entitled to place after his name the two letters M.D., than he is to place the three letters KNT., or the four letters BART. The author of this volume is a LICENTIATE, or, as he writes it, a MEMBER of the London College of Physicians; and he is unquestionably legally qualified to practise as a physician; but the College neither has, nor pretends to have the power or authority, to grant to any one the degree of Doctor in Medicine, and therefore we regard the assumption of this title and dignity by a mere licentiate as altogether unwarrantable. As the licence of the College qualifies the holder, as we have said, to practise as a physician, it would not perhaps be overstraining the privilege, if such holder took the name as well as the office of physician. At least, we should ourselves not only readily accord this title, but we would even, out of courtesy, give the name of Doctor also, just as we give this name to Bachelors of Medicine. But just as no one ever saw a Bachelor of Medicine, however long he may have been named DR. in common parlance, place the talismanic letters M.D. after his name, so, à fortiori, no one ought ever to see an ungraduated licentiate of the College of Physicians to do so. Dr. Coley-as we are willing to style him by courtesy, though we believe his proper title to be Mr. Coley, Physician,-can certainly plead, in extenuation of his fault, that he is kept in countenance by many other of his fellow-licentiates, both intra et extra urbem; but it is principally on this very account that we notice the subject here, and we say-peccatur intra muros et extra. We know Dr. Coley to be a gentleman of the highest respectability; and though he has written a bad book, we believe him to be an experienced and skilful physician. No Doctor of Medicine, at whatsoever university he may have graduated, could hesitate for a moment to meet him in consultation; none, we should hope, would refuse to address him by the ordinary title; but it is well that the members of the profession generally, and the Fellows of the College of Physicians espe cially, should be made aware that there are to be found among the ungraduated licentiates of the college, men of a very different stamp, who are a disgrace to the title of Doctor of Medicine, which they so improperly assume-men who are not only utterly undisciplined in all that literary culture which a degree and its concomitant title are usually understood to imply, but who are even destitute of that amount of special knowledge which ought to be possessed by every member of the medical profession, however humble. Can such things be-and overcome us like a summer cloud, without our special wonder? But if any of our wondering readers should be curious also, and desire to know how such things be, we refer them for particulars to that famous statute which established the ELECTS of the College of Physicians. PART SECOND. Bibliographical Notices. ART. I.-Notes and Recollections of a Professional Life. By the late WILLIAM FERGUSSON, Esq., M.D., Inspector-General of Military Hospitals. Edited by his Son, JAMES FERGUSSON.-London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 248. AFTER having served with distinction for twenty-three years, during the stirring and eventful period between 1794 and 1817, and having attained the rank of Inspector-General of Army Hospitals, Dr. Fergusson retired into civil life and established himself, first at Edinburgh, and, four years afterwards, at Windsor, where he enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice, till attacked with paralysis two years previous to his death. He possessed ample opportunities during his military career of studying the diseases of soldiers, both on the Continent and in the West Indies, in the field and in garrison, in the time of peace and during war. "I embarked," he remarks, "nine times from the shores of Britain with armaments on foreign expeditions, and, during twenty-four years' actual service, I spent seventeen years, or parts of them, in other climates, passing through every grade of medical rank in every variety of service, even to that of the sister service of the navy; and it thus was my fortune to have sailed in every ship of war, from the first rate of the line down to the smallest craft that carries a pennant." Dr. Fergusson contributed many able papers to the medical journals, on subjects connected with the public health, and more particularly on those relating to military hygiene. The latter half of the volume before us consists of a reprint of some of the more important of these contributions, while the first part contains a series of papers, commenced shortly before his illness, and which was intended to form "a digested abstract of opinions and observations that have been subjected to the ordeal of long and deliberate consideration." Unfortunately he was not spared to carry out his views on this point. Of the papers he had completed, some refer to the state of the army as it was when our author served in it, and exposes abuses which happily no longer exist, while others are perhaps too purely military to demand lengthened notice from us. We would recommend the perusal of the work to every army medical officer who feels really interested in the soldier, and takes a pride in the service to which he belongs, as the production of an able and intelligent officer, and containing many excellent observations on subjects connected with the health of troops; it has also the advantage of being written in an amusing and very readable style. We shall content ourselves with one quotation from a paper "On Fever as an Army Disease," which we believe contains the true secret of its successful treatment, and may suggest useful reflections to those who are instant in season and out of season with their endeavours to cut short and to cure it by heroic remedies. "It is the gastro-enterite, cry the disciples of Broussais, and there can be no cure but the leech. It is cerebral inflammation, respond the followers of Clutterbuck, and the only remedy is venesection. Purgatives are the true treatment, proclaims the Edinburgh school. They are irritating and dangerous, replies that of London. In fact, all are equally right and all are equally wrong if they fail to note times and seasons, the nature of the epidemic, and the characteristic tendencies of the patient's constitution, his powers to bear the operation of medicine, and his ability to resist the tendency to death. There can be no treatment of fever by physic but in studying the juvantia and lædentia of the case-cultivating the first, eschewing the last, and never forgetting that there is a mighty power always operating in your favour—the vis medicatrix naturæ. Do not thwart her beyond the mark, and she will get you through difficulties with which, without her aid, you could not cope; but the physician who believes that he possesses beyond these, medicines of specific power in fever, really should have his own licence suspended, and himself put under cure until the monomania subsides. The battle is to be fought by the nurse, whether in the shape of physician or other attendant it matters not. Only let that attendant be sagacious and diligent, and the patient is saved-the contrary, and he dies." ART. II.—The Microscopic Anatomy of the Human Body in Health and By ARTHUR 8vo, pp. 76. THE design of this work is very commendable. The present rapid advance of microscopic inquiry, together with the increasing importance of its results, fairly demand that a special treatise should be devoted to it; and a volume so moderate in size and price as this promises to be, would deserve every encouragement if its performance were equally satisfactory. This, however, we regret to say, is not in our opinion the case, in regard to any one of the points on which the author claims a favorable consideration. After stating the intended number of parts to be twelve, he proceeds" It is intended to embrace a systematic and copious illustrated description of the various fluids and solids of the human frame, no structure or organ of the body being omitted." And he afterwards adds, "The design of the work, if not altogether original, is almost unique; the only work extant which embraces the entire range of microscopic anatomy, and this not exclusively human, is that of Mandl." Why, Mr. Hassall's work is not a whit more exclusively human than that of Mandl. Of the three plates in the first number, only one-and of the three in the second number, only half a one-represents objects of human anatomy. We should not think the worse of the book on this account, if it were not that if the other subjects are treated upon the same scale with the blood and circulation (which occupy the two parts already published), the book must extend to fifty parts instead of twelve; and that the fact is plainly inconsistent with the author's preliminary announcement. Further, Mr. Hassall says, "One great feature of the book, it is hoped, will be the fidelity of the drawings; a principal fault in most of the published works on minute and microscopic anatomy being that the figures do not exhibit the characters of the text." Here, again, we feel obliged to state that Mr. Hassall's figures are very far from bearing a resemblance to nature, either in their drawing or colouring. The drawing is in coarse lithography, which is not at all calculated to give an idea of the real aspects of the objects. And the colouring will strike every practised microscopist, we venture to affirm, as egregiously incorrect, and calculated to mislead. In all the figures of red corpuscles of the blood, for example, these objects are represented as of a full red tint, even when lying in a single layer; when every tyro knows that the hue is scarcely distinguishable in a single disc, and that the red hue becomes apparent only when two or three overlap. The differences between the red and colourless corpuscles of the human blood, in the very first figure, are thus grossly exaggerated; as is manifest from the fact, that no one could overlook them in the plate, whilst in nature they have only been lately detected by a careful scrutiny. We recommend to Mr. Hassall's attention the admirable figures of Donné, which are engravings of high finish and great beauty, faithfully copied from daguerreotype images of the objects themselves; as showing what blood-corpuscles really resemble under the microscope. We greatly regret that we are obliged to speak thus disparagingly of Mr. Hassall's very laudable attempt. But our duty to the medical public requires, that as the subject is one on which, from the attention we have given to it from the very first, we feel well qualified to form an opinion, this opinion should be expressed as unreservedly as if it were more favorable. Should future numbers present such an improvement in their character, as to warrant our commendations instead of our condemnation, we shall most gladly bestow them. ART. III.-Elements of Physics. By C. F. PESCHEL, Principal of the Royal Military College at Dresden, &c. Translated from the German, with Notes, by E. WEST. Illustrated with 430 Wood-engravings.London, 1845-6. Three Volumes, 12mo, pp. 894. "THE study of the physical sciences," says the translator, "has become of late almost universal; partly because it has been found well suited to cultivate habits of observation and reasoning, which cannot fail to be of use in the business of life, and partly because the practical application of scientific principles to the details of almost every department of manufacturing and agricultural industry has rendered some acquaintance with natural philosophy and chemistry indispensable." We need not, we trust, now dwell upon the importance of these studies to the youth who is preparing himself for the medical profession; since our opinion of their value has been frequently and strongly expressed. Continued observation, indeed, has only served to convince us yet more decidedly that the direct benefits of these pursuits to the medical student, great as these are, are the least of their advantages; and that the philosophic training which they are calculated to afford is, if due pains be taken by the teacher to apply it, the most important result of attention to them. But this result cannot be attained by the acquirement of a mere smattering of acquaintance with physical science, such as may be very useful as regards its prac tical applications; it requires for its development a closer and more patient study, such as few youths in this country, save those who go through a regular university course, devote to the subject. We quite agree with the translator that, notwithstanding the multiplicity of elementary treatises on physics, there was yet room for another, which, without aiming at being a popular introduction, should be sufficiently simple for an intelligent beginner; but which should employ the acquaintance with elementary mathematics, which most schoolboys now gain, as a means of introducing a more scientific method of treatment, such as is at present confined to works of the highest class. And though we cannot doubt, from the excellent manner in which he has translated and edited the work of Peschel, and from the character of the additions which he has made to it, that he was fully competent to produce such a treatise for himself, yet he has not done unwisely, perhaps, in availing himself of one which so admirably fills up the deficiency alluded to. The first volume, published rather more than year ago, and containing the physics of ponderable bodies, has been most favorably received by those best qualified to form a judgment of it; and has, we believe, been introduced as a text-book into several of our leading academies. It would, therefore, be superfluous in us to offer any opinion of our own upon its merits; but we may state that a careful examination of the other two volumes, which have recently appeared, has satisfied us that their merit is equal, if not superior, to that of the first; and that the whole book may be most safely recommended to those who desire to attain something more than an elementary knowledge of physical science. It will not supersede the excellent Manual of Dr. Golding Bird, which is more concise in its character and limited in its range, and which is better adapted, therefore, for those who can spare but a small modicum of time for such pursuits, or who are, unfortunately, not sufficiently well grounded in mathematics to avail themselves of the higher advantages of the treatise before us. But we trust the day is not far distant, when every medical student, who aims at taking a respectable stand in his profession, shall have made himself fully master of Peschel's 'Elements of Physics,' even if he proceed no further. ART. IV.-The Vegetable Kingdom; or the Structure, Classification, and Uses of Plants, illustrated upon the Natural System. By JOHN LINDLEY, PH.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University of London, and in the Royal Institution of Great Britain. With upwards of Five Hundred Illustrations. - London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 908. THIS work, which we may really call a splendid one, may be considered as a third edition of Dr. Lindley's Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, of which the first was published in 1830. At that period, the system of De Candolle was in general estimation amongst those botanists who had the wisdom to discern the absurdity of adhering to the Linnæan or artificial system, long after its author would have disowned it. The progress of science, however, showed many imperfections and inconsistencies in De Candolle's arrangement, particularly as regarded the want of |