459

"The non-restraint system was thus established. The per-severing labours of Dr. Charlesworth had brought the asylum tothat state in which at first days, and then weeks, and at lengthmonths, passed without any mechanical restraints being used.Then Mr. Gardiner Hill, with a promptitude, decision, and bold-ness which ought to be had in perpetual remembrance, set thegreat example of living without restraints altogether-acted uponthis large and wise principle, and succeeded. Hanwell was thefirst to follow, and to confirm the principle, I trust for ever."

Correspondence.

NECESSITY FOR A CORONER’S COURT INSCOTLAND.

"Audi al teram partem."

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—Some time ago (vide THE LANCET, December 4th, 1852,

p. 526) you took occasion to commend the law of Scotland for itseffectual and summary method of dealing with quackery; andfreely granting the deservedness of your praise in that instance,I think there is room too for much blame for an omission in its

legal code, to which, knowing your power and willingness toexert it in the cause of humanity, I would now direct your atten-tion. I mean the total want of coroners’ inquests or any analo-gous institution in Scotland--an omission, it may be, of littleconsequence in a simple primitive state of life, but fraught withdanger to the public in our advanced state of civilization, andbut too consequent demoralization, affording as it does unheardof, and not I fear unthought of or unused, facilities for the com-mission and concealment of crime both in and out of the profes-sion. A recent newspaper writer, in reference to the manymurders in Australia, remarks that murders are easily committedin all countries ; hot how to get rid of the body is the great diffi-culty in civilized ones ; there it but costs the digging of an un-profitable hole. He surely knew not how often lifeless bodiesand dying men are in Scotland found in plantations, by road sides,river banks, or sea shores, and buried and forgotten. Is Scotlandthen a civilized country? In this particular, I fear, we canscarcely allow it to be so. Children are continually dying sud-denly from suffocation or narcotism, but are buried without in-quiry. Abortions are frequently procured ; children of " a spanlong" are found in ash heaps or dunghills, their mothers morethan suspected, and known to have concealed their pregnancy ;but yet all is still on the part of the authorities at least, whateverthe tongue of the gossip may be. These, Mr. Editor, are nofancy-horu speculations; our newspapers teem with such cases ;the note-books of our medical men could supply many more. I

myself know of many; yet we dare not even for our own infor-mation examine any body, about the unfairness of whose deaththere may have been a doubt, without aa order from the publicprosecutor-an order never given, from parsimonious motives,unless a loud cry be raised, or strongly suspicious circumstancespoint to its necessity-an order which consequently comes oftentoo late, and the want of which has doubtless ere now favouredthe concealment of crime.And alas! with sorrow be it said, our own most noble profession

has its unworthy members ready to take advantage of this flaw,and, aided by it, conceal their own misdeeds or the crimes of others.Not long since a practitioner in Scotland, not only abetted a

concealment of pregnancy and clandestine delivery, but actuallycarried off a living foetus in a carpet bag! Another, actuated bymotives of kind consideration for the character of the mother,wished to carry off a fœtus which had unwisely intruded itselfbeneath the bed-clothes the night previous to its being extractedby a modification of the Caesarian operation, to be performed witha trocar! A certain inquiry by educated men would surely havedeterred these worthies from thus encouraging crime. Have wenot here sufficient reason why Scotland-moral Scotland-shouldhave its morality protected by legal inquiry into all doubtfulcases, not merely where the public cry compels it, but in all casesof death under suspicious circumstances, or without proper medi-cal attendance, suddenly or otherwise; that the bodies be viewed,described, dissected, and the dissection recorded by competentpersons, so that doubts may be cleared, suspicions removed orconfirmed-so that, above all, a record may be made at the time,that may be subsequently used, if necessary, either to incriminateor exculpate, instead of as now leaving present doubts unsolved,and rendering future ones unsolveable, because of the deep forget-fulness of the tomb-instead of, as now, leaving innocent menwith sad hearts to live down suspicion, and letting the brazen-facedcriminal stalk abroad in all the pride of successful villany.

It is obviously of importance first to get the Legislature toacknowledge the necessity of some such measure for the protec-tion of the innocent and punishment of the guilty; the machineryto be employed in carrying it out may be subsequently considered.Suffice it at present to say that to entrust the solution of questionsin pathology or medico-legal science to a jury of greengrocers orcheesemongers involves, I trust, too absurd a paradox ever to berealized in Scotland, or, de novo, anywhere, and which I trustwill soon be got rid of where it may exist as an heir-loom fromthe far-distant past.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,April, 1853. A SCOTCH PRACTITIONER.

THE NEW CHARTER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGEOF PHYSICIANS.

M.D. Aberd., & M.R.C.S. Eng.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—By a letter that was published in the last impressionof THE LANCET, signed by Francis Hawkins, M.D., registrar,the following extraordinary passage appears:—" That they

heartily wish the Universities themselves would abstain fromgranting degrees to those who have not had an academicaleducation. Whereas it is notorious that some of the Uni-versities, especially the Universities of Aberdeen and St.Andrew’s, have long been and are still in the habit, greatlyto the detriment of the medical profession, of granting thedegree of M.D. to persons who have had no previous connexionwith any University, and whose curriculum of medical edu-cation has been inferior to that which the College of Physiciansdeems necessary for physicians."Now it is quite evident that the worthy registrar must be

totally ignorant of the curriculum required by the variousexamining boards that are empowered to grant licences ordiplomas. Let me ask Dr. Hawkins whether he considersthe ordeal at the Apothecaries’ Hall a sufficient guarantee of apersons capability to practise? Also if he thinks the exami-cation at the Royal College of Surgeons of England worthy ofthat institution?In the paragraph quoted above he speaks of academical

education According to the regulations of the Scotch uni-versities, it is necessary that an individual should possess adiploma, from one of the institutions named. Also that heshould have studied the following branches of medical science- viz., physiology, anatomy, medicine, materiamedica, botany,toxicology, medical jurisprudence, dissections, practical che-rnistry, surgery, and of having attended a hospital con-

taining upwards of one hundred beds for two years. Heis also required to write the treatment of a disease they

; choose to name in unabbreviated Latin. Is this a test of hav-ing had an academical education or not?

In all these branches of science you must be perfectlyL familiar with the intricacies of each department, or you could

not be admitted a Doctor of Medicine of Aberdeen or St., Andrew’s.

On referring to the " British Medical Directory," it will beseen that hundreds of practitioners have passed both the ex-aminations atthe College of Surgeons and at Aberdeen. Letthem come forward and give their testimony as to the severityof each examining board. I, for one, pronounce the ordeal atthe College of Surgeons as a mere farce; whilst the examinationat University and King’s College, Aberdeen, is both practicaland worthy of an academical institution.My object in writing this letter is not for the purpose ofanswering the unjust sentence contained in Dr. IIawkins*official communication, but with the intention of courtinginquiry as to the amount of practicableness and usefulnessof each examination.

I am, Sir, yours obediently,May, 1853. M.D. Aberd., & M.R.C.S. Eng.

LICENTIATES EXTRA-URBEM VERSUS COLLEGEOF PHYSICIANS.To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—I was glad to see the letter of’’ Fiat Justitia Ruat Cælum."in your last number, as great injustice and oppression is stilltempted on the Licentiate Extra-Urbem of the College of Physicians, notwithstanding the letter of the Registrar of the Collegein THE LANCET, in which he says-" Those Licentiates Extra-Urbem who have not graduated are not entitled to the sameremission as the others, because they have not paid the fees orstamp duty that the graduates have;" and so we must thereforepay the same fees as those who have never passed any e.’;o!HMRa-