It is in this particular that the increased rate of mortality in 1837 stands prominent above all former years, with the exception of 1832, when the city suffered from the ravages of cholera. In 1832 the per centage of burials under 10 years of age was 42.23, and in 1837, 45.17 in both years, being less than in any year since registers were kept.

The other epidemics, besides fever, which have contributed to swell the lists of mortality during the last three years, have been small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, hooping cough, and catarrh or influenza; the four first diseases affecting chiefly the infantile portion of the community.

Dr. Cowan sums up thus :

"It has been proved by the preceding Tables and remarks, that the increase of mortality in Glasgow, during 1835-36-37, has been occasioned by the preva lence of scarlet fever, measles, small-pox, hooping-cough, fever, and influenza, aided in their operation during 1837, by want and destitution among a large body of the population.

The first four diseases were most fatal in 1835-36, and confined their ravages to children under five years of age. Fever prevailed during the whole three years, but its ravages were but slightly felt till 1836 and 1837. In 1835 the deaths from fever, as already stated, were to the total deaths as 1 to 15.57, in 1837, 1 in 4.71. The influenza prevailed chiefly in January, 1837, and to its effects on the extremes of life, and on those labouring under chronic disease, must be attributed a large share of the mortality of the year."

We are happy to learn, that fever is not now desolating Glasgow as our readers will perceive it has done. But as pestilence, by carrying off the weak, breeds healthy seasons to come, these in their turn are nurturing the seeds of future pestilence. Our enormous and increasing manufacturing population is a source of anxiety in more ways than one. It behoves the supreme and the municipal authorities to use all possible efforts to ameliorate the condition, and improve both the physique and the morale of the labouring classes.

ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY. By J. Müller, M.D. &c. Translated from the German, with Notes, by William Baly, M.D. Graduate of the University of Berlin. Illustrated with Steel Plates, and numerous Wood Engravings. Part IV. containing Ciliary Motion, Muscular and Allied Motion, Voice and Speech. Price 4s.

We are glad to perceive that this valuable translation is proceeding to its termination. The publication of Müller's physiology is calculated to be of essential service in this country. Our systematic treatises have been hitherto quite unworthy of the state of science, and although we have had individual observations and researches on particular points which displayed a high order of merit, we have had no work which was comparable to the present.

We have before observed that Müller's physiology holds a middle place between the reveries of transcendentalism and the vague superficiality of the dilettante school. Take Burdach's physiology upon the one hand or Mayo's on the other, and we have specimens of both extremes. In the one, many subjects of great importance are barely glanced at or perhaps not mentioned in the other, every thing, great and small, important and insignificant, is smothered beneath interminable disquisition. There are pages, we might almost say chapters, in Burdach, of such insufferable twaddle, as one could hardly suppose a sane man would indite.

We have intended and we still intend to present some articles to our readers, for the purpose of exhibiting the actual state of physiology. A practical Jour

nal should not neglect, nor should practical men, its readers, undervalue the ad. vances which are made in our knowledge of the functions. A genuine practical man is no blind empiric, no dogged routinist-he is one who is able to apply science to the business of life, and to useful purposes. To apply science he should be well acquainted with it. Too many men call and consider themselves practical, simply because they have acquired and employ some empirical experience, not regulated nor directed by high nor comprehensive views. The Part before us is an extremely instructive one. We have not space at present to redeem our promise, nor to offer a sketch of any topic of importance. We feel inclined to pick out the opinions of Müller on the cure of stammering and his brief hints for its management.

"The method proposed by Dr. Arnott for the cure of stammering, whatever be the result of its practice, is, at all events, founded on a sound physiological view of the nature of the affection. Had the edges of the glottis," says Dr. Arnott, been visible, like the external lips of the mouth, the nature of stuttering would not so long have remained a mystery.' The glottis is repeatedly closed in persons who stammer, and the cure of the affection must therefore be effected by conquering this morbid tendency to closure by voluntarily keeping it open as much as possible. For this purpose Dr. Arnott advises that the patient should connect all his words by an intonation of the voice continued between the different words, as is done by persons who speak with hesitation. This plan may afford some benefit, but cannot do everything; since the main impediment occurs in the middle of words themselves, and depends on the abnormal association of the movement of the larynx with certain movements of articulation. Were I called upon to advise a method of treatment in a case of stammering, I would recommend, in addition to Dr. Arnott's plan, the following procedure. I would let the patient practise himself in reading sentences in which all letters which cannot be pronounced with a vocal sound, namely the explosive consonants b, d, g, p, t, and k, were omitted, and only those consonants included which are susceptible of an accompanying intonation of the voice; and I would direct that all these letters should be pronounced with such a sound of the voice and that their sound should be very much prolonged. By this means a mode of pronunciation would be attained in which the articulation would be constantly combined with vocalisation, and the glottis consequently never closed. When the stammerer had long practised himself in keeping the glottis open without intermission, even between the words by Dr. Arnott's method, and in maintaining the glottis open during and after the pronunciation of every consonant capable of vocalisation and of the vowels, he might proceed to the mute and continuous consonant h, and the explosive sounds g, d, b, k. t, p. In such a plan of treatment the patient himself would perceive the principle; while the ordinary method-that of Mad. Leigh-is mere groping in the dark, neither teacher nor pupil knowing the principle of the procedures.

There is a kind of defect of speech essentially different from stammering, consisting in a protracted intonation of the voice between words, or the introduction of a more or less prolonged a or au,—nasal vowel sounds, or peculiar vocal sounds modified by a jingling character between the words, which themselves are correctly pronounced; for example. I... a... have. It is like the prolonged vibration of a musical instrument beyond the required duration. These sounds form and facilitate the transition from one word to another, and they may frequently be produced as a means of transition; although they, in many instances, also arise from hesitation and want of readiness of the ideas. This mode of speaking sometimes attends stammering, probably because the impediment to the commencement of the next word is avoided by this transition of sounds."

We again recommend the work to the profession and more especially to pupils. To our own we have freely introduced it.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CUTANEOUS DISEASE. A SERIES OF DELINEATIONS OF THE AFFECTIONS OF THE SKIN IN THEIR MORE INTERESTING AND FREQUENT FORMS; WITH A PRACTICAL SUMMARY OF THEIR SYMTTOMS, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT, INCLUDING APPROPRIATE FORMULE. By Robert Willis, Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, Physician to the Royal Infirmary for Children, Author of an English Version of Rayer on the Diseases of the Skin, &c. The Drawings after Nature, and Lithographed by Arch, Henning. Fasciculi I. II. III. for January, February, and March.

Dr. Willis is already known, highly favourably, to our readers, as the Translator of the work of M. Rayer on Diseases of the Skin, and as the author of a Treatise on Diseases of the Urinary Organs.

His object in publishing the present Illustrations may be best stated in his own words. These express such just views and explain so clearly what should be the object of all who endeavour to familiarize the profession with the appearances and the management of cutaneous complaints, that we cannot forbear quoting them.

"These diseases are so numerous and so varied in their appearance, and have been designated by such a multiplicity of names, that it is only since our distinguished countryman Dr. Willan thought of attaching Figures to his descriptions that a knowledge of their forms can be said to have been made attainable, or a determinate nomenclature of their genera and species rendered possible. Had the great man I have named but lived to complete his task, it is likely that little would have been left for others to accomplish. His Work, 'On Cutaneous Diseases,' was worthy to have served as a model in every part, for those who came after him; and had it done so, a knowledge of the affections of the skin would now have been less rare than it still undoubtedly remains. But he died in the middle of his career, and the labour of carrying out his plans devolved upon others, who, in my humble apprehension, seem not to have duly appreciated the end he had in view. This, as I conceive it, was to render an account of the nature, symptoms, and diagnostic marks of the disease generally of which his Figure was the individual expression, and to apply the knowledge thus acquired to its legitimate end, the alleviation or cure of the malady. Dr. Willan gave Plates, mostly embracing single subjects, which he illustrated with a text at once the most elegant, the most learned, and the most practical that can be imagined.

The serious expense of a work on the plan of that of Willan, occasioned principally by the great cost of copper-plate engraving, was, however, an insurmountable obstacle to its general diffusion, and therefore to its usefulness. Other branches of natural knowledge have the titled and the wealthy for their patrons and cultivators; our honourable profession is not adopted either by the rich or the great; the objects it pursues are not held of general interest, and he who publishes expensive plates on subjects of medical science, has generally had to bear the cost of them himself. This circumstance led to the adoption of a procedure which, in regard to the Diseases of the Skin, I cannot but view as fraught with something like a necessity of failure in the end to be obtained. This was the plan of giving miniature representations of Cutaneous Diseases, upon square patches of integument, and setting a multitude of these microscopic pictures within the frame of a single page. By this device the eye is so much distracted, that what is sought for is almost certain to elude its search.

Since I translated the excellent work of Dr. Rayer, which was begun in the year 1833, I have paid much attention to the subject of dermal pathology; and in the art of Printing from Stone, I have seen a means of realizing the objects which I imagine ought to be kept in view in every Iconographic work-the

union of pictorial representation with practical knowlege at a modcrate expense. For some considerable time I have, therefore, engaged an artist to make drawings for me of those forms of cutaneous disease that struck me as most interesting, which occurred either in the course of my own practice, (especially at the Royal Infirmary for Children, where the opportunities of observing the diseases of the skin in childhood are all but unlimited,) or that were kindly recommended to my notice by those among my friends who knew the interest I took in the subject. Determined to avoid everything like crowding my plates, I have resolved rather to content myself with giving delineations of eighty or ninety subjects that shall never afterwards be confounded with one another, nor with anything else, than to produce three or four hundred, among which uncertainty and confusion must of necessity have remained. At the same time I see that three or four hundred figures are many more than are required to convey a very perfect knowledge of the subject. The number of varieties is, indeed, endlessthat of species, to which varieties are easily referable, is much more limited. On from eighty to one hundred plates, embracing the same number of subjects, I conceive that I can exhibit almost every disease that commonly occurs or that is really important.

Nor could I, with my views, be satisfied to give a barren account, two or three lines in length, of the individual instance I have represented. This were but playing the showman to the painter. I have confronted each plate with an account, in as brief terms as possible, of every particular of greatest importance in the Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment of the disease figured; by which I trust that my work, when finished, will be found not only a Connected Series of Representations of the Diseases of the Skin, but a Compendious Practical Guide to a Knowledge of their intimate Nature, and of the Means of Treating them successfully."

The first Fasciculus presents Delineations of Lepra Papyracea (too lilac-like in colour) of Herpes Zoster-of Intertrigo cum Vesiculis (not bad)—and of Lupus non Exedens. The artist has throughout thrown too much of a purplish hue upon his subjects.

In the second Fasciculus we have Lepra Vulgaris (still the lilac predominates) -Pompholyx-Purpura in the shapes of Ecchymoses and Petechiæ. The third Fasciculus presents us with representations of Trichosis (Porrigo) Scutulata of Eczema Capillitii-of Ecthyma Capillitii—and of Pityriasis Capitis.

If we might hint a fault, it is in the colouring. That is not yet, we think, perfect. No doubt it may and it will be improved. The execution of the work is in all other respects excellent. It is likely to answer the intentions of the author, and is eminently adapted to diffuse a knowledge of the various forms of cutaneous affections. To the country practitioner it will prove of great service, and we cordially recommend all our readers to patronise it, both for the sake of the author and themselves.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF OSTEOLOGY.

By Theodore G. Boisragon, M.D. Cheltenham.

The elder Dr. Boisragon is well known as a very excellent and eminent physician of Cheltenham. The son will, we trust, tread in the father's steps. The present is an earnest of his zeal and industry. The Illustrations before us are beautifully executed, judiciously selected, and well adapted to convey, in the absence of the bones themselves, an accurate notion of their points of demonstration.

THE SURGEON'S VADE MECUM, A HANDBOOK OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF SURGERY. Illustrated with numerous Wood Engravings. By Robert Druitt, M.R.C.S. London, Renshaw, 1839.

If we know anything of the wants and tastes of students, this Vade Mecum will take. It gives them what they need, concise descriptions and pat directions. Nor are the omissions considerable. Such a book was a desideratum, and, if we are not mistaken, Mr. Druitt has made a hit.

NATURAL HISTORY.

1. A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS. By William Yarrell, F.L.S. V.P.Z.S. Illustrated by a Woodcut of each Species and Numerous Vignettes. Van Voorst. Part XI., completing the First Volume.

This agreeable work issues regularly from the press. It is one which should be on the drawing room, as well as on the library table-an interesting present to the young, a pleasant companion for the old. The present Fasciculus keeps the promise made by its predecessors.

II. A HISTORY OF BRITISH REPTILES. By Thomas Bell, F.R.S. F.L.S. Professor of Zoology in King's College. Illustrated by a Woodcut of each Species, with some of the Varieties, and numerous Vignettes.

It is not necessary to introduce Mr. Bell, or his works, to our readers. He is excellently qualified for an undertaking of the kind before us, and a very deserving one it is. We extract the following account of the method of using the poison apparatus in serpents.

"When the animal inflicts the wound, the pressure on the tooth forces a small drop of the poison through the tube; it passes through the external orifice, which is situated on the concave side of the curved tooth, and is in the form of a slit. The manner in which the blow is inflicted is as follows. The animal generally throws itself in the first place into a coil more or less close, and the anterior part of the body is raised. The neck is bent somewhat abruptly backwards, and the head fixed almost horizontally. In an instant the head is, as it were, launched by a sudden effort towards the object of its anger, and the erected tooth struck into it, and withdrawn with the velocity of thought. It is found by experiment that the effect of subsequent wounds is greatly diminished either by the diminution of the quantity of venom, or by some deterioration of its strength; so that if a venomous Serpent be made repeatedly to inflict wounds, without allowing sufficiently long intervals for it to recover its powers, each successive bite becomes less and less effective. A gentleman of my acquaintance had some years since received a living Rattlesnake from America. Intending to try the effects of its bite upon some rats, he introduced one of these animals into the cage with the Serpent; it immediately struck the rat, which died in two minutes. Another rat was then placed in the cage; it ran to the part of the cage farthest from the Serpent, uttering cries of distress. The Snake did not immediately attack it; but after about half an hour, and on being irritated, it struck the rat, which did not exhibit any symptoms of being poisoned for several minutes, and died at twenty minutes after the bite. A third, and remarkably large rat, was then introduced into the cage. It exhibited no signs of terror at