The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-10 00:00:00

national importance, and particularly that of
Members of Parliament, previously to the dis-
cussion on Dr. Warburton's motion.; for we
hold the opinion that, bad as the present
system is, it is better that it should remain un-
altered than that it should be ignorantly legis-
lated upon. It is the duty of the representatives
of the people, who will have to decide upon the
question of medical reform, to make themselves
somewhat acquainted with its merits before it
shall have been brought under their notice in
their legislative capacity. The work to which
we have alluded can afford them the requisite
information, as far as the College of Surgeons
is concerned, in a concise form. Why has a
chartered body, with certain privileges, been
placed at the head of the surgical profession ?
If we were asked that question, we should say,
if we knew no better, that it was for the laud-
able and national purpose of assisting and
cherishing the progress of surgical science by
encouraging talent, promoting education, foster-
ing genius, putting down quackery and empiri
cism, and collecting from every quarter, and
hoarding for future use, the treasures of discovery
and the lights of learning. Does the College
of Surgeons fulfil those noble ends ? Let us
quote one passage from Mr. Salmon as an
answer. He sass, "It is clear that, in the
construction of the charter, two most important
points were altogether neglected, for we
find that, though it sets out with stating
the necessity that the art and science of
surgery should be duly promoted, it contains
no provision to accomplish this, neither does it
afford any protection to the public nor to the
members of the college, by preventing the
uneducated following the practice of surgery.
In the latter respect, therefore, it is rather an
injury than a benefit to our profession,
since, although it gives us no protection
against the ill-educared and the empiric,
it nevertheless renders the members of
the College legally amenable for any errors
they may commit in the exercise of their
practice." If the provisions of the charter are
radically defective and little calculated to pro-
mote the public good, which should be the
great
end of such an institution, SO is the go-
vernment of the College, the council or govern-
ing body being self elected ; and this country
has had abundance of proof of the mischievous
consequences which flow from self election, for
where that bad principle prevails there is no real
responsibility, no check upon the abuses of
power. A corporate trust for the public benefit
so governed always degenerates into a sort of
private property, which the select few look upon
as their indefeasible inheritance, or nearly in
that light. In the College of Surgeons not
only are the council self elected, but the exa-
miners also ; and, consequently, as Mr. Salmon
states, they have no tribunal to which they are
amenable for their acts. Our author adds—
" To evince by a single instance the necessity
for some protection to the Fellows of the Col-
lege, and to show how little interest the council
have taken in their prosperity, we may mention
the startling fact that there are at this time above
four hundred individuals, in this metropolis
alone, professedly practising the science of
surgery, none of whom are members of the
College." He shows, that although the pro-
visions of the College have been productive of
high and lucrative advantages to the select few
who, from time to time, have formed the members
of the Council, yet so little regard has been paid
to the advance of science that, although the cu-
rators are invested with the power of publishing
communications in anatomy and surgery, under
the title of " Transactions of the College of
Surgeons," not a single volume of such transac-
tions, as far as lie is aware, has ever been pub-
lished since the foundation of the College I In
attacking the system our author disclaims all in-
tention of reflecting on the present members of
the Council as individuals, to many of whom he
alludes in terms of respect and esteem. He re-
marks that, in Paris, Berlin; Vienna, Leipsic,
and other of the Continental schools, before any
individual can practise either medicine or sur-
gery, he must undergo a rigid examination in
each of these sciences, and he is then permitted
to follow his profession generally, without re-
gard to those divisions and distinctions in it
which exist among us. We perfectly agree with
him that " the education of the medical public
should be a national care ; and that it is equally
the duty and interest of the Government that it
' should be so considered, both for the preserva-
tion of human life and national prosperity.'
Morning Herald.

The Duc de Berri's very valuable collection
of pictures chiefly of the Dutch and Flemish school,
amounting to about one hundred and thirty, and which
were bequeathed by his Royal Highness to his children
are arrived in this country, and we are informed they will
be sold by auction in the spring.

Nothing new has transpired in the course of
the week respecting the approaching season at the King's
Theatre, but we may mention that Laporte'e arrange-
ments for the opening on Saturday next are more corn-
pkte than they have perhaps been at the commencement
of any former season. Ha has amply provided for a suc-
cession of novelties, in operas, ballets, singers and dancers,
and of late it is said that his subscription has filled rapidly.
The assembly of the two Houses of Parliament has of
course, had a considerable influence upon the letting of his
stalls, as well as his boxes, and on the whole his prospects
are very satisfactory. The continued absence of some of
our leading notoility on the Continent is almost the only
point against him, but that is an important one. Not a
few of these have, however, continued their subscriptions.
Rehearsals have been proceeding more or less every day
during the last week.
DREADFUL SUICIDE OF AN ARTIST.—
On Saturday an inquest was held before Mr. Stirling, at
the Orange-tree Tavern, New-road, St. Pancras, on the
body of Mr. Joshua Manning, aged 23, an artist, occupy-
ing apartments at No. 8, Great George-street. Mr. Pren-
dergast, the barrister, said he was an intimate friend of
the deceased, who was a young man of considerable talents
and promise in his profession. On Tuesday evening he
drank tea with the deceased, who appeared exceedingly
melancholy, and conducted himself in such a way that wit-
ness should have thought it was his intention to insult
him, had he not known him to be incapable of so doing•
The deceased had been subject to fits of melancholy from
his infancy. Ou Wednesday morning the report of a
pis of was heard in his room, but, as this had taken place
before, no alarm was excited. S only afterwards
Mr.. Manning, the deceased's mother, called en
when it was discovered that the deceased had shot himself
through the heart with a pistol, which was lying on the
table. Mr. Prendergast stated that the deceased was in
the habit of receiving men and women at his apartment,
for the purpose of modelling from them. He was not
aware that he bad formed any acquaintance with a lady,
but a female had sometimes visited him, and remained
there an hour and a half. He had once shot one of his
models in his apartment; and a few days before his dis-
solution, be requested his servant to buy him a leg of
mutton, that he might ascertain how far be could shoot
a ball through it. The ni,lat previous to the commission
of the act he returned home in tears, and was very de•
pressed in spirits. He forwarded a letter to his mother
on the same night, bequeathing to her 2001., and ending
his letter with some c-infused rhyme, such as

_
" I am free, I am free,
The world's disease is o'er with me."

The Jury returned a verdict of "Insanity." Mr. Pren-
dergast stated that the deceased bad received several re-
wards from the British Institution.