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On inquiring to-day (Monday the 28th January) at the

Collegio Romano, I was informed that the distinguishedpatient had passed an easier night, and that the vomitinghad abated. Dr. Ceccarelli, the Pope’s secret surgeon, who,along with two other professional colleagues, is in constantattendance on the Padre, does not absolutely renounce allhope of his recovery, and, considering the robust frame andthe years (not yet sixty) of the patient, still relies on a. turnin his favour. The Padre Secchi’s restoration to health andto the scientific walks which he adorns will, it is to be hoped,add another to the professional honours so justly earned byDr. Ceccarelli.

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BEARING-REINS.

IN the course of his second lecture at the Royal Institutionrecently delivered, Professor Garrod is reported to haveoffered some remarks on the bearing-rein which we do notunderstand. The ligamentum nuchæ of a quadruped, as iswell known, supports the head, and in health relieves mus-cular tension in maintaining the weight; but that is surelyno reason why a rein connecting the mouth by a bit with thecollar which bears on the cervical vertebrae, near the vertebralprominences, should be imposed on the animal to supplementthe provision made by nature. Under the best of circum-

stances, casting out of account the pain and injury inflictedon the mouth of the animal, the effect of this rein must be tothrow the weight of the head upon the muscles instead of theligaments. If from weakness the horse allows its head todrop, the aim should be to restore the vital strength of thenatural support, not to place the burden on a part of theorganism which the ligament was intended to relieve.

"LECTURES FOR LADIES."

OF course, if women are to be educated in the same wayas men, it is necessary they should be instructed, and highlydesirable that separate classes should be provided for theirconvenience. So far, therefore, we recognise the fitness ofan enterprise inaugurated at King’s College, under Royalpatronage, to organise " lectures for ladies." Meanwhile,we disapprove of the movement in its totality, and regret tofind that any teaching body should be willing to prepare"ladies" for "the examinations open to women at theLondon University and elsewhere," more particularly as" the idea is to offer to ladies above seventeen the same kind

of teaching which young men of that age receive at King’sCollege and elsewhere "!

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SOME two years ago or more we commented on the in-

sanitary condition of Chobham, a village situated in a mostsalubrious district of Surrey, and requiring but the mostordinary supervision of water-supply and drainage to renderit one of the healthiest spots in the country-a typicalEnglish village, in fact. We now observe that the LocalGovernment Board has called the attention of the local

authority to the state of Chobham and requested to be in-formed of the nature of the steps it was proposed to take inorder to improve the state of the village. Under the pres-sure now brought to bear upon it, we may hope that energeticefforts will be made by the rural authority to remedy exist-ing evils. Where Nature has been so bountiful in providingpure water and healthy breezes, the least that man can do isto aid her by securing efficient drainage.

THE deaths registered in London last week numbered1864, representing an annual mortality-rate of 27’2 per1000. The deaths from small-pox, as stated in anothercolumn, declined to 34 last week. Of the other principalzymotic diseases whooping-cough was the most fatal, 117deaths being referred to this disease, 63 to measles, 39 toscarlet fever, 6 to diphtheria, 32 to different forms of fever,

and 13 to diarrhoea. Diseases of the respiratory organsaccounted for 455 deaths (a number exceeding the correctedweekly average by 62), and different forms of violencefor 56.

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TYPHUS FEVER has been prevalent in Whitehaven forsome time past, and all the measures hitherto initiated havefailed to eradicate or even diminish the virulence of the evil.

By the latest accounts there were twenty-six fever patientsunder treatment at the hospitals. There seems to be an

opinion in the town that the accommodation provided forthe reception of cases is quite inadequate, and an appealhas been made to the Local Government Board, in whichthe latter body is urged to compel the guardians to provideincreased accommodation.

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SCARLATINA still continues very prevalent in Aberdeen;and typhus still lingers, although it has subsided much. Afew cases of diphtheria have occurred ; this disease has

during the past month been very prevalent and fatal in somedistricts of the county, especially in Buchan.

IN Westham and Plaistow small-pox shows no signs ofabatement. Fresh cases are continually reported, the rateof mortality of those attacked being decidedly high. In all,about eighty fresh cases have recently occurred.

, WE hear that the Bristol members of the British MedicalAssociation intend inviting the members of the Association,during their visit to Bath next summer, to a conversazioneat Bristol.

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SCARLET FEVER of a very severe type is epidemic in Salfordand its outlying districts. The medical officer of health has

published a note in the local newspapers warning the in-habitants of their danger.

SMALL-POX IN LONDON.

THE fatal cases of small-pox in London during the weekending January 26th declined to 34, from the 51 returnedin the preceding week. On the other hand, however, thenumber of small-pox cases in the Metropolitan Asylum Hos-pitals, which had in the beginning of October last declinedto 137, continues to show a marked and steady increase;during the five weeks ending January 26th, these numbersrapidly rose from 309 to 374, 415, 468, and 505, respectively.So long as the number of small-pox patients in these hos-pitals continues to increase, it is impossible reasonably tohope for a permanent decline in the mortality from thedisease, although the fatal cases may fluctuate from week toweek. It should be remembered, however, that the propor-tion of cases of small-pox under hospital treatment, to thetotal cases existing in London, is a variable proportion, andthat it does not absolutely follow that an increase of casesunder treatment in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals, andin the Small-pox Hospital at Highgate, signifies a corre-sponding increase of total cases in London; it may signifythat the various metropolitan sanitary authorities have beeneither more energetic or more successful in securing hospitalisolation and treatment for a larger proportion of the ex-isting cases. Judged by the proportion of fatal cases oc-curring in hospitals and private dwelling houses, the sanitaryauthorities in the east of London, where a recent distinctoutbreak of small-pox has occurred, have shown at least amarked want of success in their efforts to secure that pro-portion of hospital isolation which prevails in other partsof London, and which is so imperatively necessary to suc-cess in controlling outbreaks of small-pox. During the weekending the 26th ult., of 11 fatal cases of small-pox in EastLondon, no less than 7, or 64 per cent., occurred in privatedwelling-hoiises ; while of the 23 fatal cases in the rest ofLondon, only 8, or 35 percent., occurred in private dwelling-houses. It is difficult to imagine that in East London the

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proportion of cases of small-pox occurring under circum-stances which render hospital isolation unnecessary is smallerthan in other parts of London.

Correspondence. "Audi alteram partem."

THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ANDWOMEN MEMBERS.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—I have to ask that you will kindly insert in THE

LANCET the following letter addressed by me to the Secretaryof the British Medical Association, together with the resolu-tion forwarded to me in reply from the Committee of Councilof the Association :-

"67, Grosvenor-street, Dec. 21st, 1877."MY DEAR SIR,-After some consideration, I have re-

solved to ask you to bring the following question before theCouncil of the British Medical Association, and to favourme with a reply. The question which I desire to put isthis: Are women to be permitted in the future to attend themeetings of the medical, surgical, and other sections of theannual and other meetings of the British Medical Association, and to take part in the discussions at such meetings ?" had believed that this question was answered in the

negative by a large majority of the Association a few yearsago."At the last meeting, held at Manchester, a lady was

present, and spoke in a discussion in the section of Medicine."As I do not intend to be a member of any society where

medical topics are debated in public between men andwomen, I shall be glad to learn the decision of the Councilon this matter, reserving to myself the right to publish thisinquiry, and the reply which I may receive.

"To Francis Fowke, Esq." (Signed) "WILSON Fox.

"To Francis Fowke, Esq."

In reply, I have received from Mr. Fowke the followingresolution: "That Dr. Wilson Fox be informed that theCommittee of Council have no power to prevent ladies whoare members of the Association from attending the meetingsof the Association."

I have to add that on the receipt of this resolution I wroteto the secretary of the Association, stating that the decisionof the Committee of Council has left me no option but to re-quest that my name be removed from the list of the membersof the Association. The matter is one for individual opinion,but I think it right to call the attention of the profession toa question which appears to me of considerable importance-viz., how far public discussions on medical topics at whichmen and women are present, and on which no restrictionsare placed, are consistent with the rules of propriety anddelicacy which have hitherto been generally held to obtainin the relations between the sexes.

T remain Q;... ...""c feithfully

WILSON FOX.

ARTIFICIAL LARYNX.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—In your issues of 19th and 26th inst. differentaccounts appear of the origin of the voice-tubes adopted byDr. Foulis in his recent case of excision of the larynx.At page 87 (19th inst.) I find :-" The ingenious instru-

ment was the invention of Dr. Irvine, and was constructedindependently of Gussenbauer’s instrument, upon which thiswas a decided improvement."At pages 118—119 (26th inst.) I find : "Br. Irvine having

suggested and embodied in a rough model the idea of revers-ing the relative position of the tubes ...... this voice tube isbased on the plan of that of Gussenbauer."These two accounts being obviously inconsistent with each

other, and even contradictory, I trust you will allow mespace in your journal to state that the first, that of thelath inst., is the correct account, whilst the later one iserroneous and misleading.When I devised my tubes I was quite unacquainted with

the constructive details of any instrument previously madefor the same purpose, knowing only that the operation hadbeen performed on the Continent, and a voice instrumentused, but nothing more.

I could not therefore suggest the reversing of parts, theconstruction or relative position of which was unknown tome ; nor could I possibly "base" the construction of mytube on Gussenbauer’s instrument. Whilst my tubes areadmittedly superior to Gussenbauer’s instruments in im-portant features, it is not surprising that there should besome similarity between them, seeing that they were de-signed for the same purpose, and had to be adapted to aposition not allowing much variation of form.

Yours trulv.A. K. IRVINE.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—Dr. Irvine has called upon me, and has drawn my

attention to an apparent discrepancy between my paper whichappeared in your last issue and the report of the MedicalSociety of London in THE LANCET of the previous week.In the latter I am made to say that Dr. Irvine contrivedthe tube independently of Gussenbauer. What I did saywas, that "I understood that Dr. Irvine wished it to besaid that he had contrived the tube independently." Dr.Irvine’s claim must rest on his word alone and not on mine,for I was not aware that he had any such claim until thepatient had worn the improved tube for three months ; and,in fact, it was only at the last moment before the meetingthat a letter was shown to me, in which this claim was ad-vanced. Willing to allow to him every particle of creditwhich might be due, I gave expression to his wish at themeeting. In the account written by me for THE LANCET,however, I could not do otherwise than describe the modi-fication of the tube as it occurred under my own eyes.

It is unfortunate that Dr. Irvine should have said nothingto us about his claim to originality ; and still more so thathe only showed us the improved model some days afterGussenbauer’s tube had been shown to him. But I am notresponsible for that.

T n.m- Sir. yours faithfully.D. FOULIS.

"THE USE AND ABUSE OF PESSARIES."To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—Dr. Bantock attaches too much importance to acasual statement of mine about intrauterine pessaries, andto a case which he describes as having been at one timeunder my care.

I have read with interest his paper on the use of pessaries(THE LANCET, Jan. 26th, p. 120) so far as it is as yet published,and I find nothing very different from my own views, andnothing about intrauterine pessaries. It appears to meworth while to make two statements on the very difficultsubject under discussion.

I have given up the use of intrauterine pessaries.The support, by a Hodge or similar vaginal pessary, of a

large tender displaced uterus I esteem a plan of treatmentwell worthy of trial, and act accordingly.

T am- Sir, your obedient servant.J. MATTHEWS DUNCAN.

POISONING PER VAGINAM.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—The following case, bearing on the subject of Mr.Gore’s letter, and occurring in my practice three or four years

ago, has left a vivid impression on my mind.’ Mrs. A , aged fifty-six, no children, had been suffering

for some time with tendency to prolapsus of bladder (sincethen she has had complete prolapsus), which occasioned much

pain and irritability of bladder. To relieve this I prescribedsix pessaries made with cocoa butter, and each containingtwo grains of extract of belladonna, one to be used night

! and morning. The same evening, soon after I had gone tobed, the husband came in a state of great excitement, andsaid he thought his wife was poisoned " by those things youhave given her to use." I asked the symptoms, and he very