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29 To Correspondents. d. M.-Our correspondent has drawn our attention to the numerous cases of I drowning which are continually occurring in the docks at Cardiff, and com- ’ plains that there is no reception-room in the neighbourhood to which bodies taken from the water might be removed. The danger of the docks is greatly increased in consequence of a dispute between the Marquis of Bute and the Town Council with respect to lighting. Serious accidents at the quarries in the neighbourhood are also frequent, and the difficulty of removal much aggravates the pain of the sufferers. "A. M." suggests the provision of an ambulance for this purpose. It is to be hoped that his reasonable and philanthropic views will be adopted by the authorities, not only at Cardiff, but in all extensive works where injury to life and limb is prevalent. The rough impromptu conveyances used on such occasions fre- quently increase the injury already sustained, and tend to a fatal termina- tion. We trust our correspondent will have sufficient influence to effect a reform, which is urgently demanded by the voice of humanity, and, it would appear in the case of Cardiff, of policy also. The public have no sympathy in these matters with the disputes of the contentious parties. The remedy is so easy of adoption, the evils which it might prevent are so striking, that it is marvellous to every disinterested person on what grounds it can possibly be delayed. Enquirer and an Old Subscriber.-He can do it by courtesy. The right would not be inquired into by those who alone have power to put it to the test. ESPRIT DE CORPS. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-This subject, of vital importance to the well-being of our profession, is surely worth more to us all, and merits more notice, than the cursory letters that have appeared in your two last numbers. There is amongst us no lack of genuine esprit de corp.; but it finds no adequate expression, and is put to no practical use beyond the furthering of partial and individual movements. For those medical men who possess true esprit de corps, and who would unite in common action if they only saw a way likely to lead to any great and good result, are so intermixed and alternated with men whose sole leading motive is self-interest, and with others who are overworked, or weak, or indolent, or sceptical of their fellows, or unreliable, that they feel themselves quoad hoc isolated; and of course they know, as men of business, that the isolated action of public spirit is mere waste of time and energy. I Therefore they sit still. They have their living to get, and cannot spend their time over a work in which no one helps them. But such men would not I sit still if there were a general intercommunication and organization to turn their efforts to account. They would find methods of acting for the good and the interest of the whole profession; they would exert a beneficial influence on the inert, the selfish, and the sceptical; and they would form a public body of witnesses, before whose eyes professional conduct would improve, and under whose care a better code of medical common law would spontaneously develop itself, provided there were no dogmatic interference. The necessity for some such organization is urgent. Daily the practitioner of limited means feels that he ought to contribute to the A. or the B. or the C. defence fund, to reimburse those men who in their proper persons have fought the battle of the profession in a damaging action. But he feels that there may be no end of such contributions ; they are the mere patch upon the rent; and that his putting down his guinea, sorely needed to pay his own Christmas bills, will not prevent a dozen similar cases from happening to- morrow. Daily the honourable practitioner feels that any right self-denial on his part is of use to his own heart and conscience alone, and has not the slightest effect in amending the conduct of others. Daily every medical man feels that his only protection from insult or wrong is with himself; for that the profession will not stir, except it be a conspicuous case exciting interest, to call to account that man or body of men who insult the whole profession in his name. Daily we feel that we have no power to agree upon any common action respecting the ordinary eventualities of public and private practice. But I need not multiply instances. I have no time left to speak of the kind of organization needed. The Medical Registration Association ought to have supplied it; but that is now defunct. Medico-Ethical Societies are not to the purpose. The proper Medi- cal Societies have their own business to mind. And it is no local or partial organization that is wanting. Yet there ought to be no new machinery re- quired. The means of forming a general organization throughout England of all those medical men who really care for the interests and welfare, the position and the honour of the profession they belong to, must surely lie very close to us. Can you, Sir, to whom so large and important a section of the profession confide their interests, suggest a plan that, rising superior to all cliques and parties, shall do good to us all Might not a general Association for the protection of the interests and dignity of the profession be made to rise out of the remains of the Medical Registration Association, all regular and orthodox registered practitioners to belong to it on paying a small annual subscription ? The time is fully come for it. There are hundreds who will be glad to help, but who, as working men, can only help if there is effective co-operation. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Brighton, December, 1863. W. E. C. N. Omicron.-We are inclined to the belief that the several pocks of the diffe- rent animals mentioned by our correspondent are only small-pox modified by the particular animal constitnt’ons. For instance, M. Bouley related to the French Academy a short time back, that having recently observed some aphtha-like eruption in the mouth of a horse, and having ascer- tained its contagiousness by applying it to the mouth of another horse, he inoculated the matter on the teat ef a cow. The eruption thus produced was in every respect similar to the cow-pox, and served to vaccinate an infaut. This child, as well as three pupils of the Veterinary School of Alfort revaceinated from the same source, were presented to the Academy. The vesicles on the child were very well marked, and some of those on the students also were sufnciently characteristic. SUMPTER v. POND. CERTAINLY we cannot agree entirely with the defendant’s attorney in this case, that the Act is so clear as to prohibit a Doctor of Medicine of Aber- deen from recovering for surgical attendance. The point is one of great doubt, and we believe has been decided differently by different County Court judges. Final judgment on the question must issue from the superior courts of law. We regret to say that the tone of the correspondence which has taken place, so far as the solicitor for the defence is concerned, is not characterized by that dignity which should exist amongst educated gen- tlemen. Dr. Sumpter may have been wrong in the opinion which he ex- pressed ; but he does not appear to have used any language calling for an uncourteous reply. A Constant Reader would ensure the fulfilment of his object in a more com, prehensive manner by placing before the profession a record of his obser- vations on the effects of tea, than by the simple publication of his letter. THE ERLANGEN DEGREE OF M.D. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR -As another of your countless "regular subscribers,’ permit me to say that the expense of graduation at the Protestant University of Bavaria, above named, is not £18 only, but £25. Any legally qualified medical practitioner can obtain it in an ad eundem manner, provided he can write a satisfactory dissertation, give proof of an adequate professional education, and furnish testimonials of his general intellectual and moral proficiency from men of acknowledged reputation. In this way, at least, I know it was successfully sought by Pereira, Ashwell, Waller, and a host of other talented physicians in this country, as well as in Scotland and Ireland; in fact, none but well qualified persons can obtain this diploma, except by fraudulent means, for all’ the previous letters-testimonial are recited in the Doctor’s degree of the Medical Faculty thus conferred, as well as the nature and merits of the ori- ginal thesis. The degree of M.D. is not, as with us, the same for all; but, on the contrary, special for each individual, and granted to him for reasons- ’ therein stated and printed! Application should be made, in the first in- stance, to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (post paid), University of Erlangen, Bavaria. I need hardly add that many celebrated names have been, and still ’are, connected with it in every department of literature and science, and that it would, in my judgment, reverting to the pleasures of the past, amply repay a visit from your correspondent. The University is, indeed, a splendid esta- blishment, having a noble and richly-stocked library of far more than 100,000 valuable books, a fine museum, botanic garden of unrivalled excellence in medicinal plants, together with large and interesting hospitals, in the midst of a handsome and elegant town, on the Regnitz, with wide streets and good houses. I would observe, in conclusion, that there are few educated men in England who have not heard or read something of the Erlangen professors, and formed some notion of them, however indefinite, as theologians, anatomists, patho- logists, philosophers, pantheists, or patriots-men possessed of a stoical moral nature, and practical self-devotion to high purposes, such as we find but too few of in any age or country. I remain, Sir, yours with respect, Liverpool, December, 1863. WILLIAM HITCHMAN, M.D. M. A. C.-The question has never yet been decided by any competent tribunal. ’, Until that is the case, some doubts upon the subject must remain. We think, however, that he could recover. ;Enquirer (Liverpool) might with advantage make an application on the sub- ject of her letter to Dr. Down, Earlswood, Redhill. D. F. should apply to Dr. O’R. himself. M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.-We are not aware of the nature of the composition. HYDATIDIFORM FORMATIONS IN THE UTERUS. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Referring to the very interesting questions as to the " etiology" of the above subject, you will probably see no impropriety in my stating that eighteen years ago I met with three cases (all occurring within a twelvemonth of each other), of the expulsion of a mass of hydatids. The first was from a young woman, the wife of a deformed cripp’e, in the village of Uickenhall, in Warwickshire; the second from an old woman, past sixty years, of Meriden, four miles from the before-named place, the wife of the constable; the third case was from an old woman, more than sixty years, wife of a carpenter at Corley, five miles from Meriden. The age of the subjects of the two latter cases would seem to preclude our assent to the interesting theory advanced by Dr. Graily Hewitt. I think no one who saw what I saw in these three cases would doubt their being veritable entozoa, the offspring of a parent germ, but how that parent found a habitat in a woman’s womb is a mystery. I may say that the appearance of the vesicular mass was remarkably similar in all the three cases, the haemorrhage not at all alarming either in the young or old, and the patients were neither of them seen until some hours had elapsed after the extrusion of the masses, the volume of which was very considerable in either case. In that of the young woman, she supposed her- self to be five months gone in pregnancy, and the whole case would most strongly support Dr. Hewitt’s views ; while the other cases as strongly mili- tate against them. Indeed, even in the case of the young woman, there was such an enormous mass of hydatid formation that I can hardly conceive it possible that anything but the parent hydatids could develop them. All three women recovered very well pro tem. I remember the policeman’s wife said she had suffered in a less degree previously, but not sufficiently to call in advice. The other old woman was in delicate health, but did not reouire any further care during the two years later that I remained in Warwickshire. If thought desirable, I can learn the condition of the young woman, as I dare say she is still alive. The two others are dead. I may suggest that, if required, and there be a notice given to your readers, some of them would very soon be in a position to send a specimen of this morbid production, which as I saw it was of the volume of near a gallon measure, something between the appearance of toad or frog spawn and the froth we sometimes see on the sea-shore. I have never met with a case since those I mention; but, doubtless, others often see such cases. I am, Sir, faithfully yours, Peckham, December, 1863. ’ F.R.C.S.
