Part III treats of Organic Chemistry, and Part IV of Animal Chemistry. We do not see the justice of this method of subdivision; for animal chemistry is surely a part of organic; and has no more title to be separated from it, than has vegetable chemistry, which occupies the greater proportion of the third section. Amidst the multiplicity of materials which are now accumulated on this part of the subject, and which are grievously perplexing to those who do not attempt to master the whole science but wish to become acquainted with the most important parts of it, Dr. Gairdner has made an admirable selection; and we consider these two chapters as on the whole better adapted to the wants of the medical student, than anything else of the kind we have met with. The author is a little behind-hand in some points of physiology; thus he tells us that the bile and mucous secretions are elaborated by the agency of cells; "but that this is not the case with the urine and milk;" and that "the chyle undoubtedly finds entrance without this mechanism." These, however, are trifling blemishes in a work which is on the whole so well executed; and we shall be highly pleased if Dr. Gairdner's example be followed by some one of the accomplished chemical teachers of our own country, who is familiar with the wants of the medical student.

ART. IX.-A Practical Treatise on Morbus Coxarius, or Hip-joint Disease; showing the Advantages to be derived from a System of Mechanical Management, for the Prevention and Cure of the Contraction of the Limb. With Cases and Illustrations. By Wм. C. HUGMAN, Surgeon to the Verral Institution (for the Treatment of Spinal Disease and Distortion, &c.)-London, 1849. pp. 82.

THIS is one of that class of books which contains a certain amount of useful information, that might very well have been communicated to the public through the medium of one of the medical journals. The adoption of such a course would have ensured a much wider circulation of such parts of it as are useful; would have made known more certainly the benefits to be derived from the bed recommended by the author in the treatment of diseased hip-joint; and would have exempted him from the suspicion of "book-making" to which he is at present liable. So modest and reasonable a course would not, however, have answered the purpose. It is necessary, now-a-days, to have written a book; and accordingly this honour is not to be denied to Mr. Hugman. The work has no claim whatever to the rather ambitious title under which it presents itself,'A Practical Treatise on Morbus Coxarius, or Hip-joint Disease.'

Considered as a "Treatise," it is wholly incomplete-indeed, the author himself does not seem to consider it in any other light; for at page 23 he says, speaking of the "Treatment of Hip-joint Disease:"

"Few subjects have perhaps occupied a greater share of the attention of eminent surgeons at the present day; and although, during the last eight years, I have had unusual opportunities of making myself acquainted with the disease in every form and variety, I shall not avail myself of the present occasion to offer any new suggestions."

One would have thought a Practical Treatise the very work for new suggestions as to treatment, if the author had any to make. But if he had

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not, what then? This is a question the reader will answer for himself. The unfortunate paragraph we have quoted, fairly puts Mr. Hugman on the horns of a dilemma. Either he insinuates that he possesses information, which in truth he has not got, or he knowingly and intentionally sends forth a "Treatise" in an imperfect state.

Mr. Hugman is surgeon to the Verral Institution for the treatment of spinal disease and distortion; and in that capacity has employed with great advantage a peculiar couch, formerly used by Dr. Verral, and improved upon since his decease. This couch is composed of two planes, the one horizontal, the other inclined at an obtuse angle from it. The horizontal portion extends from the top of the sternum to the bend of the hips; and upon it the patient lies on his abdomen, his legs resting on the other plane which is bent downwards. The latter portion is divided longitudinally in the centre into two parts, one leg resting on each; so that, by means of a sliding framework, extension can be kept up as may be desirable. This description will make it sufficiently clear that the patient lies on his face, with the body bent at such an angle as may be convenient, and the affected limb in such a position that extension can readily be made upon it; and experience shows that this prone position, far from being disagreeable, is exceedingly comfortable either to an affected joint or an affected spine. Mr. Hugman states, and narrates cases to prove the assertion, that a moderate amount of extension exerted upon a diseased hip-joint, not only prevents the shortening, which is almost inevitable if the limb be left to itself, but also effects considerable improvement in such cases as have already undergone this change.

We have had an opportunity quite unknown to the author-whom indeed we are not conscious of ever having seen,-of witnessing the amount of comfort and benefit that his bed is capable of affording to patients with disease of the hip-joint, in a painfully protracted case of the malady, and it is therefore disagreeable to be obliged to speak thus of his book; and we shall on this account abstain from reviewing it in the ordinary sense of the term.

ART. X.-Portraits of Diseases of the Scalp, with the Safest and most Efficient Modes of Treatment. By WALTER COOPER DENDY, Senior Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary for Children, &c. &c. Fasciculus II.London, 1849. 4to. Four Plates.

THE plates in this fasciculus are decidedly superior as works of art to those of the preceding; but still, as delineations of disease, we cannot give them any high commendation. Moreover, if the work be completed, as we understand it to be, in these two fasciculi, it appears to us very far from complete; several important phases of scalp-disease being passed by without illustration.

PART THIRD.

Periscope.

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND ANIMAL CHEMISTRY.

On the Structure and Development of the Liver. By C. Handfield Jones, M.B. CANTAB. Or this interesting paper we gave in our First Volume (p. 535) the abstract furnished by the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Its recent publication in full, enables us to add some further particulars in regard to the author's views. He states that his survey of the various forms of hepatic structure lead to the following conclusions:-1. The liver, in all vertebrated animals, may be regarded as consisting of a secreting parenchyma and excretory ducts. These two portions of the liver are not continuous with each other, but disposed simply in a relation of juxtaposition; the substance of the lobules being made up of secreting parenchyma and of blood-vessels, whilst the ducts are confined to the interlobular spaces. 2. The action of the liver seems to consist in the transmission of the bile, as it is formed, from cell to cell, until it arrives in the neighbourhood of the excretory ducts, by which it is absorbed. This action is probably slow, and very liable to be interfered with, contrasting remarkably with the kidney, where a particular apparatus is added to ensure completeness and rapidity of action. 3. The secretion of the hepatic cells is very liable to be retained within the gland, either in the cells or in a free state. This circumstance, as well as its structural peculiarities, seem to point out the liver as approximating to the class of ductless glands. For the same reason, it seems highly probable that a part of the secretion of the cells is directly absorbed into the blood which traverses the lobules. 4. In a classification of the true glands, the liver seems to occupy the lowest position, the highest being assigned to the permanently tubular, such as the kidney and testis. 5. From the condition of the secreting parenchyma in many instances, we learn that the secretory process by no means requires the formation of perfect cells in order to effect its peculiar changes; these may certainly occur in blastematous matter, if a nucleus only be present. 6. The condition of the liver is in great measure dependent on the intensity of the respiratory process; its products being unused, accumulate in the gland, often to a remarkable extent; its function is therefore not only vicarious of respiration, as formerly supposed, but preparatory, and to some extent subsidiary.

In an appendix to the paper, Dr. H. Jones thus replies to an objection which may be urged against his views, on the ground of the very small extent of contact between the ultimate ducts and the cells of the liver, which makes it difficult to understand how the bile which they secrete should be received into the efferent ducts. "In answer to this I observe :-First, that I believe much of the secretion of the cells is directly absorbed into the blood traversing the lobules. Secondly, that I think it is by no means clearly proved that the secretion of the cells is perfectlyformed bile; in many instances it clearly is not; thus in most fishes, and in the fatty liver of the human subject, it is evident that the gorged parenchyma is full, not of bilious but of oily matter, out of which, however, healthy bile is elaborated. I have carefully examined the cells of the human liver, in organs which were quite healthy, without finding any evidence of the presence of bile in their contents, though in congested livers the yellow molecules are often very distinct in the interior of the cells. In the pig, rabbit, and dog, the cells appear as pale granular

bodies, and do not, that I can perceive, exhibit the least biliary tinge, even after the addition of nitric acid. In the sheep, there is generally a good deal of oily matter in the cells, but no biliary. I do not of course deny that bile is often found in the cells, especially in states of congestion; but I conceive that in the perfectly healthy state, the complete elaboration of bile is effected principally by the nuclei of the terminal portion of the ducts."—Philosophical Transactions, 1849, Part I.

[Some of these statements are rather startling, and we can scarcely reconcile them with our own observations, which have never led us to entertain any doubt that, in perfectly healthy livers, the cells of the hepatic parenchyma contain true biliary matter. Again, we must take leave to question the statement that biliary matter can be directly elaborated from oily matter; since we think that there is neither chemical nor physiological evidence to prove that such transformation is possible. On the contrary, there is much evidence of their entire distinctness of character and function; and if the blood do absorb any of the contents of the secreting cells, in its passage through the parenchyma, as suggested by Dr. H. Jones, we suspect that the matter thus taken up will be the oleaginous, rather than the true biliary.]

On the Minute Structure of the Papillæ and Nerves of the Tongue of the Frog and Toad. By AUGustus Waller, M.D.

THE attention of physiologists was first directed by Dr. Waller to the peculiar advantages possessed by the tongue of the living frog and other similar animals, for microscopic investigation, in the year 1839; and since that time, he has published various observations made upon its component structures. By the induction of anæsthesia by means of ether or chloroform, he now removes the objections which formerly lay against the employment of the tongue of the living frog, and is able to carry on his observations for several hours without any suffering to the animal, and without any alteration of the natural condition of the organ. We can only notice a few of the more interesting facts which he has in this manner been able to demonstrate.

The fungiform papillæ are described as consisting of "a circular zone of epithelian cells, containing a central area filled with coils of capillary vessels, and with nervetubules ascending and terminating abruptly amongst them;" the investing membrane of this "gustatory area" being always extremely thin. They are always elevated, and sometimes attached to the tongue merely by a slender footstalk. "Besides blood-vessels and nerves, we invariably discover in the interior of the fungiform papillæ numerous striated muscular fibres. They are derived from the superficial muscular layer, which exists beneath the basement-membrane of the dorsum of the tongue, and appears to be one of the essential elements of the mucous tegument of that region. They run parallel with the vessels and nerves, to which they are external, and form a complete investment. After attaining nearly to the summit of the papilla, they curve inwards, and afterwards disappear in the surrounding tissues, apparently by losing their stria and sarcolemma, which are their distinctive characters. This mode of termination of the fibres is deserving attention, and is, I believe, the only instance in which the gradual transformation of the muscular element into any other tissue than the fibrous variety composing tendons has been discovered." Dr. Waller has noticed the existence of ciliary motion on these papillæ, and its absence on the conical, which are destitute of muscular fibres. "The action of these fibres is to shorten the papilla, probably at the same time they may compress the vessels, regulating to some extent the current of blood, and produce the turgescence of these papilla which has been observed in the higher animals." [We do not see how these two functions are compatible, a state of turgescence being one of erection.] "The action of the cilia is very evident while under experiment. It conduces to clear away foreign bodies from the surface; to equalize the distribution of the sapid substance over them, and consequently over the nervous extremities; and to promote the removal of the epithelial scales which are constantly being shed." The nerves of the fungiform papillæ are described and figured by

Dr. Waller as terminating in free extremities; the tubule sometimes ending in irregular points, sometimes in a club-shaped dilatation, sometimes in a spiral form, and sometimes" like small funnels, but most often with a kind of concentric mouth." [We have made many observations, after Dr. Waller's method, upon this point, but have not been able to satisfy ourselves of the accuracy of this description. Many of the appearances were quite compatible with the idea of a return of the nervetubes by loops; in other instances it seemed to us as if, though the sheath ceased, the central axis of the fibre was prolonged.]

The conical papillæ are described as possessing an opening at their summit, which "is either sharp at the edges, or anal-like, with circular lips. From above we see the commencement of a cavity lined with epithelium, which I have been able to see terminate in an infundibular canal extending towards the base of the papilla. These papillæ generally contain no vascular capillaries within them. When they do exist, they never ascend to the summit of the body, but form a bend or loop at about the The nerve-tubes are difficult to dishalf or lower third of the height of the cone. tinguish in the conical papilla, owing to the thickness of the epithelium; Dr. Waller has succeeded, however, in demonstrating that, as a general rule, “the nerve-tube runs close to the aperture of the papilla, around which it forms loops, after which it runs away in a wavy direction. Often at each angle of the aperture is a nerveloop of this kind, formed by separate tubes, besides others which are seen running in a meandering course, and crossing the former in various directions. The space inclosed by these nervous loops is much darker than elsewhere, as if it contained some dark granular matter. The tubes never appear to terminate abruptly in free extremities."-Philosophical Transactions, 1849, Part I.

On the Production and Disappearance of Sugar in the Animal Economy.

By M. MAGENDIE.

This re

Production of sugar in the economy. After describing the various modes in which sugar may be detected in the animal economy, M. Magendie observes, that, although it had been long known that sugar was found in the urine, the mode of its formation only became known when the formation of that in vegetable bodies was discovered. If starch, derived from potatoes or other bodies containing it, is brought into contact with acids, sugar is found, and the same takes place if a ferment is added to it ; dextrine, and then glucose, being formed in this latter case. sult is due to an active principle, found by MM. Payen and Persoz, in germinating barley, and called by them diastase, on decomposing which we obtain nitrogen, as well as oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. How does this body separate the dextrine from the starch? How does it convert it into sugar and alcohol? It is a mystery; and to merely state that it is by catalysis, is only to avow our ignorance. We must therefore content ourselves with studying the phenomena. Thus, if we add iodine to a solution of starch, we produce a violet colour. If, in the same solution, we place a little diastase, the colour becomes rose, and, a little later, red-demonstrating first the existence of dextrine, and then that of sugar, which is afterwards produced.

Are there not, in the animal economy, analogous conditions to these, in which diastase is formed. The recent discovery of sugar in the economy by M. Bernard renders the inquiry one of the greatest interest. So many substances of the animal economy possess this power, as well as diastase, of transforming starch into sugar, that the greater difficulty would be, to point out those that do not possess it.

In respect to the action of the saliva, there are some distinctions to be observed. In the horse, for example, First, its quantity varies much in different animals. whose food requires prolonged mastication, it exists in very large quantities; there is but little in the dog and most carnivora, and hardly any in the cat. Again, the question whether the three salivary glands all furnish a similar fluid, has not been hitherto determined. The property of converting starch into sugar by the action of the animal diastase, is a means of deciding this. In the horse, a large alimentary