209RELATES TO PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.

things,-namely, that the possessors of thediplomas of the London College of Surgeonscould not recover in our courts of law their

charges for medicines and attendance in

medical cases, because they had not beenexamined by, and had not obtained licencesfrom, the Society of Apothecaries. Physi-cians-fellows of our colleges, and graduatesof our universities-were placed in a simi-lar degrading and annoying predicament, andthus had they been situated during twenty-five years before a single druggist was sub-

jected to a prosecution for acting as a medi-cal practitioner-before his right to recover

charges for medicines prescribed by himself,was questioned in a court of law. If the" save-and-except "restriction had been con-tained in the 28th clause, all doubt and dif-ficulty would have been removed, and it is

certain that in that case the first operationof the Act would have been felt by the drug-gist who dared to act as a medical practi-tioner. The two sections, however, framedas they were, repulsive and contradictory,coupled with the collusion of the College ofPhysicians, the druggists, and the promotersof the Bill, produced a very considerable

difficulty in applying the law, in the first

instance, to the worst delinquents, and inobtaining from the Judges just and sounddecisions. It is well known,-and it wouldbe useless as well as dishonest to disputethe fact,-that the druggists did prescribe,and most extensively, before the year 1815 ;but the Judges have now decided, pro-

perly and wisely,-and that decision has

been obtained through the admirable tact

and perseverance of the Society of Apo-

thecaries, - that such medical practicedid not constitute a legitimate part of theirtrade or business,-that the 28th section hasonly extended protection to them in the car-

rying on of that trade or business,-and thatit does not empower them to continue to act

as medical practitioners ; and in this respectthe law will hold good against them asagainst all other persons who prescribe for

patients, and vend their own remedies, 41 with-out a licence from Apothecaries’ Hall."

But, in truth, the operation of the restric-tion is not limited merely to the unqualifiedpractitioner-unqualified qua medical educa-tion-but it extends to the most highly-giftedand intellectual members of the profession,if they happen not to possess the licence ofthe Worshipful Company: so that in thatrespect the non-medical druggist is onlyplaced on precisely the same footing as afirst-rate physician or surgeon! Yet the

druggist claims the right of prescribing,compounding, and vending, although no

such right can be exercised, and the druggist winces and becomes furious because wehave resolved that he should be restrained in

his*’career of mischief. Oh! Shame, where eis thy blush?We have not space to continue the subject

this week, but shall resume it in the next

number of THE LANCET, and take up the

question as it is opened in the PharmaceuticalTransactions for October the 1st; and we

seize this opportunity of giving some angryspirits notice, that they may make prepara-tion for a very strong ebullition of feeling, aswe have resolved not to abandon the ques-tion until we have made it intelligible to

every COUNTER-MANIPULATOR in the kingdom,nor until we have placed the rights and prac -tice of the profession on a secure and properfoundation ; and not until we, as we hope.to,have added to the respectability of CHEMISTSand DRUGGISTS, by disentitling them from thedegrading appellation of QUACKS, and bytruly assuring the public that such respect-able tradesmen are no longer injuring theirown characters, or adding to the afflictionsof the community, by engaging in the per-formance of duties which they do not under-stand.

Principles of General and Comparative Phy-siology, intended as an Introduction to theStudy of Human Physiology, and as a

Guide to the Philosophical Pursuit of Natu-ral History. By WILLIAM B. CARPENTER,Lecturer on Physiology in the BristolMedical School, &c. Second Edition.Churchill.

Principles of General and Comparative Phy-siology, intended as an Introduction to theStudy of Human Physiology, and as a

Guide to the Philosophical Pursuit of Natu-ral History. By WILLIAM B. CARPENTERLecturer on Physiology in the BristolMedical School, &c. Second Edition.Churchill.

THERE are few works in the more elevated

departments of the science of medicine thatdeserve a warmer commendation at our hands

210

than does the volume before us. We have structures of animals, are twelve in number;before had occasion to speak highly in its adipose, vesicular, epidermic, cartilage, bone,praise when it was first presented to our teeth, cellular, serous, fibrous and mucousnotice in its early dress of a new edition, membranes, muscular and nervous tissue.That our good opinion was not ill-bestowed In the next place, the transformation of tis-has been since almost universally proved, sues is examined ; which is followed by anot only in the favourable reception which general view of the vegetable kingdom, itsthe work has received from the pen of our phanerogamic and cryptogamic divisions.

literary contemporaries, but also in the more We are then led to the consideration of asolid estimation of public patronage. In the general view of the animal kingdom ; takinginterval of the circulation of the first edition, in their descending order its five sub-king-the author has not been idle ; he has dili- doms, viz., vertebrata, articulata, mollusca,gently collected all the new facts and re- radiata, and phytozoa. A comparison be-searches bearing upon his subject, and with tween the characters of the animal and vege-them has greatly enriched the present edition. table kingdoms naturally follows, and is suc-To the student of medicine the work has now ceeded by the interesting subject of the sym.become indispensable ; to the practitioner it metry of organised bodies, which completeswill prove a delightful companion ; and to the general view of organised structures.the man of education unconnected with our After the general considerations involvedprofession it will unfold wonders in reference in the preceding inquiries, the author pro-to the study of nature that must tend to raise ceeds to the prominent subjects of thehis mind to elevated thoughts, in the con-

volume, viz., General and Comparative Phy-templation of the maginificent harmony of the siology. The first discusses the nature anduniverse.

causes of vital actions, and the nature andWe need scarcely dwell upon the consi- properties of vital stimuli ; examining in

deration of a fact, now generally admitted, their turn the stimuli of heat, light, and elec-that the physiology of man can alone be com- tricity, and the physical conditions of theprehended, in its multifarious details, by a surrounding medium. To this examinationclose investigation of the phenomena of orga- succeed a review of the general laws of or-nisation displayed by inferior animals, and ganic development, and a general review ofthat much light is thrown upon the science

the vital functions. ’

by a knowledge of the principles of existence the vital functions.

exhibited to our view in the observation of In the book devoted to special and com-the vegetable kingdom. How much of our parative physiology, the particular functions

present knowledge is established upon this of the animal body are examined in succes-

basis ! And in no part of the science of phy- sive order, viz., ingestion and absorption ofsiology is this truth more clearly demon- aliment; the process of digestion ; the circu-strated, than in the interesting discoveries lation of the nutritive fluid ; the functions ofwhich modern research has contributed, the lymphatic system; nutrition and forma-upon the subjects of reproduction and deve- tion of tissues ; exhalation of aqueous va-

lopment. pour ; secretion; evolution of light, heat,The work before us has, for its especial and electricity ; the reproduction of organised

object, the consideration of this important beings ; the subordinate laws regulating re-co-relation ; and the task, though extensive, production ; the sensible motions of livingwill be found to have been most ably per- beings ; and the functions of the nervous sys-formed. tem. The last chapter being devoted to theThe volume opens with an introductory consideration of the marks of design exhi-

dissertation on Organised Structures ; treat- bited in organised structures.

ing, in the first instance, of the nature and From the new matter of the present edi-objects of physiology, and then of organised tion we shall make some short extracts,structures in general. The author next pro- which will serve the double purpose of show-ceeds to the elementary structures of vegeta- ing the writer’s style, and also of conveyingbles, including cellular tissue, ligneous tis- to our readers some idea of the interestingsue, vascular tissue, and lactiferous tissue ; matter which forms the subject of the

and then to the elementary structure of ani- volume. In speaking of the small mem-

mals. The tissues described as entering branous vesicles which contain the oily de-into the composition of the elementary posit of fat, the author observes,-

211

" The fluid oily matter contained in thefat vesicles, however, would find its waythrough their walls, if it were not preventedby a very simple and beautiful contrivance,-the keeping those walls wet with a wateryfluid,-which is effected by the circulationof the blood through the vessels that are dis-tributed among them. The repulsion betweenthe particles of oil and water effectually pre-vents the transudation of the former, so longas the membrane is saturated with the

latter; but when a piece of fat is dried, itssurface is soon found to be bedewed withminute drops of oil that have escaped fromthe cells, when these have become permeableby the evaporation of the watery fluid whichpreviously filled their pores."The development of all tissues from primi-

tive cells, and the analogy of those cells withthe cellular parenchyma of the vegetablekingdom, is beautifully illustrated in the fol-lowing paragraph :-" A very close approximation to the paren-

chyma of plants is also seen in the chordadorsalis,-the gelatinous column which re-places the bodies of the vertebrae in some ofthe lowest fishes, and which occupies for atime the same position in the embryos of allhigher vertebrata. Its cells, like those ofadipose tissue, are quite distinct from each ’other; but their walls lie in closer approxi-mation, so that, instead of a rounded, they I,have a polyhedral form. Young cells mayoften be seen within them,-the mode ofwhose development will be hereafter dis-cussed. The pigment-tissues, as they havebeen termed, which give to different parts ofthe body, such as the skin and the choroid icoat of the eye, their peculiar shades, consist i

of cells inclosing particles of colouring ’,matter. These cells are round or oval when iffirst formed ; but they afterwards show atendency to send out branches or ramifica-tions, which interlace with each other, andthus render the form of the tissue more com-plex. This modification, however, throws ’’much light on the transformation of othertissues." iThe development of parasitic life in the ’,

internal textures of vegetables and plants isa subject of much interest. It has recentlybeen observed by Laurent that a parasiticmucedinous plant is occasionally found inthe interior of the ova of the limax agrestis,upon the surface of the embryo. If the plantbe active in its growth, the embryo is de-stroyed ; but if the latter obtain the ascen-dency in the perfection of its development,the growth of the plant is prevented. Otherimportant instances are adduced by Dr. Car-penter.

" Animals as well as plants are liable tothe growth of fungi within their bodies. In- i

dividuals of a species of polistes (the wasp ofthe West Indians) are often seen flying aboutwith plants of their own length, projectingfrom some part of their surface; the germsof which have been introduced, probably,through the breathing pores at their sides,and have taken root in their substance so asto produce a luxuriant vegetation."With these few extracts, which we ac-

knowledge to be quite inadequate to do

justice to the volume, we are compelled, fromthe restricted limits of our columns, to closeour present notice of Dr. Carpenter’s excellentwork. And we again take occasion to re-commend it most strongly and warmly to theattention of our readers.

WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY.

Saturday, October 30, 1841.

Dr. REID in the chair.

DISCUSSION ON ASPHYXIA AND ITS TREATMENT.

Alleged important E1’/’ors in the Treatmentof Persons apparently Drowned, by theRoyal Humane Society.

Mr. STREETER thought that asphyxia in chil-dren depended on three causes : pressure onthe neck of the child by the funis; a comatosestate of brain; and the collection of thickmucus about the upper part of the throatand air-passages. These would requiredifferent kinds of treatment. He thoughtexperiments had shown that in the infant amuch longer interval could take place be-tween the cessation of the placental commu-nication and the termination of life, than inthe adult between the commencement ofasphyxia and its fatal results ; and that,therefore, the employment of artificial respi-ration could be resorted to at a later periodwith success in the former than the latter.He then gave the description of two casesin which persons had attempted suicide bydrowning, and detailed at considerable lengtha case of Caesarean section, performed byMr. Green, in Guy’s Hospital, and relatedby that surgeon in the Medico-ChirurgicalTransactions, vol. xii. He detailed thesecases with the view of showing how neces-sary it was to be unsparing in our efforts tosave life.Dr. REID had seen the mode of treating

asphyxia by giving the infant two or three

sharp smacks on the thorax, succeed whenwhen all other means had failed.

Dr. Guy, in some experiments on the foetallungs, with another object in view, however,had found in still-born children, who hadnever afterwards breathed, that the lungswere gorged with blood. He believed thismight be a reason why they did not breathe,and might raise the question as to the pro-priety of abstracting blood. Two foetuses