cannot, now, be ascertained. His friends, to prevent his body from being disinterred, or, at all events, to have it given out that the body was useless for anatomical purposes, broke his bones into pieces with saws and sledges. These objects were, however, to a certain extent defeated, as demonstrated by the present exhibition.

"The following account of this individual, written in the year 1832, by Dr P. Lyons, of Brighton, conveys important information respecting his history. See Lancet, Vol. xxi. p. 27.

"Thomas Radcliffe, a mason, residing in the parish of Kirk Andreas, Isle of Man, aged 36, of healthy parents, always enjoying good health up to the time of his being afflicted with his present complaint, was seized about seven years and a-half ago with a dead and numbing pain in the right elbow-joint, which, though unaccompanied with redness or swelling, in a month completely deprived him of the use of it; an attempt made by a surgeon to extend the arm very much exasperated the complaint. In about three months after he was attacked in a similar manner in both knees. His sufferings were now constant and accompanied by a sense of constriction in the diseased joints, though none of them showed any external symptom of inflammation; he was blistered, and was ordered large doses of guiacum, with hot salt-water baths, but obtained no relief from those remedies. Being deprived of the use of his right arm, and advised to be blooded, he had about 3xx. taken from his left arm; he instantly lost all power over the elbow-joint of that limb, and experienced the same pain in it as in the others; all the rest of his joints were now affected in succession, as also was the spine generally, and in a year and a quarter he was rendered unable to leave his bed or sit up; on being ask if he thought his complaint originated in cold, he replied he did not, as he had always enjoyed excellent health, even to the day when the disease first showed itself, and the preceding winter had been a particularly fine

one.

His sufferings continued about a year and a half, when they altogether ceased, except on the joints being moved. Present state; -Considerable emaciation; appetite good; bowels regular; great thirst, which is attributable to his constant perspiration; urine, which, when he was first taken ill, used to deposit copious quantities of a white earthy sediment, is at present of a natural colour, but rather scanty, sometimes red, but without any deposit; all his senses perfect except that of hearing. Has had two children since the commencement of his illness, the younger about a year and ahalf old. The pulse at wrist seventy, soft and regular; beat of heart one hundred, small and regular, audible over left side of anterior portion of chest, slightly so on one side, aortal pulsation audible below umbilicus; respiration pure, but only slightly perceptible on anterior inferior portion of chest, distinctly so on superior; voice brazen, none of his joints in the slightest degree enlarged, and no ossific deposit to be detected in any muscular part of the body; head firmly drawn to the left side; slight command over superior cervical vertebræ, but none other; partial motion of lower jaw; larynx appears to be completely ossified, and, as it were, drawn

down into the chest ; sternum depressed, ribs flattened, and cartilages ossified; some elevatory power of right shoulder; complete ankylosis of right elbow in semiflexed position; wrist straight and prone; fingers flexed and immovable, except little one; left arm capable of being slightly raised; elbow fixed in bent posture; wrist and fingers fixed; thumb retains some slight power of flexion; partial motion of hip and ankle-joints."-Pp. 415-418.

In perusing the history of so extreme a case of ankylosis and consequent immobility as this, we are instantly led to lament the defects of human knowledge, and are especially impressed with the mortifying fact, that, though morbid anatomy shows the effects of diseased action, it often throws little or no light on the causes of that action. Here is an instance in which every joint almost had been rendered immovable, where there had been no mark of previous inflammatory action, and in which all the bones appear as if united, as Dr Houston expresses it, by some artificial cement, rather than by the products of inflammation, as they usually are, and all deficient in weight; yet in neither the effects of which, nor the history of the approach of the symptoms, nor the state of the man between the date of the commencement of this affliction and the period of decease, can any circumstances be discovered which tend to throw light on the origin or cause of this malady.

ART. VI. The Physiology of Vision. By WILLIAM MACKENZIE, M. D., Surgeon-Oculist in Scotland in Ordinary to her Majesty the Queen, Lecturer on the Eye in the University of Glasgow, and one of the Surgeons to the Glasgow Eye Infirmary. London, 1841, Svo. pp. 292.

THE explanation of the properties and uses of the different parts composing the eye affords so beautiful an example of mechanism and the adaptation of mechanical laws to vital purposes, that it has at all times engrossed a large share of the attention both of mathematicians, natural philosophers, and oculists. Hence, we find that in the writings of each class, more or less is explained of the phenomena and mechanism of vision, and the properties and uses of the different transparent parts of the eye-ball. From this circumstance in the nature of the subject, it is often requisite for the student who wishes to have a thorough knowledge of all its divisions, to study it not only in the writings of physiologists but in the works of writers on optics and physics. From the same circumstance also it results that, though the general facts of the phenomena of vision, and the laws by which they are regulat

ed, have been long known and embodied with the general and particular doctrines of physical and physiological science, yet, from time to time, facts are modified, new points are brought to light, new principles and explanations are suggested, and the whole subject is receiving new elucidation. It is a mistaken view to suppose that any department of science is so completely cultivated and known, as to render discovery impracticable, or that, in the progress of knowledge, we are so far advanced as to become necessarily stationary.

In the subject of the physiology of vision, many new views have been given, and not a few curious facts have been brought to light during the last 25 or 30 years. The curious set of facts illustrating the polarization of light has contributed greatly to direct attention to this subject, and has been the means of educing many new views and explaining what was formerly difficult to understand; and the united and successive labours of Young, Brewster, and Wheatstone, have been of essential service in the general elucidation of the inquiry. In the present volume the author professes to give, in as condensed a form as possible, all the facts necessary to illustrate the phenomena of vision, and the powers and properties of the eye as an optical instrument. This task he has accomplished in a skilful and agreeable manner. It is not our intention to enter into any critical examination of the work, though we can assure our readers that its merits are such as to endure this ordeal with great facility. But, to give an idea of the mode in which the author treats his subject, and the large amount and variety of information communicated, we shall merely give a summary of its contents.

The work consists of twenty chapters, each of which is subdivided into sections devoted to the consideration of different branches of the same subject.

The first chapter consists of introductory observations on the function of vision, on the eye as an optical instrument, on the laws of light, and some general facts regarding reflection and refraction.

The second chapter is devoted to the rectilineal progression of light, and the formation of images by radiation. In the third chapter, the author treats of the refraction of light, its varieties, and the laws by which it is regulated. The fourth chapter is devoted to the measurement of refraction; the fifth to the application of the law of refraction; the sixth to the forms of refractive media, and the effects on the direction of the rays of light; and the seventh to the refractive powers of the lenses of the human eye. In the eighth chapter, the eye is considered as a dioptric instrument; in the ninth, optical aberration, spherical aberration, and the corrections requisite to counteract its errors, are examined; in the tenth, chromatic aberration, and the achromatic properties of the eye; and in the eleventh, distantial aberration, and the accommoVOL. LVI. NO. 149.

M m

dation of the eye to distances are discussed. The last chapter is very elaborate, and presents an ample and detailed view of this question, which is encompassed by a number of difficulties.

In the chapters now enumerated, the author has had occasion to look on the eye chiefly as an instrument consisting of different diaphanous textures, which transmit light, but, at the same time, act in refracting it, and otherwise modifying its motions, while these are more or less acted on by the luminous rays. In the succeeding chapter, which is the twelfth, the functions of the iris and the motions of the pupil, are described and considered. In the thirteenth chapter, the reflection of light by the eye; and in the fourteenth, its absorption by that organ, with the functions of the choroid coat and black pigment, are examined. The fifteenth is devoted to the functions of the retina and optic nerve; the sixteenth to monocular and binocular vision and single vision with two eyes; the seventeenth to the colours of objects and complementary colours, and ocular spectra; and the eighteenth to the visual perceptions of figure, place, magnitude, distance, and motion.

In the nineteenth chapter, entitled vision aided by art, the theory and mechanism of catoptrical and dioptrical instruments is considered and explained; and in the twentieth or last chapter, on the improvableness of vision, the author considers the circumstances which improve the eye, and those which have a contrary effect, and examines the distinction drawn by Herschel between the power possessed by telescopes of magnifying objects, and their alleged property of penetrating into space.

This is, in short, an excellent and instructive, and rather interesting work on the physiology of vision.

ART. VII.-The Surgeon's Vade-Mecum. By ROBERT DRUITT. Second edition. Illustrated with fifty wood-engravings. London, 1841, 12mo. pp. 524.

which we have seen.

THIS is one of the best manuals on surgery Originally published in 1839 on a smaller scale, but similar plan, it has now gone to a second edition; and in the present day, when the taste for manuals, vade-mecums, and such small ware is strong and general, we may justly pronounce this to be one of the best specimens of the tribe. The author has contrived to introduce a large proportion of sound scientific information in the two first parts, which are devoted to the elucidation of Surgical Pathology. And in the subsequent parts, where he treats of wounds, diseases, and injuries and operations, he has given clear and correct descriptions. The work is illustrated by very correct and beautiful engravings, a considerable number of which are the same as those in Mr Liston's Practical Surgery. This is, in short, an admirable guide to the student in surgery.

PART III.

MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

On the Composition and Identity of Albumen and of Fibrine. By M. LIEBIG. (Gazette Medicale de Paris, 3d April 1841.)-M. Liebig, in a letter to M. Denis, confirmed the results of that gentleman's experiments as to their identity and also as to their composition.

M. Liebig succeeded in dissolving entirely pure fibrine in a saturated solution of nitre, keeping them in contact at a temperature varying from 122° to 132° Fahr. The fibrine became at first gelatiniform, and only left a very few insoluble flakes. The filtered liquid possessed all the properties of albumen. The composition of the dissolved fibrine, thus changed into liquid albumen, was precisely the same as ordinary fibrine and albumen The formula C48 H74 N14 011 expresses the relative proportion of ele

ments.

M. Liebig also succeeded in precipitating albumen in the form of globules, by adding a sufficiency of water to the serum rendered neutral by an acid; he also extracted blood globules from the fibrine by the process of M. Denis.

Lastly, by first adding to albumen a little caustic potash, M. Liebig precipitated it under the form and with the properties of casein, by adding alcohol.

MORBID ANATOMY AND MEDICAL PATHOLOGY.

Case of Apoplectic Effusion in the Tuber Annulare. By M. MAHAT. (Archives Generales de Medecine, January 1841.)-A young man of 25 years of age, after complaining for a few days of a feeling of heaviness and slight headach, perceived a numbness in his left arm, which, however, did not prevent him following his occupation as usual. In the evening he was suddenly seized with giddiness and paralysis of the left side of the body, and fell to the ground; he did not, however, altogether lose consciousness, but the articulation of sounds was lost. When taken to the hospital twenty-four hours afterwards, it was ascertained that there was complete insensibility of the limbs on the left side of the body, and the patient could scarcely command the slightest motion in them. The commissure of the lips was drawn to the left side, and the tongue, when thrust out of the mouth, pointed to the same side. He could not close the right eyelid, and the pupil of that eye was much more contracted than that of the left. The paralysis progressively diminished till about the tenth day, when cramps and sensations of formication began to be experienced in the affected limbs, with ringing in the left ear. Delirium soon after came on; the left arm was attacked with erysipelas and serous infiltrations, and he died about forty days after the accident.

Within the substance of the tuber annulare, on its right half, but passing a little beyond the median line, towards the left side, was found an abscess