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inflicts upon the prodUCtiOA of an anthor.The secretary reads the recommendation,the name, qualification, residence, and thesignatures of such as recommend the can-didate, amounting, sometimes, to a dozen;the president then inquires if it is the

pleasure of the Society to proceed to ballot;the box goes round, distracting the attentionof the members, and is then returned to the

president, who announces the result. Thesecretary having discontinued the scientificpaper, now reads another recommendation,to which a long list of names is appended ;the same formalities are again repeated, andin the intervals the paper is read, the bal-lot-box having gone round six times duringthe reading!

It may be said that it is necessary that allthe papers to be published in the Society’s" Transactions " should be read before themembers in order that they may decide ontheir merits, with regard to their subsequentpublication ; this objection would hold goodif the members had any voice in the matter,which is, however, not the case, the meritsof the papers being decided upon by a

council consisting of about a dozen, half ofwhom, probably, are not present at threeordinary meetings during a session. Howmuch better would the objects of the So-ciety be carried into effect were one goodpaper to be selected for reading on eachevening of meeting, the merits of winchwould afterwards form the subiect of dis-cassion among the members. This wouldnot convert the Society into a mere "arenafor debate," as has been objected by some,but would render it at once one of the mostinteresting and attractive medical assem-

blages in the metropolis-a school where thejunior practitioner or student would not

fail to derive solid information from men ofexperience and judgment. We are fullyaware that some years ago an attempt wasmade by a few individuals to establish a

clique for the purpose of talking upon everysubject brought before the Society, whetherthe matter under consideration was under-stood or not by the " talkers," as they werecalled. This, however, could never eccuragain, provided a willingness was evincedby a part of the members in general, to up-hold the equal rights of all.

It may be said that the discussions wouldmerely consist of a number of crude undi-gested ideas, springing from a variety ofmen ; this, however, need not be the case,provided the subject for discussion be an-nounced at a proper period. Two eveningsonly during the last four sessions have beendevoted exclusively to discussion. On onethe subject for debate was announced at theprevious meeting, in the other instance itwas not so. What was the result? Why,in both instances the evening was spent infi-nitely more pleasantly and more profitablythan when the reading of papers constituted

the entire busineu of the evening. In ce.gard to the value of observations made bymembers on the papers read, we can justlyrefer to the pages of this Journal in proof oftheir occasionally being the most valuablepart of the proceedings. We may merelyrefer here to Sir Benjamin Brodie’s observa-tions on Mr. Phillips’ paper on a new modeof treating prolapsus uteri.

In the other medical societies, generallyspeaking, there is no lack of talking ; but,unfortunately, from the very few memberswho usually attend the London Society, thedebate is limited to two or three individuals,and the consequence is, that a variety of ex-traneous matter is introduced ; questions al.together different from the original one underdiscussion are propounded, dovetailed withgreat ingenuity with one another ; so thataltogether there are occasionally as manyquestions before the Society as there aremembers present, and all huddled togetherin such admirable disorder, that the mind iswearied and distracted in recollecting them.This is an evil which we trust the new regu.lation regarding the annual subscription tothe Society will remove, by the entry of agreat number of new members. The West-minster Society may be considered aa theHouse of Commons-the Free and Easy, ofthe profession. Better attended than theother debating societies, and numbering agreat variety of practitioners among its

members, it is seldom necessary for onespeaker to rise a second time to prevent thedebate lagging. Unfortunatelv, however.some of the members will speak on all ques-tions, and occasionally more than once,-aproceeding which is, of course, detrimentalto the best interests of the Society. It is tobe regretted that, occasionally, the observa-tions made by members are too general andcrude, and do not bear that stamp of thoughtwhich is necessary to make them of anyimportance in the eyes of the profession.The Hunterian and Harveian Societies aretoo exclusive, and the Medico-Botanical isfalling off from want of materiel of the rightsort to keep its machinery in motion. Ofthe Students’ Societies the best is that atGuy’s, where the business is condllcted inthe manner which is observed in France.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE COW-POCKAT WILL.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR:—Permit me to avail myself of the

opportunity which is offered in the pages ofyour Journal, of announcing that one of myfriends, M. Bourquin de Chavannes, hassucceeded, after several years research, indiscovering a mode of perpetuating naturalcow-pock by communicating it at will to

the cow.If we agree with a great number of the

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8OSt experienced and observant physicians,in this and foreign countries, that the dege-eration of the vaccine matter now in com-

mon use is demonstrated by the graduallymereasing number of cases of secondarysmall-pox, it follows that the discoverywhich I have announced must be productive I

of the greatest benefit to mankind, and well t

worthy of the attention of philanthropists.On this point I cannot do better than quotethe words of M. Bourquin :=’ Being convinced that something still remained undone,I undertook the task, and after a long series of experiments, succeeded in solving the (problem ; in other words, I discovered ameans of determining what corra we can inocu-late with a certainty of success. If it be

proven that the vaccine virus of the presentday has degenerated, and that, as a conse-quence, we should return, if possible, to theoriginal source-the cow, it is clear that anestablishment in which the vaccine viruscould be generated at our pleasure wouldbe a great benefit to humanity. The questionis easily reduced to its most simple terms. ’,Is the cow-pock the best preventative of va-riola, or not ? To contest its anti-variolousproperties would be to reject the positivetestimony of the most celebrated practi-tioners, strengthened by an experience ofmore than forty years. Yes: the vaccinevirus is the remedy with which nature fur-nishes us against the ravages of a terri.ble and loathsome malady. But how comesit that many respectable practitioners per-list in attributing the same energetic actionto the virus which has undergone numeroustransmissions from one person to another.Md to the virus taken directly from the cow ?In the latter it exists in its natural state;when transmitted it has lost more or less ofits primitive energy ; and hence arise theinnumerable examples of small-pox after

cow-pox, which have occurred in all parts ofEurope within the last few years. In Ger-many the degeneration of the vaccine virus,and the necessity of having recourse to on

original stock are universally admitted. InFrance the most assiduous researches are

being daily made tokeep up asupply from thecow, but as yet without success." The disco-very, Si, which I have announced presents aready means of supplying an unlimited quan- tity of natural cow-pock, and my principal object in addressing you is to make an ap- peal, through your Journal, to the friends of science and humanity to aid in the formation of an establishment near London, in which the natural cow-pock could be generated at will, and from which all public charities,laospitala, and the poor, might be supplit7d,lwith this infallible preventive of the small-pox. I am, Sir, &c.

BEUIF.8 FONTAISE, M.D. ’

No. a, Foley-place, June 24, 1t339.P.S. Communications on the subject may

be addreued to Dr. Fontaine, Fuley-place.

OBSTRUCTION OF THE URETHRAFROM A STONE.

To tlu Editor qf THE LANCET.SIR:—If the following case has any in-

terest, and should be deemed worthy of aplace in your valuable Journal, you willmuch oblige me by the insertion. I remainSir, your obedient servant,

T. -Hull, June 23, 1839.

An old man, æt. about 70, who had for-merly been a miller, but now foUowiug nooccupation, applied

to me, on account ofgreat difficulty of making water, whicheventually terminated in a total suppression.Considering, from various circumstances,that it proceeded from spasm at the neck ofthe bladder, and never imagining it to be acalculine obstruction, I introduced a cathe-ter, which proved ineffectual. When anyattempts were made to pass the catheteralong the urethra it appeared at though itwas retarded by some interventional sub-stance, about the middle of the urinarypassage. The patient, however, sufferingall along severe pain, was bled, and orderedimmediately to proceed to bed, when he wasgiven the following mixture :-

Castor oil, an ounce and a half;Spirit qf eher, two drachms;Peppermint water, q. s.; two ounces,

thrice adav.I saw him the- following morning; the

pain ery acute; buwels open; he makeswater a little better, which is tinged withblood.

Calomel, three grains;Extract qf tarar., q. s.; bolua, nightand morning.

Towards the evening the patient feelingsomething uneasy at the end of the penia,took from the urethra a large, dark, rusty-coloured stone, about the size of a kidney.bean, which he brought to me, exulting withjoy, from the relief be experienced after itsabduction.

Remarks.—After the bleeding the urethrabecame re!axed, and the operation of themedicine would, perhaps, have been fa-

cilitated if the body had been immersed iaa warm bath. How far, however, this maysucceed, in every particular case, I leave tothe discretion of the profession to make thetrial.

MINIM MEASURES.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR:—There is an evil existing in the dis.

geasing of mediciue, of no small conse.

quence, that berame known ta me, by themerest chance, only a few weeks since,through which not only the reputation of the