UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.—APPOINTMENT OF MR. SYME.

108 3. All Members of the College of Physicians. III. That tell tickets for each lecture be further placed at the disposal of the trustees. IV. That the charge to be made to other persons be apby the trustees." SiB,ňIhave, during the twenty years of my professional proved I add, that however disposed I might individually be of and may reader THE been subscriber to a constant LANCET, life, the liberal opinions of which periodical I have generally had to extend the right of free admission to the members of the occasion to admire, consequently I have been rather surprised College, to which I have myself the honour of belonging, or and disappointed at the paragraph in the last number but one, to render the course more accessible to the public in general, and the more lengthened, or rather the leading article in the I am restrained by consideration for the rights and interests last number, reflecting on the recent appointment in Univer- of my successors in the lectureship, (a fresh appointment to five years,) who might reasonably sity College, the spirit of which appears to me to savour more which willoftake place every on my part, from the instructions any departure, of the last than the present century. The propriety of the complain of the the of the College of Sur. trustees. Should members is found fault not from appointment with, any disqualification geons think fit to apply to the trustees for an extension of the on the part of Mr. Syme, but because he was not educated at of free admission to their own body, I can only say that University College, and is a ScotchmanI I really had hoped right to read more liberal sentiments and worthier arguments in I shall be most happy, so far as I am myself concerned, to the pages of THE LANCET. The late Mr. Liston was not edu- see them amongst my auditors.-I am, Sir, your obedient cated at University College, and he was a Scotchman; and yet servant, WILLIAM B. CARPENTER. London, Jan. 1848. I think you will agree with me in saying, that his name added not a little to the reputation of the College and Hospital. Mr. THE LONDON AND PROVINCIAL MEDICAL Syme’s standing in the profession is about the same as the late’ Mr. Liston, both as regards the length of his career, and his DIRECTORY. celebrity as a sound practical surgeon as well as an operator, FROM DR. DANIEL GOSSET.] [LETTERS which, with his published works, have long since earned for To the Editor of THE LANCET. him an European reputation, and led to his having, nineteen SiR,ňAbout a week since I sent the accompanying letter to years ago, by far the largest surgical class in Edinburgh, attended by students from all parts of the globe; and manyythe editors of the " London and Provincial Medical Directory," (myself among the number) from the southernmost parts off with the object therein set forth. Not having received any this island. I feel much interested in the success of a liberal1 reply thereto, I have to request that you will (if you think I institution like University College, and on that account wass have asked no more than I was entitled to) publish my letter, pleased to hear of the recent appointment. I entertain a veryy or such portion of it as is necessary to place me in the posihigh opinion of, and personal respect for, Mr. Morton, and1 tion I am entitled to occupy. Doubtless you have forgotten hope to see him become one of the " stars" of the profession- me ere this, but I was a fellow student with you. Should you wish to write to me, address to my brother’s residence, 40, a position to which his professional abilities and estimable; character will doubtless lead him, but whose present standingBroad-street Buildings, City.-I am, Sir, yours obediently, DANIEL GOSSET. in the profession is, I think, hardly such as to have justifiedI December, 1847. his being appointed successor to the late eminent surgeon,, To the Editors of the London and Provincial Medical whose loss the profession at large deplores. I beg to apoloDirectory. gize for troubling you with these remarks, which I have attention has just been called, by a leading sur"SIRS,—My written on the spur of the moment, regretting to see the in a near relative of mine, to the position you animus which pervaded the leading article of the last number: geon in London, so flattering a manner, allotted me in your Directory have, of THE LANCET, and beg to remark that I have not seen nor-a work which, from its long and professedly careful preparacommunicated with Mr. Syme since I had the satisfaction of as advertised in various ways, I thought must insure a tion, as his lectures above when acstated, attending my personal degree of correctness, as so much industry and caution quaintance with him was only such as students generally haveI great I apprehend that any perwere promised in its compilation. with their teachers.-I am, yours obediently, son fitted to undertake such a work, must, of course, be aware A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. London, Jan. 1848. that, from the multitude of persons he had to give some acP.S.-I wonder if surgeons in Edinburgh object to take’ count of, many of them, from various circumstances, would in THE LANCET on the ground of its being a slur on those con- not, or could not, send replies to the circulars received. nected with the profession there, not to produce medical Allow me to state mine own circumstances. I was in pracperiodicals sufficient for their wants, without sending across! tice in Leicester about twenty-eight years ; I was senior surthe border for one. geon to a dispensary in that large town for nine years ; and that I did not disgrace my professional position, I hope you THE SWINEY LECTURES ON GEOLOGY AT THE will not think me egotistical in adding, that I was a magistrate of the borough, a trustee of the church charities, and, ROYAL INSTITUTION. for a time, one of the town-council. I took my diploma at To the Editor qfTHE LANCET. the Royal College of Surgeons of England, May, 1816 ; my Sis,ňIcan have no possible objection to giving as full and licentiate’s degree at the Apothecaries’ Company in the folexplicit a reply as it is in my power to afford to the inquiries lowing year ; and in the summer and autumn of last year I of your correspondent, Mr. R. H. MACKENZIE, and to those went to Scotland, where, after working hard for a time, and which you have yourself appended to his communication. passing a severe examination, I took my degree of M.D. : and The lectureship in question has been recently created by yet you have done me the high honour and scrupulous justice the trustees of the British Museum, in accordance with the of placing my name in the list ofunqualified practitioners.’ will of the late Dr. GEORGE SwINEY, who left a sum of money Had you omitted my name altogether, I should have had no for the payment of an annual stipend of the lecturer, limiting ground of complaint, for I did not answer your circulars or buy the choice of the trustees to Doctors of Medicine of the your books, but when you place my name amongst those whom 6you are unable to find in either the list of the R.C.S.E., or University of Edinburgh. The following are the instructions which I have received the licentiates of the Apothecaries’ Company,’ you must cerfrom the trustees, relating to the delivery of the course and tainly impress every impartial person with the conviction, the free admission of certain members of the medical pro- that if your Directory be not altogether a trading speculation, fession. It will be seen that the advertisement referred to is at least it has been got up without much of that cautious inframed in accordance with them. vestigation and inquiry which such a book of course requires. "I. That the gentleman, who may be chosen to be the I am well known to Mr. Travers, Dr. Bright, Mr. Green, to Swiney lecturer, do find, for the delivery of his lectures, a Mr. Key, and Mr. Bransby Cooper-the two last were my felplace to be approved by the trustees of the British Museum, low students, and from whom I received the most flattering and that lie bear all expenses attending the preparation and letters when I was in Edinburgh last autumn. I could mention I know not how many others, but to do so is quite unnecessary. delivery of such lectures. II. That the following classes of persons be admitted to One reason for my not having replied to your circulars was, the Swiney lectures free of charge-viz., that I have been travelling with a sick daughter, whom I left 1. The trustees and the resident officers of the British a few days since on the coast. You profess to give a list of Museum, and also the assistants in the department of Natural the livery, and other members of the Apothecaries’ Company. It strikes my medical friends and myself, that unexampled History. 2. All Graduates of the University of Edinburgh. carelessness is manifested therein. I have been in the livery

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.—APPOINTMENT OF MR. SYME. To the Editor of THE LANCET.

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