my constitution, until lately was robust! my age still in its prime (within some months of 40 years); I had formed plans for carrying on investigations into the structure and vital actions of the lower organized bodies, which can be so readily procured from this coast; little thinking that disease was so soon to overtake me. I had my dreams of being able to add something of importance to the deeply attractive and instructive matters embraced in such investigations, and I was looking forward to the time when I should be able to say that I have done something which will prevent me from being readily forgotten: You may say that these were indeed dreams, but I believe most people build castles in the air...........If my disease should present any symptoms of amendment, you shall hear from me again."

On the 24th of the same month the writer again heard from Dr. Reid, in reply to a letter of his own; and the following extract will show how well he was continuing to discipline his mind for what still seemed the inevitable though deferred result. After referring to other more personal topics, he continues:

"Your belief that we physiologists will in a future state of happiness have the veil raised from those mysteries of organized bodies into which we cannot at present penetrate, and that those things which we now see through a glass darkly' will be revealed to us in all their beauty, is one which is well calculated to yield me comfort and consolation at present. And I sincerely pray that God in his providence may bring us both in due time into his heavenly kingdom, and that we in company may gaze upon those wonders and mysteries in his works here below, into which our feeble intellectual powers cannot now penetrate, but which then will be fully revealed.

"When I last wrote to you I was in a very feeble state, both mentally and bodily. I had scarcely eaten anything for eight days, and my strength was rapidly giving way; so that I thought it possible I might not have it in my power to write to you again. Since that time my strength has rallied wonderfully; I am again able to take a good deal of exercise in the open air; my appetite is excellent; I am evidently gaining flesh, and I am now fit for some mental labour. This does not, however, inspire me with any hopes of recovery; for the disease remains as yet as bad as ever, and I have at times a good deal of pain in that side of the face.

"I often sincerely regret that my mind was not earlier impressed deeply with the paramount importance of a religious life. It strikes me now with the utmost surprise, that man should continue to fix his affections entirely upon the fleeting and perishing things of earth; and that he should turn a deaf ear to the kind entreaties, the warnings and the commands of his Heavenly Father, who made him, has supported him, bestowed upon him all that he possesses, and who will one day exact a rigorous account of the things done in the body, unless he turn and repent him of his sins. What a lamentable proof this is of the debasing nature of sin, and of the soul-destroying bondage under which it has placed man.-I find that there is a satisfaction, a deep-felt and soul-satisfying pleasure, in a religious life, which the pleasures of sin cannot afford; so that, apart altogether from the life that is to come, it would be much for man's advantage to lead a life of righteousness."

Not long after this date, when the suffering occasioned by his disease was so much increased as to render it necessary to have recourse to the frequent administration of opium and chloroform in order to procure an occasional and temporary respite, Dr. Reid again sought the advice and assistance of his old friend and colleague, Mr. Fergusson, who was at that time visiting Edinburgh; and was so urgent with Mr. Fergusson to give him the chance of benefit from the removal of the disease by operation, that Mr. Fergusson consented; and the excision of about a third of the tongue was performed. The immediate effect of this measure was most satisfactory. The wound healed rapidly, with no other unfavourable result than a deficiency in the power of articulation; the pain entirely ceased; and the flesh and strength gradually returned. Some of the glands of the neck, however, soon began to enlarge; but it was hoped that this might be merely the result of the irritation of the operation. Dr. Reid visited London in October, that he might be for a time under Mr. Fergusson's observation; and during the month which he spent in town, he seemed quite to recover his usual vigour both of body and mind.

He never lost sight, however, of the very doubtful nature of the cure; and his ordinary animation of spirits was evidently chastened by the religious sense of the uncertainty of his tenure of life. Not long after his return to St. Andrews, he experienced a severe affliction in the loss of his only son; of which he spoke as occasioning him more mental suffering than his own illness had given him. It was thought right, also, that the two enlarged glands in the neck should be excised; which operation was performed by his friend Dr. Duncan, of Edinburgh. Shortly before Christmas, he was able to complete the collection of his Anatomical, Physiological, and Pathological Researches,' upon the editing of which he had been some months engaged, and the publication of which he had earnestly desired to live to witness. Of the value of this volume there has been but one opinion expressed by those competent to appreciate it.-Having been made aware that indications of the return of the disease had presented themselves, and fearing that Dr. Reid might possibly not live to see the review of his book in the April number of this Journal, the writer sent him a copy of the article as soon as it was in print; at the same time expressing his fear lest the desire to avoid being bi sed by private friendship had made the review less eulogistic than the work deserved. The following was Dr. Reid's reply, dated March 17, 1849.

"Instead of your notice of my book being less eulogistic than I might fairly expect, I assure you, most sincerely, that I am convinced that you have spoken more favorably of my endeavours to advance the scientific branches of medicine than they deserve, and that your estimate of them has been biassed by personal friendship for the author. Be this as it may, it has afforded me unfeigned satisfaction to know that you entertain so high an opinion of the contents of my book. I know that I have laboured zealously and honestly to arrive at the truth on those points I set myself to examine and investigate; and it is a great satisfaction to find that my labours have not been in vain; for very few of the conclusions at which I arrived, in the different investigations I have entered upon, have been called in question on satisfactory grounds. I do not lay claim to any merit except that of patience and caution.

"I was glad to learn that you and your family have got over the winter so well, and above all, that you have not had the same cause for sorrow as C and I have had since I had the pleasure of seeing you in London, four months ago. Both he and I have had to deplore the loss of one of our innocent darlings, who twine themselves so firmly around our hearts that parting from them by their death is like tearing our heartstrings asunder. May it please your Heavenly Father to spare you this misery.

"That my former disease has returned in the back part of my tongue, and isthmus of the fauces, I entertain no doubt. The pain and uneasiness, though sufficiently annoying at times, especially within the last fortnight, are not yet so severe as to prevent me from reading and studying as usual. My general health is remarkably good, my appetite excellent, and I have not yet had recourse to opiates. Part of each week-day I spend in professional study, part in preparing myself for that great and solemn occasion when I shall be called upon to give an account of the deeds done in the body, and part in recreation. My mind is perfectly calm, and I can play with my child, or enter into the enjoyment of innocent mirth, with as much relish as ever. My mind is made up for the worst; and when once this is done, all the fluctuations of hope and doubt are at an end, and the mind settles down into comparative calmness. I still, however, feel that I have not obtained that inward assurance of my Heavenly Father's favour, which some experience under circumstances similar to mine; but I pray earnestly for forgiveness for the sins of my past life, and leave with hope the issue in his hands."

After referring to some of the anatomical inquiries in which he had been engaged, Dr. Reid continues: "Perhaps you may think that I am here exhibiting an instance of the ruling passion strong in death;' and I not unfrequently ask myself if it be right in one who will soon bid farewell to this earthly scene, to occupy his mind so much with these matters; but having been the subject of daily thought for so many years, and become almost necessaries of my existence, in fact my mental

food and raiment, it is a difficult matter to lay them entirely aside."-The last communication which the writer had from him, was dated June 1st, and had reference chiefly to his researches on the anatomy of the Vaagmar, a remarkable fish of the northern seas, of which he published an account in the Annals of Natural History for June, and which was his last professional labour. In this letter he says: "I have for the last two months suffered severely at different times, from inflammation of the throat, which more than once threatened to suffocate me. I am at present very weak, being confined to bed the greater part of the day. I suffer a good deal of uneasiness and pain at times; but on the whole I have great reason to thank God for his mercies to me in this respect; and I can generally command ease and com. parative comfort by a dose of morphia." The letter was completed by Mrs. Reid, who simply and touchingly says of him: "It is painful to him to speak, and he seldom does so; but with all his suffering he is always patient and submissive, and waits the Lord's will for his removal from all his trials."

The period of suffering was protracted for some weeks; but never did the sufferer's faith, hope, or submission fail him; and he remained to the last an example of the same calin heroism, which was manifested in the whole of his deportment from the time when the fatal nature of the disease first declared itself. In the words of one who knew him well, and who truly and lovingly appreciated him,— Thou wert so meek and reverent,

"Thou wert a daily lesson

Of Courage, Hope, and Faith;

We wondered at thee living,

And envy thee thy death.

*For the whole of the beautiful little poem from which these verses are extracted, see the Edinburgh Monthly Journal, Sept., 1849.

MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE.

MICROSCOPICAL RESEARCHES ON CHOLERA.

We have been favoured by Dr. Frederick Brittan, Lecturer on Physiology at the Bristol Medical School, with the opportunity of examining the results of his microscopical researches upon certain bodies which appear to be characteristic constituents of cholera evacuations, and to be present also in the atmosphere and atmospheric moisture of districts infected with cholera. These bodies we have no hesitation in pronouncing to be of a fungous nature; the atmospheric particles being apparently the sporules, which develope themselves within the body into large aggregations of cell. These aggregate masses have been noticed by many observers who have microscopically examined the evacuations of cholera; but their true nature appears not to have been appreciated by any one save Dr. Britian and his colleague, Mr. J. C. Swayne, for want of the employment of sufficiently high powers; since the individual cells are so minute, that, when isolated, they would not attract attention, except under an amplification of at least 500 diameters. The researches of these two gentlemen have been prosecuted through a considerable series of cases, with a very uniform result; and the atmospheric moisture has been condensed in several disti.ct localities. In the last experiment of this kind, carried on in a room in which one patient had died of cholera, and in which two others subsequently died, the water condensed around a decanter of ice was quite discoloured by the quantity of sporules of fungi which it contained. Dr. Brittan appears to have taken every precaution that time and opportunity permitted, to determine, by parallel experiments, whether these bodies are discoverable in the dejections of other patients, and in the atmosphere of uninfected localities; and hitherto with a decidedly negative result.-We would not be understood as committing ourselves, in the present stage of the inquiry, to Dr. Cowdell's Hypothesis of the Fungous Origin of Cholera (see Vol. II, p. 97); but it is obvious that this hypothesis is greatly strengthened by the facts discovered by Dr. Brittan, of which a fuller account will be found in the Medical Gazette' for Sept. 28th.

8-IV.

49*

582

BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW.