There is this difference between that which is in principle good and that which is evil: the former may by abuse or misuse be converted into evil, while the latter can by no conversion become other I than it is by nature from the beginning. One evil may mask or master a lesser one, but that which is bad in principle can never become good in practice.

The circumstances attending the dismissal of Br. Foote from the post of medical officer to the Norfolk County Asylum afford a striking proof that an extended publicity in matters affecting the welfare of the insane poor is much needed. A publicity which without delay may inform all who are entrusted with the care of the insane, of the most recent ameliorations in their treatment, and may thus remove from abuses the excuse of ignorance: a publicity which may expose abuses as they arise, and prevent their growth and their continuance: a publicity which can only be secured by a journal devoted to the purpose, and aided by the adherents of the new system throughout the kingdom. The new system of which non-restraint is the key stone, but only the key stone, and which comprises kindly treatment, sufficient diet, decent clothing, cleanly and wholesome lodging, and the skilful application of remedial agents; this system could not in every particular have been set at nought in the Norfolk County Asylum, had not its Visiting Justices been ignorant of the extent to which they betrayed the sacred duties they had accepted; nor could the abuses we shall describe have sheltered themselves under the ignorance of the Visitors, had the public been aware of their existence. Before the new treatment of insanity was discovered or at least developed into common practice, the immediate care, or to speak more correctly, the immediate control of the insane was entrusted to persons distinguished by strength of body, firmness of nerve, and inflexibility of temper. The governors also of the places in which the insane were immured, were selected without reference to their possession of any medical skill, or knowledge of mental diseases. They were, indeed, not unfrequently chosen from the ranks of those who were then rightly called keepers, but who are now more properly called attendants. Far be it from us to detract from the merits of any man who has raised himself by his own merits from a menial position to one of honor and responsibility. If the Superintendent of the Norfolk Asylum after having held the situation of attendant in the wards of Hanwell had studied medicine, and having so qualified himself to undertake the care and treatment of some hundreds of insane persons, had then been appointed to his present office, we should have admired and applauded his honorable ambition and his success. His appointment in default of such qualifications we refer to only as a proof that the Visiting Justices of the Norfolk Asylum were under the influence of opinions which are now recognized as erroneous, and which in other parts of the kingdom have become obsolete. In 1843, the Norfolk Asylum, with those for Bedford and Pembroke, were the only county asylums in England Wales without a resident medical officer. The following extract from the Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy for 1844, will shew the value which the Visiting Justices for the Norfolk Asylum then placed upon medical skill in the treatment of the unfortunate persons placed under their jurisdiction.

We are delighted to learn that, since the issue of our last number, the Visiting Justices of the Bedfordshire County Asylum have reconsidered the conditions of this appointment. They advertized for candidates, offering the paltry salary of £100 per annum. They have elected a gentleman at a salary of £800 per annum, with board, etc., for himself and his family. They have, moreover, elected the medical officer of an institution containing one thousand patients, and wherein. “no hand or foot has been bound, by night or by day,” for the last fifteen years. The election of Mr. Denne is honorable to the Visiting Justices, as a proof of the readiness with which they can retrace their steps when they discover they are not in the right path.

Gentlemen,—On Tuesday last, the Committee of Visitors at their meeting, at which four only were present, called upon me to resign my appointment, in consequence of conclusions which they had formed in reference to my conduct; I haying laid before them circumstances in which I considered that my direction^ as to the treatment of patients, had been disobeyed, and myself grossly insulted.

The ceremony of the inauguration of the statue of the late lamented Dr. Charlesworth, senior physician of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, took place on the 12th of July last, in presence of a large assembly. When the statue, which stands in an area at the south-east corner of the asylum grounds, visible both to the patients and the public, was exposed to view, all present uncovered; and, after a moment's silence, a burst of applause followed. It consists of a full-length figure of the doctor, in a position in which he frequently appeared, having his right hand advanced a little, grasping a small scroll, and his left resting on his hip; his head is reclining to the left, and the expression of the countenance is exceedingly faithful, expressing that studious habit and decision of character for which he was so remarkable. The statue is 6 feet 6 inches in height, and stands upon a pedestal of Yorkshire granite of the same elevation. The attitude of the figure is natural and full of character, and from whatever quarter viewed the features are a striking resemblance. The material is most suitable to the peculiarity of our variable climate, the sculptor (T. Milnes, Esq.) having selected Sicilian marble, the statue being worked from a block weighing upwards of six tons. It is of the finest texture, a beautiful colour, and will long retain its freshness. The following inscription is on the pedestal:

Our readers will learn with deep grief the melancholy end of this promising physician. The following brief summary we condense from the Worcester Herald.

Causes. Opinions are divided respecting the causes of this condition of the external ear. The one most in vogue refers it to mechanical injuries, such as blows, bruises, and the effects of polling or of robbing the ear. F. Bird has not recognised the operation of external violence, and when such has happened he has regarded it as only an accelerating cause? for he considers necessary a peculiar condition consisting in persistent congestion about the head and enlargement of the vessels. Flemming, on the contrary, believes an external hurt to be always the cause, mostly self-inflicted by the patient, who, from severe and painful feelings about the head, strikes it against hard objects. He would, however, not deny the existence of a predisposition to the morbid condition resulting from a cachectic state. Ferrus discovers the cause in the I long continued pressure and robbing, &c., to which the ear is submitted. Friedreich concurs with Bird, and adduces in illustration two cases of dementia in which an inflammatory swelling of the ear manifested itself along with evident signs of congestion, occurring after maniacal paroxysms. Belhomme believes it to spontaneously originate from the feeble, retarded, circulation, the consequence of paralysis, and from the proneness to stagnation in extreme parts. Again, Wallis, Leubuscher, and Schmalz, assume the presence of cachexia as necessary to the production of the swollen ear; whilst Riedel and Rupp are of opinion that external violence is in itself a sufficient cause.