are well known to produce stronglymarked nervous temperaments and great precociousness of puberty. Hence,' he adds, the women of those countries have scarcely grown out of their infancy before they become mothers. But, mark the consequence: just like those perishing flowers of a day which the ardour of a summer's sun causes to open in the morning, and in the evening to wither and die, they soon lose their fecundity, and pass rapidly from the morning of their lives towards its decline and close.' This fact is well understood by the English inhabitants of India, who all send their children to England, in order to avoid the known effects of the climate of India in the production of precocious developments; but developments too premature to be permanently compatible with vigorous health, and almost certainly inductive of an early death.'

Again the quantity of the menstrual secretion is, as might perhaps be anticipated, materially affected by the climate and habits of life.

"With respect to the influence of climate in this matter, we meet with no great discrepancies of opinion amongst practical writers; it being something more perhaps than a very general presumption that women menstruate less abundantly in hot than in more temperate regions, and somewhat more abundantly in the latter than in the coldest countries of the north. This difference is attributed to the balancing influence of the cutaneous function of perspiration. • In hot climates,' says Buffon, where the TRANSPIRATION is greater than in cold countries, the catamenial secretion is less.' Hist. Nat. de l'Homme, tom. iv. p. 491. 'In general,' Maigrier observes, Dict. Medicale, tom. xxxii. p. 386, the women of the south have their periods less abundantly than those of the north; but we may remark that those who live under the equator, as well as those who inhabit the most northern countries of the globe, have scarcely any traces of them. With respect to the former, their fluids are so volatilized by the excessive heat of their climate as to become insufficient to fur

No. XXXIV.

nish the means of a menstrual secretion; and as for the latter, the rigour of their cold is such as, by constringing all their natural filters, to produce similar results.' The author is very doubtful whether M. Maigrier, in res pect to the total absence of the men. strual function in the extreme northern latitudes, has not considerably overstated his case. Women of nervous and irritable temperaments, otherwise some, times called bilious and melancholic, menstruate abundantly, sometimes profusely; whilst, on the contrary, with those of robust and well-steadied constitutions the secretion usually appears in sparing quantity, as also in the cases of persons of feeble and cachectic health who begin to menstruate late, and who perform the function difficultly and pain. fully. Females who live in towns, and who have frequent opportunities of engaging in the public pleasures of gay and fashionable society, exposed to all the temptations incident to the possession or accessibleness of whatever means may be calculated to exalt the imagination, to inflame the passions, and, by excessive or too frequent indulgences, to abuse the appetites, are in most cases the subjects of precocious, profuse, and morbidly irregular menstrual discharges. On the rear of the same class of females, and therefore subject to the same evil results, are the idle, the unfortunates, and the dissipated in all ranks of society. All the arts,' says Gardien, ' such as music and painting, including that of design, excite vividly the imagination. Music especially, cultivated too exclusively and at too early a period, develops an extreme sensibility. It was to an imprudence of this kind that we have heard attributed the death, on the approach of puberty, of both the daughters of Grétry, the celebrated musician.' Women of naturally strong passions, all other things being equal, are said to menstruate more abundantly than those of colder temperament, and such are indifferent to the privileges of connubial life. The evacuation is moreover less abundant with the average of women who live in the country than with

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a large proportion, as we have already seen, of such as inhabit great cities and towns, not only because the atmosphere of the country is more uncontaminated and salubrious, but because also its inhabitants are usually more regularly and usefully employed, and exempt from the profligate vices of great societies. The produce of the catamenial function becomes ordinarily less abundant with advancing life; and the same thing is true, but on a smaller proportional scale, in the instance of some mothers of numerous offsprings. A first gestation has sometimes improved the character and habits of the function; but there is reason to fear that such an advantage is not generally to be calculated upon. On the contrary, it may be admitted as an axiom founded on extensive observation of the phenomena of the function, that if it be performed imperfectly, painfully, or otherwise irregularly, during the first few years of the menstruating part of a woman's life, it will continue to be so performed throughout the remainder of it."

We have already, and on more than one occasion, expressed our approbation of this work of Dr. Davis's, and have taken the liberty of pointing out what we consider to be faults. Let Dr. Davis endeavour to compress much matter into little space, not to swell little matter into monstrous bulk-let him make his style, what it is not, simple, clear, and concise and for Heaven's sake let him curtail those prolix, though valuable cases, that, in some former fasciculi, have swallowed, like Aaron's rod, all rival matter. If he follows this advice, he will render his work creditable to himself, and really useful to the profession.

L.

CHOLERA.

THE Editor of this Journal, in a tour through England and Scotland, has had his attention a good deal directed to the prevailing epidemic. He was very much struck with the influence of loca

lity in the production or extension of this mysterious malady. This influence, indeed, is so obvious, that any person, in the least conversant with medical topography, would almost immediately form a tolerably correct estimate of the extent of cholera in any town or village through which he passed. Thus, let us look at Edinburgh: The locality is very unfavourable to the production of malaria, and accordingly we find that, in the new town, there has scarcely been a case, and in the old town, the narrow wynds, where a local malaria is constantly generated, furnished ninetenths of the cases. Upon the whole, Edinburgh escaped much more fortunately than Glasgow or Paisley, whose topography is very remarkably calculated for the production of malaria. Thus, in sailing up the Clyde, we are struck with the lowand swampy grounds on the left bank of the river. The whole plain, indeed, between the Clyde and Paisley, is a flat alluvial soil, beneath the level of the river at springtides, and reminds one very much of the Scheldt, the Ganges, and other rivers, on whose banks the mysterious miasms of fever and various diseases are generated in such profusion. Liverpool, on arriving from the pure air of Cumberland and Westmoreland, assails the olfactories of the stranger in a very forcible manner. This second city of England is almost as malodorous as Rome or Naples in the dog-days! The aspect of the inhabitants, especially of the lower orders, is singularly unhealthy

and, altogether, one would predicate that this town would suffer severely from any epidemic connected with malaria.

Oxford is situated in a locality that is far from being an eligible one in this respect. The town is built on a flat, much lower than the surrounding country, and so intersected with canals, some fluent, others stagnant, that one would conclude that a colony of Dutchmen had settled here, and introduced the topographical features of Walcheren or Beveland into Oxfordshire. The cholera has here carried off 80 or 100 people. These are merely specimens, which correspond very closely with the general descriptions of those places

Let us look to some localities of a different description. Edinburgh has been instanced. The towns of Cheltenham, Leamington, Malvern, Warwick, Buxton, Matlock, &c. have remained totally free from cholera, and no places could present a greater contrast in medical topography, to those places already enumerated as malarious, than these last-mentioned towns. Cholera was brought, indeed, to Malvern, but the disease died with those who brought it there. It will be very surprising if Malvern suffers to any considerable extent. It is the very reverse of Gloucester, where the malady has committed considerable ravages.

Although cholera has now assailed a certain number of the respectable classes of society, both in town and country, yet, upon minute enquiry, there has generally been some local cause, or some error in diet, to excite the disease into activity. But when we consider how powerful the miasm of cholera has been in some places, we cannot wonder that the malady has assailed men in all ranks of society.

The eccentric manner in which the epidemic has pursued its course, or rather started from time to time into existence, is as remarkable in this as in other countries. Thus lunatic asylums were supposed to exempt their unfortunate inmates from the contagion of cholera; but this has proved an error. At the Bethnal Green Lunatic Establishment, and also at the "WHITE HOUSE," upwards of an hundred cases have occurred, and proved very satisfactorily the spontaneous origin of cholera under a general epidemic influence. The two establishments mentioned, though adjoining, are completely separate, as to officers, attendants, &c. The first case that occurred in the "Red House" was a woman who had been long confined within the walls, and where all trace of contagion was impossible to be discovered. The medical superintendant of the White House" appears to have taken "prudent precautions," by cutting off communication with the red mansion, and even the windows that

blocked up! But yet the cholera got into the White House. None of the. medical men, nurses, burier of the dead, however, contracted the disease. It is curious that, during severe attacks of the epidemic among the lunatics, reason was restored-at least so our contemporary, the Medical and Surgical Journal, avers.

We may state here, on the authority of Sir William Burnett, that cholera suddenly broke out in the lunatic wing of Haslar Hospital, without any source of contagion, and as suddenly stopped in the midst of its progress, without being communicated to nurses, attendants, or others in the hospital.

The result of our observations, both in England and Scotland, confirms the fact that diarrhoea is the precursor, or rather the first stage of the epidemic. In nineteen out of twenty cases this is the beginning and end of the diseaseand where early attended to, the complaint is easily managed. When collapse is allowed to occur, the great majority will die under any mode of treatment, for the fluid parts of the blood are drained off, and organic lesions take place in the brain and nervous system, which render a fever indispensable, and too often fatal.

In the course of our observations and enquiries, we have found that cold drink given almost ad libitum, and small doses of calomel given at very short intervals, have been the most effectual treatment in arresting the vomiting and determining the blood to the surface. This is no new practice, either in this or in other countries. Aræteus and many of the ancients have recommended cold drink-and at Vienna, many months ago, the practice was carried to a considerable extent, and, it is said, with much success,-See Dr. Gilkrest's Letter in the Times.

Before concluding these hasty notices we may remark, that Dr. Mackintosh of Edinburgh, appears to have carried on his pathological investigations in the cholera hospital there with unprecedented zeal and talent. We have had an opportunity of inspecting that gentleman's pathological museum, and we

hope Dr. M. will favour the profession with the results of his indefatigable labours. The changes of structure observed after death are most extraordinary. The par vagum, in particular, has been found to present remarkable lesions, its neurilema being injected, and its substance bulged out into ganglia. The brain, the spinal marrow, the heart, the arteries, the internal coats of the intestines, have all presented phenomena of the most marked and peculiar character, which are multiplied and illustrated by the most beautiful preparations in Dr. Mackintosh's museum. We will not attempt to anticipate the well-earned fruits of that gentleman's labours, as we have no doubt he will soon make them available to the world.

fice diligentissimè cerâ expressæ sunt. Hujus speciminis descriptionem inveuies in Wmi. Otto libro.

2. Ligamenta glottidis.

3. Nervi superficiales ac arteriæ faciei et cervicis.

Mr. Schloss also shortly expects models of fungus hæmatodes of the liver and testis, and of osteo-sarcoma of the lower jaw.

With respect to the models which we have seen, we can only say that they are beautifully and accurately executed; that of the nerves of the face is almost above praise. Those who have had any dealings with Mr. Schloss must feel that his politeness and attention furnish an additional claim on their consideration, and we must say that we think this enterprising foreigner worthy of British patronage.

LI.

MR. SCHLOSS'S ANATOMICAL MODELS.

We have, on former occasions, spoken highly of the wax models of healthy and of morbid structures imported by Mr. Schloss, the German bookseller in St. Martin's Lane. We are glad to perceive that Mr. S. meets with some encouragement, and we should feel pleased if he met with more. Such models are unavoidably too expensive for private individuals to purchase, but they certainly should form an integral portion of the cabinets of medical schools and of medical institutions. We have no hesitation in saying that they are indispensably requisite for both. Mr. Schloss has induced the Lords of the Treasury to remit the duty on such anatomical models as are imported for public establishments, and they may, consequently, be now obtained at a reduction of 25 per cent, an important consideration. We have just inspected some models recently arrived; they are as follows.

1. Fæminæ Hottentottæ partes obscenæ, cum membranaceo illo rimæ tegumento longè famoso. In museo Regis Kratislaviensi servantur et ab arti

LII.

DR. ARNOTT'S HYDROSTATIC BED.

We had seen this bed in use in St. George's Hospital, and were curious to find a description of it, when we lighted on one in the Lancet, for Sept. 15th of the present year. The account is said to be abridged from the 5th edition of Dr. Arnott's Elements of Physics, now in the press. We hasten to present it abridged, or rather curtailed, still further to our readers. We need not inform them how difficult it is, in many cases of long illness, to prevent the formation of sloughs on the hips or nates, in consequence of the pressure to which they are subjected, nor that, when such sloughs are formed, they too frequently contribute to the patient's destruction. In such a case, where Earle's bed and other means had failed in preventing, and, when established, in checking such sores, Dr. Arnott conceived the ingenious idea of applying water to the purposes of a bed.

"Under these circumstances, the idea of the hydrostatic bed occurred to me. Even the pressure of an air pillow had killed her flesh, and it was evi

dent that persons in such a condition could not be saved unless they could be supported without sensible inequality of pressure, I then reflected, that the support of water to a floating body is so uniformly diffused, that every thousandth of an inch of the inferior surface has, as it were, its own separate liquid pillar, and no one part bears the load of its neighbour, and that the patient might be laid upon the surface of a bath, over which a large sheet of the waterproof India-rubber cloth was previously thrown, she being rendered sufficiently buoyant by a soft mattress placed beneath her. Such a bed was immediately made. A long trough, a foot deep, was lined with metal, to make it watertight; it was about half-filled with water, and over it was thrown a sheet of the India-rubber cloth. Of this sheet the edges (touched with varnish, to prevent the water creeping round by capillary attraction) were afterwards secured in a water-tight manner all round to the top of the trough, the only entrance left being through an opening at one corner, which could be perfectly closed. Upon this dry sheet a suitable mattress was laid, constituting a bed ready to receive its pillow and bedclothes, and not distinguishable from a common bed but by its surpassing softness. The patient was laid upon it; she was instantly relieved; sweet sleep came to her; she awoke refreshed; she passed the next night much better than usual; and on the following day all the sores had assumed a healthy appearance; the healing from that time went on rapidly, and no new sloughs were formed. The down pillows were needed no

more.

In choosing the mattress, if unusual positions are required, by having different thicknesses in different parts, or by placing a bulk of folded blanket or of pillow over or under the mattress in certain situations, any desired position of the body may be easily obtained. If the water be about six inches deep, which in general will suffice, the person standing upon any part of the bed, or sitting with the knees raised, will cause the part of the mattress on which he rests, gently to touch the bottom.

On lying down, he as completely floats as if the Atlantic were under him.

This bed is a warm bed, owing to water being nearly an absolute nonconductor of heat from above downwards, and owing to its allowing no passage of cold air from below. From this last-mentioned fact, however, less of the perspiration, sensible and insensible, will be carried off by the air than in a common bed, and unless the patient can rise or be lifted daily, to allow the bed to be aired like a common bed, there will be a necessity for using some such means as the following, to prevent the condensation of perspiration on the water sheet below-an oiled silk laid over the mattress, or a blanket, to be occasionally changed, laid under it, or a set of flexible tubes of spiral wire laid under it, with their ends open to the atmosphere, to ensure a constant ventilation of the mattress; or, similarly placed, and producing the same effect, a layer of cork cut into square pieces, with spaces left between them, to serve as conduits of air. This bed in itself is as dry as a bed can be, for the Indiarubber cloth (of which bottles can be made) is quite impermeable to water, and the maker is now preparing cloth expressly for this purpose. Unlike any other bed, it allows the patient to change his position almost like a person swimming, and so affording the kind of relief which, in constrained positions, is obtained by occasional stretching. It exceedingly facilitates turning for the purpose of dressing wounds, for by raising one side of the mattress, or depressing the other, or merely by the patient's extending a limb to one side, he is gently rolled over, nearly as if he were simply suspended in water; and it is possible even to dress wounds, apply poultices, or place vessels under any part of the body, without moving the body at all; for there are some inches of yielding water under the body, and the elastic mattress may at any part be pushed down, leaving a vacant space there, without the support being lessened for the other parts. It may be made so cheaply, that even in hospitals, where economy must prevail, it may at once be adopted for many of the bed