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be established in Cork ; and if the suggestion be carried out,it must materially benefit the various charitable institutionsin that town.

Dr. George Hickson has been elected, without opposition,coroner for the southern division of the county of Kerry.Dublin, Jan. 29th, 1884.

BELFAST.

(From a Correspondent.) )

EXTRAORDINARY PERSONATION CASE.

ON Sunday week the police conveyed to the Royal Hos-pital a person known as "John Coulter," who had beenemployed for twelve years by the Belfast Harbour Com-missioners as a labourer, and who had received serious

injuries by falling downstairs in a house in the town. The

patient, who had sustained a compound fracture of the skull,died in a few hours after admission to hospital; and amedical examination disclosed the extraordinary fact thatthe deceased was a woman. From the evidence broughtforward at the inquest, it would appear that the woman,who was fifty years of age, while employed as a male servanton a farm near Dungannon, was married to the daughter ofher master. The pair were married for twenty-nine years,but for the last six lived apart, owing to the dissipatedhabits of the deceased. No one ever suspected the sex ofthe woman, and altogether the circumstances of the case aremost peculiar. The deceased was of a masculine appearance,with good muscular development, and apparently had neverhad any family. At the conclusion of the inquest the"wife," in reply to the coroner, who asked, " Who will takecharge of and bury the body ? " said, " I will take chargeof him and bury him."

THE ULSTER EYE, EAR, AND THROAT HOSPITAL.The thirteenth annual meeting of this hospital was held

on January 23rd, in the Board-room, Clifton-street. Thereport shows that the total number of patients in attendanceduring the year was 2008. Of these 102 continued inattendance from the previous year, and 215 were admittedas intern patients. The aggregate of attendance at theextern department was 10,889. The total number of daysof residence of the 215 intern patients reached 6360, beingan average of twenty-nine days for each patient. Thefinancial return, submitted by the hon. treasurer, was verysatisfactory. The income was £718 2s. 8d., whilst the ex-penditure amounted to £797 7d. The excess of expenditureover income is exceptional, a sum of fl29 9s. 3d. havingbeen incurred for the repairing, painting, and replenibhingof the hospital. In consequence of the large number ofpatients seeking admission the question of extension of thehospital has come before the committee, and three of themembers of the board have taken, and now ofler on the sameterms as they have obtained it, thirty feet of additionalground, which would serve admirably tor the ultimate ex-tension of the hospital. The proposed addition would, it isestimated, cost about ilOOO. The report is very satisfactory,and shows that, under Dr. McKeown’s skilful care, thehospital is doing good work.

THE BELFAST HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN.

The annual meeting of the friends and supporters of thisinstitution, which has been called the popular charity ofBelfast, was held in the hall of the Constitutional Club onJanuary 25th. From the report of the medical and surgicalstaff, which was read by Dr. Bers, we gather that 313patients were admitted into the hospital during the pastyear; of these 195 were medical, and 118 surgical, cases.

During the same period 7244 children attended the out-

patient department. The exceptional opportunities affordedby thIs hospital for acquiring a knowledge of the diseases ofchildren are fully appreciated by the senior students, ofwhom twenty-four aie attending the cl nique during thepresent session. During the past summer the interior of thehospital has been painted throughout, and the public, aswas stated in the secretary’s report, may feel with some par-donable pride that they have now a hospital which cancompare on favourable terms with any institution of the kindin the United Kingdom. The funds required to pay theexpenses of the painting were for the most part raised by anamateur concert, whereby £118 2s. was realised for the

object required. This sum, together with donations and abalance from the building fund, was increased to £174 38. 5d.,the total amount expended for the painting amounting to:B173 6s. 3d., thus detraying the whole cost without drawingon the funds of the institution.

Obituary.CARL VON HECKER.

ALTHOUGH Professor von Hecker died on Dec. 14tb, 1882,his death has been a matter of doubt to many of those to whomhis name and his works are well known. His death is, how-ever, a matter of fact. Carl von Hecker, who was Professor ofMidwifery and Director of the Lying-in Hospital and Schoolof Midwives at Munich, was the only son of a well-knownprofessor of medicine in Berlin, and was born in 1827. Hiseducation was gained at Cologne, Heidelberg, and Berlin,at the last of which places he graduated in medicine in 1848.After completing his military service as army surgeon hewent to Vienna to study midwifery, and next acted asas;istant to Professor von Busch at Berlin, soon gaining theposition of a privat docent, and then of assistant-physician.In 1858 (at the age of thirty-one) he was appointed to thechief midwifery chair at Marburg, and a few weeks later tothat at Munich. In 1861 he was offered the chair at

Gottingen, and in 1863 the same chair at Konigsberg, bothof which offers he refused, remaining faithful to Munich,with which his name is so closely associated. Von Heckerwas one of the very best specimens of a scientific obstetrician.Starting with an upright honourable soul and a thoroughlytrained mind, he employed his opportunities first andforemost for the good of others and the advancement of hiscalling, especially (but by no means exclusively) of thedepartment to which he more particularly devoted himself.Obstetrics in the hands of such a man, untainted bymeanness or zn cteediness, becomes a study and a pursuit ofgreat elevation, as it is always one of extreme responsibility.In the literature of his subject he has left so many memorial of himself that enumeration is impossible. All of them bearthe impress cf his powerful and wholesome mind. Amongthem may be mentioned the following :-" De RetroversioneUteri Gravidi," 1853 ; " Klinik der Geburtskunde," 1861 (inassociation with Professor von Buhl) ; and " Beobachtungenund Untersuchungen aus der Gebiiranstalt, München," 1881(being the record of twenty years from 1859 to 1879,and of more than 17,000 labours). Besides these, we maypoint to his numerous and important contributions to theArclciv ficr Gynakolologie (of which he was one of the editors),a most important article in which related to face presen-tations. Von Hecker was a great authority on torensicmedicine, and bore almost every honour which could beconferred on a distinguished physician in Germany whomthe State and the sovereign combine in "delighting tohonour." He was one of the most respected honorary Fellowsof the Obstetrical Society of London. As in medicine hewas many-sided, always seeking for analogies throughoutthe range of its branches, and in no sense a specialist, thoughchiefly devoting himself to obstetrics, so also he embracedmore than medicine and more than science in his sympathies.Like so many of the busiest of his profession, he could notlive without a second life outside his daily calling, butdepended for his refreshment on music, to which he wasdevoted, and which, no doubt, helped to brace him for manya precise and laborious investigation. He died of apoplexy,having suffered almost constantly from pain down the leftarm for three years, together with considerable impailmentof health ; but he died in harness. It is doubtful how farour English system of prolonged juniority until advancedmiddle age (when enterprise is apt to be diverted from in-

vestigation towards the pursuit of wealth) is productive ofgood results. In Germany they do these things differently,and von Hecker can hardly be quoted as an instance infavour of keeping a young man back. Appointed at thirty-one to a post of the greatest importance, his opportunitieswere all too little for his eagerness. In England most of thebest work is done by men sti11 young, while very few indeedcontinue to do scientific work when they cease to be young.To those who do so continue when their name is alreadymade all honour be given. Most, however, act like thepoet’s horse, who senio confectac’ quiescit.

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WILLIAM HENRY PARSEY, M.D., F. R. C, P. LoND.ON Jan. lOth there passed away from among us a man,

little known perhaps to the rising generation of medicalmen, but one who was well known to those of his own, andwho was a very dear and valued friend of all those who hadthe privilege of his more intimate acquaintance.William Henry Parsey, late chief superintendent of the

County Asylum, Hatton, near Warwick, was the secondson of John Leveson Parsey, Esq., late of the War Office.He was born April 3rd, 1821. A student of King’s College,London, he graduated B.A. London University in 1840, andbecame M.B. Lond. in 1844. He early chose lunacy as hisspecial field of practice, and in- 1847 was appointed assistantmedical officer, under Dr. Bucknill as his chief, at the DevonCounty Asylum. In 1852 he received the appointment ofsuperintendent of the new County Asylum at Hatton,Warwick. There he received the first patients brought tothat asylum, there he passed his life, and there, with his life’swork surrounding him, he died. When he came to Hattonthe asylum was constructed to receive a maximum numberof 300 patients; it now contains between 700 and 800. Headopted the non-restraint system of Conolly in its entirety,and so successfully that for many years the asylum underhis management was visited by members of the professionfrom every part of the world. In 1859 he became a Memberof the Royal College of Physicians, thus showing how, inthe midst of such engrossing work, he was yet able to keepup his general professional knowledge. In 1860 he receivedthe offer of a most important and lucrative colonial appoint-ment in his own specialty, and the offer was couched in themost flattering terms ; but in consequence of his deep interestin the asylum, which he had organised from its commence-ment with so much care, he refused what would have beenin some sense a great advantage to him. In 1876 he becamepresident of the Medico-Psychological Association, anddelivered an address upon " Better Provision for the ChronicInsane Poor." In 1877 he was unanimously chosen a Fellowof the Royal College of Physicians, an honour he very greatlyappreciated.A few years ago Dr. Parsey had some warnings of failing

health, and desired to retire from his heavy responsibilities ;but such was the estimation in which he was held by themagistrates of the county that a deputy superintendentwas provided for him, and alas ! he was induced to remainat his post. Latterly his failing health was more marked,and there is reason to suppose that that enemy of the studiousand sedentary, Bright’s disease, showed itself. He was,however, so reticent about himself that this was not abso-lutely known until a few days before his death, which wasoccasioned by broncho-pneumonia and failure of the heart’saction. No man was better known to all who are worthknowing in the county of Warwick, and no man was moreesteemed. To his professional brethren he was ever kind andcourteous; he was a wise counsellor, and his opinion in hisspecial branch was highly estimated. His attachment to theunfortunate patients placed under his care was reciprocatedby them in the most touching manner. In his death our I,profession has lost one of its many noble characters-perhaps ’unrecognised by the world at large, but known and appre-ciated by their intimate friends,-psychological medicineone of its skilled experts, and his friends one who will longlive in their memories, and never be wholly replaced.

WM. HAWKINS GARRINGTON, M.R.C.S., L.S A.,J.P.THERE passed away on the 15th inst., at the advanced

age of seventy-nine, after a long and honourable career, athis residence, Southsea, Mr. William Hawkins Garrington.His professional education was acquired at St. Bartholomew’s.He obtained the L.S,A. in 1826, and the diploma of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in 1845. Among his early appointmentswas that of medical officer to the workhouse at Portsmouth.As one of the oldest practitioners in the district, he was electedto the chair of the southern branch of the British MedicalAssociation. In the year 1859 he was elected Mayor ofPortsmouth, an office which he filled with credit to himselfand to the satisfaction of the townspeople. He was the seniormagistrate for the borough, and, as a mark of the esteem inwhich he was held by his brother justices, they presentedhim with his portrait, which is now hung in the councilchamber. He enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence

and esteem of his patients, and the repute which he badgained in his profession was all the more appreciated becauseof the kindliness and patience which were always shownboth to rich and poor. But Mr. Garrington was mostfamiliarly known and will be best remembered as coronerfor Portsmouth, an office which he most efficiently filledduring the past nineteen years. Nothing could be moresatisfactory than the exhaustive and business-like manner iiiwhich his inquiries were conducted.The large and representative attendance at the funeral

was a fitting mark of respect to one who, during a lengthenedprofessional, public, and official career, had gained goldenopinions from all classes of the community.

PETER EVERSHED.’ ON January 17th was closed the long and honourable lifeof one of the oldest general practitioners in this country.Mr. Everahed was the son of a medical man, and was bornat Billingshurst, Sussex, in 1792. He studied at Guy’s andSt. Thomas’s, and began practice with his father in 1813.He continued to practise for fifty years in the same village,and retired in 1863, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,who died two years after. During the fifty years of hisprofessional life Mr. Evershed did all his journeys on horse-back. He was a great lover of nature, a capital horseman,and an enthusiastic foxhunter, liding to hounds usuallyonce or twice a week through the winter, and riding wellforward up to his eighty-second year, He had four sons,all medical men ; the eldest died early, the second is atArundel, the third at Hampstead. and the youngest ispractising at Bega, New South Wales. He had also twodaughters, who survive him.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

AT an ordinary Comitia on Thursday, Jan. 31st, Sir W.Jenner, President, in the chair, the following gentlemenwere elected to fill vacancies in the Council : Dr. Herbert

Davies, Dr. Hermann Weber, Dr. Lockhart Robertson, Dr.Moxon. Drs. Ord and Dickinson were appointed examinersfor the Murchison Scholarship; and Drs. Stevenson, Corfield,Ballard, and Thorne Thorne were appointed examiners forthe certificate in Hygiene.The report of the Board of Censors upon the circumstances

connected with the paper upon Nitrite of Sodium publishedin THE LANCET by Drs. Ringer and Murrell was read andadopted. The Censors point out that, owing to the want oforder and precision in the arrangement of the facts and state-ments in that paper, it was not surprising that erroneousinferences were drawn from it. But they acquit the authorsof the charge of unjustifiable experimentation on the humansubject, and consider the profession and the public to begreatly indebted to them for the knowledge of the dose of thedrug that can be with safety administered. The Board hadalso considered the fact that a Fellow of the College hadaddressed an anonymous letter to the public press reflectingon the propriety of the methods pursued by Drs. Riuger andMurrell in their investigations upon the action of thisremedy; and proposed to summon the author of the letter to,appear before the Board.On the recommendation of the Council, it was resolved that

the President should invite the President of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons to co-operate in interviewing the HomeSecretary with respect to prosecutions by the Public Prose-cutor involving medical questions.A report was received from the Pharmacopoeia Committee,

which was referred for one month.

BIRKENHEAD BOROUGH HOSPITAL.-The annualmeeting of the governors and friends of this hospital washeld on the 28th ult. The report stated that the totalnumber of patients treated during 1883 was 8083, of whomS68 were in-patientq, being an increase of 81 over those of thepreceding year. The daily average of patients in the wardswas 37’5. The total ordinary expenses of the year were.E2343 2s. 5d., a decrease of ;E31 12s. ld. as compared with1882. The total receipts for the year had been ;E23311Os. 3d.,

: an increase of £99 7s. 5d. as compared with 1882.