690 ROYAL MATERNITY CHARITY.

gold medal to men who make important discoveries, or, like Drs. M’WILLIAM and

PITITCI-IETT, perform important public ser-

vices, they would do some good; whiletheir patronage of foolish, trashy prize com-pilations serves no really commendable pur-pose.

ROYAL MATERNITY CHARITY.

ON the 3rd instant, Dr. JOHN HALL DAVISwas elected to the office of physician-accoucheur to this charity. At the close ofthe ballot the votes stood as follows :-

An advertisement had appeared a few

days before, indicating that Dr. REID hadfound the feeling of the subscribers ran in sostrong a current for Dr. DAVIS, that he shoulddecline the contest ; but as Dr. R. had notsent in an 11 official resignation" of his claimas a candidate for the office, the committee

thought it right, to prevent future dispute, tohave the name of that gentleman kept on thelist (two other candidates having formallywithdrawn from the field), when the one votementioned above was recorded in his favour

during the period (four hours) for which theballot was, in accordance with the advertise-ment of the charity, kept open.The success of Dr. DAVIS on this occasion ’,

must be both honourable and gratifying tothe feelings of the members of the medicalprofession, many of whom, by their kind andgenerous exertions, contributed to procure forhim the triumph which he has achieved.From the first moment that the vacancyoccurred we entertained no doubt that hewould be elected. Had there been a con-cow’s we should have left Dr. DAVIS to fighthis own battle, without endeavouring to

advance his cause by a single recommenda-tion.

WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY.

Saturday, Feb. 5, 1842.

Mr. H. J. JOHNSON, President.MR. BENFIELD related the following

CASE OF ENLARGED MESENTERIC GLANDS.

The child who was the subject of this diseasewas under the care of Mr. Coward, of

Hoxton, from whom he had obtained the par-

ticulars of the case. It was born June 13,1840 ;was a remarkably strong, fine, and healthyinfant : it continued to thrive, without thesmallest interruption, until about the middleof June last. At this time she might besaid to have been an unusually fine child,healthy in look, lively and good-tempered,measuring nine inches round the calf of herleg, and this without being a gross plethoricbaby. The mother at this period weanedher ; her dentition had progressed naturally,with less than the usual distress incidentalto that period. Shortly after the loss of hermammary support, she used suddenly toawake from her sleep, both in the night andday, with a loud, shrill scream, denotingpain of some kind ; but as she almost imme-diately fell asleep again, and when awakeappeared to be otherwise in health, no othernotice was taken of the circumstance beyondits observance ; and this continued at inter-vals until the 1st of October last, when, indressing her, her mother discovered a hardtumour on the left side of the abdomen, re-specting which she on that day consultedMr. Coward.On examining the child, a solid movable

tumour was discovered on the left side ofthe abdomen, between the hypogastric andiliac regions, about as large as a small melon,which, as it increased in size, occasionedpain when moved from side to side, althoughpressure might be used with impunity. Allthe bodily functions were healthy and natu-rally active : the child looked well, wascheerful, and took food with a more thanordinary appetite. In spite, however, of alltreatment the tumour continued to increasein size, and she became emaciated; still allthe organic functions went on with scarcelyany disturbance. The appetite became quitebulimious, and when the stomach was dis-tended with food, it was evident that the

tumour, pressing it against the diaphragm,sensibly affected her breathing. In this wayshe continued until about a month beforeher death, when her appetite began to fail;and her breathing, especially in the recum-bent posture, became difficult, with evidenceof pain over the whole extent of the abdo-men ; and, although at times acute, it wasnot so great as from the mass of disease onemight be led to conjecture would have takenplace, and until a very few days of herdecease she passed her motions and urine(always natural in appearance) without anyseeming difficulty ; and when she sunk, theimmediate cause of death appears to havebeen the mechanical pressure of the contentsof the abdomen upon the diaphragm, andconsequent diminution of the cavity of thechest.

She died on the llth of January last, beingnineteen months old, and had never beenaffected with any of the usual infantile dis-eases. There was no paralysis of the lowerextremities. On opening the body a large