937THE QUESTION OF MEDICAL DEFENCE.

wall of the left auricle at the margin of the appendix 1

auriculas. The pointed portion of the needle then extended i

across the opening into the appendix. The point was just : atouching the opposite wall of the auricle, where a little i

papilla of vegetations was set up by the irritation of the 1

point of the needle. In the ventricle the needle penetrated i

the heart muscle immediately behind the coronary artery I

on its way to the anterior interventricular groove. Theneedle was firmly embedded in the tissue, so that it couldnot be pulled out without using considerable force. It wasone and five-eighths of an inch long. It was black in colourand its surface quite smooth. The left pleura was firmlyadherent throughout. The superior lobe of the left

lung was a mass of tuberculous nodules and some

small cavities. The inferior lobe presented anotherfeature of interest in the presence of a broken knittingneedle. There was an old cicatrix in the skin to the left

margin of the sternum. The needle, pointing downwards,entered the lung at the anterior border of the inferior lobeabout two inches from the lower margin, passing down-wards, backwards, and slightly outwards, reaching the outersurface of the lung at a point about four inches from itsposterior border and two inches above the circumference ofthe base. The needle was four and five-eighths of an inchlong, the broken end being slightly bent and the other endpointed and sharp. The needle was completely eneysted.Neither point emerged before the manipulation of the lungin its removal. It was quite black and was not in any waycorroded.

THE QUESTION OF MEDICAL DEFENCE.

THE points raised in Dr. Drage’s letter on our article onthe report of the Medical Defence Union are well worthyof the attention of the profession. All the same, we entirelydissent from his conclusions. We have consistently dis-couraged the multiplicity of societies having the same object,and so have advocated the union of the two protectionsocieties. But we fail to see that one good strong societyfor the one purpose of defence of members of the professionagainst unreasonable or malicious charges is too much forthe work. It is very doubtful, indeed, whether the BritishMedical Association would add to its strength byattempting the work done now so well by the MedicalDefence Union and its sister society. It certainly couldnot do the defence work better than it is done. And if thiswork came to be added to the work of the Association,already multifarious enough, the chances are it wouldbe worse done. The disposition of one big body to absorband appropriate the function of other bodies less than

itself, but not less efficient, has many illustrations, and isnot to be encouraged. Still more doubtful would be the

policy of relieving the corporations from their ethical func-tions by one huge corporation representative of the wholeprofession. The bodies that give diplomas cannot be relievedof the disciplinary duties attaching to their authority. Theassociation of such duties with that of examining andadmitting to the profession is as old as the oldest qualifyingbody, and no conceivable Parliament is likely to alter thefact. We entirely agree with Dr. Drage that such bodiesshould recognise the corporate rights of their memberswithout delay, and that they would strengthen themselvesby doing so. But if the British Medical Association is not

likely to have handed over to it as a voluntary associationthe ethical powers of the corporations it has enormous

powers as a voluntary association. And it is only fair tosay that it has no more used its full powers as a voluntaryassociation than the corporations have used their full legalpowers to repress the evils of the profession. There can be

no doubt that if ten years ago the British Medical Association

1 THE LANCET, March 21st, 1896, p. 794.

had resolved that no one should enjoy its membershipwho took office in a medical aid association, or any otherassociation which was proved to employ touters and to sweatits medical officers, it would have done much to preventthe evils which are now so seriously degrading the pro-fession ? 2 The Association has powers as a voluntary asso-ciation which it could not have acting under the sanction ofParliament, and it will best serve the profession by retainingits freedom and using those powers well.

THE VACANCY ON THE SENATE OF THEUNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

SIR JOSEPH LISTER, B.A., M.B., has consented to be putin nomination as a candidate to fill the vacancy on theSenate of the University of London caused by the resignation of Mr. Hutton. Mr. Walter Rivington, B.A., M.B., M.S.,has also been invited to become a candidate for the vacantseat. The vacancy is filled by the Crown from a list of threepersons submitted by Convocation, and on the present

occasion the choice falls on a graduate in medicine or

, science.

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THE PORTSMOUTH CORONER ON DANGEROUSLAMPS.

AT an inquest at Portsmouth on March 23rd Mr. T. A.Bramsdon, the borough coroner, had something to say aboutcheap lamps. A woman aged fifty had been left in bed with alamp which two years ago had been bought for one penny.She was afterwards found terribly burned-indeed, in flames-but gave no intelligible explanation of the occurrence.Mr. Bramsdon in his summing up said such lamps were asdangerous as it was possible to conceive and could be termednothing else but death-traps. Cheap lamps were deplorable,awful things, and their seriousness could hardly be realised.He referred to the continual reports of deaths occurring fromthe use of such articles all over England and expressed hisopinion that the sooner legislation put a stop to their use thebetter it would be.

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THE LATE GIUSEPPE FIORELLI.

MEDICINE owes a debt of gratitude to the distinguishedarchaeologist above named, for he it was who not onlyenriched the treasure-trove of ancient surgical instruments,but also preserved for the comparative anatomist a vastnumber of skeletons eighteen centuries old which otherwisewould have been lost to history and science. These serviceshe rendered in his capacity of superintendent of the excava-tions at Pompeii. For twelve years he was the life and soulof the operations by which that buried city has been restoredto something like its former self in outline and in detail.Before 1860, the year in which the Bourbon Government wasreplaced in the Two Sicilies by that of the House of Savoy,excavation was conducted at Pompeii on unscientific lines,more attention being given to whatever objects of artistic ornegotiable value could be unearthed than to the determinationof the plan of the city, its buildings public and private, itsoccupations, its oie intirne. Every visitor to the NationalMuseum of Naples must have profited by the richly representedand beautifully arranged relics of Campanian life placed enévidcrwe before.him, and supplementing so fully and so vividlya walk through the silent streets and tenantless houses ofthe once animated " Rome-super-Mare "-the " gay and guiltyBrighton of the first century." All that memorable expe-rience was made possible for him between the years 1860 and1872 by Fiorelli-an epoch in archaeology which has beencontinued under the inspiration of its directing mind to thepresent day. During those twelve years some 600 skeletonsand fragments of human bodies were excavated, all the

individuals to whom these skeletons belonged having, withone exception, died in great agony. Suffocated by the dense