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Whatever may be the intentions of some IIof the proprietors in convening the meetingof Wednesday next, we may take this op-portunity of informing them that so far asthe medical department of the Universityis concerned, it is not in the power of the

Ministers of the Crown to confer upon gen-tlemen who may be educated in that de-

partment of the University, any legal ad-

vantages in connection with the practiceof medicine. Acts of Parliament presentinsurmountable obstacles to the grantingof any such concessions. It would not be

judicious, therefore, to press on the atten-tion of the executive government, questionsof such a nature, because, although it maybe desirable on the part of some individualsto restrict the view of such subjects withinthe walls of one institution, it is quite evi-dent that if the matter be once taken up,it must be carried out into afar wider range,and then the value of university distinctions

may go far towards being sacrificed by theimmense number which it would be found

necessary to confer. At present, the Uni-

versity, especially in its medical department,stands in a pre-eminently exalted situation,and under such circumstances we should

deplore seeing it become the object of anuncertain and hazardous experiment.

At page 350 we have given insertion to theletter of Mr. G. BURY, relative to the pro-ceedings at an inquest held a few weekssince at Farnham. The contents of theletter indicate little that is favourable either

to the judgment or the temper of the writer.The subject, however, has now assumed asomewhat serious aspect, and in the absenceof Mr. BuRy’s deposition before the Coroner,we shall refrain from saying another wordon the main question at issue. ;With regard to that deposition, Mr. BuRY

will, of course, be glad to hear that we shall obtain a verbafirre transcript of it, by moving,on the reassembling of Parliament, for a

copy of the whole of the evidence taken at

the inquest, as well as of the verdict of thejury. We trust that this announcement

will be satisfactory to every person who

is anxious to obtain the truth, the whole

truth, and nothing but the truth, touch-

ing the subject under investigation. It

may be very agreeable to the feelings ofMr. G. BuRY to exhibit his deposition to the

clergyman at Farnham, and other respect-able friends in that town, but we shall not

be satisfied until it is laid before the mem-

bers of the medical profession. When we

have obtained possession of these docu-

ments, we shall devote a few pages to the

discussion of the important subjects whichthe inquiry involves.

IN giving insertion to the letter of Mr.

TARBurr (page 348), we regret that we can-

not find space also for a copy of the petitionof that gentleman, presented last session tothe House of Commons. Mr. TARBUTT wil1,

of course, best consult the independence of

his character, and the purity of his motives,by refraining from entering into any contestwith his brother governors. It is his dutyat once to refer the Committee of Almoners

to the office of the charity Commissionerswho are -now sitting in Great George-street,Westminster. It is time that some inquirywas made into the affairs of Christ’s Hos-

pital, for it appears, from the official ac-

counts of the hospital of the expenditure ofone year,-from December 1833 to Decem-ber 18:34,-that the monstrous sum of

10,237l. 17s. 4d. was swallowed up in that

institution in " salaries " alone !

KING’S COLLEGE, STRAND.

IN consequence of the small number ofmedical students who attended this schoollast year having been diminished less thanone half in the present session, several ofthe eminent professors of the establishmenthave been anxiously deliberatingwhat courseto pursue as regards the future, when Mr.MAYO, the anatomical teacher, was inducedto write to Dr. HAWKINS, the celebratedprofessor of the practice of physic, explaining

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to him the importance of his retirementfrom the school, and the necessity of appoint-ing a man of still greater eminence to fillhis chair, as one of the principal means ofreviving the medical department of the de-caved institution. HA WKINS, with a pridewhich did him honour, rebutted the charge,and for answer returned to Mr. M. a copyof his own letter, merely changing the nameof " Hawkins " for that of " Mayo ;

" where-

upon the teacher of anatomy, with an

equally-honourable high moral feeling, senta letter to the Council, containing a resigna-tion of his professorship, which, as he anti- icipated, was not accepted, so that the schoolcontinues to be embellished with two namesequally high in the page of medical fame !On another occasion we shall publish theletter.

Dr. WEBSTER has been used very ill at this institution. We are authorized to statethat he has suddenly had notice to quitthe chair, Dr. PARIS having consideredit, after all, too important for his worldlyviews, to let slip the opportunity of gettinginto the Strand.

INTERCEPTED LETTER.

"DEARDOCTORMACMICHAEL,—Youknowme sufficiently well, fully to comprehendthe salutary influence which a retreat fromthe busy " haunts of man" to a sequesteredspot like this, must have produced, not onlyon my enfeebled frame, but on my fatiguedand harassed intellectual functions; I feelthat at my advanced period of life everyyear gives my constitution a shake, and Iam sensible that my mind is now much

longer in recovering its powers and its wonted vigour,-that there is a greater wantof elasticity about me-than when you firstknew me. However, I mean not to complain.1 am thankful to a munificent Providence fornumerous earthly blessings, and the most

earnest wish of my heart LOW is, to end mydays in contentment, and to die in peacewith all men !

" This delightful abode affords me, I doassure you, every possible means of reno-vating my physical frame, and of elevatingmy drooping spirits; and though I confi-dently trust that I shall gradually be re-

stored to perfect health, yet it must, I fear,require some time to restore me to my pro-fessional labours,—and what, my dear friend,is my fondest wish, to be able to use mybest efforts to preserve our venerable insti-tution ! As to my private practice, you andother of my friends, I am well aware, are

decidedly of opinion, that the ample fortuneI enjoy ought to make me careless aboutreceiving any more fees. I am, however, firmly convinced that if I were to show lesseagerness in getting patients, and to pay

them fewer visits when my attendance issolicited, I should be less esteemed, andshould lose my consequence and importancein the estimation of society. I should thenbe much less able to support the sacredcause I now uphold, by exercising the

power which I possess over many of themost enlightened and elevated individuals,both of church and state,—an influencewhich all admit I have on many occasionsjudiciously and successfully exercised, for

supporting the dignity and reputation ofthat elevated branch of’ the profession towhich we both have the honour to belong!

" The time I have spent here in rcuec-tion, and in deliberating on public affairs,has nut altered my opinion on one singlepoint. No man in his senses can doubt,that every one of our sacred and venerableinstitutions is either trembling, or absolutelytottering; and I often reflect on the truth ofan observation of Pozzo Di BORGO, thatthe British constitution is formed of such aflimsy mass of materials, that if an attemptbe made to alter or repair any one part ofthe edifice, the whole must be pulled downand built anew.’"But however determined I am, as

you know me to be, to stick to the lastrafter of the wreck, I cannot conceal frommyself the deplorable state of all our medi-cal corporations ; I will not even except thatof Pall Mall East, and I do not see the pos-sibility of any system of legislation alter-ing the condition of the medical profession,wliilst the present system exists. It wouldbe infinitely more politic in the reformers,as Mr. WARBURTON contemplates, to over-throw the whole existing colleges, and buildup on their foundation one system to regu-late the medical profession as a great whole."Nothing has appeared more incongru-

ous to many intelligent and virtuous menwho have interested themselves in the pro-ceedings of the Parliamentary Committee,than the undeniable fact of all our chartersand laws being violated and neglected, themembers of each of the institutions actingin all respects the very reverse of what theirlaws direct. These are to me insurmount-able difficulties in all my conferences with

my great political friends, who even tauntme with the fact admitted in the " Evi-

dence," of a large portion of the income ofthe members of our venerable College, beingderived from the practice of midwifery,—the vilest part of surgery, which the puresurgeons will not condescend even to besupposed to know anything about, whilstthose very pures have the effrontery to com-fess that they practise physic as much assurgery. Another dilemma, from which Icannot extricate myself, is, that of explain-ing with any degree of plausibility, or ap-pearance of reason, how it is that the’ subordinates,’— those practitioners underwhose care the great mass of the commu-