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consider the patient fortunate in having es-caped its poisonous effects. However, it isprobable that a considerable portion of thepreparation never entered the stomach. If

your correspondent will take the trouble torefer to Beck, or any other author on foren-sic medicine, he will find that cases of poisonare on record where less quantities of emetictartar than he prescribed to his patient hadbeen swallowed. In No. 7(j of the Edin-

burgh iUedicalantl Surgical Journal, whichperiodical it would appear your correspord-ent is in the habit of perusing, a case is re-lated where a physician by mistake swal-lowed from twenty to twenty-five grainsAnt. Tartar., and, although in combinationwith carbonate of soda, a considerable periodelapsed before he perfectly recovered from itseffects. Perhaps your correspondent willbe kind enough to explain the modus ope-randi of the remedy (?) which he employed.Injustification of this treatment he may saythat there is great morbid insensibility (ratherfortunate in his case) of the stomach ; buteven granting that, would not the effects

usually produced by the administration ofmineral poisons he likely to result in similarcases to the one he has reported ?

In conclusion I will quote the words ofDr. Copland (whose Dictionary of Practi.cal Medicine" I would particuiarly recom-mend to his notice), when speaking ofthe large doses of medicines which some-times are prescribed in this affection :-"Feats of hardihood in medicine are too

often the consequence of clinical and prac-tical ignorance, and they may be allowed tomeet their own rewards, so long as they arenot obtruded into the annals of our science,and thereby set forth to the inexperiencedas examples to be followed &c." I am, Sir,your constant reader and well-wisher,

G. BURROW.Poplar, April 27th, 1836.

G. BURROW.

SELF-CASTRATION.

THOMAS LICHFIELD.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.8m: 1 have read the remarks of you!

correspondent in THE LANCET of April 23,on the case of Morgan in St. George’s Hos-pital. I saw the man very shortly after themischief, and he was perfectly cool and col-lected, indeed he was so cool as to havewrapped up the excised parts in an old

handkerchief, and placed them in his pocket.I could scarcely credit the fact until 1 sawthe scrotum and testicles, and which at ’’onefell swoop " of the razor he had excised mostadroitly, by placing a piece of cord tightl)round near the base of the penis. He wasmuch exhausted by loss of blood and wantof nourishment, and I expected every pul-sation would have been his last. A littlebrandy and water, with occasional renewal of

the stimulus, aroused him, and I thought!better, as he was ItOuseles8, to send him aonce to the hospital. The syncope was si

great at the outset, that I had felt dispose:to allow the handkerchief which he haspressed upon the wounded parts to remainas the clotted blood effectually stopped th(mouths of the vessels, and temporanly re.strained hemorrhage. However, the paro.chial surgeon came, and, upon consideration,it was thought better to tie the vessels, and,most fortunately for the man, it was readrlyaccomplished without much loss of htood,a few more ounces lost, and the equilibriumhad been destroyed. No one couid havebeen more attentive than the parochial sur.geon (Mr. Martin), for, fearing any second.ary hemorrhage, he went up himself with theman to the hospital, and then left him safe,

It appears that Morgan had been allowedto go out on Easter Monday, and that hecame home half intoxicated. There was apatient (a young girl) in the workhouse,half idiotic, or, which is more likely, trou-

bled with nymphomania. She went intothe man’s room, and the temptation over-came him. He has beerr, however, a verytroublesome man, but it would have beenmore advisable to have dealt with him le.

gally. A man guilty of murder, in Newgateis housed and fed, and, however heiiioub thecrime, it should never be forgotten that themalefactor has a stomach, and that the gas.tric juice is an unpleasant secretion, unlessit have somewhat to act upon. If the manrecovers (and I saw him doing well on

Saturday), the operation for castration is amightily simple one. Yours very faithfully,

Twickenham, April 27, 1836.

The Physiology of Digestion, considered withrelation to the Principles of Dietetics. ByANDREW COMBE, M.D., Edinburgh,Maclachlan, 1836. London. Simpkin.pp.332.

The Physiology of Digestion, evaasidei’Pd withrelation to the Principles of Dietetics. ByANDREW COMBE, M. D., Eclinlaurgh,ANDREW COMBE, M. D., Edinburgh.Maclachlan, 1836. London. Simpkin.pp. 332.

Dr. COMBE has rightly considered thefavourable reception which his " Principlesof Physiology Applied to the Preservationof Health obtained, as a proof of good ap-petite in the reading public, whose pro-bable hunger after more food prepared bythe same hand he has therefore here at-

tempted to satisfy, according to promiseexpressed in the preface to his former sop-ply. The medical writings by which Dr.

Combe is best and most generally known,ire characterized by perspicuous views ofhe structure and functions of the body, welladapted for the comprehension of non-pro-fessional reader", and at the -same time 50

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correct in details and practical applications,that the professional reader may study themwith advantage. Precisely what he shouldhave accomplished, Dr. Combe has effectedin this work. Nothing, indeed, can makethe process of digestion easier of compre.hension, and no physiological work hithertopublished, contains a more accurate and

scientific summary of its leading doctrines.To the medical reader the second part of

the work, that which is on Dietetics, offersmost points of interest. In much of thematter it is original, and in manner alwaysso. The various difficult questions in sana-tory training, the times of eating, the properquantity of food, the kinds of food, the con-ditions to be observed before and after

eating, the drinks, and the properregulation of the abdominal organs,are discussed in separate chapters. Dis-

putable questions are wisely noticed only tobe avoided, and there is no attempt to coverignorance by dogmatism. Experience is

appealed to wherever it can bear witness tothe truth; and, where wanting, the analo-gies and language of nature are interpreted.No one can read this division of the workwithout profit,—without extending his prac.tical views, and confirming in his mind thosegeneral physiological views which should

regulate our daily dietetic proceedings.In the physiological department Dr. Beau-mont’s researches on digestion have beenanalyzed by the author, and as they are inmany respects novel, and of more import-mce than anything else recently published,we submit them to the notice of our readers.In the original work the results of the de-

tached experiments are presented in a lessdistinct form than they have assumed in thehands of Dr. Combe, and we have ourselvesalso taken care to extract and insert onlythose portions of Dr. Combe’s analysis andremarks which bear directly upon the sub-ject as an isolated topic.

" It is rarely, indeed, that we can actuallysee what is going on in a healthy stomach;but in a few instances this advantage hasbeen enjoyed, and turned to account in in-vestigating the phenomena of digestion. Byfar the most instructive example of thiskind, which has ever occurred, has latelycome under the observation of Dr. Beaumontof the American army; and, as that gentle-man eagerly embraced the opportunity sounexpectedly afforded him, of testing theprevailing doctrines by a series of experi-ments, continued during a period of several

years, and under various conditions of healthand external circumstances, it will be usefulto give a brief outline of the case.

" Dr. Beaumont, while stationed at Mi-chillimackinac in the Michigan territory in1822, in the military service of the UnitedStates, was called upon to take charge ofAlexis St. Martin, a young Canadian ofeighteen years of age, good constitution,and robust health, who was accidentallywounded by the discharge of a musket onthe 6th of June, 1822. The charge," saysDr. Beaumont, "consisting of powder and’duck-shot, was received in the left side, at.the distance of one yard from the muzzle ofthe gun. The contents entered posteriorly,and in an oblique direction, forward and in-ward ; literally blowing off integuments andmuscles to the size of a man’s hand, frac-turing and carrying away the anterior halfof the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth, lace-rating the lo2uer portion of the left lobe of thelungs, the diaphragm, and PERFORATING THESTOMACH.

" On the fifth day, sloughing took place ;lacerated portions of the lung and stomachseparated, and left a perforation into thelatter, large enough to admit the whole

length of the middle.-finger into its cavity ;and also a passage into the chest half aslarge as his fist. Violent fever and farthersloughing ensued ; and for seventeen dayseverything swallowed passed out throughthe wound, and the patient was kept alivechiefly by nourishing injections. By-and-by the fever subsided, the wound improvedin appearance, and after the fourth weekthe appetite became good, digestion regu-lar, the evacuations natural, and the healthof the system complete. The orifzce, how-ever, never closed; and at every dressing thecontents of the stomach flowed out, and itscoats frequently became everted, or pro-’truded so far as to equal in size a hen’s egg,but they were always easily returned.

" On the 6th of June, 1823, a year fromthe date of the accident, the injured partswere all sound, except the perforation intothe stomach, which was now two and a halfinches in circumference. For some monthsthereafter the food could be retained onlyby constantly wearing a compress andbandage; but early in winter, a small foldor doubling of the villous coat began to ap-pear, which gradually increased till it filledthe aperture and acted as a valve, so as com-pletely to prevent any efflux from within,but to hdmit of being easily pushed back bythe finger from without.

" Dr. Beaumont began his experimentsin May 1825, and continued them for fouror five months, St. Martin being then in

high health. In the autumn, St. Martinreturned to Canada, married, had a family,worked hard, engaged as a voyageur withthe Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, remainedthere four years, and was then engaged at

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a great expense by Dr. Beaumont to comeand reside near him on the Mississippi, forthe purpose of enabling him to completehis investigations. Ile came accordingly inAugust IS29, and remained till March 1831.He then went a second time to Canada, butreturned to Dr. Beaumont in November1832, when the experiments were once moreresumed, and continued till March 1833, atwhich time he finally left Dr. Beaumont.He now enjoys perfect health, but the orificemade by the wound remains in the samestate as in 1824.

" Dr. Beaumont describes the aperture inSt. Martin’s stomach as being situated aboutthree inches to the left of the cardia, nearthe left superior termination of the greatcurvature. When the stomach was nearlyempty, he was able to examine its cavity tothe depth of five or six inches by artificialdistention. When it was entirely empty,the stomach was always contracted on itself,and the valve generally forced through theorifice, together with a portion of the mi.-cous membrane equal in bnllc to a hen’s

egg. After sleeping for a few hours on theleft side, the protruded portion became somuch larger, as to spread over the neigh-bouring integuments five or six inches incircumference, fairly exhibiting the naturalrugæ, villous membrane, and mucous coat,lining the gastric cavity. This appearanceis almost invariably exhibited in the morn-ing before rising from bed.’ Such was thevery favourable subject on whom Dr. Beau-mont’s observations and experiments weremade, r such were the numerous oppor-tunities f.-hich he enjoyed for repeatingthem, ann verifying their accuracy. Idav-

ing given this outline, we now return to theconsideration of the gastric juice, on the

origin and qualities of which it throws muchlight.The first disputed point which is conclu-

sively settled by Dr. Beaumont is,that the gas-tricjuice does not continue to be secreted betweenMe intervals of digestion, and does not accu-mulate to be ready for acting upon the nextmeal. By inducing St. Martin to fast forsome hours, and then placing him with theopening in the left side exposed to a stronglight, so as to give a distinct view of thecavity of the stomach, Dr. Beaumont foundits only contents to consist of a little viscidand occasionally slightly acidulated mucusmixed with saliva, and in no instance did heperceive any accumulation of the propergastric juice. The same results had indeed Ibeen obtained by Tiedemann and other phy-siologists before the publication of Dr.Beaumcnt’s memoir; but the evidence of thelatter is so much more direct and incontro-vertible, that it may justly be regarded assetting the question for ever at rest.

11 Having proceeded so far, Dr. Beaumontnext endeavoured to discover at what timethe gastric ju;ce begins to be poured out, and

under what conditions ita secretion is carriedon; and here again ocular inspection affordedhim satisfactory results.

" It has already been remarked, that, onpushing back the valve which filled up theopening into the stomach, the cavity withinbecame visible to a considerable extent;andthat when St. Martin lay over for a time onthe left side, a portion of the villous coat,large enough to exhibit several inches of itssurface, generally protruded. Owing tothese circumstances, Dr. Beaumont couldeasily observe what changes occurred, bothwhen food was swallowed in the usual way,and when it was introduced at the openingleft by the wound. Accordingly, on exam-ining the surface of the villous coat with amagnifying glass, he perceived an imme.diate change of appearance ensue wheneverany aliment was brougiit into contact withit. The action of the neighbouring blood.vessels was instantly increased, and theirbranches dilated so as to admit the red bloodmuch more freely than before. The colourof the membrane consequently changedfrom a pale pink to a deeper red, the vernii-cular or worm like motions of the stomachbecame excited, and innumerable minutelucid points and very fine nervous and vas-cular papilJw could be seen arising from thevillous coat, from which distilled a pure,colourless, and slightly viscid fluid, whichcollected in drops on the very points of thepapillaa, and trickled down the sides of thestomach till it mingled with the food. Thisafterwards proved to be the secretion pe-culiar to that organ, or, in other words, thetrue gastric juice; the mucous fluid secretedby the follicles, which some have mistakenfor it, is not only more viscid, but wants al-together the acid character by which it isgenerally distinguished.

"Pursuing his experiments, Dr. Beau.mont then found that the contact not onlyof food but of any mechanical irritant, suchas the bulb of a thermometer, or other in-digestihle body, invariably gave rise to theexudation of the gastric fluid from these

vascular papilias; but that, in the lattercases, the secretion always ceased in a shorttime, as soon apparently as the organ conldascertain that the foreign body was one overwhich the gastric juice had no power. Butthe small quantity obtainable in this way isperhaps more pure and free from admixture,and therefore better adapted for examina-tion, than any which can be procured underany other circumstances.

! " Gastric juice, in its purest form, andun-mixed with any thing except the small por-tion of mucus from which it can never beobtained entirely free, is described by Dr.Beaumont to be a clear transparent fluid,without smell, slightly saltish (probablyfrom the admixture of mucus), and veryperceptibly acid. Its taste, he says, re-sembles that of thin mucilaginous water,

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slightly acidulated with muriatic acid. It is

readily diffusible in water, wine, or spirits,and effervesces slightly with alkalies-a di-rect proof of its acid nature. It coagulatesalbumen, and is powerfully antiseptic, check-ing the progress of putrefaction in- meat.When pure it will keep for many months,but when diluted with saliva it becomes fetidin a few days. According to ProfessorDungliaon, to whom some was submittedby Dr. Beaumont for analysis, it containsfree muriatic and acetic acids,-phosphatesand muriates with bases of potassa, soda,magnesia, and lime,-together with an animalmatter soluble in cold but insoluble in hotwater. Tiedemann and Gmelin, again, de-scribe it as composed principally of muriaticand acetic acids, mucu, saliva, osmazome,muriate and sulphate of soda, with little orno albumen; and, according to the samephysiologists, the proportion of acid is al-ways greatest when vegetables or othersubstances of difficult digestion constitutethe chief part of the diet. Other chemistsgive an analysis somewhat different fromeither of these; a circumstance which was,indeed, to be expected, considering not onlythe differences caused by variations of diet,but also the necessarily different degrees ofpurity of the fluid submitted to examina-tion."

" Another important principle, which Dr.Beaumont conceives to be established byhis numerous experiments, and which forceditself upon him by degrees, is, that in healththe gastric secretion always bears a direct re-lation to the quantity of aliment naturallyrequired by the system ; so that, if morethan this be taken, there will necessarily betoo small a supply of the juice for the diges-tion of the whole. The principle here laiddown is in perfect harmony with the sym-pathy which we have saen to exist betweenthe stomach and the rest of the body, andtherefore not only is highly probable initself, but, if sound, will prove a most valu-able guide in the practical regulation ofdiet."The gastric secretion, and the appear-

ance of the villous coat, undergo greatmodifications during disease, and on thissubject also Dr. Beaumont’s observationsare highly valuable; because, instead of :merely inferring, as others are obliged to

do, he enjoyed the privilege of seeing withhis eyes what was actually going on. Inthe course of his attendance on St. Martin,he found that, whenever a feverish statewas induced, whether from obstructed per-spiration, from undue excitement by stimu-lating liquors, from overloading the stomach,or from fear, anger, or other mental eino-tion depressing or disturbing the nervous :system, the villous coat became sometimesred and dry, and at other times pale andmoist, and lost altogether its smooth and

healthy appearance. As a necessary conse-’

quence, the usual secretions became yiti-aqted, impaired, or entirely suppressed; andthe follicles from which, in health, the mu-cus which protects the tender surface of thevillous coat is poured out, became flat andflaccid, and no longer yielded their usualbland secretion. The nervous and vascularpapillae, thus deprived of their defensiveshield, were then subjected to undue irrita-tion. When these diseased appearanceswere considerable, the system sympathized,and dryness of the mouth, thirst, quickenedpulse, and other symptoms showed them-selves ; and no gastric juice could be pro-cured or extracted even on the application ofthe usual stimulus of food."To enable ourselves to appreciate cor-

rectly the nature of digestion, we mustbegin by considering the conditions essen-tial for Its performance, or without which itcannot be carried on. The 1st indispensablerequisite is an adequate supply of gastricjuice, and its thorough admixture with everyparticle of thefood on which it is to operate.The 2nd is a steady temperature of about 989or 1000 Fahr.; and the 3rd is the gentle andcontinued agitation qf the alimentary massin tlte stomach while digestion is going on."To test the reality of the solvent powers

ascribed to the gastric juice, Dr. Beaumontwithdrew from St.Martin’s stomach about oneounce of it, obtained after a seventeen hours’fast, by introducing first a thermometer toinduce the secretion, and then a gum-elastictube to carry it off. Into this- quantity,placed in a vial, he introduced a piece ofboiled recently-salted beef, weighing threedrachms. He then corked the vial tightly,and immersed it in water raised to the tem-

perature of 1000, which he had previouslyascertained to be the heat of the stomachwhen the secretion was going on. In fortyminutes, digestion had distinctly commencedon the surface of the beef. In fifty minutesthe fluid became quite opake and cloudy,and the texture of the beef began to loosenand separate. In sixty minutes, chyme beganto be formed. In oiie hour and a half, themuscular fibres hung loose and unconnected,and floated about in shreds. In three hours,they had diminished about one-half. In

five hours, only a few remained undis-solved. In seven hours, the muscular tex:ture was no longer apparent; and in ninehours the solution was completed.

’

" To compare the progress of digestionin the natural way with these results, Dr.Beaumont, at the time of commencing theexperiment just described, suspended a

piece of the same beef, of equal weightand size, within the stomach by means ofa string. At the end of the first half hour,it presented the same appearances as thepiece in the vial; but when Dr. Beaumontdrew out the string at the end of an hourand a half, the beef had been completelydigested and disappeared, making a ditfer,!

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ence of result in point of. time of nearly ’also ,to discover the comparative digestibilityseven hours. In both, the solution began of different kinds of aliment, Dr. Beaumonton the surface, and agitation accelerated its gave St. Martin for dinner eight ounces ofprogress by removing the external coating recently-salted lean beef, four ounces of pot a -of chyme as fast as it was formed. toes, some bread, and four ounces of boiled

" To ascertain still more accurately the turnip)8. After fifteen minutes he withdrewdifference between natural and artificial di- a portion of the contents of the stomach,gestion (the one in and the other out of the and found that some of the meat had alreadystomach). Dr. Beaumont put twelvedrachms been slightly digested. In a second portion,of recently-salted boiled beef into a vial, with withdrawn at the end of forty-five minutes,the same number of drachms of fresh gastric fragments of the beef and bread were per-juice obtained through the opening of the ceptible, and in a still more advanced statestomach after a fast of eighteen hours; and of digestion; the meat was in small shreds,then placed it in a basin of water on a sand- soft and pulpy, and the fluid containing itbath, where he kept it at the heat of 1000 had become more opaque and gruel-like inFahr., and continued to agitate it gently. appearanc?. When two hours had elapsed,Digestion soon commenced, and progiessed a third quantity was taken out, at whichuniformly for about six hours, when it ceased. time nearly all the meat had become chymi-One half of the meat was then dissolved, and fied and changed into a reddish-brown fluid;the texture of the remainder loosened and but small pieces of vegetable rnatter now pre.tender,—resembling the same kind of ali- seizted themselves for the first time, but in ament when ejected from the stomach partly state of digestion so much less advanced thandigested some hours after a meal, as fre- the meat, that their peculiar structure wasquently seen in cases of digestion. On still distinctly visible. Some of the secondweighing the undissolved portion which re- and third portions, put into a vial and treat-remained after all action had ceased, six ed in the usual way, advanced to completedrachms and twelve grains of the beef were digestion, as in the other experiment, ex-found to have been digested by twelve cept that the process was slower, and that adrachms, or nearly double its weight, of few vegetables fibres remained to the last

gastric juice. It thus appears that a given undissolved ; thus confirming the generalquantity of gastric fl uid can digest only a rela- opinion that vegetables are more difficult oftive proportion of meat; so that, when more digestion than animal substances.is eaten than what there is juice sufficient to " Such being the influence of gastric juicedissolve, stomachic disorder must necessa- on different aliments at the natural heat ofrily follow. In this latter case, Dr. Beau- the body, we have now to ascertain, in themont found that the addition of fresh juice SECOND place, what share the high ten’pel’a-causes digestion to be resumed. ture has in the result. To determine this‘ To discover what influence would be point, Dr. Beaumont took out two ouncesexerted on food masticated, swallowed, and of gastric juice, and divided it into two equalmixed with the gastric juice in the usual portions, in separate vials. He added to

way, and then withdrawn from the stomach, each an equal weight of masticated freshDr. Beaumont gave St. Martin an ordinary beef; and placed the one in a bath, at thedinner of boiled salt beef, bread, potatoes, and temperature of 99°, and the other in the

turnips, with a gill of pure water for drink; open air, at 34°. As a contrast to these, heand twenty minutes afterwards drew oft’ placed beside the latter a third vial. con..

through the opening about a gill of the con- taining the same weight of masticated meattents of the stomach into an open-mouthed in an ounce of clear water.vial. In this short space of time digestion " In two hours the meat in the warm vialhad already commenced, thus negativing was partially digested; that in the cold gas-the common notion, that an hour elapses tric juice was scarcely changed; and thebefore it begins. The vial was now placed third portion, in the cold water, seemed onlyin a water-bath, at a temperature of 100°, a little macerated. In six hours the meat inand continued there for five hours. Ex- the warm vial was half digested, while thatamined at the end of that time, the whole in the two others had undergone no fur-contents were found to be dissolved. On ther alteration. The gastric juice in thethen extracting an equal quantity of chyme first vial having by this time dissolved asfrom the stomach, and comparing with the much as it could of the beef, four drachmssolution in the vial, little difference was ob- more were added from the stomach, and theservable between them, except that the pro- vial was replaced in the bath. Digestion,cess had been somewhat more rapid in than wlticlt had previously ceased, was now re-

out of the stomach. But this experiment is sumed, and went on as steadily as if it had notremarkable in another point ot view, as been interrupted; thus showing, in a strikingShowing, that in the short space of twenty manner, the impropriety of exceedinginourminutes, enough of gastric juice had been meals the quantity for which alone a suffi.secreted-for the entire completion of diges- ciency of gastric juice can be provided.tion.

-

"At the end of twenty-four hours, the. Witth a view to verify these result, and threo portions were examined. That con-

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- tainech in the warm juice was completelydissolved, and presented the usual appear.ances. The portions contained in the colcjuice and in the cold water very much resembled each other, and exhibited no ap.pearance of chyme whatever. They weremacerated or softened, but not digested.These experiments, and others of a similarnature, show clearly that a temperatureequal to ordinary blood-heat is requisite forchymification."To make sure that it was the low tem-

perature alone which prevented the occur-rence of digestion in the experiment de-tailed, Dr. Beaumont now placed the vialcontaining the meat which had been ex-posed without effect for twenty hours to theaction of the cold gastric juice, on a water-bath at the ordinary blood-heat. In a veryshort time digestion commenced, and ad-vanced regularly as in the other parcels."The same results were always obtained froma repetition of these experiments, so thatthey may be held as perfectly conclusive inestablishing the essentiality of heat to thedigestive plocess.

"THIRDLY.—The necessity of gentle andcontinued agitation for the accomplishmentof digestion, is so obvious from the pre-ceding exposition, that it requires no directexperiments to establish it. When portionsof meat were suspended in the stomach bya string so short as to prevent them frombeing fully subjected to the motion alreadydescribed as always going on during diges-tion, the action of the gastric juice was con-fined almost entirely to their surface, anda longer time was consequently required lortheir solution than when they were left atliberty. In like manner, when meat out ofthe stomach was placed in a vial containinggastric juice, its solution was uniformly ac-celerated by gentle agitation, which actedsimply by removing the coating d chymeas it formed on the surface, and thus afford-ing to the gastric fluid an easier access tothe undigested porrions below. Accordingly,whet! in one of Dr. Beanmont’s experimentstwo ounces of unmasticated roasted beefwere introduced through the external aper-ture into the stomach, and held by a string,only one-half of it was digested in four hours,evidently from the want of mastication con-fining the action of the gastric juice to thesurface of the mass, and because the stringprevented it from following the regular mo-tions of the stomach.

" Such, then, are the phenomena andconditions of healthy digestion, and such isthe 1ight thrown upon them both by thevaluable publication of the American phy-siologist. Before leaving this branch of thesubject, however, it may be useful to laybefore the reader, as a kind of summary, theprincipal inferences deduced by Dr. Beau-mont 1rom his numerous experiments and £observations. Bu’;, in doing so, I shall at-

r tempt to arrange the results in their natu-ral order; for, in the original work they areI given without reference either to logicalsequence or to time.

"Inferences from Dr. Be’aumont’s Experi-ments and Observations.*

" 1. That hunger is the effect of distentionof the vessels that secrete the gastric juice.

2. That the processes of mastication, in-salivation, and deglutition, in an abstractpoint of view, do not in any way affect thedigestion of the food; or, in other words,when food is introduced directly into thestomach in a finely divided state, withoutthese previous steps, it is as readily and asperfectly digested as when they have beentaken.

3. That saliva does not possess the pro-perties of all alimentary solvent. -

4. That the agent of chymification is thegastric juice. ,

5. That the pure gastric juice is fluid,clear and transparent; without odour; alittle salt; and perceptibly acid. -

6. That it contains free muriatic acid, andsome other active chemical principles.

7. That it is never found free in the gas-tric cavity, but is always excited to dis-charge itself by the introduction of food, orother irritants.

-

8. That it is secreted from vessels distinctfrom the mucous follicles.

9. That it is seldom obtained pure, but is

generally mixed with mucus, and sometimeswith saliva. When pure, it is capable ofbeing kept for months, and perhaps foryears.

10. That it coagulates albumen, and after-wards dasolves the csayxcia.

11. That it checks the progress of putre-faction. -

12. That it acts as a solvent of food, and-alters its properties. -

13. That, like other chemical agents, it,commences its action on food as soon as itcomes in contact with it.

14. That it is capable of combining with:a certain and fixed quantity of food, andwhen more aliment is presented for its ac-tion than it will dissolve, disturbance of the-stomach, or " indigestion," will ensue.

15. That its action is facilitated; by thewarmth and motions of the stomach

16. That it becomes intimately mixed andGleaded with the ingestæ in the stomach bythe motions of that organ.

17. That it is invariably the same substance,modified only by admixture with other fluids>

18. That the motions of the ,a.ch pro-duce a constant churning of its contents, andadmixture of food and gastric .

19. That these motions are two direc-tions, transilersely and longitud inally.

20. That no- other fluid,. the sameThe inferences are civen in * The inferences are given in r. Beaumont’s own

words, and the italics also are bb ..

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effect on food that gastric juice does ; andthat it is the only solvent of aliment.

- 21. That the action of the stomach andits fluids is the same on all kinds of diet.

22. That solid food, of a certain texture,is easier of digestion than fluid.

23. That animal and farinaceous alimentsare more easy of digestion than vegetable.

24. That the susceptibility of digestiondoes not, however, depend altogether uponnatural or chemical distinctions.

25. That digestion is facilitated by minute-ness of division and tenderness of fibre; andretarded by opposite qualities.

26. That the ultimate principles of alimentare always the same, from whatever foodthey may be obtained.

27. That chyme is homogeneous, but vari- I,able in its colour and consistence.

28. That, towards the latter stages ofchymification, it becomes more acid andstimulating, and passes more rapidly fromthe stomach.

29. That the inner coat of the stomach isof a pale pink colour, varying in its hues,according to its full or empty state.

30. That, in health, it is sheathed withmucus.

31. That the appearance of the interiorof the stomach, in disease, is essentiallydifferent from that of its healthy state.

32. That stimulating condiments are injti-rious to the healthy stomach.. 33. That the use of ardent spirits alwaysproduces disease of the stomach if perse-vered in.

34. That ivater, ardent spirits, and mostother fluids, are not an’ected by the gastricjuice, but pass from the stomach soon afterthey have been received.

35. That the quantity of food generallytaken is more than the wants of the systemrequire; and that such excess, if perseveredin, generally produces not only functionalaberration, but disease of the coats of thestomach.

36. That bulk as well as nutriment is ne-

cessary to the articles of diet.37. That bile is not ordinarily found in the

stomach, and is not commonly necessary fordigestion of the food ; but,

38. That when oily food has been used it,assists its digestion.- 39. That oily food is difficult of digestion,

though it contains a large proportion of thenutrient principles.

40. That the diyestibility of aliment doesnot depend upon the quantity of nutrientprinciples that it contains.41. That the natural temperature of thestomach is about 100° Fahrenheit.

42. That the temperature is not elevated

by the ingestion of food.43. That exercise elevates the temperature ;

and that sleep or rest, in a recumbent posi- ,,

tion, depresses it.

44. That gentle exercise facilitates the di.gestion of food.

45. That the time required for that pur-pose is various. depending upon the quantityand quality of tne food, state of the stomach,&c.; but that the time ordinarily requiredfor the disposal of a moderate meal of thefibrous parts of meat, with bread, &c., is

from three to three and a half hours."

The Dublin Journal of Medical Science,May, 1836.

THE present number of this sickly con.cern opens with a postscript. The principal" editor," Dr. Graves, is as anxious to se-cure a copyright in his pathological appro-priations, as his predecessor PuFF, of " TheCritic," was to acquaint the world with hisplagiarisms. It is amusing to observe theperiodic regularity with which detection

follows the " Discoveries" of the worthyDoctor,-the profound complacency withwhich he piints as well as witnesses the

proofs of his little larcenies. The instant

he adopts some point of practice, which

either the folly or the good sense of the pro’fession has for years consigned to neglect, upstarts some explorator of dusty records, andexhibits the " novelty," ipsissima verba, as anancient relic, though cleansed and brightenedfor modern eyes. In May, 1835, the Doc’tor announced his " discovery," that a com-bination of tartar emetic and opium wasalmost a specific in the delirium attendingfever ; and then, through the agency of Mr.Renshaw, he secured at Stationers’ Hall hispatent of originality. "It is the discovery"(thus he enrolled his title) "of the utility ofthis practice in the advanced stages of spottedfever, that I clai2n as particularly MY OWN,for there is not in the writings of any authoron the subject the slightest trace of stielt amethod of treatment to be found!" Butneither the emphatic italics nor the unqua-lified vanity of the " specification

" have

availed the patentee, for the British and

Foreign Medical Review, in less than a year,thus gives the passage from an old work bya Dr. Marryatt, of Bristol, in which thesecond "Discoverer found his specific -."I have seen," says Dr. Marryatt, "manyinstances wherein a paper (i. e. about one

grain and a half of tartar emetic) has beengiven every three hours without the least

sensible operation, either by sickness, stool,sweat, or urine; and though, the patients

245

had been unremittingly delirious for morethan a week, with subsultus tendinum, andall the appearance of hastening death, theyhave perfectly recovered." Nothing dis-

composed by this, Dr. Graves insists on

the originality of his practice; and will

not be robbed of his fame even by the realauthor. " The practice," adds Dr. Graves," in the ante-post-scriptum, of giving tar-tar emetic in the advanced stages of spot-ted and typhus fever, did not exist in

Ireland before I introduced it, nor am Iaware that this practice was recommendedin any British school!" His notions of ori-

yinality are themselves perfectly original- thoroughly Irish. They remind us of theoriginal toads which we hear have recentlybeen found near " sweet Killarney." Their

discovery may be new, but the toads must bevery ancient croakers in that quarter. So

with the Doctor ; his discovery of the tartar-emetic practice may be recent enough, andexclusively his own, but the practice itself isvery old. His industry is greater than hisoriginality.To the " Postscript " succeeds a Report of

the Queen’s County Infirmary, for the last

year, by Dr. Jacob of Maryborough. It

occupies thirty pages, and contains a pleas..ing variety of subjects, whitewashing andfancy fairs inclusive. Every story, window,corridor, apartment, staircase, bath-room,water-closet, is carefully described in thisolla podrida of architecture, statistics, andhouse-keeping. In illustration of the par-

ticularity of this queer effusion, we quotethe following passage :-"The business ofthe Institution," says Dr. John Jacob, "istransacted by the treasurer, who acts gra-tuitou,ly; the surgeon (who probably doesnot so act), the secretary, who performs theduties of providore and house-steward; thehouse-keeper; a female nurse-tender; a

male nurse-tender, who also acts as barber,and performs other duties (close shavingthis) ; a porter, three female servants, anda man, who acts as janitor, whitewashes, andassists in cleaning!" Our readers will for-

gu’e us for omitting an analysis of a paperthus prefaced. Dr. Jacob’s pathology, in-deed, well matches his proficiency in hos-pital economy. He enumerates cases, justas he catalogues the cook-maids and barber-nurses ; and we learn as much from the onelist as we do from the other. Dr. Jacob

however, is excusable in one respect, that

he probably did not design to instruct by hislucubrations, but ingeniously to place thisrecord of the Queen’s County Infirmary inthe Dublin Journal, for distribution amonghis fiiends, as an advertisement for ap-prentices. This interpretation of the docu-ment is naturally suggested by an examirfa-tion of those passages in which the pupils ofthe Infirmary are described as diligently em-ployed in attendance on the patients—thebelauded Institution having been smuggledinto the list of " recognised hospitals atthe Dublin College, by Professor Jacob, thebrother of the advertiser.

e The paper or lecture by Dr. Graves, towhich the prefatory postscript is written,appears next in order; and after it comesan Essay on the Brain and Nervous System,by Dr. LAw. The garrulity and fluency ofthis gentleman’s style, and his excessivefamiliarity with disease, are very ludicrousand somewhat lamentable. He appears not

to have reached the preservative point ofintellectual cultivation. His theories, wefear, are much too consistent to become

applicable explanations of the little we do

really know of morbid phenomena; andhis narrative of cases is vastly too rectili-near to represent correctly the abrupt andever-varying course of disease. He forgetsthat his humble readers may not be endowed

with sufficient credulity for writers who areso little reserved in their communications.The fine things, however, which Dr. Lawhas prepared for us, all terminate, as manybeautiful lucubrations have ended before, ina dose of calomel and opium ! -

I Mr. HAMILTON details the particulars ofa case of Periostitis of the Orbit. The

symptoms which occurred in a married

woman, thirty-three years of age, were, aconsiderable protrusion of the eyeball;puffy swelling and a dull red colour of thee) elids ; a greenish hue of the iris; the

pupil horizontally oval; and, at the upperand back part of the eye, a bright greenspot, of irregular shape and metallic lustre.Pain intense, referred to the eyeball, andworst at night. Sight much impaired; gid-diness of the head; pulse quick and full;and tongue furred. The disease commencedthree months ago, after miscarriage. She

supposed it at first to be fungus haematodes.The disease was treated antiphlogistically,but became worse, and she was removed tothe Meath Hospital. She got none the better

246

for her residence there, and she therefore left.Mr. Hamiltonnow discovered the true natureof the complaint, and found that she hadlaboured under venereal symptoms some

years ago. He then gave her calomel and

opium and sarsaparilla, and in the course ofsix weeks after being salivated she was con-valescent, and has since become quite well.Some observations follow upon this and

other instances of the disease which havefallen under the writer’s inspection, but

which we have not space to transplant intothe light of day.A paper on a case of aneurysm of the

aorta, by Dr. M’ADAM, concludes the " ori-ginal communications" of the number. It

presents no peculiarities, pathological or

practical, worthy of preservation. The cri-ticism and politics of the subsequent pagesmay occupy us for a short time on another

occasion, but the examination will probablybe necroscopic, for, to all appearances, theDublin journal is nearly a corpse.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, May 14, 1836.

" SELF-SUPPORTING DISPENSARIES," AND THE

THE institution of " self-supporting dis-pensaries " is engaging at this time a con-siderable share of attention, and it affords

us great satisfaction to perceive, that the

plan on which those establishments were

originally set on foot, is regarded as un-

tenable by an immense majority of our pro-fessional brethren. True it is that the" success" of some of these dispensaries has

been trumpeted forth in high-sounding notes,but whenever we call for the details of the

establishments, for a statement of the

amount of subscriptions, for particulars ofthe accounts, and for an enumeration of the

payments which have been awarded to me-

dical practioners for their services, no suchdocuments are forthcoming. We are justi-fied, therefore, in believing that the boastedtc success" has, in all instances, been a

part of an odions system of professionalpuffing and quackery.

In the metropolis, we believe, there is butone opinion on the subject, Here, all men ofexperience concur iii the opinion, that uponthe terms on which it was originally pro-posed to maintain " self-supporting clispen.saries," the patients would be neglected, andthe surgeons robbed. That medical assur-

ance societies might be formed upon soundand rational principles, cannot be denied,although we are disposed to doubt whethereven these could be established on a per-manent and satisfactory basis, in the aii-

sence of interference on the part of the Ie.

gislature. The arrangements under the

new Poor Law, will force this subject upuuthe attention of Parliament.

The profession at this moment is all but instate of disorganization, and the anxiety forthe Report of the Parliamentary Medical

Committee is intensely painful. What-

ever may be the conditions of a new code of

laws for medical government, quite certainis it that if an efficient medical police be not

instituted, no permanent good will result

from any arrangements, however ingenious-ly devised. There must exist somewhere a

power to punish those practitioners who

may so conduct themselves as to inflict dis-

grace upon the profession, or injury uponthe community. The reprehensible prac-tices which have lately been witnessed, bothin and out of the Unions, must be repressed,even if the strict vigour of the law be re-sorted to for the purpose. In a multitude

of instances the terms on which persons

calling themselves "physicians" and 11 sur-geons" have engaged to attend patients at" self-supporting dispensaries," and the

sick poor in parochial unions, are at once

scandalous, cruel, and fraudulent. Yet the

law does not interpose to prevent such prac.tices, but, on the contrary, there are per-sons in authority who have had the audacityto allege that none others shall receive theirsanction. The application of an antagonistpower is wanted for the correction of these

abuses, and it affords us, therefore, the mostsincere satisfaction to observe the course