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they will certainly have to pass. The sick and wounded,their attendants and the ambulances, will be protected andrespected by the combatants of both sides, and we trust wemay count upon them adhering to their agreement not to useany of those terrible explosive missiles about which therewas some discussion a year or two ago. The ministers ofthis country have a most delicate, difficult, and responsible task before them. We have nothing whatever to do with the quarrel, and are happily neutral, and it is the prayer of every right-thinking and humane man that we may remainso. Extreme care is required, however, if we are to avoid

wounding the susceptibilities of France or Prussia. It mightbe difficult for our Government to recognise the presence ofBritish subjects with the army of either side; but the com-mittee in England, in connexion with those abroad, mightbe able to determine upon some well-organised and effectualplan of action for sending succour to the sick and woundedof the contending armies in the shape of surgeons, nurses,and hospital material. Whatever may be the opinionsentertained of what threatens to be one of the most calami-tous wars on record, there will be ample scope for the exer-cise of humanity towards its victims.Two hundred doctors of medicine, 500 medical students,

50 pharmaciens, 150 pupils of the School of Pharmacy, and800 ward attendants, have offered their services to the FrenchGovernment for the coming campaign. The veteran Sedillotinsists upon doing active service in spite of his seventyyears. His sons hold commissions in the army. Dr. Evans,the American dentist, presided at a meeting of his country-*men on the 18th inst., which decided on the formation of acommittee to act with the French Society for help to thewounded of all nations. Dr. Evans has placed at the dis-posal of that Society his collection of articles which hadbeen used in the American war, and has presented a dona-tion of £400.

Besides the ambulances which are intended for imme-diate assistance, a certain number of infirmaries have beenestablished in Berlin and other localities. These infirma-ries have been given up to the voluntary care of privatepeople, the State paying only the small sum allotted in theestimates for each sick soldier. No Government controlexists, save ascertaining the numbers admitted, and thecases of death. The object is to place the sick in the mostfavourable circumstances, private benevolence being moreliberal than the military authorities can afford to be. Thesick and wounded will, in this manner, be attended in somedegree as in private houses ; and it should be noted thatthousands of beds have been offered by the inhabitants.Many people have agreed to take as many as ten woundedmen into their houses. Hence the dangers of overcrowdingwill be avoided.

THE TOWN COUNCIL OF EDINBURGH ANDTHE MIDWIFERY CHAIR.

Qui s’excuse s’accuse receives striking confirmation fromthe written reply of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh to thestrictures passed by the University Court on the recentappointment to the Midwifery Chair. His Lordship’s zealis in advance of his knowledge, and we should imagine that,if Sir Alexander Grant or Professor Christison thought itworth their while, they could put him and his clumsy con-tention in a very unfavourable light. We shall take nounfair advantage of his Lordship’s essentially bourgeois viewof scientific or academic matters. We shall simply disposeof his less suicidal arguments in detail. ,It is assumed,"says his Lordship, " that a bad choice has been made." Sofar as we are aware, there has been no such assumption.What the University, the enlightened Scottish public, andthe profession at large maintain is this-that while therewas great disparity of qualification between the successfulcandidate and the two unsuccessful ones, no attention waspaid by the representatives of the Town Council in theCourt of Curators to that disparity; that Drs. Reiller andMatthews Duncan had given evidence of a scientific andteaching proficiency to which Dr. A. R. Simpson couldsubstantiate no claim; and that, while the representativesof the University were unanimous in supporting the can-didate who had most academic recommendations, the repre-

sentatives of the bourgeoisie supported the candidate whohad least. Again, his Lordship announces that Dr. MatthewsDuncan’s writings are more speculative than practical,What does his Lordship mean by this distinction? Science

proceeds by speculation,-by collecting facts, and general-ising from them. Had he or his advisers proved that Dr.Matthews Duncan’s speculations were unsound, he wouldhave strengthened his position most materially. But thecharge against a scientific work that it is more speculativethan practical, is pointless. All great discoveries were atfirst speculations; in science the paradox of one generationoften becomes the truism of the next. When a man ceasesto speculate he ceases to be scientific ; and so far from itsbeing an objection, it is a distinct recommendation of Dr.Matthews Duncan that, in addition to his practical pro-ficiency, which was quite equal to that of his elder antago-nist, and far superior to that of his younger, he yet pos-sessed the speculative faculty in such vigour. His Lord-

ship adds another to his reasons for opposing Dr. Duncan.That gentleman, he says, "spoke sneeringly of our late be-loved Professor." The fact is simply this. Dr. Duncan tookvery strong exception to some of Sir J. Simpson’s doctrines,and expressed himself in their condemnation with a deci-siveness proportioned to the authority by which they cameforth. "No mercy to a great author," said Sir WilliamHamilton, who well knew the influence of a distinguishedname in securing the adhesion of the vulgar. But anythinglike objection to Sir J. Y. Simpson’s views is what the LordProvost cannot tolerate. His Lordship’s share in securingthe late Professor’s appointment he announces as "one ofthe proudest acts of his life "; and the lustre whichSir James shed on his supporters suffices, he thinks, tojustify all their subsequent elections. His Lordship, ofcourse, does not expect to be seriously encountered onthis point; and we shall merely say that, even when thebest candidates were elected, it was by narrow majo-rities, and, in nearly all of these cases, only when thegreater number of the Town Council had (as in the memo-rable instance of Sir William Hamilton) been overawed bypublic opinion. The Lord Provost indulged in some ratherungraceful comments of the tu quoque kind, which, how-ever, secured him a round of applause from his municipalaudience when the reading of his reply came to a close.Bailie Skinner followed in a similar strain, but addedto the Lord Provost’s arguments really nothing whichcould, in any degree, be held to justify his vote. The pleathat Dr. A. R. Simpson lectured in his uncle’s absence has beenalready disposed of. Several speeches followed that of BailieSkinner, until the meeting acquired something of an 11 in-dignation

" character, and certainly did not lessen the mis-givings of the public as to the competency of the municipalorators to sit in judgment on men of science, and decide onthe most worthy among them. The Lord Provost was sanguineas to Dr. A. R. Simpson’s appointment marking a freshstage in the academic annals of Edinburgh. We quite agreewith him. We believe it will form the turning point of anew and better exercise of University patronage.

THE REPORTS BY THE REGISTRARS TO THEMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL, FOR THE YEAR 1869.

THESE reports are largely, and we might almost say neces-sarily, composed of tables, to the more important of whichare added abstracts presenting valuable data for statisticalpurposes.The report of Dr. John Murray, the Medical Registrar,

contains a general table of diseases and their results,arranged according to the College of Physicians’ nomen-clature ; also a table of cases of disease originating in themedical wards, with the morbid appearances in 124 post-mortem examinations, an excerpt of which is appended.Short reports on typhoid fever, and cases of relapsing feverand pysemia which occurred in the hospital, are also given.But the most important parts of the medical report are theelaborate tables on the cases of acute rheumatism, to whichan abstract is added. It is mentioned that 107 cases ofacute and subacute rheumatism were under treatment ; ofthese 88 cases were admitted during the year 1869, 38 males,and 50 females. Five cases died. Fourteen remain under