62 Nolices respecting New Books. 
mittee are satished, that the establishment of the Hospital, under 
Sir William Adams, has greatly contributed to promote this de- 
sirable object, not only by the direct opportunity it afforded of 
studying the various modes of practice, but indirectly, by the 
manner in which it appears to have excited the emulation and 
attention of other practitioners. 
‘© With respect to the second point, indeed, it has been stated, 
that valid doubts were suggested, how far it was in the power of 
the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital to take away, or diminish, 
any pension which they had granted under the provisions of the 
act-of the 46 Geo. II]. ; and consequently, your Committee have 
not thought it necessary to direct their inquiries te this point, as 
no diminution of pensions already granted could, under any cir- 
cumstances, have heen effected. 
*¢ With respect to the third point, as but a few men so circum- 
stanced have been placed in the Hospital, it does not appear to 
your Committee, that Sir William Adams has had sufficient op- 
portunity of showing how far he could have effected this object, 
upon the scale originally proposed. But the general diffusion of 
knowledge among the medical officers of the army, must ne- 
cessarily lead to the accomplishment of this end. 
¢¢ With regard to the future continuance of this establishment, 
it has been stated to your Committee by the Department with 
which it originated, that the main objects for which it was insti- 
tuted having thus been attained, it does not appear that any 
public inconvenience would now arise from its discontinuance. 
In this opinion your Committee are disposed to concur, and they 
therefore recommend, that the Establishment should be discon- 
tinued, as soon as the proper arrangements can conveniently be 
effected. : 
“Upon the claims of Sir William Adams upon the public, your 
Committee have to report, that he has rested those claims upon 
two grounds. 
‘* First, upon his having been the means of promulgating to 
the army, and to the public, certain information as to the third 
or chronic stage of the ophthalmia and its consequences; namely, 
that it is the general, if not invariable, effect of the inflammation 
in the acute stage of the disorder, to produce in a greater or less 
degree, what are termed granulations on the inner surface of the 
eye-lid; that these granulations render the patient subject: to 
relapses, and are frequently the cause of blindness; that during 
the relapses so happening, the patient is liable to become again 
infectious; and therefore, that these granulations must invariably 
be looked for, and removed, before the patient can be effectually 
cured, 
** Secondly, upon his having attended the Ophthalmic Hospital 
since 
