155

were relieved from duty on Saturday, the 30th ult.; and on jMonday last the whole of them were dispersed.METROPOLITAN FREE HOSPITAL.-At a meeting of the

governors of this institution, held on the 3rd instant, Dr. H. IStavely King was unanimously elected physician to the hos- pital, in the place of Dr. Barnes, resigned.BANQUET TO A MILITARY SURGEON.-Colonel E. A.

Parker and the officers of the Chatham division of Roy al MarineLight Infantry entertained Dr. J. Drummond, late Deputy-In-spector of Hospitals, and for many years principal medical Iofficer at Melville Hospital, Chatham, at a banquet, as a mark ’,of their esteem and respect on the occasion of his retirement ’,from the service on full pay. Amongst those present were IMajor-Gen. W. H. Eden and most of the colonels commandingat Chatham. Dr. Drummond is succeeded by Dr. J. WingateJohnston (1847). ’

THE YELLOW FEVER IN LISBON.-At the last meeting ’,of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Dr. Guyon sent in variouscoloured drawings of the state of the body and viscera underthe influence of yellow fever. Dr. Guyon, having studied thatdisease for many years in America, had visited Lisbon duringthe late invasion, where he had caused the drawings in ques-tion to be executed. He chiefly called the attention of theAcademy to a new fact exemplified in his drawings-viz., thecolour assumed by the liver, which at the same time tends todegenerate into a fatty substance. Dr. Lyons has arrived inthe course of the last week from Lisbon. His mission therewas of the same nature as that of Dr. Guyon, and we may ex-pect soon to hear of the results of his observations.HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK ENDING

SATURDAY, JANUARY, 30TH.-The total number of deaths inLondon during the week was 1363, showing a slight increaseon the rather high mortality of the previous week, and being75 above the average of the last ten years. Of these, 248 arereferred to the zymotic class of diseases; 260 to the constitu-tional ; 650 to the local ; 164 to the developmental ; 19 to vio-lence. The remaining 22 are sudden and other deaths, thecauses of which are not stated, or defined sufficiently for clas-sification. The deaths referred to the miasmatic order of dis-eases number 222, while the corrected average is 269. Only5 cases of diarrhoea were fatal, and 2 of small-pox. Hooping-cough carried off 54 children ; measles was fatal in 51 cases,scarlatina in 42. The deaths due to diseases of the organs ofrespiration numbered 380, whilst the corrected average of corre-sponding weeks does not exceed 284. The excess is caused bybronchitis, which is fatal much beyond its usual amount : 227deaths are the results of this complaint, 104 of pneumonia, 32of asthma ; only four are returned under the specific designa-tion of influenza.

Births, Marriages, and Deaths.BIRTHS.

On the 29th ult., Louisa, wife of J. S. Loe, Esq., M.R.C.S.,of Leeds, of a daughter.On the 31st ult., the wife of James Stevens, Esq., M.R. C. S. ,

of Bloomsbury-square, of a son.

MARRIAGES.On the 8th of December, at Surat, Dr. F. S. Arnott,

H. E. I. C. S., Superintending-surgeon to Sir Hugh Rose, to Ann,third daughter of the late John J. Gabourd, Esq., of St. Helier’s,Jersev.

On the 27th ult., at Westport, Cupar, Fifeshire, A. Christie,Esq., of Hawk-hill, Edinburgh, to Margaret Isabella DurhamCarstairs, eldest daughter of William Carstairs, Esq., lateBombay Medical Staff.

____

DEATHS.On the 1st ult., at the residence of her father, J. Taylor,

Esq., L.S.A., Old Kent-road, Emily Louisa, wife of C. D.Piper, Esq., of H. M.’s Royal Arsenal, and of Wood-street,Woolwich, in the 19th year of her age.On the 27th ult., at Surbiton, Kingston, Surrey, Charles

Edward Mason, only son of Charles J. Mason, Esq., M.R.C.S.,aged six months.On the 28th ult., at Jermyn-street, suddenly, Donald Camp-

bell, Esq., surgeon, H. E. I. Co. ’s service.On the 1st inst., R. L. Rawes, Esq., Secretary of the Royal

College of Physicians.

MEDICAL DIARY OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY, FEB. 8 ........

TUESDAY, FBB. 9........

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10

THURSDAY, FEB. 11 .

FRIDAY, FEB. 12 .......

SATURDAY, FEB. 13 .

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1½ P.M.

. METROPOLITAN FREE HOSPITAL. -’ Operations,2 3p.M.(Guy’s HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1 p.M.WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-3 P.M. Prof. Huxley, "OnAnimals and Plants considered Morpholo-gically." "

" ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY OFLONDON. - 8½ P.M. Mr. Hutchinson’s Case of"Bronzing of the Skin." - Dr. Mackenzie, " On

, the Action of Galvanism on the ContractileL Structure of the Gravid Uterus."

(ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1 P.M.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGB HOSPITAL.- Operations,

2 P.M.RoYAL ORTHOPÆDIC HOSPITAL. - Operations, 2

P.M. SOCIETY FOR BELIM OF WIDOWS AND ORPHANS

OF MEDICAL MEN IN LONDON AND ITS VICINITY.-7 P.M. Annual Dinner at the Freemasons.’Tavern.NORTH LONDON MEDICAL SOCIETY. -7 P.M. NORTH LONDON MEDICAL SOCIETY. — 7 P.M.

Annual Meeting.

MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL,.-Operations, 12½ P.M.ST. GEORGE’s HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1 P.M.CENTRAL LONDON OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.

Operations, 1 p.M.LONDON HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1½ P.M.ROYAL INSTITUTION.-3 P.M.-Prof. Tyndall,"OnHeat."

ST. GEOaGE’S MEDICAL SOCIETY.-8 P.M. Mr>Holmes, " On a Case of Section of the Jaw for

the Removal of Naso-Pharyngeal Polypus."(OPHTHALMIO HOSPITAL, MOORFIELDS. - Opera-

tions, 10 A.M.WESTMINSTER OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL. - Opera-

tions, 1½ P.M.GREAT NORTHERN HOSPITAL, KING’S CROSS.-’

’ Operations, 2½ P.M.

HUNTERIAN SOCIETY.-6 P.M. Anniversary Dinnerat the London Tavern.ROYAL INSTITUTION.-8½ P.M. Prof. Faraday, "OnL Static Induction."

CHARING-CROSS HOSPITAL.-Operations, 12½ P.M. ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1 P.M.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.-Operations, 1½ P.M.

.. KiNa’s COLLEGE HOSPITAL.-Operations, 2 P.M.I ROYAL INSTITUTION.-3 P.M. Prof. Bloxam, "On

II the Chemistry of the Elements which Circulatein Nature."

MIEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.-8 P.M,

To Correspondents.Mr. E. Ray, of Sittingbourne, Kent, has forwarded to us a document from the"Customs Fund Office, London," making inquiries of him, as the medicalattendant of one of the officers of that establishment, relative to his state of’health, with a view to the assurance of life. The Office does not pay for this

opinion. Mr. Ray says, with much pertinence to the question in general," I can see no difference between this and an ordinary life assurance office,and think it as much bound to pay for a professional opinion."

The Case at Tovill.-The lamentable disclosures made at the inquest on thebody of the late Betsy Brooker would appear to point to an error in practice,which in these days seems almost inconceivable. Pressure on our space pre-vents detailed comment upon a case which is of great importance, this week,but we hope to lay an account of it before our readers in our next impression.In anticipation, however, of what we shall then have to say, it may be as wellto state that there is no primd facie evidence for believing that the medicalwitnesses, who made the post-mortem examination, and gave evidence at theinquest, moved otherwise in the matter than in accordance with the strictestrules of medical ethics. Caution and candour should prevent reckless com-ments upon insufneiest evidence. The case appears to be one of retroversionof the uterus.

Mr. Marshall Weir’s case of" Placenta PraBvia" shall be inserted.

THE MILITARY HOSPITALS AT YARMOUTH.

DR. LOCKHART ROBERTSON would feel obliged by the Editor of THE LANCETcorrecting the statement in last Saturday’s number (page 131), that Mes rs.Poole and Brock have proceeded to Yarmouth for duty at the Military ZunaticAsyluva there. These gentlemen have been sent to Yarmouth to prepare forthe reception at the hospital of some of the wounded from India. The insanpsoldiers, despite the remonstrances of the Commissioners in Lunacy, continue,by the War-Office, to be farmed out for the profit of the keeper of a pauperasylum at Bow, one of the dismal East-eud suburbs, and from which place thepauper patients of the eo,,iiity of Middlesex were removed to Colney Hatch.Yet this asylum continues, by Lord Panmure, to be thought fit for the aecom-modation of the 13ritish soldier when disabled by mental disease.

Charles-street, Berkeley-square, W., Feb. 1858.

156

One who has been Defrauded.-Mr. Bowen May, of Russell-square, would adviseupon the matter. The money could be recovered. The case of- againstEahn will act as a precedent in all such cases. Kami is the proprietor of anobscene museum in Tichbourne-street, Haymarket. One of the visitors tohis den of iniquity-which at that time was a few doors off, in Coventry-street-was a respectable young man, who, horrified at the specimens of diseasebefore him, became nervous and excited, lest by possibility he might be thev:ctim of some disease. Now mark He was not suffering from any diseasewnieh could not be relieved by a respectable practitioner in two or threec-.ys. But in a moment of weakness he consulted Kahn or one of his con-

federates, and had he followed the advice which was given to him he would have been a ruined man, not only in pocket, but in reputation. This man

wis suffering from a simple gleet, and labouring under a morbid impressionas to his state; he was ordered medicine which had the effect of lowering hisbodily powers, and of course adding to his mental depression. Moreover, hewas enjoined to keep in one solitary room for twenty-seven weeks ! It isdifficult to conceive a more diabolical attempt at extortion than this. For-

tunately the unhappy "patient" fell into better hands. He rejected thequack’s treatment; he was cured in three days, and under the advice ofan. ablesolicitor dragged the extortionate quack into a court of justice, and receivedtack the money, to the amount of fifty guineas, of which he had be?n de-frauded. The quack had no defence, but relied upon the intimidation which1,.e could exert against his pursuer. That intimidation was fortunately in-sufficient to deter the patient from carrying out his righteous purpose.- Kahn was cast in damages and expenses; the judge and the audience werefully impressed with the iniquity of the defendant, and the verdict was hailedwith a burst of applause by a crowded court. Our correspondent need beunder no apprehension that his name will be made public if he has the courage e.to drag the impostor, who has obtained his money under false pretences,before a legal tribunal. We promise him the full support and the protectionof the press, and we urge him to take proceedings on behalf of the manywho, like himself, have been the dupes and victims of a set of the vilestscoundrels which ever disgraced society.

A Medical Stzident.-Some alteration must be made in the Anatomy Act. Thesupply of subjects at the various medical schools is most unsatisfactory.

Delta should apply at the Military Library, Charing-cross.

HARVEIAN SOCIETY.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In the report of the meeting of the Harveian Society which appearedin your journal of January 23rd, I am represented as having " related the caseof n gentleman who was accustomed to periodical cupping, and who by its

practice was made paraplegic." There is some slight mistake here; fur whatI said on that occasion was this : that a gentleman had lately come under myown observation, who had been accustomed to repeated cupping, without thesanction of any medical man, and that I feared that he had thereby done him-self some mischief, for since then he had suffered from repeated epi7eoticattacks. As the report now stands, T am made, unintentionally, guilty of badlogis, as well as of false medical causation.

I am, Sir, yours obedientlyPxrk-street, Grosvenor-square, Jan. 1858. WILLIAM CAMPS, !.I.D.

-Pztie)it has just right to complain. The ordinary fee of an "aural" surgeon is I,one guinea. We should not advise an appeal to the County Court under the circumstances detailed by our correspondent. It is probable, however, thatt‘_e publicity which has been given to the proceedings of the gentleman inquestion regarding fees will prevent him pursuing for the future a course sodetrimental to his own interest and the welfare of the profession.

R. B. should learn to write with moderation and temper. There may be someforce in his remarks; but his manne1’ of expressing himself is no credit tothe matter he discusses. Our practice is to omit the address.

Imperitus.-We cannot recommend the person named.A Student of Medicine will receive the exact information he requires by ad-

cressing a letter to the Registrar of the University of London, Dr. Carpenter,Burlington House.

R. C.-Dr. Routh on the "Fallacies of Homceopathy;" Mr. Cox, "Globulesad Bubbles."

hlr. G. Forbes.-Our opinion upon the subject has been already expressed;that opinion remains unchanged.

Senex.-The child died from the shoclc consequent upon the burn, and the ab-sence of suffering was a fatal symptom. Burns, as described by Senex, arevery frequently fatal in children.

Mr. Robert Harper, (Holbeach.)-THE LANCET shall be directed as reques:ed.

Is COD-LlVEX OIL A MEDICINE oit ARTICLE OF DIET?To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In my letter inserted in your number for January 16th, permit me tocorect an error which I have unintentionally committed relative to Dr. B. W.Richardson, being connected with the same institution as Dr. R. P. Cotton, thelatrer gentleman belonging to the Brompton Hospital for Consumption, theformer one to the Royal Infirmary for the same disease.Allow me also to thank those medical officers who have already intimated to

me the unions in which the cod-liver oil is provided by their respective gaar-c’ians, at the same time requesting those gentlemen who have not yet done soto embrace the opportunity at an early date. In the meantime I would remarkhow unjustly and inconsistently the guardians of the Spalding Union acttowards me (their medical officer), in withholding a year’s salary of £65, unlessI consent to a deduction from it of four shillings for an article of diet providedby their relieving officer, at a time when their own auùitor is allowing theprovision of the very same substance by the guardians of the adjacent union!

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,Spalding, January, 1858. - - - ANCELL BALL, M.R.C.S.

An Apothecary can recover at law reasonable charges for attendance and medi-cine in a medical case. This point was clearly established in the case ofHandey v. Henson, tried before the late Lord Tenterden. The vicious

system of remunerating the medical attendant merely by the quantity ofmedicine which he was enabled to pour in was thus completely overthrown.The " general practitioner" was thus enabled to assume the position to whichhe was entitled, that of the "family physician." He ceased to be a trades-

man, paid simply by the wares he supplied; but, on the contrary, his serviceswere acknowledged simply upon the grounds of his being a scientific practi-tioner of medicine.

E.K. M. D.-Send eight postage stamps.A Medical Student.-The medical degrees of the University of London arenow something better than "honorary;" they confer full legal right to prac.tise as physician over the same territory as the like degrees of Oxford andCambridge-namely, in England and Wales, beyond the London seven-milering-fence preserve of the College of Physicians.

L.S.A., (London.)-Provision will be made for such a qualification.

SELF-PUFFING BOOKS.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-I have just perused your critique on the "bookling" of Mr. Hunt,F.R.C.S., and one paragraph alone will prevent my troubling myself to readthe production itself-viz., the arrant puff of the grateful A. B., aged fifty-nine." It is truly humiliating to find qualified men thus bringing themselvesand the profession unfortunately with them to the level of advertising trades-men. As regards the power of arsenic in prurigo, it was known before Mr.Hunt was heard of. I remain, Sir, yours truly,

Norfolk, February, 1858. ANTI-PuFF.

A Suffering Female.-The pretended quotation from THE LANCET is an infa-mous fabrication. Avoid the quack in question as you would a pestilence.

Mr. Eve’s " Highland Rescue" is a meritorious production.B. B.-We cannot refer at this moment to the case; but we believe the fee

could be recovered at law.

Half a Guinea.-Yes; probably in the County Court.Juvenis.-The library of the College of Surgeons, or that of the Royal Medicaland Chirurgical Society.

J. J.-None of the works on the subject can be safely taken as guides.Studens in Lector Constans. -Yes, the announcement should have been made.Dr. J. L. Hannah, (Brighton.)-There was no mistake.

CHLORODYNE.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-Your correspondent, "The College Oath," informs " M.B.," in TENLANCET of the 23rd January (p. 104), how the secret remedy Chlorodyne isprepared. I have prepared some of that formula, but find it differs sensiblyin its physical appearance, which may be seen by shaking that prepared by theagent and holding it up to the light, and comparing it with some made accord-ing to the formula suggested and treated in the same way, the Chlorodyne ap-pearing to contain some insoluble ingredient. A material difference will alsobe observed in their respective degrees of fluidity, even after the addition of anounce and a half of treacle, and besides I do not think their odours correspond.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.,February, 1858. Hocus Pocus.

COMMUNICATIONS, LETTEES, &c., have been received from-Mr. Ranald Martin?Mr. Solly; Mr. France; Dr. Lockhart Robertson; Dr. S. W. J. Merriman;Dr. Hassall ; Dr. Andrew Clark; Dr. Chambers; Dr. Ogle; Dr. GrailyHewitt;Dr. Henry Savage; Mr. Milton ; Mr. Gant; Mr. Wm. Perkins; Mr. Stuart,Isle of Man; Dr. Hannah, Brighton; Mr. Aneell Ball, Spalding; Mr. J. W.Wright, Launceston; Mr. W. E. C. Nourse; Mr. H. Barber; Dr. A. Spittall;Mr. F. W. Griffin; Mr. A. G. Samson; Mr. Crowfoot; Mr. E. L. Falloon,Liverpool; Mr. F. A. B. Bonney; Mr. Marshall Weir, Dromore; Mr. Grant,Brighton; Mr. Edwards, Edinburgh; Mr. Lomax, Bury; Messrs. Tanner,Bristol; Messrs. Gentles and Smith, Glasgow; Dr. Shand, Kirkcudbright;Messrs. Sutherland and Knox, Edinburgh; Mr. Attwell, Farnham; Mr.Thomson, Hounslow; Mr. Selby, Portobello; Mr. Symmons, Colchester,(with enclosure;) Mr. Blanshard, Wislow; Mr. Lizars, Edinburgh, (with en-closure;) Mr.Carr, Gomersal, (with enclosure;) Dr. Nottingham, Liverpool;Mr. Williams, Festiniog, (with enclosure;) Mr. Haneock, Wedmore; Mr.Stephenson, Nottingham; Mr. Amyott, Halliford; Mr. Rose, Bermuda;Mr. Simpson, Grantown; Mr. Glencross, Johnston; Mr. Wootton, Prescot;Mr. Pratt, Cardiff; Mr. Cooper, Martham, (with enclosure;) Dr. Dalgliesh,Masham; Mr. Williams, Swansea; Mr. Shaw, Sutton Coldfield, (with enclo.sure ;) Mr. Woodd, Tavistock; Mr. Fallows, Stone ; Mr. Weston, Shirley,(with enclosure;) Mr. Harper, Holbeaeh; Mr. Harris, Portland, (with en-closure ;) Mr. Todd, Bognor; Dr. Carr, Gibraltar; Mr. Jones, Gwnfryn;Mr. Merlin, Lynn: Mr. Eandall; Mr. Crisp, Bristol ; Dr. Walker, Tonbridge,(with enclosure;) Dr. Ashton, Stocknort, (with enclosure;) Dr. Downing,Deptford; Mr. Lush, Macclesfield; Mr. Bolton, Leicester; Mr. Kempsone,Birmingham ; Mr. Clarke, St. Bartholomew’s; Dr. Thompson, Burton-on-Trent, (with enclosure;) Mr. Brady, Gateshead, (with enclosure;) Messrs.Fannin and Co., Dublin, (with enclosure;) Mr. J. Sampson Gamgee, Bir-mingham ; Mr. Carruthers, Halton; Mr.Heslop, Manchester, (with enclo-sure ;) Mr. Hillyard, Eckington, (with enclosure;) Mr. Ray, Sittingbourne;Mr. G. Forbes; Mr. Eve; Royal Iustitution; Delta, Greenwich; A MedicalStudent; R. B.; Anti-Puff, Norfolk; A Student of Medicine; Spectator;M.B. ; Inquirer ; Senex; Half a Guinea ; M.D.,Parwich; An Apothecary;One who has been Defrauded; A Patient; Imperitus; J. J.; E. K. M. D.;Studens in Lector Constans; A Suffering Female; R. C.; B. B.; Juvenis;L,S.A., London; Hocus Pocus; &c. &c.