174 BULLETIN OF THE 



his colleague, was a good French scholar, and had studied in Paris ; 

 both took part in the labor of translation and condensation, and 

 as most of the articles were unsigned, it is not always possible to 

 ascribe particular ones to the proper editor. 



Notwithstanding its merits several causes contributed to interfere 

 with the financial success of the journal. On the one hand, it was 

 unsupported by the influence and business connections of an- estab- 

 lished publishing house, or of the faculty of any medical college. 

 On the other hand, the success it might perhaps otherwise have 

 achieved as a local organ of the medical profession in Virginia was 

 impaired by the existence of an already-established rival, Tlie Stetho- 

 scope, a monthly medical journal edited by Dr. P. Claiborne Gooch, 

 at that time Secretary of the Medical Society of Virginia. 



The field of local patronage was not large enough to support two 

 such journals, and both suffered from the competition. Before the 

 close of 1853, Otis found it necessary to secure an associate who 

 could share in the pecuniary support of his enterprise. Thomas 

 retired from the editorship, and was succeeded after the issue of the 

 December number, by Dr. James B. McCaw, of Richmond, who 

 became also part owner of the journal. The Stethescope appears 

 to have suffered still more, for about the same time its editor entered 

 into negotiations with the Virginia Medical Society, as a result of 

 which he sold the journal, and the number of The Stethescope 

 for January, 1854, appeared as "the property and organ of the 

 Medical Society of Virginia, edited by a committee of the society." 



This arrangement was, undoubtedly, for a time very prejudicial 

 to the prosperity of the Virginia Medical and Surgical Journal, but 

 its editors bravely maintained the struggle, and in the heated discus- 

 sion concerning the purchase of The Stethoscope, that took place 

 during the meeting of the Medical Society of Virginia in April, 

 1854, Otis, with characteristic gallantry, refused to surrender his 

 independence to secure the passage of resolutions complimentary of 

 the managment of his journal. 



Otis had, by this time, become dissatisfied with his prospects of 

 professional success in Richmond, and circumstances led him to 

 select Springfield, Massachusetts, as his place of residence. He 

 removed to that town during the summer of 1854. This necessitated 

 changes in the management of the Virginia Medical and Surgical 

 Journal. In May, 1854, Dr. J. F. Peebles, of Petersburg, Virginia, 

 became associated with McCaw as one of its editors, while Otis 



