and said nothing until next time. Then he said: You did not do that thing quite right, the cheque was "not big enough." So I paid up the balance in guineas which made me a Governor by right. Mr. Wainwright, as we all know, some of us by actual knowledge, has done admirable work for this Institution. He was not present at the birth of St. Thomas's Hospital, nor in fact was I, but he was present at the birth of the present building of this Hospital. He took a very active part in the erection of these admirable buildings. and when he became Treasurer in 1890 he was the right man in the right place. During the time that I have served as a Governor I have always been struck, not only with the zeal, but with the ability of my good friend. What St. Thomas's Hospital would have done without him I don't know. I am quite sure of this that no man Icould have done more credit to himself and conducted the whole business of this Institution to the greater advantage of the Hospital than Mr. Wainwright. He is always to be found at his post, has his heart thoroughly in the work, as I hope many other good men have, but it is not every good man that has his heart in the work who has the same experience and judgment which our good friend has shown during the years he has been Treasurer. The burden of being Treasurer of St. Thomas's Hospital is a heavy one, but that burden he has borne right well. I am prepared to say that the Hospital is the most up to date of all the Hospitals in the world, but even now we find it necessary for constant improvements to be carried out and these are done under the direction of our good friend, and it is under his supervision and chiefly through his influence that the money has been found, without which the work could not be attempted. He put his shoulder to the wheel in the carly days of his Treasurership, made use of one of my precedessors in the Mansion House and with the aid of the Mercers Company enabled Hospital Wards to be opened which had till that time been closed, and from that day to this St. Thomas's Hospital has been a great success in every way. New quarters for Nurses, new theatres have been built, new arrangements including this Hall and other things which would in fact take me all the rest of the afternoon to tell you what he has succeeded in achieving during the last twelve years. I feel it is an honour to ourselves to be here, for we have come to do honour to a man to whom honour is due and I ask that I may be allowed to unveil the portrait for acceptance by the Hospital."

Mr. Boyson, as Senior Almoner, then accepted the portrait on behalf of the Governors and stated how extremely pleased both he and all the Governors and Staff were with the portrait. They have been painted by Mr. J. H. F. Bacon, A.R.A., who has behaved with the greatest kindness in this matter, having been so zealous in his work as to undertake the painting of two portraits, Mr. Boyson

took the opportunity of calling the attention of the meeting to a matter which he knew was very dear to the heart of our Treasurer, namely, that of Medical Education. The demands on Medical Schools are increasing very much and it is impossible to foretell what their future will be. Owing to opposition which has been raised in certain quarters to help being given to the Medical School from Hospital Fuuds, there is a sort of crisis in Medical Education, and this is a matter which has engaged the attention of the Treasurer who, all the Governors knew, would give his usual ability and energy to secure a proper and just settlement of this difficult question.

On behalf of the Staff, Dr. Sharkey said it was his pleasant privilege to present to Mrs. Wainwright not, as has already been pointed out, a replica of the portrait of the Treasurer, but a new and a speaking likeness of him. It was not, he said, good taste to praise a man too much to bis face, but he had no hesitation in saying that in the recollection of no one had there been so great a benefactor of St. Thomas's as Mr. Wainwright. The portrait he said was presented as a token of regard, esteem and affection, that all have for Mr. Wainwright, and he trusted that Mrs. Wainwright would accept it as a testimony of the gratitude of all here for the important share which she has taken in enabling the Treasurer to do what he has done for so many years for this Hospital.

In expressing thanks both on behalf of Mrs. Wainwright and of himself the Treasurer said

"That the work it has been my great pleasure to carry out has met with so much honour overwhelms me. On such an occasion my mind is carried back 39 years when I first became a Governor. It was in 1866 that I was shown round the Hospital in Surrey Gardens by Mrs. Wardroper, and the late Mr. John Croft, who was then an Assistant Surgeon. From that day my interest in the work began. In 1871 I joined the Grand Committee, and in 1874 I joined the Almoners' Committee. I believe I am the only man who ever continued an Almoner for so long a period as sixteen years, as I served continuously in that position until I was called upon to undertake the Treasurership in March, 1890. I fully realised the great responsibilities I was taking with so much of the Hospital lying unused, a heavy debt, and funds deficient for the work, while the advance in science of medicine and surgery had been growing, that though the Hospital had been opened some twenty years only, many Departments required reorganising and developing. The warm manner in which I was received by the Governors, and the Medical and Surgical Staff, and the kind support I received gave me great encouragement. In old days the Staff and Governors each

worked on their own lines, each taking a deep interest in their Hospital, but as separate entities, with no direct intercourse, and no opportunity of combined conference. All this has changed, the Staff are, on the one hand, admitted to the Committees and Courts of Governors and the Governors are welcomed in the management of the School. There is no doubt that no work can be successful unless there is united effort and it has been a great joy to find that all, whether Governors or Staff, have worked happily together here with one aim and object-the advancement of our Hospital. I can assure you that I regard myself as abundantly repaid for my part in the work by the happy consciousness of the constant and steady progress which has been secured. It has been truly said the Hospital is a different place from what it was. Every department has been re-organised, enlarged and made fit for the discharge of its important duties, both as a place for the treatment and cure of disease, and the training of medical men for the Empire, and may I not add of those valuable and increasingly valued handmaids of the Doctors, our Nurses. It has been a great privilege to me to have had the warm support and helpful advice of that noble woman Florence Nightingale. Would indeed that her health could have been better. Though absent in body she is ever kept in the closest touch with everything going on in our midst. My wife is greatly touched by the extreme kindness which has prompted the thought of this valuable gift which was a delightful surprise to her and for which she feels the deepest gratitude. It will be highly prized both by her and our children as a lasting memento of the kindness and goodwill of the donors. That the Lord Mayor of this great City amidst his absorbing duties should find time to be the spokesman of my kind friends is a high honour in itself. I trust our community in labour and our friendship may continue while life lasts. I am deeply conscious that my words to-day very poorly express the feelings of my heart, but you will I am sure believe me when I say how sincerely and deeply my wife and I thank you one and all for the far too flattering testimony to the work which, with your assistance and God's good providence, I have been permitted to carry out."

This memorable meeting was concluded by Mr. Seth Taylor, one of the Almoners, moving and Mr. Clutton, on behalf of the Medical and Surgical Staff, seconding a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor for his great kindness in coming to the Hospital to-day. This having been duly acknowledged, tea was served to the visitors in the Grand Committee Room.

Once more this pleasant gathering proved how valuable an adjunct to our Hospital the new Governors' Hall is.

The Conversazione.

HE word is, we believe, the Italian form for conversation; and

THE

if there is anything in a name, the R. A. was probably well advised to make the alterations which he did. If indeed we read his motive aright, those who came with a literal idea of the purpose of the conversazione have good reason to bless him. In any case, it is to be hoped that those who came to talk, said all that they wanted, and said it to those with whom they wanted to talk. In former years rash attempts to carry out such a scheme usually ended in half an hour's confinement in the middle of a throng of people packed within an incredibly small area. At such moments the lights not uncommonly went out, and a cinematograph entertainment" began. Of course the search for one's friends under such conditions was a strenuous and at times exhilarating form of exercise, but it was not apt to be crowned with such a measure of success as the necessary degree of effort deserved.

6.

On the other hand, the variety show was very advantageously housed in the Governors' Hall, and a very pleasant show it was. "The Follies" perhaps carried off the honours of the evening, but the entire entertainment was very good, and gained not a little from its new environment. The survivors of the Pierrots got the hearty reception that they deserved, and deserve it they did, for the excellence of their performance, quite apart from any considerations of local popularity.

There was nothing very new about the decorations, but those of us who had known them in previous years recognised them as old and tried friends, and felt the more at home for it. The popularity of the conversazione is amply evidenced by the numbers that year by year continue to come to it, and probably nobody would wish to see it very different from what it has been.

This year it was the same but better, and with such a result the R. A., his labours over, may well rest content.

P. for the Palmist

Who lurks in a booth,

Should we love her as much

If she told us the truth.

P. POPULAR PALMIST.

IT

The Lilian Toy Competition.

T is past history and common knowledge now that the Christmas Toy Competition in Lilian had to be postponed, owing to the inconvenient outbreak of a measly rash! And it was not until we were well into the new year that a distinguished committee of "competent judges" assembled to decide on the distribution of the prizes.

Some five-and-thirty toys had been sent in, all of them handmade. A magnificent array testifying to the ingenuity and skill of their originators.

The first prize was awarded to Messrs. Thompson & Wyatt, for a splendid model of a "Polite Old Gentleman," made out of darkbrown modelling clay. The features and limbs were wonderfully true to nature—especially the feet! The dear old man bowed incessantly to the judges, and showed off to perfection his latest "suiting " which even went so far as to possess the fashionable slit behind.

The second prize fell to Mr. Whitehouse for a novel contrivance for expanding the lungs, and especially recommended in cases of Empyema. To describe it would be impossible, and we will leave our readers to imagine a series of pulleys, cranks, levers, bolts, springs, &c., &c. with the patient being whirled round and round at the end of a cross between a centrifugal and Sir H. Maxim's flying machines.

Mr. Maclean came in third, with a really beatiful spider on a net. We hear that its permanent abode is now behind a door marked "Private," opposite Lilian Ward.

The next toy, which was "highly commended," was a “Gazeka," made by Messrs. Bletsoe & Wright. "The animal is rare, and was discovered . . in a recent scientific tour through the unexplored parts of Casualty. Rare, because it only lays one egg and this its auntie always takes away and hides. We are unable to exhibit the egg of this particular specimen, as another still rarer and much wilder animal-Timothy Vulgaris-has unfortunately poached it." The above is a short extract from the scholarly account of the animal which accompanied it.

We may mention that it stands about four feet high, and that it is especially requested by those in authority that "should anything happen to it, doctor," the body may be returned to College House, the eyes to the Matron's Office, the tail to the Clinical Lab., the feet to the South Theatre, the skin to Casualty, the skull to the Medical School, and the little tuft of red fur to Lizzie, c/o Sister Lilian. Among a host of other good things we would single out a "British doll," with congenital absence of upper and lower extremities, which on closer investigation proved to be a bottle