evidence would have been in favor of the defendants. One form of this gas, namely sewer smell, has long been supposed to be the nastiest of all odours, and the most deadly; doubtless it is so in a concentrated form, yet rats live and thrive in it, and the men who get their living by raking amongst sewers, seeking stray coins, and unconsidered trifles, do not suffer from their employment.

We are not without evidence that nauseous smells are the reverse of being unhealthy. Thus, for example, few people in Liverpool are not familiar with the disgusting smell of raw hides, yet a merchant told me that on one occasion these seemed to be the means of guarding a part of a ship's crew from fever. Thus, the ship amongst other things had a lot of hides on board, these were close to one of the mens' sleeping cabins, and the air in them was constantly impregnated with their nauseous odour. Yellow fever broke out on board shortly after they left port, and all the crew were affected by it, except those who slept in the stinking cabins, they escaped to a man. The crews of guano ships occasionally suffer, I understand, from sore eyes, but otherwise they are healthy.

Conversely we may say, that such poisons as are known to be deleterious to the human frame have no smell recognisable by our senses. The plague poison is recognised by its effects, but the nose cannot smell it out; and yellow fever and ague poison are equally scentless.

The only question now to be noticed is-can the system adapt itself to these odourless poisons as it does to the foul smells of which we have spoken? And if so, under what circumstances? The answer is interesting to everyone, for there are few who are not exposed to these poisons at one time or other. That some are accustomed to inhale the ague poison with indifference is seen in the negroes of Africa and elsewhere, who breathe the air which kills their European visitors. Nurses long accustomed to the air of fever wards

respire without discomfort an atmosphere which once gave them fever, and which would give it them again were they like Claude Bernard's bird, to escape for a time into the fresh air of the country, and then to return to their old wards. In climates where miasms exist, but not largely, a mild fever is all the new comer suffers, and he then becomes acclimatised.

This adaptability in our own country is conspicuously shown during the occurrence of epidemics. When cholera, like an invisible cloud, envelopes a whole town, there is reason to believe that all inhale it equally; yet the mass escape. When typhus, scarlatina, or other diseases of similar origin are amongst us, we see the same thing; some fall ill and die, while the majority escape.

It may be answered to this that there is no proof that the poison is ever taken into the system of those who escape, and consequently that the foregoing facts are no proof of adaptability. One single circumstance, however, will show that our conclusions are correct. A pregnant woman is exposed to small pox, she does not herself take the disease, but the infant she carries does, and it may be born covered with pustules. In this case (and many such are recorded) it is impossible for the infection to reach the child except through the mother; but the latter is not affected with the disease because the system has adapted itself to the poison.

It being then established, that contagion may be coursing through our veins without it affecting us, we next endeavour to ascertain who those are which succomb to it; thence we can deduce the reason why others escape. We might turn to Eugene Sue as an authority on this question, for in the "Wandering Jew" we find the Jesuit understanding well how to bring the strong man into the clutches of the cholera; but we prefer taking a medical authority. Dr. Robert Williams, writing on the plague, remarks. "In selecting its victims, this poison follows the law of most other morbid poisons, attacking the poor

rather than the rich, women rather than men, patients labouring under disease rather than healthy individuals, persons constitutionally feeble rather than the robust, and also those addicted to intemperance or other excess than those who follow more strictly the precepts of Mohammed. Misery and poverty have been observed by all writers greatly to predispose to this disease."

Typhus, it is well known, follows in the wake of war and famine, and dysentery is most common where want and privation prevail. To illustrate this it is only necessary to point to the Crimean campaign; during the first year the condition of the soldier was most deplorable, and half the troops were ill with fever and dysentery. But far from falling under the blow, England roused her energies to ward it off. Food of the best kind, comforts unlimited, and unremitting attention. were freely lavished; they soon all but banished disease and death. But this illustration is incomplete because improved scavenging went hand in hand with improved diet; we must therefore seek another. We again turn to Dr. Williams and read his account of dysentery. In that we find, that in the West Indian islands the mortality from this disease was at one time ten times greater amongst the European soldiers than amongst their officers. This was, after much research, traced to the fact that the former lived chiefly on salted provisions, the latter upon fresh. Reason dictated an alteration; it was made, and the result was a diminution of mortality of ninety per cent. Similar observations have been made at other unhealthy stations, and in our fleets as well as armies.

A thoroughly good diet will enable the system to adapt itself to a poison where a poor diet would not allow of the power being exercised. Nor is it without interest to know that tonic medicines, such as quinine, will enable the system to adapt itself to bear poisons which, without its use, would have fatal influence. Thus I have seen patients apparently

stricken down with typhus recover their usual health in twenty-four hours under the strengthening influence of large doses of quinine. The free use of the same drug will enable persons to live in marshy districts without contracting ague; and I have been told by Dr. Thomson, of Aigburth, and Dr. Clark, late of Cape Coast, that an abundant daily dose of quinine will give to the healthy white man an immunity from yellow fevers second only to that exhibited by the Negroes. When quinine loses its value the addition of steel to it seems to restore its power. It is not that the poison is destroyed in the system by the use of these drugs, for experience shows that such individuals often carry with them to Europe enough of the miasm to produce ague, when by any chance they are debilitated. The sole use of the drugs is to enable the constitution to adapt itself to the altered circumstances, and in this respect they may be compared to the champagne which cures sea sickness.

The whole tenour of these observations shows that the power of adaptability is proportionate to the vital power, and that the stronger the constitution the greater the immunity from external influences. Whenever, therefore, there is a necessity for adaptation, it is well to prepare for it by good living, rather than by starvation; and by a moderate use of wine, than by floods of cold water; and if a sea voyage is in prospect, beef steaks and porter are more likely to give immunity than soup mâigre and a crust of bread. The English are proverbially better sailors than their Gallic neighbours; and there is little doubt that they derive this peculiarity from their choice of solid foods and heavy drinks, in preference to unsubstantial dishes and light wine. Long may these tastes be retained!

ON THE PHYTOTYPE

OR ARCHETYPE OF THE FLOWERING DIVISION

OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.*

BY J. BIRKBECK NEVINS, M.D. LOND., F.B.S.E.

It is now about seventy years since the poet Goethe published a little work, entitled "The Metamorphosis of Plants," in which he laid down the principle that "every part of a flowering plant is a modification of a leaf," and illustrated his proposition by a variety of ingenious arguments, derived from the habits and growth of plants. This doctrine was rejected at first by nearly every naturalist of his day, and even within the last five-and-twenty years the theory was alluded to by teachers of botany, only to be ridiculed and put aside as the fancy of a poet, but unworthy of belief by a botanist. The general arguments by which he supported his opinion were such as the following:

It is well known to gardeners that if a fruit tree is too much manured it runs into leaf, and produces little blossom or fruit; but if the same tree, which has thus become almost barren, is deprived of manure and the branches pruned, the leaves diminish in number and luxuriance, whilst blossoms take their place, and a copious supply of fruit is obtained. The same tree, therefore, can be made to produce leaves or flowers, according to the manner in which it is treated-that is to say, "starve a leaf and it becomes a flower."

Again: double flowers are generally barren. Why? Because the plant being carefully tended and manured, the

The simple cell, variously multiplied and modified, has long been recognised as the type of the cellular, or non-flowering division of Plants. The object of this paper is to shew what is the typical form upon which the vascular, or flowering division of the vegetable world is constructed.