103

CASE 3.—Night perspirations arising fromgeneral debility are very soon checked byits use. In one case I gave it to a gentle-man who had been taking sulphate of qui-nine with sulphuric acid for two monthswithout any benefit. In about ten daysfrom the time of his commencing to takethis preparation the perspirations had en-tirely ceased. This was in 1833, and hehas not since had any relapse.CASE 4.—Paruria Mellita, a person resid-

ing in Wiltshire, who has had this complaintfor two years, took during the first eight-teen months, among other remedies, variouspreparations of iron, the sulphate, tinctureof the muriate, ammoniated iron, but didnot receive the slightest benefit from eitherof them; for the last six months, duringwhich he has been my patient, he has takenthis preparation in doses often minims threetimes a day. He felt great relief from it ,within the first month, and is now gainingstrength and flesh every day, and losing theother symptoms of the disease.

Remarks.— The medicinal properties ofthe solution of the superacetate of iron aresimilar to those of the supersulphate. It ismuch pleasanter to the taste, and is readily taken by children when mixed with sirupand water. I give this preparation withmuch benefit in mesenteric diseases. Fromone to three drops three times a day insirup and water, is the dose which I gene-rally prescribe for children of from one tothree years of age. In weak chlorotic pa-tients also, this medicine is of great utility.The dose for an adult is from five to tenminims two or three times a day.Every practitioner is aware of the nu-

merous complaints in which iron may beexhibited with advantage. In all of themwhich have as yet fallen under my care, Ihave found these preparations to agree bet-ter with the patient, and occasion less nau-sea, than those generally used ; I thereforehave not considered it necessary to occupymore space in particularizing their effectsin other instances, the above being quitesufficient to afford a general idea of theirproperties.

AN HERBIVOROUS MAN.—Anthony Ju-lian, a native of Var, fell suddenly into suchpoverty during his youth, that he was com-pelled to eat plants. That which was atfirst painful food soon became an object ofchoice ; and although in a few months hissituation was altered, he continued to liveon raw vegetables, with the exception of alittle bread and wine, which he couldwithout any sacrifice forego. The digestionof his new food was perfect, and his healthand strength increased in an extraordinarymanner.—Bull. de Sc. and Arts of Varr.

System der Chirurgie von Ph. Fr. von Wal-ther der Philosophie, Medicin, und Chirur-gie Doctor &c. &c. (A System of Surgery)by BARON WALTHER, 1 vol. Berlin, 1833.Reimer, pp. 418. (Imported by Schloss.)

WALTHER is one of the truly great surgeonswho do honour to his father land, and hisworks on Physiology and several detachedpapers on Practical Surgery in the Journalpublished by Graefe and himself, have greatlycontributed to the progress of the higherorder of medical science in the northernstates of Germany. To his lectures, he him-self, however, attaches more importancethan to his writings; they have been de-livered regularly ever since 1802, and, en-riched with improvements supplied by theentire range of medical literature, and bymany years of meditation and experiencethey have arrived at a state of high ma-turity. At the medico-chirurgical schoolof Bamberg, the University of Landshut,Bonn, and Munich, he speaks with a becom-ing pride now, in his riper years, of havinghad for auditors many of the most distin-

guished German surgeons of the presentday.The volume before us is the first of a

series intended to present the whole of hiscourse and system of surgery. It developsthe general principles of surgery, and con-stitutes that to the succeeding volumes,which general does to particular or topo-graphical anatomy. The Professor has, fromthe first step in his professional career, fol-lowed the leading ideas that medicine notonly reposes on natural philosophy, but thatit is itself natural philosophy. This positionbeing firmly embraced, he cannot admit thatits practice as an art, or its utility to society,admits of its division. In every point ofview, Walther’s System of Surgery meritsthat name better than any other extant.

Those who prefer natural grouping to theA B C arrangement, or who, like Gibbon," can never digest the alphabetical order,"will find in this logical and purely rationalsystem, many charms, and some consola-tion, for the present form of medical writingwhich prevails in England.The forms of disease treated in surgery

are divided by the Professor into five classes.To the first belongs INFLAMMATION, its

terminations and sequelæ (phlogosen); tothe 2nd, WOUNDS, solutions of continuity(traumen); to the 3rd, DISPLACEMENTS of

104

organs, changes of contiguity (ectopieen) ;to the 4th, MALFORMATIONS, producing de-struction of function and deformity (pseudo-morphen); to the 5th, FOREIGN BODIES,

penetrating from without or generatedwithin (allenthesen).In the first chapter, that on inflamma-

tion, the adaptation of the treatment to thedifferent forms of malady, is strikingly feli-citous. The modifications of treatment, ac-

cording to the character of the inflamma-tion, where the habit of body is catarrhal,rheumatic, scrofulous, syphilitic, arthritic, orScorbutic, and according to the tissues orsystems suffering, will be best appreciatedby those who have had most experience inpractice, and have seen on what slightcauses success or failure depends. The in-

dications for bloodletting in inflammationare thus stated:—

"Venesection is indicated with an urgencyproportional to the intensity of the inflam-mation, the importance and vascularity ofthe organ, the danger of entire destructionor breaking up of its function,—to the

phlegmonous character of the inflamma-tion, the earliness and activity of the stage,the acuteness and tendency to spreading,the freedom from any dyscratic combina-tion,—to the violence of the accompanyingfever, the strength of the constitution, therichness of blood, the habits of the patientwith regard to loss of blood.

" Redness of the face, the fulness,strength, and hardness of an incompressi-ble pulse, high-coloured urine, dryness andheat of the skin, are indeed subordinate, butconfirmative of the indications. Chronicinflammation frequently requires blood-

letting, also dyscratic (scrofulous &c.) inflam-

mation, if it assumes a dangerous ap-pearance ; only, in these cases, blood-lettingcannot do all that is required; it can onlycut short one element (the inflammatory) ofthe disease; the other (the dyscratic) elementis not by that means arrested, but ratherfurthered in its development.

" Erysipelas, also, particularly of the face,bears and requires bleeding, keeping at thesame time in view the origin and characterof the fever, and the complications and like-lihood of its return."

Also in children a little advanced in age,venesection is necessary in dangerous in-flammation. Menstruation, the lochial dis-charge, hemorrhoids, are by no means in-variable counter-indications.

Suppuration and the other terminationsand kinds of inflammation are afterwardsexamined in the most comprehensive man-ner. Wounds are defined as violent se-

parations of the cohesion of organic struc-tures. They are examined according totheir form, and the part or tissue injured,—in the skin, the muscles and tendons, ves-sels, nerves, and bones (fractures). Cuts,stabs, bruises, lacerations, gun-shot wounds,poisoned wounds, inoculated wounds (chan-cres, hydrophobic wounds, &c.), are treatedsuccessive chapters.

General and ingenious ideas are occa-

sionally met with like the following, in thefirst chapter of the class of " displacements,"the value of which will not be fully appre-ciated by every reader:—

" The organs of the human body are fixedin certain predestined localities. They canneither be developed, nourished, nor grow,and rightly fulfil their functions, unless theyare placed in that precise local relation onwhich their insertion in the vascular and

nervous systems, and their relation to the

neighbouring organs,—by which they aresupported in their functions,—in great partdepend. As families of plants are confinedin their geographical distribution to particu-lar zones, to various degrees of latitude andlongitude, to a definite elevation above thelevel of the sea, to certain climates, so isthere for the organs of the human body atopical arrangement and normal position.Therefore, viewed in their totality, similarorgans in the different classes of animals,always live in the same or correspondingplaces, and every displacement is also a

correlative loss of dignity and destinationfor the dislodged organ."

Intussusception, hernia, prolapsus uteri,dislocation, paraphymosis, belong to thisclass.

Malformations of every kind, harelip,cleft palate, imperforations, strictures, ecta-sies, aneurysms, varices, aneurysms by anas-tomosis (telangiectasie), curvatures, and club-feet, form, in separate chapters, the fourthdivision (pseudomorphen).

Further remarks on this work are unne-cessary. The reader must have seen suffi-

cient to enable him to understand the

author’s arrangement. Without extractingmore than our limits will admit, it would beimpossible to give a just notion of its in-trinsic value. For condensation of thought,philosophic reasoning, perfect exhibition ofsurgical science, and originality of view, it

surpasses any work lately published.

105

On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God,as manifested in the Creation of Animals,and in their History, Habits, and Instincts.By the Rev. WILLIAM KIRBY, M.A.,F.R.S., &c. Vols. 1 and 2. London,Pickering, 1835. 8vo.

THE author commences his work by re-marks on the opinions of the two well-known French philosophers, La Place andLamarck, but more especially on those ofthe latter, as being pre-eminently the worksof naturalists. Although we cannot agreewith many of the ideas started by thelatter in his " Philosophical Zoology," wenevertheless think they deserve the conside-ration of inquirers after truth. His main

hypothesis of the gradual conversion of thelower into the higher order of organizedbeings, by the influence of external circum-stances, assisted by " the lapse of ages," is

not satisfactorily made out. He has certainlyproduced a few facts to show, that when anorgan is not used, its power gradually de-clines until it may be said not to exist ; and,vice versd, that when it is much used, whatmay be called its

" natural" state is ren-dered more perfect. This is matter of com-mon observation, and has been long known.Lamarck, however, has considered it more

particularly than have the generality of

physiologists; and although he has madesome ingenious deductions from it, and

some that are correct, we still think that

every impartial man who has attended tothe subject, will so far agree with Mr. Kirbyas to perceive, that the French philosopherhas by no means yet brought forward asufficient number of facts to establish hismain hypothesis. Lamarck perceiving thatchange of circumstances, assisted by time,will to a certainty produce some variety inthe animal species, has conceived, that suchchange of circumstances, aided by an incal-culable extent of time, may have produced allthe varieties which we see in the organizedworld. The hypothesis is plausible at first

sight, because it is not altogether unsup-ported by facts ; but when examined moreclosely, it is obvious that by far the greaterpart of it, though not altogether " irra-

tional," as Mr. Kirby calls it (page 24), hasstill so little foundation in observation, ex-periment, or tradition, that at best it canonly be regarded in the light of a bare pos-sibility. Before leaving this point of thesubject, remembrance may be called to the

fact, that Meckel* has shown that our lifein the womb first resembles the life of an

egg or an animalcule, and next that of afish or a cold-blooded animal, which hasonly a single heart, till at length, as the

time approaches for our appearance in theopen light of day, our vitality assumes thecharacter of the warm-blooded species, andwe appear in the world with a double heart.

Considering these facts, Meckel supposesthat he perceives something like a tendencyof matter to rise from the lower to the

higher forms of existence. We do not

think he has added (as he might have done),that not until long after birth does the childacquire what may be called the " true pre-rogative" of its species,—reason. This,—not exactly, as some have said, " built upfrom the external senses,"—is still somethingsuperadded or developed after the animalhas risen to the top of the organic scale,and become warm-blooded. Animalcule,reptile, dog, its master. Such seems the

ascending series.Sir Charles Bell, in his " Budgewater

Treatise," is opposed to these ideas of La-marck and Meckel. He considers the lowestanimals to be as perfect in themselves as thehighest. This is an argument that deservesconsideration from those who engage inthese difficult inquiries. The ant and the

bear, and indeed some reptiles, such as thecrocodile, seem often to have given proofsof sagacity which should make us hesitatewhether it is right to consider those animalswhich will be low in Lamarck’s and Me ckel’s

series, as so ranging in reality. The worldis one vast piece of mechanism (some maysay), every part of which is so arranged, asto fulfil the intentions of the incomprehen-sible Artificer; and it is absurd to consider

one part to be higher or lower, more perfector less perfect, than another. With regardto Meckel’s above-stated observation, it

seems to be the sole instance that we at

present have of life beginning at what wecall the "bottom" of the scale, and gradu-ally ascending to the top. Conceiving it toapply not only to the human species, but toall the warm-blooded species, it is still to beremembered that this all takes place in thebody of the parent, and not out of it. There

is, properly, at present, so far as we know,not a single example of such a tendency of

" Anatomy."

106

matter as that which is supposed by Lamarckand Meckel, existing out of the parentanimal.* Tiedemann, indeed, in his latework on physiology, supposes that our bodyafter death becomes gradually changed, asdecomposition advances, into myriads of

animalcules, which again pass into vegetableand thence into animal forms of existence.And this may be the fact, so far as that ani-malcules are produced by decomposition, andthat these, by their death, or, possibly, bytheir life, may contribute, rising among thevegetable juices, to the vegetation of theseed, by affording it nutrition, or stimulat-ing it, assisted by air and water, to action.But it is not the fact (so far as we at pre-sent know), that each animalcule is changedinto the seed, or even into a part of theseed. Much less is it a fact, that the lowerorders of vegetables are changed into thehigher, or into any form of animal life. Trueit is, that the vegetable, when dead, may,—as it were, after another death,—after che-mical decomposition by the animal fluids,—become changed into a part of the animalagain alive. But this is a very different

thing from a vegetable actually growinginto (changing into) an animal; or an ani-mal of the lowest species changing into ananimal belonging to a higher class in whatis called the scale of organization.Again, if it be said,—" But animalcules,

which are living matter, are obviously pro-duced from the fermentation of animal or

vegetable infusions which are dead matter,and hence display the existence of a disposi-tion in matter to rise from death to life,—from a lower to a higher state of being,"—we may reply, " That has been questioned."Spallanzani conceived the eggs of the ani-malcules to float about in the air and else-

where, and only to be hatched (so to speak)when they accidentally fell into a propernidus. Such he conceived decomposing in-fusions to be. Knowing that some of theanimalcules may themselves be kept for

many years (as the wheeler for instance),and yet show signs of life on being moist-ened, it seems by no means impossible that

* Nor does there exist evidence that such a tend-ency has ever existed. " There are no fossil re-mains in the lower strata of the earth, of vegetablesand animals, of oaks and lions, in miniature; or ofcreatures with organs half formed; while in theupper strata they are found in a state of greater per-fection." See " Allan’s Discourses against Atheism,"Discourse 4, p. 186. This work was not known tous until after the present article was written.

the eggs of those animalcules may floatabout in a dry state in the air, perhaps forhundreds of years,* and yet not lose thepower of becoming living animalcules,should they chance to fall into an infusionsuitable to produce such change. Thisseems to be the less improbable, becausethese animalcules often propagate by divi-sion, like vegetables, and the seeds of whichwe know may be kept dry without injury foryears. Lamarck, however, and some othernaturalists, seem inclined rather to believethat animalcules are actually generated bydecomposition. But there is strong analogyagainst such a supposition. We have proofthat no other insects or animals are so gene-rated. At least such a phenomenon hasnever yet been discovered in others.

It seems, therefore, to follow from whathas been said, that when the visible animalsoriginated, some cause was in operationwhich is not in operation now; and thesame may be said of the transmutation ofthe lower into the higher forms of existence,if, indeed, this was the order of creation.We select the following observation with

regard to life from Mr. Kirby’s Treatise. It

affords a specimen of the original viewswhich are frequently to be met with in thework.

" Thus much, however, may be predicatedof life, that both in the vegetable and ani-mal, like heat, it is a radiant principle,showing itself by successive developmentsfor a limited period, varying according tothe species, when it begins to decline, andfinally is extinguished : that sometimes alsolike heat, as in the seed of the vegetableand egg of the animal, it is latent, notmanifesting itself by development, till it issubmitted to the action of imponderablefluids conveyed by moisture or incubation."—p. 40.The reverend author thinks that the hypo-

thesis of Mr. Mantell, viz., that the saurianswere the mighty masters of the creation be-fore the existence of the human race, is not

altogether satisfactorily made out. " The

supposed extinct animals all exhibit a rela-tionship to those that we find now existing,and many of them evidently fill up the

vacant spaces in the general system, andtherefore there is no cause to suppose theywere originally separated from and anterior

* It is not necessary to believe that they havefloated from their first creation, because they maypossibly be borne up into the air by evaporation ; or,being left behind after their infusions have evaporated,may be carried up by the wind.

107

to their fellows." We do not, however, ob-serve any new or striking argumentsbrought forward in favour of the notion thatextinct animals were created at the sametime as those which are at present in exist-ence.

In chapter II. a great many ingeniousarguments are advanced to show that America may have been stocked with men andanimals from the old continents. Land con-

nexions, subsequently swallowed up by thesea, "floating islands of matted wood,"similar to those observed by Captain W. H.Smith &c., are urged as possible modes oftransmission. The author, in the Appendixto the first volume, and elsewhere, has en-deavoured particularly to make geologicalresearches accord with the Mosaic accountof the deluge. In aiming at this as a gene-ral principle, he is doubtless serving thecause of Scripture ; but in urging the exist-ence of coincidences to such an extent ashe has attempted to carry them, we doubtmuch whether he has not overshot his ob-

ject. This error the traveller committed

who, in proof of the transmutation of Lot’swife into salt, announced that he had foundthe pillar in the desert. The expressionrelative to the sun standing still, and othersof a similar description, show, that howeverplausibly we may interpret to the lettersome parts of the most ancient records, wecannot do so in all. And if we cannot doso in all, to labour at parts shows our anxi-ety to be more prominent than our wisdom,for partial success must lead to rejectionswhich the interpreters will not desire.We leave the perplexing subject to make

some remarks on the chapter " On Instinct."" An ingenious and acute writer, Mr. French(says the author), is the author of the hypo-thesis that instinct is the action of some in-termediate intelligence employed by the

Deity upon the animal exhibiting it,—anhypothesis (continues our author) which

appeared in the first number of the ZoologicalJournal." It seems by another quotation,that Mr. French conceives " these inter-mediate intelligences to be good and evil,but acting under the control of Providence;and that such agencies act by impressionsupon their conscious nature, but unper-ceived by it in a moral or intellectual

sense." The reverend author remarks onthis passage, that in common phraseologyhe presumes these intelligences would be

called " Angels and Demons," the formerbeing the cause of the beneficent, the latterof the ferocious instincts of animals. "It isfurther obvious, (he continues,) that Mr.French believes that the same animal is sub-

ject to the agency of both these powers;since, he has observed that in the phocaursina species, the males manifest the mostsingular tenderness towards their young

progeny, and at the same time a savage and

persecuting disposition towards their fe-

males."—p. 233.Mr. French might have gone farther, and

said that as an attraction to the centre anda tendency to motion (the centripetal andcentrifugal forces) seem to pervade all in-animate matter,* in like manner two op-

posing powers, benevolence and malevo-

lence, selfishness and generosity, seem,

though in different proportions, to per-vade all organized animal matter. We sayin " different proportions," for it is obvious

that in some animals (man included) the

benevolent principle is the stronger, in

others the malevolent. Were we called

upon to make two grand distinctions onthis subject, we should say that herbivorousanimals were inspired more particularly bythe benevolent powers, and carnivorous bythe malevolent; at the same time admittingthat even the herbivorous are sometimesactuated by the malevolent influence, andthe carnivorous by the benevolent.† There

is little that is new in this opinion. Plu-

tarch says, in his Essay on Isis and Osiris,that it was entertained by Zoroaster and theEgyptians. It was the opinion of Plutarchhimself—if not in its details, at all events inits outline. It was the opinion of Bayle.Further, it is an opinion that prevails moreor less among all educated nations even ofthe present day. The " Devil" we are told

entered the serpent " in the beginning," andthe serpent has since retained venomousand malignant qualities.But the reverend author does not coin-

cide with Mr. French in his opinions on in-

* Mr. Kirby has a remark somewhat similar tothis as regards instinct and intelligence, which latteris considered a " principle of limitation."—P. 27,vol. 2.

† Having no space for details, we have said nothingabout fate, necessity, or the obstinacy (or opposingpower) of matter, suggestions of Plato ; yet does

Paley indirectly, in accordance with scriptural doc-trine, admit the agency of one at least of these. Wedo the same, and in this way show how the benevo-lent is stronger than the antagonist power.

108

stinct. The former says, " It never can beadmitted," that the bee in collecting honeyis actuated by " the good angel;" and inefforts of vengeance by stinging is ex-

cited by the evil spirit. Suppose, however,instead of saying the " good angel," we say" the good power in its nature," and viceversa. This power or

" agency" (as Mr.French calls it) may be inherent in the ani-mal or insect, or not. In conceiving it soto be, we perhaps alter somewhat Mr.

French’s meaning. Certainly it is difficultto conceive that the spirit, angel, power, oragency, exists out of the bee. Its abode

must be in the insect. Its dependence onpeculiar structure presents another questionfor discussion.

Mr. Kirby says that he has sometimesseen the flesh-fiy deposit her eggs upon theblossom of the carrion plant, evidently mis-taking this plant for carrion itself. " It is

obvious, he observes, in this instance, thatthe insect was led by its sense of smell tomake this mistake,—fatal to the young,which must inevitably perish from hunger."With regard to the error committed in thiscase and others, (where the insects and ani-mals act upon their instinct, and the factthat in this particular instance the senseof smell directs the insect,) Mr. Kirbythinks that the proximate cause of in-

stinct is for the most part physical.(pp. 240 and 266.) We may agree with therev. author that it is probable that the in-stinct depends on a physical cause in thecase he has brought forward, and yet notentertain an opinion that is inconsistent

with the doctrine already advanced, relativeto benevolent and malevolent powers or

agencies. Mr. Kirby himself does not pre-tend to account for " the wonderful sequenceof actions and manipulations exhibited bythe beaver, the bee, the spider, and theant," on physical causes (page 276). Headmits the difficulty in these classes, and ashe offers no such satisfactory solution of itas in the case already mentioned, we are atliberty to believe that in many cases instinctmay depend on what he calls metaphysical,or at all events mixed causes.

We might fairly be more solicitous to holdthe opinions advanced with regard to bene-volent and malevolent powers pervading allanimal life (and, probably,—as we may at-tempt to show hereafter,- all vegetable life),

because the treatise of Mr. Kirby* does not(nor, in conjunction with it, does that ofeither of his colleagues) present more thantwo or three rational and successful argu-ments in addition to the evidence furnished

by Paley in support of the doctrine of " Di-vine Benevolence." Yet the work of Mr.

Kirby professes especially to be devoted toproofs of "the Power, Wisdom, and Good-ness of God,"—subjects on which the Earlof Bridgewater particularly requested worksto be " written, printed, and published."We have already, in our observations onthe Treatises of Drs. Kidd and Roget, de-scribed this opinion, and we now repeat it,at the same time confessing an humble beliefthat the hypothesis of antagonist Benevo-lent and Malevolent powers, offers the more

satisfactory solution of the difficulty whichbesets this point of "Natural Theology."But to discuss the various bearings of thisproposition, and to show how, amidst theseeming disorder and injustice which in theview of some seem to prevail among theobjects and functions of creation, an Uni-versal Spirit of Benevolence may still be

ever in operation, is not our present object.In reference to the different kinds of food

by which animals and vegetables are nou-rished, our author well observes, " The ani-mal does not become the nutriment of the

vegetable till it is chemically decomposed;whereas the latter becomes the food of theformer either in its green or in its ripe state."This may suggest the remark, that it isdoubtful whether plants should be consi-

dered higher merely as living beings thananimals. The rose takes putrescent matterfor its food, and converts all that is disgust-ing both to the sight and to the smell, intomuch that is delightful to two of the senses,- into what is exquisite to the vision andsweetly odorous to the smell. No such powerexists in animal matter. Though many birdsand animals are beautiful, fragrance theypossess not, and none of them that are fairto the eye, can subsist on a putrescent mix-ture of organic with inorganic matter; butall carry more or less of such mixture within

them, though they take it not from without.

* It must be admitted, however, that the authorhas one argument on the subject which deserves con-sideration. In stating that fish almost entirely subiston each other, he says that, in common with cold-blooded animals gener ally, they do not suffer so muchas warm-blooded animals from dismemberment.(Page 378.) Probably this is the case ; but the argu-ment is only partial, and hence of no great weight.

109

Not so the rose. The queen of flowers is

perhaps the most accomplished of chemists,during life converting corruption into sweet-ness, and retaining comeliness and whole-someness even after death, falling slowly onlyinto inoffensive dust. The queens of birdsand of humanity perish into odiousness.Quaint enough is the following erection

on scriptural theory :—" It is singular that two classes should be

placed in opposition to each other, seeminglyso opposite in their character and most oftheir qualities, as the reptiles and birds—theone the most torpid, doleful, and hateful ofanimals, symbols of evil demons,—the othervice versa. * * * *

But in spite of this apparently striking con-trast, a real affinity exists between birds andreptiles (in their general form &c. &c. ofcourse is meant, each too being oviparous);and when we recollect that demons arefallen angels, we may apprehend why Godhas placed their symbols in the same series."(Page 441, vol. 2.)To conclude. Though we differ from the

author in some of his opinions, yet we ac-knowledge the work to be one of merit, andcalculated to afford considerable pleasure inthe perusal, to thoughtful readers. Manyof the observations which it contains are at

once original and judicious, and if the pur-suit of truth does not always satisfy thereader by its success, the path at least af

fords food for meditation. The materials for

thought are certainly supplied in his pages,which can rarely be said of " new books "

in this age of literary vampation; and incasting yet further abroad a little of the seedwhich he has therein strewed, we shall

probably cause some to alight in a soil thatwill afford it growth which it would nototherwise obtain.

The Principles of Ophthalmic Surgery; beingan Introduction to a Knowledge of theStructure, Functions, and Diseases of theEye ; embracing new views of the Physi-ology of the Organ of Vision. By JOHNWALKER, Surgeon to the Manchester EyeInstitution. London: Taylor, 1834. pp.195.

The Principles of Ophthalnaic Surgery; beingan Introduction to a Knowledge of theStructure, Functions, and Diseases of theEye; embracing new views of the Physi-ology of the Organ of Vision. By JOHNWALKER, Surgecll to the Manchester EyeInstitution. London : Taylor, 1834. pp.195.

THE title of Mr. Walker s work is suffi-

ciently explanatory of its nature. The struc-ture, uses, and diseases of the eyelids, of thetunica conjunctiva, of the eyeball, the cor-nea, the sclerotic, the choroid, the retina,the iris, the anterior chamber, the posteriorchamber, the orbit, the lachrymal gland, and

the passages are successively and succinctlydiscussed. A vocabulary is added, explana-tory of technical terms, with the Germanand French synonyms. This is exceed-ingly useful, nay, indispensable to the stu-dent, who will readily admit the fact whenhe finds that there are more than one hun-

dred distinct diseases of the eye, each cha-

racterized by some hieroglyphic forged outof Greek, by the laborious wit or the dul-ness of the Germans. Three hundred tech-

nical terms are already employed by theophthalmologists. In the name of common

sense, and on behalf of the verbal memory oftheir brethren, we now entreat them to de-sist from further neological creations,which,instead of diffusing light, threaten us withthe perplexities of chaos again. Let ourtranslators resolutely resist the German ver-biage. None sooner than ourselves are will-ing to acknowledge German genius when-ever it appears: but we caution our country-men against giving currency to the pilesof lucubrations which are retailed at the

Leipsic fairs. A German Professor is an

author, often a nomenclaturist, ex officio;and the dense stupidity of a German duncesurpasses any thing of the kind in nature.The examination of the physiology of the

iris, in which Mr. Walker comes to conclu-sions differing from those generally held,will afford a favourable specimen of his

method of reasoning in physiology."It has been usual to refer the motions

of the iris to a supposed connexion with, ordependence upon, the retina. Many factsmay be advanced in proof, that the changesof the pupil are independent of the retina.They have no communication with eachother-their nervous supply is tctally differ-ent, the sensibility and mobility of the irisdepending upon the ciliary nerves ;-theretina communicates only with the opticnerve. In many cases of paralysis of theretina, the iris is perfectly active. The op-

posite condition is also frequently noticed ofdilated and motionless pupil, without loss ofvision. Either of these conditions is per-fectly irreconcilable with the idea of the mo-tions of the iris being dependent upon theretina : both form such an insurmountableobjection, that they cannot be got over." In the most densely opake cataract,

where very little or no light can get to the

posterior chamber, the pupil, instead of beingproportionally dilated to the unexcited stateof the retina, is as active and as much con-tracted as ever, which could hardly be thecase if that activity depend upon the quan-tity of light sent to the retina.

" To explain this more clearly, we will