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If the Juniors, who are in a state ofexpectancy in the different hospitals,feel injured by these observations,their progress will soon carry themout of the range of them. It is notwholesome that they should gain all atonce, but that another and anothereffort may make them more worthy.And when they have gained their ob-ject, they will have learned to value itand keep it; for I hold it to be equallyinjurious to the interests of an hospi-tal, that a physician should be ashamedto keep his situation during the yearsof his maturity, as it is to promoteonly young and inexperienced men.

I have endeavoured to do my dutyto this Hospital, in a quiet and nn-obtrusive manner by application toindividuals, and having failed, I havebeen forced upon this mode of’ ad-dressing you.Soho Square, November 15, 1824."

We have now put our readers in

possession of the Letter, and the

brief space which we can at presentafford to occupy will oblige us to deferour strictures upon its contents. We

may however observe, that the letteris arrogant and hypocritical in the ex-treme, and wants common candour and

honesty to recommend it. The at-

tempt to injure one of the candidates,is, we imagine, prompted by the self-interest of the writer; and the truthof the positions attempted to be esta-blished is, in our opinion, diametri-

cally opposed to the inuendoes of thejunior surgeon.We have often had occasion to

speak well of Mr. BELL as a lecturerand a snrgeon, but we never wish

to see him again in the capacity of aletter-writer to the governors of the

hospital. Such attempts as the pre-sent are unhecoming the philosopher,dishonourable to the gentleman, and

highly discreditable to the indivi-

dual.

We shall proceed with this article,and with the dissection of Alr. JOE

BURNS, in our next Number.

FOREIGN DEPARTMENT.

Ctise of complete closure of the VaginaoccU1Ting after natural labour-

Operation.Madame S-, the subject of this

case, presented nothing particularduring her pregnancy ; her confine-ment, although long and painful, ter-minated well; afterwards, she foundherself quite well, with the exceptionof a burning sensation in the vaginaand the neighbouring parts. Pro-

bably the long continuance of thechild in the passage, and the repeatedefforts of the uterus to expel it, pro-duced excoriation of the vagina; theparts were merely fomented, and thepatient soon got up without feelingany pain; the urine flowed as usual,and without any sort of interruption.It was not till two months afterwardsthat she felt pain in the kidneys andhypogastric region, which she thoughtwas owins to the aouroach of thetime of menstruation; but the painwas much more acute than usual, al.most equal to that which occurs inlabour; the hypogastrium was in-flamed and painful. She also expe-rienced a sort of unpleasant sensationin the anus, but nothing unnaturalwas to be seen, and in four or fivedays the pain entirely disappeared.The woman, not disturbed about

her situation, only feared that shewas again pregnant, on account of thestoppage of the menses, and the othersymptoms which she had. At thenext period for the appearance of themenses, the same symptoms, althoughmore violent, manifested themselves.and there was no discharge whatever.Three or four months passed awaywithout any appearance of the menses,and the health of the patient evidentlybegan to suffer. The husband first

led to the discovery of the true na-

ture of the complaint. by saying thathis wife was femée. I wished to, know whether this was really the

case, and I saw that the exterior ori-

278

fiee of the vagina was completely ob-literated, without any other openingthan that for the urine. - This state

fully accounted for the pains and

swelling of the hypogastrium, and forthe languor and fever which the pa-tient had. It was with difficulty thatI obtained consent for M. BOURGETto see her, who was also of opinionthat all her symptoms depended on

the cause which we have just men-tioned.M. BOURGET again attentively

examined the patient, and convincedhimself of the adhesions of the parietesof the vagina: but he thought that heperceived towards the fourchette adeep depression, which looked likean opening into the vagina.M. B. divided the adhesions of the

vagina, when he easily passed hisfinger to the orifice of the womb, &c.To prevent their reuniting, M. B.

passed into the vagina a piece ofbougie which had a groove in theupper part to allow of any discharge.The patient scarcely lost any blood,the menses returned, and at regularperiods, although ’the patient wouldnot allow the bougie to remain snfficiently long, by which means thevagina, to a certain degree, becameclosed but not obliterated.-Gazettede Santé, Nov. *5.-Legal Medicine.—A man, named

PATEIT, who was executed in theLow Countries, for murder, on the27th of last August, made some im-portant disclosures before his death.He declared among other things thatthe death of one of his uncles, whodied on the 28th of May 1823, wasproduced by some poison which thewife had given him. Although thebody had been interred sixteen months,it was taken up and examined. Not-withstanding the putrefaction of thewhole body, the stomach was entirelyfree from it, and it was ascertainedthat it contained some poisonous stib-stances. It is not the first time thatsuch a case has occurred. But it isuseful to record facts of this nature,to prove the degree of precision atwhich analytical chemistry has arriv-ed. The preservation of the stomach,in the midst of general putrefaction,has nothing singular in it, althoughthe Dutch journal which states thefact does’ not mention whether it was

a mineral poison ; for it is well knownthat chlornrets, for instance, preserveanimal substances from all p4trefac-tion.

’

Royal .4cademy of Medicine.

Sitting of the 27th of July.—M. GE-RARDIN read a paper on the bad ef.fects of the ergot of rye when used topromote labour. He stated, that inthe colonies the substance is regardedas a sure means to produce abortion,and the death of the foetus. M. G.thinks, therefore, that the ergot of ryeought never to be employed but withthe greatest care, and only in cases ofinertia uteri, or to cause the expulsionof hydatids from the uterus.

General Assembly, Aug. 3d.-M.Dupuy read a paper on the plenrisyof horses. He produced this inflam --mation by injecting oxalic acid intothe pleura. He ascertained that, afew hours after the iiijeetiori, a cer

tain quantity of liquid was already ef-fused. M. D. discovered, by chemicalanalysis, that the flakes floating inthe liquid, said tq be albuminous, arecomposed of fibrin. This liquid, more-over, contains albumen, traces ofoxyde of iron, and different salts.

Aug. 10th.—M. LEVEILLE showed atubercle, of the size of a hen’s egg,which was developed between thatportion of the dura mater and arach-noid, the external and internal partof the left lobe of the cerebrum. Its

covering was united by several orga-nized cellular adhesions to the arach-noid. The individual in whom thiswas found had, for a long time, beenin a complete state of imbecility,without offering any other particularsymptom. He had been blind fortwo years, and the optic nerves werein a state of complete atrophy.

Cheapest mode of procuring Bodies.—Anatomical Lectures.—ResurrectionMen.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,—The fearless manner in which

you have invariably acted, when theinterest of the younger members ofthe profession has been in question, isa sufficient voucher that you will in-

I sert the following remarks, if you