of Eclinhiirgh, Session 1883-84. 
633 
AVhitsiintide marriages, in June, were much more numerous than 
the Easter marriages, in April ; whereas in the county the reverse 
was the case, a difference which may he attributed to the fact that 
the agricultural population was busy in June with the hay. In 
both town and county the marriages in May were below the 
average number in the other months. May being for some reason or 
other very generally regarded as a month of ill-omen for wedlock. 
The feeling against marrying in May is not easy of explanation. 
It is not common to all countries. On the contrary, in Germany, 
in Denmark, and in Switzerland this month appears from the table 
to be a favourite time for weddings. That it is attributable to May 
being ‘ the Virgin’s month ’ seems scarcely compatible with the 
fact that in Catholic Erance, where such a cause would be expected 
to have much more influence than in Protestant England, the May 
marriages are slightly in excess. Not impossibly the custom may 
be a survival from Koman times ; for in ancient Eome also it was 
deemed to be unlucky to wed in May, it is said, because the Lemuria, 
or Festival of the Departed Souls, was held in that month. 
‘ Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait.’— Ovid,” 
— Report of the Registrar-General of England^ 1883. 
4. Experiments on the Chief Disinfectants of Commerce, 
with a view of ascertaining their Power of Destroying 
the Spores of the Anthrax lacillus. By A. Wynter 
Blyth, Medical Officer of Health and Public Analyst. 
Communicated by Prof. Turner. 
The following paper gives the result of a considerable number of 
experiments made in 1883, the object of which was to ascertain 
whether any of the disinfectants in popular use had a “ germicidal ” 
action or not. 
Very few have distinguished between the action of a germicide 
and that of a disinfectant. If fungus spores are steeped for a 
certain time in some powerful chemical solution, and then, on 
being perfectly freed from the solution by washing or otherwise, 
placed in any soil whatever, neither grow nor exhibit any life 
manifestation, we are justified in saying that the spore has been 
