The charge of forgery, we believe, was departed from, but the evidence of fraud was complete. The trial occupied the Court between six and seven hours, several points of law being argued in the course of it. Among these was an objection to the competency of the Court to try Duncan, who had committed no offence in Scotland. The Court gave no decision on its own competency to try the whole case; but directed Duncan to be acquitted on a technical difficulty in the indictment. Cumming was, however, found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment for one year.-Medical Times, March 16. MURDER BY A MANIAC. Mr Wilson, a medical practitioner in the village of Juniper Green, near Edinburgh, and his mother, who resided in the same house with him, were, on the night of Sunday the 17th ultimo, murdered by a lunatic, for whom Mr Wilson was in the habit of prescribing. We spare our readers the details of the mode in which the double murder was perpetrated. Our chief object, in alluding to it, is to impress upon them the fearful responsibility which rests with any party who permits a dangerous lunatic to go at large and unguarded, merely because his mischievous paroxysms are not of frequent occurrence. We trust that the horrible occurrence at Juniper Green will convey a useful lesson. VARIETIES. CLINICAL MEDICINE.-The course of Clinical Medicine in the University is likely to receive much benefit from certain arrangements lately made by the Medical Faculty. One of the disused clinical wards is to be opened for the reception of cutaneous diseases, and another for those peculiar to women and children. Professor Simpson has consented to take charge of the latter, and the Faculty has authorised his giving clinical lectures to the students of the University. HAHNEMANN'S ORGANON.-" Have you ever looked into Homœopathy? Have you ever read Hahnemann's Organon?" said an eminent divine to an equally eminent physician. "No," replied the physician; "And let me ask you in return, if you have read the Mormon Bible?" The gentleman, of course, answered in the negative; and his medical friend said to him very properly, "When you take the trouble to examine Joe Smith's Bible, I will take the trouble to examine Hahnemann's Organon."-Physician and Patient. MEDICAL LITERATURE.-A candidate for a professorship in Paris quoted Morgagni among other great literary names in his thesis, but unfortunately quoted him wrong. This did not escape one of his opponents, who, on attacking it, said that he had attributed to Morgagni an error of which he was innocent, and which he would not have done had he read his works. In reply, it was stated, that he could not read Morgagni, because he did not understand English! "A thousand pardons, Monsieur, if you do not understand English it is altogether different. Let us speak of something else." It is said that the judges would have been more satisfied with this candidate had he only known a little English.-Gazette des Hôpitaux, February 19, 1850. A DEMOCRATIC THESIS.-A student of Medicine in Berlin has lately written a thesis "De Morbo Democratico, nova Insania Formâ," which has caused a great sensation among a certain class of politicians in that city.-L'Union Médicale, February 28, 1850. PRIZE AWARDED FOR ETHERISATION.-Out of the sum (L.2,000 annually) which the bequest of M. Monthyon enables the Academy of Sciences in Paris to dis tribute for the encouragement of the medical and natural sciences, there has been voted this year to Dr Jackson and Mr Morton L.100 each, for the discovery of the anesthetic properties of ether. LONDON PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY.-In the "Lancet " for 9th March ultimo, appeared an engraving of Dr Simpson's well-known instrument for supporting a retroverted uterus, which an anonymous correspondent of that journal affected to be unacquainted with, and proposed to call the "Infernal Uterine Machine." THE LISTON TESTIMONIAL.-The sum subscribed towards this object amounts to L.750, which, being insufficient for the erection of a statue, it has been decided that four busts should be executed-one to be placed in the Royal College of Surgeons, another in University College, London, a third in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and a fourth to be presented to the family of the deceased.-Medical Gazette, March 8, 1850. ORIGIN OF MEDICAL DEGREES AMONG THE PRACTITIONERS OF ENGLAND. From a statement of Mr Sheppard, based on the accounts in the London Medical Directory, it would appear that there are 554 persons in London with a medical degree, obtained as follows:-From Edinburgh, 178; foreign universities, 93; London, 66; St Andrews, 68; Cambridge, 41; Glasgow, 35; Oxford, 25 ; Aberdeen, 30; Dublin, 11. In the provinces the total number is 1091; and of these there are obtained from Edinburgh, 533; St Andrews, 120; foreign universities, 114; Glasgow, 105; Aberdeen, 68; London, 58; Cambridge, 57; Dublin, 21; Oxford, 15.-Provincial Journal, Feb. 5, and Mar. 6, 1850. PRIVATE TREATMENT OF SKIN AND VENEREAL DISEASES.-It has been determined to set aside a certain number of private rooms at the St Louis and Venereal Hospitals in Paris, for the treatment of individuals who, without being poor, are still unable to be treated satisfactorily at home. Two francs a-day is to be demanded for the accommodation.-Bulletin Gen. de Thérapeutique, February 28, 1850. [A similar arrangment is much required in Edinburgh, as many skin diseases, requiring numerous baths, and that superintendence which can only be properly afforded in well-directed institutions are prevalent in the city.] VALUE OF SURGERY IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.-The following advertisement appeared in the "North British Advertiser of the 16th ultimo :-" Wanted immediately, in the north of England, an Experienced Surgeon, who can Amputate, and Manage Accidents, &c Salary L.25 per annum, with Board and Lodging. No inexperienced young man need apply"! BOOKS RECEIVED. Transactions of the American Medical Some Account of the Last Yellow Fever The Hunterian Oration for 1850. By Frede- The Principles and Practice of the Water Cure. By Rowland East, Surgeon. London: 1850. The Cholera; What has it Taught us? By The Chrono-Thermalist. No. I. London: Outlines of Medical Proof. By Thomas Descriptive Catalogue of Works in Science An Appeal to the Public in Behalf of an Hos- NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Communications have been received from Mr MILL, Kirriemuir; Dr DYCE, Aberdeen; and Dr EASTON, Glasgow. Others have been privately acknowledged. Part First. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ARTICLE I.-On the Treatment of Phthisis Pulmonalis. By JOHN HUGHES BENNETT, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and of Clinical Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. (Concluded from p. 239.) IN my former communication I endeavoured to show, that phthisis pulmonalis originated in a derangement of the digestive organs, which materially interfered with a healthy formation of blood, and the nutrition of the body; that, under such circumstances, exudations of a tubercular character were very liable to be poured into the lungs, which presented a great tendency to disintegrate and produce ulcerations in those organs, and that a rational treatment must be directed, first to an improvement of the nutritive functions, whereby the healthy constitution of the blood may be restored, and secondly, to the adoption of such means as will prevent fresh local exudations, and arrest the ulcerative disposition of such as are already formed. I further pointed out, that the first indication was to be fulfilled by overcoming the dyspepsia, improving the diet, and especially by giving animal oil,-a material essential for the support of the tissues, but which in phthisical cases, owing to the derangement of the alimentary canal, was not assimilated in sufficient quantity. The good effects of cod-liver oil in this disease are now generally admitted by the profession. It would, however, be very erroneous to imagine that this remedy is of itself sufficient to cure cases of phthisis, or that other means and precautions should be neglected. On the contrary, great management and skill are required during the progress of the disease to meet numerous occasional symptoms, to cause avoidance of those circumstances which are likely to induce exacerbations, and by the alternate employment and suspension of the most useful remedies, to derive from each what may be advantageous to the patient, without pushing it so far as to occasion injurious consequences. It is only by studying individual examples of the disease, and observing the numerous and varied combinations of symptoms and indications that each presents, that the treatment of phthisis, and the difficulties the practitioner has to combat, can in any way be understood. Statistical details, by which the effects of NEW SERIES.-NO. V. MAY 1850. 3 E |