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theatre and the wards, and accompany the medical officerswhen nurses are in attendance. "All’s well that ends well,"and we consider that with the proviso named no medicalofficer to a hospital need object to so rational a regulation.

THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL.

]i’ROM Milan a correspondent writes, May l4th ..-’° The

complications in Don Pedro’s condition proved even moreserious than was at first surmised. When Professor Semmola

appeared on the 7th, he found the febrile symptoms hadmasked a pleurisy of some days’ standing, while there werecerebral phenomena which pointed to a deeper sort of mis-chief. On the evening of the 10th, the prostration was againso marked that, fearing its sequelae, Professor Semmola sum-moned by telegraph Dr. Di Giovanni from Padua and Dr.Charcot from Paris, the latter of whom had some months agobeen consulted by the Emperor. The Senator Dr. Bruno,a physician of great judgment and experience, was alsocalled in. Meanwhile, the treatment approved at the lastconsultation was proceeded with until, on Dr. Charcot’sarrival from Paris on the evening of the 12th, a decidedlyfavourable turn had declared itself. At the consultationwhich immediately took place, the eminent physicians of thePaduan and Parisian schools adhered in every particular toProfessor Semmola’s diagnosis and treatment."

SUCCESS OF COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION IN

SALFORD.

IN reviewing the circumstances of the first quarter of thepresent year Dr. Tatham, medical officer of health for

Salford, says that at no previous period during the five

years in which compulsory notification has been in force inthe borough has the efficiency of that system for the sup-pression of infectious disease been so unmistakably manifest.Small-pox was repeatedly imported into the district, twenty-six attacks having resulted. All were successfully removedto hospital, precautionary measures as to vaccination beingalso adopted. But a still stealthier disease has had to be

encountered, for typhus made its reappearance in seven

instances, six of them hailing from the well-known Regent-road quarter, which has contributed the bulk of the typhuscases for two years past. All these seven cases were alsoremoved to the borough fever hospital. Some others havesince occurred, and have doubtless been dealt with in thesame way. The cases have occurred in rapid successionamongst victims so miserable in condition that, accordingto Dr. Tatham, this disease, as well as small-pox, wouldalmost necessarily have been present in proportions whichwould have become practically unmanageable had it notbeen for the notification, and for the ensuing promptremoval to hospital which became possible. As it is,neither pestilence is making headway in the borough.

THE MONK BRETTON TRAGEDY.

WE would again draw attention to this case, as it seemsto us, after careful consideration of the habits of the con-demned man, that little doubt can be entertained that hewas not in a fit state to be at large at the time hecommitted the murder. As we said before, drunken-ness of itself is rather an aggravation than an extenua-tion of crime; but a man’s intellect may be so blunted,and his moral sense so depraved by long indulgence inalcohol, that he can scarcely be judged by the same rules oflaw and common sense as an ordinary individual would be.That Burke committed the murder there can be no doubt fromthe evidence of the policeman who witnessed the fatal act.Still, we would urge for the consideration of the Ilome

Secretary the facts-(1) that there was total absence of

motive for the deed; (2) that the act was unpremeditated,or, as the law terms it, without malice aforethought";(3) that the firing of the shot was, to all intents and pur-poses, the impulsive act of a drunken lunatic; (4) that the,letter written to his wife prior to the murder was an

incoherent, rambling epistle, the product of an evidentlydiseased brain. It was a pity that steps were not taken taput the unfortunate man under restraint of some sort, forhis drunken career was only too likely to end in some actof folly, and probably in crime.

THE DONDERS MEMORIAL FUND.

THE ceremony at Utrecht on May 28th to celebrate theseventieth birthday of Professor Donders and his consequentretirement from his professorship will comprise a formalpresentation of the sum collected, together with the roll ofsubscribers, at 130 P.M., and also a public dinner at 5.30.After the ceremony of presentation the Professor will namethe scientific purpose to which he proposes that the fundshall be applied. The complete list of subscribers from this<country is to be seen in our advertising columns (page 53).Any subscriber may verify the amount of his subscription byapplying to Mr. Brailey, 11, Old Burlington-street, where theaudited list may be seen. The total amount collected here is..E280 11. 10d. Professor Humphry, Dr. Hughlings Jackson,Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Brailey have been invited to attendas delegates to represent the subscribers, and it is hopedthat many others also may be able to attend, and by theirpresence do honour to Professor Donders.

AGOSTINO BERTANI.

HONOURS are falling thick on the name of the surgeonand sanitarian of the Italian Revolution. A tablet has just,been unveiled to his memory on the facade of that house inGenoa where he planned and set in motion the most brilliantof all Garibaldi’s expeditions -that of the Mille" or" Thousand," which added the Two Sicilies to Italian unity.The following is a translation of the inscription: "Agostino,Bertani, exile in Genoa from Lombardy, lived here noblyemployed in the advancement of science and in the service-of patriotism from 1853 to 1866. True to all the high-souled undertakings whence the new Italy took breath andform, in this house he endued with life and impulse, andfrom this house he launched, the memorable organisingcommittee which aroused and inspired the armed Thousandon their path of prodigies, with Garibaldi for their leader,from Marsala to the Volturno. Sacred be the walls im

which so great a history resides."COCK’S GILLS AS A SOURCE OF SKIN GRAFTS,

z’ SENOR F. ALTRAMIRANO mentions in a Mexican journal’,

El Observador M&eacute;dico, a case in which he made some experi-ments in skin grafting on an obstinate ulcer left by a largecarbuncle. More ordinary means having failed to cause itto heal, he applied three skin grafts taken from the patienthimself. Of these only one took, and the man expressedso much repugnance to the proceeding that another sourcehad to be found for subsequent grafts. A cock was selected,and fragments cut from his gills; these were split, dividedinto ten pieces, and the raw surfaces applied to a freshenedportion of the ulcer. A carbolised dressing was then ban-daged on, the whole being constantly moistened. On thethird day, on the dressing being removed, all the ten fragments were found organically adherent. A number of new

grafts were then applied, cut from the comb, the gills, andthe skin of the back of a chicken. None of these were successful. The cock’s gills were again resorted to, and fourmore fragments successfully grafted. A fresh se tof grafts