950

that was as bold in its conception as it was ludicrous in itsfailure. They suddenly represented to the Lord Chancellor,at the request of fifteen freeholders, that the duties of thecoronership for the county of Middlesex were so over-

whelmingly arduous that two men should not be asked toundertake them. The magistrates therefore prayed the

Lord Chancellor to supersede the writ that he had issued forthe election on Feb. 18th and to appoint that two instead ofone coroner should be elected to fill the vacancy in the

coronership of West Middlesex. The action of the magistrateswas not creditable to their sagacity. Tories to a man, theydreaded the employment of a Radical, and in particular ofa Radical who had spoken evilly of the unpaid justiciary.Wakley’s only serious opponent, a solicitor named Adey, wasmuch more after their heart. When it wag seen thatMr. Adey was certain to be worsted the magistrates hopedto secure his return for half the district if they couldpersuade the Lord Chancellor, Lord Cottenham, to appointtwo coroners. But the personal and political prejudices that ihad led to their action were recognised by the press, and themove was stigmatised by, among others, the Globe, the

.Ex2miner, the Mornirtg Ckronicle, and THE LANCET asunworthy and disingenuous. The latter it certainly was, forthe work had previously been done to the apparent satis-faction of the magistrates by Mr. Stirling single-handed,and Mr. Stirling was a practising solicitor, clerk to, these

very magistrates, and ninety-four years of age ! The LordChancellor curtly answered the memorialists that he saw noreason for acceding to their request.On Feb. 18th polling began, and by the evening of the

same day Wakley had polled 1824 votes, against 471 givenfor his opponent. On Wednesday Mr. Adey had stillnot registered much more than a quarter of the number ofthe votes that had been given for Wakley and on the even-ing of that day he retired. Strong pressure had been putupon him by Wakley’s personal and political foes to contestthe election to the end of the seventh day, which would havemeant an enormously increased expense to Wakley, but hehad the sense to refuse to accede to such malicious advice,which, moreover, would not have had the desired effect of

depleting Wakley’s purse, as the freeholders themselves

formed a committee to defray all Wakley’s future charges bysubscription among them As the Morning Chronicle said inrecommending such a fund to the public : " This is not the

battle ground of Reformer and Tory, and we should

deprecate its being made so. The man best able to

discharge the duties of coroner is the man who

ought to be elected. The freeholders of the countyare manifestly in favour of Mr. Wakley ; and his opponentssay by their thus vexatiously carrying on the contest, I Ifwe cannot beat him by votes we will ruin him by expense."’ The final result of the poll was-Wakley, 2015 ; Adey, 582 ;and on Feb. 25th, 1839, Wakley became coroner of WestMiddlesex.

(To be continued )

THE ASSOCIATION OF FELLOWS OF THEROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

OF ENGLAND.

A MEETING of the Committee of the Association of Fellowsof the Royal College of Surgeons of England was held onSept. 20th, Mr. C. W. Mansell Moullin being in the chair.The reading of the minutes of the previous meeting wasdeferred. In view of the circular to be issued by the Councilto Fellows of the College on Oct. lst, inviting the expressionof their opinion upon the question of the representation of

the Members of the College on the Council, the followingappeal to the Fellows was unanimously adopted :-REPRESENTATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE ON THE COUXCIL,

To the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.A circular is now being issued by the Council of the Royal College of

Surgeons of England to all the Fellows of the College for the purposeof ascertaining the opinion of the Fellows on the que!tion of the repre-sentation of the Members of the College upon the Council. This stephas been taken by the Council because at the half-yearly meeting ofthe Fellows held in January last a resolution was carried by a verylarge majority of the Fellows present affirming the principle that itis desirable to give to the Members of the College direct repre-sentation upon the Council. Feeling convinced ourselves thatthe time has come to set at rest a long-agitated question andto enlist in support of the College the active sympathies and coöpera-tion of the large body of Members who now have no voice what-ever in the management of the great surgical corporation which theymaterially contribute to maintain, by making a concession wbich canbe productive of nothing but good to the institution, we venture toappeal to you to endorse the resolution which a very repre-sentative meeting passed with very few dissentients. The con-

cession asked for is one which will virtually detract nothingfrom the privileges of the Fellows who will continue to electtwenty-four Members of Council if a few seatR are added to the Councilfor the representation of the Members of the College. In this way theMembers will secure a safe channel for the expression of their viewsand wishes and the Council will have the advantage of being brought

into touch with the main body of its constituents. All we are concernedwith now is to secure the affirmation by the Fellows of the principle ofthe representation of the Members, for with regard to the mode of re-presentation-whether by Fellows or Members of the College-we donot desire here to express any opinion as we think it best to leave thisdetail to be determined for himself by each individual Fellow.

A communication was received from Mr. W. G. Dickinson,secretary to the Society of the Members of the College, inanswer to the resolution passed by the Committee of theAssociation of Fellows at the last meeting asking the societyto join with the Committee in inviting Mr. Walter Rivingtonto come forward as a candidate for the General MedicalCouncil. Mr. Dickinson stated that owing to the dispersionof the members of the executive committee of the societyfor the vacation a meeting had not yet been held, but thatthe committee would meet on Friday, Oct. 2nd, to considerthe matter, and would immediately communicate both withthe hon. secretary of the Committee and with Mr. Rivington.It was agreed that an early meeting of the Committee shouldbe held in October. This concluded the business of the

meeting, and the Committee adjourned.

JENNER MEMORIAL MEDAL.

WE are requesed by the Honorary Treasurer of the

Epidemiological Society to publish the accompanying (first)list of subscribers to the Jenner Memorial Medal Fund.

Subscriptions are limited to one guinea, and will be receivedby Dr. Sweeting, 6, Hereford - mansions, Bayswater,London, W.

JB s. d £ s d.Dr. H. Armstrong ...... 1 1 0 Dr. Longstaff ......... 1 1 0Dr. Robert Barnes ...... 1 1 0 Dr.McVail ......... 1 1 0Mr. F. Blackwell ...... 0 10 6 Mr. G. A. Miskin ...... 0 10 6Dr. F. T. Bond (Glou- Mr. T. Mitchell ...... 1 1 0

cester) ............ 1 1 0 Dr. Müller (Buda Pesth) 0 16 8Dr. W. A. Bond ...... 1 1 0 Mr. Shirley F. MurphyMr. M. Brownfield...... 1 1 0 (President) ......... 1 1 0Dr. Bulstrode (Hon. Mr. J. Norton ......... 1 1 0Secretary) ......... 1 1 0 Dr. Louis Parkes ...... 1 1 0

Dr. F. Clemow (Cron- Dr. Franklin Parsons ... 1 1 0stadt) ...............1 1 1 0 Dr.Payne ............ 1 1 0

Dr. A. E. Cope......... 1 1 0 Fleet-Surgeon TheodoreDr. Andrew Davidson ... 1 1 0 Preston, R.N....... 1 1 0Dr. Dickson (Constanti- Dr. Pye-Smith ...... 1 1 0nople) ............ 1 1 0 Mr. J. F. Rogers ...... 1 1 0

Dr. Donnet, R.N....... 1 1 0 Dr. Saltet (Amsterdam)... 0 10 6Dr. W. W. E. Fletcher... 1 1 0 Brigade-Surgeon J. B.Mr. Andrew Fuller...... 0 10 6 Scriven ............ 1 0 0Mr. E. Goddard ...... 1 1 0 Sir John Simon, K.C.B. 1 1 0Surgeon-General Gordon, Dr. Smart ............ 0 10 6C.B................ 0 10 6 Dr. Sonsino (Pisa)....., 0 4 0

Mr. E. C. Greenwood ... 1 1 0 Dr. Sweeting (hon.treas.) 1 1 0Mr. A. L. Griffiths ...... 0 10 6 Dr. Theodore Thomson... 1 1 0Dr. Grigg ............ 1 1 0 SirJ. Tholozan, K.C.M.G.Dr. S. Hague ......... 1 1 0 (Teheran, Persia) ... 1 1 0Dr. Hamer............ 1 1 0 Dr. Thorne Thorne, C.B. 1 1 0Dr. Hare ............ 1 1 0 Dr. Washbourn ...... 1 1 0Dr. Harrison ......... 1 1 0 Mr. S. Welch ......... 0 10 6Surg.-Gen. Sir Anthony Dr. Wheaton ......... 1 1 0Home, K.C.B., V.C.... 1 1 0 Dr. Whitelegge ...... 1 1 0

Dr. B. 0. Hopwood ...... 1 1 0 Dr. J. T. Wllson ...... 0 10 0Mr. V. Jaynes .........1 1 1 0 Dr. Young....., ’" .., 1 1 0Dr. J. Little (Dublin) ... 1 1 0 Mr. J. Loane ......... 1 1 0 Total......... ,.. £ 52 18 8