1362

and spaces for these stamps are being made in many E.C , and the stamps can be obtained from all
rIlew albums, in addition to the issue of specially pre-
pared pages for insertion in existing albums. The basis of the
design selected by the Prince of Wales is taken from no less
an authority in art than Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose well-
London,
stationers and
bookstalls.
booksellers with the exception of railway

THE GRECO-TURKISH WAR.

THAT which most people, and especially all military

people, foresaw has come to pass. Greece, in rejecting the
advice of the European powers and the counsel of all her
real friends, and in yielding to the popular clamour of her
own population backed by the irresponsible support of
others outside her own territory, has done herself as a nation
great, and it may be irretrievable, injury. Neither in the
extent of her population, the character and strength of her
army, the ability and enterprise of her generals, nor in
her preparedness for war, was she ever really equal to the work
she took in hand. Her action has had exactly the reverse
effect of that she intended, for Greece has rehabilitated the
political power and influence of Turkey to her own grave
injury and to the prejudice of civilisation and good govern-
ment in Europe generally. The Greek navy, of which so
much was expected, has done nothing; the Greek army is
threatened with immediate dissolution. None of the engage-
ments that have taken place have really been battles, and it
is no doubt a very good thing for Greece that no pitched
The shilling stamp, reproduced in black and white, and en- battle on a large scale occurred. The Turks are known
larged by one-third to show the details. The colour of the to be splendid soldiers in grit and quality -
resolute
is
shilling stamp indigo blue, and that of the half-crown
stamp, which:is identical in design, is Venetian red.] and brave, patient and temperate, possessed of a fine
physique, amenable to discipline, and always exhibiting,
when called upon, great powers of physical endurance.
known picture of’’Charity," executed for one of the Virtues, It seems clear that the order had gone forth on this
in New College Chapel, Oxford, is the most appropriate occasion to the Turkish army that there were to be no
design that could have been selected, embodying as it does massacres, that the eyes of Europe were upon them, and that
a beautiful picture with Mrs. Sheridan as the chief figure. a punctilious regard was to be paid to the rules of civilised
Valuable assistance has been rendered by Mr. De la Rue warfare. The consequence has been that the discipline and
and by Mr. Purcell, C.B., the Controller of Stamps at moderation of the Turk in the present war has been made
,

Somerset House, who have taken the greatest interest in the, known and manifested to all men. From all sides it has
undertaking from its commencement. been reported that their conduct in this campaign has been
After His Royal Highness had approved of the design the admirable. The trained and disciplined Greek troops have,
engraving was began and proved a very much more serious by all accounts fought well, but their army was to too great
,

affair than any one unversed in these details would have an extent made up of excitable and unreliable bodies of
anticipated. Such an engraving could only be executed by men, and wanted cohesion. They were both outnumbered
the most skilled hand. After the matrix had been produced and outgeneralled, and, disheartened by want of success,
and hardened it had to be rolled into the steel plate under a they seem to have more readily given way to panic than
pressure of twenty tons given by a lever set in motion by the better trained and disciplined troops would have done. It
foot of the operator, and each impression had to be rolled is no longer a question of the realisation of Greek
in separately, the greatest care being taken to adjust the aspirations, for Greece has already had to relinquish the
proper distances and a magnifying glass being constantly in avowed object of her rash enterprise. The feeling of the
.

use. Each plate contains a double sheet of eighty, in which Christian nations is one of pity and regret for all the misery
.

one false impression would spoil the whole, and great and misfortunes which she has brought on herself, and Greece
liability to cracking arises from the weight of the pressure. has now to appeal to the European Powers, whose advice she
Every sheet has to be accounted for as carefully as a bank- previously rejected, to intervene in her behalf.
.

note, and this again entails still greater surveillance. The Turks have not only spared no pains to improve
It is needless to say that the fact of His Royal Highness their whole military system and to bring their army
the Duke of York being President of the Philatelic Society up to the standard of modern warfare, but they have
insures the greatest interest being taken in these stamps by also taken great care to render their hospital service
collectors in all portions of the globe, and as a work of art efficient in the field. According to all accounts their
there will be nothing wanting in them. A large quantity of! hospitals have been well provided for and managed,
the issue has already been secured for insertion in the! and the sick and wounded have been well looked after.
Queen’s Commemoration Bible and also in the Queen’s Com- In addition to their regularly- established hospitals and
.

memoration Prayer and Hymn Book, which are to be pub- ambulance transport they have received a good deal
.

lished as soon as the stamps are ready, and each of which of aid from outside sources. The Czar has informed
will contain a stamp; we are informed by the publisher: the Sultan of the despatch of an ambulance, with surgeons
that the greatest interest has been shown all over the! and nurses for 500 beds and all requisites. The Turks do
country, inquiries having arrived from many places abroadnot appear to have suffered so much from exposure
and telegraphic orders having been received even from and climate as their opponents, and the amount of
South Africa. sickness among them is not large. The Greek troops
His Royal Highness the President of the Fund has! who took part in the fighting at Velestino lave suffered
graciously signified that he will, if possible, personallyr greatly from the almost tropical heat during the
witness the destruction of the plates from which the stamps; day and the cold nights The hospital at Lamia is full of
are printed ; but in any case they will be destroyed as soonl sick. According to the Times correspondent the Greek
as the printing of the limited number of the issue is com- .
casualties in the Epirus army during the campaign have been
pleted in the presence of the official representatives of the: about 500; of this number 180 were killed and missing in
Fund, and of Mr. Purcell, C.B., Controller of Stamps. AL the last Pentapigadia fight. Of the losses that occurred in
certificate to this effect will be duly published in accordance! and about Pharsala and in the retreats from Larissa,
with the usual regulations. Pentepigardia, and Pharsala we know very little at
Our readers will remember that in the case of the Rowlandt present. The town of Arta, which is crowded with troops
Hill Postcard in 1890 so great was the demand that the! and refugees, is reported to be in a most insanitary
value of the postcard advanced no less than 2500 per cent. state and is becoming very unhealthy. Typhoid fever and
The trade will be supplied by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall,, dysentery have broken out and threaten to become epidemic.
’Hamilton, Kent, and Co., Limited, Stationers’ Hall-court,, The climatic conditions of the hills commanding the plain of

Pharsala are very severe: great heat, followed by unusual
cold and heavy rains, drenching the unsheltered lines.
Several men of the Foreign Legion, the Times correspondent
states, are suffering from dysentery. Supplies are sufficient
in quantity, but consist of only mutton and bread from
Lamia. The commissariat, transport, and medical service at
Domoko are inadequate, and there is a want of stretchers
and ambulance for the transport of the wounded. There
is said to be a good deal of sickness among the troops.
Efforts are being made by English agencies for procuring
medical stores from Athens and for making temporary
hospital arrangements. Happily there is every reason to hope
now that peace will be established, and that there will be an
end to this very lamentable and unequal contest.
gullies.
Public Dealth and Poor Law.
- SXMo-MpoM-.2%<xmes Urban Sanitary Distric.-In con-
sidering the health of school children Mr. Beale Collins
suggests that if the seeing and hearing powers were tested
in quite early childhood any defects discovered might, in
LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT. many cases at least, be materially improved, if not entirely
REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH.
Portsmouth Urban Sanitary District.-In the annual report
for the borough of Portsmouth for 1895 we have the last
report made by Dr. Mumby in his capacity of medical officer
of health. The population of Portsmouth in the middle of
1895 was estimated at 174,751, the mean density of the popula-
tion being 39’1 persons per acre ; the density, however, varies
very materially in different parts of the borough. The
corrected death-rate of Portsmouth during 1895 was 18’2 per
1000, a rate which placed Portsmouth in the position of
possessing the lowest death-rate but one amongst the
thirty-three large towns. In regard to the specific
infectious diseases it is gratifying to learn that diph-
theria is decreasing both in, prevalence and severity
in Portsmouth, and Dr. Mumby furnished a table showing
that during the years in which notification has been in force
the notifiable diseases have markedly decreased, while the
non-notifiable diseases have hardly diminished at all. In an
appendix to the report Dr. Mumby has bequeathed, as it were,
a sort of legacy to Portsmouth in the shape of life tables for
the borough based upon the figures for the years 1881 to
1890. The compilation of these tables must obviously have
cost Dr. Mumby much labour, but they will prove of the
greatest value for purposes of comparison in the future. One
of the results of the Portsmouth tables is to show, in the
words of Dr. Mumby, "that while the conditions of life in
Portsmouth are slightly inferior to those enjoyed by the
inhabitants of Brighton, a little superior to those of
Londoners, and remarkably similar to those enjoyed by the
inhabitants of England and Wales as a whole, they are
markedly superior to those under which the inhabitants of
Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow spend their existence,"
and the tables furnished in the appendix illustrate these
points.
Lorvestoft Urban Sanitary District.-Mr. J. T. Thomas
furnishes in his current annual report the following figures
relative to the death-rates per 1000 from phthisis in some of
the English health resorts :-
Eastbourne(four years’ average) ......... 1-05
Southport (five years’ average)............ 149
Brighton (five years’ average) ............ 154
Bournemouth (four years’ average)......... 3’27
Hastings (last year) .................. 197
Scarborough (five years’average) 144
.........
Lowestoft (six years’ average) ............ 092
These figures are of some interest, but clearly it would be
useless to attempt to infer anything from them unless
definite information were given both as to whether in all
cases the deaths taken account of included those of visitors,
and as to the number of visitors suffering from phthisis in
each place. During 1896 Mr. Thomas closed certain schools
owing, to the prevalence of scarlet fever amongst the
scholars, and he speaks highly of the good results of
closure. Enteric fever and diphtheria are stated to be
practically endemic in Lowestoft, and Mr. Thomas, as also
does Dr. Copeman, who recently inspected the district, con-
siders that the pollution of the subsoil caused by the privy
middens is an important factor in the causation and per-
petuation of this endemicity. In advising the conversion of
1363
privies into water closets Mr. Thomas points out that if
the expense is considered to preclude the general adoption
of proper water closets, "waste water closets " might under
certain conditions be introduced, and he observes that it,
has been decided that no water-rates can be charged for
such closets. Instances are recorded in the report before us
of diphtheria having been introduced into lodging houses by
children from London who had recently recovered from the
disease, and in these cases the bacillus of diphtheria was
discovered in the throats of the London children. The sewage
disposal arrangements at Lowestoft appear to be far from
satisfactory, and we read that the beach outlet of the main
sewer has been a complete wreck during the year, its mouth
having been buried in sand for some seventeen hours out of
every twenty-four and having to be dug out every day. We
are not surprised, under these circumstances, to hear that
there have been complaints of foul smells from the street
cured. He thinks that the cost in relation to the benefit
would be in Kingston quite infinitesimal. The examination
of the teeth of school children is also urged by Mr. Collins.
There has recently been a heavy mortality from measles in
Kingston, and Mr. Collins thinks that the notification of the
first case of the disease in a house would afford very valuable
information and enable a correct idea to be formed as to the
desirability, in any given outbreak, of school closure. He
thinks, too, that an effort might be made to isolate some of
the cases, and he suggests that the foundation of a small
hospital for measles would not be an unfitting memorial of
the longest reign.
VITAL STATISTICS.
HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.
IN thirty-three of the largest English towns 6562
births and 3585 deaths were registered during the week
ending May 8th. The annual rate of mortality in these
towns, which had been 18and 18’3 per 1000 in the two
preceding weeks, further declined last week to 17’Oi In
London the rate was 15’5 per 1000, while it averaged
18’1 in the thirty-two provincial towns. The lowest rates
in these towns were 118 in Norwich, 12-0 in Cardiff, 12’5
in Croydon, and 12’6 in Derby; the highest rates were
25’6 in Manchester, 25’8 in Bolton, 25-9 in Salford, and
30 4 in Preston. The 3585 deaths included 315 which were
referred to the principal zymotic diseases, against 367 and
351 the two preceding weeks; of these, 20 resulted from
measles, 10 from scarlet fever, 26 from diphtheria, 35 from
whooping-cough, 1 from enteric fever, and 15 from diarrhoea.
No death from any of these diseases was recorded last week
in Croydon, in Swansea, or in Halifax, while they caused the
highest death-rates in Cardiff, Burnley, Manchester, and
Salford. The greatest mortality from measles occurred in
Cardiff, Bolton, Manchester, and Salford; and from
whooping-cough in Burnley, Gateshead, Plymouth, Bristol,
Oldham, and Manchester. The mortality from " fever"
showed no marked excess in any of the large towns.
The 43 deaths from diphtheria included 26 in London,
and 4 in Birmingham. No fatal case of small-pox was
registered during the week under notice either in London op
in any’other of the thirty-three large towns. There were
11 cases of small-pox under treatment in the Metro-
politan Asylum Hospitals on Saturday last, the 8st inst.,
against 11, 7, and 12 at the end of the three preceding
weeks; 3 new cases were admitted during the week,
against 6 in the preceding week. The number of scarlet
fever patients in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals and
in the London Fever Hospital at the end of the week
was 2385, against 2406, 2442, and 2380 on the three pre-
ceding Saturdays ; 231 new cases were admitted during
the week, against 216, 269, and 223 in the three pre-
ceding weeks. The deaths referred to diseases of the
respiratory organs in London, which had been 289 and
273 in the two preceding weeks, further declined to 232r
last week, and were 110 below the corrected average.
The causes of 51, or 1’4 per cent., of the deaths in the
thirty-three towns were not certified either by a registered
medical practitioner or by a coroner. All the causes ofi