QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.

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The High Sheriff of the County of Warwick.
The Dean of the Cathedral of Worcester.
The Archdeacon of the Archdeaconry of Coventry.
The Mayor of the Borough of Birmingham.
The High Bailiff of the Manor of Birmingham.
The Rector of Saint Martin, Birmingham.

University of London in this respect, the Council of Queen's College feel that they cannot do otherwise than recognize in the projected regulations an improvement upon that state and practice. At the same time, while the Council feel unable to give an opinion, whether there may not be circumstances attending the position and constitution of the University, which renders any further movement in the direction of the proposed change impossible, they feel bound, in accordance with the constitution of their own College,bers of the Council. To give encouragement to such to state they can only look on the regulations as presenting an imperfect approximation to what they consider essential to a course of regular and liberal education.

Your Council have since learnt that the proposed regulations were not submitted to the Senate of the University.

The next important subject to which your Council have to direct your attention, is an especial mark of Royal favour, conferred on the College in the grant of a Supplemental Charter of Incorporation, It had been suggested by your great benefactor and Visitor, and it appeared to your Council desirable, that the Crown should be petitioned for additional powers, in order to give permanency to your extended system of education, which system, in respect of instruction, in addition to all the departments of medicine and surgery before taught, now embraces a wide range of literature, science, and art, together with lectures on the doctrines and duties of Christianity according to the teaching of the Church of England.

The Rector of Saint Phillip, Birmingham, have been appointed by the Crown, for the time being respectively, by virtue of their respective offices, mem

as manifest diligence and acquirement in their respective studies, the Council have received under the charter the power to elect such as hold a diploma in medicine or surgery, or are graduates in medicine, law, or arts, or such members of the Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, to the honourable distinction of "Fellows," with such powers and privileges as may be determined upon from time to time, under the bye-laws, and in connection with this privilege, the Council deem it especially incumbent on them to call the attention of the wealthy friends of education to the fact that, by their Charters, they are enabled to accept on behalf of the said College, gifts and endowments to a large amount, for promoting particular objects of education-viz., by the foundation of Scholarships, Exhibitions, and Fellowships, and it is hoped that ere long, such may be established to assist the studies of the deserving student.

It ought to be gratefully recorded by your Council, that the whole of the heavy expenses attendant on obtaining the supplemental charter, have been defrayed by the Rev. Dr. Warneford, your Visitor, and Mr. Chancellor Law, your Vice-Principal.

In reference more particularly to the senior department of the College, your Council reports that it has very fully maintained its former character. The professor's records of the attendance at the classes, placed on the table at the Monthly Boards, have afforded proofs of diligence and regularity, and the class examinations have been favourably noticed by the examiners. As a mark that the students themselves have appreciated the importance of the system of moral and religious discipline provided in the College, the Council cannot forbear mentioning that a subscription has been set on foot among them, and nearly completed, for placing a window of painted glass in the College chapel.

It had farther appeared to the Council desirable, to endeavour to obtain consolidation of the union between the College and the Queen's Hospital, by incorporating the Hospital with the College, the Hospital having been erected upon resolution of your Council in 1814. On a petition founded on these views and recently. presented, Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer on your Principal and Council, powers to be "able and capable in law to take, purchase, and hold for the use of the said Queen's College, and for the use of the said Queen's Hospital, in Birmingham, any goods, chattels, and personal property, whatsoever; and shall also be able and capable in law, notwithstanding the statutes of mortmain, to take, purchase, and hold to them and their successors, not only all such lands, buildings, hereditaments, and possessions, as may from time to time be exclusively used for the sites and immediate purposes of the said College and Hospital respectively, but also for the use and maintenance of the said College, any other lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and possessions, whatsoever, not exeeed-approved by the senior tutor and Dean of the Faculty. ing the annual value of £2500. And also for the use and maintenance of the said hospital any other lands tenements, hereditaments, and possessions whatsoever, not exceeding the annual value of £2500."

To give perpetual succession to the Council,

The Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Warwick.

Some new suggestions as to the residence and discipline of the non-resident students have been adopted, in accordance with the report of a sub-committee, as follows:-" Non-resident students will be admitted to either department, to reside with their parents or guardians, or with a relation or friend selected by their parents or guardians, and approved by the Council. The senior students will be allowed to reside in lodgings

The senior tutor and Dean of the Faculty are authorized to enquire into the habits and general conduct of the out-students at their respective residences, and to report to the Council thereupon at the end of every term. Out-students, if members of the Church of England, will be required to attend Divine Service every Sunday

GENERAL RETROSPECT.

the Salpêtrière. There is a form of paralysis met with among, and apparently confined to, the insane, but one which presents many features of great interest both to the physician and physiologist, and to the intellectual philosopher. It has been a question among authors, whether the disease commences with the disorder of intelligence, or by the lesion in the movements. M. Baillarger says, the error of those physicians who regard the lesion of the movements as rarely preceding that of the intelligence, lays in this,-that they have not paid sufficient attention to the passing symptoms of paralysis. A patient is attacked with cerebral congestion and loss of consciousness; when he recovers, some embarrassment is noticed in his speech. This symptom rapidly fades away, but after some hours or some days a delirious state of the mind supervenes, marked by a predominance of ambitious ideas. The lunatic now examined presents no difficulty in his speech ; and, as yet, no feebleness of the lower limbs is noticeable. After some months, a year, or even more, evident symptoms of general paralysis offer themselves, either spontaneously, or after a fresh attack of cerebral congestion. All the cases of this description are set down as those where general paralysis is consecutive to intellectual disorder. To view them thus appears wrong, for the lesion of movement marks the onset of the malady, although it rapidly passes away. Sometimes, indeed, the lesion of motion is still less marked, for there may be but attacks of giddiness and partial insensibility, liable to frequently recur, but, neverthe less, followed by the development of those ambitious notions which characterize the unsound mind in general paralysis. In short, then, a disorder of the intellect often precedes the permanent establishment of the symptoms of general paralysis; but it is itself, in almost all cases, preceded by short-lasting lesions of

movement.

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intelligence and mania are two things quite different. In one case given by Bayle, the patient answered questions rationally, and appeared sensible of his | unfortunate situation; and it was not till the general paralysis had lasted three months that delirium supervened. In another case the patient only suffered from a great defect of memory, talking with reason, but repeating the same inquiries, and thus continued till death. These cases are more frequent than is generally thought. We may say, then, that general paralysis may exist without delirium.

The facts indicated will go to establish the follow. ing:-1. That in general paralysis lesions of movement most frequently precede the signs of loss of intelligence. 2. That the defect of intelligence ceases before the disappearance of the symptoms of paralysis, when the disease tends to a cure. 3. That general paralysis may exist in many cases without delirium. And they establish the opinion, that the lesion of movement is the primitive and principal element ;-that the mental alienation is a secondary phenomenon, but absent in many cases;-that mania and general paralysis are independent and distinct maladies.

SURGERY.

ON THE BEST MODE OF OPENING CERTAIN ABSCESSES. Dr. Hargrave criticizes the ordinary practice of opening abscess in the groin by an incision parallel to Poupart's ligament. He states that in this case the lips of the wound are never at rest, being con. tinually displaced by the movements of the abdomen and by the motions of the thigh, which movements cannot be entirely prevented by the best adjusted bandages. These unpleasant results can, he observes, be always obviated by opening the abscess by an incision at right angles to Poupart's ligament. By this practice the abscess is fully evacuated, the lips of the wound assume an oval figure, they remain in repose, not being affected by the abdominal movements, and when the incision heals, the mark is scarcely apparent.

There are certain deep-seated abscesses, occasionally met with in localities rendered dangerous by the proximity of large vessels, such as the calf of the leg, the sole of the foot, and the neck. Dr. Hargrave asks when the abscess is in the calf of the leg, at a con

The contrary opinion, held by many, is explicable, from the following reasons:-1. They have not distinguished between the passing and permanent lesions of the movements. 2. The slight lesions of motion are often suspended, or, so to speak, masked in excited patients. 3. In most cases the accounts given by friends have been trusted to, whereas they should not. 4. The slight signs of paralysis, which occur among some patients at irregular intervals, have been overlooked. This question as to the priority of the lesion mani-siderable distance from the surface, between the thick fested at the beginning of general paralysis being settled, there is yet another respecting the order in which the symptoms disappear in those cases-very rare though they be-in which an improvement takes place, or still more rarely, recovery. When an amelioration of the symptoms of general paralysis takes place, it is not alike in the two kinds; the disordered intelligence disappears, but the paralysis persists or declines much more slowly than the former.

General paralysis never arrives at its last stage without the enfeebling, or even the abolition, of the intelligence; but there are numerous cases in which delirium is wanting. Such patients are no more lunatics than are those apoplectics who fall into a state of dementia. The pure and simple abolition of the

superficial, and deep layer of muscles, and in the vicinity of the popliteal space, are we to cut boldly down to the matter, as is advised by some surgeons ? Dr. Hargrave thinks not, but recommends instead, that a careful examination be made along the external and internal part of the leg; and if the abscess points externally, to make the incision parallel and posterior to the fibula, which will allow of the separation of the muscles, and puncture of the abscess without risk.

In opening abscess in the sole of the foot, in which the matter has a tendency to pass through the metatarsal spaces, and to point on the dorsum of the foot, he advises that the pus be evacuated, not by a direct puncture through the sole of the foot, but by incising along the outer edge of the foot, near the fifth metatarsal

bone, when, by dividing the subjacent tissues, the found in Dr. Ranking's "Half-yearly Abstract," vol. 2, very centre of the sole of the foot may be reached p. 172.) His paper concludes with the following propowithout danger of wounding any important part.sitions, which he had previously published in the Dublin Medical Press, June 2, 1847. Lancet of last December.

DR. PANCOAST'S OPERATION FOR VESICO-VAGINAL

FISTULA.

The peculiarity of this operation consists in attaching the two sides of the abdominal opening firmly together, on the principle of the tongue and groove, so as to get four raw surfaces into contact, and thus increase the chances of union by first intention. The operation is thus conducted:

Having exposed the orifice by a Charriere's speculum, from which the sliding blade is removed, the first object is to split up the posterior margin of the fistula to the depth of half an inch, with a sharp pointed bistoury; the edges of the other lip are then pared off, so as to bring it into a wedge shape, first reverting it with a blunt hook, and trimming off the vesical mucous membrane with the curved scissors, and then detaching the vaginal mucous membrane in like manner, to the breadth of three quarters of an inch, along the whole extent of the lip. This is a difficult, but important, part of the process. The next object is to insert the raw wedge or tongue into the groove of the opposite lip of the fistula, and to retain them in apposition. This is accomplished by a peculiar suture, which the operator calls the "plastic." The threads are passed with short sharply-curved needles; a fine catheter is then passed, and cold applied to the vulva to moderate re-action. Subsequently sulphate of zinc injections are used.-Medical Examiner, May. SIMPLE METHOD OF EXTRACTING PINS OR OTHER

SHARP BODIES FROM THE URETHRA.

1. Inflammatory ulceration of the uterine neck is not an uncommon disease in the gravid uterus, although hitherto overlooked.

2. When this disease exists in the pregnant state, its symptoms are the same as in the non-pregnant female, but obscured and modified by pregnancy.

3. It is a frequent cause of disordered health during pregnancy, or of "laborious pregnancy." It is also one of the most frequent causes of abortion, both in the early and the latter months of pregnancy. It may occasion abortion, either directly, by reflex action, or indirectly, by giving rise to disease of the ovum or placenta, or to uterine hæmorrhage.

4. The instrumental examination of females labour

ing under inflammatory ulceration of the cervix during pregnancy, is unattended with any risk, either to the mother or to the fœtus; and it is absolutely necessary, in order not only fully to recognize the disease, but also to treat it.

5. The treatment of these forms of uterine inflam mation must be governed by nearly the same rules in the pregnant state as in the non-pregnant state. A properly conducted treatment is nearly always successful in preserving the life of the child and the integrity of the pregnancy, as well as in curing the inflammatory and ulcerative disease. It is also the only means we possess of warding off the imminent danger of abortion to which the patient is exposed.

6. This form of uterine inflammation being, generally speaking, the cause of those repeated and successive miscarriages which prevent females giving birth to a living child, it is only by curing it that we can hope to make them bear the product of conception to its full period.

M. Boinet relates two cases in which the patients, in introducing pins into the urethra, under, or for the purpose of producing, venereal excitement, had allowed them to escape from their hands. In each case he 7. The serious inflammatory and hæmorrhagic symp was enabled to extract them by the following simple toms which sometimes follow abortions, are generally process:

He first passes a finger into the rectum, if necessary, or presses it against the lower part of the urethra, so as to form a point of resistance to the head of the pin; | he then bends the penis directly over the point, and forces the latter out through the walls of the urethra; the pin is then seized, and readily extracted. No injurious consequences followed the perforation of the urethra in the cases related.-Journ. des Conn. MedicoChirurg.

MIDWIFERY.

ULCERATION OF THE CERVIX UTERI A CAUSE OF
ABORTION.

Dr. H. Bennet has placed a communication in the Lancet, with the object of vindicating himself from the charge of having only incidentally alluded to the above cause of abortion, which is brought against him in a work recently published by Mr. Whitehead. Dr. Bennet clearly shows that he had somewhat strongly insisted upon the above lesion as a cause of abortion, and that it had been still earlier commented upon by Boys de Loury. (This latter author's remarks may be

occasioned by unrecognized inflammatory ulceration of the uterine neck. On investigation, it often becomes evident that this disease existed previous to the abortion, and occasioned it. The same remark may apply to some cases in which the above-mentioned symptoms precede and follow labour at the full time, as ulceratve inflammation of the cervix in the pregnant state is by no means necessarily followed by abortion.

8. Although inflammatory ulceration of the cervix seems generally to be a cause of sterility, yet, as will appear from the above essay, there are frequent exceptions to the rule. In some females, the tendency to become impregnated is so great that no amount of uterine disease appears to prevent conception taking place.

MATERIA MEDICA.

EFFECTS OF COFFEE ON SULPHATE OF QUININE. M. Desvouves having made known the fact that an aqueous infusion of roasted coffee destroyed the bitter taste of sulphate of quinine, (a fact, by the by, which has been long known in Martinique and elsewhere,) M. Martin was of opinion, that some investigation

MEDICAL REGISTRATION BILL.

The question at issue between Dr. Shearman and myself respecting the Medical Registration Bill is simply this:-With regard to medical men who have not a license to practise generally, would the intended legalization of them, as general practitioners, by Mr. Wakley's bill, and by the Institute, amount to the same thing? No one can answer in the affirmative, for they are two very different plans; whilst four questions will occur to every one after reading the Doctor's letter in your number of May 21st. 1. Do not the third and fourth" reasons". signify that the Council of the Institute are double-faced, and do they not impugn their principles? 2. Does not the concluding part of the letter impeach their ability as a managing committee? 3. Does not the publication of that letter abuse and revile the Council of the Institute? And, 4, does not the Doctor by the letter give me the full choice of every style of reply?

It is quite immaterial what answers Dr. Shearman or I give to these questions; your readers will judge for