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of our profession, I hope you will, for once in your life, stepout of your beaten track, and issue a second edition of yourlast number gratuitously, and send a copy to every professionalman in the kingdom, otherwise thousands will never see thecoroner’s splendid address to the jury.

I remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,Montgomery, July 31st, 1854. J. P. WILDING.J. P. WILDING.

" To the Editor of the Medical Association Journal.

"J. P. WILDING.

" SiR,—I hope, as I am a member of the Medical Association,you will publish a short letter for me in our next journal, acopy of which I have sent to THE LANCET.

" I will not for one moment inquire your reasons for takingup the cause of Mr. Gay so strongly, nor will I at presentmake further remarks upon your conduct as editor than this :-However honest and well-intentioned it might have been, ithas, in my opinion, more than anything, tended to promotedisunion in the Association, and the profession at large.

4 9 as regards your editorial remarks on the low moral tonegiven to the profession by certain publications, and that we(its members) must become contaminated by reading (I pre-sume) THE LANCET, I beg to say that I have taken that journalfor twenty years, that I still do so, and remain, I hope, uncon-taminated. I think it is hard for us, possessing (I hesitate notto say) at least as much general knowledge and good feeling asany other professional body, to be taxed by you with not beingcapable of selecting our own literature."Now for the ’suppressed inquest.’ The jury returned a

verdict That the child, Alfred Richardson, died of inflamma-tion, caused by an operation unskilfully performed by Mr.Thomas Weedon Cooke and Mr. Thomas Wakley, jun.’

" The jury had a right to return that or any other verdictthey thought proper; but, Sir, had you the right (occupyingthe position you do, and in which you ought to hold up thehonour and dignity of our much maligned profession)-had youthe right, I say, to stab one of its members when down, bysaying ’that the jury had apparently a clear course to follow,so far as the cause of death and the skill of the operators wereconcerned’? Proh pUd01’! Who in future will carry out theblessed command of our Saviour-’ Go forth and heal the sick.’Mr. Cooke in this (his maiden) operation did not enter thebladder; so far he was unfortunate, not criminal. Coupledwith the evidence of Mr. Coulson, to the effect that expertoperators have failed to enter the bladder, and the testimonyof the late Sir Astley Cooper, who had known twelve suchcases, I think such an editorial remark ought not to have beenmade in a journal purporting to be the organ of provincial Imedical men.

" I have performed several of the capital operations-in fact,am compelled to do so whether I wish or not, as I reside morethan twenty miles from a consulting surgeon-and if I cannotcalculate upon our own medical journals to defend my profes-sional character when assailed, I shall only be thrown back’upon my own resources, and will willingly abide the conse-quences, and have no doubt the result will be as triumphantin my case as I am sure it will be in Mr. Cooke’s.

" I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,"Montgomery, July 31st, 185.j,." ".T. P. WILDI::<fG.

NAVY MEDICAL OFFICERS.THE WARNING VOICE !

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SiR,&mdash;Alas! what degradation seems to hang over this

branch of our profession. Not many years ago, we read inthe public prints of an old assistant-surgeon in the Mediterraneantaking poison to close a long and weary servitude; then ofanother who, goaded to desperation by ten years of a mid-shipman’s mess, was found in a Portsmouth hotel with histhroat cut; then another became an incurable lunatic. These,varied with continual dismissals of assistants for drunkenness-and within the last month it has reached the full surgeons,two of whom have been dismissed by a court-martial for in-toxication, their characters ruined and blasted after manyyears of the best part of their lives spent in the navy.Happy, happy system ! Delude young professional men into

the public service, insult and degrade them in every way, andwhen driven by disgust and despair to habits of intemperance,ruin them for ever by a court-martial ! I am informed by-navalsurgeons that such is the case of the two unfortunates latelydismissed; they were both, on their entry into the navy, youngmen of the highest respectability and the best attainments.

Mr. Brady has moved for certain Parliamentary returns ofthe naval medical ofncers. From what I can learn, if he moved

for a return of the assistant-surgeons of the navy who, withinthe last twenty years, have committed suicide, together witha list of the medical officers who have left the navy after

reaching the rank of full surgeon within the same time, hewould, by comparison with the same data from the army,produce some startling facts.One would suppose, that when the Admiralty is so strict

with their medical officers, they would also give them corre-sponding encouragement. Now, how do they show this?Compare the medical pe&iuml;’8onnel of the two branches now em-ployed. A naval friend has furnished me with the followingcomparison, which please to insert in columns opposite eachother, to show the disparity, and then even " Brummagem"will be able to decide if it were creditable to apply for navalassistant-surgeoncies.

T7te A rmy in Turkey.

One Inspector-General of Hos-pitals, receiving 08700 perannum, with 20s. per diemallowances, and ranking witha full Colonel in the army.

Four Deputy - Inspectors of

Hospitals, receiving fromX520 to .6550 per annum,with allowances of from 10s.to 20s. per diem, and rankingwith a Lieutenant-Colonel inthe army.

Fourteen Staff-Surgeons of the1st Class, receiving each from08400 to X440 per annum,besides allowances, andrank.ing with a Major in the army,or a Deputy-Inspector ofHospitals in the Navy.

Fleets in theBaltic and Black Sea.

Inspector- General of Fleet tafloat-none.

One Inspector of Hospitals andFleets in the Baltic Fleet,receiving .S574 per annum,without any allowances, andranking with a Deputy-Inspector in the army.

One Deputy-Inspector of Hos.pitals and Fleets in theBlack Sea Fleet, receivingae365 per annum, withoutany allowances, and rankingwith a Staff-Surgeon of the1st Class in the army.

Surgeons of the 1st Class--none.

’ PRIZE MONEY.

Surgeons of the 1 st Class receivethe same share as a Major inthe army.

All other Surgeons the same asCaptains.

Assistant-Surgeons the same asLieutenants.

WIDOWS’

Widow of Assistant-Surgeonin the army, .;840 per annum,the same as the widow of afull Surgeon R.N.

Navy Surgeons, old and young;receive the same as a MateR. N. ; relatively the same asan Assistant-Surgeon in thearmy.

PENSION.

Widow of a fall Surgeon re.ceives X40 per annum, thesame as the widow of anAssistant- Surgeon in thearmy.

Add to this the average ten years in a midshipman’s mess,and the list of inducements to enter the navy is complete. Isee, by a contemporary journal, that the ships, instead ofhaving extra assistants, as they should have, are absolutely onpeace numbers. Put the two services on the same footing,and then it nccy be possible to command medical talent andskill of the first class for the navy, but not until then.Thanking you for your untiring opposition to all abuses,

I remain, your old subscriber,Manchester, My, 1854. PATER FAMILIAS.

HOSPITAL ABUSES&mdash;THE ROYAL MAN.CHESTER INFIRMARY.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SiR,&mdash;Of all the questions calculated to engage the attentionand call forth the active energies of the students thoroughlyto investigate, perhaps that of the irregularities exhibited byheads of hospitals, in conducting the surgical department, willbe found the most important, although, as far as my knowledgehas gone, it is one respecting which the students have offeredbut comparatively little public opinion, and to which they havepresented still less actual opposition. To what can this cir-cumstance be attributable? Can we ascribe it to directindolence of disposition? It is to be feared, indeed, that theremight be assigned to a ee1’tain few a still more despicable _.reason. But, although it is not easy to account for the’