feel surprised at the slowness with which that scheme was being received, for it was proposed by it to carry the sewage in a great pipe about a mile into the Forth, to a place called the Black Rocks, there to be poured into the sea. That plan was to cost some £20,000, one-half of which sum was to be paid for the pipe through the Forth. The result of its adoption would be that that valuable matter -the sewage of Edinburgh and Leith-would be thrown into their noble estuary to poison the fish and do as much harm as possible. They ought, however, to consider whether they could not spend that large sum of money in utilising instead of destroying the valuable material of which he spoke. It had occurred to him that if a piece of land were bought not far from the town, and if all that matter were conducted into it as into a central emporium, it might be manufactured into something which would tend rather to pay the expense of the drainage than to increase the assessment of the inhabitants. A preliminary step, therefore, in the whole question as to the drainage of towns would be to consider how they were to dispose of the drainage.

Mr. ROBERTS alluded to the evils of cesspools as at present constructed, and mentioned a case in which three deaths had occurred solely from the existence of a cesspool under the floor of a house.

Mr. NEWLANDS, of Liverpool, begged to observe, in reference to what Professor Bennett had said, that if legislation in sanitary matters was to be postponed until chemists had made up their minds as to the proper treatment of sewage refuse, they should never get any good done. They found in Liverpool, when they began to drain that town in 1848, that they had a certain death-rate; in 1850, when their works had been advanced to a certain extent, the saving in life was 500 in a year; in seven years more, when they were further advanced, the saving was 5,000 a-year. Now, who could think for a moment of the money question when they were saving 5,000 people a-year.

Mr. LINDSAY said he would like to call attention to one of the most insidious enemies they had to deal with in matters connected with drainage. He alluded to the manner in which the overflow pipes of water cisterns were constructed. They went straight to the main drain, and the consequence was that there was a natural current of mephitic vapour right through the house. It might be remedied by the use of the "Waterloo" joint, provided the ball-tap was not made too tight.

The Rev. DUNCAN OGILVIE called attention to the want both of water and drainage in the houses in many quarters of Edinburgh. They were inhabited by poor tenants, and were neglected by the landlords.

Councillor FORD said that the solidification of the sewage to which Professor Bennett had alluded was a much more difficult question than that gentleman seemed to suppose. All the experiments to utilise sewage by solidification had proved total failures.

Mr. EDWIN CHESSHIRE, F.R.C.S., read a paper entitled "On a New Mode of Intercepting and Retaining the Solid Soil from WaterClosets for Utilisation, and for the Sanitary Improvement of Large Towns."

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr. CORNELIUS WALFORD read a paper on "Longevity in Scotland,"

Scotland has long been famous for the salubrity of its atmosphere and the longevity of its people. Thus, while the annual death-rate in England is 2-21; in France, 2.36; in Belgium, 2.52; Holland, 2.76; in Scotland it is only 2:06. Longevity is here applied only to those who have lived a century and upwards. At the census of 1851 there were in Scotland 103 centenarians-32 males and 71 females. In 1861, the number had fallen to 87, of whom 30 were males and 57 females. In 1851 there was 1 centenarian to every

28,046 of the population, in 1861 1 to every 35.198. The severe winter of 1859-60 carried off a great many of the very aged people. In England and Wales, in 1851, there 1851, there was only 1 centenarian to every 89-670 of the 89-670 of the population. population. On the other hand, Ireland claimed 1 centenarian to every 9,215 of the population in 1851, and to every 7,593 in 1861; so that, while Scotland claimed as 2 to 1 against England in relation to population, Ireland claimed as nearly 3 to 1 against Scotland. The system of general registration of deaths came into operation in Scotland in 1855. The deaths of centenarians annually had been as follows, since then-1855, 37; 1856, 34; 1857, 36; 1858, 32; 1859, 39; the later official statistics had not been published. The proportion of female to male centenarians dying had generally been in the proportion of nearly 3 to 1. The Scottish counties which came out best in the matter of longevity were Inverness, which had 26 living centenarians in 1851; Ross and Cromarty claimed 13; Caithness, 9; Aberdeen 9; Lanark, 7; Argyle, 6; Orkney and Shetland, 4. Taking the great divisions of North and South, the line being drawn from the Firth of Tay to the Firth of Clyde, by way of Loch Lomond and Loch Long, the north claimed 78 centenarians in 1857, the south 25. Thus the north had 1 centenarian to every 13,784 of the population; the south 1 to every 72,542. The Registrar-General (Dr. Stark) had adopted another and more important divisional arrangement of the country-more important in the sense of eliminating the vital statistics of the country. He took the 155 inhabited islands of Scotland and grouped them under one head; then he took the mainland, but excluded the towns having ten thousand inhabitants and upwards, making the towns into a separate group; thus he got three great divisions-insular, mainland, and towns. The general annual mortality in the insular districts was only 1.61 per cent. ; in the mainland districts, 1.75; in the towns, 2.64. In 1861, the population of these respective districts was as follows :-Insular, 160,733; mainland, 1,763,377; towns 1,138,184. The distribution of centenarians was-Insular, 23; mainland, 55; towns, 9; being in the proportion of 1 to every 6,944 of the insular population; 1 to every 32,068 of the mainland population; and only 1 to every 125,356 of the town population. The deaths of centenarians in these respective divisions in 1855 was-Insular, 8; mainland, 21; towns, 8-total, 37. In 1859Insular, 14; mainland 20; towns, 5-total, 39. The civil or conjugal condition of the Scotch centenarians in 1851 was :Males-bachelors, 2; husbands, 12; widowers, 18-total, 32. Females-spinsters, 27; wives, nil; widows, 44-total, 71. Those figures appeared to confirm the view of Dr. Casper of Berlin, and of M. Odier's published tables, that married females live on an average five and a-half years longer than unmarried females. Many of the centenarians-indeed, most of them-had been married more than

once.

Mr. Walford was of opinion, from the official and other returns before him, and from a careful consideration of facts, that during the present century from 1,800 to 2,000 persons had died in Scotland aged "one hundred and upwards." He had compiled a list of these to the extent of several hundreds; and amongst these were two at 180, three at 140, one at 137, one at 136, one at 134, one at 132, several at 130, and so on downwards to a century. The greatest ages occurred in the Western Isles, and were adduced on the authority of Martin ("Description of the Western Isles "), Pennant's "Second Tour in Scotland," Buchanan's "History of Shetland," and Dr. Durham's "Physico-Theology." The other cases were drawn from various sources believed to be authentic, and amongst these sources were the several tontine schemes prevailing in Scotland. The Dundee Tontine, which was brought to a termination in 1862, furnished some very important cases; the Perth and Bridge of Allan Tontine others, and some cases were well known in this and all the other cities and important towns in Scotland. In the list thus compiled, the towns contributing most largely are:-Edinburgh, 36; Aberdeen, 35; Inverness, 26; Lanark, 24; Perth, 17; Fife, 12; and indeed this portion of the paper formed a practical sequel to Mr. Robert Chambers's excellent essay, "Distant Ages Connected by Individuals." Many of the male centenarians mentioned had fought in the battles of Killiecrankie, Sherriffmuir, Culloden, Falkirk, or Prestonpans. The case of Peter Gordon was particularly referred to; he died at Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, in 1775, aged 131 years. He lived under no less than ten rulers :-viz., Charles I., Oliver Cromwell, Richard Cromwell, Charles II., James II., William and Mary, Anne, George I., George II., George III. A portrait of him is carefully preserved in the Museum of the Perth Antiquarian Society. Speaking of longevity in families, the paper noted the case of the Macdonalds in Edinburgh. Peter Macdonald died there in 1772, aged 107; his father died aged 116; his grandfather aged 107; and some of their later descendants had died at

ages above a century. Generally, Mr. Walford adopted the dictum of the Census Commissioners for 1851-The prolongation of the life of the people must become an essential part of family, municipal, and national policy. He stated his intention of following up the inquiry more in detail with regard to England and Ireland, and the results would probably be published in the "Journal of the Statistical Society."

Dr. OGLE read a paper upon "Medical Reform, or Prevention better than Cure." He dealt exclusively with the question of remuneration to medical men, and proposed that, instead of the present system of payment by fees or by medicine, the doctor should be paid by each patient so much per annum, to include all ordinary work, and that he should receive an extra fee for extraordinary work.

Mr. JOHN MACKAY read a paper on "The Advantages Attending the Production of German Yeast." Upwards of 3,000 tons of this substance are yearly imported into England, at the cost of about

£190,000. Mr. MacKay expressed his belief that it is the best ferment in existence, greatly saving time and producing a better quality of bread. The solid yeast often reaches England in a condition unfit for use, and is also extensively adulterated. Mr. MacKay's experiments for its production were entirely successful, and with the removal of the excise restriction which prevents distillers from collecting their yeast, the manufacture could be carried on in England with great advantage.

Professor GAMGEE read a paper on "The Use and Abuse of Poisons for Agricultural Purposes, with special reference to the use of Mercury and Arsenic for Dipping and Smearing Sheep." The writer first directed attention to sheep-baths and then to sheep ointments. Sheep-baths, or dips, he said, were prepared principally with arsenic, soda ash, sulphur, and soft soap; but there were many of these preparations in which the active principal was arsenic. The conclusions to which Professor Gamgee had arrived are—(1.) That arsenic and mercury might be dispensed with as appliances for sheep, and that far better agents were at hand to kill all kinds of vermin. (2.) That accidents from the use of those poisons were frequent amongst men and animals, and that, on sanitary as well as economic grounds, the distribution of poisons over farms should be either prohibited or controlled.

Mr. LEWIS ANDRÉ contributed a paper showing the advantages which would result from using roofs of houses as airing-grounds. Designs have been prepared by the author to meet the following requirements:

1. To provide for each house an airing-ground (open to the sky, (the extent of each airing-ground to be about three-quarters of that of the ground on which the house stands), in which the inhabitants of the house can take the air, and follow out-of-door pursuits, and in which children can engage in gymnastic exercises and games free from the crowds of the streets, and from the damp and unwholesome atmosphere of back gardens, yards, or areas.

2. That the arrangements shall be applicable to low-rented houses suited to the working classes.

3. That the arrangements shall be particularly suited to streets, lanes, and closely packed houses.

4. That protection of the house from wet shall not be interfered with.

5. That the airing-ground shall be protected from the down current of smoke from chimneys.

6. That they shall not be visible from fronts of the houses facing the public thoroughfares.

7. That perfect safety shall be secured from any danger of persons falling over while using the airing-grounds.

8. That the form of enclosure employed to provide against the danger of falling over shall not interfere with the free circulation of air within it.

9. That rooms shall be provided on the level of airing-grounds

from which parents can watch their children while they themselves continue at their work.

10. That the airing-grounds shall be conveniently and safely accessible from the insides of the houses through the doors of the rooms on the same level with the grounds.

11. That the airing-grounds shall be separated from each other, but conveniently and safely accessible from those of the adjoining houses, and safely and conveniently accessible from the public thoroughfares, so that a ready means of escape shall be provided in case of fire, and also ready access to the upper parts of the houses by firemen.