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tobacco was adulterated with any foreign leaf, or with anysolid extraneous substance of any description.

These results are assuredly very different from those whichmight have been anticipated, taking into consideration thenotions which prevail generally amongst the public withrespect to the adulteration of tobacco, and also the high dutyto which this article is subject. The absence of any very greator extensive adulteration is to be explained, we apprehend, bythe constant supervision exercised over the manufacture oftobacco on the part of the excise.Although taking a limited number of samples of tobacco,

we do not find adulteration to be by any means common, yetwe must not conclude from this that tobacco is never adul-terated. The excise returns show that it occasionally is so, theofficers of excise making from time to time, in the warehouses,&c., of tobacco manufacturers, seizures of dock, rhubarb, coltrs-foot, and other leaves, as well as of a variety of other vege-table and mineral substances.We have before us the particulars of numerous seizures of

adulterated tobacco, cigars, and snuff, made by the Excise forthe years ended January, 1851 and 1852. To these we shallagain have occasion to refer more in detail at the conclusionof the Reports on Cigars and Snuff.

In any future analysis of tobacco which may be made, wewould recommend that the sugar be estimated both by thecopper and fermentation tests, as by the former test any canesugar which might be present would be overlooked. Whentreacle is employed, it is almost impossible to ascertain theexact amount used, as this consists not only of glucose, butalso of albumen, colouring matter, and other extractive andfeculent matters.

The next Report of the Analytical Sanitary Commission willbe on

CIGARS AND THEIR ADULTERATIONS.

ON THE NECESSITY OF SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONTO THE MEDICAL OFFICERS WHO MAY BENOMINATED TO THE SERVICES OF THE NAVALAND MILITARY FORCES.

[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]1. IT is remarkable that the great continental states of

Europe though almost devoid of colonies, as compared to

England, and though, therefore, the diseases of their armies arevery much those of their civil communities, have been bothearly and liberal in their arrangements for the due instructionof the surgeons intrusted with the health concerns of their fleetsand armies.

2. England, possessing forty colonies having every conceivablevariety of soil and climate, and with her seamen and soldiers con-stantly exposed to every imaginable external influence capable ofaffecting the health of strangers, has still, in the middle of thenineteenth century to make the proper arrangements for the dueinstruction of those medical officers who have to exercise theirfunctions, under so many strange and often unknown circum-stances of service and of climate.

3. We have naval and military schools, schools for civil andmilitary engineers, and schools for artillery and staff depart- ’ments; we have schools of design, of economic geology, &c.,with ample grants for lectures, libraries, models, &c.; but in themost confessedly difficult and useful of all sciences and arts, wehave neglected to impart special instruction where it is most re-quired, and, where the results are of vast national importance.England, beyond all other nations, possesses advantages andopportunities for the improvement and extension of militarymedicine.

4. During our first American war, and during our warsagainst the French revolution, our best naval and military sur-geons complained, in terms of like import with those of a greathistorian, that "shoals of hospital mates and students, for themost part ignorant alike of war and their profession," were senton foreign expeditions of the most hazardous and importantnature; but though such can no longer be said as regardsgeneral professional instruction, it is nevertheless true, as regardsthe special instruction, the necessity for which is here urged.

5. In 1798, the celebrated Mr. John Bell, of Edinburgh,visited the sick and wounded of the battle of Camperdown, atYarmouth, and so forcibly was he struck with the deficiencies of thearrangements, and of executive duty, that he addressed the thenFirst Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Spencer, on these importantsubjects. They were urged with all the force of a true genius,

7and of a most powerful eloquence, all aided by a profound pro.fessional knowledge ; but the question was not even considered.

i So far as authority is concerned, the question still remains just

, where Earl Speaeer left it.

c 6. Bell urged that the trifling cost of a school of instructionl would be repaid a hundred-fold ; for economy in lives is the

greatest economy to a State." He urged that the proposedinstitution would be to the State a saving of lives infinitely de-

sirable; it would become to the public a rich property. Heurged that our seamen, " while employed on the most dangerousservices hardly extort from the Government the very appearanceof care." It was shown that "our wounded seamen were aban-doned to the carelessness of ignorant men."

7. The historian Napier, speaking of the Peninsular war, says :" Many even of the well-educated surgeons sent out were forsome time of little use, for superior professional skill is of littlevalue in comparison of experience in military organization.Where one soldier dies from want of a delicate operation, hun-dreds perish from the absence of military arrangement." Herewe have the entire subject concentrated. Nothing can make anaval and military surgeon really useful to the State, but theaddition of special instruction on the subject of the prevention ofdisease, or of what is properly called State medicine, in additionto his ordinary or civil course of instruction. Well might Bellexclaim in his day: ’’How few are thus taught !-how few arefit to serve!" but though many more comparatively are nowbetter taught, and are consequently more fit to serve, still the" flagrant reproach" of want of special instruction remains, inLondon at least, as in 1798.

8. It is during peace that the institutions of an army can alonebe perfected,-a truth not as yet understood in commercialEngland. To the absence of just arrangement is ascribed, byour older naval and military surgeons, the failure of many

national enterprises by sea and land ; and, if the greatest ex-pedition which ever left the shores of England could, so lately as1809, terminate in nothing but ruin from such a cause, what maynot have occurred in former times ?

9. In the Minutes of Evidence, taken before the Committeeof the whole House, appointed to consider the Policy and con-duct of the Expedition to the Scheldt," we are assured that themedical authorities of the army, though the fevers of Walcherenwere "perfectly known" to them, " were not informed of wherethe expedition was going to; therefore no particular preparationwas made."

10. "That ignorance," says the Edinbzcrgla Reviem, ’t whichany Middleburghian or any Dutchman could have enlightenedos dispelled, cost us ten thousand brave men, not a little money,and not a little credit, and not a few tears and inconveniences tothose whom statesmen never consider."

11. The Walcheren expedition destroyed on the spot one-third of a splendid army, and destroyed the health, during theremainder of their lives, of the immediate survivors. Thesickness alone amounted to 587 per thousand of the strength;while the cost in money was twenty millions sterling, with aburthen of one million of annual taxes. And all this hugepreparation failed of any effect but that of disaster, owing to theabsence of the most ordinary sanitary precaution ; and precautionand prevention, too, were most easy of application.

12. The science of prevention of disease, or what may pro-l perly be termed State medicine, is new in this country, as appli-

cable to the civil community; but it has long been exercised by, the surgeons of our fleets and armies, to the extent that they’ were permitted by authority; and all that is known of this

important science-the greatest department of medicine-and allthe sanitary regulations which are now being applied in civillife, originated with the medical officers of our fleets and armies.

13. More than half a century ago, it was urged upon theauthorities in Jamaica, by Dr. Robert Jackson, that by theremoval of the British troops from the plains to the mountainsof that island, the mortality would be reduced to the average ofEngland; but it was reserved for Sir Charles, afterward LordMetcalfe, to carry into effect sojust and humane a measure ; andthis he did in a manner characteristic of his noble nature.The average annual mortality per thousand of strength, inJamaica, for instance, was, on an average of twenty years, 130per thousand; while, by a removal to the Blue Mountains, thedeaths have been reduced to twenty-two per thousand perannum. No language can add to the force of these simplefigures. Proof of the necessity for the adoption of this simplebut great measure had been furnished by Dr. Robert Jackson,perhaps the greatest physician who ever entered the ranks of anarmy; but fifty years passed away before a man was found tounderstand the value of so great a medical officer, or of his

proofs.

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14. By the application of sanitary regulations long understoodby the surgeons of our fleets and land forces, the mortality in Jthe British navy has been reduced from seven per cent. per annum 1

to two per cent. per annum. These are great measures, as resultingfrom intelligence and humanity on the part of our medical officers,and they are capable of being vastly extended, for the furtherprevention of sickness and mortality amongst our seamen andsoldiers, and for the further well-being of our civil community." Health," says Jackson, " is the cardinal hinge of effect inarmies." Mr. Farr states, that " it is difficult for the imaginationto conceive all the beneficent effects that would flow from the

possible diminution of the mortality in the town and in the countrythroughout the changing seasons of the year;" and the same

authority adds, that " the same causes that destroy the lives ofso many people, degrade the lives of more, and may ultimately,it is to be feared, have a more unfavourable effect on the energiesof a large portion of the English race. Here is a wide field forsalutary and beneficent reforms."

In this matter of great national concern, the value of theservices of our naval and military surgeons has never been duly

. estimated or rewarded in this country.15. In order to collect, arrange, and render useful the ever

varying communications constantly coming from the scenes ofnaval and military operations in our various colonies-of circum-stances and facts continually being brought to light in mattersaffecting public health, whether in organized bodies of men, orin civil communities, it is proposed-and it has long been proposedwith much energy, disinterested perseverance, and talent, by SirGeorge Ballingall, of Edinburgh-to establish a great centralSchool of Military Medicine and Military Surgery in the Britishmetropolis. This excellent suggestion has long received theunanimous concurrence of all the experienced surgeons of ourfleets and armies who have served abroad. To the objections ofsome parties, who considered that books might supply the placeof instructions and demonstrations in a museum* or lecture-room,Sir George Ballingall quotes the declaration of Mr. John Grant,of the Bengal Medical Department, that z one might as well pro-pose to supplant the commissariat of an army by Dr. Kitchener’swork on Cookery, as to supply the purposes of a great school bya book."

16. What Sir George Ballingall urges is, in short, not so mucha course of instruction different from, as " over and above," thatfound necessary to surgeons in civil life; but a foreknowledge ofwhat is to happen-of what is sure to happen-in certain givencircumstances of service. Such instruction in the first andgreatest department of medicine-that which refers to the pre-vention of disease-would be found of the utmost value; whilethe surgeon who would enter the army or navy is, in chief part,incompetent to his special functions, without such special in-struction.

17. Nor can such necessary instruction be long deferred. Thegrowing intelligence of the medical profession, and of the com-munity at large, will soon demand knowledge of such absolutenecessity. " I was not," says Sir George Ballingall, " eight-and-forty hours in the army when I was left in charge of two bat-talions, and these receiving recruits every hour." What a fearful

position is that of a young surgeon thus placed in the marshes ofArracan or of Rangoon; yet the very thing is not of infrequentoccurrence.

18. Let us then hope that the government of this great coun-try may at length be induced to establish a great school, where,in the words of John Bell, " the principles of science may beapplied to the peculiar duties of the military surgeon."The Military Medical Institution of Frederick William II. of

Prussia was destined by its founder, " in the first place, to re-ceive the surgical staff of the field hospitals which had acquiredexperience in the war with France, and to preserve it for the

country; and in the next place, to provide for the field hospitalsin future a supply of well-educated surgeons."These are surely objects worthy of national consideration,

especially to a country where seamen and soldiers are continuallyin contest against enemies more or less expert in the use of arms,or who have to contend against unnatural climates, of a far moredeadly character and influence on life than any contest in armswhich the art of war has as yet devised. The army of SirArchibald Campbell, in the first expedition to Rangoon, lostduring the first year alone, of British soldiers, three and a halfper cent. killed in action, and forty-five per cent. by disease,making a total loss of forty-eight and a half per cent. in one yearonly of the war.

* Sir James M’Grigor, and the medical officers of the army, have enteredinto " a large subscription towards the erection of a building for the

museum and library in London."-SiR G. BALLINGALL.

Finally, it must not be lost sight of that it is not to improve-ments in medicine and surgery, great as these confessedly are, asto modern improvements in the science of prevention of disease,that fleets and armies, and civil communities, are most indebted,and will continue to be most indebted, for their improved state ofhealth. The mere cure of disease, whether medical or surgical,must remain what Bacon termed it-a ministering to men’snecessities; while we can at present perceive no limit to the ex-tension of those means of prevention of disease to which we arealready so much beholden. In truth, it is only by a scientificunion of the preventive with the curative branches of medicalscience that the medical departments of fleets and armies canalone be perfected.

This fact ought to be known to and appreciated by statesmenand commanders, and by all persons in office, who may, directlyor indirectly, have to do with the health concerns of our fleetsand armies. When this shall be accomplished, and when medicalofficers of character and station shall, in the words of RobertJackson, have " the place in the councils of military commandersthat is due to science," then, and not till then, shall matters re-lating to the prevention and cure of disease in our seamen andsoldiers receive the attention which their importance deserves.Nor is this a theoretical view of the question; for "it is wellknown," says Jackson, " that expeditions failed from sicknessand mortality among the troops ; and campaigns, the plans ofwhich have been well laid, have had unsuccessful issue from tnesame cause. It is moreover true that these effects have often

arisen from defects in the original plan of medical arrangement,or from ignorance and inattention in the manner of execution.The means suggested in this place," (namely, a Military Medical

; School, with a Military Hospital attached to it) "hold out some’ prospect of remedy." This in reality is a soldier’s question, andit rests with statesmen and commanders to do it final justice.

Medical Societies.

ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1853.—DR. COPLAND, PRESIDENT.

ERYSIPELAS OF THE HEAD AND FACE AFTER CONTUSION ANDLACERATION OF THE SCALP ; HAEMORRHAGE FROM THE

PRINCIPAL BRANCHES OF THE RIGHT CAROTID ARTERY ;LIGATURE OF THE VESSEL ; RECOVERY. By EVAN THOMAS,

! Esq., M.R.C.S., Resident-Surgeon to the Workhouse in Man-chester, Associate of King’s College, London.

The haemorrhage came from a wound in the temple, made forthe evacuation of matter. Pressure proving unavailing, thecommon carotid artery -was tied in the usual way, above theanterior belly of the omo hyoid muscle. Some inflammatorysvmptoms occurred referable to the chest, but the patient recoveredin the course of from two to three months.

FALSE ANEURISM OF THE POSTERIOR TIBIAL ARTERY (FROM AWOUND IN THE OPERATION OF DIVIDING THE POSTERIORTIBIAL TENDON IN THE OPERATION FOR CLUB-FOOT) SUC-CESSFULLY TREATED BY INJECTIONS OF PF.RCHLURIDE OFIRON INTO THE SPURIOUS ANEURISMAL SAC. By WILLIAMADAMS, F.R.C.S., Assistant-Surgeon to the Royal Ortho-psedie Hospital.

The injection of perchloride of iron caused coagulation of theblood in the spurious aneurismal sac, produced by division of theposterior tibial artery in a child aged four weeks. The firm clot

squeezed out the serum, which was seen oozing from the surfaceof the wound. The instrument used for injection was a glasssyringe, with a long and slender tube, which was made to pene-trate the clot, and convey the perchloride to the fluid bloodbelow.

OBSERVATIONS ON CYSTIC DISEASE OF THE TESTICLE. By T.B. CURLING, F.R.S., Surgeon to the London Hospital.

The author found the cysts communicating with the tubularstructure of the testicle, and believes them to be dilatations of thevessels of the rete. He describes the characters of the intra-cystic growths, and considers that in some cases the disease maybe malignant. He concludes-

Ist. Cystic disease of the testicle occurs in two forms-innocentand malignant.

2nd. Both forms are the result of morbid changes in the ductsof the rete testis, this part of the organ being the sole seat of the,

disease.