entertain fears (we hope altogether unfounded), that he was placed at a dis advantage in competing with his fellow-students in the Scotch and English schools. These considerations may possibly keep back many eligible candidates, and the best means of placing all upon a par would be that the Examining Board should be of a migratory character, sitting occasionally in Edinburgh and in Dublin; or that separate boards should be appointed for these localities. This hint we throw out as the first that occurs to us on the spur of the moment; but the subject is one which appears to deserve the mature consideration of all those interested in the prosperity of the Scotch and Irish medical schools, and to which the members for the cities of Edinburgh and Dublin should be solicited to give their attention. It is to be observed that the surgeons in the East India Service, although occasionally employed in civil appointments, are all, in the first instance, at the disposal of the military authorities for the duties of the army and navy, and we do not think that it will redound to the credit of the Government, or the interests of the public service, if the pupils of the Edinburgh and Dublin schools-the only two in which military medicine and surgery have been heretofore regularly taught should be placed at anything like a disadvantage in a competition from which the best results are expected. THE LATE DR ALEXANDER STRUTHERS. DR ALEXANDER STRUTHERS was one of three young surgeons specially selected from the Edinburgh School to proceed to the seat of war, and lend their assistance to the medical staff in the East. With his companions, Drs Greig and Johnstone, he left Edinburgh at a few days' notice, and after passing the usual examination at the Army Medical Board, left London, October 23d. Proceeding via Marseilles, he arrived at Scutari, November 4th, and speedily entered on duty as acting assistant-surgeon in the barrack hospital there. A large number of the wounded after the battle of Inkermann were placed under his care, and also many of the sick, and we have reason to know that his services were highly appreciated. He continued on active duty for nearly two months, and was in good health up to Christmas day, when he was attacked by the fever of a low type, common in the hospital, of which he died January 20th, aged 25. During his illness he was carefully attended and supplied with the comforts of a sick-room by Miss Nightingale, and everything which medical skill could suggest was done by his two attached friends, Drs Wason and Greig. Others of his old college friends were also near, and from one of these we since learn that they are erecting a monument to his memory, where he lies buried on a height by the Sea of Marmora. Dr Struthers possessed in a remarkable degree two qualities, which, when observed in a student, generally lead to subsequent distinction, namely, earnestness and enthusiasm for his profession. These led him to extend his education beyond the usual prescribed routine; and especially after he graduated in 1850, to continue his studies first as a demonstrator to his brother, then as an ordinary, and, subsequently, as a resident clerk in the Infirmary. With his superior medical officers he was a great favourite, on account of the evident interest he took in the cases under his charge, an interest which often led him to maintain stoutly, but respectfully, any views of his own that he was led to adopt regarding them. His avidity for discussion will long be remembered in the clerk's room of the Infirmary, as well as in the Medical Society, of which he was president during the session 1852-3. Indeed, we know of no young man of his standing, whose eagerness for knowledge, unwearied assiduity, and general good qualities, were more conspicuous, and for whose loss in consequence, more sincere regret could be experienced by all to whom he was known. At the moment of going to press, we are grieved to learn that Dr Wason has also fallen a victim to fever. VARIETIES. THE ABSURDITY OF FREE-TRADE PRINCIPLES IN MEDICINE.-The principles of free-trade, of non-protection by the State, are applicable only where there is an indefinite, or at least a highly extensive, demand. Now, in what are usually called the professions, in contradistinction to the trades, there cannot exist an indefinite demand, or even any greater extension of demand than is proportionate to the increase of the population. Free-trade in the profession of the law is not called for, because it never can be the policy of a nation to increase the demand for law, but quite the reverse. For the same reason the recent notions of some, that the profession of medicine and surgery may be safely reduced to the ranks of free-trade, are crude and dangerous conceptions. If we suppose a country to be supplied, under a careful system of education and licensing, with an adequate number of skilful physicians and surgeons, the great majority of whom are able to gain no more than that competency which is necessary to maintain for them their proper station in society, and to provide for those dependent upon them, it would be the height of absurdity for the State to open the door for inundating these professions with ill-educated and unlicensed, or ill-licensed, practitioners, because there is not, and ought not to be, any appreciable extensibility of demand for them. Diseases and injuries do not materially increase; or, if they do, the increase must be occasioned by the ignorance and unskilfulness of the superfluous members of the profession. But, in sober fact, the only result would be the undue sub-division of the necessarily limited gains of the profession, and successively the impoverishment of the pre-existing members, the repulsion of men of education from the practice of the medical art, and the gradual degradation of it from a scientific profession to a mere trade.-Professor Christison's address to the North British Pharmaceutical Society.-Pharmaceutical Journal. THE ADVANTAGE OF OPENING UP OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS TO MERIT.-Second in the list of successful competitors at the recent examination of the East India Company, for medical appointments, was Dr Chuckerbutty, by birth a Brahmin of the highest caste, and a native of Dacca in Bengal. His history presents a memorable instance of what may be achieved by industry and energy, and leads us to rejoice that we have introduced a system under which merit can conquer all the difficulties of race, of poverty, and of friendlessness. He was born in 1827, and at six years old was left an orphan by very poor parents; notwithstanding which, he contrived to become master of Sanscrit, Persian, and the Bengalee vernacular. He was thirteen before he heard English, but with a few clothes in a bundle, and a little parched rice for food, he set off on a journey of sixty miles to the nearest English school, to learn that language. Without money, friends, or introductions, he concluded a bargain with the schoolmaster to perform the duties of cook, on condition of being taught English. In 1843, Mr Alexander, of the Bengal civil serivce, offered to pay his expenses as a student in the Medical College of Calcutta, where he was admitted in 1844. In 1845, he visited London, and studied at University College, where he obtained several prizes for proficiency. In 1848, he became a surgeon, and in 1849 a physician. He returned to India in 1850, and in 1854 he became Professor of Materia Medica and Clinical Medicine in the College Hospital. On learning that he could enter the service of the East India Company by competition, he again returned to London, and, as we have seen, was second in the list of competitors.—Times. THE ASSOCIATION JOURNAL AND THE RECENT ELECTION AT THE EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.-There never was a job perpetrated, however gross, which did not find an apologist. In a leading article abounding in mis-statements, such as, that the Edinburgh College is composed of 70 fellows, whereas the exact number on the roll is 48-that its president's chair was the chair of Abercrombie, although it is well known that physician never sat in it, and so on-this Association Journal defends the votes of the Junto, for the following extraordinary reasons:-1st, That the names of the present council are guarantees to Europe of the desire of the College to do honour to well-earned professional reputation; 2d, That this College presents a noble example of a representative body, departing from routine, and the distinction of professional grades, in order to open up a successful career to talents alone! Would, indeed, that such were the case, for then would the College not only be supported by us, but by the medical world at large. But what will the profession think of a journal disingenuously attributing such exalted reasons for an act, which, in the place | of Professor Simpson, introduced Dr Wm. Seller; which rejected Professor Bennett, in order to elect Dr John Burt, and which slighted some dozen highly respectable general practitioners, all seniors to Dr Begbie, in order to put that gentleman in the chair? What must our continental readers and the profession suppose, when informed by the Association Journal, that Drs Seller, Burt, and Begbie are recognised above all others in the Edinburgh College of Physicians as possessing the greatest talents, and the most extensive European reputations? GRANT OF PUBLIC MONEY TO THE DUBLIN HOSPITALS.-It appears that up to 1849, a sum of L.18,000 had been annually voted by the House of Commons for charitable purposes in Dublin, and that last year a sum of L.12,000 was proposed. A Select Committee of the House has reported that the sum now required is L.16,000, and recommend that it be granted. The committee, in fact, recommends the continuance of this grant upon the condition that it shall be allocated principally with a view to medical and surgical education, and reports that "it has been shown that the hospitals afford to the medical school of Dublin the requisite means of instruction in the several branches of medicine, surgery, and midwifery."-Dublin Medical Press. The enormous sums lavished for so many years past on the magnificent hospitals of Dublin, on the ground that its medical school is thereby supported, should cause the Scotch members of the House of Commons to demand a similar grant to support the great medical schools in Scotland. We have yet to learn that Government has given one penny towards the maintenance of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and we cannot see why the people at large should be taxed to keep up splendid medical institutions in Ireland, whilst those in Scotland have to struggle on with inadequate voluntary contributions. MEDICAL STAFF OF THE FRENCH ARMY.-The Medical Staff Officers attached to the army are constituted as a corps under the title of Corps de Santé de PArmée, etc. It consists of two classes, viz., Surgeons and Apothecaries. Of the first there are 7 inspectors, 40 principaux of the first class, and 40 of the second; 100 majors of the first class, and 220 of the second; 340 aides-majors of the first class, and 340 of the second; making a total of 1087. The Apothecaries are divided into-1 inspector, 5 principaux of the first class, and 5 of the second; 15 majors of the first class, and 30 of the second; 45 aides-majors of the first class, and 45 of the second; making a total of 146. The number of both these classes is the same in war as in peace; but, in case of necessity, auxiliaries, whose number is unlimited, are appointed by the Minister of War. Their number varies with circumstances. None can be appointed to this corps who have not passed through the Military School of Medicine. A portion of the Inspectors form a council, whose duty it is to watch over all improvements in Surgery, and to report from time to time to the Minister of War. ONE OF THE BURDENS WHICH PRESSES ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.-The whole mass of the poor in this country is thrown upon the almost unassisted charity of the medical profession; a charity to the support of which the public contributes scarcely a tithe. No burden in any degree resembling it is sustained by any other profession, or by any trade. From the working clergy, indeed, in many places, even a greater measure of gratuitous toil is extracted; but their case, in several respects, differs greatly from that of the surgeon, who gives time which is of money value to him, drugs which are costly, the services of an assistant whom he must pay; and often is compelled, also, to keep a horse at the disposal of the poor. He is obliged not seldom to turn from the door of the rich man, who would pay him for his visit, to fulfil his duty to a poor man in more urgent need; and for all such labour he receives nominal payment, with few thanks from boards of guardians; some of whom behave to him with autocratic condescension or with inflated incivility, as if surgeons were slaves, and they assemblies of three-tailed bashaws.—Household Words. CHAMPAGNE.-Nowhere is champagne the common beverage of the people, any more than pastry is anywhere their daily bread. Champagne is the confectionary of wine making, and both that and pastry are superfluous luxuries. Neither a garrison in a state of siege, nor a populous island on which provisions run short, would think of brewing champagne or making puff tarts. This year the vintage is comparatively a blank at Epernay, but we may safely predict that, though prices will rise, there will be no perceptible deficiency in the general supply. It is much easier to make good champagne wine beyond the limits of the ancient province, than it would be to manufacture Burgundy wine far away from Burgundy. You can fabricate pinchbeck, but you cannot make gold. Champagne wine is so completely a fictitious thing, that if the duty on French wines were taken off in England, champagne could and would be prepared in London, so good as to threaten a serious rivalry to the genuine article from Chalons-sur-Marne. There is but one Côte d'Or, and human skill cannot create another.-Household Words. FORMATION OF SUGAR IN THE LIVER.-The theory of the formation of sugar in the liver, which was established by such numerous and careful experiments by M. Bernard, was on the 29th of last January attacked by M. Figuier. This gentleman then read a memoir to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, denying the glucogenic function of the liver, and, from several experiments and analyses, attributing the sugar so produced to the blood, as a result of digestion. M. Bernard has, in consequence, repeated his experiments in public at the College of France, and maintains the correctness of his former deductions. We shall report the result of this discussion in a future number. ASSOCIATION OF THE GRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.—We are happy to announce that the graduates have instituted an Association with a view of obtaining, 1. Some recognised connection of the graduates with the University; 2. The promotion of a higher education in the University; 3. The recognition of Scottish medical graduation in England; 4. The representation of the Scottish Universities in Parliament. We sincerely trust that this Association will be conducted vigorously, but we must caution it against taking into its councils medical graduates whose views are of a kind which must necessarily injure any young institution having noble aims in view regarding education. TYPHUS AND TYPHOID.-The very vexed question of the identity or nonidentity of these two diseases is now before a committee of the French Academy, composed of Andral, Serres, and Rayer. In London, with Jenner, the question seems long ago set at rest; and we are all of late months looking out for what are called "rose-spots," which we sometimes see very learned theorists and advanced students show to one another; these rose-spots very often not being mulberry-spots or rose-spots at all, but a grand climacteric of flea bites!-Dublin Medical Press. ON THE APPLICATION OF FRIGORIFICS IN COLD WEATHER. Dr Arnott informs us that ice of a lower temperature than 32° does not dissolve with sufficient rapidity; consequently whoever uses it for anesthesia, must, when it is brought to him of that temperature, do, as the lady, peevishly complaining of the coldness of the ice-cream which he had prescribed, was recommended to do by Sir Henry Halford-he must warm it. The courtly physician may have been better acquainted with the chemistry of confections, than those who have laughed at his polite recommendation.-Lancet. CIVIL HOSPITAL FOR THE MILITARY AT SMYRNA. The new Minister of War is about to establish an hospital at Smyrna for the sick and wounded of the Eastern army, which is to be under the control of civil surgeons, who are to be properly remunerated. This is a good temporary measure, but will not serve in the long run to improve the effective power of the army medical department as now established, THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.-This Academy, it is said, is now overwhelmed with surgical memoirs, in consequence of the vacancy caused by the death of Lallemand. The number of candidates is unusually large, and from the equality of merit, the academicians will have great difficulty in making the election.-L' Union Médicale. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Surgical Anatomy. By J. Maclise, F.R.C.S., The London and Provincial Medical Direc- Lithotomy Simplified, or a New Method of The Pathology of Drunkenness; a view of L'Huile de Foie de Morue envisagée sous The Diagnosis of Surgical Cancer. (The Notes on some of the Developmental and The Pathology of the Broncho-pulmonary The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Eighth Report of St Mark's Opthalmic Report, dated 13th January 1855, on the We are compelled to postpone our List of Exchanges until next month. We regret to inform Medicus of Clifton that we cannot find his letter, but shall be happy to answer his queries if he will write again. In the meantime, we may say, that the salt to be used is the carbonate of soda, the old subcarbonate, and that the application must be constant and incessant, but renewed morning and evening. ERRATA. Two errors in our Review of Jones and Sieveking's Manual, completely alter the sense at p. 144, 16 lines from top, "ever" ought to be never; and 17 lines from bottom, "spinal" ought to be special. |