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182 this-that in two and a half years’ less time I have done more than five times as much work for the hospital maternity charity. There was no favouritism or private interest connected with my appointment. I was recommended by Dr. Head, and ap- pointed by the Committee, because I had visited the ward for diseases of women more regularly than any other student, and because I had attended a far greater number of maternity cases than any other possible applicant for the office. Mr. Heckford professes to be influenced by regard for the interests of the hospital. I would wish to suggest to him and to his associates that reports of some of the interesting cases at present in the wards would have a much better effect in your columns, and be much more profitable and valuable to your readers, than letters containing garbled and exaggerated accounts of the insignificant squabbles which occur, unfor- tunately, so generally among students. I have most reluctantly answered one letter lest silence on my part should be misconstrued, but, as I have a very great dislike to newspaper warfare, shall take no notice of any further letters on this subject, should Mr. Heckford be so injudicious as to publish any more. In conclusion, Sir, I have to assure your readers that any student joining this hospital, if he will conduct himself as a gentleman, and manifest a desire to acquire something more than the minimum of professional knowledge which will enable him to scrape through, with perhaps one or two pluckings, the examinations of the College of Surgeons and of the Apothe- caries’ Hall, will, according to my experience, meet with the most generous and hearty aid and encouragement from every member of the staff, and will have in the wards a field for ac- quiring a practical knowledge of his profession which cannot be surpassed, and is very rarely equalled anywhere. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, JEREMIAH MACARTHY, August 5th, 18Gi. Resident Accoucheur. * The letter of Mr. Rivington on the same subject arrived too late for insertion in our present number. We will endea- vour to publish it in our next.—ED. L. JEREMIAH MACARTHY, Resident Accoucheur. CAPPING DAY AT EDINBURGH. ON Thursday, the 1st inst., the annual ceremonial of gra- duation in medicine in the University of Edinburgh took place at Castle Hill. The list of those upon whom degrees were conferred, ninety-two in all, will be found in another portion of our impression. Sir David Brewster, the vice-chancellor, presided, supported by the distinguished members of the Senatus Academicus. Professor Syme, the Promoter, delivered a telling address to the students. After offering his felicita- tions on the accomplishment of their ambition in possessing degrees, he observed that the instruction that they had already received must only be regarded as introductory to the more practical study of medicine and surgery, by which alone they could be thoroughly qualified to discharge the duties of their profession. To that end he advised them to seek for special and additional opportunities of acquiring greater familiarity with morbid conditions at public institutions, so as to render their practice more safe and easy. He observed that a healthy state of mind requires variety in the subjects of its exercise, and he felt sure that nothing would tend more to their success than concentration of thought upon particular cases. You should think (said he) of them, morning, noon, and night; and if you dream of them it will be so much the better. He advised them not to think of money-making for some time to come, but work honestly, so that the points of their character might take root in public confidence, rather than that they should seek an early production of flower or fruit. He counselled them-inasmuch as the want of fixed rules of conduct often lead to a diversity of opinion as to what is best for patients-to be generous in their intercourse with their professional brethren. Moreover, he begged them to cultivate harmony beween the senior and junior members of the profession. The older gentlemen, knowing the importance of long and large experience, might naturally regard the opinions of their junior brethren as of questionable value; while the new-fledged doctor, issuing from his school with all the new appliances of modern science, did not always pay sufficient respect to age : thus dogmatism on the one hand, and presumption on the other, were often destructive of friendship. But it should be recollected that there is good and bad in every man’s character, and to quarrel on account of the bad is to lose the benefit of the good. He earnestly exhorted them to keep out of debt. To do so was to avoid embarrassment and scientific quackery, too frequently the issue of the pressure of pecuniary difficulty, which, by destroying independence and self-respect, exposed men to the influence of mean considera- tions, and made all motives secondary to the acquisition of money. He lastly reminded the graduates that they had sworn to practise their profession cautiously, chastely, honour- ably; and he urged them so long as the breath of life was in them to cherish an affectionate and unceasing regard towards their University. PARISIAN MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) IT is expected that the International Medical Congress, combined with the powerful attractions of the Exhibition, will bring over a great number of medical men to this city. In an official statement made by the Central Committee, the number of adherents to the Congress is now said to amount to 600, of whom 350 are foreigners ; but to all appearance even this number will be greatly increased at the last moment, and fresh names are now being daily added to the list. Let us hope that England will hold in this great medical gathering the high rank to which her reputation both in surgery and medi- cine entitles her. You have so often given all the particulars with regard to the Congress that it would be superfluous to revert once more to them. Yet it cannot be too often repeated that the first meeting will take place on the 16th instant. The Central Committee has managed to obtain a reduction of prices on the railway tickets from two of the companies, the Northern and the Eastern : members travelling on these lines will pay only half price from the French frontiers to Paris. I know not that any plan of excursion or other entertainment has as yet been concerted, with a view to the general particip a ( n of members. At all events nothing is as yet known by the public with regard to this. One of the medical journals of this place has proposed the establishment of a medical club for this special occasion. That advantages would accrue from some such sort of thing cannot admit of a doubt. It is obvious that the fraternal feelings of medical men thus gathered from such distant quarters would be far more fostered and developed in some social place of resort than in the scientific arena of the Congress. But good things are adopted with so much diffi- culty that I dare not hope that any experiment of the kind will be attempted. The annual sitting of the Faculty will take place, as you are aware, on the 14th instant, and thus serve as a sort of solemn opening to the Congress ; the members of which will be ad- mitted to the ceremony on presenting their tickets. This is not only an innovation on the occasion of the Congress (the annual meetings of the Faculty having always taken place at the end of the vacation, in November), but also an experiment which is being made by the Faculty. The numerous pupils and admirers of the lamented Trous- seau are now organising a subscription in order to raise a monument to the memory of the illustrious professor. The produce of the subscription will be employed in the execution of a marble bust destined to be placed in the large meeting hall of the Faculty. The best plan would have been, perhaps, to erect a statue on the grave of the professor, but this idea has been relinquished as being scarcely in conformity with his dying request. It will be remembered that Trousseau had expressly desired that his obsequies should take place without any pomp, and that his body should be modestly deposited in the family vault. Indeed, if we are to believe the report, it would appear that he had regulated beforehand all the different details of the ceremony. The professor, who was fully alive to the fate which awaited him, but who showed a most sovereign con- tempt for death, had himself gone only a short time before this melancholy event to the po7nes funebres, and there had made all necessary arrangements for his funeral. He had then said that the management of such things should not be left to the friends of the departed, as their grief generally prevented them from obtaining a fair dealing from the administration of the pornpes fun&bre8.
