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health. His mature jadgment was always at the disposalof his brethren. He was a man of strong views andeven when they did not correspond with those of his

colleagues all admired his tenacity of purpose and hissincere desire to advance the interests of the profession.His funeral was almost a public one.Jan. 16th.

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PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

United Resignation of the Medical Staff of a MunicipalDispensary.

IN the Ward of Ternes at Paris there is a dispensaryorganised by the Municipal Council and connected with theSchool Board of the city (Caisse des Ecoles de la Ville). Atthis dispensary there attend a certain number of medicalmen who give their services gratuitously to poor children.Each one deals with his own specialty and receives noremuneration. The mayor of the Quarter and his deputieshave, however, sought to pervert this philanthropicwork, which does a great service to the poor, from its

proper end to that of a political and electoral engine.The authorities of the Caisse des Ecoles have practicallydecided that children who go to any school other than themunicipal schools shall be no longer allowed to receive gra-tuitous medical advice. This law obviously excludes all thoselittle sufferers whose parents like to send them to schoolspresided over by religious orders or private teachers. Owingto this regulation, so contrary to the philanthropic feelingwhich prompted the 14 medical men on the staff of thedispensary to give their services gratuitously, the saidstaff has resigned in a body. It is necessary to insistonce more upon the cheek" (sans-gene) with which

public bodies in France treat the medical professionin its relations to the State, the municipalities, or thelaw courts. Everywhere the medical profession is treatedas an underling whose duty is simply to obey the mostarbitrary orders. When any salary is given it is fixed

upon an absurdly low scale and for this is demanded cruellyhard work for very long hours and accompanied by heavyresponsibility. When services are given gratuitously therequirements of the authorities are quite despotic andare accompanied by a complete lack of consideration.Before this last occurrence there had already been a seriesof petty annoyances at the Ternes Dispensary. The chiefmedical man sent in his resignation, whereupon a successorwas appointed solely by the governors (administrateu-rs)without any reference to the opinions of the other medicalmen. The dispensary nurse, whose work was admirable,was threatened by the governors, anxious to manifest theirpolitical zeal, with dismissal if she sent her child to anyschool other than a municipal one. It must, however,be sorrowfully confessed that what renders it easyfor a municipality to treat medical men in the waythat they do is, as the municipality somewhat insolentlyanswers, the fact that the number of applicants for officialplaces exceeds the number of posts, so that no difficulty isfound in filling up the vacancies caused by resignations evenof unpaid posts, so great is the liking among Frenchmedical men to be an official.

Jubilee of the Society of Biology.The Society of Biology has been celebrating with an official

ceremony the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation. TheGovernment delegates and the members of the society firstassembled at the College of France where a marble tablet hasbeen placed on the wall of the laboratory of Claude Bernard,the founder of the society. The tablet bears this inscription :"In this laboratory there worked, from 1847 to 1878, ClaudeBernard, Professor of Medicine at the College of France."Orations in praise of Bernard were delivered by M. GastonParis, the Director of the College of France, and by Dr.d’Arsonval, who to-day occupies the chair held by the greatphysiologist. A grand ceremony then took place in thelarge Theatre of the Sorbonne where the Minister of PublicInstruction was received by the officials of the society, withProfessor Bouchard, the President, at their head. There weremany delegates present from French and foreign societies,and among the latter were Waller of London, Blumenthal ofBerlin, Heger of Brussels, and Prevost of Geneva. Speecheswere made by Professor Bouchard, by the Ministe : of Public

Instruction, and by some of the delegates. Various decora-tions were distributed and in the evening a banquet withmore speeches concluded the festival.

Complaint against a House Surgeon.The lay press has been making a great to-do over an

alleged scandal at the Children’s Hospital. A little girl issaid to have died owing to the brutal treatment of a housesurgeon while putting on a Sayre’s jacket. A complaint hasaccordingly been lodged with the Tribunal, who have orderedan inquiry into the circumstances and a post-mortem exami-nation. What really happened was as follows. The childsuffered from angular spinal curvature. She was very irritableand struggled when anyone touched her. The house surgeonwas ordered to put on a plastic jacket but the child tore awaythe bandages as they were being put on and pinched the housesurgeon’s arm as hard as she could. He lost patience withher and gave her a light tap on the cheek to make her keepquiet. After that she was good and the jacket was appliedwithout any more trouble. In the evening the housesurgeon, to console the child, went to see her as shelay in bed and brought her some little delicacy toeat. As ill-luck would have it, however, just atthat moment the child gave one cry and died-an unfortunate event which does sometimes happenafter a plaster jacket, although the occurrence is very rare.The house surgeon will certainly not be prosecuted, for allthe other patients in the wards are ready to bear witness tohis uniformly kind treatment of the patients and to the factthat he never ill-treated the child. But this unfortunateincident, which has been grossly misrepresented by thatsection of the press which is always in search of sensationalcopy, serves as a pretext for heaping new insults upon themedical profession.

Madness on the Stage.One of the Paris ’theatres has just produced a piece in six

acts under the title " In Peace." The plot deals with amatter which has for some time sadly exercised both writersand legislators; one moreover which bears directly upon therole of the medical man in modern society. A commercialman returning home from a long journey finds hisbusiness ruined by his son-in-law and his children towhom he had confided his affairs during his absence.Naturally annoyed at this he announces his intention of

disinheriting them, so’they arrange with a medical man totreat him as a lunatic and have him immured in an asylum.Four long scenes pass in the asylum and naturally enoughthe author makes out that many of the inmates are not madbut only there on account of family intrigues. Among themis a noble-minded priest who has recognised the impossibilityof escape and has resigned himself to end his daysthere in peace "-a peace which foreshadows that of thegrave. The hero of the piece when he comprehends thesituation falls into paroxysms of rage which naturallystrengthens the opinion that he is mad. One day at theinstance of some of his relations, who are disinterested, amagistrate and a medico-legal expert arrived at the asylumto make inquiries of the patient himself. But the in-fluence of his surroundings has proved too much for hisbrain and he has become really mad, so that heflies at the magistrate and tries to strangle him.Henceforward he is an outcast from society andcondemned to die in the prison-house. The medical manin charge of the asylum is depicted as an unscrupulousscoundrel who sticks at nothing as long as it pays him, andthe attendants by his orders give morphia secretly to

morphino-maniacs in order to prolong their stay in theasylum. The play has not taken the public fancy, for itsreal dramatic interest is nil, but the production has servedas a peg for discussions in the press as to the exaggeratedpowers of medical men in such positions and to demand thecarrying out of the oft-mooted, but never realised, reform of

French lunacy laws.Jan. 16th.

ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

-Death of Professor Francesco Orsi.Busy as death has been in the ranks of the profession at

home and abroad, it has laid a peculiarly heavy hand on theLombard medical school. In Professor Giovanni Zoia it

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lately lost an anatomist of a high order and on New Year’s Day, its illustrious professor of clinical medicine,Dr. Francesco Orsi, succumbed to a lingering illness. Born in 1828, he was still a student in medicine !,when the revolution of 1848 summoned the youth of Ithe Alta Italia to take the field against Austria, andOrsi was among the first to enrol himself in the battalion of ’,Lombard undergraduates. He was actively engaged in the

’

whole campaign which, in April, 1849, closed on the field ofNovara with Radetsky’s decisive victory over King CarloAlberto, and the conclusion of peace saw him once moreimmersed in clinical study at Pavia. In 1855 cholera wasraging throughout Italy, and Orsi, still an undergraduate,repaired to the scene of its greatest prevalence, Nave,in the province of Brescia. There his fearlessness,his professional skill, and his energy did muoh to

lighten the visitation, after which he graduated with

high honours as Doctor of Medicine at Pavia. In 1859war again broke out between Austria and Piedmont, whichwas this time reinforced by the Emperor Napoleon, and Orsiapplied for a post on the army medical staff. His applica-tion was granted on the very day of the announcement ofthe Treaty of Villafranca which prematurely closed the

campaign; and so indignant was he at this unexpected turnof affairs that he threw up his appointment and restrictedhis service to assisting Professor Porta in attendingthe wounded in hospital. Called to the University ofGenoa to fill the chair of Clinical Medicine he didmuch to enhance the fame of the Ligurian schooltill 1866, when his Alma Mater, Pavia, secured himfor her chair of Medical Pathology and Clinical Medicine.His ability in diagnosis and treatment soon gave theLombard University a distinguished name, while his

.expository power, remarkable for its lucidity, succinctness,and impressiveness, brought him pupils from all parts of thekingdom. Among these may be mentioned Pietro Grocco,now head of the Tuscan school ; Camillo Bozzolo, professorof clinical medicine at Turin ; Achille De Giovanni, RectorMagnificus of Padua, where he is also professor of clinicalmedicine; and Carlo Furlanini, who holds the chair ofSpecial Pathology in Pavia. Besides being a busyteacher and consultant he was an energetic and

philanthropic citizen and filled more than one civic

post in his native province with popularity and success.

No less proficient in written than in spoken discourse, hepublished numerous treatises on difficult or debated subjectsin medicine, specially valuable being his "Analisi Criticasulla Dottrina dell’ Erpetismo," his monograph " SulleMalattie del Sangue," his " Frammenti di Patologia e

Terapia Generale," and his" Curiosità Chimiche." Hisfuneral, which took place at Pavia on Jan. 3rd, wasinkeeping with his fame as a teacher and clinician-the "founder," in fact, of the Lombard Medical School,as he was called. The whole Senatus Academicus and theundergraduates of all the faculties, bearing the universitybanner draped in black, were present, as well as manyformer pupils holding chairs in other medical schools. Ofthese Professor Grocco of Florence was the spokesman ofthe occasion and delivered a touching discourse on the

genius and virtues of the deceased. Dr. Achille Monti,professor of pathology at Pavia, followed worthily as

representing the Minister of Public Instruction, Dr. Baccelli;while the syndic in a few effective periods expressed on thepart of the citizens of Pavia their sense of the loss they hadsustained. The ceremony concluded with the announcementof telegrams of sympathy and condolence from all parts ofthe Italian kingdom.

The Vatican Consultants in Medicine and Surgery.Leo XIII. has seen and highly approved the gold medal

just conferred on his chief consultants in medicine andsurgery by the Roman Catholics of Novi (Liguria). Themedal, of massive gold, a chef d’œuvre of the well-knownartist in that metier Signor P. Ferrea, presents on its obverseaspect the portraits of these distinguished functionaries,each portrait having under it the name of its subject-Joseph Lapponi and Caietanus Mazzoni. On the reverse sideis given the following epigraph from the pen of an accom-plished Lombard prelate :-

QUODE PRAESENTI DISCRIMINE

LEONEM XIII. PONT. MAX.NONAGENARIUM

CHIRURGIA ERIPUERINTNOVENSES ALIQUOT CIVES

HONORIS CAUSAMDCCCIO.

(Because they rescued from immediate danger by surgicalintervention the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII. in his ninetiethyear some citizens of Novi have bestowed on them this medalto render them honour, 1899.) The medal gives artistic ex-pression to the gratitude felt throughout the Roman Catholicworld on the Kalends of March last when it learned thatthe Holy Father had emerged from his consultants’ handsstronger and better than he had been for years and whenwithin 24 hours 10,000 telegrams in that sense reached theVatican and some 350 the private residences of Dr. Lapponiand Dr. Mazzoni. That Leo XIII. maintains his health andhis energies, physical and mental, in the severest winterknown in Italy for a whole generation is testimony sufficientas to the skill and care with which his consultants acquitthemselves. As I write I am informed of another tokenof gratitude for the successful operation above referredto. This time it is conferred on Dr. Mazzoni singlyby the three nephews of Leo XIII. It is a magnificentparchment, designed and illuminated by Perazzoli ofRome, and bears the following dedication: "Ludovico,Camillo, and Riccardo Pecci, gratefully honouring thedistinguished master of the healing art, who in March,1899, with skilled and assured hand, restored healthand vigour to the PontifE and peace of mind to hisdistressed family and to the anxious Catholic world-anarduous and splendid example of operative science whichhistory will not fail to commemorate." The marginal orna-mentation contains allegorical figures and cherubs in illustra-tion of medicine, with various Latin mottos artisticallyintroduced; while the armorial bearings of the Pecci andMazzoni families sustain each other in the central space ofthe parchment. In the Vatican itself no fewer than threehigh functionaries are also under medical treatment. Ofthese the Cardinal Vicar (Jacobini) is somewhat better;Prince Altieri, commandant of the Pontifical Guard, isdangerously ill; while Cardinal Trombetta (in his eighty-fourth year and not expected to recover) has received fromthe hands of his Holiness the apostolic benediction.

Award of the Bressa Prize.Every four years the Reale Accademia delle Scienze of

Turin awards the prize of 9600 francs to the contemporarysavant who in its judgment has deserved best of physicalscience or nature study during the quadriennium. Since itsfoundation by Signor Bressa, a distinguished ornament ofthe subalpine seat of learning, 11 such prizes have beenawarded. This, the eleventh of the series, has just fallen toDr. Ernst Haeckel, Professor of Zoology in the Universityof Jena, for " valuable contributions covering the wholefield of biological science."Jan. 14th.

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Obituary.THOMAS GREAVES WALKER, M.R.C.S. ENG., L.S.A.

MR. THOMAS GREAVES WALKER died at his residence,Colston’s-parade, Bristol, on Jan. 8th from pneumonia, aftera short illness. Mr. Walker was educated at the London

Hospital and qualified as L.S.A. andM.R.C.S.Eng. in 1885and 1889 respectively. The deceased, who was only 39 yearsof age, had been in practice in Bristol for 10 years. He was

extremely popular not only with his patients but alsoamongst the members of the medical profession. Mr.Walker was medical adviser to the local branch of the

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and tookgreat interest in the work. Much sympathy is felt inBristol for his widow and children.

AMBULANCE WORK IN THE FlELD.—Surgeon-General G. J. H. Evatt, principal medical officer of theWestern District, gave an interesting lecture at the head-quarters of the local volunteers in Plymouth on Jan. 10th,the subject being "The Organisation and Working of theArmy Medical Service in the Field" " Surgeon-GeneralEvatt alluded to the fact that in the Western District,stretching from Land’s End to Gloucester, there were onlytwo army surgeons left-himself and another. Civiliansurgeons were coming forward to assist and a militiamedical corps was being organised to take the place of theregulars who were going abroad.