emulation, given prizes to Mussulman as well as Hindu boys. I trust, gentlemen, that this generous rivalry in doing good and useful work will long continue. The Hindus and Mahomedans

of India, differ as they may in race, in national characteristics, and in religion, agree in this-that they have a common country to serve and common interests to promote; and the more strongly they feel this community of interest, and the more distinctly and firmly they grasp the fact that both sections of the population must advance pari passu, the sooner will the political and social regeneration of India be accomplished."

[We are glad to learn that Mr. P. Vijaranga Mudaliar has been lately appointed Inspector of Schools in the place of Mr. Fortey, who has retired.]

THE MADRAS MEDICAL COLLEGE.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Madras Medical College was held on July 1st. The meeting was large, and SurgeonGeneral Furnell, M.D., presided on the occasion. The Report, which was read by the Principal of the College, BrigadeSurgeon Keess, contained the following references to the lady students:

Lady Students.-There are 11 lady students under training. Four of these are in the first, or Senior University, department; others are qualifying for the Medical Practitioners' Certificate of the College. Mrs. Van Ingen, of the L.M.S. Class, in her fourth year of study, has acquitted herself well. She gets a prize in Medical Jurisprudence, the Bharati Lukshmi Gold Medal for Midwifery (this medal is competed for only by female students), and a Certificate for Surgery. Miss D'Abreu, of the M.B. Class, in her third year of study, gets a Certificate in Surgery and a prize for Practical Anatomy and two Certificates. Misses Stewart and Smith obtain each a Certificate for Midwifery, Medical Jurisprudence and Surgery; Miss Jacobs receives a Certificate in Practical Pharmacy; Miss Gurdial Sing, a Certificate for the same subject; so that, on the whole, this class merits commendation.

Midwifery.-The lectures on this subject to the female class were delivered by Mrs. Scharlieb, a graduate of the London University. This lady takes the class also on the subject of Diseases of Women and Children. She entered on her duties as a Lecturer on the 6th October, 1884.

Remarks by Mrs. Scharlieb, Lecturer on Midwifery, to the Female Class." This is the first year that I have had the honour to be

Lecturer, and I see several points on which I hope, in future, to improve. The real raison d'etre of women doctors is that they are specially needed in India, in the departments of Midwifery and Diseases of Women. To fulfil this indication satisfactorily, they need more theoretical instruction than they can command in one Session, or annus medicus, and more practical instruction than can fall to their share as members of so large a class as that which attends the Lying-in Hospital. I would, therefore, beg to suggest that, in future, female students, both in the final and penultimate years of study, may be permitted to attend the systematic lectures; and also, that all who can should attend the Victoria Hospital for caste and gosha women (to be shortly opened), where they may have more opportunities of seeing diseases peculiar to women."

Female students,

This suggestion seems to be a good one. considering the class of patients to which they, as a rule, would be called upon to afford medical advice, should have special facilities such as those recommended by Mrs. Scharlieb, in order to their becoming thoroughly competent for work for which this class was mainly instituted.

Bharathi Lakshmi Scholarship.-The first holder of this scholarship is Miss C. Graham, who passed the Higher Examination for Women in the first class in 1883. His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore, no doubt, would be pleased to learn that this young lady is the grand-daughter of an officer who served under the Travancore Government some years ago, as captain of the Nair Brigade (Captain Steig).

The Bharati Lakshmi Gold Medal (the Maharajah of Travancore's Gold Medal). The gold medal given by His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore, for presentation to the female student who distinguishes herself most in the class of Midwifery, goes this day to Mrs. Van Ingen.

Lady Hobart's Prize.-Lady Hobart's prize, of a set of midwifery instruments of the value of £6, goes to Miss Yerbury, who holds the second position in the Female Class of Midwifery.

[Miss S. A. Das, of Calcutta, passed lately the first L.M.S. Examination of the Madras Medical College.]

After the reading of the Report the prizes and certificates were distributed, and the following ladies received the prizes mentioned in the Report:

Mrs. A. Van Ingen, prize for Medical Jurisprudence; also the Bharati Lakshmi Gold Medal for first position in Female Class of Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children. Miss D'Abreu, prize for Practical Anatomy.

Miss J. Yerbury, Lady Hobart's Prize (Midwifery Instru

ments), for second position in Female Class of Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children.

Surgeon-Major Ratton then delivered an address, in the course of which he remarked: It is an interesting fact to note that several ladies are leaving the College this year with legal qualifications enabling them to practise Medicine. I believe that this College is one of the pioneers of Female Medical Education in India, if not in Great Britain. And, if I am not mistaken, the credit of this is in a great measure due to our Chairman this evening, Surgeon-General Furnell, who was Principal of the College when its doors were first thrown open to ladies, and who did all that lay in his power to facilitate their study of the healing art. This movement has since made continuous progress in Madras; and the courage and determination of the ladies in following a difficult path has been rewarded in every instance with success, and in one case, at least, with conspicuous success.

The Chairman's address followed. He began by referring to his warm interest in the College, and his long connection with it, first as Professor, and then as Principal. During his Principalship he succeeded in effecting the re-opening of the University Department of the College, which had been closed for a time. He had also persuaded Brahmins to choose Medicine as a career. "I am very glad indeed," he said, "to find that the Address I delivered in Convocation in 1880 induced so many members of that most intelligent caste to choose our profession for the exercise of their remarkable abilities." Dr. Furnell proceeded to give much excellent advice to the students. First, he urged, "Love your profession, work at it with a will, go at it heart and soul, and the profession will in time love you and become dear to you." He allowed that Medicine had many disagreeable things connected with its practice, and that it was not much favoured by those "in high places." "As a recompense, however, of all this, you will find that the profession of Medicine presents, more than any other profession, problems of the deepest and most abiding interest to its followers and to mankind. Some of you, for instance, will be placed in independent charge of dispensaries up-country. You have no idea how much pleasure and interest such a charge may yield you if you cultivate it properly. But you must cultivate it. What I mean is, don't be content just to go down and get through your work there as quickly as you can, to get away home again,

as some men, I am sorry to say, do; but make a point of spending fully the time, and more than the time, you are by regulation expected to spend at your dispensary. Take your pen, ink and paper, and do your writing there; take the book you are reading and read it there, sooner than come away before your time. Presently, when the people hear you are always to be found at the hospital, and, moreover, when they hear you are polite, kind, and attentive to them, they will flock to you in numbers, and your reputation will extend from the poor to the rich, and the latter will send for you, and you will reap your reward. For although, as I said above, the practice of your profession will, from its interesting nature, be in itself your highest reward, you are not debarred, more than a lawyer or a merchant, from increasing your stores by the legitimate exercise of your skill and talent. Let me here add a little bit of advice about keeping up your professional knowledge. Every day devote, at least, one hour to reading medical works; and if you take my advice, don't try to read too erudite books, but stick well to standard works which contain useful and practical knowledge. Go carefully over your bones and regional anatomy of the body, until you know them as well as a sailor knows his mariner's compass; for fractures and dislocation always come upon you unexpectedly, and then it is no time to be running to your books to look it up. You need not trouble yourself with minute anatomy of arteries and nerves; they are only puzzles put to us whilst at College, to take up our time uselessly, and keep us from acquiring more useful and practical knowledge at the bedside and out-patient room. I raised my voice against this over-cramming of students with useless knowledgeuseful only to pass examinations-in an Address which I delivered in this very room at the close of the Session of 1871; and now I see the Lancet and other medical papers in England are beginning to awaken to the fact that students are tortured, and their time wasted, by being made to acquire a deal of useless knowledge. Your mission is to cure disease, and, if you cannot cure, to alleviate pain, to bring comfort and peace to suffering fellow-creatures; and I think you are much more likely to do that by mastering well, as I said above, the plain facts of Anatomy, Physiology, and Materia Medica, than in dabbling in speculative sciences.— Then, think again of the enormous benefit you can confer

upon your fellow-creatures, your country, and even on Government, if you interest yourselves in sanitary matters. Portions of the great continent are perpetually ravaged by epidemics, which most probably are quite preventible if only we could discover their origin and causes, and how they are spread. Cholera, for instance, is a terrible scourge; and although not the most deadly-that is, that there are other diseases to whose door more deaths can annually be laidyet from the suddenness of its advent, the swiftness of its course, the terrible suffering it inflicts on its victims, and its dread mortality, is one of the most painfully interesting with which mankind is concerned; and it is one in which all mankind are interested, for it is not confined to India, but occasionally travels westwards and invades civilised Europe. We are only likely to discover its cause and mode of propagation by carefully studying it when amongst us; and there is no earthly reason why one of you young men whom I am now addressing should not be the happy man who some day may be able to point out how it originates, and suggest a remedy." Dr. Furnell went on to say that he attributed the diminution of severity of cholera at Madras to the improved water supply. In conclusion, he said: "Students-for even you who have passed are still students, and must, in our profession, remain as students to the last days of your life-I bid you farewell with the words of the most illustrious man our country has produced: 'Do your duty. Do your duty to yourselves, your profession, and above all, to your country. Love, honour and respect the Queen-Empress, and your careers will bring happiness to yourselves and usefulness to your country."

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary, the College students marched round the compound with banners to the lively music of a band at the close of the meeting.

EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
IN THE WEST.

X. THE TEACHERS' GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

Although the Teachers' Guild is of very recent organisation, having only been established in 1884, and incorporated this year, its aims are of such a nature as to be useful wherever teaching is systematically carried on. We think, therefore, that