UNQUALIFIED PRACTICE, though so rampant, occasionally leads to serious consequences. A man named Herring took a house and put up a plate calling himself Hoffmeister, M. D. and M. S. An inquest had to be held on a woman he had given drugs to, but who had strangulated hernia. Herring swore he was qualified, but later was prosecuted for perjury and for gross criminal negligence. The evidence was that the prisoner was formerly a clerk, left his employment under unfavorable circumstances, and for years led a life of gross imposture. A verdict of manslaughter was returned, and the judge said "he could not imagine anything more dangerous than that an impostor should take on himself, for the sake of money, the care of the sick and subject them to his mismanagement. As a deterrent to others he must pass a severe sentence, which was that the prisoner be kept in penal servitude for five years." The indictment for perjury was thereupon dropped. The judge's decision in this case is one of the greatest importance to the profession and will be a wholesome warning to quacks.London Letter, "Medical Record," November 22, 1902.

AS HE ORDERED.

"London Tid-Bits" tells a story of an anxious mother who brought her daughter to see a famous London physician. The girl was suffering from what some people call "general lowness." There was nothing much the matter with her, but she was pale and listless, and did not care about doing anything, even eating.

The doctor, after due consultation, prescribed for her a glass of claret three times a day with her meals. The mother was somewhat deaf, but apparently heard all he said, and bore off her daughter, determined to carry out the prescription to the letter. In two weeks she was back with the girl, rosy-cheeked, smiling and the picture of health.

The doctor naturally congratulated himself on his skill, and said, cordially: "I am glad to see your daughter is so much better."

"Thanks to you, doctor!" exclaimed the grateful mother. "She has had just what you ordered. She has eaten carrots three times a day, and sometimes oftener-and once or twice she had them uncooked; and now look at her!"

Another instance of the truth of the old saying, "God heals and the doctor takes the fees."

EDITOR'S TABLE.

SANITARIAN, JANUARY, 1903.

Embarrassment incidental to the death of the intended manager, under the new business arrangements, announced in October number, delays the completion of the organization. Meanwhile:

All Communications, business and otherwise, all exchanges and all publications for review, should be addressed to the Editor, as heretofore: Dr. A. N. Bell, 337 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

NEW YORK TENEMENT HOUSE ADMINISTRATION.

In reviewing the work of the reform administration in Greater New York during ten months in office, this statement was made by the Citizens' Union, through R. Fulton Cutting, relative to the Tenement-house Department:

"The new tenements have proved themselves to be successful, from the point of view of both the landlord and the tenant. Plans for 519 new buildings, costing over $18,000,000, have been filed from January 1 to November 1 of the current year, of which 297 are in Manhattan and the Bronx, and 222 in the other boroughs. More than 1,200 old tenements have been altered in conformity with the law.

"The Department did not succeed in securing its inspectors until early in the summer, or its clerks until late in the summer, and was not able to take over the complaint work from the Department of Health until August 1. It dealt with 3.651 complaints in August, 2,578 in September, and 2,467 in October. As a rule, the orders of the Department are recognized as reasonable and have been cheerfully complied with. The new-law tenements are renting readily at remunerative rates; there are waiting lists for many of them."

Information secured by Charities at the Tenement-house Department brings these figures up to date (through November), thus covering eleven months of 1902:

During November plans for 63 new tenements were filed for all five boroughs, making the total from January 1 to December 1, 582, or 341 for the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx alone. The total cost represented was $19,518,000, the million and one

half increase for November being distributed as follows: Manhattan, $1,233,000; Brooklyn, $127,000; Bronx, $118,000; Queens, $39,800; Richmond, $6,900. In the eleven months 1,286 old tenements were altered, and in November alone 2,520 complaints were dealt with.

So much for statistics. Recent articles in several of the leading New York papers review at length the work of the uncompleted year, and give, from an impartial viewpoint, a clear idea of what has been accomplished, and give it, not from a tabulation of figures, but from independent investigations of actual conditions.

SANITATION was the topic at the Second Monthly Conference of the Oranges, N. J., the principal address being given by the Rev. Adolph Roeder and Dr. S. A. Knopf, of New York, whose subject was "How May Institutions and Churches Be Helpful in the Solution of the Tuberculosis Problem?" Miss Belle Ogden McKee read the report of the Civic Sanitation Association for the past year, which told of house to house inspection and educational work in the tenement districts of the Oranges. Three hundred and seventy-seven premises were visited, and one-half of these were inspections of plumbing, draining, and housing conditions. One resident of the tenement-house district said to the inspector six weeks after her arrival, "We are waiting for you on this street. The girls in the factory where I work have heard about you and are anxious to help the work."

MOTHER EDDY ON VACCINATION.-Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, of un-Christian Science notoriety, having been asked by certain disciples what should be done when the ungodly insist upon vaccinating them and their children, returned the wise and canny answer herewith: "Rather than quarrel over vaccination I recommend that if the law demands an individual to submit to this process he obey the law and then appeal to the gospel to save him from any bad result. When Jesus was questioned about obeying the human law, he declared, 'Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's even while you render unto God the things that are God's.'"

DR. KEEN ON VIVISECTION.-Dr. Keen has made a public rejoinder to Senator Gallinger's reply to his first letter (see other pages of this issue), citing in detail a number of specific instances

in which increased knowledge can be directly traceable to the observations made in the course of vivisection, wholly unanswerable by unauthenticated reports, such as those adduced by the Senator.

THE INSUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF MEDICAL OFFICERS IN THE NAVY is referred to by the Army and Navy Journal as follows: "In no branch of the naval service will the manoeuvres in the Caribbean Sea be observed with closer attention than in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy Department. All or nearly all of the vessels engaged in those movements were sent to West Indian waters insufficiently provided with medical officers. In some ships with 400 to 500 officers and men, there is ample work for three surgeons. The percentage of sickness increased considerably, even during last summer's manoeuvres in the comfortable climate of the New England coast, and it is quite likely that there will be a still greater increase among the crews of the ships now assembled in the less bracing climate of the Caribbean. It is unfortunate, therefore, that any ship should have been sent to the manœuvres without a full complement of medical officers, but as we have repeatedly pointed out, the blame for it rests with Congress alone. The attention of that body has been frequently called to the urgent need of a large increase in the Navy medical corps, and in his recent annual report Surgeon-General Rixey appealed earnestly for legislation to that end. He also made a plea for hospital ships for the navy, and the need of such vessels is so plain that it speaks for itself. The manoeuvres now in progress probably will, and we earnestly hope they may, be completed without serious injury to the health of the forces engaged, but we do not doubt that it will sharply emphasize the increasing need of additional medical officers and of hospital ships for the navy, not merely to provide greater comfort for the sick and wounded, but to permit of higher efficiency on the part of fighting ships in time of action."

TONKA-TALPA SOAP, a saponaceous vegetable compound (from which it derives its name), to which our attention has been recently called, is an elegant toilet soap; devoid of free alkali, yet remarkable for its emollient, quickly-cleansing and deodorant properties. It combines as freely and as efficiently with hard water as with soft, and in both cases with delightfully pleasant re

sults. It is made both perfumed and unscented, both alike efficacious, and for both toilet stand and bath exquisite. It is made by The Stewart Soap Co., Cincinnati, O.

PRIZES FOR ESSAYS ON TROPICAL MEDICINE.-Announcement is made in the Journal of Tropical Medicine of the offer of three prizes of the value of £10 each for essays on the following subjects: Sivenright prize for the best article on "The Nature and Treatment of Diseases, Exclusive of Acute Dysentery, Affecting the Lower Part of the Large Intestine, Occurring in Warm Climates"; Belilios prize for the best article on "The System of Drainage and Sewerage (domestic and municipal) Best Suited for Tropical Climates"; Lady MacGregor prize for the best article on "Critical Examination of the Practical Value of Anti-typhoid Inoculation." Intending competitors must send name, address, and the title of the prize to be competed for to the Journal of Tropical Medicine, 83 Great Titchfield street, London, W., before February 1, 1903; the essays must be sent to the same address by May 1, 1903, and the names of the winners will be announced in July of the same year. The competition is open to all qualified medical practitioners of any nationality, and essays may be written. in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

PRIZES FOR ESSAYS ON ICHTHYOTOXISMUS.-Two prizes, one of 5,000 rubles ($2,575) and another of 1,000 rubles ($515), have been offered for international competition by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg for papers elaborating protective measures against poisoning by fish toxins. The papers may be written in English, French, German, Latin, or Russian, and must be received by the Russian Minister of Agriculture by October 1, 1903-Medical Book News.

EXPOSITION OF COMMERCE AND HYGIENE AT ATHENS.-Acting Consul L. Nicolaïdes reports from Athens, September 9, 1902, that the International Exposition of Industry, Commerce, Art and Hygiene, which was to have been held in that city in October, 1902, has been postponed to the 7th of April, 1903, so as to enable American products and industries to be represented. Mr. Nicolaïdes is informed that many German, French and Italian firms have written to the committee of organization that they will take part in the exposition.