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of men not being taught in our schools, they found themselvesindifferently qualified to occupy. With this chair he associatedthe name of Guthrie.He pointed out to the students the importance of steady

perseverance, and a strict discipline of the mental faculties,and assured them that the acquirement of professional repu-tation began, not on entering on the practice, but on the studyof the profession. ____

WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL.THE Session commenced with an introductory lecture by Mr.BENJAMIN PaiLLIPs. The board-room was fitted up for theoccasion, and there was a full attendance of governors andpupils. The object developed by the lecturer was to show theadvance which had been made by medicine since the oldentime, as evinced by the extension of life. He admitted thathe could not show by conclusive evidence that life had beenextended in Greece; there was only analogy to support this.He could not show how large a mortality had occurred in thesixteenth century in our own country; but he could show, be-yond all question, that since the beginning of the seventeenthcentury, the mortality in the metropolis had lessened aboutsixty per cent., and he maintained that it was mainly owingto improved treatment, and improved sanitary regulations,suggested by medical men. He further showed, conclusively,that to the efforts of medical men alone certain ameliorationsmust be referred. Thus, in 1800, the population of the metro-politan districts was 900,000, and the deaths from small-poxwere 2409. In 1830, when Jenner’s remedy was generallyused, the population having nearly doubled, the deaths fromsmall-pox were but 627. After some further apt illustrationsof the influence of medicine in lightening mortality, he em-phatically observed: "These services cannot be regardedotherwise than as of great value, and should meet with theirappropriate rewards in either honours or emolument in everycountry where great services are acknowledged. And in thiscountry all who merit well meet with their reward, except themedical man." The clergyman might acquire rank, next evento royalty, and possess a princely income; the warrior mightgain a peerage and a pension; the lawyer become Lord Chan-cellor, with a large present income, immense patronage, and apension in reversion. The medical man could never entitlehimself to a pension or a peerage. He might be gentle born;he might be highly educated-a first-class man of his year; hemay have toiled long in his country’s service; he may, likeJenner, have " stayed a plague;" his reputation may be worldwide, but no pension may gladden his heart-no coronet en-circle his brow. He may have toiled in the endeavour toimprove the sanitary condition of his country; may have ex-hausted a lifetime in developing the evils of intramural inter-ments; may have lived to witness the triumph of his principle,and have even forced upon Government the necessity of form-ing a board to carry out remedial measures, but no placeeven at that board will be found for him. These things couldnot fail to burn in the medical man’s mind. Still he pursuedhis benevolent course undismayed; for though neither societynor the state recognised his services, his own conscience did.The lecturer then mentioned that the Westminster Hospitalwas the first to throw itself upon public charity for support,and for more than a century and a quarter had been supportedsolely by voluntary contributions, and he showed how largelyits example had been followed throughout the land. He for-cibly remarked, that the governors had, up to last year, disre-garded the duty of educating students as well as healing thesick, but that now they were intent on atoning for theirneglect; for that the class-rooms, and all other appurtenancesto a medical school, had been made perfectly efficient forinstruction, and he doubted not " that the class-rooms of theschool and the wards of this fine hospital will be animatedwith a class of students who shall go forth from this place tobe a blessing to the people among whom their lot may becast."

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ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL.

THE session was opened by the distribution of prizes obtained Iduring the past session. Sir B. Brodie presided, being sup- Iported by the lecturers. The board-room of the hospital wasdensely crowded. We understand that the " entries" havebeen unusually numerous. Mr. Henry Charles Johnson openedthe proceedings with a short and impressive address. Hedwelt more particularly on the rise and progress of the hos-pital and the school, and the great names which were attachedto the institution. The place which had been adorned by thelabours and the genius of the Hunters, of Cheselden, Heberden

Baillie, Hope, Young, and Wollaston, offered at the present.time not only the examples thus set before the student, butevery requisite for his obtaining a sound and practical edu--cation. After showing briefly the rise of the school, andhaving paid an elegant compliment to the president, theprizemen were announced, and severally received the rewardof their industry. One name amongst these is deserving of.especial attention, not only for the number of prizes its owner

*

had obtained in the school, but for the distinguished positionhe occupied in the examination at the University of London..The gentleman’s name is T. K. Hornidge. Sir B. Brodie de-livered an admirable address, which will be found in anotherpage. ____

HUNTERIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

Dit. ALDIS commenced by stating that numerous medicalpractitioners naturally thought of former days at the openingof each winter session. Some might enjoy a short reverie,.and imagine themselves to be students again. Brief remarks.were then made upon the different periods of medicine fromthe time of the Egyptian priests to that of Harvey. In thelast introductory address which lie delivered, two years ago,allusion was made to the establishment of evening classes.for young men desirous of improving their leisure hours, atthe least possible expense. He alluded to this circum-stance with a view to stimulate students to obtain as muchinformation as possible, that they might not be outstripped byothers in an inferior station of life. The priest alone firstpractised medicine, but a very different state of things existedin the present day. As far as the actual practice of medicine-was concerned, this separation became necessary, but a greater,sympathy might exist between the two co-operating together-for the benefit of mankind. Indeed, he thought it to be theduty of the medical man,when attending the sick, to suggest theattendance of the minister of religion wherever he observed itto be neglected, and not to let patients die like heathens. It wasincumbent upon parents to give their sons a good preliminaryeducation if they intended them for the medical profession,although many had gained celebrity by well directed attentionmerely to medical subjects. To heal the sick was a divine

1 command in holy writ, which recommends honour and love asdue to the medical man. The most eloquent orator alsospeaks of the divine origin of medicine. The lives of yourfellow-creatures will depend upon your skill, and the greatestmisery is entailed upon society by ignorance. This should beconsidered by some of the nobility of this land, who patronizethe medical heresies of the day, as homoeopathy, hydropathy,.and mesmerism. What! has the name of hospital becomedesecrated ? Is that establishment, which has in some coun-tries been named the house of God, to became a receptaclefor homoeopathic trickery? Are the old hospitals and dis.pensaries to languish for want of funds, to be wasted for sucha purpose ? Be careful to avoid " secretum iter et fallentis:semita vitm" The different subjects of medical study required

. by the curricula of the College of Surgeons and Apothecaries"

. Company were then adverted to seriatim, with appropriate-remarks and advice to the first, second, and third year stu-

dents. The danger of procrastination was then alluded to,., many students having lost appointments by neglecting onlyL one course of lectures: they should present themselves for.r examination after due preparation, and not wait, as some had. done, for collegiate reforms, but-’ ) Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise."

SHEFFIELD MEDICAL INSTITUTION.THE introductory address was delivered cn Tuesday evening,Oct. 1, by Dr. JOHN CHARLES HALL, who commenced by con"

gratulating his audience on the flourishing condition of thisschool, and then at great length proceeded to vindicate theposition of medicine as one of the sciences. Medicine wasboth a science and an art; to quote the words of his firstteacher, Sir B. Brodie,-words he hoped they would neverforget, - " -IIedicine was a noble profession, but a low trade :’After showing that medicine was not a chaotic mass, withoutform, and void, but a profession founded on correct generalprinciples, and guided by scientific rules of action; he rapidlysketched the more recent and important of the discoveries.effected by means of the microscope, and the results ofchemical experiment, manifesting that science was the-most simple means for obtaining the greatest effect withthe smallest expenditure of power. Dr. Hall then pro-ceeded to address the students as future members of theprofession. He warned them that those who were idle and

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inattentive, coarse and careless in their general demeanour,wasting the precious hours at their command in discreditablepursuits, would one day find that all these things had beennoted to their ultimate disadvantage, and that professionalsuccess depended not on accidental circumstances, but on thecharacter which they had made for themselves as students.After directing their attention to the importance of a thoroughknowledge of anatomy and chemistry, the difficulty of deter-mining what are remedies and what are not, was pointed out,Dr. Hall remarking, that the fact of a patient having got wellunder a particular mode of treatment goes but a little waytowards establishing its value in a given disease, nor is any-thing sufficient for this purpose short of the same result beingobtained in many similar cases. It was a common thing toadmit the value of remedies without due examination; andunless those whose duty it was to do so guarded against thiserror, they had little right to blame the insane credulity ofothers. More especially were dupes fonnd in the higherranks of life, whom a corresponding error of judgment inducedto believe in the wonder-working powers of metallic tractors,the electuary of the "three devils,"

" the plaster of the hand ofGod," the touch of the King’s hand, the discarded quackeriesof past ages; or, to come to our own days, " phreno-mag-metism," "Godfrey’s cordial," "Parr’s life pills," " Holloway’sointment," "Coffin’s herbs," or that monster-that double-distilled essence of humbug and quackery, homœpathy! Inafter life, when they had joined the ranks of the profession,Dr. Hall earnestly enjoined them to avoid those unworthyand degrading jealousies, which did far more harm than the.attacks of open enemies. He said that no man ever yetattained success, unless he acted with fairness to his brethren.

If they wished to see the moral influence of medicine de-picted in its liveliest hues, he would, with Dr. C. J. Williams,ask them to contemplate a domestic scene-a family, whosehearts are wrung with a dreadful anxiety for one vibratingbetween life and death. What a ministering angel is the

physician then ! How they hang upon his words, how theywing themselves to the souls of the hearers, for sorrow or forjoy! Yet not a week passed in Sheffield -without such a sceneoccurring: they were- passing daily, m- the palace of the noble,in the mansion of. the-rich manufacturer, in the cottage of thegrinder," and they opened the hearts of all, for the moralinfluence of medicine is bound up with the issues of life and,of death.

Dr. Hall said, in conclusion, that the profession of medicinewas the noblest that --could, engage - the mind af man, whenfaithfully studied and conscientiously practised. It had beentoo much the fashion to speak evil things concerning it-tocall it a poor and degraded profession." Poor it may be,- slighted it had been, but " degraded" it may not, cannot- become, so long as its principles .are founded on science, solong as by restoring siht to the blind, feeling and motion tothe paralyzed, and reason to the miserable victim of insanity,its end is proved to be the good of mankind.

CHATHAM-STREET SCHOOL OF MEDICINE,MANCHESTER.

’THE Inaugural Address was delivered by Mr. DORRINGTONon October 1st, at four P.M., in the council chamber of theManchester Town Hall. Allusion was made to the great re-sponsibility assumed by lecturers on medicine-a responsi-bility particularly onerous at present, from the circumstancethat a tendency had latterly been exhibited, by young mem-bers of the profession, to desert legitimate medicine for thefashionable quackeries of the day. This fact was worthtracing up to its causes. Amongst others were named thatrestless anxiety exhibited by all classes of society to attainwealth, influence, and power, without fulfilling the divine,decree of prolonged exertion and patient endurance. Thisled to an inordinate anxiety to secure success by professionalnovelties; and though the well educated and industrious wereable to keep their ground in this competition, nothing wasleft to the indolent and half-instructed but to adopt pseudo-medical systems. The transitional state of the medical art,in regard to treatment, served as a specious excuse forapostasy to those who really were impelled by more un-worthy motives. Another cause was to be found in mencommencing practice before they had obtained sufficientexperience in the treatment of disease; finding its appli-cation more difficult and uncertain than they had expected,they became dissatisfied with our art, instead of conscious oftheir own imperfections. The lecturer then alluded to thetwo recent articles in the British and Foreign Medical Review,

which have been so often alluded to in THE LANCET. Hespoke in the strongest terms of disapprobation of the spirittherein exhibited, and said that such writings, and the cir-cumstance of orthodox practitioners in the metropolis meetingin consultation homoeopathists, &c., could not fail to shake theconfidence of students in the principles and practice of legiti-mate medicine, diminish their salutary repugnance to empiricsand empiricism, lessen their esprit cle corps, and break downin their minds the line of demarcation between truth andfalsehood, honesty and knavery. Another cause was to befound in students entering the profession with a false and ex-aggerated estimate of the powers of medicine. The theory ofspecifics was too rife, and the fact that disease has its naturalhistory, which must be studied, in order that it may be suc-cessfully treated, was not sufficiently recognised. Anothercause was to be found in the unphilosophical constitution ofsome minds, which, incapable of mental toil and laborious ob-servation, flew for repose to some system applicable to all dis-eases, without much labour on the part of its professors, andfell inevitably into some routine treatment from their veryintellectual feebleness. Students were advised to discover thelessons taught by the various species of empiricism, for it wasa fact, that at the basis of almost every system of medicalheresy was to be detected some neglected medical truth.The remaining portion of the lecture pointed out to studentsthe best modes of obtaining sound medical knowledge. Thenecessity of accurate observation, of recording facts observed,and of embracing every opportunity of gaining practicalknowledge, even though this might interfere with some otherstudies, were dwelt upon. The importance of gaining a com-prehensive and complete knowledge of medicine was insistedupon; and, as tending to prevent this, the present system of

giving prizes for excellence in one particular branch of study! was condemned; the student was warned against mental exclu-’ siveness and one-sidedness; and the lecture terminated by a! few remarks upon the importance of a correct regard to’ medical ethics and etiquette, as essential to the formation of’ the perfect medical character.

[We are compelled to postpone until next week a number! of notices of introductory lectures delivered both in Londonand the provinces. Those published in the present number

were the earliest received from our several reporters and cor-, respondents.] ]

CHLOROFORM SUCCESSFULLY ADMINISTEREDTO A MARE PREVIOUSLY TO THE OPERA-TION OF FIRING;

WITH PRACTICAL REMARKS ON ITS ADMINISTRATION.

BY GEORGE BODINGTON, M.D., Sutton-Coldfield.’I HAD recently occasion to consult a veterinary surgeon, as toa slight degree of lameness in the hind leg of a valuable youngblood mare. He at once discovered bone-spavin of the hocks.He recommended firing and blistering as the most effectualmethod of treatment. Having a great aversion to firing, onaccount of the protracted agony and excessive cruelty of theoperation, I objected, unless the mare were placed under theinfluence of chloroform. The veterinary surgeon would notbe responsible for the consequences from the use of that agent,but I decided to take upon myself all responsibility. On themare being cast and hobbled, I immediately applied about &

drachm of chloroform, diffused through a small sponge, whichnearly fitted the aperture of one nostril. This small spongewas placed in the concavity of another large sponge, having a .

hollow or cup-like surface. On the convex side of this Iplaced my hand, and thus kept the small sponge charged withchloroform, exactly upon and over the aperture of the nostril.The mare struggled violently several times whilst inhaling thechloroform, which rapidly evaporated from the sponge, andwas inspired by the animal, fresh supplies being frequentlyadded. At length it took effect, and on the first stroke of thered-hot iron to the hock, the mare evinced not the slightestsensibility or consciousness of pain.The operation of firing is tedious and lingering, occupying

commonly from one to two hours, and during this period themare in question occasionally displayed symptoms of return.ing consciousness, and struggled against the "hobbles" bywhich she was restrained. The chloroform was immediatelyreapplied to the nostril, and almost instantly seemed to takeeffect and produce insensibility.Mr. Graham, the veterinary surgeon of Broad-street, Bir-

mingham, who performed the operation, declared he had.