reward. were put forward in battle at the right time and place-won him a promotion to brigadier-general in the regular army, and a public Meade's gratitude imperishable. But so keen was the administration's disappointment that the full harvest of victory had not been reaped, that a despatch from Halleck, harshly commenting on Lee's escape, provoked Meade to tender his recall. Such return for his inestimable service was not to be thought of, and Meade remained in command. But a phrase in his general order of the 4th, which announced the enemy "utterly baffled and defeated," had been to Lincoln a foreboding reminder of Antietam, for it spoke of "driving the invader from our soil" as the supreme effort requisite. "Will our generals," he inquired, "never get that idea out of their heads? The whole country is our soil." And he regretted that he had not himself gone to the front and issued personally an order to attack Lee vigorously on the retreat, regardless of all military councils. Lincoln's But time and reflection restored his confidence annoyance in Meade as brave and highly deserving, if not faultless. For at Gettysburg, like Flodden's fatal field, the right arm of the South was broken, as all now concede; and that battle, one of the most destructive of modern times, portended the fate of this insurrection. In that first and only shock of arms upon free Northern soil, two leading generals on the Union side besides Meade himself fought for and regret. his native State,* and mighty feats of valor performed on either side marked the prolonged encounter.† [In 1864, a short war against Denmark by Austria and Prussia ends in the spoliation of the former. Sherman marches through Georgia.Georgia and captures Savannah, and Thomas is successful at Nashville. Grant fights the terrible battles of the Wilderness against Lee, the fighting lasting a month. Lincoln is reelected President. In 1865, Transylvania is united to Hungary. Richmond is captured and Lee capitulates at Appomattox. Lincoln murdered. is murdered. Chili and Peru, allied, make war against Spain. General Booth starts the Salvation Army in East London. Lister introduces antiseptic surgery in Glasgow.] Lincoln * Meade, Reynolds, and Hancock were all born in Pennsylvania. At least 70,000, from first to last, fought under Lee at Gettysburg, and 90,000, or somewhat more, under Meade. The number varied from day to day. On the Union side were lost in killed, wounded, and missing, 23,003; on the Confederate side, 20,451-a nearly equal loss in proportion. But, with a diminishing military population, the South suffered by far the greater exhaustion. This "may be regarded as the most eventful struggle of the war," says Jefferson Davis ANESTHETICS AND ANTISEPTICS A ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE BRIEF notice must also be given of two discoveries in practical physiology, which have perhaps done more to benefit mankind than those great mechanical inventions and philosophical theories which receive more general admiration. First use These are, the use of anesthetics in surgical operations, and the antiseptic treatment of wounds. of anæs thetics. tion of antiseptic Anæsthetics were first used in dentistry in 1846, the agent being ether; while chloroform, for more severe surgical operations, was adopted in 1848; and though their primary effect is only to abolish pain, they get rid of so much nervous irritation as greatly to aid in Introduc the subsequent recovery. The use of anæs- treatment. thetics thus renders it possible for many operations to be safely performed which, without it, would endanger life by mere shock to the system; while to the operating surgeon it gives confidence, and enables him to work more deliberately and carefully from the knowledge that the longer time occupied will not increase the suffering of the patient or render his recovery less probable. Nitrous-oxide gas is now chiefly used in dentistry or very short operations, sulphuric ether for those of moderate length, while chloroform is usually employed in all the more severe cases, since the patient can by its use be kept in a state of insensibility for an hour or even longer. There is, however, some danger in its use to persons with weak heart or of great nervous sensibility, and the patient in such cases may die from the effects of the anæsthetic alone. Even more important was the introduction of the antiseptic treatment in 1865, which, by preventing the suppuration of incised or wounded surfaces, has reduced the death-rate for serious amputations from forty-five per cent to twelve per cent, and has besides rendered possible numbers of operations which would have been certainly fatal under the old system. I remember my astonishment when, soon after the introduction of the practice, I was told by an eminent physiologist of the new method of performing operations, in which the freshly cut surfaces could be left exposed to the air without dressings of any kind, and would soon heal. The antiseptic treatment was the logical outcome of the proof that suppuration of wounds and all processes of fermentation and putrefaction were not due to normal changes either in living or dead tissues, but were produced by the growth and |