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tions on this important subject, I am, sir, your obedientservant,

A MEDICAL OFFICER.Low Moor, Bradford, Yorkshire, April 9, 1844.* We do not perfectly understand what our correspon.

dent means by unqualified practitioners. If he alludes to

the hedge-doctors, who have no legal or rational claim

whatever to practice the healing art,, we are quite of hisopinion ; the poor should not be left to the option of beingattended by men who ought to be prosecuted for practisingat all. With reference to the mode of deciding on the

respective claims of the poor for medical relief, we certainlythink that the suggestion of " A Medical Officer" is soundand worthy of adoption.

MEDICAL SOCIETIES.MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

Monday, April 15, 1844.

Dr. THEOPHILUS THOMPSON, President.OBSCURE ABDOMINAL TUMOURS.—USE OF TARAXACUM.

Mr. HOOPER inquired the experience of members with re-ference to abdominal swellings of an obscure character. Herelated the case of a little girl, thirteen years of age, whowas at present under his care, suffering from a tumour inthe abdominal cavity, the presence of which was attendedwith much constitutional irritation. Her general health wasgood. This tumour had only been noticed fourteen dayspreviously, and attention had then been directed to it, inconsequence of the indisposition of the patient. The tumourextended from just above the umbilicus to the pubes, wasabout as thick as the hand. apparently ; the swelling was ofa somewhat diffused character, but so sufficiently definedthat its edges could be distinctly felt to be hard. It was

quite free from tenderness, and the rest of the abdomen wassoft and natural. The constitutional irritation at first was ’’

very great, as was indicated by the state of the tongue, therapidity of the pulse (130), and the restlessness and generalfever. A physician, who had seen the case, was of opinionthat it was chronic peritonitis, and that it would end intubercular disease. Under the use of very mild alterativedoses of mercurials, and the external application of iodine,the general health of the patient had become somewhat im-proved, and the secretions and excretions had become

healthy ; but there was still so much disturbance of thesystem that the worst was apprehended. The lung3 werehealthy.Mr. PILCHER considered the case to be one of chronic

peritonitis, and would, probably, end in tubercular de-

posit. He related a case, somewhat similar, in a girlin whom there was dropsy in addition. He was

called upon to perform paracentesis, but, in consequenceof the extreme state of depression of the patient, andthe difficulty of finding a healthy point in the peritoneum,no operative procedure was resorted to. After death thewhole abdomen was found covered with tubercles, exceptat small intervening spaces. The peritoneum was studdedwith tubercles of various sizes. These were situated chieflyin front, but were not confined to it. The origin of the dis-ease had been, after much inquiry, traced to a kick, but thisaccident had been almost forgotten. It had gradually in-creased in size, but was attended with very little tenderness.She died of hectic fever. The lungs were tuberculated, butthe tubercles were not advanced.Mr. HIRD believed that these tubercular depositions were

more frequent in children than adults. Scrofulous tumoursof the abdomen were not uncommon in children. He hadseen tubercular deposits in tht- parietal peritoneum, but thedisease was not confined to that situation, the mesenterybeing usually involved, and the lungs more or less affected.These cases were usually fatal, but, in some instances, theemployment of the iodide of iron, and external applicationsof iodine, had been of service.The PRESIDENT had so generally found tubercular dis-

ease in the abdomen to be associated with a similar depositin the lungs, that in doubtful cases of abdominal disease,

when the chest was healthy, it was presumptive evidencethat the disease in the belly was not tuberculous. The greatobject in Mr. Hooper’s case would he the prevention of theextension of the disease, and the support of the generalhealth by good air, salt-water baths, nutritious diet, and. hewould suggest, the employment of property-prepared extractof dandelion.

’

Some conversation followed on the value of the dandelion.Mr. LiNNECAR. suggested the employment of the infusion ofthe recent root, as more likely to be of service, and of uniformstrength, than any extract whatever. He related a case, how-ever, of severe gastrodynia, in which all the usual remedreshaving failed, two drachma of Battley’s extract of taraxa-cum, given in the day, in three doses, succeeded, at thetermination of a week or ten days, in effecting a cure. Hehad been informed that the chicory was dandelion root.

Dr. THOMPSON had found that the dandelion had notusually any marked effect under several days.A discussion of some length followed, between Dr.

CnJTTERBUCK and Mr PILCHER, respecting the terms " for-mation" and “ deposit," applied with reference to tubercle.

Jlonday, April 22, 1844.The society was occupied this evening in denouncing as

humbug various mesmeric experiments which have been oflate exhibited at several scientific societies in London andSouthwark, by an ignorant pretender of the name of Vernon.The exposure of this person was complete. but it is unne-

cessary to enter into details, as the experiments in 1837, inBedford-square, sufficiently settled the matter.

WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY.

Saturday, March 30, 1844.—Mr. FISHER, President.

A CASE of malformation was exhibited and described byMr. DUNN. It is published at page 152.

Mr. HIRD remarked that the mal’orrnation exhibitedwas totally different from malformations in general, andcould not be dependent simply on arrest of development, onwhich most malformations were supposed, by Geoffrey St.Hiliare, to depend.Mr. SNow remarked that arrest of development only

explained some cases of malformation. He referred to casesof malformation arising from the separation of entire limbsin utero by the pressure of bands of coagulable lymph.In this case he lower extremities were fused ; one commonform of malformation was the fusion of two bodies into one.Mr. DUNN considered that the condition of the kidneys

and the pelvic organs favoured the opinion that the mal-formation in his case depended on arrest of developmentDr. CHOWNE considered it probable that the malformation

might be attributable to the absence of pelvic viscera.In all parts of the body form was in a considerable degreeinfluenced by the parts adjacent. Cases of malformationhaving points of anaiogy to that presented were those in

which a portion of the anterior wall of the abdomen and ofthe anterior wall of the bladder being wanting, the posteriorwall of the bladder falls forward and fills up the opening inthe abdomen. There was great uniformity in the anatomi-cal condition of those parts in all subjects so atfected. andit was generally found that the true pelvis was of lesscapacity in proportion as it had fewer contents. The

preparation before the society constituted a pelvis moreperfect than it at first sight appeared to be ; all the boneswere essentially present, although imperfect in shape. Inlooking at the psfvis it presented the appearance of having,in the absence of the parts usually contained within it,collapsed at the points marked in the normal pelvis by theischiatic processes ; that these points had advanced towardseach other anteriorly to the sacrum, and met and coalescedin the median line, and brought the two acetabula also

’ together, forming a double acrtabulum. That there wereessentially two femurs could not be doubted. That the

. malformation of the pelvis was essentially afalling together,’ rather than a peculiar’ growth apart from mechanical causes,

appeared to be the more probable, seeing that where thesacrum interposed the ossa ilia were kept asunder; that,

. anteriorly, where the pubic bones met and formed a kind oft arch, the shape was essentially preserved, and that the, coalescence had taken place exactly where, in the normal

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state, nothing but soft parts were interposed, and to whichsoft parts, in the healthy foetal pelvis, the bony parts adaptedthemselves. It was worthy of remark that the deficiency ofparts offered abetter explanation of the malformation of thepelvis than the malformation could offer of the deficiencyof parts. He considered it quite admissible to take mecha-nical influences into consideration in such cases, as some ofthe most extraordinary instances of monstrosity obviouslyoriginated in mechanical contact and inter-union of partsduring utero-gestation.

Mr. HIRD thought this explanation of Dr. Chowne alto-gether too mechanical, and considered that, as the pelvicorgans were so small in the foetus, they could not influencethe formation of the bony parietes.A discussion of some length followed, in which Dr. Reid

and others took part, having reference to the often-agitatedquestion of the influence of the mental emotions of themother on the formation of her offspring. The debate,though amusing, was not remarkably instructive.

Saturday, April 13.Dr. W. J. MERRIMAN detailed the following

CASE OF INTERNAL HERNIA IN A CHILD.

The subject of the disease, a little girl, aged nine yearsand a half, very thin and pale, complained on Wednesday,the 10th of April, of violent pains in the abdomen, justbelow the umbilicus, but occasionally shifting their position.She was thirsty, the skin was hot, the urine high-colouredand scanty. Bowels opened scantily on Sunday last, butnot since. On that day she had eaten heartily of potatoesfor dinner. She vomited most profusely from Monday tillWednesday, during which time she nearly filled a chamber.pot with green offensive slime. Her mother, thinking herbilious, gave her a dose of antimonial wine. She had nosickness afterwards. A chemist ordered for her two calo-mel pills, which had no effect, and on Dr. Merriman beingcalled in on the Wednesday, he found, in addition to the

symptoms already enumerated, that there was some tender.ness on pressure over the abdomen, some anxiety of coun-tenance, and a disposition to roll about the bed. Heordered a mixture of infusion of senna and Epsom salts, ofwhich only three doses were taken, for the patient having acup of hot tea administered to her on Thursday morning, ateight o’clock, instantly expired, having previously, how-ever, lost the pain under which she had suffered. It ap-peared from inquiries that had been subsequently made,that when five months old she suffered from obstinate con-

stipation, which resisted all purgatives, and appeared atlast to give way under the influence of fomentation of thebowels with hot flannels. She remained well until Sep-tember last, at which time she was attended by Mr.Greenhalgh. She complained of an acute pain below theumbilicus ; she had a hot and dry skin, and all the usual

symptoms of peritonitis, including obstinate constipation.Castor-oil, saline purgatives, leeches, and fomentationswere used without effect. Leeches were again applied.with small doses of calomel. Salivation was quickly pro-duced, and all the symptoms rapidly gave way. Symp-toms of typhus afterwards showed themselves, and werecombatted with decoction of bark and other remedies. She

quickly recovered, but up to the period of her last attackshe complained occasionally of sharp colicky pains in theabdomen, especially upon making water. Her bowels hadacted every day without medicine.The examination of the body was made thirty hours after

death. General aspect of the body blue, especially thehands and nails, and much emaciated; the abdomen verytympanitic. On removing the body from the bed to thetable, a large quantity of very offensive fluid, of a yellowcolour, passed from the mouth and nostrils. On laying openthe cavity of the abdomen the intestines immediately pro-truded, being much distended with flatus and the samekind of yellow-coloured fluid which had come from themouth. There was some serum in the cavity of the peri-toneum ; the intestines were somewhat injected. Thecaecum was very closely and firmly adherent to the abdominal parietes, being bound down by old and organisedadhesions. A part of this adhesive band extended to a por-tion of the ileum, a little above the valve. Two or three

inches higher up was another band of well-organisedlymph, about the thickness of whip-cord, which, after

passing round a knuckle of intestine, was inserted againinto the part from whence it arose; a complete ring was thusformed, and had strangulated the intestine around whichit passed.

HYDROPHOBIA AND ITS PREVENTION.

Mr. SNOW read a paper on hydrophobia, from a gentlemanin the country, in whose neighbourhood several persons hadbeen bitten by a rabid dog, and three of them had becomeaffected with hydrophobia, at the respective periods of four,six, and eight weeks after they were bitten. Only oneof the cases was detailed ; the chief symptom was greatsusceptibility to the impression of cold air, which excitedviolent spasms. The patient, a woman, was able to swallowwarm drinks, but nothing cold, and she died on the fifth dayof the disease. The author of the paper proposed the use ofa strong solution of corrosive sublimate, as a prophylacticfor the bitten. He recommended its application to thewounded part, constantly, for a considerable period, andthought that it would neutralise the poison, either in thewound or afterwards, by being absorbed along with it.Mr. Snow then gave some account of a German work onhydrophobia, by Dr. Santer, who used a solution of causticpotash, of the strength of half a drachm to two ounces ofwater, to wash the wound, and said he had not found it failas a preventive. He considered hydrophobia to be a kindof remittent fever, With a tertian type; the first attack, ifnot interfered with by violent remedies, ended in perspira-tion, and the patient was a good deal better on the secondday ; but another attack commenced forty-eight hours afterthe commencement of the first, and was more severe ; andthe patient generally died in the third paroxysm, but some-times in the second. Dr. Santer administered the root ofbelladonna, and said that two patients had recovered underthis treatment ; he gave eight grains in one dose, in the firstparoxysm, ten grains in the second, and fourteen grains inthe third paroxysm. It operated by increasing the sweat, inwhich he supposed the morbific matter was cast off. Hehad tried belladonna as a prophylactic, but found that itfailed to prevent the disease. Mr. Snow declined to giveany decided opinion concerning this disease, as he had notseen a case of it.Mr. ACTON inquired the number of cases on which Dr.

Santer had formed his opinion. Hydrophobia was so rarelymet with that the German physician seemed to have hadunusual opportunities of olserving it. During the six yearsthat he (Mr. Acton) was at St. Bartholomew’s, only fourcases of the disease had occurred.

Dr. A. T. THOMSON had been in practice for forty-fouryears, and had only seen two cases of hydrophobia. Hehad, however, himself been bitten three times by rabid dogs.From all that he had seen and read on the subject, he wasfully of opinion that the seat of the disease was chiefly re-ferrible to the sentient tract of the spinal cord, and thatremedial agents should be directed to that region. The

pathology of the disease, however, was still quite obscure,and until this was made clearer he had no hope of benefitfrom the treatment of the disease on general principles. Hetook to himself the credit of first directing attention to thespinal cord in this affection, for previously to the publicationof his cases in the “ Medico-Chirurgical Transactions," the at-tention of medical men had been exclusively directed to thestate of the trachea and the bronchial tubes. Respectingthe prevention of hydrophobia, after the infliction of a bite bya rabid animal, he believed that the poison remained latentin the wound until some constitutional irritation brought oninflammation or irritation in the cicatrix, and then imme-diately followed the terrible constitutional symptorns of thedisease. He could not see in what other manner the variousperiods of time in which the disease developed itself couldbe satisfactorily explained. If his view of the subject werecorrect, it would follow that extirpation of the wound, or itscicatrix, would be of avail at any time before the inflamma-tion or irritation alluded to should come on. He knew thatMr. Youatt had laid great stress on the employment of lunarcaustic for this purpose, but he (Dr. Thomson) would nottrust to that alone; he would, in every case, pursue thetreatment which in his own person had been adopted, that

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of excision and the after-applioation of caustic. Even whenthe disease had fairly affected the system ne could conceiveit possible that it might cease spontaneously from inherentpower in the constitution, but no treatment that he was ac.quainted with had been of any avail. He briefly related thecase of a boy, nine years of age. who became affected withhydrophobia in consequence of being bitten by a rabid cat.In this case there was no intermission of the symptomswhatever, neither did he think that in this disease gene-rally there was any real intermission ; the violence of thesymptoms might be somewhat abated, but there was no in-termission. In this case the sensibility of the skin was sogreat that the slightest motion of the air produced convul-sions. Hydrocyanic acid, in large doses, was given to him,without benefit. Four or five hours before death, the con-vulsions all ceased, and hopes of his recovery were euter-tained. They suddenly, however, returned, and he died inan hour. He had said that he considered the spinal cordchiefly at fault in this disease, and he was the more con-vinced of this from the similarity of the symptoms of hydrophobia to those produced by poisoning with strychnia, inwhich that extreme sensibility of the surface, so charac-teristic of hydrophobia, obtained to a remarkable extent.Thus the mere touching of the whisker of a cat, poisoned bystrychnia, or merely blowing upon her hair, would produce ’,violent convulsions. The mere breathing on a snake intowhose tail some strychnia had been introduced, was followedby similar effects. No remedy was of avail, and even themost powerful which had been employed, such as largedoses of opium, as in the cases recorded by Babington andGraves, were of no service.A MEMBER referred to a case published a few months

since in THE LANCET, in which the application of ice to thespine seemed to have a marked effect on the convulsions

present. The case occurred in the practice of Dr. Todd, atKing’s College Hospital.

Mr. CHANCE stated that Mr. Mayo had recommended theemployment of tracheotomy in cases of hydrophobia, forshould the disease not be cured by the proceeding, timewould be given for the action of remedies.

Mr. SNOW suggested the employment of aconite, as thatwas known to be the best antidote to strychnia.

Dr. CHOWNE entered at some length into the subject.He dwelt on the advantages likely to result from the em-

ployment of remedies in this disease, on merely experimen-tal principles. It was useless to go over the ground whichhad been trodden before. The most common morbid ap-pearances in cases of hydrophobia were the loading of thepulmonary tubes with froth, and an emphysematous state ofthe lungs. In two cases in which he bad examined thespine, no morbid appearances were observable in that region.He had seen extreme hysteria simulate, in some respects,even hydrophobia.

NEWS OF THE WEEK.A LARGE numoer ot petitions nas oeen presented recentty to tne

House of Commons, from highly respectable physictans and surgeonsresiding in different parts of England, praying, in the followingform, for the establishment, by law, of one faculty of medicine andmrgery in the United Kingdom :-

11 To the Honourable the Commons, &c." The humble petition ot, &c., a legally-qualified practitioner of

medicine, humbly sheweth,-" That your petitioner believes that the hitherto divided branches

of medicine and surgery should be (in education and examinationfor degrees) one and the same. They constitute but one science ;yet there are, in the United Kingdom, no less than nineteen licensingand graduating bodies, differing widely from each other in the re-quirements of candidates, although none of them possess the powerof conferring the right ot practice in every part of the kingdom." Your petitiolier, therefore, prays for the formation of one faculty

of medicine and surgery for the United Kingdom, having boards ofexaminers in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, to grant medical Idegrees, under uniform regulations.’ And your petitioner, &c."IN 1339 the naturalists of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, as-

sembled at Gotbenbourg, formed a society, the meetings of whichtake place alternately in each of the above kingdoms. The society,which meets this year in Christiana, on the 18th ot July, has issueda general invitation to British naturalists, who are requested tohonour the society with their personal attendance.THE Sydenham Society will hold their annual meeting at the

Medico-Chirurgical Society’s rooms, on Wednesday next.THE next meeting of the Medico-Chirurgical Society will not be

held until Tuesday, the l3tli ot May.

LECTURES ON INSANITY.—Lectures on insanity will be given againthis year at St. Luke’s Hospital. The general court of BethlemHospital have given permission to the physicians of that institutionto imitate so laudahle a proceeding, but hitherto the advocates of the" dark-cell" system have not availed themselves of the offer.

NEw SMOKE-CONSUMING APPARATUS.—Mr. Godson’s smoke-con-suming apparatus has been, by order of the Board of Admiralty, putup iu the block-factory of Portsmouth dock-yard, and is now work-ing a large engine so effectually, according to the intent, that a tre-mendous fire is constantly kept up without producing any smokewhatever. In the course of last week the engine blew off the steam,which is evidence that more steam is generated than is required forthe purpose of working the engine. The engine was under the ex-periment in Woolwich dock-yard nine or ten months. Mr. Lloyd,the chief engineer, made three reports to Commodore-Superin-tendant Sir F. A. Collier, C.B., K.C.H., stating that the apparatusacted efficiently, and expressing a belief in its durability in thelare manufactories which constitute, by their smoke, such horriblenuisances. The oblation to adopt means of abating such abomina-tions will shortly be advocated in the corporation, in conjunctionwith the question of burying the dead in towns.—Tiines.

MORTALITY TABLE.THE deaths in the metropolis for the week ending April 13th,

1844, are 870 (vice 923). The weekly average of the last fiveyears is 946, of the last five winters 1009.Diseases of the lungs ............................ 257-v. 257

Epidemic and contagious diseases................ 175-v. 195Diseases of the nervous system .................. 147—v. 166

Dropsy, cancer, and diseases of uncertain seat.. 93-v. 90Diseases of the stomach and other digestive organs 75-v. 56

Old age .......................................... 64-v. 54

Violence, privation, &c ........................... 0-v. 25Diseases of the heart and blood vessels .......... 24-v. 39Diseases of the kidneys, &c....................... 6—v. 11Childbirth and diseases of uterus ................ 6-v. 12

Rheumatism, diseases of the bones, &c........... 5-v. 7Causes not specified.............................. 3-v. 12Cellular diseases of the skin ...................... 2-v. 0

Total................ 870 923

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.LIST of gentlemen admitted members on Friday, April 19, 1844 :-

J. Blomfield, R. B. Thompson, J. Houlton, J. Brown, H. J. McDougall,R. Atkinson, W. Hinds, F. H. Harris, T. Watts, W. F. Foottit, W.G. Wotton, A. Major.

APOTHECARIES’ HALL, LONDON.NAMES of gentlemen who obtained certificates of qualification to

practise as apothecaries on Thursday, April 18th, 1844:—BasilBarrett ; William Charles Small, Ramsgate; Edward Garraway,Faversham, Kent; Thomas Busher Cowherd, Kendal ; RichardBalderstone Yeats, Kirkby Lonsdale; Peter Redfern, Derbyshire;Richard Holland Bradley, Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland ; Christo-pher Scaife, Yorkshire ; Joseph Pitman Symes, Dorsetshire ; JohnGould, Okehampton; William Hinds Rogers, Harlington, nearUxbridge ; William Locke, Woolwich ; John Charles Parrott, Clap-ham Common ; Edward Pemberton, Nevis, West Indies.

CORRESPONDENTS.A Chemist wishes to retaliate upon a correspon-

dent (" A Surgeon ") who has charged the druggistswith "tampering with the lives of thousands" by in-dulging in medical practice; and he would do so byciting" numerous cases of maltreatment and mistakes"on the part of physicians and surgeons, who, he thinks,by decrying counter-practice in the druggists, only desireto obtain a "party predominance and gross monopoly."Our correspondent adds that ‘ the chemists and druggistswill not abandon prescribing over the counters ; it wouldruin the greater number of them, and those, in particular,who are living in neighbourhoods (as in the east end ofLondon) where physicians’ prescriptions are seldom

required to be prepared. " If," he adds, " any legislativeenactment should hereafter compel them to relinquishsuch practice, they, in their turn, will, in justice to them-selves, apply to the legislature to disallow any one prac-tising medicine or surgery keeping a retail shop, andpreparing physicians’ prescriptions ; and to oblige thosesurgeons now doing so to give them up. Many surgeonsare keeping retail shops, refitting and supplying sea andfamily medicine chests, and dispensing physicians’ pre-scriptions, and family recipes, thereby depriving thechemists and druggists of their legitimate employment.In the locality in which I reside, nearly two-thirds ofthe drug-shops are kept by surgeons, and some of themare selling things at lower prices and in smaller quantitiesthan I, as a respectable druggist, can or will do. Aperson came into my shop the other day for a halfpenny-worth of strapping, and another for a halfpennyworth of