The returns of the Foundling Hospital are as follows:

Of these, 52 were restored to their parents, 97 dismissed when they were of age to learn a trade, 788 died, and 2028 remained.

In the Insane Asylum the daily number treated was 392 on the average. There remained in 1846, 389; and 92 were admitted in 1847, making the total number treated 481, of whom 286 were males, and 195 females. Of these 53 left the asylum, 39 died, and 389 remained.

We have given the substance of this return, as it may serve as a comparison with those from other establishments, and would not be likely to meet the eye of many English readers through any other channel

ART. VIII.-Medical Chemistry, for the Use of Students and the Profession: being a Manual of the Science, with its Applications to Toxicology, Physiology, Therapeutics, Hygiene, &c. By D. P. GAIRDner, M.D., formerly Professor of Chemistry in the Philadelphia College, &c. &c.-Philadelphia, 1848. Sinall 8vo, pp. 396.

We have expressed on various occasions our conviction that the present mode of teaching Chemistry in Medical schools is fundamentally erroneous. The student is crammed with a vast mass of matter, which never becomes of any practical use to him; whilst those portions of the subject to which he might devote himself most profitably, are comparatively neglected. In universities, and academical institutions for general education, this is not to be wondered at. The medical student sits on the same benches with other pupils of various destinations, and has no ground to expect that his specialties shall receive more notice than theirs. We do not see how this can be otherwise, unless a separate course be provided for the medical department; but in schools in which nothing but medicine is taught, we cannot see any difficulty in so adapting the chemical course to the wants of the student (if it be retained at all, see Vol. II, p. 311), as to make it far more subservient than it is at present to his lasting benefit. We have often sketched in our own minds the character of a text-book which should serve as the foundation of such a system of instruction; and hoped ere long to see our views carried out,-every one being now agreed that the medical student ought to be well grounded in the elements of chemical and physical science, before he enters upon his professional curriculum, and that his attention, during the period of his special education, ought to be devoted chiefly if not exclusively to the acquirement of a truly practical knowledge of the condition of the human body in health and disease.

The work before us has evidently emanated from conclusions akin to our own and we are well pleased to find that the views we have expressed

are in harmony with the convictions of eminent medical teachers on the other side of the Atlantic. The author admits the multiplicity of existing treatises on chemistry, but considers them as not adapted to the requirements of the medical student, for whom is wanting a book which directs the attention of the novice to the intimate connexions between this science and medicine, something which may interest his mind in the subject of chemistry, by pointing out its relations to physiology, therapeutics, and practice. Such a book Dr. Gairdner has attempted to furnish; and, we think, he has done so with a fair measure of success. "He does not lay claim to originality, but is more ambitious to be useful; and his highest satisfaction will be found in having contributed something towards the introduction of chemical science into medicine." Its general conformity with our own views as to what such a book should be, induces us to ask the attention of our readers to the following enumeration of its contents.

After a short introduction, on the General Properties of Matter, and on Specific Gravity, we come to Part 1, under which are grouped together the forces which are contained in chemical action; namely, heat, light, electricity, galvanism, animal-galvanism, and affinity. All these topics are concisely but comprehensively treated; and it is evident that, on most points, the author has made himself familiar with the results of recent investigations, and that he has thought for himself throughout, instead of merely copying and compiling, after the fashion of too many writers of introductory treatises. The section on affinity is particularly good; containing as it does a lucid summary of those general views which are so important to the student, but which are stated with such unacountable brevity in most larger treatises.

In Part II, the Simple bodies of greatest importance are considered, according to their arrangement in isomorphous groups. Thus we have, after Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Sulphur, the Haloid elements, Chlorine, Iodine, Bromine, and Fluorine; and then the Phosphorus group, Phosphorus, Arsenic, Antimony, Carbon, Borax, and Silicon. Here the author quits the consideration of the simple bodies and their inorganic combinations, to conduct us, in Part III, to Organic Chemistry. Now we must say that we cannot see the advantage of interrupting the series of simple bodies at this point; the principal Metals and their compounds being brought under consideration in the last part of the volume. We suppose that this departure from the usual arrangement was occasioned by the author's desire to give prominence to the Organic division, which is accordingly entered upon as soon as the four principal elements of organic compounds have been discussed. But we do not think that this plan offers any advantage sufficient to compensate for the positive evil of interrupting the series of simple bodies, and of passing on to the most complex division of the subject, before the student has been familiarized with the simpler laws and phenomena of inorganic chemistry, which may be so well illustrated by a general view of the chemical history of the principal metals. These are passed over very cursorily by Dr. Gairdner; who seems to have too much forgotten, in his zeal for organic chemistry, how many chemical phenomena present themselves in the decompositions of the Pharmacopoeia, which might be employed as illustrations of the laws of affinity, and of the special properties of the chief acids, bases, &c., with which the medical student ought to be well acquainted.

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 WM. 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.

work for new sug

One would have thought a Practical Treatise the very gestions as to treatment, if the author had any to make. 8-IV.

46

But if he had

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 tabular, 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 ineasure 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