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THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

ON Monday last, Dr. WATSONB,was again unanimously electedPresident of the Royal College of Physicians, and deliveredthe following address :-

. If on this, the fifth annual occasion on which you have doneme the signal honour of placing me, with almost one consent,in the President’s chair of this great College, I fail to findfit words wherein to express my sense of that honour, youwill, I am sure, be charitable enough to attribute that failureto my want rather of readiness in speech, than of the properresponsive feelings of gratification and gratitude. The repeti-tion, year by year, of this mark of your confidence, acquiresyear by year a fresh value and additional significance; demand-ing, on my part, a corresponding increase, if possible, of careand pains, lest I forfeit, by any act or neglect of mine, thegood opinion which I covet and estimate so highly. Theofficial year which has just expired has not been unfruitful ofevents to the College. Suffer me, as on former occasions,briefly to recall the most prominent of them to your notice.As in previous years, messages of courtesy, and applicationsfor help or advice, have reached us from the Government, andhave been suitably responded to by the College. In particular,that great question, between the medical profession on theone hand, and the authorities at the War Office, the Ad-miralty, and the Horse Guards, on the other, respecting thegrievances of the medical officers of the army and navy hasbeen brought to a happy settlement-and that through the in-strumentality of this College. Those of you who may look intothe blue-book which has just been issued on this subject, andwhich is lying on the table before us, will find in it ampleproof that the first steps towards that promise of redress whichis contained in the report of the Committee appointed toinquire into the matter were taken by our College. They willcall to mind, also, that the College was moved to action by asmall number of our Fellows, who had formed a more sanguineand, as it has turned out, a more just estimate of the weightand efficacy of our influence with the authorities in question,than I, and I believe than many of us, ventured at that time toentertain. They who read the printed evidence collected bythe Committee, upon which evid’ence the report is founded, willfind in it much that is curious and even entertaining; and,above all, they will see how admirably the representative ofthis College in the Committee acquitted himself of his arduoustask, how faithfully and well he fought the battle of the pro-fession, and vindicated the choice which, in a moment of emer-gency, and counting confidently on your sanction, I did nothesitate to make in appointing him.Among the events of the past year which, though they re-

quire no comment, seem yet deserving of commemoration, arethe following :-The delivery in English, for the first time, ofthe Harveian Oration ; and the presence of the Prince ofWales among the audience. The completion, and the settingin order, of our new museum upstairs. The affixing of theCollege seal to a lease from the Crown, for 999 years, at apeppercorn rent, of the building in which we are now assem-bled. The visitation of the examinations for our licence bydeputies from the Medical Council. I may here remind you,that with this year the examinations on the subjects of generaleducation will cease. The College has consented to lendseveral of our pictures to the Committee of the Council ofEducation, for the forthcoming national exhibition of portraits.The Leprosy Committee have continued their labours duringthe year, and their final report is now in the press. The

customary endowed lectures have been delivered in the theatreof the College by Dr. Roberts, Dr. Sieveking, and Dr. Fuller;and permission has been granted to Dr. Richardson and to Dr.Andrew Clark to give, each of them, a short course of lecturesthere presently after Easter. The number of Fellows uponour list is less by one than at the same period of last year,seven having been elected within the year, and eight having died- namely, Dr. King, Dr. Southey, Dr. Formby, Dr. Ferguson,Sir Alexander Morison, Dr. Forbes Reynolds, Dr. Conolly, and,within these few days, Dr. Spurgin. Fifteen members of theCollege have died, and eighteen have been admitted. Seventy-four licences have been granted.

I am confining myself, I believe, within the limits of sobertruth, when I say that some of those Fellows whom we havethus lost were among the gems of this our body. It is not mypurpose to deliver a set eulogy upon any one of them ; but Ican scarcely permit myself to refrain from saying a word or two,with your permission and indulgence, upon those of them whowere most familiarly known to me. The late Dr. Southey had

reached so ripe an age-he was upwards of fourscore-thatthere are not many of us left who knew him in his prime; and,as he was not often at the College during the latter part of hislife, there must be many of the younger Fellows who neverknew him at all. In his life and qualities, he was not unworthyof the name that his elder brother, the poet, has made famous.In his youth remarkably handsome, active, athletic, and fondof the sports of the field, he became a great favourite, both asthe companion and as the physician, of many of the greataristocratic families in the north of England ; and their favourand support followed him when he afterwards settled in prac-tice in this town. It would be incorrect to speak of him as agreat physician. I doubt whether he ever had that true love

of his profession which is essential to the making of a greatphysician ; but he possessed a large share of that useful facultywhich we call, not very felicitously, common sense-for, intruth, it is not common at all-which, in the business of life,often stands a man in better stead than deep or abstract science ;and he had thoroughly mastered, and applied with safety andsuccess, those rules of practice which were current in his day,and which were then deemed the soundest and the best.Among his early friends was Henry (afterwards Lord)Brougham, who survives him, and who, when he held theGreat Seal, appointed Dr. Southey one of his referees in thosecases of lunacy which fall within the care and jurisdiction ofthe Court of Chancery. From that time, Dr. Southey’s prac-tice lay chiefly, though not exclusively, among the insane; andhere the natural good sense of which I have just spoken, hispractical judgment, and his kindness of heart, gave him thepower of conferring substantial benefits upon his affiictedclients, while he inspired corresponding confidence amongtheir distressed relations and friends. Throughout his longlife, Dr. Southey was a general favourite ; and one strongevidence of this appears in the fact that, on three occasions atleast, valuable legacies were bequeathed to him by men whowere bound to him by no ties of consanguinity, or, so far as Iknow, of professional obligation. With Dr. Ferguson I hadthe happiness of living on terms of close and cordial friendshipduring the whole of my professional life. He also was endowedby nature with a goodly presence. He possessed, moreover, avery powerful intellect, a highly cultivated mind, great literarytaste and acquirements, and a remarkably strong will-giftsand attainments which, in their separate existence, conducein no small degree to success in human affairs, and whichare certain, humanly speaking, to command it, when combinedin the same person. And Dr. Ferguson, by the mere force ofhis personal and mental qualities, did achieve eminent suc-cess. He broke loose early, by a strenuous effort, from theadvantages and from the trammels of a department of practicewhich, though highly useful, honourable, and honoured, isstill of necessity, in its highest sphere, what in modern par-lance is called a specialité. Relinquishing very lofty ground inthat department, he committed himself boldly and prosper-ously to the chances of general practice, as a physician, in itswidest sense and highest pretensions ; and he attained hisobject. He furnished one of very few instances of great suc-cess in that way in this town, without the previous and almostessential condition of having held the office of physician to agreat general hospital. His antecedents had been propitious.He had enjoyed the intimate friendship of such men as SirWalter Scott, as Sir Walter’s distinguished son-in-law, JohnGibson Lockhart, as Dean Milman. He counted among hispersonal friends the poet Wordsworth, Henry Taylor, Wash-ington Irving, and many others of like literary distinction ;and thus, perhaps, he had become well fitted for the largepractice which he ultimately obtained among the aristocratic-portion of our countrymen. Most of his actual patients gavehim their unbounded confidence. He had the faculty-whe-ther it be, in a worldly point of view, a desirable faculty or no,I will not stop to consider-but he had in an uncommon degreethe faculty of transforming patients into admiring friends. I

may mention, as one instance of this, that almost the firstthing which the late Lord Palmerston said to me, when he be-came my patient, was, " I have lost in Ferguson not only anable physician, but a personal friend." He was held in thesame estimation, I have reason to believe, by the great chief ofthe other political party, Lord Derby. He was struck downsuddenly, in the full exercise of an honourable and lucrativecareer, by an attack of epileptiform convulsions, which shat-tered his strength and abated his spirit, and at length, by theirfrequent repetition, brought his life to an untimely close, inabout two years from the first onset of his malady.

"Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,’ Rulli flebilior quam mihi."

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The name of Conolly will float further down the stream of time seconded by Dr. Sissojr, was unanimously carried at the samethan that of Southey or of Ferguson. I am not aware of any meeting of the College :-book of which Dr. Southey was the author. The best, pro- " The Royal College of Physicians of London, in acknow-bably, of Dr. Ferguson’s writings-and he wrote well-are en- ledging the receipt from the Lords of the Admiralty of thetombed among the perishing records of periodical literature. ’ Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the wholeSome of Dr. Conolly’s works, especially those on his favourite question of the Rank, Pay, and Position of the Medical Officers .

subject-insanity, deserve, and will, perhaps, obtain a more of the Army and Navy,’ beg leave to convey to the First Lordenduring reputation and currency. There was a pleasing har- of the Admiralty and to the Secretary of War the expression ofmony between his aspect and manners, which were gentle and their high gratification with the manner in which their Lord-engaging-his oratory, which was easy, copious, elegant, and ships have responded to the appeal of the College, by appoint-persuasive-and his written style, which was correct, refined, ing a Committee to inquire into the subjects referred to in theand graceful, with the weakening fault, perhaps, of being some- memorials addressed to their Lordships by the College, and bywhat diffuse. But his renown will rest, and his name will go inviting the College to nominate one of themselves to representdown to a late posterity, upon his having been the first and them in the Committee. The College also desire to expressforemost in redressing and abolishing that hideous neglect, their satisfaction with the Recommendations contained in thethose cruel methods of restraint and even torture, which had Reports of the Committee. They consider that these Recom-been the scandal of our land, in respect of the treatment of the mendations, whereby the position and pay of army and navyinsane. He showed, not merely by eloquent and pathetic rea- medical officers are materially improved, are well fitted to re-.soning, but by the testimony of undeniable facts, that most of move those sources of discontent which the College deemedthe shackles and privations which had been imposed upon those injurious to the public interest, and will, if carried out, meetunhappy beings were unnecessary and hurtful, and that their with the general approbation of the profession, and so be therelease from needless bodily misery and degradation tended means of inducing a higher class of medical candidates to seekmore than any other thing to restore, or when restoration was admission into the Army and Navy Medical Services."impossible, to improve, their mental health. The spirit of John Dr. SIBSON, in seconding the resolution, said that the ex-Conolly was congenial with the spirit of John Howard ; and cellent part played by the College in this matter would reflecttheir noble example has left behind them, and encouraged, a high credit upon the College, and proved it to be what it really-similar spirit, which is actively and widely at work in this was-the leading medical body in the country. The College innation. We cannot have a better instance of this than is this had looked beyond its own immediate interests, andafforded by the efforts even now being made for improving the showed that it had a regard for all members of the profession,condition of the sick poor in our workhouses and their infir- whether they were or not members of its corporation. Thismaries : efforts which, we may be proud to remember, have was the right and a proud position for the College to assume.been set on foot, and are mainly sustained, by members of our The influence exercised by the College with the Governmentown profession. Of the honest, genial, kindly-natured man, had produced the highest benefits to our army and navywhose name closes the death-list that I have read, I need medical brethren. The recommendations contained in the.scarcely remind you. But a few months ago, he was amongst Reports of the Admiralty Committee must meet with generalus in his usual robustness of health. His life was doubtless approbation. Thereby the position of army and navy medical.shortened-the diseased conditions that ultimately wore him officers was much improved, and besides, a very considerable.out were set a-going, if they were not absolutely generated, addition made to their pay. Surely it was no slight matterby the disgraceful outrage committed on him by a band of that an assistant-surgeon of the navy should have his pay in-thieves, in the light of day, and in one of our broadest streets. creased to the extent of X48 per annum, and that all grades ofHis pleasant and friendly face will long be missed and regretted the medical service upwards should have likewise a consider-by us; especially on those days when, as now, we assemble in able increase of pay. Everything wished for by medicalour quarterly comitia. We express feebly enough, on this officers may not be obtained; but certainly, considering theday, our grief for his loss, and our respect for his memory, by very great improvement made in their position and pay, all.abstaining from that festive meeting of which he had been reasonable people must allow that a great boon is bestowed bythe originator, and was the manager and main support. these recommendations upon them. The tact and firmnessBut I am wearying you, I fear, with these reminiscences. shown by Dr. Markham in the Committee deserved the thanks

They may appear to you, indeed they are, fragmentary, in- of the College. In a settlement of highly conflicting interests,complete, and probably tedious also. But to myself, they have it was simply an act of wisdom to give fair consideration tothe force of an admonition. In one particular at least, that of both sides of the question. It was impossible to disregard theage, I belong to the category of the men of whom I have been opinions of official minds ; but in any concessions thus made,speaking : younger than three or four of the eight who are the right interests and position of medical officers have beengone : older, I believe, than any of the rest. When last year duly secured to them.you replaced me in this chair as soon as I had vacated it, I Dr. ARMSTRONG, on the part of his naval medical brethren,ventured to express my misgivings as to my continued capacity begged sincerely to thank the College for the great servicesfor the proper fulfilment of its duties. Those misgivings have rendered the army and navy by the intervention of the Collegenot been lessened by the lapse of another twelvemonth. on their behalf. He supported the resolution with pleasure,

I much question-if you will forgive me for saying so-the and had no doubt that the liberal recommendations containedwisdom of the College in again re-electing me, and my own in the Reports of the Admiralty Committee would be favour-wisdom in again accepting such a charge. At that point in ably received by navy medical officers.ths down-hill of life which I have reached, months may tell Dr. BURROWS then, in warm language of approval, proposed,more disastrously than years might do with men who have not and Dr. ALDERSON seconded, a vote of thanks to Dr. Markhamyet begun, or who have scarcely begun, the descent. Should I for the manner in which he had acted as representative of thesurvive the coming year, and-what I have the presumption College in the Admiralty Committee.to suppose to be even more likely-should your kindness to- - .

wards me also survive it, it still will be my plain duty to make FEMALE LONGEVITY.-Some rare instances of prolongedway for some younger and abler President. I shall then have existence have appeared in the obituary of The Times lately,completed that lustrum which our Treasurer has often been more particularly of females, of whom no less than nineteengood enough to suggest and to assign to me. Five years’ oc- appeared, whose united ages amounted to 1614 years, givingcupancy of this chair is, in my opinion, quite as much as is an average of 84 years and rather more than eleven months togood either for the College or the President himself. each. During the same time the deaths of only eight gentle-

There are yet other considerations. At my age, as year men were recorded, whose united ages amounted to 82 yearsafter year is mercifully added, it becomes ever more and more and upwards of four months to each. The eldest lady hadneedful and becoming to withdraw, in some measure at least, reached the great age of 95 years, and the youngest 80. Offrom the cares and distractions of professional and outward the opposite sex the oldest was 85, and the youngest 80 yearslife, and the fleeting interests of this world, and to cultivate, of age.in comparative retirement and repose, thoughts and feelings PROVINCIAL MEDICAL CHARITIES.-The local hospitalswhich have for their object that bourne which is inevitable, and asylums of Manchester will benefit under the will ofand which cannot be far distant. William Whitehead, Esq., of Dobcross, Saddleworth, York-

Illi mors gravis incubat, shire, lately deceased, who has bequeathed to the Blind

Qui notus nimis omnibus Asylum, 500; the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, £500 ; and theIgnotus moritur sibi." Eye Hospital, ;ClOO, all situated in Manchester. The same

.’ benevolent gentleman has bequeathed ;C1000 to the Hudders-

The following resolution, proposed by Dr. BLACK and field and Upper Agbrigg Infirmary.