MEDICAL NEWS.
Dr. Drake’s Work.—The preparation of the second volume of Dr.
Drake’s work li On the Diseases of the interior valley of North
America,” has been entrusted to Dr. S. Hanbury Smith of Cincinnati,
a gentleman who, by his varied accomplishments and intimate relations
with the deceased, is most admirably qualified for this undertaking. It
will probably be completed next fall.
New York University.—We learn that Dr. M. Clymer has resigned
the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine in this Institution, and
that Dr. John A. Swett has been appointed in his stead.
The Opium Trade.—We are pleased to receive a copy of the new
edition of a valuable pamphlet on this subject by Dr. Nathan Allen,
of Lowell, Mass.
We learn that he is preparing an article upon the abuse of opiates in
Great Britian and the United States, and that he will be greatly obliged to
merchants, druggists, or members of the medical profession who will
communicate to his address, as given above, any facts bearing upon this
subject.
The sixth annual meeting of the American Medical Association
will be held in the city of New York on Tuesday, May 3, 1853.
The secretaries of all societies and other bodies entitled to representa-
tion in the association, are requested to forward to the undersigned correct
lists of their respective delegations as soon as they may be appointed ;
and it is desired by the committee of arrangements that the appointments
be made at as early a period as possible.
The following is an extract from Art. II of the constitution :	“ Each
local society shall have the privilege of sending to the association one
delegate for every ten of its regular resident members, and one for every
additional fraction of more than half of this number. The faculty of
every regularly constituted medical college or chartered school of medi-
cine shall have the privilege of sending two delegates. The professional
staff of every chartered or municipal hospital containing a hundred in-
mates or more, shall have the privilege of sending two delegates; and
every other permanently organized medical institution of good standing
shall have the privilege of sending one delegate.”
Edw’d L. Beadle,
One of the Secretaries, No. 42 Bleeclcer st., New York.
Queen’s College for Ladies.—Medical students who diligently
attend the courses of lectures prescribed by the licensing bodies, consider
themselves well worked, although at no time are they advised to attend
to more than four subjects during the same six months, or more than
four lectures on the same day. And, in verity, to keep up the attention
for four consecutive hours is no small mental exertion. We remember
a teacher of medicine—himself in his early days one of the most distin-
guished students in one of the largest medical schools in the world—
saying that six hours daily mental effort was as much as he ever knew a
man capable of for any length of time, without injury to bis mind or
body. But, however different may be the opinions on this point in re-
ference to men, we should have supposed, that, in regard to the weaker
sex, the statement would have admitted of no question,—that all rea-
sonable men would have been agreed on the impropriety of subjecting
young females to a mental training exceeding in severity that imposed
on students of medicine.
Our attention has been called to this subject by a physician who in-
forms us, that he has had occasion to see more than one of the lady
pupils at the Queen’s College, in Harley street, in consequence of their
having yielded to the temptations to over mental exertion held out to
them at that institution.
The Queen’s College is especially intended for young ladies qualifying
themselves as governesses. The instruction is conveyed to the pupils
by means of lectures, delivered by men of the highest reputation in the
branches of science and literature they respectively teach.
Among the subjects discoursed on to these young ladies are Greek,
Latin, Geometry, Algebra, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Mental and
Moral Philosophy, Logic, and Theology, Botany, Chemistry, Geology,
and the useful arts ' I I
For five or six hours in succession are girls, between the ages of 17
and 20, daily lectured to at the Queen’s College on these subjects,—
subjects, it will not be doubted, calling for as much reading, and as
great mental exertion, as any comprised in the curricula of the Apothe-
caries’ Society, the College of Surgeons, the College of Physicians, or
the Universities of Dublin, Edinburgh, or London. Who can wonder
that the result is what we are told it is ? A paper is now being exten-
sively signed by the leading members of the Profession, expressive of
their conviction, that a knowledge of the Principles of Physiology is
most desirable for schoolmasters. May we not add, that a knowledge
of cerebral physiology is essential for those who undertake the manage-
ment of such institutions as that, on one fault of which we are now
touching ?
It is really too bad, on the part of the Committee, to offer to those
who lay the foundation of serious organic diseases in their “ College,”
the beggarly reward of a certificate, stating that they are mentally quali-
fied to undertake the duties of a governess. Why not enter into an ar-
rangement with the Senate of the University of London, by which their
pupils might obtain a Degree in return for their ruined health ? Per-
haps a real advantage might follow—Female Bachelors and Masters of
Arts, or rather Maids and Mistresses of Arts, might receive somewhat
higher salaries, and enjoy a little more consideration in the families of
the noble and wealthy than these certificated damsels ; they might pos-
sibly, then, be as highly estimated and as well paid as ladies’ maids and
cooks. With this, however, we have nothing to do; but it is a duty we
owe to society to call the attention of the Committee to the sacrifice of
human health and life they are offering up, with no other practical re-
sult, that we can see, than the supplying those who require to have their
children highly educated at a low price, with governesses who will do
the work for which several masters ought to be paid.—London Med.
Times and Gaz.
Dr. Marshall Hall.—Of course every medical reader is familiar
with the name of this distinguished English author. He is now at
Washington, accompanied by his lady and son. After visiting the South,
he proposes to return and travel over the West extensively, and next
season visit the Eastern States. Although considerably advanced in
years, Dr. Hall is a laborious student, a close observer, and may justly
be called one of the most celebrated medical writers of the age. We
bespeak for him the attentions of the professional brotherhood wherevei’
his steps may be directed.
Bulletin of Public Health.—Some alarming rumors have been
in circulation at Paris : we may give our assurance, that all anxiety as
to the state of the public health is without foundation. Information,
upon the accuracy of which we may rely, authorises us to say that the
choleriform affections which have presented themselves lately at the
hospitals have not exceeded the number twelve during the last six
months, and that such is about the usual proportion to other cases at
this season. With one exception these cases were slight; the principal
symptoms characteristic of Asiatic cholera were wanting, and the pa-
tients all recovered. One single circumstance was calculated to arouse
public attention, namely, five cases of this nature presented themselves
at the Hotel Dieu upon the same day the week before last. The symp-
toms, however, yielded to proper treatment. The influenza (la grippe)
has prevailed at Paris since the last fortnight of December, and has at-
tacked, as usual, a large part of the population. As usual, too, but
perhaps rather more strongly marked in the present epidemic than in any
of the preceding, the disease has presented itself under two forms, a pec-
toral form, and an intestinal form. Under this last form it gives rise to
colic, purging, to a prostration of strength most marked, to change in
the features, to general loss of temperature, symptoms which recall, in
reduced proportions, some of the phenomena of Asiatic cholera. But
these accidents yield wonderfully to the employment of some diffusible
stimulus, viz., infusions of peppermint and chamomile, and to the ad-
ministration of opium in draughts or lavements. Opium is most useful
in arresting these symptoms, which do not resist treatment nearly so
much as those accompanying the pectoral form of “ la grippe,” the pro-
gress of which, usually without danger, it is difficult to stop.
It is very true there are, at the present moment, a great number of
sick in the hospitals; supplemental beds have been put into the Hotel
Dieu, and it is feared a yet larger number will be required. This fact
arises from two causes. First, the suppression of the temporary hospital
of Bon Secours; secondly, the exceeding mildness of the winter, which
has permitted the continuance of the immense works now in progress at
Paris, and has consequently retained a considerable number of laborers
who usually go back at this season to their homes. To resume, in spite
of “ la grippe/’ in spite of the crowded state of the hospitals, where there
are many cases of typhoid fever, nothing justifies the apprehensions
spread throughout the public mind. Asiatic cholera does not exist in
Paris. It is retiring daily from central Europe, and every thing con-
firms us in the hope, which we expressed last November, that the epi-
demic of Poland and Russia would die in the place of its birth.—London
Med. Times, and Gaz.} from Union Medicale.
History of Corsets. By M Bouvier.—The Academy of Medi-
cine (Seance du. 25 Janvier, 1853, Presidcnce de M. Berard) feeling
with propriety that no subject affecting the health is below considera-
tion, has given its attention to a report from M. Bouvier upon ladies’
stays. The work is divided into two parts; the first, now before the
public, being the history of stays. The report bears especially upon
stays without seams and without a mechanical busk. The learned author,
who seems to have ransacked both ancient and modern history for in-
formation upon so absorbing a matter, arrives at the following conclu-
sions.
1.	The history of the dress of the principal people of antiquity shows
that the want of a retentive garment, more or less constricting, round
the trunk in the female was felt in ancient as well as in modern Europe.
2.	In other times, as now, women have been disposed to overdo this
circular constriction, to the detriment of their health.
3.	In the history of modern civilization, one sees, after the relinquish-
ment of the ample tunic of the Roman ladies, the figure first simply sur-
rounded in a well-fitting corsage; then inclosed and bound in a sort of
cuirass, called “ corps a’baleinesand, lastly, brought out and sup-
ported by the present corset, the last form of this special garment.
4.	Although corsets, when improperly employed, may be prejudicial,
yet, when well made and well adjusted, they have not the injurious
effects usually ascribed to them.
5.	It is an error to attribute the constriction of the lower part of the
chest to the influence of stays. A constriction is normal, within certain
limits, in both sexes, and subject to vary from other causes than the
pressure exercised by this article of dress.
6.	There is no proof that the use of corsets produces deformity of the
vertebral column.
7.	Not only should motives deduced from asthetics and from the so-
cial destination of woman induce the physician to permit the use of cor-
sets, under proper restrictions, but, moreover, there are many circum-
stances, such as the volume of the bosom, the relaxation or the distension
of the muscular wall of the abdomen, the habitual bending of the trunk,
the lateral deviation of the spine, etc., which give formal indications for
the employment of this sort of bandage, whether upon hygienic principles,
or as an aid to cure certain lesions.
The second part of this contribution to medical literature is to be
presented at the next seance.—London Med. Times, and Gaz., from
Union Medicale.