to all the States can be adopted, and uniformity is essential to the successful working of the reform contemplated,

"2d. Under the present organization each school has it in its power to elevate or degrade the value of its diploma; and to make the possession of it an honor, or otherwise, according to the character of the school from which it emanates. The faculty of each college is interested in maintaining the reputation of the institution with which it is connected.

"3d. The character of the graduates of an institution will, in a great measure, depend on the character, as men and as teachers, of the Professors. When the Professors are men of elevated sentiments, the students insensibly imbibe the same high tone of feeling. The young graduate is proud of seeing the names of men whom he honors and perhaps venerates attached to his diploma; while teachers cannot fail to be gratified in attesting to the qualifications of diligent and well-deserving pupils. It may well admit of doubt whether it would be advantageous to break up this sympathy between students and their instructors.

"4th. The teachers have the best opportunities of knowing the characters and capacities of candidates, from witnessing their general deportment in the class rooms, and at the several examinations to which, in most institutions, they are subjected, during the lecture terms. The necessity of good behavior, and regular attendance, for obtaining a degree, contributes greatly to secure that discipline and decorum in the class rooms so essential to the advancement of the pupil, and the success of the teacher. If the Professors were to be excluded from the board of examiners, or not to have a preponderating control, their influence over their classes would be greatly impaired. Every one knows that the conduct of a medical class depends almost entirely on that of the advanced students, and that among such of those as are not influenced by higher and more honorable considerations, the fear of the examinations operates as a powerful check on unruly behavior.

"The Committee leave it to the Convention to decide, whether the arguments in favor of the present mode of granting diplomas in the colleges, are sufficient to counterbalance the abuses said to be connected with it.

"The second division of the resolution proposes that instead of conferring the right of license on medical colleges, and State and county medical societies, it should be restricted to one board in each State, composed in fair proportion of representatives from its medical colleges, and the profession at large, and the pay for whose examiners should in no degree depend on the number licensed by them.

"Before entering upon any discussion of the merits of the suggestions contained in this part of the resolution, the Committee would bring to the recollection of the Convention, that at the present time there is scarcely a State in the Union, in which any license to practise medicine is required, and that consequently, if the degree of M. D. or the license of a Medical Society possess any value, the value is derived from the character of the source from which it emanates, rather than from any privilege it brings with it to the recipient. So far as the public is concerned, a simple certificate, signed by any association united for the purpose of teaching, if composed of men of eminence, would possess as much value and validity as a degree conferred by an incorporated college. The wish of the profession seems to be to establish some uniform standard throughout the United States, so that the title of Licientiate in Medicine, or Doctor of Medicine, shall imply on the part of the possessor or recipient of such titles, the possession of some definite amount of knowledge and acquirement, both in his own profession and in general science. For the want of some such standard these medical titles are in some States respected, in others justly depised.

"It is the opinion of this Committee, after a full consideration of the subject in all its bearings, that it is not at present expedient to recommend that the granting of licenses and degrees should be restricted to one board in each State. Where there already exist State and County Medical Societies, it is believed that it will be better and safer to improve the present organi→ zation and working of these, than to attempt a new organization.

"The Committee cannot conceive of any plan by which a more full and a more fair expression of the views of the profession can be obtained, than by the organization of County Societies and State Societies, to be composed of delegates representing said counties. There can scarcely exist a doubt that, if proper exertions were made by the united profession, a law might be enacted in every State of the Union for the incorporation of such societies, and requiring that a license should be obtained by every person before he could be recognized as a regular practitioner of medicine. But even if an act of incorporation could not be procured, voluntary associations upon the same general plan, would accomplish substantially the same purposes. They could determine the conditions on which persons would be admitted into the respective associations, which would soon have the force with the profession of a legal enactment. Without some such laws or associations among the respectable members of the profession, empiricism must prevail, as it does now, to a fearful extent.

"As the wants of all classes of the community ought to be provided for, the Committee are of opinion that the requirements for license should not be so high as to place it beyond the reach of persons in moderate circumstances; whilst those for the degree of Doctor in Medicine should be such as the possession of so high an academic honor was designed to imply.

"It may be said that the lives of the poor and humble are as valuable as those of the rich, and that, therefore, they ought to have as good physicians and surgeons. That may be all true; but we must take the world as we find it. In every country the great mass of the population are attended by medical men of inferior acquirements. The skill of a practitioner, however, does not depend so much on general accomplishments as on his strictly medical education; and it often happens that the comparatively illiterate general practitioner, is a better and safer medical adviser than the graduated and finished scholar.

"If the requirements for license be placed too high, in the existing state of society in this country, the license will be altogether dispensed with, and persons will engage in practice without it. The question is not, between the present plan of medical education and the best that can be suggested; but between that which is now common, and the best that is practicable, and can at the present time be enforced.

"From the general tenor of those remarks the Convention will gather that the Committee are not in favor of making any radical changes in the existing modes of obtaining licenses and degrees. They are of opinion that the Convention will be more usefully employed in recommending such measures as will correct the abuses that are known to exist, and in advising such alterations in the course and duration of study to be pursued in future by students, as will tend to elevate the medical profession and to render it more useful and more respectable. It is deemed inexpedient, at the present session, to introduce any subject likely to mar the harmony of the Convention, or to lessen the influence of its deliberations.

"In accordance with these views the Committee offer the following reso lutions:

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Resolved, That inasmuch as an opinion prevails to a considerable extent in the profession, that certain ab ises have crept into some of the medical colleges, namely, that they confer degrees upon persons who have not fully complied with their own requirements, or on those who do not possess the requisite amount of knowledge to entitle them to such distinction, it is deemed expedient, by this Convention, in order to satisfy the just wishes of the profession, and to remove just grounds of complaint, that such colleges as do not already possess mixed boards of examiners, should consent to have associated with them in the examination for degrees, some members of the profession not engaged in teaching, or otherwise interested in such institutions. "Resolved, That the number of boards for granting licenses in the several

States should be as limited as would comport with the convenience of examiners and candidates in each State.

"Resolved, That it would conduce to the elevation and usefulness of the profession, that the regular and respectable members of it should form themselves into county or district societies, and that those societies should be represented in a State Medical Society, in such ratio to the whole number of each society as may be agreed upon as most proper-that each State Society should appoint such a number of boards for examining and licensing candidates as may be thought advisable, according to the size and population of the State. "Resolved, That when a college or colleges of medicine exist in a State, it be recommended to such colleges to invite a delegation from the State Society to be present at the time of the examinations for the admission of candidates for degrees, not for the purpose of embarrassing the faculty or candidates, but to satisfy the wishes of some portions of the profession, and relieve the institutions themselves from the imputations to which some of them seem to be at the present time exposed. JAMES M'NAUGHTON, Chairman. THOMAS Соск.

(To be concluded in our next number.)

INHALATION OF ETHER.-We have said but little in our Journal thus far, in relation to the employment of ether in the practice of operative surgery, because we confess we have had our doubts as to the expediency of its use, and because we have deemed it proper to wait until a sufficient number of experiments with it had been instituted, to lead to some safe and reliable conclusions. We have not considered it, by any means, as established, that the prevention of pain in surgery is so vital a desideratum, as many seem to suppose; to answer this question correctly, we should have to inquire, whether pain be an entirely gratuitous and unnecessary accompaniment to surgical operations; whether there is not some final cause, some useful end to be attained by it, which counterbalances, in value and importance, the temporary suffering inflicted. We profess to no great skill in the art, nor to be able to dive deeper into Nature's secrets than others, but we have been in the habit of regarding pain as a kind of monitor and safe-guard, under ordinary circumstances, both to the surgeon and the physician; and though, in many cases, its removal, or alleviation, is doubtless a consummation devoutly to be wished, it by no means follows, that it is not often conservative and beneficial. Without pain, the practitioner of medicine and surgery, we believe, would be constantly exposed to fatal errors; its entire absence, or rather the unconsciousness of its presence, when other circumstances show that it ought to be manifested, has always been regarded as a highly-unfavorable sign. As at present advised, therefore, we see no reason whatever to doubt, that pain should be considered as a healthy indication, and, for the most part, an essential attendant on surgical operations, amply compensated by the effects it pro duces on the system, as the natural incentive to reparative action.

We have, we acknowledge, been struck with astonishment, at the headlong rashness with which surgeons, the world over, have rushed into the employment of this powerful agent, and that, too, in operations of a very insignificant character, as if an article, (whose modus operandi is by no means fully understood), which can produce a perfect

abolition of sense, if not of motion, could be used with perfect safety, in almost every condition of the system, and for nearly every operation. If pain has no influence in exciting healthy reaction and the recuperative efforts, it by no means follows, that the inhalation of nitrous ether may not produce serious depressing effects on the nervous system, which is calculated to interfere with the reaction, so essential to speedy recovery, and the eventual safety of the patient. Up to the present time, the operations performed under the influence of this agent may be numbered by the hundred, if not thousand; and, we confess, the fatal results, so far as reported, have been fewer than we could have anticipated. Still, they may be numbered by the score; cases which would, in all probability, have termínated successfully, if the patient had not had a double shock to overcome, viz., that produced by the ether, and that by the operation. So numerous and unequivocal have these fatal cases been in Zurich, Switzerland, that the Council of Health has recently issued an order, prohibiting the use of ether vapor by those who practise dentistry, bleeding, and other minor surgical operations.-(L'Union Medicale.)

Now, it being admitted that fatal results do sometimes follow the use of this powerful drug, it becomes a question, whether it be justifiable to risk the loss of life, no matter how small that risk may be, for the sake of preventing temporary suffering; for we believe it is not claimed that ether is often instrumental in saving life, which might be lost without it.

We do not wish to be understood by these remarks, as absolutely opposing etherization in all cases; we can conceive of individual cases where we should deem its use expedient; but we do wish to check the headlong propensity, so manifest at the present time, of resorting to its use on every occasion, even in the ordinary practice of midwifery and dentistry.

We have recently received some pamphlets in relation to the claim of priority of discovery as regards the inhalation of the vapor of ether for the alleviation of pain in surgical operations. We have read `them carefully, we believe, and without a particle of bias in favor of any individual, one way or the other, and our conclusions are the following:

1. Dr. WELLS, of Hartford, Conn., first discovered and established the principle that by the inhalation of nitrous oxide gas and rectified ether, such a degree of insensibility can be produced, that operations can be performed without consciousness on the part of the patient. He shows, by numerous and well-authenticated affidavits, that he applied this discovery with perfect success, as far back as 1844, and that he visited Boston at that time, for the express purpose of making his discovery known to the faculty; that he addressed Dr. Warren's class on the subject, and tried the experiment of the inhalation of the nitrous oxide on a patient in the operating theatre of the Mass. Hospital, but that it failed on account of the gas-bag being removed too soon.

2. It is admitted that Dr. Wells communicated his discovery to Drs. Jackson and Morton in Nov., 1844, after having operated on fifteen patients with success, and that Dr. Morton applied to him to prepare some of the gas for the same purpose, and was directed to Dr. Jackson.

3. It is proved by affidavits, that rectified ether was used by Dr.

Wells in his early experiments, but that he finally gave the prefer-ence to nitrous oxide, as "being more agreeable to inhale, and lessliable to do injury."

4. Dr. Morton had been a student of Dr. Wells; and in a letter to Dr. W., dated Oct., 1846, he speaks of having discovered a " preparation or "compound" which would eclipse the one made by Dr. W., for which, he says, he had taken out a "patent" and wishes to know if Dr. W. "would not like to visit New-York and other cities as an agent, and dispose of rights."

5. It appears from the affidavit of Mr. R. H. Eddy that Dr. Jackson so far from claiming to be the discoverer, admitted, in Oct. 1846, that he "had never tried any experiment to practically demonstrate the fact that the inhalation of ether would prevent pain during a surgical operation," that "he did not wish his name connected with the matter in any shape," that he said he would be perfectly satisfied for making the suggestion of ether to Dr. Morton, if Dr. M. would pay him $500," and that he only consented to take out a patent for the "COMPOUND" in connection with Dr. M., when he learned from Dr. Gould, that he, (Dr. J.) could do so without rendering himself liable to expulsion from the Mass. Medical Society, inasmuch as the by-laws only provide, "that no member shall deal in secret remedies,” and as “ any invention Dr. J. might make, would cease to be secret, the moment it might be patented!"

6. From the testimony of Mr. Caleb Eddy, it seems that Dr. Morton called on Dr. Jackson in Oct., 1846, for the loan of a gas-bag, for the purpose of "administering atmospheric air or something else to a patient to quiet her fears, in order that he might extract a tooth; that Dr. M. stated that he was desirous of operating on the imagination of a person, in some such way as was said to have been practised on a criminal condemned to death, viz, by suffering warm water to trickle upon and from some wounded part of the body, while the eyes of the patient were bandaged, &c. On this occasion Dr. J. is said to have suggested ether.

In connection with this subject, we take occasion to repeat what we have said before, that the manner in which this discovery, so called, has been brought before the world, is disgraceful to those who have sought to make it a source of emolument, and should subject its authors to the severest rebuke from the profession. We denounced it at the first, as contrary to the established ethics of the profession, which opinion remains unchanged; and we shall not cease to consider it, as we have ever done, as the very essence of quackery. A good deal of mystification has been spread over the whole matter, and ponderous pamphlets have wrapped it up in a considerable amount of fog; but the truth will eventually be known, and credit be given where alone it is justly due. The principle involved, we suppose, is the production of insensibility to pain during surgical operations, and we have said that the whole credit of that discovery belongs to Dr. Wells. Had he never used the ether at all, his merit would still be the same. But Drs. Morton and Jackson, in the specification of their patent (Bost. Med. Jour., April 7, 1847) claim to have discovered a new fact or principle, viz., that "the inhalation of certain vapors, particularly those of sulphuric ether, produces insensibility to pain, or such a state of quiet of nervous action as to render a person or animal incapable to a