CHAP. III.] SCIENTIFIC TAPERS. 23 



gratification not only of sustaining his reputation, but of saving 

 him from the payment of 1000. 



In February of 1842 Mr. Smee was elected surgeon to the 

 Koyal General Dispensary, Aldersgate Street. The " success " to 

 this election " is much enhanced," writes Lord Carington, " by 

 the handsome majority." 



During this year a paper of Mr. Smee's appeared in the 

 twenty-first number of the ' Philosophical Magazine,' and also in 

 the second volume of the 'Archives de I'filectricite.' It was entitled 

 ' On the New Definition of the Voltaic Circuit, with Formulae for 

 ascertaining its Power under different Circumstances.' This 

 paper was afterwards incorporated in the second edition of 

 ' Electro-Metallurgy,' on which Mr. Smee was this year hard at 

 work. During this same year he wrote a few medical papers, 

 among which may be mentioned, ' On Glossites producing Sup- 

 puration,' to be found in the ' London Medical Journal ' of March 

 10th ; ' On the Treatment of Syphilis,' and an account of 'Violent 

 Hysteria in a Man.' 



On the 9th of March, 1843, Mr. Smee read before the Koyal 

 Society his paper, ' On the Cause of the Keduction of Metals 

 when Solutions of their Salts are subjected to the Galvanic 

 Current.' This paper was also incorporated in the second edition 

 of 'Electro-Metallurgy.' The paper itself will be found in the 

 Appendix, No. X.* The following evening he delivered a lecture 

 on the subject at the Eoyal Institution, which appears to have 

 been very successful. 



Previously his attention had, with others, been directed to a 

 plan for conducting a Medical Association for Clerks, in connection 

 with the Provident Clerks' Benefit Association and Benevolent 

 Fund. It is a long draft, and the MS., which is in his hand- 

 writing, consists of several sheets of paper. The gist of the plan 

 was to ensure for those gentlemen who are occupied as clerks in 

 the city of London the benefits of being attended by the highest 

 medical skill, and for procuring for them the best medicines and 

 all the various comforts applicable in cases of sickness at a rate 

 commensurate with the pecuniary means of such seeking benefit 

 therefrom. The institution was to be in a central position, and 

 was to have baths, drugs, and a dispensing department. Medical 



* This paper was published in the fourth volume of the * Archives de 1'Elec- 

 triciteY in 1844 ; in Majocchi, Ann. Fis. Chim.' vol. xv. 1844 ; in the * Philo- 

 sophical Magazine,' vol. xxv. 1844 ; in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society ;' 

 and in the ' Poggend. Annal.' No. Ixv. 1845. 



