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helping to alleviate misery with the skill of her male col.leagues and the delicacy and tenderness which seldombelongs to men.

Dr. WiLSON Fox wished to represent that there weresome who were of opinion that no degrees should be givento women; others, that whereas some degrees might begiven, others should be withheld; and, for himself, he feltthat to admit women to a medical degree would be adegradation to the University. With this difference ofopinion prevailing, he could not agree with Mr. Herschellthat nothing would be gained by the postponement of thequestion, and he should himself vote against the charter.

Dr. PYE-SMITH said he represented the opinion of thosewho voted heart and soul with the resolution at the lastmeeting of Convocation against the adoption of theRussell-Gurney Act, and yet who intended to vote forthe approval of the Charter. The House had achieveda great victory on the constitutional question raisedat the last meeting, for the Senate had abandonedtheir course, although (unwisely he thought) the Senatehad not given themselves the benefit of a frank retrac-tation. Still it was a victory for Convocation, andhe begged that this broad question would not bemixed up with details of what had been done in theSenate, or of the action of the Chancellor in the matter.It would be an advantage to the University to get questionsof dispute out of the way, so that subjects of reform couldbe discussed. He thought that the previous votes of Con-vocation were to some extent binding, and the ground ofopposition to the adoption of the Russell-Gurney Act wasthat it was unfair to admit women to one faculty alone.This was not now, happily, a question of admission of womeninto the medical profession, and he ventured to deprecatethe unseemly course taken by some of attributing all op-position to this to the medical profession. It was not thecase, as Mr. Hensman had said, that in this matter publicopinion was opposed by the medical profession. Thisquestion is an extremely difficult one, and in it one is op-posed by all one’s previous judgment, experience, and pre-judice ; but as it has been urged on us, the true course withregard to it was the bold one. As Liberals in the bestsense of the word, they could not deny the claims of womento be allowed to try for degrees. With regard to what hadfallen from Sir W. Jenner, he would call attention to thefact that familiarity with subjects scientifically studied tookoff the effect of what without that study would be obscene.The tone of morals among medical students was certainlysuperior to that of any other body of young men. Whatwould appear to be impure was sanctified by the desire forknowledge and the wish to alleviate human suffering; andif women generally were allowed to study medicine, thatwould apply to them which already applied to medical stu-dcnts, to nurses, and to sisters of mercy. He hoped thenthey would give a vote for peace and for reform.

Dr. MoxoN contended that the Senate had changed itsopinion, and why should not Convocation do the same. Mr.Herschell seemed to assume that previous resolutions of Con-vocation bound them in their present course. The late voteof that House was arrived at on the ground that it was notconducive to the conduct of business in Convocation thatladies should be allowed to sit by their sides in that House.If the charter to admit them to degrees were carried, itwould only be logical that they should be allowed to be-come members of Convocation.

Dr. BUCKNILL was about to vote against the charter, onthe ground that the higher education of women was a mis-take. The rights of men are undefined-they are unlike the" rights of women "-a phrase which means revolt against theduties of women. From a physiological and psychologicalpoint of view women were totally unfitted for the " intel-lectual gymnastics " demanded of them. He thought thehistory of this agitation demanded the formation of a " societyfor the protection of women against mischievous legislation."

Mr. BOMPAS, in reply, pointed out that the University ofParis has opened her degrees to women.The division was then taken, and the result was declared

- avers, 242 ; Noes, 132.-Majority for the Charter, 110.The rest of the business was then got through, and among

the motions passed was the following, proposed by Dr.Taaffe, seconded by Dr. F. Ta-lor :-" That it be an in-struction to the Annual Committee to consider whether itis not desirable to include sanitary science among thebranches for the degree in Science of this University." "The House adjourned, after a sitting of nearly nve hours.

THE MEDICAL ASPECTS OF THE WAR.

THERE is no longer any doubt that the Turkish armies inBulgaria and Roumelia, and in Armenia, are rapidly fallinginto a condition similar to that which occurred among theOttoman Forces during the winter of 1854-55 in the CrimeanWar. The sufferings of the men from the severe cold andfrom the defective commissariat are extreme, and, as thecrowning evil, typhus has broken out and is rapidly ex-tending. In more than one instance in Bulgaria the

malignancy of the disease has suggested that plague and nottyphus had to be contended with, but, as yet, the existence ofthe first-named disease has not been confirmed. Althoughit is probable that to the present the term " plague," whereit has been made use of by Turkish medical men in Europe,has been used rather in a general than in a technical sense,the possibility of the reappearance of the pestilence must nothe lost sight of. The recent history of the reappearance ofplague in the East renders it far from improbable that thedisease may once more be seen in Europe, and it must beremembered that many of the Turkish soldiers now engagedamong the Balkans have recently come from the seat ofplague in Mesopotamia. Of the existence of serious typhus,however, among the Turkish forces, and of its rapid dis-semination, there is no longer any doubt. There is ’littledoubt, moreover, that the disease exists also among theRussian forces in Bulgaria, and it is to be feared that therecent successes of these forces will tend to give the maladya larger development; for the large number of prisoners cap-tured will not unlikely lead to an importation of the serioustyphus prevalent among the Turkish armies within the Rus-sian lines. Unless, indeed, peace be now declared, itwill scarcely be possible to prevent typhus being scatteredbroadcast, not only among the belligerents, but throughoutthe tracts of country traversed by them.The additional stress thrown upon the Russian Red Cross

organisation by the sick and wounded among the Turkishprisoners has almost exhausted their means. We regret tolearn that the Roumanians, or at least their soldiery, arereported to be exhibiting anything but a kindly attitudetowards the Turkish prisoners, notwithstanding the greatsufferings to which the latter are exposed from cold and in-sufficient food. Drs. Sandwith and Baker are giving nobleassistance to the unfortunate men on their route into Ron-mania, but their means fall far short of their desires.

It is to be feared that none of the large quantity ofChristmas-boxes sent from St. Petersburg to the woundedin Bulgaria, by the Evangelical ambulance, reached theirdestination in time for the Christmas season, if, indeed,they have even yet reached it. When they arrived (notwithout difficulty) at Bucharest, the weather had broken,the roads become well-nigh impassable from snow, the com-munications across the Danube destroyed, and the transportfor the moment disorganised.Among the officers decorated by the Czar for distinguished

service are included M. Ivaschkevitch, surgeon of the rightcolumn of the corps operating on the Circassian frontier,and M. Maklinine, surgeon of the said corps, principalmedical officer of the artillery brigade of the Grand DukeMichel’s grenadiers of the Caucasus. Both have receivedthe third-class of the Order of St. Vladimir. The samedecoration has also been given to Dr. Pill, medical officer ofthe 126th infantry regiment; to Dr. Albanus, divisionalmedical officer ; and to Dr. Franck, assistant-inspector ofstudents at the Imperial Medico-Chirurgical Academy. Thesecond-class of the Order of St. Vladimir has been givento Dr. Brockniovsky, inspector of the sanitary service inthe military circle of the Caucasus. Professor Botkine hasbeen promoted to the rank of Privy Councillor, for dis-tinguished services.Lord Blantyre has favoured us with the following extracts

from letters received by him from Erzeroum and Sophia :—Z)7’. Denniston to Lord Blantyre.

" Erzeroum, Dec. 20th, 1877." Within the last ten days or so we have got many

wounded from Kars; they are for the most part slightlywounded, but as it took them about thirteen days to get herethe wounds were in a condition anything but satisfactory.However, after a few days’ care they improved, and are

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mostly doing well. Fetherstonhaugh has two cases of am-putation, and I have three, all doing very well, and willsoon be dismissed. Curiously enough, they are all arms;none of our leg amputations-we have had four, I think-having recovered, for what reason I don’t know. We have a

great number of frost-bites of the feet, some of them veryserious, many having lost the greater part of the feet. Theyare slow and tedious cases, as almost all are unhealthy andweakly men. Beyond these and the Kars cases our patientsare chronic, having been wounded at Devey-boyun or at theattack here on the 9th November. Now and then we get awounded man from some skirmish, but it is exceptional."The cold is intense, and the men, both soldiers and

civilians, suffer badly. The blankets you sent are of thegreatest service. I don’t know what the sick would havedone without them. We give to every man who goes out ofhospital a flannel jersey, pair of drawers, and socks, andthey are as proud of them as possible, and come back andshow others in the hospital what the English Pacha has sentthem.

" Since Fetherstonhaugh has been sick I have been doingall the work of the hospital, and my hands are full. I don’tknow the exact number in at present, but there must befrom 170 to 180."The Stafford House Hospital is also in full working

order; they have nearly 300 cases, and Ryan and Pinkertonwork at them. They have thorough Turkish dressers, whotake a great part of the lighter cases. But for Fetherston-haugh, who, I hope, will be about again in a day or so, weare all in excellent health. I myself enjoy the cold, as itis fresh and bracing, and less trying, I think, than the eastwind of Edinburgh."A telegram from Dr. Denniston, of Jan. 3rd, seems to

read : " No one here thought of leaving. I alone well; allthe rest very ill with fever."A letter from Dr. Wattie, at Sophia, dated Dec. 26th,

says : "We had a visit from Captain Burnaby. He seemedwell pleased with our work; he is now at the front. Thefall of Plevna has caused here great depression, and visiblyaffected our wounded soldiers. We get many cases offrostbite on toes and fingers. Many at the front are frozento death. Here it is intensely cold, with a severe frost andoccasional snow."

Correspondence." Audi alteram partemo"

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In a special article in THE LANCET, of 29th De-cember last, page 967, we observe the following : InAberdeen we have also to notice a steadily progressiveincrease of students. Dr. Struthers’ energy in improving therooms for teaching anatomy, in building and stocking themuseum, and whose painstaking ways of teaching it wouldbe simply unjust not to acknowledge, stated, in recentlyopening his class, the increase that had taken place in thenumber of students in the faculty of medicine in the Uni-versity in the last dozen years. Thus in 1864-5, the numberwas 158 ; in the last year, 1876-7, it was 328, or more thandouble." Then, after commenting briefly and in generalterms on the activity and style of teaching in the Univer-sity generally, there follows : "The dissecting-rooms are

good and plentifully supplied with injected bodies. In Aber-deen the infirmary work is not so effectively done, as themore elementary work of medical education."The paragraph containing the above quotations is likely

to convey to your readers a meaning which will certainly nothe indorsed by those who are well acquainted with ourschool. First, the prominence assigned to the question ofthe anatomical teaching, the comparative silence regardingthe teaching of the other subjects, and the mention of theincrease in the number of students, will .naturally be inter-preted as meaning that, during the dozen years Dr. Stru-thers has been professor, the increased number of studentshas been mainly due to the energy displayed in the ana-tomical department. Second, the statement regarding the

infirmary work will be apt to pe read as if that were wantingin efficiency, as well as in effe.,t.

If either of these interpretations be put on your article byyour readers, they will have received a very erroneous im-pression regarding the Aberdeen School of Medicine.

1. There is hardly a single’- ibject taught in the universitythat has not had bestowed, ’by .ts professor, on its tuition anddevelopment at least an eqnaj amount of care and energy tothat bestowed on anatomy, and the labour so bestowed has,in our school (though perhaps not so markedly as in Edin-burgh, where the numbers have nearly doubled in five years),borne its fruit, in a gratifying increase of the studentsattending each of its classes. Each teacher deserves his dueshare of merit in the continued success of the school.

2. The infirmary work, clinical teaching, and ward work,have not fallen behind in the progressive advances madeeverywhere in medical teaching. They are, contrary to whatyour article implies, both efficient and effective. Efficientbecause the material, though not enormous, is enough, andevery case, both in admission rooms and wards, is utilisedon every opportunity for the purposes of instruction. Notone available scrap. of knowledge is allowed to slip withoutcontributing to the instruction of the students; and the staffdevote more time and attention to thoroughly preparing andcarrying out their tuition than is done in most of the medicalschools of this country or the continent. It is effeetive, too,in spite of its having to contend with adverse influencesthat tend to prevent our students devoting to it the requisiteamount of time and attention.Will you please give this letter an early insertion, so as to

remedy, as far as possible, any false impressions that mayalive been produced in the minds of the readers of yourarticle on Medical Education in Scotland.

THE TEACHERS OF CLINICAL SURGERY INTHE ABERDEEN MEDICAL SCHOOL.

Aberdeen, Jan. 12, 18i8.

THE GREAT SEWAGE QUESTION.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—I have read with -i-uc’i interest your article on the

pollution of the Thames at Barking and Crossness by themasses of untreated sewage poured into the river at theseoutfalls.

During the time the Native Guano Company had theirtrial at Crossness, that portion of the sewage treated bytheir process went into the river clear and inodorous, andCaptain Burstal, in his evidence before the West KentDrainage Committee, expressed the satisfaction that effluentgave to the Thames Conservancy. Mr. Keates, the Metro-politan Board of Works’ own chemical adviser, declared itfit to go into any river, that no sign of sewage fungus couldbe detected in the channel during the entire three months ofthe trial, and that the whole process from beginning to endwas free from nuisance of any kind.The crops grown with the native guano on our little farm

there, under the supervision of the servants of the Metro-politan Board of Works, surprised all who saw them by theirluxuriousness and large yield.

Sir J. Bazalgette reported against the process solely on thescore of expense, including in his figures many items whicharose evidently from the work being temporary and experi-mental. A further trial of three months to prove how greatlythe expenses might be reduced was refused to the company,notwithstanding the large expenditure on the works andtheir complete Sanitary success.

Since that trial was made we have been steadily workingto cheapen our process, and the cost would now not exceedone third of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s tigures. This reductionconsists both in the reduced price of chemicals and in thedrying arrangements. We have also continued to demon-strate that our native guano is of value and that it producesgood crops.We maintain that there is a fearful waste of valuable

manure to the country by pouring the London sewage intothe river untreated, and that by the use of a precipitation pro-cess (for which the present tanhs could be easily adapted at amoderate cost) a bright innocuous effluent might go into theriver free from all deposit and without any nuisance through-out. the mrnrPCC —I remain Sir your obedient servant

C. RAWSON,Managing Director of the Native Guano Company, Limited.