such matters, that the article before me was one of the canopies used for holding over the “Host” when the holy sacrament is carried by the priest through the streets to a dying person.  It needs but a moment’s reflection on the Roman Catholic theory of the sacrament of the “Last Supper” to be aware of the extremely sacred nature of the uses to which this parasol had been put, and of the associations connected with it.  Nevertheless, I found this bit of sacred church property in the hands of a Jew broker, exposed to sale for a few francs to the first comer, heretic, scoffer or infidel, that might take a fancy to buy it.  This would hardly have been the case when the pope was absolute master of Rome and of all in it.  The thing could not have happened save by the dishonesty and cynical disbelief of some priest, and indeed probably of more than one.  And, upon the whole, it struck me as a second curious indication of the somewhat breakneck speed with which the threads of history are spinning themselves in these days and in these latitudes.

T.A.T.

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

A great deal of discussion has recently taken place on the subject of medical education in the United States.  To a foreigner, or to one not acquainted with the influences that have led to and have kept up this discussion, it might seem to be the result of a spontaneous outburst of popular feeling, earnestly demanding much-needed progress.  Really, however, the very reverse is the case; and the revolutionists are those whose kind and sympathetic interest in the welfare of the community is prompted solely by selfish considerations.  The changes urged by these self-condemning philanthropists are not demanded by the medical profession nor by the public; neither have they been, nor will they be, sustained by both or by either.  This assertion is clearly proved by the experience of the University of Pennsylvania, In 1846 the American Medical Association recommended to all medical colleges certain changes and improvements in their courses of instruction.  In consequence of this recommendation the University of Pennsylvania extended its session to six months:  not a single medical college in the country followed its progressive lead, and after continuing the experiment for six years at great pecuniary loss, it was reluctantly obliged to retrace its steps, and to return to the old standard as to length of session.  During the period of this advance the classes of the University fell off greatly, and the classes of other medical schools correspondingly increased.  Even medical men sent their sons to other medical schools, to save the time and money necessary for the longer course.  Indeed, medical men, as a rule, have sought to evade the restrictions as to length of time of study, etc. more than any other class; and the statement, that the “student usually dates his medical studies from the time he buys his first Chemistry” applies more frequently to the sons of physicians than to any others.  Hence, I declare that these proposed changes are not demanded by the medical profession nor by the public.