624

THE LANCET.

LONDON: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1845.

THE FRENCH CONGRESS.—WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL.-MR. WESTLAKE.

WITH the present numerous and urgent claims on our space,an opportunity, only, is afforded to us, this week, for entreat-

ing the profession to examine, with deliberate attention, theconclusion of the report of the proceedings of the MEDICAL-REFORM CONGRESS of Paris. The speech of the Minister,M. DE SALVANDY, must obtain for that distinguished states-man universal admiration and respect.

It must not be forgotten that the CONGRESS at Paris hasdeclared in favour of a ONE-FACULTY SYSTEM. In England,certain parties are labouring to establish a twentieth medicalcorporation !

PUBLIC attention continues to be painfully attracted to thecabal at the Westminster Hospital. A mine seems to besprung which threatens the destruction of that establishment,both as a charitable institution and a medical school. Sixteen

students, more than half of whom have not entered the hos-

pital three months, charge one of the medical officers with" incompetency." The WEEKLY BoABD of Governors refer

the letter of accusation to the Medical Committee of the hos-

pital, who 11 report" back to the Board that the document issigned by persons who are not competent to make the charges.The subject being wholly a medical one, it might have beenconsidered that the affair would have here terminated. But

a sinister object is to be accomplished, and, therefore, not-withstanding the deliberate decision of the MEDICAL COM-

MITTEE, on a subject strictly medical, the managers of theplot resolve to transfer the question to the general body of ’,lay Governors. The judgment of the schemers, evidently, isfar inferior to their dishonesty. In making this appeal theyhave only further ensured their own discomfiture, defeat, anddisgrace. A vote of the general body of Governors againstthe decision of the Medical Committee would be, virtually,a vote of censure on their whole medical establishment. A

body of gentlemen having only the good of the Institution inview will not lend themselves to low-minded selfish purposes,nor will they approve of any proceeding which might havethe effect of deterring men of science, ability, and honour,from becoming candidates for the important and onerousoffices in their hospital.

Art extraordinary sensation has been excited in the troubledtown of Andover by the discovery of the fact, that an entrywas made last week by one of the guardians in the visitersbook" of the workhouse, q&bgr;rr it had been examined by theboard and duly signed. The fraudulent entry was of course

directed against Mr. WESTLAKE, the surgeon. A LAMB, itis reported, witnessed the commission of the fraud, but thereare such monsters as " wolves in sheep’s clothing." If the

guilty guardian escape the treadmill, justice will be cheatedof her due.

COMMUNIC9TIONS from all parts of the kingdom supply con-clusive evidence that the fate of the SECRET LAWLESS CoM-

MITTEE is decided. The feelings of distrust, disgust, and

indignation, which the conduct of that corrupt and vicious

body has produced are universal. Annihilated is its autho-

rity ; prostrate is its power. Although the censures of itsopponents may have weakened its influence, still, its moraland intellectual dissolution is the natural result of its own

dishonest and stupid proceedings. When the close and in-

triguing acts of this body are contrasted with the open andnoble labours of the MEDICAL CONGRESS OF PAITIS, whatodious features do the former present ! i The contrast pointsat once, and unerringly, to the true character of the plottersin REGENT-STREET. How bright an opportunity has beenlost by men who were appointed to direct their efforts againstthe selfish, secret, monopolizing councils of our governingcolleges ! Yet in all that is selfish, deceitful, and covert,infir.itely worse is the lawless band in Regent-street. In-

fluenced by some wicked contrivers amongst them, the ma-jority of the Committee have been induced to pursue an in-fatuated course of folly and wickedness. The wilfully, orthe stupidly, blind in that body, amount, apparently, to thirty-seven in number; but it is of infinitely less importance toknow who are the passive agents in perpetrating so muchmischief, than to be made acquainted with the actual authorsof the iniquities. In pursuing the work of detection, newfacts are constantly disclosed which point to the real delin-

quents. That they are in the Committee is proved by theacts of the Committee. That they are in the Sub-co--nmitteeis established beyond a doubt. Are they in the " deputation,"consisting only of three, or, rather, of only two, members ; forone of them, from his venerable years, ought to be sparedevery disparaging and painful reference in such an inquiry ? 2It was an unfortunate hour for Mr. PENNiNGTON when he

consented to serve in such an office. It was hardly possiblethat he could be associated with two less desirable com-

panions than BIRD and ANCELL. But an octagenarian, whose

pursuits had ever ranged widely from the cause of medicalreform, and every matter in connexion with that subject,might have been exactly suited to the views and objects ofhis two peculiar fellow-labourers. Had the proceedings ofthe Committee been conducted openly, before the members ofthe Association, in the face of the profession, and in thepresence of the press, is it possible that a deputation, thusconstituted, could have been appointed, invested as it was

with an unrestricted authority " to accept such a charter asthe government might be disposed to grant" ? There is no

resting place to be found within any part of the vast field of

probabilities for such an event. But we must return to this

topic presently.Already has it been shown that the Provisional Committee

of the 7th of December was converted into a "permanent,"irresponsible body, without laws for its government, on the14th of last March. That Committee assembled, for the first

time, on the following Tuesday, March 18th, when the Sus-CoMMiTTEE was appointed, by the adoption of the followingresolution :-

625PROOFS OF "THE LANCET" CHARGES AGAINST THE COMMITTEE.

- On the motion of A. HARDWICK, Esq., seconded by T. L. IVTKEELEB, Esq., the following gentlemen were elected a Sub-Committee : I

Nathaniel Clifton.John Dodd.James Bird.H. P. Fuller.J. Freeman.

J. Hunter.E. D. Moore.John Nussey.Henry Ancell.R. R. Pennington.

J. Propert.A. M. Randall.G. I. Squibb.E. Tegart.J. P. Peregrine."

Nothing further is stated. The duties which that Sub-

Committee had to discharge were altogether undefined. This

is an imperi2cm in imperio, without rules for its government,and it may, therefore, be correctly denominated another law-less body; but here, again, are the two everlasting, ever-present, ever-prominent apothecaries, BIRD and ANCELL.

From St. Marylebone to the Home-Office, they are obtrudedupon our notice at every step.Having placed the names of the fifteen members of the i

Sub-Committee before the profession, we ask if any one ofthose persons, until the recent proceedings, was ever asso-ciated with the subject of medical reform ? With the exceptionof BIRD and ANCELL, we believe that the whole of them havebeen most actively engaged, during many years past, in veryextensive professional practice. As apothecaries, they havebeen well known in their respective localities. Mr. CLIFTON,probably, is the only one of the fifteen who has practised surgery.The names of the Sub-Committee are here recorded. That

the intriguing adventurers are to be found in this council offifteen, is, we think, demonstrable. How can a doubt be

entertained on the subject, when it is proved that this is theidentical Sub-Committee which was appointed on the 6th ofAugust last to prepare the 11 ADDRESS" to the members of

the Association ? And, although the Government Bill wasprinted and published on thefollowing dag,-namely, on the7th of August, and was not adopted until six days afterwards;namely, on the 13th of August,-the most marked and scrupu-lous silence was observed throughout that " Address," relativeto the construction of a measure which, in the month of Septem-ber, the Committee has found it to be expedient to condemn.As a cloak to the deception practised in August, what was

the manoeuvre of the Sub-Committee on the 23rd of Sep-tember ? Then, in connexion with the names of BIRD andANCELL, the two falsehoods were published,-first, that theBill which had been ordered by the House of Commons to beprinted on the 28th of July, but was not out of the printer’shands until Two OR THREE wEEKS afterwards; and that theADDRESS to the members of the Association was dated the 9th

of August, whereas it was actually adopted on the 13th, and isdated on that day in the " TRANSACTIONS" of the 14th ofAugust.There are other acts of this Sub-committee equally repre-

hensible, and all partaking of the same character. Again,then, we ask, who is the author, or who are the authors, ofthese scandalous practices ? Who were the fabricators, the

inventors, of the published falsehoods ? 2In proceeding with our scrutiny, we next discover that

three of the members of this Sub-committee form the depu-tation from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, BIRD and ANCELL

constituting two out of its three members. It would be quiteidle to refer to the venerable third member as an active coad-

jutor. His name, of course, was inserted in the resolution

which appointed BIRD and ANCELL, to serve a purpose. Now,what duty do those individuals-in their REPORT, dated the5th of August, signed by themselves, and published in the" TRANSACTIONS" of the 14th of August-inform the deludedmembers of the Association that they were empowered toexecute ? Here are their own words :-

" The Deputation have been appointed, with full authority on" behalf of the National Association of General Practitioners,"to accept such a ciwrter of Incorporation for the General" Practitioners, as the Crown might be advised to grant."

FULL AUTHORITY to accept a Charter ! ! Subsequently, theDeputation, thus constituted, informs the Sub-committee that" the details of this Charter being under discussion, and pro-"bably requiring alteration and amendment, it cannot, at

" present, be made a public document." This is the language:of the " deputation" in November! ! A public document ? t’

It has not yet been seen by the members of the Committee.Even from them it has been concealed. Thus, in all the

transactions of this body we find that a strict system of

secrecy is perseveringly maintained. It is a secret Committee =

a secret Sub-committee ; a secret Deputation ; and BIRD andANCELL coolly inform the members of the Association thatthey have full authorit!!, in conjunction with their veneraòlf.’

and easy companion, to accept such a Charter of Incorporat.nas the Crown might be advised to grant! ! There is, indeed, htiltone step from the " sublime to the ridiculous." Twelve

months since who could have conjectured that the suffragesand interests of twenty thousand general practitioners would

be placed, by a Committee avowedly appointed to protect. the profession, at the command and disposal of a gentle-man, aged upwards of eight!} years, and JAMES BIRD andHENRY ANCELL, apothecaries! A vast tempest, terminating

i its gyrations in two contemptible puddles, would not present

, a more impotent or unattractive conclusion. The sun of

hope, which a few months since shone so brilliantly over theprospects of the profession, now appears, in the distant horizon,to be indistinctly divided into two unsightly orbs, from whichlight will never emanate.What a picture of duplicity and intrigue do the proceed-

ings of the Committee, the Sub-committee, and the Deputa-tion, present to the profession! Organized as was the NA-TIONAL ASSOCIATION for the express purpose of destroyingthe odious system of secret and irresponsible government inthe Medical Colleges, no sooner was the vote securing the

permanency of the Committee obtained, dishonestly obtained,than it became a secret body ; and from that hour, a strict,rigid system of concealment has been enforced at all its meet-ings. Even the three deputies, seizing upon THE PARENTVICE, hold fast by the details of the projected Charter, andsneeringly announce to their brother Committee-men, andaudaciously proclaim to the members of the Association gene-rally, that as the draught 11 may probably require alterationand amendment, it cannot be made a public document 1"

Such is the disgusting picture which portions, only, of the pro-ceedings of the Sub-committee and the Deputation have pre-sented to the indignant gaze of the profession.

626 DEMAND FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY.

Stung and tormented by the exposures which we havelately made in THE LANCET, a section of the Committee hasassembled, deliberated, and published in the newspapers of

Saturday last the following advertisement. We earnestlyentreat for it the attentive perusal of the profession.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of GENERALPRACTITIONERS in MEDICINE, SURGERY, and

MIDWIFERY. Office, 294, Regent-street, Nov. 27, 1845.-At a SPECIAL MEETING of the Committee of the NationalAssociation, held on Wednesday, Nov. 26, ]845, convened inpursuance of a resolution to consider the propriety of noticingthe unfounded attacks recently made in the last two numbers ofTHE LANCET upon the character and conduct of the joint depu-tation and the Hon. Secretaries-

PRESENT

E. Baker, Esq.F. A. B. Bonney, Esq.J. B. Brown, Esq.N. Clifton, Esq.G. C. Dale, Esq.T. Davis. Esq.John Dodd, Esq.H. C. Harris, Esq.J. B. Eyles, Esq.G. Fincham, Esq.J. Freeman, Esq.H. P. Fuller, Esq.N. Grant, Esq.A. Hardwick, Esq.E. Headland, Esq.H. James, Esq.W. 0. Lucas, Esq.W. Maclure, Esq;

1

J. Merriman, Esq.E. D. Moore, Esq.R. Norton, Esq.J. P. Peregrine, Esq.J. Propert, Esq.A. M. Rondall, Esq.G. J. Squibb, Esq.W. Smith, Esq.R. Stocker, Esq.J. Sutton, Esq.R. Tanner, Esq.E. Tegart, Esq.W. R. Vickers, Esq.T. W. Wansbrough, Esq.L. Weaver, Esq.G. Webster, Esq.G. Webster, Esq.G. Wooley, Esq.

It was moved by Thomas Martin, Esq., of Reigate, and secondedby J. Sutton, Esq., of Greenwich, and unanimously resolved-

That although this Committee have hitherto abstained fromnoticing the unfounded and scurrilous attacks which have fromtime to time appeared in THE LANCET, yet, in consequence ofthe recent attempt to hold up to unmerited obloquy the charactersand conduct of the deputation appointed by the National Asso-ciation to confer with the Government on the subject of medicalreform, they consider it due to their venerable President, and theother esteemed members of the deputation, to assure them thatthe Committee entertain the most unqualified and unabated con-fidence in their judgment, discretion, integrity, and zeal, and afirm conviction that their independent conduct in the arduousnegotiations committed to their care entitle them to the respectand gratitude of the profession at large.The Committee cannot help expressing their indignation that

an attempt. should have been made to separate the HonorarySecretaries from the other members of the Committee, everydocument in the transactions of the Association to which thenames of those gentlemen have been appended having been pre-viously adopted by the Committee or by the Sub-committee, andhaving been printed and circulated by their order.*The Committee beg also to express to those gentlemen their

most cordial thanks and unfeigned personal regard, and to recordtheir opinion that the late attack upon them has proceeded frompersonal pique, disappointed vanity, and a malignant desire todestroy the harmony which has so happily prevailed among theCommittee.

Signed, JOHN NUSSEY, Chairman.If we required a confirmation of the truth of all the allega-

tions which we have made against the Committee, we would

triumphantly refer to this advertisement. First, be it ob-

* We shall notice this branch of the subject in the nextLANCET; meantime, the thirty-seven persons who have adoptedthe resolution, ought to enable us to connect the names of BIRDand ANCELL with the names of those members of the Sub-com-mittee who prepared the ADDRESS between the 6th and 13th daysof August, but whose names are not published in the " Txarrsac-TIONS ;" and also the names of the members of the Sub-com-mittee who were present on the 23rd of September, when theadvertisement was prepared which contained the falsehoods wehave exposed. We are exceedingly anxious that the names ofthose Sub-committee men, in both instances, should be connectedwith those of BIRD and ANCELL. A happy combination!

served, the Committee consists of 105 members, and theadvertisement states that they were specially convened " to" consider the propriety of noticing the unfounded attacks

"recently made in TnE LANCET." Although specially con-vened, how many out of the 105 members attended and

adopted the published resolutions ? Thirty seven !-that

minority amounting only to a fraction over one-third of thewhole number of members. We thank these sapient gentle-men for thus announcing to the world that two-thirds of theCommittee decline to call in question the strict and punc-tilious accuracy of our allegations.But what say the thirty-seven ? Why, that the " attacks"

we have made upon them are "unfounded:’ Where is the

proof ? 2 Have we not, even to a wearisome extent, furnisheddates and details, times, places, circumstances, for all the

charges we have made ? P Is even one date proved to havebeen incorrect-a single fact to have been misrepresented ?All the items in our indictment, with their clear and distinct

specifications, encounter - what ? 2 An assertion that our

charges are unfounded. This is a new mode of pleading--anovel device for getting rid of accusations positively and dis-tinctly made. Had the charge been general, one of an

undefined character, ambiguous in its nature, it might havebeen called an "attack," as any accusation against a person may,possibly, be designated. But are the words "denial" and

" refutation" synonymous terms ? 2 The thirty-seven are ofthat way of thinking. They have not the sagacity to discoverwhat everybody else must perceive, viz., that those wise anddiscreet persons have been passing a vote declaratory of theirown innocence! I As well might they bay the moon,-if theyidentify themselves with the acts of the Sub-committee and

the Deputation. Are the thirty-seven willing or unwillingdupes ? for it is difficult to conjecture. They pass a vote infavour of their own honesty ! Take the case of a committee

of a railway :-A shareholder charges the committee withconducting their proceedings in secret,-with misrepresent-ing facts,-with falsifying dates ; and, further, declares thatthe names of the honorary secretaries have been published inconnexion with deliberate falsehoods. What is the answer

to those accusations ? 2 Why, that the " attacks" are un-

founded, and that thirty-seven members of the committeefeel an unfeigned personal regard for the secretaries SNIPE

and SNEAK! Sensible people may stare, and men of tasteand judgment may be lost in wonder. But so it is. SNIPE

and SNEAK are voted to be "objects of personal regard" witha third of the committee.

But if the statements of the shareholder were true, were

not the thirty-seven guilty of publishing a falsehood, in assert-ing that they were unfounded ? Undoubtedly. And preciselyin that opprobrious, disreputable, and ungentlemanly pre-dicament is the SNirE-and-SNEAK-loving section at this

moment.

We challenge the Committee to AN OPEN INQUIRY into thesubject,-to A PUBLIC INVESTIGATION into the truth of ouraccusations. We challenge them to meet the charges in thepresence of the MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION, the PROFES-

siorr, and THE PRES ; and if they decline to refer the matters

627DR. MARSHALL HALL AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

in dispute to competent, disinterested, and unerring autho-rities, and shrink from such a scrutiny as is here challenged,they must abide the consequences.The members of the Association must begin to move in

order to protect themselves from the acts and designs of theCommittee and Deputation.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.A NOTE FROM DR. MARSHALL HALL.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

StB,—I have long since resolved never again to enter intocontroversy of any kind.

I now beg to lay the subjoined arrangement of the spinalsystem before your readers, as portraying what really isclaimed by me in regard to advancements recently made inour knowledge of the NERVOUS SYSTEM, in order to obviatethe misapprehension which must otherwise ensue from the ob-servations of DR. COPLAND, which relate, in fact and entirely,to what I not only do not, and never did claim, but haveactually disclaimed again and again.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,14, Manchester-square, Dec. 3, 1845. MARSHALL HALL.

THE TRUE SPINAL SYSTEMCOMPRISES FIVE POINTS:

MARSHALL HALL.

IN another page we have devoted considerable attention to

the complaints urged against us by Dr. COPLAND. The doc-

trines of Dr. MARSHALL HALL have now become the leadingsubjects of debate between Dr. COPLAND and our Reviewer,and we have entered upon them more fully than has hithertobeen done by any medical journal in this country. It is now

thirteen years since Dr. HALL presented to the scientific

world the series of investigations which resulted in the dis-

covery of the reflex physiology of the spinal marrow, and itis extraordinary that, at the present day, so much misappre-hension should exist respecting it, even among public teachersof medicine. There have been many and fierce disputations,some of them by no means honourable to science, and hisWorst enemies must allow that in every encounter Dr. HALL

has signally defeated his opponents. Still, the progress of

important truths is uniformly slow, and beset by many hin-drances. Recently DR. HALL has been silent on the matter, per-mitting it to wait for other advocates and its own good time.

Reflex actions, or sympathies, both of a pathological andexperimental kind, had long received the attention of physio-

logists, and had been vaguely attributed to the SPINAL MAR-Bow by some; but the knowledge of the REFLEX FUNCTION of-this great division of the nervous system is the work of our own

age, and of Dr. MARSHALL HALL alone. Long ago :MULLERpronounced the labours of BELL to be " the second discoveryin physiology," but now the name of HALL is a candidate forthe glory of being second to the illustrious HARVEY; and, cer-tainly, if we are to look in each case to extent, completeness,and applicability to the knowledge and relief of disease, theaward must be made in favour of our living countryman.

CHEMICAL RESEARCHES INTO THE POTATODISEASE.—A NEW DISCOVERY.

THE contradictory hypothesis concerning the nature of themorbid change which has taken place in so large a quantityof the potatoes of the last autumn, and the preposterous pre-scriptions for preserving them, have (we are informed) ledthe distinguished chemist, Dr. URE, to make a series of

researches on the subject, the general results of which

are-

1. That the disease consists in the conversion of a portionof the starch into saccharine matter, and of the albumen intoa nauseous acrid principle ; which, together, cause the ex-pressed juice of the potatoes to putrefy most rapidly ; but thatif a little yeast be mixed with the juice, a vigorous vinousfermentation is immediately commenced, and a proportion ofalcohol formed in the course of two or three days, which,reckoned in proof spirit, is equivalent to five per cent. of

saccharum in the potatoes. The spirit distilled from the

fermented expressed juice is by no means unpleasant in odouror taste, but that which is obtained from the macerated sliced

potato-liquor partakes, in these respects, somewhat of therank and sickly flavour of the acrid principles above men-tioned. Did the feudal despotism of our excise laws permitthe inhabitants of this " free" country to convert the diseased

potatoes into spirit, using the residual cake, in which therecan be nothing that is deleterious, as good " conservative"food for cows and hogs, as much alcohol might be formedfrom them as would suffice for every purpose of medicine,pharmacy, the arts, and manufactures, leaving the corn forthe sustenance of a temperate population.We shall be enabled to give the details of these researches

of Dr. UEE next week ; meanwhile, we are authorized to say,that he considers the plan of dusting slaked lime over thepotatoes, as prescribed by the three Irish commissioners, to be

eminently objectionable. Such lime being already saturatedwith water, it cannot tend to keep the tubers dry, but, with alittle moisture, would act powerfully in decomposing allanimal and vegetable matter. When placed dry, in a per-fectly dry atmosphere, potatoes may be preserved during anylength of time; and this advantage can be readily obtainedby piling them on a bed of brushwood and straw, interspersingamong the pile unslaked lime, coarsely bruised, and then

covering them up well on the top and sides, from the externalelements, either in a house or proper pit. Thus, an arid

atmosphere being maintained around each potato, the vegetablewill not be affected by the dry lime ; which, also, during its