THE ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO HARVARD UNIVERSITY. WE called attention two weeks ago to the fact that the board of overseers had under discussion the question of accepting a bequest of ten thousand dollars, offered in case women were admitted to the medical department. Since that time the final meeting has been held, but previous to this it was thought expedient to call the medical faculty together for a formal expression of opinion. At this meeting of the faculty it was evident that there was a decided change of opinion since its previous vote, taken one year before. The debate terminated with the following resolution, carried by a vote of thirteen to five: "Whereas the medical faculty are now engaged in radically changing the plan of study in the school, an undertaking which will require several years for its completion, and will demand all the time and ability of the teachers which are available for the purpose, we deem it detrimental to the interests of the school to enter upon the experiment of admitting female students." It was also "Resolved that it is not advisable to open the course of study at the medical school to women" by a vote of fourteen to four. One member who was obliged to leave during the discussion would have voted with the majority in each case. Under these circumstances it was but natural that the overseers at their meeting, held a few days subsequently, resolved "That the overseers find themselves unable to advise the president and Fellows to accept the generous proposal of Miss Hovey" by a vote of seventeen to seven. In view of this it is somewhat surprising that the president, who, it will be remembered, was one of those who signed the majority report of the committee favoring the admission of women, quietly introduced the following proposition at the end of the meeting, after a long discussion on the main question and without previous notice: "That in the opinion of the board of overseers it is expedient that under suitable restrictions women be instructed in medicine by Harvard University in its medical school." This question was put without previous debate, and passed by a vote of sixteen to ten, several members, not having, we are informed, appreciated its inconsist ency or its attitude of opposition to the very clearly expressed views of the faculty. If the second resolution is to be considered a fair expression of opinion of the board of overseers, which we do not think to be the case, Harvard is so far on record as favoring the coeducation of the sexes. The main argument upon which the little band of persistent and energetic ladies relied who favor the education of women at the university, and under whose influence its present head seems to have become an advocate of the cause, was the total lack of means to obtain a proper medical education in this country. This was their strong point, and so far as the majority report shows we find no evidence that such opportunities exist. A glance, however, at the catalogues of medical schools for women in this country, and some of the opinions of prominent men in the principal cities upon the advantages of such schools, gives quite a different picture from that presented to the over seers. The Tenth Annual Catalogue of the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for 1878-79 shows a prosperous condition of that school. A graduated course of three years' study is provided, to which preliminary examinations or diplomas are required for admission. Yearly and final examinations for a degree are held by the faculty, after which candidates are required to go before a board of examiners, consisting of some of the most eminent professors of the medical schools of New York. The best clinical facilities are within reach. The medical class for 1877-78 contained fortyseven students. Among the names on the list are those of six students from Massachusetts. At the commencement, May 22, 1879, ten graduates were examined and pronounced well qualified by the board of examiners. Members of the board regard the standard of excellence at the examinations as good as that at the best colleges. The Twenty-Ninth Annual Announcement of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania for 1878-79 gives a favorable account of the condition of that institution. This school is established on a permanent basis, having an endowment fund. It has a progressive course of three years' study, and careful examinations for a degree. It has excellent clinical advantages, particularly at the Women's Hospital, where over four thousand patients are treated annually, and instruction is given daily by the resident physician, Dr. Anna E. Broomall. The class for 1879 has ninety students. Twenty graduates received their degrees this year, and the quality of the students is represented as better every year. The Ninth Annual Announcement of the Woman's Hospital Medical College, of Chicago, represents the faculty of that school as "desirous to give every possible encouragement to the growing tendency toward a higher medical education." It requires a preliminary examination or diploma for admission, a course of three years' study, and a final examination for a degree. It has a "new college building admirably adapted to its wants." It has extensive clinical advantages and abundant material for the study of praetical anatomy in the dissecting-room. The medical class for 1877-78 consisted of thirty-two students. The number of graduates of the class of 1878 is seven. Incidental replies to letters of inquiry from leading physicians in New York and Philadelphia develop the fact that while the schools for women there are looked upon with great favor, the universal opinion of the profession, so far as it has been expressed, is decidedly and strongly against the coeducation of the sexes in medicine. From this testimony it is evident that abundant opportunity for a good medical education of women does exist in this country. We are informed that in a recent number of the Coelnische Zeitung it is stated that the university at Zurich has decided no longer to admit women, because the experiment had proved a failure, and had led to evil moral results. Syracuse University has, we understand, also had a somewhat similar experience. It can hardly be possible that such evidence as this has been wholly overlooked. How are we to interpret, then, the unwillingness of the female sympathizers to found a separate school, which, with one half the energy now displayed, and the moneyed interest to back it, could easily have been accom plished? Clearly this movement is intended as the thin end of the wedge which is to open the entire university to women. The vigorous rally of the faculty at the eleventh hour was not sufficient to counteract the influences which in plausible disguise were quietly exerting their full strength. Had this body from the outset given in a decided manner the weight of its opinion against the question, and presented an impenetrable front, no weak point of attack would have presented itself. But some of its members chose at first, for reasons best known to themselves, to assume an ambiguous attitude. Into this crevice the wedge was dexterously inserted, and the woman party, well satisfied with their success, will drive it home at the first favorable opportunity. We trust there will be a vigorous protest from the alumni at their annual meeting against this "new departure," and that they will make their influence felt in the coming election of overseers. MEDICAL NOTES. The Warren Triennial Prize of four hundred dollars will be awarded next year to the best work on Original Observations in Physiology, Surgery, or Pathological Anatomy. Essays should be forwarded to the resident physician of the Massachusetts General Hospital on or before February 1, 1880. The large sum offered for competition by this prize fund brought out an unusual number of valuable essays in 1877. -Dr. Adolph Gubler, professor of therapeutics in the medical school of Paris, died on April 18th, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was born in Metz, April 4, 1821. He was the president of the International Medical Congress held in Paris last year, and was one of the editors of the new Revue d' Hygiene. - Dr. A. Reeves Jackson, late of the Woman's Hospital of the State of Illinois, announces the opening of a new private hospital for the treatment of diseases of women. NEW YORK. On the 28th of May the schooner Mary A. Whitlaw arrived in New York harbor from Miragoane with yellow fever on board. She sailed on the 6th, and during the voyage lost three seamen from the disease, one dying on the 10th, another on the 12th, and a third on the 20th. The brig Eva M. Johnson, which sailed from the same port on the 29th of April, and arrived on the 29th of May, also lost her master from yellow fever during the voyage. - Kleptomania is not ordinarily set down in the books as one of the effects produced by the taking of opium, but a Chinaman who has just been committed in the Tombs police court for trial on a charge of stealing an umbrella from a store on Broadway assigned the cause of the theft to the fact that he was under the influence of that drug at the time. WASHINGTON. -The bill for the prevention of epidemic diseases has finally passed both ouses of Congress, with certain modifications. A substitute for senate bill same, 108 was reported by the committee to the senate, which underwent considerable discussion on May 22d and 23d. The bill was in substance the same as that for which it was offered as a substitute, being modified mainly in the third section, other sections being so worded as to correspond with the which third section in the first bill provided for the making of necessary rules and regulations by the National Board of Health under the authority of the government of the United States, and for their enforcement by that authority; the substitute recognizing and aiding the enforcement of such rules and regulations of state boards as tend to prevent the introduction of contagion from foreign countries and from one State into another; but further, that where there are none such, or where they are insufficient, the board shall report such facts to the president, and he shall in his judgment require the board to make such proper rules and regulations, to be enforced by the state authorities, or, in case of their failure or refusal so to enforce them, the president is to provide for their proper enforcement. The sections having reference to diseases of cattle have been stricken from the bill, and in consequence the appropriation asked for is reduced to $500,000. The discussion on the bill led to the further modification that the penalties named should not be inflicted until the provisions of the bill had been officially promulgated for at least ten days in the port from which the vessel sailed, and the expression in the first section of "vessels engaged in the transportation of goods or persons" was altered to read simply "any merchant ship or vessel." Some discussion arose as to what constituted contagious and infectious diseases, and the honorable senators were not quite clear as to the distinction between typhus and typhoid fevers; an attempt was made to define and limit the application of the expres sion contagious and infectious diseases, but failed. The next important item considered was the question of expenditures, which resulted in the passage of an amendment making all such to be disbursed under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, and further that the act should not continue in force for a longer period than four years. In the house the amended senate bill was passed without further amendment. Mr. Young, as the chairman of the committee introducing it, asked that in consideration of its importance and the necessity for avoiding further delay it be passed as "a measure of compromise, not commanding the entire approval of every member of the committee in all its features," thinking it better to "wait until the regular session to make such changes and alterations as experience may show to be necessary." After considerable discussion and the passage of the bill, Mr. Young moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, which was agreed to. -Senate bill 206, relating to the transportation of animals, has called forth a very interesting debate in the senate, with valuable information and data concerning the great defects in live-stock transportation and the consequent injarious quality of the meat, to say nothing of the cruelties practiced unnecessarily. Without coming to any definite conclusion, however, on May 27th the further consideration of the bill was postponed until the first Monday in December next. BOSTON CITY HOSPITAL. SURGICAL CASES OF DR. WILLIAM INGALLS. [REPORTED BY S. B. WOODWARD, M. D.] CASE I. Crushed Foot; Syme's Amputation; Repeated Hæmorrhages; Ligature of Anterior Tibial; Amputation below Knee; Recovery. — July 7, 1878, M. L., laborer, aged thirty-two, had his right foot severely crushed by the cars, while intoxicated. He was at once brought to the hospital, where the injured foot was removed by Dr. Ingalls near the ankle-joint (Syme's operation). Lister method followed in all its details, and stump dressed with Lister gauze. Hæmorrhage profuse. Numerous vessels tied with carbolized catgut. Continuous oozing for the next two days, the dressings being changed twice daily in consequence. On the fourth day delirium tremens was developed, and the patient tore off the Lister gauze. Delirium proved to be of a mild type, however, and lasted but two days. The stump was now dressed with a carbolized compress, and for a week everything went on well, the edges of the flaps uniting by first intention, all sutures being removed on the seventh day. On the 18th of July, eleven days after the injury, a brisk arterial hæmorrhage took place, the blood coming from just under the edge of the upper flap. This was controlled by a pad over the lower part of the anterior tibial artery. Hæmorrhage recurred the next day while the stump was being dressed, though the pad was still in position, and again with still greater violence, and from two places, on the evening of July 20th. At this time Dr. Ingalls decided to tie the offending vessel, in the wound, and ether was given for that purpose, but suppuration had so extensively destroyed the coats of the arteries that this was found to be impossible. By a prolongation of the original incision, the anterior tibial was then with great difficulty reached and secured in the middle third. Extensive suppuration took place in the line of the incision, large sloughs formed, and capillary hæmorrhages were continually occurring. A slight touch or jar, or even a sudden movement of the body, was often a sufficient cause for the latter, and during the next two weeks a solution of ammonio-ferric alum was several times used with good effect. At midnight of the 29th a severe arterial hæmorrhage took place. Patient pulseless, yawning, and pallid. Ligature in place and firm; bleeding point above it. Several slight attacks occurred during the next two days, and August 1st there were two severe hæmorrhages, controlled only by long-continued pressure by femoral tourniquet. Two hours after the last of these Dr. Bolles (then on duty) amputated the leg in the upper third. The Esmarch bandage and rubber tourniquet were used, and but little blood lost. Extraordinary vascularity of the parts, over twenty vessels, most of them large, being tied with silk. Toward the close of the operation the patient had a hæmorrhage from the lungs. There was sudden and severe collapse; his pulse reached 150, and his mouth filled several times with bright clotted blood. Ether was withdrawn, and the pulse rapidly failing, while respiration became more and more shallow, brandy and carbonate of ammonia were given subcutaneously. When the patient had partially rallied under this treatment, a sub |