These remarks apply strikingly to this case of Mr. Key's, in which, although no hernia was found, they perfectly justify the operation. No case of strangulation could be more distinctly marked, or more clearly call for the knife, than did this; and had Mr. Key refused to use it, he would have deserved the scoff which, by a contemporary, has so preposterously been thrown on the "no hernia case." But, more than this, the operation was not only justifiable, but beyond a doubt _beneficial_--beneficial inasmuch as it at once relieved the distress of the patient, secured him from more extensive suppuration, from farther sloughing of intestine, and probably from extravasation of fæces into the abdomen; rendering also the process of reparation more easy and rapid. _Hereditary Hare-Lip._ Dec. 4th, Mr. Key performed the operation for hare-lip on a child a few months old, whose case was remarkable only as it afforded an instance of _hereditary_ malformation. The father of the child had congenital hare-lip, for which no operation had been performed, and of his six children _two_ were born with the same malformation. _Queries._--1. If the father's lip had, in his infancy, been restored to the natural form, would the malformation in that case have descended to his children? 2. Is the casualty in these cases to be traced _directly_ from the father to the incipient embryo, or _indirectly_, through the medium of the mother's imagination--It has been said that paternal resemblances are produced in the latter mode. G. PARIS HOSPITALS. _Hôtel Dieu._ _Cases of Gangrene of the Lungs._ Some interesting cases of gangrenous suppuration of the lungs were published by Dr. Chambers, about eighteen months ago, in which he particularly pointed out the horrible fœtor of the breath as a diagnostic mark of the disease. The following cases which recently occurred at the Hôtel Dieu are good illustrations of more extensive destruction of the lung by a similar disease. CASE I.--A man, aged 32, of good constitution, laboured under bronchitis for some weeks, to which he paid little attention, when he was suddenly seized with pain in left side, dyspnœa, considerable cough, and a rigor, followed by fever. He was admitted into the Hôtel Dieu next day. Crepitation was perceptible over the whole extent of the left lung, posteriorly, and reaching to the site of the pain in the side, which was increased by percussion; great oppression, with frequent cough, and expectoration of violet-red colour, mixed with mucus; pulse frequent and small; constant chilliness; cheeks flushed. Next day the symptoms remained unabated, and _fœtor of the breath_ was observed. Two days after it is stated that the expectoration maintained the same appearance, but _was now fœtid_; the breath was, however, still more offensive, and during the fits of coughing particularly so. In the evening the breath is said to have become _gangrenous_.