243

of pustular maturation. The same poison,therefore, gave varioloid to the mother,and true small-pox to the child. Thesmall-pox communicated to the child inutero is not necessarily fatal. I haveknown a child born with it, survive.Another remarkable and perfectly authen-ticated case happened within the circle ofmy acquaintance :-A young lady, residingnear Dublin, was vaccinated when an

infant. There is reason to believe thatthe vaccination was not properly watched,so as to ascertain whether it had succeeded.When eight years old, this young ladycaught the true small-pox from infection,the disease was not at any period of itsprogress dangerous, and left no pits. At

eighteen years of age, she was again at-tacked, but the disease was now varioloid,and not attended by secondary fever. Shedid not escape, however, so well with re-gard to its consequences, for she was

evidently marked. In such cases, as hasbeen long ago remarked, the pits on thesurface of the skin are very different fromthose left by the pustules of the small-pox.—Dr. Graves.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, May 18, 1833.

FRENCH CONCOURS.—MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

WE have received the French journalsup to Sunday the 12th of May inclusive.The last No. of the Archives Générales de

3fedecirte was published on the 7th instant.the Journal de Chinzie Dledicale on the llth,and the Annales d’Hygeiene on the 10th.Of these, the last is the only one whichcontains a single article of interest to theBritish reader.

From the Lancette Française, Gazette ISIe-dicnle, and Joutyutl Hebdomadaire, as well asfrom the letters of our correspondent, welearn that the pseudo-concours is in pro-

gress, but that this paltry mockery of aconcours excites no attention. Why shouldit? Let the oral proofs turn as they may,the professor is already " appointed."Never was there a more odious, a more

iniquitous piece of humbug. But what

better could be expected, when the regu-lators of the proceedings, the Couseile

Royale de l’Université, consist exclnsively

of the creatures of the double betrayer

of his own foul blood, and of the liberties

of his country ?

ANATOMICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATION.

The medico-legal department of the An-nales d’Hygeiae, contains some very valu-able papers. The first is a series of re-

ports by MM. Chevallier and Boys de

Loury, on the case of Ramus, who wasmurdered in Paris last August, by the ad-ministration of a dose of weak prussicacid, and decapitation during the insensi-

bility induced by the poison. The mur-

derer, as soon as the deed was accom-

plished, cut up the body into several

pieces, some of which he threw into the

Seine, and others he hid in various drainsand private places. The principal pointsreferred by the authorities to the medicalexaminers, were the identification of the

pieces of the body, the determination ofthe question of decapitation before or afterdeath, and the analysis of the contents ofthe stomach and intestines. The first of

these was readily answered, by the uni-

formity of colour of the hair on all the

pieces, the identical texture of the skin,the apposition of the various sections, andthe fact of four of the cervical vertebras

remaining with the head, and three withthe trunk. It was concluded that the

decapitation had taken place during life,from the ansemic state of the viscera, theretraction of the divided parts, and espe-cially from the collapsed and bloodlessstate of the heart. Lastly, the analysisof the gastro-intestinal contents, guided bythe fact of a smell of bitter almonds existingin the stomach, led to the detection of

prussic acid by the ordinary process, fullydescribed in this journal. The chief in-terest attached to the chemical investiga-tion is the detection of the prussic acidseven days after death. The medical andchemical reports here alluded to were

drawn up before the apprehension of the

assassin, and the conclusions they con..

tained were subsequently fully borne out

244 ANALYSIS OF SUSPICIOUS FLUID.

by his confession. He was guillotined inParis about six weeks since.

MEDICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATION.

The next article is of the highest prac-tical value. It is the narrative of the in-

vestigations pursued in a case of suspectedpoisoning. Inquiries of this kind are thenicest and most difficult that the medico-

legal chemist can be called on to con-

duct. He has usually no positive indi-

cation to guide him, and if he trust tovague notions and suspicions, he is almostsure to be led astray. In proportion tothe absurdity of the suspicion, his difficul-’ties increase, and arrive at their acmewhen the charge is totally devoid of foun-dation, for it may now be admitted that itis a matter of much greater facility todetect any of the recognizable poisonsthan to prove the absence of the wholeof the poisons of that description.The facts detailed in the present nar-

rative, relate, briefly, to a woman jea-lous of her husband, determined to poisonhim, and for that purpose endeavouringto buy some arsenic. The vender, to de-ceive her, substituted gum arabic, in

powder, for the arsenic, and she accord-ingly mixed the gum with a cup of coffee,and gave it to her intended victim. The

husband’s suspicions being excited by theunusual taste, the wife became terrified,and attempted to spill what remained.She was, however, prevented from exe-cuting this purpose, and the remains ofthe mixture were preserved for analysis,which operation was intrusted to MM.Girardin and Baruel. ,The fluid was contained in a bottle,

filled to the neck. It was of a whitish

colour, and seemed to be very viscous;some oily globules formed at its surface.Guided by this indicator, the bottle wasfilled to the mouth with distilled water,

placed in a warm situation, and the oilyglobules which rose to its surface, wereremoved every half hour with a pipette.About four drachms of oil were thus pro-cured. This oil was free from any acrid

or bitter taste, and possessed all the pro-perties of olive oil.The oil being removed, the remaining

contents of the bottle were boiled in a

water-bath, and then filtered. The filtra- i

tion was extremely slow, but the flitid

which did pass was quite clear, and thereremained on the filter a clotted, greyish,large residuum. The limpid fluid was ofa brown colour, and acid smell and re-

action. Treated by a current of sulphu-retted hydrogen gas, it underwent no

change, even after twelve hours repose,nor on the addition of some drops of mn-I riatic acid. The absence of the majorityof mineral poisons was thus proved. Itthen remained to examine whether anyvegetable poison could be detected, andwhat was the nature of the substances

present, although no poison existed. Theresidual fluid was, for this purpose, placedin a retort, and distilled from a water bathto the consistence of a syrup. The dis-tilled fluid had an alcoholic and acid smelland reaction. To ascertain what was the

acid, and to separate the alcohol, the fluidwas saturated with potash, and a thirtiethpart then removed by distillation. This

product was manifestly alcoholic. The

original saturated fluid from which thealcohol had thus been removed, was eva.porated in a glass capsule to one-tenth ofits volume ; this tenth being placed in asmall retort, eight drops of sulphuric acidadded, and clistil lation repeated, a colourlessfluid, having all the properties of aceticacid, condensed in the receiver.The syrupy matter in the retort was

then mixed with strong alcohol in largequantities, and a flaky, filamentous, whitematter, was separated in great abundance.The fluid was filtered. It passed with

rapidity, had lost its viscosity, and theprecipitate was collected, and dried in ai,apour-batli. When dry it was whitish,of mucilaginous taste, and partially solu-I ble in water. Treated with nitric acid,fumes of nitrous acid were evolved, and asediment of mucic acid was produced, whileoxalic acid remained in solution. The pre-cipitate was thus proved to have been

chiefly composed of gum.The alcoholic filtered fluid was now

evaporated to dryness, the product dis-

solved in water, and divided into three

portions. Persulphate of iron added toone did not heighten its colour, as it wouldhave done were opium present in any form.In the second, ammonia produced no pre-cipitate, even after standing twenty-four

245THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

hours. Nitric acid added to the third,occasioned no change of colour, neitherdid the proto-muriate of tin; consequentlyno detectable vegetable alcaloid existed inthe fluid examined.There now remained to be examined

the clotted residuum, which, after the firstboiling and filtering, remained on the pa-per. It was insoluble in water, greasy tothe touch, not changed in colour by iodineor sulphuretted hydrogen, by which quali-ties the absence of amilaceous matters, orsoluble metallic poisons, was ascertained.Heated on iron, oily drops exuded, whichinflamed like butter, and the remainingmass burned away, evolving a smell of

cheese. To prove the presence of these two substances, a part of the mass washeated with ammonia, which dissolved the Icaseum, and left the butter in the form of I,white flakes, which fused when heated,and again became solid when cooled. Sul-phuric acid, added to the ammoniacal so-lution, produced a white precipitate ofcaseous clots.

Lastly, to ascertain whether the pre-cipitate contained any insoluble mineralpoison, it was calcined in a platinumcapsule. The cinder treated with nitric

acid, and the clear solution thus obtained,was found, on examination, to contain notthe least trace of copper, or other mineral

poison.By the preceding analysis, the substance

examined was shown to contain alcohol,acetic acid, gum, sugar, oil, and milk.

The analysts express some doubt whetherthe two first were not products of decom-position of the fluid examined. They con-clude, moreover, by " denying the pre-sence of any mineral or vegetable poisonin the examined fluid." Our readers havethus been afforded a good example of theniceties involved in these inquiries. We

do not, however, by any means, believethat the reporters were entitled to cometo the peremptory conclusion they havededuced. All they could correctly statewas, that no " recognizable" poison ex-

isted, &c. Without performing a quanti-tative analysis of a given weight of thefluid (say 100 grains), and finding a cer-tain weight of each of its ingredients, forillustration, thus-..

without this the analyst merely finds thatsuch ingredients exist in the substance,but he does not prove that they composeit altogether. Our readers will readilyunderstand this important point, by con-sidering the illustration we have given.The remaining papers shall be noticedin another Number.WE trust that long ere this some of the

blockheads who supported the election ofhis Royal Highness the DUKE of SUSSEX tothe Presidency of the Royal Society, havesuffered the pangs of shame consequent onso foolish an act. Royalty and science’How the terms assirnilaie ! As harmo-

niously as poison and antidote, igno-rance and knowledge. The selection of a

prince, because he was a prince, to presioeover a society claiming to be consideredas a scientific body, resembles topping the

temple of science with a cap and bells. If

such an institution as that of the RoyalSociety be not admired and esteemed forits accumulated stores of information, andits consequent utility, the whole concernsinks into a mockery, becomes a jugglebefore the community, and instead of af-fording an honourable protection to menof )’eal attainments, it must be prostitutedto the base and unworthy purpose of con-ferring the title of F.R.S. on individuals

whose only claim to the distinction con-

sisted in practising that mean and des-

picable species of sycophancy through theinstrumentality of which, the paltry mock

honour may be acquired. Did the " Roy-alist" party in this Society imagine that

246 REFORM IN THE VACCINE BOARD.

the want of mental ornament would be once enjoyed, until it is purged of at leastmore than compensated by the epicu- half the individuals who have contrived

rean and bacchanalian pleasures of Ken- by some means or other to be incorporatedsington Palace? If so, the disappointment amongst its fellows. The fact must not

they now experience is not intellectual he concealed, that the title of F.R.S. is

but sensual. The mischievous wights are now seen attached to the names of indi-

stung where their feelings are most acute. viduals, whose literary claims would notThe entertainments at the Palacehave been justify their occupying the secretaryshipfew and far between, and the invitations of a parochial club. Instead of leavingpartial; in short, the whole of the mem.- the elections to the entire body of asso-bers have not been honoured by the civil- ciates, an electoral committee, annuallyities of the Royal President, and, strange chosen by the Fellows, should regulateto relate, amongst the individuals who have the admissions to the general body. At

been thus slighted, are some in the highest all events, if some change do not take

degree distinguished for their scientific place, and that alteration prove a greatand literary attainments. In short, the eti- practical improvement on the presentquette now observed by the Duke as the system, the Society will, if possible, sinkPresident of the Society,-is as insulting to a lower position than the degraded oneas it is pointless, and tends to make which it at present occupies.courtiers or sycophants of the entire body ’ ’ ’ --’

of Fellows. Can it be credited, for ex- THANKS to the talents, integrity, andample, that the Royal President declines industry, of Mr. WARBUBTON,—the PRE-to invite any Fellow of the Society SIDENT and CENSORS of the College ofto the occasional soirees at Kensington Physicians, and the PRESIDENT of the

Palace, who does not happen to have College of Surgeons-those self-sufficient,undergone a formal introduction to him selfish sinecurists of the National Vaccineeither at the rooms of the Institution or Board - will no longer have the opportunityelsewhere,-his appearance at the former of drawing salaries from the public purse,now being a rare event ? Thus a pre- in return for the only labour performedvious crouching to some underling toad- by them--that of applying to the treasuryeater, is the only passport to the scientific for the money. This board, in short, is

meetings at the Palace. We mention thee purged of its useless and gaudy append-circumstances with pain. The Royal Duke ages, whilst all the valuable, the working,is not without sense, neither is he devoid part of the machinery is retained, and

of manly feeling. His ear, we suspect, is without any reduction from the small

poisoned by some creature that is ever salaries of the gentlemen who have dis-fawning and cradling about his person. It charged all the duties connected with theis, therefore, earnestly to be hoped, that institution. The influence of Sir HENRY

all interested, petty-minded, advisers will HALFORD is on the wane. That slipperybe removed from his confidence, and that nose, which used to penetrate into everyhe will discharge his daty as the President medical sanctuary with impunity is nowof a Society which ought to consist of an receiving some painful pinches betweenassemblage of the first scientific men in doors and architraves, where gold-lacedthe world. But in justice to the Duke it attendants were formerly in the habit ofmust be observed, that no exertions ou most servilely booing at the eutre of the

his part can ohtain for the Royal royal bnlletin-signer. Sir HENRY should

Society the high consideration which it take the advice of an observer, if not of a

247MEMORIAL FROM APOTHECARIES HALL.

friend. He should quit the scene of his Iformer exploits, and retire to his country I

seat, or wholly devote his great talents tothe duties of private practice, and leavethe colleges, and all other medical corpo-rations, to work out their own regenera-tion, without putting their members to

the pain of brushing off with their ownhands the slimy creatures which hangabout the walls of these decayed edifices.

ALARMED, and not without cause, at the

prospect before them, the MASTER andWARDENS of the SOCIETY of APOTHECA-

RIES have presented a " memorial" to theSECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DE-

PARTMENT, pretending to explain the ad-vantages that have resulted from their ad-ministration of the powers of the Act of

1815, and the evils that may arise from

effecting any change in the principle ordetails of that statute. At the, same timeit is our duty to state, that a negotiationhas been opened by the occupiers of Rhu- barb Hall and the Bats’ Cave in Lincoln’sInn Fields. The two bodies, we suspect, Iin their secret proceedings, are promptedby one motive-that of self-interest. Thus,if the members of the College of Surgeons,Licentiates of the College of Physicians,and the students at our public and privateschools, remain passive, we may have somecause for fearing—notwithstanding the

upright intentions of the Government

with respect to the proposed changes inmedical law-that no just and general ex-tension of the rights of the colleges will bederived from annulling or altering the

power of the Worshipful Company of

Apothecaries. We must act,—promptlyact. " Time and circumstance" are in

our favour; the disposition of the Go-

vernment is friendly to the mass of prac-titioners, and favourable to the interests ofthe public, so far as those interests are con-cerned in the due cultivation of the sci-

ence of medicine. In one paragraph of

the Company’s memorial, which will be

found at page 256 of our present Number,we find this passage :-

I " That the sums of money received bythe Society of Apothecaries for certificatesof qualification, are not more than suffi-cient to defray the necessary expenses ofenforcing the law against incompetent andunqualified practitioners, and the other

necessary expenses of administering theAct, and that no part whatever of thesums so received has been, or is, appro-priated to the private purposes of thisSociety."

Whence the necessity of recordingthe concluding portion of this sentence

if the former part of it is in accordance

with the truth? Why, truly, if all the

money received has been only sufficientto defray the necessary expenses, there wasMone left to be " appropriated to the pri-vate purposes of the Society." In short,the public appetite for the cash was sostrong that there was none left to gratifythe private propensity to palm the gold.Is it not true that the Society has receivedfrom medical students forty thousand

pounds ? And if so, what has become of

the cash? Have they founded a singlemedical professorship, or even have theyfounded a single scholarship ? No, not one;but the money has been expended, forsooth,

in the prosecution of unqualified practi-tioners. Ay ! no small portion of it has

been handed over to lawyers, to persecute,

to distract, to break up, to ruin, graduatesof the Scotch and Irish Universities, and

members of the Royal Colleges of Sur-geons of London and Edinburgh; and

while these heartless, these cruel, pro-ceedings have been pursued, with un-

relenting vigour, against respectableand well-eclutatecl practitioners, the

LONGS, the EADYS, and the MORI-

SONS, HAVE BEEN ALLOWED 10ESCAPE WITH IMPUNITY! Ought

the members of a retail drug companyta hold such a power as this, and to ex-. ercis0 it with the severity cf a set of ruth-

248 REQUISITION TO COLLEGE COUNCIL.

less barbarians ? Witness the proceedingsin the case of Mr. RYAN, a highly re- Ispectable member of the College of Sur-geons, and many others whom we could

name. We say that the legislature can-not permit this Act to inflict further dis-grace on the statute book. It is a foul Iblot on the not-over-white page of medicaleducation; and Government, we feel as- i

sured, is disposed to expunge that portionof it which has already worked so muchmischief, and will, if it continue to exist,inflict in hundreds of additional in-

stances most outrageous acts of injustice.The Apothecaries Company, as a drug-company, should take care of the chemists

and druggists, over whom (monstrous in-advertence in legislation !) they have nowno power whatever. ,

In amending the law, however, we sin- Icerely hope that Ministers will not be i

urged to proceed hastily, and thus frame i

an enactment suited to the purposes of ionly two or three parties. The law shouldharmonize throughout England, Ireland,

"

and Scotland, and the rights and privilegesof all the fellows and licentiates should berecognised as equal.

If, then, the members of the Collegesof Surgeons of Edinburgh and Dublin areto enjoy the privilege of practising medi-cine in England and Wales by virtue oftheir diplomas from those institutions, isit possible, is it consistent with any prin-ciple of justice, that members of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in London should bedenied the like privilege ? But members

of Parliament cannot legislate for our

wants unless those wants are made known

to them. It is absurd and puerile to thelast degree to grumble in our parloursover the difficulties against which we haveto control, and not take a single step, ormake one effort, towards their effectual

and permanent removal. Private conver-

sations with members of both Houses of

the Legislature may effect much in pro-

ducing an unobjectionable law; but as thetruth communicated in private may be

destroyed by falsehoods communicated

also in private, it becomes essential at this

singularly important epoch, that a dis-

cussion of our wants and grievances shouldtake place IN PUBLIC. As it is perfectly

certain that some new law will be enactedaffecting the privileges of the medical

corporations, it is our duty to strain everynerve to make it as perfect as possible,-in short, to render the Government everyinformation towards the accomplishmentof their wise and benevolent intentions.

The existing law, as it is applied toquacks and other incompetent practitio-ners, is too weak. It should be rendered

sufficiently strong to rid society of all suchdestructive nuisances.

THE following is a copy of the REQUI-

SITION which is circulating privatelyamongst the members of the College, and,we understand, is to be left at the medicalbooksellers for signature. Need we pointout to our brethren of the commonaltythe necessity of joining the request thusmade, by attaching their names with

promptitude? It is expected that the

Apothecaries-Act-Amendment Bill will bein the House of Commons in a few days,-possibly before this journal can issue fromthe press.

" Requisition.To the PRESIDENT and COUNCIL of the

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN

LONDON.

" Gentlemen, - We the undersignedmembers of the Royal College of Surgeonsin London,—understanding that it is theintention of the Government to effect somealterations in the Apothecaries Act of1815, in order to relieve the members cfthe Colleges of Surgeons in Dublin andEdinburgh from the necessity of obtain-ing the license of the Apothecaries Com-pany of London to confer on them theright to prepare and dispense medicines inEngland Wales, in cases deemed medical,

249HALL MONEY.-DISEASES ABROAD.-HERNIA.

—we are particularly anxious that thesense of the members of our College, ge-nerally, should be taken on ’the question,whether it is not advisable that the legis-lature should be addressed, praying thatthe diploma of the Royal College of Sur-geons in London may he deemed a suffi-cient authority for the legal exercise, byits possessor, of the practice of medicinein all its departments.

" Feeling deeply interested in the coii-struction of any bill that may be intro-duced to the notiee of Parliament, werespectfully but most earnestly entreatthat you will at your earliest possible con-venience, convene a meeting of the mem-bers of the College either in the Theatreof the Institution, or in such other placeas may be deemed more suitable, in orderthat the subject herein mentioned may beseriously and deliberately considered bythem."

WE do not know that we are warranted iin noticing the falsehoods which are coii-stantly promulgated by the " impostor"

"

’iof the Medical Gazette. Having stated inTHE LANCET, that under the operation ofthe Act of 1815, the Apothecaries Com-pany had " succeeded in extracting forty" thousand pounds from the pockets of" medical students," the impostor allegesthat " this statement is absolutely false,and hyperbolically absurd." In hazard-

ing such an assertion, of course the hiredassassin’s scribe has done no more thanexecute the bidding of his masters; butwe may condescend to inform the impos-tor, that the calculation is founded on thelist of licentiates published by the Wor-shipful Society,-a document which wasforwarded to us from the office of the

Company.

THE cholera, we learn, has entirelyceased at Havannah, but has visited Ma-tanzas, and a month since was provingfatal to between two and three hundred

persons a day. It has also reached

Mexico, and many other places in the

surrounding country.THE influenza, under the more for-

midable - looking designation of " La

Grippe," prevails in every quarter of Paris,and is there spoken of as being " verytroublesome" to the inhabitants, notwith-

standing the existence of a hrilliant skyand a steady temperature of the atmo-

sphere. A hundred thousand patients arereckoned as under treatment for it.

A Treatise on obstructed and inflamed Hernia,and on Mechanical Obstruction of theBowels Internally. Second Edition, withan Appendix, containing additionalCases and Observations, with Diagrams,Replies to Reviewers, &c. By HENRYSTEPHENS, M.R.C.S. London, Highley,1831. 8vo. pp. 214.IN consequence of the vast number of

trashy publications which issue from thepress, the business of medical reviewingis one of the most unsatisfactory and irk-some that can well be conceived. It is a

department of literary labour in which itis impossible to give satisfaction, either toauthors or readers. If the journal fail tocontain a certain number of pages of re-

views, then it is thought that the newworks are neglected; whereas if it fail tonotice recent publications, or dismiss thembriefly, then the authors themselves arewont to exclaim that the journal is harsh,or unjust in its criticisms, or is regardlessof the reputation of authors, and the in-terests of its readers. Observing howfrequently it happens in medical litera-ture that books are sent before the publicwith forms of puff and announcement

which are calculated to furnish an impres-sion of their vast importance, but at thesame time finding, on examination, thatthey are written and advertised with noother view than that of acquiring for theirauthors a certainspecies of notoriety, it .isseldom that we take up a new publicationunless under that unfavourable kind of

impression which such practices are cal-culated to produce. The physicians andsurgeons of some hospitals and infirmariesappear to consider that it would be infradig. for them to continue in office more

than a few months, without offering to thepublic a volume of experimental inquiries,physiological researches, or facts and ob-servations connected with some structureor function of the human body, thoughnot one out of twenty of such works is des-tined to occupy a place in any library of