diately every man amongst them who thought he was acquainted with English grammar would begin to criticise the grammatical composition of the clause. Then, having discharged themselves of that very important duty, they would proceed to discuss the order of the sentences, to see whether they were correctly arranged in a logical point of view; and at last, having got over the grammatical and logical trial, they proceed to consider the Report itself. The Report was then printed in the Minutes, and generally had to undergo a second process of grammatical and logical revision. Now he had introduced the proposed standing orders, with the explanation that they were neither intended to extend nor limit the powers of the Council, but to define them. Should the majority of the Council agree with the Executive Committee and throw the matter overboard, it would be competent for him to move that a Committee be appointed to consider how far the Standing Orders should embrace the dealing with Reports. At present he moved "That the Report of the Executive Committee be not adopted."

Sir DOMINIC CORRIGAN-I will move "That the Report of the Executive Committee be received and adopted." Dr. ANDREW WOOD seconded the motion.

Dr. ALEXANDER WOOD moved, as an amendment, "That the Report of the Executive Committee be not adopted and that the resolutions be added to the Standing Orders." Dr. EMBLETON thought such a set of Standing Orders was very much required. There was nothing like them in their existing Standing Orders; and if anything could show more clearly than another the necessity for such Orders, he thought it was the blundering method in which the business had been carried on during the last few minutes. He would second the amendment.

Mr. PAGET thought that the suggestions of Dr. Alexander Wood were very good in themselves, but he was rather averse to making them Standing Orders, from which they could not deviate without the express permission of the Council.

Sir DOMINIC CORRIGAN said, whatever blundering the Council had exhibited in the management of public business the Chairman would be held responsible for. With regard to the first resolution, had any one ever doubted that it was fully competent for any member of the Council to move that a Report be or be not received? Then as to the next, who ever doubted the power of a member of the Council to move that a Report be recommitted? They might as well pass a resolution that any member of the Council be entitled to walk up stairs. The third resolution was not only unnecessary, but objectionable, because it would absolutely bind the Council to place the mover and seconder of the motion on the Committee, which might not always be desirable.

thought it was one of the functions possessed by the Medical College to determine what standard they should erect, which would qualify students who presented themselves for examination to be placed upon the register. Much uncertainty at present existed amongst the licensing bodies, as to what was the precise curriculum of study enjoined, and this uncertainty, he thought, had created, and was likely to create, so long as no uniform system existed, much embarrassment, both to the student and the licensing bodies generally, and he maintained that if the Council appointed a Committee to sketch out the subjects on which each student would be required to be examined, he would know beforehand exactly what would be required of him before he commenced his studies. The Council would then be in a position to determine upon one uniform system of education to be adopted by all the recognised medical schools.

In seconding the resolution of Dr. Wood,

Dr. PARKES hoped the Council would not waste their time by a discussion upon the question of one uniform system, as he considered the mover had made out a sufficiently good case, that the advantages must be patent to

all.

Dr STORRAR said, Dr. Wood and Dr. Parkes had made their speeches as short as possible, evidently desiring there should be but little discussion on the motion then before the Council; he (Dr. Sterrar), however, begged to differ from those gentleman, and hoped the Council would allow. him to state his views, and the results of his experience on the questions at issue. He was well aware that there existed many and diverse opinions among the licensing bodies. Some would limit the number of courses requisite for study, others doubted the utility of any particular curriculum; another body insisted that the study of one or two important subjects, would fit a man for the practice of his profession in after life. Again, some of the schools commenced their session in October, others in November, whilst a few thought the term should open with a summer session. Then, there were tedious discussions about long and short courses, so that it became impossible to adopt one uniform system. Even supposing it were possible, he very much doubted its desirability. At first sight, there was something so tempting in the idea of uniformity, that it almost seduced one to believe everything in the way of education could be reduced to this system. For the last three years, he had given great attention to the subject of education, and from information gathered throughout the United Kingdom, combined with that officially obtained from a Special Commissioner sent to the Continent, for the purpose of getting the views there entertained, he believed that the Council would make a great mistake if they introduced a uniform system of education. In France, where it was most perfect, so perfect in fact, that it moved like a machine throughout the country, and where the Chief of the Department could at any time look at his watch, and say he knew what lectures were at that hour being delivered over the whole Empire-it was a signal failure, on account of the perfection of the system. In the present curriculum, the Council had the master-piece of then there was the four hours of prescribed studies-the medical education-the preliminary examination in Arts; visitations of examinations, with power of improving them, &c. But to require that every man should attend so long sum-wifery, and other subjects, whether he would ever require at Hospital practice, give so much time to bandaging, midthem or not, he thought was a great mistake. Opinions on the training of minds for professional pursuits were so think of passing the measure before them. diverse, that he sincerely hoped the Council would not

Dr. STOKES defended the Council from the charge that large portions of their time were occupied with grammatical disquisitions and questions of logic. As a member of the Council he repudiated any such statement.

The amendment was put and lost-3 voting for, and 14 against it.

THURSDAY, 30TH MAY.

To-day the Council took into consideration the case of Mr. Forman, who was accused of having become registered through the instrumentality of a false affidavit, which asserted he was a member of the College of Surgeons.

Mr. Forman did not appear although he had been moned, and, after hearing some evidence, the Council ordered his name to be erased from the Register.

Dr. ANDREW WOOD then proposed-

"That a Committee be appointed to consider and report upon what ought to be the new course of Professional Education to be gone through by all persons seeking entrance into the Medical Profession, in order to secure the possession by them of the requisite knowledge and skill for the efficient practice of their profession."

He said the same amount of attention had not been paid to professional as to preliminary examination, and he

Sir DOMINIC CORRIGAN would vote for the motion of Dr. Wood, if he would agree to omit the words "professional study," because, in many branches of study, such as midwifery, it would be utterly impossible to draw up any prescribed rules. He knew that in many Colleges, irregularities as to time of study, attendance at lectures, examinations, granting certificates, &c., already existed, and he thought

"That the reports of the visitations of examinations during the past two years, be referred to a Committee, to bring before the General Medical Council, during their whose duty it shall be to go carefully through them, and Mr. PAGET suggested that a committee should be ap-founded on the various suggestions made by the visitors, as present Session, a report embodying such recommendations, pointed to consider the question of professional study. He thought it would be a very unwise measure to compel every student to go through one and the same course of study.

with his permission, to make a few remarks on a subject which, he thought, every member of the Board would condemn. On May 25th, four days before the meeting of the Council, an article appeared in the British Medical Journal, commenting on one of the reports which were printed for private distribution amongst the members only, and upon the title-page of which appeared the word "confidential." He would not stop to enquire how this report got into the hands of those connected with the journal in question. It was much to be regretted that the conductors of a journal should have committed such a gross breach of confidence as to ignore the respect due to the Council, by commenting upon matters prior to their being officially brought before the members of that Board. He (Dr. Smith) hoped the President would take some notice of this breach of confidence, so that the Council, through him, might express their condemnation of so unwarrantable a proceeding.

The PRESIDENT said Dr. Smith was perfectly justified in bringing the subject before them, and he was convinced the members of the Council concurred in the remarks that had been made. It was a great breach of confidence on the part of those who conducted the journal in question; and he wished to express his entire disapproval of the unusual course that had been adopted. If the Council agreed with the remarks that had fallen from Dr. Smith and himself, he would request the Registrar to place a notice of the same upon the minutes.

This proposal having been assented to, the Registrar was requested to place the same upon the minutes of the Council.

Dr. ALEXANDER WOOD then gave notice that, with the permission of the Council, he would withdraw his motion inserted upon the programme of proceedings, which was:"That, with the experience the Council have had during the last two years in conducting the Visitation of Examinations personally by members of the Council, it is desirable that the expediency of the alternative method provided

in the Act be now considered.

Let them, then, thoroughly examine the matter as it stood -let the Committee prepare the scheme, and then they would know what they were about, and not be pulling one against the other, or, like Tony Lumpkins, be trotting round and round a circumscribed area, without daring to go manfully and resolutely at the point.

Sir DOMINIC CORRIGAN rose and said that a member of Council had yesterday observed that there was great blundering in the mode of carrying on the business of the Council. He was sorry to be obliged to-day to endorse that observation. One of the causes of the long and desultory discussion arose from what he could not avoid saying was a most irregular proceeding-viz., Dr. Alexander Wood being allowed to withdraw his notice of motion on paper, and substitute for it a motion of a totally different character, and altogether unconnected with it in substance. He must, before going into discussion on the question now before them, notice the very unwarrantable attack of Dr. Wood on the President and Fellows of the King and Queen's College of Ireland, when he said that no man in his senses could believe that in the letter written by that College, the Fellows of the College stated the truth as to their reasons, and that it was obvious what was stated by them was merely a pretence to conceal their true reasons and motives. The Fellows of the College of Physicians of Ireland were equally indifferent to his praise and his censure, and they would regard both with equal contempt. Dr. Alexander Wood had found fault with him in having always refused to take any part in the Visitation of Examinations, and had, moreover, charged it as an aggravation that while he (Sir Dominic) had persistently refused to take any part in the visitation of examinations, he had never condescended to explain his reasons to the Council. He hoped that, on merely calling to the recollection of the Council what had occurred, Dr. Wood would himself remember that when he was first asked to take part in the visitation of examinations, he felt it necessary to explain his reasons and he did give his reasons at great length, and as these reasons were already stated in the published

"That with this view, the Council do, during the pre-reports of their debates, he would not occupy the meetsent Session, reconsider the report of a Committee on Visitation of Examinations,' laid before the Council 21st June, 1860, and printed in the Minutes, vol. i., pp. 125-6." And would substitute the following:

"That a Committee be appointed to prepare a scheme for the Visitation of Examinations of next year, and especially to consider the best means of supervising the

Arts' examinations."

ing with a repetition of them further than to repeat one observation he had then made that in principle the system was rotten of A. inspecting the examination conducted by B., and of B. conducting the examination by A., and then A. and B. interchanging their reports on each other. He had spoken in his former observation of the visitation of examinations as a farce. He must, he regretted to say, go further, and say that he now considered it as a cheat and a blind on the profession and the Dr. Wood said he knew the present proposition would public. These facts came before them in the proceedings meet with the same obstructions that had been before of yesterday that the College of Physicians of Edinburgh advanced when this subject had been brought forward, had two doors to its hall of examination-one at which and in the course of an elaborate speech, severely cen- candidates were admitted on public days, and paraded as sured those members who had hitherto refused to act at show-girls are paraded at boarding-schools on their the Visitations of Examinations. He declared that whereas public days for the admiration of visitors-days on which one or two had declined to do their duty-a duty, more- the visitors appointed by the Council are notified to over, which he considered was incumbent upon them, attend, but another door for what are called by Dr. Wood though not compulsory, by the Act of Parliament he cited"exceptional" cases, for examinations to which the -another member (Dr. Smith) was afraid to act because visitors have never been summoned, and conducted in the College (the College of Physicians of Ireland), for private at a different hour-at six o'clock in the evening,which he was the accredited representative, refused its and that the candidate for this private examination pays sanction, on pain of dismissal from continuing to be a double fees. Thus the candidate who fears to enter the member of their Council. front door when the visitors of examinations may be present, is desired to wait behind the second door and told that when eyes that might be troublesome are away he could then slip in and get his examination in strict privacy and his diploma, provided he only paid a double fee. With such a system as this, surely he was justified in the view he entertained that the visitation of examinations is a cheat and a blind. He (Sir Dominic) did not know sufficiently the regulation of the College of Physicians of England to speak of them, but in regard to the College of Physicians in Ireland he must set Dr. Wood right. There are special examinations, but here all resemblance ceases. There is no double fee paid for the examinations at the College of Physicians in Ireland, making it their interest

To this personal attack, Dr. SMITH rose to give the statement the most unqualified denial, declaring that the remarks of Dr. Wood were simply and essentially untrue in every particular.

Dr. WOOD concluded his remarks by stating that so long as individual members of that Board refused to perform what he considered to be their duty in this important matter, it being imperative that it should be performed by some one, nothing satisfactory could possibly ensue. He maintained that, as different Bodies conducted the Examinations in different ways, there must necessarily be two ways of doing them-one right, the other wrong. The question before the Council was, which was the right one.

It was moved by Dr. EMBLETON, seconded by Dr. STORRAR, and agreed to

"That a Committee be appointed to report upon-1. The Registration of Medical Students. 2. The returns from the bodies in Schedule (A) of professional examinations and their results."

The Committee were nominated-and the proceedings adjourned till Saturday.

SATURDAY, 1ST JUNE.

On this day the sittings of the Council commenced one hour and a-half being consumed in the discussion of points relating to the etiquette of the Council Table, upon invidious remarks and personalities, which it would be idle for us to chronicle, and worse than useless to our readers. We give the business transacted in full; refraining from introducing any of the speeches or remarks that were made during its process, as they were merely of a desultory character, and would occupy more space than we are able or think it essential to give :

to have as many as possible of those private examinations. There is no privacy. In Dublin alone there are of Fellows and Licentiates about 150 or 200, exclusive of those attached to the garrison. The College is always open, with its library and reading room. The notices of every examination are posted in the Entrance Hall. The examinatiors are open to all Fellows and Licentiates-the President presides. There is in this public examination the true, and, he believed, best safeguard for a good examination, and for a true verdict. He (Sir Dominic) could now understand the very prominent opposition presented by Dr. Alexander Wood, to the proposition discus-hour earlier than usual, but little business was got through, an sed on a former occasion, of having examinations public. as they are conducted in the University of Dublin, in the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, and in the King and Queen's College of Physicians Ireland. Publicity would spoil a system of double fees and partial examinations. He would now condense his grounds of objection to Dr. Alexander Wood's motion into these short observations -that it was a substitution for the motion on paper of another having no relation to it; that it came upon the Council by a surprise; and that, by a side wind, it virtually repeated, without any previous notice, a resolution in the minutes, that the Branch Councils were the bodies to carry out those visitations. All these were reasons, in addition to the views which he had always taken, that a system that in principles was bad, can never be made right in details. He would now conclude, by merely drawing the attention of the Council to the fact, that while Dr. Andrew Wood was very severe on the Branch Council of Ireland, for having omitted to visit the examination at the Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland, the Branch Council of Scotland, (of which fact, of course, he took no notice), were in a worse predicament, for there was no report from it of any visitation to the examination of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, or of the University of St. Andrews.

Mr. RUMSEY regretted exceedingly, that such unmeasured language should have been used. He was one of those members who had refused to act, for reasons well known to the Council. He maintained there was no legal compulsion contemplated in the Act which Dr. Alexander Wood had quoted; and one reason for his declining to act was, because of the existence of an alterna. tive, which alternative he should firmly adhere to, until the visitations were more thoroughly conducted. He considered the visitations should be undertaken by persons not belonging to the Council, and that visitors, inspectors, or examiners, as they might be termed, should be appointed, similar to those at the Government Educational Establishments, who should be constantly at work-without partiality or injudicious opposition. Until this were done, no permanent good could possibly be arrived at, and no satisfactory objects attained by the visitations so strenuously and persistently upheld by Dr. Alex. Wood.

Dr. Wood explained that he did not mean to infer there was any compulsion in the Act quoted by him, it was merely, in his opinion, a matter of duty. He much regretted Mr. Rumsey had refused to accept only part of his explanation relative to those members who had declined to act in the visitations. Sir Dominic Corrigan had also, in his most vehement speech, taken the Universities of Edinburgh to task, in his usual ingenious manner. These bodies seemed to the hon. baronet, a stronghold for every attack, and a point for every joke, in the arguments which he continually brought to bear on the subject. To this speech, however, he would be sorry to reply, as it might again lead to personalities and retorts, which would be anything but agreeable or entertaining.

Dr. PARKES observed, that as he heard no tangible objections advanced against the substitution of the present for the original motion of Dr. Wood, he considered the same to be practically unopposed. He would, therefore, in seconding the resolution, suggest the appointment of the Committee.

The resolution having been put and carried,

It was then proposed, "That it would expedite the business of the General Medical Council, and tend to shorten the length of its Sessions, were the Council to adopt Resolutions to the following effect, viz :

1. That the Executive Committee should consider and prepare Reports upon any subjects that may suggest themselves to the Committee, as requiring the attention of the General Council.

2. That such Reports should be printed and circulated among the members of the General Council, at least one fortnight before its meeting.

3. That the Branch Councils be requested to transmit to the Executive Committee the Reports of the Visitation of Examinations, at least one month before the meeting of the General Council, in order that they may be printed, and circulated among the members of the Council.

4. That the Executive Committee meet before the annual Meeting of the General Council, in order to prepare and arrange the business for the consideration of the Council.'”

Reports from each of the Branch Councils were then read to the effect-

"That it is not necessary to define more clearly the manner in which the column headed 'Place of Medical Study' in the form of registration of medical students should be filled up."

Council were on the programme of business for this day, The following communications addressed to the Medical but were postponed till Monday:

cutta, and University of Sydney, praying for the recognition "From the University of Melbourne, University of Calof its degrees.

"From the McGill University, Montreal, praying for the recognition of its Matriculation Examination.

"From the Registrar of the Medical Council of Upper Canada, praying for the Registration of Upper Canadian Diplomas.

"From the President of the Medical Council of Upper Canada, relative to the recognition of certain Colonial Diplomas.

"From Dr. GEORGE BUCHANAN, Examiner in Arts to the Society of Apothecaries, relative to compulsory Examination in Greek.

"From Dr. W. B. HEPWORTH, relative to the Medical Acts Amendment Bill.

"From the Cork Medical Protection Association, ditto. "From Dr. JAMES MASON, ditto.

"From Dr. GIBSON, relative to the Qualification of Master in Surgery.

"Petition from HENRY B. C. MILLIER, for the Regis tration of his Erlangen Degree, obtained without regular Examination.

"Petition from RICHARD ORGAN, to be allowed to pre

Thirteen years since I was quartered at a most unhealthy station in the East, where Europeans and natives suffered fearfully from jungle fever, in the shape of quotidian ague. I became a victim also, treating myself according to the orthodox medical principles without benefiting thereby, as I could not leave my station. Reduced almost to a skeleton, my devoted native head servant took compassion on me, and said "if master would try native doctor's remedies, he soon get well,” I submitted cheerfully, as it was simple. When the sun set, the cold creeping sensation of the disease regularly commenced, well-known to those who were attacked, that peculiar feeling along the course of the spinal column, and the blue marks at the root of the nails. My servant heated two common bricks, wrapped them up in several folds of cotton cloth, and applied them to the spinal-cord as I reclined in bed; the cold stage even on first application was rapidly cut short, and the warmed stage induced with intense relief to myself. He continued the treatment for a week every evening, when I had entirely got rid of my enemy. Without taking up your valuable space, I merely state this as a fact, which I subsequently confirmed by treating others in the same way

The hot bricks are rude I grant, but efficacious. It appears to te
an old native remedy. Why should not hot spinal bags be
One of the native doctors told me that
used in such diseases.

he used this hot treatment in cholera by means of braziers
of hot fire, i.e., live charcoal, put under the bamboo couch on
which his cholera patients were laid naked, then covered over
above, except the face, with thick warm clothing. The
intense cramp and suffering of this unknown malady was
checked remarkably with cessation of rice-water evacuations
and vomiting, and the relief was invariably followed by
copious offensive discharges from the bowels the next day.
As this knowledge may be generally unknown, I offer it as
having witnessed facts, and am a firm believer in the hot
treatment of ague or cholera.-Yours respectfully,
M.D., M.R.C.P., Lond.