contact with the soil, such as tomatoes, 

 lettuces, cress, watercress, etc. The water 

 might be tainted at its source, in its 

 storage, carriage, or distribution. In 

 cities, with surface gutterage and incom- 

 plete flushing, with all household and bed- 

 room slops emptying into the same, and 

 probably containing not only the germs of 

 typhoid' but of other diseases, it was not 

 to be wondered at that in dry, hot weather, 

 the disease should spread. Flies often 



