board in nearly the last stage of the disease, yet in no case did they communicate the fever to the shipping. One marine officer, (whose name I cannot at this moment recollect, but which might easily be found by referring to the ship's books at the Admiralty,) being very ill with the fever at a detached station called Vieux Fort, gave orders to his men to put him into a canoe, in which he was rowed on board the Ulysses, of 44 guns, commanded by Capt. C. J. W. Nesham, who now commands the Melville. The patient declared that he began to revive while in the canoe, as he believed from the effects of sea air, and he recovered rapidly after reaching the ship. Yet no officer or seaman belonging to the Ulysses had any attack of feverWhere then was contagion? The patients who remained on shore nearly all perished, while those who were lucky enough to reach the shipping recovered invariably-Can any thing but malaria account for this? In 1807 or 1808, H. M. Ship Ulysses, of 44 guns, Capt. Nesham, reached Barbadoes with a convoy from England. One of the midshipmen named Thomas Wood, with whom I was most intimate, went on shore to look at Bridge Town, and was immediately seized with yellow fever. The next morning I attended him to the hospital. My poor friend was in a raging delirium, and as I held him partly in my arms while in the boat, the black vomit came on, which he ejected over my hands and clothing. Yet I had no attack. Where then was the contagion ?-When Capt. Bourchier commanded the Medina sloop-of-war in the West Indies, he anchored upon one occasion in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, close in under the land, opposite to the old naval dock-yard. Here his men fell sick so fast, that he was induced to move the vessel to another anchorage at a considerable distance farther from the shore, when the fever immediately abated! Was it not, therefore, oc.casioned in the first instance by malaria, the influence of which ceased upon changing the ship's position? or if the disease was propagated by contagion, why should it abate upon merely shifting the anchorage? I remain, &c. The Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. MR. EDITOR. Some discussion having arisen lately as to the corps of Gentlemen Pensioners, allow me to observe that in the present days of economy and retrenchment, it is really "too bad" that the country should be put to a heavy expense in paying a party of London tradesmen for acting as Gardes du corps to his Majesty, whilst so many hundreds of veteran officers, who have spent the best part of their lives in his service abroad, and therefore are his fittest guards at home, would be proud and delighted to be allowed that privilege. Let the vacancies, as they occur, be filled up in future by his Majesty in person from amongst the veteran half-pay officers of the Line and Marines; let none be appointed who have not been more than once actually engaged with the enemy; let them be officered by retired general officers, and, if it should be thought advisable, let them be under the same restrictions as to personal appearance, height, &c. as the picked corps in the army; and then the Sovereign would be guarded by the élite of his veteran soldiers, and we need not be ashamed of pointing out to foreigners our British Gardes du corps for fear of exciting their laughter at such an awkward squad of respectable citizens as now do that honourable duty. Our kind-hearted Monarch would be delighted to have it in his power thus to reward those who have deserved so well of their country, whilst the people would see with pleasure that those who had done their duty in the camp were still distinguished at the court. H. Proposition for a United Service Medical Society. MR. EDITOR,-Will you permit me to recommend, through the medium of your Journal, the establishment of a society consisting of the medical officers of the army on full and half-pay, which might be denominated, "The Medical and Physical Society of the British Army." A similar society or association was established a few years since, viz. "The Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta," which comprehends a very considerable portion of the Medical Department of Bengal, and several members of the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, amounting altogether to from 200 to 300 members. The society is, I believe, patronized by the members of the Medical Board of Bengal, a patronage which does the Board much honour; it evinces a liberal spirit, and a disposition to encourage measures which have a direct influence in promoting the improvement of the officers under their superintendence, and the advancement of medical science. The Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta has already published four volumes of Transactions. When so much has been effected in so short a time by the Medical Establishment of the Bengal Presidency, what may be expected from a society embracing the Medical Department of the British Army? "The benefits of occasional publication are in no case more evident than in the science of medicine. Amidst the varied opportunities for observation which its unbounded sphere of action developes, many circumstances of a peculiar character, many conclusions of wide applicability must occur to individual practitioners. The experience of its professors is the common property of the profession; but incidental reflections may be too brief for formal record-a solitary fact too unsafe a base for generalization, and therefore neither the one nor the other would be communicated to the world, unless there existed some unpretending repository in which they might be registered for farther verification or correction. Periodicals are to us what the tables in the temples of Esculapius were to his ministers, with all the advantages derivable from the improved nature of the medium, and the more justly grounded doctrines of modern practice."-Preface to the 1st volume of the Transactions of the Medical Society of Calcutta. The primary purpose of medical societies is professional improvement, viz. improvement of the individual members, and improvement of the science of medicine. The general amount of improvement will, perhaps, depend more on the numbers that write, than upon the quantity written. Medical men, whether they belong to the army or not, should consider it an incumbent duty to record whatever remarkable facts may come under their observation, which they may think entitled to the attention of other members of the profession. Those who endeavour to improve themselves in this way, cannot fail to promote the welfare of their patients, and advance medical science. Those who record facts will carefully observe phenomena; patients will be benefited in the first instance by assiduous observation, and eventually the advantages will extend to the profession. The society might be so constituted as to include the medical officers of the Royal Navy, when it should be denominated "The United Service Medical and Physical Society." The following is an estimate of the probable number of medical officers entitled to become members of the society, viz. This is a very extensive field for recruiting a numerous and efficient society. When we witness a few medical practitioners in provincial towns supporting respectable periodical publications, can it be doubted that the combined exertions of the medical officers of the army and navy would produce a body of transactions that might reflect the highest credit upon the members of the departments to which they belong? The literary and professional attainments of the medical officers of the army and navy are not inferior to the qualifications of practitioners in civil life. During peace they have commonly more time at command, and in many other respects they have infinitely better opportunities for collecting and communicating interesting information. Why should these excellent, and in some measure, peculiar advantages, be thrown away or allowed to remain inoperative? The leading object of the society should be the advancement of professional knowledge, more especially in regard to the means of preserving the health of soldiers and sailors, and of treating them under disease. Natural history would, almost as a matter of course, receive a considerable degree of attention. Under these general heads are included, Military and Naval Hygiene, the Meteorology and Medical Topography of different countries, the diseases of particular races of mankind and climates, descriptions of animals and their diseases, &c. &c. &c. Our medical literature is remarkably deficient in general practical instructions regarding the initiation and conduct of young men who are entering upon the practice of the medical profession. For example, we have no work which comprehends a full detail of the duties of an assistantsurgeon in the army or navy, calculated to instruct a young medical officer upon entering either of the services to which he may belong. To be more specific,-where will he find instructions respecting the duties of a medical officer upon a "punishment parade," or when a sailor is " brought to the gangway." I need not point out how important it is for a young medical officer to be instructed in the nature of those duties before he is called on to execute them-how apt he is to go wrong-and how culpable he may appear to be, when he is only uninformed. Essays or observations on these topics by Veterans of the army and navy. are much wanted, and would perhaps appear upon the formation of a United Service Medical Society. A library and a museum might eventually form part of the establishment. Every facility should be afforded, not only for the publication of the elaborate communications of members, but even for single facts derived from cases, which in other respects may not be very remarkable, or detached observations upon points of duty, more especially when communicated by officers of long experience. I sincerely hope that the members of both establishments, who are anxious for their own improvement, and the respectability of the service in which they are engaged, will bestir themselves for the purpose of forming an association, and I trust its promoters may reckon on your assistance to circulate an address to the medical officers of the army and navy in your excellent periodical. As the object of a United Service Medical Society would be intimately connected with the public good, perhaps the Secretary-at-War would grant permission for the communications of members being conveyed through his office, for the purpose of saving postage. There can be no harm, at least, in soliciting this boon, and a great boon it would be. DUKUM DARAH. EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO; OR NAVAL AND MILITARY REGISTER. AFFAIRS AT HOME AND ABROAD. BELGIUM, still blatant and blun-THE majority of the House of dering, has thought to redeem her Commons having persevered with follies, and console herself for resuccess in maintaining what they jection where her affections were conscientiously considered to be the bestowed, by offering her tinsel rights and interests of their con- crown, as a pis-aller, to Prince stituents, and the integrity of the Leopold. Whether His Royal British Constitution, the Parliament Highness will consent to unite himwas precipitately, and, on the part self to so ricketty a partner is not of the Ministers, oppressively and yet positively announced. insultingly dissolved. The predicament of HIS MAJESTY, thus rashly and incapably advised, has awakened the fears and roused the vigilance of his loyal subjects. The ITALIAN insurgents have, in the late, as in former instances, played the part of Punch with characteristic felicity. They ran away, as a matter of course, from the Austrians, and now complain, with some show of reason, that their Gallic neighbours, having first excited them to revolt, left them at last in the lurch. Italy, for the present, is appeased; and the Pope promises to ameliorate the political condition of his States. His Holiness, we hope, will keep his word, however unworthy of the boon his recreant flock may be. POLAND alone, setting aside the proximate causes of her revolt, presents a spectacle claiming unmixed admiration. To the soldier's glance, the attitude of her martial people is especially striking, and replete with interest. Proposing to give, from our own sources, a complete narrative of the illustrious transactions of this national war, divested of the absurdities with which exaggeration and prejudice obscure its passing details, we shall offer only a few general remarks on a subject so familiar. The breaking up of the frost, by which the roads and rivers of I Poland were rendered difficult or impassable, was a providential interposition for its defenders, who, in the ardour of patriotism still adhere to the spirit of Religion and the dictates of common sense. Its duration for another week would inevitably have put the Russians in possession of Warsaw, and decided the subjection of Poland. The delay has been of incalculable benefit, in a moral sense, to that gallant People, although no efforts, however heroic, on their part, can, we fear, ultimately arrest the military success of their adversaries. It will be seen, by an original and authentic Memoir of Count Diebitsch, given in our present Number, of what stuff that General is made; nor are we justified in assuming, that a commander, so practised and endowed, should suddenly cease to give proofs either of ability or experience ;-especially before an antagonist, who, however brilliant in sudden action, and favoured by circumstances, is yet wholly unused to direct systematically the great operations of his art. It appears that in the latter end of March, Count Diebitsch, foiled by the thaw, having made demonstrations of manœuvring to his left upon the Upper Vistula, and detached, with that view, the First corps under Count Pahlen and the division of Guards of the Grand Duke Constantine, while his headquarters remained at Zelichow and Ryki on the 29th ult. and 3rd. April; the Polish Generalissimo, with equal enterprize and judgment, effected a forward night movement from Praga with great secrecy, and succeeded on the 31st March in surprising and defeating the corps of General Geismar posted at Wawer. Following up his success, he also, after some prudent hesitation, fell upon the corps of General Rosen, occupy ing a position still farther in the rear, over which he also gained advantages on the first of April at Dembi-Wielki. Since those events, a series of active operations have ensued, and an important diversion has at least been secured by Zkrzynecki in the partial revolt of the Polish Provinces in the rear of and around the Russian armies. In a military view, however, the advanced posi tion of the Polish General, operating on a line perpendicular to that of his opponent, his flanks exposed and his communications liable to be cut off, while Warsaw is uncovered, cannot be considered otherwise than critical;-assuming that his skilful adversary has not altogether lost his head, that he commands superior resources, that his principal masses are unbroken and re-uniting, the first corps and Guards not having, in fact, been engaged, and that the season once more favours their concert and offensive operations. General Rosen had fallen back on a fresh corps, taken post on the Lieviecz, and checked the farther advance of the chivalrous Pole. A decisive shock of some kind between the contending parties must speedily take place, if the war be prosecuted. ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. April 8.-Francis Baily, Esq. V.P. in the chair.-A_communication from the Astronomer Royal was read on the rections hitherto used in the calculaobliquity of the Ecliptic. The cortions of the sun's declination, were by the tables drawn up by Bradley. Mr. Pond having found some small differences, has constructed new tables, which were presented to the Society with the above communication. paper was read on the construction of glass lenses for achromatic telescopes, communicated by a French artist. The progress made in this art, and the extent at which it has arrived, were detailed, as well as the desiderata A |