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Parliamentary Intelligence.HOUSE OF COMMONS.

IMILITAIZY ASSISTANT-SURGEONS.

Colonel SYKES asked whether, in the competitive exami-nations for thirty military surgeons which had been adver-tised, her Majesty’s subjects in India, and coloured British

subjects in Canada and the colonies, would be allowed to

compete.Sir G. C. LEWIS said that the return moved for by the hon.

gentleman last session contained an answer to the chief partof his question. It was not intended that the natives of Indiashould compete for the appointment of assistant-surgeons. He

hardly knew what the hon. member meant by " colouredBritish subjects in Canada," unless he meant to refer to the redmen or to the free blacks, neither of whom were intended to Ibe admitted under the advertisement referred to.

IRISII POOR-LAW.

Sir R. PEEL, in moving for leave to bring in a Bill to amendthe laws relating to the lelief of the poor in Ireland, said thatthe Irish Poor-law code consisted at present of the Act of 1838,the Amendment Act of 1843 (which related to matters of de-tail), the Act of 1847, and the Act of 1851, commonly calledthe Medical Charities Act. His Bill included a highly importantclause providing for the admission of persons not destitute toworkhouses for medical and surgical treatment; and the Com-missioners declared that this would form " a most valuableaddition to the present Poor-law system." It was at one time

thought that such a clause, which likewise bore the stamp ofprevious recommendation, would interfere with the county in-firmaries. But Irish gentlemen knew well that the area ofthese infirmaries, which were mostly situate in towns, wassupposed not to extend beyond ten miles from the establish-ment itself. This Bill would enable guardians to do for in-ternal patients what the medical charities now did for externalpatients.

MONDAY, FEB. 17.ALLOWANCES TO WI1NESSES.

In answer to Mr. EGERTON, Sir G. GREY said he intended tointroduce a Bill this session, at an early day, to increase theallowance of medical and other witnesses at sessions andassizes.

TUESDAY, FEB. 18.THE SEWAGE OF TOWNS.

Mr. BRADY, in moving for a select committee to inquire intothe best means of utilizing the sewage of the cities and townsin England, said he wished in the first place to determine whe-ther the sewage of our cities and towns were, in itself, avaluable commodity-that is, a commodity fitted for agricul-tural purpoes. ’1 he next point to be considered was the bestand cheapest means by which that commodity could be placedupon the land; and, thirdly, he desired to ascertain the valueof this sewage, for unless it were declared to be a valuable com-

modity, all the endeavours of the committee would provefruitless. He wished also to bring before the committee theengineering difficulties which he was given to understandexisted in the matter. The subject was one of great im-portance.Mr. P. URQUUART seconded the motion.Mr. COWPER said the utilization of sewage, and the removal

of it from the towns for the purpose of agriculture, had longbeen a subject of interest to boards of health. The late Boardof Health had made a very valuable report upon it, but littleprogress had been made ; for although the sewage of smalltowns could be advantageously applied to agriculture, as wasseen by the examples of Rugby, Watford, and Edinburgh,yet, as regarded large towns, engineering skill had failed in

finding a satisfactory system. He was not sanguine that aninquiry would lead to any great advance in this branch of engi-neering and sanitary knowledge ; but, as the hon. member waswilling to undertake the inquiry, he should not object to theappointment of the committee. He hoped the examination ofpersons interested in the subject might throw some fresh lightupon it, and the labours of the committee might not provefruitless. (Hear, hear.)The motion was then agreed to.

MEDICAL TRIALS.

COURT OF SESSION, EDINBURGH.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH.

MASON V. OLIVER.

Tins was an advocation from the Sheriff Court of Glasgow,in an action raised at the instance of Mrs. Mason against Dr.Oliver, concluding for damages to the extent of £00 on the

ground of his having, as alleged, ill-treated the pursuer’s armby treating it as a fractured arm instead of a dislocated wristand shoulder. The Sheriff Substitute, in June, 1861, after

allowing proof, found for the defender ; but on the 29th July,Sheriff Alison reversed that judgment, finding the pursuerentitled to £5 damages. Dr. Oliver, thereupon, brought thepresent advocation of that interlocutor.

Mr. Gifford opened the case yesterday for the advocator, andto day, after hearing Mr. Fraser in reply, the Court, withoutcalling upon the senior counsel for the advocator, unanimouslyreversed the Sheriff Principal’s interlocutor, and found theadvocator entitled to expenses in both Courts.At advising, the LORD PRESIDENT said-I don’t think the

pursuer has made out her case. With the exception of LoudonCranstoun’s (the bone-setter’s) evidence, there is nothing in theproof to instruct her averments. Two doctors examined herarm at the time Cranstoun was treating it as for a dislocatedwrist and dislocated shoulder, but neither of these gentlemen- viz., Dr. Macdonald and Dr. L8dworth, seem to have dis-covered any dislocation at all. At the time Dr. Macdonaldsaw the pursuer, the dislocation, had it existed, should havebeen most palpable, for Cranstoun is said to have been thenpreparing the arm for being put into joint both at the wristand the shoulder, but at that time had performed no operation.Cranstoun says he saw no fracture where it was said to be-viz., in the centre of the arm. Now, the break was not saidto be in the centre of the arm at all ; it was nearer the wrist.On the other hand, Dr. Oliver and Dr. Lyon were the twomedical gentlemen who first examined the pursuer’s arm. Dr.Oliver found a fracture, and treated the arm as for a fracturedarm. He was right in doing so, for Dr. Lyon found traces of afracture which had recently existed, and the evidence prepon-derates to this, that there was a fracture and no dislocation.I am of opinion that the Sheriff-Substitute came to a more cor-rect decision upon the evidence than the Sheriff-Principal ; andI am, therefore, for advocating the cause, reversing the inter-locutor of the Sheriff, and sustaining the interlocutor of theSheriff Substitute, with additional expenses in both Courts.The other Judges concurred.

Medical News.ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON.-At the

Comitia Majora held on Saturday, February 15th, the followinggentleman was duly admitted a Member of the College :--

Robert Purdie, M.D., Blackheath.At the same Comitia, the following gentlemen, having under-

gone the necessary examination, and satisfied the College oftheir proficiency in the Science and Practice of Medicine andMidwifery, were duly admitted to practise Physic as Licentiatesof the College :-

Agar, Frederick, To’tenham.Buszard, Frank, M.B., Lutterworth.Campbell, Robert Lyons, Inverness.Muscroft, Henry, Pontefract.Sandford, Horace Vavasour, M.D., Hatfield, Yorks.Watford, Walter Gilson, Sitting-bourne.

The following passed the first part of the professional exami-nation for the Licence of the College on the 7th inst. :-

Bartlett, Joseph James Henry, University College.Bottle, Alexander, University College.Carter, Frederick, London Hospital.Steward, Joseph Septimns, Medicat School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

APOTHECARIES’ HALL.-The following gentlemen passedtheir examination in the science and practice of medicine, andreceived certiticates to practise, on the 13th inst.:-

Brumwell, George Murray, Mopley, near Ashton-under-Lyne.Brumwell, Joheph Cownley, Burnley, Lancashire.

. Meggy, Frederic, Park-crescent, Stockwell.: The following gentlemen also on the same day passed their. first examination :-.

Corbett, Thomas, St. Thomas’s Hospital.Rayner, William, Uxbridre.

) Vmes, Frederie Castell, Reading.

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ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.-The annual course oflectures will be commenced on Tuesday next, the 25th inst.,by Professor Gnlliver, F.R.S., who will deliver six lectureson the Blood of Vertebrata.PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. -The

following gentlemen passed the Major Examination on the19,h inst as Pharmaceutical Chemists :-Edwin Applegate,Stratford-on Avon; Geo. Fred. Strawson, Crewkerne; JohnTuck, Trowbridge; Edward W. Waites, Ross.MEDICAL CORONERS.-On the 12th inst., Walter Clegg,

Esq., surgeon, of Boston, was unanimously elected by thefreeholders of Lincolnshire, one of Her Majesty’s Coroners fora division of the county.TORQUAY INFIRMARY.-It is stated that the Bishop of

Exeter has recalled the prohibition regarding the Rev. J.Young, which had been given in consequence of the rev. gen-tleman’s exertions in reading " Hamlet," for the benefit of thefunds of the infirmary at Torquay.THE SANITARY CONDITION OF MINES.—The Queen

has been pleased to appoint the Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird,K.T., the Hon. Fulke Egerton, Nicholas Kendall, Esq., HenryAustin Bruce, Esq., John St. Aubyn, Esq., John Davie Fer-

guson Davie, Esa., Edward Headlam Greenhow, M D.,and Philip Henry Holland, Esq., to be Her Majesty’s Commissioners to inquire into the condition of all mines in Great.Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23rd and 24h V ictoria, cap. 151, do not apply, with reference to the health andsafety of persons employed in such mines.THE LATE MR. PITTARD. ° A deputation of ladies,

’says the Athenæum, consisting of Mesdames E. Deas Thomson,Attwood, Hay, and Roberts, presented Mrs. Pittard, widowof the late Curator of the Sydney Museum, wirh £531 inAustralian sovereigns. The present was enclosed in a handsome case, upon which were appropriately inscribed thesewords-" A tribute of sympathy from Australia."

SUBSTITUTES FOR LITHIA WATER : - EFFERVESCINGCARBONATE OF LITHIA AND EFFERVESCING CITRATE OF

LITHIA.-THE former is in small glass tubes, each of whichcontains a dose, equivalent to four grains of carbonate oflithia, without any addition of soda, potash, or other base.This salt is capable of neutralizing the uric acid in thesystem. It may be easily tested to prove that the quantity oflithia is present in the dose. If a grain of this compound isheld in the flame of a candle, a beautiful crimson-colouredlight is produced, by which the purity of the salt is deter-mined. The effervescing citrate of lithia is a more bulky pre-paration, and intended for more ordinary use as a beveragewhere the gouty symptoms are not so clearly pronounced.Each drachm of this salt contains the equivalent to four grainsof lithia. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm. Bothsalts dissolve rapidly in water, with lively effervescence, andfurnish clear sparkling solutions as pleasant as soda-water.

They are prepared by Messrs. Savory and Moore.MEDICINE ON THE DAIS.-At the recent dinner of the

Lord Mayor of Dublin, the usual seat on the dais was not assignedto the President of the College of Physicians. Dr. Corri_an feltit due to his College to retire. The Lrd Mayor has addressedto him a public letter explaining that, owing to the presence ofan unusual number of noblemen, he had felt it necessary to

place reserved seats elsewhere for the President and someother distinguished guests. Dr. Corrigan, in a public rejoinder,has expressed his opinion that he should, under similar cir-cumstances, feel’bound to act in the same way. After refer-

ring to the former precedents, he observes: -" I I think your Lord-ship will coincide with me if I venture to add that no profession has merited better the compliment that had hitherto be* npaid to it by our Chief Magistrate than my profession, forwhile it has sustained the position of Dublin as a seat of learn-ing, the munificent bequests of its members from time to timehave enriched our city with some of its best pubic buildings,have created endowments for the promotion of science, andhave founded, for the benefit of our poor, some of its mostlargely endowed charitable institutions." The President h’s sin this matter sacrificed personal friendship to public duty,and his conduct will be generally approved.

PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. — The last mail from Sydneystates that this disease has spread to a considerable extent,and it is estimated that at least 40,000 head of cattle will haveto be destroyed ere the disease is exterminated. The atten-tion of Parliament has been drawn to the matter, and vigorousaction has been determined upon, but the difficulty is how

funds are to be procured to compensate the owners of thecattle destroyed.HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEI;K ENDING

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH.- The deaths in the week endinglast Saturday were 134o. Typhus was fatal in 76 cases,while those from scarlannn. did not exceed 50. Those fromwhooping-cough were 49 ; from croup, 20 ; from diphtheria,16 ; from measles, 13; from small-pox. 5. Six of the deathsfrom typhns occurred in the Lambeth workhonse. Bronchitiscarried off 162 persons ; pneumonia, 70 ; phthisis, 151.The births were--Boys, 1018; girls, 94S. Total, 1966.

Obituary.NATHANIEL CLIFTON, ESQ., M.R.C.S.

"DIED on the 28th day of December, 1861, NathanielClifton, Esq., of hJington:" thus reads the obituary. Itwould not be gracious, nor would it be just, to allow a namesuch as Mr Clifton’s to stand in the record without a few linesof commentary.Although better known in a very large circle of professional

and private friends than in the medical world generally, Mr.Clifton was no ordinary man. He was born at the residenceof his father. 10, Lower-terrace, Islington, on the 19th ofFebruary, 1786. and was consequently nearly seventy-six yearsof age at his death. His early education was obtained atprivate schools in Islington; and those who remember thestate of the profession, as respects its general education de-rived from similar sonrces, even much more recently than sixtyyears ago, will regard it as highly creditable both to the capa-city and industry of the pupil and the efficiency of his teachersthat he was a good Latin and a refined English scholar. Hewas educated professionaJ1yat St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, andinciucted into the pale of medicine as an apothecary of the oldschool, voluntarily passing the College of Surgfons on the 3rdof April 1807, or soon after he had obtained the twenty-firstyear of his age. He commence practice immediately withhis father ; married three ye:1.rs subsequently ; removed to8. Lower terrace in 1819. and to 38, Cross street, Islington, in1826, where he continued to reside until his death. Mr.Clifton was a zealous student of medicine, and in his earlycareer as a practitioner he nearly lost his life by a dissectionwound. He enjoyed the entire confidence of a large numberof patients, and was almost constantly and most laboriouslyengaged in the routine of practice. It may be said that suchwas the case during the long period of sixty years. "An

apothecary" conventionally, he was, nevertheless, a good sur-geon ; and although the writer is unable to affirm so muchfrom personal observation, yet from the reputation he so longsustained both with the public and his professional friends, hemns have been a successful and sound practitioner.He was a frequent attendant at the meetings of the Medical

Society of London-the old Bolt-court Society,-entering fullyinto the discussions held at those meetings, on medical andsurgical topics, and was highly respected, his views and opi.nions having always, from the soundness of his judgment, greatweight wrh its membets. In addition to his professional avo-cations, and no doubt as a valuable relaxation from them, andconsistent with the desire he always manifested to render him.self useful, he took an active part in parochial and politicalaffairs, and in various local, benevolent, and charitable institu-tions. On all these occasions he proved himself to be a man ofthe highest principle, ever zealously maintaining what he be-lieved to be the right, and uncompromising of the wrong. Hewas an excellent speaker, with a powerful voice, a pure diction,a clear enunciation, and appropriate action and emphasis.When a distinction was created in the ranks of the profes.

sion by the institution of the Fellowship, in carrying into effectthe provisions of the new charter obtained by the Royal Collegeof Surgeons in 1843. this certainly was not a man who oughtto have been passed over. He had been a member of thatCollege thirty-three years, and was well known by those inwhose hands the duty of nominating to the Fellowship hadb ,pn placed. There was not a single ground for his exclusionwhich did not apply to very many surgeons arbitrarily placedby this proceeding in a class above himself, and a great body ofthe members of the College.

Mr. Clifton cooperated with the late Mr. Pennington, theExaminers of the Apothecaries’ Society, and a large body of the