they miss the spirit of the hour or the moment in which the various topics interested the Association, and they find but little to excite or entice them in the private minutes of the proceedings. The American Medical Association is to a great extent unfamiliar to the great masses of the profession as a subject of special interest, because no decided measures have yet been taken by it to touch the pulse of each and every member. It has no organ, and would not, even if possessed of such an adjunct, be able to extend its influences sufficiently far; but it should adopt some method to excite the interest and curiosity of every county and State medical society in the land. Its papers should be widely disseminated, its proceedings freely imparted, its advantages thoroughly explained; and some plan will, doubtless, in time be devised to accomplish these ends. One great element of harmony in this recent meeting consisted in the removal of all disturbing causes from the actual proceedings of the convention, by the establishment of a judicial council of twenty-one members by the action of the previous meeting at St. Louis, whose duty it is to take charge of all questions of a purely ethical or judicial character; so that the time can now be be profitably spent in the discussion of matters of more vital moment. we It was a pleasant feature of the early proceedings of this meeting to find so cordial a feeling of professional brotherhood existing between the delegates and their medical friends of Canada, a large number of whom participated by invitation in the working of the Association. The little town of Windsor in Canada is on the opposite side of the river to Detroit, and the letters "V.R." are conspicuous here and elsewhere along the Great Western Railway, over which most of the eastern and northern United States delegates must travel to reach the place of meeting, reminding us constantly that were in her Majesty's dominions. Invitations were cordially extended to our Canadian medical friends, and accepted, and Dr. Richardson and Dr. Hall, both of Toronto, made some interesting and pertinent remarks on the occasion, the latter, near the close of the meeting, introducing the following resolution:-"That the Canadian physicians attending this meeting of the American Medical Association cannot take their departure without giving expression to their sense of appreciation of the fraternal kindness extended to the medical profession of Canada by favouring them with invitations and bestowing upon them such generous hospitality." Dr. Hall said that the Canadian delegates had derived very great benefit from the meeting. They had become aware that medical science had advanced to a very high point in the United States, and the result of the meeting had been to increase the liberality of all the delegates, who had learned to respect each other, and to labour more mutually for the good of the profession. He expressed the goodwill which Canadians and Englishmen feel towards the Americans, and especially to men engaged in similar professions. He spoke very wittily of the peculiar differences between American and Canadian institutions, and of the different forms of government in Great Britain and the United States, alluding to the good-looking Queen who governs the former, and to the rather grim-looking soldier who rules over the latter. In conclusion, Dr. Hall trusted that they might next year see a large number of the members of the American Medical Association at the meeting of the Canadian Society. Dr. Richardson said that he had not felt that he was a Canadian or a stranger. Both by members of the Association and by citizens of Detroit they had been received with such friendliness that they felt that no words of appreciation could be extravagant. Dr. N. S. Davis, of Illinois, responded to the kind sentiments expressed by his Canadian confrères. He had himself been in attendance at the meeting of the Canadian Medical Association, and had received the kindest and most hospitable treatment. He rejoiced that the profession to which he belonged contained such ornaments to medical science as are now to be found in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, and that the science has no boundaries save the desire to benefit the human race. The excellent address of Dr. J. M. Toner, of Washington City, President of the Association, presented numerous facts and views of great moment. I will only allude here to such as may possess a general interest. He stated that there had been from the first meeting of this Association a contrariety of opinion as to its true province and best policy. Some would have it limited in number, exclusive and dictatorial, if not coercive, in its relation to the profession at large; others would have it abandon all semblance of a convention, and devote its time to discussion of scientific facts and the recent discoveries in medicine, to the exclusion of all other questions and purposes. A few would have it an arena where any and every subject that can enter the mind of a medical man might be introduced without order or even definite purpose. Others would be content and feel rewarded for the expense and loss of time in the enjoyment of the social elements so lavishly evoked on all these occasions. The present arrangement for scientific discussion, the exchange of professional views, and of social reunion is, however, as good a general policy as can at present be adopted. The Association was organised in the City of New York, on a basis to represent the regular profession of the United States, on May 5, 1846, on a call of the Medical Society of the State of New York for a national medical convention, chiefly through the exertions of N. S. Davis, M.D., then of Binghamton, New York. All medical societies and institutions throughout the United States were solicited to join in the measure. The institutions represented in the first meeting were-State medical societies, 7; local medical societies, 13; colleges, 14; hospitals, 2; total, 36 institutions, from 17 different states, sending in all 129 delegates. At that time there were but about 125 medical societies and institutions of all classes in the United States; at the present time there are over 1200. The first medical organisation in the United States was probably one in Boston in 1741; another was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1765; in 1766 the New Jersey Medical Society was formed; in 1773 the American Medical Society was formed in Philadelphia, Dr. William Shippen president; in 1776 the Delaware Medical Society was formed; in 1781 the Massachusetts Medical Society; in 1784 the Connecticut Medical Society; in 1787 the College of Physicians, Philadelphia; in 1789 the Medical Society of South Carolina; in 1791 the New Hampshire Medical Society; in 1799 the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. The American Medical Association, the President also stated, has erected a standard of medical excellence and ethical esprit du corps never before attained in America, and has persistently and publicly held it up for admiration and adoption. It has drawn with distinctness a line that separates the regular from the irregular practitioner, which will in the future, as in the past, be firmly maintained. Some of the statistical facts detailed by him in this address are of great interest. He stated, for example, that the number of physicians in the United States who in 1870 paid internal revenue tax was 50,000. This is in the proportion of one physician to every 760 of the whole population. The last United States census, taken in the same year, in the return of persons by occupation, gives 62,383 as physicians, male and female, which is in the proportion of one physician to every 618 of the total population. În France and England there is but one physician to every 2000 of the population, the proportion being much larger, however, in the cities than in the rural districts. This is particularly noticable in states in which there has been recent legislation affecting the profession and public health. It is a source of sincere congratulation, he observes, that our medical educational institutions are rapidly enlarging and perfecting their curriculums, and becoming more thorough and efficient in teaching the science of medicine. In 1859 the Chicago Medical College (now the medical department of the North-Western University of Illinois) adopted the three-years course and a system of graduated classes and a lecture term of six months. In 1872, Harvard University adopted practically a similar course. The system is working well in both the institutions named. It has so much to recommend it, that it is to be hoped all our first-class colleges will adopt it within a very few years. In 1870-71, returns from fifty-one medical colleges show 5776 matriculants and 1698 graduates. In 1871-72, returns from thirty-six of the sixty medical colleges show 4956 matriculants and nearly 1400 graduates. In 1873, in fiftynine regular medical colleges there were 780 instructors employed. There were 6491 matriculant students, of whom 1941 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. From records in his possession, he finds the average age at which 2000 American physicians died was fifty-eight years. The average age at which 1000 United States Congressmen have died is sixty-two years. The average age at which 1200 Presbyterian clergymen of the United States died was fiftyseven years. The earliest law passed by any of the American colonies having reference to the medical profession was the Ninth Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed October 21, 1639, to compel physicians and surgeons to declare on oath the value of their drugs and medicines. This law was revised and amended in 1645-46, and again in 1657-58. The earliest law concerning medical men passed in Massachusetts was an Act in 1649, applicable to chirurgeons, midwives, and physicians. The earliest legislation that established or regulated the fees of physicians in America is the Act of Virginia, August, 1736, entitled "An Act for Regulating the Fees and Accounts of the Practisers of Physic." This Act authorises the courts to make a distinction between the amounts charged by the physicians regularly educated in medicine and those who have been merely apprenticed. The number and character of the medical works and journals annually published in the United States show, he says, that there is a rapidly increasing demand by the profession of the country for the most recent views in medicine, and particularly of the leading histologists and pathologists of the world. Instead of the few, the majority of American physicians are becoming industrious readers and careful students, and demand the latest and most scientific works. Twenty-five years ago it would have taken eight or ten years to bring new views fairly before the profession for trial, that will now be read, revised, tested, confirmed, or contradicted within six months by scores of different observers throughout the country. Dr. Toner also recommended that the Association take into consideration the question of the desirability of encouraging the formation of an International Medical Congress. This can be done by uniting and securing the co-operation of the national medical societies of the different sections of the world. The Congress ought to meet regularly every five years, or oftener, in some one of the different national capitals. The organisation should be composed of delegates eminent in medicine, to be appointed from the several national medical bodies, in the proportion of say two members from each body, and an additional delegate for every one hundred active members. The purpose of the Congress should be to confer and consider from an international point of view all questions that are promotive of public health, the advance of medical knowledge, and the true interests of the profession throughout the world. The present rapid and frequent communication of all civilised countries with each other makes us all akin, and the advancement of science renders this kind of professional intercourse desirable, to the end that frequent and free exchange of all that is known to be new and useful in medicine may be speedily brought to benefit mankind in every clime. He suggests that an effort be made to have the first meeting held in Washington City some time during the summer of 1876, while the American International Exposition is being held in Philadelphia. Such are some of the most important points in the address of the President; we have devoted considerable space to them on account of their intrinsic interest to the whole profession. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. CREMATION. LETTER FROM MR. J. DIXON. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,—It is a common device to employ a fine word to designate an unpleasant thing; and this, I think, the advocates of burning the bodies of our dead are doing when they speak of "cremation." The plan they advocate is really that we should bake our deceased relatives in a very hot oven until everything combustible is destroyed, and nothing remains but the phosphate of lime of the bones and teeth. We know that in Latin cremo is to burn, crematio the act of burning; and eremation was, I believe, first used by that quaint writer, Sir Thomas Browne, in his " Urn Burial." It is an awkward word, for we have no equivalent for its root-verb. I can say "I have burnt my father," or "I have baked my mother"; but can I say "I have cremed or cremated them"? There is a sort of grand classical sound in the phrase "ashes of our forefathers," but who, nowadays, would care to keep in an urn a little phosphate of lime, to represent the body of some lost and loved one? We know that when we consign a body to the grave a process of decomposition takes place, which is revolting to think about; and so the great majority of man kind avoid thinking about it at all, but slur it over with some such phrase as "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the grave really containing neither one nor the other. It will not do to analyse all this. To "bury our dead out of our sight" is the instinct of nearly all nations. We can avoid dwelling on the physical horrors of the tomb, but can hardly escape the odour of a dead friend's body burning away in an oven. The advocates of cremation would do well to read some excellent. remarks recently published in your journal, describing what the writer has himself witnessed of the process in India. June 30. I am, &c., J. DIXON. WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL AND THE FEMALE MEDICAL STUDENTS. LETTER FROM MR. GEORGE COWELL. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,-Will you allow me to contradict the statement whiche appeared in your last issue? It is true that a proposition was made by some ladies to the Westminster Hospital Medical School for the formation of a separate department, but the resolution of the Council, of which I append a copy, will show that there is no intention of complying with the request. I am, &c., GEORGE COWELL, Dean. (Copy) "That the Council of the Westminster Hospital Medical School, after discussing a proposition from certain ladies for the formation of a Female Department of the Medical School, decide that such proposition be declined; and that the Dean be requested to hand a copy of this resolution to each of the medical journals." For the sake of the old and famous school of Westminster, we are glad to receive the above authoritative contradiction of an on dit which Mr. Cowell's letter shows was not with-out some foundation. We would suggest, however, that the answer would have been more satisfactory if the exact date of the above resolution, which Mr. Cowell seems most unaccountably to have omitted, had been given. REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY. TUESDAY, MAY 26. Dr. C. J. B. WILLIAMS, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. AMONG the books presented to the Society's library was a MScopy of the Clinical Lectures of Dr. Rutherford at Edinburgh in 1750. In reply to a question from the President regarding the circumstances which brought this interesting volume to light, Dr. GEORGE HARLEY remarked that some of the Fellows would. perhaps remember that at the opening of the last winter (1873). medical session, Dr. Mapother, in his introductory address(a) at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, stated that "clinical teaching was generally supposed to have originated during the present century in Dublin; but he showed that, as far back as 1785, four wards in Mercer's Hospital were set apart. for the reception of cases for the lectures of the Royal College As these remarks seemed to imply that of Physicians." systematic clinical lectures originated in Dublin, Dr. George Harley, having reason to believe that lectures of this kind had been regularly delivered in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by successive generations of teachers during the whole of the latter half of the last century, entered a protest in the next week's journal (b) against Dr. Mapother's remarks, and gave a quotation from Thomson's "Life of Cullen," (c) where it is stated that "in this country the merit of first proposing to explain in clinical lectures the nature and treatment of the cases of patients admitted into a public hospital belongs to Dr. John Rutherford, Professor of the Practice of Physic, to whom this privilege was granted by the managers of the Royal (a) Medical Times and Gazette, November 8, 1873. Infirmary of Edinburgh in the year 1748." This protest brought forth several letters, both in the weekly journals and to Dr. Harley privately, and, most fortunately, among the latter, one from Mr. Henry Vevers, surgeon, Hereford, informing Dr. Harley that he had in his possession a MS. volume of the said Dr. Rutherford's original lectures; and, although there was no date on the title-page, there were dates in the body of the volume which showed them to have been written in or about the year 1750. Mr. Vevers knew nothing of the history of the MS. further than that he found it in the library of his predecessor. Judging from the appearance of the volume, the old-fashioned phraseology and style of writing, there seems to be no doubt of the authenticity of the MS. But it is so carefully written, and the periods are all so well turned, that the work appeared, as the speaker said, more like that of a copyist, who probably transcribed it, for the purpose of sale, from the original MS. lectures of the Professor, than the work of an actual student. The volume which Mr. Vevers has thus kindly presented to the Society is marked volume i.; but, unfortunately, nothing has as yet been heard of the existence of volume ii. Dr. G. Harley then remarked that the library was already in possession of two of the MS. case-books of the celebrated Dr. Cullen, and it would be a point of no mean importance for it to obtain possession of the second volume of Rutherford's lectures, representing, as they do, the earliest attempt at systematic clinical teaching ever made in the British Isles. Mr. W. FAIRLIE CLARKE Communicated, for Dr. Edward Sparks, a paper "On a Disease of the Skin caused by the Acarus Folliculorum; illustrated by Cases observed in the Dog." The author first reviews the literature relating to the acarus folliculorum, and points out that there has been hitherto nearly a universal scepticism with regard to any injurious effect of that animal on the skin. Only Dr. Gruby (ComptesRendus, 1845, and Monthly Journal of Medical Sciences, November, 1846) has described a disease produced by inoculating a dog with the acarus, by which the animal lost its hair, and the skin became inflamed and covered with scabs of purulent exudation, while its strength became much reduced. Gruby's researches have, however, never received the credence they deserve, and their accuracy has even been doubted (for example, by Dr. Neumann, of Vienna, in 1873). Dr. Sparks has, through the kindness of Mr. Duguid, the able veterinary surgeon to the Brown Institution, been enabled to examine three cases of a disease occuring idiopathically in dogs, and similar to that described by Gruby; and he has examine the skin microscopically. The external features of the disease had a considerable resemblance in all three: these consisted of greater or less loss of hair over the whole body; scaliness, partly epidermic and partly exudative; abscesses resembling acne studded over the body and legs; gradual emaciation and loss of strength; and resistance to all treatment. All the dogs finally died, without any internal disease being found sufficient to account for death. Other dogs in the same kennel caught the disease from one of the affected dogs. Sections of the skin showed, microscopically, enormous dilatation of the hair-follicles and sebaceous glands with the acari and epithelial débris; subcutaneous abscesses containing acari, and accompanied with a fine nuclear infiltration of some parts of the skin; atrophy of the papilla and sheaths of the hair-follicles; and, in one case, growth of nodules of a lymphatic tissue, especially around the coats of the sweat-glands and the hairfollicles most affected. The existence of such a disease as the one here described appears not to be generally known to veterinary surgeons, and it is not, as far as the author knows, described in any book. Seeing what mischief the acarus can produce in the dog, we should not be too hasty in denying the possibility of its ever causing a disease of the skin in man, and its relation to some forms of acne deserves further investigation. At any rate, it is a most interesting fact that a creature which we know may exist in man without doing any harm should produce such a serious disease in an animal like the dog. The author concludes his paper by thanking the authorities of the Brown Institution for the assistance they have afforded him. Mr. FAIRLIE CLARKE said that the paper was of interest in drawing attention to the point whether the acarus folliculorum produced disease in the cutaneous system of man or not. It certainly was not harmless in dogs, since it gave rise in them to formidable and even fatal results. Dr. Sparks had shown him a few days ago, at the Brown Institution, a dog which had been affected by the disease for several months in spite of all treatment. It had lost nearly all its hair, and had several large abscesses about the neck. Dr. SYMES THOMPSON hoped that more observations made at the Brown Institution would be brought before the Society. This was one of a series of investigations which threw light upon the diseases of man. Dr. SPARKS said that he had not thought it necessary to give any description of the acarus in his paper, as Mr. Erasmus Wilson had done that so admirably in the Philosophical Transactions some years ago. The acarus folliculorum must not be confused with the acarus scabiei, as they are not in any way related to one another. The acarus folliculorum of the dog was identical with that found in the sebaceous glands of the face in man, and he thought, seeing the effects of the acarus on the skin of the dog, it might possibly give rise in man to some forms of acne, and the question required further investigation. He corrected a statement made in the paper, that some of the healthy dogs which had caught the disease from a dog with the acarus had been cured by parasiticides. None had as yet recovered, and they all had to be killed. There A paper by Drs. J. LOCKHART CLARKE and W. R. GOWERS was read, "On a Case of Pseudo-Hypertrophic Muscular Paralysis." The case is that of a boy, aged fourteen, who diea with general muscular atrophy. He was a patient of Mr. William Adams. The muscles of the calf had been, from an early age, and until within two or three years of his death, considerably larger than natural. Difficulty in locomotion, due to muscular weakness, had been noticed from the time when he commenced to walk at three years old, and had increased until he ceased to walk at eight, and to stand at ten. During the last three years of his life the calves lessened in size to below the normal, and the muscles of the thighs and arms became atrophied. At the time of his death he could not move the hip-, knee-, or shoulder-joints; he could move the ankle- and elbow-joints a little, and the fingers well. There was but slight difference between the two sides. The flexors of the hip- and elbow-joints were contracted. was no affection of mind, or of cranial nerves, or of the sphincters. He died from a low form of pneumonia. After death the muscles showed in various degree the changes, naked-eye and microscopic, characteristic of the " pseudohypertrophic muscular paralysis" of Duchenne. The gastrochemii looked like lumps of fat, and under the microscope consisted of fat-cells, among which still ran some muscular fibres, accompanied by a good deal of connective tissue. Many of the fibres were healthy in appearance and size; many were narrower than normal, still preserving, however, their transverse striæ, even when reduced to one-quarter of their normal width. Many fibres were narrower at one place than at another. Very few fibres, except those greatly reduced in width, presented any granular or fatty degeneration. The deltoid and biceps muscles on each side presented similar changes, but they contained less fat and more fibrous tissue; the brain and medulla oblongata and meninges of cord were healthy. The spinal cord itself presented various changes throughout the cervical, dorsal, and lumbar regions: the most important was disintegration of the grey substance of the anterior, lower, and central portions of each lateral half; in some places this had occurred chiefly around the vessels, but in others it involved extensive areas, especially in the cervical enlargement, the upper part of the lumbar enlargement, and the conus medullaris. About the level of the last dorsal nerves it had amounted to almost total destruction of the grey matter on each side between the posterior vesicular columns and the intermedio-lateral tract. Other changes were disintegration of nerve-roots, commencing sclerosis of the lateral and posterior columns, destruction of the white commissure in various places, dilatation of vessels, and extravasations. A comparison of the symptoms and of the character of the muscles in this case with those of other cases left, the authors believed, no doubt of the identity of the disease. The spinal cord changes were much greater than any previously found, the examinations of Charcot and Cohnheim having given negative results, and the changes found by Barth and by Kesteven having been slight. Dr. BUZZARD inquired whether the authors of the paper thought that the circumstance of changes in the spinal cord having been reported absent in previous cases, and present in this, which seemed to be a peculiarly advanced one, threw any doubt upon the correctness of the now generally received opinion that, in cases of muscular atrophy and analogous conditions, the central changes preceded and induced those in the muscular system. Dr. LOCKHART CLARKE said that the possibility of muscular disease giving rise to central disease had been abandoned long ago. He wrote a paper on this subject, published in the Transactions four years ago, in which he stated the result of the examination of the cords in men whose thighs had been amputated many years previously, and compared them with the cords of men who had suffered from muscular atrophy. In the first instance there was atrophy of nerve-cells, but no disease, no disintegration or morbid process; in muscular atrophy the changes were similar bilaterally. Charcot, of Paris, had examined cords as he had done, and he agreed with him that the change in the cords of men whose legs had been amputated was quite different from that in muscular atrophy. Because this change had not hitherto been observed in the cord in pseudo-muscular paralysis there was no reason to suppose it did not occur. He had had a cord from a case under Mr. Adams given him four years ago. The cord had been hardened in chromic acid; it was too friable to examine thoroughly; he had, however, made some sections, and satisfied himself that there was granular degeneration. Dr. GREENFIELD asked if any change in the temperature of the parts had been noticed. Mr. W. ADAMS said he was not aware of the change in the temperature of the parts till Dr. Ord's paper had been brought before the Society last year. He had had the temperature taken in two cases, but it was not found to be altered. Though the cases were rare, yet he had seen many such now. The disease had often been mistaken, and even now at times was not easily diagnosed, and called "infantile paralysis." Dr. GoWERS said that the absence of any primary degeneration of the muscular fibres was very striking; the fibres retaining their transverse striæ until very much reduced in size, apparently by the pressure of the fatty growth between them, and in this respect their condition differed remarkably from other states of muscular degeneration with which this had been compared. Davis. The advantages which this instrument presents over Ferguson's glass silvered speculum are its non-fragility and its tapering form. It is easier of introduction, and the reflective and illuminating power is greatly increased; the opening being much wider, there is considerably more room for operations. The speculum has a trumpet-shaped external opening, the width of the instrument gradually diminishing from this to its smaller uterine aperture. The tube is suitably bevelled off at its uterine end, and the edges carefully rounded. It is made in three sizes, and produced in two combinations of metals-one electro silver-plated and gilt at uterine end, and the other nickel silver-plated, which resists the action of acids, and will not tarnish. They are considerably lighter and cheaper than any metal speculum hitherto introduced. MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN AUSTRIA.-According to official returns, there are in Austria (exclusive of Hungary) 7072 medical practitioners, 3874 being doctors of medicine, and 3198 surgeons (Wundärzte). Of these there are in Vienna 988 doctors and 79 Wundärzte. The Austro-Hungarian empire has 2354 military doctors, 2139 army doctors on active service, 83 in service in the marine, and 152 attached to the Landwehr.-Wien. Med. Zeit., June 9. LEGAL INTELLIGENCE. A PHYSICIAN'S CONSULTATION FEES. A CASE of some interest to the medical profession was heard on Friday, June 26, at the Warwick County Court, before Mr. J. B. Parry, Q.C. The plaintiff was Dr. Thomas Albert Carter, physician, of Leamington, who sought to recover ten guineas for professional attendance from the defendant, Mr. Booth Mason, of Arley House, Tillington. Mr. Sanderson appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. Overell defended. The defence was that there was no contract or retainer. Dr. Carter was the first witness, and said that he was an M.D. of Edinburgh and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. He was called in to attend the defendant, Mr. Booth Mason, on December 23, 1871, and continued his attendance on nine subsequent occasions. Plaintiff was called in by Mr. Fenn Clarke, of Leamington, the ordinary medical attendant of the defendant. He found Mr. Mason in an extreme state of disease, and things in confusion in the house. The wife of the defendant was at the time lying dead. When complainant was first called in, the defendant was in bed, with a scarlet rash over him, and appeared to be delirious. On the second day he seemed rational. The defendant adopted plaintiff's attendance, no intimation whatever being given that it was not required. His usual fee for each attendance was one guinea, but in certain cases it was two guineas. In this case he charged one guinea for each attendance. In cross-examination plaintiff said that it was not a customary thing for a general practitioner to ask a physician to attend for him. Mr. Fenn Clarke was not in an ailing state of health when plaintiff first attended Mr. Mason. Plaintiff made no arrangement with Mr. Fenn Clarke nor with Mr. Booth Mason. Mr. Fenn Clarke, M.R.C.S., was then called, and said that he was the medical attendant of Mr. Booth Mason's family in December, 1871. The circumstances that led to Dr. Carter being called in were peculiarly sad. Mrs. Mason had been confined a few days previously, her children having had scarlet fever for some weeks before. When scarlet fever attacked a lady in her confinement it was nearly always fatal. Mrs. Mason was warned of this, but felt confidence in her own vigour, and refused to leave her children during her illness. On the second day after her confinement she was attacked by scarlet fever in its most malignant form. Dr. Hicks, the President of the Obstetric Society, came from London to see her; but she only lived two days after his visit. Mr. Booth Mason was taken in a rash, closely simulating scarlet fever, the day before Mrs. Mason died. On the night after her death Mr. Mason sent for witness, who wrote a prescription and visited him three times that day. But he considered the responsibility too great for himself alone, and called in Dr. Carter to attend the case with himself. Mr. Mason's relatives were all at a distance. Witness saw Dr. Carter on six several occasions in consultation. On December 27 and 28 witness was himself ill with influenza. On the 29th they did not happen to meet, but met on December 30 and January 1, 1872. In cross-examination witness said that at the time Dr. Carter was called in Mr. Mason exhibited great excitement and some mental obscurity. He did not consider that at the time Mr. Mason was in a position to decide whether it was necessary to call in a physician or not. Witness felt bound to take upon himself the responsibility. Nothing was said by Mr. Mason as to his having acted without authority in calling in Dr. Carter. Mr. Mason adopted Dr. Carter's advice. Witness consulted three personal friends of Mr. Mason in Leamington. He did not include anything in the shape of fees for Dr. Carter in his own bill. In cross-examination, witness said that his own bill to Mr. Mason up to the end of 1871 was £30 3s. 6d. It was usual to give a physician his fee when called in. Dr. Hicks received a cheque at the time he came from London to see Mrs. Mason. His Honour: But there is nothing to show that Mr. Clarke did not call in Dr. Carter on his own account. According to the case Veitch v. Russell, reported in Russell's "Law of Contracts," a physician could not recover unless a contract was actually made. Mr. Sanderson submitted that this decision was an old one, and had been overruled by others of more recent date. His Honour: The evidence does not show that Mr. Clarke communicated to the defendant that he had called in Dr. Carter, and that he thought it necessary to do so. If in answer to that Mr. Mason had said, "You are quite right in doing so," it would have implied a contract. At present there is nothing to show that Mr. Mason ever gave his assent to receiving the visits of Dr. Carter in the ordinary way of a physician expecting to be paid for his attendance. Mr. Sanderson: But Mr. Mason adopted Dr. Carter's attendance each succeeding day. His Honour: Why did he not pay the usual fee at the time the visits were made; or explain to Mr. Clarke that he was too unwell to pay then, but that he would pay afterwards? Mr. Sanderson intimated that in some cases a fee was not paid at the time of the visit. Mr. Sanderson then referred to a case which was heard some time ago before Sir William Page Wood, sitting as Vice-Chancellor, in which he thought the law on the point was very properly stated. From the case it appeared that a physician under such circumstances would be entitled to recover, the patient having adopted his attendance, although he gave no express order for him to be called in. His Honour admitted that the authority he had cited was a book published in 1853. Mr. Sanderson said the case was referred to in the judgment in the ViceChancellor's Court to which he had referred, and did not appear to have been thought of any value. His Honour said he was not aware of any modern case in which the point had arisen. Mr. Sanderson read an extract from the "Medical Directory" of 1874, which non-officially gave the substance of a recent decision to the effect that a physician was, in the absence of a distinct understanding to the contrary, to be entitled to recover in all cases for his attendance. His Honour was willing to adjourn the case for Mr. Sanderson to search out the authority on which this ruling was founded. not often that a patient refused payment, and therefore cases of the kind but seldom arose. He should be sorry to give a decision that a physician was not entitled to recover in the absence of an actual understanding. Mr. Sanderson: I will ransack every authority, your Honour, and bring down the whole College of Physicians, if necessary. Mr. Overell denied that his client was delirious on the day of Dr. Carter's first visit. He defended the suit on the ground of principle. Judgment was reserved. OBITUARY. It was SIR ALEXANDER NISBET, M.D., R.N., INSPECTORGENERAL OF HOSPITALS AND FLEETS, DIED on the 22nd ult., at his residence, Arley Lodge, Lee. He became Assistant-Surgeon in the Royal Navy in April, 1812, and served in the American war in 1814. He was at the capture and destruction of a flotilla of American gunboats, the attack on the forts before Baltimore, and the capture of St. Mary's. In August, 1815, he was promoted Surgeon, and became M.D. Edinburgh University in 1818. He served in the Vernon (fifty), from December, 1832, to August, 1841, on the North American and West Indian station, and at Greenwich Hospital from December, 1841, to January, 1844. He was then promoted to be Deputy Medical Inspector of that establishment. This appointment he retained until promoted in June, 1855, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, and from that period till March, 1861, he served at the Royal Hospital at Haslar. After an active service of thirty-eight years he obtained in June, 1865, the good service pension, and received the honour of knighthood in June, 1873. He was Hon. Physician to her Majesty the Queen. VALUE OF ENGLISH DIPLOMAS.-The British Minister at Santiago has made representations to the Chilian Government, complaining that English physicians are prevented from practising in Chili. The Dean of the Chilian Faculty of Medicine replied that the medical knowledge imparted in Great Britian was greatly inferior to that required before a degree of Doctor of Medicine could be obtained in Chili. It would therefore be unjust to allow British physicians to practise with less knowledge and competency than was required from Chilian physicians. This statement, which appeared in the Times on Monday last, is inexplicable to us, knowing that two or three years ago his Excellency the Chilian Minister applied personally to Mr. Stone at the Royal College of Surgeons to select for him half a dozen young members of the College to serve in the Chilian Navy and Army for a short time, with permission to practise their profession amongst the residents when not interfering with their regular public duties. The gentlemen selected by Mr. Stone from provincial and metropolitan schools have given the greatest satisfaction to the Chilian authorities, and perhaps will favour us with their explanations of this extraordinary statement. MEDICAL NEWS. UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM.-At a Convocation held on June 23, the following degrees and licences in Medicine were conferred, after examination, held at the Newcastle College of Medicine on June 15, 16, 17, and 18:-M.D.: George Rowell, M.B., M.R.C.S. M.B.: W. T. Wilson, Licentiate in Medicine, M.R.C.S.; and Ralph Young, Licentiate in Medicine, M.R.C.S. Licences in Medicine: AndrewArnold and Charles W. Wilson. UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN.-At the Summer Commencements, held in the Examination Hall, Trinity College, on Wednesday, June 24, 1874, the following degrees and licences in Medicine and Surgery were conferred by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Napier, Bart., Vice-Chancellor of the University :Licentiati in Medicina: Johannes Duke Faussett, Gulielmus Johnston, Lambertus Heppenstall Ormsby. Licentiatus in Chirurgia: Johannes Duke Faussett. Baccalaurei in Chirurgiâ: Henricus Gulielmus Joynt. Baccalaurei in Medicina: Joseph Wallace Boyce, Gulielmus Chatterton, Gulielmus L. Chester, Johannes Sarsfield Comyn, Jacobus Wilson Eakin, Jacobus Bird Eaton, Thomas Enright, Jacobus De Burgh Griffith, Joseph Hunter, Carolus E. James, Henricus Gulielmus Joynt (in Colon.), Thomas Leahy, Henricus Jacobus Leonard, Georgius Wyndham Murphy, Jacobus Murphy, Antonius Ricardus Lynch, Gulielmus Owen, Gulielmus Spear, Fredericus Tuthill, Phineas Barrett Tuthill, Carolus Grove Young. Magistri in Chirurgia: Gulielmus Chatterton, Gulielmus L. Chester, Jacobus Wilson Eakin, Carolus Nelson Gwynne, Morgan Fox Hamerton, Joseph Hunter, Jacobus Murphy. Georgius Alonzo Creech Pearce, Carolus Grove Young. Doctores in Medicina: Robertus Herbert Foot, Carolus Gulielmus MacDowell, Benjamin Franciscus MacDowell, Thomas Robertus Hamilton Moorhead, Alfredus Lloyd Owen, Johannes Mallet Purser (stip. con.), Henricus Heygate Phillips, Robertus Travers (stip. con.), Stewart Woodhouse. ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.-The following gentlemen having passed the necessary examinations, were admitted Licentiates in Dental Surgery at a meeting of the Board on the 29th ult., viz. :: Alabone, Alfred. Newport, Isle of Wight. Canton, Frederick Arthur, Southampton-row. APOTHECARIES' HALL.-The following gentlemen passed their examination in the Science and Practice of Medicine, and received certificates to practise, on Thursday, June 25: Caddy, Henry, Ulverston, Lancashire. Hicks, Edward John William, George-street, Hanover-square. The following gentlemen also on the same day passed their primary professional examination : Breach, John Frederick, Guy's Hospital. Glyn, Herbert Arthur, St. Bartholomew's Hospital. APPOINTMENTS. The Editor will thank gentlemen to forward to the Publishing-office, as early as possible, information as to any new Appointments that take place. HERMAN, G. E., M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A.-House-Surgeon to the London MILITARY APPOINTMENTS. WAR OFFICE.--MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.-Surgeon George Carson Gribbon, M.B., to be Surgeon-Major, vice David Woods, retired on temporary halfpay; Surgeon John Joseph Crean, from half-pay, to be Surgeon, vice Robert Adams, M.D., deceased; Surgeon Thomas Wood, M.D., from half-pay, to be Surgeon, vice Florence Theobald McCarthy, deceased. BIRTHS. DUNCAN.-On June 26, at 139, Buckingham-palace-road, the wife of MARSHALL.-On June 29, at 28, Caledonian-place, Clifton, the wife of |