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transient absent-mindedness, precede attacks of pro-cursive epilepsy. There seems, indeed, to be in manycases a continuous series of phenomena, from the mildestand almost unnoticed attacks of petit mal, to attacks ofwhich procursion is the feature until the condition cul-aninates in frequent and severe epileptic attacks. In one of

the cases recorded by Dr. Ferguson there were first of allshort spells of absent-minded ness. In a few years the

patient was observed to make quick short runs, of which hehad no knowledge. Finally, at the age of fifteen he had hisfirst severe epileptic fit ; aftsr this he sometimes had pro-cursive attacks, wheeling round a number of times in acircle, and then running backward and forward severaltimes until consciousness was regained. Dr. Ferguson isinclined to think that these procursive attacks may bedependent upon discharges in the cerebellar cortex, wherehe supposes there are centres subserving the sensation ofposition and poise of the body. The discharge of thesecentres he imagines leads to the suggested movements, andhence the procursive attacks.

ST. PANCRAS SEWERS.

As we predicted, the discussion in The Times as to theSt. Pancras sewers has led the vestry to determine to re-construct those to which attention has been recentlydirected. This is a proper solution of the difficulty, andwe trust nothing will interfere with the improvement beingEffected without delay. The sewers have been faulty for- many year.,,, and repeated efforts have been made to securethe needful work being done, but it has been postponed untilthe present time mainly became the public did not interestitself in these questions. Now, thanks to Mr. Lazarus andthe powelÍul advocacy of the press, the public sentimentwill tolerate no longer these conditions. We congratulateMr. Lazarus and the i ekiderits in that part of London onthe result of their efforts.

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MEDICAL AID FOR BURMESE WOMEN.

AMONG other advantages which have resulted to Burmah-from its contact with western civilisation, one, by no meansThe least, is intelligent medical aid. The transfer of thisbcon was a happy necessity, atd several channels were, asusual, open to it. We shall now concern ourselves, however,only with that which owes its existence largely to the’Countess Dufferin-the National Association for supplying.Medical Aid to the Women of India. A branch of this usefulsociety has been at woik among the Burmese for the lastfour years, ard the success attained by it during this periodhas been most encouraging. In an old bungalow, convertedinto a hospital for women with fifteen beds, it has receivedand treated 1013 in patients and about 20CO out-patients.A number of native women have been imtlUcted in nursingand midwifery, and no fewer than fifty of these have passedexaminations and are now practising in various parts of thecountry as qualified midwives and nurses. It is gratifyingto learn that their examiners, who are qualified medical menpractising in Rangoon, have expressed themselves as much,pleased by the proficiency and practical training of thesepupils. The Burman municipalities have often shown asimilar appreciation of the woik dene at the hospital by- defraying the expenses of probationers while under tuiticn,and afterwards providing them with suitable emplo3mEnt.According to latest reports, the old building now in use cannot,en account of dilapidations, be much longer available forhospital purposes. It has therefore become necessary toerect in Rangoon a small new maternity hospital andhome for pupil nurses, and funds are still needed to defraythe estimated cost. If it be thought that sufficient reasonhas not been shown for the maintenance of a work so credit-.able to those engaged in it and so acceptable in the country,

we need not do more than refer our readers to a paper read byDr. T. F. Pedley 1 before the Obstetrical Society. NativeBurmese midwifery, as described therein, could scarcely besurpassed for ignorant and violent barbarity. Dr. Pedleyadds that "nature is kind, as a rule, to the mother, andcarries her safely through." Nature truly had need bekind in the circumstances, and for our own part we rejoicethat she will no longer have to fight against such heavyodds. Those who would be wisely charitable could hardlydo better than invest some kindly coin with the NationalAssociation, or its agent, the National Bank of Irdia,Rangoon. -

CEPHALOMETRY.

DR. ALTUKHOFF, one of the anatomical prosectors in theUniversity of Moscow, has published a paper with anum.ber of elaborate diagrams illustrating the position of thevarious fissures and convolutions of the brain in men,women, and children as taken by Zernoffs cephalometer.This instrument consists of a horizontal brass circle sur-

rounding the head and supporting two vertical graduatedsemicircles, one longitudinal, the other ttansverse. Theformeris made to revolve so that a screw having a radial direction,which it carries, can be applied to any portion of the skull orof the brain after the skull cap has been removed. By meansof this the latitude and longitude of any spot may beaccurately defined, just as those of any geographical localitymay be found on a school globe. Dr. Altukhoff expresseshimself as well aware of the work that has been done inthis direction by Broca, Giacomini, Turner, Cunningham,Hare, Horsley, Dana, Féré, Rudinger, and others. Hisown paper is published in Russian, but the plates are toler.ably intelligible without a knowledge of that language.

THE EUROPEAN ARMY IN INDIA.

WE notice that public attention has been markedlycalled in the daily press to the medical statistics of theEuropean army in India, more especially in reference to theprevalence of enteric fever einong the soldiers recentlyarrived in that count! y. It is pointed out that the per.centage of deaths from this cause in the first and secondyear of service is nearly fivefold greater than from the sixthto the tenth year. As all acquainted with the medicalhistory of our soldiers in India are well aware, this suscep.tibility of newly arrived trcops to enteric fever is no newdiscovery, but may now be regarded as an old and well estab-lished fact, seeing that it has been put forward for so manyyears in the medical and statistical reports of that country.The recently published Memorandum of the Army SanitaryCommission on the report of the Sanitary Commissionerwith the Government of India for 1889 not only dwells uponthis subject, but calls attention to the very unsatisfactoryresults of 1889 as regards the general health of the EuropeanArmy of India. The statistics of 1885 had shown a considerablefalling off m the health of the troops; and those for 1889 are,it is alleged, much more unfavourable than the unfavourableresults of 1885. The increase in the death-rate is not to beaccounted for by the prevalence of cholera, for this diseasecaused fewer deaths than usual ; but enteric fever contri-buted no lees than 423 fatal cases-a higher proportion, saysthe Commission, than has ever been recorded before. Asregards the distribution of this fever, we find that fifty-eight different places in the Bengal Presidency furnishedcases ; in fact, every cantonment returned one or more,except Delhi. Over Madras and Bombay it was also

widely spread. The experience of 1889 merely repeats whathas been so frequently observed before, that young soldiersduring their early years of Indian service are most prone to

1 THE LANCET, Jan. 22nd, 1887.