hernia, and in the third plate we find the dissection of a femoral hernia.

This work will be of especial service to practitioners in the country, who may not always be able to procure subjects, when they wish to revive their faded recollections of surgical anatomy.

A Series of Anatomical Plates in Lithography, with References and Physiological Comments, illustrating the Structure of the different Parts of the Human Body. Edited by JONES QUAIN, M.D., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of London. Fasciculi 5, 6, 8, 9, 10.

THESE are correct as well as spirited drawings, though we cannot help regretting that Dr. Quain should have thought it expedient to publish his work in such exceedingly minute fragments. We should advise anatomical students, however, to rectify this mistake of the learned professor by their method of purchasing his book, taking it in by divisions rather than by fasciculi.

Some Observations on the Utility of Fumigating and other Baths, &c. By JONATHAN GREEN, M.R.C.S.-London, 1834. pp. 75.

12mo.

THIS little work is obviously not intended for the profession, but for the public; a fact which would justify us in omitting to notice it. But the book, small though it be, may serve as a flapper to awaken the attention of some sleepy practitioners to the unrivalled advantages derived from warm and vapour baths in many diseases,-for example, chronic rheumatism, and a host of cutaneous affections.

We cannot help observing, that, among the disadvantages attendant on writing a medical book for the profanum vulgus, is to be numbered the supposed necessity of making it, like an expurgated Shakspeare or Gibbon, "fit to be read aloud in families." Thus, Mr. Green, in bis list of people cured of syphilitic complaints," tells us of one Mr. B., whose complaint was "primary ulcerations *** occasioning destruction of parts." Next to him follows another Mr. B.. suffering from "ulceration in throat, palate, and nose,

66

All this is truly mysterious; but perhaps we may be allowed to conjecture that these stars are like the phosphorescent light playing about decayed fish, and that they indicate the dissolution of the nose to which they belong.

However, leaving the book to the persons for whom it is intended, the system is an excellent one, and we heartily wish Mr. Green and his baths every possible success.

On Dentition, and some coincident Disorders. By J. ASHBURNER, M.D.-London, 1834. 12mo. pp. 235.

THIS is a reprint, with additions, of some papers published in the Medical Gazette; and we must confess that they looked better in the close columns of our excellent contemporary than in their present form; for, though we are not among those who think that doctors or their books should come out in black, still we disapprove of a grave medical treatise looking, in externals at least, like a volume of fairy tales. However, let that

pass.

Dr. Ashburner supposes that constitutional diseases very frequently arise from irregularities in the second set of teeth: the wise teeth cannot cut their way into the world, or the incisors overlap each other, and hysteria, epilepsy, &c. are the consequences. This is Dr. Ashburner's hobby, and he rides it to death. In the last case in the book (p. 232,) a young lady, disappointed in love, became first of all hysterical, and afterwards epileptic. Here the wise teeth, the incisors, and the bicuspides, were all in fault. Our author, however, in this case, did not attempt to set the teeth to rights, but very judiciously advised marriage: the prescription was taken, and the patient recovered completely.

We should have called the general run of Dr. Ashburner's cases extremely rare ones, but he meets with them by shoals. We gave several in the COLLECTANEA of our last number, and shall therefore content ourselves with quoting one of the most remarkable.

"An eminent physician, who had practised in a large provincial city, was passing through London. I met him in Regent street, and the suddeness of my approach threw him into a state of obliviousness. He did not venture out without a companion, and the lady who was walking with him hinted that I had better call on him the next day. When I saw him again, he gave me a very clear account of the mode in which he was attacked. The fits of oblivion occurring sometimes twice in the course of the day, and being uncertain as to the periods of their accession, he was not able to trust himself out of his house without either a servant or a companion. He was at this time fifty-eight years of age, and had six years before been obliged to relinquish a lucrative practice, from occasionally not being able to recollect even the faces of his patients when they appeared before him. He went away to travel on the continent, and journeying from place to place in Italy, where the classic ground ought to have raised emotions of great delight in a healthy mind, so well educated as this gentleman's, he had constantly to regret that a fit of oblivion attacked him when he was engaged in viewing scenes which were of deep interest to his fellow

travellers. I remarked a curious arrangement of the inferior incisors when his mouth opened: there were only three in a space which ought to be occupied by four teeth. I learned that one had been removed nearly eight years before. But if one had been extracted the room was now filled up, so that a pressure from the back part of the jaw had obliterated the vacant space, and caused a complete approximation of the edges of the two incisors left apart from each other. On looking into the mouth, it was found that the last molares, above and below, had never been cut, that in the upper jaw the vis-a-tergo maxillæ had played sad havoc among the teeth: a few stumps were left, the immediate removal of which I advised. I cut away for him myself some cartilaginous obstructions to the progress of his wise teeth, which appeared, from long pressure, to have suffered in their integrity quite as much as the other teeth. He remained in London about a fortnight after, and told me that he was so much relieved of his oblivion fits as to be able to walk to my house without any want of confidence in himself: he required no companion." (P. 230.)

An Introduction to the Study of Human Anatomy. By JAMES PAXTON, M.R.C.S. &c. In Two Volumes. Vol. II.-London, 1834. 8vo. pp. 370.

THIS elementary system of anatomy will be useful to beginners, but is chiefly intended, we believe, for non-professional persons. The woodcuts, which are very numerous, will recall to the former class what they have already seen, and to the latter will often be a substitute for what they may never see. It would be absurd to give many extracts from a work of this kind, and we shall therefore content ourselves with a single one relating to a subject which, though treated of by several great writers, is not yet so familiar to every one as it ought to be; we mean muscular sensation.

"To the sensitive department of the fifth pair, and the compound spinal nerves, is assigned muscular sensation. This is the sixth sense. All our conceptions of weight and resistance, and motion in general, are derived from our muscles. The muscular system then may be considered a distinct organ of sense as well as motion; each motion of the invisible muscles is accompanied with a certain feeling, which may indeed be complex, as arising from various muscles, but which is considered by the mind as one, and it is this peculiar feeling, attending the action of the muscular fibres, which we distinguish from every other sensation. To exemplify this, I might refer to the state of the muscles in cramp of the limbs, and in rheumatic affections; in such morbid conditions their structure becomes painfully sensible. But let us call to mind the phenomenon which every one must have experienced, I mean the feeling of fatigue; this is a muscular sensation: a sensation of which the

muscles are the organs, as much so as that of the eye and the ear are the organs of sight and hearing. Every bodily effort depends on muscular contraction; and long and frequent contractions, that is, continued exercise, occasion a peculiar uneasiness which demand repose. Powerful and protracted exertions produce painful sensations to the muscular sense: a more moderate degree of exercise is attended with agreeable sensations. With a healthy state of body, there is a muscular pleasure in exertion. Thus, the child who is not playful, is not healthy. There is a muscular gratification, if I may so express myself, in every limb, in the games and pastimes of the schoolboy.

"Dr. Brown, without being aware that there was a peculiar set of nerves appropriated to muscular sensation, observes, that' nature in the other animals, whose sources of general pleasure are more limited, has converted their muscular system into an organ of delight. It is not in search of richer pasture that the horse gallops over the field, or the goat leaps from rock to rock; it is for the luxury of the exercise itself. It is this appearance of active life which spreads a charm over every little group with which the Deity animates the scenery of nature.' We may therefore consider that the muscular system is not merely the living machinery of motion, but that it is also truly an organ of sense." (P. 177.)

The Journal of Botany, being a Second Series of the Botanical Miscellany. Part I. (To be continued Quarterly.) By Wм. JACKSON HOOKER, Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow.-London, 1834. 8vo. pp. 96, and eight Plates. DR. HOOKER's name has become so identified with botanical excellence, that it is almost a sufficient recommendation of this elegant periodical to quote its title-page. The first article is an able account of the genus Floerkea of Willdenow, by Professor Lindley. He thinks that this genus must be placed among the Sanguisorbeæ, or in their neighbourhood. There is an interesting "notice concerning Mr. Drummond's collections, made in the southern and western parts of the United States." Mr. Drummond, it appears, is still in America, and we have little doubt that the researches of this enthusiastic botanist will be rewarded by a rich harvest of discoveries.

Two of the plates are especially beautiful: they are coloured representations of two new ferns, the Gymnogramma elongata, and G. flabellata.

An Essay on the Physiology of the Iris. By JOHN WALKER, Assistant Surgeon to the Manchester Eye Institution, &c.— Manchester, 1833.-8vo. pp. 16.

THIS pamphlet does credit to the talents and physiological acumen of its ingenious author. It will be sufficient to quote the last few sentences, as they contain a summary of the whole.

"Upon a review of the whole of the facts and arguments adduced, it appears to result, first, that the motions of the iris depend, not upon impressions made on the retina, but upon its own sensibility to light, as also upon its association with the muscles of the eyelids, through the medium of the lenticular ganglion: second, that these motions are for the purpose of adapting the eye to the perception of objects at different distances: third, that the iris acts also in some measure as a defence to the more internal parts of the eye, as the palpebræ do to the external, forming, in fact, an internal eyelid: fourth, that the external parts of the eye generally, as well as the iris, are sensible to the stimulus of light; and lastly, that the retina is insensible to the ordinary impressions of light, as a stimulant; but that its functions may be impaired or destroyed by the more powerful concentration of light, as from the sun's rays, the coup de soleil, or from lightning, in the same manner as the brain and other parts of the nervous system are injured or paralyzed from the like causes." (P. 16.)

The Parents' Dental Guide, &c. By Wм. IMRIE, SurgeonDentist. London, 1834. 8vo. pp. 118.

MR. IMRIE hints pretty broadly that medical men know very little about the teeth, and he is not far wrong; but whose fault is this?-The dentists': for they lock up what they know in their own bosoms, and talk as mysteriously as a patentee, or an Egyptian priest. In the present work, however, Mr. Imrie makes no attempt to clear up the doubts of us, his erring brethren, (or rather cousins, perhaps,) but confines himself to the instruction of unprofessional parents. He conducts his pupils very tolerably to the vestibule: we hope that at some future time he will lead us into the temple.

"During the last few days I have witnessed a case of affection of the nerves of the face, which illustrates this question of the sensibility to light in a very satisfactory manner. The mouth and tongue were drawn to the left side; there was diminished sensibility of the right side of the face and mouth, with loss of taste; the eyelids of the right side could not be closed, and did not wink in concert with the opposite: vision was perfect, but, on placing this eye close to a strong gas-light, no uneasiness was felt, and no attempt at winking followed. The sound eye could not bear the same light an instant. This case was also seen by my friend, Dr. Kay, who observed all these phenomena."