sequence of very pressing business on his part, I was unable to do until to-day. He allows me to say, that you may state that he has read it with approbation, and that Lord Aberdeen may refer to him for his opinion on it. This you may communicate to Lord Aberdeen. Yours, truly, (Signed) "J. M.GREGOR." I now wrote a letter to Lord Aberdeen, stating the opinion of the heads of the Board of Trade respecting the necessity of appointing a Consul at Porto Rico, my own grievances, and the general desire on the part of the British subjects there; and I concluded by soliciting the appointment for myself, referring his lordship to Mr. Glad stone for his opinion of my Report. To this letter I received no reply. About the end of September, however, I received a letter from my brother in Jamaica, enclosing a sealed letter of introduction from Lord Elgin to Lord Aberdeen. On receiving this letter, I informed his lordship that I was in possession of a letter of introduction from Lord Elgin, and begged he would grant me the favour of an interview in order to present it. In answer to this communication I received the following

note from Lord Aberdeen :

"Lord Aberdeen presents his compliments to Dr. Reed, and requests that he will be so good as to forward to him, by post, the letter from Lord Elgin referred to in Dr. Reed's letter of the 13th of October.

"Foreign-office, Nov. 1, 1843." According to Lord Aberdeen's request, I forwarded Lord Elgin's letter by post, and after waiting a few days I received the following communication:

"Foreign-office, Dec. 16, 1843. "SIR,-I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th inst., requesting an interview with his lordship; and I am to express to you his lordship's regret that the pressure of public business upon his time will not enable him to see you; and Lord Aberdeen requests that your communication to him may be made in writing.

"I am further directed by Lord Aberdeen to acquaint you that the various representations which have been received from you on the subject of the appointment of a British Consul in Porto Rico are under the consideration of her Majesty's Government; but I am to repeat to you that Lord Aberdeen cannot hold out to you any hope of such an appointment being conferred

upon you.

“I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, "H. A. ADDINGTON.

"Rev. Dr. Reed, Bathwick-terrace, Bath." After reading this letter, I was at first somewhat surprised at the easy manner in which I had obtained holy orders; but perceiving imme. diately afterwards (as I supposed) the art of the diplomatist, my surprise merged into anger at the shifts to which a great man found it necessary to resort in order to cover his conduct towards a simple man who had at first approached him without an introduction.

I now wrote to my brother at York, and to Lord Sligo, for testimonials; and I obtained another from the Rector of Bathwick, where I was residing.

These testimonials I sent to Lord Aberdeen; but I never heard any more from or of his lord. ship, except one day, having occasion to go to town, I called on Mr. M'Gregor, who told me that a Consul had been very lately appointed at Porto Rico; but that Lord Aberdeen had told him, that he would not have given the appointment to Dr. Reed if there had not been another man in England. A consul now being appointed at Porto Rico, English medical men will in future be protected from the injustice to which I was obliged to submit at the hands of the Spanish authorities. OBITUARY.-On the 16th inst., at 69th year of his age, William Boxill, Esq., M.D., formerly of the Island of Barbadoes. On the 15th inst., Wm. Gill, Esq. Surgeon to the Liverpool Northern Hospital.

may remain in this state for an indefinite period, it may be some minutes, it may be hours, or, if the shock be very severe, he may never rise again. This is concussion, and from this state the patient after a certain period recovers, but he may again relapse into a state of insensibility after having perfectly recovered his faculties. This second state of insensibility does not depend upon concussion, it is the result of pressure; and it therefore becomes the duty of the surgeon to ascertain the cause of this pressure, and, if practicable, to remove it. If bone, it is generally evident at once, and is easily the pressure be caused by a portion of depressed removed; but the case may be more complicated, it may depend solely upon the extravasation of discover the exact seat of the extravasation; the blood; and it is difficult, and often impossible, to case must therefore be treated like one of apoplexy.

INJURIES OF THE HEAD. classes: those in which there is no depression, and Fractures of the cranium may be divided into two those in which there is. In the first class, the bone being fractured keeps its proper level, and produces the bone, being depressed as well as fractured, no immediate bad symptoms; in the second class, presses upon the brain and causes a train of symp toms which would end in death, if the pressure were Fractures of the base of the skull are extremely not removed. In the simple cases of fracture dangerous, and in most cases fatal. John Smith without depression, the fracture itself is not the (case 2) fell from a great height, and was brought The mere division of the bone (taken alone) can cause of the bad symptoms; which often follow. in with all the symptoms of fractured base of the skull he was in a state of collapse with cold exupon nor derange the structures situated beneath; the nose and ear; and afterwards there was strabisnever cause any bad symptoms, it can neither press tremities, stertorous breathing, and bleeding from but these fractures being the result of violence, mus of the right eye. This man, in all probability, they may be attended with concussion or extrava- fell upon his head, and the whole weight of his sation, and hence arises the danger; and, in ad- body would thus be thrown suddenly with great dition to this, there is also danger from subsequent force, through the medium of the spinal column, on inflammation. These fractures, like all others, may to the foramen magnum and cuneiform process of be either simple or compound. The simple frac- the occipital bone, causing a fracture through the ture, when not attended with any urgent symp- foramen magnum, cuneiform process, and part of toms, often remains for ever undiscovered; it is not the temporal bone. This, however, could not be brought into view by any wound in the integuments, proved, as the man fortunately recovered. I do and no possible good could arise from exposing it not think myself that it is not absolutely necessary by an incision. The union of the divided parts for the patient to fall on his head in order to protakes place in this as it does in fractures of other duce this accident, for I have heard it stated by parts, with the exception of there being no pro- good authority, and I have no doubt but that such visional callus; it is not at all required in this situa- is often the case, that the patient lighting on his tion, nay, it would be excessively injurious if formed feet after falling from a great height will meet with on the interior of the bone, by producing pressure the same accident; the spinal column being driven on the brain, and therefore we never meet with it. suddenly with great force against the base of the In the case of Thomas Sponge (case 1) we have a skull, in the same manner that the handle is good example of compound fracture of the skull, driven into a broom when it becomes loose, by unattended with depression of bone, or at least so striking it against the ground. These cases are slight as to be of no consequence, being merely extremely dangerous, as they are mostly either folof about five feet, and struck his head against a bar with extravasation. We see that Smith was sick, sufficient to catch the nail. He fell from a height lowed by inflammation of the brain, or attended of iron with a sharp edge; he was stunned for a few minutes, but recovered his senses and was able and afterwards became more sensible, and was able at once to walk to the hospital. On admission there miting: when the pressure and consequent insento answer questions. Now, with regard to this volength, leading down to a fracture in the anterior but where it recurs we may look upon it in a good was a scalp wound, about an inch and a half in sibility are great, the patient is hardly ever sick inferior angle of the right parietal bone; his intellect light, as it shows that there is some sensibility in was perfect, pupils natural, and the countenance pale. the stomach, and that the system is therefore, in At 10P.M., the pulse being full and strong, he was bled some degree, beginning to recover itself from the at 3xiv., when the pulse became lowered in strength. immediate effects of the shock. This man's pupils This having been done, as a precautionary measure were dilated and contracted on the application of he was well purged, and his bowels afterwards were light; this is not a common occurrence, for, when kept freely open. He never had a single bad sympthe other symptoms of pressure are present, the tom, and eventually left the hospital cured. This pupils are most frequently insensible, motionless, man was a strong, robust, healthy-looking individual, and dilated, though sometimes contracted. The and one who could bear depletion well. In alí pupils will sometimes also remain dilated for some cases of injury of the head, the antiphlogistic plan time, and then contract suddenly, and continue to of treatment is necessary, but it must vary in de-alternate in this manner independently of light gree according to the age and constitution of the and darkness. In the case of Smith, and also of patient. If in a plethoric individual we did not Thomas Sponge, there was a scalp wound; now, the deplete sufficiently, there would be great danger of same injury inflicted on the common integuments mischief arising from inflammation of the brain; of any other part of the body would be attended but if, on the other hand, we carried our depletion with little or no bad consequences; but a wound too far in a child, an aged or a weak person, we inflicted on the scalp is not unattended with danger, should run great risk of causing secondary deposits for there is a free communication between the ves to occur. The extent to which the depletion sels of the pericranium and those of the dura should be carried is often a very nice point to de- mater, through the diploe of the skull, and cide, and one which practice alone can teach. consequently inflammation commencing in the Here, then, is a case of compound fracture of the pericranium is very liable to extend to the dura skull requiring no further treatment than a case in mater. A wound in the scalp may render a simple which there is a scalp wound, attended with con- fracture of the cranium compound, as was the case cussion, and no fracture; and this is frequently the with Thomas Sponge, or it may produce erysipelas, case in fracture without depression: the reparation or extensive suppuration under the occipito-fronof the fracture must be left to nature, and any talis. In these two cases the wound was attended other symptoms treated as they arise. Where there with no serious consequences; but, considering the is a fracture with depression of bone, the same dangerous and fatal results so often arising from passive treatment will not suffice; the depressed these scalp wounds, we must always consider them bone presses upon the brain, and it is absolutely as attended with danger. Besides these injuries to necessary that this pressure should be removed. which I have alluded, the brain may suffer from In injuries of the head, insensibility may arise from concussion alone, without fissure, fracture, or extratwo different causes: a man may receive a blow vasation of any kind; and this concussion is often on the head, and at once become insensible; he attended with very alarming symptoms, and followed

no

enough to give to his propositions the substance of authority. In good truth, he can coin axioms much faster out of his head than he can get at them by the slower process of laboratory research. He shines much better as a philosopher of words than as a chemist of realities. Let us not be understood by the term philosopher to ally him to Bacon, Newton, or any of these. He is just the reverse of them. He is a good guesser-sometimes he guesses right, and then, like Murphy and his almanac, he gets the credit of discovery. Sometimes, again, he guesses wrong, and if contradicted, he has the good judgment, or rather sagacity, to take no notice of his opponents. A bold assertion has often plenty of believers, even though demonstration should prove its inaccuracy. It is thus that many of Liebig's statements have lost him no credit, even though less eloquent enunciators have denied them.

and appeared to be rapidly getting well, when the
fatal symptoms which carried him off showed
themselves. He was trephined in the hope of being
able to give exit to the matter, and thus remove the
cause of pressure, but this existed in such a situation
that it could not be evacuated, and, consequently,
no benefit was derived from the operation. In
some cases of this kind, the matter being circum-
scribed, we are enabled to evacuate it; and, with the
knowledge of such a fact, I think that the opera-
tion in similar cases is not only justifiable, but we
are bound to give the patient this chance of re-
covery. The symptoms which first show them-
selves are, pain in the head, with restlessness,
flushed countenance, want of sleep, nausea, vomit-
ing, and rigor not followed by sweating; the symp-
toms increase, and finally convulsions and delirium
supervene, or the patient become comatose, and in
this state dies. Blood may be effused beneath the
cranium, but where extravasation of blood takes
The same restless prompting after popularity
place, we have at once, or very soon after the acci- which is apt to betray a man, in incautious mo-
dent, all the symptoms of pressure on the brain. ments, to say what is not true, is also apt to induce
This is not the case in inflammation and suppura-him to tell the world what is not new; at the same
tion; the symptoms do not show themselves so time dressing it up in the garb of affected novelty.
early, and when they do appear they never at the This is a frequent practice of Liebig's Axioms of
first onset imply any unnatural pressure. The the regular antique caste he puts before us, dis-
matter formed is sometimes confined between the guised in a little German obscurity of phrase, and
dura mater and the bone, and in this case it may expects, like the gipsy with the stolen hats, that we
be evacuated by means of the trephine, the shall not know our own again. From his first
situation being known by the puffy tumour of the effort at authorship until his last, his every pro-
scalp; but unfortunately the matter often collects duction has been redolent of this artistical trickery.
on the surface of the brain, as well as between the On the part of a man whose business is book-
dura mater and the bone, and this shows us the un-making, perhaps it may not be objectionable, be-
certainty of deriving any benefit from an operation cause it is a branch of that particular calling; but
in these cases. Our main object, then, is if possible it is decidedly too bad from one who professes to
to prevent inflammation from taking place, or to enlighten us with homespun truths, for which he is
moderate its violence when it occurs, and thereby indebted to none other brain than his own.
prevent those fatal consequences which would other- Another plan of our author is, to make a statement,
wise happen.
not exactly involving an absurdity, but startling
in the very face of it, and admitting neither of proof
nor disproof. This said assumption he is indebted
to his own fancy for, and, as his ipse dixit, can call
it his own, cherish it, and swear by it, for the
simple reason that it is not capable of contradiction.
At the same time, as we have said, it is equally in-
capable of demonstration. This, however, little
concerns Liebig, provided he can throw out at a
venture an axiom created of fancy, which will defy
any more sober-minded man to combat by facts.
For example, he says, at p. 9 of his "Animal Che-
mistry""Every conception, every mental affection,
is followed by changes in the chemical nature of
the secreted Huids; that every thought, every sen-
sation, is accompanied by a change in the compo-
sition of the substance of the brain." There's a
precious tissue of twaddle! The coolness, too, with
which the assertion is positively put forth, is very
amusing. He does not say that such and such
changes may possibly be consequent upon certain
intellectual processes, but boldly affirms that they
are so. Yet Liebig must know, or at least ought
to know, that neither he nor any other man could
possibly prove such a thing.

by the most fatal consequences. These symptoms
and effects may occur when the head has received
no external injury whatever, but has only been
violently shaken, the body only seeming to have
sustained the whole violence. There are various
degrees of concussion, and the symptoms are in
proportion to the degree of violence which the
brain has sustained. If the concussion be very
severe, all sense and power of motion are imme-
diately and completely destroyed, and this is
quickly followed by death; in this case the patient
never rises again. But the concussion may not be
quite so severe; the patient may be deprived of
sense and the power of motion, and he may be un-
able to rise for a certain time varying from a few
minutes to several hours. During this time the
skin is pale; the pulse slow, small, feeble, and in-
termittent; the extremities are cold, and the pa-
tient scarcely feels any injury inflicted on him,
and the breathing, though difficult, is in general not
stertorous. This state gradually passes off, the
pulse and respiration become improved, and the
extremities begin to regain some degree of
warmth; the patient has now some sense of feel-
ing, and soon becomes capable of answering ques-
tions, especially when they refer to his present
sufferings; frequently he' answers incoherently
when questioned upon any other subject. The
inflammation of the brain is moderate as long as
the stupor remains, but when this goes off the in-
flammation is increased, and the most important
and dangerous consequences arising from concus
sion follow. We have two very interesting cases
in John Salter and Henry Lacey (cases 3 and 4).
In the case of Salter it seemed as if there was
an attempt made on the part of nature to re-
cover his system from the immediate effects of
the shock; he vomited, and there was a par-
tial recovery of sensibility; the severe injury
inflicted on the brain could admit of
more, and the subsequent extravasation of blood
soon put a stop to these slight and transient ap-
pearances of returning sensibility: he was seized
with convulsions and died in a moment. Henry
Lacey was admitted into the hospital with two scalp
wounds and symptoms of concussion; he was
sensible on admission, and no bad symptoms ap-
peared for some time after. Now, in the first stage
of concussion very little, if anything, can be done;
stimulants have very frequently been recommended,
and this plan of treatment arises from an idea that
the insensibility produced in these cases is of a
similar nature to that which occurs in fainting.
In the worst cases they cannot be administered, the
patient being unable to swallow, and, even if he
could, in all probability the brain and nerves would
be insensible to any stimulant which could be ad-
ministered; but where they can be, and are ad-
ministered, I cannot think that they can be of any
advantage, but rather the contrary, for they may
excite violent action and thereby tend to exhaust
parts already weakened, and, as inflammation
frequently follows sooner or later, these stimulants
will, in all probability, aggravate the inflammatory
symptoms when they arise. Sickness and vomit-
ing are early symptoms, seldom existing after the
effect of the first shock has passed off. The bowels
are generally torpid, and for this reason purgatives
should be administered in all cases of this kind.
In all these cases the subsequent inflammation,
which may occur when reaction takes place, is the
principal thing that we have to guard against; this,
if it cannot be prevented, must, at any rate, be
moderated and subdued, if possible. Bleeding
is the chief remedy to be trusted to; but this must
not be rashly had recourse to at the very com-
mencement, when the patient is in a state of col-
lapse; the system is then too weak to bear the loss
of blood, and it would very probably at once destroy
life. The state of the pulse is to be watched, and
this remedy had recourse to as soon as the system
Is in a proper state to bear it. In many melancholy
cases fatal inflammation ensues, and this rarely
takes place until about a week from the time of the
accident; a fortnight or three weeks often elapse
before this occurs. This unfortunately happened
In the case of Henry Lacey; he entirely recovered
from the effects of the concussion; one scalp wound
had healed, and the other nearly so; he had got up

REVIEWS.

Chemistry and Physics in Relation to Physiology
and Pathology. By Baron JUSTUS LIEBIG,
M.D., &c. 8vo. London, 1846., pp. 116.
There can be no doubt whatever, that to few men
of the present day does the epithet, clever, apply
with greater certainty than to Liebig. He is
essentially everything that is comprised in that
significant but equivocal denomination. Like it,
he may be regarded as representing anything, or
nothing, just as the case may be. His career has
been one of idle curiosity, rather than of even cre-
ditable astonishment. Yet his aim has been to
surprise the world with bold discoveries of which
he has fallen sufficiently short to give himself only
the reputation of an eloquent adventurer in science.
That there is every truth in this observation, is
clear from the fact that many of his venturous pro-
positions were received rather as chimerical than
chemical, on their first issuing that many more
were gravely, and with good reason, doubted, ere
they had passed through the age of infancy-and Regarding the work before us, it is essentially
that others, perhaps the majority, have either not characteristic of the author. It exhibits consider-
been confirmed, or have been flatly contradicted, by able evidences of talent, shrewdness, and acumen;
his followers in the line of investigation. Liebig's but is at the same time full of the distinguishing
great besetting sin is incontrollable ambition-his failings we have already pointed out. It is just a
great personal fault is the gratification of it. Were work a man would be likely to write, whose lead-
he made up of less extravagant materials, he would ing desire was to make the most of himself and of
be in all respects a greater man. Variety, in fact, his subject, no matter what the means for attain-
has run away with him. He seems to have become ing this vain end. It consists of a series of states
possessed with the notion that he is born to achievements, uttered axiomatically, and with pompous
mighty things, and he drives at the attainment of headings, as though they were fundamental truths
them with a reckless daring that is sometimes little of nature, now spoken for the first time from an
short of insanity. Not satisfied with the common eminence occupied only by the author for the ser
plan of arriving at truths by observation and ex- vice of the rest of the world standing considerably
periment, he adopts the more uncommon one below him.
of guessing at them, and this, not as though
they were riddles, but as though he had a
right to them, and that "ask and have" was the
favoured opportunity of his lifetime. It is this
melancholy propensity which has not only driven
Liebig into lamentable errors, but entailed the sad
consequences of unscrupulous belief' upon many
who have committed themselves to implicit confi-
dence in him. The darling delight of Liebig is to
generalize, but he will not, if he can help it, deduct
first; and, worse than this, he will not gather facts

The first proposition, flourishing under the "de velopment of the natural sciences," is to the effect that" the history of science teaches us that every branch of physics comprised at its commencement nothing beyond a series of observations and experiments which had no obvious connection with each other." (P. 1.) But we did not need Liebig to tell us that! It has been known time out of mind, and affirmed in more intelligible phraseology than that we have quoted, by authorities without number.

"Many branches of physics," says he, “as mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, acoustics, the theory of heat, &c., have been elevated to the rank of abstract sciences, in consequence of their permitting all known causes of the phenomena of motion, air, sound, heat, &c., to be traced through a series of syllogisms to certain truths." (P. 2.) In the first place, we deny, most unequivocally, that the sciences mentioned above are, scientifically speaking, abstract; and, in the next place, we deny that the amount of certainty they have already attained to has been through an exclusive process of syllogisms; in fact, we deny that they owe any of their substantiality, in the smallest degree, to syllogistic reasoning. Liebig must have been dreaming with a copy of Aristotle under his pillow!

At pp. 2 and 3 we learn that," If we can regard it as undoubted that not only the phenomena of inanimate nature, but also those of animal and vegetable life, are peculiar to themselves, stand in certain relations to each other, and depend upon certain causes; and if, further, it be true that it is only by a knowledge of these causes or conditions that we can gain a clear insight into the existence of organic processes, then must the investigation of the reciprocal dependence and the conditions of the phenomena of life be regarded as the most important department of physiology."

66

Here, again, we have a ridiculous obscurity or affectation of language; it is difficult to say which. But, excepting this, what "news" does the pompous paragraph convey? In the first place," the phenomena of inanimate nature, and of animal and vegetable life," must be peculiar to themselves, for there are none other in existence; secondly, they necessarily stand in certain relations to each other," for everything in the palpable world is relative to something else; thirdly, it is not possible that such things should not depend upon certain causes; and fourthly, the "investigation of the reciprocal dependence and conditions of the phenomena of life" has always been regarded as the most important department of physiology." Thus we see what a little simple dissection reduces this effulgent sentence to. How full it is of commonplace facts and fallacies put forth in the garb of philosophical speculation and query !

"The explanation of many natural phenomena requires," says he, "in most cases, nothing more than acquaintance with the relation of dependence in which they stand one to another." (P. 3.)

There is, we should think, scarcely an English schoolboy in his teens, who could not tell Baron Liebig that an acquaintance with every natural phenomena is obtained in this way, and is not obtainable in any other,

"There can be no question that, at some future time, as chemistry loses the character of an experimental art, so will physiology be capable of ranking as a deductive science." (P. 3.) .. What necessary connection there is between chemistry losing its character, and physiology becoming a deductive science, is better known to Liebig than to us. In our judgment, the sentence, with its assumption of cause and consequence, is about as full of sublime nonsense as it well can be. There is actually no meaning in it. As for chemistry losing its practical or experimental character, the very nature of the science forbids such a thing. But, admitting the fact, what has this to do with making physiology a deductive science? Physiology is already, as far as its truths go, made up of deductions, and when these are wanting, and their place is supplied by speculation, we have to thank idealists, like Liebig, for giving us imaginings instead of matters of fact. What an acquaintance a man must have with physiology, and with deductive science, to talk of the former hereafter acquiring that character!!

Vital power is not an entity, or an abstraction-we
cannot possibly know anything of it apart from
the organs to which it owes its manifestation.
"A man, even of the most cultivated mind,
cannot wholly emancipate himself from the domi-
nion of those laws on which his powers of com-
prehension are dependent." (P. 4.) We should
decidedly think he could not! But the notion
occurs to us, that this common old truth, well
known in the axiom, "nihil in intellectu, quod
non prius in sensu," had been better and more
usefully expressed in the intelligible language of
the original, or in something like it, of which we
have plenty of racy English specimens, than
affected to be displayed as a novelty of informa-
tion in a round.about phraseology, that only
serves to obscure the sense it is intended to

convey.

“Innumerable instances testify that even the
most accurate observers of their age have regarded
certain facts or representations as impossible,
simply because their power of comprehension was
unable to receive them; while their successors have
not only comprehended them, but have univer.
sally received them as incontestible truths." (Pp.
45.) We should doubt very much whether the
"power of comprehension" on the part of the
moderns is any greater than that of the ancients;
indeed we have plenty of proof to the contrary;
and were it otherwise, we should not ascribe this
as the reason of the commonplace fact Liebig
has placed before us; but rather that it resulted
from the great increase, in recent times, of demon-
strative knowledge, and its collaterals, by reason of
which our belief is vastly helped. In fact, it is
only putting in a flourishing phraseology the
homely truth, that the world is growing wiser
every day.

"That two chemico-active bodies can form a
combination of definite
indefinite or unlimited
through their unionit unchangeable properties,
proportions, appears, even to our sound powers of
comprehension, to be untenable." (P. 6.) No
doubt about it! Here, again, the absence of pre-
cision of expression on the part of the baron is
lamentably conspicuous. We gather from the
sentence, that he thinks the two bodies he men-
tions can form, by their union in indefinite propor-
tions, a definite compound of unchangeable proper-
ties. If he really think so, he is quite welcome
to the belief, in which we fancy he is somewhat
singular; if he mean the opposite, which he per-
haps may do, for his cloudy sentences are often
capable of double interpretation, then he has to
thank Dalton for the information he conveys,

"If the uniting link that associates a fact with
the usual course of our ideas be wanting, the fact
itself will appear devoid of truth and comprehen-
sibility." (P. 6.)

What, in the name of all that is metaphysical, does the baron mean by the uniting link of facts and ideas? Who ever heard of such a thing before? A fact is something that owes its existence to a certain amount of evidence or proof in its favour; and in proportion as this is ample and conclusive, does the fact appear to be true and comprehensible. We fear the prevailing fault of our humorous author is in possessing more ideas than facts.

"This is one of the greatest impediments that stands in the way of the application of chemistry to psychology, and of a simple consideration of chemical discoveries on the part of many physio logists; and if to this be associated the assump tion of facts on experience, the correctness of which has no other foundation than the opinion of many centuries," &c. (P. 7.)

We have heard of a disquisition on the ana tomy of angels, and thought it droll enough; but this comes very short of the application of che mistry to psychology! What can it mean? What is intended, again, by "the assumption of facts on experience"! An assumption is a postulate; the facts of experience are just the converse! A boy in a minor school would be flogged for writing such nonsense.

"Most persons are unable to distinguish psychical from corporeal phenomena, or the idea of vital power from the form of living organs." (P. 4.) Does our author, then, assert the identity of psychical and vital phenomena? Does he mean to say that mind and life are one and the same thing? Such twaddle may be worthy of a baron, but we should consider it very unworthy of a phi losopher. As for an idea of vital power apart from living organs-there could be no such thing" It was left to physiologists to explain how

"

body could have an increase of weight after losing
one of its constituents; and further, how, under
any circumstances, a body can show a fluctuation
This discovery was not
in weight." (P. 9.)
made by a physiologist, but by a chemist.

64

Vegetation, irritability, sensibility, action and reaction, &c., are all regarded as entities." (P. 10.) By whom? We wish our author had named any single rational being who had ever entertained such an unlikely belief. We expect this is a genuine assumption of the baron's-one of those freaks of imagination for which he is remarkable.

"The same degree of heat which is a condition of the combination of the oxygen of the air with mercury produces the opposite effect; the decomposition of the oxide of mercury into mercury and oxygen, if the temperature be raised a few degrees." (P. 14.) This stands as a separate paragraph, just as we have quoted it; and a beautiful bit of obscurity we call it. After much labour, we have found its meaning to be, that the same degree of heat produces the opposite effect if its temperature be raised a few degrees" We defy any critic to prove that it is capable of any other interpretation. And this from the of a philosopher!!

pen

"By way of rough illustration we may compare the healthy organism, in many respects, to a large Transatlantic steam-boat." (P. 19.) Why would not an English steam-boat of medium size do? Are we more like Jonathan's craft because the latter are high pressure?

"It is impossible to arrive at the compre. hension of a subject, if, as is done by some pathologists, a term-such as an irritant-be made to include alike active causes, which change the as light, sound, &c., which do not possess this form and composition of organic bodies, and such capacity." (P. 20.) The term capacity here, but, without quibbling about words, there is a palcoming from a chemist, is decidedly inappropriate pable war against truth in the sentence. Light is capable of changing the form and composition of organic bodies, which Liebig may easily satisfy himself of, if he will only refer to the works of the various botanists who have tested the influence of light upon growing vegetables, flowers, fruits, &c. Any dabbler in animal and vegetable physi ology knows what are the relative effects of keeping living things in darkness and daylight. An etiolated plant or animal is very different both in form and composition from one that has enjoyed the full influence of sunshine.

"An explanation may be given of the connection between the immoderate use of spirituous liquors and self-combustion, since it is most probable that none but drunkards would be likely to fall into the fire and be thus consumed." (P. 29.) In our opinion, apoplectics, epileptics, and the partially palsied are as likely as drunkards to fall into the fire, if they come near it; but we quote the sentence for the sake of its novel communication that being burnt to death by fire, and self-com. bustion, are synonymous!

1

"Vital force belongs to the same category as chemical forces, as far as the former manifests its activity only by direct contact, or at immeasur ably small distances." (Pp. 34, 35.) This is a puzzler upon which we can make no comment.

"A number of bodies are decomposed by heat, and in these cases its action is perfectly similar to that of a mechanical force. Heat acts like wedge driven in between the atoms." (P. 37.) Does Liebig actually mean to say that heat applied to a body affects the spaces between its Nonsense! If this were the case, however, the particles, and not the particles themselves? particles of the body might be separated, each and from the other; they could not possibly be decomposed! "Certain compounds of zinc, copper, nickel, dissolve easily in sulphuric acid, with a We suppose the development of hydrogen." (P. 39.) Where does the hydrogen come from? (To be continued. baron means sulphuric acid and water.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE MEDICAL TIMES is the only Medical Journal published at its mon Office, and which is free from the control of all Booksellers and Publishers. Gentlemen may procure it by an order on any Newsman or Bookseller, or it will be sent direct from the Office of the Medical Times to Annual Subscribers sending by a Post-office order, directed James Angerstein Carfrae, or an order on some party in town, One Guinea IN ADVANCE, which will free them for twelve months. Half-yearly Subscription, 13s.; Quarterly, 68. 6d. No number of the Medical Times can be forwarded, except to gentlemen paying in ad

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A HANDSOME PORTFOLIO for holding the "ME-
DICAL TIMES"-very desirable to those who
would keep the numbers clean for binding, and
easy of reference-may be had, by order of any
Bookseller, or at the Office, price 5s. An allow-
ance is made to the trade,
Chirurgus. We believe so.

A Medical Assistant, who gives us his address, in-
forms us that he applied in answer to an adver-
tisement to offer his services as assistant to Mr.
M'Cann, a gentleman in large practice at the West

A Practitioner. Dr. Guy speaks doubtingly—and | is not inconsistent with these two great aims,
with reason of the test. Our correspondent we will abandon the field to them. They have
should consult the volume, which, we may add, is
not done this; can they?
the best résumé of forensic medicine extant.
Besides, our readers
Senex is too diffuse for us.
would take little interest in having it proved by
pages of theological extracts that Dr. Elliotson is

wrong in affirming that Dr. Watson, the bishop,

was a materialist on Christian principles.
M.D, will find an article on the subject he sends us,
very much fuller, in the "Phrenological Journal,'
Chirurgus asks "Is it true that Marshall Hall
asked George the Fourth for a baronetcy, on the
ground of his supposed discoveries? We cannot

A moment's thought places the fact beyond dispute that, if the great majority of the public cannot secure a ready and cheap medical attendance from qualified practitioners, they will go, and must go, to empirics. The population of working men, mechanics, and smaller shopkeepers will not incur that peril, nay, that certainty, of an expense, beyond their means, necessarily entailed by their entering the private house of a practitioner who lives by charging for his advice. A guinea, or half a guinea, or even five shillings, is more than three fourths of the people are prepared or, perhaps, able to pay. The druggist's shop, or, perhaps, that of a grocer near by, offers them almost the same promise of relief for less than sixpence, and the shop is invitingly open. Too poor to pay gentlemanly fees-fees, in truth, above their condition-they are too independent to go to a

End of London. The duties of the situation were THE MEDICAL TIMES. dispensary: these are the largest and best por

For

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1846.

THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND
SURGICAL ASSOCIATION,

to dispense, and, in the absence of the visiting
assistant, to visit and attend midwifery.
these services the remuneration offered was a pal-
try £15 per annum. Our correspondent adds-
"A stable-boy advertised a few days' since for a
dispensing assistant's situation. This only shows
the estimate the lower classes form of the subordi-
nate duties of the profession. Is it wonderful
that they should depreciate them? The stable-
man, estimating the importance of duties by their WE need scarcely direct our readers' attention
market price, naturally concluded that those which to the letters, of which the first is given this
fetch the highest must be the most arduous, and, week, under the signature of "Vox Veritatis,"
I suppose, thought he would try his hand at poi-written by a GENERAL PRACTITIONER, who
soning her Majesty's lieges in preference to clean-
ing horses. While medical men continue to grind
down their assistants, they must not complain
if poor-law guardians and others estimate their
services at a very low figure." A Medical As-
sistant forgets to tell us that he is a duly-qualified

practitioner.

An Old Correspondent writes to us in a depreciating
tone about the University College Association
for maintaining and promoting Religion among
the Students." Our correspondent is in error,
These gentlemen properly desire to remove the
stigma that has been so often thrown on their
alma mater, of possessing no claim to religious
principles; and the younger brethren only aspire to
enlighten their elders. By the way, our Old Cor-
respondent neglects to supply the hiatus in the pro-
spectus of the society he has sent us. To whom
is application to be made" at the hospital"? The
porter knows nothing of the affair, and we are
anxious to recommend to its charitable aid the case
of some half-dozen of the lecturers.
An Old Student at the University College School

writes “I was surprised and disgusted with the
conduct I noticed the other day among the students,

when, happening to be in town, I attended one or two of the lectures given by my former preceptors, at the University College School. Students of the present day appear to visit lecture-rooms not for the purpose of instruction, but for that of creating disorder and disturbance. I particularly noticed irregular conduct during two lectures-one delivered by Dr. Thompson, on Materia Medica; the other by Mr. S. Cooper, on Surgery." Our correspondent adds, that "both these gentlemen are distinguished by kindness of heart, and should be venerated on account of their well-deserved and high

tion of our population.

Shut up the shops of general practitioners,
forbid general practitioners to prescribe their
own medicines, and what becomes of this popu-
lation? You must either pauperize them or
Rail, then,
hand them over to cheap empirics.
against pharmacy as these writers may (who
fancy that the first duty of a medical man is to
be very genteel), we reply to them that the
change they seek would destroy two thirds of
the legitimate medical practice of the kingdom,
conjure up from the druggists a new body of
doctors, and leave the great majority of our
brethren without a fragment of their practices.

has paid unflagging attention to every recent
movement in connection with the subject of
medical reform. We confidently auspicate from
them a very able analysis of the whole ques-
tion. The opening letter commences with a And here let us say that we participate in
none of the vulgar prejudice against drug-pre-
vigour of style and freedom of thought which
prove that our correspondent exercises for him-scribing or shopkeeping. The time is gone by
self a judgment in no small degree inde- when the talismanic word "gentleman," with
pendent. While we have left him the liberty its concomitant privileges, was restricted to
of thus speaking his mind unfettered, our "attorneys" by act of Parliament, and to inde-
Worth, private
readers will do us the kindness in return of pendent idlers by social usage.
supposing us to retain, and allowing us, if and public, is now the test and donor of that
necessary, to express, our own opinion, just as "gentler condition" once limited to a happy
decidedly whenever it may be in antagonism birth or wealthy descent. The merchant in his
to his.
dingy office, the tradesman in his open shop,
require as they often possess-but high quali-
ties of mind and heart to be as good society as
the kingdom offers. The formal, old-fashioned
WE confess that for a time-a brief time-we barriers that formerly threw mankind into
listened with some favour to the outcry of cer-
tain physicians, aided by certain pure surgeons usefulness or worth, have perished 'neath the
castes, in utter recklessness of their proportionate
and a few general practitioners, against the
advancing glow of enlightenment like Arctic
dispensing by medical men of their own medi-ice-rocks drifted southernwards, The aristo-
cines. Without a doubt there is something
cracy of England now vindicate superiority by
very seductive in the invectives against a mix-labour-industry-talent: they are seen in the
ture of trade with profession-something highly workshop, the warehouse, and the counting-
attractive of sympathy in the references to "
office as frequently in their ratio as any other
elevated and dignified" profession. The ques-
telling instance of ridiculous plebeianism, we
tion offers itself—are the arguments more than portion of the population; and, if we wanted a
should select the shabby-genteel “pure," with
his whole estate, his brass plate, on another
man's door, looking down with complacent con-
tempt on his comfortable neighbour supplying

"Nobilitas sola atque unica, virtus."—JUVENAL.

positions as veterans in their respective sciences; seductive?
these circumstances rendering the disorderly con-

duct referred to, if possible, more disgraceful and
ungentlemanly than it otherwise would be."
quite concur in this opinion.

We

J.--The transaction with the "member" named took place at Bellamy's.

K. H.--It rests with the Lord Chancellor to make

the regulations and fix the scale of fees in the case of lunatics. The statute is the 8 and 9 Victoria, cap. 100.

an

Are the reasons advanced against open surgery and pharmaceutical practice more than specious? Let us see.

There are two questions to be looked tofirst, the due and effective attendance of the public; and second, a fair attention to the interests of the profession as it stands. If the genteel and disinterested railers at pharmaceutical practice will only show that their innovation

his own medicines a few houses off!

"Virtue and worth from no condition rise; Act well your part-there all the honour lies!" But we are told that open surgeries lower pro

fessional character. Why should they? Why,

exercise it honestly according as his own wants

"Nunc est bibendum-nunc pede libero
Pulsanda tellus."-HORACE.

conscious, we suppose, of a good act—that reciscientific philanthropists who so energetically

if a man have an honest calling, shall he not REALLY the activity-we should rather say the procated the benevolent satisfaction of the or the needs of his neighbourhood suggest?rritability-of a certain number of our metro- devoted their immortal minds to the discussion, On what pretence, if he be a pharmacien, and politan brethren is wonderful. There is no in turns, of modern pathology and presidential

if he be a medical man, shall he not carry out both avocations, if circumstances impose it upon him as a matter of self-interest and selfdefence? We respectfully ask for a reason. "Specialties" are all very useful; the tendency of society is to increase and diffuse them; we do not and ought not to interfere with that tendency. But when, from local or other circumstances, the tendency takes the opposite direction, why interfere then? As the public want requires, suggests, and repays the one, why may it not the other? Where is the harm of the man being allowed (in this case) to do what he likes with his own? What would be the benefit of a state's interference? We pro

fess with earnestness we cannot see any.

True, we want "specialties"-true, we want eminent surgeons-true, we want eminent physicians; and true again, we want men (as aurists, oculists, stethoscopists, and amputators) eminent in the various subdivisions of these two larger divisions; but in what way will the permission of all medical men to practise in any manner they may be competent interfere with the existence or the increase of these "specialties"? The whole basis of all eminence is early extensive practice, and this early extensive practice can come but through a ready and cheap access to the poor. Let the mass of our profession be as well educated as you please, but Heaven spare us and society the calamity of seeing them in excess genteel. To be over-respectable or over-high-priced is, in other words, to repel from us the medical practice of the empire. We but force patients to dispensaries for charity, or to empirics for mutilation. Our young practitioners, above all

others, are entreated to bear this in mind. Could

they but see the shipwrecks that have originated in the silly, inflated respectability and heavy fees of many of their young contemporaries!

the Times.

Now

bounty.

thesis, the extreme activity they exhibit in doing
explaining, we fear, in any favourable hypo-
Of the two qualities our experience of the
always something-something, no matter how
small-in a semi-kind of public way.
matter leads us to a preference of the latter. Dr.
Dr. A. (say Dr. Henry Bennett) has an im-O. (we spare the gentleman's name) gave us a
portant notice, or warning, for the public through explanation we take the liberty to doubt.
ruptured" uterus ”—of whose “ rupture" and
through the more costly and enterprising tails of a case of stricture of the oesophagus of
Now Dr. B. invites the public, Mr. Liston gave, clearly and minutely, the de-
medium of a five-shilling advertisement in the
consult for the hygienic safety of the same
same journal, to meet him, the said Dr. B., to
public. Then we have Mr. C. and Dr. D. hold-
ing forth weekly at some countless societies—
tanical, Medico-Botanical, Medical, London
Harveian, Hunterian, Linnean, Statistical, Bo-
Medical, Westminster Medical, Western Medi-
cal, Medico-Chirurgical, and some half-hundred

others, including a trip now and then to the
British Association-and all again for the
good of the same public (who, however,
wonderful to say, derive no good), and of a
Science wonderfully unconscious of how much
is being done for her. The writing, the
talking, the attendance of these active gentle-
men, would imply a thorough conviction of the
Hippocratic axiom, "Ars longa-VITA BREVIS."
In their anxiety to publish what they know,
they must have

very long standing; and the President, to com-
pliment him on the perfection of his statement,
courteously inquired "what was the kind of
stricture," and was it malignant?" The
modest
surgeon, overpowered with the honour,
and apparently surprised at his colleague's
questions, growled out two of his curtest (if

not the most courteous) rejoinders. We had

then the satisfaction of hearing Mr. P. record the thighbone." After listening with patience to the detail of this important contribution to improved science, it was, as the writers say, "refreshing" to observe Mr. Liston rising to opinion" in two words "" It's no fracture the invitation of the author, and express his

an elaborate case of "fracture of the neck of

at all!" This announcement seemed news to the President and some of his surgical as

sistants; whereupon the "Ursa Major" of these

smaller constellations resumed :-" It's a common case of interstitial absorption consequent on a blow on the trochanter. I've got fifty such preparations."

Dr. Williams was gratified to hear that there was thus a liberal reserve for future evenings of

a hundred channels of communication with the public, to make up for the unfortunate want of as many voices; and how with this mania of publicity-this unflagging activity of public benefactorshipthey contrive to eat, drink, dress, mind their hospitals, look after their dispensaries, and attend their numerous private patients-from equal novelty in the way of pathological speciwhom they derive the extensive and priceless experience they are so anxious to divulge—is one of those mysteries for an explanation of which

we must-as in the case of Cæsar, Bonaparte,

Cuvier, or the novelist Dumas-wait till the
publication of their interesting autobiographies.
Paracelsus, with all his spasmodic activity, fares
ill on a comparison with his modern imitators!
Such a sacrifice for the public “advantage" of
domestic joys-supposing them to have any-
beats Curtius, or Brutus, or Joseph Ady "all
to sticks!"

It is, then, by securing and keeping extensive practice that professional skill is to be acquired and maintained by us as an aggregate body; and it is easy to see that, as experience wins skill and skill success, the practitioner, adapting himself to his fortunes, will assume that kind of The latest specimen of this excessive propractice and position better suited to his changed fessional or extra-professional action—the last circumstances, and more favourable to his indication of this morbid irritability of our worldly interests. In this way it is that true young professional friends-is the donation to eminence is naturally and best attained, and science during the last week, of that much-rethat "specialties" become, instead of an indi- quired boon-another Scientific Medical Society. vidual speculation, a natural progression-a social Greatly are we indebted to their public spirit boon instead of a social imposture. The present and individual bounty. How the metropolis system of making “eminent" pure surgeons and managed to get on without "The Pathological physicians entitled to ask heavy fees and obtain Society"-now just invented-is what we no responsible appointments-not on the score of more understand than its little learned Prewhat they have seen, but what they have read-sident, Dr. C. J. B. (we believe we have given pregnant with danger to the public, and fatal all the initials) Williams. The cakes-liberally to the interests of talent in the profession. It supplied in moiety, we are confidently assured, is an artificial mode of hatching eminence, and by the deity presiding over their demolitionthe product in ninety-nine cases in the hun- did credit to his taste, and gave pleasure, we were dred will be a wretched weakling, unfitted to glad to notice, to that of others. The coffee weather the blast of one serious responsi- was worthy of Olympian feasts; and there was bility 1 a beaming self-complacency in the chairman

is

mens; and after hearing some details from Dr.
Quain, of Gower-street, on
rupture of the

66

heart," the audience took the President's signal, and betook themselves to (apparently) the not less agreeable duties of despatching the writes-"We are aware of nothing wiser-they did that evening."

collation before them. Our faithful chronicler

MEDICAL REFORM.

LETTERS

TO THE MEMBERS OF

THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND
SURGICAL ASSOCIATION.
BY A GENERAL PRACTITIONER.

LETTER I.

GENTLEMEN,-You have often asked yourselves

In

of what use is the Provincial Association?
other words, cui bono?-to whom, save the Wor,
cester duumvirate-Hastings and Streeten-is it
a profit? The question has been warmly debated,
even in your own journal. The misgiving which
evidence against an Association even younger and
is "father to the thought" would be damnifying
better constituted than the Provincial. There are
the truth and wisdom of an instinct in the ques-
tion. It is the voice of Common Sense rebuking
Custom; Experience half-unconsciously giving one
of her infallible condemnations, As might be
expected, some doughty councillor has occa
sionally inducted himself in the panoply of battle,