530 
CONVERSAZIONE OF THE BELFAST 
this monstrosity. The first is arrest of’ development of the 
heart itself, and the second is the premature closure of the 
thoracic parietes, which prevented the heart assuming its 
natural position within the chest. 
{To be continued .) 
Facts and Observations. 
CONTRIBUTIONS BY MR. M'KENNA TO THE CONVERSAZIONE 
OE THE BELFAST CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 
Held April 30 , 1856 . 
We are pleased to find that the members of our profession 
do from time to time take part at those meetings in their re- 
spective localities which tend to promote the advancement of 
science ; since, in proportion as this obtains, so will be the 
onward progress of medicine, whence will follow the amelio- 
ration of the condition of man and of animals, by the miti- 
gation of “the many ills which flesh is heir to.” By so 
doing, they also raise the profession as a body, and aid in 
giving to it the status it merits. 
It was well remarked by the President, Dr. E. G. Malcolm, 
in his address delivered on the above occasion, that “ science 
in all its divisions — in all its apparently varying characters — 
call it by what title you will — is one and the same ; the dis- 
covery and interpretation of the laws of our common Creator.” 
To render manifest the validity of the proposition that 
medical progress only became real when science became the 
pioneer and guide of medicine, it was not necessary, he ob- 
served, to do more than touch the salient points. “ Like to 
the benighted traveller, who walks on and on, in the vain 
hope of reaching his destination, but who, in reality, has lost 
the true path ; so medical knowledge, in the early times, 
endeavoured to advance by the changing light of ignes fatui , 
which successive hypotheses had engendered from time to 
time. It was reserved for science to light the traveller on 
his way, to dissipate the clouds which hovered o’er the road 
to truth, and to remove, with a single touch, obstacles to 
onward progress which seemed colossal to a pre-scientific 
age.” We therefore hope our professional brethren will not 
only continue but increase in thus well-doing. Each can do 
something in his allotted sphere, since no one is so fully 
occupied at all times with the duties of his calling, as not to 
find a few leisure moments to devote to the investigation of 
