The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-12 00:00:00

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS..

The medical profession and the public generally
will be glad to learn that the new system of exa
mining candidates for the diploma of membership of
this college, determined upon by the Council, has
come into operation. By its aid it is hoped
that the acquirements of the candidates who offer
themselves for examination will be more effi-
ciently tested than heretofore, and it is especially
sought to discountenance the plan of preparing
fdr examination by what is called " grinding" or
" cramming," i.e., substituting the mere cate-
chetical instructor of a grinding tutor for the
study of the fundamental principles of the art
of surgery in the dissecting-room and in the
wards of the hospital. The student is now required,
in the first place, to prove that he has practically
studied anatomy, by an examination upon the dead
body, and on another day he has to furnish written
answers to questions in physiology, or the functions
of the economy. These two tests, which are called
the "preliminary examination" cannot be submitted
to until the student has furnished proof that he has
completed two years' study in a medical school re-
cognised by the College, as offering due guarantees
of being able to conduct an efficient education.
After he has passed four years in such study of his
profession he may present himself for the two final
or pass examinations in pathology and surgery,
the one oral, the other written. By the system of
examination now abandoned (except in a few par-
ticular cases) all these subjects were inquired into
on the same evening, the student having only to
submit to a single examination at the end of his
studies. Already pupils have passed the prelimi-
nary examination, or "little go," as it is termed,
but which many have found far from being so in-
significant an affair. The following gentlemen,
having undergone the above examinations, were
admitted members of the College at a meeting of
the Court of Examiners last night—viz., Messrs.
Thomas Westcott Gale Stone, Lincoln's-inn-fields ;
Robert Parker, Churton, Chester ; Frederick
Woodcock, Dowker, Laysthorpe, Yorkshire ; John
Robert Nunn, Bedford ; James Adams Addington-
place, Camberwell ; Henry Ashlin Clare, Holland
Cottage, Kennington; David Lloyd, Carmar-
then ; Bradley Gregory, Exeter; Thomas Cann,
Seaton, Devon ; Henry John Buck, Norwich. ;
John Henry Square May, Plymouth; and
Francis Hollis Woods, Northampton, students of
St. Bartholomew's Hospital; Samuel Grose, Bo:-
ton, Lincolnshire ; Charles Grabham, L
square, Islington ; Alfred Leete Griffith, Eden-
place, Old Kent-road ; and Charles Henry Drake,
Kingsclere, Hants, students of St. Thomas's Hospi-
tal ; John Roberts, Crug, Carnarvon ' • John Thomp-
son, St. Mary's, York ; and Rees Miles, Merthyr
Tydvil, University College; Joseph Bancroft, Stret-
ford, near Manchester, and Frederick Foulkes,
Swineton, Manchester, students of the Manchester
School; Bransby Brooks, Henley- on-ThamEesbe(Gneuzye'rs
Hospital);. George Maule Evans, Queen's-road
osi Tralee,l
.
west, Regent's Park (King's College)
s ;
est
Bucknill, Stanley-street, Chelsea (St. George's Hos-
pital) ; and Richard Henry Blennerha
county Kerry, Ireland (Westminster Hospital).

TEE ALTERATION AND " CONVER-
SION" OF SHIPS.

A copy of the report of the Surveyor of the Navy
respecting the alleged unnecessary alterations of
her Majesty's ships during the last 11 years, and
on the votes and expenditure under votes Nos. 8,
9, and 10 of the Navy Estimates during the same
period, has just been presented to Parliament by
her Majesty's command and printed. It purports
to be a reply to a string ofsearching questions issued
from the Admiralty-office on the 14th of March.
Sir B. W. Walker reports on the 29th. He an-
swers categorically and in a tabular form queries
relating to the Racer, the Lyra, the San Fiorenzo,
the Immortalite, the Howe, the Mersey, and the
Orlando. Sir B. W. Walker, in a foot-note, as-
sumes the full responsibility of having recommended
to the Board that alteration of the Howe, in which
" the so-called wasteful expenditure was incurred,
and about which so many erroneous statements
have been made." The Howe, he adds, is the only
ship designed for the screw duringthe last 11 years
that has undergone any alteration, the actual ex-
pense of the alteration was £384 ss. 3d., " the on
sum expended on all the screw ships designed with-
ly
in the last 11 years." It appears further that 37
line-of-battle ships, 6 blocks, 31 frigates, mortar frigates were built and " converted" and 4
n the
Royal dockyards between the Ist of
April,i 1848,
and the Ist of 'April, 1859. The number of corvettes
and sloops so built was 43, and the number of gun-
boats 14, besides one floating battery and two
yachts. A long list of vessels built by contract
and purchased, which had to be completed and
fitted for sea in the dockyards, during the same
period, is also appended. They amount in all to
about 205, exclusive of mortar vessels and floats.
The aggregate tonnage of the ships built (includ-
ing the " converted" ones) and fitted between
April, 1848, and April, 1859, is 209,408 tons, and
the cost £4,948,378; the sailing ships converted
into screws in dock measured 54.700 tons, and the
cost was £323,118; while the ships repaired, fitted
for commission for sea, for advanced ships, and for
the steam reserve, &c. measured 914,371 tons, the
cost being £6950,766. The gross total amount of
these expenses, adding incidental items, was
£12,614,821, the annual amount varying from
£828,734 to £1,562,475.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] SIGHT AND HEARING. SPEC.
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PERSPECTIVE GLASSES. Messrs. S. and B. Solomons,
opticians, 39, Albermarle-Street, Piccadilly. Observe--
opposite the York Hotel, W.—Opera, Race-course, Field:
and general Out-door Day and Night Perspective Glasses,
very small, for the waistcoat pocket, each containing 12 and
18 lenses,constructed of German glass. Will show dis-
tinctly a person to know them at two-and-a-half and three
miles, and an object from eight to ten miles distant. Her
Majesty's Coast Guards are making use of them as dayand
night glasses in preference to all others ; they are also pre-
ferred for deer-stalking b sportsmen, gentlemen, and
gamekeepers. Telescopes 31. inches long, by which a per-
son may be clearly seen and known at 31 miles'
and an
object at 12 to 14 miles' distance; and with an extra as tro
nomical eye-piece, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, and
the double stars are distinctly seen. All the above can be
had of larger and all sizes, with increasin.
are secured by her Majesty' Royal Letters oyal Letters Patent.
The Royal Exhibition, 18518. Increasing powers, and
invented, very small, powerful waAistevoaaltn.paobelek,st newly-
the size of a walnut, by which a person can be seen
tshceeneßryacean-
and known one and a half mile distant. They answer
houses. Count
purpose
tor;
codursshe
ipand at the Opera-
at four to six miles Theyinvaluable for
deer-stalking, yachting
to sportsmen, gentlemen, game-
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greatest
keepers, and tourists. Price 30s.—Spectacle Lenses of the
transparent power. The great advantage derived
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—can see with those lenses of a much less magnifying
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dangerois effects of further powerful assistance. Persons
can be suited at the most remote part of the world by send-
ing one of the glasses out of their spectacles in a letter, and
stating the distance from the eyes they can read small print
with it, and those who have not made use of spectacles by
statingtheir age. Deafness.—New Discovery.—The Organic
Vibrator, an extraordinarily powerful small newly-invented
instrument for Deafness, entirely different from all others,
surpasses anything of the kind that has been, or probably
ever can be, produced. Being of the same colour as the
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distinctly at church and at public assemblies; the unplea-
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moved,. and it affords all the assistance that possibly could
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opposite the York Hotel, 'by,