The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-26 00:00:00

CRICKET.

OVIITLEIERN T. rum/I.—This match wu commenced at
Lord's Ground yesterday, the weather was beautiful, and the
company very numerous The following score the result
of the day's play. Pla)ers, drat Innings, 116. gentseen first
innings, 136

FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The second annual meeting of the friends and
supporters of this society was held yesterday afternoon in
the Hanover-square Rooms, under the presidency of the
Earl of Shaftesbury. Dr. Edmunds, the hon. secretary,
read am; report of the committee of management, which
stated-that during the past year more than 50,000 pam-
phlets and other papers had been circulated, 30,000 of
which were sent by poet, and a considerable impression
had been produced in favour of the institution upon the
mind of the general public. The objects of the society,
which at lust were looked upon with little respect or sym-
pathy, were now gradually becoming recognised by the
daily and weekly press, and " man-midwifery" was giving
way before a growing conviction that it was not only better
for the heart and mind, but safer for the body that women
should be attended in their hour of trial by an educated
attendant of their own sex. The Lancet and Medical Times
had also fully admitted the necessity of the movement.
The progress of the society's rudimentary college had been
thoroughly satisfactory, the number of students baring
increased to 20, and the lectureships become almost self-
supporting, while the entries of students for the next
session were likely to exceed those of the two former years.
Several of the students who have completed their educa-
tion had already commenced the practice of midwifery, and
many patients had been referred toe their car e from the
office of the society. No sort of csualty or misfortune
had occurred to any of them. Miss Fletcher. one of these
practitioners, to whom a clergyman's wife was re-
ferred in this way, had been offered a douceur of 501. to
induce her to settle in the neighbourhood of the lady.
Measures were about being taken to obtain an assignment
of the lease upon veryliberal termsof the large and desirable
house in Fitzroy-square,within which the society has now only
office accommodation, and it was also in contemplation to
add to the interest and usefulness of the lectures by the
formation there of a properly illustrative museum, which
will require about 2001. to establish. The receipts of the
society for a period of fifteen months bad amounted to
about 634/., including 3651. from subscriptions and dona-
tions, and 87/. from students' fees. The expenditure had
exceeded that amount by some 1501., to which extent the
society was indebted to Mr. Geo. Wilson, the treasurer.
Mr. Burney moved the adoption of the report,
which was seconded by Lord Houghton, who said
the employment of women was one of the im-
portant questions now agitating society. Educa-
tion was making rapid strides, and with its exten-
sion arose a desire to be useful. This society, he was
happy to think, had discovered one solution of the pro-
blem, for it had gone far to dispel prejudice, and enable
woman to make herself available in an extensive branch of
the medical profession. In all questions of this kind it
was necessary to overcome the low element of competition,
and that could only be done by those who engaged in the
contest not only being properly qualified, but thoroughly
impressed with the serious and laborious nature of the
work they undertook. As a trust of the Nightingale
fund, he could bear testimony toteff great interest which
that lady took in the welfare of the society. Her
glorious career of usefulness and! self-denial afforded
female medical students a noble example of what
woman could do by the exercise of ability and courage.
Courageous perseverance, an* determination to surmount
all difficulties, followed up to the end from a sense of duty,
must prevail here as it had done in her ease, and he was
convinced the woman who undertook to fulfil the object of
the society in that spirit would confer a lasting benefit
not only upon her own sex but upon the community at
large. The report having been adopted, resolutions were
passed, declaring that midwifery, as an important branch
of medical practice, constituted a lucrative profession in
which it was highly desirable that properly instructed
women should be employed ; that no sufficient system
for such instruction had yet been accessible to women in
England ; and that therefore having in view the present
objectionable state of female practitioners, the meeting
pledged itself to use all its influence to promote the objects
of the society.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, GRAY'S-INN-ROAD.--
The number of patieata relieved at this hospital during the
week ending June 23 was 3,375, of which 1,081 were new
cases.