smother flames, and attend to the property in the neighbourhood." To prevent contagion, and not to drug individual cases of the disease, should be the surgeon's object. Mr. Gamgee insists very strongly on the contagious nature of the foot and mouth disease, and of pleuropneumonia. In support of this view he has recently obtained a large mass of evidence in replies to a circular he had sent out to 300 veterinary surgeons. The fact that these diseases rarely appear in breeding districts, but affect the neighbourhoods of markets and lines of traffic, shows that this opinion is correct. In speaking of the effect of the sale of diseased meat on the health of the community, Mr. Gamgee first alludes to the diseases of the pig. It is well known, he said, "that it is not only the irritating tapeworm that we derive from the pig, it is the prostrating and destructive trichina, which penetrates our muscles and kills. Probably there are many more cases of trichina disease than of tapeworm, and the day is not far distant when the number of well-recorded cases of death due to trichina in man will convince every one that the meatshops, slaughter-houses, and bacon-factories must be looked after to stop the sale of dangerous bacon just as much as we require to analyse for the adulteration of groceries. "I am, however, quite convinced that the tens of thousands of carcases of diseased animals sold in all large towns are stealing life from human beings when and where we least expect it. It is asserted by many at home and abroad that the flesh of cattle affected with pleuro-pneumonia is wholesome. I hope the day will soon arrive when we need scarcely discuss such a question in England, and, if Government wishes, this can be attained; but, as the disease is here, I must say that last year my opinion became confirmed that the flesh of cattle affected with pleuro-pneumonia when eaten by man induces boils and carbuncles to an incredible extent. My observations have been made in three establishments. One where 1500 men are known to be supplied, fraudulently of course, with little else than diseased meat; another where several hundred soldiers are in the same position; and a third where about seventy individuals fed, too often to my knowledge, on the flesh of cattle affected with pleuro-pneumonia, have been seized occasionally with vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, &c., and have traced such accidents to the meat, to such an extent that many refused to eat it.' Mr. Gamgee speaks also, and adduces examples, of the injury produced by eating the flesh of animals which had died of "splenic apoplexy,' parturition fever," and "foot and mouth" disease; and after this he refers to the loss to the town dairyman, to the breeder of cattle, and to the community. Dealers, he says, have looked on him as their worst enemy, whereas they would, he had little doubt, find in time that he was their best friend, as he was sure that free trade in live stock, without due regard to the prevention of contagious diseases, "had been the curse of this stock-producing country since 1842." It was a great mistake to suppose, as some do, that the poor gained anything, even in the amount of food. It was much higher in price since the importation of foreign stock, and, at the same time, of foreign contagious diseases. 99 66 "Beef, in 1841, sold at from 3s. 8d. to 5s. the stone. It now sells at from 5s. 4d. to 8s. 10d.; and when you consider that the amount consumed in the United Kingdom is estimated at 80,000,000 stones, if we take the increase in price during the last twenty-two years, in round numbers, at 2s. 6d. a stone, the meat-consuming public is paying 10,000,000l. more now for the same amount of meat than it did in 1841." Mr. Gamgee considers that this injury to the public health and waste of the national resources might be put a stop to with certainty, not by the action of individuals, but by sound legislation on the subject of the importation of diseased cattle. The present systems of inspecting imported cattle and of inspecting markets are extremely inefficient. The paper advocates the appointment of a Government Inspector, who, while making rules for the control of the trade in foreign stock, and for the stricter supervision of markets, might become the centre towards which information should converge, and from whose experience advice for the whole country might proceed. ART. 7.-Sanitary Laws and Sewage Irrigation among By Dr. (Medical Times and Gazette, February 28, 1863.) It is well known that most of the ceremonial laws of the Jews have a profound philosophical and sanitary import, apart from their religious significance. The rite of circumcision, which was adopted not only by the Jews, but by the Arabians, Egyptians, and many of the tribes which migrated along the eastern coast of Africa, is so important as a means of cleanliness, of preventing certain sexual impurities, and of averting disease, that many of us wish it had never been abolished amongst Christians; and though it may be said that it is unnecessary for a cleanly and moral people, yet, alas! Christians are far from being cleanly and moral yet. The prohibition of pork, and of the flesh of animals which had died of themselves, was well calculated to prevent the spread of disease arising from the parasitic animalcules with which filthily-kept pigs are infested; but as it is possible to keep those useful creatures in a cleanly and wholesome manner, so we may claim the privilege of eating pork. The absolute prohibition of blood is a thing more difficult to understand. We can conceive of the expediency of a law against eating "flesh with the life"-i.e., the flesh of animals cut from them whilst living, after the disgustingly cruel fashion described by Bruce in his Abyssinian travels; but we feel that there is something yet to be learned of the reasons for that primeval law against eating blood, which was given to Noah, confirmed by Moses, and singularly enough sanctioned by the council of the Apostles at Jerusalem. In the Eastern Church this law is, we believe, observed to the present day; and neither blood, nor the flesh of animals which have died of disease or by strangulation, is permitted to be eaten. In the Western Church it fell into disuse about the sixth century, and blood became 66 not only a common but a popular article of food, and continued so over Western Europe until a more delicate style of eating was introduced in the present century. We have a cookery-book of the year 1780, by C. Carter, cook to George III., and amongst the bills of fare for a grand dinner in October, we find a Beef Pye in Blood;" and that " a Haunch of Venison, Roast in Blood," figured on his Majesty's table on December 20th, in some year not mentioned. The blood was that of sheep, calf, lamb, or deer, mixed with a little salt, stirred to hinder "clodding," and rendered savoury by spices and herbs. The meat was immersed in this all night; and in the case of a pie the dish was filled up with the blood, and in the case of a roast the meat, blood, and all were done up in a veal caul, and so roasted altogether. There is evidently room for a revival of archæological cookery, if any one is tired of modern dinners. But to return to the sanitary customs of the Jews. We were not aware until Mr. Williams gave his lecture on Jerusalem, last Friday, at the Royal Institution, that the practice of sewage irrigation was known to them. But so it was. "Recent discoveries," said Mr. Williams, "fix beyond all question the position of the temple of Solomon and its successors. No one could read the accounts of the sacrifices without being convinced that there must have been some great system of water-works for the purpose of clearing away the blood and other impurities resulting from them. There is a hole in the rock which Professor Willis was the first to identify with its real purpose, and underneath the dome of the rock' Signor Pierotti discovered a cave. The hole was the drain, and the cave in the rock the cesspool of the Jewish altar. This confirms the position of the altar of burnt-offering. "The water came from the Pools of Solomon, which exist to this day, and passing in an easterly direction turned northwards, and flowed under the dome of the rock. But we are told in the Mishna that the place of slaughter was on the north; and accordingly we find two cisterns, one at the north and the other on the west, from which aqueducts led eastwards and southwards to carry away the blood and offal from the altar. A further dilution was made by the accession of water from the Pool of Bethesda on the north, whence the mixture passed on to the valley of the Kedron, where it was sold to the gardeners, and the lands manured with it were remarkable for their fertility." وو If we understand the subjoined notes from the Mishna aright, the sin-offerings were held not to have been duly performed till the blood reached the brook Kedron-i.e., the extremity of the outfall sewer, and was delivered to the gardeners. Our Metropolitan Board of Works may take a lesson in this matter from the wisdom of the ancient Jews. 66 Super locum mundum altaris spargebat septies, reliquiasque sanguinis in lembum occidentalem altaris exterioris fundebat, reliquias vero sanguinis altaris exterioris fundebat in lembum ejus meridionalem. In fossa autem miscebantur, et currebant in torrentem Cedron, et stercorandis hortis olitoribus vendebantur, et oblationem transgressionis persolvere tenebantur in illis. "Note.-Isti et isti in fossa miscebantur et currebant in torrentem Kedron. Isti et isti, id est, sanguines interiores et exteriores miscebantur. Duo enim foramina erant in basi altaris, instar duarium narium exilium, ut in Middoth' traditur, ex quibus utrinque sanguines in fossam subterraneam cadentes, simul în torrentem Kedron ferebantur. "Note.-(Et Stercorandis- -in illis.) Sanguis autem iste ià Tribunis ærariis et rei quæstuariæ præpositis vendebatur, nec oblationem transgressionis persolvere tenebatur, antequàm sanguis esset in torrentem Kedron devolutus." ART. 8.-A Simple Means of Removing the Poisonous By M. GÉRARD. (Journ. de Méd. et Chir. Prat., Novembre 15, 1862.) We reproduce from the columns of the Journal des Connaissances Médicales Pratiques a few extracts which seem to be deserving of attention : "By repeated experiments on twelve persons," says M. Gérard, "I have ascertained all the means by which mushrooms of the most poisonous description can be rendered wholesome, and I fear no contradiction. I gather the agarics without choice, and without bestowing a thought on any other points but their sufficient firmness and size. 66 In the course of one month I gathered upwards of one hundred and fifty pounds of poisonous mushrooms, such as Agaricus muscarius, A. emeticus and sanguineus, Boletus luridus, B. aurantiacus. For a week, in spite of the repugnancy induced by uniformity of food, I resolutely eat twice a day more than half a pound of these boiled fungi. 66 As I experienced no evil effects from their consumption, and suspecting that my personal susceptibility to vegetable poisons might possibly have been blunted by frequent experiment, I caused all the members of my family, twelve in number, to join me in my researches. No ill effects followed-the test was clearly decisive; and, satisfied that I had perfectly succeeded, I endeavoured to discover the precise amount of time and of liquid necessary to convert the most poisonous mushrooms into innocuous nutriment. I came to the following conclusions, which have now been repeated so often as utterly to defy contradiction: : Every pound of mushrooms, cut into moderately small pieces (in four for middle-sized agarics, in eight for larger varieties), requires two pints of water, acidulated with an ounce or an ounce and a half of vinegar, or containing two tablespoonsful of bay-salt. The mushrooms should macerate for two full hours in this fluid, be well washed, and subsequently boiled in water for twenty minutes or half an hour; they should then be taken from the fire, again repeatedly washed, dried, and served either alone or as a condiment." M. Gérard, it will be remarked, does not recommend vinegar alone, but also salt, as likely to effect the desired purpose. ART. 9.-An Argument in favour of Maternal Breast- By Dr. J. WHITEHEAD. (Medical Times and Gazette, February 7, 1863.) In some admirable and elaborate notes on the causes of early mortality, Dr. Whitehead says: 66 The immense preponderance of deaths during the first year, of those born out of wedlock, is pair ful to contemplate, and serves to illustrate how largely the life and well-being of the infant are dependent upon the natural sustenance and care which its own parent alone has the power of imparting. Any other form of aliment, however judiciously prepared, even cow's milk of faultless quality, however scientifically adjusted by approved modes of culinary preparation, are still immeasurably inferior to the maternal breast-milk, which, in the vital warmth with which it is indued when imbibed from the nipple, possesses properties which the subtlest skill of the chemist cannot supply. "It is notorious that foster nurses, both in this country and elsewhere, are chiefly supplied from among the unfortunate class of illicit mothers, whose offspring are necessarily consigned to the charge of indifferent persons, who, if not totally ignorant of infant management, are certainly devoid of many of the qualities essential to the well-being of the child, and which none but its mother possesses. Nor are these foster guardians at all times over-scrupulous as to the means they employ for the purpose of procuring repose in the event of restlessness, whether arising from disease, or from deficiency or improper quality of food. It is well known that cordials, in the form of patent soothing nostrums and spirituous liquors, are often nefariously administered for such purposes, and possibly contribute not a little to the augmentation of the death-rate among this class of infants. 66 According to official returns for the year 1847, the comparative estimate of legitimate and illegitimate deaths at different stages of the first year of life, for the whole of France (except the department of the Seine), stands as follows: |