increased as to become a very serious charge upon the budget and derang. ing its equilibrium. This abuse, as he terms it, he can no longer permit, for beer he declares to be neither a food nor a medicinal agent, and therefore it must from this date cease to be furnished as one of the current articles of diet, and only become procurable by means of exceptional prescriptions of the chefs de service under the surveillance of the Central Administration. The Progrès disputes the assertion that beer is neither food nor medicine, and states that the medical officers find it of great value in the treatment of disease, and regard it as somewhat surprising that the Director should have issued this decree (which really means almost entirely stopping the use of beer) merely for economical reasons, without consulting the medical body as to its propriety. economy is the object in view, there is said to be ample means of accomplishing it in the hospital administration, which is far too numerous.— Medical Times and Gazette.

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INFANT MORTALITY FROM ALCOHOL. -In his first annual report of the sanitary condition of Willesden for the year 1882, Dr. Harrison Branth. waite, F.R.C.S.E., medical officer for Willesden, enters at length into a consideration of the steady increase in the mortality of children, remarking that the parish of Willesden has not been singular in this respect, Boards of Health in many localities deploring the extent of the same evil and looking for a remedy. Among the causes of this lamentable" massacre of the innocents," Dr. Branthwaite gives a prominent place to drinking. He says: The pernicious habit of drinking large quantities of ale or stout by nursing mothers, under the idea that they thereby increase and improve the secretion of milk, whereas they are in reality deteriorating the quality of that upon which the infant must depend for health and life." Dr. Edis, who gave great attention to the subject of infant mortality, summed up his conclusions by stating that this loss of life was mainly due to two causes-the sub.

Dr. S. T. Knaggs, in his medical report of the Newcastle Hospital, N.S.W., remarks:-" I availed myself of a recent trip to Europe to inquire into this question in all its bearings, and the result has satisfied me that much advantage and economy can be derived by moderating the quantity of stimulants supplied to hospital patients. During the past year I have adopted this view in my practice at the hospital, consequently a very much smaller quality of stimulants has been used, without any detriment to the patients' welfare."