1.

In our opinion the work will still be found a useful text-book. We may observe, that both these books are illustrated with numerous appropriate well-executed engravings on wood.

ART. XII. Lehrbuch der Physiologie. Von DR. SCHIFF, Professor in Berr. Heft 1 & 2.-Lahr, 1858. Compendium of Physiology. By Dr. SCHIFF.

Dr. SCHIFF'S' Compendium of Physiology' forms part of the extensive series of treatises on medical sciences, edited by Dr. Schauenburg. According to this plan, which seems to become more and more the fashion amongst continental authors, Dr. Schiff's work does not appear as a whole, but in single numbers, two of which only have reached us hitherto. We cannot refrain on this occasion from expressing our disapproval of this system of publishing. An inducement is held out to purchase works which our sad experience tells us are frequently not completed, or if finished, the concluding portions appear after so long a lapse of time that the beginning and end of the work do not match. Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne. These remarks will at once serve as an apology to our readers for our not always bestowing that attention upon the initiatory numbers of new productions sent to us which they might otherwise appear to deserve. Having premised this much, we have much pleasure in stating that the commencement of Dr. Schiff's Compendium promises well; the two first numbers are in a high degree instructive, and tend to increase the author's reputation as an original thinker and observer.

After a short introduction, in which he promises to abstain from hypothetical abstractions, and to base his researches on observation and experiment, following in the steps of Valentin and the Webers, the author discusses the various phenomena of motion. In order to give an idea of the manner in which he treats his subjects, we will mention the heads under which he considers the phenomena of "ciliary movement." He commences by naming the situations in which it is met with; he then describes the different forms of ciliary motion (the modus uncinatus of Purkinje and Valentin, and modus undulatus of Valentin); then the direction of the movement, viz., from the orifice to the interior; then the mechanical effect produced by it, viz., the movement of particles in a direction opposite to that of the movement of the cilia; then the use, viz., the propulsion of the excretion of the mucous membrane. The author dwells on the independence of ciliary motion from nervous action, and on the manner in which it is influenced by chemical agents. The chapter on muscular motion is more elaborate than the one just adverted to. Dr. Schiff maintains the existence of muscular irritability independent of the nervous is also disturbed, the one acquiring the positive condition and the other the negative. Thus pieces of zinc and platinum put into dilute sulphuric acid, constitute an arrangement capable of generating electrical force: the zinc, being the metal attacked, becomes negative, and the platinum remaining unaltered, assumes the positive condition." Now, the metal most attacked is positive with respect to the other; in other words, the zinc is positive and the platinum negative.

system; and the chapter comprising the physiology of the nervous system, which is the author's favourite subject, also presents features of much interest. If the other sections of the work are treated in the same manner as those now before us, Dr. Schiff's Compendium will prove a useful addition to our stock of works on Physiology.

ART. XIII.-On some of the more Obscure Forms of Nervous Affections, their Pathology and Treatment; with an Introduction on the Physiology of Digestion and Assimilation, and the Generation and Distribution of Nerve Force: based upon Original Microscopical Observations. By HENRY WILLIAM LOBB, L.S.A., M.R.C.S. E. Illustrated with Original Engravings, drawn on Wood by the Author.-London, 1858. pp. 312.

THE first hundred and twenty-two pages of Mr. Lobb's work are devoted to the description of his microscopical examinations of the blood, with reference to the waste and repair of the tissues, to an investigation of the physiology of digestion, of se- and excretion, of the functions of the nervous system. We find here the proof that the author has read much of the classical medical literature of the day; that he is fond of the microscope, and that he knows how to apply this valuable instrument both to physiological and clinical research. In this part of the work, however, as well as in the second division, which is devoted to the more immediate consideration of obscure affections of the nervous system, we meet with an amount of dogmatism which is particularly dangerous in the field of inquiry selected by the author. The affections themselves upon which he brings his microscopical examinations and his hypotheses to bear, are, in the first instance, various forms of dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, albuminuria, diabetes, spermatorrhea, and the like, which are classed together as certain affections of the nervous system, the "symptoms of which are obscure, and which, if not alleviated, would develop themselves into organic degeneration, fatal diseases, or insanity." Stammering, hysteria, epilepsy, chorea, also receive their share of the author's attention. Of the whole, we would say that we regard this production as an indication that Mr. Lobb is capable of accomplishing something that may advance science, and establish his own reputation as a medical author. In the work before us he has grasped at too much. Let him confine his inquiries to one or a few of the many points touched upon in his work, and, with the talents which he evidently possesses, we believe that perseverance in the path of strict inductive science, and the avoidance of vague theorizing, will lead him to more definite and tangible results than he has yet attained, or than our readers would, on perusing his volume, be ready to accord to his researches.

ART. XIV.

Transactions of the Pathological Society of London. Vol. IX. Including the Report of the Proceedings of the Session 1857-8.-London, 1858. pp. 483.

THE present volume of 'Transactions of the Pathological Society,' while it presents us with a larger amount of matter than any of its predecessors, does not yield to any of them in the value of the information which it imparts. The arrangement continues the same, and the Society still pursues the excellent system of submitting specimens of special interest to the scrutiny of members, who are required to report thereon. We have so lately devoted much labour and considerable space to the Reports of the Pathological Society, that we are now unable to do more than to advert in terms of praise to the present volume, and to state that the profession manifest no lack of zeal in the prosecution of Pathological Science, if we may take the doings of this Society as a test.

ART. XV.-Summary of New Publications.

AMONG the works which we reserve for a fuller consideration, we would first mention the 'Hora Subsecivæ' of Dr. Brown, the librarian of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh; it is a volume that we have already perused with much gratification, and which we recommend without hesitation. Dr. M'Cormac, of Belfast, reiterates his views regarding Consumption in a letter to the Imperial Academy of Medicine; views with which we have on a former occasion expressed our general concurrence. Hysterical Affections find an exponent in Mr. Tate, whose main treatment of these disorders consists in rubbing tartar emetic ointment over the spine. The Urinary Organs, and the Derangements of the Urine, are respectively treated by Dr. Morland, of the United States, and by Dr. Hassall, of London; to both we shall probably shortly revert. From North America, we have also received an essay by Dr. Dunglison, on the Deaf and Dumb,' and 'Illustrations of Typhus Fever in Great Britain,' by Dr. Upham. Both these treatises contain proof of independent research, and deserve attention. Dr. Graily Hewitt presents us with a paper on the 'Nature and Causes of Vesicular Emphysema in Early Childhood.' The description of a new chalybeate comes to us from Wales, where, it appears from Dr. A. Wynn Williams' account, that King Arthur's Well, near Carnarvon, is rivalling the German Spas.

In Surgery, we would first mention the continuation of Mr. Maclise's important work on 'Dislocations.' A much enlarged second edition has appeared of Mr. Henry Thompson's Pathology and Treatment of Stricture of the Urethra,' and a second edition has also been published of Mr. Skey's 'Principles and Practice of Operative Surgery.' The 'Radical Cure of Inguinal Hernia, by the Modern Operations of Wutzer' (not Wützer) and Wood, is strongly urged by Mr. Holthouse, in a well written pamphlet, in which the whole subject receives full attention, and which well merits perusal. The Lettsomian Lectures on

Syphilis, which were delivered before the Medical Society of London during the year that has just elapsed, by Mr. De Méric, and which at the time were published in the Lancet,' have been reprinted separately. We reserve their consideration until the appearance of Mr. De Méric's larger work on Venereal Diseases, which he tells us he is now completing. Three numbers of a German Odontological Journal, Der Zahnarzt,' may be mentioned; together with a continuation of Dr. Schauenburg's Series of Medical Manuals, in the shape of a work by himself on Eye Surgery.' Ophthalmic Surgery also receives a large contribution from Mr. Nunneley. It is also our duty to advert to the continuance of the Ophthalmic Hospital Reports,' of which the fourth number is before us, and which does not yield in interest to its predecessors. Doctors Sinclair and Johnston present us with a work entitled Practical Midwifery, comprising an Account of 13,748 Deliveries which occurred in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, during a period of Seven Years, commencing November, 1847.'

Passing from the Medico-Chirurgical Departments to Physiology, we introduce to our readers the Outlines of that science by Dr. John Hughes Bennett, of Edinburgh, embracing the Functions of the Ultimate Tissues and Organs of the Body in Health and Disease." Mr. Rainey has published a little illustrated work on the Formation of the Shells and Bone of Animals,' the greater part of which has appeared in this Review, and in the Microscopical Journal.' We may refer our readers to the October number for 1857, for the leading features of Mr. Rainey's observations and arguments. From France we have received Dr. Lucien Corvisart's essay on the 'Digestion of Nitrogenized Food by the Pancreatic Fluid, based upon original Experiments.'

In Chemical Science, a new well got-up manual has reached us, the authorship of which is shared by Messrs. Northcote and Church, and which aims to be a complete and systematic Guide to Qualitative Analysis. A volume by Dr. Watson, on the 'Food Grains of India,' which promises to be of great interest and value, is heralded by the appearance of an introductory Chapter on the Development of the Resources of India,' which we hope soon to see followed by the body of the work.

A Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Army, by a non-Commissioner, examines into the Report of the late Royal Commission on the same subject, and professes to point out various errors into which the Commissioners have fallen. We have to advert to a laborious Report on the Health and Mortality of the Navy, in the year 1856, by Dr. Alexander Bryson. It is drawn up from the Returns lodged with the Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy, and forms a Blue-book, printed by order of the House of Commons. Finally, we wish to draw special attention to the appearance of the sixth number of Dr. Mayne's valuable Expository Dictionary of Terms belonging to Medicine and General Science,' which brings us to the beginning of letter R.

189

PART THIRD.

Original Communications.

ART. I.

The Laws of Organic Form. By HERBERT SPENCER.

THE last number of the 'Medico-Chirurgical Review' adds another to the frequent illustrations of community of thought independently Those who read both, must have perarising in different observers. ceived between Mr. Hinton's interesting paper on "Physical Morphology," and the last two pages of the critique on Owen's "Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton," a manifest kinship; not only in the rejection of the hypothesis of ideal types, but in the ascription of organic forms to the action of incident forces. This kinship would have been yet clearer had not the limits confined me to the most general statement. The theory of vertebral modification briefly indicated in the above mentioned critique, forms part of a much wider theory of animal and vegetable structure which I have for some years been developing-partly stated in already published writings, partly only remotely implied in them. In two essays on "Transcendental Physiology," and "Progress: its Law and Cause," I have aimed to show that the changes undergone in the evolution of a homogeneous germ into a heterogeneous organism, are interpretable as consequences of two universal dynamic laws:-1. That every homogeneous aggregation is in unstable equilibrium, because its different parts are differently exposed to incident forces; and 2. That every force produces more than one change. In these papers I have dealt with the phenomena under their most abstract form; and have not therefore referred to any of the more special laws of force that are involved. Nor indeed, though aware that for the detailed explanation of the facts the more special laws of force have to be consulted, and among them the law of the line of least resistance, have I been conscious that the morphological phenomena which Mr. Hinton cites were capable of the interpretation But while the ideas he has enunciated are quite new he gives them. to me, I have long been familiar with the application of the law of the line of least resistance to a different class of organic phenomena-those of nervous action. At page 544 of The Principles of Psychology,' I have introduced a note respecting the probable origin of nervous con

• Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. By Herbert Spencer. London, 1858.