B Ext. copaibe resinos, 3ij. Ext. cubebæ, 3j. Ol. essent. cubehæ, 3ij. Pulv. glycyrrhizæ, gr. xij. Mucilag. q suf. M. ft. mass. et in pil xxxvj. divid. Sumat. iv. ter die." Twelve pills a day!!, Why, surely a statute should be raised to the martyr who thus supports the pill trade! Staticians would tell you that this individual took 84 a week, 336 a month, or 1344 during the four months, and, as the poor fellow told me with a sigh, all to no purpose. When he related his tale, I was disposed to ask him, as Mr. Adolphus, the barrister, did a witness (who came forward on a trial to speak of the efficacy of large numbers of Morison's pills,) how he managed to swallow them: was it by the aid of a shovel, or a coal scuttle? for without such aid he (Mr. Adolphus) was unable to conceive it possible to boit these monster" doses; but, perhaps, this is the new plan of giving physic to the "million," and not adapted for private practice. But to be serious; these means are now seldom resorted to, and modern surgeons in private practice find it only necessary to re sort to some expedients for bulky or nauscous solids, and one of two others for liquids. The best plan of giving solids is by means of WAFER-PAPER. with genuine copaiba. I would suggest, however, to the paten. tees to increase the size, and make them uniform, or the surgeon will return to the gelatine capsules, which, when properly manu. factured, answer the purpose. The chemist should, in the selection of his capsules, take parti. cular care that no one of them leaks, or the odour of the oil will be rapidly communicated to the others, and our object in giving copaiba in this way frustrated. The patient should be told like. wise to take his capsules after meals.. By this means the gelatine will not iminediately be acted on by the gastric juice, and those unpleasant adjuncts to copaiba, eructations, will not be experienc. ed. Many persons will tell you they are unable to take pills, and feel convinced they will be unable to swallow capsules; recom. mend such sceptics to take about a dessert spoonful of water in their mouth, and then place the capsule on the tongue, when the whole will be swallowed without difficulty, whereas if the capsule often swallow the water, but the capsule will remain and produce be placed on the tongue and water be drunk, the patient will lar how soon the medicine will act and effect the purpose we have convulsive action of the pharynx. Given in this way, it is singu. in view; and it is no less remarkable that the stomach becomes tolerant of the medicine-a patient has not that tell-tale face so often characteristic of one taking nauseous medicines. I shall not venture to describe the gilding of pills, or the introduction of fluids into the back part of the throat by means of glass tubes, but inay refer to an excellent plan of covering pills and boluses with gelatine, as mentioned in a former number of the Pharma. ceutical Journal. In this last way, however, the pills or boluses are not able to mould themselves to the form of the throat, and the plan is far inferior to the wafer-paper, which I hope to see more usually introduced than at present, when bulky or nauseous medicines are to be given.-Pharm, Jour. PETRIFIED FOREST NEAR CAIRO. This paper, according to Dr. Ure, is made in the following manner"A certain quantity of fine flour is to be diffused through pure water, and so mixed as to leave no clotty particles. The pap is not allowed to ferment, but must be employed imme. diately it is mixed. For this purpose a tool is employed, consist. ing of two plates of iron, which come together like pincers, or a pair of tongs, leaving a small definite space betwixt them. These plates are first slightly heated, greased with butter, filled with the pap, closed, and then exposed to the heat of a charcoal fire. The iron plates being allowed to cool, on opening them the thin cake appears dry, solid, brittle, and about as thick as a playing card." We meet with it in small sheets, of a light colour, breaking easily when dry, but tenacious and moulding itself easily to the sub. The following particulars are from an account given by Dr. stance it covers when wet, increasing but slightly its bulk. When Buist, of Bombay, in explanation of some specimens of silicified any powder is to be taken, it must be mixed with syrup or other wood presented by him to the Literary Society of St. Andrews— tenacious substance to the consistence of a bolus, and the patient. The specimens consisted of about forty-five pieces of wood; be desired to break off as much of the paper as may be necessary trunks, roots, knots and branches, from three inches to three fect to envelope the substance, dip it (the paper) in water, lay it on a in length; some were exhibited sliced and transparent, showing plate or clean surface, and then place the electuary in its centre, the sap vessels and the medullary rays; some cut into bracelets fold the corners carefully over it, and swallow it by drinking a lit-aid brooches. In explaining the peculiarities of these, Dr. Buist tle water. Some persons have suggested putting the powder on stated that few things were more remarkable-few less noticed, the paper, and folding it without wetting the powder. This [considering how worthy it was of examination] than the petrified should not, however, recommend, or an explosive mixture might forest near Cairo. From the city you proceeded, by the Caliphs' result, much to the disgust of the patient and to the injury of the Tombs, to the southeast. Passing for five miles through an arid method. Those who are unable to swallow pills can manage to valley, through which a river torrent appeared to have flowed, bolt these boluses covered with wafer paper; they slip down the skirted on both sides by low, brown, rocky ridges, the traveller throat easily, as would an oyster, and do not produce that conturns suddenly off to the right, and beyond the first range of sand vulsive action of the muscles of the larynx and pharynx which hills, finds, spreading far as the eve can reach, a vast expanse of frequently attend the effort of swallowing pills. I would strongly rolling hillocks, covered with prostrate trees. At first sight, these recommend the use of the wafer-paper as an envelope for scam. wear exactly the aspect of rotten wood dug out from a Scottish mony, when prescribed for children, a medicine so frequently pro or Irish pe t-bog. The color and the amount of decay seem the ducing nausea. It is equally applicable for taking the pulv. jalap same. They are lying in all positions and directions on the sur comp., or any other substance prescribed in 3 or 3 ss doses. face of the burning sand-some forty or fifty feet in length, and one or two feet in thickness; not continuous or entire, but in a line broken across, left in their places like sawn trunks. On touching them, instead of proving mouldering and decayed, they turn out to be hard and sharp as flints. They ring like cast-iron, strike fire with steel, and scratch glass. The sap-vessels and meOf these I find no end of varieties; but I fear the majority of dullary rays-the very bark and marks of worms and insects, and the makers of such useful articles, have not a very clear idea of even the spiral vessels, remain entire; the minutest fibres fo the the objects sought to be attained. Need I say, that it is of the vegetable structure are discernable by the microscope. Here you greatest importance to employ genuine copaiba? The next im have the carbon-the most indestructible matter known to usportant point is to obtain a capsule of a certain definite size, so entirely withdrawn, and substituted in its place a mass of siliciathat we may know what dose the patient is taking, and which a matter insoluble by any ordinary agent, and at any common the surgeon is generally unable to do. Another circumstance to heat. Yet so tranquilly has the exchange been accomplished, which the manufacturer gives but little attention, is the thickness that not one atom has been disturbed; the finest tissues remain of the capsule. I would recommend the chemist to reject all entire-the most delicate arrangements uninterfered with. The samples that are not an eight of an inch thick. In many instances limits of the petrified forest are unknown: it probably extends I have known the capsule burst in the effort of swallowing, or over an area of many hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles. It dissolve as soon as it is in the stomach. I have called the atten.has never been described with any care, and, extraordinary as it tion of the profession to the subject in my work on Venereal Dis-is, has excited very little attention. The trees are scattered eases, and must refer those curious on the subject to p. 61. An loosely and at intervals over the desert, all the way from Cairo to improvement has lately been introduced by enclosing copaiba in Suez, a distance of 86 miles. No theory of their silicification or membranes, thus obviating many of the objections to all gelatine their appearance where they are found, has ever been attempted. capsules. I am told that these membraneous capsules are in the The late Dr. Malcolmson found fragments of the wood imbeded hands of respectable parties, who make a point of filling them in the conglomerate which contains the Egyptian jaspers, and The chemist must take care not to make the electuary too soft, or the object would not be attained. The best modern method of giving nauseous liquids is in the form of CAPSULES. Periscope.-Freezing of Water by the Air Pump. threw it out as possible that they and the gravel of the Desert, consisting almost entirely of jaspers, might possibly be the result of abrasion or denudation. This throws the difficulty only one step further back; besides this, that the appearance of the forest is at variance with the theory. No agates or gravel appeared around: the trecs seemed to have been petrified as they lay; they looked like a forest felled by mighty winds. A further mystery was this: they lay on the surface of bare drift sand and gravel, and reposing on limestone rocks of the most recent tertiary formation-the texture and color of the imbedded oyster shells were as fresh and pure as if brought not six weeks from the sea."-Athenæum, Jan. 1846, p. 130. ་ 83 chloride of silver. Five grains of pure chloride of silver were put into a long test tube full of distilled water, and placed in the sun. shine to darken, the powder being frequently moved, so that every part might be acted upon by the sun's rays. It was found, even after an exposure of a few minutes, that the water contained chlorine; (it became opaque on the addition of nitrate of silver ;) and this was gradually increased as the chloride darkened. The darkening was continued for several hours, after which the solution was filtered to free it from chloride of silver,, and nitrate of silver added to the filtered liquid; the chloride of silver precipitated, when collected and dried, weighed 1.4 grains on one occis. sion, 1 grain on another, and 1.5 grains on a third trial. From several other experiments on the chloride of silver, the author is inclined to believe that the first action of the solar rays is to libe rate one half of the chlorine, which, moisture being present, a very readily replaced by oxygen. By the continued action of the exciting cause, the other proportional of the combined gaseous element is in like manner set free and replaced, and we now At a meeting of the British Association at York, it was propo-have oxide of silver, which in a short time is decomposed under sed by Sir John Herschel, that all those phenomena, which ex- the so called actinic power of the solar rays, and hence we have hibit change of condition under the influence of the solar rays, eventually nearly pure metallic silver in a state of extremely fine should be distinguished as forming a peculiar province of chemis-division.-Lon. and Ed. Phil. Mag., July, 1845, p. 25, and try, and be designated by the term Actino-chemistry; this was October, 1845, p. 216.-In American Journal of Science and generally approved by the chemical section. CHEMICAL CHANGES PRODUCED BY THE ACTION Accordingly, the sun's rays are divided into those producing light, those producing heat, and those producing an actinic influ. ence. Mr. Hunt, in his experiments, confirms a fact first pointed out by Sir John Herschel, that the rays of the sun facilitate precipi. tation. Arts. FREEZING OF WATER BY THE AIR PUMP, WITH. BY J. LAWRENCE SMITH. In attempting to freeze water under the air-pump, without the aid of a desiccating agent, the cooling of the water to the point of congelation is prevented by the heat received from the containing vessel. I have lately found that by obviating this difficulty, water may be readily frozen by its own evaporation. A solution of manganate of potash having been made in the dark, was placed in two glasses and set aside. After having been kept in darkness for two hours, the solutions remained as clear as at first. One of the vessels with its contents was then removed into the sunshine, when the solution immediately became cloudy, and was very speedily decomposed, the precipitate falling heavily. By experiments with the spectrum, the author found that the pre-a sooted surface, but forms in globules, like quicksilver. Three cipitation was due almost entirely to the most refrangible rays. A few grains of sulphate of the protoxide of iron were dissolved in rain water; if kept in perfect darkness, the solution remained clear for a long time; it became, however, eventually cloudy and colored from the formation of some peroxide of iron, even in tubes hermetically sealed. A few minutes' exposure to the sunshine is sufficient to produce this change, and the oxide formed, instead of floating in the liquid, and as in the former case rendering it opaque, falls speedily to the bottom. Mr. Hunt made some experiments, [particularly one with a mixture of the bichromate of potash and the sulphate of copper, in which precipitation appears retarded by solar agency, and he is inclined to think that it will eventually be proved that the electric energy of the different bodies in relation to each other, will greatly modify the results obtained in these experiments. The action of the sun's rays appears also to affect the color of the precipitates. If a solution of bichromate of potash is exposed to sunshine, it acquires a property of precipitating several metals as chromates, differing many shades in color from the colors pro. duced by a solution similarly prepared and kept in the dark. If the actinized solution (solution exposed to sunshine) be poured into a solution of nitrate of silver, the chroniate of silver formed is of a much more beautiful color than that given by a solution which has not been exposed to the sun's rays. The same is truc when the salts of mercury are used. Solutions of sulphate of iron exposed to sunshine, yield a Prus. sian blue, with the ferrocyanide of potassium, of a far more beautiful color than that produced by a solution which has not been so exposed. Among other curious actions that the sun's rays exert, is the one by which it prevents electro-metallic precipitation. Place in a test tube a strong solution of nitrate of silver; in another tube, closed at one end by a thin piece of bladder, place a solution of iodide of potassiumn; this is supported in the solution of nitrate of silver by being fixed in a cork, and a piece of platinum wire is carried from one solution into the other. An arrangement of this kind being kept in the dark, iodine is soon liberated in the inner tube, and a crystalline arrangement of metallic silver is formed around the platinum one, in the outer. Another being placed in the sunshine, iodine will be liberated, but no silver deposited. Mr. Hunt has examined at length the action of the sun's rays upon some photographic preparations, (the salts of silver,) with many curious and interesting results, especially concerning the It was first shown by Count Rumford, that water does not wet drops of water were placed in a sooted watch-glass; the spheroi dal globule lay on the soot, exposing a large surface for evaporation, at the same time that the water was insulated from any source of heat. Arranged in this manner and placed under an air-pump, two or three minutes were sufficient to freeze the water. The glass was sooted over an oil lamp with great care; the expc. riment fails if the globule of water touches the glass even by a small point. the end of a large cork, and over a lamp, burn it, sooting it at the In place of the sooted watch-glass, make a shallow cavity in same time. By putting three drops of water into the cavity thus prepared, and subjecting it to the action of the air-pump under a pint receiver, the water froze solid in a minute and a half; and in two and three-fourths minutes, 20 grains of water congealed, though at 73° Fahr. when introduced. Under a receiver of could not succeed in freezing the same amount in the sooted three quarts capacity, 20 grains of water froze in four minutes. I watch-glass. By placing corks, prepared as above, over a saucer of sulphuric acid, the same results are obtained more rapidly. I put half a drachmn of water, at 65° Fahr., in each cavity, and exhausted which was effected in one minute. In a minute and a half, the the receiver, till the mercurial gauge reached 4-10ths of an inch, water on one cork began to freeze, and in five minutes they were all frozen. An ounce of water, in a large flat cavity, froze in 34 minutes. A flat-bottom porcelain capsule was prepared for an experiment on a large scale, by sooting it in the following manner. After coating it with soot over a lamp, and allowing it to cool a little, a small quantity of oil of turpentine was carefully poured upon the edge and passed over the entire surface; the vessel was then warmed to drive off the redundant turpentine. The surface was again coated with soot, and again with turpentine, and this process was repeated a third time; finally, another coating of soot was added, when it was ready for use. Two ounces of water were placed in this capsuls under a receiver, and the air pump worked for one minute. After standing six minutes, the surface was frozen. This experiment, as well as similar ones, was attended with violent ebullition on the part of the liquid, throwing the water against the sides of the receiver, which was owing to the rapid formation of vapor on the under surface of the liquid.-American Journal of Science and Arts. 84 Editorial Department.-Hygienic Measures for the City.-Asiatic Cholera. THE these will be the St. Ann and St. Joseph Suburbs, the valleys along Buonaventure Street, behind the Champ British American Journal. de Mars, and behind St. Mary Street in the Quebec MONTREAL, JULY 1, 1846. HYGIENIC MEASURES FOR THE CITY. Suburbs. These different places are notoriously badly drained. They are even, in times of the existence of ordinary epidemics, from this very circumstance, the most unhealthy districts of the city, and furnish cases of Salus populi, suprema lex, is an ancient and a wise sickness in greater abundance relatively than any other. maxim. It lays at the foundation of all social happi-How great, then, the necessity of immediately putting ness, and, by consequence, materially affects national into execution such measures as will remove this obvious prosperity. One of the most important concerns which cause of disease, will, we think, abundantly appear from could engage the serious attention of all civic corpora- the few facts which we have given, and which will tions is the preservation of the health, as far as they equally apply to every city in the Province. Unfounded have the means of doing it, of those whose interests reports of the existence of Asiatic cholera at Quebec, have been entrusted to their keeping. A matter of this prevailed in this city a week or two ago. They have kind ought to be their chief care, their most anxious made us reflect seriously on the general preparation of solicitude, and should be paramount to every other the city for a third visitation, should such arrive. We consideration. What signifies the embellishment of a are of those who consider a danger conquered that is city, so long as its environs, nay, even its very centre, boldly met; and in view of the importance, the extreme abound with fertile sources of disease, which require importance, of the end, we consider that no more fitting but the warmth of a summer's sun for the production and appropriate subject could occupy the attention of and the elimination of those miasmatic emanations our civic authorities, and we hope that an action, speedy it. which scatter death around? Beautiful, indeed, to the and energetic, will be taken upon eye may such a city appear, but it is all external show; mark its mortality, and say whether the thousands spent in ornament would not have been much better employed in a complete and thorough system of drainage, ventilation, and cleanliness, the effects of which, though less visible, would be more lasting, and would ensure more certainly the happiness of the inhabitants, and "We have already stated that the cholera had made their consequent prosperity, by the ablation of obvious! its appearance in some of the provinces of Persia, carcauses of disease, or at least establishing a greater immu-rying death into the principal towns. It has spread nity from them. from Bokhara to Herat and Meshio, and has now taken Progress of the Asiatic Cholera.-We extract the following piece of intelligence, as a matter of considerable interest, from one of our journals, received about a fortnight ago :— In the way of drainage, ventilation, and general the direction from the Caspian Sea to Teheran and Iscleanliness, our civic authorities, since the incor- pahan. Late accounts from Odessa state that it had crossed the Russian territory and appeared suddenly poration of the city, have done much, and are at Tiflis, taking a northerly direction between the therefore entitled to much praise; but much still re- Caspian and the Black Seas. On the other side, the quires to be done, and the sooner this is done the better. cholera broke out unexpectedly at Orenbourg, in the We are not alarmists. Far from it; but it would ill mines of the Ural mountains; it crossed the Volga, and comport with our duty did we not express our appre-from St Petersburgh. If the accounts we have receivset its foot in Europe, at Casan, only 2,000 kilometers hension, that the cholera, which appears again to have ed are exact, it has taken a most irregular direction. commenced its pestilential progress over the continent It has advanced from west to north, and does not seem of Europe, may revisit us, and we know of no means to have followed the banks of the rivers, as in 1828 and more likely to moderate its desolating agency, than 1832. The cholera which devastated France in 1831 general hygienic measures. and 1832, had been raging in Persia for seven years, This city has already had 1823 to 1830. It first appeared in 1823 at Orenburgh, a bitter experience of it in two former visitations, hav-and shed death around that town for five years. It reing been decimated in 1832; and it is well known, that appeared at Orenburgh in 1829, and one-tenth of the in no districts of the city was the mortality from it population fell a victim. It broke out at St Petersburgh greater than in the low, ill drained, ill ventilated parts, in July, 1831, and in France in the October of the same year." of which the St. Ann Suburbs then ranked pre-eminent. Should this scourge again appear among us, it requires not the spirit of prophecy to predict, that it will prevail chiefly in localities similarly circumstanced, and More lately we perceive that it was advancing with rapid strides towards St Petersburgh, from whence we doubt not it will penetrate into western Europe. Editorial Department.- College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada. CORRESPONDENCE. Letter II. COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF UPPER CANADA. 85 sent occasion, and in the manner following. It is necessary to premise that the business of the society has been conducted during the last six months by a few individuals, never more than eight or ten in number. These are the men against whom the following charges have been brought-1st, Of having caused their petition, the purport of which was kept secret, to be embodied in the College Bill; 2nd, of a secret design to erect the society into the first body of fellows for the new college; 3rd, of having caused the bill to be smuggled into the House of Assembly. To the Editors of the British American Journal. GENTLEMEN,—In the letter which you did me the honor to publish in the last number of your journal, headed "The present condition of the Profession of Medicine compared with that of the Law," I endea voured to show, that the latter has been raised to the enviable rank it occupies at present in Upper Canada, The last mentioned charge deserves no commentary; it by the unity of purpose displayed by its members in is an idle waste of time to bestow even a passing word matters afecting the general good of their class; and upon it. In reply to the first charge, I have to say that this fact was made use of to support the opinion advanc-I was one of the committee appointed to draft the petied by me in relation to the causes of the degraded state tion alluded to-that no part of that petition was insertof our own profession. Dropping, for the present, the ed in the bill, nor was it at all adapted to such a purcomparative part of the argument, I shall confine my-pose: that the burden of its prayer was simply this,self, on this occasion, to the consideration of the sins of that an act similar to the act passed in the third year of omission and commission, justly chargeable against us the present reign to incorporate a College of Physicians individually and collectively; and if, in the pursuit of and Surgeons in Upper Canada, but so modified as to this inquiry, it shall afterwards appear that I have in- obviate the objections raised by the College of Surgeons flicted unmerited reproach upon any section of the pro- in London might be passed in the then present session fession, or any individual member of it, the injury shall of the Provincial Parliament. It is true that this petibe fully and promptly redressed. In my former com- tion was got up in the belief that the Hon. Solicitor munication I ventured to animadvert with some freedom General was prepared to bring forward some such meaupon the conduct of a small party of gentlemen here, sure if requested to do so by the society, or the profession with reference to the College Bill; since then, other generally. But it is equally true that the details of such facts connected with this subject have transpired, which a bill were never canvassed at any meeting of the sowould impart to their proceedings a character even more ciety, nor has the charter of the old College, or the draft objectionable than the one already found for them, were of the new bill ever been seen on the table or among the it not for the charitable supposition that they might have papers of that body. Although the foregoing declaration acted upon erroneous information, though such a suppo-embraces a reply to the second charge, it shall have a sition, I am sorry to say, would rest upon nothing more separate and more pointed contradiction; and I now deny than a bare possibility. These facts afford an example most emphatically that such a proposal was ever broached of a very common fault, if a fault, remarkably prevalent by the society at any of their meetings during the last six among the easy in circumstances-the successful portion months, nor do I believe that an arrangement of this kind of the profession; I mean the fault, or rather the sin, of selfishness-and in this particular instance, of a degree of selfishness so inordinate, so absorbing, and, at the same time, so blind, as to shut out from the mental vision of the actors, the light of reason altogether. It is necessary, as well for the general purpose of these letters as an act of common justice, that the "sayings and doing," of the gentlemen referred to should receive some further notice at my hands, and the statement which follows is intended to accomplish both these objects. It is already known to your readers that the bill to incor. porate a College of Physicians and Surgeons in Upper Canada, was presented in the House of Assembly in Verily this, (the counter petition), is one of the most compliance with the prayer of a petition addressed to remarkable productions that ever emanated from the pen. the Legislature and the Government. This petition was of a jealous, disappointed, and indignant gentleman. framed and transmitted to Montreal in March last, and What an extraordinary development of the organ of printed copies of the draft were received by several self esteem does every page bespeak-what superb dismembers of the profession in this city about the middle pleasure in every line! That the four and thirty Tyro's of May. One or two of the provisions of this bill have who compose the Medico-Churgical Society, when no been seized on by the party of gentlemen above men- longer graced by his companionship, should dare to aspire tioned, as a ground of complaint against certain mem to the dignity of fellowship of a Chartered College is an bers of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, and as charges act of presumption quite beyond the reach of his concep are involved in that complaint of a character at once tive faculties. Such is the spirit that breathes through disgraceful and untrue, it becomes the duty of the ac- the whole of this singular document. A few quotations cused to repel the calumny as promptly and effectively from its voluminous pages will serve to amuse and, (I as they can. I shall endeavour, therefore, (as one of hope, also,) to instruct your readers. the supposed offenders) to perform that duty on the pre-I The petitioners begin by telling us that the bill is "crude was ever contemplated by any individual among them. Whether the adoption of the Society as a nucleus for the new College was a judicious measure or not is a question that ought to be decided by the Profession at large. (I must avail myself of this opportunity to direct the attention of the Profession to one serious fault in the petition, I allude to the concession made in favour of the London College of Surgeons. As that concession has not been granted in the present bill, so it is to be hoped it will not be allowed in any future one.) Thus much for the sayings of these malcontents, now for a glance at their doings, as counter petitioners. 86 Editorial Department.-College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada. Still, I and undigested in principle and detail, its provisions | Physicians and Surgeons. The resolution,upon which the would be inoperative and impracticable, and subversive Society's petition was based, was passed unanimously, of the vested rights of the best informed and most but the stimulus of an arriere pensée, does someexperienced practitioners in Upper Canada, and ruinous times make people act very foolishly. to the interests of the public." can almost venture to assert that there is not Remarks, "crude and undigested, inoperative and im- the least foundation for the statement contained in practicable, and yet subversive of the vested rights of the the latter part of this paragraph. Although the only best informed, &c., &c., &c." Well done ye best inform-fault that could be found in such a procedure, would ed, this is a telling paragraph, it must have cost you a be that of weakness, yet that fault, so excusable under world of labour, mais c'est toujours le premier pas ordinary circumstances, would be rightly regarded as a qui coute." a very grave one in this case, because the society were 2. "That your petitioners observe that, whereas, engaged in a laudable undertaking, in which the good of the preamble of said bill professes chiefly to pro- the whole profession was deeply concerned, and their efvide against an alleged defect in the laws now in forts might have been seriously embarrassed by such force, for the prevention of persons practising without conduct; but I repeat that I do not believe the statement; 1 license, in its enactments it affects the fundamental prin- there is probably some miserable subterfuge at the botciple upon which the constitution of the Medical Pro-tom of it. fession is at present based, and repeals an act establish- 5th. "That clauses give a power of super ing a Medical Board in Upper Canada which has been vision to the minutest portion of the profession." in operation during the last 28 years." cease gen. Remarks. Repeals an act establishing a Medical Remarks. The bill would have given power of superviBard, ah, "this is the unkindest cut of all." The sion to the society composed, at present, of 34 or 35 chief petitioner and prime agitator is a member of members, among whom, there are six or seven members the Medical Board, but not a member of the Me-of the Medical Board, many graduates of "the best coldico-Chirurgical Society. It is possible that the pa- leges in the empire," besides members of royal colleges tronage of the members of the Medical Board might of surgeons, military men on full and half and pay, with their existence as a board. True the tlemen of merit, educated wholly in this country. establishment of the College would affect the fun- 6th. That in the opinion of your petitioners, these clauses damental principles upon which the constitution of affect the vested rights of all persons now licensed to practhe Medical Profession is at present based in Cana- tice physic, surgery, and midwifery, in U. C., not memda, but it would affect them most beneficially, it would bers of the Medico Chirurgical Society, or who may not give to that Profession a natural and solid foundation in desire to become members of the college by the said bill exchange for an artificial and uncertain one. proposed to be incorporated; and the said Bill, if passed 3. "The bill did not emanate from the Medical Board into an Act, would not only deprive gentlemen who have and Profession at large, there is no overruling public been educated in the best colleges in the empire, and necessity proved by the circumstance of its being brought who are entitled to all due privileges of the chartered colforward by an individual member and not by the Go-leges of which they are members of their right, to pracvernment upon the petition of a few members of the tice within the Province, unless they shall comply with Medico-Chirurgical Society, &c." the By-laws, &c. &c. Remarks. Here we have the Profession at large introduced, and were it not that the whole tenor of their petition forbids the belief that they have been actuated by a sincere desire to promote the interests of the Profession at large, I should thank the petitioners for this show of liberality; but the animus of the author is too openly displayed, even in this paragraph, for that decoy to take. the object of an act of incorporation would be to place Remarks. I cannot see the force of these objections: from that which now prevails, but does it follow that the profession under a different form of government, their privileges would be abridged thereby? The effect would, undoubtedly, be the very reverse of that. It is admitted on all hands that the Bill in question has 4th. That your petitioners are informed, and believe, some faults, but only in one instance does it exhibit a that only eight medical practitioners, members of the manifest inconsistency; it is not the opposition, but the Toronto Medico-Chirurgical Society, were present at character of the opposition that I complain of. If these the meeting of the Society when the resolution to peti-disclosures shall serve to impress upon the minds of the tion for the incorporation of the Society as a College impartial and independent portion of the profession the was adopted, some of whom, impressed with the pro- necessity of union and organization among themselves, priety of well considering the details of a measure hav- by which means alone they can hope even to obtain a ing the tendency of the bill referred to, have already in satisfactory legal recognition of their rights, then the obtheir capacity of members of the Medical Board peti-ject the writer has had in view, while thus engaged, will tioned your Hon. House, that no bill affecting the me- be accomplished. dical profession should be passed into a law without giving the board and profession &c. &c." Remarks.-Here we have a bold and positive assertion directly at variance with the truth! the petitioners did not ask for the incorporation of the Society as a College," what they did ask for was an act to incorporate the Profession under the title of the College of You are at liberty to give up my name, if requested to do so. |