medical officer of health for Chorley, reports the occurrence of an alarming outbreak of enteric fever in that town. The disease at present appears to be limited to the neighbourhood of Bolton-street, Dr. Rigby himself having attended eighteen or nineteen cases in that district. It is stated that the outbreak does not depend on any defect in the drainage of the town, which the medical officer believes to be perfect, but it is attributed to the fact that the sewere of the neighbouring town of

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... wen are now undergoing a process of renovation and cleansing, and that, owing to the prevalence of north-easterly winds and dry weather, the dust charged with typhoid poison has been blown in th( direction of Chorley. We hope, however, Dr. Rigby wil not rest satisfied with this hypothesis. Without wishing to cast any doubt on the statements made as to the satis factory sanitary condition of Chorley, we think the fac that all the cases reported have occurred in one district o the town only, looks extremely suspicious. Had the dis ease originated in the manner suggested, the cases would have been pretty uniformly disseminated through t,h town. The localisation of the outbreak points either t, some local defect in the drainage or water-supply, or t the distribution of specifically contaminated milk in th affected district. We urge the sanitary authority to mak a full and complete inquiry into these points forthwith, fo even if the cause be discovered to be general something ha evidently determined the outbreak to one particular localit3 For the best means of dealing with the epidemic we refe the sanitary authority to the reports either of our own Sani tary Commissioners or to those of the Government niedice inspectors on those towns that have lately experience similar viRitationR-AMALGAMATION OF MEDICAL CHARITIES. (Jus recent statement on the proposed amalgamation of the Victoria and Belgrave Hospitals for Children renders superfluous any further comments upon the desirability of its speedy accomplishment. The difficulty of deciding upon the best site for the proposed South-Western Hospital for Children is all that now delays the settlement of the question of amalgamation. We anticipate an early and final selection of a site, as the refusal of the Metropolitan Board of Works to sanction the construction of the hospital on their land, facing the new embankment at Chelsea, brings the matter within a narrow compass. The united committees have three courses open to them-namely (1) to accept the site, at the north end of Battersea-bridge, most liberally offered by the Duke of Westminster; (2) to extend the present site of the Victoria Hospital; or (3) to find some fresh site, altogether away from what has hitherto been the scene of their labours. In considering the first course, the proximity of the site to the new sewage pumping station, the basin of the Grosvenor canal, and the railway must be remembered. 11 minute inspection of the new pumping station, however, proves that the only nuisance it can possibly occasion will be undue vibration. The site offered by the Duke of Westminster recommends itself strongly as having an area of 2600 square yards, with a south-westerly frontage of 140 feet, and af being most readily accessible from every direction, whils surrounded by a permanently uncovered expanse upon three sides. With regard to the second course, it is necessary to ob serve that the present freehold of the Victoria Hospita (1300 square yards) is but half the size of that we have jus discussed; that for its airiness it will have to depend, on on side, upon the twenty feet space which separates it from the infirmary of the Royal Hospital, and on the opposite side upon the new forty-foot street. It is probable that the direction in which the present site could be extended would be towards the Queen's-road. Such an extension would have to be carried as far as that road before proper ventilation and a site equal in area to that at Battersea-brid ge would be secured. This would render the site exceedingly valuable, but very costly, to build upon, as it would have upwards of 350 feet of frontage. A further objection may be noticed-namely, that the latrines and dry dustbin of the Royal Hospital's infirmary abut on the site, but, owing to their excellent order, perhaps this is not a serious drawback. We refrain from referring to the third course, further than to state that we believe it to be undesirable, as thereby a large a,nd thickly-populated neighbourhood would be deprived of the great benefit of a most necessary form of charity. , ' As far as we are able to judge, the site offered by the ' Duke of Westminster is the best one at the disposal of the ' authorities. __ VIVISECTION AT FLORENCE. THE statements that have been promulgated in connexion with Professor Schiff, of Florence, and his alleged practices, appear to us to demand some contradiction at his hands, if they are unfounded; failing which, they should be made the subject of an impartial and official inquiry. It scarcely seems credible that such an enormous number of dogs can have been made the subjects of experimentation, and it certainly is very discreditable, if true. We hold that if such experiments were only undertaken under a grave sense of responsibility, and with a definite object in view, their number would be very limited; and we cannot believe in the existence of much sense of responsibility or humanity in anyone who could justify to himself the sacrifice of thousands of unfortunate dogs in his laboratory. If the legitimate pursuit of science demands such a sacrifice of life and infliction of pain in one laboratory-which we do not in the least believe,-all we can say is, that the soone an attempt is made to define the line of demarcation between what is legitimate and what is not, the better. We hope, however, no less on the score of humanity than out of respect to Prof. Schiff and medical science, that he is in a positionto give, and that he will give, a contradiction to the statements put forward, and of which he must be . aware . DEATH FROM AN OVERDOSE OF CONIUM. WE are in possession of part of the facts connected with the death of Dr. Walker, which took place on the 13th ult., in New York, and which, according to the verdict of the coroner's jury, resulted from an overdose of conium. Although we are not yet in possession of the full facts, we think it right to lay those which we have before our readers, bince heroic doses of this potent drug are just now in vogue. The jury found that the deceased 11 Died from the medical use of the fluid extract of conium "; first, of the extract of the leaves, 180 drops, administered in four doses of 40, 40, 40, and 60 drops, without any apparent effect; and, secondly, after an interval of four hours, of about 150 minims of the fluid extract of the seed (prepared by a different firm), given in three doses of 50 minims each, at intervals of about half an hour, and that the deceased suddenly died in about one hour and a half after taking the last dose. The deceased suffered from a muscular tic of the face for the relief of which the drug was given. The postmortem showed that the organs were all healthy except a slight atheromatous change in some of the arteries. The