gives the enemy ample time to come and take his stand. It a parish doctor submits a report to the guardians, they forward it to the Vestry; who, in their turn, send the Inspector of Nuisances, who goes, investigates, and then lays the case before the Medical Officer of Health. Thus is time frittered away, and what need only have been a spark becomes a conflagration. There is really no reason whatever why, like the plague, leprosy, and some other diseases, cholera should not be altogether excluded from this country, and, like them, be to succeeding generations known only in history. THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION MEETING. THE fifty-first Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, recently held at Liverpool, was one of the most largely attended annual meetings which this powerful association of medical men has ever convened. We believe that more than 1,100 practitioners of medicine and surgery assembled in the spacious and numerous rooms of the College, and for three days discussed matters of great interest and moment both to the profession and to the public. At the temperance breakfast given to the members by the National Temperance League there was an unusually large gathering, upwards of 250 medical gentlemen having accepted the League's invitation. The breakfast itself was worthy of the excellent reputation of the Adelphi Hotel, where the guests assembled, and was served in that prompt and quiet manner, with the creature comforts hot and attractive, which conduces to hilarity and digestion. The speaking was of a high order. The appointed Chairman, Mr. Arthur Pease, M.P., having been unavoidably prevented from being present, his place was occupied by Mr. John Taylor, the Chairman of the Committee of the League, who travelled through the night from London in order to preside. His recommendation of total abstinence was thoughtful, complete and persuasive, and evidently made a deep impression on the company. Mr. Taylor's testimony as to his long, healthful, and happy teetotal experience, was so weighty and so emphatic in favour of total abstinence as to carry conviction to every one present. His argument, too, was from an extra-professional point of view; was urged with so much deference to the educated and scientific standing of his hearers; and was conceived in so admirable a spirit of fairness and moderation as could not fail to win the assent and goodwill of all. The learned coroner for Liverpool, Mr. Clarke Aspinall, gave an eloquent and stirring address. His influential position in Liverpool, in his two-fold offices of coroner and justice of the peace, combined with his noble philanthropic career, his persistent endeavours to benefit the people, and his high personal character, would have secured him a warm welcome; but, in addition, in his capacity as coroner he has been brought into close contact with the medical men of Liverpool, and his relations with them have always been marked by true courtesy and cordiality. His recent public confession of total abstinence added to the interest of his appearance, and his marvellous flow of oratory quite carried away the entire audience. Though he did not specifically refer to his abstaining experience, Mr. Aspinall emphasized the result of his extended inquiries into the causes of sudden and unusual deaths in Liverpool as demonstrating that but for strong drink his labours as coroner would have been very light indeed. Dr. Carter, of Liverpool, in a closely-reasoned and succinct speech, declared that if he had not always been an abstainer, the results of recent scientific research on the action of alcohol in retarding vital. growth, of the remarkable experience of insurance companies showing the superior longevity of total abstainers over moderate drinkers, would have made him a teetotaler now. Dr. Norman Kerr contributed the unlooked-for and welcome intelligence on the authority of his friend, Dr. Sinclair Coghill, physician to the Institution-that at the National Consumption Hospital at Ventnor, with 100 beds, the administration of alcoholic liquor in the treatment of phthisis had been almost entirely discontinued. Dr. Coghill had, during the past year, prescribed not more than an average of five shillings worth of intoxicants per month. Dr. Beverley, surgeon to the Norwich Hospital, spoke warmly on behalf of the Dalrymple Home for Inebriates, as a praiseworthy effort to treat habitual inebriety as a physical as well as a moral disease, and testified to the unquestionable advantage of the practice of temperance in his own case. A vote of thanks to the Committee for their entertainment for both body and mind was proposed, in a graceful and humorous speech, by the editor of the Medical Press and Circular, Dr. J. A. Jacob, who spoke of the progress of temperance principles in the profession, and dwelt on the great importance of the resolu tions passed on the previous day as to workhouse stimulants. Remarks of interest also fell from Mr. Gray, of Cannock, and a medical gentleman who had been an abstainer for a long period of years. The breakfast was also honoured with the company of the Hon. Conrad Dillon, en route for the Western States of America. In the Public Medicine Section two temperance papers were taken as read, and a good abstract of them appeared in the newspapers. One was by Dr. Drysdale, contrasting the lower mortality of the total abstaining, with the higher mortality among the non-abstaining, insurers in several insurance companies from which he had obtained returns. The other paper was by Dr. Norman Kerr, who set forth the present position of the Habitual Drunkards Legislation movement, and announced the opening, in October, of the Dalrymple Home for Inebriates, as a public and straightforward attempt to take advantage of the provisions of the Habitual Drunkards Act of 1879. There were other allusions in the course of the meetings to our principles; but perhaps the main feature, from a temperance point of view, of the whole proceedings was the remarkable discussion on Workhouse Stimulants at the Annual Conference of the Poor Law Medical Officers' Association. Up till that Conference only a few individual parochial medical officers had taken up the subject; so that the announcement that before this influential body of doctors a strong resolution was to be laid by one of their number attracted a large and representative audience, among whom were several medical officers and chairmen of Boards of Guardians. Dr. Norman Kerr proposed a series of resolutions rejoicing at the diminished consumption of alcoholic drink in many workhouses; condemning the giving of strong drink to paupers not sick; and approving of the substitution of a money payment for the beer allowance to officials. There was, happily, a spirited opposition to the resolutions, which were therefore thoroughly discussed. So great was the interest evoked, that the meeting adjourned to another part of the College when the room they were in had to be given up to one of the sections of the British Medical Association. Dr. Kerr's well-known contention, that the withdrawal of intoxicants from the dietary and from paupers not sick would greatly promote the health and comfort of the poor themselves, met with striking confirmation from Dr. Robertson, physician to the largest workhouse in the kingdom, the Liverpool Workhouse Fever Hospital. Dr. Robertson also pointed to the aged and bedridden inmates who received no liquor, and who did not "fret or die," as a guardian at the meeting said they did, on the discontinuance of their beer or stout. Eventually, after a most exhaustive discussion, during which the subject was thoroughly threshed out, the resolution was carried all but unanimously, only three hands being held up against it. As the proceedings were reported at great length in all the Liverpool newspapers, and long editorial articles also appeared; as the Press throughout the country prominently recorded the event; and as the resolution has been sent to the President of the Local Government Board, Sir Charles Dilke; much increased attention has been drawn to the use of alcoholic liquors in the workhouses of England. Several Boards of Guardians have taken a fresh departure in consequence; and if only our temperance friends will proceed on the impregnable lines laid down by the mover of the Liverpool resolutions, the production of a copy of these resolutions, with a report of the discussion, to Boards of Guardians in temperate and prudent language, cannot but result in an early reduction of the amount of strong drink consumed in our parochial institutions to an extent even much greater than has already been happily achieved. Miscellaneous Communications. THE NATIONAL TEMPERANCE LEAGUE AND THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. ON Friday morning, 3rd August, upwards of 250 members of the British Medical Association, which had been holding its annual meeting in Liverpool during the week, breakfasted at the Adelphi Hotel, in that city, on the invitation of the President and Committee of the National Temperance League. It had been announced that Mr. Arthur Pease, M.P., one of the vice-presidents of the League, would preside, but the following letter explaining his absence was read by Mr. Robert Rae, secretary: "2, Princes Gardens, 66 "South Kensington, S.W., July 30, 1883. "My dear Sir,-It is a great disappointment to have to write that I shall not be able to be with you at Liverpool on the morning of the 3rd. Since promised to be at the breakfast the opening of a public exhibition at Whitby has been fixed for this week, and my duty to my constituents constrains me to be there. I should have much liked to hear the addresses of the medical gentlemen who will speak after the breakfast. The pro per understanding of the influence of alcohol on the human system and its value as a remedial agent is of the highest importance. How many a melancholy catastrophe would have been avoided if some other medicine had been prescribed in place of spirits, wine, or beer. "Believe me, "Yours faithfully, "ARTHUR PEASE. "Robert Rae, Esq." In the absence of Mr. Pease, the chair was taken by Mr. John Taylor, chairman of the committee, who, the secretary stated, had travelled during the night from London in order to be present; and amongst those present were Mrs. Garrett Anderson, the Hon. Conrad Dillon, M.L.S.B., Mr. Clarke Aspinall, J.P. (coroner of Liverpool), &c. After breakfast, The CHAIRMAN said: Mrs. Garrett Anderson and Gentlemen,—I exceedingly regret that I have to take the place of the venerable president of the National Temperance League—whose presence you have always enjoyed at these meetings, and who has rarely is also a disappointment to me that I have to take the place of my distinguished friend Mr. Pease. It is always difficult for anyone to meet an audience suffering under the disappointment of not meeting those whom they expected to meet, and it has been my fate on many occasions when I have had to take a position so honourable as the one I occupy this morning, to take it because a more honourable person than myself had failed to put in an appearance. But, though I have not attained to the years of our venerable president, I am no novice in this great temperance cause. Personally, my years of abstinence cover more than four out of the five decades during which the temperance cause has had its existence, and especially during the last thirty-five years have I taken an active part in the movement, and that may be some justification for occupying my present position. On behalf of the National Temperance League, I beg to thank you most heartily for your acceptance of our invitation, and for your presence here this morning. We have had to acknowledge on many occasions the kindness and courtesy with which the medical profession have met us in these discussions. It is now about twenty-one years since we first gathered together in London some twenty or twenty-four medical gentlemen to discuss with our committee this great and important matter, and it is, I think, some sixteen or seventeen years that the members of this Association have honoured us by meeting us at breakfast at their annual meetings to discuss it. We are fully aware that in the short time allowed us there is no opportunity for any profound discussion. Still, we feel it is of very great importance that when you meet in conference this subject of temperance should be brought before you. We look upon this gathering rather in the light of a demonstration provocative of thought and inquiry. Our great duty and privilege has been to gather up facts and experience in this matter, and it is marvellous how the experience of the present day is continually tending to fortify the practice of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, whether in health or disease, by the man who has to work with his hand, or the man who has to work with his brain. And the evidence which we are gathering in our great temperance insurance office is furnishing a mar. vellous number of facts and incidents all tending to show the value of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. There is one point which it may be worth while to consider. The great business of medical men is to look upon disease and to study the actual effect of disease, but still I presume it is also part of your duty to study the development of a high state of health. Perhaps the time may come when we may revert to the ancient custom of the Celestial Empire, and pay fees for health rather than for treatment during sickness. Sir Henry Thompson, some years ago, in writing upon this question, said:-"Don't take these things-wine, &c.-with any idea that they are doing you good. They can only be regarded as a luxury, and," he added, "a luxury that must be paid for." Now it has been a question with me for some time, judging from my own personal experience, and the experience of those amongst whom I live and move on both sides, whether there is any real luxury either in the use of alcohol or in any of the narcotics which people take to administer to the pleasures of life. It is a matter for consideration whether the use of alcohol and whether the moderate indulgence in tobacco really add to the pleasure and enjoyment of life. My belief is that life, our physical life, is more enjoyable without the use of any of these things. It used to be considered a great charge against us that we wanted to "rob the poor man of his beer "--and when we add to this crime that of robbing a poor fellow of his cigar we are looked upon as double offenders |