of the ligature, which may be protracted by other causes. . . In his experiments upon this subject, Mr. Travers has proved the removal of a ligature, within even a few hours of the operation for applying it, may be effected with safety, and the entire obliteration of the vessel secured. But as a general rule, it is better, because safer, to leave the ligature to come away by itself." (p. 237.) With this opinion we cordially agree. One remarkable case has been published in which, after a temporary ligature applied in the way above mentioned, gangrene of the foot speedily followed its removal. This curious phenomenon can probably only be accounted for on the supposition that the period during which the artery was compressed was not sufficient to allow the coagula fully to form, and that when the current was re-established, the semi-coagulated blood was carried into the distal arteries and stagnated in their capillaries. It is not unimportant also to notice in connexion with this subject, that in several cases where compression for the cure of aneurism has been used, and subsequently relaxed, mortification, commencing in the distal extremity of the limb, has followed. These have been, however, altogether exceptional cases, and in no way militate against the value of compres sion as an ordinary mode of treating aneurism. For the purpose of obliterating varicose veins, Mr. Skey still adheres to the old plan of destroying a portion of the skin over the vein with caustic. It is painful and tedious, and is now very generally supplanted by the simpler plan of the prolonged compression of the vein, or the still quicker plan of subcutaneous section. Chapter XII. treats of amputations. Three forms of amputation are here described-the circular, the flap, and that which is commenced by an incision through the integuments, only forming a double flap of skin. Mr. Teale's operation is not included. Most of the observations which we should have to make on this head have already been anticipated in a review of Mr. Teale's work in a former number. We are still inclined to regard Mr. Teale's mode of amputating as superior to any of those described by Mr. Skey, but experience has proved that even this is not free (as we were at first led to suppose) from the common consequences of amputation, namely, phlebitis, secondary deposits, erysipelas, &c. While alluding to this subject, we may remark how very scanty and imperfect the descriptions of these diseases are in Mr. Skey's work. In fact, Mr. Skey professes not to have seen a case of pyæmia in his wards for the last three years. This assertion contrasts strangely with the experience of other surgeons. In a little work recently published by Mr. A. G. Sansom,* tables of mortality are given, derived from various sources, showing the percentage of those who die after different operations. In one of these tables, No. VI., no less than one-fourth of the cases of primary amputation of the leg are reported to have died from pyæmia alone. We are, then, at a loss to account for the fact of Mr. Skey's not having witnessed this disease for so long a period. We are unable to follow Mr. Skey through the other chapters of his The Mortality after Operations of Amputation of the Extremities. By A. E. Sansom. Prize Essay. London, 1859. work, every part of which contains original observations and interesting remarks. Although the work does not, as a whole, represent English surgery of the present day, we are of opinion that the independence of thought and research which characterize it, give it a peculiar merit, and justify our recommending it to every earnest student of his profession. ART. II.-Selections from favourite Prescriptions of Living American Practitioners. By HORACE GREEN, M.D., LL.D., President of the --Faculty, and Emeritus Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the New York Medical College, &c.-New York, 1858. pp. 206. OUR readers are familiar with the name of Dr. Horace Green as the great promoter of the local treatment of morbid conditions of the fauces and air-passages. In the above work he comes before us in a new capacity, and offers to present us with a picture of American practice, so far as it is capable of being illustrated by prescriptions, and the remarks that they call for. The contents of the work scarcely correspond to the title; the latter leads the reader to expect that the bulk of the prescriptions at least will be by other American practitioners than the author, whereas they form but a small portion of the volume, Dr. Green's own formulæ being those that are put prominently forward; while in the majority of cases the prescriptions of others are quoted as being "highly recommended by an intelligent and experienced practitioner" as being employed by "a physician of great experience" by an "eminent physician of New Orleans"--by a "physician of this State of large experience," and the like impersonal individualities which excite no interest and leave no impression. Of the first hundred formulæ, sixty-five appear to have emanated from the pen of Dr. Green, while to eight only of the remaining thirty-five the authors' names are appended. The prescriptions are classified according to their assumed therapeutic effect, and are distributed in fourteen chapters, as narcotics, tonics, excitants, cathartics, emetics and expectorants, astringents, diaphoretics, diuretics, antispasmodics, anthelmintics, emmenagogues, gargles and lotions, antacids and antilithics, and derivatives. The majority of the prescriptions are closely analogous to what we habitually see in this country; more so than what those might have anticipated who are acquainted with the universal Formulary by Doctors Griffith and Thomas." There are, however, two drugs which the author specially recommends, and regarding which we would therefore say a word or two, as they are not in common use in this country. One is the root of the Podophyllum peltatum, or May apple, which is regarded as a vegetable mercurial in its operation; it is prescribed in the form of an extract, or the active principle is isolated as podophyllin. The former is administered in grain doses; of the latter half a grain is given at a time. We subjoin two of the formula: See British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, Oct. 1855, p. 462. The Record of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, edited by Dr. Medlock, informs us that Podophyllin may be obtained at the General Apothecaries' Company, in Berners-street. The dose of the latter is from five to ten grains, and "may be given in all cases where mercurials are indicated." The other remedy alluded to is the Sanguinaria canadensis, which Dr. Green strongly recommends as an efficient excitant and alterative. It is ordinarily administered in doses of ten to twenty drops of a tincture (“four ounces of the root to two pints of diluted alcohol"), and is employed in catarrhal and febrile affections; an "old and experienced physician" strongly recommends the following formula in the treatment of habitual constipation: B Sanguinaria pulveris, Misce, et cum aquæ fiat massa in pilulas xxxij. dividenda, quarum capiat una mane ac nocte. (sic.) The Cimicifuga racemosa is spoken of very favourably as a remedy for chorea, and is given in the form of decoction or tincture, e.g.: B Cimicifuga racemosæ, 3j. Aquæ ferventis, Oj. al M. Ut fiat decoction. cujus sumant coch. mag. ij. ter in die. (sic.) We would willingly believe that the errors in the directions of the two last prescriptions that we have quoted are mere misprints, did not similar mistakes occur frequently throughout the work, and did they not present a contrast with the remaining letter-press, which is well got up. We have little doubt that the book is one of those which will soon come to a second edition; we trust that the hints we have ventured to give the author will not be thrown away, and especially that the contents of the work will then more closely agree with the promise held out on the title-page, and that the responsibility which attaches to a prescription will be thrown upon the physician who has communicated it to Dr. Green, a proceeding which we are sure will be more satisfactory to those who buy the book, as well as to the "Living American Practitioners." -48. ART. III-Johannes Müller: "Eine Gedächtniss Rede gehalten bei der LA AMONG the great men of the present century, Johannes Müller, the physiologist, deserves a prominent position. Possessed of the vigour and energy that prompted him to undertake important works, he was endowed with the brilliancy of conception and the power of persevering and laborious research, which lead to success. Probably no foreign physiologist has exercised so large an influence upon the growth and development of physiological studies in this country, directly by his intercourse with some of our own teachers, and indirectly by his well-known contributions to literature. His Handbook of Physiology,' which is perhaps most generally known of his many works, shows best how entirely he mastered the whole range of natural science, and with what giant industry he brought together hitherto unknown facts and solved new problems. To employ Professor Virchow's words: "He may be regarded as the representative of modern science, and in spite of the almost monastic seclusion of men of science, he has exercised an influence upon a wider sphere than upon physiology alone. He overcame the mystical and phantastic tendencies prevailing in the organic sciences; he opposed his clear judgment to all dangerous proceedings, whether sheltered under the mantle of metaphysics or of dogmatism, or whether resulting from mere caprice. He has not indeed invented, but he has established on a firm basis the exact, the true philosophical method. The school of natural science which he has called into existence recognises no uniformity of doctrine, but a uniformity of facts, and, still more, of method." In the speech delivered by Professor Virchow in the great Hall of the University of Berlin, we find a short summary of the various contributions to science which we owe to Müller. It is not to them individually that we would now direct attention this would indeed be a work of supererogation. But it behoves us to echo the feelings of deep respect and admiration for the earnest man of science, to which Professor Virchow gives utterance. The seed that he has scattered has already brought fruit largely, so that he being dead yet speaketh. He speaks, too, by his example, and encourages all zealous searchers into the secret of Nature not to be dismayed by the difficulties which she opposes to them, but to persevere unflinchingly until she yields to their solicitations. Gifted with high talents, it was still by labour and endurance that Müller achieved his victories. Neither birth, nor fortune, nor position favoured his early strivings. ་་ ART. IV.—Medicines, their Uses and Mode of Administration, including a complete Conspectus of the British Pharmacopoeias, an Account of New Remedies, and an Appendix of Formula. By J. MOORE NELIGAN, M.D., Honorary Doctor of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin; Fellow of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, &c. &c. Fifth edition.-Dublin, 1858, Ir is devoutly to be hoped that when the sixth edition of Dr. Neligan's well-known and well-appreciated work is called for, one part of the title which is given above will have to be altered, and that the learned author will be permitted to allude to the British Pharmacopoeia instead of the British Pharmacopoeias. The revision of the work rendered necessary thereby will entail a greater amount of labour than otherwise would be requisite; but we are sure that Dr. Neligan will not grudge it. 1 In the present edition we find numerous additions, as the valerianate of ammonia under the head of antispasmodics, the anhydrous sulphate of zinc among caustics, carbonic acid and amylene in the chapter on sedatives, pepsine among the special stimulants, the arseniates of iron and of soda under the head of tonics. It will thus be seen that Dr. Neligan has not been satisfied with a reprint of his previous edition, but that by incorporating most of the remedies recently introduced into practice, he has further enhanced the value of a work which the profession have unanimously placed in the first rank of medical literature. ART. V.-The History of Prostitution; its Extent, Causes, and Ejects throughout the World. (Being an Official Report to the Board of Almshouse Governors of the City of New York). By WILLIAM W. SANGER, M.D., Resident Physician, Blackwell's Island, New York City; Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; late one of the Physicians to the Marine Hospital, Quarantine, New York, &c. &c.-London and New York, 1858. pp. 685. Ir all Official Reports in the United States handle the subjects to which they refer in the manner in which, to judge by the sample before us, reports to the Board of Almshouse Governors of New York deal with any given question, Brother Jonathan must have abandoned his go-ahead system altogether; or, among other accomplishments, have acquired the secret of making time even more elastic than it has become by the aid of steam and electricity. We are accustomed to the length of the President's Message, as compared with the scanty speeches delivered by European monarchs to their assembled Houses, Chambers, or Landtags; but the variety of topics, national and international, which the President is called upon to consider, and to present to his countrymen, is an ample justification for a deviation from the routine of ancient governments. The author of the Report before us may quote Parliamentary Bluebooks as a precedent for the ample manner in which he discourses upon the subject he has chosen; but though we have often in those ponderous tomes found copious food for consideration and digestion, we have never met with that succulence and artistic display which meets us here. It is a new feature, too, to see works like the one before us published in another country than that for which it is specially intended; until at least the public press and public opinion shall have put a stamp upon the work which removes it from the category of mere reports, and shows that the arguments and facts that it contains have a wider bearing than the title alone might imply. In the volume before us, |