Dr. Murray Lindsay draws our attention to this Act, which, he remarks, should be useful to us and may help forward our cause, for it contains some principles we are advocating and should like to see applied to the asylum service, viz.:—

1.—Compulsory superannuation. Sec. 2.

2.—Compulsory retirement. Sec. 2, paragraph 3.

3.—Transferred service to reckon towards pension. Sec. 4.

4.—Power to add a number of years not exceeding ten in certain cases for peculiar professional qualifications or special circumstances. Sec. 5.

5.—Power to grant gratuities in certain cases. Sec. 8.

6.—Power of appeal to Local Government Board to decide questions as to the right to or the amount of superannuation allowance. Sec. 18.

7.—“Emoluments,” including the money value of any apartments, rations, or other allowances, to be reckoned in calculating pension. This is compulsory as part of the superannuation and not permissive or discretionary.

The following candidates were successful at the examination held on the 16th July, 1896:—

The following were the written questions:—

1.—Give in detail the pathological changes found microscopically in the Cerebral Convolutions and Meninges in General Paralysis of the Insane. 2.—What are the mental symptoms which occur in Myxódema? How do you explain them? What is the cerebral pathology of this disease? 3.—Define “Judgment.” What is the difference between Judgment and Reasoning P What is the relation to Judgment of (a) Hesitation and (b) Doubt? 4.—To what morbid changes are the cells of the fifth layer of the Cortex liable, and in what form of insanity are these cells specially affected? 5.—Is there a distinct form of insanity which may properly be termed homicidal mania? If so, describe its characters and show how it differs from other forms of insanity accompanied by homicidal propensities. 6.—To what extent may the advent of puberty be regarded as a cause of insanity? What do you consider to be the mode of its operation?

THE CERTIFICATE IN NURSING.

The next examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in Nursing will be held on Monday, the 2nd day of November, 1896, and candidates are earnestly requested to send in their schedules, duly filled up, to the Registrar of the Association, not later than Monday, the 5th day of October, 1896, as that will be the last day upon which, under the rules, applications for examination can be received. For further particulars respecting the various examinations of the Association apply to the Registrar, Dr. Spence, Burntwood Asylum, near Lichfield.

We deeply regret to have to record the death of Dr. MacIver Campbell, lately Medical Superintendent of the Perth District Asylum. His resignation in 1893, when the state of his health rendered it impossible for him to continue to discharge duties for long undertaken under the gravest difficulties, caused widespread regret and was a serious loss to the Institution, the interests of which he had cared for so well. His father, the Very Rev. Principal Campbell, of the University of Aberdeen, was a man of marked ability, and his sons might have aspired to eminence in any walk of life. None, however, reached middle life, and Dr. Campbell was the last survivor of six brothers, deeply mourned by all who had the advantage of his friendship during his too short career of usefulness.

Dr. François Semal, the celebrated Medical Superintendent of the State Hospital for Insane Women at Mons, who died the 16th of May, 1896, was born at Brussels the 20th December, 1835. He took his diploma in 1860 and entered the Belgian Army. Soon afterwards he gave proof of his great mental activity, and was presented at the Exhibition of Hygiene of London with a diploma of honour for is study of epidemic diseases. In consequence of his careful treatment of patients suffering from cholera at Antwerp, he received Stars of the Orders of Belgium, Prussia and Holland.

South-Western Division.—The Autumn Meeting of this Division will be held at Fisherton House, Salisbury on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 20th. A discussion will be opened on “Constipation in the Insane.”

Aberdeen University Court.—Mr. George Frederick Stout, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Editor of Mind, has been appointed the Anderson Lecturer on Comparative Psychology in the University of Aberdeen on the terms recently mentioned in the columns of the Lancet.