ject only to such rule as he himself had consented to recognise. Should, under those circumstances, a necessity arise for compulsory detention, the requisite medical certificates and order could then be obtained with at least as much facility as if he were living in a private dwelling. Some difficulty might possibly occur were the patient to demand admission as a pauper, from the necessity of obtaining the concurrence of the Parochial Board of his parish for the defrayment of his maintenance; but were a gratuitous right of treatment for a certain stipulated period accorded to all patients, in accordance with the proposal which had been made, superintendents of asylums might generally admit even pauper patients on their own demand. It might, however, be advisable to restrict the admission of pauper lunatics as voluntary patients into public or district asylums, and to require medical certificates as to their mental condition, and the necessity for placing them under asylum treatment before throwing the burden of their maintenance on the public.

BEARING OF THE LUNACY LAWS ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Dr ALEXANDER WOOD read a paper 66 On the Bearing of the Lunacy Laws on the Medical Profession." He noticed first the recent Acts of Parliament which had been passed relating to lunacy in Scotland, giving prominence to the Act of 1862. He also noticed the leading features of the report of the Royal Commission on the state of Lunatic Asylums in Scotland. In commenting upon the provisions of the Lunacy Acts, Dr Wood said there was perhaps no arrangement which stood more in the way of early removal to an asylum than the requiring of the warrant of a sheriff or legal judge, who required two certificates from medical men. It was objected to by relatives as giving unnecessary publicity to the unfortunate condition of their friends, and as having something in it of the nature of a criminal commitment, while in some Highland parishes it was difficult to get two medical certificates at all, and almost impossible to get them within fourteen days of the Sheriff signing the order. While he was not disposed to underrate the value of the Sheriff's warrant as a sort of guarantee to the public against the granting of improper certificates by medical men, he could not but think that an equally efficient check might be devised to which fewer disadvantages would attach, one valuable purpose that warrant might be made to subserve, which at present it did not, was the protection of the medical men signing the certificates. These certificates were not voluntarily given by medical men, but were demanded from them by the forms of law, so that they were entitled to some protection in the discharge of a statutory duty. The peculiar hardship of the case was, that not only were they liable to actions of damages, but these actions might be raised not at the instance of persons in the full possession of their senses, but by individuals who had been set at large in the loose way permitted

by the Act of Parliament, who were still to a certain extent incapable of exercising a sound judgment, and who were therefore peculiarly liable to be worked upon by persons who, for their own selfish ends, exasperated their already excited feelings, and induced them to institute legal proceedings, from which, whatever be the result, they derive pecuniary profit. Should these actions of damages be multiplied, the probable effect would be, not only that medical men would refuse to sign these certificates altogether, but that others would sign them only when the disease had proceeded to such a height that the most stupid or most scrupulous juryman could have no doubt about it, and hence the seclusion of an asylum would become unattainable at that early period of the disease when all experience taught that it was most likely to be beneficial. It was further found by the most intelligent keepers of asylums that the knowledge among the patients that such actions could be brought operated injuriously on their treatment. Lunatics frequently threatened the superintendents with legal proceedings, and thus rendered them anxious to comply with unreasonable demands, for the purpose of soothing their feelings, and to let them free as soon as possible, to prevent them from revenging themselves on those by whom they had been detained in confinement. The medical profession did not seek irresponsibility in this matter; all that they sought was to be protected from the acts of persons who really could not be regarded as in the sound exercise of their senses. He thought that such protection might be given without unduly curtailing the liberty of the subject in the person of the unhappy lunatic; and several ways of doing it had occurred to him. (1.) "Let the Sheriff's order be retained, but let it take the form of a judgment on evidence, and let the two medical certificates form part, and the most important part, of the evidence on which his judgment is formed. In other cases, I may be forced in the witness-box to give evidence proving that a man is a liar or a thief; but facts that proved actionable if related in the market-place became privileged when uttered in the witness-box; and if I give my evidence freely, I may give it fearlessly, as far as actions for defamation are concerned. This procedure would have this additional advantage, that were the Sheriff not satisfied, he would have power to call for additional evidence. (2.) Provision is at present made by which paupers may bring actions in the Court through agents paid for them, provided they can show to competent parties that they have a probabilis causa. Some such check might be put upon

actions at the instance of lunatics, and competent parties appointed to see that the action proposed to be raised was, to say the least, not frivolous nor vexatious." Dr Wood went on to maintain that the lunatic had ample protection against carelessness on the part of the medical man, as it was provided by section 38 of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, that any person should be liable in a penalty not exceeding L.50, who should grant a certificate of lunacy without

having seen and carefully examined the person to whom it related, while a penalty of L.300 could be imposed upon any person wil fully or falsely granting such a certificate. Dr Wood next referred to another defect in our management of lunatics, which a recent case had brought under his notice. A lunatic could at present be confined, or a curator appointed for his property, on a petition accompanied by two certificates from medical men; but if the patient shut himself up and admitted no one to see him, his property might be deteriorated, his person neglected, and his life endangered, and there was no authority for any relative, however near, or for any Sheriff, however anxious, to subject him to a medical inspection with a view of ascertaining his state of mind. Dr Wood then submitted the following points, which, he thought, should engage the attention of our Legislature in regarded to the laws affecting lunacy" (1.) Such modifications of the Sheriff's warrant as shall remove certain objections at present felt to it. (2.) Such regulations regarding the dismissal of patients from asylums as shall secure that the end of their being sent there shall be attained. (3.) Some plan of visiting lunatics and ascertaining their state of mind, even when they obstinately shut their doors against all comers. (4.) Some protection to medical men against unjust and injurious actions at law for the signing of certificates in discharge of duties imposed on them by statute." In closing his paper, Dr Wood said-I have omitted all reference to the question of insane drinking, which well merits a separate paper; and I cannot conclude this paper without remarking how much Scotland is indebted to the recent Acts of Parliament for a great improvement in the treat'ment of her lunatics, and how carefully, prudently, and zealously the Commissioners of Lunacy have discharged their delicate and onerous duties.

SECOND DEPARTMENT-EDUCATION.

President-NASSAU W. SENIOR, ESQ.

THURSDAY.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.

UNIVERSITY CLASSES ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO

ACADEMICAL DEGREES, ETC.

The Rev. G. R. BADENOCH read a paper on "Morning and Evening Classes at the Universities of Scotland." He said an attendance of four years has been the time demanded of students for

enabling them to overtake all the classes required for completing what is called the undergraduate course of instruction at the universities of Scotland. This long period, by a recent regulation, may be somewhat shortened if a student undergoes a higher entrance examination. The classes meet generally during the day in the winter months, between November and the end of April; but the hours are so arranged that it is impossible for young men engaged in offices or in business to attend, and thus to obtain a full and complete course in arts. The writer considers this a great hardship. He does not intend to discuss whether the course of instruction should be limited, as at present, to a winter session, or whether it should be spread over the whole year, with two or more breaks. What he proposes to bring under consideration is the subject of additional classes in arts-that is to say, classes at such hours in the mornings and evenings as would permit young men engaged in business during the day to attend, and be able to take the degree of Master of Arts. The present art curriculum demands an attendance at classes for three or four hours a-day during five months of winter. But were additional classes established at, say six or seven o'clock in the morning, and in the evenings about the same hours, ample time would be afforded for young men in business of acquiring that training and knowledge which would fit them for graduating; and were these classes continued during a portion of the summer, still greater facilities would accrue. Difficulties to the proposal may be started. Extra amount of work might be thrown upon the present professors, or perhaps additional professors would be required. These difficulties have been trium- . phantly overcome by the London University, whose professors speak strongly of the importance of evening classes, and testify that they are largely appreciated by the young men of London. The plan has been partially carried out at Glasgow and Edinburgh in regard to law classes-the hours of meeting being so arranged in the mornings or in the afternoons as to admit of young men in offices both attending to business and going through a regular course of instruction in law. Morning classes were held in Glasgow University, where the writer went through his undergraduate course, and he can therefore speak from experience as to the great importance of such classes. Many merchants would not have been able to have taken advantage of a portion of university instruction had such classes not been in existence; and many young men who are now useful at the bar, in medicine, or in the Church, could not have entered upon their studies had there been no such classes in Glasgow. Moreover, young men of great natural gifts have been wholly excluded from some of the professions because there are no such classes as are now proposed. Hence, were the plan carried out at all the universities of Scotland, it is believed that the various professors would be much benefited, and the general education of the country would be greatly promoted. The universities

are national institutions, and ought to be rendered useful to the

greatest possible extent in advancing education. It is a great hardship that the class-room should be shut for the long period of about seven months out of every twelve, and that they should be closed in the mornings and evenings of even the remaining five months against young men of great promise, who, although engaged in business, are most anxious to reap the advantages of a university course of instruction. Besides, as these institutions have been built at a large expenditure, their being unused for the largest portion of the year seems to be a great waste of public funds.

Mr W. A. BROWN, advocate, read a paper "On the Admission of Women to Academical Degrees."

The beginning of this paper was occupied with combating the idea that mixed classes of men and women were desirable, after which he proceeded to consider the question whether it was desirable that women should engage in professional labours. Degrees, he pointed out, were not only guarantees for the possession of knowledge, but also for the efficiency in the party obtaining them for carrying on a profession from which he would acquire gain, and in which profession the public had a very great interest. In comparing the qualifications of man and woman for this duty towards their fellow-creatures, he asserted that there was a difference in the mental condition of the two sexes, and in respect of that he argued that an inferior standard of education should be applied to women, and more particularly as regarded the present argument that the proposed admission of women to examinations and degrees was in excess of the standard which was suitable for them. The difference which he thus contended for was as fitly as by any other words expressed in the phrase "mental condition." The difference which he had in view was a difference of mental condition, to be estimated, not at the time when Eve sprang from the ribs of Adam, but now, at this late stage of the world's progress, when the conditions of civilisation had been comparatively determined. To speak of men and women as abstract beings endowed abstractly with certain powers, and entitled abstractly to certain rights, was abstract nonsense. The world had lived for 6000 years, and men and women had lived for that time in it, and it was perfectly idle to talk of them in any other way than as the world had left them. He took them as he found them now. He found that man now was, as he had been through all civilised history, the actual combatant of the battle of life-the strong arm that expelled poverty, and brought comfort to his door. He found that the mission of women still is, as it was in the beginning and ever has been, by love to urge him to exertion, in love to share his victory, in perfect love, if need be, to soothe him in defeat. He found thus two functions separate and distinct. He found that as the result of history, as the result of government, as the result of education, as the result of every influence that had operated