296

REVIEWS FROM THE WEST.

Edinburgh, Medical and SurgicalJournal.

THERE is obviously a commotionamongst our contemporaries, a concus-sion of brains for finer phrases, anda scrutiny of old volumes for novelties." Scabies occupat extremum," wouldseem to be the animating principlethat gives vibour to the periodicalcontest; we would beg leave to sng-gest it as a suitable motto. Various

and ingenious are the means employedto maintain a place in the public mindin this struggle for existence. The

prose medical of other days, by a re-

volution in taste, has resolved itself

into poetical prose, and if our Editorswere only to study rhythm with thesame success as they have style, weshould not despair of seeing the sub-limities of physiology embodied in

blank verse, or the next edition of

the Edinburgh Dispensatory labouredinto the octosyllabic couplet of HUDI-BRAS, the favourite poem of the juniorof the Dnncans. Theories, which had’been tranquilly sleeping out the" sleep of death," revisit once more

the " glimpses of the moon" at the

1Dagic call of Dr. COPLAND, while the

QuartPrly qnill of MedicochirurgicalJOHNSON glories in the multifarious

dulness of three hundred pages of

miscellany and review! The obscnre

village, as well as the polished city,has now its " genius loci," and eachdisease its particular patron, who

lives by its ravages and faithfully re-

ports its progress. It is now no longera question, who writes ? for who does

not? and a credntons spectator, wholooked at these exhibitions of success-

ful practice without a knowledge ofthe motives that lead to pnblication,might imagine that a milleuium of

health was about to be established on

earth. One man writes to show the

extent of his practice by the numberof cases he can quote in support ofhis opinions ; another to prove his

claim on public confidence from themanner in which he can compose

without any experience at all. U t -

fortunately for mankind, the utility ofthis system of universal authorship isnot commensurate with the extent of

its cultivation, and no wonder, sincein the generality of these productions

the interest of the writers alone seems

to be studied ; thus exemplifying, ina very conspicuous manner, the pro-verb of " charity begins at home."

The distinction between recovery and

cure is no longer worth the observ-

ance, and whatever is achieved by theefforts of nature is put down to thecredit of medicinal influence and ind:-

vidual skill. This great barrier againstthe abuse of the press being oncebroken down, we see nothing to saveus from the awful visitation of all the

private case-books in the empire ap-pearing in print. Only one remedyfor the removal of so great a nationat

misfortune presents itself to onr view,but if generally adopted it will provea most effectual one; it is simply this,let there be an understanding betweenthe Editors of the various medical

journals to suppress the name and

residence of the author uf evetv com-munication which they nuy publish,and we promise thtm, that under such

297

an arrangement, the reign of puffing will expirebefore six months; by such 1a plan would folly be defeated, va-

nity robbed of its grati6cation, and

designs of a less worthy kind withoutan object. We would seriously re-

oommend this method to Mr. Cor-

LAND to rid hiiuself of his old corre-

spondents, and to all other journalistswho wish to follow his late example,satisfied, as we are, that no mo(lern

essayist would accept of the fame

even of a Junitis upon the self-denyingconditions of a " stat nominis umbra,’it being a curious fact, that no medi-cal writer, at least that we are ac-

quainted with, ever had the modestyto publish a book without his name.It is not probable that the unpretend-ing authors of the present age willsupply an exception to the rule in theinstance of a " great unknown" in

the medical sciences. It has been,however, our fate to disagree withsome persons upon the utility of such

compositions, and to express our dis-

approbation of them in a way not veryagreeable, as it appears, to many oftheir authors. For this we were pre-

pared, and cannot see why the writerof three pages shoud be exemptedfrom that scrutiny extended to himof three hundred, as the shortness ofan article, instead of excusing unne-cessary publication, or being an apo-logy for other inaccuracies, only ag-gravates those errors which miht be

pardoned in more lengthy productions.This is our answer to all such com-

plaints, and without further cere:nonywe shall now proceed to i-ille the

treasures of the Xorthern casket,which we perceive is full beyond any

former example with rarities from all

quarters of the globe ; instead of

twelve or thirteen, the usual quantumof this journal, the turbid streams ofthe Highlands have swelled into a

torrent of twenty articles, occupyingno less a space than ninety pages. Towade through this flood of facts, fic-

tions, and speculations is a pleasurewe should willingly decline if we

valued our own ease more than the

convenience of our readers, who, wepresume, will be much better satis-fied even with an imperfect digestthan with the trial of going throughthe entire mass of unmutilated dul-

ness.

The work opens with rather an ela-

borate tract upon head-aches, indicat-

ing some research, and a taste forclassification in the writer; but not

having yet bronght his labours to atermination, we must suspend our

jndgment for the present, sincerelyhoping that his diffiiseness will not

excite that malady in his readers

which his pen has been employed toremove.

To this succeeds an aggravated caseof double psoas abscess, by a Mr.

MILROY, which requires no assistancei from ns to render it worthy of con-

tempt. It is accompanied by a plate,in which the artist seems to have used

every effort to conceal, rather than to

explain, the morbid anatomy of the

parts. Were all the cases of this dis-

ease that occur to be reported, vo-lumes wu::hl not suffice to contain the

uspicss recurds. when any thingtending to elucidate the pathology, orto improve the treatment of this toocoinmon complaint, shall be discorer-

298

ed, we shall be rejoiced to auke suclinformation public ; until then w

must be silent on dissections whicl

have nothing to excite attention, except the inutility of their publicationTo Mr. WOOD we are indebted fot

an attempt to attest tLe efficacy of thetartrate of antimony in pneumonia.This case, though it does not substan-tiate the claims of that medicine to

the preeminence conceded to it byItalian physicians, proves it to be auseful adjunct in the treatment of thisdisease. In conjunction with bleed-

ing and purgatives, as employed byMr. Wood, it may be highly service-able, but administered as a specific, acoffin, to save trouble, may be order-ed in the prescription.A case of perforation of the soft

palate is next perspicnously detailed,and ingeniously remedied, by Mr.

ALLAN, who modestly expresses a

doubt whether his paper be of safi-

cient importance to be laid before theprofession. The utility of his improve-ment on the instruments usually em-

ployed to remedy defects of the palate,might have precluded any such mis-givings in liis mind, but diffidence andmerit are often companions. We shallendeavour to give some idea of the

injury and the means ued to repairit. Suppose a triangular aperture inthe soft palate, the base of w which mea-sured about a quarter of an imh, thesides somewhat longer, and terminat-

ing in a circular form above, and youhave the state of the parts. Uponthis aperture Mr. Allan performed M.Roux’s operation (the same as that

performed forthe hare-lip) three times,but with partial success, the ligatures

employed to keep the edgea of theopening in apposition, though ribbonwas used to prevent such an effect,

having at each time cut their hold.

The attempt to unite the parts in thismanner having failed, he succeededat length in forming an instrument ofIndian rubber, in the following man.ner : a solid piece of this substance isto be cut into the shape, but some-what larger than the aperture in-

tended to be closed; in the edgeof this piece of elastic gnm a convex

groove is to be formed, so that the

margins of the instrument over!?? thesides of the aperture in the palate,without causing either much pressureor irritation of the parts. The writer

represents it as easily applied, and

answering all the intentions for whichit had been used.

It would appear, that a residence

in a foreign country confers a pre-sciiptive right on medical men to fa.vour their friends at home with specn-lations on the peculiarities ofciimateand disease, so numerous are the

communications of this description oflate. But as far as the testimony ofMr. HEN!)ERSON can be depended onin his vasty essay upon East Indian

diseases, such efforts might well be

dispensed with, since from this gen-tleman’s lucubrations, we cannot dis-cover any difference in the diseases or

the treatment of the Sepoys in Indiaand the Serfs; of Ireland ; or why Mr.HENDERSON might not compose the

same treatise in the latitude of Cone-

mora as in that of Hindostan.

Mr. SY1IIE is indeed a hero. To

most even a doubt on the propriety of

dressing wounds after amputation,

has been long and W1jWtly considered

synonymous with high treason againstthe state of English surgery. With

this writer we perfectly agree, thatunion by the last is a much more fre-

quent occurrence than union by thefirst intention ; and that both first andlast intentions are often frustrated bythe unnecessary accumulation of ban-

bages and adhesive plaster, the pre-sence of which substance we believe

to be almost a certain preventiveagainst all kinds of union. Whoever

wishes to be satisfied of the disunitingproperties of adhesive plaster, has

only to observe the state of wonnds

to which it has been applied after

venesection, and also in the removal

of the first dressings from amputatedlimbs. In the former instance he will

find the wound to heal much sooner if

lint only be used ; in the latter, hewill find that the parts generallyunited, are those over which the ad-hesive straps have not passed. We Icannot, however, subscribe to the sub-stitution of sutures, as proposed byMr. SYME, for the adhesive plaster,but as few and as small straps of it as

possible should be employed, the restcan be done by a well-managed ban-

dage.

A. Dr. MARTLAND, of Blackburn, I(wherever that is,; innocently imaginesthat he has been increasing our know-ledge, by making addition to a spe-cies of facts which are yet far frombeing well underaood. His contri-

butions to morbid anatomy are rather an enlargement of tli at great labyrinththan an elucidation of its complexity.We shall decline venturing into a

maze, for which our author has not

furnished a clue.

Omitting the text of the next arti-

cle, we shall merely give the writer’s

(Dr. HARRISON) comment, and leavethe reader to judge of the vallie. ot thecommunication and out own prudence." The diseased appearances, or en-

largement of the heal t, could hardlyaccount for it (difficulty of breathing).It can only be considered as a case of

simple enlargement of the heart, ac-

companied by hydrothorax."Mr. WISEMAN details a series of

cases, as if one was not sufficient toconvince his readers, that a man witliso promising a name, may be, not-withstanding a trifler. Cases of in-

flammation of the cellular substance.caused by the absorption of morbidmatter, and extending along the armto the muscles of the trunk, have oflate become so common, that theymust cease to be interesting, until

some new plan of treatment more-

successful shall be discovered, thanthat with which we are already ac-

t ’1uainted. There is a note append-ed to this case, which, in comtesy to

t the writer, JU3N DUNCAN, jun. we- must suppose to be of great import-

ance.

So much has been written on conta-

gion by onnelves and others duringthe last six months, that it would bean nunecessary cruelty to inflict one

word of comment on Sir GILBERT

BLANE’S paper on that subject. We

must, therefore, pas in silence the

baronet’s ccmnianication, observingonly that he is an orthodox conta-

gionist.We have rare:v met with a case

300

more satisfactory, as to its termina-

tion, than that detailed by Mr. WISH-ART, of amaurosis. The disease de-

pended wpon derangement of the

primae vice, and was removed in thecourse of about twenty days by theuse of purgatives. The subject wasa boy of nine years of age, the visionbeing completely lost in one eye, bnt

by this plan of treatment, assisted byblisters, the sight was entirely re-

stored.

We are surprized not to have metDr. SCOT’S case of poisoning by oxalicacid in the newspapers; here it is

quite out of place.The good and evil resulting from

the extraction of calculi from the fe-

male bladder by dilatation, are so en-

tirely dependent upon chance, or ra-ther upon circumstances that cannot

be foreseen or controlled, that this

plan of operation is likely to remain

a stumbling block, a mere will-I-do-it or will-I-not to the profession.Mr. MACINTOSH, in the present in-

stance, succeeded in extracting in

this manner a large stone from a fe-

male, without the usual effects of thismode of operating having followed.He used sponge, compressed into

tents with tallow, to dilate the urethra,

a plan much better than metallic in-

struments employed for the same pur-pose.Connected with, and arising out of

the preceding case, is the descriptionof a dilator, invented by Mr. SYME.Its cheapness, simplicity, and efn-

ttency place it far above every other

instrument of the same description.It simply consists of a compa-s, withround legs bent at right angles, and,

when introduced into the urethra,opened by a screw placed near thehinge of the instrnment. The cutlers,we presume, would be much more

obliged to Mr. SYME for a more com-plicated apparatus.Mr. TORBET discovered too late the

symptoms attendant upon the pre.

sence of calculi in the intestinal tube

to render his patient any service.

Had his post-mortem examination been

performed as an ante-mortem opera-tion it would have very much in.

creased the interest of his case, and

probably added to his own reputation.But, in such difficulties, what eye cansee its way ?We must leave Mr. NIVISON and

Mr. IRVIN to settle their own disputes.Having given an account of the coii-tended case in a former Review, weare not called upon to furnish another

in this place. It appears that Mr.

NIVISON took the liberty of publishingthe case without Mr. IRVIN’S consentfor which freedom the latter is ex-

ceedingly wrath. Happy souls, if

they have nought but this to disturb

their peace.

Be it known to all the sons of Escu-

lapius, born and unborn, who have,or shall have, to treat ganglions, thatDr. CUMIN, of Glasgow, has succeed-ed in dispersing such tumonrs, by in-troducing into them a couching needle,and pressing their contenb into the

surrounding cellular substance, to hethere taken up by a class of elevatorsin the animal economy called ab.

sorbents. For all further information

communicated by this gentleman, werefer the reader to Rees’s Encycic.

301

pœdia, which goodly book we have 1DO fancy to retail at second hand.An experiment to refute the theory

of the venous circulation being de-

pendent upon suction, concludes thevolume- It is quite satisfactory upon.this snbjeet, but quite unnecessary,.as every case of venesection presents

psecisely the same phenomena. Had

the experimentalist only the sense of- the rabbit which he sacrificed, its life

might well have been spared. And is

,this all we can gtcan from ninetypages, and the labours of twenty men?!

0 quantum est in rebus inane !

FOREIGN DEPARTMENT.

ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN MEDICAL JOUR-

NALS.

ARCHIVES GENERALES.

A succinct Account of Researches madeon Inflammation of the Veins, illus-trated by Cases. By M. RIBUS.

Tms interesting paper of M. RIBUSon inflammation of the veins, was firstpublished in the eighteenth volume ofthe " Memoires de la Societe d’ Emu-

lation," with several others on patho-logical anatomy. Inflammation of the

veins has since attracted his particu-lar attention, and the result of his in-

quiries will be found exceedingly use-fut in the treatment of this serions

affection.

In the first place, a condensed ex-position will be given ot such altera-tions in the veins as are the results ot

inflammation; and, secondly, suchsymptoms will be ennmerated as mark the progress of the di,ease. The veinsof the extremities will be first consi-dered.

1. When the veins are examined inthe dead body, whatever quantity ofblood they may contain, when emp-tied and wiped clean, it is found thatin general their appearance is white,and that the small veins are almosttransparent. In subjects in whichveins have been found to contain fluidblood, or blood more or less coagu-lated, the veins have sometimes beenobserved to be a little tinged, as ifthey had absorbed a part of the blood,giving the vein the colour of winelees, whilst at other times they havepreserved their natural appearance.Why is this difference ? The tissue ofthe vein must have undergone somealteration, either in consequence ofdisease, or after death, otherwise theappearances which it exhibits wouldbe always alike.

2. The veins inflame very frequent-ly, and this affection is a very seriousone. I have seen the veins inflamedin different degrees, and assuming va-rious appearances. I have occasionallyfound a great number of veins in-flamed at the same time, and the smallveins have appeared more frequentlyaffected than the others, in such, atleast, as are of sufficient size to bedissected with the ordinary instru-ments. I have before had occasion tospeak of erysipelas, and I am stillconvinced that it has its principatseat in the small capillary venous ves-sels. I have frequently seen the largeveins also inflamed, such as the saphe-na, the tibial veins, the femora!, and

’ the deep veins of the arm. but esoe-

cially the superficial veins ot that part;the veins of the abdomen are verysubject to inflammation, such as theinferior cava and its branches, thevena portae, and the hepatic vein,whiie their ramifications are more lia-ble to inflammation than the other ab-dominal veins. The sinuses of the

) dara mater often exhibit traces of in-flammation. I have found some veinsinflamed tor two or three inches only,sometimes in a part of their calibreonly, and occasionally I have tracedthe inflammation even to the right

auricle.When the internal tunic of a vein

presents any traces of inflammation,the cellular texture, which is situa’olto the exterior of the tunic, is observedto be much injected, and that iojec-