687

THE LANCET.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1846.

nFFLRC!13.ATTfIN OT TJf1<1 C!OT,T,F.a1<1 (1F PTTVc4TrTANq-

WE return, infinitely more in sorrow than in anger, to theflag of quackery now unfurled, and flaunting over the RoyalCollege of Physicians.In our present remarks we will know no names; we are

tired of names; individuals are not to be shamed. We mightwell nigh say that there is no morality, no integrity, no highand noble spirit left amongst us. We are, if recent eventsare to be the test, utterly and completely degraded. Look at

the Royal Society, look at the Sydenham Society, and observewhat now passes in both for scientific probity and medicalliterature. What does FARADAY think of the late proceed-ings at the former! 1 What does Louis think of the latter,when he sees the twaddling and obscene book of PAULUS.2EoiNETA placed by the side of his own modest work ? The

writing which ought never to have been disinterred from itslong and merited sepulture, and a book which will never

die ! What can our readers think of science and of medicine,if they take these things as specimens?The noble, the exalted republic of medicine, is degraded to

the lowest quackery, to the vilest and most debasing anarchy,and the heads of the profession sit by the while, idle and insen-sible. We say this most advisedly. Of MESMER, HAHNEMANN,and PRIESSNITZ, the first is the worst, for he adds buffooneryto folly; and yet the Royal College of Physicians have chosento expose the members of the profession to the contagion ofone tainted by this worst leprosy. If Mesmerism is to take

the place of legitimate medicine, for consistency’s sake letevery memento of HARVEY be removed from the sight, andlet a portrait and a statue of MESMER, large as life, be quicklyprepared to take their place; and next, let HAHNEMANN come,and then PRIESSNITZ; for we could point out those who arestill in our ranks, and who yet openly profess themselves thesupporters of these mockers of the true physician.Those who have lived seven years in the profession must

have observed its rapid degradation and tendency towardsquackery,-in its popular medical books,-in its appeals to theignorant and unprofessional public, and-in the derogating anddegrading remarks of many of its members on the power andvalue of medicine ; thus it is that the faith of the legitimateprac-titioner has become a byword and a reproach. Titled ladies

have become the abettors and enactors of mesmerism. On a

recent occasion, Lord ROBERT GROSVKNOR presided at a publicmeeting of the" English Homoeopathic Institution;" Sir E.

BULWER LYTTON prostitutes his talents to foster the W AT&bgr;RDreTa! and the ignorant and foolish of the laity are become thejudges of what ought to be a learned and scientific profession.

There is only one remedy, and this is with ourselves. It is

not m such proceedings as have recently disgraced the RoyalSociety; it is not in the publication of such trash as " Paulus-Mgineta-" not in the setting up of mesmerism at the RoyalCollege of Physicians, that the remedy will be found. All

these things are closely blended; all are either open or latentquackeries. It lies in the cultivation of science, knowledge,honour, probity, and integrity, amongst ourselves. We equallyand forcibly appeal to all, to the high and the low in the profes-

sion, and we say, raise one united voice against these profana-tions of your science and of its legitimate offspring, your noble,godlike, and beneficent art.We have much to urge as to what the profession is, and what

it must become, before it can be entirely rescued from the fangsof quackery. It must become scientific; it must cease to bemere empiricism, taking this word even in its best sense.

We must follow the track of the other and more certain

sciences, in their march from what the great French

philosopher, M. CoMTt, calls the 8uperstiticyus ages of know-ledge to the ages of certain and fixed science. We mustimitate, not only TycHo BRAHE and GALILEO, the great ob-servers of facts, but we must follow KEPLER and NEWTON, thediscoverers of laws and principles. We must observe factsin medicine, subject the objects of medicine to our glasses, todeduce laws, and to detect principles of action; the mereobserver, the boasted " mere practical man," must yield to thescientific practitioner. And we are already farther advancedin this brilliant path than the overt and covert enemies oflegitimate medicine will allow. When a man speaks slight-

: ingly of medicine, he should at least know all that is known. in the healing art ; at least be sufficiently elevated to take a

clear view of all that medicine and medical men have ever done

for the human race. Are the abusers and vilifiers of medi-

I cine-the men who say there is little or nothing in the pre-sent sum of medical knowledge-are they the men of thisclass and of this position ? Moreover, the public must be taughtthat there is something more in medicine than is dreamt of inthe philosophy of the faded dowagers, egotistical literateurs,and titled lordlings, who presume to judge, knowing not thewhile the difference betwixt an artery and a vein. We wouldask one mistaken though benevolent supporter of quackery,Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR, how he can reconcile it to his con-

science, at the same time to be the chief supporter of ahomoeopathic dispensary and of a regular hospital 1 One of

the two must be wrong, for they are directly and irrecon-cilably antagonistic.And medical men, too, practitioners must become examples

of strict and unbending integrity and devotion to their profes-sion ; the higher the men and their stations, the more notableought they to be in this respect. We do not want scienceonly, we must have scientific probity also. We want men ofwhom it could be said, as it was remarked of one of the judgesin the law, "as well might you attempt to turn the Thamesfrom its course, as he from the path of honour." This was said

of Lord DENMAN, who belongs as it were, by consanguinity, tomedicine. We want such men, and we want such principles.What can be the state of science at the Royal College of

Physicians, at the Royal Society, or at the Sydenham Society ? zIs it not palpably of the very lowest order t Is it not calcu-

lated to scourge our profession to its very core t Is the noble

idea of legitimate medicine, of scientific probity, of a worthyi medical literature, extinct ! 9 Must we despair ? Is there no

remedy ? -

I The one great remedy, we repeat it, is in a sound practicalphysiology, and in the right application of this to the practice

of medicine. We do not mean a book-physiology, the

; trashy cant physiology of the day, but experimental physio-, logy, medical or clinical physiology in its widest sense, that, shall bear the same relation to medicine, which surgical ana-- tomy, the nature of which all understand, does to surgery.

688 THE QUACKERY OF MESMERISM.&mdash;THE TOMB AND WORKS OF HARVEY.

Comparatively speaking, there is no quack surgery; whyshould there be any quack medicine 1 We have said wrong,we are in error, mesmerism is a glaring exception to this ob-servation. Mesmerism turns everything into quackery. It

shuts the eyes in the head and opens eyes in the stomach; itdestroys all sensation, yet induces clairvoyance; and, mostblasphemous extravagance, it pretends to annihilate distanceand time, and to make its victims, prophets ! J But, what ismore to our purpose, it pretends to admit of the amputation ofa limb, or the extraction of a tooth, or the performance ofparturition itself, without pain. It aims at quacking surgeryas well as medicine.

But let such drivel and its drivelling supporters be fullyconfronted by the scorn of all sane and sound men in the pro-fession. Let the profession combine against all the quack.eries, and against the modern triad particularly, but more espe-cially against this most monstrous specimen, the mesmeric.Let us unfold another banner, and let its motto be, SCIENCE,PROBITY, BENEVOLENCB. We may yet rescue medicine out ofthe hands of silly lords and ladies, and writers of romances,with their culpable alliances among quacking physicians. Wehave only to make it HARVEIAN as opposed to MESMERIC,or to any hybrid offspring loathsomely engendered of the two.Happily this " brood of folly, without father bred" cannot inits own hybrid nature propagate its kind. Let the present raceof quacks not die out in slow exposures, but let them be de-stroyed ; and let the proposed desecration of the name ofHARVEY be the date, and, in a measure, the cause, of a newera in medicine. In twenty years, the bi-centenary of the deathof the discoverer of the circulation will arrive. It may be

long to look for; but twenty years, though a life to an indivi-dual, is a brief date in science; and we trustthat at such a timea somewhat more grateful offering will be given to his memorythan has been devised for the coming occasion.

SINCE we wrote last week, we have visited the tomb of -the’immortal discoverer of the circulation of the blood, and have ’

bent with reverence over the mortal remains of the most heroic I

and noble nature that has ever belonged to the profession ofmedicine. In the rustic church in which HARVEY lies buried, twocenturies have almost passed with but little mark of change.The tomb built by his brother ELIAB, the rich merchant ofLondon, is still the same as when it received the remains sodear to medicine and to science, except that time has gatheredaround him and his brethren, their gallant race through manygenerations. The last male descendants of the merchant werethree sons of Admiral Sir ELIAB HARVEY, -all of whom diedduring their father’s lifetime. The Admiral himself, who

commanded " the fighting Temeraire," as she was called, atthe battle of Trafalgar, died full of years and honour in 1816.He left numerous daughters, but with him the direct maleline of the HARVEYS became extinct. As we said, the churchand the family tomb continue otherwise much the same aswhen the corpse was borne from the College of Physicians, inAve-Maria Lane, and attended to Hempstead by "as many ofthe Fellows as were able," and when his loving gossip AcBBBYsaw him " lapt in lead," and 11 helpt to carry him into thevault."

Though the village of Hempstead is not more than fiftymiles from London, it is somewhat difficult of access. Even the

country folk, within a few miles of the place, are unable togive a clear direction to it, or tell the distance at which itlies. We thought this augured but few pilgrimages to the

spot, or the necessary inquiries would have made it better

known. This we found to be the case. The parish clerk in-

formed us, on our arrival, that-within a few years the neigh-bouring medical men had discovered the burial-place of theirgreat master, and occasionally came thither, and that some-times gentlemen from Cambridge would drive oyer; but asfor a medical visitor from London, such a thing seemed be-yond the old man’s comprehension. We did expect to hearthat, occasionally, pilgrims from the Continent, or from

America, journeyed there; but the only foreigners we couldglean intelligence of, were two Italians brought there by somemember of the family, to take a cast from the monument sur-mounting the tomb. This indifference to our immortal dead

is not creditable to us as a profession. It is unjust to thedead, and ungrateful too; for no medical man has ever lived,or can ever live since the time of HARVEY, without ac-quiring honour from his name, and respect as the depositaryof his discoveries. It is also unjust to the living, and to thoseof future times, who, by such forgetfulness, are, in a measure,as it were, robbed of one incentive to great deeds, in theadmiration and honour of posterity. Yet this neglectfulsentiment is too rife everywhere within the boundaries ofthe profession; it is the truth, and we say it, though withgrave regret. Look at modern works on physiology; let

each one of our readers turn to that which he has been

accustomed to read, and see if, in the section treating of thecirculation, the name of HARVEY is even so much as men-tioned. We know it will not be found in the great majorityof such works. Is this right,-is it noble on the part of thosewho take the place of teachers ? But can we wonder after

this that the pilgrims to his tomb shoufd be few and farbetween.

It was not always thus. His contemporaries, in the latterpart of his life, and his immediate successors, were not stintingin their reverential homage. To this the handsome monument,surmounted by a marble bust, placed over his grave by theCollege of Physicians, and the handsome edition of his works,published at the charge of the College in the succeedingcentury, testify. The bust at Hempstead conveys a differentidea of HARVEY from that presented by the beautiful

portrait by JANSENS, or the bust given by MEAD to theCollege of Physicians, to replace the statue destroyed by thegreat fire. The features are broader, more massive, and of amore venerable appearance than in the portrait. The beard,particularly on the under lip, is thinner, and the fine wire-woven wrinkles of extreme old age are seen in greater pro-fusion about the countenance. We have no means of knowingpositively, but, from the appearance of the head, it was pro-bably copied from a cast taken after death.

This is hardly the place or the season to estimate the rankof HARVEY in science. It would seem preposterous to do thatwhich may be supposed to have been done perfectly long ago.But we do not think it ever has been done to the full measure

of what is his due, and therefore we throw out a hint or twoof his greatness, for the consideration of his medical brethren,and men of science. To estimate the discovery of the circu-lation fully, we must remember, that after the revival oflearning, and the promulgation of the Baconian method of

689A NEW BUBBLE-INSTITUTI0N.-THE MESMERIC ORATOR-ELECT.

philosophy, HARVEY’S was the first great discovery that wasmade. Indeed it was the first great and noble step of physicalscience, and though giants in mind have lived since, with allthe facilities which use and example in the inductive methodhave given, only one greater and more complete discovery-the discovery of gravitation-has ever been made. Nor let

it be forgotten that HARVEY was the first great practicalmaster in modern science, and that his discovery derives anadded greatness from this, apart from its own intrinsic merits.BACON described the method, HARVEY executed the first greatproblem.But a noble characteristic of HARVEY lay in his love for his

profession, and in his desire for the maintenance of its honour.The elder physicians looked upon the profession as a thingapart and above their individual interests, as an Idea to beministered to, and reverenced by, all its members. They drewtheir dignity from the faculty to which they belonged, insteadof seeking individual advancement as the one great point ofprofessional life. This noble idea has been well nigh lost inmodern times, but it must be restored if the profession ofmedicine is ever again to take its due rank. HARVEY was a

bright example in this respect. During his lifetime helaboured for the honour of medicine, and endowed with hiswealth the College of Physicians, presenting them with amuseum and a convocation room out of his private purse. So

great was his love of medical science, that though urged not todo so, he preferred to give his paternal estate to the College,rather than to leave it to his brother ELIAB, who desired- itgreatly. Many men have in modern times amassed larger for-tunes than that of HARVEY by the profession, and have passedaway, scarcely leaving a memento among the ranks from whichthey rose. We look for anything like the conduct of HARVEYin vain, except among his immediate successors, or in the agesnear his own, when such liberality was in a manner hereditary.Let our readers mark one eminent purpose of the gift of hisestate by HARVEY ; it was to found an Annual Oration in praiseof past and future benefactors of the College of Physicians,and this was meant, probably, by the founder, as an inducementto future liberality. Is it not humiliating, that in modern ora-tions, though we have so enormously increased in numbers, thenames to be lauded by the annual orator are almost all belong-ing to ages long past. Above all, let our readers, and letevery member and fellow of the College of Physicians, con-sider whether it is not to the last degree monstrous, that sucha recreant as the proposed Orator for the present year, shouldhave to insult the old names, and to receive for the insult

he will commit, as the follower of Mesmer, a gratuity fromthat very paternal estate which HARVEY gave to the fellowsof the College-a sacred gift-with the most perfect love, andfaith in their future honour. A greater desecration than theone now proposed by the President and the Treasurer of theCollege can hardly be imagined.

WHAT next! It is literally a fact that a project is on foot’with a view to form a Company for the establishment of aBRITISH AND FOREIGN OpTHOPQSDIC INSTITUTION." Yes, 3

"British and Foreign Orthoprn,dic" Company. Has the worldgone mad, that men thus presume and dare to speculate icfolly ? 1 If the " provisional committee-men" have the poweaof seeing an inch beyond their noses, they will get their hands

out of this trap as quickly as possible, or dearly will they bemade to pay for Mr. AMESBCRY’s 11 patent spine supports."Mr. AMESBPRT has some notions of practical mechanics, and

has invented several curious, and even some useful machines,and he would have been an excellent cabinet-maker; we canaward to him no further claim to distinction; the solving anyof the problems in pure dynamics is a subject entirely out ofhis line, or rather, appears to be above his comprehension, andtherefore it is that his anatomical knowledge has been of solittle use to him, as is the case with many others, in ortho-pcedic practice. Yet, with such qualifications he is to be the" consulting surgeon, and general professional manager" of theBritish and Foreign Orthopoedic Institution. We suspect thebubble-system has had its day, and we do not find the medicalmen of the present era burthened with such a superabundanceof cash as to induce them to risk it in such visionary andstupid schemes as the one under consideration.The capital of the company is to be &pound;250,000, that isi if they

can get it, in 10,000 shares ! ! ! Conditional arrangements havebeen made for the purc7mse of various interests" belonging toMr. AMESBURY : here the cat peeps out of the bag! Ten percent. is promised to the proprietors on their capital "WHEN 1’1.’IS PAID UP ! ! but how this return on the capital is to be ob-tained is yet to be discovered. But the whole project is tooextravagantly, too grossly absurd, to demand from us an

additional word of comment. Adieu, then, to the " Britishand Foreign Orthopoedic" Humbug.

EVERY one conversant with medical matters knows wellthat some years ago JOHN ELLIOTBON felt it to be necessaryto withdraw from the posts of Professor of Medicine in

University College, and of Physician to the North LondonHospital. Again and again he made it his boast that whenforbidden to practice mesmerism in the College and the Hos-pital, he instantly sent in his resignation. He has even

claimed, in some sort, the honours of martyrdom, for the spirithe supposes himself to have displayed on that occasion. In

what character, then, we ask, does he appear as the Oratoron the forthcoming celebration at the College of Physicians.We have no doubt he will be ready enough to boast that thechange is not with him, that he will parade the fact of hisbeing listened to, for the first time since his recusancy, bya body of professional men, as an indication, nay, as a cer-tainty, that the profession is willing to receive him and hisvagaries, in his own person, back again to its bosom.

Indeed, we ourselves admit that he is unchanged, that heis still as deserving as ever of his- bad preeminence in thepariahship which he had formerly achieved. His career in

recent years affords ample testimony to the truth of this.During this period, quackery has, indeed, been his ingloriouscharacteristic. He has appealed, not to his profession, butto the public,’-the foolish, wavering, frivolous portion of

the public, on a subject which he himself feigns to considertranscendentally scientific. Yet, let any one mark his doings,and it will be found that for the purpose of substantiatinghis extravagant and absurd notions, the very meanest andmost meagre intelligence is pressed into the service. No

idiocy is too glaring, no ignorant egotism too contemptible,to receive the most fawning welcome as constituting irr6-

690 MESMERISM AND ITS ADVOCATES.

fragable evidence of the truth of animal magnetism; while,on the other hand, when learned and scientific persons ex-amine mesmerism and find it to be nought, and worse thannought, their evidence against this pseudo science is not tobe received, they are then, forsooth, prejudiced, ignorant,or unfamiliar with the asserted phenomena of mesmerism.Another gross feature in his case is, that frequently unpro-

fessional persons are inducted into the post of the physician,and engaged in conjunction with the mesmerists in curing ortreating disease. We have the agreeable spectacle of a

pseudo-learned doctor administering mesmerism in the morn-ing, and taking a home dose from the lady. In fact, as mes-merism-carried out to the full extent of the fanaticism of

its disciples-cures everything, and neither requires will norskill, a mesmeric old lady will be a much more efficient anta-gonist to disease than an anti-mesmeric man of science. His

notes of cases do not tell us, that in the cure he received the

aid and counsel of Mr. or Dr. So-and-so, but the perseveranceor charming enthusiasm of Mrs. This or Lady That. It would,indeed, but for his present insignificance, be a struggle forexistence between this mountebank and those he once calledhis brethren.

In his writings of late years never does he miss an oppor-tunity of ridiculing medicine and medical men, of stating in

any given case how long a medical treatment it received in

vain, and under what an array of pompous doctors the poorpatient had passed without benefit. Never does he miss an

opportunity or possibility of attacking the profession indivi-dually or collectively. As a class, they are, to his distemperedfancy, fools and bigots, and some of the best men it containsare his most egregious specimens. But we give quotationsfrom his trashy works, which will show what he deserves atthe hands of medical men; and how he has latterly been en-gaged in preparing himself for the Harveian oratorship, thelegitimate office of which it is to eulogize the benefactors ofmedicine.

Of his former colleagues at University College, it is stated,in his trumpery work, that;" Mammon is their god. Mammon they worship day after

day. If their benches are full, they luxuriate in the sight,"and count their rent-roll. They confine themselves to the" dry detail of their own particular department-they move" in the same jog-trot manner year after year, and if aughtoccurs to interfere with their preconceived ideas or prema-"ture theories, they either boldly pronounce an anathemaagainst the enunciator of the new facts, or they figleaf truth," nutter through their little day, and die enveloped in their" ignorance."When, on some silly occasion, two or three medical men

were claimed by an itinerant lecturer as tacit converts or as not

violently opposing mesmerism, the following is their greeting :-" Innocent imbeciles ! These of all men we pity. These are

"the pickers-up of the crumbs their bolder brethren let fall ;199 men who are guided by the opinions of their neighbours, and‘ never think for themselves; who stand aloof, and ultimately"locate themselves just where the popular breath may waftthem. They conduct themselves just like cows in a field"towards a recently erected rubbing-post. ’ First they aresuspicious and alarmed, and stand at a distance ; by degrees"they approach and make their awkward attacks, and lastly" they quietly put it to its use: "

The following passage, written in 1843, has the signature ofJOHN ELLIOTSON affixed to it: and if any evidence were want-

ing it would clearly reveal the authorship of the precedingelegancies."Now that five years have elapsed, and the ordinary facts

‘‘ of mesmerism are, out of the medical profession, establishedand known to hundreds of thousands, the sight of a wise" doctor or surgeon, so far behind the world as to be ignorant" of and to doubt mesmerism, and to pour forth his silly"objections, and to try his little devices to prove to us the"existence of imposition in a true patient, is to me as ex-"quisite as a sight of a little dog, very serious with its own" shadow, and at last working himself up into a frenzy with it,"determined to demolish it-the wicked dog, whose exist-" ence he would have all others believe."

We hope this will be noted by the " little dogs" at theCollege of Physicians, who are quoted as-

"Trammell’d and bound in Custom’s changeless rule," Absurd by system, frivolous by rule."

We give a specimen of Dr.Ei/LMTSON’s honesty in pretendingto use mesmerism clandestinely, when called in by a profes-sional man: the vituperation of the profession is an incidentalmatter :-

" Not knowing at that time the superiority of Mr. Joaxsorr’s"character, but knowing the complete ignorance, and the" irrational and coarse feeling, of the medical profession at"large, in reference to mesmerism,-and well aware of the" equally gross ignorance and prejudice of the public, fostered69 so assiduously by medical men, I did not mention mes-merism, presuming it would be rejected. However, without"any remark, I proceeded as if to press the pit of the"stomach in the ordinary way under the bed-clothes with one"hand, but I took the opportunity of pointing my fingers upon" it, and keeping them there for some minutes. The effect of" this little mesmeric proceeding was, that the hiccup ceased foran hour :’

The next quotation, referring to Dr. COPLAND, a Fellow ofthe College, would show that Dr. ELLIOTSON can blush forothers, if not for himself." I really blush at the gross absurdity of the profession to

which I belong, the want of common sense and judgment,"and the want of common feeling and even decency, which"they publicly exhibit on this subject."Speaking of the loss of his practice, in consequence of the

mesmeric humbug, Dr. ELLIOTSON naively says,-" The medical profession was the cause of mhat every honest

and upright man must deplore (!) The people were led on by"the medical men. They displayed their animalism, and the"million copied the proceedings of their masters. Why, every"lecture delivered on the subject throughout the country was"interrupted by the medical Chartists,’ who appealed to the"ignorance and prejudices of the auditory, and denounced"the science as unworthy a moment’s consideration, forgetting"all candour and decency, and by their hootings and yel-"lings, converting the ’Halls of Science’ into temporary mena-" series."We might go on ad infinitum, but we are sick of such loath-

some and vulgar trash. Will the College of Physicians, afterthis exposure, permit the author of these slanderous libels tostand before them for the performance of one of the mosthonourable functions belonging to their body? We have

691A NURSE DISEASED BY AN INFANT: THE LATE HUNTERIAN ORATION.

felt bound to write so much, in the hope of averting fromthe profession such a scandalum magnatum. At the

eleventh hour, at the last minute of the twelfth hour,something should be done by the authorities to rescue theCollege from its threatened degradation. Will it be pos-sible that Drs. BUDD, CHAMBERS, COPLAND, HALL, TODD,and WATSON, and the many other fellows of the College whohave been by name singled out for vilification by this

firebrand Mesmeriser, will meet him, and brand themselvesimpostors in the most solemn convocation, the most publicconsultation, as it were, of the medical year! We cannot,we will not, believe it, until the degradation has actually takenplace.

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

A NURSE DISEASED BY AN INFANT.&mdash;IS SECON-DARY SYPHILIS CONTAGIOUS?

D. C. O’CONNOR, A.B., M.B., L.R.C.S.I.

-

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,&mdash;In the last number of your valuable journal, you

deemed it your duty to make some comments on evidencegiven by Dr. Bull and the writer of this, in a trial whichlately took place in this city, and which has been publishedin several of the medical periodicals, under the head "A nursediseased by a syphilitic infant."My object, in seeking the insertion of the following observa-

tions, is not for the purpose of vindicating myself-whichwould be of less interest to your readers than it would be ofconsequence to me,-but, laying aside personal considerations,to state this case at full length, and correctly, in which formit has not hitherto appeared.

Julia Walsh, a woman of good constitution, the wife of apeasant labourer, both bearing an excellent character, got achild to nurse, which, at the time, was in wretched health,and was observed to have some sores on the mouth, aroundthe anus, and on the scrotum. It was also remarked that themother of the child had an eruption on her skin, and a soreon her breast. Shortly afterwards, the nurse having perceiveda sore on her nipple, and that the rash on the child becamemore general, went to a quack, who pronounced it to bechicken-pock, which he would readily cure, and gave hertwelve pills, which made her mouth sore. Her alarms notbeing quieted, she remonstrated with the father of the childon her condition. He accompanied her to the man who wasin attendance on her, promised to pay him for curing thenurse and child, and at the same time put his own wife underhis care ; from which it may be inferred that he was of

’ opinion that they were all suffering from the same complaint.Shortly after this, she went to Dr. Ahern, of this city, whoat once pronounced that both the nurse and child laboured

- under syphilitic disease. The symptoms which then pre-sented themselves, as appears from his testimony, were anulcer on the nipple, with a syphilitic rash on the breast, andulcers at the angles of the mouth. When she presented her-self, some time after, to Dr. Bull, she had, in addition, condylo-mata on the palate and round the anus, with tubercles onthe pubes, several of them with yellow ulcerated heads.In this state she came under my care in the workhouse hos-

pital-where she remained about six weeks-but went homewithout being quite well, being anxious that her confinement,which was approaching, should not take place in a workhouse.She was soon after delivered of a child, which was coveredwith a syphilitic rash, and which died shortly after its birth.Some weeks after the wife first complained, her husband

was taken ill. His symptoms were several tuberculated ulcerson the dorsum of the penis, with desquamation of branny scalesall over the body, and loss of hair. Of the husband it may beobserved, that although he accompanied his wife to the quack,

and to Dr. Ahern in the first instance, he never complained ofhimself, and that when he did feel ill, he made no conceal-ment of his symptoms. A child of Walsh’s, who had beenpreviously healthy, also got condylomata round the anus andon the palate, which the mother attributed to her having beenfed with the same spoon as the diseased child. She never hadany symptoms of syphilis but these, and was in other respectsin good health. After this statement, every word of which hasbeen or may be attested on oath, I cannot but feel astonishedthat Dr. M’Ever, in his communication to you, should state

that Julia Walsh never had syphilis, though he did not exa..mine her, and that her disease was produced by corrosive sub-limate, though the quack denied ever having administered it.If the testimony of three physicians were not sufficient toprove such a fact, the birth of a child covered with a syphiliticrash should remove any doubts of their accuracy. Dr.M’ Ever, however, supplies one link which was hitherto want-ing in this chain of inferences, by admitting that the fatherof the child had syphilis some time before his marriage, whichwould be quite sufficient to account for the whole train ofevents which followed.

In looking over Mr. Colles’ work on Syphilis, I was struckby the exact resemblance between all the symptoms andfacts I have described, and those detailed by him in page 283,with much more clearness and accuracy.How far this case will bear out the conclusions which he

drew from his vast experience, I shall not attempt to say.But without entering on the question as to whether secondarysyphilis is contagious or not, a practical question may beasked _

Is there danger in nursing a child affected with syphiliticeruption ? And are we justified in saying that the almostuniversal opinion is, that there is danger, in such case, of thenurse becoming affected with the disease ? These questionsmay, I think, be answered in the affirmative, even admittingthat secondary syphilis is not contagious, as the modern advo -cates of that opinion assert that primary disease may bereproduced in parts of the body where it could be least ex-pected, as in the mouth, on the nipples, &,c., and this duringthe existence of a secondary eruption. There is no class ofpatients in which this is more likely to occur than in infants,from their attendants passing the towel with which they washthem over every part of their body, which may convey primarydisease, if it existed, from one part to- another. With refer-ence to the part I took on this trial, I have only to observe,that I am not reported as alluding to Hunter’s opinions, whichI did at some length. And although I was not aware, anddid not profess to be, of the full merits of the question regard-ing secondary syphilis, I thought I was safe in resting myopinion of the point then at issue (namely, the liability of anurse to be affected with syphilis by a child at her breast) onsuch authorities as Sir Astley Cooper, Colles, Blundell, Hey,Travers,Reid, &c., and what to me was not of less consequence,to be sustained by the presence of a surgeon of Dr. Bull’seminence, who, I was aware, had for a long time directed hisattention to this subject, and whose opportunities for obser-vation are by few exceeded.

) I have the honour to be- Sir- vnnr obedient. servant-

Cork, June, 1846.

*,,* The subject of this letter is of so much importance tothe peace of families, and the whole case involves so manyquestions of interest with respect to the accurate discrimina-tion and treatment of disease, that we have thought it right togive to Dr. O’Connor’s communication an immediate insertion.In the next LANCET we shall offer such remarks on the sub-

ject as it may appear to us to demand.-ED. L.

THE LATE HUNTERIAN ORATION.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

" It will not end here, it must not, it shall not."THE LANCET, Feb. 21st, 1846, p. 224.

SIR,&mdash;The scene enacted in the theatre of the Royal Collegeof Surgeons of England, on the occasion of the last HunterianOration, must be a source of profound and painful regret tothe sober-minded, reflecting members of that College, whoare animated with the desire of seeing the honour of theirprofession, as a scientific body, sustained with rigid ilitegritybefore the nations of Europe. That an occasion consecratedto departed genius-such as is revered by scientific, intel-lectual men in every part of the world--should have been per-verted by the official head of that institution, to the vile pur-poses of party strife and contention, is a foul blot upon thenational professional character, and as such deserves to bedenounced and execrated. Of a truth, men of science, indi-vidually and collectively, beyond the limits of our sea-girtisle, must regard the surgeons of England as sunk to the verylowest depths of professional and moral degeneracy, when theboasted "head of the profession," on such an occasion, can sofar forget the high behests of Science, the reverence due to her