991

DUBLIN.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Royal College of Surgeons: Barker Anatomical Prizes.Two prizes for 1889 and 1890 will be competed for on

Tuesday, July 1st next. They will be of the value each of’20 guineas, are open to all medical students, and will beawarded for the best dissections, superficial and deep, ofthe dorsum of the foot and popliteal space.

Death of Mr. John Hearn.Mr. John Hearn of Corville House, Bawnboy, county

Cavan, when returning home from church last Sunday, diedsuddenly. The deceased gentleman, who was sixty-threeyears of age, had been in the army, and his unexpecteddeath is supposed to have resulted from heart disease.

University of Dublin.A meeting of the Senate of the University will be held

-on May 7th for the purpose of conferring degrees.Qucenstown Hospital.

This valuable institution has been obliged to appeal for.funds, as the income derived from the paying patients isnot sufficient to meet the necessary expenditure. A concertand amateur theatricals was held last week for the purposeof adding to the funds, and a most successful entertainmentwas the result, the pecuniary return being most satisfactory.

Vice-Pegal Visit to the Dublin Orthopædic Hospital.Her Excellency the Countess of Zetland visited this insti-

tution yesterday, and was conducted over the wards byProfessor Hamilton, Mr. Swan, and other members of the.hospital staff ; she remained for a considerable time at thehospital, and expressed herself as much pleased and greatlyinterested in the institution.

Disturbance at the Dundrum Criminal Lunatic Asylum.Last Sunday the allowance of beer given at dinner was

stopped for some reason, and the inmates became very dis-orderly, throwing their food about and smashing the dinnerutensils. Dr. Ashe, the resident medical superintendent,was obliged to call in the aid of the police before quietcould be restored.The Baltinglass guardians have had plans prepared for a

sewerage scheme fortheworkhouse, the medical officer havingfrequently complained of the insanitary state of the premises.Death of Mr. Janacs Martin, F. P, C.S.I., of Portlaw.Mr. Martin died on the 28th inst., at his residence,

Woodview, Portlaw, Co. Waterford, aged seventy-sixyeara. He obtained the Fellowship of the Royal College ofSurgeons in Ireland in 1844, and took a great interest inthe various subjects which came under the consideration ofthat institution, he invariably being present at the annualmeetings of the Fellows. He held the posts of medical.officer of Portlaw Dispensary and certifying factory surgeonfor Portlaw district, and enjoyed a good practice in thelocality in which he resided. Mr. Martin was an ex-

President of the Irish Medical Association and a Fellow ofthe Royal Historical and Archaeological Society of Ireland ;his contributions to medical literature including "FactoryMedical Statistics," " Treatment of Pneumonia," " Treat-ment of Ileus with Opium," &e.

Jl’ercer’s Hospital, Dublin.The unhappy controversy anent the appointment of a

physician vice Dr. Knight still continues. The medicalboard appointed Dr.Cosgrave,but the lay board objectedto this arrangement and elected Mr. Auchinleck, so thatfurther litigation must arise before a decision can bearrived at. At present Mr. Auchinleck appears to have ethe best of the controversy, if we can place any importanceon the old adage that " possession is nine parts of theaw," inasmuch as he is acting as a visiting physician to thehospital.Dublin, April 39the.

CHARLES HENRY COOPER, M.R.C.S., L.S.A., agedtwenty-seven, residing at 87, Trafalgar-road, Greenwich,committed suicide by poisoning himself with morphia. Hehas been described as physically weak and disposed to takea gloomy view of life. No motive of any kind has beenassigned for the act. The coroner’s jury returned a verdictof "Suicide whilst of unsound mind."

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Obesity reduced by Surgical Operation!THE science and art of surgery have no doubt made great

advances in recent times, and at our present rate of progressthere is no knowing what greater perfection, if the phrasebe allowed, we may still attain. That the ne plus 1tltrahas as yet been by no means reached is admitted even bythose within the ranks of the profession, and a mere perusalof modern medical journals or literature would alone makethe bygone lights of the craft stand amazed with wonderwere they but to return on earth to the scene of their formerlabours. I said advisedly "medical literature," but it wouldappear to have been reserved to a lay and daily contemporaryto formulate and describe what is perhaps the most remark-able onward move which has up to the present beenaccomplished by surgical art. It is said, in fact, to be averitable triumph which cannot fail to become as admiredthroughout the profession as it is prophesied it will becomeuniversally popular with the public. The operation itself,in all its details, first saw the light of print some days agoin the columns of a serious morning paper of this city, in theform, not of a letter from the operator, but of an article forwhich the editor of the paper holds himself responsible.The article was copied, and has been going the roundof the Parisian press. The operation is headed "ANew andEffectual Way of Getting Rid of One’s Surplus Fat," and isconfidently recommended to all those who desire to havetheir embonpoint reduced. The operators were Drs.Demars and Marx, and the writer of the article, by wayof further vouching for the accuracy of his statement,says he was present at the operation, and that the subjector patient was a medical student who was a sad suffererfrom excess of adipose deposit, and who had tried all theusual systems and regimens recommended in such cases with-out the slightest effect on his abnormal weight. It appearsthat the abdominal conformation of this poor sufferer wasof a somewhat unusual kind, for below the umbilicus was afold of skin loaded with fat, which reached down over his

tliighs like an apron ; and, as may be well imagined, thisinfirmity greatly impeded the patient in his movements.The preliminary operation-for others are to be practised invarious parts of the body until the patient is reduced to

quite a genteel size-consisted in removing this. The mostminute details as to names, chloroforming, incisions, sutures,and dressing are given at length, and in all seriousness, sothat the procedure, highly calculated to interest a peoplewith a national failing towards embonpoint, has becomethe talk of the town. The daily paper in question seemsindeed to have stolen°quite a march on its professional con-temporaries, for as yet no note as to this remarkable surgicalachievement has reached the medical journals; neither haveany of the details been discussed at any of the medicalsocieties. The details themselves, by their very minuteness,prove too much, for on referring to the Parisian medicaldirectories they are silent as to the existence even of"Drs. Demars and Marx." In short, a sensational andsomewhat unusual joke has been successfully played off onthe credulous public.

A Retreat for Pregnant Women.The Paris Municipal Council has voted the construction

of an asylum for pregnant women of the poorer classes whoby reason of their pregnancy are rendered for the time beingincapable of following their avocations.

Medical Officers of Ships and Quarantine.M. Monod, the director of the Assistance Publique, has

recently given expression to views, which find much accept-ance, as to the manner in which the medical officers of shipsshould be appointed. He proposes that medical otticersattached to seagoing vessels be appointed by Governmentafter a competitive examination, which would be a test oftheir competency. If this system were adopted andelaborated, he is of opinion that the necessity for quarantine,except in very exceptional cases, would become a thing ofthe past; and he is further of the opinion that such a changewould be as much in the interest of the steamship comraniEsas it undoubtedly would be in that of the public.

Paris, April 29th.