2
153 To Correspondents. IT would greatly facilitate our labours if gentlemen, who kindly forward to us newspapers or other periodicals, would be good enough to mark the articles to which they wish to direct our attention. Brevity and condensation in communications forwarded for publication are especial recommendations to our favour. It is, moreover, desirable that our correspondents should assume definite and easily-recognisable signatures. We have occasionally on our table at the same time half a dozen letters, each signed "A Surgeon;" the Subscribers" are too numerous to mention; whilst those who merely attach "3I.D." or "M.R.C.S." to their communications are legion. It would remove much difficulty and confusion if some more distinct and less common signa- tures were to be adopted. J. W. C.-1. The "Medical Directory" does not include the name in the list of those having a British diploma. We know nothing of the merits of the means employed.-2. If a private note be sent, an answer shall be returned. M.D. Erlangen.-Not if the diploma was obtained without examination, A D U L T E B A T I O N O D R U G S. To the Editor of TaE LANCET. SIR,-Concurriug as I do in everything Dr. Ingle has stated, in your journal of last week, concerning the nefarious practice of adulterating drugs by col- lectors abroad and by importers and wholesale and retail druggists at home, and the consequent frequent failure of our prescriptions to accomplish the objects fur which they were intended, allow me to correct an error into which Dr. Ingle has inadvertently fallen. He says " the only known legitimate use of strychnine is for medicinal purposes." Surely he has mistaken the Custom- house return of strychnos nux vomica for strychnine; the former yields about two per cent. of the latter. As to the uses to which strychnia is applied : a large quantity is used for dressing corn stacks to destroy rats and mice ; pieces of lath, coated with grease, and sprinkled with strychnine, are stuck under the thatch, which most effectually destroy the vermin, and large quantities are exported to the colonies, where it is employed for the dstruction of dingoes or wild dos’s in Australia, and wolves and jackals in Africa, and for the same pur- poses elsewhere. In this way the product of 100 tons ofstrychnos nux vomica would be readily disposed of, without bringing in the brewer guilty of poisoning his ale with a drug, which to a moderate drinker would prove a convulsive, and to a drunkard a quietus. Brewers do not adulterate their beer; the risk is too great and the penalty too high, whatever the publicans may do, and their doings are sufficiently notorious. I am, Sir. vours truly. February, 1859. J. PIDDUCK, M.D. Tibi,-It is inconsistent with the recognised laws of etiquette. He should have attended in the absence of the family physician, and retired on that gentle- man making his appearance. G. H.-The subscription to the Obstetrical Society is one guinea per annum. At present there is, we believe, no entrance fee. A Visitor.- Every fellow has the privilege of admitting a friend. UNQUALIFIED D E L E C T R I C I A N S. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-The therapeutical agencies of electricity have been so much abused in this country by unprincipled charlatans, that honest practitioners, going to the other extreme, have barely accorded to electricity in all its various forms the merit which justly belongs to it. Doubtless it is within your cognizance that here in England, at this very time, there are several so-called electrical practi- tioners with no qualification whatever, who derive large incomes from treating diseases by electricity. Inasmuch as they do not prescribe medicines, will they not, unless sharply looked after, contravene the provisions of the new Medical Registration Act ?-and will not the prominence under impunity which they give to electrical agencies tend to keep the latter in unmerited disrepute amongst honestly-practising, qualified medical men ? I am one of those who believe that, were it not for the aid you are affording the Registrar, registration would be a dead letter; and this induces me to trouble you with the present communication, lest empirics might remain undisturbed by reason of their not administering internal remedies.-Your obedient servant, February, 1859. SCRUTATOR. At Union Sirgeon.-It will depend much upon the opinions expressed by union surgeons throughout the kingdom. Dr. George Harley’s communication, "On Diphtheria," arrived too late to appear in the present number. It shall be published next week. Enquirer.-He can register all his qualifications. He can assume either title. An Allopathic Subscriber.-Inserted by mistake. THE NAVAL MEDICAL SERVICE. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Some young surgeons, friends of mine, are anxious to enter the naval service, but hesitate to do so as long as they shall be liable to be clashed "with students unpassed" candidates for assistant-surgeoncies; and justly do they hesitate. Can you, Sir, or any of your readers say if the Medical Act will touch the naval service on this head, or reach it so efficiently as to prevent the recur- rence of this abuse-luckily confined to the naval department of Great Britain - viz., that of privileging, under Government sauetion, unqualified per- sons to practise on life and limb, and that frequently where there exists no possible chance of professional co-operation-so essential to landsmen in im- portant cases- at sea? What are our Colleges of Surgeons about ? To what end do we work for and pay for their diplomas, if they are unable or unwilling to protect our dearly-bought privileges ? Yours, &c., February, 1859. DIPLOMA. Mr. E. Crickmay.-There is no case precisely parallel. It would be advisable not to take any steps in the matter; it is one of those unavoidable and un- justifiable injuries to which medical practitioners are liable. Archimedes.-Dr. Arnott’s work has never been completed, much to the regret of a great number of persons, besides our correspondent. LEGITIMATE TIEDICINE AND QUACKERY. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Can you inform me if there are any cheap, plain, and pitliy tractates or pamphlets exposing the fallacies of homœopathy ? Homoeopaths have theirs, which they circulate freely, and which no doubt have done much to unsettle the minds of many, and lead others to adopt that system, so speciously set forth as the " only safe and scientific." I often get questions asked, apparent difficulties proposed, and false deductions drawn from well-known facts, which I should be glad to answer by the gift of a small tract to the purpose, such as " A Few Cogent Reasons, &c.," or " Homcx;opathy inconsistent with Reason and Science." They should be short, striking, and practical. Doubtless many others feel the same, and such a series as above named, popularly written and cheaply published, would meet a large sale. I, for one, should be glad to purchase such, and place them on my counter for distribu- tion, enclose them in parcels, &c. We have nothing ultimately to fear from homoeopaths or their system; but why allow their specious reasonings to pass unexposed, when they might be so. easily met by the above method? Yours truly, Exeter, February, 1859. H. B. C. L. 3f. J.-If he adopts any title, or take= any name, by which he assumes that he is registered under the Act, he can be prosecuted. Dr. Ogle’s communication shall appear next week. B. P. H.-Not in a nzedicat case. He could for attendance and medicines in an obstetric case. pROOIDENTIA UTERI. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-In answer to your correspondent, "Aliquis," in your last week’s im. pression, relative to the best kind of pessary to be used in a case of procidentia uteri, I can only state that my own experience teaches me that Mr. Schofield’s porcelain pessary is by far the most useful. I would, therefore, advise " Aliquie’ to try one. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Warton Hall, Lancaster, Feb. 1859. RICHARD BROWN. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-TWO years ago I sent a specimen of my pessary to your Office, and an engraving appeared in THE LANCET of October 18th, 1856, to which I refer your correspondent for fuller information.-Yours, &c., J. P. SALT, Surgical Instrument Maker to the Birmingham, February, 1859. Birmingham Hospitals. Probatum Est.-There may be some truth in the statements made but the* style is too offensive for publication. Students.-It will be compulsory on all candidates who present themselves for examination after March lst. Dr. Henry Holmes’s letter shall appear in our next. REMUNERATION’ OF UNION MEDICAL OFFICERS. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Pray call general attention to an advertisement in your last impres- sion, headed " Skipton Union-Medieal Officers Wanted." If this will not expose the evils of the Poor-law medical system, and the value set upon human life and suffering, nothing will. Yours obediently, February, 1859. NOT A YORKSHIREMAN. COMMUNICATIONS, LETTERS, &c., have been received from--Mr. Erichsen; Mr. Solly; Dr. Francis Hawkins; Mr. Henry Thompson; Dr. Knox ; Mr. Martin H. Irving, Sheerness; Mr. R. Brown; Capt. Rennie; Messrs. Salt and Co., Birmingham; Mr. Edward Crickmay, Norwich; Dr. Pidduck; Mr. Wells ; Mr. Henry J. Yeld, Glasgow; Dr. J. Cameron, Liverpool; Mr. R. Pyne, Royston; Mr. Phillips; Dr. W. F. Wade ; Mr. Lymington; Dr. Ladd; Dr. Ogle; Mr. Griffin, Weymouth ; Dr. Savage; Mr. Allen Duke; Mr. F. Hudson; Dr. Mapleton; Dr. Brinton; Mr. Blackman, Brighton; Dr. Henry Holmes; Mr. Bryant; Dr. Devenish; Mr. Hazlewood, Lymm, (with enclo- sure ;) Mr. Ives, Durham, (with enclosure;) ;) Mr. Reilly, Leamington, (with enclosure;) Mr. Henson, Manchester, (with enclosure;) Mr. Roe, Ellesmere, (with enclosure;) Mr. Bell, Uppingham, (with enclosure;) Mr. Glover, Salop, (with enclosure;) Mr. Dalley, Bewdley, (with enclosure;) Dr. Duigan, Gainsbro’, (with enclosure;) Mr. Gage, Taunton; Messrs. Sowler and Son, Manchester, (with enclosure;) Messrs. Robertson and Scott, Edinburgh, (with enclosure;) Mr. Ormerod, Bristol, (with enclosure;) Mr. Kynock, Shiffnal, (with enclosure;) Mr. Cole, Morriston, (with enclosure;) Mr. Tweddell, Durham, (with enclosure;) Mr. Greer, Belfast, (with enclosure;) Mr. Neate, Staffordshire, (with enclosure ;) Mr. Owen, Sandbach, (with en- closure ;) Mr. Brown, Edinburgh, (with enclosure;) Mr. Matthews, Swansea; Mr. Billing York, Paris; Mr. Page, Cambridge; Mr. Beet, Ashford, (with enclosure;) Mr. Cockrem, Torquay; Mr. Glennie, Kingsland, (with enclo. sure;) Mr. Torr, Middlewieh, (with enclosure;) Mr. Girdwood, Windsor, (with enclosure;) Mr. Porter, Southampton, (with enclosure;) Dr. Vaux, Macclesfield; Mr. Bates, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Mr. Martin, Abingdon, (with enclosure;) Dr. Geo. Harley; Probatum Est; A Naval Surgeon; L. M. J.; B. F. H.; Scrutator; Physician; Amicus; A Voice from the Dissecting- Room ; An Officer in a Middlesex Union; Northern Illiirmary, Inverness, (with enclosure;) J. W. C. ; Archimedes; M.D. Erlangen; Tibi; Studens; Enquirer; An Union Surgeon; A Visitor ; Diploma; Not a Yorkshireman ; H- B. f - G TT- - &c. &c.
