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Great pressure of engagements prevents me, this week, fromsending you reports of cases. In the course of a few days,however, I shall, with your kind permission, trespass on yourpages, with brief abstracts from our case-books, of a consider-able number, strongly corroborating the truth of the aboveviews, and illustrative of the success of the method of treat-ment I have advocated.-I remain, Sir, -yours obliged,

Millwall, Poplar, August, 1849.

Reviews.

On the Dependence of Animal Motion on the Law of Gravity.By HENRY WIGLESWORTH, M.B. London: Bailliere. 1849.. Part 1. pup. 156.

THE preface of the author makes known his reasons for put-ting forth this work. He there observes: ‘° In the followingpages I have collected a body of evidence, which has satisfiedmy own mind, that animal motion is due to the one great lawof gravity. I give it (?) to the public, that they may considerand determine on it likewise."We have perused it, (i. e., the first part of the essay pub-

lished,)-we have considered it, but ’We can arrive at no otherdetermination than’ that Dr. ’Wiglesworth has left the mattershe discusses, undetermined.We, indeed, become almost lost in the maze in which the

author revels. Hypothesis on hypothesis is reared up by themagic wand of Imagination, with or without one solid portionof well-ascertained fact to rest upon. The foundation of allhis arguments (and many of those are illogical) is hypothetical.Let it be denied that any gaseous products are formed in -thenutrition of muscle, or in any of the nutritive or active pro-cesses of the body, and the whole superstructure of his deduc-tions falls to the ground. For the very first position Dr.Wiglesworth advances is,

" That all motion in muscle is due to the pressure of theatmosphere on the surface of the muscle, a vacuum havingbeen previously formed within it by the,union and condensa-tion of gases."

,

And in supporting this notion, he adopts a prevalent hypo-thesis, that the development of the contractile force in muscleis in some way dependent upon the chemical change whichseems to be so essential a condition of it. He then assumes

- "That urea is not directly formed by muscular action, butthat the first chemical change is the production of ammonia,which substance is presented to carbonic acid in such a formas to produce urea and water, rather than the usual compoundcarbonate of ammonia."

He next goes on to say, that carbonic acid and ammoniaare the invariable products of muscular action, and both re-markable in that their vapours, when united, are condensedinto half their bulk.

’"Ammonia contains more volumes-viz., six of hydrogenand two of nitrogen, which, on union taking place, are eon-densed into four volumes. Now carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,and nitrogen,-the elements of muscle,-on uniting, occupyhalf the space they previously did. Hence it follows, that ifthese substances are formed during muscular action, as soundevidence proves them to be, a vacuum must necessarily beformed also, unless the muscle is capable of diminishing insize, and filling the space occupied by the elements beforetheir union."

This impending diminution in size from the union and con-densation of gases, which, the author conceives, is the neces-sary consequence of its chemical changes, is designated "thevacuous state;" and this vacuous state is presumed to takeplace in the ultimate cells—i. e., the sarcous particles of

muscle, and the simple pressure of the atmosphere upon amuscle in a vacuous state, to afford the correct explanation ofthe ’vital-force" of contractility.Such reasoning is, to our mind, supra-hypothetical; a similar

train runs throughout the volume. Whether it be the phe-nomena of muscular or of nervous force, of nutrition or oi

secretion, to be explained, the formation of a vacuum in the

cells of the active tissues is the primary force, the pressure ofthe atmosphere the consequent and secondary one.

In those instances where the tubular or cellular structureis deficient, the difficulty is got over by supposing it. Thus,in the case of unstriped muscular tissue, the fibres are assumedto be hollow; in that of the non-tubular or gelatinous nervetissue, those filaments commonly regarded as.actually nerve-cords are denied that property, and considered, with someGet man writers, merely as fibrous tissue, the tubular fibres metwith in the sympathetic system being alone deemed as agentsin the transmission of nervous power. Again, to- explain thenervous force, the nerves are described as filled with a fluid,which transmits pressure exerted at one end of the nerve-tubes to the other, according to the law of hydrostatic pressure.In the process of nutrition, the formation of vacuous cells

is the active agent; but we are, at the same time, to admitthe. existence of pores in those cells, and the passage of exactlyproportioned particles of definite figures through those pores,in order to account for the selective power of the severaltissues. Similar pores, and similarly adapted particles, arelikewise assumed in secreting cells, which are nevertheless tobe rendered vacuous.We cannot now follow the author further; he has not con-

vinced us, even to a-remote probability, of the correctness ofhis physiological notions; his course of argument is frequentlyspecious, but not sound, and’his assumptions are too startlingto be received, even if it could be always predicated of themthat their ultimate basis is laid in fact.But in this, Dr. Wiglesworth has, in our judgment, suc-

ceeded, that he has shown the inapplicability of mere mecha-nical force to the interpretation of the phenomena of life.To so apply it is indeed no novel attempt; some of the mostbrilliant minds of past centuries have endeavoured to explainwhat we must yet call the vital functions, by mathematicaland mechanical formulæ, but without any satisfactory result.Descartes and his disciples contrived diagrams to illustratethe arrangement of the pre-supposed particles of the body invarious bodily functions, and with much ingenuity; but suchingenuity was misused, as it was, also, in the case of the extra-vagant problems of the schoolmen of the middle ages.We would rather go with Professor W. Alison in the belief

of the existence of vital forces and affinities, the latter ofwhich, we think, he has rendered not improbable in his ex-amination of the phenomena of nutrition and secretion, in hisessays published in the Transactions of the Royal Society 6fEdinburgh. Dr. Wiglesworth, we would observe, in conclusion,has had no recourse to the teachings of comparative anatomyandphysiology, to which, however, if he had appealed,-we be-lieve he would have found his hypothesis untenable.Those of our readers who find gratification in diving into

the profounder depths of biological speculations regarding thehidden springs of life, and have no objection to follow thewindings of imagination let almost loose, may consult thisessay without fear of disappointment, and with advantage, too,if the judgment be brought to weigh facts against theory.

Foreign Department.Benefit of a Multitude of Counsellors.

M. GossELIN, surgeon to the Foundling Hospital, presentedto the Surgical Society of Paris, on the 28th of June, 1849, awoman, -sixty-nine years of age, with a tumour covering the

. velum palati and the left tonsil. It had been growing forabout eighteen months, and is of the size of a hen’s egg; it is

, elastic, and no pulsation can be felt in it. M. Gosselin’s’

diagnosis pointed to the cancerous nature of the tumour, but hehad brought the patient before the Society in order to elicit

, a dieussion both on the diagnosis and the best mode of operat-ing. We shall not enter into a detail of the various opinionspropounded, but will merely point out the judiciousness of the

,

course adopted by the French surgeon, and would be glad tosee his example followed in this country. A vast deal of in-

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forest would be created in the medical and surgical societies age. He first studiedfor the church, but suddenly enlisted,of our metropolis, if, when feasible, patients were, previous to and, by his good conduct, obtained the rank of sergeant.a course of treatment being adopted, and with their own When young, he was rather of a sullen and melancholy dis-consent, brought before these societies. We cannot but think position, but nothing positively pointing to derangement wasthat both the fellows and the patients would benefit by such then observed. His hideous propensities appeared only ina course.

____ February, 1847, when they were excited by the sight of a. , ..

grave left unfilled- after interment, the diggers having beenExcision) of the Knee joint. compelled to desist by a heavy shower of rain. He then

The meetingof the Societe de Chirurgie of Paris, on the struck the corpse, which he had exhumed with the tools left by25th of July last, was entirely occupied by a controversy the grave, with the utmost fury; and being interrupted, fledwhich calls to mind the- still pending differences in this to a neighbouring wood, where, according to him, he, remainedcountry- regarding- the excision, of the head of the femur. M. for three hours in a state of perfect insensibility, after havingMAISONNEUVE, Surgeon to the Hopital Cochin, had in his wards been most violently excited., ,..,

a.young man aged nineteen, affected with white swelling.of From this time.to_ the 15th of March, 1849, this wretchedthe knee. He first thought of amputating the thigh, but sub. man desecrated burying-places eight or ten times, both bysequently resolved to take up again an operation long day and night, regardless of the severity of the weather, theabandoned in France, and severely condemned by M. Vel- daugers he was encountering on the part of the keepers, andpeau. One favourable circumstance was the fact of the dis- the difliculties he had to surmount. By the aid of his smallease having begun in the soft parts, and the affection of the sword he-msed to- raise eight or ten corpses in a single night;bones being merely consecutive. Two semi-lunar incisions and he adds that he opened many graves, and refilled themwere made above and below the patella, in such a manner again, with no assistance but his hanos. He had not the

that their concavities were opposed to each other, and their courage of telling the whole truth in his written declaration;extremities in-contact. After a careful dissection, the patella but he confessed to his medical attendant, M.Marcbal,(dewas removed, and by dividing the lateral and crucial ligaments, Calvi,) the most repulsive- part of this awful tale-viz., histhe luxation of the articulation was easily effected. A little preference for the remains-of females, and his hideous pro-saw was then introduced behind the head of the tibia, and pensity of satisfying sexual desires upon them. He was

this process taken off by sawing from behind forwards. The wounded --when -getting over the- wall .of fhe cemetery of Montarticular extremity of the femur was sawn off in the same Parnasse, in Parzs, brought to the hospital, and thus was un-manner, but the fibula was- respected. The synovial mem- veiled this unheard-of train of disgusting acts.brane formed- after these- excisions a cul-de-sac behind- the The court-martial have not, taken that view of the casetriceps; this was. incised, and turned into a simple wound which at first sight would have looked the most rational; andwhich united perfectly. The operation was performed nine waiving altogether the possibility of monomania having im-days ago; the patient has done very well hitherto the limb is pelled the man to these hideous deeds, they looked upon,-thewell secured in aproper apparatus, and the wound, as well as offence as a misdemeanor, and condemned him to one year’athe bony surface, present already very favourable granula- imprisonment.tions, which may encourage the hope of a satisfactory termi- Different opinions have been given, in the medical journalsnation. M. Maisenneuve contended with great vehemence in as to which of the two kinds of mania exhibited was the firstfavour of the excision in this case, against a very warm oppo- iw existence-viz., the- destructive, or the erotic. M. Marchal,sition from the fellows of the Society. We shall not attempt the sergeant’s medical attendant, thinks the destructive pre-to sketch the discussion, the advantages and drawbacks of vailed; but M. Michea, a well-known mental - pathologist,such an operation’ being sufficiently obvious. We will not fail maintains that the second was, on the contrary, the strongesthowever, to acquaint our readers with the ultimate result of and only mania. The various circumstances mentioned bythese excisions.

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each of these gentlemen, to strengthen their respective posi-———— tions, merely rest on the prisoner’s own deelaration,; so that

Medical Remuneration in Belgium. it would appear that no very strong case can be made on either-

The tribunal of Antwerp have lately decided that the re- side. Indeed, the whole series of these shocking occurrencesmuneration of a medical man should be regulated by the re- might well be called in question, as it seems that no direct

muneration the case, by the should of regulated by by the and conclusive evidence has been brought forward besidesportance of the case, by the the station attendance, by the the man s own account. But assuming the latter as true, theproperty of the patient, and the station or skiU of the prac- existence of monomania can hardly be doubted, when we con-titioner. It is, moreover, added, that the court will exercise existence of mononania can hardly be doubted, when we therethe power of diminishing the charge of each visit, when such sider that a slightest prospect of gain, that the wish of therevisits are very numerous and that the judges, though consult- was not the slightest prospect of gain, that the wish of- visit-ing-a medical committee, do not bind themselves to abide by ing clurchyards entirely disregarded, that none the dangersthe decision of such committee. This verdict was given in the which generally accompany depravity were of the vices &c.case of a medical practitioner of Ghent who had operated on There was, besides, a melancholy disposition, a total insensi-a person of Nielfor cataract, and had paid thirty-one visits sub- Fility to the agency of physical agents, (such as cold-; rain, &-c.,)sequently to the operator. The surgeon claimed £ 400, the during the paroxysm, and an extraordinary amount of mus-court gave a verdict for £240. cular and nervous energy in the accomplishment of the acts,

..

&:c. All these considerations would tend to prove that this

.

PubZic Health. man was irresistibly impelled to such unheard-of abomina-The corporation of Ath, in Belgium, have decided that tions.

houses left uncleansed, and in an unfit state, should be forcibly This disgusting case recalls at once that form of mentalclosed, and a bill, with the words "interdicted house" fixed aberration which reigned so extensively, about a century andto the door. Brussels, Liege, and Tournay had already agreed a half ago, in the north of Europe, and known under theto act in the same manner, which to some may appear rather name of vampirism. It will be recollected that vampiressummary dealing. were suffering under a sort of nocturnal- delirium, which was

- often extended to the waking hours, during which they be--Extraordimary Madness. lieved that certain dead persons were rising from their graves

Psychological pathologists have of late been as much on the to come and draw their blood ; hence arose a desire for

alert, in France, concerning the case of a sergeant of the line, revenge, and burial-places were disgracefully desecrated.as they have been, in this country, concerning Miss Nottidge. Bertrand’s case seems the very reverse of this; for we hereThe two cases bear, however, no analogy to each other. see, not the dead rising to torment the living, but a man dis-Religious monomania is not rare; but the derangement of turbing the peace of cemeteries in the most horrible mannermind, leading to the frightful and disgusting acts of Sergeant imaginable.

______

Bertrand, is, as far as we can remember, perfectly unique in the annals of mental alienation. His mania consisted in ex- THE CHOLERA IN BRUSSELS.—La Presse Mediecale, of Brussels’huming the dead, and taking pleasure in mutilating the has published the returns of cholera cases- received in the tavttcorpses; but, shocking to relate, there was an erotic tendency hospitals of that city-viz., the Hopital Saint Pierre, and themixed up with these horrible deeds, and he took especial Hopital Saint Jean. From December, 1848, to the 25th ofdelight in raising the corpses of females, and satisfying his July, 1849, there have been in both establishments 391 cases;unnatural appetites upon their putrefying remains. 232 deaths; and III recoveries. At the onset of the diseaseFrom the trial which lately took place in Paris, before a the mortality was 64 per cent., it is now only 53. The most

court martial, and from the confession written by himself, we crowded and worst- cleansed districts of the city have had theearn that this unfortunate individual -is twenty-five- years of most cases.