Correspondence.

Correspondence .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish , in a spirit of fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limitstree discussion .

THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE . To the Editor of the '' Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , As throughout the British Dominions , or rather throughout the world , every British subject will return thanks to the G . A . O . T . U . for having spared unto us our Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria to have completed a most peaceful 60 years' reign on the 22 nd of June next ,

do you not think it could be arranged for Freemasons as a body to return our grateful thanks to the Great Architect for favours already received through the instrumentality of our Gracious Sovereign , who has done so much to benefit the cause of Masonry , which is also shown by the deep interest his Royal Highness , the Grand Master Mason of England , the Prince of Wales , and other members of the Royal Family take in furthering and benefiting thc Craft at all times ?

As a suggestion , if a certain Sunday were fixed upon and the various lodges in each town throughout the provinces were to band together and assemble in a public place of worship , a suitable service taken , and the offertory devoted to certain Charitable Institutions , I feel sure it would meet with the approbation of most Masons , who at all times fear God and honour our Most Gracious Majesty .

I have not the slightest doubt that if some such scheme were put on foot it would not only lead to a day of thanksgiving for the Craft in general this present year , but would have a tendency to promote the wish to set aside one Sunday throughout each year for a general thanksgiving to Him from whom all goodness emanates .

I shall feel indebted if you will let this appear in our valuable paper , the Freemason , in order that it might go forth as a suggestion most fitting at least to enable brethren to join together in unity to offer our praises and thanks for favours already received , and that our Order may still be endowed with every moral and social virtue . Thanking you in anticipation , fraternally yours , A PAST MASTER .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , It is generally anticipated that the above auspicious event will be celebrated by conferring Past Grand rank on one or more representatives of each province in proportion to lodges . If this is so , it is to be hoped greater

satisfaction will be the result than was the case in 1887 . Instead of picking and choosing favourites , cannot some definite plan be adopted ? Why not select the D . P . G . M . or next the P . G . Sec , or , if they hold Grand rank , then the next P . G . Officer holding office at the date of celebration ( 22 nd June ) , and thus associate the year of office with the great eyent ? 1 am convinced it would be a popular mode of selection and prevent any heartburning .

As I don t hold any oflice in this province this year , I write disinterestedly I am , yours fraternally , P . P . G . WARDEN . Hope Hall , Liverpool . 13 th March .

Reviews.

Reviews .

* 'VITA MEDICA CHAPTERS OF MEDICAL LIFE AND WORK . " —By Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson , M . D ., LL . D ., F . R . S . Longmans , Green , and Co ., ; 9 , Paternoster-row , London , New York , and Bombay , 1897 . —A certain mournful interest attaches to the publication of this volume . The preface bears date the 31 st October , 1 S 9 G , while we gather from the note which follows by the author s son , Mr . Bertram Richardson , that the chapters composing it were finished "November iSth , 1806 , just before eight o ' clock in the evening . At 10 he was seized with the illness which ended fatally on Saturday morning , November

21 st . " To this is added the information that " The last proofs were not revised by my father , and but for the few corrections that could be made without him , the book is published as it left his hands . " It follows that this book is a complete biographical sketch ot the author's career , there being nothing to add to it but the record of his death . It is , as far as we know , a solitary instance of its kind and emphasises the regret we must feel that a man who had accomplished so much should have been taken from us at a time when , whatever his bodily powers may have been , he must

have enjoyed to the full that intellectual vigour which had characterised him through his whole career . But though we cannot help regretting that his life-work should have ceased almost at the moment when he had written tbe concluding lines of his bock , it is at least a consolation to us to know that he should have bequeathed to us this narrative , compiled by himself , and containing so much that is interesting to all classes and conditions of men , but more especially to the members of thc profession of which he wasso bright an ornament . In his opening chapter he tells his readers distinctly

lhat the book is not intended as an autobiography , but is rather a series of ' * memoties , ' to which must be added " researches and ideals that stand apart from the memories . " But in whatever form we may regard his compilation , there can be no doubt as to its claims upon our respect and admiration . He certainly did some splendid work , and the country is largely indebted to him for the results of many of his researches , and thc icalisation of not a few of his ideals . He seems to have been fitted by nature for the part he pla 5 ed in afterlife . He must have been a laborious , rather than a brilliant , scholar , but at

the same time , it is evident that he possessed exceptional powers of rat : o : ination . Hence in Ihe experiments of all kinds he was continually engaged in making he more often than not succeeded in gaining his object . His conclusions may generally be looked upon as safe , because he took such infinite pains to ensure the correctness of the premisses from which they were deduced . But we need not dwell on the character of one who is so recently deceased , and whose works are still fresh in the minds of us all . Bro . Sir 13 . VV . Richardson was essentially a busy man , but those who knew him best and study this

record of his life from his own pen , will marvel how even such a man as he could have managed to crowd so much laborious work into the period of a single lifetime . The opening chapters are devoted to his schooldays and his early experiences as a student . Alter a preliminary spell as a pupil of a Mr . Henry Hudson , of Sowerby , who scams to have been an able man , from whom he learned not only how to make up pills and potions , but also something of electricity , embalming , and wood-carving , young Uichardson was entered at Glasgow College , or , as it was called , " Anderson ' s University , "

where the famous African explorer , David Livingstone , had been a student before him , where he came in contact with men who had at the time , or have since , made themselves famous , prominent amone them being the late Dr . Thomas Graham , Master of the Mint , and Dr . Thomas Thompson , author of " Heat , Light , and Electricity . " Here it was that he obtained his first experience

cf anaesthetics , an operation being performed in the Royal Infirmary upon a patient who had been sent into a sound sleep by the inhalation of ether . It was here , too , that he made the acquaintance of what was known as the " Irish Fever , " which was really due to famine , and which broke out among the Irish that had migrated from Ireland ; and afler doing his duty among the poor people who were smitten down , was himself at ' acked by it , and on recovering sufficiently , gave up for a time his studies and reel uited his health and strength at the residence of an aunt in Rutlandshire . Thence

Reviews.

he went to Saffron Walden , where he obtained a practical insight into the duties of a medical man under the auspices of a general practitioner of the name of Browne . Thence he moved into Leicestershire and made further advances in his profession under Mr . Dudley Hudson , ol Littlebury , by Narborough , and while with Mr . Hudson an opportunity presented itself for obtaining a position near London as an assistant to Dr . Willis , of Mortlake , the change being noted by him as " the turning-point , " as doubtless it was , in his life . Here he won the Fothergillian Gold Medal of the Medical Society of London for his essay on "Diseases of the Child before Birth . " The

antispeptic qualities of gases also engaged his attention , while the experiments he here entered upon resulted ultimately in his invention of the "Lethal Chamber , " in which animals are put to death painlessly . Subsequently he took a very prominent part , with Sir Edwin Chadwick , in the work of sanitation , travelling the country in all directions , and doing his utmost to improve the sanitary condition of our cities and towns . He also for many years was a strong advocate of abstinence from alcoholic liquors , not , as he is careful to point out in that portion of his book in which the subject is treated , from any serious objection to the drinking of such liquors , but from the evidences he tells us

he obtained by means of experiments of the action of alcohol on the system . And while he was thus engaged , he found time for editing or writing for many scientific journals , and was officially connected with several hospitals and infirmaries . In short , the marvel is , as we have said , that a man should have been able so accomplish so much and such various work as our late distinguished brother . As for the book itself , the manner in which his medical career is recorded in these pages , we feel sure that it will be very widely and very deservedly appreciated . There is , of course , much in it of a

purely medical nature which will be as Greek to the mind of the lay reader . But Bro . Richardson's experience as a lecturer before large popular assemblies has not been without its effect on his style as a writer , and the result is that " Vita Medica " is so written that far the greater part of it can be " understanded of the people . " And those who read it will be well rewarded for their pains . They will learn a good deal about the best known members of the medical profession during the Victorian era , about the various kinds

of anaesthetics , and , above all , of the efforts which have been made of late years towards the prevention of disease by means of sanitation . There is , indeed , no part of Bro . Sir B . W . Richardson's autobiography which may not be studied with the greatest advantage , but none with greater advantage than that which treats of "Sanitation "—Chapter XV . Be it added that the book , which contains nearly 500 pages , is published at the modest price of iGs .

The Recent Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

THE RECENT FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The following new lists and additions to lists have been received since last week 1—LONDON . Ledge £ s . d . 145 Bro . J . E . Gerlach , additional ... ... ... 5 5 o ( raising his list to ^ 32 us . ) ¦ 97 „ W . T . Pigott , additional ... ... ... 8 19 o ( raising his list to £ 41 18 s . ) I . 5-S „ R . P . Upton , additional ... ... ... 220

( raising his list to £ 38 17 s . ) 2454 „ G . F . Smith , additional ... ... ... 1 16 o ( raising his list to £ 61 is . Cd . ) Unattached Mrs . Tom Green , new list ... ... ... 5 5 o

PROVINCES . BERKSHIRE . Lodge HOI Bro . E . Margrett , additional ... ... ... 300 ( raising his list to £ 63 ) CHESHIRE . 2433 „ A . II . Baird , new list ... ... ... 10 10 o ESSEX .

--55 » George S . Daunton , additional ... ... 200 ( raising his list to £ 13 S ios . ) N . B . —There are two errors to which we have been requested to call attention and which will be corrected io the Reprint . ( 1 ) Bro . C L . Nelson was Steward for the Merchant Navy Lodge , No . 7 S 1 , London , not for Royal Oak Lodge , No . 871 , as stated in our report of the 27 th ult ., his list being / 68 5 s . ( 2 ) The representative of the Hartismere Lodge , No . 1663 , Eye , in Suffolk , was Bro . D . W . Curtis , not Carter , as printed in the before mentioned report .

Craft Masonry.

Craft Masonry .

Kent Lodge , No . 15 . The installation meeting of this ancient lodge , which celebrated its centenary in 1858 , was held at Freemasons' Tavern on Wednesday , the ioth inst . _ The lodge was duly opened by Bro . J . G . Carpenter , P . M ., who , after the usual routine business , proceeded to pass Bro . Bennett . Bro . Carpenter then followed with the installation of his successor , Bro . R . W . Bowers . The whole of the ceremony was performed in a most imoressive manner , the delivery of the charges being followed very closely by the large

lodge present . The new Master at once invested his officers for the year as follows-. Bros . J . G . Carpenter , I . P . M .,- Bradley , S . W . ; Smith , J . W . ; Stimson , P . M ., Treas . ; Buckeridge , P . M ., Hon . Sec ; A . R . Carpenter , S . D . ; Salter , J . D . j Huddkrt , I . G . ; Saunders , Org . ; Towers , P . M ., Stwd . ; Lowenfeld , D . C . ; Norris , A . D . C . ; and Edgley , P . M ., Tyler . At the conclusion of the investiture , Bro . Bowers

initiated Messrs . Thomas Edward Williams and Herbert Sinclair Southey King . Naturally the effort was crjtically watched by the many Past Masters present , but the method of its performance satisfied everyone that the new Master was quite equal to his work . Before the lodge wasclosed , the I . P . M . and Installing Mister was presented with a Past Master ' s jewel in recognition of the sincere appreciation of the brethren of his services during the past year .

the installation banquet was held in the Venetian Chambjr of the Holborn Restaurant , when 150 brethren sat down and discussed a very elaborate menu . Of this number 102 were visitors . Nine o ' clock had gone past when the toast list was approached . " The Queen and the Craft , " "The M W . G . M . of England , H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , " and "The M . W . Pro Grand Master , the Deputy Grand Mater , and the rest of the Grand Officers , Present and Past , " were duly honoured , and after some songs , Bro . 1 . G . Carpenter , I . P . M ., proposed "The Worshipful Master , Bro . R . W .

Bawers . " If he were to extol all the good qualities of the new Master , he said , by far too large a portion of their time would be taken up that evening . All the brethren of the Kent Lodge , howevc , knew Bro . Bowers ' s sterling qualities , whilst they had already had an opportunity of seeing his working . Immediately after his own installation he proceeded to initiate two gentlemen in a way which showed , in the homely phraseology of " Bill Adams , " that he was the very man for the job . The new Master had the good wishes of every member of the Kent Lodge —( applause)—and they were all perfectly assured that , under his guidance , the lodge would prosper in the forthcoming as it had done in the past . ( Applause ) .

year The toast was received with enthusiasm , and Bro . Bowers , in reply , said he could not lind words in which to adequately express his gratitude for all the cordiality and kindness he had received . He felt proud and honoured at the trust which had been committed to his care . He would do his very utmost to carry out the best traditions of the Kent Lodge , and to promote harmony within it . The brethren had not lightly cast upon him the cares of office , and he hoped to conduct the affairs of the lodge with credit to himself and with satisfaction to the brethren .