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value, summing up as it does the present condition ofknowledge on the subject, for much of which we are

indebted to Dr. Barbour. The first part of the book givesthese results; the second gives the literature of the subjectin the form of references, tables, and summaries. The

amount of work, of one kind and another, here representedis very great, and the book will always, we think, main-tain its place as a standard authority on the anatomy oflabour. The uterus and pelvis are treated before labour,in each of the stages of labour, and after labour. Thefacts are derived from gross and from microscopical evi-dence, and include the consideration of the "lower uterinesegment," which, though not yet fully worked out, seemsto belong unmistakably to the body, and not to the neckof the womb.There are few criticisms for us to make. A few changes

might be made in a subsequent edition, which would makesome details clearer. For instance, on page 46, the

placental site is described as thicker, and on page 52 asthinner, than the rest of the uterus. In Chapter 4 theword "conjugate" is incorrectly used (passim) to denoteantero-posterior diameters other than that of the brim. A"conjugate" is a technical term, meaning the lesserdiameter of an ellipse, and only applies to the antero-

posterior diameter of the brim. There is an advantage inthis, inasmuch as it is only necessary to speak of the" conjugate," since the only conjugate is that of the brim ;and it is as unnecessary and redundant to speak of the"conjugate of the brim" as it would be to speak of thebrain of the head or the fingers of the hand. It is plainthat, in future, the terms " extension " and " flexion "

can only be taken to denote the lesser or greater coin-cidence of the long axis of the head with that of the

genital canal, and not separation or approach of the chinfrom or to the chest. The elevation of the pelvic peri-toneum, except that of Douglas’s pouch, during preg-nancy, and still more during labour; the relation of the ’,ureters as regards the possibility of their compression;and the imperfect elevation of the bladder during labour,are all of great interest. In Chapter 5 the bearing ofclinical facts on frozen sections of the third stage is con-sidered. Here we think a little more caution was required,for, as regards the clinical facts, some of the most im-

portant of them have been the subject of prolonged dis-cussion and reinvestigation, with the result that formerdescriptions require revision. There is no trace of this inthe chapter before us, and, while the literature of frozensections is given, the literature of the clinical side is not

alluded to. For many reasons, the evidence of frozen

sections from the third stage of labour is less weighty thanthat of the other stages, and the question is not yetsettled. It is not unlikely that some of the statementshere made will have to be withdrawn, and we hold thatin a work like the present this should never be necessary.It is far better to assert nothing which cannot be proved,for unproved assertions often cost others much weary andunnecessary trouble, and really impede the advance of

knowledge.The book, small as it is, is so full of facts that it is not

easy to find what is searched for, especially as the objectof search often occupies pages remote from each other. Anindex, and a pretty full one, should certainly be added. Asecond edition of this excellent work should be even morevaluable.

VICTORIA HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN, Queen’s-road,Chelsea.-On the llth inst., the Organising Committee anddelegates from the temperance trades and friendly societiesand clubs handed over to the chairman and committee ofthe hospital the sum of .S272 16s. 10d., being the net pro-ceeds of the most successful church parade which has yetbeen held in Chelsea.

New Inventions .HYDROSTATIC REPOSITOR.

CASES of chronic inversion of the uterus are happily notof very frequent occurrence, but they are sufficientlycommon to warrant the adoption of special means in theirtreatment. No amount of manual dexterity and patience,however great, will suilice to replace the chronicallyinverted uterus, but steady and well-directed mechanicalpressure will generally effect reduction. The cup and stem

repositors, which have hitherto been used with much success,are open to at least two objections: 1. The necessity forchanging the cups as reduction proceeds. 2. The difficultyin withdrawing the instrument when reduction has been

FIG. 1.

effected ; for not only does the cervix then grip the stembelow the cusp, but this latter also acts as the plunger ina suction pump, and the negative pressure inducedby attempted withdrawal is very great. The report inTHE LANCET of May 18th of cases related at a meeting ofthe Obstetrical Society of London fullyillustrates these diijiculties. 1 havetherefore been induced to elaborate therough model of a hydrostatic repositorwhich I designed in the year 1886. Theinstrument was exhibited at the Leedsmeeting by the makers, Messrs. DownBros. It consists of a double india-rubber bag (Figs. 1 and 2) mounted ona steel X-shaped frame, and connectedwith a stout rubber tube called thesupply-pipe. It is kept in position byfour inelastic perineal bands attachedto the four points of the X frame andbuckling on to a stout waistband,which latter may, if required, be coatedwith adhesive plaster. The arrange-ment of the frame leaves the meatusurinarius and the anus uncovered, sothat the patient is enabled to micturateand defecate. The pressure is applied

FIG. 2.

through the supply-pipe by any fluid, from compressed airto mercury (oil alone excepted), and by any means, froma Higginson’s syringe to a reservoir over the patient’sbed, or the ordinary service supply-pipe. Its advantagesare :-1. It can be thoroughly disinfected by any solu-

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tion (e. g., sublimate) before use. 2. The bag being elastic,it envelops the womb ; and the power being hydrostatic,it adjusts itself accurately to that organ, while the pres-sure is uniformly distributed over the whole of the bodyto be reduced. Thus the bloodvessels and lymphaticsare emptied, engorgement is diminished, and reductionmaterially favoured. 3. The pressure being constant anduniform, reduction takes place in the line of least resistance,and the receding uterus is steadily followed up by thereducing agent. 4. The posterior border being longer thanthe anterior, the axis of the curves of reposition tends tocoincide with the axis of the uterus. (Fig. 2.) 5. Thepressure can be regulated to a nicety, especially by areservoir suspended over the patient’s bed. 6. Reductionmay be effected with the patient in any position, from thegenu-pectoral to the dorsal decubitus. 7. Reduction havingbeen effected, the bag is emptied by disconnecting the supply-tube and the reservoir. The upper part then collapses, andthe whole is easily withdrawn from the vagina.

Fig. 1 represents the repositor with the bands and beltattached. Fig. 2 is semi-diagrammatic, the shaded portionrepresenting a vertical section through the inverted cup(ready for use), and the dotted lines, approximately, thevarious curves assumed during distension of the instrumentand reposition of the uterus. The instrument has beenwell and faithfully made from my detailed drawings byMessrs. Down Bros. of St. Thomas’s-street, Borough.

B. CAMPBELL GOWAN, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.S.A.Great Stanmore.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

THE various Sections of the British Association com-menced their labours on Thursday, the 12th inst., largeaudiences being the rule and the addresses being well received.

BIOLOGY SECTION.Canon Tristram read the address which had been prepared

on this subject by the President of the Section, Dr. BurdonSanderson, who was prevented by illness from being present.After an introduction the address proceeded :-"Physiology first studies man and the higher animals,

and proceeds to the higher plants, then to in vertebrates andcryptogams, ending where development begins. From thebeginning her aim has been to correlate function withstructure, at first roughly, afterwards, when her methods ofobservation became scientific, more and more accurately,the principle being that every appreciable difference ofstructure corresponds to a difference of function; and, in-versely, that each endowment of a living organ must be ex-plained, if explained at all, as springing from its structure.It is not difficult to see whither this method must eventuallylead us. For, inasmuch as function is more complicatedthan structure, the result of proceeding, as physiologynormally does, from structure to function must inevitablybe to bring us face to face with functional differenceswhich have no structural difference to explain them. Bymultiplying examples, they would in each case come tothis issue-plurality of function with unity of structure,the unity being represented by a simple structural element,be it retinal cone or cell, possessed of numerous endow-ments. Whenever this point is arrived at in any in-vestigation structure must for the moment cease to beour guide, and in general two courses or alternativesare open to us : one is to fall back on that worn-out Deuse.;; 1nachinå, protoplasm, as if it afforded a sufficient ex-planation of everything which cannot be explained other-wise, and accordingly to defer the consideration of thefunctions which have no demonstrable connexion withstructure as for the present beyond the scope of investiga-tion ; the other is, retaining our hold of the fundamentalprinciple of correlation, to take the problem in reverse-i.e., to use analysis of function as a guide to the ultra-microscopical analysis of structure. I need scarcely saythat of these two courses the first is wrong, the secondright, for in following it we still hold to the fundamentalprinciple that living material acts by virtue of its structure,provided that we allow the term structure to be used in asense which carries it beyond the limits of anatomical inves-tigation—i.e., beyond the knowledge which can be attainedeither by the scalpel or the microscope. We thus proceedfrom function to structure, instead of the other way. Ir

thus changing direction we are not departing from thetraditions of our science."

Having dwelt upon the discoveries of Haller and others, theaddress went on to describe life as " a cyclosis in which theorganism returned after every cycle to the same point ofdeparture, ever changing, yet ever the same." After touchingupon the relation of oxygen to living matter and vital pro-cess and other cognate subjects, an outline or sketch wasgiven of what might, if there were time to complete it, bean adequate conception of the mechanism and process oflife. The following passages concluded the address :—

" What we have to guard against is the mixing of twomethods, and, so far as we are concerned, the intrusion intoour subject of philosophical speculation. Let us willinglyand with our hearts do homage to divine philosophy,’ butlet that homage be rendered outside the limits of our

science. Let us, if we are so inclined, cross the frontier andphilosophise ; but for my part, as a physiologist, I feel moredisposed to do my best to furnish professed philosopherswith such facts relating to structure and mechanism as mayserve them as aids in the investigation of those deeperproblems which concern man’s relations to the past, thepresent, and the unknown future."

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SECTION : HEREDITY.

The President, Sir William Turner, F.R.S., deliveredan address upon " Heredity." After some introductoryobservations, Sir W. Turner said that in its relations toman, his structure, functions, and diseases, the subject ofheredity had long occupied a prominent position in theminds of anatomists, physiologists, and physicians. Thatcertain diseases, for example, were hereditary was reco-gnised by Hippocrates, who stated generally that hereditarydiseases were difficult to remove, and the influence whichthe hereditary transmission of disease exercised upon theduration of life was the subject of a chapter in numerousworks on practical medicine, and formed an importantelement in the valuation of lives for life insurance. Sir W.Turner described at some length the latest discoveries in thefield of biology, and referred extensively to Charles Darwin,Mr. Francis Galton, Professor Weismann, and others. Thelecturer then proceeded to examples of hereditary malforma-tion, and continued as follows :-" These examples illus-trate what may be called the coarser kinds of hereditarydeformity, where the redundancies or defects in parts of thebody are so gross as at once to attract attention. But modi-fications or variations in structure that can be transmittedfrom parent to offspring are by no means limited to changeswhich can be detected by the naked eye. They are sometimesso minute as to be determined rather by the modificationswhich they occasion in the function of the organ than by theready recognition of structural variations. One of the mostinteresting of these is the affection known as Daltonism, orcolour- blindness, which has distinctly been shown to behereditary, and which is due, apparently, in the majorityof cases, to a defect in the development of the retina,or of the nerve of sight which ends in it, thoughin some instances it may be occasioned by defectivedevelopment of the brain itself. Dr. Horner has re-

lated a most interesting family history, in which thecolour-blindness was traced through seven generations.In this family the males were the persons affected, thoughthe peculiarity was transmitted through the females, whothemselves remained unaffected. The family tree showedthat in the sixth generation seven mothers had children.Their sons, collectively nine in number, were all colour.blind with the exception of one son, while none of their ninedaughters showed the hereditary defect....... The eye isnot the only organ of sense which exhibits a tendency tothe production of hereditary congenital defects. The earis similarly affected; and intimately associated with con-genital deafness is an inability to speak articulately, whichoccasions the condition termed deaf-mutism.......... Mr.David Buxton, who has paid great attention to this subject,states that the probability of congenital deafness in theoffspring is nearly seven times greater when both parentsare deaf than when only one is so; in the latter case,the chance of a child being born deaf is less thanper cent.; in the former, the chances are that 5 percent. of the children will be deaf-mutes ............. Hadone been discussing the subject of hereditary diseasetwenty years ago, the first example probably that wouldhave been adduced would have been tuberculosis, but theadditions to our knowledge of late vears throw some doubt