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with the thinking portion of the community.it will neither advance his fame nor increasehis practice. Believe me, in all sincerity,yours, &c.

AN INDIGNANT TOWNSMAN.Devizes, June 9th, 1836.

" SELF-SUPPORTING MEDICAL RELIEFCLUB.

" In consequence of certain recent ar-rangements in the medical attendance onparishes, arising out of the operation of thenew Poor-Law, it has been suggested thatthe poor would become more independent,and ensure greater attention in cases of

sickness, if by clubbing a small sum yearlythey could obtain the assistance of a medi-cal man, without any reference to a parishofficer.

" With a view to this end, Mr. GEORGEMAYO, Surgeon, Devizes, offers his profes,sional services, to those persons whose re-

lief is contemplated, on the foregoing prin-ciple; subject to the following rules :-

"1. The beneflt to include Devizes, theparishes of Potterne, Worton, Poulshot, andRo’wde ; and all persons wishing to becomesubscribers must apply to have their namesentered on or before the 2nd of May.

" 2. Subscriptions according to the fol-lowing scale to be paid at entering :-Allpersons above the age of eighteen, one shil-ling and sixpence a year; husband and wife,two shillings and sixpence: and children

sixpence each, till the suhscription, includ-ing the father and mother, amounts to fiveshillings ; which will be the highest annualsum required for any family, however large.

" 3. All subscribers will be expected toattend at the surgery, unless the sicknessis so severe as to prevent leaving home.

"4. The subscriptions include medicines,and attendance medical and surgical, in allcases of illness (midwifery only excepted),and should the disease be lingering, or thepatient in great danger, the additional aidof a physician will be provided.

" 5. Every annual subscriber of one sove-reignto be considered as an honorary mem-ber, and to have the privilege of namingthree patients within the year.

" H. Bull, Printer, Devizes."

Scarcely had we determined on printingthe foregoing documents, when the followingcommunication was put into our hands.

The contents of this document are not less

important than the intelligence which hasbeen conveyed to us from the other districtsin which the agents of the Poor-Law Com-

missioners and the Guardians have insulted

the members of the medical profession, and.

{stipulated for the destruction of the sick

poor : -BASPORD UNION, NOTTINGHAM-

SHIRE.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.STR I beg to call your attention to. and

thus, if possible, obtain a remedy for, beforeit is too late, the disgraceful medical con-tracts which are about to be executed in theBasford Poor-Law Union in the county ofNottingham. This Union is divided intofour disti icts. The district No. I, to whichI would refer you, contains 21,429 inhabit-ants, and includes a surface of from twelveto fourteen miles in length, and of about the-same extent in breadth ; yet I am assuredthat one medical man, in a tender, offeredto perform all the medical and surgical du-ties of the Union, and supply all necessarymedicines to the whole of this district, forthe sum of 1201. per annum, and that one ortwo professional neighbours of his under-took to perform the same duties for I5M.per year. Now any person in his sensesmust be thoroughly satisfied that no oneman, supposing him to devote his wholeattention to the Union, and allowing him tobe ever so active, even with three or fourhorses constantly at work, could do any-thing like justice (justice indeed!) to thesick poor of such a district. Yet we findthe Guardians, under the dictatorship ofMr. Sub-commissioner Gulson, rejectingthese tenders as TOO HIGH; at least, so

I am told, and the statement is borne outby fresh advertisements, announcing a sub-division of the districts, in order to opena wider field of competition, and invite freshtenders, to be sent in by the 28th inst. I

hope and trust, for the sake of common bu-manity on the one side, and professional de.ceucy on the other, that both these report)are unfounded. Indeed, notwithstanding thedisgraceful acts committed in the StroudUnion, I can scarcely believe that any edii.cated medical man can degrade himself andthe profession so much, as to 8eriozisly en-tertain such a proposition; but should it

unfortunately be true that men, claimingthe tit.e ofyentlemen, are so poverty-stricken,so lost to a sense of honour, as to bring dis-grace, odium, and eventual ruin on the pro’fession, by this course of personal ahase.ment, the upright members of that profes-sion should enter at once upon a plan thatwill establish an unequivocal distinctionbetween themselves and their degeneratebrethren.

It will be worth while to remind yourreaders of the sums offered by the Commis-sioners themselves for medical attendancein different Unions, as stated in some recentNumbers of THE LANCET. The Wheaten-hurst Union, containing fourteen parishesand 8000 inhabitants, was tendered for At

403

1001. by Mr. Weale; the Docking Union inNorfolk, containing a population of 15,368,was put up and ’taken at 2001. ; the NorthAyJesford, comprising fifteen parishes, and,I presume, about 14,000 people, at 1801. ;and, lastly, the Hambledon Union, withsixteen parishes, and 12,000 inhabitants, hasbargained with the GENTLEMAN from Shrop-shire, who offered 1101.A consideration of these different sums,

compared with the rejection of 1201, peryear for a population of 21,429, will provethat the Commissioners act upon no settledor organized plan, depending upon the mean-ness of the party in treaty. The extent ofcountry, of population, or of services re-quired, are guided entirely by a shamefulparsimony, and the proposals made to themedical men are more or less insulting inproportion to the obsequiousness or the de-gradation of the parties with whom thefanctionaries have to deal. Let me askthose medical gentlemen who accompaniedtheir tenders to the Basford Guardians onthe 31st ult., what they have gained by theirsubmission ; and I may ask those who wereguilty of sending in the 1201. or 1501. ten- ’,ders, were they not, after dancing attend- Iance in the lobbies of the workhouse forthree or four hours, at last told to go homeabout their business, that none of their ten-ders would be accepted, that they were alltoo high, and that the Guardians had alteredtheir minds. Is this not enough, Mr. Editor,to make the blood boil within one’s veins ?Yet, shameful to say, there are men whowill submit to receive these offers AS AROON, andfawn upon the authors of theirdis-’honour. Let me entreat you, Mr. Editor, tocontinue your earnest and forcible depre-cation of the ruinous system thus attemptedto be thrust upon us. Do not be deterred

by the apparent apathy or cowardice,-Iscarcely know what to term it,-of the suf-ferers, but persevere until you have esta-blished the profession on a firm, lasting, andrespectable basis; and depend upon it, thatyour efforts will be crowned with the bestwishes and the sincere thanks of all honour-able men. I shall keep an eye over thetenders sent in on the 28th instant, andwill furnish you with the full particulars ofthem, if necessary. In the mean time youcan make what use you think proper of this,and believe me to remain your gratefulservant,

JUDEX.Sutton, Nottinghamshire,

June 13, 1836.Where and when will these horrible atro-

cities terminate ? At present, the further

We proceed in the investigation, at every1tep we take, the blacker and more infa..mious i3 the scene which we are called upon

to view. Atrocious as is the insult which is

offered to the profession by the tools and

hirelings of the Board of Commissioners,-scandalous as is the disgrace which is in.flicted by them upon the medical body,-servile, mean, and cowardly, as is the con-duct of those members of the profession whohave so basely truckled to the mandates ofthe VAMPIRE COMMISSIONERS and GUAR-

DIANS,—infinitely are all such matters andconsiderations as these outweighed by thefrightful, the dreadful,-we hesitate not tosay the MURDEROUS consequences,-thefatal and irremediable results, - to the

welfare and lives of the parochial poor. Wecan appeal with confidence to our experi-enced medical brethren on this subject.Beyond all other men, the medical practi-tioner is acquainted with the comfortless,the destitute condition of the sick pauper’shome,-his home, did we say? -of his hut,of his hovel, of his cave ! In the best sea-

sons, when health and daily toil yield theirweightiest store, has the agricultural la-

bourer, even then, in his palmiest moments,a single luxury, a single solace, beyond thesatisfaction which is derivable from an un-tainted conscience, and a still-clinging hopeof better times ? What are his wages ? In

West Somerset, and in Devonshire, wherethe vile medical contracts in the Unions

have already been extensively perpetratedwhat, we ask, has been the amount of the

agricultural labourer’s return in money for

seventy-two hours of slave-like toil per-formed within the week? ’Six shillings, in

many cases. In no case, in that part of the

country, so far as we can learn, has thesum exceeded seven shillings. After the

rent is paid, after thefuel is purchased, after

the clothes are bought, how much is left topurchase food for a wife and infant children ?

A new system of arithmetic is required, toenable the calculation to be made. We

must dip far below the unit, and add and

multiply by noughts. In the hut of such alabourer, where no sign of misconduct pre-vails,—where honesty and industry sustain

404

.the inmates against despondence and the 1

commission of crime on the one hand, andthe cravings of actual want on the other,what happens, when the arm of the husbandand father becomes palsied by sickness ?Then commence all the horrors of povertyand disease. Stretched upon a hed-no, itis no Led. Stretched upon a bag of straw, hehears the cry of his half-starved children for

bread receive no other response than the

sobs of his distracted wife; or, probably, all

consciousness being lost in the clouds of

an established frenzy, his distorted and

half-burnt lips receive with signs of mo-

mentary ease, the streams of sorrow which Ifall from the cheeks of a broken-heartedwife and mother. The father lingers on.His affectionate and devoted partner sinksunder the pressure of her accumulated mis-

fortunes and anxieties, and the poor little

children, deprived at once of the smiles andsuccour of their parents, are soon destinedto be the inmates of a workhouse, there tobe subjected to all the villanous and unna-tural restraints which are imposed by menwho forget what were their own feelingswhen they were childron, and who considerthat the wretchedness of a whole family isan unimportant item in the account, if, inits production, the sum of five shillings hasbeen saved to the parochial funds ! In such

a hut, upon such a scene of wretchedness,before a father, a mother, and their children,situated and circumstanced as we have here

described, a brute, in the shape of man, ob-trudes himself, displaying in the humanlines of his savage countenance, the follow-

ing inscription :--

"ALT, WHO ARE SICKIN THIS PLACE, ARE CONSIGNED BY

LAW TO MY KEEPING, AND MUST SUBMIT

TO MY POWER AND AUTHORITY.

ALHOUGH YOU WERE NO PARTY TO THE

CONTRACT, I HAVE ENGAGED TOFURNISH YOU IN THIS ILLNESS,

AS WELL AS IN ALL

OTHERS WHICH MAY HAPPEN THROUGHOUT

THE YEAR, WITH ALL NECESSARY

MEDICINES AND MEDICAL ATTENDANCE."

A description of the afflictions of thewife is met by rebukes,-the offspring’are scolded into silence, and the grinof the maniacal patient is acknowledgedby the self-sufficient smile of the coN-

TRACTOR, who, on quitting the, to all buthim, dreadful scene of misery, exults in

the conviction that " the troublesome jobthere is nearly at an end,"-that the busi-ness is about to be concluded by the under.taker. True, the brain was inflamed, butthe CONTRACTOR had not time to bleed:

True, the brain was inflamed, but the CON-TRACTOR had not time to perform the ope-ration of cupping. True, the brain was in

a state of violent inflammation, but arteri-

otomy was not performed. True, the brainwas deluged with a tide of boiling blood, butno leech sluices were opened to assuage the

impetuosity or mitigate the danger of thetorrent.

"Ah!" ejaculates the barbarian CONTRAC-

TOR, in conclusion, " the grave has no voice.I have neither conscience nor religion,and, better than all, should there be an

inquest on the body, that respectable and" venerable solicitor, Mr. PARCHMENT, the

" coroner, will laud me in open court for

giving such excellent and satisfactory evi-" dence, and puff me before the gentry ofthe surrounding country, for the huma-

" nity and skill which I exhibited in the

" treatment of the unfortunate deceased,‘‘ whereupon I may safely concur with the

poet in saying, that" ’ Conscience is our coin, we live by parting with

it," ’ And he thrives best who has the most to spare.’"

There is but one excuse which can be

offered for the conduct of the Poor-Law

Commissioners. They are no judges of whatought to be done in medical government.Let us hope, therefore, that in making theirarrangements, they have erred from igno-rance of the duties which medical practi-tioners are required to execute, and of themanner in which unfeeling contractors mayneglect or maltreat their unfortunate pa’

405

tients, without incurring the slightest riskof detection.

Upon whom, then, is thrown the duty of

instructing the nation on this subject ? It

rests with medical practitioners themselves,who must have discovered already, that

complaints and remedies are very different

things. The fable tells us, that when the

wagoner perceived that his horses were

incapable of mastering their load, he stood

by aud howled to a superior power for re-lief. After receiving a rebuke in reply, theidler was commanded to put his own shoulderto the wheel, and heave with all his might,with a remark that unless he did so, he could

not expect to receive assistance from anyother quarter. Upon this very instructiveand useful fable the French proverb hasbeen founded, which declares that " Heaven

will help those who help themselves." Al-

though the medical practitioners cannot

justly be charged with apathy on this occa-sion, yet we do not witness among themthat unity of purpose and co-operation,which must precede the introduction and

application of a remedy for the removal oftheir grievances; but, as we have alreadyrepeatedly stated, the evils which fall uponmedical practitioners, from the contract

system, iu the Unions, are infinitely less

calamitous than those which befal the poor.It is not so much a medical as it is a publicquestion. It is not so much a question ofscience as it is one of humanity, and if it beleft in its present state, a stain of no ordi-

nary character will be inflicted upon the

reputation of the British Government.

What, then, is to be done? Somethingmore must be effected than a mere record

of our grievances. We must, in fact, stickour shoulders to the wheel in right earnest,and heave on until the nuisance is left be-

hind. The fatal obstinacy with which theCommissioners, the Guardians, and theiragents, are still pursuing their cruel policy,indicates, but too plainly, that the remedialefforts of the profession must be directed toanother quarter. In a word, To THE LEGIS-LATURE. This was our recommendation when

the complaints were first heard,-even be-fore the Kentish deputation waited on theCommissioners at Somerset House. We

would, therefore, most earnestly entreat ourprofessional brethren to pour petitions intothe House of Commons, praying for an in-quiry into the modes and effects of the presentsystem of providing medicines and medical

attendance for the sick pa ochial poor in this

kingdom. Some such petition as the follow-

ing would be fully adequate to the purpose :To the Honourable the Comnons of Great

Britain and Irelarad, in Purlianzent as-

sembled,The petition of the undersigned sur-

geons, ratepayers, or inhabitants (asthe case may be), of -- showetb,

That an Union under the Poor-LawAmendment Act has been formed in this

district, including - parishes, extend*ing to - miles in length and - inbreadth.That it contains a population of

thousand persons.That the cottages of the poor are scat-

tered throughout the whole district.That the number of persons who receive

parochial relief in the course of the year,ill the whole district (or in a part of the dis-trict, as the case may be), cannot be lessthan - persons.That your petitioners have heard with

extreme alarm and regret, that Mr. -,of , surgeon, has entered into a con-tract with the Board of Guardians, inwhich he has undertaken to provide thepoor with [here set forth those conditionsof the bond] for the sum of [here state thesalary for the whole Union, or the sum perhead, or case, as in the Devizcs workhouse(see letter, page 401), as the fact may beThat your petitioners being fully im-

pressed with a sense of the dreadful conse-quences which must ensue to the afflicted

poor from the continuance of such an ar-rangement, or from the attempts whichmay be made to carry it into full effect,most earnestly beseech your honourableHouse to institute an immediate inquiryinto the truth of the premises herein setforth, and to adopt such remedies for theremoval of the grievance as in your wisdommay seem meet.And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.

If petitions of this description were for-warded to members of the House of Cbm-

mons,—instantly,—AT ONCE,—without the

delay of A DAY,-there would yet be timeto obtain the appointment of a SELECT COM-

406

MITTEE OF INQUIRY, and to prosecute the

subject to a conclusion in the present ses-sion of parliament, as the two Houses-

should they not be knocked to pieces bytheir stupid " collisions "-may yet remain

open during another six weeks or two

months; but the whole of the inquiry intothe mode and effects of the contracts for the

treatment of the sick poor in the Unions,could not, with proper management, occupymore than eight or ten days.We have time, then, if we have energy

and industry. We have time, if we do notprefer mere whining to active, useful, well-directed exertion. Petition the House of

Commons for inquiry, FORTHWITH. Sur-

geons may petition. Rate-payers may peti-tion. Any benevolent individual may peti-tion, and all persons will petition who donot delight in the torture and destruction ofthe poor. Every surgeon may obtain thesignature of some of his neighbours. If a

petition have but one signature, still, it is

a petition, and it must contribute towardspromoting the desired results. The petitionmay be written on a sheet of paper, and

may be sent to any member of the House of

Commons, by post (free from charge to

either sender or receiver), addressed thus:" Petition to the House of Commons." To Mr. (or Sir, Lord, or Right

Hon., as the case may be), M. P., London."

. The address must be written on a strong

paper cover, open at both ends, like a news-

paper. It must contain no letter or note,-

consist of nothing, in fact, but’the petitionand the envelope.

Come, then; let us not stand tamely byand witness the wanton destruction of themost innocent and the most distressed por-tion of our fellow creatures. If we cannot

take the trouble to PETITION for inquiry, itis high time that we should withhold a state-ment of our complaints.We would close this article by adding to it

a letter from Stroud, in which some further

frightful but useful expositions are given,

and by which some equally useful information is sought to be obtained, but we havenot room for it this week.

WE insert with feelings of pride and exul.tation the report of the committee appointedby the Eastern Provincial Medical Associa.tion on the medical management of the sickpoor. We have numbered the paragrapb.with a view to a more easy reference to the

various contents of the document, byourselves or our readers. This week we

have no room for further remark on the

subject. The report will be found at page393.

WE have inserted in another part (page390) of our journal this week, a copy of theMEDICAL WITNESSES BILL. It is set

down for a "second reading" on Wednes-day, the 22nd instant. Its introduction at

an earlier period has been impossible. In

fact the whole business of Parliament has

been in a state of stagnation for months.

Scarcely one public Bill has passed theHouse in the present session. Even the

ministerial measures are repeatedly on thebooks for weeks together, without being ad-vanced a single stage.

FUNCTIONS OF THE VOICE.

S’tammering, and other Impediments of Speech,and tlie means of effecting a complete and

permanent Removal of all Vocal Obstruc-tions. By ALEXANDER BELL, Profesaorof Elocution, &c. London, Sherwood,1836, pp. 94.

IT seems strange that the physiology of thevoice, though the organ of speech is of suchvital importance to society, should have solittle attracted the attention of natural phi-losophers until within the last ten years.Horne Tooke, in his " Diversions of Purley,"observes, that " the organical part of lan-guage is in many respects grossly misunder-stood, though the consequent errors mighteasily be corrected by the help of sone ofthe first principles of natural philosophyand anatomy." Volumes have, indeed, been