MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN AMERICA.

315 MEDICAL

and monopolies, in the whole system of medical government, and

cies, absurdities,

EXAMINATIONS.

followinghas been forwarded to why should not we (theApothecaries Com- us by a correspondent, as a specimen of pany) be allowed to partake of the sweets questions which are sometimes put of those inconsistencies, absurdities, and the grinders to their pupils,preby medical monopolies, as well as others ?’ Listen paratory to examination at Apothecaries not, my Lord, to the whisperings and me- Hall :morials of interested monopolists, their ’" MR. WILLIAMS. Can you giveme the colleges and companies must be abolished physiology of the cock’s crowing ? or entirely remodelled, else they will conPUPIL. (Af’ter a Pause.) No, Sir. tinue what they ever have been-not a " MR. W. Do you know the physiology blessing, but a curse to the land ; I say a of the braying of an ass ? curse, because I believe if none of them " PUPIL. (In amazement.) No, Sir. had ever existed, the science of medicine "MR. W. Then, Sir, you must make would, at the present day, have attained yourself acquainted with them, and come a higher degree of perfection in England me in two days." than it now boasts. I am, my Lord, &c. These queries may appear extraordiR.R. CouRTNEY, COURTNEY, Surg., uSrg., R.N. R.N. nary to some of our uninitiated readers, THE

’*

’

to

’ but

we have no reason to doubt them on the°score of imnrobabilitv. Thev are not unlikely questions to be put by the Old To the Editor ofTHE LANCET. Ladies in Bridge Street, or indeed in Linit is know not whether worth coln’s, Inn Fields. It is not many weeks SIR,—I while occupying a portion of your pages since a formal inquiry was made of a with remarks on the trash contained in pupil at the Hall, relative to the " best the catch-penny called the Medical Gazette, metal for making tea-pots;" and Sir WilBlizard, not long since, put the fol. yet as there is a note in the last number of that periodical which may possibly gull question to a student at an examiI a few junior students into the belief that nation at the College-.-" Which makes the editor possesses at least some classical the best pie, young man, roasted pheaor baked partridge?" knowledge (though deficient in all other branches), it may be as well to notice it. This wonderful scholar does not know that " Valetudinarium" is Latin, and MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN AMERICA. " Nosocomium" latinized Greek (&ngr;o&sgr;o- -Some medical gentlemen emigrate from &kgr;oµ∈o&ngr;). This erudite scholar does not the United States into Canada ; but I beknow that the golden and silver preceded lieve they are never employed where one the iron age. Be talks about the " writers from Great Britain or Ireland can be proof the iron age," and with all simplicity cured. American physicians do not cominforms us that his first authority for monly place themselves in any situation "Nosocomium" is " Justinian," anno in which competition with Europeans is 1 will give an older authority-viz. St. hazarded. If any professional man from Jerom. This classical critic’s congenial the States be found in such neighbourhood, mind is truly adapted to the leaden age, he forms an exception from the general or it belongs to one of clay. However, cenThere was one such at Thornhill, turies before his authorities were born, his skill was not considered as " the Romans used Valetudinarium." entitling him to much patronage : his Translate Celsus wrong as he likes, I practice was very limited, and confined appeal to Seneca,* born six years before chiefly to the lower orders. A medical Christ, and Columella,† who wrote about man who cannot ride much on horsethe year 45. These are the writers of the back ought not to go into that country. " iron age," according to the Gazetteer. So highly are doctors paid in some places, He bows with deference to the golden age densely populated, that towns and villages of " Justinian." well supplied. Medical men With regard to the miserable essay to from the States are often found wandering its which the note alluded to is and down, and, where European phyup malice is too palpable for it to mislead sicians or surgeons are not found, take anv one. So I leave it to its fate. I of the practice. In more repossession M. S. J. WOOLLETT. mote places, a doctor has frequently to 64, George St., Euston Sq., May 28. ride fifteen or twenty miles to many of his patients. The English medical gentle* Ad Lucilium—also De et Ira, in Questionibus. man near us was often sent for to the above + Lib. 2. cap. I, and lib. 12. cap.3. The ltalians have no word correspanding with Nosocomium,"distance. His charge for an ordinary but they have Ospizio and Valetudinario. journey was a dollar a mile. He was

CLASSICS IN

LONGMAN’S

MEDICAL FLOAT. i

Ilowing liam sant, I

527.

I

rule. but

am.&c.

attached, are generally

"

316

making a rapid fortune, and becoming one of the wealthiest gentlemen in the neighbourhood. There are many places upon Yonge Street, and in the districts around - and I believe in every district of the country-which are very populous, and where any respectable medical practitioner might settle his family in certain affluence.—Rev. Mr. Fidleu’s United States and Canada. XING’S

COLLEGE. - We find by the a distribution of prizes has this week taken place among the medical pupils of King’s College, London. No intimation of the event was forwarded to us, or a gentleman would have attended from this journal to communicate a teport of the proceedings for our columns, when we would with great pleasure also have recorded the names of the successful tudents. Several letters have been addressed to the Editor, detailing and comtnenting on the events of the day, but as the writers have all of them forgotten to authenticate their communications, we refrain from publishing any of them. Most of our correspondents, however, seem to think that the Right Rev. Chairman (the Bishop of London) laboured under a full impression that there was no school in London through which medical students stood any chance of escaping in later life from the dominion of a certain fallen potentate but that of King’s College.

daily journals that

suffered so little from the gonorrhcea, that he did not even apply to any medical man, but contented himself with taking "balsum capivi"" and sweet spirits of nitre, keeping his bowels open with salts. About a fortnight after the discharge had entirely disappeared, he became extremely unwell, complaining of lassitude and fever, considerable pain about the knee and shoulder-joints, with pain in the head. He then applied to a medical man, who told him that he had gonorrhoeal rheumatism, and treated him accordingly. In a short time an eruption appeared over the face and trunk, as also on both the arms and thighs. When admitted, the eruption was principally about the body and arms. The appearance was extremely in character. In some places the papulæ consisted of a simple elevation of the cuticle, with an inflamed margin. While others were disappearing, those which had fallen off left small spots, of a dull red colour. The eruption would at times very materially decline, when sud. denly a fresh crop of pimples would make their appearance. The treatment adopted was the warmbath, and purging, after which he took five grains of blue pill night and morning, and a drachm of the extract of sarsaparilla, three times a day. Under this plan, the eruption disappeared, and he left the hospital quite cured.

various

LITHOTOMY.—John Clark, THE FLOAT.—Scene—Bookseller’s

Shop. CUSTOMER. (Taking up Longrnan’s Cata. logue.) What! still alive! How the deuce

does the Gazet te manage to keep its head above water?—BOOKSELLER. Because it is empty, Sir.

LONDON HOSPITAL. PAPULAR

ERUPTION

SUCCEEDING

GONORRHŒA.

A man, aetat. 27, was lately admitted with the statement, that in the latter part of last November he contracted a gonorrhoea, which was not severe, nor was the

discharge from the urethra considerable, while the pain in making water was trifling. He denies having at any period had chancre, and says that he is confident, that during the time he laboured under the gonorrhoea he had no ulcer on the penis. There certainly is, on examination, no appearance of any chancre having existed. He never had chordee, nor any affection of the glands of the groin, and

aged six

years, was admitted May 21st, under the care of Mr. Scott, with severe symptoms of stone in the bladder, which had existed for several months. On the introduction of a small sound a calculus was distinctly felt. He was ordered to remain quiet in bed, and to take carbonate of soda, 10 grains, in a mucilage mixture, three times a day. On the 29th, Mr. Scott performed the operation of lithotomy. Some little difficulty was at first felt in detecting the presence of the stone, in consequence of the bladder being very much distended with urine, the patient having had a yoke the penis from 11 till 1 o’clock, and drunk plentifully of barley-water. A catheter, however, was introduced, and a small quantity of the fluid withdrawn, when the calculus was easily felt by all the surgeons. It was then readily extracted, and proved to be of about the size and shape of a kidney-bean, and apparently composed of oxalate of lime. " Blizard’s knife" was used : the operation lasted two minutes and a half. When our report left the Hospital (an hour after the operation), the patient was perfectly tranquil, and in

on

a

comfortable sleep.