715SIR WILLIAM FERGUSSON, BART.-THE F.R.C.S. DINNER.

remains of the old chivalrous courtesy and the old reverenilove for scientific truth and modesty which distinguished suclmen as LINACRE, SYDENHAM, and MEAD. And, besides this;the very useful work which the College has done of late year:in establishing a really good system of education for generalpractitioners, has inclined the more hopeful of us to believethat the beginning of the end was come, and that the substantial advantages of an ancient and renowned corporatiorwere about to be blended with the development of moderrideas as to the intrinsic rights of ability and knowledge, unlesfallied with moral defect, to be rewarded with perfect impar.tiality. We trust that the profession will not be disappointed,and that a really liberal scheme of reform will be introducecere the annual election again comes round.

Medical Annotations." Ne quid nimis." °

SIR WILLIAM FERGUSSON, BART.

THE annual dinner of old King’s-men on the 21st inst. wasmade the occasion of presenting a magnificent testimonial toSir William Fergusson, Bart. The memorial, to which up-wards of three hundred of Sir William’s old pupils and col-leagues had subscribed, was in the form of a silver dessert-service, consisting of a central figure supporting branches forcandles or flowers, with four dessert-stands and a set of salt-cellars to correspond. An illuminated vellum book, containingthe names of the donors, accompanied the gift, which was pre-sented in a suitable address by Dr. Druitt, who presided onthe occasion. The response of Sir William was remarkable for a

simple pathos and unstudied eloquence which was the evidentresult of genuine feeling, and carried with it the sympathy ofhis hearers far more than could have been done by the mostlaboriously prepared address. He told his audience, in a fewtouching sentences, the story of his life : how, even in hisearly youth, he had some hazy idea that good must come fromhonest industry; and he readily confessed to an ambition forelevation in his profession, which had never quitted himthrough his career. The silent attention which was shownwhilst he described his arrival in London, without a friend,was broken by a burst of long-continued applause when hepointed to Professor Partridge, sitting by his side, as the firstreal friend whom he had found in the metropolis. He con-trasted his condition at that time with the present occasion,when he looked round upon a circle of friends who had"floated him, as it were, into the position which he hadattained." "

The audience which he addressed was one to which the toneof Sir William’s speech was peculiarly appropriate. It com-

prised representatives of his class belonging probably to everyyear of his tenure of office in King’s College Hospital. It

included, as every such assembly must include, numerous ex-amples of men who, like himself, have had to fight the battleof life through difficulties which are not exceeded by thosebelonging to any other profession. The simple narration ofsteady adherence to work and laudable desire for distinctionin his career came home with irresistible force to every heartin the large assembly; and when, drinking a bumper to thehealth of his hearers, Sir William sat down, the ringing cheerswhich followed showed at once the popularity of the speakerand the success with which his "piMn unvarnished tale" hadappealed to the sympathies of pupils, who have always re-

garded their teacher with just pride and well-merited esteem.

THE F.R.C.S. DINNER.

ON Thursday next, according to annual custom, the Fellowsof the College of Surgeons will dine together. Although anentertainment of little moment in bygone days, it is perhapsas well, now, that those who have been engaged in a contestedelection all the afternoon should sit down in good fellowshipin the evening, with both the successful and the unsuccessfulcandidates amongst them. At the same time, there are somepoints connected with the dinner which we think might bemodified with advantage.In the first place, the locality chosen for the dinner is found

to be generally inconvenient. The bulk of those who dineeither reside at the West-end, or leave town from stations atthat end of London; and it is tiresome to have to go into theCity to eat a dinner, and still more tiresome to have to returnlate at night. It has been suggested that the dinner shouldbe held at one of the suburban localities devoted to such

assemblies; but the late hour at which the poll is usually de-clared at the College, and the fact that many of the visitorshave long journeys to take afterwards, necessarily precludesuch an arrangement. Still there is no valid reason why theentertainment should not take place at one of the West-endhotels, or at one of the large establishments at which publicdinners are commonly held.A much more important matter, however, is the speech-

making on the occasion. It is astonishing how fond gentlemenwho are perfectly inaudible to the majority of those seatedaround them are of hearing themselves speak, and the inor-dinate length to which their speeches run. Nothing could beworse than last year, when the chairman was nearly inaudibleand the president of the College perfectly so. Fortunately,this year, the chairman and the president are one and thesame person; and while we hope that Mr. Wormald’s voice isa powerful one, we trust that in mercy to his audience he willbe brief. One of the speakers last year (Mr. Quain) remarkedthat " not being musical, he did not wish for the accompani-ment which had greeted some of the speakers;" but such dis-orderly " rough music" is the necessary consequence of allow-ing gentlemen to remain on their legs for twenty minutes at atime, making speeches which are heard only by those withina few yards of the speaker.

It is not a little amusing to find how, under the influence ofgood fellowship, the proceedings of the Council of the Collegeassume a roseate hue. To listen to the applause which greetsthe sentiment, one might imagine that the College of Surgeonswas the most popular institution in the kingdom, and dideverything it could to uphold the dignity of the profession;whilst the idea of opposing the re-election of any one of thevenerable speakers becomes an absurdity ! We are happy tonote such cordiality amongst professional brethren, even if thefeeling does not stand a twelvemonth’s wear.

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

AT the quarterly comitia of the College of Physicians heldon Monday, the 25th inst., there was a full attendance, morethan fifty Fellows being present. The proceedings commencedwith a short speech from Dr. Alderson, who congratulated thedistinguished President, Sir Thomas Watson, on the honourwhich has recently been conferred on him by her Majesty, andremarked, amid the hearty applause of the Fellows, that in allhis long experience he had never known a distinction of thiskind, the bestowal of which had caused more universal pleasureand satisfaction. In a short but graceful reply Sir ThomasWatson said that, while it would be idle for him to affect in-difference to the great honour which had been conferred onhim by the Queen, he might truly say that the chief sourceof the gratlfieatioll which he felt was the sense of ct>1ll1’1illlt’ntpaid, thtough him, to the Cullege whose President he hadthe honour to be. Three members who had recently passed their

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examinations were then admitted, and although the admissionof members would ordinarily call for no remark, it is worthyof notice that one of these gentlemen was a no less distin-guished person than Mr. Richard Congreve, well known asone of the earliest and most able expositors of the Comtianphilosophy in this country, and who-comparatively late inlife-has taken up the profession of medicine with a vigourand earnestness which promise to make his scientific careeras successful as his efforts in the cause of philosophicalspeculation have been. Certain reports were read, relat-

ing to matters of comparatively little external interest ;and the election of officers (a list of whom will be found inanother column) was proceeded with. The next business wasthe election of Fellows, and the following names, recommendedby the Council, were successively submitted to the test of theballot :-William Morse Graily Hewitt, M.D. Lond. ; GeorgeBuchanan, iV. D.Lond.; Wilson Fox, M.D. Lond.; Charles Chad-wick, M.D. Eiin.; William Ogle, M.D. Oxon. ; Nathaniel AllenTravis, M. D. Edin.; Randle Wilbraham Falconer, M. D. Edin.;Reginald Southey, M.B. Oxon.; and James Andrew, M.B. Oxon.All these gentlemen were elected, we are happy to say; never-theless, certain sounds of dissatisfaction made themselves

audible, and a few names provoked a black-ball or two. The

only other proceedings of interest were two announcements bythe veteran Dr. Copland. The first of these was that, withthe permission of the President and Fellows (which was im-mediately and cordially granted), he (Dr. Copland) proposedto deliver a course of six lectures on Therapeutics, a branch ofmedical science which, as he justly observed, is much

neglected. Dr. Copland’s other announcement was the noticeof a motion for prolonging to seven years the period of neces-sary probation of members before they can become qualifiedfor the fellowship-a topic to which we have referred in aleading article on the election of Fellows of the Royal Collegeof Physicians.

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VISITATION OF EXAMINATIONS.

AT a meeting of the Branch Council for England of theGeneral Council of Medical Education and Registration on the15th inst., the following resolution, passed by the GeneralCouncil on the 28th of May, was read :—" That the visitationsof the examinations, preliminary as well as professional, of thequalifying bodies, by the Branch Councils, or such of theirmembers as they may depute, be continued during the ensuingyear. That the reports of the visitors shall apply to everypart of the examinations of each body, and shall include astatement of the facts observed, and of the opinions of thevisitors as to the efficiency of the examinations, as also suchremarks and suggestions on defects in them as circumstancesmay indicate. That the reports of the visitors be submittedin the first instance to the Branch Councils ; and that there-after the Branch Council shall direct them to be printed andcirculated confidentially amongst the members of the GeneralCouncil, so that they may be in a condition at the meeting ofthe General Council in 1867 to consider them maturely." Itwas also resolved that the members of the Council who were

deputed by this Branch Council on the 13th of October, 1865,to visit the examinations held by certain of the qualifyingbodies in England, be again deputed to visit respectively theexaminations of the same bodies during the ensuing year.Dr. Storrar and Dr. Sharpey were deputed to visit the exami-nations of the University of Durham. A letter from Mr.

Rumsey was read, explaining his reasons for declining to takepart in the visitation of examinations. Dr. Alderson was

deputed, in place of Mr. Rumsey, to visit the examinations ofthe Society of Apothecaries of London. It was resolved thatthe travelling and hotel expenses of members of this BranchCouncil, deputed to visit the examinations of the qualifyingbodies, be paid to them on the same scale as for attending themeetings of the General Council; and that the consileration

of the question of the payment of fees to the visitors of ex-aminations be, for the present, postponed. A present of fiftyguineas was made to the registrar of the English BranchCouncil, in acknowledgment of the extra duty entailed uponhim by the registration of medical students.

RATING OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

THE recent decision of the House of Lords in the case ofJones v. the Mersey Docks, has settled the legal question asto the liability of charitable institutions to parochial and othertaxes. Acting upon this decision, the parish of St. George,Hanover-square, has during the present year assessed St.

George’s Hospital to the poor-rate; and such hospital and theofficers’ house in connexion with it are assessed at four thou-sand and ninety pounds per annum, the amount of rate pay-able being five hundred and eighty-seven pounds eighteenshillings and ninepence. The vice-president, treasurers, andgovernors of the hospital presented, by Mr. Abel Smith, onthe 13th inst., a petition against this assessment. They describethe position of the hospital in respect to its support by volun-tary contributions; state that the annual subscriptions are insuf-ficient to meet the current expenses; that it has been necessaryof late to sell capital from time to time derived from legaciesbequeathed to the said hospital; and that the deficiency of in-come which has been so met by sale of capital has amountedon an average of the last seven years to about four thousand

pounds per annum. The petitioners conclude by submitting" that if St. George’s Hospital be rated to the poor, the use-fulness and benevolent objects of the institution will be seri-ously affected, and the payment of the large annual sum de-manded for poor-rate will probably necessitate a curtailmentof the number of patients annually relieved at St. George’sHospital." "

St. George’s Hospital offers a very strong illustration of theimpolicy and injustice of rating charitable institutions to thepoor; but no doubt there are many such cases, and it is themanifest duty of those interested to petition against a regu-lation so disastrous to their welfare.

THE CATTLE PLAGUE.

AT the meeting of the Epidemiological Society on Monday,July 2nd, Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson will read a paper on theCattle Plague in its relations to Epidemiology. Dr. Sandersonundertook for the Royal Commission on the Cattle Plague aninquiry into the nature, propagation, progress, and symptomsof the disease. His report, included in the appendix to thereport of the Cattle Plague Commissioners, is of singular value.To him we are indebted for the discovery that the blood ofthe infected animal contains the poison of the malady, so thatserum obtained from it will give the disease by inoculation."This fact," say the Commissioners, "is the most importantpathological discovery yet made in cattle plague. It is preg-nant with consequences in medical doctrine; for though theexistence of a similar fact has been long suspected in severalhuman diseases, it has never been proved in any."

WE have no intention at present to discuss the various

subjects in the letter of the Coroner for Central Middlesexcontained in THE LANCET of last week. But we wish to loseno time in directing attention to a suggestion in Dr. Lan-kester’s letter. Dr. Lankester suggests that the Coroner givethe medical man a voucher that he has given evidence, andthat on the presentation of this voucher at the Sessions House

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or any bank named by the magistrates the medical man should, receive payment. Such an arrangement would relieve the

Coroner of a responsible and sometimes inconvenient duty; forit is very clear from Dr. Lankester’s letter that ;Bl220 perannum will not supply a Coroner for Central Middlesex withany superfluous cash. Indeed, the sum is altogether in-

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adequate, and must be increased. Dr. Lankester’s suggestionseems to us worthy of consideration. The objection to it fromthe practitioner’s stand-point is that it involves the trouble ofa special visit to a bank or to the Sessions House.

ON Thursday next, the 5th of July, at three P.M., the sub-scribers to the Griffin Testimonial Fund will meet at the Free-masons’ Tavern, Great Queen-street, to present their gift.Mr. Griffin, in THE LANCET of to-day, makes an appeal toPoor-law surgeons in general, whether subscribers or not, to bepresent on that occasion, in order that measures may be con-cocted for carrying out a proper and effective system of reform.We hope Mr. Griffin’s appeal will be responded to by all whocan attend. As many gentlemen from the country will onthat day be present at the College of Surgeons on the occasionof the election of members of Council, the time for presentingthe testimonial has been well chosen. There is a novelfeature in the presentation to Mr. Griffin, which is noteworthy.The treasurer and honorary secretary, Dr. R. Fowler,announces that he has already received nearly 200 cartes devisite of friends and admirers of Mr. Griffin, to place in a pho-tographic album to be given to that gentleman, and calls

upon those who have not yet sent their cartes to do so im-mediately.

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THE z Nezv York Tribune for May 31 is before us, and containsan account of the arrival there of the steamship Peruvian andof the steamship Union, both from Liverpool and both havingcholera on board. The Peruvian had 758 passengers; 35of these died of cholera on the passage, and on arrival therewere 28 cases of the disease in the ship. The steamship Unionhad on leaving Liverpool, on the 12th of May, 434 passengers;on the 18th of May the disease broke out in a Dane, and 33passengers died of it on the voyage. On arrival there were34 sick, many of whom were dying. The passengers of both

ships were either Swedes, Danes, or Germans. Two cases are

reported also in the city of New York, one of which had

terminated fatally. It is not said whether in these two cases

any connexion could be traced with infected ships or theirpassengers. But the Tribune says there is an outbreak on thearrival of nearly every emigrant ship. Quarantine is mostproperly enforced, and current cases on the arrival of vesselsare sent to an hospital ship. Hitherto these measures would

appear to have saved the city, and we hope they will continueto be effective. Cholera for the most part comes to countriesia ships, and in the case of these huge emigrant vessels it maybe said to come in shiploads. It would seem absurd not to Itry by quarantine and all disinfecting measures to prevent its 1entrance. Another question is urgent. Should nothing bedone in cholera times to protect emigrants and diminish thechance of these shocking outbreaks on board emigrant ships ?It must be remembered that we only hear of the deaths whichhappen. We are apt to forget the sickness and alarm anddistress, which are not mentioned in reports. We think itwould be right to require a reduction in the number of pas-sengers. -------

THERE is a large and inconvenient amount of uncertainty inIreland as to the nature of the disease among cattle therewhich has been reported lately. This is sufficiently shown bythe fact that the Mansion House Plague Committee have urgedthe Government to obtain the opinion of Professors Simondsand Gamgee of London, and of Dr. Smart of Edinburgh, onthe suspected cases. The Irish Times goes so far as to saythat there exist very serious doubts as to whether there hasbeen a case of cattle plague in Ireland. In these circumstancesthe Government should not hesitate to take such an opinion asthe Dublin committee desiderate. The question is of enormousimportance both to Ireland and England. The diagnosis at thebeginning of the outbreak of so rare a disease is not always

quite easy, and half the value of diagnosis is in its being earlyand decisive. If the Government show any hesitation in the

matter, we should advise the Dublin committee to act inde-pendently. -

WE are glad to learn that the Metropolitan Poor-law MedicalOfficers’ Association, of which we last week spoke, is pro-gressing favourably. A number of influential union and dis-trict medical officers have sent in their names as members, andhave expressed the warmest interest in the cause.

THE CHOLERA.

RIVETED by the war which has broken out on the continent,public attention for the moment has been diverted from thecholera. The progress of the disease in eastern as well aswestern Europe has, however, during the past month beensuch as to require narrow attention. The epidemic has brokenout in Jassi, Focktchani, and other towns of Moldo-Wallachianterritory. It is to be presumed also that the malady hasresumed its activity in the south-western provinces of EuropeanRussia, as active measures against it have been already adoptedin St. Petersburg.In Holland the disease is widely prevalent. From its

first appearance in May (?) to the 13th of June 724 casesand 431 deaths had been reported in Leyden; 216 cases and135 deaths in St. Gravenhage ; 396 cases and 220 deaths inDelft ; 708 cases and 433 deaths in Rotterdam ; 100 cases and50 deaths in Gouda; and 305 cases and 169 deaths in Utrecht.In Prussia cholera has declared itself in Stettin, Berlin,

Sweinemunde, Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Neustadt, Eberwald,Cammin, Arnswalde, and several villages. From the 2nd tothe 9th June there were 103 fatal cases in Stettin. Sixty-fivecases occurred in two days at Arnswalde. The disease hasnot yet shown much activity in Berlin and the vicinity-thecases, indeed, would appear to have been scattered mainly inthe suburbs.The epidemic still lingers in the neighbourhood of Altenburg

(Saxony), and it is reported to have shown itself at Chemnitzand near Echternach, on the Rhine.The need of watchfulness at Liverpool is taught by what

has befallen Antwerp. A short time ago cholera broke out onboard an emigrant ship, the Agnes, in Antwerp port. The

disease has now appeared in the city, and to the 16th Junethere had been 84 deaths and 180 cases, irrespective of thosewhich had taken place among the emigrants on board thel4 ,nes.In France the epidemic has broken out in several places,

and it was recently prevailing with great intensity at Amiens.Cholera still shows itself from time to time among emigrant

ships sailing from Liverpool to the United States.The latest news from the East, while confirming the in-

formation of cholera having appeared among the returningMohammedan pilgrims at Jedda, leads to the conclusion thatthe previous reports of the number of cases there were exagge-rated. One of the caravans on the route to Medina is, how-ever, believed to have suffered severely. The pilgrims whohad reached and traversed Lower Egypt were said to be en-tirely free from the disease.

IN Hj paper recently presented to the FrenchAcademy of Sciences, Dr. Chauveau examines the causes ofcow-pox and virulent diseases generally, with great minute-ness. His conclusion is that there are no spontaneous virulentaffections, and that those which appear to be so are merelyproduced by a virulent germ, the origin of which is concealedfrom us. In the course of his experiments he injected vaccinein a liquid state into the bloodvessels of four horses, and intothe lymphatic system of four others. The first series led tono result whatever ; the second produced fine eruptions,having all the characteristics of real horse-pox.