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AT Dublin, on the 5th inst., the students and friends ofSteeven’s Hospital were entertained at a conversazione

given by the Medical Committee. The proceedings, whichwere of a highly agreeable character, terminated by thepresentation of the Cusack medals and certificates to thesuccessful candidates. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayorpresided.

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’DR. R. MACDONNELL delivered on Saturday, the 5th inst.,an able lecture before the Royal Dublin Society on "Anti-septics and Disinfectants." The lecturer inclined to thethesis of Pasteur as against that of Pouchet, and gave inhis strong adhesion to the antiseptic therapeutics of Pro-fessor Lister.

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SIR WILLIAM RAE, K.C.B., Inspector-General of Hospitalsand Fleets, and Justice of the Peace for the counties ofDumfries and Devon, died on Tuesday last at his resi-

dence, Hornby-lodge, Newton, Devon, aged eighty-seven.

THE medical officer of the Nottingham Dispensary reportsthat during the past week he had treated six childrensuffering from symptoms of poisoning after eating colouredsweetmeats. All the children are, however, recovering.

WE understand that the New Sydenham Society has pur-chased the copyright of "Mayne’s Medical Dictionary,"and will shortly issue it in a greatly improved and re-written form.

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DR. GEORGE BURROWS has been re-elected President ofthe Royal College of Physicians.

GENERAL COUNCIL OF MEDICALEDUCATION & REGISTRATION.

Session 1873.

SATURDAY, MARCH 29TH.DR. PAGET, President, in the chair.

After some formal business,Sir D. CORRIGAN referred to one of the letters from the

Privy Council Office to the Society of Apothecaries, statingthat an application had been made to the Government for aMedical Bill, and inquired whether the application referredto had been made by the Medical Council or the President,or by some unauthorised person.The PRESIDENT said that no such request had been made

on the part of the Council.Sir D. CORRIGAN said if any unauthorised person had

been acting behind their backs with the Privy Council orthe Government, it was desirable that they should be madeaware of the fact.

Dr. AI,EX. WOOD said there were various public bodies inthe country who had as much right to communicate withthe Government upon medical matters as had the MedicalCouncil itself. He thought it would be more dignified notto pursue Sir D. Corrigan’s inquiry further.

Sir D. CORRIGAN said he did not want to argue the ques-tion, but merely asked for information.

Sir W. GULL said he believed the reference in the corre-spondence was to the application made by the UniversityIN London.

THE IRISH CONJOINT SCHEME.

Dr. APJOHN moved, 11 That the Council, under the powersconferred upon it by the 19th clause of the Medical Act,approves of and sanctions the Conjoint Scheme of Examina-tions agreed upon by the University of Dublin, the Kingand Queen’s College of Physicians, and the Royal Collegeof Surgeons in Ireland." (The main features of thisscheme were detailed in our last impression.) Dr. Apjohnsaid he did not apprehend any formidable opposition to hisproposal. The scheme had been adopted after very mature

consideration, and he thought the plan was a very good andcomprehensive one. It would be observed that the Irishbodies had provided for a conjoint examination in generalas well as professional education. It was universally ad-mitted that there should be some such mode adopted bywhich it might be ascertained that persons who were sentout to practise their profession were competent to dischargetheir duties. It was also thought exceedingly desirable toput an end to the rivalry supposed to exist between differentbodies, who seemed to compete with each other in turningout, not the best qualified, but the largest number of

practitioners. It was much to be regretted that the Scotchbodies had not been able to enter heartily into the systemof conjoint examinations, but should suddenly have cometo a pause and become hostile to it. He hoped, however,that they would confine their altered views to Scotland, andnot attempt to impose them upon the Irish bodies. Theaction of the Irish bodies had originated in a desire to meetthe wishes of the Council. It was true the scheme was atpresent imperfect, not including all the bodies, but he hopedthat that reproach would not long exist. He anticipatedthat the Society of Apothecaries would soon join the scheme,and hoped that the Queen’s University would reconsider itsdecision.Mr. HARGRAVE, in seconding the motion, said the scheme

had met with universal satisfaction in Dublin.Dr. STOKES, in supporting the motion, said that the

scheme originated in a feeling of loyalty to the Council onthe part of the Irish bodies, who had done their best tocarry out its wishes. Three conferences had been held, andthe greatest desire had been evinced by the co-operatingbodies to promote the advancement of the profession, andto meet the demand which had long existed both outsideand inside the Council that all who entered the professionshould at least receive a competent education, general aswell as professional. The three bodies who had joined inthe scheme were the most important medical bodies in Ire-land. He believed there was a greater number of medicalstudents in Arts in the University of Dublin than in anyuniversity. The scheme was generally a well-considered

one, and he hoped that the Council would signify its ap-proval of it by accepting the resolution proposed by Dr.Apjohn. He believed it would prove to be a powerful levertowards the settlement of a most important and vital ques-tion.

Dr. STORRAR said it appeared from the table appended tothe Irish conjoint scheme that the Apothecaries’ Hall, al-though not taking part in the scheme, were to appoint cer-tain examiners.

Dr. LEET said that the Apothecaries’ Hall had not for-mally withdrawn from the scheme, but had only expresseda hope that the terms of agreement entered into by the re-presentatives of the different bodies would be carried out.They had given their adhesion to the scheme adopted bythe representatives, but when it came before the College ofPhysicians it was altered to the prejudice of the Apothe-caries’ Hall. If, therefore, they withdrew from the schemethe College of Physicians were to blame for departing fromthe agreement which had been entered into. The Apothe-caries’ Hall were willing and most desirous to enter into theformation of a conjoint scheme for Ireland, but they reallycould not do so unless their rights were preserved and theirposition recognised.

Dr. Araoxrr said that the representatives had no powerto bind their respective bodies, but only to report to them.

Dr. LEET said that the Apothecaries’ Hall had by a specialresolution approved of the scheme of the Committee ofRepresentatives. The first point of difference between thetwo schemes related to pharmacy. The examination in thatsubject, which was to include the compounding of medi-cines, was to be carried on, in the scheme of the representa-tives, by three examiners ; but in the scheme of the Collegeof Physicians it was to be confined to one examiner. Con-

sidering the difficulty of the task, it was utterly impossiblefor any one individual to examine all the candidates as theyought to be examined in so important a subject, especiallyin Ireland, where there were so many dispensaries con-

ducted by medical men, and an inefficient performance oftheir duty would lead to great suffering on the part of thesick poor. It might be said that they had assented on aformer occasion to having only one representative, but sincethen the scheme had been greatly altered by the College of

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Physicians, so that a very large number of students would proposal, to the following effect: 11 That the Council approvepresent themselves for examination who would not have the scheme agreed upon, on the understanding that in thecome in under the previous scheme. In the second place, event of the Apothecaries’ Society not eventually co-operat-by the scheme of the conference the right of the Apothe- ing in the aforesaid scheme, the necessary alterations incaries’ Hall to send one examiner to the final examination the appointment of examiners be made." With respect to-was admitted. The Apothecaries’ Hall thought they had the English plan, those who promoted it had felt themselvesacted with great libeiality in allowing the examination in bound to keep strictly within the four corners of the scheme,medicine and surgery to be conducted entirely by the three and he could not sanction the notion of a scheme under-bodies; but they contended that as one of the medical going any important modification after it had obtained the ’authorities they had a right to appear among the examiners assent of the Council.in the second part of the examination, and it was very in- Dr. ALEX. WOOD said there were details in the Irishvidious to deprive them of that position-a step not war- scheme which the Council would do well to look at beforeranted by anything to be found in the Medical Act, and sanctioning them. Some of them were opposed to theinvolving as he thought a manifest injustice. This was not principles that had been enunciated by the Council. The

only a great grievance to the Apothecaries of Ireland, but fifth clause of the scheme stated that 11 No student shoulda great degradation, and he thought it could hardly be get credit for medical studies pursued before he shall havesanctioned by the Council. With regard to the division of passed a preliminary examination in English, Latin,money, the Apothecaries’ Hall thought there would be an arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, and that no candidateinconsistency in asking for money when they did not grant should be admitted to his first professional examinationa licence, and in that respect he thought they had acted until he shall have also passed in Greek, and the elementsvery liberally, but it would be very illiberal if they were of physics and meteorology ; but that any student whonot fairly represented on the Examination Board. so pleases may present himself for examination in all

Dr. A. SMITH thought that the Council was drifting into the subjects of the preliminary examination previous to thea wrong course. Their sole business was to say yes or no commencement of his professional studies." He (Dr. Alex.to the proposal for sanctioning the Irish scheme. When Wood) would be the last man to seek to lower the standardthe English scheme was before the Council last year there required for the higher branches of the medical profession,was no inquiring into its details. With regard to the but he sympathised with the dread expressed by the

report of the delegates referred to by Dr. Leet, it was only Government that the supply of medical practitioners woulda preliminary report, and care was taken as soon as the be limited by insisting upon too high a standard. The

delegates were appointed to pass a special resolution to the Council had discussed the question as to whether Greekeffect that the College was not in any way to be bound by should form one of the preliminary subjects for all medicalany agreement that the delegates might enter into. With students, and after a keen debate it was decided by aregard to money matters, it should not be forgotten that majority that it was not expedient to insist upon that qua-the Irish apothecaries under their charter could not charge lification. By adopting the present scheme the Councilmore than ten shillings for their certificate, while the Col- would virtually rescind that resolution, and declare that, atlege of Surgeons of Dublin charged twenty-five guineas, and least in Ireland, no one should be admitted even to thethe College of Physicians fifteen. By a careful computation lowest ranks of the profession unless he had studied Greek.it was found that the fees of the College of Physicians and Dr. Leet had been advised if possible to join the proposedof the College of Surgeons were in the proportion of 5 to scheme. He (Dr. Wood) felt disposed to give him the3, and that was made the basis of the arrangement. He did opposite advice, for if the Apothecaries’ Hall continued tonot think it necessary for the Council to go into the details give its degrees for half-a-guinea, and did not requireof the scheme, as they might be afterwards made the subject Greek, they would get the whole of the licensing in Irelandof alterations. into their hands. He thought the duty of the Council was

Dr. ANDREW WOOD said it was an extraordinary doctrine to receive from the different bodies their schemes for com-that the Council had no right to discuss the details of the bining, and there to stop; but whenever the bodies tookIrish scheme. The scheme could not be brought into upon themselves what he regarded to be the functions ofoperation without the sanction of the Council, and they had the Council in prescribing what the course of study was totherefore a perfect right to discuss every part of it. He be, and what should be the subjects of examination, heutterly demurred to the notion of the scheme being altered could not sanction such a proceeding. The Council wouldwhen it went back to Ireland. The Apothecaries’ Hall be- be placed in a great difficulty with other examining boardshaved very liberally in regard to the money part of the if they altered their subjects of examination in order to suitquestion, but they appeared to have been rather thin- the wishes of their friends in Ireland. All honour to themskinned in regard to the causes which led them to withdraw that they wished to raise the standard of examination, andfrom the scheme. If the scheme were sanctioned by the he should be glad when the time came for raising theCouncil as proposed, it would appear that the Apothecaries’ standard universally. But the Council had again and againHall were part and parcel of it. decided that in the present state of things such a standard

Sir WM. GULL said he was glad to see so perfect a as was proposed was impossible. If a proposal were madescheme brought before the Council, and he regarded it as to sanction the union of the bodies for examination simplyan honour to Ireland. The Council, he thought, had now he felt assured that no member of the Council would with-come from darkness and chaos into light and cosmos. He hold his approval. But when asked to sanction a schemewould move, as an amendment to Dr. Apjohn’s motion, which he believed to be impossible for England, Scotland,"That the scheme for a conjoint examination agreed to by or Ireland, he could not give his consent.the University of Dublin, the College of Physicians, and Sir R. CHRISTISON thought it better to leave the detailsthe Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (dated June 28th, to those who knew what best suited their own country, and1872) be sanctioned with or without the co-operation of that the Council ought not to attempt to define areas of in-Apothecaries’ Hall, Dublin, but the Council feel it most struction and examination. At least, the question ought todesirable that such co-operation should, if possible, exist." be dealt with very tenderly. The classification of the sub-Dr. ACLAND, in seconding the amendment, said it would be jects in the proposed scheme appeared to him very extra-

a farce to have a scheme brought before them without the ordinary, especially as regarded materia medica. He advisedpower of considering its details, since if they should have all examining bodies to be careful how they attempted ato object to any detail their only course would be to reject definition of areas-a step which he had known to be pro-the scheme altogether. He sympathised with the difficulties ductive of great confusion.experienced by the Apothecaries’ Hall, but he thought it Dr. THOMSON thought it would be an act of injustice towould be undesirable for the Council to adjudicate upon the sanction the scheme in the way proposed, leaving thepoints of difference which had arisen. It would be very Apothecaries’ Hall entirely in the power of the otherdesirable for them to come to terms and join in the scheme, bodies.in which case there would be four bodies acting for one Mr. QuAiN said he objected to the details of the scheme,common object. of some of which he had no cognisance whatever. He con-

Dr. BENNETT said he desired to express his hearty com- curred in the objection raised by Dr. Alexander Wood, andmendation of the scheme, and his congratulation to the he further objected that the study of Greek, physics, andIrish bodies on the successful completion of their labours. meteorology was to be mixed up with the four years of pro-He would suggest a little modification of Sir Wm. Gull’s fessional study. He believed that a period of four years

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was little enough for the study of purely medical subjects,and that the other subjects referred to should not formpart of the course of medical education.

Dr. STORY.AR said he was most anxious to promote con-joint examinations, but after the observations that had beenmade he was forced to the conclusion that he could notassent to the scheme as proposed, which mixed up subjects

. of preliminary study with the professional course. Such a

step would be entirely of a retrograde character, and ifsanctioned would stultify the proceedings of the Council.

Dr. QUAIN said it would be most lamentable if the Irishscheme were rejected by the Council. If it were consideredclause by clause, the Irish bodies would then know whatthe Council received and what would require amendment.The PRESIDENT said that the scheme had been drawn up

by those who knew what talent there was in Ireland, but ifit was found not to work satisfactorily, there was nothingto prevent their applying to the Council at a future periodand requesting a modification of the scheme. If a schemeso generous and thorough should be actually rejected by theCouncil, it would be the greatest possible discouragement tomedical education in Ireland.The amendment was then put, and the votes were-for

10, against 11. It was therefore lost.Dr. ALEX. WOOD moved and Dr. ANDREW WOOD secondedanother amendment :-" That this Council approve of theplan of co-operation laid before them by the University ofDublin, the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, and theRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland, with or without theco-operation of the Apothecaries’ Company. That theCouncil does not approve of that portion of the schemewhich includes the subjects of examination general and pro-fessional, which should be regulated from time to time inaccordance with the recommendations of the General Medi-cal Council."This amendment was also negatived.Dr. PARSES moved the adjournment of the debate,

stating that he desired to move another amendment on thesubject. This was agreed to, and the Council then ad-journed at the usual hour.

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MONDAY, APRIL 1ST.Dr. PAGET, President, in the chair.

The first business before the Council was the considera-tion of the case of Dr. Matthew Bass Smith, who was sum-moned on a charge of " infamous conduct in a professionalrespect." The summons to Dr. Smith was as follows :-" A statement having been made to the General Council ofMedical Education and Registration of the United King-dom, purporting to show that you have been guilty of in-famous conduct in a professional respect, in that you, beingthe medical attendant of Edmund Edmonds, of Newent, inthe county of Gloucester, solicitor, and of his family, did inor about the year 1867, seduce and carnally know JeannetteHelena Edmonds, a niece of the said Edmund Edmonds,then being one of the members of his family, and who thenwas or had been attended by you in your professionalcapacity." Dr. Smith attended in answer to the summons,and was accompanied by Mr. W. T. Ricketts, solicitor, whoappeared in his defence.

Before the charge was read, Mr. Ricketts applied for anadjournment of the case on the ground that his client hadnot had sufficient time to prepare his answer. Notice of theproceedings, he said, was served upon him only three weeksago, and the offence with which he was charged was as longago as 1867. It was necessary to summon witnesses fromGloucestershire, and sufficient time had not elapsed toenable him to communicate with them and prepare his de-fence. He (Mr. Ricketts) believed that witnesses to be sum-moned would be able to throw material light on the matter.The PRESIDENT said that the summons was dated on the

5th of February.Mr. RICKETTS said it was not served on that day.Mr. OUVRT, the Solicitor to the Council, said that Dr.

Smith was not to be found at the address from which hewrote, and that some delay arose in consequence.The PRESIDENT observed that the matters referred to

were not new to Dr. Smith.Mr. RICKETTS said he believed that many of the allega-

tions of the complainant could be contradicted by inde-pendent witnesses.

The PRESIDENT.-Are you prepared to say, as Dr. BassSmith’s solicitor, that it was impossible to get these wit.nesses with a notice of three weeks ? PMr. BiCKETTS.—I have not been consulted so long as that,

and since I was first consulted it has been absolutely im-possible. I was instructed ten days ago.The Council then deliberated in private, and refused the

application for adjournment.Mr. OUVRY then read the details of the charge against

Dr. Smith, as set forth in a declaration by Mr. EdmundEdmonds, of Newent, Gloucestershire, and in other docu-ments, narrating the proceedings in connexion with thecharge made against Mr. Edmonds for the murder of hiswife, of which he was ultimately acquitted. It will be re-membered that Dr. Smith and Miss Edmonds were witnessesat the trial. It was stated that Dr. Smith, who was a mar.ried man, became acquainted with Mr. Edmonds’s nieceduring his attendance on the family, and that he subse.quently seduced her and took her with him to Kenilworth,where they slept together for three or four days as man andwife.Mr. RICKETTS said that he did not deny the immorality of

his client; but he contended that the proceedings had arisenfrom an animus on the part of Mr. Edmonds, who had beenaccused by Dr. Smith of having been the author of a mis-carriage of Miss Matthew, the sister of Mr. Edmonds’s de-ceased wife. If the Council were sitting in judgment onthe morality of Dr. Smith, they would undoubtedly find himguilty; but the offence with which he was charged was not,he contended, contemplated by the 29th section of theMedical Act. That extraordinary penalty which was nowsought to be imposed on Dr. Smith was never intended fora mere case of immorality. He (Mr. Ricketts) was not in-structed to deny that Dr. Smith had been on terms of in-timacy with the young lady in question; but was it in-tended that such an offence should be made the subject of apenalty that would disqualify him for ever from earning hislivelihood? He submitted that the conduct was not 11 in-famous conduct in a professional respect," and that thesection contemplated an offence such as that of administer-ing a noxious drug to a patient for an improper purpose.The section was not intended to apply to a man’s privatecharacter. If it was, he was afraid there were many medi-cal men whose characters would not bear the strictest in-

vestigation. It was true that Dr. Smith attended the familyof Mr. Edmonds; but it was not in consequence of suchattendance that the intimacy sprang up. He, no doubt, wasa friend of the family, and had known them for some con-siderable time before he attended them professionally. Hedid not seek for a moment to justify the conduct complainedof. He had been guilty of the grossest immorality, espe-cially as a married man, in allowing the connexion to springup between himself and Miss Edmonds; but the case wasonly one of immorality not affecting his conduct as a medi-cal man. It had been alleged that it was Dr. Smith whocaused the coroner’s investigation to take place in referenceto the death of Mrs. Edmonds. He (Mr. Ricketts) was in-structed to say that it was nothing of the kind, and thatthe inquest was held in consequence of the interference of aclergyman who had known something of the family. It wasevident there were facts tending strongly against Mr.Edmonds apart from the evidence of Dr. Smith. Withregard to the young lady, she was evidently a consentingparty, and it could hardly be called a case of seduction.She was of an age to consent, and the only misconductagainst Dr. Smith resolved itself into this, that he, being a.married man, was led away by infatuation into an improperintimacy with the young lady. If the Council once estab-lished the principle of proceeding against medical men onthe ground of immorality, he did not know where theywould be able to stop. He ventured to say very few medicalmen, if their characters were to be attacked in this way,would escape scatheless. He hoped the Council would pausebefore ruining a man upon the mere point of immorality.One could quite understand that Mr. Edmonds entertainedthe bitterest feelings towards Dr. Smith, and that he wouldtry to do his best to carry out his threat of ruining him;but he hoped that the Council would not be led away byany such sentiments. Dr. Smith was not attending thefamily at the time when the intimacy took place. He, nodoubt, attended the family previously; but at the time ofthe intimacy his medical attendance had ceased. Mr.

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Edmonds appeared to be particularly anxious to show inhis affidavit that he was not aware of the intimacy in ques-tion. He (Mr. Ricketts) believed that if an adjournmenthad been granted, he should have been enabled to provethat Mr. Edmonds was aware of it; that although he pre-tended he only discovered it on the 9th of October, he knewit a long time before, and winked at it. It had been saidthat Dr. Smith received pecuniary assistance from Mr.Edmonds; but the reverse was the fact, for Mr. Edmondsreceived the assistance of Dr. Smith to the extent of X600or =6700 upon one occasion.The PRESIDENT.-I understand you to say that Dr. Smith

had ceased to be the medical attendant at Mr. Edmonds’shouse before this seduction took place. It is in evidencethat the seduction took place in the year 1867, and Dr. Smithremained at Newent until Dec. 1870. Have you any evi-dence that Dr. Smith had ceased to be the medical at-tendant of the Edmonds family three or four years beforehe left Newent ?Mr. RICKETTS.-At the time of the alleged seduction Dr.

Smith was not attending the family; he did subsequentlyattend.

The PRESIDENT.-You do not mean to assert or repeatthat Dr. Bass Smith had ceased to be the medical attendant,but only that he was not in actual attendance at the time ? PMr. RiCKETTS.-That is what I say. He was not attend-

ing at the house, and at the time he went to Kenilworth hehad altogether ceased to be the attendant of the family.The PRESIDENT, addressing Mr. Ricketts, said - The

Council will take time to deliberate on this matter. You

may be quite assured that the Council is well aware of thepoint they are trying. It is not a question whether this orthat medical man, or the medical profession at large, is, oris not, moral. I have my own private opinion upon thatmatter, but that is not the question that is being tried inany way. I differ most strongly from the view you take asto the general morality of the medical profession; but theCouncil is quite well aware that the point they are trying iswhether Dr. Bass Smith has been guilty of misconduct in aprofessional respect.The Council then deliberated in private, and resolved,-

That Matthew Bass Smith is judged by this Council, afterdue inquiry, to have been guilty of infamous conduct in aprofessional respect. That the said Matthew Bass Smithhaving been judged by the General Council, after due in-quiry, to have been guilty of infamous conduct in a pro-fessional respect, the General Council do hereby adjudgethat the name of the said Matthew Bass Smith be erasedfrom the Register; and do, by this order, direct the Regis-trar to erase his name from the Register accordingly."

Dr. Bass Smith and Mr. Ricketts then retired.

THE IRISH CONJOINT SCHEME.

Dr. ANDREW WOOD (in the absence of Dr. Parkes) movedthe following amendment to Dr. Apjohn’s motion :-" Thatthe Council sanction the scheme of Conjoint Examinationsapproved by the University of Dublin, the King and Queen’sCollege of Physicians, and the Royal College of Surgeonsin Ireland, with the exception of that part of Clause 5which follows the words Preliminary Examination’ in thesecond line. The Council also desire to express a stronghope that the Apothecaries’ Hall and the Queen’s Universityin Ireland may be able to co-operate in the scheme." Resaid that the Council had already decided that the ex-amination in general education should precede the com-mencement of professional studies, and that rule would becontravened by an entire adoption of the proposed scheme.It would be very undesirable to introduce into the scheme aprinciple different from that which had been approved andacted upon for years by the Council.Mr. QuAiN seconded the amendment. He said he was in

favour of permitting the Irish bodies to do as they pleased,provided only they adhered to the laws of the Council.

Dr. SHARPEY said that the details of the scheme wouldnaturally depend upon the opinion of the medical authori.ties in Ireland, who were the best judges of the state andpreparation of their candidates. According to the presentMedical Act he did not think that the Council was calledupon to express an opinion beforehand upon the scheme inits details as regards the course of education and examina-tion, but merely to pass judgment upon the plan of unionproposed. He would suggest that the sanction of the

Council be given, H so far as the sanction of the Council isrequired to enable these bodies to co-operate in conductingexaminations under Section 19 of the Medical Act." Thatappeared to him to be sufficient for the purpose, and didnot commit the Council to any approval of the part of thescheme to which objection had been taken. He confessedthat he felt some compunction in being obliged to voteagainst Sir Wm. Gull’s motion, because he feared that inso doing he was imperilling the success of the whole mea-sure. He felt, in common with the rest of the Council, agreat satisfaction in finding that the majority of the au-thorities in Ireland had so cordially responded to the wishesof the Council.

Dr. ALEX. WOOD was about to address the Council, whenhe was reminded by the President that he had alreadyspoken on the motion.

Dr. AraoOHN having briefly replied, the amendment wasput and carried by a majority of 13 against 3.On the amendment being put as a substantive motion,Mr. QuAIN suggested that the first line should read "that

the Council generally sanction the scheme," &c.Dr. STORRAR opposed the introduction of the word

generally " as being unnecessary. He desired to explainbriefly why he declined to vote for Dr. Apjohn’s originalmotion. He wished to assure Dr. Apjohn, and every mem-ber of the Irish Branch, that there was no member of theCouncil who more sincerely desired to see a conjoint exami-nation in Ireland than himself, but he objected to theclause that stated "No student shall get credit for medicalstudies pursued before he shall have passed a preliminaryexamination in English, Latin, arithmetic, algebra, andgeometry." His objection was not merely to the interposi-tion of Greek with professional study, but the proposal fellshort of what had been prescribed for many years past bythe Council. The Council prescribed an examination inthe English language, including grammar and composition; yarithmetic, including vulgar and decimal fractions ; algebra,including simple equations; geometry-the first two booksof Euclid ; Latin, including translation and grammar, andthen added " and anyone of the following optional subjects rGreek, French, German, natural philosophy, including me-chanics, hydrostatics, and pneumatics." The Irish schemetook Greek, but left out the rest except such naturalphilosophy as might be required for the first professionalexamination. That was the ground of his (Dr. Storrar’s)objection.

Sir D. CORRIGAN said he could not vote for the resolution,as it Involved a positive and a negative-an approval and adisapproval of the Irish scheme. The proper course forthe Council to take would be to decide that Clause 5 shouldterminate at the words "preliminary examination," andthen it would be within the power of any member of theCouncil to propose any other amendment. Dr. Storrarobjected to the scheme on the ground that the preliminaryexamination did not come up to the standard required bythe Council, and the way in which he proved his assertionwas by showing that the Irish scheme included Greek,while the Council omitted it. The resolution stated thatno student should get credit for medical studies before hehad passed a preliminary examination, but it did not sayin what. It might be in potato-culture, or boat-racing, or

billiards.! Dr. ANDREW WOOD thought that Sir D. Corrigan was very

misty and illogical.- The proposal embodied in the resolu-tion was simply to sanction the Irish scheme with the excep-

, tion of Clause 5, and to any ordinary understanding nothingcould be plainer than such proposition. With regard to the

, preliminary examination, of course it implied such an exami-. nation as the Medical Council approved.

Dr. BENNETT said that the details to which objection hadL been taken did not materially affect the working of the, scheme, and there was no reason why those details should

not be settled by the Irish bodies themselves. There wasl no corresponding examination table in connexion with the. English scheme, the details being settled by the Committeel of Reference. There was nothing inconsistent, however, in; sanctioning a scheme with the exception of a certain part,l and as to the preliminary examination, of course it was suchL an examination as had been sanctioned by the Council. He. hoped the Council would confine themselves to the broadL general features of the Irish scheme.

Dr. ALEX. WOOD thought that the great desire for con-

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joint examinations was blinding some members of theCouncil to the misfortunes which might happen, and to thepossible overturning of what the Council had taken manyyears to accomplish. The Council should deal with thescheme in the same way as it might deal with a report, anddeclare that it sanctioned it up to a certain point, but didnot sanction the remainder. He observed in the proposalsan attempt to prevent the preliminary examination frombeing strictly preliminary, and if they were carried out, thesanction of the Council would be given to the mixing up ofthe professional with the preliminary examination. He didmot object to the Irish bodies adding anything that theypleased, that they thought the students could accomplishin the way of preliminary education, but he strongly ob-jected to omitting anything that the Council had, afterlong deliberation, decided upon. By sanctioning the !scheme he believed the Council would be lowering medical- education in Ireland, because it would drive the studentsto take what had been regarded, rightly or wrongly, as aninferior qualification.

Dr. SHARPEY inquired whether the proposed action on thepart of the Council would be likely to imperil the adoptionof the scheme in Ireland.

Dr. STOKES said he did not think it would have that result.The resolution would be regarded as an expression of theCouncil concurring in the principle of the scheme.The motion was then put, and carried nem. con.

THE DEGREE OF M.B.

The tables of the results of examinations for qualifica-tions in 1871 and 1872 were submitted to the Council, bydirection of the Executive Committee, and ordered to beentered on the Minutes. Some conversation took placewith reference to these tables, in the course of which aninquiry was made with regard to the degree of 1VT-.B. at theUniversity of Aberdeen, as to whether the holders of that- degree were in the habit of using the title of doctor.

Dr. MACROBIN stated that the holders of the M B. degreewere not entitled to call themselves doctors, but they wereso oalled by courtesy, even by professional men.

Dr. STORRAR said that the University of London had ex-pressly laid it down as a rule that Bachelors of Medicinewere not entitled to call themselves doctors.The PRESIDENT remarked that during the five years of

his holding the degree of Bachelor of Medicine he did notreceive the title of doctor.

Dr. BENNETT moved, that the representatives of theseveral licensing bodies be requested to obtain the annualreturns of the results of examinations from their respectivebodies, and to forward them to the Registrar to be tabulatedby the Executive Committee." ,

Sir D. CORRIGAN objected to take upon himself the re-sponsibility of doing the work of a registrar, and then be-coming a postman. He said he would not bind himself tocomply with any such regulation as that proposed.

Dr. ANDREW WOOD said it would save a great deal oftrouble if the representatives of the different bodies wouldexamine the returns made by the registrars, and see thatthey were in accordance with the requirements of theCouncil.

Dr. STORRAR thought that all that was necessary couldbe accomplished by correspondence between the registrarsthemselves, without the intervention of the representatives.The motion was then put and lost, 6 voting in its favour,

and 8 against it. -

THE PHARMACOPCEIA.

The following report was presented from the Pharmaco.poeia Committee :-

" The Committee beg to report that, of the 25,000 copiesof the Pharmacopoeia which have been printed, 1600 onlynow remain in stock. The sale of the Pharmacopoeia has in.creased, and is increasing, as shown by the fact tbat, whilstin 1871 it amounted to 1014 copies, in 1872 it amounted tc1144; whilst in the first thrpe months of the present yeai650 copies have been sold. Under these circumstances, it uevident that before many months it will be necessary t(issue either a new edition or a reprint of the present editionThe Committee are of opinion that a proposal to issue a nevedition of the Pharmacopoeia should not be entertained a1

present. The work, having been in circulation now betweeIfive and six years, is fully established in use; and the Committee are of opinion that any attempt to replace it b

another would be received with disfavour, as an unnecessarydisturbance of existing arrangements. The Committeetherefore recommend that a reprint of the present edition,with such corrections as may be necessary, be issued insufficient time to meet the necessary requirements; andthat the Executive Committee be authorised to make ar-rangements, at a proper time, for such reprint. The Com-mittee are further of opinion that, as several new medicinesand new forms of medicines have become established, orbeen introduced to the favourable notice of the profession,it would be desirable to supply the necessary informationrespecting these articles in the form of an appendix. Suchaddendum might be prepared at once, and issued in a sepa-rate form for the use of those who possess the Pharmaco-poeia, and it may hereafter be bound up with the next re-print. The Committee believe that the proposed appendixwould occupy about a sheet of print corresponding to thatof the Pharmacopoeia, and they recommend that it be pre-pared, and issued when ready. The services of Dr. Redwoodwill be made available for preparing the work, under thedirection of the Committee, of which proofs will be circu-lated, when ready, amongst the members of the’Council forsuggestions and revision; after which, on completion bythe Committee, the Executive Committee should be author-ised to take steps for the publication of the same. TheCommittee have in hand a balance of the sum placed attheir disposal in 1869, amounting to .845 2s. 6d. They re-commend that the Committee be reappointed, and that thefurther sum of .850 be placed at their disposal.

11 R. CHRISTISON, Chairman."Sir R. CHRISTISON moved, and Dr. AQUILLA SMITH se-

conded, the adoption of the report.Sir D. CORRIGAN suggested that in the new edition the

degrees of solubility of the different salts should be stated.Sir R. CHRISTISON said that chemical authorities were by

no means at one in regard to the degrees of solubility, andthe subject would require a tedious investigation.The motion was then adopted, it being understood that

the Pharmacopoeia Committee were to be at liberty to makeany minor alterations and corrections that might be con-

sidered necessary.The Council then adjourned.

TUESDAY, APRIL 1ST.

Dr. PAGET, President, in the chair.

Mr. ROBERT RIDDELL attended in answer to a summons

charging him 11 with infamous conduct in a professionalrespect."

Mr. T. B. Szazsorr appeared on behalf of Mr. Broomfield,of Lauder, in support of the charge, and Mr. Roy appearedfor the respondent.

’

Mr. OUVRY, the Solicitor of the Council, read the sum-mons, which stated-" That you, being the medical attend-ant of Thomas Broomfield, of Lauder, in the county ofBerwick, North Britain, solicitor and Bank agent, and hisfamily for a number of years down to July, 1865, in thatyear and since, by writing and otherwise, have stated orinsinuated, or used language from which the inference maybe drawn that you had committed adultery with the latewife of the said Thomas Broomfield, you being at the timewhen such adultery is alleged to have been committed themedical attendant of the wife of the said Thomas Broom-field." It was then stated that Mr. Broomfield, some yearssince, married a Miss Logan, by whom he had had fourchildren. His wife had two brothers, named George andAlexander Logan. Mr. Riddell was the medical attendantof Mr. Broomfield’s family from November, 1858, to July,1865. During that time he attended Mr. Broomfield, thecomplainant, his children, and his wife in several confine-ments. On the 30th of September, 1885, Mr. Riddell ad-dressed a letter to a Mr. Allardyce, in which he referred inunequivocal terms to the relations subsisting between himand Mrs. Broomfield. This letter accidentally fell into thehands of Mr. Broomfield, who took certain proceedingsagainst Mr. Riddell, and obtained his dismissal from severalmedical appointments held by him. Other letters werewritten by Mr. Riddell containing similar statements withreference to Mrs. Broomfield. Subsequently Mrs. Broom-field died, and Mr. Riddell married the widow of one of herbrothers. A long narrative was given of the disputes which

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continued between the parties, and of certain legal pro-ceedings connected with the guardianship of the children ofthe deceased Mr. Logan.

Mr. SiMsoN, in addressing the Council in support of thecharge, said he was at a loss to understand what possibledefence could be urged. He need not remind the Councilthat the relation of a medical man to his patient was of amost confidential and sacred character. It was immaterialwhether the respondent was actually guilty of adultery withMrs. Broomfield, or whether he simply alleged it, for, in thelatter case, he had uttered a false and malicious libel

against a lady who was now dead, and could not be ex-amined. Even if any advances had been made on her parthe was equally guilty, for it would have been his duty inthat case to have informed Mr. Broomfield, whose medicaladviser he was, and by whose permission he was in attend-ance on his wife.Mr. Roy said he regretted that it was not the practice to

hear counsel on behalf of the accused persons in such cases,but he would do his best in defence of his client. The firstpoint he would urge was that these proceedings were takenat a considerable distance of time after the alleged offence,and they were taken against a man who wa,s then single,but was now married, and had a helpless family. In thenext place the conduct charged was not that which theLegislature contemplated, when it gave the Council thepower of depriving a man of the means of livelihood forhimself and his family. It was not "infamous conduct ina professional respect." The aggrieved person had hisremedy in a civil court, and could have the respondentpunished by action or otherwise. The charge was not oneof adultery. If that were the charge the complainant hadcondoned it, for he lived with his wife years after theoffence until she died, and took no steps to punish the re-spondent for the crime. The complaint was that the re-spondent had written certain letters. The conduct in

writing them was, no doubt, infamous, but not in a profes-sional respect, for the letters were not written at the timewhen he was in attendance on the family. Mr. Roy thenread a long statement, giving the respondent’s version ofthe proceedings which had taken place between him andMr. and Mrs. Broomfield. It was stated that Mrs. Broom-field formed a violent attachment to the respondent, andthat the intimacy went too far, and resulted in conductwhich he bitterly regretted. Finding himself thus involved,he endeavoured to break off the intimacy by making hisvisits less frequent. Mrs. Broomfield, in a state of broodingand despondency, informed her husband of the improperattachment. He took no steps against his wife, but enteredinto a course of persecution against the respondent, swear-ing that he would hunt him to the death. The letters inquestion were written after Mr. Broomfield had adoptedthat vindictive course. It was further alleged that Mr.Broomfield had arranged to establish a rival medical prac-titioner in Lauder, and endeavoured to destroy the practiceof the respondent. Various affidavits were then read onbehalf of the respondent. One of these was from Mr.Charles Wilson, a manufacturer and justice of the peace,who said he had tried to intercede between Mr. Broomfieldand Mr. Riddell, and that Mr. Broomfield declared to himthat he would persecute the respondent to death if he didnot leave Lauder. Another was from the Rev. ThomasMiddleton, parish minister of Lauder, who stated that thematter had been made public by Mr. Broomfield himself,who had done his best to keep it alive. A memorial wasalso presented from the householders and inhabitants ofLauder, stating that they had every reason to be satisfiedwith the professional and personal conduct of the re-

spondent. To this memorial about 300 signatures were ap-pended. An extract was likewise read from a local news-paper, in which a violent attack was made upon the re-

spondent at the instance, it was suggested, of Mr. Broom-field. Mr. Roy then urged that no good public purposecould be served by removing Mr. Riddell’s name from theRegister. If the Council thought it necessary to reprimandhim for his conduct, he was in attendance to submit to suchreprimand; but he ventured to hope the Council would notaccede to an application which was made in a bad and vin-dictive spirit, and solely for the gratification of privatemalice.

Mr. SmsoN addressed the Council in reply. He said ifNIr. Riddell had left Lauder, 1B’11’. Broomfield would have

hushed the matter up, but he persisted in remaining, andthereupon the complainant took proceedings sgainst him.The respondent had continued until 1872 renewing hisattacks upon the memory of Mr. Broomfield’s deceased wife,and Mr. Broomfield found it utterly impossible to stop him.He hoped the Council would mark with its reprobation theconduct of a man who, by means of the confidential positionin which he was placed, had brought ruin and dishonourupon the family of the complainant. The man must beradically bad, and a disgrace, not only to the profession, butto humanity, and he ought, therefore, to be stamped withinfamy.The PRESIDENT said the Council wished to know why Mr.

Broomfield had delayed his action for so long a period.Mr. SiMSON said that as soon as he had seen the letter

from Mr. Riddell to Mr. 4-Ilardyce, he sent an extract fromit to Mr. Ridden, requesting him to cease his visits, andupbraiding him with his conduct. Nothing more took placefor some time; but Mr. Riddell afterwards took steps tocomplain of Mr. Broomfield’s conduct as an inspector of thepoor, and made an application to the Board of Supervisionto have him dismissed. An inspector was sent by theBoard of Supervision to inquire into the matter, and hereported that the conduct of Mr. Riddell was very gross,and he was accordingly dismissed from his appointment asmedical officer. Mr. Riddell still continued to repeat thereports in various quarters, and two years afterwards hemarried the widow of Mrs. Broomfield’s brother. It thenbecame necessary to take proceedings for the protection ofthe deceased husband’s children, and these continued for aconsiderable length of time. In this manner the delay hadbeen occasioned.

Dr. ArjoHN inquired if the complainant believed thatMrs. Broomfield had intrigued with the respondent. ’

Mr. SiMsoN said that he did not. He distinctly denied it.The Council then deliberated for some time in private,

and on the re-admission of the parties,The PRESIDENT said :-The Council have taken very great

pains in considering this matter; they have considered itvery fully and deliberated very much upon it, and theirfinding is this : "The Council, after due inquiry, do not,under the circumstances, see fit to direct the Registrar toerase the name of Mr. Robert Riddell from the Register."Mr. RIDDELL, in addressing the Council, said he was very

sore at heart that he had been guilty of great indiscretion,and that he felt most thankful for the merciful considera-tion shown to him by the Council.

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY.

The case of Mr. James Mawhinny, supposed to be a re-gistered person, convicted of theft at Stirling, was broughtbefore the Council. Mr. Ouvry stated that the onlyevidence identifying the prisoner with the James Mawhinnyon the Register was a letter from the Police Superintendentof Stirling, stating that the prisoner had said that he wasa registered medical practitioner, which, Mr. Ouvry added,was no legal evidence at all.The PRESIDENT mentioned the case of a person who was

convicted in Dublin, and who represented himself to be asurgeon in Cambridge-a friend of the President’s-callinghimself by his name, and giving his address. It would not,therefore, be very satisfactory to rely upon the mere state-ment of the person convicted.The case was accordingly deferred, for legal evidence of

identity.APPLICATION TO BE RESTORED TO THE REGISTER.

An application was read from Frederick Henry Morris, M.D.,whose name was, in 1871, erased from the Register, prayingto have his name restored. The application stated that hehad practised in Swindon from 1856 to 1864, that he after-wards went to reside at Cheltenham, where he remained forsix years, and that in 1870 he returned to Swindon, wherehe established himself in a considerable practice. In 1871he was in attendance on Mr. Jonathan Hatt, with whom agirl named Sarah Goold was living as housekeeper. Mr.Hatt reported in the town that on one of his professionalvisits he had taken indecent liberties with the girl. Theapplicant thereupon instructed his solicitor to write to Mr.Hatt, informing him that unless the imputation were with-

, drawn, legal proceedings would be taken against him. A! summons was afterwards taken out against the applicant

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for an indecent assault, and he was tried on that charge atthe Wilts Assizes, and convicted. He had no means ofdisproving the evidence, the assault having been alleged tohave taken place when no other person was present. Hecontinued to attend at the house twelve days after thealleged assault. He asserted that he was not guilty of thecharge, and that it had been unscrupulously made by awoman who was compelled to institute criminal proceedingsin order to shield Mr. Hatt and herself from the actionwhich he had threatened. The applicant was a marriedman with five children, and he had always lived in harmonyand affection with his wife. His practice of =6800 a yearwas sold to pay his legal expenses, and his name had beenerased from the Register on the simple proof of conviction.A memorial was handed in largely signed by the house-

holders and inhabitants of Swindon expressing great con-jidence in Dr. Morris.

There was no opposition to the application.Sir D. CORRIGAN moved " That the name of Dr. Morris

’be restored to the Register."Dr. STORRAR seconded the motion.Dr. ANDREW WOOD said that Dr. Morris alleged that he

was wrongly convicted, but if he had been convicted rightlyhe had been punished for his offence by six months’ im-prisonment. A considerable number of persons cameforward stating that he was a respectable man, and thatthey were willing to support him. It was their duty totemper justice with mercy, and he thought this was a casein which the Council might take a merciful view.The motion was then unanimously agreed to.

CHARGE OF FORGING A CERTIFICATE.

Respecting the case of a medical student alleged to havebeen guilty of forging the certificate of his having passedhis preliminary examination, Mr. OUVRY, the solicitor, re-ported that a warrant for the apprehension of the accusedperson had been taken out, and was in the hands of thepolice, who had been unable to find him, as it appeared hehad gone to America.The Council then adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, Al’RIL 2ND.Dr. PAGET, President, in the Chair.

The PRESIDENT said it would be remembered that lastyear a resolution was passed by the Council instructing theExecutive Committee to obtain premises for their meetingsat which the general business might be carried on withcomfort and convenience. In consequence of that resolutionthe Executive Committee had communicated with theGovernment, and particularly with the Chancellor of theExchequer. There had been considerable correspondencebetween the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Registrarand himself (the President), and the result was that therehad been a recognition on the part of the Chancellor of theExchequer of the Medical Council as a public body whichwas entitled to have the use of public rooms. Under whatconditions they would be granted he was not in a positionto say, but he was glad to state that a letter had been re-ceived by Dr. Quain, who had written privately on the sub-ject, from the Secretary of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,stating—" The Chancellor of the Exchequer desires me toinform you that a special communication has been made toMr. Ayrton on the subject of housing the Medical Councilin the house hitherto occupied by the Savings Bank at thecorner of St. Martin’s-lane, and that he hopes in a few daysto be able to inform you that the matter has been satisfac-torily arranged."The President then left the chair with the view of making

arrangements for an interview with the Government, andhis place was occupied by Dr. Bennett.

EDUCATION FOR WOMEN.

A report was presented to the Council by the Committeeon Special Education for Women. In answer to the ques-tions submitted to it, the Committee reported :-

"1. That the Council has no power to make rules for theeducation of man or woman. 2. The Council has no au-thority to lay down what will entitle anyone to be regis-tered. 3. The Council is bound to register any qualificationspecified in the Act, on production of evidence of such quali-fication, and can register no other.

11 Therefore, if a woman become entitled to any one ofthe qualifications in Schedule A, she is entitled of right tobe registered in respect to these, but not otherwise. No

licensing body can create any new qualification beyondthose mentioned in Schedule A; and if they were to at-tempt it the Council would be obliged to refuse to register.Your Committee are therefore compelled to say that theMedical Council has no power under the Act of 1858 eitherto make special rules for the education of women, or to giveto women a qualification different from that of men, or tosupply any national want, should there be such, of womenspecially certificated for any department or departments ofmedicine."The Committee then, pursuant to its instructions, made

a statement of the prevailing usages in Germany, France,and Russia with regard to midwives. The report thenstated :-

11 Your Committee have thought it desirable to presentthis slight sketch of the system existing in other countries.They do not by any means propose to the Council to adoptarrangements which, however necessary among other nations,do not appear to be suited to the conditions of our own.Nevertheless, they believe that, looking at the advancingwants of our increasing population, it is both expedientand practicable to pay more attention in this country thanhas hitherto been paid to the education of women to bemidwives, dispensers, and superintendents of nurses andmedical institutions. The Committee are further of opinionthat if women have received a fitting education in any orall of these three departments, they are justly entitled toa certificate of competency in one or all of them. Theyrecommend that the Committee be empowered-firstly, toenter into communication with any public institution inwhich there is provision for the education and examinationof women as (1) midwives, (2) dispensers, (3) superintend-ents of nurses and of medical institutions. Secondly, toconsider and report if and in what manner a public registerof persons obtaining the qualifications named might bekept.

" The Committee desire to impress upon the Council thatthey do not in this report enter into the question of whetherwomen should or should not have special education for ordi-nary medical or surgical practice, still less how that educa-tion, if any, is to be obtained. The Medical Council regis-ters, of necessity, all such diplomas when legally obtained.It would be bound to report to the Privy Council any bodywhich improperly conferred medical and surgical diplomason insufficient education. The case now discussed by themis quite different from that of complete medical and surgicaleducation. It is, whether in the advance of population andcivilisation a want has or has not been shown in the servicesfor which women are specially adapted; and whether womenwhen properly instructed have that recognition and thatjustice shown to them which they may rightly demand.On this question they, purposely with great brevity, nowpresent their opinion. While they are aware that theMedical Council has no power to lay down what will entitleanyone to be registered, otherwise than in the terms ofSchedule A of the Medical Act, they nevertheless considerit within the province of the Medical Council to issue a re-commendation as to what would be desirable for the benefitof the public in the education of women as midwives, dis-pensers of medicines, and superintendents of medical insti-tutions, and also as to the mode of registering their qua-lifications. The Committee, under these circumstances, areof opinion that in any future Bill for the amendment of theMedical Act a clause should be introduced giving power tothe Medical Council to register the qualifications of womenacting as midwives, dispensers, and superintendents ofmedical institutions. The register, they need hardly add,would be separate from the register of practitioners ofmedicine and surgery."

Dr. ACLAND, in moving the adoption of the report, saidit had been thought by some that those who interestedthemselves in the question with which the report dealt weregetting in the thin end of the wedge for the medicaleducation of women. That, however, was not the questionbefore the Council at present. Women could be placedupon the Register as well as men if they possessed theproper qualifications. The Committee had confined them-selves to the question whether it was desirable that atten-tion should be paid to the education of women as midwives,

539

dispensers, and nurses, and he thought that anyone who mittee had received several long and interesting communi-dispassionately considered the subject must see, not only cations from Miss Nightingale. There were perhaps dif-that there was a proper avocation for cultivated and ferences of opinion with regard to the value of Misseducated women in those departments, but that if such Nightingale’s labours, but it was certain that for manywomen were properly trained for the purpose it would be years she had been more successful in her particular de-a simple act of national justice to recognise their qualifica- partment than any human being who ever lived; and thattions. He bad been told by a lawyer that the Council was she freely and generously gave from her sick bed to all whonot competent to consider the question, because it was not asked the results of her experience and knowledge. Stepsincluded in the Medical Act. He (Dr. Acland) never had been taken in various directions to improve the educa-argued with a lawyer, and he only replied that he was tion of skilled nurses, and the Committee thought it wasastonished to hear it. But if it was not in the Act it was worth considering whether such persons when trainedtheir business to get it there, and not allow the matter to might not be registered. Amongst the communicationsfall into the hands of other bodies, so long as there was made to the Committee was one addressed to the Presidentone supreme Medical Council charged with the administra- by Mr. Stansfeld, who took great interest in the subject,tion of the medical affairs of the country. It would be seen and desired to know when the report of the Committee

by the report of the Committee that the most minute re- would be considered by the Council. Dr. Acland concludedgulations with regard to midwives prevailed in Russia. The by moving that the Committee be reappointed, and em-circumstances of that country were very peculiar and in- powered to carry out the recommendations contained interesting, and it did not follow that because certain methods their report.were applicable abroad that they could be adopted with Dr. MACROBIN seconded the motion.

advantage in this country. In England, however, there Sir WILLIAM GULL said he believed he was expressing thewas a remarkable consent among all classes as to the neces- sentiments of every member of the Council when he saidsity of something being done for the education of women in that the services of women might be made available in act-that direction. It would be found by the interesting work ing as midwives, dispensers, and nurses. At the sameof Dr. Aveling not only that such societies as the Obstetrical time, the Council would be hardly prepared to lay down anySociety of London were pressing the subject on public scheme, or to endorse any particular plan for carrying outattention, but that the women themselves who had not such measures. All that the Committee asked was thatreceived any special education were pressing upon the they might be reappointed to obtain further information onattention of the Council and of other bodies the necessity of the subject, and the Council could hardly reject that pro-doing something in their behalf. They were distressed at posal. The popular voice was in favour of utilising thethe fact, which they were obliged to admit, that there were services of women in every way and in every department11,000 midwives in charge of the poor in all parts of the of human activity as far as possible. He did not wish to

kingdom for whose education nothing whatever was done, enter at length into the general question. He was disposedand it was well known that loss of life constantly occurred to assert that there was nothing done in the ordinary waythrough the ignorance of such persons. It had been sug- of human affairs that a man could not do better than a

gested that the women who were moving in the matter had woman ; still the services of women might be utilised inan ulterior object of becoming medical practitioners, and many departments, not, however, with the least idea ofthat if they were so educated they would interfere with superseding the intelligent supervision of men. He feltthe profits of the medical profession. It might be that certain that no greater hurt could occur to humanity thanthere were two objects sought. Some desired to be in- placing women in a false position in respect to physic; hestructed simply as midwives, calling in fully trained prac- believed it would be the decay of the healing art at once,titioners in difficult cases, but there were others who might and would spoil the scientific basis of the profession. Ad-want to get in the thin end of the wedge, and so to get mitting that, and confessing before the world that he mightthemselves more highly and more completely trained. He have some prejudices in the matter, he still thought thewas not sure that either of those objects was a bad one, Council could not stand in the way of obtaining further in-but he did not desire to pursue the argument as to the first. formation on the points indicated in the report.As to the prospects of a diminution of the profits of the Dr. HUMPHRY said that the Medical Act stated in the

profession he did not believe that there was any member of preamble : " Whereas it is expedient that persons requiringthe Council who was influenced by that consideration. At medical aid should be able to distinguish qualified from un-all events, as a public body administering the affairs of the qualified practitioners "; and the duty of the Council was tocountry, they ought not to be swayed by it. Their duties keep a register of qualified practitioners, and to ensure thatrelated to the public, and they were not concerned the education of those who were admitted upon the registerwith the emoluments of a particular class. In the was sufficient. He thought, therefore, that Dr. Acland hadappendix to the report of the Committee would be made out a partial case, but he did not think that a com-found a memorial from the Obstetrical Association of plete case had been made out. There was no doubt a caseMidwives, who desired to improve their own educa- for consideration as to how or in what manner a public re-tion and the education of persons of the class amongst gister should be kept in the case of midwives, but he didwhom they moved, and if that was not an honourable not think there was sufficient ground for the interferenceobject he did not know what was. With regard to the of the Council with regard to dispensers or the superinten-proposal to educate female dispensers, the idea was some- dence of nurses and of medical institutions. He wouldwhat new, but it was absurd to suppose that in order to gladly vote that the Committee be reappointed to considerdispense ordinary medicines it was necessary to be a man. the first question, and he would move as an amendment,The medical care of the poor throughout the country had "That the Committee be reappointed and empowered tonow become one of the first-class political questions of the consider and report whether, and in what manner, a publicday. The workhouse hospitals were being improved to such register of persons obtaining the qualification of midwifean extent that we might be said to have 500 or 600 small might be kept."state hospitals in all parts of the country. The greatest Dr. PYLE seconded the amendment.attention was also given to out-patients, and to the election Dr. ANDREW WOOD said he did not wish to disparage theof union medical officers, and it had occurred to some great and abundant labours of Dr. Acland, who had de-persons that it would be very desirable to relieve those voted twelve months to the investigation of the subject andofficers from the troublesome labour of compounding medi- the preparation of his elaborate report, but he agreed withcine so that they might have more time to devote to their the lawyer who advised Dr. Acland that the subject did notother duties. The answer to that was that there were no fall within the functions of the Council under the Medicalpersons able to relieve them of the duty of compounding Act. Their duty was, under that Act, to maintain a registermedicine; and secondly, that the guardians would not pay of practitioners qualified by one of the bodies containedthe money required. Within the last two years, however, in Schedule A, and to maintain it in such form as to enablethroughout the rural districts a number of intelligent the public to discriminate between qualified and unqualifiedwomen were engaged in the telegraph service, and it had practitioners. Their second duty was to regulate theoccurred to the Committee that those persons might also education upon which the qualifications were to be obtained;be engaged as the keepers of rural dispensaries; and to say and, thirdly, they were required to publish a Pharmacopoeia.that they were unfit because they were women was simply These duties he thought were not only sufficient, but moreabsurd. With regard to the question of nursing, the Com- than sufficient to occupy profitably the time of the Council,

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and he agreed with Mr. Bonham-Carter in his letter to theCommittee, that whatever opinion might be held with regardto Dr. Acland’s views, the time was not ripe for the Councilto enter upon the question. He objected to the Counciltaking action in the matter without consulting the bodiesto whom had been entrusted the task of educating and ex- Iamining for the medical profession. With regard to thequestion of dispensing drugs by women, that should be ileft to the Pharmaceutical Society. As to the question of ’,nurses, no doubt that was an important matter, but it wasbeing actively taken up in the proper quarters. He be-lieved there was no hospital in the country that was nottaking steps for the proper training of nurses and super-intendents. He thought therefore that the Council hadquite enough to do in discharging their own duties withouttaking upon themselves others which were alien to theirconstitution and not provided for in the Medical Act. Hewas glad that the Council had not committed itself to aninquiry into the subject of the education of women forpractising medicine, and that the Committee had made noreport upon the subject. But what he (Dr. Andrew Wood)predicted last year had actually happened, for the passingof Dr. Acland’s motion had been regarded as a greattriumph by those who advocated the training of ladies forthe medical profession. He was glad that the Council wasnot going to burn its fingers in regard to that subject, andif they were in the least degree inclined to do so he wouldadvise them to take warning by the state of hot water inwhich tbey had been kept at Edinburgh for the last fouryears. He thought it beneath the dignity of the Councilto go into the question of midwives, and that it would bevery undesirable to encourage the notion that midwifery

could be better practised by women than by men. That,he thought, would be a retrograde course. In the beginningof the present century nine-tenths of the women were de-livered by women, but now the very poorest women of thepopulation often declined to be attended by their own sex.It might be said that there was not one case in 100 inwhich the services of a midwife might not be found suffi-cient, but then the hundredth case might be the very firstto occur; and there could be no doubt that such cases asplacenta proevia, turning, and the use of the crochet weremuch more safe in the hands of men, who had nerve andstrength, and were accustomed to treat those difficult cases.Without therefore disparaging Dr. Acland’s labours, hewished to enter his caveat against the Council being com-mitted to take action in the matter. He did not proposeto vote either for the motion or the amendment.

Dr. STORRAR said he agreed that this was a great socialquestion which had very much solved itself during the lastcentury. There was a period in medical teaching whenwomen regularly attended class rooms. He rememberedthe time when Dr. W. Hunter’s theatre in Great Windmill-street was so constructed as to admit women by a privateentrance, and to enable them to see and hear the lecturerthough they were unseen by the male students. At thattime there were a number of well qualified women practi-tioners. He believed it was an historical fact that in allthe accouchements of Queen Charlotte, the wife of GeorgeIII., at any rate in the earlier ones, the male accoucheurwas in the ante-room and never near the person of theQueen. The state of things was now very much altered,and that simply by the preference of women, who naturallylooked up to men as possessing higher powers than them.selves. Sir R. Christison would bear him out in statingthat when the first Professor of Medicine and Midwiferywas appointed by the University of Edinburgh, it was heldto be somewhat derogatory to a man to be a Professor ofMidwifery, and for a long time he was simply called alecturer. He believed that something of the same kindobtained in most other schools, and he remembered hearinga Fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, whengiving evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons,state that, however much he might respect the male practi-tioner in midwifery, he did not consider him worthy of thedignity of Fellowship of the College. Things, however,had vastly changed since then. He thought there was nonecessity for the Council taking any action in the directionproposed. Women could now be registered if they possessedthe necessary qualification, and the name of one woman atleast might be found on the Register. Then there wereplenty of bodies qualified to give licences in midwifery.

The College of Surgeons of England could do so if theychose, but the Council could not compel them. The Me-dical Council was not an educating body in the first in-stance, and he thought it was not their business to interferewith such bodies in a matter of that kind. With regardto the dispensing of medicines, he believed that womenmight be usefully employed in that way, and’ that theywere so employed. It was not, however, for the Council totake up that question, which might be safely left to thePharmaceutical Society. The question of nursing hadbeen very much attended to in the course of the last fewyears, and something like a revolution had taken placewith regard to it, at least in London, so that the proposedaction of the Council was unnecessary.

Dr. ALEX. WOOD said he thought that under certain cir-cumstances it was right that women should be welcomedto study the medical profession, but the question for theCouncil to consider was, whether they had a right to spendpublic time and money on matters which were not pre-scribed for them by the Act of Parliament. He thoughtthat the appointment of the Committee was a great mistake,and that the report of the Committee was a still greaterone. It would be another mistake if that report wereallowed to go upon the Minutes, or appear as any part ofthe Council’s proceedings. A Committee was appointedsome years ago to consider how the meetings of the Councilmight be curtailed, and the result was that the meetingswere restricted to a week. But now, the Medical Councilwas actually spending the greater portion of an entiresitting on a matter which did not concern it.

Dr. STOKES said their object was not to further this orthat movement, but to remedy a great evil which every onemust admit existed in the country. The subject was onethat concerned a vast number of human beings underperilous circumstances. It might be said that the admis-sion to the Register of a class of persons not possessing thequalifications mentioned in Schedule A, would be a step infurtherance of so-called Woman’s Rights. The questionwas, was it a right thing’ to do ? For himself, he believedit to be a right thing. Woman had a right to admissionto all employments for which she was physically fitted, ifthereby she did not become unsexed; and if there was anybranch of the healing art which could be better studiedthan another by woman, surely it was midwifery. TheMedical Council was appointed to superintend medicaleducation for the public good, and therefore the educationof women for such parts of practice as would not unsexthem, should come under its consideration. In Dublinmidwives had long been educated in two large lying-inhospitals-at one of them Dr. Sinclair had a large classunder his care. Two head midwives visited every patientwith the pupil whose turn it was to attend. They reporteddaily to the professor every new case, and indicated anythat might require special attention. A great interestattached to the school in consequence of its possessing alarge class of women who were the wives of soldiers. TheDuke of Cambridge, when Commander-in-Chief, took greatinterest in the matter, and in consequence of his inter-ference a regulation had been adopted, by which the womenwhose regiments were quartered in various parts of Ire-land were allowed to come to Dublin with their husbands,and were provided with quarters in one of the barracks,and with rations during the entire time of their tuition.He (Dr. Stokes) had attended an examination of the classconducted by Dr. Sinclair, and it would be difficult to con-vey to the Council an idea of the excellence of the answersgiven during a most searching examination: it was suchas, in his opinion, would put to shame many answers givenbefore licensing bodies in their midwifery examinations.Why should not the system be more extensively adopted,and why should not the Medical Council bear a hand in sogood a work ? P He did not think it desirable that womenshould be entrusted with the performance of the greatoperations in midwifery; but looking at the whole questionand at the importance of not obtruding on woman’s feel-ings of delicacy, he was not ashamed to say that he hopedthe day would come when male interference would only berequired in extraordinary cases. The letter of Mr. Stans-feld showed the importance which he attached to the

subject. The Poor-law Commissioners in Ireland had inseveral cases, when applied to by a Dispensary Committeein the country, appointed a trained midwife to assist the

541

medical officer, and she was allowed a salary and a house,on condition that she confined her services to her owndistrict. The Council, he believed, would look at the

question irrespective of class interests. It had been saidthat it was established for the protection of the profession.Taking that for granted, let the Council show that in itsopinion the profession would be best served by whateverpromoted the public weal.

Dr. FLEMING said he voted last year against Dr. Acland’smotion on the ground that it was too general, including, ashe believed, the whole question of the education of women.He did not desire to prevent women following any occupa-tion for which they were qualified, but he decidedly raisedhis voice against young men and young women being taughtmedicine indiscriminately in the same classes. Dr. Acland,however, had so carefully guarded himself in his reportfrom committing the Council to’ any opinion upon thegeneral question, that he had great pleasure in supportinga large part at all events of the motion which he had sub-mitted. He believed that the training of well-educatedmidwives would be the means of bringing unspeakablerelief to a large number of medical practitioners. He (Dr.Fleming) knew what it was to practise midwifery. He prac-tised in that department for a few years, and he lookedback upon the occupation with pain and regret. He oftenfigured to himself a busy practitioner in a country district,harassed with the toils and responsibilities of his practice,detained for hours waiting, probably in not very comfort-able circumstances, till nature performed a process whichhe could do nothing to assist. [A Member of the Council:Or prevent (laughter).] It would be a great relief to havea class of well-educated women in whom confidence couldbe placed, and who would know when, in cases of emergency,to send for a qualified practitioner. As a rule there wasplenty of time for calling in a practitioner in cases of diffi-culty. He was not so sure that women had a great prefer-ence for male practitioners. Whatever preference existedin that direction he believed arose from the inferiority ofthe women who were employed as midwiv--s. A great im-petus was given to the study of obstetric medicine after thedeath of Princess Charlotte, and it was then discoveredthat women were so inferior that they could not be trusted.It was the duty of the Council to do everything in itspower to improve their education, for the. benefit, not onlyof the profession, but of the public. There was in Glasgowa lying-in hospital where a similar systern was followed tothat described by Dr. Stokes. The dimcnity was to getwomen of sufficient intelligence and preliminary educationto be properly trained. If means were adapted to make itworth the while of respectable, intelligent women to studymidwifery, and practise it as a profession, he had no doubtthat there would be many candidates for employment. Withregard to the question of dispensing, he believed that wasbeyond their province, and might be left to the Pharma-ceutical Society, where, he believed, it wa,s making rapidprogress. The question of nursing was already taken upby public hospitals, and any action in the matter by theCouncil was unnecessary.

Dr. A. SMITH said that the amendment narrowed thequestion too much, and that it would be not worth while todevise means for the accomplishment of so small an objectas that which it contemplated. The proposed committeewas simply a. committee of inquiry, and it would show adesire on the part of the Council to encourage the educationof the classes referred to. Women were already engagedin the occupations in question, and would it not be a properthing for the Council to use its influence so as to ensurethat the women so employed received a suitable educationfor their omce ? ?

Sir R. C]AP.ISTISON said he was unwilling to protract thediscussion, but he did not wish to give an entirely silentvote upon it. If the Council could, consistently with itspowers, carry out the proposed investigation, it ought to doso. They had already done some things that were notexactly within their powers, such as establishing registra-tion of students, and he saw no reason why they might notestablish registration for midwives. There was perhapsno positive power given to them to do so, but he could notconceive that they were prohibited. He was one of thosewho thought it very desirable that a large part of the ob-stetric practice which was at present in the hands of menshould be confided to women. He was .no advocate for

admitting women to the practice of the profession generally,’ but that was a very different thing from admitting them tothe practice of midwifery. The reason assigned by Dr.Fleming in support of the proposal was a very importantone. They should never lose sight of the necessities ofrural practice, and he believed there was nothing more in-jurious to practitioners in rural districts than their beingcompelled to attend females in ordinary cases of labour.He (Sir R. Christison) acted as consulting physicianthroughout the rural districts of Scotland, and he foundbut one opinion amongst the general practitioners: that itwould be a great blessing to them if there were a properlyeducated class of midwives. A golden opportunity nowpresented itself for doing something to relieve those gentle-men from a heavy burden which was often more than theirshoulders could bear. The appointment of a professorshipof midwifery in the University of Edinburgh had not im-proved the position or increased the practice of midwives : -.on the contrary, every ploughman’s wife now expected tobe delivered by a man. He thought it would be desirableto communicate with the various licensing bodies for in-formation and advice as to the practicability of educatingwomen to enable them to practise as midwives in ordinarycases of labour.

Sir D. CORRIGAN said that a most valuable report had beenpresented, and there he thought the matter ought to stop.Information had been obtained and put upon the Minutesfor public reference, and that, he thought, was all that wasnecessary. With regard to the registration of midwives, hebegged the Council to consider what its position would beif an application were made to erase the name of a womanfrom the Register. It was bad enough to have to deal withsuch cases as had already come before the Council; but ifa woman was summoned before them on a similar chargehe did not know what was to become of them. As to dis-pensing and nursing, those were matters that were beingsufficiently attended to elsewhere, and did not reqiure theinterference of the Council.

Dr. MACROBiN protested against the proposal to let thematter stop where it was. He had been greatly pleasedwith the remarks of Dr. Fleming and Sir William Gull, andcordially endorsed them. If the qualifications of midwiveswere registered, he believed that a higher class of womenwould enter upon that department of practice, includingmany who are now engaged as governesses. The reason forthe lessened demand for women in cases of labour wassolely attributable to their want of proper qualification.

Dr. ACLAND having replied, the amendment was putand negatived by a large majority.The motion was then put and carried; 13 voting for and

against it.The PRESIDENT stated that he had made an appointment

to wait upon the Lord President of the Privy Council on thefollowing day at 3 o’clock.The .Business Committee was re-elected, consisting of

Dr. Bennett, Dr. Acland, Dr. Sharpey, Dr. Quain, Dr.Andrew Wood, and Dr. A. Smith.

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION.

The Committee of Council appointed to prepare a shortstatement of their recommendations of the Medical Educa-tion Committee’s Report of 1872, which were approved bythe General Medical Council on July 10, 1871, and of therecommendations which remained for the Council’s consider-ation, presented a report, in which they specified z" 1. Re-commendations which have been passed by the Council.2. Recommendations which may be considered as passed bythe Council, but as to which the terms of the resolutionsof the Council are not quite explicit. 3. Recommendationsto be kept in abeyance." The Committee further re-

ported the first series of recommendations appeared tohave been carried into effect by nearly all the licensingbodies, and, in fact, to have been adopted by several ofthem before the Committee issued these recommendations.That recommendation, No. 5 (the division of materia,medica into pharmacy and therapeutics) had not beencarried into effect by any of the licensing bodies, and thatNos. 6 and 7 (that pathological anatomy should form aseparate course of study and that all licensing bodies shouldenforce more regular class examinations), have been carriedinto effect by a few of the licensing bodies only. That no

. return has been received, in reply to any of the Council’s

542

recommendations, from any of the licensing bodies, to allof which they were sent in 1871. That before further con-sideration of them by the Council they should be re-issuedto all the licensing bodies; and that the several licensingbodies be requested to report upon all of them to theCouncil before February 1st, 1874.

Sir R. CHRISTISON, in moving the adoption of the report,said that it contained several knotty points upon which theCouncil would be scarcely prepared at present to expressany opinion. It would be better to transmit the recom-mendations to the licensing bodies, so that they might seewhat the Council desired and be able to furnish the necessaryinformation. He would propose that those bodies be re-quested to report to the Council upon the recommendationsin question.

Dr. ANDREW WOOD said he thought that would be thebest course to adopt. The report showed, that if theGovernment would leave them alone and if the medicaljournals would not be constantly calling out for medicalreform, they ;would make much greater progress. Bothin regard to that question and with reference to thevisitations of examinations, they would have made greaterprogress but for the interminable discussions on medicalreform and conjoint examinations.

Sir D. CORRIGAN said he would not oppose the transmis-sion of the recommendations to the licensing bodies, buthow were they to compel them to report to the Council?His own feeling would be to take no notice of them, forthey went too much into detail. The business of the Councilwas to ascertain whether the members of the professionknew their business or not, and not to enter into suchdetailed questions as whether materia medica should bedivided into pharmacy and therapeutics, or what particularcourses of lectures should be given. He remembered acourse of lectures on pharmacy and materia medica de-livered at Dublin by a celebrated lecturer, who carriedabout the same specimens of assafoetida and camphor forfifteen years. Showing a specimen of assafcetida in a pill-box, he said, 11 This is assafeetida ; it possesses certainqualities, but I have kept it so long that it has no smell."He maintained that the details of education should beleft to the teaching bodies themselves. The great objectwas to enforce more regular class examinations.

Sir W. GULL agreed with Sir D. Corrigan in thinkingthat it was undesirable to give instructions to the differentbodies as to special curricula to be adopted in all cases.

He had been for many years connected with Guy’s Hospital,and he ventured to say that a good deal of hindrance hadbeen thrown in the way of medical studies by the preciseway in which the examining boards had laid down this orthat particular study. He felt sure that it was much betterthat such things should be left to the different institutions.There was something special, or there ought to be some-thing special, in each institution, and it was much betterthat it should have its own characters developed than thatit should be limited to specific modes of instruction laiddown by other bodies. The great point was to improve theexaminations. What men were examined upon they wouldbe sure to learn. At the University of London there hadbeen many discussions as to certificates and forms of study,and when a man was to study one thing and when another.His friend Dr. Addison was very much astonished manyyears ago when he (Sir W. Gull) said to him, " I would ex-amine a man in medicine and surgery without any consider-ation of certificates or forms of study, or when he studied orhow long he studied." He even went so far as to say thathe would take a man from the borough goal and make hima M.D. if he knew his work. The business of an examin-ing board was to find out whether a man knew his pro-fession fairly well. They should gladly acknowledge theefforts which had been made by the different examiningbodies throughout the kingdom to make their examinationspractical in all practical subjects. Medicine, however, wasnot simply a practical study. There were many theoreticalconsiderations connected with it, and no one should thinklightly of them, for they were the basis of practical observa-tion. At the same time the great thing was to urge theexamining bodies to make their examinations as practicalas possible. The students from Guy’s Hospital who wentto the College of Surgeons were practically examined be-fore they went up by the demonstrators and tutors. Classeswere regularly held to see that the men were acquainted

with the different subjects in which they were to be ex-amined. He (Sir Wm. Gull) owed his position in the pro-fession entirely to the success he attained as a tutor in theUniversity of London. He worked at the bedside with thestudents; if a student wanted to learn how to examine theurine, or examine the chest, he taught him. It could not beexpected that a physician of the age and experience of SirRobert Christison or Sir D. Corrigan would go to any bed-side and say to the students, 11 That is dull on percussion,"or to point out the peculiarities of a patient’s cough. Thatwas the work of the demonstrators and teachers. Thetutorial system should be more and more carried out, not togrind, but to teach-to teach a student, for instance, howto examine an evacuation. It might look healthy enough,but the student should be taught to take it to pieces andstudy its constituent parts, since there might be a greatdeal of disease in it notwithstanding its healthy appear-ance.

Sir R. CHRISTISON said that Sir Wm. Gull appeared tothink examination everything and education nothing; buthe wished to call his attention to the title of the Council.They were not a Council of Examination, but a Council ofEducation, and it was their duty to look to the latter aswell as to the former.

Dr. STORRAR said he was strongly in favour of allowingindividuals and schools the utmost latitude as to the modein which they taught. The Council had had a voluminousreport on education, and chaos had never seen its match.It was next to impossible, for instance, to find two teachersof chemistry who agreed as to the mode in which the sub-ject should be taught. He entreated the Council to let thematter alone. There was nothing more sensitive than theadaptation of instruction to examination. Only let it beknown what were the subjects of examination, and takecare that the schemes of examination should be practical,and they might depend upon it the teachers would workup to the established standard.The consideration of the report was adjourned at the

rising of the Council. -

FRIDAY, APRIL 4TH.The consideration of the report of the Visitation of Ex-

aminations Committee (which engaged the attention of themembers of the Council during the latter part of the sittingof Thursday, a summary of the proceedings of which daywe gave last week), was resumed. Several amendments tothe recommendations of the Committee were proposed, andwere subject to considerable discussion. In the result theCouncil decided that the visitations should be made, underthe general directions of the Executive Committee, by selectedmembers of the Council who were willing to undertake theoffice, together with the special visitors appointed for thepurpose, and that the rate of remuneration should be fiveguineas a day. There was a very close division on thelatter point, several speakers strongly urging that no pay-ment should be made to the members of the Council fortheir services in connexion with the visitation. The pro-ceedings were brought to a close by a hearty vote of thanksto the President.REPORT OF THE VETERINARY DEPARTMENT

FOR 1872.*

WE are all very intimately concerned in the question ofmeat-supply. Not to advert to its high price and the re-quirements of our own households, the recovery of ourpatients from disease depends in a very great measure uponour power to supply them with animal food and their powerto assimilate it. There were many people who consideredthat the cordon which was maintained around the metro-

polis up to the lst January, 1872, for the purpose of pre-venting the removal of any live cattle which had once comewithin its area, had a very serious effect upon the trade;but this seems scarcely to have been the case, for the re-striction was removed on the establishment of the ForeignCattle-market at Deptford, and the increase in the totalnumber of live cattle brought within the metropolis was,

* Bluebook, with Appendix. Queen’s Printers. 1873.