tainty. But, perhaps, we may be called bunglers;-a charge which we shall not trouble ourselves to refute.*

Let it however be admitted that there was not any deception in the experiments. What do they prove? Do they prove to us that the vessels were debilitated in the inflamed spots? Certainly not; they only show that the rapidity of circulation was diminished. They show that in those stages of inflammation, at which the observations were made, the contractions of the capillaries were lessened in frequency.

Secondly, the debility of the small vessels is inferred from their dilatation.

This argument is founded on the opinions that contraction is the only vital action, which the blood vessels are capable of; and that, when they are dilated, it must be because their contractile power is overcome by the vis a tergo of the fluids, or by their own elastic coats, whose action is not vital.

In these opinions, perhaps, a large portion of physiologists would coincide. They are, however, opinions, which, after due consideration, were dissented from by Mr. Hunter. It is somewhat remarkable, that neither Dr. Wilson nor Dr. Stevens have met Mr. Hunter's arguments, and given them a fair consideration, especially as they have both of them made free use of his observations generally, and more particularly of those on the structure of the arteries, and on their mode of action in health.†

This is a subject on which Mr. Hunter thought with his usual accuracy, and wrote with his usual obscurity. In examining the operations of the living body, he observed that muscles had not only a power of contraction, but that they had also a power of elongation. By this he did not mean the cessation of contraction, but an active principle dependent on vital energy. By this principle he believed that muscles "have a power of becoming longer, almost immediately, than they are in the natural relaxed, or even the natural elongated state of their fibres." "Relaxation," he says, "is not the state, into which a muscle will naturally fall upon the removal of a continued stimulus; a

*We ought, perhaps, to say, that we have not doubted the accuracy of the experiments referred to, without having ascertained by repeated trials the difficulty of being accurate in experiments of this sort. † Wilson on Feb. Dis. vol. 3. p. 25. note.

muscle remaining contracted after absolute death, when the stimulus of relaxation cannot be applied; so that a muscle can as little relax after death as it can contract." See his treatise on inflammation, the blood, &c. Part I. ch. 11. sect. 1. in which and the following section, his opinion is illustrated and supported. It is not easy to give a copy of his remarks within our limits, and it is impossible to give an abstract of them; for they are very much condensed by him, and are connected with other important views of the animal economy, which were necessary to the display of them.

In Part II. ch. 111. sect. 1. of the work above quoted, he applies this doctrine to the vessels in inflamed parts. He had not omitted to observe the enlargement of the capillary vessels in such parts; and he endeavoured to ascertain the cause of this enlargement. His decision is expressed in these words: "We must suppose it something more than simply a common relaxation; we must suppose it an action in the parts to produce an increase of size to answer particular purposes; and this I should call the action of dilatation. Just so we see the uterus increase in size in the time of uterine gestation, as well as the os tinca in the time of labour, the consequence of the preceding actions, and necessary for the completion of those which are to follow."*

* It is possible that the ideas, which have been expressed, respecting the muscular relaxation of the capillaries, will appear obscure. It is an enlargement of the muscular coat, but not a growth, for there is not any addition of substance to the part. It is the opposite of contraction, inasmuch as it enlarges the caliber of the vessel, while contraction diminishes it. The muscular fibres become permanently elongated during the con. tinuance of the inflammation, but not debilitated; they do not lose the power of contraction. This power they continue to possess, and to exercise in their elongated state.

If we be asked how a muscular fibre can perform this sort of relaxation or elongation of itself, we reply that we cannot tell. We believe in the existence of this power, as we do in that of contraction; and we will undertake to explain the mode in which it is exercised, when we are satisfied in what mode contraction is performed.

Can any one tell us how a stimulus produces contraction in muscular fibres? Every tyro will probably be ready to smile at the question. But, when the circumstances of this phenomenon are carefully examined, it

It is perhaps true, that the hypothesis of debility in the small vessels is the only one which will explain their enlargement, if we except Mr. Hunter's. The choice lies between the two. We have given a view of Mr. Hunter's, and we will now close this article by some remarks on inflammation, with a view particularly to the doctrine of debility.

What is the character of the actions performed in parts suffering inflammation? After a wound, the vessels of the part not only carry on those processes necessary for the support of life in it; but, in addition, they establish and conduct new processes for the restoration of the part to a sound state. The processes necessary for this purpose, when the divided parts are kept separated from each other, constitute the affection called inflammation. A new structure is raised by the capillary vessels in the parts surrounding the wound, and new secretions are established. Both fluids and solids are the products of the small vessels labouring in their new offices. Adhesion, suppuration, and incarnation, follow in regular succession.

Likewise in an abscess, and in certain specific inflammations, as the syphilitic, variolous, vaccine, &c.we find the inflamed parts assuming in each a peculiar organization; and we find in each of them processes are performed, apparently more difficult and more complicated than in health.

Can we, when viewing these processes, believe that debility of the very vessels, by which these remarkable changes are wrought, is essential to their production?

These vessels are enlarged, and even distended; so also in many cases are the large vessels which lead to them; but the advocates for the new doctrine do not pretend that there is a diminution of either energy or action in these large vessels. On this subject Mr. Hunter remarks, that "every part increases in some degree according to the action required.”* He states

will, we believe, be found to be an ultimate fact, which we cannot explain any more than we can explain the principle of gravitation. If then we know not how applications operate to produce muscular contraction, nor how the contraction itself is performed, we certainly are not authorized to say that this muscular power is such as precludes the possibility of the existence of any other.

* Part II. Ch. iii. Sect. 2. Treatise on Inflammation, &c.

as instances, that "the vessels become larger in proportion to the necessity of supply in the gravid uterus ;" and that "the external carotids in the stag, when his horns are growing, are much larger than at any other time."

The process of lactation, when it commences, the first time especially, resembles inflammation in many of its phenomena. Here both large and small vessels undergo "the action of dilatation ;" and here also new functions are performed. Can it be supposed that debility in any of the vessels is necessary to produce the changes, which we witness in this process? Does any man doubt that the small vessels of the mammæ are dilated in these cases? And is there not every proof of debility in them in this case, which there is in inflammation.

Surely there is a wide difference between the enlargement of vessels, engaged in the performance of new and unusual functions, and the dilatation of varicose veins, or the distention of the capillaries, in cases of congestion. In inflammation we see mechanical, and we see chemical changes wrought; but they are not produced upon mechanical and chemical principles. The small vessels do not undergo enlargement merely because the blood is pressed into them, any more than the blood is changed into pus merely by the application of heat, or by putrefaction.

While we oppose the opinion, which Dr. Stevens has advanced respecting the proximate cause of inflammation, we would not be understood to take the opposite ground. It does not necessarily follow that there is increased energy, because there is not debility. It does not appear to us that any change in this respect is absolutely necessary to inflammation. But so far as there is a change, the phenomena evince rather an increase, than a diminution, both of energy and of action.

It appears to us that one change is always produced in inflammation, and is peculiar to it. A new organ is formed; or at least a new organization. There is a change of structure, of disposition, and of properties or powers, in the part inflamed. It is while parts are undergoing this change, or assuming this new organization, that the most striking phenomena of inflam mation occur. It is then that pain and tumor, and heat and redness, are noticed in the greatest degree. It is at this time

that the vessels are largest, for then they require the most blood; in the same manner as it happens when the mammæ first begin to secrete milk. When the secretion is well established, the fullness of the vessels ceases; and the same happens in inflamed parts, as soon as suppuration, or any analogous process, has taken place.

But fortunately we are not called upon to explain the phenomena of inflammation, and in relation to the pamphlet before us we have certainly gone far enough.

ARTICLE 3.

A Letter to Dr. Jones, on the Composition of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson, by James Moore, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. London. 1811.

THE English public have been much interested of late in attempts to ascertain the composition of this secret French medicine. For these attempts they have had no small inducements, since they believe that this medicine will cure the gout, while it costs from one to two crowns a dose.

To this popular subject Mr. Moore has given his attention, and as we hope not in vain. In the investigation he has displayed an ingenuity and accuracy, which render his work peculiarly worthy our commendation. It remains to be decided by repeated experiments whether Mr. Moore's medicine will afford that relief to the gouty, which is attributed to the Eau Medicinale. Suffice it to state that he has succeeded in compounding a medicine closely resembling the Eau Medicinale in smell, taste, and dose; in its evacuant powers, and finally in its property of relieving the gout, so far as it has been tried. This medicine, whose identity with the specific is thus presumed on, is composed of three parts of the wine of white hellebore, and one of wine of opium. The above wine of white hellebore is prepared by infusing for ten days eight ounces of the sliced root of that plant in two pints and a half of white wine. The dose of the compound is from one to two drachms.