SURPLICE, the habit of the officiating clergy in the Church of England. By Can. 58, every minister saying the public prayers, or ministering the sacrament or other rites of the church, shall wear a decent and comely surplice with sleeves, to be provided at the charge of the parish. But by 1 Eliz. c. 2, and 13 and 14 Car. II., the garb prescribed by act of parliament, in the second year of King Edward VI. is enjoined; and this requires, that in the saying or singing of matins, and even songs, baptizing and burying, the minister in parish churches and chapels shall use a surplice. And in all cathedral churches and colleges, the archdeacon, dean, provosts, masters, prebendaries, and fellows, being graduates, may use in the choir, besides their
Great improvement in both looks and usefulness may also be achieved for the lip, by means of incision alone, without any transplantation of parts; the knife being so directed as to loosen existing relations, and admit of new position and play.
Harelip, one of the most disagreeable of the congenital Harelip. deficiencies, can be very perfectly remedied by paring the edges of the fissure, and securing them in close and accurate apposition by two or more points of twisted suture. According to the principles already detailed, no further dressing is applied; and if the patient be otherwise in good health, and the parts protected from external injury, adhesion will seldom or never fail to occur. The most important part of the operation, as regards restoration of the lip's natural appearance, is complete removal, by the paring of the rounded margins where the membrane that covers the edge of the fissure joins the true prolabium. If this be not attended to the operation is imperfect, for a most unseemly notch remains in the lip; in fact, the fissure is merely diminished, not obliterated. But when these rounded portions are completely removed, and the operation is in other respects well conducted, a mere line of cicatrization is all that remains of the deformity.
Club-foot, a most inconvenient as well as unseemly mal- Clubfoot. formation, may sometimes be remedied in children by simple means, merely applying the necessary retentive apparatus, until the parts become fixed in the normal position in which that apparatus places them. But, in most cases, division of tendon is also required; which can be freely and safely effected by subcutaneous incision, so as to slacken the abnormal bonds completely, and admit of entire restoration to the normal state. To other deformities the principle of subcutaneous section has been happily applied with the best success; a field much too wide, however, for consideration in detail here.
We have thus briefly and imperfectly sketched some of the subjects which naturally occur to us as prominent examples of the modern advancement of surgery. It were easy to swell the list, in both number and illustration. But our assigned limits have already been attained, if not exceeded; and enough has probably been said, both to convey a general idea of the improvement recently effected, and to encourage a hope that such progress will still continue, year after year, bringing the practice of this useful, enlightened, and noble art closer to perfection. (J. M.-R.)
surplices, such hoods as pertain to their several degrees; but in all other places every minister shall be at liberty to use a surplice or not. And hence, in marrying, churching of women, and other offices not specified in this rubric, and even in the administration of the holy communion, it seems that a surplice is not necessary. Indeed, for the holy communion, the rubric appoints a white alb plain, which differs from the surplice in being close-sleeved, with a vesture or cope.