693

tended upwards of seven miles from the medical officers’houses. There were 205 districts with populations exceed-ing 15,000, and 627 districts were held by 291 medicalofficers. There were 266 medical officers who attendedfrom 1000 to 10,000 cases annually, making on the whole1493 appointments, or one-third of the whole, contrary tothe general orders of the Department. He showed thatthis acting contrary to the general regulations had been onthe increase since Mr. Griffin wrote on the subject in 1857,and he specially drew attention to the case at Birmingham,where, in spite of representations direct to the Department,districts containing 50,000 persons had been assigned toone medical officer, and only one central dispensary hadbeen erected for a population of nearly 250,000. He adducedother cases in which the Department had sanctioned, andcontinued to sanction, the violation of its own orders inmatters affecting medical relief. He proceeded to statethat where ;’pauperism which resulted from sickness mostabounded, there the provision to meet that sickness wasmost inadequate, and he advocated the Irish system, as de-creasing pauperism, as increasing the health of the popu-lation, and as giving contentment to the medical profes-sion. He then asked the attention of the meeting to theviews of the hon. member for Suffolk.Mr. CORRANCE, M.P., said the Bill, the heads of which he

was going to submit that evening, had occupied him forsome time. He knew it was not a complete measure, andit did not pretend to be complete ; but it had been proposedwith the object of dealing with the inequalities of ourpresent system, and the proposed Bill had been framedwith the aid of the practical knowledge of gentlemen oleminence in the profession. The hon. gentleman thenenumerated the principal features of the Irish Poor-law Act,and described the means he proposed to adopt to amendwhat he did not like in that measure; as, for instance, hewould amend the mode of appointing the committee, themode of issuing tickets for medical relief, the appointmeniof visiting physicians, and other points of a like character;and on these matters of detail he said practical points couldbe worked out.In the course of the debate which followed, Dr. STALLARI

urged the importance of having thorough inspection of alimedical relief by competent physicians, and the necessityof forming the machinery for the prosecution of personswho undeservedly, or not being necessitous, obtainedmedical relief. He thought a defined offence should btmade of any case where a person obtained relief with.out being a fit subject for it, and said that as matters stooda regular traffic was carried on in hospital stores obtainedby patients-cod-liver oil and such things being sold at thEvery doors of the hospitals. He also urged that somtmeans should be taken for giving poor people the meansof obtaining medical assistance without appealing to thelaw, and as the result of their own provident habits.Mr. BENSON BAKER, in dealing with a suggestion thai

only eminent men should be selected to fill chief offices.urged that the Poor-law service should be placed on sfooting analogous to the Army and Navy medical servicesin which there was only entry after proved fitness, and therfollowed by promotion. If that were the case in the Poorlaw service it would be a place of honour, and would b(much sought after; and surely, he said, it was as im

portant that the health of the general population should b(regarded as that the soldiers and sailors should have prope:medical treatment.Mr. CORRANCE pointed out that his Bill comprised all th(

means which could be attained by an Act of Parliamentand he expressed his willingness to modify one or two pointsThe Bill was unanimously approved, and the meeting

concluded with cordial thanks to Mr. Corrance and to thechairman.

ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, DUBLIN.

THE introductory address at the opening of the session1871-72 was delivered by Dr. BARTON. After some intro-

ductory remarks on the general use of hospitals, Dr. Bartonproceeded to point out that the medical profession has forits first object to save lives from the effects of injury ordisease; failing this, to mitigate suffering and prolong life ;

and when life is not threatened, to prevent deformity, orloss of any useful sense or function. Secondly, to discoverthe sources and causes of disease, and suggest some meansby which it may be prevented. So various are thesediseases that a division of labour is made with very greatadvantage. In all cities the profession is divided intosurgeons and physicians, the line of separation being hardto be defined. Besides these two chief divisions there arespecialties which, if not carried too far, secure greaterefficiency by a further division of labour. He consideredthat obstetricians and ophthalmic surgeons as specialistswere of advantage, but decried further subdivisions as a.

source of weakness rather than of strength to the profession.Dr. Barton then referred to the humanity which ennoblesour profession, and renders it worthy of our most ardentdevotion. He impressed on his hearers that no difference-of rank or riches, of religion or irreligion, should interferein the slightest degree with their care of those requiringtheir skill. Having dilated on the objects and scope of theprofession, the lecturer proceeded to the subject of medicalethics, which were those principles of just dealing whichshould influence honourable men in their intercourse withone another and with the public. Speaking of fees, he saidhe believed that it was quite as much the real interest ofthe public -as of the members of the profession that thescale of fees usually paid should be maintained at a highstandard. The lecturer next turned his attention to the

. public departments, and after referring to the army and’

navy, said, as regarded dispensary appointments, that he. was sorry to state that the dispensary doctor was still over-’ worked and badly paid. After referring to the benefit toL be obtained by constant attendance at hospital, not as.

. lookers on, but as active and zealous workers, giving help,L and obtaining for future use priceless knowledge, the’ lecturer concluded by saying := Gentlemen, my colleagues.! in all the departments of -our hospital work, unite with me

in bidding you a hearty welcome. We will give you all the, help in our power. Nay, we want your help; for, as expe-l rience increases and knowledge widens, fresh observers,.

with useful energy and time for careful research, are

) needed to extend the triumphs of our noble profession, andL add fresh lustre to the world-wide fame of the Irish schoolr of medicine."

MEATH HOSPITAL.

THE inaugural address was delivered by Dr. FooT. He-commenced by alluding to the fact that frequently of lateyears the opening sentences of the introductory addressesin this hospital had consisted of obituary notices, and ex-pressed the general gratification which was felt that onthis occasion the prelude was not to be pitched in a minorkey.Alluding to the conditions which have led students to-

, regard these annual orations as the capital aflliction ofhuman patience, while not expecting that he should escape

. their criticism in many particulars, he assured them thattheir ears should not be re-assailed with stock quotations

! from Bacon and the poets. Declining to handle any topicsof intense professional interest, or even national importance,

! such as medical ethics, or state medicine, he preferred to’ dedicate the occasion to the interest of the young studentsnow beginning to prepare themselves, by hospital attendance,

, for the future business of their lives. He advised them to, devote themselves at first to the art or practical part of, medicine, which could be learned nowhere but by the bed-’ side of the sick, and nohow but by personal attendance on

them, and written narratives of their illness. The courtesiesof the sick-room-no mean accomplishment-were to be

upheld here as well as in the chambers of the wealthy.High personal character-a most influential circumstancein deciding their future career, if now acquired, wouldprove a powerful segis in a life peculiarly assailed bytemptations’of various kinds, and would surround them

- with an atmosphere pure enough to disinfect even the

1 pestilential breath of calumny. " Work" was the passwordto success, the key to unlock every difficulty, the thread of

r Ariadne in the maze of life; but work was not to be of anr epileptic kind-in convulsive fits, followed by acute attacks-; of idleness, which did not exhaust their susceptibilities to