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number of students. The post-mortem theatre has an

independent communication with this room, the area, andthe depository, and the latter is also furnished with a glassdoor so constructed that juries can view bodies without

going into the room at all, or opening it. The catacombsare very conveniently arranged, and surrounded above witha layer of charcoal. The ground floor will include twolarge double wards, one of which, running east and west,will be appropriated to children (from 40 to 45 cots), andthe other, running north and south, to female erysipelascases. No communication, however, exists between thesetwo wards, as each has its own entrance and staircase, andwill for all practical purposes be treated as a separateestablishment. The first floor includes again two largedouble wards capable of accommodating about 65 beds,both of which will be appropriated to female medical cases,and one of which is provided with a day room at the north-east corner of the building. The second floor will be devotedto male medical cases, and is arranged similarly to thatimmediately below. The attic floor will accommodate fromforty to fifty nurses, with a superficial area for each ofabout 112 feet, consisting of half-partitioned rooms, eachroom having a dormer window of its own, with cross

ventilation. The drainage, as a matter of absolute neces-sity, is carried under the building from back to front,the pipes being laid in a solid bed of concrete, andventilated by tubes fixed along the sides of the building,and opening beyond the chimney stacks. The wards willbe warmed by open fireplaces, and ventilated partly by thewindows, doors, &c., and also automatically-(i. e., whenfires are lighted) by an ingenious contrivance patented byMr. Jennings of Blackfriars. By this means, air introducedfrom without is carried upwards by flues placed round, or,in fact, in the chimney, which air is warmed in its progress,and is then sent into the room through openings in thewall close to the ceiling. As these openings are out of reach,and the inlets equally inaccessible, the ventilation cannotbe tampered with by the patients, and the system is likelyto prove a valuable adjunct to hospital construction. Inother parts of the building the extraction principle is main-tained, and will be kept up by Howarth’s spiral ventilators,which, in the male erysipelas ward, appear to have answeredvery well indeed, and also by a large upcast at the southernextremity of the building, which will be divided by a fixeddiaphragm, and so carry off the air independently from thehospital wing and the post-mortem department. Hot andcold water will be laid on every floor in this, as in otherparts of the hospital. It is calculated that each patientwill have about 1350 cubic feet of space, which, if theventilating arrangements work well, ought to be amplysufficient. The closets will be furnished with Baker’s

Special Disinfecting Apparatus, which was a great successon board the Gold Coast hospital ship Victor Emanuel, andhas been fitted up in many public institutions.As the building is, so to speak, in an embryonic state, it

would be premature to criticise the arrangements. The

wing has been designed by Sir Charles Barry, but manymodifications have been made since the original plans weredrafted. Messrs. Perry and Sons, of Stratford, are the con-tractors, and the entire work is being superintended by Mr.Thornhill, the hospital surveyor, to whom, and specially toMr. Nixon, the house-governor, we are indebted for muchinformation. It is expected that the wing will be ready forthe reception of patients about twelve months from thisdate.

PRESENTATION.

DR. EDWARD SwAiN, the newly-appointed superintendentof the Three Counties Asylum, at Arlesey, Beds, has notbeen allowed to leave Brookwood Asylum, where he hasbeen assistant medical officer for more than six years, without

receiving some evidence of the great regard felt for him byhis many friends in the neighbourhood, and by the staff ofthe asylum. On Monday Dr. Swain was entertained at adinner and presented with a large and massive silver cup.Dr. George Wilson, medical officer of health for NorthWarwickshire, presided at the dinner, and G. H. Hall, Esq.,county coroner, filled the vice-chair. Twelve medical menand a good sprinkling of the clergy assembled to honour

the guest of the evening. After dinner the cup was pre-sented by Dr. Wilson, and then was filled with champagneand passed round. Subsequently, Dr. Brusbfield, on behalfof the asylum staff, presented Dr. Swain with a testimonial,consisting of a magnificent dining-room clock, by Dent,vases to match, and a glass epergne and side-glasses forflowers. The clock bore this inscription :-° Presented toDr. Edward Swain by the entire staff of Brookwood Asylum,as a token of esteem and appreciation of his services duringthe six and a half years that he has held the appointmentof assistant medical officer."

MR. ERICHSEN AND THE PROFESSION INAMERICA.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-Nothing could have been more gratifying to thenational pride of those physicians and surgeons of Americatemporarily resident here for hospital observation, than theaccurate and eloquent address on "American Surgery andAmerican Surgeons," delivered at the University CollegeHospital, on Monday, November 9th, 1874, by ProfessorErichsen. Fidelity of detail of facts as to the architectureof the more modern of those hospitals visited by him, theclear and correct details of hospital treatment, which differsin some essentials from what is pursued here, went to makeup a picture as perfect as the pen of a master could make it.There was throughout the whole the ruddy generous

warmth which could only be born of a meeting of genialguest and generous host, while the whole was made quitecomplete and finished when the kind and complimentarynotices of the attentions and courtesies which, as a people,we are only too glad to have the opportunity to extend toevery visitor, were closed around as a golden frame to thepicture.Nor can we allow the opportunity to pass thus formally

to thank Professor Erichsen, not only for the great honourhe has done us in his visit, but for the greater in thathe has honoured himself in correctly representing us.

GEO. H. MITCHELL M D., New York.L. C. LANE. M.D., San Francisco.J. C. HUBBARD, M.D.Dr. WEBSTER, Ohio.

And others.London, Nov. llth, 1874.

GEO. H. MITCHELL, M. D., New York.L. C. LANE, M.D., San Francisco.J. C. HUBBARD, M.D.Dr. WEBSTER, Ohio.

And others.

PARIS.

(From our own Correspondent.)

WINTER SESSION OF THE PARIS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

ON November 3rd the School of Medicine opened itsdoors and inaugurated its winter session. Formerly-onlya few years ago-this was a day of great ceremony. The

professors of the School, clothed in their black and crimsonsatin robes, gathered in the large amphitheatre to meet thebody of students, as well as of professional brethren whochose to attend, and the eulogium of some departed celebrityof the School was delivered by one of the professors. Thisceremony had to be done away with on account of the scenesof disorder which, during the latter years of the Empire,took place on the occasion, the students taking advantageof the opportunity to express their feelings aloud againstindividual professors, or the School, or the Government.Political feeling had a great deal to do with it. The pro-fessors of the School, after doing their best on every suc-cessive occasion to persuade and soothe the students andre-establish order, took a radical measure, and abolished theceremony altogether. Now, on the opening day of theSchool, nothing in the precincts or round about shows thatthe academic year is being inaugurated. Each professor, atthe appointed hour, simply enters the lecture-room anddelivers his lecture.

I cannot help thinking that the abolition of the yearlyformal opening of the School is a thing to be regretted.It gave a solemn, imposing aspect to the event, perhaps asalutary impulse to both students and professors; it im-

pressed all present on the occasion, and especially, I should

711

say, the newcomers; it brought masters and pupils togetherin a body; it enabled the first-year students, just arrivedfrom the provinces, to make acquaintance with the featuresof their future professors. The panegyric on a departednotability of the profession, setting forth the result of hardwork, purpose, and energy, as an example to the young, wasnot unattended, I am sure, by some good. And, lastly, itmay even be argued whether the possibility of some roughcriticisms from the crowd of studertts was entirely a badthing.The first day the lecturers were, in succession, Professors

Dolbeau, Leon Le Fort, Robin, Wurtz, and Lorain. On thenext day Professors Gavarret, Sappey, Chauffard, andM. Fernet (replacing Professor Axenfeld, who is ill) tooktheir turn. The professors of Clinical Medicine and Sur-gery have also begun their work in the hospitals, ProfessorsBéhier, See, Lasègue, and M. Hayem (for Prof. Bouillaud)lecturing on Medicine; and Professors Richet. Gosselin,Verneuil, and Broca on Surgery. Professor Depaul hascharge of the Clinique of Accouchements.Perhaps a list of the subjects selected by some of the

professors for their winter teaching may be of interest tomy readers. M. Gavarret has especially chosen the pheno-mena of speaking and hearing; Sappey (Anatomy), theapparatuses of respiration, urinary secretion, and repro-duction ; Chauffard (General Pathology and Therapeutics),disease in general, pathological classifications, etiologicaland microscopic characters of various classes of disease ingeneral; Wurtz (Chemistry), the chemistry of digestion;Dolbeau (Surgical Pathology), surgical diseases of regions;Le Fort, therapeutics of bones, joints, and vessels; Lorain,historical study of the pulse; Robin, generation and de-velopment of anatomical elements and humours. Besidesthe above official cliniques and lectures, Dr. Roger is tolecture on diseases of children at the Hôpital des Enfants,and Dr. Isambert to lecture and demonstrate with the laryn-goseope at Lariboisiere.Whilst on the subject of the School of Medicine, I may

just mention that the various reports which have been incirculation here the last few days, touching a change in theperson of the dean, are quite groundless. Neither Prof.Depaul nor Prof. Chauffard is to be appointed in the steadof Prof. Wurtz, who retains the deanship.

SPECIAL PAVILION FOR PARTURIENT WOMEN AT THE

LYING-IN HOSPITAL.

M. Labrousse, architect of the Paris hospitals, is justgiving a finishing touch to a special pavilion which has beenbuilt on the grounds of the Maternite, according to a schemeof Dr. Tarnier, and for the special purpose of studying thequestion of infection amongst puerperal women. The build-

ing has been constructed on a plan to avoid any contactamongst its inmates; to isolate not only the patients, buttheir nurses and other attendants. It is a system of abso-lute isolation of several patients inhabiting the samepavilion or block of building. In some future letter I willgive you a detailed account of the architectural arrange-ments.

THE SEINE HUTS FOR ASSISTANCE TO THE APPARENTLY

DROWNED.

Three wooden huts for aid to the apparently drownedhave been constructed on the banks of the Seine, near thebridges of Pont d’Arcole, Pont des Invalides, and Pont desSaints Peres. The increasing number of suicides bydrowning has suggested the idea of the construction of theselittle houses for giving immediate relief to the immersed.They are extremely plain in appearance, but are fitted upinside with all that is necessary for carrying out the purposesfor which they have been built, the furniture consistingprincipally of bedding, hand-barrows, boat-hooks, medicine-chests, &c.

SANITARY ASPECTS OF UTILISATION OF SEWAGE.

In connexion with a demand for funds to carry out theutilisation of sewage in one of the large fields near Paris, aninteresting discussion took place at the last meeting of theMunicipal Council on the sanitary results of utilisation ofsewage. Some of the orators, especially M. Lesage andthe son of the famous chemist, M. Raspail, declared thatthe sewage irrigation of the large fields of Gennevi1liers andAsnieres, for agricultural purposes, was fraught with dangerto the public health. The stench was intolerable, the in-

habitants of both localities were rtrongly opposed to thepractice, and if it were carried on there was no doubt thatsoon a focus of disease and epidemics would be establishedas was the case in the port of Marseilles and the Gulf ofMexico. It was therefore better, they concluded, that nofurther grant of money for the extension of the practiceshould be made until the Sanitary Committee had reportedon the subject. This was met by arguments from the Pre-fect of the Seine and the Chief of the Sewerworks of Paris,who asserted that the practice had been commended, thatthe works had been carried out by competent men, andthat there existed no complaints from the inhabitants ashad been stated. So the Council voted the amount de-manded.

MEDICAL POLITICS.

Yesterday the large lecture hall of the School of Medi-cine was crowded to the full when the hour for ProfessorChauffard’s inaugural lecture drew near, and a great manywho had been unable to find place in the room gathered inthe large courtyard of the Faculty. When the professorentered the room, accompanied by the dean, he was greetedwith a tremendous noise, amongst which the cries of 11 Abas les Royalistes," "A bas les cJéricaux," were loudly pro-minent. For several minutes the professor was unable tospeak, his voice being drowned by the din each time heattempted to make himself heard, and as, notwithstandingthe dean’s strenuous efforts, nothing would induce theaudience to be silent, Mr. Chauffard withdrew in companywith the dean. After quoting the cries which were profferedon the occasion, it is scarcely necessary for me to say whatwas the object of this new manifestation of the students.Mr. Chauffard is accused of being kindly inclined in his

opinions to the "throne and the altar," and a report circu-lated recently as to his possible appointment to the dean-ship of the school. Inde irco. It is said that a great manyother people than students of the school were present onthe occasion and took part in the manifestation, so thatnext time Mr. Chauffard will have to lecture none butmedical students provided with their cards will be admittedinto the lecture-room.

Paris, Nov. 10th, 1874.

Medical News.ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.-

The following gentlemen passed the primary examinationin Anatomy and Physiology on Wednesday last :-W. H. Weddell, St. Mary’s Hospital ; Henry Foster, Leed< ; M. E. Vail-

lant, Vienna ; Wm. S. Anderson, Glasgow ; Jas. S. Orchard, Aberdeen ;G. S. K. Bigg and E. E. Price, Middlesex Hospital ; F. 1. Hicks, F. C.Smith, S. Caffyn, and II. Coates, University Coilege ; J. H. Irvin, V. A.Wartenberg, and F. H. Smelt, Manchester; C. Ward and J. E. G. Sykes,London Hospital; A. E. Livsey, Liverpool; P. J. H. Williams, Dublin;H. S. Reynolds, Birmingham ; A. W. Renny, Edinburgh; J. H. J.Baillie, A. Brumell, J. W. Ellis, and W. Collingridge, St. Bartholomew’sHospital; W. Farrant, 0. T. Slatter, H. W. Ewen, and E. F. Ingram,Guy’s Hospital; F. H. H. Guillemard and E. Elsmere, Cambridge ;Robert Kains, Toronto ; A. 31. Phelps, Cambridge and St. Thomas’sHospital

Of the 38 candidates examined, 6 failed to satisfy the Courtof Examiners, and were referred for three months’ furtheranatomical and physiological study.

APOTHECARIES’ HALL. - The following gentlemenpassed their examination in the Science and Practice of Medi-cine and received certificates to practise on Nov. 5th :-

Kershaw, Joseph, Byrom-street, Manchester.Newton, Edward Shackfield, Canon bury-park.Strugnell, Frederick William, Carlton-road, Kilburn.Tomlin, Robt. Franci-, Lewisham-road, Newcross.

The following gentlemen passed the Primary ProfessionalExamination on the same day :-John Davev Henwood, Charing-cross Hosp.; Alfred Lingard, St.Thomas’sHosp.; Edward Argent Saunders, University College.

Mll,. JOHN A. LORIMER received a grant of &pound;5 9s.last week from the Local Government Board for the effcientstate of vaccination in his district, Farnham, Surrey.SCHOOL OF PHYSIC, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.-

The Board of Trinity College have appointed the followingexaminers, in conjunction with the professors, to conductthe medical examinations in the following suhjects :-M i-teria Medica, Dr. Rawdon Macnamara ; Botany, Dr. DavidMoore; Physics, Rev. J. A. Galbraith.