The Appointment of Public Vaceinators. THE long delay which has occurred in the appointment of public vaccinators for the city has been a source of very considerable inconvenience to the students of the University who have been waiting to obtain instruction in vaccination before presenting themselves for the final examination. Presumably, however, the difficulty will be speedily removed, for the guardians have at last made permanent appointments and have selected Dr. Craig, Dr. W. H. Line, Mr.

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... . K. Syms, and Dr. Bruges to fill the four posts. One of these gentlemen will no doubt be authorised to give instruction and the students will not need to migrate to other towns. The Health of Handsworth. The annual report of Dr. R. A. Lyster, the medical officer of health of Handsworth, is interesting in the first place because it is probably the last annual report which Dr. Lyster will make on the district, for he has been recently appointed medical officer of Hampshire, and secondly because it contains some caustic remarks upon subjects not frequently touched upon in reports of this kind. It appears from the report that the general health of the district was good. The birth-rate was 21' 9 per 1000, as contrasted with 22' 6 in the previous year, and the general death-rate was 10'0, as contrasted with 11'1 in 1906. The infantile mortality rate was 100 per 1000, showing a reduction of 20 per 1000 when compared with the rate in 1906. Dr. Lyster admits that the mortality returns are better than in previous years, but he obviously thinks that they might be easily still further reduced, particularly the infantile rate, which he thinks is not lower because of the ignorance of the people, and he scathingly remarks that the application of compulsory education for a period of 30 years has failed to raise the intelligence of parents to any great extent. He attributes this failure to the neglect of essentials in the educational system and to the crowding of the time tables with unessential subjects which exert no useful influence on the development of the intelligence of the children. Many people will probably be inclined to agree with this indictment and those who know Handsworth will also agree with him that the jerry builder is laying in that district the foundations of slums which will be the source of considerable trouble in the future unless the tendency is counteracted by the local authorities acquiring and applying additional powers. When Dr. Lyster touches upon the relationship of the health department to the Poor-law department he is on dangerous ground, but there can be little doubt that much good might result if the two departments could work more harmoniously together than is often the case. The late Dr. E. Riokards. By the death of Dr. Rickards not only the medical profession but also the whole of Birmingham and the surrounding district sustains a serious loss, for he was one of the members of a generation which is all too rapidly passing away and taking with it an' open, generous, loyal, and friendly spirit which characterised it and which has worked so much good for the city and district.