Hydropathists, &c. &c. for most of you admit that you do meet with occasional failures; but here is a hospital physician tells us that he never does! These Frenchmen are surely strange mortals.

9. Arsenic in Inveterate Syphilis.

A woman, who had lost the whole of her palate from syphilitic ulceration, and was in a most deplorable state of suffering, so that there seemed scarcely any chance of ultimate recovery, was put upon a course of the Arsenical solution (Fowler's): she began with three drops, and gradually raised the daily dose up to thirty.

After continuing the use of the medicine until she had taken two ounces of the solution, the amendment was truly surprising; the ulceration was arrested, and the general health rapidly improved: the power of deglutition also was almost completely restored.

In the same German Journal (Hæser's Repertorium) is reported a well-marked case of scirrhus of the mamma, where the progress of the disease seemed to be quite arrested by the internal use of the Ioduret of Arsenic in the course of six months, as much as 135 grains of this very active remedy were taken. It should be mentioned, however, that an issue was at the same time inserted in the corresponding arm-a remedy, by-the-bye, that should seldom be omitted in the treatment of all malignant formations.

(Of late, the Chlorate or Oxymuriate of Potass has been tried, by many of the hospital surgeons in this Metropolis, in cases of lupus, unhealthy ulcerations, &c. with very decided benefit-the dose from five to ten or twenty grains three times a day).

10. The Use of Tea.

A French Journalist thus learnedly writes :-" The difference in the vital instincts of different nations is remarkably exhibited by the use of this beverage (tea); for who, pray, are they which consume by far the greatest amount of it? Certainly neither the French, nor the Italians, nor yet the Spaniards; but the English and the Dutch-two nations that are perpetually immersed in a cold, heavy and damp atmosphere, and whose inhabitants are soft and flabby in flesh, and dull and phlegmatic in character. (What say you, John Bull, to your portrait ?)

"The English and the Dutch cannot dispense with this, their favourite drink; and if they had not it, they would be obliged to have recourse to some other. (Very true; but what of that?) The use of tea certainly assists the powers of digestion, determines to the surface of the body, and proves a gentle stimulant to the whole system."

(Our wise neighbour writes as if the English and Dutch were the only people who make much use of tea. Not to mention the Americans, may we ask, do the Chinese, and all the Tartar tribes belong to the same category in point of national temperament? The would-be reasoning of the writer should, one might have thought, have led him to the very opposite conclusion; for if tea acts by being a stimulant, surely coffee is a much greater one; and therefore it should have suited a phlegmatic people best.)

11. On the Utility of Moral and Physical Pain.

Such is the title of a short work, recently published by M. Mojon of Geneva, and translated from the Italian by his friend Baron Michel. It is, says the reviewer in the Annales de la Chirurgie, a work as remarkable for the choice of its subject, as for the elevation of its sentiments, and the elegance of its language. The object of the author is to shew that pain is alike useful and necessary; and this he does, not only by most ingenious reasoning, but also by quoting the opinions of many distinguished philosopers in different ages. The testimony of

Plato, Seneca, Cicero, M. Cousin, not to mention that of many other authors, ancient as well as modern, is adduced and commented upon.

He cites numerous examples, too, from the records of history in support of his benevolent views. Altogether this little work is exceedingly well worthy a perusal, and is calculated to do good service to society.

(There is a beautiful chapter on this subject in the Student,' (a series of Essays) by Sir E. Bulwer. We remember being much pleased when we first read it; and, although that is now a good many years ago, we can recal to our mind several passages of it with no ordinary satisfaction. What concentration of thought there is in these two lines of our inimitable Shakespeare

"There is a soul of good in all things evil,

Could men observingly distil it out."

Well would it be for the present age if our authors shewed that they felt the force of such a high-toned and masculine morality. Medical men, too, might often have it in their power to soothe the bodily and mental sufferings of the sick, far more effectually than they can do by stupefying the system with opiates, if they but availed themselves of every fit opportunity of administering the consolation that such a noble reflection is so well calculated to impart. The subject of Medical Ethics is not attended to, in the present day, nearly so much as it ought to be. We know not a finer theme for a work, that might be made both interesting and instructive, than this.)

12. Entozoa in the Blood of Dogs.

MM. Gruby and Delafond recently exhibited to the Academy the blood of a dog, in which numerous living filaria were readily visible with the aid of a microscope. The size of these entozoa was about one-half or two-thirds of that of a blood-globule; their body was transparent and colourless; the anterior extremity was obtuse, while the posterior or caudal one terminated in a fine filament. The movement of these animals was very lively. When a drop of the blood was examined with the microscope, they were observed to be swimming about with a sort of undulatory motion among the globules, twisting and untwisting themselves with great vivacity. They continued alive for ten days after the blood had been drawn. They were found in the blood taken from all parts of the body, the jugular veins, the vessels of the abdomen, of the eye, &c.

The dog appeared to be in perfect health at the time. The writers say that this is the only instance in which they ever discovered the presence of these entozoary worms, although they have examined the blood of upwards of a hundred dogs at different times-some before, and others subsequently to, the present occasion.

13. Extract of Cantharides, a useful Epispastic.

M. Soubeiran has published, in a recent number of the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chemie, the formula for a blistering preparation, that is a good deal used in many parts of Germany. It is prepared by digesting with a gentle heat four parts of roughly powdered cantharides, one part of concentrated pyroligneous acid, and sixteen parts of alcohol, filtering the mixture, and slowly evaporating the fluid. The product has a buttery consistence; and, if smeared on a piece of paper, and thus applied to the skin, will be found to raise a blister in a short space of time. The consistence of this preparation, and more especially the presence of the acetic acid, suffice to prevent the cantharadine from crystallizing -a result which always takes place with the etherial extract, and constitutes a great objection to its use.

14. Profanity of a French Medical Journal.

While we denounce the ribald tone of some of the articles in the Examinateur

Medicale, conducted by MM. Dechambre and Mercier, we must do justice to the rest of the medical press in Paris, by acknowledging that we have never met with any thing in their pages calculated to give offence to the scruples of the most fastidious. In the Number of the Examinateur for the 1st of February last, the feuilleton article is headed, "the Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of Man in another World." The writer, in a spirit of very profane levity, seeks to amuse his readers by quoting extracts from the Bible itself, but chiefly from the writings of some of the early Fathers of the Church, to shew that our bodies shall rise from the grave nearly in the condition in which they were when committed to the earth, with all their infirmities, and defects about them. We regret to say that many of the passages of the article are quite worthy of a countryman of Voltaire. The following is the closing paragraph; it is far less objectionable than much that precedes it; but it will suffice to convince our readers that we do not condemn unjustly. "In fine, it may be seen, by what we have said above, that all the elect will arise at the latter day in a state of perfect development, with their distinctive sex, and entirely exempt from all desires, diseases and deformities. And as it cannot for a moment enter into our thoughts that any of our dear confreres, to whom these lines are especially addressed, shall form part of the bad grain, this result of our pious investigations has filled our heart with an indescribable satisfaction; for, whatever other people may say, one is always well pleased to know' qu'on fera bonne figure pendant l'eternité.""

As a set-off to this unfavourable specimen, we shall select a short passage from M. Serres' recent work on Transcendental Anatomy.

15. The Harmony of Design throughout Creation.

"Every thing is great, every thing is admirable in Nature; what may appear in it irregular and imperfect implies regularity and perfection; and order is maintained even in the midst of seeming disorder. But the human mind, accustomed to study the phenomena of life in the higher animals only, has formed to itself an absolute, and therefore very imperfect, idea of creation. Whatever does not attain to or passes beyond our conventional types, and whatever deviates from the most generally received arrangements, is often at once declared to be an infraction of the laws which we had supposed to exist, and, as such, it is sometimes rejected from the domain alike of Nature and of science. Hence has arisen a great deal of that ignorant presumption which has been displayed on the subjects of what have been called Organic Anomalies or Monstrosities, and which, at different times, has vainly attempted to restrict animal life and animal functions within certain limits that we imagined ought to exist.

We have seen that Aristotle fancied that the existence of a heart was essential to animal life. Galen bewildered himself amid the labyrinth of final causes, and boldly declared that many things were utterly impossible in Nature, merely because (the causes) were not apparent. Even Haller, in his old age, fell into the extravagance of admitting the existence of functions without the presence of organs; and it has been only within the last few years that organic anomalies have not been rejected with abhorrence from the field of physiology. All this appears to us very absurd now; and yet not a few physiologists, even in the present day, do not persist the less in the adoption of similar ideas. Thus it is that, because we think that we understand the plan on which the higher tribes of animals have been formed, we immediately declare that whatever deviates from this plan and is at variance with our established notions, must be at once rejected and placed in another category.”

Clinical Review.

CLINICAL LECTURES ON THE THEORY AND MEDICAL TREATMENT OF INSANITY. BY ALEXANDER JOHN SUTHERLAND, M.D.

These excellent Lectures, which were delivered at St. Luke's Hospital, in the early part of May, are published in the Medical Gazette. We shall select a few points for extract.

Hallucinations and Illusions.-These terms have often been misunderstood. Hallucination is a creation from within, illusion is a mistake from without: the mirage is an example of an illusion which the thirsty traveller of the desert is taught to correct. Supposed visions are examples of hallucinations; both the one and the other are compatible with perfect sanity; for example, our Saxon ancestors believed that they were pursued by the fauns, forest-fiends, &c., which haunted the abodes of their fathers in the wilds of Germany. We call this superstition, not insanity. Visions of imagination have also appeared to all classes of persons; young and old, saints and sinners. Such examples are often met with in cases of aberration of intellect; the nerves of hearing and of sight are most commonly the seat of injury; commands issuing from supernatural voices, warnings from deceased friends, persecutions from ideal enemies, visions of angels or of devils, frequently embarrass the bewildered imagination; the nerves of touch are certainly less commonly found disordered than the rest. In some cases, hallucination of one sense, and illusion of another exist together.

Examples of hallucination of smell are not very uncommon, especially in the case of those who imagine that they suffer the tortures of the condemned; these delusions, also, often accompany alterations of the nerve of taste. False perception of taste, unconnected with a foul tongue, and derangement of the stomach and bowels, are rare. A patient imagined she had murdered a child; she refused her food because she thought it was the flesh of the victim she had slain, and would not drink, because every thing she swallowed tasted, she said, like human blood. The tongue was not loaded, the bowels were not costive; the false perception, therefore, must be accounted for either by supposing, with Esquirol, that it was created by the imagination, or by concluding, with Foville, that it was due to disease at the origin of the nerve in the brain, not to its termination in the mouth.

Hallucinations of the Nerves of Touch are the most rarely met with under this head the following instances may be placed.

A young officer imagined that by touching people, he had the power of magnetizing and attracting them. Another patient imagined that her head had been cut off, and that it was rolling about the room like a ball. The story of the turned head, so well told by the able author of the " Diary of a Physician," is not mere fiction. Dr. Sutherland has met with cases very similar to it. One man thought that his head was set on the wrong way, (as the poor person who was saved from the guillotine). A patient, now in St. Luke's, fancies that all her bones are turned round.

Illusions from Morbid Impressions on the Nerves.-Many examples of these are given. It is remarkable how readily the patient seizes upon some slight impression upon any of the senses, and converts it into something connected with his delusion. Dr. Sutherland happened to prescribe the compound galbanum pill No. LXXVIII. M M

for an old sportsman, who was labouring under insanity with hypochondriasis: he thought, from the smell of the assafoetida, that he had been metamorphosed into a fox, and that he was to be turned out the next morning before the hounds. A gentleman, labouring under a religious delusion happened one evening to be in a large room lighted up by a single lamp, which occasioned a flickering light to appear on the cieling. The gentleman immediately declared that the roof had opened, and that St. John, surrounded by a halo of glory, was bidding him be of good cheer. An Irishwoman in St. Luke's, a short time ago, after listening to the sounds of the clock for some time, stopped it because she thought it was calling her names.

Dr. Sutherland remarks, that it is of great importance in practice to attend to these altered perceptions; if you set them down as the mere effects of imagination, and do not stop to inquire whence they arise, and what is the probable cause of their existence, you will undoubtedly treat the disease very badly; and your attention may at last be called to the symptom when medicine is of no avail. "Patients either with or without the sensation of pain about the præcordia, imagine that they are possessed with devils, or have live animals in their stomach: I recommend you never to overlook such symptoms. Some madmen eat their food voraciously, and without even attempting to masticate it. A patient in St. Luke's, who was in the habit of doing this, had had a severe fall upon the back part of his neck: his friends said, he never knew when he had enough to eat it is not impossible that the eighth pair of nerves might have been injured by the fall. There are those who eat their own flesh, and other matters which I need not mention here. This is always a very bad symptom. There are others who refuse food, and it has been too often the habit to order them to be fed with the stomach-pump, without taking into consideration the state of the bodily symptoms. I am confident that the majority of patients who refuse to eat, do so because there is irritation of the stomach and primæ viæ : if you order an emetic or a purgative, you will generally find this symptom disappear.

Esquirol never saw any dangerous consequences ensue in mania from obstinate refusal of food: in monomania, however, the case is otherwise: patients who have tried every other means to destroy themselves, will sometimes endeavour to starve themselves to death, and all our art is called into requisition to avoid such a catastrophe."

Capability of the Insane to bear Heat and Cold.-This, as well as the power of doing without sleep, Dr. Sutherland thinks has been over-stated. It is very true, that some patients can expose themselves to the rays of the sun, and go almost naked in the coldest winter, with impunity; but this insanity is not only the result of the abstraction of mind, it is owing also to the benumbing effect of the disease upon sensibility generally. If you do not protect these patients against extreme cold, or intense heat, you will soon find them suffering, on the one hand, from mortification of the feet, and, on the other, from repeated exacerbations of furor, which too probably will end in dementia: and if you do not take proper precaution, that your patient be soothed by refreshing sleep, the exhaustion subsequent to his long watchfulness will be a great hindrance to his

recovery.

Alterations of Motion.-The motive power may be increased or diminished in intensity. It is sometimes increased to a surprising extent during the maniacal paroxysms, and in catalepsy. In some rare cases, the patient will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but runs straight on, impelled by some irresistible impulse, till stopped either by exhaustion, or some obstacle obstructing his One of these cases, was a young lady under Dr. Sutherland's care, whose insanity was manifested, in the first instance, by her getting out of bed in her night-dress, and going in a direct line over hedges or anything which came

course.