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We do not understand why the excessive convexity of a short-sighted eye should not be as permanent as the natural convexity of a perfect eye; the same cause that preserves this figure to the latter will equally apply to the former if owing to original conformation. Mr. B. seems also to confound the proper focal distance of the eye, with the distance at which objects can be seen; and to suppose that a concave glass gives to a short-sighted person a range of focal distance, or sphere of distinct vision of some miles. By the description of Dr. Young's simple optometer he would find that a concave glass to a short sighted person does no more than put him on a par with an unassisted perfect eye, and in both the power of accommodation to distinct vision only extends a few inches. The chapter concludes with observations on squinting and defective vision, taken chiefly from Reid's Enquiry and Jurin's Essay.

The chapter on the ear is finished with much care, and all the latter observations of anatomists are included. With regard to the external ear of fishes, asserted by Monro and denied by Scarpa, Mr. B. inclines to the latter opinion from the probable inconvenience to which an external ear would expose an animal liv ing in so dense an element as water.

"We have seen that water conveys the sound of vibrating bodies with a shock almost intolerable to the car, and with a particular and distinct sensation over the whole body. We see also that, in the greater numher of fishes, there is confessedly no external opening, the whole organ is placed under the squamous bones of the head. Yet the cartilaginous fishes, which are supposed to have an external ear, swim in the same element, and are in no essential point peculiar in their

habits. And we should receive with cau

tion the account of any peculiarity in the organ of hearing of one class of fishes, which is not common to all inhabiting the same fluid.

"Such animals as occasionally pass from the water into the air, must have a membrane capable of vibrating in the air; but, even in them, it is expanded under the common integuments, and protected by them. Were it otherwise, when the creature plunged into the water, it would be assailed with that

noise (confounding all regular sounds), of which man is sensible when he plunges under water. It appears opposite to the general law of nature, to suppose any species of fish having that simple and more delicate membrane, which is evidently intended to convey atmospheric sounds only, while, on the other hand, creatures living in the water alone, should have an organization fit, to endure the stronger vibrations of the denser fluid, and which would be useless and absurd in those existing in our atmosphere." A short account of the other organs of sense concludes the volume.

A considerable number of small plates and sketches are given to assist the reader; they are executed, some rather coarsely, others with great elegance, but all of them with clearness and accuracy. It would have been a great addition to the utility of the work, if the author had given the directions to which he is so thoroughly competent, for demonstrating the particular parts of the brain in the order of dissection, in the manner of the excellent system of dissections formerly published by the same partnership. As it is impossible for the pupil to have a just idea of these parts without the actual use of the knife, a work so full and accurate as the present will be resorted to as the guide in private dissection; and therefore we should have been glad to see the steps of the demonstration more fully pointed out, as for example, the way of inflating the veins of the pia mater, of exhibiting the septum lucidum, the communication between the ventricles, and the other niceties in the manual operations, on which so much of the clearness of demonstration depends The style is plain and easy, free from acrimonious personalities, and from the affectation of recondite learning, introduced under the guise of entertaining the reader with obsolete follies. The printing is not very correct.

On the whole we have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent elementary book, that bears the marks of much industry on the part of the author, who also shews that he thoroughly understands the subject which he describes, a point not always attended to by the numerous writers of clementary treatises.

ART. XXXIX. A Series of Engravings, explaining the Course of the Nerves. By CHARLES BELL, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

THIS collection, together with the plates on the brain, formerly published by the same author, properly accompany

the last mentioned article, and together will give the student a very tolerable idea of the nervous system, as far as books

and engravings will teach him. The execution of the present series is in the same style of soft engraving as the former, a style favourable to effect as a picture, and to the imitations of real dissection. However the plates, when very comprehensive, though finished with much care, have the defect of not being sufficiently distinct: the eye is pained to pursue even important branches in the intricacies of the thoracic and abdominal viscera, and for the sake of the picturesque effect the references are so minute, that it is with extreme difficulty that they can all

be followed when the dotted lines pro ceeding from them lead to the inner parts of the plate. These defects could hardly have been remedied but by sepa rate unshaded sketches for the references, or by using a larger scale. The latter was not in the author's plan; the former might have been introduced, at least to the most intricate.

Still they are an elegant and useful series of plates, and will be received, we doubt not, with the same approbation which has distinguished the former publications of this able anatomist.

ART. XL. JOHN GOTTLIEB WALTER's Plates of the thoracic and abdominal Nerves, reduced from the Original, and published by Order of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin; accompanied by Explanations and a Description of the Par Vagum, great Sympathetic, and Phrenic Nerves.

PROFESSOR WALTER's incomparable plates are well known by anatomists to be one of the most accurate, most complete, and altogether most perfect specimens of Neurology ever published, and fully to merit the encomium of Sommerring of being "opus consummatissimum, maximâ curâ, diligentiâ, et perspicuitate difficillinam doctrinæ nervorum partem exhibens."

They were first published in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for the year 1780, and are there executed in the most masterly style of engraving. Being now not easily procurable, Dr. Hooper has done a great service to anatomy in republishing them in a reduced form,

accompanied with the original explanations, to which he has added a short account of the par vagum, great sympa. thetic and phrenic nerve.

Dr. Hooper has also adopted the very useful plan of some of his former anatomical selections, of accompanying the fi nished plate with a variously-coloured outline sketch, to which all letters of reference are transferred, a plan which preserves the unity and clearness of the engraving, and is of most material assist ance to the reader. The plates of this collection are executed in a remarkably distinct and elegant manner, and do great credit to the artist, Mr. Kirtland.

ART. XLI. Practical Observations on the Management of Ruptures, in two Parts. Part I. New Inventions and Directions for ruptured Persons. Part II. A familiar Account of the Nature of Ruptures in both Sexes. By WILLIAM HALL TIMEREL, Esq. To which are prefixed two recommendatory Letters, by William Blair, A. M. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons; Fellow of the Medical Societies of London, Paris, and Brussels; Surgeon of the Lock Hospital and Asylum, and of the Bloomsbury Dispensary, &c. The third Edition, with Additions, illustrated by three Engravings.

THE author, a gentleman not in the profession, and long a sufferer under this complaint, has obtained the honourable distinction of the gold medal of the Society of Arts for his improvement in the construction of trusses. The most material point in the construction of this truss is a calico cushion to be worn under the pad. For this we shall give the author's words:

"I will now add the description and uses of the cushions of coarse calico, and the instructions how to form one; first observing, that calico has elastic and adhesive properties which do not exist in linen or flannel.

"Cut or tear a slip of coarse calico, about twelve inches in length, and for adults three inches in breadth; fold it into a square of a size that will project a quarter of an inch round the edges of the pad of the truss, except that end next the thigh, which should have no projection beyond the neck of the pad. The rough edges of the cu shion are worn upwards and downwards. Over the first slip many others are folded, or doubled on each other, to the thickness of about three quarters of an inch, but the thickness must be regulated by the size of the patient. When the hollow in the groin is completely filled up, and the cushion quite immoveable, it is properly formed.

"This calico cushion is to be worn under

the pad or pads of the truss; and from time to time an outer slip or two may be changed at pleasure, for the purposes of cleanliness, or restoring the cushion to a proper degree of thickness.

"This cushion, when judiciously made, even with a bad truss, if it be in a line with the aperture, will materially assist in keeping upon a reducible rupture,

"The properties of the calico cushion are, First, That it protects the spermatic cord from being injured by the hard pad of the truss; which injury, in common trusses, often produces hydrocele, inflammation of the spermatic vessels, hernia humoralis, &c.

&c.

"Secondly, By protecting the spermatic vessels from the injuries of pressure, it fulfils a desideratum never before obtained. It en

ables the patient to girt the truss round the body with such an effective degree of tight ness, that the rupture cannot descend.

Thirdly, By uniting the properties of softness and solidity, it yields to the form of the abdomen, and thus completely fills up the aperture of ring in the external oblique

abdominal muscle through which the rupture descends.

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Fourthly, It affords an additional COlumn of pressure; and the truss being tightly fastened keeps the omentum and intestines, all round and above the aperture, in a state of quietude, preventing any internal or partial descent of the bowels, &c.

"It is necessary to repeat, that this cushion, to obtain all its advantages, must be formed of separate slips folded over each other, and not of one piece of calico."

Familiar directions are given for the use of the ruptured. Beyond the precise object of this little treatise, the author's improvement, they are but trifling. He takes upon him to forbid the he once saw a rupture produced by using use of dumb bells to children, because them! He might with equal propriety forbid a boy ever to mount a horse, since many ruptures have come down when on horseback.

ART. XLII. Observations on Crural Hernia: to which is prefixed a general Account of the other Varieties of Hernia. Illustrated by Engravings. By ALEXANDER MONRO, jun. M.D. F.R.S. E. and Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the University of Edinburgh. 8vo. pp. 120.

THE title page of this work excited our particular attention. It professes to contain a series of observations (we supposed practical as well as speculative) on one of the most delicate and important points in surgical pathology; it is the first production of the professor of anatomy and surgery in the first medical school in Europe; and we are informed, by an advertisement, that it has been read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In looking at the table of contents our expectations were raised still higher, for we found twenty-five different subjects enumerated, some of them on difficult and controverted points, and all of them very interesting to practitioners. This delusion began to vanish on referring to the size of the book, as we saw all these subjects, which have filled volumes, discussed and determined in ninety-two octavo pages, with the assistance of large type, frequent spaces, and abundance of margin!! Perhaps our expectations were raised too high, for certain it is, that all our hopes of instruction and improvement have been followed by disappointment and regret. The following analysis of this work will, probably, be sufficient to satisfy our readers. To the observations on crural hernia,

which is the professed object of the book, a general account of all the varieties of hernia is prefixed. Here are strange and wonderful cases, some related at full length, others only hinted at, none of which serve to illustrate any theory, or to furnish any practical conclusion. Next follows a dull enumeration of the causes of hernia, and some general remarks on the nature of the hernial sac, on the diagnosis, prognosis, &c. At page 44, the observations on crural hernia begin; and first, an anatomical description of the crural arch is given. Mr. Gim bernat, a Spanish surgeon, first pointed out the peculiar termination of the oblique muscles, and described the formation of what he called the crural arch. He showed the propriety of attending to this structure in performing the operation for crural hernia, though his description is not very accurate or easily understood. Dr. Monro has not been more successful in his description, but he has excelled Mr. Gimbernat in his representation of the crural arch, in a drawing. The situation of the blood vessels, in respect to the hernial sac, then engages our author's attention, and some acute and pertinent remarks are made on the course of the epigastric artery.

Camper's opinion on the impossibility of dividing this artery is ably controverted, and a long passage is quoted from Rougemont's translation of Richter's treatise. We remembered to have read these sensible criticisms, which were published without a name in a northern periodical journal. There can be no There can be no doubt of the author, as, on comparing the passages, we find the remarks precisely the same, and expressed in the same clear and decided language. No allusion, however, is made to that publication. After describing Gimbernat's mode of operating, our author quotes the operation proposed by his father so far back as many years ago, which has always been recommended in his surgical lectures. With this quotation the volume terminates; but an appendix, consisting of sixteen pages, is added, which is wholly occupied with an extract from Dr. Monro's treatise on the bursa mucosa. The use of this appendix is not very evident, except it was to serve as stuffing, to make something like a book; for the practice there recommended of not dividing the hernial sac is dangerous, and often impracticable.

The merits of this first essay cannot be rated very high: it will not entitle the author to the smallest niche in the tem

ple of fame. If we consider it as an inaugural dissertation, and it resembles the generality of these first flights, it is en. titled to some praise, and may be read "haud sine fructu." There is great industry and assiduity displayed in collect. ing materials; almost every sentence can boast of its derivation from some writer or some respectable practitioner. Books and conversation appear to have furnished Dr. Monro with all the substance of his work-" ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo." We are unable to guess his reasons for choosing such a subject. The faults in his manner of treating it may be ascribed more to his situation, as an operator on the dead body, than to any want of abilities for such pursuits. We should therefore caution him not to venture again before the public on such a practical subject, where he has such slender opportunity for displaying his acquirements, and where so many things contribute to expose and aggravate his defects.

The plates connected with this work are six in number; they are very neatly engraved, apparently from very accurate drawings. The names of the artists are not mentioned, although they contribute so large a share to the merit and price of the publication: "sic vos non vobis, &c.”

ART. XLIII. The Soldier's Friend; containing familiar Instructions to the Loyal Volun teers, Yeomanry Corps, and Military Men in general, on the Preservation and Recovery of their Health. By WILLIAM BLAIR, A.M. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Medical Societies of London, Paris, and Brussels, &c.

AMONG the many publications of temporary interest, which the general arming of the nation has given rise to, the present compilation will be favourably distinguished, as containing much useful matter, selected from good and various authorities, on all the functions of the hospital surgeon, and that important part of the duties of the officer which relates to the preservation of the health of his men.

An abstract of this little compilation would be useless; the whole forms a very useful manual of health for the camp and military hospital. The chapter on diet and cookery is perhaps the best.

A few wooden cuts are added, on the tourniquet and its application, the camp. ventilator, and a spring waggon for conveying the wounded.

ART. XLIV. Anthropology, or the Natural History of Man; with a comparative View of the Structure and Functions of animated Beings in general. By WILLIAM BLAIR, A M. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Surgeon of the Lock Hospital, &c. pp.

163. 8vo.

A COPIOUS syllabus of the author's lectures on physiology, which, if well filled up, would grow into a system nearly as complete as the present state of knowledge would allow of. To conclude with eclat, Mr. Blair magnanimously attacks the renowned system of

craniognomy, devised by Dr. Gall, of Vienna, and congratulates us on our escape from a "general contamination" of materialism, a system in which there is "too little of sound philosophy for thinking men, and too little of common sense for the vulgar."

ART. XLV. Illustrations of some of the Injuries to which the lower Limbs are exposed. By CHARLES BRANDON TRYE, Member of the late Corporation of Surgeons in London, of the Royal Medical Society in Edinburgh, of the Medical Society in London, and Surgeon of the Gloucester Infirmary. 4to. pp. 37.

OBSERVATIONS of this kind made from cases actually occurring are always valuable. The author has had the opportunity of examining, in two instances, after death, the state of parts deranged by violent, but not of itself fatal, external injury: the one a dislocation of the femur, the other a fracture of the neck of the upper articulating head of the same bone, without complete dislocation. These cases are the basis of the present short publication, and have furnished seven plates of the appearances after dis

section.

It is well known to surgeons that, of these two accidents, dislocation without. fracture, though generally caused by terrible violence, producing immediate de. formity, and requiring often excessive exertion to be reduced, is less formidable than a fracture of the neck of the femur; which last is incurable, no instance being well authenticated, we believe, of a perfect cure of this calamitous injury. The diag nosis of the two is therefore important, but sometimes difficult, especially in stout, corpulent, and muscular subjects.

In the present case, the dislocation was upwards and outwards; and on account of the other injuries, which soon proved mortal, no reduction was attempted.

In two other cases which occurred to the author, the attempts at reduction were successful; and the following remarks upon this operation may interest our readers.

"The taxis or reduction of the dislocated thigh bone is often a difficult operation. I know of no mode which invariably promises success. Much must be left to the ingenuity of the surgeon, who will vary the posture of the patient, and the application of his own effort, to reduce the bone, as his judgment shall direct him in the instance before him.

"One principle, however, I think may be laid down, viz. to fix the pelvis firmly whenever extension of the limb is to be made. In a strong muscular man, whose thigh had been dislocated upwards and outwards, after fruitlessly trying other methods, the following process succeeded. He was laid prone upon a bed; a sheet was passed between his thigh, and held firmly by two assistants. I then knelt the pelvis, in order to upon keep it steady, and resist its being raised up when the extension should be made. Three men then pulled at a towel, fastened round

the thigh above the knee, and drew it in such a direction as to carry the thigh upwards, that is, in relation to the trunk, backwards. I then rested my tvo hands on the head of the bone, and pushed it downwards and forexertion of our powers in this manner, I diwards with all my strength; and after a short rected a gentleman who held the leg to twist. the toes suddenly outwards, upon which the head rushed into the acetabulum with a loud poise.

"I tried the same, and a variety of other methods, in a very muscular middle-aged woman, unsuccessfully, within six hours

after her accident. She took half a drachm night, and the next morning used the warm of Dover's powders at bed-time the succeeding bath, and was well sweated for two hours ber fore the intended time of repeating the taxis, She was laid upon a bed, on the sound side. I then pressed my left hand against the head of the bone, one of my knees against its body, a little higher than the middle, and with the leg was supported by an assistant, the knee other hand I drew her knee outwards. The bent to a right angle. Three persons made steady the pelvis by holding a sheet passed be tween the thighs, and three others made the extension. In this manner our strength was exerted for some time, and I plainly felt the head of the bone move, but the reduction was not completed. We renewed our attempts in the same manner, except that a gentleman, who became one of the extenders, placed his foot firmly against the arch of the increased his power of extension, and, at the pubis (properly defended) and thereby both same time, rendered the pelvis more steady and fixed. The force being continued for some time, and my hands and knee being applied in the manner already described, I directed the assistant, who supported the bent leg, suddenly to carry the internal ancle towards the other leg, and to twist the toes outwards, and then the head slipped into the acetabulum. The day on which the accident took place there was uncommon rigidity and hardness of the muscles; but after the operation of the sudorific and the bath, the tension and resistance were greatly diminished."

A good case is added of compound luxation of the tarsus, in which, as the bones could not be returned, and there was no alternative but amputation, or removing the protruded bone; the latter was adopted, and the astragalus was entirely taken out.

The patient recovered, and was able to walk, in six months, with the assistance, however, of a stick, a jointed' iron from the hip, and a high shoe. The

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