41OLD AGE AS A LAW OF NATURE.

that it is unbreakable and may be used for a great numberof experiments, that the distillation is finished more quickly,and that the flask may be placed directly over the flame of agas-burner, so that when the light is once regulated it willrequire no further attention until the process is concluded.The difficulties attending the distillation of a strong solutionof sodium salts have hitherto led many to shirk this method,but the ease with which such a solution boils in a copperflask will doubtless make this excellent and accurate processin its many applications still more popular. There is no

novelty claimed for the suggestion except in its application,for it is well known that Arabian chemists centuries agoused flasks of metal-as, for example, copper.

OLD AGE AS A LAW OF NATURE.

IN orderly coincidence with the close of the late year’s exist-ence, a statistical report of existing centenarians who havelived in or died with it has just been published in the pages ofa contemporary. It includes altogether thirty-three persons,the eldest, a woman, being aged 116. What is unusual, thenumber of males is in excess of that of females. Unfortu-

nately the report affords us no information as to the habits orother personal characteristics of these old people. It is true

that we are not without information, and that of a scientificand accurate kind, derived from other sources, and this is ofconsiderable interest. In a study of the life history of

the aged nothing strikes one more forcibly than the factthat life, in its latest period, presents itself very much as

a state in which vital functions-enfeebled, indeed, thoughnot always greatly so or even in an irksome degree-continuein active exercise under normal conditions. It is, in fact, theclose and crown of a state of existence conducted throughoutin regularity and moderation. Appetite, as a rule, hasbeen good and has been indulged within reasonable limits,There seems to be little to choose between temperance andtotal abstinence in the matter of alcohol, though excess butrarely wins the reward of longevity. If in any direction it

is allowable for competitors in the race of life to dispensewith self-control, it would appear that they may to a greatextent use this liberty with respect to physical and mentalexertion. Nature has made large allowance for the inevit-able necessity of labour and has even practically in somecases sanctioned an overstrain of energy provided that duecare be taken to conserve the vital powers by temperance inother things. The life thus orderly lived usually ends asorderly, faculties, comfort, and even enjoyment continuingtill, as if grown weary, it accepts a timely and final reposein the sleep of ages. -

PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO THE LATE SURGEON-MAJOR PARKE.

ATTENTION has lately been directed to a meeting held inDublin for the purpose of making arrangements for the erec-tion of a memorial to the late Surgeon-Major T. H. Parke.It was fitting that a project of this kind should have its origin ,,

among the nearest kinsfolk and acquaintances of him whom itis intended to honour. There is, however, in this instancea propriety no less cogent in the appeal which calls uponhis fellow countrymen everywhere to preserve the memory ofhis labours and his loss. In honouring him we revere notthe man only, not his work alone, but more than eitherthose imperishable qualities of character which, livingand active (a3 they were in him), are the ever-fruitfulseeds from which great actions grow. His instinctive but

enlightened forethought, his enduring resolution, his cheerfuldevotion to duty, and his great freedom from self-concernshould be remembered by any who in these days might per-chance doubt the survival of heroic virtue. In his life theyshone brightly ; they illuminated his duty, well done, while asurgeon on military service ; they made him, as Mr. Stanley

has himself so clearly shown in the columns of THE

LANCET, little else than a providence to the sorely triedRelief Expedition. To his companions he then seemedas a saviour. Can we remember what rewards were hiswhen he returned to our shores ? ll’ith his professionalbrethren, indeed, he stood in high honour, and not less

assuredly was his rank with those whom he rescued ontheir perilous journey. Of the great body of his Britishfellow countrymen, whether in authority or not, it must, wefear, be said that they regarded far too lightly his work andcharacter. We sincerely trust, therefore, that the oppor-tunity now open to all who may still be induced to recogniseand atone for the injustice done to one who was as un-

assuming as his exertions were memorable will not passunnoticed and unemployed.

NEW YEAR HONOUR.

SURGEON-MAJOR ERNEST HARROLD FENN of the Cold-stream Guards, who has been appointed Companion of theIndian Empire, is the only member of the medical profes-sion whose name appears in this list. Surgeon-MajorFenn has for the past five years filled the responsiblepost of surgeon to the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viceroyof India. His previous services include the AfghanWar of 1879, when he accompanied the column under

Lord Roberts in its famous march from Cabul to

Candahar. He was under fire at the battle of Candahar

and was mentioned in despatches. On his return to Englandhe was appointed surgeon to the 3rd Battalion of

the Grenadier Guards, and later on he accompanied theGuards Brigade to Egypt, where it suffered severely fromtyphoid fever. In November, 1888, he sailed with the Marquisof Lansdowne to India as surgeon to his Excellency the

Viceroy, and recently he formed one of the mission, underSir Mortimer Durand, to the Ameer of Afghanistan. Duringhis stay at Cabul he was requested by the Ameer to operateupon one of his officials for stone in the bladder. We con-

gratulate Surgeon-Major Fenn on the well-earned honour HerMajesty the Queen has been pleased to confer upon him.

MOVABLE KIDNEY.

SOME interesting statistics as to the occurrence of movablekidney in women, which were given by Dr. Mathieu beforethe Societe Médicale des Hopitaux, are published in the

Revue Générale de Clinique et de Thérrapeutique of Dec. 9th,1893. He examined 306 women who were admitted into

hospital for other complaints and found the condition

known as "movable kidney" in 45. He also examined 46women suffering from severe dyspepsia, and found the

kidney abnormally movable in 32 instances. This con-

dition is rarer above the age of twenty-six years than

under. Thus, of the patients between the ages of fifteenand twenty years "nephroptosis" was found in from

12 to 13 per cent. ; between twenty and twenty-fiveyears of age in from 22 to 23 per cent. ; between twenty-fiveand fifty years of age in about 40 per cent. ; and between fiftyand seventy years of age in 25 per cent. In women who had

given birth to children the condition was far more frequentthan in those who had not. Thus, in 104 nulliparæ it wasonly found in 11 ’54 per cent., whilst in those women who hadhad one or more children the percentage rose to 33 80.In mild cases of dyspepsia, in which the symptoms did notcall for any urgent treatment, from 68 to 69 per cent. of thewomen exhibited a condition of movable kidney, but whenthe cases were severe and symptoms were urgent the propor-tion rose rapidly to 2 of 3 cases. Dr. Mathieu is, therefore,of opinion that there is a distinct causal relationshipbetween nephroptosis and dyspepsia. Dyspepsia, from

whatever cause, is probably maintained and often increased