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'Again, of the whole number, 12 had never been pregnant, one had had 'several' children, and 23 had aborted once or oftener. Then there were 79 women who had had 497 pregnancies amongst them, or an average of about 6 to each. This is at least 2 above the proportion in England. ... These results, which can scarcely depend upon accidental causes, seem to show that child-bearing predisposes in some measure to cancer of the uterus."

This brief notice of Dr. Tanner's essay will suffice to show that it embodies a large supply of facts bearing on the history of cancer in the sexual organs of the female, and reflects credit on the author's industry in rendering his experience available and useful to the extension of pathological science.

ART. X.—The International Aspects of Quarantine Legislation. By Gavin Milroy, M.D., F.R.C.P., &c. From the Transactions of

the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1862.' Pp. 12.

WE are much indebted to Dr: Gavin Milroy for his continued and able exertions to excite and keep alive an interest in the important subject of quarantine legislation. This his paper on its "international aspects" is his latest effort in the cause, we hope not his last. Our government, and à fortiori other governments, are very much, we fear, in that apathetic state about quarantine, that like the unjust judge in Scripture, there can be little hope indulged of moving them to give the existing system or systems (for there is no uniform one) consideration, except by importunity, iterating, and reiterating the manifold evils which quarantine inflicts.

In his present publication, Dr. Milroy presents a brief but clear summary of the manner in which quarantine is conducted in the different countries of Europe, taking his information chiefly from the documentary evidence contributed by her Majesty's Consuls and Governors of British Colonies at the suggestion of the Public Health Department of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science in 1859. Having given some account of the results of the inquiry thus conducted in the number of our Review for April, 1862, we shall here only remark that, as in the instance of passports, to which Dr. Milroy aptly likens quarantine, in the same degree it would appear that governments have become enlightened and free, so nearly have they mitigated the rigours of quarantine, reducing it indeed in some instances almost to a negation. Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium afford examples in point; whilst Spain, Portugal, Greece, resisting improvement, are standing examples of the contrary, as, indeed, were Italy and Sicily before the war of independence.

In considering quarantine, the purpose for which it was originally instituted should be kept in mind-viz., as a protection against the oriental plague, and how afterwards it was extended to yellow fever; next and last to cholera; its restrictions being confined to these three

diseases, the contagious or infectious nature of two of which appear to be at least doubtful. Further, it should always be kept in mind that the working of the system has been conducted too often in the most arbitrary manner, and for the worst political purposes; and that generally, whilst it has been most vexatious and injurious in operation, it has afforded no security against the invasion of those very maladies it was intended to exclude.

Dr. Milroy suggests the appointment of one or two Commissioners by our Government, with instructions to visit the ports of those countries in the south of Europe where quarantine continues to be most rigorously enforced. No doubt, in the way of enlightenment, the results would be beneficial, for we can only expect, from an accumulation of evidence, that degree of conviction that will in a manner compel a reform of the abuses.

The period we have now entered the era of the steam-boat, the railway, the electrical telegraph-seems specially to need definite and clear views, carried into practice, in this matter: the one, the rapid locomotion being so favourable to the transmission of disease, if communicable from person to person; the other, the momentary transmission of intelligence, securing, or capable of so doing, exact information respecting the health condition of every region within the range of its magical circle.

We are glad to find that a deputation from the Council of the National Association which has waited on Lord Palmerston, urging the institution of such a commission, has been favourably received. Were its duties to be performed honestly and ably, how great would be the good resulting compared with the cost; in the way of commerce it might be equivalent to the gain of millions, free transit being the life of commerce; in the way of humanity, the spread of knowledge, the removal of prejudices and aversions, founded on ignorance, the accompaniment of isolation, the benefits ought to be beyond all price.

ART. XI.-Memoir of the Life and Writings of Robert Whytt, M.D., Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh from 1747 to 1766. By WILLIAM SELLAR, M.D., F.R.S. E., &c. (From the 'Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,' Vol. xxiii. pp. 33.)

FOR this able memoir of a distinguished man, its author has been awarded a medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, before which it was read.

It is a pleasure to see justice done, and that in the amplest manner, to deceased merit, to a man who, Dr. Sellar justly remarks, was in advance of his age, and who "stands amongst those whose labours most largely contributed to the rapid strides of medicine in the latter part of the eighteenth century."

This memoir is not only interesting as affording an excellent account of these labours, but also as containing a sketch of the rise and progress

of the medical school of Edinburgh, of which Dr. Whytt was one of its earliest ornaments.

His chief discovery was connected with the nervous system, anticipating as he did to a great degree that which now bears the name of reflex nervous action, and using the term sentient principle to signify what a vis nervosa is now employed to express. And more, he made the happy conjecture that the above-named nervous action is conveyed to and from the sensorium commune by isolated nervous fibrils; this is a conjecture in relation to its verification not unlike that of Watt regarding the composition of water established experimentally by Cavendish.

In reading this memoir, we have been reminded of the curious and very interesting fact that Dr. Whytt's writings on the use of limewater in calculous complaints, and the controversy which he had with a brother professor on the qualities of lime-water, led to the great discovery of Dr. Black- that of fixed air (the germ, may it not be called, of modern chemistry), now as a science so vast in its amplitude and relations. And this again reminds us of the short space of historic time which has intervened between then and now-barely a century. Dr. Whytt died in 1766, the second Monro was his colleague and the colleague of Black, and there are some still alive, Dr. Sellar assures us, who attended the prelections of the former.

ART. XII.-Practical Remarks on Laryngeal Disease, as Illustrated by the Laryngoscope. By E. H. SIEVEKING, M.D., Physician to St. Mary's Hospital. 1862. (Pamphlet.)

THE observations embodied in this pamphlet were read before the Harveian Society of London, and subsequently appeared in the British Medical Journal' (December, 1862). Their object is to set forth the advantages accruing to us in our diagnosis from the use of the laryngoscope, and to explain the mode of using the instrument. We have read the pamphlet with much satisfaction, and would highly recommend it as being most clearly and pleasantly written, and as giving in very short compass much valuable aid to those who have not yet tried laryngoscopy, or who have hitherto found themselves unable satisfactorily to practise it.

ART. XIII-A Practical Treatise on the Etiology, Pathology, and Treatment of the Congenital Malformations of the Rectum and Anus. By WILLIAM BODENHAMER, M.D. New York and London, 1860. pp. 368.

THIS work constitutes one of the most complete monographs with which we are acquainted. In it we have collected together and apparently with accuracy, no less than 287 cases from every available source, and also a review of both the "medical and surgical treatment in full from the earliest times, with all the improvements down to the present time." The date of the volume will explain why allusion to

the more recent observations of our countryman, Curling, has not been made.* After an introduction, in which the etiology, anatomical and pathological character, classification, symptoms, and prognosis of these congenital malformations are considered, our author devotes separate chapters to the nine species of malformation which he discriminates, and this classification will be seen by our readers to differ from that adopted by Mr. Curling. He divides them as follows into-I. Malformation characterized by an abnormal narrowing of the anal orifice. II. Atresia orificii ani, in which we have a closure of the orifice by a thin transparent membrane, somewhat resembling a hymen. III. Atresia ani et intestini recti, a species of arrested development, in which the rectum terminates abruptly in a "cul de sac" at a variable distance above its outlet. IV. Malformation, in which the anus is usually quite normal, whilst the rectum, at a variable distance above it, is either obliterated, partially or wholly absent, or occluded by a thin or thick annular membranous septum. V. In this, the rectum near its lower end sends off a pipe-like prolongation, which terminates externally in a preternatural orifice at some point in the periuæum, or at various points beneath the urethra, at the labia pudendi, or at some points in the sacral region. VI. In this form, the rectum terminates by an abnormal anus, either in the bladder, urethra, vagina, uterus, or in a cloaca in the perinæum with the urethra and the vagina. VII. In these, the ureters, vagina, or the uterus may terminate in the rectum by an abnormal orifice. VIII. The rectum in this species is entirely absent, and the colon generally ends in a "cul-de-sac.” IX. In this the rectum and the colon are both wanting, and some other portion of the intestinal canal terminates externally in an abnormal anus.

The volume closes with a chapter on Abdominal Artificial Anus, including its history and the various proceedings resorted to by different surgeons.

The materials collected and introduced into the work are well digested, with full and particular references to their sources; and in the relation of the various cases, the remarks of the original writers are given in connexion with them. The volume is well illustrated by sixteen plates, each containing several drawings. Altogether, the book is a full and useful compendium on the subject up to the time of its publication, and a monument of no little industry and patience.

ART. XIV.-On Diseases of the Skin. By ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S. Fifth Edition. London, 1863. pp. 784.

THIS work has attained, since its first edition near twenty years ago, very considerable proportions, and the present edition, as the author observes in his preface, contains "numerous emendations and additions, both in pictorial and typographical illustration." In our notice of the former edition, we took occasion to regret that Mr. Wilson confined himself too much to the local phenomena of skin diseases. We still think that

* See our number for April last, p. 366.

he does so, for whilst in his preface at one part he has some capital observations regarding the necessity of "devoting more attention than heretofore to local treatment, and not less to constitutional treatment," and again speaks very discreetly of the necessity of considering the "solids" as well as the humours in our study of skin diseases, yet when he comes specifically to deal with the diseases seriatim, we still fail to meet with that complete notice of them which is only obtained by regarding the local phenomena in full connexion with general symptoms and with the condition of the various organs of the body in this disturbance of their functional activity. High praise is yielded in the preface to Professor Hebra, of Vienna. Following most eminent authority, our author discards the term lepra as we are wont to use it in England, and restricts it to the "leprosy" or "elephantiasis." He strictly couples the so-called lepra with psoriasis, and calls it by that name. Moreover, with Hebra, he gives to eczema" a wider range than is commonly done, refusing, as did Bateman and others, to give to that disease the term psoriasis in such cases as become chronic, and are accompanied by considerable thickening and extensive desquamation of the diseased patch.

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ART. XV.-A Compendium of Domestic Medicine, and Companion to the Medicine Chest; comprising Plain Directions for the Employment of Medicines, &c. With an Appendix on Cod-liver Oil: its Purity, Mode of Preparation and Administration. By J. SAVORY, Member of the Society of Apothecaries, London. Sixth Edition.— London, 1862. pp. 378 and 35.

THE author tells us that in this edition "he has made such corrections as may be considered fairly established by the progress of medical knowledge." The work evidently contains a large amount of medical information which in every situation of life, provided that no regular practitioner is at hand, may be found most useful. The portions devoted to 'cookery for the sick," and to "medicinal articles,” will no doubt, under many circumstances, be especially valuable; and several practical hints may be gained from the chapter on Codliver oil.

ART. XVI.—A Practical Handbook of Medical Chemistry. By JOHN E. BOWMAN, F.C.S. Edited by CHARLES L. BLOXAM. Fourth Edition.-London, 1862. pp. 303.

FEW students of medicine, we suppose, are without a copy of one or other editions of this valuable and handy work, and possibly there are but few of our younger fellow-practitioners who do not find it still a useful book for reference. On this supposition it can hardly be necessary for us to offer any criticism on its merits, and we would only remark, in reference to alterations and additions, which may be observed in the present edition, that processes have been introduced for

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