846

being a majority of fourteen hiindi-ed and

thirty-three votes in favour of the MedicalCandidate. After having taken the neces-

sary oaths, Mr. WAKLEY addressed the

assembled freeholders, but Mr. ADEY’S

retreat was "mute and inglorious." The

Attorney Candidate did not present himselfon the hustings. A great victory, has thusbeen gained, almost, indeed, without a battle,but not without having entailed a heavyexpense on the victor; for Mr. ADEY, faith-ful to his promise, has kept the poll open tothe last day.

LIBERALITY OF THE MEDICALAUTHORITIES IN FRANCE.

WE have frequently had occasion to praisethe liberal manner in which the French hos-

pitals, and all other medical institutions inFrance, are thrown open to foreigners, whoare admitted to them as freely, and on thesame footing as the natives of the country. Anact of much higher liberality has been re-cently shown at Havre, in the appointmentof an Englishman, Dr. Nicholas Tarral, asone of the physicians to the Havre GeneralHospital. We have every reason to believethat the addition which has been thus madeto the medical staff of the hospital, will

prove of great advantage to the sea-faringportion of the population of Havre.

ANATOMY OF CLUB-FOOT.

ALTHOUGH the malformations which areknown under the popular denomination ofclub-foot are extremely frequent, and theirtreatment carried to a high degree of perfec-tion, we possess but few accurate recordsof dissections of the affected limb. Thefol-

lowing account of a case of talus, lately pre-sented to the Royal Academy of Medicineby M. Bouvier, is therefore worthy of someattention :-

It occurred in the person of a man, whodied at the age of sixty-six years in theHôtel Dieu. The malformation had beendeveloped in this individual when at the ageof twelve months, and consisted in a forcibleextension of the foot, by which the weightof the body was made to fall entirely on theheel. The angle which is formed by theaxis of the foot with the leg, is sixty de-

grees, and the point of the foot is with greatdifficulty brought down so as to form arightangle. When this is done the tibialis anti-ens, extensor communis, and extensor pro-prius pollicis muscles, are thrown into astate of extreme tension. The integumentsof the heel are thick and horny ; those ofthe rest of the foot are fine and thin, show-ing that the heel had to bear the entireweight of the body. The os calcis is di.rected somewhat outwards; the whole, footalso deviates outwards in a slight degree;the sole of the foot, instead of forming anarch, is nearly flat. The lateral peronealmuscles are shortened, but those whichcover the back of the leg are elongated.The whole limb is remarkably wasted, themuscular fibres completely deprived of theircolour, and presenting that peculiar fattyappearance which so often occurs in cases ofclub-foot.

The operation of dividing the tendons,which has been practised with so much suc-cess in cases of children affected with club-

foot, has never, we believe, been tried on apatient far advanced in life. It was, there-

fore, a matter of some interest to determinehow far the malformation, in the present in-stance, might have admitted of remedy bysurgical means. The tendons of the ante-rior muscles were divided, and immediatelythe point of the foot was brought down to aright angle, the deformity almost completelydisappearing.—Bul. of the Academy, Dec.1838.

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

THE determination of the period sincewhich a fire-arm may have been dischargedis a point of much importance in medicaljurisprudence, and evidently applicable tovarious cases of homicide, wounds, &c. Thequestion has recently been examined withmuch care, by M. Boutigny, who has ascer-tained, by numerous experiments, that wecan indicate very closely the period at whicha fire-arm has been discharged. It may,however, be objected that as the barrel of agun may be easily washed, all traces bywhich the medical jurist is guided may thusbe obliterated. M. Boutigny has providedagainst this objection, or rather determinedthe characters by which it may be knownwhether a gun-barrel has been recentlywashed or not. The author has discoveredthat the iron of a gun-barrel does not be-come oxidised for a considerable time,whenever the interior of the barrel has beenlined, as it were, with the residue of thecombustion of powder; and even when oxi-disation does take place the traces escapethe naked eye, because the oxide is gradu.