SALE OF VERMIN KILLER.

AT Guisborough Petty Session P. B. Ayton, a chemist at Lingdale, was summoned for having neglected to enter in a certain book, as required by Act of Parliament for the purpose, the sale of a packet of poison. The defendant pleaded that he was in London at the time, and that the mistake was made by his assistant. It was stated that the poison-a packet of Battle's Vermin Killer-was sold to a young woman who, whilst in a low way, swallowed a considerable dose and poisoned herself. The defendant said there was no evidence that the young woman poisoned herself, but Admiral Chaloner remarked that even if that were the case it did not alter the fact that the poison was sold and no entry had been made. It was a serious offence, and the Bench felt it their duty to inflict the full penalty of 57. and costs.

VENTILATION OF TRAMWAY CARS. MR. DUNCAN, secretary of the Glasgow Tramway Company, was charged at the Central Police-court with having contravened by-law 4 of the by-laws for the regulation of the tramways, in having failed to keep in working order the ventilators of a car. He pleaded not guilty. Inspector Taylor had inspected the car in question, and found that the front and rear ventilators were shut and could not be opened. The day was very sultry, and there were a number of passengers in the car. He had warned the conductor two days before of the bad ventilation. The ventilator had not been opened since the car was re-painted some months before. Mr. Orr, who appeared for the Tramway Company, asked whether the car was not better ventilated than all the omnibuses in Glasgow? The inspector said he did not know. In the course of other evidence it was stated that both ventilators had afterwards been opened with very slight pressure. The charge was found not proven.

THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY. MR. NAPIER attended from the Metropolitan Board of Works to support a summons obtained against the SouthEastern Railway Company for not securing 50, Ewer Street, near Glasshouse Yard, which was in such a dilapidated condition as to be dangerous to the inmates and the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The district surveyor said that the house was very old and of wood, except the chimneys, which were in an unsafe condition. The house ought to be pulled down. Mr. Napier reminded his worship that this house was one of a lot acquired by the company to extend their line, and, not being wanted, was allowed to go to ruin. A number of poor people lived in it, and unless immediate steps were taken to secure it their lives were in danger. A clerk from the office of the company said that they had no cause to show against the proceedings, but they were fearful of an action from the freeholder. Mr. Partridge ordered the house to be secured immediately.

NEGLECT TO MAKE A NEW STREET.

THE Queen's Bench Division has had before it a motion-ex parte Lord Salisbury. This was an application for a rule nisi calling on the Metropolitan Board of Works to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue commanding them to make a road from Carting Lane to a road styled in the Metropolitan Board of Works (Various Works) Act, 1875, Road No. 1. This Road No. I runs parallel with the Victoria Embankment, and the road in question, by the plan forming part of the Act, ought to run from it northward to Carting Lane. By the Act the Board were required to make the road within fifteen months after the passing of the Act, and they had the option, with regard to Road No. 1, to make it a footway or a carriage-way, but this option did not extend to the connecting road. It was stated that the Board had failed to make the connecting road. The Court granted a rule nisi.

RIGHTS AS TO DRAINS.

THE Master of the Rolls has had before him the case of Wilberforce v. Hearfield-an action brought to compel the defendant to clear out a drain or dyke, about six feet wide, running between the estates of the plaintiff and defendant, near Hull; and the chief dispute between the parties was in which of them the ownership of the drain was vested. A great many witnesses were called for the purpose of assisting the Court to determine this question, which might surely have been disposed of at the Assizes. In the result the Master of the Rolls, after remarking on the trumpery nature of the question in dispute, decided that the plaintiff and defendant were tenants in common of the ditch, and left each party to pay his own costs.

up.

PROPERTY OF SMALL-POX PATIENT. AT the Wandsworth Police-court Mr. Bridge has heard a summons for detaining chairs and other articles belonging to Esther Drew, whose husband had died in the hospital from small-pox, and ordered them to be delive.ed The defendant, a man named Cable, of Bromell's Buildings, Wandsworth Road, who detained the things for rent, held up a little boy and said he had suffered from small-pox, and that on being discharged from the hospital he was nearly blind, doctors who had seen him stating it was through neglect. He was now attending the Ophthal mic Hospital. Mr. Bridge gave the man 10s. for expenses in taking the boy to the hospital, and promised another 10s. if the boy went on well.

COMPENSATION FOR THE DEATH OF A BABY,

SHERIFF CLARK, at Glasgow, issued an interlocutor in a case in which J. M'Lean, labourer, sued R. Falconer for 2001. The grounds of the action were that the pursuer's son, a child of seventeen months, was attacked by a furious and savage cock belonging to the defender, and which, although known to be of vicious habits, was kept unenclosed and unpenned. In consequence of injuries inflicted by the animal on the child's face and head, it died. The action originally came before Sheriff Lees, who held that as the cock had not been proved vicious the defender was not liable. The matter was appealed, and Sheriff Clark now finds that it had been made out that the cock was of a dangerous character and ferocious disposition, and gives decree for 157. with expenses. His lordship, in a note, considers that there is no question that the child was injured by the cock, and died in consequence.

VACCINATION CASE.

J. ABEL, watchmaker, whose case has lately given rise to several questions in the House of Commons, has appeared at Faringdon, in answer to a summons to show cause why an order should not be made on him to have his child vaccinated. The defendant said his child had not been vaccinated, and so long as he had health and strength his son should not be vaccinated. Mr. Bennett said it did not signify what the defendant's opinion was, the law must be complied with. The defendant said the magistrate had a discretionary power under the 29th section, and the latter part of the 31st section likewise gave a discretion as to the issue of a compulsory order. The justices' clerk said the defendant evidently relied on the words if he think fit' as giving a discretionary power to the magistrate. Mr. Bennett said he did not consider he had any discretionary power in the matter. The defendant then mentioned a case of a person near Rugby, in which the magistrate had refused the granting of an order to compel vaccination where the man had been repeatedly fined. Mr. Bennett said he thought no difference should be made in the cases, and he should order the child to be vaccinated within a fortnight. The defendant said that after what had passed in the House of Commons in his case he should refuse to pay, and they might do what they pleased with him. The defendant's brother, however, paid.

FLAGRANT MILK ADULTERATION.

B. JONES, dairyman, 64, Red Cross Street, was summoned for selling milk adulterated to the extent of 53 per cent. of water. The inspector said that the defendant and another dealer supplied persons employed at Welsh and Margetson's, Southwark Bridge Road, and that great complaints were made as to the quality supplied. He went to the factory, and waited until defendant entered with his can, and then he asked a workman to purchase a pennyworth. It was handed to witness in the defendant's presence, and he told him he was going to have it analysed by Dr. Bernays at St. Thomas's Hospital, who pronounced it to be adulterated as above. The defendant said that owing to the market being closed to beasts he was unable to purchase cows, and being short of milk on the day in question he purchased three quarts of a man in the street, and believed it to be all right. Mr. Benson observed that it was a very bad case, and fined defendant 10l. and 12s. 6d.

costs.

PAVING EXPENSES.

MR. T. COURTENAY, 474, King's Road, Chelsea, was summoned by the Vestry to show cause why he should not be adjudged to pay the sum of 133/. in respect to the paving in front of those two houses, abutting on Shalcomb Street, which had been duly apportioned for him to pay under the Metropolis Local Management Act. The case for the Vestry was that in consequence of a petition from some of the inhabitants of Shalcomb Street, a new street in the King's Road, the Vestry paved that street, and the fair cost of paving that part of the street, making the road, &c., contiguous to the premises of the defendant was 133., ordered to be paid one-half on May 1, and the rest in equal proportions on August I and November next. Mr. Smyth contended, first, that this was not a new street within the Act; secondly, that under the powers of the Paving Act notice should have been given to the defendant so that he might have the place paved himself; and thirdly, that the charges of the Vestry were exorbitant; and he had competent masons who could do the work for half the amount charged. Mr. Barstow said he had no power but either to make no order or to make it for the amount claimed. Mr. Smyth contended that the Vestry could either proceed by action or at a police-court. Mr. Barstow held that it was a new street, and made the

order.

VACCINATION PROSECUTION.

AT the Eastbourne Petty sessions, P. Luck, who has appeared before the Bench on two previous occasions for refusing to have his child vaccinated, now appeared a third time. He pleaded not guilty.

The vaccination officer said, since the hearing of the last summons, notice had been given to the defendant, and he (witness) had called personally at the defendant's, and informed Mrs. Luck that the child must be done. The child had, however, not been vaccinated. The defendant -I have had no notice. Witness: I wrote a letter to you by my son. Defendant: It has not reached me. You ought to have sent a particular printed form of notice. A magistrate: It is not necessary; the Act does not say the notice shall be printed. Defendant: But when proceedings are taken a second time, the notice has to be gone through formally a second time. Another magistrate: It is nonsense to say that a printed notice is required. Defendant: But I have had no notice at all. The Chairman: Are you in a position to prove the service of the notice, Mr. Nicholls? Mr. Nicholls: The notice was delivered by my son, but he is not here, and I hardly know where to find him just now. The Chairman : As defendant insists on proof of notice, and that proof cannot under the circumstances be given, there is no alternative but to dismiss the case; but the defendant should understand he is liable to be summoned again.

ADVERTISEMENT HOARDINGS.

Mr.

THE Queen's Bench has had before it the case of Reg. v. Willing-a case stated for the opinion of the Court by the General Assessment Sessions for the Metropolis, and which raised the question whether two hoardings used as advertising stations were rateable. Willing had erected hoardings in front of a villa which was to let, and also in front of a house which was being pulled down and rebuilt in Powis Place, Haverstock Hill, in each case under an agreement with the owner, which the Court held did not amount to a demise. In the one case the hoarding rested on the ground cutside the garden wall, and was fastened to the railings which topped the

wall and to a row of trees which stood behind. There were also struts running down to the garden behind for the purpose of steadying it. In the other case the hoarding was supported by poles, which were fixed into the ground inside the wall which surrounded the property. The question raised by Mr. Willing was whether he was in such exclusive occupation as to constitute him owner of a rateable hereditament. In the first case the Sessions had held that he was not such an owner, at the same time granting a case to the Assessment Committee; while in the second case they held that he was such an owner, but granted a case on the point to Mr. Willing. The Court now held that the question for decision in such a case is whether the person sought to be rated is in permanent and profitable occupation,' and that looking to the cir cumstances Mr. Willing was in neither case in such permanent occupation, but a mere licensee, and that he was therefore not rateable.

2. Similarly for a water-rate, so as to exclude a portion or several portions where mains are not laid? X. Y. Z.

[1. The powers of a Local Board, as regards dividing its district for particular purposes, will be found in sect. 211 of the Public Health Act, 1875.' 2. Water-rates are dealt with in sect. 56 of the same Act.]

NUISANCE-OUTFALL OF SEWER. SIR,-The sewage of part of the town of A., in the district of the urban sanitary authority, is discharged into an open ditch, about 100 yards without the urban boundary. This ditch opens into, but is on a lower level than the river, so that the sewage matter accumulates in the ditch, where it remains until a high flood arises, when it is washed into the river. This ditch is in the district of the rural sanitary authority, who have called upon the urban authority to abate the nuisance caused thereby; but this body declines to have anything done in the matter, saying that, as the sewage matter is discharged into a ditch which is in the rural district, they can call upon the rural authority to abate the nuisance-a nuisance which is clearly caused by their wilful default. Please say on whom devolves the duty of abating this nuisance, and also whether the urban authority can be prevented from discharging their sewage matter in the manner above described.

Laws of Health. By MICHAEL TAYLOR, M. D. Penrith : Hodgson.

THIS title was given to a lecture which Dr. Taylor delivered to the working-men of Penrith, and was written to point out the injury to health which is sustained by not attending to certain well-known facts. He did not dwell on what we should eat, drink, and avoid, but discussed only the subject of 'preventable diseases.' Amongst these he mentioned, not only small-pox and other diseases usually classed under this name, but scurvy, certain hereditary diseases, and affections arising from overcrowding, errors of diet, and dissipation. The bulk of the lecture was, however, devoted to the consideration of those diseases which are spread by infection, and he stated that he did not believe that all cases of cholera, small-pox, fever, and diphtheria could be prevented, but only a very large proportion, as a majority of those deaths are in direct opposition to the laws of nature.' He impressed on his audience the value of cleanliness, temperance, fresh air, good water, proper drainage, and avoidance of overcrowding, by means of which he hopes to mitigate to a great extent the fatality of these diseases. He barely touched on the necessity for isolation and disinfection in the prevention of infectious diseases, as these subjects were rather beyond the scope of his lecture.

The Sewage Question. By C. NORMAN Bazalgette, Barrister-at-Law, with Abstract of the Discussion upon the Paper. Edited by JAMES FORREST, C.E. London: Clowes and Sons, Printers. 1877.

Sanitary Papers Read at Edinburgh. By W. ALLAN CARTER, C.E. Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfute. 1877. Remarks on the Sewage Question and Hille's System for the Disposal of Sewage and Sewage Sludge. By FRITZ HILLE. London: Warburton and Co.

WE are glad to see a reprint, by permission of the Council of the Institute of Civil Engineers, of Mr. Bazal

gette's paper, and especially to see the full discussion at the end, in which General Scott, Lieut.-Colonel Jones, Mr. W. Hope, Mr. Bailey Denton, Dr. Frankland, Mr. R. Field, Mr. Morton, Professor Ansted, Mr. W. Crookes, Mr. Adam Scott, Sir Joseph Bazalgette, and many other well-known gentlemen took part. Mr. Bazalgette's object as an author was twofold; first, to limit and define the proper application of the various systems, which have been introduced, as a means of dealing with the sewage of towns, and secondly, to direct attention to certain subordinate questions arising upon the practical operations of these systems. The classification of the various systems adopted was: 1. Treatment with Chemicals,' including the Lime Process; the A. B. C., or Sillar's Process; the Phosphate of Alumina Process,' as practised by the Phosphate Sewage Company; the Goodall's Process,' as practised by the Clarifying and Utilisation of Sewage Company; the Bird's Process,' ; the Dugald Campbell's Process, and the 'Whitthread's Process. 2. The Application of Sewage to Land, including irrigation and intermittent downward filtration,' in which came under notice the systems in use at Barking and Merthyr. 3. 'The Dry Earth System,' with especial reference as to what would ensue were London to be treated on the Moule's Earth Closet' principle. 4. 'The Liernur, or Pneumatic System,' instancing the results obtained at Leyden, Amsterdam, and Dordrecht, and severely criticising the poudrette; and 5. The Seaboard and Tidal Outfalls.'

In our issue of February 16 last, we gave in detail the various conclusions at which the author arrived, and have therefore little more to add in reviewing this reprint. During the discussion, which with contributions made through the secretary, occupies over 130 pages out of the 190, some most interesting information was given relative to the Sewage Question and the River Thames,' and this portion of the subject is illustrated by two engravings, showing sections of the river Thames at various well-known places, where it has been said that the bed of the river had considerably silted up. Some of the speakers, especially Messrs. Shelford and Shoolbred, seemed to hold that rivers were so silted up, when sewage was poured into them, and Sir J. Bazalgette, in reply, gave a full vindication of the plans adopted with regard to the sewage of London and the outfalls. This portion of the work is perhaps the most interesting of the whole, and our metropolitan readers who have been dreading the raising of the Thames bed will do well to procure the book, and study attentively the whole question, in the light of experiments which have been made for fifteen years. The Metropolitan Board of Works and the Thames Conservators have both made, from year to year, accurate sections of the Thames, showing the amount of deposits which had taken place, and the result is apparently most satisfactory. The whole speech was a thorough vindication of dealing with sewage in seaboards, tidal rivers and estuaries, by sending it to the ocean, and reference was made to the proposal of Sir John Hawkshaw to carry the sewage of Glasgow some twenty-four miles below the city.

We presume that the work can be procured at the Institute of Civil Engineers, Great George Street.

Mr. Allan Carter, in two papers entitled 'Methods of Sewage Removal,' and 'The Disposal of Sewage' gives a very good description, and criticises very fairly the various processes and systems which have been adopted; but we do not propose to quote any of his remarks for the simple reason that the matter is now prominently before the scientific world from every point of view. The Liemur system of drainage is also ably treated by Mr. Cartek who says everything that can be said in its favour, after paying a visit to Holland in order to inspect its working. We have also in this volume an excellent opening address to an Engineer's Society, in which the recent progress of engineering science is cleverly handled, and a most excellent paper upon Combustion and Prevention of Smoke.' Since Mr. Spence's paper, published in 1866, nothing so

good upon this last-mentioned subject has appeared, at least that we are aware of.

Mr. Hille's pamphlet, is a thorough explanation of his own system of dealing with water-carried sewage, which we have often explained. We must perforce refer the reader to the work itself, which is a remarkably able production, and cheap at a florin.

Manuals of Health-Water, Air, and Disinfectants.

By

W. NOEL HARTLEY, F.R.S. E., F.C.S., Demonstrator
of Chemistry and Lecturer on Chemistry in the Evening
Class Department, King's College, London. London:
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

THE first peculiarity which arrests the reviewer's attention on taking up this little volume is that the date of writing or of publication is not to be found either on the title-page or anywhere else; and the reader who shall, in after years, desire to know the date of the book will have to find it out from internal evidence.

The book consists in great part of a series of extracts from excellent authorities; but there is a want of proper assimilation, and we are bound to say that the literary merits of the book are not of a high order. We quote the opening paragraph :-‘The patriarchs of old dug wells for the use of themselves and their herds and flocks. Those they guarded jealously, and their servants sometimes fought for the possession of the water, and disputed the right of others to make use of them. Thus did the servants of Abraham and Abimelech fight for the well which Abraham had dug until an agreement made between them at Beersheba set the matter at rest,'

firm who purchased the sole right of manufacturing my traps in fire-clay had a large experience and connection in the fire-clay trade, and it is not very likely that they would pay away money for nothing. So I think Mr. Phillips ought to thank me for reminding him of the old Scottish motto-Nemo me impune lacessit.'

In concluding, I beg to express my gratification at reading the able exposition which Mr. Phillips gives of the working of my system and the good results to be obtained H. P. BUCHAN.

from it.

124A, Renfield Street, Glasgow.

PADDLING THE WATER AS A MEANS
OF AVERTING DROWNING.

(To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-Already the fine season has been ushered in by a number of deaths, some of them occurring in our very midst, from drowning. The means of safety, or relative safety, which I have to point out, are so very simple, and, as I believe, so effective, that I am lost in wonder that no one has thought proper to insist upon them, as in the following brief remarks it is my intention to do. Swimming, as ordinarily practised, is not the most sufficing means for escaping the dangers of the water. It needs some instruction to be able to swim, and practice to be able to swim well. No doubt it is desirable to swim, and to swim well. But the great majority of persons of both sexes do not know how to swim at all, yet unless people can swim, and swim well-and even then they are not always successful, when the emergency comes, in preserv

As we have said, the materials used in the book are very ill digested, and the class of persons for which this book is intended will find great difficulty in understanding it.

Under the heading Organic Impurities in Water,' copious extracts (whole pages) are reprinted from Wanklyn and Chapman's book on Water Analysis,' and there is not one word of acknowledgment. The organic matter in water is sometimes expressed as parts per 100,000, and sometimes as parts 100,000,000; sometimes the results of the combustion-process and sometimes those of the ammonia-process being given.

Correspondence.

All communications must bear the signature of the writer, not necessarily for publication.

PATENT SANITATION.

(To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.)

SIR, I fear it is rather late for Mr. John Phillips to publish an illustration, showing an inferior modification of one of my patent ventilating traps as a new idea of his own, or as an improvement upon the old-built cesspool. No doubt it is a pity that such things as patents should exist, but at present I fear that Mr. Phillips, as well as other people, must take the world as it is. When an exorbitant price is charged for any patented article, there may be some grounds for complaint, but such is not the case, I consider, in this instance; consequently Mr. Phillips and all else concerned would do better to spend a few shillings in purchasing a particular than run the risk of being pulled up for infringement of patent.

preservative as is conjoint paddling and treading water. As a rule subject to few exceptions, persons precipitated into the water do not swim without previously learning. But paddling with the hands and treading with the feet require no prior instruction, and in the great majority of cases would save life. In swimming, the mouth is on a level with the water in the intervals of the strokes; in paddling, the head is well elevated; the individual is able to look about, he can deliberate as to what is best to be done, and he is much less liable to take water into the larynx or glottis, a casualty which I am persuaded causes the destruction of many. Without prejudice to the art of swimming, I would have children exercised in household tanks from the tenderest age, in the act of paddling and treading water, so as to impart the confidence which unreasoning dread tends to lessen or take away when one is suddenly immersed in an unusual medium. The animal, the quadruped, begins to paddle at once when cast into water, but as man does not habitually employ the anterior limbs as organs of locomotion, reason must tell him that he may, if he pleases, employ them as organs of locomotion, in the water, just as readily as any four-footed animal. To be sure, a man has not the habit of using his hands and arms for locomotion, as the brute has, but otherwise how much more available is the paddle-shaped hand than a hoof or a paw. Again, the man with little or no instruction, by throwing his head well back, can float, and rest at pleasure, a thing of which the brute has no conception whatever.

Of course, a little preliminary habitude is desirable, but without any preliminary habitude or instruction whatever, there is nothing to hinder man, woman, and child, were they unable, in common parlance, to swim a stroke, from beating water with the hands and feet, just as the lower animals do, and so keeping themselves afloat for a protracted period, a period that in a multitude of instances would be found sufficient to invite rescue and preserve life. The action of the feet alone will sustain the body. The action of the hands alone will do so; à fortiori, the action of both will prove yet more effective. I have tried myself one alone, or both together-nay, with a single hand only

the manner intended by me, but I could find no evidence of such being the case, nor has such turned up as yet. The

is no occasion for fuss or bustle. The body, taken as a whole, is actually lighter than water, bulk for bulk, and a

very moderate amount of paddling, with feet and hands, will be found perfectly adequate to sustain and guide its movements. In fact, so long as the individual paddles, as I here direct, he cannot sink. A horse, or dog, or cow, or cat, or swine, when immersed in water, begins instantly to paddle, and that without any prior instruction or exercise whatever. Now, a man, or woman, or child has only to do as the inferior animal does, and he, she, or it will float necessarily and inevitably. The place being otherwise safe and boats at hand, boats and ship's crews, a regiment of soldiers, schools, and the like, might jump into deep water, and paddle themselves into security without risk or failure. In this, as in many other things, man is too often unaware of his own immense capacities.

Animals not habituated to the water, will often take to it spontaneously, or, if cast into it, sustain themselves for indefinite periods. A horse, during disembarkation in Portugal, fell into the sea, and paddled about the harbour for a matter of six hours before it was secured. Washed or thrown overboard, the lower animals have been known to float for a long time. I knew of a mule which, having been washed overboard in the Bay of Biscay, paddled itself ashore, and then crossed country a couple of hundred miles to its previous quarters. The staff-surgeon in charge told me that, after leaving the Peninsula, the horses of the troop had to be thrown overboard in order to lighten the ship in a gale. The poor things, when they found themselves abandoned, faced round, and, so long as the ship commanded a view, were seen to battle with the wrack and wash for miles. A man on the coast of Lincolnshire, mounted on an old grey mare or other horse, used to swim seaward to vessels in distress, and thus rescued many lives. Recently, nigh Brooklyn, U.S., a dog took the water, and paddled, it is said, forty miles in search of his master. Dogs often gain the shore when ships and their crews have been lost. Some years ago a dog landed at the Cape of Good Hope with a letter in his mouth. The vessel to which he belonged had gone down with all hands, but if the men had but paddled as the dog paddled, all their lives might have been preserved. Indeed, I know for certain that formerly it was the practice at the Cape for men to paddle out-it was termed treading water-and bear communications to and from vessels in the offing when no boat would live. It was, and, I believe, is still, the case at Madras, similarly. Natives of the Island of Ioanna, in the Mozambique Channel, treading water, come out, bearing fruit on their heads, to the vessels miles distant. The young people in the islands of the Pacific breast the gigantic breakers out of mere sport. The Indians of the Upper Missouri traverse the impetuous current, invariably paddling and treading water.

Short instructions for paddling and treading water ought to be posted up in all schools, barracks, and bathing places; wherever, in short, people have to do with the sea or with masses of water. It should be shown how easy it is, with a little well-directed effort, to preserve life, and how the yearly and calamitous destruction which besets our shores now and haply for all time to come might be effectively stayed.

HALL, Edward, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Newtown and Llanllwchaiarr Urban Sanitary District, Montgomeryshire, at 40l. for one year. LIVY, John, M.D., Univ. St. And., F.R.C.S. Edin., has been appointed Certifying Factory Surgeon for the District of Little Bolton, vice Garstang, deceased.

SWETE, Horace, M.D. Univ. St. And., M.R.C.S. Eng., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Droitwich Urban Sanitary District, till 5th May, 1879, at 30l. per ann. TOMKIN, Thomas Marchant, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been re-appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Witham Urban Sanitary District, Essex.

WALKER, John Davidson, L. R.C. P. Edin., L. R.C.S. Edin., has been re-appointed Medical Officer of Health for The Fylde Rural Sanitary District, Lancashire, and his salary increased from 60%. to 757. per ann. WATTS, Mr. Gerald, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the St. Neots, Hunts, Urban Sanitary District, vice Martin, whose appointment has expired.

WOODS, Mr. C. Fletcher, has been appointed Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances to the Penrith Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority, vice Todd, resigned.

VACANCIES.

CANNOCK LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY, Staffordshire. Treasurer and Medical Officer of Health: 40l. per ann. Clerk: 75% per ann. Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances: 1757. per ann. Collector: 1ool. per ann. Applications, 14th instant, to Thomas McGhie, chairman.

FENTON LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY, Staffordshire. Collector and Sub-Sanitary Inspector: 100l. per ann. Application, 30th instant, to Charles Adderley, Clerk to the Authority. LOUGHBOROUGH RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT. Inspector of Nuisances. Application, 16th instant, to John Jarratt, Clerk to the Authority. NEWTON AND LLANIDLOES RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT, Montgomeryshire. Inspector of Nuisances: 120/. for one year. Application, 19th instant, to Richard Williams, Clerk to the Authority, NewSLIGO. Certifying Factory Surgeon.

town.

SANITARY PATENTS.

2077. Improvements in urinals. Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, Southampton Buildings, London. A communication from John Walter Osborne, Washington, Columbia, U.S. 2095. Improvements in valve apparatus for lavatory and water-closet basins, baths, and other similar uses. Alexander Melville Clark, Chancery Lane, London. A communication from Francis E. Kernochan, Pittsfield, Berkshire, Massachusetts, U.S.

816. An improved tonic preparation of liquid extract of beef or meat. Frederick Anderson and Joseph Yair, Cloak Lane, London. 2015. Improvements in apparatus for raising and supporting invalids and others in bed, also applicable to sofas, couches, chairs, and other incline rests. Caleb Trapnell, College Green, Bristol.

ABSTRACTS OF SPECIFICATIONS.

4042. Washstands. W. Thorburn.

A raised back is made hollow to hold a supply of water which is drawn off into the basin by a tap or valve. Below, at the back, is another receptacle for the used water. The hinged lid of the washstand has, interiorly, a mirror, presented when the lid is raised. 4068. Preservation of food, etc. W. E. Gedge.

Compressed gas is first sent into the vascular system to clear the vessels and cool the carcass. Then the system is infiltrated with a composition, made by mixing with sugar, pulverised carbon, benzoic, salicylic, and boracic acid gas; then treated with sulphurous acid gas, and the vapour of hydrate of phenyle; then adding a neutral solution of the alkaline carbonates, ammonia, potash, and soda, subjected to hydrate of phenyle and sulphurous acid gas. During transport the air is kept pure by escape of ammoniacal and sulphurous acid gas, or the like. A temperature not over 55° or 60° Fahr. is maintained by admitting ammoniacal and sulphurous acid gas from receivers, in which they are highly compressed.

4077. Chimney tops and ventilators. R. Wagstaff.

A cylindrical tube has a bell mouth above, over which is fixed a double cone piece; the whole is enclosed in a cylindrical casing. The products of combustion or vitiated air escape between the cone piece and the bell mouth, and an air current passes down within the casing.