great interest to the alumni and students and we hope it will become of distinct benefit to the University of Buffalo and the hospitals of the city.

The Water Supply of Buffalo.

HE report of George W. Fuller, the expert, called to Buffalo

TH

to study its water supply has been received and is now before the Common Council. It is the result of personal observation and of the labors of the department of health covering a study of water conditions for the past twelve years and is, therefore, a very complete and careful exposition of our water conditions. It is now the duty of the board of health (Mayor, Health Commissioner and Superintendent of Public Works) to act upon these recommendations and give to the city the practical results of Mr. Fuller's observations.

It is to be regretted that one of the possible sources of water contamination was overlooked-namely, the oft asserted leakage into the new intake tunnel. It seems as if this matter could easily be eliminated, once for all, if the superintendent of public works would give it his special attention.

Some of the conclusions and recommendations of Mr. Fuller deserve careful consideration. The enormous daily consumption of water per capita (324 gallons daily) is commented on and economy urged. But do we consume that amount of water daily? That is a question not at all proven and it is plainly up to the water department to show this pumpage by other methods than by reading off the indicator at the pumping station.

There is either enormous leakage, which can be easily determined, or else we are not using as much water as Mr. Fuller thinks we are. The meterage of water to private families should never be thought of in Buffalo. The subject of filtration is utterly out of the question with a water consumption per capita such as we are supposed to have.

The contamination of the river by South Buffalo sewage through Smoke's Creek and also by the harbor is admitted, as was strongly suspected by water observers ever since the typhoid epidemic at the steel plant colony. The extension of the intake to Horse Shoe reef is urged. It is doubtful if this extension would materially affect the conditions permanently. An extension of the intake toward Windmill Point might be of permanent benefit as far as local conditions are concerned, but it would be an expensive improvement and less efficient than a filtration plant.

What should be done at present, first, is to establish the facts regarding waste water or water consumption and apply the remedy; second, determine as to the leakage of sewage into the intake tunnel and stop it at once; third, make some practical use of the Dodge Street reservoirs, possibly with the idea of sedimentation.

The water question is by no means solved by this report. What has been gained is only a more emphatic statement of our water conditions by one more experienced in these matters, but it still remains for us to keep the question alive by study, observation, and constant prodding at those in authority.

As was suggested by a writer before the Academy of Natural Sciences last winter, a commission with power, patterned after the grade crossing commission, appointed by the mayor, holding office indefinitely, could solve this question to better advantage than the board of health as now constituted. The arguments in favor of the commission were given at that time and Mr. Fuller's report could receive at the hands of such a body the necessary consideration commensurate with its importance. The only advice to heed, and that for some time to come, is that given by the health department, "Boil the water for home consumption."

The Editor of the Medical Record Retires.

DR. GEORGE F. SHRADY, the distinguished and learned

editor of the Medical Record, announced his retirement from the editorial field in his journal for August 6, 1904. notice came as a surprise to the journalistic world, though doubtless his immediate associates had received some preliminary intimation of his intention to resign.

been

The career of Dr. Shrady, both editorial and professional, has an eminent one and for the past thirty-eight years he has kept in touch with the progressive science of medicine and surgery throughout the world, promulgating through the columns. of the Medical Record whatever of value has been discovered that would serve to make for improvement in medicine and medical education.

Dr. Shrady was singularly fitted by training and education for establishing upon a sound and substantial basis the leading medical weekly in America. It is no disparagement to those influential journals which have been established since the birth of the Medical Record, to claim for that periodical and its editor a foremost place in the editorial and journalistic field. He has, indeed, become the dean of the American medical editorial corps.

We cannot forget, among the many excellent causes the Medical Record has championed, that Dr. Shrady has ever been the friend and advocate of higher medical education; that during the long struggle to establish state examinations for license the columns of the Medical Record bristled with editorial articles supporting the measure; and that, during the later discussions regarding reciprocity and medical licensure, some of which were quite sophomoric in their attacks on the system prevailing in this state, Dr. Shrady's pen was wielded in favor of maintaining the New York standard.

It has been the privilege of the editor of this journal to enjoy Dr. Shrady's personal acquaintance for twenty-five years, and we feel that his retirement is in a degree a personal loss. The JOURNAL, however, extends its congratulations upon his release from the perturbations of editorial life and trusts that his years may be many in this land of peace and plenty; and, further, that he may continue to lend his powerful influence in favor of all that goes to make the American medical profession stronger and

better.

The Saint Louis World's Fair A Physician's Hostelry.

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NE of the great objections raised against expositions of late is the lack of comfortable hotel accommodations at reasonable rates. This is a topic of special interest to physicians who always expect to pay liberally for comfortable quarters, but do not tolerate extortion. For the most part they prefer a hotel to a boarding house, hence are prepared to pay reasonable hotel prices.

This important subject has its bearing, too, on the success or failure of an exposition; therefore, accurate information is most desirable. Physicians would often make a visit to such an exhibition as a part of their summer vacation, could they have the accurate information in advance upon the point in question. We propose to put our readers in possession of sufficient facts. bearing on this topic, as far as they relate to the Saint Louis Fair, to enable them to act with intelligence in regard to it.

The Hotel Monticello, situated at the the Kingshighway and Pine Boulevard, on the edge of Forest Park, meets all the requirements that we have indicated. It is a modern structure, built of substantial brick, hence is in no sense a temporary hotel. It is well ventilated, heated by steam, with running hot and cold water in every room, baths between each apartment, and is supplied with Bell telephones throughout the house.

A correspondent of a leading American newspaper writing under date of July 12, 1904, of hotels at Saint Louis in general, says of the Monticello in particular:

My hotel was on the great Park Front boulevard of the city, known as Kingshighway. Flanking it on every side were beautiful hotels, overlooking the wide shades and classic comforts of millionaire residences, private parks, and, best of all, the great and beautiful Forest Park. These surroundings made me comfortable at the fashionable, but old-fashioned and delightful Monticello.

This hotel affords its guests free automobile service on their arrival at the Union Station, which is, of course, exceptional, treats them not as strangers, but as friends, and delights every one with its hospitality.

The Monticello is kept on the European plan, and any physician in Buffalo or vicinity who contemplates visiting the fair, can make no mistake in securing accommodation at this most desirable hotel. The location is one of the best, being ten minutes' walk from the fair grounds through Forest Park; there is also an automobile service every 15 minutes, as well as electric trolley lines which keep the guests in constant touch with the great exhibition.

Applications for reservation of rooms should be made to Mr. L. C. Irvine, manager, who will supply prompt information relating to every need of prospective guests.

"The New York Standard."

NDER this title the Columbus Medical Journal, in its August issue, discusses the methods in vogue in this state with reference to the examinations for state medical licensure with a candor and intelligence that is most gratifying. Especially is this the case when we recall the many spasmodic, if not hysterical, attacks made upon the New York method, under cover of the "reciprocity" special pleadings, by the sophomoric clitors in the middle and remoter west, who display meager knowledge of the subject. We take pleasure in reprod/cing the article in question

in its full text:

The standard exacted by the regents of New York for that state is that no college shall be recognised by the board which does not make four years of actual attendance upon medical lectures a prerequisite to graduation for all students. Colleges, therefore, which give advance standing to graduates of literary colleges will not be recognised in that state and their graduates

even those who have taken the full four years' course, will not be permitted to the examinations. So far as appears in their several announcements, the Ohio Medical University is the only one of the Ohio colleges that has thus far adopted the standard. It is to be hoped that other colleges of the state will soon make the same requirement, and that the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination will adopt this four years' standard. The standard is none too high, but the advance must be made all along the line. In a state like Ohio with medical colleges so generally distinct from literary colleges it makes the two courses cover eight years, but steps could soon be taken to provide for the seven years' complete course. The standard set by New York, if maintained, will no doubt be followed by other states, and will be far-reaching in its influence. It is not the intention of the new standard to ignore the advantages of literary education, but rather to maintain the integrity of the four years'. medical course. Hitherto, pride in the classic literary course with many of the older institutions, shut out electives, and made it cover four full years, and then, providing certain sciences entered into this literary course, it has hitherto been assumed that the medical course could be completed in three years. But it is found that students with advanced standing labor under disadvantages, and have not been able to do the work well. Anatomy, physiology, bacteriology and histology, which are rarely-it may be said are never-taught in literary (distinct from medical) colleges, and the other three years are crowded full of medical studies, chemistry being about the only study which has been well mastered in the literary course. The loss of a year's work in these important fundamental branches has been found to seriously handicap the brightest minds; they will lack, notwithstanding their superior literary education, that ready grasp and insight, that poise and self-confidence which characterise the student who is well grounded in first year's anatomy, chemistry, physiology, histology and bacteriology. Therefore the New York State Board has decided to recognise no college that does not maintain the full four years' course for all students, giving advanced standing to none, credit being given, however, for all work actually done.

One result of this action will be to bring literary and medical colleges closer together; the former will probably find that they can place first year medical studies as electives late in a literary course for those who desire to begin the study of medicine and permit their students to elect medical studies for their last year and pursue them in some accredited medical college, thus enabling students in Ohio, where we have so many independent colleges, to complete the two courses in seven years, receiving the bachelor's degree from the literary college at the end of the first year's medical course. This would create a bond of interest between the literary and medical colleges which would in