101meric flirtation, she discovered to be Death, or "The UniversalFriend." Still more extraordinary things happen to her: asshe is about to tumble down, an arm, of blood and muscle too,is stretched out to tug at her skirts, and this she knows tobelong to a dead sister, for she recognises a ring on the fingerwhich had been buried with her. The mesmeric prophetessforetells the illness and death of her father and sisters one afterthe other,and then her own,by the assistance of the "luminousdisc" and " the universal friend," and Mr. Smith believes thewhole, and wishes his lady-readers to believe it also. Mes-merists themselves have written no inconsiderable amount of

nonsense, but none of them have ever reached the pitch of utterabsurdity, impiety, and extravagance of the present work. IMiss Martineau, too, has been breaking a side lance lately I

with the doctors, and to her we have a word to say. In her" Game-Law Tales" she very ingeniously introduces the re-ception of the circulation of the blood by the contemporariesof Harvey, to show of how little value is medical incredulity.It is in the form of a dialogue between Lords Holland, Sey-mour, and Southampton."’One object of Old Parr’s going up to court is, that Harvey

may study the case, and see if he can gain hints from it forlengthening our lives.’

"’ But surely,’ said the clergyman, * it can matter but littlewhat Dr. Harvey concludes and gives out about the case of thisold parishioner of mine, or any other case. No one can haveany respect for his judgment in the face of the wild doctrinehe gives out about the blood.’

"’ Does he adhere to that ?’asked Lord Southampton." Yes,’ replied Lord Holland. ’He will, ere long, publish

another tract upon it. It is astounding to see a man, whoseems otherwise rational and sensible, lose himself on this onepoint. There is no making any impression upon him; he per-sists as quietly as if all the wise people in the world agreedwith him.’

" Quietly,’ said Lord Seymour; I thought he was a

passionate, turbulent fellow, who thought all the world a foolbut himself.’

" Whatever he may think,’ replied Lord Holland, he saysnothing to give one such an idea: on the contrary, the mostamusing, and yet melancholy, part of the business is, his entirecomplacency. He is so self-satisfied that nothing can move him.’"*Dr. Oldham,’ said Southampton to the family physician,

who sat smiling while this description of Harvey was given,’ you have looked into this business,-this pretended discovery.What have you to say to it l’ ," But little, my lord; it is not worth so many words as have

just been spent upon it. There is not a physician in Europewho believes in this pretended discovery.’" After examination l’"’ Surely, my lord. Any announcement of a discovery made

by the physician whose merits have raised him to Dr. Harvev’spost cannot but meet with attention from a profession whosebusiness it is to investigate the facts of the human frame andconstitution.’Then known facts are against him ?’" Entirely. No point, for instance, is better understood,

than that the arteries are occupied by the vital spirits, whichare concocted in the left side of the heart, from the air andblood in the lungs.’And what says Harvey to this ?’He controverts it, of course. Neither the opposition of

all living physicians, nor even the silence of Galen on thisnotion of his, has the least effect upon him. It is sad and per-nicious nonsense, and ruinous to a man who, but for this mad-ness, might have been an honour to his profession. Of course hisopinions on any subject are of no value now.’" In the profession, do you mean ?-or out of it ?’"‘I believe there are a good many out of the profession,

who listen to him, open-mouthed, as to every professor of newdoctrines; but it is an affair in which no opinions but those ofphysicians can be of any consequence ; and, as I said, not aphysician in Europe believes Harvey’s doctrine.’It ought to be put down,’ said Lord Salisbury, to which

the clergyman gave emphatic assent, observing, that in soimportant ai affair as a great question about the humanframe, false opinions must be most dangerous, and ought tobe put down.’" And how is new knowledge to fare when it comes ?’ said

Lord Southampton. By my observation, Dr. Harvey’s no-tion is so following the course that new knowledge is wont to

run, that I could myself almost suppose it to be true. It hasbeen called nonsense; that is the first stage. Now, if it becalled dangerous, that is the next. I shall amuse myself bywatching for the third. When it is said there is nothing newin it, and that it was plain to all learned men before Harveywas born, I shall know how to apportion to Harvey his duehonour.’"‘I thought, my lord, you had held my profession in re-

spect,’ said the physician, with an uneasy smile."’Am I not doing homage to a most eminent member of

it ?-perhaps the most eminent in the world,’ said Lord South-ampton. ’And it appears that I am rather before than behindothers in doing so. There is no man, not even the greatest,who may not stand, hat in hand, before the wise physician,and I, for my humble part, would do even so."’

"

Really this is too bad. No men or women can make them-selves ridiculous, and get laughed at, but they gravely referto the treatment received by Harvey, Jenner, and others, asquite applicable to their own case, and they really believe,with Miss Martineau, that a thing laughed at by the majoritymust needs be true. The supposed ill-treatment of Harvey isa splendid refuge for knavish and foolish people, or unsoundand unproved theories. No stupid book can now be publishedwithout a prop of this kind, and it is the great support ofmesmerism, hydropathy, homoeopathy, and other doctrines ofthe same class. But the real truth is grossly exaggerated tosuit these trumpery purposes. Harvey’s century was not thenineteenth, and many foolish people opposed him. But, not-withstanding this, his career was one of great triumph. Atthe time of old Parr’s death, his doctrines were generally re-ceived. Hume, as a smart saying, declared that no physicianin Europe, at the age of forty when the discovery was made,ever believed it. This is evidently untrue, for Harvey didnot publish his Treatise on the Motion of the Heart andBlood" till he was fifty years old, and he lived himself to seehis discovery received in every university in the world.

Hobbes of Malmesbury, a better authority than Hume, says ofhim, that he was, perhaps, " the only man who ever lived to seehis own doctrines completely established in his lifetime." Wetrust we shall hear less of the absurdity so much used by littlepeople, that great men have necessarily to be at war with thewhole human race. They have their opponents and jea-lousies to contend with, but there are always the fitting mindsto receive and propagate the truth. Every thinking man mustbe sick of the paltry uses to which the names of great disco-verers are so constantly prostituted by unprincipled quacks.and their followers.

ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

JANUARY 13, 1846.—DR. CHAMBERS, PRESIDENT.THE president made some remarks on a change to be institutedin the mode of balloting for fellows.ON DIARRHŒA IN CHILDREN, AND ITS CONNEXION WITH HYDRO-

CEPHALUS. By J. S. ALLEN, Esq., St. Marylebone Infirmary.(Communicated by Dr. CLENDINNING.)

THE author commences by observing that diarrhoea is afrequent and troublesome affection in children, being some-times idiopathic, but more frequently symptomatic of diseasealready existing in some important organ ; it is to the latterthat his remarks apply. During the period of dentition,children are especially subject to severe attacks of this dis-

ease, and the object of the paper is to show that the diarrhoea,is generally a salutary effort of nature to relieve herself, andthat great and fatal damage is frequently done by suddenlychecking it. The case usually presents itself as follows:-The child is said to have had for a greater or longer periodprofuse discharge from the intestines, frequently accompaniedby irritability of the stomach; the evacuations are thin andwatery, and often of a greenish colour. Astringents havegenerally been given with partial success, but as soon as theywere left on’, the purging returned. On inquiry, it will befound that on the checking of the diarrhoea the child becamerestless and uneasy; the skin hot; and that it often startedand screamed during sleep ; but that all these symptomsusually subsided on the return of the diarrhoea. What isvery observable, is, that although the incessant drain from

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the intestines may have continued for many days or even the quantities of porter and other deleterious substances sheweeks, the child is not at all emaciated, but is plump and took, was often injurious to the infant, by the production oflively; though it will usually be found that the head is hot, diarrhoea.with increased action of the carotid and temporal arteries. Dr. CURSHAM thought Mr. Allen had confounded theIf the diarrhoea is allowed to continue unchecked, a cure is hydrocephaloid disease described by Dr. M. Hall, with hydro-occasionally effected without the aid of art; but more com- cephalus; these diseases, though resembling each othermonly convulsions supervene, and carry off the patient, or the in many respects, were widely different, as the former re-disease terminates in chronic hydrocephalus. sulted from exhaustion, and required the administration ofThe author states that during the last five years he has seen stimulants.

more than 500 cases of diarrhcea in children whose ages varied Dr. GOLDING BIRD had listened to the paper with much at-from three months to three years, and that the proportion of tention, and whilst, in common with every practitioner, hecases of symptomatic diarrhcea to that depending on organic fully corroborated the accuracy and importance of the state-disease has been about six to one. The mode of treatment ments of the author of the paper, regarding the great impro-he has found most successful in the early stage, has been the priety of suddenly checking a diarrhoea, occurring more espe-abstraction of the blood from the head, which in the majority cially in early childhood, he yet felt inclined to differ in theof cases has alone served to stop the progress of the disease. line of treatment indicated. He expressed his decided opinion,If this is not sufficient, he gives small doses of mercury with from large experience, that in the vast majority of cases, in-chalk, and occasionally magnesia combined with an aromatic. fantile diarrhcea was a mere effect and result of some cause

If the bowels have become costive from the administration active in the system. Excluding unhealthy ingesta, he re-of astringents, or other causes, he gives calomel and jalap to garded the functions of the liver and skin as most frequentlypurge freely. in fault. The depurating duties of the former organ, whichThe author then details several cases in support of his asser- in infancy are hardly second in importance to those of the

tion. In some of these, head symptoms with convulsions sud- lungs, are often imperfectly performed, and a vitiated, un-denly supervened on the suppression of the diarrhoea by healthy secretion is poured out, which, acting as an irritant,opiates and absorbents, and death shortly followed. Post- becomes an active cause of a wasting diarrhoea. In suchmortem examination showed evident marks of inflammation cases, a few grains of mercury and chalk, by goading the liverof the brain, with effusion. In others, these symptoms were to an effective performance of its duties, often better relievesubdued by the treatment above alluded to, and the children the patient than a shopful of astringents. The green oreventually recovered. chopped spinach motions, so common in the more severe andIn conclusion, the author observes that, in the fatal cases, obstinate cases of bowel-irritation, too frequently regarded as

the appearances after death will vary according to the dura- made up of bile only, had, as he (Dr. Bird) believed he had else-tion of the disease. If the child dies suddenly, great conges- where proved, been shown to be chiefly composed of modifiedtion of the vessels (particularly of the veins and sinuses) will blood; all, in his opinion, that was required to produce thesebe the most remarkable appearance; but if the disease has green stools was a congested condition of the portal system,been of long duration, fluid will be found effused on the sur- producing a slow and scanty exudation of blood from the in-face of the brain and in the ventricles, the intestines being testines, which being acted upon by acid secretions, becomesgenerally found healthy. altered in colour and general character. Green stools were,

Dr. J. WEBSTER agreed with the author that diarrhoea acted in fact, to be regarded as mild melaena. In these cases, ain many cases as a salutary effort of nature to relieve the direct appeal to the function of the skin, by determiningsystem, and that great caution should be employed in sud- blood to the peripheral capillaries, and relieving those of moredenly arresting the complaint; but he dissented from the central organs, constitutes the only real effective treatment.doctrine, that it was frequently produced by teething. No Here the warm bath and ipecacuanha were invaluable, anddoubt, irritation of the gums and local complaints were often often were competent to avert the serious and much-dreadedco-existent in children, but the former did not produce the sequelae of infantile diarrhoea.latter affection, improper feeding being more generally the Mr. MACILWAIN corroborated, from experience, the remarkscause. Respecting the treatment, he (Dr. Webster) con- of the last speaker. He alluded to the connexion betweensidered the exhibition of astringents and opiates to children diarrhoea and skin diseases, as evidenced by the alternation ofso affected, as a dangerous practice; and however general the one with the other. The importance of the functions of theopinions of the author appeared on this point, the two cases skin and liver in diarrhoea were great; he believed the bowelsread to the Society were instructive. In the first, catechu merely acted as compensating organs.was employed, which arrested the diarrhoea, but the little Dr. THEOPHILUS THOMPSON alluded to a class of cases notpatient died soon afterwards. In the second case, syrup of mentioned in the paper, but which were important. Theypoppies stopped the purging, but the remedy was not repeated, were cases of diarrhoea, accompanied by hydrocephalus, butas it seemed injurious, and the child eventually recovered, in which neither disease had any connexion with the other.Having seen many examples of the disease under discussion The seat of effusion was different from that commonly ob--when physician to an infirmary for sick children, he (Dr. served. A child was brought to us with symptoms of menin-Webster) could speak with some confidence respecting the gitis, accompanied by diarrhoea, which, though not averted byremedies he- had employed; the most useful were, mercury remedies, was not sufficient to produce head symptoms. Thiswith chalk, rhubarb, and magnesia, especially when combined state was followed by occasional screaming fits and excessivewith minute doses of ipecacuanha and castor-oil, as also the sensitiveness of the surface; the pupils in the early stage ofstrictest regimen. The author advocated strongly the utility the disease were contracted, but became afterwards dilated.of bloodletting, particularly by the repeated application of The patient became lethargic, and death ensued. The serum,leeches; he (Dr. Webster) differed from him in opinion, and after death, was not found in the ventricles, but under thewould only employ such active treatment, in recent cases, arachnoid. The course of this disease differed in many pointswhich exiubited decided symptoms of local congestion and from hydrocephalus; there was not constipation, but diarrhoea,inflammation. and there were alternations of lethargy and excitement. HeDr. COPLAND thought that the author was not correct in thought both the diarrhoea and head affection were inde-

considering hydrocephalus as the result of the suppression of pendent of each other, and had their origin in some pecu-diarrhœa ; he thought the cases described were simply those liarity of the system. Was it not probable that this state ofof congestion of the brain from the sudden arrest of the system might be dependent on a granular condition of thebowel complaint; and the effusion of serum which took place kidney ?between the membranes was a mere accidental circumstance, Mr. W. O’CoNXOR said, that in the very practical remarksand was small in quantity. This congestion occurred in the delivered to the Society by Dr. Golding Bird, he did not oncemore acute cases, and unless subdued quickly, became fatal. allude to dentition as a cause of diarrhoea in children, and heWhen the diarrhoea was of long continuance, the child (Mr. O’Connor) was astonished that no allusion had beenbecame anæmic from being ill nourished. The effusion was made to so important a cause by Dr. Copland and other gen-then the result of the existing state of the brain, which was tlemen who had spoken; neither had the author of the papersoftened and anæmiated ; the fluid effused merely supplied the called attention to dentition as a cause, nor in any wayplace of the blood which was deficient. It was important noticed the symptoms resembling hydrocephalus often accom-that these cases should be distinguished, as they required panying dentition, which might be mistaken for that affec-different modes of treatment. tion. It was well known to all who have paid attention to diseasesMr. DAVIS (of Hampstead) directed attention to the injury of children, that dentition was a frequent cause of diarrhoea,

inflicted on children by the overfeeding of their nurses. It which was relieved by freely lancing the gums, and sometimeswas common for a child to have the milk fi-om the breast of requiring the use of a little mercury and chalk and castor-oil.its mother, and a second nurse, the diet of whom, from In children, during the period of dentition, there were fre-

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quently present symptoms like to those of hydrocephalus, andwhen those symptoms-which were only symptomatic of dentalirritation-were treated as of cerebral origin, a state of pros-tration supervened, under which the hydrocephaloid diseasenoticed by Dr. Marshall Hall was induced. The author of thepaper made some allusion to the views of Dr. Hall, but itwas evident he, misunderstood or knew nothing of them.Dentition, and the general irritation accompanying dentition,including intestinal irritation, had been noticed, if he (Mr.O’Connor) did not mistake, by Dr. Marshall Hall, as illustra-tive of his theory of the reflex function.Dr. COPLAND said the discussion was not on the forms and

treatment of diarrhoea, but the connexion of this diseasewith hydrocephalus. He had seen cases similar to those men-tioned by Dr. T. Thompson; they occurred generally in scrofu-lous children, and were accompanied by softening of the brain

Dr. CHAMBERS remarked, that one point of practical import-ance had not been alluded to in the discussion; he meant, thEcondition of blood which resulted from the absorption of fouisecretions which were the cause of diarrhoea. This showecthe necessity of clearing away all foul secretions, for iallowed to remain, they were often the cause of secondar3head affections.

(To be continued.)

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE MEDICAL SOCIETY.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16.—MR. HILLMAN, PRESIDENT.

A paper was read by Dr. HENRY on the " Pathology of In-flammation.’After a few prefatory remarks, the author of the paper

stated his object to be, the institution of a comparison, as nearas he could draw one, between the healthy process of nutritionof the animal tissues and the process of inflammation. Manypathologists of the present day consider the latter as a modifi- ’,cation of the former; and this view appears well grounded.

’

The subject of nutrition was first treated of under threeheads:

I. The nature of the plastic material, from which the tissuesare formed, with the nature of the process by which the ma-terial itself is produced.

II. The means by which it escapes from the capillary vessels.III. The nature of the force which assimilates the exuded

plasma into the form of certain tissues-i. e., the "metabolicforce" of Schwann.

I. The fibrin of the blood is said to be the material ofnutrition. It exists in the chyle, but not in a plastic form, being deficient in consistence, sometimes merely gelatinous."- -(Simon.) Hence it must undergo further changes, or moremust be formed, in the blood. Mr. Wharton Jones supposesit formed by the red corpuscles, as secreting cells. Dr. Simonthought it formed from the nuclei of the red particles. Thereseem to be several objections to both these views, of whichthe principal one is this. They assert, in proof of their views,that in disease the number of red corpuscles is in an inverseratio to the amount of fibrin; but do not account for the factthat in some diseases both are diminished. Dr. Carpenterthinks that fibrin is elaborated by the pale corpuscles. Butthis theory is probably untenable, as will be afterwards shown.The researches of Mulder on the oxides of protein were thenalluded to. The free access of atmospheric oxygen is neces-sary. Tritoxide of protein exists in several situations, as inthe buffy coat, in false membranes, in vitelline substance, &c.The products of oxidation of protein occur constantly in theblood. Mulder states them to be formed in the lungs fromfibrin, which is the principal, if not the only, carrier of theoxygen of the air. Hence it is probable-

1. That more than one substance has been confounded underthe name of fibrin.

2. The substance, commonly known as fibrin, requires to beconverted into tritoxide of protein, before being employed innutrition.The question whether all the fibrin is originally formed in

the chyle, or not, is here left undetermined. The plasticmaterial, being probably tritoxide of protein, has an inherentvital property of plasticity, the tendency of which is to formcells; and the formation of the pale corpuscles may be ex-plained in this way. Mr. Addison supposes them identicalwith epithelium cells, exudation corpuscles, and pus globules;and supposes them to elaborate fibrin, and the secretionswithin the vessels ; this, however, is improbable.

II. The plastic material passes through the coats of thevessels in an amorphous form. The pale corpuscles are sup-posed by Mr. Addison to pass through by some means ; this isby no means proved, and it does not agree with what we see

in the web of a frog’s foot. The heart, vessels, and blood, areprobably mutually concerned in supplying the plasma.

III. We have here to observe-1. The primitive tendency of the inherent plastic force of

the fibrin. This has been already noticed as the cause of theformation of the pale corpuscles; and in the exuded plasma.we see it forming cells, and in inflammation, exudation cellsand pus globules. The embryo is at first formed from cells,before any trace of other tissues can be discovered.

2. The surrounding tissues, however, act on the plasma bytheir metabolic force, causing it to assume their particularforms. Whether cells are first formed, or not, is not veryimportant here. This force appears to be truly vital, andseems to bear a certain ratio to the supply of plasma. Inhypertrophy, we may suppose it increased. The durability ofthe metabolic force seems in an inverse ratio to the activityof the functions of the animal; as is seen by comparing mam-malia with batrachia, it being of higher "tension" in theformer, but of greater permanency in the latter.The subject of inflammation was next considered.I. The amount of fibrine in the blood is increased, in some

cases, to ten or twelve parts in 1000. (Andral and Gavarret.)This is shown by the buffy coat. But the buffy coat is presentin several states when inflammation is not present; hence it isnot a criterion. It would be desirable to make careful che-mical and microscopic examinations of the buffy coat in allcases in which it appears. Mulder says that it contains trit-oxide of protein. Does this exist in the buffy coat of phthisis ? 2The condition for the formation of additional tritoxide ofprotein in inflammation-a free supply of oxygen-is effected bythe increased circulation and respiration. The additionalformation is probably general. In the buffy coat, and in thestimulated web of a frog’s foot, we see an increased number ofcolourless corpuscles. These are probably formed in the massof the blood, by an exaggeration of the vital plasticity. Arethese formed in tuberculous disease ?

II. The increased exudation of fibrin in an inflamed partis from the relaxation of the vessels, and cessation of the cir-culation.

III. The metabolic force of the tissues is impaired or de-stroyed ; probably from the intensity of the inflammation.The effused plasma tends to form cells; at first, exudationcorpuscles, being probably the result of an increase of thevital plasticity of the fibrin, the metabolic force being stillimpaired. We see here a distinction between inflammationand hypertrophy. In the former, the plastic material is in-creased, and its inherent plasticity is exaggerated, while themetabolic force is diminished. In hypertrophy, the metabolicforce is increased, as well as the supply of plasma. It is in theearlystages of inflammation that we find exudation corpuscles,probably before the balance between the assimilating powerof the tissues and the formation of the tritoxide of proteinhas been entirely destroyed; and in this stage, by restoring theequilibrium, " resolution" can be effected. Pus appears pro-bably to result from a degree of exhaustion of the inherentvital plasticity of the fibrin, the metabolic force not beingrestored. How is it that it is formed when the symptoms of £active inflammation are diminished ? Perhaps for this reason,that the more simple a tissue is, the more likely is it to bepermanent; hence cells are more permanent than muscles ornerve. Also, the pus probably exerts a metabolic force of itsown; and we see an instance of a less highly organized tissuetending to assimilate plastic material to itself, in the case ofmalignant tumours. We may, perhaps, explain the difficultywhich is asserted to exist, in producing suppuration in cold-blooded animals, by supposing the balance between the meta-bolic force of the tissues and the plastic force of the fibrinto be less easily destroyed in these cases.A discussion followed, in which Messrs. Cousins, Ransom,

and Marshall, and Dr. Henry, took part. The meeting thenadjourned.

BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,EXETER HALL.

JANUARY 13, 1846.—DR. WEBSTER IN THE CHAIR.Ix consequence of the temporary lull in medical affairs, theregular meetings of this Association have not been held forsome time past. The present was a special general meetingof the members, convened for the purpose of reviewing thelate parliamentary proceedings connected with medical poli-tics, and for taking into consideration the present state of theAssociation.

After an animated and interesting discussion on medicalaffairs, the following resolution was unanimously adopted :-