nected, which on inquiry was found to proceed from the water-closets, and on their removal the ward became the most healthy in the whole hospital. He felt strongly the importance of supporting the observations of Mr. Collins on back-drainage.

Mr. LEWIS ANGELL, C.E. (London) was sure that everything stated by Mr. Collins in his paper was matter of fact, but thought that some of the speakers had unwarrantably attacked architects and engineers. In nine cases out of ten the fault was not theirs, the houses having been run up without the supervision of either of them by speculating builders. The drainage especially was carried out in the most unscientific manner, being generally entrusted to a labourer, and in fact, however pretentious the house might be they would always find the drainage put in without any supervision whatever. Until some system of supervision was adopted they need not hope for any improvement. The officials were not to blame; it was the fault of the local authorities and of the general public. Even educated men pooh-poohed these things, and it was impossible to expect any improvement where there was no appreciation of their importance. The Shaftesbury Estate was a remarkable instance of this neglect. It had been laid out, in a sanitary sense, perfectly, yet the Metropolitan Board insisted upon the drains being taken out and carried under the houses. All this was a great hindrance to progress. He hoped the discussion would lead to some improvement.

Dr. RICHARDSON, F.R.S. (the President of the Department) :-Mr. Collins had aided the discussion by showing the very large mortality which existed in the districts of which his paper treated, which he (Dr. Richardson) did not think he had in the slightest degree exaggerated.. There was no doubt that no more common cause of disease existed than defective water-closet arrangements. There were several new points brought out in connection with that subject, amongst which were the observations of Dr. Littlejohn with regard to barometric readings, the accuracy of which he had no doubt, and which might readily be utilised in houses of defective construction to ascertain at any particular moment whether or not they were in danger. No doubt the sulphur compounds existing in gas must be deleterious, but the production of carbonic oxide in the combustion of gas was one of the most dangerous evils. It had been found that animals poisoned by this gas had the colour of their blood changed to a very brilliant red. inhalations of it produced giddiness and vomiting, and he was convinced that it was the cause of great mischief. Perhaps some of them might have noticed its effect; they would be at work in their library, and would find it necessary to climb a ladder in order to reach some book. On ascending they were suddenly seized with giddiness, and perhaps fell. This was the effect of carbonic oxide, which naturally existed in larger proportion in the upper portion of the room. He could not too forcibly press upon them the undesirability of slanting roofs. Mr. Mayall's observations as to hydrogen being the bearer of poisonous substances suggested the importance of spectrum analysis as an aid to scentific inquiry, and if his view with regard to hydrosulphate of soda be correct he had made a most important discovery. With

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respect to the means of testing the sewage pipes, Dr. Leonard Sedgwick had suggested the employment of sulphuric ether, which from its ready volatility and its smell would be certain to escape at any crack in the pipe, and be recognised by the nose as well as by the ready inflammability when brought in contact with a lighted taper. It had been suggested that ignorance was the cause of all the sanitary evils they had to encounter. This might be the case, but they should be merciful as to this ignorance, for they knew that people might be exposed to all these unhealthy influences for weeks and months without appearing to suffer. He thought the time would come when there would be legislation by which every house should be certified before it was occupied.

Mr. COLLINS, in reply, said those who had studied this question felt that their lives were imperilled by the apathy of those around them. On every side there was danger, and it could only be cured by educating the people, and showing them that their interest was identical with their sanitation. He acknowledged that a deep debt of gratitude was owing to the medical profession, to whom it was due that attention had been called to this subject at all. With regard to the architects, they were certainly not to blame for all the evils that exist. He had in his mind's eye at that time a builder who never employed an architect, and who bought up largely old houses and converted them into modern erections. He (Mr. Collins) had gone over one of these houses, and found that the closets and sanitary arrangements were the worst portions of the house. The upper and middle classes were, he believed, quite helpless in the hands of the speculators in the matter of building, and legislation was urgently needed.

Mr. GODWIN moved that it be recommended to the Council to call the attention of the Local Government Board to the necessity for further and more complete legislation on the construction of dwellinghouses for all classes, and that a clause is necessary for enforcing that all newly-built houses should be properly certificated previous to their occupation.

Captain GALTON, in seconding the resolution, pointed out that there was always a danger in fixing a standard, that it became the point beyond which no one was disposed to go. In sanitary matters they were only entering on the threshold of the science. The present resolution, however, merely proposed to supplement legislation by extending what has already been done in some sanitary areas with regard to the safety of the buildings and the protection from fire. The reason urged for carrying out these regulations would certainly apply with even greater force to regulations for preventing the spread of disease from one house to another,

The resolution was unanimously agreed to.

HEALTH OF WATERING-PLACES.

What are the Advantages of English, as compared with Foreign Watering-places and Health Resorts? What are the best Means for Rendering the English Watering-places more Efficient, for obviating the Dangers arising from the occasional Introduction of Infectious Diseases, and determining the Annual Rate of Mortality in each District? By JOHN MACPHERSON, M.D., Inspector-General of Hospitals. (Retired.)

ENGI

NGLISH watering-places and health resorts may be naturally classed as follows:

1. Those sought for their winter climate, and almost all of them situated by the seaside.

England has a considerable number of such places and of varied character, superior in my opinion to all inland Continental ones (including Alpine stations, which of late years have come into fashion), but not equal to many stations abroad, as in the Riviera, in Algiers, or in Egypt.

English places of this character are superior to inland Continental ones, owing to their winter temperature being much higher, and although they want the bright sunshine and the steady fair weather often to be found in the Riviera, and are colder than those Southern stations, yet their range of daily temperature is less. The main superiority of English places consists in the drainage being better, in the houses being warmer, in there being more domestic comfort, and the hygienic arrangements of the houses being superior. The food also is more nutritious. Patients are saved long and expensive journeys, when they may not have strength to undertake them, and avoid the risk of suffering from changes of diet, no inconsiderable risk in the case of delicate travellers.

2. Another class of health resorts is that of places considered to be bracing, and to be adapted for the warmer portions of the year. Such places are called Sommerfrische by the Germans, and every little village a few hundred feet above the sea is in that country foisted on the public as such. We have many places of this kind in Great Britain, though few if any of them exceed an elevation of 1,200 feet, and therefore cannot be compared, at least as to rarefaction of air, with the higher and very popular stations of the Engadine. They may be breezy uplands as Ilkeley or Malvern, mountain valleys as Braemar, or seaside places as Margate and Scarborough. It is doubtful indeed whether a good deal of the reputation of

Buxton does not depend on its mountain air as much as on its waters. All such places, with the exception perhaps of some out of the way ones, supply the same superior comforts as the winter resorts: and their food is far better than what is usually to be procured in the Engadine, or in the Pensions so common in Swiss mountains. English places of this kind agree with Continental ones, in having artificial baths sometimes associated with them. Hydropathic establishments, Turkish and other baths are met with at them, fully equal to similar ones on the Continent. The pine extract baths of the Germans, one of the great attractions of foreign places of this class, are, though slowly, finding their way into England. Baths of compressed air are occasionally to be found. Milk and whey and grape cures add much to the popularity of foreign stations of this class; and milk and whey cures might be easily supplied in England, as they used to be in a past age.

3. It is in sea-bathing places and in her great variety of them that Great Britain is pre-eminent. They are superior to all others in natural beauty, in ranges of magnificent houses, in piers and jetties, and very generally in bathing ground. No country nearly comes up to England in these respects. The Germans have only a few chiefly sandy islands. The Dutch are somewhat better off. The Belgians have Ostend, with its vast digue or sea wall, and that very popular place Blankenberg with still larger digue. The waters of the Mediterranean are too warm in summer to afford the full advantages of seabathing. The French are the only people that can compete. with us, and their sea-bathing places along the Channel, as they face the north, have the advantage of being cooler than ours, which generally face the south.

We have fair arrangements now at all our chief sea-bathing places: but some of the French ones are ahead of us in their livelier social arrangements, in their Casinos and more spacious bath-houses. English seaside places are however improving in their establishments, and even places in the far north, like Nairn, have large swimming-baths exceeding in size, we believe, anything that is to be found in Brighton. But there are no bathing-places, even the best, where the necessity for improvements does not exist. At our seaside the creation of shelter from the sun by the formation of shady avenues is one of the most pressing wants, and one not very easily supplied.

4. As to mineral water-stations, England is undoubtedly inferior to the Continent. There is no way of getting over the absence of carbonic acid, of alkalis, and of warm springs in Great Britain. Bath indeed is our only source, that, whether

in mineral constituents, in temperature, or in bathing arrangements, is on terms of perfect equality with the best waters of the same class abroad. Harrogate and Buxton, the two next most important ones, also Leamington, Cheltenham, and others, all have a certain value, but not so high a one as that of many Continental springs. Our only springs which entirely equal foreign ones of the same class, our salt springs, have chiefly, owing to the abundance of our seaside places, been but very partially utilised, as in the case of Droitwich and of Woodhall Spa; but they are capable of higher development, and might be made to produce all the effects of the German soolen, of which, owing to the unusual quantity of iodine which it is erroneously supposed to contain, Kreuznach, is the one most familiar to English ears. As things are, and as they are likely to remain (for the discovery of any new important spring is not very probable), it would be difficult to affirm that any one English mineral water is superior to foreign ones of the same class. Wales, Scotland and Ireland have, as far as is known, no wells that equal even the English ones in importance. Still it is desirable that these countries should have watering-places of their own; and the chief sulphur and iron springs in Scotland, Llandridnod in Wales, and Lisdoonvarna in Ireland, should be encouraged. It does not follow, although the chemical constituents of a well may be very slight, that change from home, the breaking-up of routine habits, pleasant society, the fresh air of a new place, water drinking and bathing, may not in many cases, where there is no organic affection, exercise a powerful curative effect. Daily experience, after making all allowance for over-sanguine statements and exaggerations, proves the reverse. A mineral water cure does not consist in merely taking a certain number of glasses or of baths of the water with religious scrupulousness.

Means of Improving Health Resorts.

The means of improving our watering-places and health resorts may be considered as special and as general.

Taking the special measures first (and my remarks refer more particularly to mineral waters), a great deal obviously depends on the person or persons in whom the proprietorship of the place is vested. Sometimes the owners are private individuals. In some few cases abroad the bath is the property of Government, but most generally in the case of the larger and older establishments, both here and abroad, the property is vested in the municipality, and if the municipality is spirited it will either carry out improvements itself, or require any

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