examination before the Board of Medical Examiners of the Northwest Territory at Calgary, of which Dr. Brett, of Banff, Northwest Territory, is registrar.

THE HUNGARIAN BALNEOLOGICAL CONGRESS.-The Hungarian Balneological Congress held its eighth annual meeting on March 27th and 28th, in Buda Pesth, under the presidency of Dr. Wilhelm Tauffer. Among the papers read were The Treatment of Consumptive Patients in Sanatoria and Climatic Health Resorts, by Professor Adolf Onodi; The Balneotherapy of Heart Disease, by Dr. Franz Tausyk; and Hungarian Health Resorts, from the balneological point of view, by Dr. Josef Sumegi.

ILLEGAL PRACTICE.—Detective Wasson and Constable Boyd hav returned from East Ontario, where they had been on a tour of investigation. The result of their work was that A. H. Morgan, River Baudette, and D. L. Maclennan, Fournice, were each fined $25 and costs for practising medicine without a license. J. Quigman, Melrose, was brought up on the same charge, and remanded. Messrs. Wasson and Boyd return this week, as they have several other cases on hand.

PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS IN FRANCE.-On March 14th the Chamber of Deputies passed a vote to the following effect: In case of seizure of meat on account of tuberculosis, indemnities shall be paid to the owners who shall have conformed to the requirements of the law and to the regulations of the sanitary police. The total amount of the indemnity shall be equal to half the value of the meat seized in case of generalized tuberculosis, to three-fourths of that value in cases of localized tuberculosis, and to the total value if it is proved that the animal was not the subject of tuberculosis.

PECULIAR ACTION FOR DAMAGES.-A peculiar case occupied the Supren e Court at Auckland, New Zealand, for several days, Miss Baker suing Dr. Purchas for £500 damages for grafting more skin from her body than she alleged had been arranged for. It appears a Miss Houldsworth was severely burned, and Miss Baker agreed that Dr. Purchas should graft some of the skin from her body. Miss Houldsworth succumbed to her injuries. It was found that, although Dr. Purchas was a clever physician, he was too brutal in taking more of Miss Baker's skin than was absolutely necessary. Miss Baker was awarded $3,000.

LONGEVITY OF PHYSICIANS.-One of the most curious statistical records that has been compiled this century is that by Dr. Salzmann, of Essling, Wurtemburg, on the average duration of life among physicians. He found, in going over the ancient records of the kingdom, that in the sixteenth century the average duration of life among the class was 36.5 years; in the seventeenth century, 45.8; in the eighteenth, 49.8 and at the present time they reach the favorable average of 56.7. It appears from the foot-notes to the above that this very great increase in longevity is due to the disappearance of the "black pest," the introduction of

-vaccination, and the great diminution in the number of typhus epidemics, three classes of diseases which formerly decimated the medical practitioners. Church Family Newspaper.

QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY.-At the annual convocation of the University of Queen's College, April 7th, 1898, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Dr. Charles W. Purdy, of Chicago. Dr. Purdy is a Canadian, and a graduate of Queen's University, from which he received the degree of M.D. in 1869. He practised in the village of Hastings, county of Northumberland, Ontario, for three years, and went to Chicago in 1872. He soon achieved success in this city, and, after spending a few years in general practice, devoted special attention to Bright's disease and allied affections of the kidneys, and wrote certain textbooks on these subjects, which are well-known to physicians in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Dr. Purdy's many friends in Toronto, Kingston, and other parts of Canada are well pleased at the action of his alma mater in conferring on him so high an honor.

THE HEALTH OF LORD SALISBURY.-Lord Salisbury's present indisposition is to be attributed to a desire to return to ordinary habits of work too soon after an attack of influenza. This disease, as is well known, often leaves behind it a condition of lowered health, in which the sufferer, although free from any definite diseases, is yet unable for some time to face the ordinary wear and tear of life. Every man has the fault of his qualities, and Lord Salisbury is one of those who cannot take things easily. So long as he remained officially responsible for the business of the Foreign Office, he felt bound to deal with the more important public business himself, and whenever this involved an interview of any duration with Ministers, secretaties, or other officials, he experienced a rise of temperature. The Cabinet meeting on March 11th was followed by great prostration, and on Saturday he was so seriously ill that more anxiety was felt with regard to his state than at any period of the acute attack. We are glad to be in a position to state that he has steadily improved ever since, and that this improvement was so marked by March 16th that Sir William Broadbent felt justified in allowing Lady Salisbury to leave for Beaulieu. It is fully expected that Lord Salisbury will be able to follow her early next week, when Sir William Broadbent also intends to start for a holiday in Italy. Experience has again and again proved that the only remedy for the depression of health left by influenza is complete rest of body and mind. Sir William Broadbent, therefore, had no alternative but to exercise his authority as a physician to prescribe to his distinguished patient com. plete abstention from work. It should be added that experience has proved also that real rest is followed by permanent recovery even in men who have reached a far more advanced age than Lord Salisbury. There is therefore every reason to hope that the Prime Minister will return from his holiday completely restored to health.-Brit. Med. Journal.

OBITUARY.

DR. CHARLES WEST, of England, the well known author on diseases of children, died March 19th, aged 81.

BEAUMONT W. B. Dixie, M.D.—Dr. Dixie died suddenly at his late residence, Springfield-on-the-Credit, March 27th, 1898, aged 79. He was one of the oldest physicians in Ontario, having been engaged in practice for 55 years. For many years he was considered one of the leading physicians of the province, and had a very large practice in the southern part of the county of Peel. He was an excellent physician and readily inspired confidence in his patients, by whom he was much beloved. He was a good specimen of that old and cultured school of doctors in Canada of which but few are left; and, apart from his profes-sional standing, was a most charming and estimable man.

WILLIAM NEWCOMBE, M, D.-Dr. Wm. Newcombe died of pneu monia at his home in Sandwich, March 22nd, 1898, aged 69 He received his medical education in the old Rolph's School of Medicine, and received the degree of M.D. from Victoria University in 1865. He was at one time a well-known physician of Toronto, practising with his brother, Dr. James Newcombe, their offices being on the corner of Richmond and Church streets. After leaving Toronto he went to Victoria, B.C., where he practised for a time. He then removed to Sandwich, where he was engaged in practice for a few years. His funeral took place from the residence of his brother in law, Dr. E. J. Barrick, Toronto, March 25th.

DR. E. ARNOLD PRAEGER.-Dr. Praeger died at his home, Los Angeles, Cal., March 6th, 1898, aged 43 He was professor of gynæcology at the Los Angeles Polyclinic, and clinical gynæcologist at the free dispensary. He was born in England, where he received both his preliminary and professional education. He became Lic. Plys. and Surg., Glasgow, and Lic. Soc. Apoth., London, 1883. He came to Canada in 1886, and practised in Nanaimo, B.C., for a number of years. He soon became known as a skilful gynæcologist and abdominal surgeon. He attended some of the meetings of the Canadian Medical Association, and thus became known to many physicians of Eastern Canada. He was also a prominent member of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He went to California in 1893, partly on account of the delicate heal h of his daughter, and settled in Los Angeles, where he practised up to the time of his death.

Professor of Gynecology, University of Toronto; Professor of Gynæcology and Abdominal
Surgery, Woman's Medical College; Surgeon to St. John's Hospital, Toronto
General Hospital, and St. Michael's Hospital.

following clinical histories of some of my recent cases represent different phases of appendicitis:

THE of

Case No. 1. Mr. S. Operated on February 8, 1898. Never had inflammation of the bowels before. Patient was taken ill on Sunday night, February 6, with pain in the abdomen and vomiting. The pain was chiefly localized on the right side. On Monday he lay around on the lounge. I saw him on Tuesday morning, February 8, found him lying on a sofa.

* Read before the Toronto Medical Society.

On examination of the abdomen there was marked rigidity of the right abdominal muscles, tenderness on pressure midway between the anterior superior spinus process of the ilium and the notch on the under surfaces of the liver, beneath which lies the gall-bladder. The tenderness over this spot was marked. He thus had the four cardinal signs of appendicitis, namely, rigidity of the right abdominal muscles, tenderness on pressure, following an attack of sudden, severe pain, and vomiting. On Monday night a severe chill supervened, he shook till his teeth chattered. On Tuesday morning temperature was about 100 and pulse about 100. Face looked anxious. I advised immediate operation.

He was moved in three miles from the country to the Toronto General Hospital. At four in the afternoon, assisted by his physician, Dr. Gee, I opened the abdomen an inch and a half above Poupart's ligament by the oblique incision. Found the appendix adherent to the under surface of the liver; it was gangrenous and filled with pus, but had not burst. It was carefully removed in the usual way and the wound closed. No drainage tube was inserted. Patient made an excellent recovery.

On examination of the appendix I found it to be about four inches in length. At a point about an inch and a half from the tip the lumen was found constricted and the tip dilated. This dilatation was filled with very offensive grumous pus. A gangrenous condition was present and the blood vessels in the mesentery were filled with blood clot, showing complete stagnation of the circulation in the black portion. The rest of the appendix looked in a healthy condition. There was no foreign body found. (Specimen shewn). This attack was the first from which the patient had suffered. Case No. 2. Mr. J. Referred to me by Dr. Noble. I saw the patient during his fifth or sixth attack and advised operation. looked pale, and told me that he had never thoroughly recovered his health after the first attack. The attacks had been coming on at short intervals of a few weeks. The curious feature in this case was that the pain was chiefly referred to the left side, so much so that a layman, a friend of the patient, was quite anxious to be admitted at the time of the operation for fear that a mistake had been made in the diagnosis.

He

I opened the abdomen above Poupart's ligament by the oblique incision on the right side. After considerable difficulty I found the appendix turned downwards and backwards and covered by adhesions and completely bent on itself about its middle. The tip seemed to be in a very atrophic condition as a consequence of some previous attack. It was removed in the usual way.