might be employed in defraying the necessary expenses, while the surplus might accumulate as an addition to the soldier's future pensions. Few English soldiers would sit idle with such opportunities for action before them. Golf and billiards are spoken of as suitable games in preference to rackets.

VII. On the hopeful encouragement of British soldiers serving in India-Under this head we find some suggestions which are perhaps more desirable than practicable. According to Mr. Jeffreys, the English soldier ought not to be kept in India against his inclination:

"Military service in the ranks in India can never be in a just and safe position until its fundamental condition shall be an engagement, in the name of India, that the recruit shall be replaced at the home from which he was invited out, should he at the end of a year or two's trial find the service unacceptable or disappointing to him. Until this is conceded, it is mockery, and something worse, to tell him that he entered upon the engagement voluntarily with his eyes open."

It is also recommended that after a service of twenty years he should be entitled to a pension of 40l. or 50%. a year.

Mr. Jeffreys is also a strong advocate for introducing African troops into India, as a measure calculated to diminish the present enormous expenditure of British life.

The appendix contains much and varied and useful information upon subjects pertaining to the social and political economy of British India, and is well deserving of an attentive perusal.

The brief sketch which we have given will afford some idea of the numerous and varied topics discussed by the author. It is to be hoped that amidst the many changes and reforms which will soon be introduced into British India by its new rulers, Mr. Jeffreys' valuable suggestions will receive the attention which they deserve.

Dr. Norman Chevers, although comparatively a young officer, has long held a distinguished position in the service to which he belongs. The work before us is the result of great labour and research, and contains much valuable statistical information bearing upon the sanitary condition of the European soldier in India. His remarks have reference to the following main points of inquiry-1. The amount of mortality and sickness among our troops; 2, the causes upon which this destruction of health and life depends; and 3, the modes of checking or removing those causes.

Since the commencement of the present century the average annual rate of mortality (in hospital), from all causes, among the men of H.M. and H.E.I.C.'s European forces in the three presidencies of India, has been 62:45 in the thousand, which is nearly twice as heavy as that which obtains among the general population of Liverpool-" England's most unhealthy city"- this being only 33.5 per 1000. Of the three presidencies, Bengal occupies an undue pre-eminence in its high rate of mortality, but this circumstance is mainly attributed to the greater exposure of the Bengal army to the dangers and vicissitudes. of war, and to the frequent postings of corps on the Bengal establishment in new stations, which are generally considered as highly inimical

to the health of European soldiers. The mortality among the officers in India is about one-third of the general mortality above quoted, and is considerably less among the married than among the unmarried. High as this mortality undoubtedly is, it contrasts very favourably with that which obtains among European officers serving in other tropical stations, and more especially in the West India islands. The mortality among the wives of European soldiers in India is 35-47 per 1000, and here again it is greatest in the Bengal presidency; that of the wives of European officers appears wonderfully small, or only 15.85 per 1000. The mortality among European children in India is shown to be enormous. That of children under fifteen years of age in the Lower Orphan School, Calcutta, for a period of forty years, was 54.85 per 1000; and among male infants during the first year of life, it reached the rate of 171-84 per 1000 (the corresponding rate in England being only 71.65). As a remedy for this frightful state of things the author's recommendation is in perfect accordance with that of Mr. Jeffreys.

Early removal to the hills appears to be the most certain safeguard The first reports of that admirable institution, the Lawrence Asylum-established at Sunawur, near Kussowlie, in 1847, by the philanthropy of the late Sir Henry Lawrence, for the reception of soldiers' children, chiefly orphans, show that the asylum then had, at the end of its second year's operations, 136 inmates, nearly half of whom were under ten years of age; and that only two deaths had occurred from the first, in children who had been only a week in the asylum, and who arrived in a state of disease." "

As regards the rate of sickness in the European army in India, it is shown that the number of admissions into hospital during the year exceeds 2000 per 1000 of strength, or in other words that, on an average, every soldier is admitted into hospital twice during the year. The diseases which produce this great sickness and mortality are fevers, dysentery, diarrhoea, hepatic diseases, cholera, and phthisis; cholera, however, being apparently less frequent in Madras than in the other two presidencies. In reference to these diseases it is justly observed:

"When it is recollected that, unlike many of the most fatal diseases of Europe, the whole of those maladies which yearly commit such dreadful havoc in the ranks of our European army are of that description which all investigators, in recent times, unite in proving to be either removable or mitigable by vigorous and liberal measures of sanitation, the military surgeon in India cannot but feel, amidst the many disappointments which attend his labours, that wherever he succeeds in carrying into operation any one Hygienic law, he begins to exercise the greatest of the Almighty's gift to mau-the power of arresting death."

In addition to the great sickness and mortality above-mentioned, the Indian army annually loses a large portion of its strength by invaliding. It is shown that 16 per cent. serve less than five years, 43 per cent. less than ten years, and 84 per cent. less than twenty years; leaving 15 per cent. only of men above twenty years of service. Soldiers under twenty years contributed the largest number to the invalids, thus showing the impropriety of sending out young

recruits to India. The author concludes the first section of his inquiry by observing that the European army of Bengal has been nearly decimated annually by death and invaliding, having lost 90 per 1000 of its strength every year from these conjoined causes. It is gratifying, however, to find that, since the commencement of the present century, the mortality rates of Europeans serving in each of the three presidencies have considerably decreased. This fact holds out good ground for hope that much may still be done in effecting a still further reduction.

The means for reducing sickness and mortality among European troops in India are considered under the following heads :-1. The proper selection of recruits. 2. The provision of well-found ships to convey them to India. 3. The selection of the proper season for their arrival in the country. 4. Judicious sanitation for them on their first landing. 5. The choice of a proper time and place for drilling. 6. The selection of the fittest season for sending newlyarrived troops up country. 7. Sanitation for them in the river trip. 8. Sanitation for them on the march. 9. The provision of proper clothing and food. 10. The encouragement of habits of temperance. 11. The choice of proper military stations in the plains. 12. The choice of sanitaria in the hills. 13. The provision of proper barracks and hospitals. 14. The maintenance of a thorough system of conservancy in cantonments. 15. The improvement of the soldier's morale, and the profitable occupation of their minds and bodies in cantonment. 16. Sanitation in the field, in standing camps, besieged forts, and entrenched camps. 17. Arrangement for the accommodation and safe conveyance of sick and wounded in the field. 18. The regulation of punishments. 19. Amelioration of the condition of the women and children. 20. Regulation of the mode of invaliding, and the adoption of measures for sending the invalids down country and home in the best manner.

We cannot give more than an enumeration of the many topics just mentioned. Suffice it to say, that they are treated in great detail; and that, while the author has freely availed himself of the investigations of others, he makes many valuable suggestions and recommenIdations of his own. We would particularly direct attention to the chapters upon the proper selection of recruits and the encouragement among them of habits of temperance.

In conclusion we would only remark, that no two works could have been published more opportunely than those of Mr. Jeffreys and Dr. Chevers, and that both are well deserving the serious attention of those in authority in India, and of sanitary reformers generally.

REVIEW X.

1. Syphilisationen som Curmethode. Ved W. BOECK.

Syphilization as a Method of Cure. By WILLIAM BOECK.-Christiania, 1857. 8vo, pp. 142.

2. Discussionen i det Norske Medicinske Selskab i Christiania angaaende Syphilisationen.

Report of the Discussion on the subject of Syphilization in the Norwegian Medical Society. 1857, pp. 162.

3. Undersögelse angaaende Inoculation af Vaccine og Chanker materie, for at constatere Immunitäts forholdene og deres Consequentser. Ved Dr. F. C. FAYE.

Researches upon Inoculation of the Vaccine and Chancre Virus, to ascertain the conditions of Immunity, and the consequences thereof. By Dr. F. C. FAYE.-Christiania, 1857. pp. 70.

4. Syphilizationen anvendt mod Syphilis og Spedalskhed. Ved D. C. DANIELSSEN.

Syphilization, as employed in Syphilis and Leprosy. By D. C. DANIELSSEN.-Bergen, 8vo, pp. 125.

THE war of the empirics and of the dogmatists rages fiercely just now in the cold north; and party spirit is as warm at the foot of the Dovrefjeld as it was once on either side of the Apennines. Every innovation in medical science is certain to be submitted to the alembic of opposition; its weak points will be brought prominently forward in discussion, and if there be truth in the new doctrine or practice, it is generally only after a long struggle that it becomes firmly established. The profession is right to exercise a just caution under such circumstances, and especially at the present day, when innovations of such daring character have found favour with the public. Above all is this hesitation requisite when we are called upon to adopt a method of treatment totally opposed to our preconceived ideas-a method, in fact, of cure that is devoid of any theoretical foundation whatsoever. In a former article we had occasion to lay before our readers the details of Professor Wm. Boeck's researches into the efficacy of syphilization in the cure of secondary and tertiary venereal symptoms. Our analysis of what had been done in this respect, both at Christiania and elsewhere, was necessarily somewhat of a partial character, as up to the period at which Dr. Boeck wrote, hardly a voice had been raised in Norway to question the accuracy of his conclusions. But the curious subject of syphilization has now been advanced a step further, it has been brought prominently forward in the Christiania Medical Society, and in a discussion which occupied six meetings, the whole subject has been considered on the basis of the most recent investigations. That a little warmth of feeling should have occasionally shown itself among the disputants, is, to us, not a matter of surprise, but both parties seem to have been influenced by an earnest love of truth, and in many cases they exhibit a degree of candour and honesty not always to be found in the French Academy of Medicine, or elsewhere. That a final con

clusion, either adverse or otherwise, has been arrived at, is more than we can say, but much that was before doubtful or obscure has been cleared up, and new theories of the action of this treatment have been proposed, which, if true, may greatly modify the opinions hitherto held by its advocates, as well as by its opponents.

In Norway, as elsewhere, syphilization has now met with serious opposition, though we must confess at once it is more the theory than the facts of this practice that has been disputed. To this question we shall return hereafter; at present we may state that on the 5th of November, 1856, Professor Faye, of Christiania, commenced a discussion in the Norwegian Medical Society upon syphilization, and which was continued throughout five or six meetings to the beginning of March, 1857. The attack, which was led by Professor Faye, was seconded but faintly by his colleagues; indeed, it seems to us, that no one took an active part on that side of the discussion except the Professor himself. It may be objected that, as Professor of Midwifery, and as one who had not personally followed the practice of syphilization, Dr. Faye was not fully qualified to give an opinion upon the subject. The question raised, however, by Professor Faye, was not directly of a practical character; he did not impugn the facts of syphilization, or deny in any way the cures that had thus been effected, but he proposed to account for this success in a different way, and sought to explain the apparent paradoxes of this mode of treatment by the light of modern science. In a word, he endeavoured to bring syphilization within the pale of our present physiological and pathological knowledge, and to strip it of the marvellous and of the unaccountable, which must always impede the progress of true and logical investigation. Professor Boeck did not attempt a direct reply to the arguments of Professor Faye, but while he acknowledged that he could not account pathologically for the success attending this practice, he did not allow the weak points of his opponent's arguments to escape his vigilant observation. We observe, too, that in the course of the discussion, several members of the medical profession in Christiania gave in their adhesion to the practice, if not to the theory of syphilization. Thus Dr. Gjör acknowledges having been totally incredulous until experience had convinced him of the great value of syphilization, while Vogt, one of the committee of control, appointed to watch the progress of the treatment, states, that after having opposed the system as a folly, he has now become so thoroughly convinced of its efficacy, that were he himself ever to become the victim of secondary syphilis, he would at once submit to the treatment, and would advise others to do the same, Egeberg, another member of the committee, expresses himself more cautiously. He states the duty of the committee to be to ascertain, first, that those who are submitted to syphilization really are affected with syphilis; secondly, that those stated to be healed by the method really are free from venereal symptoms when they leave the hospital; and thirdly, to note down and publish any relapses that may occur, as scrupulously as the cases of cure. As judges of the matter they do not consider themselves; the period has not as yet, in Egeberg's opinion,