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6th.-" That, with a view of carrying out these objects, acontribution of 5s. each be entered into and deposited with thelocal secretary, to be augmented as circumstances may dictate.7th.-" That Dr. Prior be invited to act as local secretary,

and to communicate these resolutions to the medical journalsand to Mr. Griffin.

’’ Signed on behalf of the meeting,"0. E. PRIOR, M.D.,

"CChairman and Local Secretary."The medical service of the Bedford Union is organised some-

what on the principle of benefit clubs, and on the presumptionthat the Medical Officers hold clubs in the districts (which isgenerally the case). Its main features are, the " Schedule,"one of which is given to each Medical Officer at the commence-ment of the year, containing the names of all such persons ashe is called upon to attend at the specified rates; and the"Extra Orders," which are given in cases of emergency. TheFamily Order (10s.) is available in times of epidemic. ExtraOrders continue in force for three months.By permission of Mr. Wing, clerk to Bedford Board of Guar-

dians, I extract from the Minutes of the Board the terms of arecent appointment :-

" Salary or remuneration calculated according to the follow-ing scale, viz,,-

j!’or making out and transmitting the Weekly Medical ReturnList, £2 2s, per annum."

Exclusive, of course, of the extra fees given by the StandingOrder of the Poor-law Commissioners.The Union-house is paid for at a fixed salary.The above system has been in use seventeen years.

C. E. PRIOR, M.D.

At a meeting of the Medical Officers of the Williton Union,in the County of Somerset, held on the 26th ult., letters wereread, from Mr. Hole, of Dunster, and from Mr. Smith, of Por-lock, expressing their approbation of Mr. Griffin’s proposalsfor the amelioration of Poor-law Medical Officers, and the fol-lowing resolutions were unanimously passed :-

1st.—" That a vote of thanks be tendered to R. Griffin, Esq.,for his exertions in the cause of Poor-law Medical Officers.2nd.-" That the Medical Officers of this union do form

themselves into a local association ; and that a subscription of58. per quarter be paid by each member, in advance.3rd.-" That we are of opinion no payment, per case, will

be satisfactory, unless a distinction be made between thicklyand thinly populated districts.

4th.—" That the rates of payment for midwifery cases shouldbe fixed according to distance, a sovereign being the minimumbeyond two miles: furthermore, that abortions and prematurelabours be considered as midwifery cases.

5th.—" That the Article 177 in the Consolidated Ordershould embrace all accidents ; to be paid for in proportion totheir severity.6th.-" That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to

Mr. Griffin and the medical journals : and that this meetingpledges itself to promote, to the utmost of its power, the move-ment commenced by that gentleman.7th.-" That Mr. W. T. Gaye be requested to act as hono-

rarv secretarv and treasurer." WM. GAYE.R. E. LUTLEY.JOHN GRAY HENRY.JAMES NICHOLLS.W. T. GAYE, Hon. Sec."

A meeting of the Medical Officers of the Belper Union tookplace at the Red Lion, Belper, on Wednesday, the 26th ult.,-W. Cautrell, Esq., of Wirksworth, in the chair. The followingresolutions were carried unanimously:-

1st.—Proposed by R. R. ALLEN, Esq., of Belper; secondedby E. HosKiNS, Esq., of Duffield.

" That this meeting sees great necessity for an examinationinto, and an equalization of, the salaries of Union MedicalOfficers; and recommends that the basis upon which to esti-

mate the remuneration of the Poor-law surgeons of Englandand Wales should be the extent, population, and state of thepoor’s-rate in the districts. This meeting is decidedly ofopinion, that any additional emolument should be made by iu--crease of salary, to the exclusion of all extra fees, except those.for midwifery. "

2nd.-Proposed by J. JOHNSON, M.D., of Derby; secondedby W. WEBB, M.D., of Wirksworth.

" That the best thanks of this meeting be tendered to Mr.Griffin for his zeal and attention in the cause of Poor-lawMedical Reform; and although this meeting cannot coincidewith his views, it nevertheless directs, in the event of a publicassembly being called, either by him, the British Medical Asso-ciation, or Poor-law Convention, that a representative be sentfrom this Union, at the expense of the Medical Officers,and that Mr. Cautrell be requested to become such represen-tative. This meeting cannot lose sight of the fact, that in theBritish Medical Association, and Poor-law Convention, thereexists an amount of power and influence not elsewhere to befound, and which, if combined in aid of this cause, is sure tohave its weight with the legislature."_3rd.-" That Dr. Webb be appointed local secretary; that

he communicate these resolutions to the medical journals; anddirect Mr. Griffin’s attention to them."

W. CAUTRELL, Chairman.W. WEBB, M.D., Local Secretary.

At a meeting of the Medical Officers of the Blything Union,held on the 27th ult., the following resolutions were adopted :

1st.—" That the thanks of this meeting be conveyed to Mr.Griffin, for his exertions in the cause of Poor-law Medical Re-form.2nd.-"That an early meeting of a deputation from each

union be held in London.3rd.-" That the Medical Officers of this union fully concur

in the general principles of Mr. Griffin’s propositions, anddesire to express their willingness to render him every assist-ance in their power.4th.-That a contribution of 5s. per quarter be made by each

Medical Officer of this union, and that Mr. S. Garrard be ap-pointed secretary and treasurer, and that he be requested toforward a copy of the above resolutions to Mr. Griffin and themedical journals."HaJesworth, March, IS56." "SEAMAN GARRARD, Secretary.

At a meeting of the Medical Officers of the TewkesburyUnion, held on the 27th ultimo, - present, Messrs. Prior,Martin, Allard, and Dixon,-it was unanimously resolved :-lst.-" That this meeting pledges itself to further the move,

ment commenced by Mr. Griffin, for the more equitable adjust-ment of the remuneration to Poor-law Medical Officers.2nd.-" That the thanks of this meeting be given to Mr.

Griffin for his exertions in our cause; and that he be requestedto call a general meeting of Union Medical Officers at somecentral point.3rd.-" That Mr. Martin, of Kemerton, be appointed local

secretary and treasurer.4th.-" That a subscription of 5s, per quarter be paid by

each of the Medical Officers of this Union to the treasurer, todefray the incidental local expenses, and the remainder for-warded to Mr. Griffin.

5th. —’’ That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be forwarded-to Mr. Griffin, and to the medical journals."

THE SURGERY OF THE WAR.

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE BRITISH ARMYIN THE CRIMEA

DURING THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 8TH.

THE Inspector-General of Hospitals states :-Notwithstanding,the extreme severity of the weather during the last week, thehealth of the army has scarcely been affected by it, and thenumber of deaths has been nine, fewer than it was during thepreceding week.Only six deaths have occurred in hospital during the present

week-one from fever, three from pneumonia, one from deli-rium tremens, and one from apoplexy. Two cases of suddendeath occurred out of hospital, both the result of drunkenness ;and in some other cases of men brought into hospital in a state

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of insensibility, recourse was obliged to be had to mechanicalmeans for relieving their stomachs.

There has been a slight increase of sick this week, under theheads of fever, chest affections, and ophthalmia, but a remark-able freedom from bowel complaints, and all other classes ofserious disease.

Exclusive of the Land Transport Corps, and the ArmyWorks Corps, the sick of which have been admitted into thegeneral return for the first time this week ; the admissions tostrength in the regular army in the Crimea have been in theratio of 2’10 per cent. Deaths to strength, 0-10 per cent. ;sick to healthy, 4’42 per cent.

Including the Land Transport and Army Works Corps, theproportions only amount to-

In the Land Transport Corps, there has been a slight im-provement in health, and the mortality has decreased one-third ; but still it is one-third more than that of the whole armyin the Crimea !The troops at Kertch, and the cavalry division in the Bos-

phorus, continue to enjoy good health, and no casualty hadoccurred in either during the week ending 1st March, 1856,the latest date up to which returns have been received.Taking the whole British force, exclusive of the Turkish

Contingent, and assuming the strength to be 70,409, the wholeamount of sick, both in general and regimental hospitals,amounts only to 3747, or 5.32 per cent., and the deaths duringthe weeks noted, have been 19, or 002 per cent., and thisstatement embraces the whole sick of the British army inTurkey.

Parliamentary Intelligence.HOUSE OF COMMONS.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2ND.THE MEDICAL PROFESSION BILL.

Mr. HEADLAM moved that the Speaker should leave thechair, in order that the House might go into committee onthis Bill.

Lord R. GROSVENOR called attention to the fact that therehad that morning appeared upon the paper notices of nearly100 amendments, some of which materially affected the prin-ciple of the Bill. He therefore recommended his hon. andlearned friend (Mr. Headlam) to postpone for the present thefurther consideration of the Bill.Mr. BARROW concurred in the recommendation of the noble

lord. He found that by the first amendment upon the paperit was proposed to substitute for the representative body acouncil nominated by the Government.

Mr. HEADLAM could not accede to the request which hadbeen addressed to him, that he would postpone this Bill. Hisrefusal did not arise from any personal feeling, but from aconsideration of the evil which would result to the wholemedical profession from any further delay. The principalmatter for decision was as to the composition of the council,and it was one that the House must decide. Although the.amendments of which notice had been given amounted innumber to seventy or eighty, yet nineteen out of twenty ofthem depended upon the settlement of one or two great prin-ciples, and would depend upon how such questions as thecomposition of the council, the number of registrars, and thepower of the Colleges to license were decided.

Mr. WALTER said that if British subjects were to have aright of private judgment in anything, surely they were entitledto exercise it in matters which affected their own health.

Dr. MICHELL, having remarked that the operation of theBill would be to throw open the medical profession, and toconvert all the chemists and druggists into apothecaries,observed that, though himself friendly to the general princi-ple of the Bill, he could not admit that the measure had beenreceived with as much favour as its advocates seemed anxiousto represent.

Sir G. GREY understood his noble friend the member forMiddlesex (Lord R. Grosvenor) to have suggested that, in con-sequence of the numerous amendments of which notice hadbeen given so recently, the better course would be to postponethe further consideration of the Bill to some future period.That was a proposal which it was to be hoped would assume

the form of a motion, so that the House might decide upon itat once, and avoid the irregularity of discussing the details of theBill at the present stage. It was not until yesterday that theGovernment had had interviews on the subject of the Bill withdeputations representing the various branches of the medicalbody in the three kingdoms. They were unanimous in object-ing to the present constitution of the council, and seemed tofavour the proposal that the nomination of that body shouldbe left, to a great extent, if not altogether, in the hands of theGovernment. After collecting the opinions of the differentdepartments of the medical profession, the Government ar-rived at the conclusion that there were good and substantialobjections to the council as originally proposed to be consti-tuted, and they accordingly placed upon the paper the amend-ment that stood there in the name of his right hon. friend(Mr. Cowper). The amendment, which proposed the imposi-tion of a penalty on persons acting as physicians withoutbeing duly registered, was, doubtless, a very important one;but there was no reason that he (Sir G. Grey) could see why itshould not be carefully considered and satisfactorily disposedof in committee. All other questions of detail could nowherebe so effectually discussed as in committee, he would suggestthat the Bill should be permitted to pass into that stage withoutfurther delay. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. WALPOLE was disposed to regard with favour the amend-ment of which the Government had given notice with respectto the constitution of the council, but neither the House northe Government had had sufficient notice of the many altera-tions proposed to be introduced in the Bill, and which wouldmaterially affect its character and operation. (Hear, hear.)The fact that the Government had felt it their duty, at theeleventh hour, to propose an essential alteration in the consti-tution of the Bill was in itself a sufficient justification for post-ponement. He would content himself with moving that thefurther consideration of the Bill be postponed till next Wed-nesday. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. DRUMMOND said the Bill would stereotype all medicalknowledge, arrest the progress of scientific discovery, andeffectually prevent any advance in the most important of allarts. Nay, more ; it would bind us down for all futurityto the compounds and preparations of the pharmacopoeia, nowin use. (Hear, hear.) Against such legislation he, for one,would never cease to raise his voice.Lord EBRINGTON advocated a reference of the whole subject

to a select committee.Mr. CRAUFURD objected to a postponement, and did not

think that the mere fact that notice had been given of numerousamendments furnished adequate justification for a proceedngwhich might eventually result in the defeat of the measure.

Mr. HENLEY was favourable to a postponement. It wasdesirable that opportunity should be afforded to ascertain howfar the gentlemen who had waited on the Home Secretaryfairly represented the opinions of the various corporations.whose views they had undertaken to interpret.Mr. HEADLAM felt called upon to offer an observation with

respect to the medical corporations which had placed them-selves in communication with the Home Secretary. The factswere these. The Bill under discussion was introduced lastsession, and not only was it circulated throughout the countryduring the recess, but copies were forwarded to each of themedical bodies which had sent deputations to the Home-office.They embodied their opinions on it in the form of reports, whichthey addressed to the Home-office, and it was from an attentiveperusal of these documents that the inference was gathered thatthere was in the profession a unanimous feeling in favour of theprinciple of the Bill. There was no discrepancy between thereports in question and the views now advocated by the medi-cal bodies. There was still a general feeling in favour of thewhole Bill, but a difference of opinion existed with respect tovarious portions of it. That difference of opinion, always en-tertained, and now only varied in the manner of its expres-sion, had induced the Government to alter their own views onthe subject. One thing was clear to him-namely, that bypostponing the Bill he should be acting in direct opposition tothe opinions and feelings of all the medical corporations with-out exception.Lord ELCHO did not think that in this case postponement

was necessarily synonymous with abandonment. The Bill, asat present framed, would injure the universities, and deliverover graduates in medicine bound hand and foot to the mercyof medical corporations. If the present measure were post-poned, he would, on a future day, move for leave to introducea Bill which was drawn up last session and privately circulated,and which embodied the views of the universities.