the parts of the organ. And lastly we have two figures of Coloboma iridis; one representing the most common form, in which the pupil is a perpendicular slit in the iris, resembling that of a cat; whilst in the other, which is a rarer malformation, the pupil is elongated in the horizontal direction, as in ruminant animals.

Of the Ninth and concluding Part it is but right for us to state, that its entire material was prepared before Mr. Dalrymple's death; the plates having been already lithographed and in the hands of the colourer, whilst the letter-press was in possession of the printer. And it is no small matter of congratulation to the publisher and the purchasers of this admirable and beautiful production that such was the case. This fasciculus is entirely devoted to the Malignant Diseases of the Eye; which are delineated with a beauty and accuracy that we venture to affirm have never been surpassed,-we much doubt if they have been equalled. The forms of cancer described by Mr. Dalrymple as affecting the eye, are medullary sarcoma or fungus hæmatodes, melanosis, and carcinoma or scirrhus. He has never seen colloid cancer in or about the eye; and considers osteo-sarcoma as probably only a modification of medullary cancer, dependent on the nature of the tissue implicated. Of all forms of this frightful malady, he states that the white medullary fungus is the most common; this, in the great majority of instances, affecting children between two and ten years of age, but adults not being entirely exempt from its ravages. On the contrary, true carcinoma never presents itself in the very young, and rarely until after the middle period of life; and melanosis, though o6casionally seen in early adult life, is more common towards fifty or sixty years of age.

Mr. Dalrymple has had the opportunity of watching a large number of cases of medullary carcoma; and the result of his experience is most unfavourable to operative interference. He has never known an instance in which the disease has not returned after extirpation of the eyeball; and this usually within so short a period, as to make it doubtful if the operation had even succeeded in prolonging life. Sooner or later, the disease proves invariably fatal by extension to the brain; as is evidenced by the post-mortem discovery of tumours in the course of the optic tract, about the base of the brain, or even upon the surface of the cerebellum, in those cases in which an examination has been made; and by the symptoms preceding death, when such examination has not been permitted. The extirpation of the eye, even in a very early stage of disease of that organ, offers no security whatever against such extension; for Mr. Dalrymple has seen cases in which death took place from fungoid tumours of the brain, whilst as yet the ocular disease was in its very first stage, being limited to the posterior part of the globe, and not having produced any enlargement of the organ. In no case of genuine medullary fungus of the eye, therefore, would he either have performed, or have sanctioned, the extirpation of the eye-ball. He subsequently assigns the difficulty of diagnosis, in the early stages of the disease, as an additional reason for the non-performance of the operation at that period; for the metallic lustrous reflection seen at the fundus of the eye, which is almost always the first marked symptom of medullary cancer, is by no means peculiar to it, this effect of the development of a stratum or of tubercles of cancerous structure in the retina being simulated by a deposit of simple exudation-cells in fibrinous dropsy of the eye, in acute or chronic choroiditis, and in scrofulous inflammation; as was first pointed out by Mr. Travers, whose views on this subject have been fully confirmed by Mr. Dalrymple's observations. There can be little doubt that some of the cases in which extirpation has been considered to have been successfully performed, have been of this latter kind. The first plate contains two figures representing the early stage of medullary sarcoma, in which it is as yet limited to the retina; and a third figure illustrating the condition of the eye when the fungous growth has advanced forwards, producing enlargment of the globe, disorganization of its internal structure, and pressure upon the sclerotic coat and cornea, which occasions the former to yield in staphylomatous bulgings, and the latter to slough, forming an opening from which the fungous granulations sprout forth. Three other figures are from preparations which show the extension of the fungous disease along the course of the optic nerve to the brain, before the globe of the eye had been seriously affected; in one of these cases, it would have been difficult to have pronounced before death that any other than scrofulous disease was present, for the cornea and lens were clear, the iris unscathed, and the white exudation behind presented no appearances that may not be assumed by a fibrinous effusion; and yet not only was the theca of the optic nerve distended with cancerous deposit, but there were numerous fungoid tumours about the base of the brain. The second plate is entirely occupied with a single illustration, and this a singularly faithful and beautiful one, of the advanced stage of this terrible disease; the case was one in which the morbid growth had apparently been entirely removed by the late Mr. John Scott, but reappeared within three or four months; and at the time the drawing was made-about six weeks before the patient's death-it projected from the orbit to the size of a large orange, partly covered by the livid and extended skin of the eyelids, in a manner that has been represented by the artist with a fearful truthfulness. As the tumour increases in size, its surface softens, and portions of it die and form sloughs, which are again and again detached as brown and dead débris; this stage, also, is beautifully represented in the first figure of the fourth plate. So far from the bulk of the tumour, however, being diminished by this partial destruction of its substance, it continues to increase in consequence of its inherent activity of growth; and the patient dies exhausted by frequently recurring hæmorrhage, or drained by the discharge, unless more speedily carried off by encephalic disease.

The third plate represents a case of scirrhus of the eyeball, occurring in a woman seventy-four years of age. This form of cancer may commence, not merely in the globe of the eye, but also in the lachrymal gland, or even amongst the cellular and fibrous contents of the orbit. When the

morbid growth is limited to the lachrymal gland, there seems adequate ground for its extirpation; cases having occurred in which the operation has been apparently successful. And Mr. Dalrymple would not absolutely forbid the removal of the globe, when this is involved in the disease, provided that there is no indication of its existence elsewhere; although its return must be seriously apprehended. No other save palliative treatment, can, in his opinion, be productive of anything but an injurious result. His commentary on this plate contains some interesting remarks on the general pathology and therapeutics of cancerous diseases. In common with most writers who have recently examined the question in all its bearings, he considers that the malignant cachexia is rather the cause than the consequence of the localized growth; and that the "reproductive law of the cancercell is, in all probability, closely connected with the peculiar condition of the constitutional powers of the individual," this condition being more favourable to the multiplication of a type of cells, than to their development into a higher form. Hence he considers, that "if the science of medicine should ever so far advance, as to suggest a cure for malignant diseases, it will be in the direction of such agents as shall increase the vital powers." Unfortunately we are acquainted with no other agents of this kind, than such as exert a general hygienic influence, and can scarcely think it probable that any such will be discovered. Here, as elsewhere, we have the means of prevention more certainly within our reach, than those of cure. It is, we believe, a general opinion, that malignant diseases are on the increase; and it behoves us diligently to study the conditions under which they are most prone to develop themselves, that we may determine for them, if possible, what has already been determined in great degree with regard to the nearlyallied group of scrofulous diseases.

The fourth plate contains two illustrations of Melanosis of the eye; a form of disease which is regarded by Mr. Dalrymple as distinguished from ordinary cancer (some pathologists consider it as an incidental association of dark granular pigment with ordinary cancer-cells), by its inferior malignancy; its extirpation by operation being unquestionably less likely to be followed by the re-appearance of the disease, than is that of the morbid growths already adverted to. There is also a representation of an orbital tumour, the nature of which was for a long time extremely doubtful, but which is considered by Mr. Dalrymple to have been of a carcinomatous nature. And, lastly, there is a beautiful delineation of a malignant tumour at the base of the brain, which had been the source of Amaurosis. No attempt has been made by Mr. Dalrymple to include illustrations of the lastnamed disease in his series of delineations; because, as he justly remarks, the objective symptoms are scarcely subjects for the artist, the dilated pupil owing its pathognomonic signification rather to its immobility than to its size, while the peculiar brightness of the organs can scarcely be expressed in a drawing. "Moreover," he continues, "the history of amaurosis has yet to be written; it is among the most difficult subjects in ophthalmic medicine, and well worthy the labour of a life to investigate, explain, and supply a rational and successful therapeia."

In bringing our notice of this work to a close, it is but right that we should make our readers clearly understand what it does, and what it does not, profess to teach. Its author designed it to comprise "selected specimens of those forms of disease of the organs of vision most frequently met with in practice;" and this intention he has fully carried out. Though our own experience has not only made us familiar with all the commoner forms of ophthalmic disease, but has also brought us acquainted with most of the rarer, we cannot say that, with the exception of Cysticercus in the anterior chamber, we have met with a single disease capable of this kind of illustration, which is not here faithfully portrayed. Mr. Dalrymple did not intend, however, to make his work a complete treatise on the Morbid Anatomy of the Eye, comparable to that of Professor Von Ammon; and whilst we may regret that no such treatise exists in our language, we still cannot but feel that the plan which he has so ably and satisfactorily carried out, is the one which, in the present state of ophthalmic practice in this country, is likely to be far more beneficial than any other would have been. For we have had many occasions of seeing how erroneous is the diagnosis too frequently made by those who have not specially attended to ophthalmic surgery, and how injurious, either by omission or commission, has been the treatment pursued in consequence of that faulty diagnosis; and as those who have no opportunity of studying these diseases on an extensive scale, may be most effectually aided by characteristic delineations of them, we rejoice that a work now exists which may be most conscientiously recommended for this purpose. Still it must be borne in mind, that the very best figures and descriptions are far less instructive than the actual observation of the diseases themselves in their successive phases; and no student ought to consider himself prepared for general practice, who has not taken the opportunities which metropolitan or large provincial institutions abundantly afford of familiarizing himself with the latter.

ART. II.-The London Dispensatory: a Practical Synopsis of Materia Medica, Pharmacy, and Therapeutics. By the late ANTHONY TODD THOMPSON, M.D., F.L S., &c., &c. Eleventh Edition. Edited by ALFRED BARING GARROD, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in University College, London, &c., &c.—London, 1852. Svo, pp. 1230.

THE recent alterations in the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, to which we have directed the attention of our readers on former occasions, of course rendered it necessary that all the works which are principally based upon them should undergo revision; and the re-editing of Dr. Thompson's wellknown Dispensatory, the value of which has been attested by the sale of no fewer than ten editions,

has been entrusted to Dr. Thompson's successor, Dr. Garrod, who has performed his task in a manner which, in our opinion, reflects great credit upon his judgment, as well as upon his industry and accuracy. We shall extract the chief part of his preface, for the purpose of showing the nature of the alterations which he has made:

"It has been the great aim of the editor to preserve as much as possible of the matter of the author, and only to make such alterations as the changes in the Pharmacopoeias and the progress of science have rendered necessary. In order to accomplish this, the arrangement of the work has been preserved, with a few unimportant exceptions. Part I. will be found considerably reduced in extent; but it is believed that the diminution is not due to the removal of any important matter. In the various editions through which the work had passed, much material had gradually accumulated, which the editor considered might be advantageously removed, consisting of speculative discussions on the constitution of matter and other subjects, which, although valuable at the time of its appearance, have now ceased to be so; all that is essential has been embodied in Parts II. and III., or added to the Appendix. In Part II. the important alterations are as follow:-In the first place, any new drugs contained in the lists of materia medica in the new Pharmacopoeias have been added. A few of the drugs not now officinal, and which have fallen into disuse, have been omitted. Again, certain articles have been introduced, which, though not officinal, have recently gained considerable reputation as remedies. Little or no alteration has been made in the botanical description or history of the drugs, except where change of name has rendered such necessary. The descriptions of these by the author have long been considered as constituting one of the most valuable portions of the work, and have been freely made use of by various compilers of dispensatories. In describing the composition of the various articles in the materia medica, such additions and alterations have been made as the progress of chemistry has rendered essential; at the same time the whole has been simplified by the omission of matters and discussions which have now ceased to be of interest. In the treatment of the medical properties and use of drugs, but little alteration will be found, little progress or change of opinion having taken place since the last edition was issued; and the editor did not consider himself called upon to give his own opinions, even when differing from those of the author; it being his aim that the present edition should be strictly a work of Dr. Thompson, and not one representing the editor's opinions on the subject of therapeutics. The character of the work, likewise, which does not profess to enter into much therapeutical detail, prohibits the introduction of all controversial discussions on the action of medicines.

In Part III., which contains all the officinal preparations of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Colleges, the greatest alterations have been made, rendered necessary by the appearance of the new Pharmacopoeias. As the value of a dispensatory, both to the medical practitioner and also to the dispenser, depends upon its accuracy, the editor has spared no pains to render this part of the work correct, so that it may be appealed to with confidence; and though aware of the great difficulty existing, on account of the discrepancies in names, composition, &c., of various preparations in the three Pharmacopoeias, he trusts he will not be found to have fallen far short in effecting his object."

We have every confidence that the present edition of this Dispensatory will be found well worthy of the reception which has been accorded by the profession to so many of its predecessors; and that Dr. Thompson's useful labours in this and other fields will continue fruitful, so long as they shall be as ably followed up as they have already been.

ART. III.-A Popular History of the British Ferns and Allied Plants, comprising the Club-mosses, Pepperworts, and Horsetails. By THOMAS MOORE, FL.S., Curator of the Botanic Garden of the Society of Apothecaries. With Twenty Coloured Plates.-London. Square 16mo, pp. 354. THERE is no group of plants more pleasing than that of Ferns, as regards the elegance of their forms and the gracefulness of their port; and as our British species are neither very numerous nor very inaccessible, and are for the most part very easily cultivated, and do not lose their interest when dried for the herbarium, they present a very attractive object of study for those who seek a healthful occupation which brings them into contact with Nature, and who do not set store either by gaudy flowers or by varied foliage. For the physiologist, again, they have many points of peculiar interest; among others, that it has been from the study of their development that the sexuality of the higher Cryptogamia, which is now coming to be generally admitted among botanists, was first put upon a toler ably certain basis.-The little work before us is rather addressed, however, to those who collect and cultivate Ferns for their amusement, than to scientific botanists; being one of the series of illustrated popular works on various branches of natural history, which do so much credit to Mr. Reeve's press, and of which we have noticed most of the members as they have successively appeared. The author has endeavoured to familiarize his readers with the plants of which he treats, without entering upon abstruse discussions about specific identity and diversity, or other dubious and debateable matters, on which different enquirers have been led to diverse opinions, and which are only interesting to the advanced student; and for this purpose his work is extremely well adapted, his illustrations being appropriate and well drawn, and his descriptions clear. We might suggest, however, that a few figures of the fructification, more highly magnified than any which the plates contain, would have been useful in explaining the description of its parts which are given in the chapter on the "Structure of Ferns:" and would also have been, in a merely ornamental point of view, no inappropriate addition to the excellent series which the volume includes, since there are few among our microscopic "objects," that are more beautiful than the sori of some of our commonest ferns.

"

ART. IV-A Handbook of Organic Chemistry; being a new and greatly enlarged edition of the Outlines of Organic Chemistry," for the use of Students. By WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh.-London, 1852. 12mo, pp.

532.

THE new title under which Professor Gregory's "Outlines" now appears, is fully justified by the al tered character of the work, to which, as now enlarged, its former designation would have been inappropriate. This enlargement is not due so much to the accumulation of minute details, as to the embodiment of general principles, in the development of which the researches of the last few years have been peculiarly fruitful. The most important of these researches, however, receive their full share of notice; particular stress being laid on those which are suggestive of further progress.

"For example, the brilliant discovery (predicted in 1839 by Liebig) of the new volatile bases homologous with ammonia, by Wurtz, and so admirably followed out by Hofmann in the latter part of his splendid series of papers on the artificial bases; Hofmann's own most recent discovery of the singular class of ammonium bases; the researches of a host of chemists on that striking series of volatile acids, beginning with formic acid, and ending, for the present, with melissic acid, and on the oils and fats generally; the continued discovery of new compounds belonging to the methylic, ethylic, and amylic series; the researches of Frankland and Kolbe on the radicals of the ethylic group, and those of Frankland on the compounds of those radicals with metals: those of P. Rénard on compounds of phosphorus with the same radicals; the light shed on the doct ine of substitution by these investigations, and by those of the French school, by Laurent, Gerhardt, Cahours, and others; the admirable monograph on the bile by Strecker; the introduction of by ponitrous acid as a means of oxidizing organic compounds by Pirea and Strecker; the minute study of the products of decomposition of the albuminous compounds, by Bopp, Guckelberger, and others; the many additions to our knowledge of physiological chemistry by Liebig and many other chemists; and the rapid development of the doctine of homologous series, as a practical guide in research." (p. viii.)

The section on the nutrition of plants and animals, also, has been entirely re-written on a larger scale; and now constitutes probably the best outline of the subject which has yet been given. Here, as in other chemical treatises, however, we meet with statements based upon the mere chemical relations of the components of the body, which are by no means correct physiologically; and we feel satisfied that, as Professor Lehmann has most successfully shown, the true import of the chemical changes which take place in the living system can only be made out by the study of its economy,Chemical action being to be here viewed as in subordination to Vital, rather than Vital as a mere product of Chemical.

ART. V.-The Natural History of Animals; being the substance of Three Courses of Lectures delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain. By THOMAS RYMER JONES, F.R.S., Professor of Comparative Anatomy in King's College, London. Vol. II, with 104 Woodengravings.-London, 1852. Post 8vo, pp. 395.

We must own that we had nearly given up the continuation of this work, as one of those promises, liberally made, which are not destined to be fulfilled. The first volume was published no less than seven years ago, soon after the completion of the lectures of which the work professes to give the substance; and its purchasers were led to expect the speedy appearance of the remainder. The delay has certainly not resulted, as in some other cases to which we could point, from the necessity of bestowing a large amount of time on the prosecution of original researches to be embodied in the treatise for we do not find in this volume the slightest evidence that any such labour has been bestowed upon the subject. In fact, for anything we have met with to the contrary, it might just as well have been published six years ago, without the difference of a word. We are certain that the delay cannot have arisen on the part of the publisher, who would have been only too glad, we feel assured, to bring the work to an early completion. And we are constrained, therefore, to fix the onus upon the author, who does not condescend to give any explanation of the breach of his implied though not expressed promise.

Having thus discharged ourselves of the reproof which we feel it a matter of conscience to utter, on behalf of the book-buying public, in any case like the present, we have the more pleasing duty to perform, of saying that this volume fully bears out the character of its predecessor, in regard to its easy popular style, and the number and beauty of its illustrations. It is entirely devoted to the natural history of the higher Articulated animals,-insects, arachnida, and crustacea; and contains a body of well-selected information upon this subject, put forth in a strictly scientific method, but in a form adapted to the general reader.

We trust that Professor Jones will spare us the necessity of again having to qualify our praise with blame, by producing the remaining volume or volumes without further delay.

ART. VI.-On Animal Electricity: being an Abstract of the Discoveries of EMIL DU BOIS-REYMOND, Member of the Academy of Sciences of Berlin, &c. &c. Edited by H. BENCE JONES, M.D., A.M. Cantab,, F.R.S., &c.—London, 1852. Fcap. 8vo, pp. 214., THE Dame of M. Du Bois-Reymond is probably known to most of our readers, as that of a zealous investigator into Animal Electricity; but they, like ourselves, may have felt a difficulty in estimating the merits of his experimental results, novel as many of them have been, and opposed as some of them are by the experience of physicists to whom we have been accustomed to look as the greatest authorities on the subject, we refer especially to Prof. Matteucci. It has been partly because no connected account of his researches has come before us, and partly on account of our uncertainty as to their value, that we have hitherto refrained from noticing them. We have now had the opportunity, however, of witnessing some of the most interesting of these experiments for ourselves, and of

forming our own judgment of the methods followed by M. Du Bois-Reymond, and of the sensitiveness of the apparatus which he employs; and we believe that we speak, not only our own impression, det but that of all who have had the same advantage, when we say, that it is scarcely possible for any such experiments to be conducted in a manner more calculated to elicit truth and to eliminate sources of error. The galvanometer employed by M. Du Bois-Reymond is, we understand, of unrivalled sensitiveness; and its indications correspond so precisely, in each case, with his predictions, that he fully satisfied us of his complete acquaintance with the conditions of the phenomena which he brought db under our observation.

The little volume now before us is a translation, with some additions, of an outline-view of M. Du beBois-Reymond's researches, which has been drawn up by Dr. J. Muller, Professor of Physics in Freiburg. It has the great merit of giving such a comparison of his results with those of his predecessors and contemporaries, that the points of originality and of diversity are clearly brought out; and we have every reason to believe that this comparison has been made without partiality, and with a full knowledge of the facts of the case. The objects which M. Du Bois-Reymond has kept in view, throughout his researches, are the following:-1. To obtain clear ideas regarding the existence of electric currents in muscles and nerves; 2. To determine whether during motion and sensation any changes of the intensity or the direction of the electric currents occur; 3. If possible, to trace the connexion between the electric changes, and the contraction or sensation which ultimately takes place. "The practical application of these results to pathology and the treatment of disease," as the editor justly remarks, "cannot yet be foreshadowed; but this at least may be said, that direct experiments on the action of electric currents upon the nerves and muscles themselves must precede any clearness and certainty in the employment of electricity as a remedial agent." Of this there can be no doubt whatever; we have no agent which possesses a power of modifying the vital activity of the nerves and muscles, in a degree by any means comparable to that in which electricity can affect it; and yet the results of its therapeutic application are so uncertain, as to baffle any confident prediction of its efficacy,-nothing but a trial of its effects, in each individual case, affording an adequate basis for its use or disuse. And although we may not yet see our way much better than we previously could, yet we feel sure that such researches as M. Du Bois-Reymond's must in the end make the path comparatively clear before us.

託

The late period of the quarter at which this little book came into our hands, must be our apology for not more fully noticing its contents on the present occasion; we shall return to the subject in our next number; but in the meantime we may remark, that one of the most remarkable of M. Du BoisReymond's discoveries consists in his having shown that nerves possess an electro-motive power, similar to that which has been long known to exist in muscles, and which has been particularly investigated by Matteucci.

We beg to tender our thanks to Dr. Bence Jones for this very seasonable publication, and for the very efficient mode in which he has performed the task which he imposed upon himself. Although such as merely "dip" into the book may be appalled at the new terms and forms of expression which are copiously scattered through its pages, yet we cannot see that these could have been dispensed with, save by a most undesirable circumlocution; and those who will take the trouble to begin at the beginning, instead of at once turning to the conclusion, will have no difficulty, we feel assured, in comprehending the author's meaning. The descriptions, we should add, are illustrated by fifty woodcuts, illustrating the peculiarities of M. Du Bois-Reymond's apparatus, and of his methods of employing it; so that we are not only able to judge the better of the value of his results, but such as have the means of doing so can also test them for themselves, without those errors which so frequently arise from variations in the mode of experimenting.

ART. VII.-Class-book of Botany; being an Introduction to the Study of the Vegetable Kingdom. By J. H. BALFOUR, M.D., F.R.S.E, F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh. With upwards of 1000 illustrations.-London, 1852. 8vo, pp. 357.

THE object of this treatise is "to initiate the student into the study of the structure and forms of the various parts of plants;" and it is limited to Histology and Organography, or "a description of the tissues of which plants are composed, and of the various organs concerned in the processes of nutrition and reproduction." It is, no doubt, a vast improvement upon all the treatises which are constructed according to the old model, and is especially commendable for the beauty and copiousness of its illustrations: but still we cannot help wishing that Professor Balfour had thrown that model entirely aside, and had presented us with a treatise more worthy of the position he holds, in which the whole of the beautiful series presented by the Vegetable kingdom should be treated as a connected whole; instead of devoting nearly his entire attention to the Phanerogamic plants, and pushing aside the Cryptogamia as a sort of troublesome appendage, about which it is necessary to say something. The recent researches of Hoffmeister have fully confirmed the views which we expressed on a former occasion with regard to the sexuality of the Cryptogamia, and have established this point almost beyond a doubt; whilst they have at the same time demonstrated such a continuity in the essential nature of the reproductive organs, between the Coniferæ and the higher Cryptogamia, that the line of distinction between the two groups must henceforth be regarded as quite an arbitrary one. We purpose giving some account of these researches in our next number.