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Otago Dental School: Report op the Director (Professor H. Percy Pickerill, M.8., B.Sc, 8.D.5., L.D.S.). The Dental School during its first nine months has made an excellent start, and there is every prospect of its fulfilling the highest expectations concerning it and of its work being thoroughly appreciated by that section of the public who are unable to pay the usual fees for dental attention. The number of students attending has been ten, three of whom being students working for the B.D.S. degree, and the remainder, men who have passed the " Dental Board " Examination, and have come on here for a course of practical training in operative dentistry. During the period 1,480 operations of all kinds have been performed, and it is satisfactory to note that by far the greater number of these has been in connection with the filling and saving of teeth; 206 have been simple extractions, 80 operations under anesthetics; 40 in connection with the making and fitting of artificial teeth. Four hundred and thirty-eight patients have received treatment; thus there has been an average of 34 operations performed for each patient. The number of patients at present under treatment is 240. Staff. —Ths following were elected to the staff of the hospital in July last: Acting-director, Mr. O. V. Davies, L.D.S.; Honorary Dental Surgeons, Messrs. Throp, Dodgshun, Hunter, Glendining, Hay, Armstrong, and Dr. Ziele. Mr. Davies continued in office until the middle of September, when the Director arrived. At the beginning of this year the following additional honorary dental surgeons were elected : Messrs. Dunlop, Brewer, Chrystall, Thomson; and Mr. Davies was asked by the Council to continue his services as an honorary dental surgeon. Prospect. —The school has great possibilities, and will before long become one of the most important and well-paying departments of this University. The demand for dentists is not likely to decrease, having regard to the appalling state of the teeth of the rising generation. As the public become more educated the demand for skilled dental surgery increases; and, seeing that a skilled trained dentist cannot treat so many patients per diem (conscientiously) as an unskilled dentist, it follows that the number of dentists must rapidly increase, and, since this school is the only portal in this country to the profession, my previous statement as to the outlook of the school has every probability of being justified. Requirements. —There is, however, to the above, one most important condition —the school must be equipped in a thoroughly efficient manner; otherwise men will prefer to go Home or to America for their training, seeing that the difference in cost will not be very great. In order that we may successfully compete with the schools in London and Philadelphia, and, indeed, in order that it may be possible at all to train men up to the standard of a B.D.S. degree, it is absolutely necessary that a sum of about £1,600 be spent on equipment. One of the most pressing needs is that of a laboratory, where the more scientific side of dentistry may be taught, such as dental pathology and bacteriology; for, if any advance is to be made at all in checking the disastrous spread of dental caries, it is along such lines that men may be taught to treat dental diseases rationally, and not be merely content to patch up the effects of disease after it has occurred. Suggestions. —ln view of the fact that there is considerably more poverty amongst some of the patients who come under treatment at the hospital that I was led to anticipate, I think it would be desirable that some appeal should be made to the public to provide a fund for the treatment of those patients who cannot afford to pay for themselves. We should not on the latter account be obliged to turn patients away, yet we cannot afford to provide material at a loss to the school. We should, I think, participate in the Hospital Saturday collection. It would also be very desirable that some arrangements should be made with the General Hospital authorities and other charitable institutions whereby patients or inmates who are sent here for treatment may not be too great a burden upon the funds of this school. Donations. —The Otago Odontological Society have promised a sum of £5 towards the erection of Museum cases. The Consolidated Dental Company of New Zealand have promised a modern operating-chair, the value of which is about £50.

The Medical School: Report op the Director (Professor J. H. Scott, M.D., M.R.C.S.). Eighty-eight students are attending medical classes during the present session, of whom eight belong to the Dental School. These come from all parts of the colony. Eight students passed their final examination last January, and received the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery of the New Zealand University. Of these, Crawford and Rogers are now acting as Junior House Surgeons to the Dunedin Hospital. Shore and Scannell, Brown and Simpson, are House Surgeons to the Christchurch and Wellington Hospitals, while Thomas is acting in a similar capacity in Auckland. Harrison has gone to London to continue his studies. At its last meeting the Senate of the New Zealand University instituted a Travelling Scholarship in Medicine of the annual value of £150. This should prove of great value to our young graduates. Dr. Riley has resigned his position as Surgical Tutor to the school, and his place has been filled by Dr. Newlands. A most important addition to our teaching-facilities has, thanks to the untiring efforts of Dr. Batchelor, been made during the year: students now receive, in the Maternity Hospital in Clyde Street, a thorough training on modern lines before they are allowed to attend confinements outside. This was impossible under the old conditions, and this institution supplies a long-felt want. The new Physiological Laboratory, under the direction of Professor Malcolm, has proved of great use to the school, and is also made use of by graduates for purposes of research. The main need of the school at present is a new dissecting-room : the present one is oldfashioned and inconvenient, and is, besides, not large enough for present requirements.