accumulate so much as to displace the water, the filter becoming saturated with oil at these points, and then forming as it were bridges for the passage of the succeeding oleaginous particles, which are forced into the lacteals by mechanical pressure in the same manner as the aqueous particles of the chyle. Fat, therefore, is not dissolved by the action of the digestive fluid, but the solution is effected by the heat of the body, and fatty mixtures whose fusion-point is higher than 104° F., are either not at all digested (that is to say, resorbed) or only very gradually dissolved by the agency of more fluid fat, subsequently taken into the system by the food. In the resorption of fatty food the surface of the intestinal canal divides itself as it were into two parts, of which one takes up the aqueous chyle and the other the fat. The digestion of fatty food requires a longer period than that of aqueous food, owing to the time required by the fat to force the water from the walls of the separate villi. The resorption of aqueous fluids is rendered more difficult when fat has been previously taken on an empty stomach, for the surface of the intestinal canal becomes invested with a coating of oil which hinders the passage of water. This explains the reason of the inconvenience experienced on partaking copiously of water after eating fatty food, and in like manner why the effect of intoxicating drinks (as beer, for instance) may be retarded for some time by taking a few spoonfuls of oil on an empty stomach." (pp. 28-9.)

Our author then proceeds to explain on similar grounds why it is that the intoxicating effect of a given quantity of alcohol depends in a great measure on the degree of dilution, and to notice the cause of the purgative effect of saline solutions; but as the latter of these views has been prominently brought forward by Liebig and Dr. Golding Bird, we proceed to notice the concluding pages of his pamphlet devoted to the subject of secretion. After stating his views regarding the secretion of sweat, tears, seminal fluid, mucus, and saliva, he gives the following account of the action of the glands of the stomach:

"The gastric glands present certain peculiarities: the product of their secretion so far coincides with the saliva, that it consists of an aqueous fluid with salts and extractive matters, whilst the remains of dissolved gland-cells testify to the presence of protein consumed and modified by organization. But the gastric juice exhibits the peculiarity of containing a free acid. The manner in which this acid is conveyed to it is so much the more difficult of explanation that we do not even clearly know its chemical character, for while it was formerly regarded as hydrochloric acid, it is supposed by more recent investigators to be lactic, combined with a little phosphoric acid; which latter, however, simply owes its origin to the action of the lactic acid upon the alkaline phosphates simultaneously present. By what means is the presence of the free acid brought about? The answer to this question is difficult, and many conjectures may be hazarded on the subject. The acid undoubtedly owes its origin to the blood, and the process of its formation may be owing to the decomposition of some of the salts (alkaline lactates or chlorides) of that fluid by the cells of the gastric glands which retain the acid, while the alkali returns by diffusion into the blood. As the cells gradually become broken up and dissolved, the acid is liberated and mixes with the gastric juice." (pp. 37-8.)

We regret that our limits will not permit us to follow our author through his remarks on the secretion of bile and urine; but we trust we have already stated enough to impress on our readers the importance of the phenomena of the diffusion of fluids within the body; for it is only by a clear understanding of the laws regulating these phenomena and those of molecular chemical actions, that we can ever hope satisfactorily to elucidate the various metamorphoses of matter ever occurring in organised beings.

PART SECOND.

Bibliographical Notices.

ART. I.-Experimental Researches on the Post-Mortem Contractility of the Muscles, with Observations on the Reflex Theory. By BENNET DOWLER, M.D.-New York, 1846. 8vo, pp. 39.

THE experimental researches contained in this paper (which is reprinted from the New York Journal of Medicine) are of much interest; as they relate to a phenomenon which we have little opportunity of witnessing on this side of the Atlantic. Many of our readers will remember that, after death from the Asiatic cholera, very marked contractions of the muscles, producing slow but energetic movements of the limbs, not unfrequently presented themselves. These appear to be of frequent occurrence after death by yellow fever; and may occur either spontaneously or in obedience to a stimulus applied to the muscle itself. The following is a description of a well-marked case of the former kind, the subject of which was an Irishman, aged twenty-eight. Upon the cessation of the respiration, the body became quiescent and motionless in every part; but soon afterwards the following series of movements commenced. First he carried his left hand, by a regular motion, to his throat, then to the crown of his head; the right arm followed the same route on the right side; the left hand was then carried back to the throat; thence to the breast, reversing all its original motions; the right hand and arm performed exactly the same motions; in all, eight consecutive, identical, equable motions, in apparently equal times, and with a regularity indicative of volition, though before death he was totally insensible.

Where, however, such movements do not occur spontaneously, they may be excited by simple percussion of the muscle with the hand, with a stick, the flat side of a hatchet, or any other blunt instrument, as in the following case:

"R. C., a Kentuckian, aged 25. In two hours after death, when the arm was extended to an angle of 45° from the trunk, and was struck with my hand, or still better with the side of the hatchet, carried his hand to his epigastrium; but when the arm was extended upon the floor, so as to form a right angle with the body, he slapped himself upon the mouth and nose. The contractility began to decline in the third hour; and by the fourth hour all motions of the limbs ceased, though the pectoral muscles assumed the ridgy or lumpy form when percussed. An hour after death the thigh was moderately contractile. The left heel hung down near the floor; its flexors, after being struck, drew up the heel against the buttock. Five hours after death, the contractility had ceased and rigidity prevailed."

A number of similar experiments, nearly all of them made upon yellowfever subjects, are related by Dr. Dowler; and in some of them it was proved, by completely separating the limbs from the body, that the influence of the nervous centres is not required for the production of these

motions. It is remarkable that in all the cases mentioned, the heat of the body remained at a remarkably high standard for some time after death; and according to Dr. Dowler, it even rose in some instances after the cessation of the respiration. In the case just quoted, the heat continued above the usual standard of health for seven hours after death; only sinking in that time from the extraordinary elevation of 111° to 102°.

We do not see in these phenomena anything which need be a source of perplexity to the physiologist. They obviously result simply from the contractility of the muscle itself, called into action by the mechanical stimulus directly applied to it. Several circumstances appear to favour the manifestation of this property in an unusual degree; especially the high temperature of the body previously to death, and the subsequent retardation of its cooling. This will tend to preserve the vital properties of the muscle; which will manifest themselves the more independently on account of the complete cessation of all nervous influence. The experiments are well worthy of being repeated in this country; for although we do not apprehend that such marked results can be obtained after death from other causes, as Dr. Dowler has encountered in his yellow-fever subjects, still we have little doubt that this post-mortem contractility will be found to be much greater than is usually supposed.

The "Observations on the Reflex Theory," which form the remainder of the pamphlet, are to us utterly incomprehensible. The author declares that he is altogether unable to understand the doctrine of reflex action; and instead of arguing upon it, he puts it to that very worst of all the tests of truth,-ridicule :

"Whatever agency," he says, "the anterior roots may have when galvanized, they are incomparably inferior to the motor power of the muscle when excited by the hand, the hatchet, or a cane. A hand-, or a hatchet-, or a cane-theory ought to have the preference over the reflex-theory, as the former is not only the most simple but the most scientific, affording a nearer approximation to the known physiological functions of man."

Let Dr. D. explain by his "hand-, hatchet-, or cane-theory," the contraction of the muscles of the thigh in a decapitated frog when the web is pinched, or the movements of the legs of a paraplegic man when the sole of the foot is tickled; and the champions of the reflex-theory may then enter the lists with him. But at present he is confusing two sets of phenomena wholly distinct; and his views would make the nervous system of no use whatever.

ART. II.-Practical Observations on the Pathology and Treatment of certain Diseases of the Skin, generally pronounced Incurable. Illustrated by upwards of Forty Cases. By THOMAS HUNT, M.R.C.S., &c. -London, 1847. 8vo, pp. 156.

MR. HUNT writes too much like one who indulges in the luxury of a hobby-horse, to gain assent to the whole of his views as to the power of arsenic in cutaneous diseases. He writes, however, in an earnest, truthful manner; and, making all allowance for the strong bias he exhibits towards his favorite remedy, the facts and views he brings forward eminently merit the attention of the practitioner.

The preparation of arsenic used by Mr. Hunt, is that commonly termed

liquor arsenicalis, or Fowler's solution, the liquor potassæ arsenitis of the Pharmacopoeia. With this remedy he has cured several forms of inveterate cutaneous disease, prurigo of the anus, scrotum, and pudendum, lepra, psoriasis, urticaria, impetigo, eczema, acne, sycosis, lupus exedens and nævus araneus, are those in which he has found it successful, and some most obstinate cases are detailed as yielding to its powers.

The value of Mr. Hunt's publication consists rather, however, in the experience he has accumulated and given in it, as to the real effect of arsenic on the system, and as to the modes in which it should be administered. He advises, for example, that full doses should be administered at the first onset, as five minims of the solution thrice a day, and then that the doses should be diminished. The time for lowering the dose is indicated by the supervention of conjunctivitis: when a pricking sensation is experienced in the tarsi, the eyes suffused with tears, and the conjunctiva inflamed, the system is under the influence of the remedy, just as ptyalism indicates the full action of mercury. The skin on the trunk of the patient is also affected with slight inflammatory action, and subsequently the extremities, on a continued use of the medicine. This appears as a faint pityriasis, and all those parts of the surface protected from the light have a brownish, dingy, unwashed appearance. If this state be kept up, the disease will vanish just as rapidly as if the conjunctiva were kept sore.

Another observation (and one we think applicable to many other remedies besides arsenic) is, that the remedy is much less likely to affect the stomach or bowels if taken during a meal. With this we fully concur. The tolerance of the remedy varies much in different individuals. One patient was cured of a psoriasis guttata, by a fourth part of a minim of the solution taken thrice a day, or only of a grain of white oxide of arsenic.

We had noted some of the incidental results of the arsenical course to which Mr. Hunt submitted his patients, some of which were continued for two years. In several it appears to have acted as a vigorous tonic. We must, however, recommend the practitioner to read the book for himself; it will repay the trifling cost of time.

ART. III.-The Ancient World; or Picturesque Sketches of Creation. By D. T. ANSTED, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.; Professor of Geology in King's College, London, &c. &c.-London, 1847. Small 8vo, pp. 408, with numerous Wood Engravings.

We know few instances in which a book has been more completely adapted to supply an existing want, than the one now before us. Every educated man in the present day is expected to know something of the past history of the globe on which we live; but the difficulty of obtaining a general and philosophical view of that history from any treatises previously extant, without having the attention distracted by a mass of details which are valuable only to those who are systematically pursuing the subject, must be well known to all who have made the attempt. Now the object of this treatise of Professor Ansted's is to communicate in a simple form to the general reader the chief results of geological investigation; more especially such as have reference to the living inhabitants.

of the earth at different epochs. A succinct outline is given of those great physical changes, which have produced that diversity of conditions to which we owe the successive extinction of certain races and the opportunity for the introduction of others; but the chief attention is bestowed upon the probable characters and habits of the denizens of the globe at different periods, as deduced from the study of those fossil remains which have been preserved to our own time. The most interesting of these are described in such a manner as to bring them before the mind's eye, with much of the vividness of conception which we derive from the accounts of some new region explored by an adventurous traveller, who has personally witnessed what he depicts. And although it may seem as if it were necessary to draw somewhat upon the imagination in such delineations, yet we believe that Professor Ansted has in no instance gone beyond the most legitimate deductions from the wonderfully complete evidence, which a careful examination of the records of the ancient world brings under the review of the Geologist. As he justly remarks, there are not wanting other instances in which conclusions perfectly satisfactory have been arrived at, and histories prepared, without the existence of any written documents whatever. The domestic manners of the ancient Egyptians are now known to us fully as well as those of their existing representatives, through the medium of those pictorial delineations of themselves which they have left us in such abundance; and from similar delineation, we are learning more and more of another ancient people, the Etrurians, whose very existence could only be inferred with hesitation from direct historical testimony, but of whose high civilization and proficiency in the arts of life, at a period long anterior to that usually assigned to the foundation of Rome, new evidence is continually being acquired, espe cially from sepulchral monuments. And if we look with interest to the discoveries which are being made from time to time, with reference to the past history of fragmentary portions of our own race, we surely need not entertain a less degree of curiosity with regard to those gigantic changes of which our globe has been so often the subject, previously to man's introduction upon its surface; whilst the novelty of the forms of animated beings which have been its successive tenants, their evident adaptation to conditions of existence very remote from those which now prevail, and the abundant materials for speculation as to the structure of those parts which are lost to us, present one of the most attractive fields that can be conceived for the wholesome and pleasurable exercise of the mind.

We cannot too strongly recommend this volume to our readers; its exterior is elegant, and its interior attractive to a superficial glance; and we are confident that its contents, when carefully studied, will not disappoint the first impression.

ART. IV.-A Lecture, introductory to a Course of Clinical Medicine, delivered in the Theatre of Queen's College, Birmingham, &c. &c. By SAMUEL WRIGHT, M.D., &c.

AN interesting brochure, and containing sound truths well expressed. We doubt not, that as Professor of Clinical Medicine, Dr. Wright will bring his talents and energy to bear upon his duties, and the profession as well as his class will benefit by his labours.