INQUIRER.—There has just been another inquiry into the question of the spread of infectious disease by oysters; and the very question you ask us was discussed at length. Green oysters apparently belong to three classes: firstly, those that are free from disease or from metallic salts—these are perfectly healthy; secondly, those that owe their green colour to salts of copper. It used to be thought that the green colour of some oysters was due to iron salts, but the present inquiry has proved beyond question that copper, and not iron, salts cause the green colour. Thirdly, the most important group of all from the medical standpoint, there are green oysters which owe their colour to some disease of the blood. What disease is not known; nor do we know if eating these oysters would injure the human body. Still, it is safer to avoid eating green oysters at all. A very significant fact is that in no single instance was the typhoid germ found in the oyster; and if by chance the germ did get into the oyster it was speedily destroyed, because it appears that fresh sea-water kills the bacillus altogether. This last fact certainly is rather upsetting to the commonly-held view that oysters can only become infected with typhoid germs by means of sewers; indeed, the whole investigation casts doubt upon the opinion that oysters can convey typhoid fever at all, but it by no means disproves it. ANXIOUS INQUIRER.—Discharge of matter from the ear is a condition which requires very careful treatment, for it is one of those simple, everyday affairs which not uncommonly lead to the most terrible diseases. It is not in itself very dangerous, and if properly treated scarcely ever ends in trouble, but the danger lies in neglect. Discharge from the ear is always a very chronic affair, and though a person may rigorously wash out her ears for a month or so, she begins to doubt whether the syringing does any good. She gets careless, misses a day or so, and eventually gives up treatment altogether. And then may begin, by slow and insidious steps, or suddenly, in the course of a few hours, one of those fearful diseases of which only a physician can conceive the malignancy, diseases which, if unrelieved by prompt surgery, end fatally without fail in a few days. But as we said before, if the discharge from the ears is treated, the dangers of these calamities is practically nothing. The treatment for the condition is to syringe out the ears twice a day with a weak antiseptic. Condy’s fluid diluted with warm water to the tint of pink blotting-paper will do very well. It is also advisable to have your throat examined, for chronic throat trouble is particularly likely to cause chronic discharge from the ears. * * * * * [Illustration: WE FOUR! [_From photo: By C. Read, Wishaw._] * * * * * [Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text: