In every case in which Dr. Stewardson applied the mercurial ointment, before the fifth day of the eruption, the pustules, whether on the face or limbs, to which the application was made, aborted. Dr. Stewardson did not, in any case, apply the ointment over the whole surface; he proposes, however, hereafter to do so should a suitable case present itself. Annual Report of the Governors of the New York Hospital, made to the Legislature, February 23, 1841. Number remaining at the close of the year 1839 174 1797 Total 1971 1317 111 120 45 18 173 187 Total 1971 Discharged at their own request Remaining December 31, 1840 A new wing to the hospital has been built 93 feet long, 63 wide, and three stories high, exclusive of the basement. It will be completed on or before the 1st of October. "The governors have also fitted up a building for post mortem examinations, and for the delivery of lectures on the facts thus disclosed." T. R. B. The system of moral treatment, combining recreation and employment, continues to prove highly serviceable. Annual Report of the Inspectors of the Mount Pleasant State Prison (Sing Received during the year ending September 30, 1840, males 762 females 43 805 218 36 254 Dr. Belcher, physician and surgeon to the prison, reports the following as the daily average number who have received aid during the year as above. The diseases most frequently occurring, have been dysentery, diarrhea and catarrh, with a long train of chronic affections. There have been several cases of "paroxysmal aberration of mind," all of which have been successfully managed except one, who was removed to the Asylum. Of the males the causes of death were as follows: The female prison is situated on dry and elevated ground, and its inmates are generally more healthy than the males. T. R. B. Annual Report of the Inspectors of the State Prison at Auburn to the Legislature of the State of New York, January 13, 1841. Number of convicts remaining in prison December 31, 1839 670 228 898 Dr. Erasmus Humphreys, physician and surgeon to the prison, presents, in his report, some interesting tables. He states first, all the hospital cases and the diseases; and secondly, all the cases of extraneous description, viz., such as 695 898 visited the hospital from day to day, and the diseases prescribed for. The following is a condensed view of both. The remarkable diminution in the number of extraneous prescriptions, or in other words, the increased health of the convicts, is ascribed principally, by Dr. Humphreys, to the plan recently adopted for warming the north wing of the prisons and the sleeping apartments therein. About five hundred convicts lodge in that wing, which was formerly heated by means of steam, conducted through a cast iron pipe. The force of the steam was such as frequently to burst the weak places in the pipe and thus allow it to escape. It hence filled the apartments either with vapour, water, or if the weather was sufficiently cold, with ice. Add to this, that the windows were all made tight, and closed, and certainly an atmosphere was induced sufficient to bring on disease. At present, heat is kept up by stoves and furnaces, and each convict is allowed two comfortables, with cotton batting quilted in them. Erysipelas and ophthalmia have been prevalent diseases. There have been two cases of insanity, one produced by masturbation, the other insane on admission. Both have recovered. The following is a table of the mortality of the prison for eleven years: stated by Dr. Humphreys. The annual average is hence 13.8. Phthisis pulmonalis Fistula in ano, ending in phthisis Repeated attacks of pneumonia with spinal irritation, ending in phthisis Typhus putridus Lues venerea ending in phthisis 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane. Presented to the Legislature, October, 1840. WILLIAM H. ROCKWELL, M.D. Superintendent and Physician. 639 Patients at the close of the year, October 1, 1839 69 66 Discharged during the year 73 Total 142 61 81 Total 142 Recovered of all the cases discharged the past year 54 per cent. Recovered of all the old cases discharged the past year, 28 per cent. Recovered of all the recent cases discharged the past year, 88 per cent. Recovered of all the cases discharged, 56 per cent. Recovered of all the old cases discharged, 28; per cent. Recovered of all the recent cases discharged, 89 per cent. The necessity of early admission is manifest from the above results. The physician also regrets the mistake, in many instances, of premature removal from the asylum. Of the deaths, two were brought in the last stage of consumption; one lived twenty, and the other twenty-five days. Another was affected with the delirium of old age. He was greatly emaciated and unable to walk or feed himself; he was unconscious of the place of his residence, and regardless of the calls of nature. He died on the thirteenth day of his admission. From the opening of the asylum, 239 patients have been admitted, and only eleven have died, amounting to less than five per cent. Amusements are also The best moral means are found to be, useful employment in the open air; convalescents are more particularly benefited by it. allowed. Religious exercises are continued as heretofore. The pecuniary affairs of this asylum are quite flourishing. for the year ending October 1, 1840, were 9,473 67 dollars. the board of patients, 9,926 86 dollars. The expenditures Convention of the Physicians of Kentucky.-A convention of the Physicians of the State of Kentucky, was held at Frankfort on the second Monday in January last, for the purpose of organizing State and District Medical Societies. The convention adopted a constitution and by-laws, with a system of medical etiquette, and made a praiseworthy movement in relation to medical education, by the adoption of the following preamble and resolutions. "Whereas, deficiences are admitted to exist in the present system of Medical Education in the United States, impairing the dignity and usefulness of the profession; and whereas, the remedy for this evil can be effectually applied by those only who have the training of students of medicine: Therefore, "1. Resolved, That no physician ought to receive, as a pupil, any young man whose capacity, morals and preliminary education are not such as to afford fair promise of his becoming a respectable and useful member of the profession. "2. Resolved, That the period of study required of pupils by the American Medical Schools ought to be extended; and that an extension of the Lecture term from four to six months would do much towards elevating the professional standard of the country. "3. Resolved, That a convention of the Teachers in the Medical Schools of the United States be earnestly recommended, to take into consideration the means of promoting these objects." Jefferson Medical College.-The faculty in this school has been entirely reorga nized: the present occupants of the chairs are the following: Dr. J. K. Mitchell, Practice of Medicine; Dr. C. D. Meigs, Midwifery; Dr. T. D. Mütter, Surgery; Dr. R. Dunglison, Institutes of Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence; Dr. R. M. Huston, Materia Medica and General Therapeutics; Dr. J. Pancoast, Anatomy; Dr. F. Bache, Chemistry. New York University.-A new Medical Faculty has been organized in this Institution, and the chairs filled as follows:-Dr. Mott, Surgery; Dr. Paine, Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica; Dr. Revere, Theory and Practice of Medicine; Dr. Pattison, Anatomy; Dr. Bedford, Midwifery; Dr. Draper, Chemistry. - Transylvania University.-We are happy to announce that our colleague, Dr. E. Bartlett, has been appointed Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in Transylvania University. Dr. Bartlett is a scholar, possesses ample stores of medical knowledge, and much experience as a teacher, and the appointment is alike honourable to him and advantageous to the school. Medical College of the State of South Carolina-We learn that Dr. Geddings, Professor of Pathology and Medical Jurisprudence, has been transferred to the Surgical chair, vacated by Dr. Wagner in consequence of ill health. No better appointment could have been made. Tweedie's Library of Practical Medicine.-Messrs. Lea & Blanchard have published the fifth volume of this work, which completes the series on Practical Medicine. This volume contains Dissertations on Hæmorrhages, Dropsy, Rheumatism, Gout, Scrofula, Worms, &c., followed by some admirable remarks on the art of prescribing, a formulary for extemporaneous prescriptions, and a general index. TRAILL'S Medical Jurisprudence.-Messrs. Lea & Blanchard have just published "Outlines of a course of Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, By Thos. Stewart Traill, M. Ď. F. R. S., &c., Regius Prof. Med. Jurisp. & Med. Police in the University of Edinburgh, First American, from the second Edinburgh edition, revised with numerous notes." It is one of the most admirable compends we have ever met with; and comprises, in the smallest compass, all the leading principles of Medical Jurisprudence and Medical Police. Dr. Traill, in his introduction, which is devoted to a sketch of the history of Medical Jurisprudence, pronounces the work of our colleague, Dr. Beck, to be "the best one on the general subject which has appeared in the English language;" a compliment which is valuable, as coming from a perfectly competent and impartial judge. To the members of the Legal, as well as of the Medical profession, the work of Dr. Traill will be extremely useful. Climate of the United States.-Dr. SAMUEL FORRY is preparing for publication, a work entitled "The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences, based |