286 ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.—MEDICAL NEWS.

proper corporate purposes could not be taken away from theMembers by a by-law, and in support of his case he sub.mitted as principles of corporation law that the jurisdictionof the Council extended only to regulating the affairs of thecorporation so as to produce the maximum advantage, andthat the power of disfranchisement was inherent in thecorporation as a whole, and could not be exercised by anyselect body unless committed thereto by the instrumentwhich created the corporation and determined its constitu-tion. He then glanced at what he suggested wouldprobably be the ground upon which the defence wouldbe rested-namely, a clause in a Charter granted to theCollege in 1843, which conferred upon the Council thepower of making by-laws, and of enforcing them byexpulsion, in the following terms: "That if it shall at anytime hereinafter appear that any present or future Member,or any Fellow of the said College, to be appointed or

admitted t any time after the expiration of the said firstthree calendar months from the date hereof, shall haveobtained his letters testimonial or his diploma respectivelyby any fraud, false statement, or imposition, or that eitherbefore or after obtaining such his letters testimonialor diploma he shall have violated any by-law, rule,or regulation of the said College, then and in everysuch case, and after such previous notice to and suchhearing of such Member or Fellow as under the circum-stances the Council of the said College shall think proper,it shall be lawful for such Council to recall and to declarethe letters testimonial or diploma respectively of suchMember or Fellow to be void, and thereupon every suchMember or Fellow shall cease to be a Member or a Memberand Fellow of the said College, as the case may be, accord-ingly."Commenting upon this clause, he suggested that the true

construction would be not that the Council should have anunrestricted power to make by-laws and to enforce theirobservance upon members by the penalty of expulsion,but only such a power as would be consistent withthe enjoyment by the members of all the rights whichappertained to members of the old Company of Surgeons’rights, which, having been conferred by Act of Parliament,could not be taken away by Charter. Thereupon theAttorney-General objected that Members of the Collegeof Surgeons could not claim the rights possessed bymembers of the old companies and guilds of surgeonswhich existed before 1800, because the old Company ofSurgeons ceased to exist then. Upon this Mr. Moultonargued that the old Company had not in law been dissolvedat that time, and that by the Charter of 1800 members ofthe present College of Surgeons were one body continuouslywith the members of the old companies. He furtherpointed out that under the Charter of 1800 there was nopower of expulsion given to the Council.Without calling on counsel for the defendants, Mr.

Justice Romer gave judgment, dismissing the action withcosts against the plaintiffs. He held that the corporationestablished by the Charter of 1800 was a new corporation,and that the only rights which the plaintiffs could claimwere under that Charter; that the By-law xvii. was notultra vires; and that power to make it was expresslygiven to the Council by the Charter of 1843.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

THE ordinary quarterly comitia of the College was held onthe 28th inst., Sir Andrew Clark, Bart., President, in thechair.

Drs. Barratt, Bird, Fenn, and Kanthack were admitted tothe Membership.The College seal was affixed to the lists of those gentle-

men who had recently passed the examinations for theLicence of the College and the examination in Public Health(conjointly with the Royal College of Surgeons).A communication was read from the Secretary of State

for War respecting the method now in vogue of conductingexaminations for admission to the Army Medical Staff ; anda committee was nominated to confer with a similar com-mittee already appointed by the Council of the College ofSurgeons upon the question. The committee consisted ofSir Joseph Fayrer, Dr. Cheadle, Sir Dyce Duckworth, Dr.Green, Dr. Farquharson, M.P., and Dr. N. Moore.

A letter was read from the Metropolitan Asylums Boardasking for an authoritative opinion respecting the infectious-ness of influenza, and the possible risks entailed by the con.veyance of influenza patients in public vehicles. The Pre-sident explained that he had counselled the chairman ofthe Board to sanction the use of the ambulances belongingto the Board.At the request of the Executive Committee of the

National Leprosy Fund, Sir Dyce Duckworth and Dr. Heronwere reappointed to serve on the Special Committee to drawup a memorandum on the work of the Indian Commissionand organise further inquiries upon the subject.The vacancies on the Council caused by the death of

Sir R. Bennett, and the retirement by rotation of Drs. J.Harley, Morgan, and Cheadle, were filled by the electionof Drs. Maudsley, Bastian, Cayley, and Douglas Powell.In compliance with a proposal from the Society of Arts

the Treasurer, Registrar, and Senior Censor were nominateda committee (with power to add to their number) to conferwith that Society on the subject of obtaining a new schemefor awarding the Swiney prize. At present this prize isawarded quinquennially by the Society of Arts and theCollege of Physicians alternately to the author of the bestwork on jurisprudence.The alterations in the by-laws proposed at the last,

meeting were enacted for the second time.The President nominated a large and influential Com.

mittee for the Revision of the Nomenclature of Diseases.The Annual Report of the Examiners for the Licence

and a Report from the Laboratories Committee were re*ceived.

Medical News.SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES OF LONDON.-The fol

lowing candidates have passed in the respective subjects :-Surgery.- W. H. Andrews, King’s College ; W. H. Cooke, St. George’e.Hospital; S. D. Gill, Queen’s College, Birmingham; A. A. Mac-farlane, J. N. Martin, and C. S. Palmer, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital;W. Robinson, Middlesex Hospital; J. H. F. Way, St. Thomas’sHospital.

Medicine, Forensic Medicine, and Midwifery.—J. D. Hessay, MiddlesexHospital; R. L. Romer and H. G. White, St. George’s Hospital.

Medicine and Forensic .51 -edicine.-S. A. E. Griffiths, MiddlesexHospital.

Medicine and Midwifery.—B. S. Foulds, Charing-cross Hospital J. P.Jones and H. W. West, London Hospital; C. Webb, St. Georges’Hospital.

Medicine.-C. R. Harper, Middlesex Hospital; A. G. Haydon, St.Bartholomew’s Hospital ; W. H. Waddington, Owens College,Manchester.

Forensic Medicine.—E. H. Bingley, St. Mary’s Hospital; F. B. Lewis,London Hospital.

Midwifery.—W. C. Howle, Queen’s College, Birmingham.To Messrs. Bingley, Cooke, Griffiths, Harper, Haydon, Howle,

Robinson, and White was granted the diploma of the Society, entitling.them to practise Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery, and enabling theholder to compete for medical appointments in the Army, Navy, antiIndia Services, and for Poor-law appointments.

LAHORE MEDICAL COLLEGE.&mdash;PRINCE ALBERTVICTOR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.-The formal opening of thiswing of the Mayo Hospital was performed by his honour theLieutenant Governor on the lsu inst. in the presence of a.distinguished company. This memorial hospital is erectedto commemorate the visit which his Royal Highness paid tmLahore in January, 1890. Such an addition to the Mayo<Hospital was urgently required. The total outlay, includ-ing the furniture and general equipment of the buildings, isestimated to amount to 108,580 rupees. The accommoda.-tion provided consists of three separate buildings-a mainblock, a second block, and a third block.

LIVERPOOL INFIRMARY FOR CHILDREN.&mdash;The workof this institution has been satisfactorily carried on duringthe past year. There has been a decrease in the number ofin-patients, but the beds have been as fully occupied as inthe previous year. The falling off in the number of out-patients is rather a matter of satisfaction to the committee.They feel the resources of the infirmary have been, in thisdepartment, overtaxed. The balance-sheet shows a de.ficiency, including the deficit brought forward from lastyear, of &pound;351 9s. 2d. The Convalescent Fund has been againof great advantage in supplementing the work of the in-firmary. During the year sixty-seven patients were sent toWest Derby.