COHNHEIM'S RESEARCHES ON PUSFORMATION

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has heard with surprise the announcement of the receipt bythe several Boards of Guardians, of a circular letter from thePoor-law Board, on the subject of the employment by medicalofficers of legally unqualified assistants ; that, in the opinionof this meeting, this practice of certain union medical officershas for the last twenty years received the implied sanction ofthe Poor-law Board itself, as witness the following passagetaken from their official circular, dated April 4th, 1848 :-’The Board are not prepared to say that in ordinary cases themedical officer may not employ under his own superintendencehis assistant or apprentice to visit the sick paupers under hiscare ; but they most distinctly point out that his doing sowould not in any degree relieve him from any portion of theresponsibility attaching to the discharge of the duties of hisoffice.’ That should it, however, be now the intention of thePoor-law Board to enforce the employment by the medicalofficers of legally-qualified assistants, this meeting is furtherof opinion that it will be imperatively necessary for the Boardto supplement such order with a compulsory and considerableaugmentation of the present very inadequate salaries of itsseveral medical officers."The resolution was seconded by Dr. RANSOM of Cambridge,

who described his own resignation as medical officer as havingbeen forced upon him through his persistent endeavours tohave carried out proper regulations for the tramps, the in-mates of the house, and for the suppression of fever; and hestated that the guardians’ animus had been supported by thePoor-law Board. The resolution was agreed to.The proceedings terminated with the usual vote of thanks

to the chairman.

Correspondence."Aucli alteram partem."

THE BEAKED SOUND.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-A reference to the comparative advantage of themodern over the old sound in the course of Sir Henry Thomp-son’s lecture on Stone, in this day’s number of your journal,recalls my attention to the fact that in almost all works inwhich allusion is made to this instrument, its origination isaccredited to those to whom, I believe, it does not justlybelong.The volume of your journal for, I think, 1845 contains a

letter from me in which I detailed some observations which Ihad just then made on the bladder in the dead subject, forthe purpose of showing what Sir Henry has forcibly reite-rated-viz., that with the sound, prior to that period, it is im-possible satisfactorily to search the bladder, inasmuch as thebeak is too long to admit of that freedom of movement withinthe viscus that is essential to its complete exploration. After

trying curves and beaks of varying sizes, I suggested the soundnow in use, so far as its figure is concerned, and had a setmade by Mr. Ferguson, of Giltspur.street, several of which Ihave still by me. I believe these were the first sounds thatwere ever made, or, at all events, used in this country, of themodern shape. The bulb at the end was a great improvement;but at whose suggestion it was made, I know not. It hasbeen, I believe, accorded to Sir William Fergusson.Had not the device of this " famous beak " been assigned to

other surgeons by name, I should not have broken silence onthe subject. As it is, I think I may be excused for seeking togive publicity to its true history, without incurring the chargeof being over-nice about what some may deem "an incon-siderate trifle."

I have the honour to be, Sir,Your obedient servant,

JOHN GAY.

RETINAL HÆMORRHAGE.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In reply to the remarks of your correspondent, Mr.Carter, on the case of retinal haemorrhage I reported in yourimpression of last week, I beg to observe I was quite awarethe fovea centralis is not traversed by any of the larger retinal

vessels. If Air. Carter will refer to my communication, hewill see what I stated was that a retinal vessel " ran in closeproximity to the spot, and could be followed beyond it," myexpression clearly indicating a small but distinctly appreciablevessel, which was not altogether lost until it had passed be-yond the region of the fovea. To this statement I still adhere.

I remain. Sir. vours faithfully.HENRY POWER.

POOR-LAW MEDICAL OFFICERS AND THEJOURNAL OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL

ASSOCIATION.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-I am considerably surprised by the denial with whicha statement or suggestion by Dr. L. 0. Fox, in THE LANCETof the 18th inst., was met by the Editor of the AssociationJournal. Dr. Fox naturally supposed that the two Poor-lawmedical officers referred to by that periodical as recently forcedto resign by the Poor-law Board were Mr. Fleischmann andmyself. The Editor of the Journal says it was some one else.

Now, I should very much like to know who it was. For thelast two years, nearly, I have had most of the troubles of myformer colleagues of the Poor-law service forwarded to me,either for sympathy or advice, and yet it is a very odd thingthat these two gentlemen, who are not Mr. Fleischmann ormyself, have never been heard of by me or by anyone I havemet with. Again, I respectfully ask, who are the two work-house medical officers in whose behalf the Editor of theAssociation Journal has been vainly exerting his influence tosave them from the results of their infirmity of temper andtendency to seek their objects by public agitation ?

In conclusion, I would like to inform your readers, and Dr.Fox, who has so generously taken up the cudgels for me, thathe is not the only member of the Association who thinks thatthe columns of the Journal have been employed recently tofurther objects which were not contemplated by its originators.Many medical friends have expressed themselves most stronglyon this matter to me, and, being given to plainness of speech,I have always replied by saying, " It seems to me it has becomethe organ of the permanent staff of the Poor-law Board."

I am, Sir, yours obediently,JOS. ROGERS,

A Member of the British Medical Association.

COHNHEIM’S RESEARCHES ON PUS-FORMATION.

OUR attention has been directed to the fact that the doc-trine of the production of pus from the white cells of theblood, as illustrated by the recent researches of Cohnheim andothers, was promulgated some twenty years ago by Dr.Augustus Waller, in the 29th volume of the P-7tilosophicalMagazine (1846). In the first paper Dr. Waller remarks, afterdetailing his microscopic observations of the web of the foot,the tongue, and mesentery of the frog, " I consider it there-fore as proved, first, the passage of corpuscles de toute pièce

I through the capillaries; secondly, the restorative power of theblood, which immediately closes the aperture thus formed "-p. 287. The second paper is entitled" Microscopic Observa-tions on the Perforation of the Capillaries of the Blood, andon the Origin of Mucous and Pus Corpuscles." In it thematter is more fully explained. The paper is accompanied bytwo plates ; in one there is an illustration of a varicose vesselgiving exit to the blood-cells, and a second shows the cor-puscles after escape. These papers are therefore of remarkableinterest, and we believe it was Dr. Sharpey who brought theirexistence to memory.

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF WORKHOUSES.

DEPUTATION TO THE POOR-LAW BOARD.

ON Thursday, a deputation attended from the BritishMedical Association at the offices of the Poor-law Board. TheEarl of Devon, who received the deputation, was attended by