domestic animals. The most common form of rheumatism in animals, and particularly in horses, is the disease called "founder," la fourbure of the French writers. Veterinarians recognise two varieties, the rheumatic and the inflammatory; but the former is merely simple rheumatism, and the latter an inflammatory form of that disease. Rheumatism of the joints and vertebræ is often the cause of exostosis and anchylosis in horses and oxen. Dogs are particularly subject to rheumatism of the spinal column, which generally terminates in permanent paralysis of the posterior extremities. According to M. Huzard, scurvy is a common affection in dogs and other of the carnivori, when these animals are fed almost exclusively on meat and are not exercised. The author has not observed this disease, and is doubtful of its existence.

Cachectic maladies of a septic tendency are, according to M. Heusinger, much more frequent amongst herbivorous animals than amongst the carnivori and man. The "fièvre charbonneuse" of animals corresponds in some sort to the typhoid fevers in the human species, and although the former are not subject to the depressing passions and nervous shock or weakness which so often causes the disease in man, they are nevertheless incapable of resisting many atmospheric influences, as negative electricity, excessive heat or cold, marsh miasma, &c.

All our domestic animals are subject to contagious discharges, vegetations, and ulcerations of the genital organs, which are transmissible by coition, and exhibit a resemblance to syphilitic affections. In the author's opinion these diseases are nearly in the same condition as the syphilitic affections of man were before the close of the fifteenth century. M. Heusinger discards the opinion of several writers, that the disease has been originally propagated from the human species to the brute. Carcinomatous diseases are not so common in animals as in man.

NERVOUS SYSTEM. Diseases of the brain. Serous apoplexy and chronic hydrocephalus have been observed in animals, but the latter much more frequently than the former. Pseudo-morphosis of the brain is much. more common than the preceding, especially the transformation of a new product, which consists of a kind of cellular and cartilaginous tissue, into a state of ossification. This condition has been erroneously described by authors under the name of enchondroma. Hydatids are frequently met with. The cysticercus is found oftener in the brain of the hog than in that of any other of the domestic animals. The conurus cerebralis is very common in the sheep, less so in the goat, and rarely found in horses and oxen. Congestion and hemorrhage of the brain occur frequently in animals. M. Heusinger has even observed the latter affection in birds. Hemorrhage of the brain, however, is not so common as it is in man, which circumstance is no doubt mainly owing to the more natural life which animals lead. Nervous apoplexy also occurs in the brute, but much more rarely than in man.

Diseases of the spinal marrow. These complaints are extremely frequent amongst our domestic animals. Inflammation of the membranes is very common. Dropsy of the spinal canal is more frequent amongst the domestic animals than in man, and is often a congenital disease in lambs. Since the beginning of the present century a kind of plague has been frequently observed amongst sheep, known under the name of the trembling

disease (maladie tremblante), which is the result of the pathological condition just described. Effusion of matter is a frequent occurrence in horses, and is often fatal. The author has observed the case of a mare who died suddenly from the effusion of pus from a lumbar abscess into the spinal canal. Atrophy of the spinal marrow occurs frequently in horses, dogs, and sheep. Inflammatory softening of its substance is very common in all our domestic animals.

is

M. Dupuy thinks he has observed the roaring disease, "cornage," in horses, in which the recurrent nerves were compressed by indurated lymphatic ganglions. Mr. Ferguson, of Dublin, has observed the same condition. This disease resembles laryngismus stridulus in man. Paralysis very common in animals. There is a singular epizootic disease of cattle of this kind, called by the Germans sterzwurm, which appears to be unknown to veterinarians of the present day. It generally terminates in gangrene. Trismus and tetanus are singularly common affections in horses, but rarely occur in the other domestic animals. The nature of these diseases is as obscure in the brute as in the human subject. Convulsions and epilepsy occur frequently in dogs, cats, and birds. Chorea has been observed in dogs. Canine madness (rabies canina) originates in the dog species, and also, according to some writers, in the cat. It has been observed as an original disease in the dog, the wolf, the fox, and jackal. It is sporadic and epizootic, and may be transmitted to all quadrupeds, to birds, and man, but its transmissibility from animals in which it was not an original disease is, according to M. Heusinger, very prob

lematical.

Mental diseases occur in animals as well as in man, according to the author, who is supported in this view by M. Tscheulin, a German writer on the nervous diseases of animals. M. Heusinger believes that “instinct” depends for its healthy existence upon the organization of the nervous system, and, as that organization may be disturbed or deranged, it follows as a corollary that derangement of the instinct, or mental disease, will follow. The author considers that some light might be thrown on the morbi mentis in man by the study and observation of these melancholy disorders in the brute. The furor uterinus and the mania for destroying their young are subjects worthy of the special attention of the comparative pathologist.

Diseases of the eye in animals have been so ill-described by veterinarians, that the author complains he cannot even give a complete compilation of them. The same may be said of diseases of the ear, which is the last subject described in the Comparative Nosography.'

We have now completed our analysis of M. Heusinger's memoir. The original, being in a tabular form, loses much of its force in being transposed into consecutive sentences, and our abstract is of necessity abrupt in many places; but still the substance and meaning of the author are preserved throughout, and the reader is furnished with a number of facts, as interesting and important as they are unique.

ART. VI.

Denkwürdigkeiten zur medicinischen Statistik und Staatsarzneikunde für Criminalisten und Aertze. Von Dr. J. L. CASPER, Professor an der Friedrich-Wilhelm's Universität., &c. &c.-Berlin, 1846.

Essays on Medical Statistics and Medical Jurisprudence, adapted for the use of Jurists and Medical Practitioners. By Dr. J. L. CASPER, Professor in the University of Berlin, &c. &c.-Berlin, 1846. Imp. 8vo, pp. 397.

THIS is a remarkable work from the pen of a man who, by his extensive and elaborate contributions to medical literature, has long since deservedly acquired a European reputation. We have here in extenso the philosophy of medicine, dissertations upon subjects of vast importance to man in a social condition,-requiring enlarged experience, immense research, and a profound knowledge of physics and ethics for their proper elucidation. We know no one so well fitted as Professor Casper to undertake a work of this kind, involving as it does immense labour and requiring a mind well disciplined by the experience of years devoted to the study of medical philosophy in its higher and more recondite ramifications: and although some may be disposed to differ from the author in his conclusions, and to dispute the practical utility of his researches, there is no one, we think, who will refuse to admit that he deals with his subject fairly, candidly, and with an earnest desire to improve medical science and practice.

This treatise is divided into several sections, containing memoirs or essays upon subjects closely related to medical statistics and legal medicine. Some of these have already appeared in a more concise form, as monographs or contributions to the periodicals of the day-they are here collected, arranged, and condensed; and those additions have been made which the recent progress of medical science had rendered necessary.

The first Essay is on the Influence of the Weather on Health and Life: -the second refers to Experiments and Observations on the Mark produced by the Cord in Strangulation; and on the Signs of Death by Hanging: -the third, on the Geography of Crimes :—the fourth, on the Biography of a Fixed Idea :-the fifth, on the Mortality of the Prussian Army : the sixth, on the Influence of the Periods of the Day on Births and Deaths: -and the seventh and last, on the Phantom of a so-called Pyromania.

The reader will not fail to be struck with the singularity of the titles of these essays, as well as with the novel and remarkable views which, when properly treated, they must necessarily lay open. To the English reader the titles will present a certain quaintness of which, without altering considerably the meaning of the author, they can hardly be deprived. We shall, however, endeavour hereafter to make good, by a copious analysis of the author's facts, any defect which may arise from an insufficient designation of the subjects of the essays.

From the preface to this work we learn that the facts here accumulated by Dr. Casper, and upon which his conclusions are based, have been collected by years of unwearied labour, while he was engaged in duties which

enabled him to have free access to official, and therefore authentic documents. He candidly admits that the problems which he has here attempted to solve, are so wide in extent, that his views must necessarily be in many respects imperfect. This remark particularly applies to the Essays on the "Influence of the weather on health ;"—of the "Periods of the day on births and deaths," and the "Geography of crimes." The author's conclusions are here based on statistics, and if they cannot be received as perfectly satisfactory, he will be quite contented with the admission that he has at least succeeded in pointing out the way for future inquirers. In respect to pyromania, he entirely denies its existence as a ground of irresponsibility in charges of incendiarism, thus differing from nearly all modern writers on the subject of insanity. We have considered it only just to Dr. Casper to put these preliminary remarks on record, in order that our readers may see how little he is disposed to dogmatise, or to claim infallibility for his opinions.

I. ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER ON HEALTH AND LIFE.

Influence of Season. While all are ready to admit that Health and Life are materially affected by changes in the weather, the most vague and erroneous ideas prevail even among professional men respecting the kind of influence exercised. So far back as the time of Hippocrates, it was well known that the mortality from disease varied materially at different seasons of the year. In his third aphorism this ancient observer remarks, that Spring is the most healthy, "Saluberrimum et minimè exitiale," and Autumn the most unhealthy season, (per autumnum morbi acutissimi et exitiosissimi omnino.") Celsus adopted the view of Hippocrates. In modern times, by the use of instruments, and by the aid of tables accurately kept, many eminent statisticians have attempted to determine the degree and kind of influence which the seasons exercise upon health. Dr. Casper refers particularly to the researches of Villermé, Milne Edwards, Quetelet, Buek, and other well known statistical writers. But their researches are exceedingly defective: thus Quetelet's work refers only to the numerical deaths in a population, the diseases which affect the living are entirely overlooked! Buek's observations are too limited to allow of any satisfactory inferences. Among the numerous difficulties which interfere with the settlement of a question of this kind, is the fact that habits and modes of life vary to such an infinite extent in different countries, that the conclusions drawn even from large numbers of instances, can have only a very limited application. Other circumstances, even in a single nation, must materially affect the results. The health of a community is liable to be affected by the temperature, elasticity, and hygrometric state of the atmosphere; and how widely different are these conditions in a crowded city and in the open country, among pauper and wealthy populations, and in manufacturing and agricultural districts!

It by no means follows that the facts which are required for the solution of this problem, can be deduced from the reports of medical practitioners in general; although this is the principle upon which tables of health and mortality are commonly founded. How many diseases (observes our author) attack individuals and disappear without medical aid being called for! What errors would have been committed in reference to the sanitary state of Berlin during the prevalence of the two influenza-epidemics, if this

had been determined by reference to that portion of the population which sought medical advice, compared with the immense number of individuals who received no medical attendance whatever!

As an important and satisfactory basis for calculations of this kind, our author refers to the official reports of hospitals and of infirmaries for the poor, where these are situated amidst large populations. The influence of the weather and seasons on health can here be appreciated on an extended scale. Dr. Casper presents us with the results of observations made on upwards of 155,000 recent cases of disease occurring in public medical practice among the poor of Berlin, including the receptions into the Charity Hospital. These observations extend over a period of seven years (1833-9):-the cases for each month and season being separately numbered so as to allow of a fair comparison. He says, and we believe with perfect truth, that no table so extensive as this has ever before been published on such a subject. For the table we must refer to the original work. We can here give only a summary of the results obtained. The numbers of sick paupers, including those received into the principal hospital of Berlin in the different seasons of the seven years, were respectively in

From this table we learn that in Berlin the greatest number of cases of disease occur in the summer, and the smallest number in winter. Spring and autumn are nearly equally balanced. If, therefore, in speaking of the unhealthiness of seasons, we mean to imply those periods in which sickness is most prevalent, it is obvious from this table, that the summer must be regarded as the most unhealthy. These observations, it is true, are confined to Berlin; but it is by no means improbable, as Casper observes, that the results would be found to be similar, not only in North Germany, but in Central Europe generally. If, on the other hand, the unhealthiness of seasons is to be measured by the relative amount of mortality in a population, then the result, as we shall presently see, will be entirely different; for under these circumstances the summer is, beyond all question, the most healthy. The difference which is here pointed out by our author is of some practical importance. The only rule for estimating the state of public health to which we have access in this country, is the rate of mortality as indicated by the quarterly and yearly returns of the Registrar-General; but it would appear, from the extensive observations collected by Casper, that when there are the fewest deaths, there is the greatest amount of illness in a given population-a result for which most of our medical readers would probably be little prepared.

Dr. Casper refers to the observations of Cless, at Stuttgardt, as confirmatory of the conclusions which he has drawn respecting the influence of the seasons on health. Cless's observations extend over a period of ten years (1828-37), and they prove incontestably that the cases of sickness are most numerous during the summer season, while they are least numerous in autumn. Local position must of course, to a certain extent, modify the results :-thus there may be in and around certain towns and cities,