Sept. 28, 1882] 



NA TURE 



5 2 9 



cattle with an attenuated virus as a protection against 

 anthrax. Knowledge as to these subjects is shown in the 

 address to be rapidly increasing, but it is maintained that 

 the science of the prevention of disease advances quite as 

 rapidly as the knowledge relating to its causation. Thus, 

 the application of systems of sewers is shown by statistics 

 to have led to a great decrease in enteric or typhoid fever, 

 both in this and other countries, and it is rightly con- 

 tended that where a similar result has not followed on 

 such provision, defective and faulty methods of con- 

 struction, and not the systems as such, must be held 

 responsible. The improvement in the water-supplies for 

 our towns and villages has in like manner led to much 

 saving of life and health, but dangers still lurk even in 

 our modern systems of supply, and some of them are 

 extremely difficult of detection. As to this subject Captain 

 Galton says he is disposed to think that there has never 

 been a well-proved case of an outbreak of disease re- 

 sulting from the use of drinking water, where the chemist 

 would not unhesitatingly on analysis have condemned the 

 water as an impure source. The inference heie implied 

 must unquestionably be regarded as considerably in 

 advance of that which our more eminent chemists them- 

 selves would lay claim to. Indeed, Dr. Frankland has 

 distinctly admitted that chemical analysis is unable to 

 detect those small quantities of morbific matter which are 

 capable of conveying disease, and he has himself mingled 

 choleraic dejecta with water without being able to detect 

 any noteworthy chemical alteration in its quality. The 

 standard which should be aimed at in this matter of 

 water-supply is the same as that advocated by Captain 

 Galton in other matters such as sewerage, ventilation, &C., 

 and that is to get rid of all conditions involving risk, 

 rather than to hope that their influence for mischief may 

 never have opportunity for manifesting itself. The 

 address gives many instances, whether in connection with 

 Indian fairs or elsewhere, to show that scrupulous clean- 

 liness should be the aim of sanitarians, and this is at least 

 as desirable in connection with water services and water- 

 courses as elsewhere. 



The address having been delivered at Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, it was but natural that frequent reference should have 

 been made to sanitary administration in that borough, and 

 to the results attendant upon it. The need for the isola- 

 tion of infectious diseases is a matter of public concern, 

 which called for and received attention, and it is satisfac- 

 tory to note from the recently issued Report of the Medical 

 Officer of the Local Government Board, that a consider- 

 able proportion of the sanitary authorities in England 

 have already recognised the necessity for making some 

 provision for the removal of the infectious sick from 

 amongst crowded communities. But it is also evident 

 that the accommodation provided should be of an efficient 

 character. At Newcastle there is hospital provision for the 

 infectious sick, but we fear that even whilst the Congress 

 is sitting, the inadequacy of the accommodation available 

 there is causing anxiety to those who are responsible for 

 the health of the borough. The extension of sanitary 

 hospitals to every part of the kingdom is much to be desired, 

 and the suspicion of their possible influence for evil which 

 is adverted to in the address, need not in any way hinder 

 action in this direction. The only disease which has ever 

 been alleged to extend from such hospitals to the surround- 

 ing neighbourhoods is small-pox, and even that disease is 

 not suspected of having any such influence except when a 

 large number of patients are aggregated together. The 

 very essence of these hospitals is to have them in actual 

 readiness, so that first attacks being at once isolated any 

 further spread is prevented ; and if by any chance this 

 becomes impossible, it is, to say the least, doubtful whether, 

 the disease having once extended, we have not in vaccina- 

 tion an even more potent method of prevention than 

 isolation can at such a stage afford. The compulsory 

 notification of infectious diseases will some day come 



powerfully to the aid of isolation as a measure of preven- 

 tion, but public opinion as yet hardly appears ripe for any 

 general measure to that effect. 



In the concluding portion of his address Captain 

 Galton endeavoured to convince his audience of the truth 

 of the aphorism that public health really means public 

 wealth. The advantages of dealing efficiently with the 

 refuse of the population by sewage farms and otherwise 

 was pointed out, and some of the results indicated went 

 clearly to show that after all filth is but matter in a wrong 

 place. The saving of life and health amongst persons 

 inhabiting our model dwellings and improved lodging- 

 houses was also shown to be striking, and it needs but 

 little argument to prove that a distinct pecuniary ad- 

 vantage accrues to the community which can, by pro- 

 viding proper dwellings for the poor, retain amongst 

 them, and in health, the bread-winners of each family. 

 A large death-rate always means a heavy sick-rate and an 

 increased poor-rate, and there is no form of death-rate 

 which indicates a greater loss to a district than that which 

 results from those infectious diseases which find their 

 victims amongst the youth and adult members of the 

 population. Fortunately it is these diseases above all 

 others which are most easily prevented by the adoption 

 of an intelligent and efficient sanitary administration. 



NOTES 



We regret to have to record the death, at the age of forty-three 

 years, of M. Georges Leclanche, the inventor of the oxide of 

 manganese constant elements, which are used so largely all over 

 the world. 



Dr. Oscar Dickson has purchased and presented to the 

 Botanical Museum at Upsala the magnificent collection of 

 Scandinavian mosses and alga: which the two Swedish natura- 

 lists, Messrs. J. and C. Hartman had collected during sixty 

 years. The three botanical collections which form the basis for 

 the study of the Scandinavian flora, viz., the Fries, Hahlenberg, 

 and Hartman are now, by this last donation, in the possession of 

 the University of Upsala. 



The inauguration of the Becquerel statue took place on 

 Sunday at Chatillon-sur-Loing, a small country town of the 

 Montargis arrondissement, in the department of Loiret, where 

 the eminent electrician was bom in 1788, and where his 

 family are still living. The statue represents Becquerel holding 

 in his hands the small apparatus of which he made use for pro- 

 ducing by electrical agencies his artificial crystals. On the 

 pedestal is carved the names of the principal battles which 

 Becquerel fought when in the French army, which belong 

 mostly to the campaign of 1813, especially the siege of 

 Sarago^sa. M. Cochery, the Minister of Postal Telegraphy, 

 who is the representative of Chatillon-sur-Loing in the French 

 Lower House, delivered the inaugural speech — an eloquent 

 address, summarising the principal discoveries of Becquerel, 

 and insisted on the services rendered by him to the cause 

 of telegraphy. M. Dumas, the President of the Committee 

 for erecting the statue, having been unable to attend the 

 meeting, sent a written address, which was read on his behalf 

 by M. Daubree, Director of the School of Mines. In this 

 eloquent address the Perpetual Secretary of the Academy 

 of Sciences presented a picture of the results obtained 

 by modern industry and drew a most ingenious parallel be- 

 tween the Greeks and Romans erecting statues to demi- 

 gods, and the modern nations conferring the same honours 

 on the real benefactors of mankind. He eulogized Gnillaume, 

 the eminent artist, whose masterpiece was offered to the inhabi- 

 tants of Chatillon to commemorate the life of a great man. M. 

 Fremy advocated the cause of the Museum. He reminded the 

 audience that just fifty years ago the lectureship occupied by 



