1847.] Hassall's Microscopic Anatomy. 547 In reference to this development of heat, the author observes, "the continuance of, or rather the degree in which post-mortem heat is evolved bears no proportion, I repeat, to the intensity of post-mortem contraction. The great heat developed in the dead body, I have endeavoured to illustrate in the medical journals of our country, and will not, therefore, dwell upon that subject at present. I find, however, on examination of the original papers not yet published in detail, that for the most part, when the heat had declined the contractility was exhausted, but that the presence of great heat, ranging as high as 113°, did not by any means imply the presence of contractility, nor the absence of rigidity. Authors seem not to have been aware of the augmentation of animal heat after death; some have, it is true, noticed an increase of heat after death from Cholera, compared with the extreme coldness of the surface during the last hours of life; but has any one hinted that this postmortem heat ever rose as high as even the healthy standard, to say nothing of 14? or 15° beyond that?"-P. 23. similar instances occurred doubtless the rigor mortis, Such is the conclusion of The cause of the contractions above described, and in this country during the prevalence of cholera, is and is, therefore, independent of the nervous centres. the author; but it is also the opinion of physiologists generally, in the present day. Mr. Bowman was the first writer who distinctly showed by microscopic observation, that the individual muscular fibres contracted independently of the presence of nerves; and we have here the clue to the more extensive, but essentially the same phenomena related by Dr. Dowler, which, therefore, can have no bearing upon the question of the spinal action. If the republication of these views be the result of any peculiar importance attached to them on the other side of the Atlantic, we fear that modern physiology has not penetrated very deeply into the American professional mind; with this remark we must dismiss these most crude "Experimental Researches." THE MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY IN HEALTH AND DISIllustrated with numerous Drawings in Colour. By Arthur EASE. Hill Hassall. THIS work, we are glad to find, continues to appear regularly in the monthly Parts, as announced by the author in his prospectus; a point of some consequence to purchasers, when the irregularity of some other works is remembered. The plates are, on the whole, accurate and characteristic; and the text is sufficiently extended to convey a knowledge of the structures represented. There are, however, some omissions which might, with a little care, be avoided; for example, in the description of the formation and growth of the nails, no notice is taken of what evidently concerns both points, namely the disposition of the vascular papillæ and loops lying beneath the nail and enclosing both surfaces at the part called the root. Although these organs, the nails, are, as stated in the text, essentially formed of cells, and are therefore extra-vascular, still_the disposition of the blood-vessels is a circumstance requiring consideration. The exact extent of the synovial membrane, and the relations of it to the articular. cartilage, are not given with the precision of which the subject is now susceptible, and which is required by the great importance of the question in its bearing upon disease. We merely allude to these matters in order that, in the future numbers, every attention should be paid by Mr. Hassall to details of this character. We can again speak in terms of commendation of this work, and doubt not, when completed, that it will be found a very useful compendium of minute anatomy. BODY AND SOUL; OR, LIFE, MIND, AND MATTER, CONSIDERED AS TO THEIR PECULIAR NATURE AND COMBINED CONDITION IN LIVING THINGS, &c. By George Redford, M.R.C.S., &c. Octavo, pp. 232. London, Churchill, 1847. SUCH of our readers as are partial to metaphysico-physiological enquiries will be pleased, we should think, with this work upon the whole. A variety of questions connected with the manifestations of Vital and Mental Action are successively brought forward and discussed. Among these, Phrenology attracts a good deal of notice, its claims are examined [but not with perfect fairness] and declared to be for the most part visionary. Here is a specimen of our author's reasoning: "The general fact of the brain being the organ of the mind is admitted by all; and we may perhaps venture to say, that the hemispheres are the especial organs of the intellect. Yet if we attempt to go beyond this, we verge upon hypothesis; however, phrenologists boldly tell us, that the anterior portions of the hemispheres are the seat of intellect, and the superior of the sentiments,' which, by the way, is a rather obscure word, while the posterior are devoted to the propensities or animal faculties. We will forego the discussion of the physiology of such an arrangement, to point out that this would be anatomically wrong, for the posterior or animal regions are deficient in some lower animals: a sheep. e. g., possesses no posterior lobes of its brain, only the middle and anterior, therefore it should be only intellectual and sentimental; a sufficient absurdity. The posterior part of the brain in man is commonly larger than the anterior; and in comparison with the same parts of the brain in lower animals, is much larger in proportion than the same part in any of them; but we do not find that man at all equals the lower animals in the care and love of offspring' or 'inhabitiveness,' the love of particular places, all of which faculties are located by phrenologists in the posterior parts of the brain; again, in children the most prominent parts of the brain are those to which the faculties of reasoniny' and ' caution allotted, which is rather paradoxical; the proper explanation of the fact being, that those parts of the brain appear exceedingly prominent on account of the large proportionate size of the brain and the smallness of the face, the greatest length and breadth of the brain being at those points."-P. 189. are ON THE RELATIONS OF THE PHYSICIAN TO THE SICK, TO THE PUBLIC, : AND TO HIS COLLEAGUES. By the late C. W. Hufeland, M.D., &c. 12mo. pp. 37. Oxford, 1847. THE perusal of this little work will do good to every member of our profession. It is replete with pure and elevated sentiments. How well did the venerable author appreciate the true dignity of Medicine: "The healing art, therefore, is something sublime and really divine; for its duties coincide with the first and most sacred laws of Religion and philanthropy, and require resignation and an elevation of mind far above worldly desires. None but a really moral man can be a Physician in the true sense of the word, and it is such a one only that can find satisfaction in his vocation; for he alone is conscious of a higher end of existence, which exalts him above earthly considerations and the joys and troubies of life. To improve his mind, to sacrifice his person for the public good and a better world, and to disseminate good around him as much as lies in his power-is what he aims at; and where can he attain that end 1847.] Swan on the Action of Mercury on the Living Body. 549 better than in a profession which gives him daily opportunities, yea, compels him to perform philanthropic acts, acts that are incompatible with selfishness? His professional duties therefore will always beautifully harmonize with his convictions and principles, and, so to say, flow from them. What he ought to do, he does with pleasure; and the consequence will be the highest happiness of man, a consonance of external and internal life. Woe to the Physician, who makes money, or the honour of men, the end of his efforts! He will be in continual contradiction with himself and his duties; he will find his hopes disappointed and his efforts unproductive; he will curse a vocation which does not reward-because he knows not true reward."-P. 2. May such sentiments find a response in the breasts of all! AN INQUIRY INTO THE ACTION OF MERCURY ON THE LIVING BODY. By Joseph Swan. Third Edition, stitched, pp. 34. London, 1847. MR. SWAN is a disbeliever in, though he does not absolutely deny, the absorption of mercury and its compounds. But, whether mercurials become absorbed and enter the circulation, or produce their effect by contact with living parts, they affect, in the opinion of Mr. Swan, the nervous system. The parts of the nervous system acted on are the ganglia and branches of the sympathetic nerve. By the action of mercury on them, these parts become irritated, stimulated, or inflamed. Mr. Swan dissected the sympathetic nerve of a person "who seemed to have been under the influence of mercury," and found that the ganglia and branches of the sympathetic and the par vagum were enlarged. He made twelve experiments to determine the effects of mercurials on animals, and found, after death, that the ganglia and sympathetic nerves were redder and more vascular than usual. From these experiments Mr. Swan infers that mercury, when swallowed, first produces an irritation of the branches of the sympathetic nerve, spread on the villous coat of the intestines; and, by communication, may secondarily affect the nerves of the limbs, but not to the same extent as the sympathetic. Mercury, he says, is a decided stimulant of the nervous system, and, through this, of the sanguiferous system. When it has been swallowed, it produces its peculiar irritation on the stomach and intestines, and afterwards probably passes off somewhat altered in its chemical nature; for, after the use of calomel and crude mercury, matter resembling the grey oxide has been several times found in the stools and in the intestines. "A small quantity of mercury gently excites the salivary and absorbent organs, and promotes the functions of the viscera without any disturbance of the constitution. But, when it is continued so as to affect the body generally, it produces an increased action of the heart and arteries, a furred tongue; and, according to the vigour or feebleness of the patient, irritative fever, an increase or depression of the spirits, and generally, along with one or more of these symptoms, irritation of the mouth, and an increase of the saliva, urine, perspiration, bile, and other secretions, through the excitement it produces on the respective organs. When a sufficient quantity has been employed, it produces a general excitement of the sympathetic, and through this of the viscera." Mr. Swan states that, independently of its specific influence, the inflammation it excites quickly tends to ulceration. "As mercury acts so decidedly on the sympathetic nerve, it can be readily understood how the intestines and the rest of the abdominal viscera are influenced, and the heart and arteries, and how it excites the action of the salivary glands and other parts about the mouth by means of the branches of the superior cervical ganglion, which accompany all the branches of the external carotid artery in nearly the same manner as those of the semilunar ganglion do the arteries distributed on the abdominal viscera." From the preceding extracts and statements our readers will form some idea of Mr. Swan's hypothesis of the action of mercury. AN ESSAY ON THE TONGUE IN FUNCTIONAL DERANGEMENT OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS, AND ON THE APPROPRIATE TREATMENT; ALSO THE TONGUE'S ASPECT IN ORGANIC DISEASE OF THE LUNGS AND HEART. By Edward Williams, M.D., Senior Physician to the Essex and Colchester Hospital. Second Edition, 8vo. pp. 236. Simpkin & Co. and Renshaw. London, 1847. THE following extract from the Author's Preface gives, if we mistake not, the very pith and kernel of his elaborate researches. "It was after much reflection that we began arranging the materials for the Essay, nor was it without considerable labour in selecting from the case-books those instances in which the tongue's aspect was described, and by the avoiding those in which the tongue's appearance might have been influenced by medicaments, that we were enabled to shape our proceedings; however, 'in all labour there is profit,' and the tongue presented itself under two principal aspects, namely, when the papillæ were developed, and when they were not observable. "In pursuing the subject, by arranging the cases in a tabular form, it became apparent that when the papillæ, especially the filiform and tuberose, were prominent or florid, that the gastric symptoms were the most prevalent, and this circumstance led to the examining the symptoms attending a development of the different orders of the papilla. A careful analysis of these cases established the inference, that the stomach was specially affected when the filiform or tuberose papillæ were developed; hence the tongue of gastric functional derangement.' "A like review of the remaining cases led to the conclusion, that disturbance of the intestinal canal was accompanied with certain appearances of the tongue, the papillæ not being observable, and thus originated the 'tongue's aspect in functional derangement of the intestines.'"-P. vi. Even if we had space to epare, it would have been utterly impossible to give the reader any thing like a correct idea of the contents of Dr. Williams' volume. The details communicated are surprisingly minute, and none but a most zealous and pains-taking observer could have had the patience to record and compare such a host of particulars. Those who feel an interest in all the curious niceties of symptomatology and diagnosis in reference to an individual organ of the body, cannot but be gratified with our author's work. ON INDIGESTION AND CERTAIN BILIOUS DISORDERS CONJOINED WITH IT; By G. C. Child, THE author has evidently expended much care and labour in the preparation of his work. Although not containing any thing with which every medical man of 1847.] Child on Indigestion, &c. 551 any experience is not perfectly conversant, its contents certainly evince on the whole, an attentive observation of the phenomena of Dyspepsia, and a sound judgment in their discrimination and treatment. Dr. Child attempts, on several occasions, to reduce the study of the symptoms of this protean disease to a standard of greater accuracy and exactitude than has been done before, by frequent reference to the statistical data furnished by 200 cases of which he has kept a minute register. It is, however, very questionable whether any good can ever result from such elaborate divisions and sub-divisions as are found in the following passage on the subject of the "various pains observed in indigestion :” "All the terms may be arranged in six groups. I. Weight about the pit of the stomach, or front of the chest-and as more or less synonymous with this, may be regarded, Distention. Tightness. Stoppage; the lodging of food, as if it would pass no further than the epigastrium. II. Aching. Gnawing. A dull, wearing, or 'dead' pain. A dragging or heavy' pain. III. Sensation of heat (fer chaud of French writers). Burning or hot pain. Acridity. Rawness, &c. IV. A sensation like cramp. Spasms (often applied by patients to sharp pain). As if the stomach were fixed or nailed to, or drawn up against, the spine; as if it were turned into bone; as if a bone were in it. A ball, bullet, or something hard at the epigastrium, or under the sternum. A knot in the same place. A drawing pain, forcing the patient to stoop, or 'bending him double.' A severe dragging, twisting, or tearing pain. As if a cord were drawn tightly round the waist. V. Sharp pains. Spasms (used also to denote cramp). Acute, quick, or darting pain. Plunging, twinging, or pinching. Like pins and needles (often an anomalous pain). VI. Anomalous pains form a less numerous class than one might expect, and are chiefly observed in the nervous, hysterical, and hypochondriacal. They are insufficient of themselves to characterize dyspepsia, and hence are always associated with some of the other pains above mentioned. Tumbling, trickling. A sensation of cold at the pit of the stomach. A sinking, emptiness, or numbness at the same place. "Table showing the comparative frequency of the different kinds of pain above méntioned in 200 well-marked cases of indigestion : |