with the help of a cane, and a little later without any help. M. Brossard left closely adhering to the internal lateral ligament a fragment of the astragalus which he was unable to remove, the existence of which was confirmed by radiography, and it is to the existence of this fragment that he attributes the excellence of the result.

M. Walther did not place any confidence in this opinion.

M. Quenu was certain that the result was as described by M. Brossard, and that there is nothing in the beautiful result that should cause astonishment; that is the rule, so to say, when the operation is well performed.

M. Berger remarked that leaving a fragment of bone could not fail to cause much inconvenience: he has operated on many cases of luxation of the astragalus with uniform success; but he has been able to reduce all sub-astragalian luxations.

M. Kirmisson showed that with the help of radiography the presence of bone can be determined with certainty; it is also shown that the bone was a fragment left by the surgeon and not the result of a new formation, the age of the patient being over forty

years.

ARTIFICIAL LARYNX.-M. le Dentu presented a patient who had the larynx entirely removed for cancer. The application of an artificial larynx made by M. Martin, of Lyons, has given very satisfactory results in reproducing the use of the voice. In an operation of the same kind for epithelioma, M. Perier had obtained, by means of an apparatus, a use of the voice almost perfect.

INFLUENCE OF NUTRITION ON THE HEART.-MM. Prevost and Batelli, of Geneva, presented to the Cinquième Congrès International de Physiologie, at Turin, a memoir on the Influence de l'alimentation sur le rétablissement des fonctions du cœur ("Progrès médical," October 19, 1901).

They say that Ch. Prus has recently published a memoir in which he has shown that in dogs that have been asphyxiated, the massage of the heart, accompanied with artificial respiration, generally succeeds in restoring the rhythmical contractions; the heart does not, save in some exceptional cases, degenerate into fibrillous trembling. In previous experiments M. Batelli had, however, observed that in dogs asphyxiated with a ligature around the trachea, the heart was affected at the moment the restorative massage was applied with persistent fibrillous trembling, unless a suit

able electric shock or an alternating current of 240 volts was applied to relieve the fibrillous tremblings.

The results of a new series of experiments which really form the subject of this communication, show that in dogs that were performing the act of digestion the heart was restored very frequently by the simple act of massage, a condition that never happened in the animals on which M. Batelli operated when they were fasting. It is possible that the experiments of M. Prus were made under conditions different from those of M. Batelli, on dogs when they were in the act of digesting, and that this circumstance may have been the cause of the different results. It is a mixed meal that has results the most uniformly favorable on the restoration of the action of the heart after it has been arrested by asphyxiation. The hydrates of carbon seem to be among the most active in this respect. The albuminoids are next in influence. Fats are, of all others, the least influential.

These facts have enabled us to determine other facts that favor the theory of the automatism of the respiratory centres. When, in consequence of massage of the heart, accompanied with artificial respiration, we see all the cerebro-spinal functions gradually and progressively reappear, it is always the respiratory movements that return first, weak at their first appearance, then more and more marked up to the time when the reflex movement has entirely ceased. Later the pupil, which was much dilated, becomes contracted, and the reflex action in the joints, the reflex of the cornea, then the nasal reflex, and finally comes the inhibitory reflex of the superior laryngeal organs. We may designate also an unilateral spasmodic contraction of the orbicularis of the eyelids, caused by the excitation of the nasal fossa of the same side, by means of a sound introduced within the nasal cavity.

POTATO DISEASE IN FRANCE.-Consul Covert reports from Lyons, August 30, 1901, that the potatoes in certain departments have been attacked by a disease that is causing alarm, and appropriations have been voted to study it. The leaves of the potato plant dry up, the stem becomes thin and covered with yellowish spots, and dies. The veins fill with a gummy substance and are infected by bacteria. The disease first attacks the roots and then invades all parts of the plant. The bacteria is said to be identical with that which once attacked tomatoes and egg plants in the United States and was denominated Bacillus solanearum. The only advice given to farmers on this subject, which comes rather late, is not to plant potatoes.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

SANITARIAN, JANUARY, 1902.

All correspondence and exchanges, and all publications for review, should be addressed to the editor, Dr. A. N. Bell, 337 Clinton St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

THE NEW BOARD OF HEALTH.

The most important local event with reference to the public health at the beginning of the year is the reorganization of the Department of Health. Mayor Low has signalized his administration at the outset by the excellence of his appointments to the chief offices of the City Government generally, but in none more than to the Department of Health and other departments in relation with it.

In announcing these appointments, Mayor Low called attention. to the important changes made in the organization of the Health Department by the new charter. Hitherto it has consisted of the president and two medical commissioners and Police Commissioner. The new charter reduces this board of three members to a single Commissioner, and makes the Board of Health to consist of this Commissioner, as president, of the Health Officer of the Port, and of the Police Commissioner. The Health Commissioner is ERNST J. LEDERLE, Ph.D., who has been chief chemist to the department for several years. He was educated at the New York University and at Columbia University, graduating from the School of Mines in the course of chemistry in 1886.

In announcing this appointment, the Mayor added that it had been to him "a matter of no little study to decide whether, under the circumstances, the Health Commissioner had better be a layman or a physician. After careful reflection I determined that even under these conditions it is best that the Health Commissioner should be a layman. On the other hand, the disappearance of the medical members from the board as before constituted makes it highly important, as I conceive, that there shall be a certain reorganization of the department on its medical side.

"I have therefore arranged with Mr. Lederle that Dr. HERMAN M. BIGGS, now at the head of the bacteriological laboratories of the Health Department, shall be placed in practical charge of all the medical side of the department, with the title of Medical Officer.

The exact duties of Dr. Biggs as Medical Officer of the Department remain, of course, to be determined in the light of the law and of the judgment of the Board of Health as it will be constituted after January 1. In the meanwhile it is sufficient to point out that in the presence of a very radical change in the organization of the Health Department I have endeavored to secure the advantages of the new system without losing the benefits of the old." JOHN N. PARTRIDGE, Police Commissioner, is favorably known for his service in the same capacity under Mr. Low, nearly twenty years ago, when he was Mayor of Brooklyn. Of the other ex-officio member, Dr. ALVAH H. DOTY, the efficient Health Officer of the Port, there is no room for remark-his thorough competency and acceptability admit of no question.

Closely allied to the Health Department is the Street Cleaning Department. To the head of this the appointee is Dr. JOHN MCGAW WOODBURY. In making this selection, Mr. Low says: "I have borne in mind the fact that the work of the Street Cleaning Department consists of two very distinct parts. First of all, it is necessary that the streets should be kept clean, and that the garbage and refuse should be promptly and efficiently removed. For this part of the work executive ability of a high order is essential. "But, in addition to all this, as to the success or failure of which the public can readily form its own judgment, there are important scientific questions to be dealt with, relating to the best disposition of the city's refuse. These matters lie outside of the public sight, and I do not know to what extent the immediate future may be embarrassed by existing contracts. I believe, however, that a great service can be rendered to the city along these lines, and that. ultimately, an income ought to be received from much of this work which is now a subject of expense.

"Dr. Woodbury's equipment for dealing with both sides of this problem may be briefly stated. During the war with Spain he was assigned as Division Surgeon, with the rank of major, to the staff of Major-General James H. Wilson, who speaks of his capacity and efficiency in the highest terms. At Ponce, Dr. Woodbury was placed in charge of the unloading of the transport of his division at 6 A. M., and completed the same by 2 A. M. of the following day. In no other case was the work performed in less than three days. Later, when wagon trains were to be pushed to the front, the train in Dr. Woodbury's charge got through on the same day, while of the other trains which started on the same afternoon, the next arrived two days later.

"Dr. Woodbury served for a time as Sanitary Inspector of the Island of Porto Rico, and during this period organized the first Board of Health of Ponce, superintending the cleansing of that

town.

"After the war he was sent abroad by the United States Government to inspect, study and report upon the sanitary conditions of the German Army in active field operations. During this visit he inspected and studied the system of drainage, disposition of sewage, garbage, and general refuse, in Berlin, Frankfort, and Breslau, and also of the city of Paris. Dr. Woodbury is, therefore, singularly well informed as to the side of the problem which demands scientific knowledge."

Dr. Woodbury is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Bellevue Medical School. At the time of his appointment he was an instructor in the Cornell University Medical School. He has given up his practice and proposes to give his entire attention to the work of the department.

J. HAMPTON DOUGHERTY, Water Commissioner, is a lawyer of distinction in this city. As president of the Brooklyn League, Mr. Dougherty interested himself in the Long Island Water Supply scandal, and later in the Milburn Conduit, Milburn Reservoir, and Forest Park Reservoir matters. Last Winter Mr. Dougherty headed a delegation which urged at Albany the passage of a bill providing for a large storage reservoir at Forest Park. He has made a study of the problem of securing an adequate water supply for the greater city. At the time of the Ramapo agitation he was made the head of a joint committee of the Brooklyn League and the Manufacturers' Association of Brooklyn, named to investigate the subject.

Altogether the Department of Health and its congeners are better equipped with executive competency than they have ever been heretofore. It is quite safe to say of them they have the unqualified confidence of the public, insomuch that there need be no fear of stint in the exercise of their functions.

VACCINATION, ANTITOXIN AND TETANUS

continue to excite lively discussion in the newspapers and in some of our medical contemporaries. Official reports on the St. Louis and Camden misadventures are summed up on other pages. It is to be hoped at least that the well-ascertained results of carelessness of one kind or another, as reported, will lead to closer obser