588 Dr. MuRPHY was old-fashioned and sufficiently " parrotlike" to repeat the adage that a " meddlesome midwifery is bad. The forceps had been used by the author of the paper to an unwarrantable extent. He remarked on the absence in the paper of details as to the causes producing the prolonged labour. False figures were infinitely worse than false facts. He would ask, Had the fellows met with the high mortality from tedious labours, in their everyday practice, which was laid down by the author

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... In face-presentations the forceps was not necessary. Nature required time, and time should be given her. He believed that more lacerations were caused by the forceps than in any other way. Dr. BARNES observed that in the Royal Maternity Charity, the statistics of which he would adduce, the mortality was very low: in 10,000 cases the mortality was 1 in 400 or 1 in 500, rarely over 1 in 400. In that charity the kind of practice detailed by Dr. Murphy was faithfully carried out. Nature is allowed to act, and the forceps is rarely used. He thought that, to serve a useful purpose, the author should have divided his facts into two kinds,-those in which he did not, and those in which he did, use the forceps extensively. Disposed to go as far as ar yone in reason, he still thought the use of the forceps once in 26 cases was far too frequent. Dr. ( RiyviLLE had formerly much experience, and in many thousand cases directly or indirectly under his control he believed the forceps had been used only fifty times. He was astonished both at the number of cases and at the number of applications of the forceps. Air. HARPER, in reply, stated that many questions put by Fellows would have been unnecessary had there been time to read all parts of the paper in extenso. With reference to the facts upon which comment had been made, he could only say that they were as stated. He had practised until lately in a large mining district, where it was not at all unusual for one medical man to put 500 women to bed in one year. After adverting to Hippocrates and Sydenham, who had bott paid much attention to the questions now brought under dis. cussion, the author observed that he thought the effects pro. duced by meteorological phenomena upon disease have not always attracted that notice from modern medical writers which such really interesting subjects deserved; therefore he was induced to lay before the Society his present communication. Indubitably, weather, or its changes, frequently formed the topic of conversation in England; and the author alluded, amongst other popular notions, to that of an east wind producing ague; and to the injurious action of a low temperature, especially if of long duration, upon bodily maladies; while it was equally well known that prolonged hot and dry weather will alike prove inimical to health. On the other hand, moderate changes in the condition of the atmosphere, if within restricted limits, frequently act beneficially. At least the author was of opinion that, whenever atmospheric alternations are not abrupt or extreme in degree, they prove less prejudicial than persistent tracks without variation. Several illustrations of the marked influence of long-continued weather of the same kind upon public health were then quoted. For example, very dry summers, if also hot, and followed by much rain, are usually succeeded by unhealthy autumns; while, if copious rains have prevailed, causing rivers to overflow and inundate a country, should the next year prove remarkably hot and dry, severe epidemic maladies are likely to supervene. Allusion was then made to the summer of last year in England, which continued dry and very warm during many months, much sickness being afterwards observed, while deaths were numerous in autumn and early winter. The beneficial effect which changes of weather often produce was next adverted to by Dr. Webster. Of this he briefly described a most remarkable illustration that occurred in Messina during 1854, when cholera raged amongst its population. After the weather had been intensely hot, dry, calm, and hazy for some time in that city, a severe thunder storm supervened, with heavy rains and lightning, which inundated the streets, and greatly disturbed the previous unhealthy, still condition of the atmosphere. Subsequently the mortality by cholera fell quickly from 1300 and 1400 deaths per diem to very few fatal casualties, and about two weeks afterwards the malady ceased entirely. In connexion with this violent epidemic at Messina, the author related a fact to show how very differently medical practitioners are treated in Sicily, compared with England, should they ever presume to disobey police injunctions. A physician, having informed the public authorities that he had treated cases of cholera, was ordered not to mention the case to any person. Nevertheless, this gentleman spoke to some professional friends on the subject; whereupon he was seized like a culprit by gens d'armes, and put in prison, without any trial, as a punishment for his talkativeness. The effect of cold, northerly gales in producing inflammatory diseases of the chest was next noticed. Fevers of a low type seemed often much influenced in their course by southerly gales, especially when accompanied with moisture; whereas south-west winds usually mitigated the symptoms of phthisis, and even kept consumptive patients alive longer than under adverse circumstances. The author then alluded to the marked influence of particular winds upon the mental and moral faculties of residents in different countries. Of these the "mistral," a northwest wind, was first mentioned. This bitterly cold, drying blast, which frequently blows with much violence, acts very injuriously on both plants and animals in the south of France. Again, the sirocco wind, especially as it prevails in southern Italy, coming from the arid, burning plains of Africa, often seems to annihilate the mental and bodily energies of the inhabitants ; while in Sicily it is said to be sometimes attended by putrid diseases, and to prove even mortal to its victims within a very short period. The solano wind of Madrid, which frequently occasions pulmonary affections in that capital, was likewise alluded to, and the popular saying of Spaniards in reference to its lethal effects upon the Madrilenos was quotedviz., that "it will kill a man. but not extinguish a candle." In that capital, Dr. Webster said, palsies and apoplexies likewise prevail with great frequency when the "gallego," or north wind, rushes down from the often snow-clad Guadarrama mountains. He also remarked, that the mental faculties of individuals resident in certain districts of the globe were often singularly affected when particular winds prevailed. Thus at Buenos Ayres, in South America, Sir Woodbine Parish states, while the "viento norte" blows from over the great Pampas plains towards that city, it frequently produces an irritability and temporary derangement of the moral faculties, almost approaching to insanity, especially amongst the lower orders, which lead to crime and even bloodshed. Indeed, it is reported, that advocates actually plead the prevalence of the "viento norte" as an extenuation of their clients' delinquencies. At Malaga, in Spain, a somewhat analogous effect follows when the "levante" wind prevails, and the judges are said t o modify their sentence upon criminals in consequence. Although moderate variations of temperature, and slight changes from dry to moist weather, are not prejudicial to health, rapid and considerable alternations of the barometer or thermometer always act injuriously. Whenever the temperature between day and night time varies to a great extent, then sickness will most probably abound, and mortality be greater than under opposite atmospheric phenomena. This circumstance materially tends to produce the 11 pulmonia" of Madrid, where very hot days are often succeeded by cold nights; nay, even during daytime, the temperature felt on one side of a street will vary twenty degrees from that on the other, according as the burning sun acts thereon, or a cold, dusty and dry wind blows from the adjacent mountains. Besides these causes, Dr. Webster observed, barometric pressure exerts considerable influence upon the human frame in reference to disease. Regarding this point, he stated, when the column of mercury ranges high, so will maladies likely assume an inflammatory or sthenic diathesis: while, should an opposite condition of the barometer prevail, then sickness will more probably assume an asthenic character, particularly if south-westerly winds continue for any length of time, with a moist atmosphere. Under such circumstances, hoemoptysis, epistaxis, and haemorrhages from mucous surfaces, are also much oftener observed to occur than otherwise. In support of this opinion, allusion was specially made to the frequent supervention of bleeding from the lungs, when travellers ascend very high mountains, and where water boils several degrees below the point it does at sea-levels. Some pertinent remarks were afterwards made regarding the influence which habitually moist or dry climates appear to produce upon the physical constitution of residents. Upon this point Dr. Webster observed, that in