itself, grateful to some people, and its effect upon certain conditions of health is medicinal altogether and not dietetic.

Dr. Wilkes directed attention to the specific influence of extract of guarana as a remedy for sick or nervous headache, and the subject has been discussed within the last two years in The British Medical Journal. Now guarana is also known as 'Brazilian cocoa,' and, although its aroma quite as much resembles coffee as cocoa, and its alkaloid, guaranine, is stated by Dr. Stenhouse to be identical with theine, yet it has been shown to be only a more soluble and less nitrogenous variety of theobromine, in fact a compound of methyl with that alkaloid. From this it will be seen that the decoction of cocoa nibs may be valuable to those who can afford the time absolutely essential to its preparation, as well as the very considerable expense attending the extraction of so small a proportion of it as 12 or 14 per cent.

percentage of real cocoa in the cup need not exceed from 100 to 150 grains to give the maximum flavour and nutriment wished for by the consumer.

Too little attention has been bestowed upon the properties of the volatile oil produced by roasting cocoa. Its grateful fragrance, even when isolated in the most concentrated form, would lead to the supposition that it forms so important an item in the composition of cocoa, that in the public estimation it may influence the selection of one description of cocoa over that of others to the extent of determining in a great degree the money value.

The marvellous difference between the aromas of various cocoa beans, those from Porta Cabello, Grenada, Guayaquil, and Trinidad, as brought out by the distillation of their volatile oils, leads to the doubt whether some varieties would be recognised as cocoa at all by the consumers, if they were not mixed and blended, by the manufacturers, with other beans, until their individuality is lost in the combination of various flavours. This affords the widest scope for their ingenuity and skill, and it is evident that in suiting the various predilections of the purchasers, the large firms engaged in the preparation of cocoa must severally become distinaroma, particularly admired by their own clientèles.

Some rather curious data may be arrived at by following the printed directions accompanying various samples of cocoa. Take, for instance, coarsely crushed cocoa nibs, and it will require from two to three ounces to make a large breakfast cup full of strongly flavoured decoction at an average cost of about 2d. The solids contained in this consist of theobromine, seventeen grains; phosphates of potash, lime, and magnesia fifteen grains; colouring matter, forty grains; gum, etc., fifty-one grains; and albuminoid substance, three grains.

If we compare this result with a similar experiment following the directions for use of Messrs. Cadbury's 'cocoa essence,' we shall find that a 'small teaspoonful,' heaped measure I suppose, weighs ninety-seven grains, and is sufficient to fill a breakfast cup with good cocoa. The price of ninety-seven grains of this preparation gives five cups for one penny, and each contains over twenty grains of albuminoid substance, phosphates four grains, theobromine about two grains, and carbo-hydrates and fat for the remainder of the weight, leaving room for a full pro

portion of the volatile aromatic oil. No one acquainted with the rudiments of dietetics can doubt which of these two modes of preparation is to be preferred for habitual use, albeit the better of the two costs but one-tenth the price of the medicinal decoction. Messrs. Fry advise a large teaspoonful' of their extract of cocoa to the breakfast cup-thisweighs 147 grains-and of their 'caracas cocoa manufactured with other materials,' they suggest the proportion of 'two spoonfuls or more,' which weighs 287 grains per breakfast-cupful. Without knowing the prices of these two latter articles, for they are not marked on the packets, it is impossible to judge whether they are or are not equally economical with that of Messrs. Cadbury, but it is very plain indeed that the

The quantity of cocoa contained in the true medicinal teaspoonful is only 27 grs., not nearly enough to make a breakfast-cup of cocoa.

It would be an invidious and highly improper use to make of the opportunities that have been kindly afforded of investigating the productions of several manufacturers, if any attempt were made to compare them here one with another. One or two of these samples are composed mainly, if not entirely, of a small description of bean, selected with the greatest care with a view to unsounds. Others, forming the majority, are blends which not only correct any shortcoming or excess of flavour in any one kind by a judicious mixture of other beans suitable for the purpose, but it is assumed by their makers that a higher and more delicate perfume and taste are thereby acquired. Tot homines, tot sententia, and it is difficult to say which course is to be preferred. Before leaving the very important subject of flavour, as chiefly derived from the volatile oil, thanks are due to Messrs. Cadbury Brothers for having forwarded at different times samples of various beans, roasted and unroasted, and their excellent preparation of cocoa-essence, for the purpose of conducting an inquiry into the nature of essential oil of cocoa. A fine sample of Messrs. Fry's cocoa-essence, sent by that firm, has also been utilised to the same end, samples to complete the investigation. When this and it is the intention of the writer to obtain other is accomplished, it is hoped that results will be obtained useful in the estimation of the more recondite properties of this interesting constituent, and in the selection of those beans which possess it in the highest degree and quality. Taking for granted that the palate is satisfied with the aroma and flavour of good specimens of cocoa, the general deduction of almost all physicians and chemists who have written upon the dietetic value of cocoa, may be Pavy, that it possesses in a milder degree the propersummed up in the emphatic announcement of Dr. articles in the high nutritive power which its compoties of tea and coffee, but stands apart from these sition gives it. It is quite time that the almost universal acknowledgment of this truth should not be so much lost sight of, principally from an embarras de richesse. But so it is, because we can have cocoa in the form of a nearly pure and virgin stimulant, as

a most refreshing and agreeable draught, possessing even much of the dry roughness supposed to be peculiar to black tea, because it may assume the form of a substitute to some extent of the most nutritious of our solid foods, and can be used with advantage as a warming and sustaining beverage, at all times instead of alcoholic liquors. We are perhaps bewildered by so many valuable applications, and avail ourselves far less of its extraordinary and manifold merits than we should if we regarded it solely from any one point of view, and 'steadfastly kept that before us. Be this as it may, cocoa is food, liquid and solid, in every sense of the word; this cannot be said of tea or coffee, beer, wine or spirits.

TEMPORARY HOSPITAL BUILDINGS. TEMPORARY hospitals of some kind are far more frequently erected than is generally imagined, and they have performed excellent service; as, for instance, in Bristol during a late outbreak of fever and at Hampstead when the small-pox was treated there; whilst probably the largest, and best found hospital buildings of this class ever erected in the neighbourhood of a battle-field were the civil hospitals on the Dardanelles in 1855-6. Formerly the War Office practice was to ship with the troops a number of large hospital tents, which stood upon two poles; but these are now distributed for other uses, and when the clarion trumpet of war is about to be blown, a number of serviceable huts of wood or iron, or of both these materials combined, are despatched as quickly as possible to the bases of operations, and the benefit of this more permanent kind of shelter has accrued largely to the sick and wounded. Should they not be required by the medical staff, they are turned over to the Commissariat department and used as stores, and when no more use is found for them, they are sold to the highest bidders.

When required for home use, the sites upon which these buildings are erected vary with the wants of the town or city where the epidemic has broken out, and generally speaking the choice has been a felicitous one; but it has not unfrequently happened that when shipped abroad they have been constructed upon most unsuitable pieces of ground, upon swamps, or upon fresh alluvial soil, in such cases speedily becoming mere barracks for the accommodation of malaria. In both the Indies ague is still ever present in some hospitals, owing to the floors and the subsoil water being too near the surface of the ground. And even when this source of danger is avoided, there is still the question of a good water-supply, and of a proper outfall for the drainage; the aspect too, should be open to healthy winds. These and many other necessary advantages will occur to any one who has seen a temporary hospital in full working operation, either at home or abroad. But we will now confine ourselves to the structural character of these temporary buildings, and endeavour to decide between the rival merits of wood and iron.

Temporary buildings made entirely of wood are subject to many drawbacks, no matter how carefully erected. The outside walls of the buildings are, for instance, insufficiently protected from rain and heat, and the alternate exposure to these influences, especially when the boarding has been well nailed to the framing, results in cracks, opening seams in the timber and the loosening and falling out of the

larger knots. A plentiful ventilation is no doubt desirable in any hospital, but inlets of this promiscuous character are apt to cause objectionable draughts upon the patients, and even when the buildings have been lined with boarding as well inside as outside, the liability to draughts is not altogether removed. It is true that these currents can be checked by filling in the interstices of the framing between the two linings with sawdust or sand, and this is frequently done with wooden buildings, but independent of the trouble which these ever escaping matters give in the way of sweeping, they are apt to afford harbour to the germs of disease. The roof, too, of a temporary wooden structure is either covered with boards and the seams hidden by other strips of wood, or with boardings lapped at the joints, and these the sun invariShould the roofs be covered with felt they last but a ably rips up in due time, whereupon rain is admitted. short time unless the felt be payed over with tar and well sanded; and tar, pitch and sand are not always at hand. Add to these inconveniences the liability of the structure to be overrun with vermin, not of the body kind, but with wood-lice, earwigs, and if abroad, centipedes and scorpions, if not indeed eaten up bodily by the white ant, as is common enough in India and the Cape, and it must be confessed that wooden buildings-unless erected with such extreme care as one could never hope for in pressing times, and out of such picked materials as would pay no contractor to supply-have to say the least of it some very considerable drawbacks.

The objections, again, to a hut built entirely of iron are sufficiently numerous to cause this material, if unaided, to be rejected, even for temporary dwellings for healthy work men. The intense heat generated inside them in the summer, and the desperate degree of coldness which is associated with them in winter, will be for ever remembered by all who have sat out sermons in an iron chapel, where only the sheets of corrugated iron shut out the extremes of the weather. Unless especially well fitted up also, the shifting-screws and rivets are certain to admit draughts of air; and the windows and doors, being mostly of wood, a commensurate neatness of fitting them to the contracting and expanding iron is not to be dreamt of. A fever patient, moreover, just becoming convalescent, treated to a hailstone chorus, or even to the battology of a pelting shower, would not be exactly in the place best suited for the composing of his nerves to rest. Iron hospitals, with walls and roofs entirely of iron, are therefore out of the question in point of complete sanitary convenience; and the same may be affirmed of those merely covered with sheets of zinc.

When wood and iron, or wood and zinc are both pressed into the service of the architect, nearly all the above-stated objections are however overcome. The more temporary structures can be made of wooden framings, upon which the outer metal sheets can be screwed, and the inner boardings nailed; and the more permanent ones can be framed with rolled or cast-iron sections, and the wood and iron linings adequately bolted on. By these systems the valuable services of both materials are duly utilised, and what is often moreover of great consequence, the buildings are thus made capable of being taken down and re-erected at fresh sites. Nor is this all, for a building to properly accommodate fifty patients, and two orderlies or nurses, with all other conveniences, if made entirely of wood and with

a felted roof, would cost at least 300l. and take up some seventy tons measurement in the hold of a ship; whilst little more than half that quantity of freight space would suffice if only wood floors and inner linings were sent out, and the cost would not be likely to exceed some 4207. The immense advantage of the combined structure is therefore demonstrated. If, as has lately been said by medical authorities, the more resinous woods possess the property of acting on atmospheric oxygen and converting it into an antiseptic substance remarkable for its power of destroying the offensive products of decaying organic matter, an iron building lined with wood is doubly equipped for the service of the sick and wounded, for it will not only be weather-proof outside but be somewhat proof against the spread of contagion inside.

We have been led to make the foregoing remarks from the frequent necessity which has arisen for the erection of temporary hospitals in our midst. To give our readers an idea of a small building adapted for a dozen patients, we also furnish a sketch of a hut of this class as made by Messrs. Braby & Co. Limited, of London, who have supplied such structures to all parts of the world. And if there be any thing in the antiseptic theory built upon the experiments made in wooden hospitals in Victoria, we can safely say that the red deal, yellow pine, and white fir boardings were all sent there from our own country, since the Australian continent possesses no such kinds of timber, but import them largely from Europe.

MR. EX-ALDERMAN BENNETT, of Liverpool, has set an example of public benevolence of a practical nature, by offering the sum of 3,000/. in furtherance of the following objects:

1. The establishment of an aquarium.

2. The disconnecting of courts and court-houses from all sewer-gas influences.

3. The testing, by trial, what further supply of water may be calculated upon by sinking large bore-holes in the immediate neighbourhood.

THE

SANITARY RECORD.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1875.

TO SECRETARIES OF SANITARY ASSOCIATIONS AND KINDRED SOCIETIES.

The Editor will be glad to receive, with a view to publication, announcements of meetings, reports of proceedings, and abstracts or originals of papers read before the members of any sanitary or kindred association.

MR. SCLATER-BOOTH'S PUBLIC HEALTH

CONSOLIDATION BILL.

IT is with very great satisfaction that we find ourselves in a position to say that the long talked of consolidation of the Public Health and Local Government Act is at last on the verge of becoming an accomplished fact. Mr. Sclater-Booth, as president of the Local Government Board, has introduced into the House of Commons a measure which, if we are entitled to judge from the description which we heard him give of it himself, is likely to be a great

success.

Just as it was unnecessary for him to apologise for the proposal, so is it unnecessary for us at this time of day, to explain at length the necessity for the step which Parliament is invited to take. Judges and magistrates, whose ordinary duty it is to administer the law, are unanimous in the opinion that where the law is uncertain or difficult to be determined by reason of the fact that it has to be collected from a variety of sources, then it becomes a troublesome and often an impossible task to administer, either to the satisfaction of suitors or with advantage to the public.

This is precisely the condition of things which Mr. Sclater-Booth is called upon to grapple with, and a grand opportunity is presented alike to him health law in the best possible style. Considering and to the Legislature, to rebuild the fabric of public the vast amount of discussion which has been going on during the last few years in Parliament itself, in royal commissions, at meetings of public boards, in the press, and generally, it is not too much to say, that there is now accumulated for the use of those concerned, a mass of well digested material which few ministers of the Crown have been fortunate enough in having the opportunity of working with. Under these circumstances, and having every confidence in the judgment of the right honourable gentleman who will be the principal actor, we think we are justified in prophesying that the session of 1875 will mark a notable era in the history of sanitary progress.

Mr. Sclater-Booth's bill has not yet been gene

rally circulated, and therefore on the present occasion we will not do more than give a rough outline of its contents. The bill may broadly be considered to consist of two parts: the first part being simple consolidation, properly so called, and the second, amendment and extension of the law. The future success or failure of the measure will greatly depend upon the skill and care with which the draughtsmen concerned have executed their very uninteresting task of judiciously weaving into one harmonious whole the present appalling mass of fragments of law. The magnitude and difficulty of this task will readily be understood when we state that no fewer than twenty-nine Acts of Parliament have had to be condensed into one. In point of fact, however, this statement of the problem fails to convey a really adequate comprehension of the matter for this The twenty-nine Acts which were to be dealt with have been passed at intervals, the extreme limits of which are twenty-eight years removed from one another, by different departments of the Executive, and by ministers of opposite politics, actuated by different and often contradictory ideas. To which it must be added that some of the Acts have been inspired by great town influences, whilst others have more especially represented the necessities of small towns and rural districts. Again, some of the Acts are coloured by the bias of the medical element, some by that of the engineering profession, whilst in a few (but in, unfortunately, too few) the hand of the skilled legal draughtsman is visible. This picture of the situation will serve to render obvious the obstacles with which the president of

reason.

the Local Government Board has had to contend. If he and his subordinates have duly recognised these difficulties (and this we do not doubt), the consolidation part of the new bill will exercise a most important influence on the future development of sound sanitary principles in the country.

Turning to the amendments which it is proposed to engraft on the existing law, we find that, so far as they go, they are good; but we are half disposed to doubt whether they are sufficiently numerous. Probably, however, there will be no lack of volunteers on both sides of the House ready to suggest good, bad, and indifferent additional amendments. Meanwhile it will suffice for us to state those for which Mr. Sclater-Booth himself is willing to be responsible. Power is given to local authorities to obtain provisional orders for gas and waterworks without involving competition with existing private companies; power is also given to enable the Local Government Board to group together, by provisional order, districts in the same county for the appointment of a medical officer of health; overcrowding is to be explicitly brought within the legal definition of a nuisance under the Nuisances Removal provi

sions of the Act; and there are a number of technical amendments to facilitate legal proceedings against offenders.

The new provision respecting overcrowding meets with our warm approval, for we have more than once advocated in these columns both the medical necessity and the legal propriety of giving a restrictive interpretation to the famous 19th section of the Sanitary Act, 1866.

As it is clearly desirable that, once and for all, the new bill should be made as perfect and complete as possible, we shall, when it is published, present an abstract of its new features, in the hope of evoking supplementary suggestions from some of our numerous readers, whose experience entitles them to speak with authority on sanitary subjects.

THE RECENT EPIDEMIC IN LEWES.

THE official report on the epidemic of enteric fever in Lewes has now been issued. It shows that between July 15 and December 26 last, 486 cases of fever were recorded, and that as many as 104 of these took place in the week ending October 17. The report contains some additional evidence which shows conclusively that the outbreak was due to pollution of the town water, and that the form of contamination which was mainly operative was that which resulted in the fouling of the water after it was in the mains consequent upon the intermittent character of the water service. As soon as it had been ascertained that the spread of the disease was not only favoured, but practically insured, by the intermittent water-supply, Dr. Thorne Thorne, the inspector instructed to investigate the circumstances of the outbreak, secured for the town a constant highpressure service. Any results that might be seen as the effect of this action would first appear in the and it is worthy of note that whereas in the four sickness returns for the week ending November 21, weeks ending November 14 as many as 198 fresh cases of fever were recorded, only twenty-two were recorded in the four weeks terminating December 12, and fifteen of these took place in houses previously affected. This result, when it is remembered that several hundred cases of enteric fever, each in its turn capable of producing others, were prevalent in the town, must be considered as amounting to all but absolute proof that the means by which the epidemic was being spread, had been satisfactorily ascertained and arrested. In making recommendations to the local sanitary authoriities as to the steps which they should adopt with the view of preventing a similar occurrence, Dr. Thorne expresses the belief that it will be impossible to ensure this result unless a constant system of high-pressure water service is adopted in the town, and as there must be occasional intermissions, even where the service is a so-called constant one, he specially urges that service-cisterns should be enforced in the case of all supplies to water-closets, in order that there may be no further suction of foul water-mains. air into service-pipes connected directly with the

There is, we are glad to observe, reason to believe that the directors of the Waterworks Company have determined to maintain permanently the constant supply now given to the town, mains, by means of which pure air can be drawn and also to fix air-shafts on to the principal servicewater, a method of procedure which many other into them whenever they may empty themselves of water companies would do well to imitate.

POLLUTION OF RIVERS.

AT a conference on this subject held on Dec. 10, at the rooms of the Society of Arts, under the presidency of the Right Hon. Lyon Playfair, C.B., it was almost unanimously resolved that the pollution of rivers is a great evil, requiring legislative action to remedy it, but the meeting refused to commit itself to the recommendation of any specific measures. The separation of fæcal matters, manufacturing refuse, and house-drainage from the rainfall was discussed for the space of one hour, but nothing of much importance was elicited. Methods of treating watercarried sewage, so as to purify it before discharge into rivers, was likewise discussed, with the general result, that several processes held out a fair promise

of success.

In the course of the proceedings the standards of purity proposed by the late Royal Commission on the Pollution of Rivers were very severely criticised.

Notes of the Week.

THE CYMRU.

MR. E. R. MORGAN, the medical officer of health for Neath, is endeavouring to carry out the letter as well as the spirit of the Sanitary Acts. He has had plain instructions for guidance in the case of infectious diseases, printed in English, with a translation in Welsh, to suit the require ments of the district. Mr. Morgan says that he has found this plan to be very serviceable, as many of the inhabitants who could not read the words 'Directions for use,' in English, find no difficulty with the equivalent in this form, "Cyfarwyddiadau pa fodd i'w Defnyddio.' His translation, if not strictly Cymræg, is especially adapted to the Cymru. By bringing the subject within the comprehension of all classes, Mr. Morgan has acted wisely and well.

A TIMELY SUGGESTION.

ON Thursday, the 11th inst., a deputation consisting of the Mayor and other members of the Corporation of Birmingham waited upon the President of the Local Government Board at Gwydyr House, to ask that there might be inserted in the measure to be introduced by the President in Parliament a clause enabling municipal corporations and other sanitary authorities to supply water within their jurisdiction for public and sanitary purposes. The deputation had a long interview with the President, who promised to take the matters laid before him into serious consideration, and thanked his visitors for the many valuable suggestions they had given him.

PRACTICAL DEDUCTIONS.

MR. COUNCILLOR DICKINSON, of Staleybridge, who attended the recent Birmingham Sanitary Conference, in an exhaustive report and criticism on the various papers read, submits the following conclusions to the mayor and corporation. That an Improvement Act is not necessary for the sanitary improvement of the town. 2. That we have certain powers to control slaughter-houses. 3. That it would be unsafe practice to trap our street grids. 4. That water-closets in the interior of dwelling-houses are very doubtful, and perhaps dangerous, conveniences. 5. That it would be a good sanitary arrangement to do away with a considerable number of the worst of our cesspools as soon as possible, and adopt the 'pan system.'

CREMATION SOCIETY.

ARRANGEMENTS having been made for the acquisition of land, and for the accomplishment of cremation by the best method, together with the erection of a building for religious services, at an estimated cost of 3,500/-subscriptions are invited and may be paid to the Secretary, who will furnish all necessary information, or to Sir S. Scott, | Bart., and Co., bankers, Cavendish Square, London. One thousand pounds have been subscribed, but no expenditure will be incurred until the 3,500/. has been obtained.-W. Eassie, Secretary, I Great Winchester Street, E.C.

THE LADIES' SANITARY ASSOCIATION.

THE Ladies' Sanitary Association, 22, Berners Street, Oxford Street, has just issued a tract entitled 'The Doctor's Bill,' which is intended to recommend provident dispensaries as the best means of supplying the medical wants of the working classes. It is cast in the form of a dialogue, and brings out the main points of the provident system in a way which is likely to make them intelligible to the humbler classes both in towns and villages. Those who are setting on foot provident medical institutions, and those who are anxious to give a wider scope to such as already exist, will probably find this little tract very useful for distribution.

CORONERS.

MR. R. BAILEY WALKER, in a recent paper delivered at the Manchester Statistical Society expressed his belief that we wanted more rather than fewer coroners, and that probably the public welfare would be promoted if attention were directed to the strengthening of the national safeguards for the preservation of human life, and for making the system of inquiry more complete, than in the thoughtless weakening of such safeguards by petty quibbling as to their cost. There can be no doubt that there are few more valuable public officers than coroners. They are, however, often an object of suspicion and dislike to local authorities, whose neglect of duty leads to so much waste of life, and who, therefore, naturally object to a system of inquiry into the causes of death.

DWELLINGS OF THE POOR.

THE Council of the Statistical Society invite competi tive essays for their Howard medal, to be awarded in November next. The subject chosen for the essay, which must be sent in before June 30, is 'The State of the Dwellings of the Poor in the Rural Districts of England with special regard to the Improvements that have taken place since the middle of the 18th century; and their Influence on the Health and Morals of the Inmates.' The essay is to include some account of John Howard's cottage-building at Cardingford, near Bedford, and can be illustrated if necessary. It should not exceed 150 pages of the Statistical Society's Journal, and will become the sole property of the Council. The competition is an open one, and not limited to members of the society.

SOOTHING MIXTURES.

ANOTHER death in consequence of the culpable manner in which narcotics are administered to children occurred recently at Holloway. The child having been restless, the mother bought some syrup of poppies and gave it a spoonful. On the following morning the child was found to be unconscious, and died shortly after. Dr. Shehy, who made the post mortem, pronounced the cause of death to be opium poisoning, and in answer to a question stated that laudanum was sometimes mixed with treacle as a substitute for syrup of poppies. A verdict of death from narcotic poisoning was returned.

The coroner, in his summing up, remarked that he believed the fault mainly laid with the public, who were utterly ignorant or not very particular as to what they bought for their children.