478 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 197. 



already pronounced in favor of the project may 

 be mentioned the vestries of Shoreditch and St. 

 Pancras. In the case of Shoreditch the health 

 committee of the vestry point to the laboratory 

 established by the city of New York some five 

 years ago in connection with a scheme for gen- 

 eral bacteriological examination of cases of 

 diphtheria, and state that it has been received 

 by the medical profession of that city with 

 almost unanimous approval. The Shoreditch 

 committee mention further that several towns 

 in the provinces and some of the London sani- 

 tary authorities appear to have also made ar- 

 rangements whereby medical practitioners can 

 send pathological material to experts for bac- 

 teriological examination. Believing that it 

 would be desirable in order to secure uniform- 

 ity and economy that such provision should be 

 made, the Shoreditch Vestry has just informed 

 the County Council of its advocacy of such a 

 laboratory. In St. Pancras the vestry has al- 

 ready made some progress in the direction in- 

 dicated, since from a report just submitted to the 

 health committee by Mr. John F. J. Sykes, 

 medical ofScer of health, it appears the vestry 

 early last year sanctioned the examination of 

 pathological material in doubtful cases of diph- 

 theria and typhoid fever, examinations be- 

 ing made when necessary. They are con- 

 sidered essential to the proper notification and 

 prevention of the spread of the disease to which 

 they apply. Two questions have to be considered: 

 (1) whether it is more desirable to carry on the 

 work locally or to centralize it ; and (2) if cen- 

 tralized, which is the best method or public 

 body for centralization. In this connection 

 the health committee of the St. Pancras 

 Vestry states that systems have been organ- 

 ized by the several sanitary authorities in con- 

 junction either with the British Institute of 

 Preventive Medicine, the Clinical Research 

 Association or the bacteriologists of the large 

 London hospitals. At the same time the 

 small hospital laboratory at each of the large 

 infectious diseases hospitals of the Metropolitan 

 Asylum Board is utilized for the purpose of ex- 

 aminations of this nature. Taking all the points 

 into consideration, the St. Pancras Vestry have 

 come to the conclusion that a central bacterio- 

 logical laboratory should be established, and 



express the opinion that such an institution 

 could be provided by the Metropolitan Asylums 

 Board, under the latter' s Parliamentary powers, 

 in the new premises now being built on the Vic- 

 toria embankment. A letter to this effect has this 

 week been addressed to the County Council. As 

 the London County Council does not meet until 

 next month, and as the Vestries and District 

 Boards are only now beginning to resume their 

 proceedings, some little time will elapse before 

 all the replies are in the possession of the 

 Council. As these will not require much con- 

 sideration it is possible that the Public Health 

 Committee may be in a position to submit to 

 the Council a recommendation on the subject 

 early in November next. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



A VACANCY has occurred in the oflSce of 

 'Assistant in Physiology ' in the Harvard Med- 

 ical School. The duties are to superintend the 

 practical laboratory work of medical students, 

 and to engage in original research. The salary 

 is $400. Applications with statement of quali- 

 fications should be made at once to Dr. H. P. 

 Bowditch, 688 Boylston St., Boston, Mass. 



The University of Cincinnati has been pre- 

 sented with $60,000 by Mr. Briggs S. Cunning- 

 ham, a resident of Cincinnati and a member of 

 the Board of Directors of the University. This 

 money will be devoted to the erection of a 

 building to be occupied by the departments of 

 biology and of physics. Plans are being ma- 

 tured and it is hoped that the construction of 

 the building, to be known as Cunningham 

 Hall, will be begun within a month. 



According to the 'Cambridge University Cal- 

 endar ' for the year 1898-99, the total number 

 of members of the University was last year 

 13,260, of whom 3,019 were undergraduates. 

 This is an increase of 90 undergraduates over 

 the preceding year. The most important 

 changes in the scientific departments of the 

 University have been the election of Mr. A. A. 

 Kanthack to succeed the late Professor Roy in 

 the chair of pathology ; the appointment of Mr. 

 George Grifiiths as reader in surgery ; the 

 conversion of the University's lectureship of 

 geology into a readership, and the establishment 

 of a lectureship in chemical physiology not yet 



