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dispute, and we are sorry to find MM. Dumas and

Boussingault attempt a very lame and disingenuous modeof escaping the acknowledgment of having committed anerror.To physiologists, and to practical pathologists, this

question is of great importance in reference to the pheno-mena of nutrition ; to the grazier, who wishes to lay ascientific basis for his art, it will prove of no small valuein estimating the relative value of various articles of food.To the BREWER it will point out a cause for the not unfre-quent accidental development of a nauseous flavour inhis beer, which has rendered a whole brewing worthless,namely, the possibility of the accidental presence of a

portion of cheese in his fermenting apparatus, giving riseto the formation of more or less butyric acid, a substanceof which a very minute amount would give a bad favourto an enormous quantity of beer.

ANALYSIS OF COD-LIVER OIL.

An elaborate investigation has been instituted into thechemical constitution of the oil derived from various

species of fishes of the genus b gadus, by M. de Jongh. He

analysed the oil from the liver of the cod, the coal-fish,the haddock, the whiting, 6;e. That of the cod is the bestand the most abundant. The analysis of the latter isvaluable from its throwing some light upon its therapeuticproperties. There are, as is well known, three varietiesof cod-liver oil-white, brown, and black. The whiteoil separates spontaneously first, the brown more slowly,and the black is extracted from the livers by boilingin water after the white and brown oil have been ex-tracted.M. Jongh gives the following as the results of the

analysis of the three kinds of oil.

The substance to which M. Jongh has given the nameof gaduine is a peculiar organic body, having the formula,in an isolated state, of C35’ H467 O9; in combination ;,with a base, R + C38, H44, O8.The extremely complex constitution of cod-liver oil IImust influence greatly its therapeutic value. Its especial

effects have been attributed to the presence of iodine,but the bromine, chlorine, and, more especially, thephosphates, says M. Boudet, must be considered the ielements which make it applicable to rachitis and other ’’,diseases. Probably a sufficiently marked difference willbe found in the effects to enable us to determine which Ikind is most applicable to certain diseases, and a com-parison of the results of practical experience with theanalyses will hereafter indicate the particular elementwhich it may be desirable to isolate. These analyses

* must, however, be repeated by many chemists beforeany very satisfactory results will be obtained.

THE LANCET.LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 1ST, 1844.

HYGIENIC CONDITIONS OF TOWNS.

OVER-LABOUR AND LATE HOURS OFBUSINESS.

IT has long been a fact well known to the professionthat towns are peculiarly inimical to the prolongation oflife,- that a very much smaller proportion of their inhabi-tants reach ripe old age than of those whose lives are

spent in agricultural districts. Until within the last few

years, however, this generally-acknowledged truth hadnot become an undeniable fact, susceptible of being pal-pably demonstrated by figures. Thanks to the elaborate

statistical investigations which are being carried on in

every part of England, we are now able to ascertain, withthe greatest precision, not only the comparative salubrityof town and country, but also the different salubrity oftowns compared with each other. Thus, in the last reportof the Registrar-General of births, deaths, and

marriages, in England, we find a comparative tabularview of the mortality at different ages in the county of

Surrey, and in the towns of Liverpool and London.

Taking, at the moment of birth, a generation of onehundred thousand, it appears that in Surrey fifty thou-sand (half) would reach the age of fifty; twenty thou-sand the age of seventy-five ; and ten thousand the ageof eighty. In London, forty thousand would reach the

age of fifty ; ten thousand the age of seventy-five ; andfive thousand the age of eighty. In Liverpool, twenty-five thousand, only, would reach the age of fifty; fivethousand, only, the age of seventy-five ; and one thousandfive hundred the age of eighty.The immense disparity in the duration of life in these

different localities is no subject of surprise to the well-informed medical hygienist. In it he sees the operationof known causes, which the ignorance of mankind has

accumulated, and which it is his duty to point out.

Among those causes there is one which, no doubt,exercises the most pernicious influence over the healthand longevity of the denizens of towns, and which has,of late, excited the attention of the public to a greatextent, viz., over-labour, and lengthened in-door con-finement.

For many years the sympathies of the public generallyhave been justly given to the unfortunate females andchildren whose bodily strength is tasked to such an in-human extent in the factories of our large commercialdistricts, and we are now pleased to find that philan-thropists are becoming alive to the important fact that itis not only the factory labourers whose health andstrength requires protection. There are many other

classes of society to whom it is equally necessary.

Indeed, this feeling is so rapidly gaining ground that weconsider it evident that we are on the eve of important

changes in the social organisation of labour, wherever

large masses of people are congregated. True it is that

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Lord AsHLEY’s amendment with respect to factory labour,which may be said to have embodied this feeling, in our

legislature, has been definitively rejected by an over-

whelming majority ; in that rejection, however, we do notsee the overthrow of a principle, but merely the irresistiblesway of economical and political considerations. Under

the influence of the first charitable impulse, the Houseof Commons decided that protection should be given tothe young, and thus spontaneously acknowledged thesacred rights of humanity ; but the sacrifice was too

great, too momentous, to be permanent. Although our-selves convinced of the absolute necessity of protectingchildren and women in their struggle with machinery andcommercial rivalry, and inclined to believe that the

pecuniary loss to themselves and their employers has

been greatly exaggerated, yet we admit the possibility ofthe change being attended, as most changes are, withimmediate painful consequences to all parties.We have, however, greater confidence than our oppo-

nents, most of whom we believe to be conscientious in thedefence of their opinions, in the elasticity of the laws

regulating labour. We cannot bring ourselves to believethat an hour or two additional taken from the dailywork of the children and women of our factory districtswould entail destruction on our foreign and domestic com-merce. Moreover, it must be evident to any one that if,as the manufacturers assert, their profits depend on theeleventh and twelfth hours of child labour, their positionwould be the same were they to reduce wages a sixth,and take on additional hands. Now, miserably small asare wages at present, inadequate as the remuneration

undoubtedly is for the labour performed, yet we hadrather see the pay still further reduced than allow

women and children to be worked from six o’clock

in the morning until eight in the .evening, includingmeals. As physiologists, and practitioners, we cannot beblind to the fact that such labour is calculated to sap the

very sources of life, and to lay the foundation for the

cachectic diseases which, in reality, do carry off the suc-cessive generations of factory labourers, as is evident fromthe statistics we have alluded to. There is, also, another

important feature in the case, which must not be lost

sight of, which is, that the operation of machinery has

displaced the operations of the laws of nature. It is the

father of the family who ought to provide for his wife and

children, and not the wife and children who ought to

provide for the father, as is now the case. When the

working of society produces such anomalies as these, it isthe duty of the legislature to interfere, and to save, evenat the expense of enormous sacrifices to the country at

arge, women and children from being ground to theearth by over-labour, to prevent the population of manu-

facturing towns from being poisoned at its very source.

Such interference is merely giving to the weak and the

young the protection which humanity renders it impera-tive on the legislators of every country to afford ; it is

not, properly speaking, interfering with the laws of

labour. The government of a nation has, however, in our

opinion, a right to interfere, even with the labour of

adult men, on hygienic national grounds.The Ten-Hours’ Factory Bill will, no doubt, be again

brought forward in the House, perhaps under more fa-vourable circumstances, and we feel convinced that

before many years have elapsed it will be the law of theland. Before, however, we dismiss the subject for the

present, we must remind our medical brethren that theyare, to a certain extent, the guardians of the publichealth—that on all general sanatory questions their opi-nion has great weight—that it is, consequently, their

duty to prepare for future debates by collecting as muchevidence as they can possibly bring to bear on the

subject. In the meetings which have taken place in the

manufacturing towns of the north of England in favourof the ten-hour clause, we have observed among thosewho have taken an active part in the proceedings many’medical practitioners of weight and standing, whose

statements have everywhere been received with respectand attention. Their example must not be lost to the

profession, which we know will continue to show itself,as in all other great social questions, the true friend ofthe suffering and afilicted.

In the mean time there are others among the deni-

zens of towns scarcely less afilicted than the factoryartisans, and whose sufferings are beginning to at-

tract public attention. Few of these are more de-

serving of commiseration than the young men and

women who are employed in the shops of the metro-

polis, and of large towns generally. Obliged to rise

early in order to prepare for the business of the day, theyremain on their feet until late in the evening, without a

respite. Their meals, even, are hurriedly dispatched inthe course of a few minutes, in order that they may notinterfere with the claims of business. An importantsection of the metropolitan tradespeople-the drapers-have, we are pleased to see, taken up the subject with

great spirit. Last year they offered a prize of twentyguineas for the best essay on 11 the evils of the presentprotracted hours of trade generally." This prize has beenawarded to Mr. THOMAS DAVIES, himself one of the

sufferers, for a very able and elaborate essay on the sub-

ject. The essay of Mr. DAVIES reflects great credit on hisinstruction and abilities, and gives a vivid picture of the

pernicious effects, both as to Bhealth, morals, and mental

cultivation, of the discipline to which he and his associateshave to submit in linendrapers’ shops. The day is con-sumed in the incessant repetition of services which,though slight, become trying to the strength from theircontinuance. The assistant is not allowed to sit down,because it would be un business-like, and when at last,at nine or ten o’clock, the shop closes to the public, hehas still one, two, or three hours’ work to perform, inorder to fold and replace the various articles that havebeen disarranged during the day.The result of this close confinement during the day and

evening in a heated atmosphere, and of incessant labour,continued during a period of fourteen ar sixteen hours,

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is very destructive to health, as might be anticipated.Many youths are obliged to return to their friends withina few months of their arrival at the establishments. Manyothers lose their previously robust health, and either die

consumptive, or become confirmed invalids. But we

refer our readers to the pamphlet of Mr. DAVIES for ampledetails on this interesting subject.The evils are not confined to the linendrapers. They

apply with equal force to all tradespeople who open earlyand shut late, passing their lives in their shops or theirback parlours. All medical gentlemen practising in

large towns are unanimous in their opinion that the re-sident tradespeople, and their assistants, are among themost unhealthy part of the population, and that this

unhealthiness is in a great measure attributable to theconfinement which their occupations entail upon them.The evil is great, no doubt, but the question which na-

turally presents itself to us is-can it be remedied ? Wethink that it certainly may be, and that without en-

tailing upon the community any of the loss which, it is

believed by so many, would follow the adoption of theten hours’ factory clause. Indeed, the good sense of thesufferers themselves has pointed out the mode of relief.In London, and in several of our large provincial towns,associations have been formed for promoting the earlyclosing of shops. These associations have everywhere re-ceived the support of philanthropists of wealth and

station; and we may mention, that in Liverpool it is

presided over by the MAYOR, and patronised by mostof the influential residents.

By such means a certain amount of good may beeffected. The wealthier tradespeople who are alive to

the injurious effects of the present system on themselvesand their subordinates will, no doubt, gladly avail them-selves of the sanction of the affluent and influential to

close their establishments at an early hour. But there

will always be many needy or avaricious persons who willkeep their shops open, were it only to profit by theclosure of those of their neighbours, and thus will theend in view be partly defeated.Such being the case, why should not the legislature take

the subject in hand, and render it imperative on the partof all retailers to close their shops at a certain hour, saysix or seven, p.m. ? By the same rule that all the whole-sale commerce of the country is carried on in the middleof the day, so might also the retail. The banks, boards,and offices of all description, close at an early hour, whyshould not retail establishments? Any inconveniencewhich might be felt would only be temporary. The habitsof the community, of the poor as well as of the rich,would soon bend to the new hours of trade. In working outsuch an idea for practical pnrposes, many points would

necessarily have to be taken into consideration. It

might, for instance, be found necessary to except for

certain periods, or on certain days, shops kept for the sale

of provisions, &c. We merely suggest the principle asone which it would be easy to apply, and the applicationof which would materially improve the physical and

moral condition of a very large and important class of the

community. Such interference with labour as this, is

not only allowable, but absolutely necessary, if we wishto make our improved knowledge of the laws which regu-late health and disease conducive to the prosperity andwelfare of mankind.

CLINICAL LECTURES IN HOSPITALPRACTICE.

AT another page we have inserted a letter from a cor-

respondent which is worthy of attention as a plain,unvarnished account of the wrongs of an English medicalstudent. Nor is it a solitary instance. The history ofour « STUDENT’S attendance on the medical practice ofthe hospital at which he studied is that of the very greatmajority of those who now-a-days " walk the hospitals."As he says, they keep at a respectful distance from the

physician while he passes from one ward to another,addressing, perhaps, a few words to the clinical clerk,which they (the pupils) do not hear.Our correspondent, however, is much too diffident in

his requests. We are of opinion, as we have alreadystated, that one clinical lecture a week is altogether in-

sufficient; that, indeed, so far from enabling the pupilsto follow the cases with benefit, it is of little or no use

to them, and merely serves to throw dust in the eyes ofthe public, by originating a belief that clinical instruc-tion really exists in the establishment in which the one-

lecture system is adopted, whereas, in reality, it does not.Clinical lectures, should be delivered every day, or, atthe very least, three or four times a week, in order thatthe various phases of disease, and the effects of the

treatment employed, may be pointed out to the pupils.Such a plan of lecturing as this, when efficiently carried

out, is really a boon to students, and if adopted by our

hospital physicians and surgeons, would soon very muchincrease the practical knowledge of young medical

practitioners. We may add that although it be necessarythus zealously to follow out clinical lecturing, in order torender it the really powerful means of imparting informa-tion which it is found to be on the Continent, the periodduring which a physician or surgeon lectures may be longor short, at his option ; so that he may, if much pressedfor time, gain on the one hand what he loses on the other.In other words, a clinical course consisting of five andtwenty lectures, delivered once a week, in the space ofsix months, must necessarily be (in a practical point ofview) a wretched course; whereas the same number oflectures, delivered in two months, instead of six, mightbe made exceedingly valuable. To junior students wewould say,-if any of the London hospitals should organisea regular system of clinical instruction on the plan wedescribe, let that be the hospital you choose, regardless ofother considerations. The practical study of disease is,of all branches of a medical education, the most im-

portant.

THE GLOUCESTER, MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONAND THE GLOUCESTER INFIRMARY.

AT page 317 will be found the answer of the Medical

Officers of the Gloucester Infirmary to the report of theGloucestershire Medical and Surgical Association, which

316

we published May 4th, page 204. We have read it atten-

tively, as also an additional report, which we have re-

cently received from the association, of their proceedingsat a meeting which took place on the 21st.We feel much regret in having to state that the first

impression created on our mind by the perusal of theAssociation’s report, and which we then gave firmly,although cautiously, has not been effaced by the replyof the hospital physicians and surgeons. They have madeout a case, but it is a weak one ; and, in our opinion, is,we repeat, far from justifying the course which theyadopted, or the consequences by which it has been fol-lowed. We, however, do them the credit to believe theydid not then foresee the result of their conduct. Mr.

WILTON, the President of the Association, would have

acted, probably, with greater propriety had he intimatedto his colleagues his intention of applying to the board

for the use of the committee-room ; but, on the other

hand, the excuses which he tendered ought to have

been at once accepted. The demand which was made of

Mr. WILTON, that he should apply to the board to

suspend the permission previously granted to the asso-

ciation, was certainly most unreasonable, and he was

quite justified in refusing to accede to it. What he

refused to do was then done by the five medical

gentlemen who, with the exception of Mr. WILTON, con-stitute the staff of the Gloucester Infirmary. Thus a

question, which was obviously merely one of medicaletiquette, for there can be no doubt but that Mr. WILTON’S

opponents were as anxious for the advancement of thescience of medicine as the members of the Association

itself, became a subject of board-room debate. The

result was what might have been anticipated, and does

credit, we think, to the good sense of the governors. Not

wishing to act in opposition to the principal part of theirmedical staff on the one hand, or to bind the Associationto submit to rules imposed by gentlemen who did not

belong to it on the other, they solved the problem at their

quarterly meeting by, very properly, withdrawing all

power from the weekly board "to dispose of any part of" the hospital for purposes not directly connected with<’ the objects of the institution."

Finally, we think the medical functionaries of the

Gloucester Infirmary have erred in judgment, perhapsmore than in intention. Believing themselves slightedby their colleague and the Association, and perhaps justlyso, they refused to accept the, it appears, ample satisfac-tion offered ; and in order to obtain a still greater one,applied to a non-medical body. By that body the ques-tion has been treated as a professional squabble ; that is,as one too delicate or too disagreeable to be handled, andhas been at once thrown overboard. Can we be surprisedat such a result? Certainly not; the public has no

sympathy for us when we fall out among ourselves, andall we get by making known our grievances are tauntsand derision. We trust this expos&eacute; in Gloucestershire

will be a lesson both to the parties concerned, and to ourprofessional brethren at large.

Having given immediate insertion to the communi-

cations forwarded to us by the Association, and by themedical staff of the Infirmary, and thus allowed both

parties a fair hearing, although at the time much crampedfor room, we are under the necessity of stating that anyother communications on the subject must appear in thecolumns of our Journal which are appropriated to aaver-tisements."STATEMENT" OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE

OF SURGEONS.

TUE confession and defence of the council of the Col-

lege of Surgeons, printed at page 320, shall receive ampleconsideration in our columns.

MEDICAL TRIAL AT CARLISLE.

THE next number of THE LANCET will contain a reportof a trial which has recently taken place at Carlisle.

The cause is one of considerable importance, as it involvesthe question of the right of Scottish graduates to recoverfor medical attendance in England. Mr. KERR, a gra-duate of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, wasthe plaintiff; the executors of a Miss REAY, the de-fendants. The amount claimed for attendance was 171.

The jury awarded to Mr. KERR 121.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1844.

SIR JAMES GRAHAM had given notice of his intentionto move this evening for leave to introduce a Bill forregulating the profession of physic and surgery through-out the United Kingdom; and also for a bill to enableher Majesty to grant Charters to certain Colleges of

Physicians and Surgeons.In consequence of the great number of motions which

preceded that of the Right Hon. Baronet, he was obligedto postpone the consideration of the subject of MedicalReform until TUESDAY next, JUNE 4th. Even then it

may be further postponed, as a motion on the "CoalDuties" stands first on the paper for that evening.

MEDICAL PROTECTION ASSEMBLY.BY-LAWS.

1. THAT theMEDICAL PROTECTION ASSEMBLY shall con-

sist of the legally-qualified medical practitioners andregistered students in medicine whose names, for the

time being, stand in the enrolment books of the As-

sembly.2. That all legally-qualified medical practitioners and

registered students in medicine may demand, as a right,that their names shall be enrolled in the books of the

Assembly.3. That the enrolment of the names of members be made

annually, and that the charge for making it be a nominalfee of one shilling.

4. That the FIRST day of January, in every year, be thedate of the commencement of the enrolment for that

year.5. That no enrolled member shall be entitled to attend

the meetings of the Assembly the renewal of whose enrol-ment has not been effected before the expiration of themonth of January in any year.

6. That the chief objects of the Assembly shall be,-