407 under the influence of a delusion. Nevertheless it may well be that the case has two sides, which have not been regarded with equal care. Men in an official position are forbidden to defend themselves. The ways which are open to the complainants in such cases are only indirectly available for the defendants, and hence the response is far less clamorous than the accusation. That side of the case was, however, put very forcibly in the important letter from "A Deputy Inspector-General" which

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... published last week. Those who read it with attention easily perceived that it proceeded from a highly informed source, and hence had special claims to their con. sideration ; and from the replies which we have already received, it has obviously attracted that serious attention from our military medical readers which it deserves. The writer defended indirectly the powers that be, by intimating that some of the obnoxious regulations originated under the government of Lord Herbert, although only more recently published. This is a damaging line of defence, since it begins by an excuse which is an apologetic admission. It is obvious that the existing heads of office must always be held responsible for the acts of their administration, and responsibility to their department and to the public is the essential character of official headship. Moreover, we would remind any who may feel aggrieved at the reproaches leveled at the individuals who are held, by virtue of their position, accountable for the existing grievances, that it is necessary to distinguish public from all other relations ; that their subordinates and their critics may entertain the highest personal esteem for those whose public conduct they may consider open to hostile remark. The " Deputy Inspector-General" is of opinion that most of the grievances of the army medical officers are rather fancied than real. The presiding at mixed boards or at mess he regards as involving military command, and therefore out of the province of medical men ; forage allowances he declares to be a question, not of rank, but of relative need, according to the character of duties; promotion he describes as certain, and the pay liberal. Our correspondents, on the other hand, dispute every one of these points. They are averse to the exclusion from authority, according to their rank, on boards relating to diet, dress, and such other matters on which their opinion is, in fact, in most cases decisive. They call to mind instances which illustrate the apportionment of allowances according to rank rather than to the exigencies of service. They dispute the alleged facility of leave, and declare that under the present system a man may remain for twenty years an assistant-surgeon, and that promotion is therefore far from being placed on a satisfactory footing. The " Deputy Inspector-General" omits all reference to the obnoxious order of branding in hospital, and himself pleads for an earlier period of retirement. His letter, however, opens a new phase of this discussion, since he undoubtedly expresses the opinion of a small but by no means uninfluential section of the body in the calm but well-weighed language of a man fully acquainted with both sides of the case. We leave the subject still open to further discussion, but must express the hope that our correspondents will remember that we have already devoted large space to the statement of their claims and the support of their interests; and that they will endeavour to observe brevity in those arguments for which publication is desirable. THE ACTION OF WATER ON LEADEN PIPES PREVENTED. -Dr. Schwarz, of Bremen, has discovered a simple yet scientific process of preventing injutious effects arising from the passage of water through leaden pipes. He proposes that a solution of sulphide of potassium, at a temperature of 212 degrees, be passed through the pipe ; this changes the metallic lead into a sulphide of lead, and, thus transmuted, the water passes over it perfectly free from the risk of contamination by any poisonous salt in the lead.