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In accordance with the suggestion of Sir G. Grey the newclause limits the punishment of the lash in times of peace totwo offences-mutiny and aggravated insubordination, andmade the punishment applicable to the whole army instead ofto the second class only.A very long and animated discussion followed, in which the

arguments for and against the limited employment of the lashwere again advanced.The clause was opposed by Mr. Locke, Captain Vivian, Mr.

Otway, Mr. Pugh, Mr. Horsman, and Mr. Whitbread, andsupported by Sir G. Grey, General Peel, Mr. Mowbray, andColonel North.On a division the original clause was negatived by 175 to

162, and the new clause now introduced was added to the Bill.Mr. OTWAY gave notice that he should renew his opposition

to the punishment in future years.APRIL 2ND.

LONDON UNIVERSITY.

Lord JOHN MANNERS said that the buildings to be erectedwould be in the " Italian-Gothic " style.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE.

Mr. DENT wishing that the provisions of the Factory Actshould be extended as far as practicable to women and childrenemployed in agriculture, moved a resolution to that effect.He spoke of the moral and physical deterioration producedby the gang system on the women and children employedunder it. He advocated the licensing of the gang-masters,the limitation of the hours of labour of the children, theseparation of the sexes, and that attendance at school shouldbe made compulsory.Mr. FAWCETT attributed most of the evils of the gang sys-

tem to the want of good cottages and to the law of settlement.After some remarks by Mr. A. Peel, Mr. Powell, Mr. Reed,

Mr. Forster, and Mr. Green, Mr. Walpole acquiesced in themotion, and agreed to the reappointment of the Commissionwith a view to legislation next year.

Medical News.APOTHECARIES’ HALL. -The following gentlemen

passed their examination in the Science and Practice of Medi-cine, and received certificates to practise, on the 28th ult. :-

Addenbrooke, Edwin Homfray, Birmingham.Burroughs, Thomas John, Newcross-road, S.E.Dowman, Joseph Rymer, Birmingham.Mann, William Slingsby, Broad-street, Birmingham.Montgomery, Edwin Cuthbert, Maidenhead.Probyn, John Sutherland Howell, Newbury, Berks.Rawlings, James, Liskeard, Cornwall.Walker, Benjamin, Handley, near Chesterfield.

The following gentlemen also on the same day passed their firstexamination.

Brickwell, Eustace Arthur, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.Glencross, Frederic John, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

THE New Metropolitan Poor Act was issued onMonday, and will come into immediate operation.THE income of the Royal Sea-Bathing Infirmary in

1866 was E3818 1ls. 7d., and the expenditure ;e3818 11s. 7d.

IT is intended to found a Professorship of Chemistryby the Society of Magdalen, Oxford.THE " New York Times states that a little girl

suffering from hydrophobia has been smothered to death bythe physician in attendance upon her to put an end to hersufferings.LAST year, in England, 55, 108 cwt. of sugar were

used in breweries ; in Scotland, 411 cwt.; and in Ireland,1555 cwt.

THE building of the new University of London isprogressing rapidly in the grounds of Burlington House,Piccadilly.THE CATTLE PLAGUE.—The aggregate number of

cattle attacked by the disease since its commencement is253,891, and 52,637 healthy animals have been slaughteredto prevent the spread of the disease.

M. BLANCHET, the eminent head of the Deaf andDumb Institute of Paris, has just died. His successor isM. Ladret de la Charriere.

MR. EVANS, a surgeon to Messrs. Horsfall’s tradingsettlement at the Bight of Benin, Coast of Africa, has obtained£50 damages, at the Liverpool assizes, against the representa-tive of Messrs. Horsfall at the station, for false imprisonmentand assault.

DEATH FRO-11 CHLOROFORM.—A death during theadministration of chloroform took place on March 2nd, at theNorth Staffordshire Infirmary. The patient was a boy agedfifteen, who was about to be operated upon for the removal ofnecrosed bone from the stump of an amputated thigh. Betweentwo and three drachms of chloroform were used. On post-mortem examination the right side of the heart was foundloaded with dark-coloured blood and the lungs were highlycongested.

MUNIFICENT BEQUESTS TO HOSPITALS AND DISPEN-SARIES. - Alexis James Doxat, Esq., of Putney, Surrey,whose will was proved on the llth ult., has left the followingsums : The Brompton Consumption Hospital, £1000; Hos-

pital for Diseases of the Chest, Victoria Park, E300 ; the RoyalOphthalmic Hospital, £500; the Royal London OphthalmicHospital, £500; Truss Society, £500; Brighton Hospital,£6500; Westminster Hospital, iê500; London Hospital, £500;Infirmary, Hastings, E500; Royal Maternity Society, :S200;Lying-in Hospital, York-road, ;S200; London Dispensary,Spitalfields, £500—all of which legacies are to be paid free ofduty.

PLASTER APPARATUS AFTER TENOTOMY.—M. Tillaux,surgeon to the Bicêtre Hospital, at Paris, has just given verygood reasons, in the Bulletin de Thérapeutique, for placing thelower part of the leg and foot in a plaster apparatus after thedivision of the tendo Achillis for club-foot. The limb remainsthus confined for about two months, but the patient is allowedto walk on crutches a couple of weeks after the operation. M.Tillaux mentions some cases of double club-foot where thismethod was adopted with some success.A NEW MEDICAL SOCIETY IN PARIS.-A new society

just been founded in Paris in order to study, seriatim, the dif-ferent agents of the materia medica hitherto in use. The in-tention of this Société de Therapeutique seems to be to inducethe members (as clearly expressed by M. Pidoux, the presi-dent) to institute experiments by the bedside, and elucidatethe various subjects by using therapeutic agents upon animals.

USEFUL FORCEPS FOR FALSE MEMBRANES.—MM.Robert and Colin have just made a tracheotomy canula inwhich two long flexible stems are adapted. They project be-yond the end of the canula, and end in inward-looking serratedplates, which can easily be brought together. By means ofthese ends false membranes within the trachea can be seizedwithout the removal of the canula and be extracted throughthe latter.

A HANDSOME piece of plate, bearing the followinginscription, has been given to Surgeon-Major Deeble:-" Presented to Surgeon-Major William Deeble by his brotherofficers, as a mark of esteem, on his leaving the 56th Regimentafter an uninterrupted service of twenty-one years. 1867."

DR. BEIGEL has been appointed a correspondingdelegate of the Central Committee of the International Con-gress to be held in Paris in August; and Dr. Foster, of Bir-mingham, has also been appointed one of the foreign delegates.Those members of the profession in the provinces who proposeto take part in the Congress can inform the General Secretarythrough Dr. Foster.GERMAN HOSPITAL, DALSTON.-This charity cele-

brated its twenty-second anniversary on the 21st ult. at theLondon Tavern, Bishopsgate-street. In consequence of a do-mestic affliction Earl Granville was prevented from attending,and in his absence Mr. D. Meinertzhagen, the treasurer, tookthe chair. Upwards of 150 friends and supporters of the

charity were present. A convalescent fund has been foundedfrom which pecuniary aid is afforded to those who need it.Attached to the charity is a sanatorium, which offers accom-modation to persons who may wish to have a private room.The number of in-patients admitted last year was 1086, andno less than 188 were reluctantly refused for want of room.

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Since the opening of the institution there have been 15,141 in.patients and 190,938 out-patients, making a total of 206,079.The subscriptions for the past year were £1320, and donationscollected at the last festival amounted to .E2317, which, withother sums, made a total of £5291. Her Majestyhas graciouslysent 100 guineas to the fund, and the King of Prussia hasincreased his annual subscription from £100 to f:200, as an-nounced by a letter from Count Bernstorff, who also forwardeda cheque for .S10 from himself. Mr. Augustus F. Brandt hassucceeded in obtaining from his friends not less a sum than:E1500. The subscriptions to the fund amounted at the closeof the evening to f:3217.ODONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—At the ordinary monthly

meeting of this Society, April lst, 1867, the President, Mr.G. A. Ibbetson, in the chair, Dr. Richardson exhibited anddescribed various modifications of the ether spray apparatusintroduced by him; and C. Spence Bate, Esq., F.R.S., read apaper upon the "Dentition of the Moles (Talpa Europœa,)."

YEOVIL GENERAL DISPENSARY.—The report of thischarity for 1866 states that the admissions during the yearwere 68 in excess of those in 1865; that a sub-committee hasbeen appointed, to meet at least once a month, to assist themedical officers and the nurse in carrying out the details ofwhat might appear necessary for the conduct of the institutionand comfort of the patients; and that an effort is being madetowards raising a building fund, as there is immediate need ofmore eligible premises for the dispensary.

THE " Watson Prize" instituted by the Faculty of Phy-sicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, in honour of Dr. Watson, hasbeen awarded to Mr. Hugh W. Arbuckle.

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS.R. V. ASH, M.R.C.S.E., L.S.A., has been appointed Assistant-Surgeon to the

Royal South Lincolnshire Militia, vice T. Magor, resigned.J. H. CASSON, M.R.C.S.E., has been appointed Surgeon to the Alfreton Iron-

works, and the Riddings and Selston Collieries.J. W. EASTWOOD, M.D., has been appointed Physician to the General Dis-

pensary and Fever Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.M. F. GAVIN, M.D., L.R.C.S.I., has been appointed (first place by competitive

examination) Assistant-Oculist to the Boston (U.S.) City Hospital.R. SKIMMING, M.D., L.R.C.S., has been appointed Medical Officer to No. 4

District of the West Ashford Union, vice N. E. Cresswell, M.D., resigned.F. STOCKS, M.R.C.S., L.M., late Resident Accoucheur at St. Thomas’s Hos-

pital, London, has been appointed Senior Assistant Resident MedicalOfficer to the County Lunatic Asylum, Rainhill, near Prescot, Lancashire,vice G. R. Irvine, M.D., resigned.

A. G. WILKINSON, M.R.C.S.E., has been appointed Medical Officer for Dis-trict No. 4 of the Parish of Birmingham.

F. S. WORTHINGTON, L.R.C.P., late Resident House-Surgeon at the MiddlesexHospital, has been elected one of the Surgeons to the Mutford andLothingland General Dispensary and Infirmary, Lowestoft.

Births, Marriages, and Deaths.BIRTHS.

On the 22nd nit., at Cheltenham, the wife of Dr. Buchanan Ker, of a son.On the 23rd ult., at Rubislaw-place, Aberdeen, the wife of J. Marshall, M.D.,

of a son.On the 23rd ult., at Elmfield, Taunton, the wife of J. H. Pring, M.D., of a

daughter.On the 23rd ult., at Marlborough, the wife of J. B. Maurice, M.D., of a

son.

On the 26th ult., at Northallerton, Yorkshire, the wife of Sylvester Rich-mond, M.D., of a son.

MARRIAGES.

On the 7th of Feb., at Valparaiso, George Frederic Cooper, Surgeon to theBritish Naval Hospital, Valparaiso, to Anne Newlove, only daughter ofF. J. White, Esq.-No Cards.

On the 14th ult., at St. Luke’s Chapel, the Cathedral, Norwich, W. H. Rix,F.R.C.S.E., of Tunbridge Wells, to Rosalie Jane, daughter of the lateG. H. Marsack, Esq.

On the 3rd inst, at Stanton Laeey, George Thomas Jones, Esq., Surgeon,formerly of Shaus-hai, to Annie, only daughter of R. Coston, Esq., ofHayton, Salop.—No Cards. _____

DEATHS.On the 21st nlt., H. Drummond, M.D., of Brighton, and Westbourne-terrace,

Hyde-park.On the 26th ult., Edward J. Bullock, L.R.C.P.Ed., of Manor-street, Chelsea,

azed 47.On the 26th ult., at Grundy-street, Poplar, James Stock, M.D., M.R.C.S.,

aged 60. Dr. Stock was Surgeon to the Hon. East India Company’sService for many years.

On the 28th ult., at Cawood, John Green, M.D., aged 48.

To Correspondents.HOUSES FOR THE LABOURING POOR.

WE are requested to state that Mr. Ayrton having charged the Corporationof London with offering obstructions to this Bill, a notice of motion has beengiven for a " return of the number of houses or dwellings for the labouringpoor erected or adapted by the Corporation of London in the last ten years,the amount laid out in respect of the same, and the returns in the way ofrevenue up to the date of making the return." It is believed that thisreturn will show that, so far from obstructing measures of the kind, theCorporation has already provided three blocks of buildings of this naturewithout waiting for the intervention of Parliament.

Exeter.—It is very unusual for a respectable surgeon to advertise in news-papers ; but there is no law to prevent such exhibitions of bad taste.

A Private Gentleman must authenticate his communication.

THE MERCURIAL AND ANTI-MERCURIAL TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—It is a trite and for the most part a true observation, that the

lookers-on often see more of a game than those who play. As a looker-on, Ihave watched the progress of this controversy for nearly fifty years, and theresult has been that, as in most cases of the kind, both parties are right, andboth are wrong-those who contend for the use of mercury, and those whocontend against its use in the treatment of syphilis: the former regarding itas a specific for the syphilitic poison, and the latter repudiating its specificaction, pointing to its pernicious operation on the constitution. It was asaying of Abernethy that he knew of only two patients who had lost theirnoses by the syphilitic poison, but at least of two thousand who had losttheir noses from the abuse of mercury. This squares with ray by-gone expe-rience. Such disastrous consequences happily are not witnessed in our day.Laying aside the exploded notion that the syphilitic poison is expelled

through the salivary glands by profuse salivation produced by mercury, thequestion as to the necessity for the use of mercury in the treatment of syphilismay be viewed in a more rational light.The first inquiry is, Who are the persons most liable to contract the dis-

ease ? The answer is, undoubtedly, those naturally of a cachectic constitu-tion, and those who have acquired a bad habit of body by dissipation and byviolating the ordinary hygienic laws. Of those persons who have had impureconnexion, one or two may escape infection, and the other one or two maycontract the disease. This immunity in almost all cases may be traced tostrength nf rnnat.it,ntinn and ennnrlnaaa of health whprphv tlip. vit,al power

prevails over the morbiric poison, and renders it inert. Careful investigationwill ordinarily detect the cause of the liability to infection in the previouscondition of the patient. Of all the remedial agents we possess, no one canbe compared with mercury in its alterative operation, as a means of purifyingthe blood, by promoting the various secretions. It is for this reason that itsuse may be highly appreciated in the treatment of syphilis. Behold, say itsadvocates, what wonders it has wrought! sores all healing: we have only topersevere in this course, and soon the disease will be cured. But this is toooften a false inference. The mercurial treatment is continued till signs ofmercurial poisoning begin to appear in the gums, and the two poisons, the

syphilitic and the mercurial, move on pari passu to the ruin of the patient’shealth, and to the development of secondary or constitutional syphilis. Howdifferent would have been the result if the mercurial treatment had beenended with the improvement in the health of the patient, as evinced by hissecretions, and by the disposition of the sores to heal. In the preparationsof iodine we possess an antidote to the mercurial poison; but it is verydoubtful if it exerts any specific influence over the syphilitic poison. It istherefore very probable that those cases of secondary disease cured by iodineftrp. Tpn11v mercurial and not syphilitic.The inferences to be deduced from these few remarks are—first, that in allcases of syphilis, mercury should be used as an alterative, and not as a specific;and secondly, that as a means of preventing infection, the health of personsof both sexes should receive more particular attention, and this observationextends to the public service no less th:m to private persons. The health ofsoldiers and sailors should undergo periodical inspection as an effectualmethod of preserving them from infection.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.,Montague-street, Russell-square, March, 1867. J. PIDDUCK, M.D.

Mr. C. Bro2cn: The one-faculty system" would be a cure for all the ano-malies of the present system. There can be no real distinction betweenwhat are called medical and surgical diseases, and a practitioner before heis allowed to practise should have passed an examination in both medicineand surgery.

L.A.C., (registered.)-An ulcer of the leg is undoubtedly a surgical disease.An apothecary could not recover for the treatment of such a case.

Mr. C. F. Scott.-At Griffin and Co.’s, Garrick-street, St. Martin’s-lane.

THE MEDICAL CLfB.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—Now that the Medical Club seems fairly established, I conceive that

its utility might be enhanced and rendered more popular by making it apoint of concentration for the Medical Societies. To members coming fromthe country the boon would be all the greater, since the time at their dis-posal for running about London is usually so limited. To many it would bea pleasant evening’s recreation to be able to be present at the gathering ofone of our Medical Societies. If in addition to the usual accommodation of aClub there were a theatre where medical debates might take place, where theMedical, Obstetrical, Epidemiological, and other Societies might meet on onecommon battle-ground, a stability would be given to the establishment whichwould be incalculable, diminishing the expenditure of individual Societies byway of house-rent, tending to the amalgamation of interests, and bringingunder one roof all the leading members of the profession.

March, 1s67. I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

March, 1867. A COUNTRY PsiCTiTioyB:.