believe that the female M.D. would leave behind her there every especial drawback to her success? Those which must, in most cases, attend her through life, have been kindly and wisely set forth by a physician in your last number. I can add nothing that would clench his arguments; they embody the views and feelings which many intelligent, delicate-minded women express on this subject. At the same time, there appears to be a social want which might be admirably supplied by the very class of women who, had they been of the other sex, would have practised physic con amore. Why should not their natural instincts be so developed that we might have a really superior staff of nurses above the menial class. Power, patience, tact, and sympathy, all the high qualities which make up the gift of healing; are not these wanted to the full as much in the nurse as in the doctor? Most medical men in large practice have cases on their list where the services of a thoroughly trained "nursing friend," as head in the sick-room, with a servant or common nurse under her, would be both appreciated and remunerated. Apart from the question of remuneration, it seems highly desirable that some one female member of every middle class family should be regularly trained for nursing, How often an ill-spared guinea a week, besides board, has to be paid to a professional nurse, because in a houseful of women there is not one who can supply those cares which the patient absolutely requires! In fiction, we know the heroine can cover up her harp, lay her embroidery aside, and start up a ready-made Florence Nightingale at half an hour's notice. But where the suffering to be soothed is terribly real, these impromptu volunteers can help but little towards it. Ladies, have we not all of us known some sickroom where the wife, daughter, aye, mother even, who would have gladly given her own life for that of the sufferer, could not wash and shift the patient properly, could not spread a plaster, make a poultice, or prepare so much as a comfortable cup of gruel? I believe medical men could tell many sad stories of middle-class sick-rooms where pain was aggravated and danger heightened by nursing of the amateur, unhandy sort. Let us supply all deficiencies in our own especial province before we prepare to pass, as some would say, beyond it.

One branch of medicine our grandmothers considered especially their own, though we have let it slip out of our hands. Any lady living in the country might become proficient in this with little cost beyond time and painstaking. I refer to the practical knowledge of vegetable medicines. I remember in this village an old lady, the relic of a bygone generation, who practised this art. She knew every herb in the district, the properties of the root, leaves, flowers, its growth, and the exact time when, in her own words, it was "at its highest virtue." Being the wife of a comfortable farmer, she did not, like Molière's draper, give her wares to her friends for money, but her simples, distillations, confections, &c., were not the less at the service of all about her. It would be difficult to exaggerate the good this kind-hearted woman did in a village quite three miles from the nearest doctor. "Take your child to Mrs. he would say to many a mother, as he went his rounds, "she'll doctor it as well as I can, and charge you nothing into the bargain." Only yesterday this same surgeon said to me, when speaking of Mrs. her ointments for burns and scalds were better than mine; they were so admirably made up. Then, when the clerk's wife had a cancer, that good old soul dressed it every day for two years. I wouldn't meddle with itointment, bandage, dressing, it was all as perfect as could be." So the doctor went on, recalling case after case, and his concluding remark is worth a thought," When I began to practise here, forty-five years back, there was hardly a parish without some good woman of this sort in it. They are all gone now; Mrs. was the last of them, and it's a bad job for the that there is nobody to come in their place." I listened to my old friend, thinking why should not some of the workers among us, my sisters, revive this useful order, and graft the study of medical botany on the patience, kindliness, and skill of these old-fashioned herbalists.

“Why,

poor

Why not make it our business to select and cultivate herbs, study those delicate processes of drying which preserve their virtue; prepare powders, salves, syrups, &c., so well that chemists and dispensing surgeons would gladly purchase them of us? With apologies for so long a speech in council, I am, Ladies, yours faithfully, C. M. W.

LVII.-PASSING EVENTS.

PUBLIC AND POLITICAL.

THE Great International Exhibition has been the one absorbing topic of the month. The ceremonial which inaugurated the opening was conducted with all the splendor and solemnity of which the circumstances permitted; but it needed not the sable liveries of the attendants, the deep mourning habits of those nearest allied to the throne, nor the touching allusions in Tennyson's Ode, to remind the nation of their irreparable loss. From the magnificent spectacle the eye turned sadly away; and there was not one amid that vast gathering whose thoughts were not with their Queen, following her in her journey towards the northern retreat which he had loved so well, and to which she had now retired in her loneliness and grief.

Ir is hardly necessary to say that the Crown Prince of Prussia received the welcome which must ever await one so nearly allied to our Sovereign, and the speech which he made at the annual dinner given by the Royal Academy, deepened, if possible, the favorable impression he had made on this country. THE Queen remains in strict seclusion at Balmoral. The aspect of the Castle is described as most melancholy: Her Majesty seldom drives beyond the limits of the estate; yet it may be observed that nearly every cottager within the demesne has been visited by the Queen. The Prince of Wales is still in the East, visiting every spot of interest, and thus acquiring that information which the enlightened mind of his father considered so necessary in the education of Princes. The King of the Belgians has been seriously ill. It is understood to be the express wish of Her Majesty that he may be present at the approaching marriage of the Princess Alice, and represent the Prince Consort.

AMONG the foreigners who have flocked to this country, none have been received with more cordiality than the Japanese Ambassadors. They afford a marked contrast to most semi-barbarous nations, being desirous on every occasion to acquire information. It has been observed that the Woolwich Arsenal, especially the gunnery department, excited their greatest attention. They have also visited the Hospital and other public institutions.

THE Volunteer Review at Brighton on Easter Monday was a complete success. Lord Clyde is understood to have expressed his unqualified admiration at the soldierly bearing and strict discipline of the Volunteers.

THE Queen Dowager of Prussia has printed the manuscript prayers of King Frederick William IV., and distributed a number of copies among her royal relatives by way of Easter gift. To the public at large this royal manual of devotion is not yet accessible.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL.

THE month of May is always remarkable for the annual meetings of Charitable institutions. Too numerous for us to record, we must content ourselves with noticing those which come within our peculiar spécialité.

GOVERNESSES' Benevolent InstITUTION.-A meeting of the subscribers

to this institution was held at the Hanover Square Rooms-the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot in the chair-for the purpose of receiving the report of the board of management and of the auditors for 1861, and to elect five annuitants of £20 from the list of 149 candidates. In addition to the £10 kindly collected for the highest unsuccessful candidate, the board propose to lessen the disappointment of failure by giving £10 to each of the next five upon the poll. The Secretary read the report of the board of management, which was of a very elaborate character, and most satisfactory. The cash account to December 31st, 1861, showed:-Total receipts, £12,203 9s. 5d.; expenditure, £17,804 10s. 3d.; balance in bankers' hands, £520 17s. 10d.; provident fund receipts, £19,036 5s. 1d.; expenditure, £17,804 10s. 3d.; balance, £1,231 14s. 10d.-total, £19,036 5s. Id., which, with the amount of receipts on cash account, made total receipts £31,239 14s. 6d. The usual complimentary votes of thanks to the committee of management, the auditors, Mrs. Laing, the honorary secretary, &c., were passed.

THE Twentieth Anniversary of the Ragged School Union was celebrated under the auspices of Lord Shaftesbury. Connected with this Institution is the Shoe-Black Brigade. Since it was established, the London shoe-blacks have earned £11,955; and the united earnings for the last financial year amounted to £4,548,-a sum which represents the polishing of no less than 1,119,320 pairs of boots. In the collection of rags and other refuse there is a wide and valuable field of industry, and both paper-makers and philanthropists have the deepest interest in the prosperity of this new ragman's rôle. The operations of this brigade have commenced, the boys having begun their perambulations in the western and northern districts. Five trucks, similar to those used by bakers, are at work. Each truck, which costs £15, is attended by three boys in uniform. These carry a printed tariff of prices to be given for the articles they purchase, fairly drawn up in the interest of the vendors. The central depôt is in Albion Place, London Wall.

IN Limehouse, four children have died from the effects of arsenical paperhangings. Dr. Letheby examined the green paper, and found that it contained arsenic in the proportion of three grains to the square foot.

SEVERAL deaths have been lately occasioned by the dress catching fire, owing to the prevailing fashion. It is observed that the production of crinoline is going on at a flourishing rate in Sheffield. One firm alone sends out no less than twenty tons weekly of the delicate material, while the total weekly "make" of the cutlery capital amounts to no less than 150 tons. This rate of manufacture has been maintained throughout the whole of the past winter, and promises to increase as the summer advances. Already enough crinoline has been manufactured at Sheffield to encircle the globe again and again.

SOME hope is entertained that the measures proposed by President Lincoln to do away with slavery may lead to beneficial results.

ACCORDING to the census of 1860, there were 259,078 free Negroes in the Save States of America, and 222,745 in the Free States. The excess of white females over males in New York was 19,363, and the excess of negro females, 1,690. At the present time, the excess of females over males in New York is about 50,000.

THE following grants for charitable purposes are amongst the estimates submitted to the Victorian Legislature this year, viz.:-£75,000, for the support of the charitable institutions of the colony, £5,000 for the maintenance of deserted children, £6,000 for assistance to the aborigines, and £125,000 for education.

THE irregular supply of cotton, consequent upon the American differences, is seriously felt in our manufacturing districts. In Lancashire especially, the distress is very great. It has been suggested, that if collecting boxes were fixed in conspicuous places in the International Exhibition, many would gladly contribute their mite towards alleviating the necessities of the Lancashire operatives.

THE bursting of the dykes at Lynn has laid a large tract of arable land under water. The destruction of property is described as serious.

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

THE Charities of London do not stand alone in receiving the generous assistance of Madame Lind Goldschmidt. A few weeks ago, when Madame Goldschmidt was on her provincial tour, she visited Northampton, and whilst there inspected the improvements of the church now in progress under the auspices of Mr. Scott, the architect. Hearing that a large sum of money was yet wanted before the restoration could be completed, Madame Goldschmidt, with her usual generosity, volunteered to sing gratuitously at an oratorio in aid of the building fund. The offer was eagerly seized by the committee, and the Messiah was performed in presence of an audience of about 2000 in the Corn Exchange; every nook and corner of which was crowded, whilst hundreds were unable to gain admittance. Altogether, the oratorio was a great success, and it is expected that the building fund will receive about £500 through the munificence of Madame Goldschmidt.

A NEW REVIEW is about to appear in Paris, entitled L'Indépendance Parisienne. It will embrace an examination of all the new works that make their appearance, and will be supported by some of the first literary men of the day.

SOME time ago we mentioned that the author of "Adam Bede" had completed another novel, which we hoped might be published in the course of the spring. It was, however, decided that it should first appear in the pages of Blackwood's Magazine, where it may now be read in monthly sections, under the title of "The Chronicles of Carlingford."

MRS. S. C. HALL has retired from the editorship of St. James's Magazine. After the recent Chancery suit over the reprint of "Can Wrong be Right?" no one can feel surprise at Mrs. Hall dissolving her connexion with the proprietor of the St. James's.

MRS. WIGHTMAN, of Shrewsbury, has realized the sum of £700 by the publication of her temperance book, "Haste to the Rescue," which she has given towards the erection of a Working Men's Hall in Shrewsbury. The foundation of the building was laid last week by the Bishop of Lichfield. It will cost upwards of £3000, about £2000 of which has already been subscribed.

ENGLISH WITHOUT A MASTER.-For the use of the numerous Frenchmen who propose visiting our International Exhibition, Parisian publishers are issuing numerous contrivances for teaching our difficult language. Among them may be mentioned the Méthode Glashin, which is described as "approved by the University." English as it is spoken," the author assures his reader, may be acquired without a doubt by the aid of his little book. Here is a specimen of his phonetic English :

66

"Goudd morninne, Seur-Aï amm verré ouel, zhannke godhe-Ainnd you Seur, aou ar you?-(note familiar)—Aïammverré happé te si you ouel."

"If you read the above pronunciation to an Englishman," say the directions, with great naïveté," and he understands you, you may rest assured that you possess the veritable English accent, so difficult to acquire!'

MISS MACIRONE is well known as a composer of taste and originality, as well as a performer of correct and graceful execution. In both capacities she welcomed and entertained a large audience at her concert on the 20th of last month. She was well and ably supported by some of our best performers, both vocal and instrumental, but the chief attraction was felt to be the varied and interesting compositions of the benéficèaire herself.

LVIII.-" THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS, YET THERE'S METHOD IN IT."

PART II.

We resume our analysis of M. Trélat's most interesting work, "La Folie Lucide," wishing to present to English readers examples of all the chief forms of lucid insanity which he has noted in his long medical career.

Under the head of Dipsomanes, or lunatics given to fits of violent drinking, mention is made of a young man who, previous to his entering the Bicêtre, had been put under charge of “ La bonne Sœur Rosalie," because his family found it impossible to hold any communication with him. When M. Trélat saw this man, he had lived for nearly twenty years in a perpetually recurring state of drunken mania; yet in the intervals he was found to possess perfect memory, and clearness both of speech and writing. He was an astonishing example of the degree to which drunkenness may be carried without impairing the mind, and one unparalleled in degree in all M. Trélat's experience. It has happened that he has arrived at the Bicêtre at the termination of one of his fits; an occasion of great triumph for M. D—. He gets up early, is well washed and brushed, and stands calmly at the foot of his bed, looking as fresh and composed as if he led the most regular of lives. Modestly lowering his eyes, he awaits the physician, who, if he has never seen him before, is completely deceived. He drink! He drink! Ah! what a slander! It is an unfortunate error; he has been mistaken for somebody else; no doubt will be entertained when the doctor has witnessed his sobriety and regular habits; and at the end of a few days the physician lets him out. If, on the contrary, he is known, then he pours forth penitence and excuses, and accusations against the police. He asks to be employed, and is sent to the office, where he wins favor by his fine writing, his exactitude, and his expedition; and so he gets let out, and again takes to insane drinking. Of this man's brothers and sisters, three have died before reaching old age, respectively of breaking a blood-vessel in the brain, of heart disease, and of epilepsy.

Women are sometimes beset by a similar mania when least