altogether correct, as we at length arrived at a point, namely page 208, where the evidences of identity ceased, and marks of obvious difference presented themselves. And so it turns out, that this so-called second edition of Dr. Ashwell's treatise is only a second edition as far as page 208, all the remaining 529 pages being the identical pages, words, letters, of the edition printed and published and sold to us and to our readers in 1844. Now, as this new volume bears on its title-page the words SECOND EDITION, and as the author gives no hint in his preface (which is also headed Preface to the SECOND EDITION) that it is not a bona fide reprint throughout, we think we have just grounds of complaint against both the author and publisher, for thus tacitly allowing the public to be misled in fancying they are really buying a complete new edition of a book, when they are in fact only buying a new edition of less than one third of a book. How this curious thing comes about, we know not, and we care not; but come about as it may, we denounce it as wrong, and we feel that it is our duty thus publicly to expose it. We hope and believe that Dr. Ashwell is no party-or at least, if a party, an innocent party-in this transaction ; his duty to explain its precise character to the profession.

As a necessary result of this Mezentian mode of editing, we find some odd little anomalies in reading the old part of the volume with reference to its ostensible date of publication. For instance, at page 280 the profession are justly declared to be "under great obligations to Dr. Walshe for one of the ablest and most complete essays on cancer ever published;" and a warm hope is expressed "that no long time will elapse ere its accomplished author presents it to the medical world as a distinct work” (reference being made to the Cyclopædia of Surgery'); the truth being, as our readers well know, that this hoped-for work was actually given to the public one full year before this notice of it was professedly penned; Dr. Walshe's preface bearing date November, 1845, and Dr. Ashwell's November, 1846.

ART. IV.-The Health of Towns as influenced by defective Cleansing and Drainage; and on the application of the Refuse of Towns to Agricultural Purposes: being a Lecture delivered at the Russell Institution, May 5, 1846. By WILLIAM A. GUY, M.B. Cantab., &c. &c.-London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 48.

DR. GUY, in this pamphlet, very lucidly sets forth the advantage and economy of a better system of civic drainage. The gross value of the manure annually wasted amounts, he thinks, to 10,000,000l.; the healthtax inflicted upon the population by sewerage defects he estimates, for the United Kingdom, at nearly 20,000,000l. If we halve and quarter these sums, after the approved method of estimating an heiress's fortune, there remains a very handsome sum; and we certainly think that several millions sterling are annually wasted in the way Dr. Guy points out, although we hardly think his numerical estimate will be received as being mathematically accurate. Much more investigation is required on the points Dr. Guy moots in this essay, before ACTION will arise. The public will thank him, we trust, for being willing to lead in the van in an attempt at great social improvement.

ART. V.-Fever physiologically considered; considerations on Yellow Fever, Typhus Fever, Plague, Cholera, and Sea-Scurvy; also the Questions of Contagion and the Quarantine Laws; with an Address to the Public, &c. on the popular Treatment of Cholera. By DAVID M'CONNELL REED, Esq. Licentiate of Medicine &c.-London, 1846. Small 8vo, pp. 262. DR. M'CONNELL REED has taken great pains with his book, or at least with that part of it which refers to fever. The history and whole pathology of the different forms of fever are considered at length and in minute detail; but, we are sorry to say, most unsatisfactorily.

With regard to the second part of the work we cannot express any favorable opinion. It is devoted to a consideration of the nature, cause, and treatment of epidemic yellow fever, typhus fever, plague, cholera, and sea-scurvy, the latter disease being most erroneously considered identical with the others mentioned.

The appendix is an address "to the humane public, and to the honorable members of the medical profession" on the near advent of Asiatic cholera, and on the method of treating it. The author appears to be possessed of some talent, but it is sadly obscured by singular religious expressions, and by curiously new terms. For example, in his physiological estimate of the symptoms which depend on disorder of the brain and nervous system, Dr. Reed observes,—

"Fainting or syncope depends on suspended or probably retrograde action of the capillary vessels of the fibro-serous membrane of the brain; whence result, loss of the mento-organic faculty of sensibility, and of the animo-organic function of sensation; the mento-muscular faculty of mobility-at-will, and of the animoorganic function of voluntary motion; the total suspension of the animo- or mentoorganic faculties, &c." (p. 57.)

Doubtless Dr. Reed uses these terms with a definite meaning, but we think he ought to have added a dictionary or glossary to his book. With regard to the prophetic and religious expressions of the author, we shall content ourselves with quoting the following piece of presumption: "The author confidently predicts a dreadful visitation of the cholera at the close of summer, or at the beginning of autumn, most likely in the month of August, to be succeeded by a desolating outbreak of typhus fever. He moreover predicts that those who will fall victims to these diseases are the very highest and the very lowest classes of society-those who, in consequence of their imprudence and profligacy, have induced want and starvation, with its accompanying miseries; and those who, in consequence of their avarice, gluttony, intemperance, and inhumanity, have induced an unhealthy, plethoric state of the system, coupled with an uneasy conscience. The author thinks he could go farther, and point out some of the individuals on whom this judgment will fall; but he forbears, leaving secret things to the Allwise Judge, and Disposer of all events both in heaven and earth." (pp. 225-6.)

Dr. Reed further trusts much, as we learn, to "the efficacy of faithful prayer, vested in the church," relief in the coming troublous times. Our author seems to be a man mainly of three books; Thomas's 'Practice of Physic; Hooper's Medical Dictionary;' and the Bible.' The latter affords mottoes; the first two numerous extracts. We cannot approve of the mixture of sacred and profane learning; the assumption of the power of prophecy, the judging of others; and the praying in public (on the sheets of his book) displayed by Dr. Reed. He should

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"heartily thank God" in his closet and not on the wings of the press; and he should remember that divine law, "judge not, that ye be not judged," and not hint dark suspicions respecting his neighbours. There are evidently some elements of power in Dr. Reed's mind, but to use them aright he must undergo a course of mental discipline, or at least should learn to restrain his philological vagaries and check the exuberance of his religious imaginings.

ART. VI.-1. Introductory Discourse on the mode of Investigating the Sciences belonging to the Medical Profession, delivered in the Theatre of St. George's Hospital, October 1, 1846. By Sir BENJAMIN C. BRODIE, Bart., &c.-London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 13.

2. On Medical Education: being a Lecture delivered at King's College, London, at the opening of the Medical Session, 1846-7, to which is added a Lecture delivered on the same occasion in the year, 1842. By WILLIAM A. GUY, M.B., Cantab., Professor of Forensic Medicine, King's College, &c.-London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 64.

3. The Motives of Industry in the Study of Medicine: an address delivered at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on Thursday, October 1, 1846. By JAMES PAGET, F.R.C.S., Warden of the College and Lecturer on Physiology in the Hospital.-London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 30.

1. THAT the readers and auditors of a long succession of introductory lectures should turn away with a sort of frigid aversion from either the sight or hearing of another, is not, perhaps, very unnatural, when we consider the elements of which they are usually composed and the small amount of variety which is generally exhibited in their construction. But there is that about a superior mind which displays itself in the mode of discharging even the most formal duties or expounding even the most common-place truths. In the three "introductories" before us, we recognize as many exemplifications of this fact, for each is distinguished by some excellence that renders it worthy of special notice. The Discourse of Sir B. Brodie is expressly addressed to the pupils of the school of which he has been so long an ornament; and it exhibits, like all his addresses on medical and surgical topics, his strong practical sense, and bis earnest desire that his hearers should be trained in habits of correct observation and logical deduction, and that they should acquire the knowledge under the guidance of which alone the reasoning powers can be rightly exercised upon the phenomena of life and especially of disease. The peculiar excellence of this lecture consists in its plainness and simplicity, in the aptness of the illustrations afforded by its author's vast professional experience, and in the soundness of the advice which he has imparted to his young friendsequally applicable, however, to those in all periods of life who desire that their advance in knowledge should be coeval with its duration, as to the method in which they should study the complex problems that present themselves for investigation.

2. Dr. Guy's Lecture is chiefly remarkable for the force with which the introduction of scientific study as a branch of general education, and more especially as a preliminary to the prosecution of medical study, is advocated, both on the ground of its direct utility, and of its beneficial influence on

the intellectual and moral faculties. We need not say that this view is most completely accordant with that which we have repeatedly urged; and it gives us the greatest pleasure to find it so well enunciated in a college whose conservative tendencies might be supposed to make it look with a suspicious eye upon any show of a disposition to undervalue the pursuits of literature, or to substitute for the poetic contemplation of the past the practical claims of the present and the anticipated results of the future. That before science could be said to have an existence, and when all philosophy was to be found in the writings of the ancients, literature should be the chosen means of developing the higher powers of the intellect, is not surprising; but that those who regulate the higher educational establishments of our country should still maintain so firm an adhesion to the wisdom of their ancestors, and should keep their eyes closed to the benefits which can be proved to result from an alteration of that system, speaks forcibly, we venture to think, as to their unfitness for the responsible trust of which they hold such firm possession.

3. The title of Mr. Paget's Lecture, whilst it truly indicates the principal subject of his address, does not convey an idea of the elevated manner in which that subject is treated; and we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of quoting one or two passages which will show the high tone of feeling that he labours, and we hope not unsuccessfully, to excite in his pupils. After speaking of the peculiar demand for the energetic and persevering use of our best faculties which the study of medicine involves, he thus continues:

"Yield to the demand, and give them. For there is not in this world a nobler spectacle than that of a rational being devoting himself, with patient, earnest perseverance, to the cultivation of his powers, that they may be employed in the discharge of duty Knowing that a force within him is capable of unlimited expansion, and confessing in his inmost consciousness, that its development and its exercise are duties of strongest obligation, he pauses not to ask whether outward reward will crown his work or not; much less, with scrupulous calculation, does he count the cost and gain. But, because he knows that the powers and opportunities he has received were given him for use, he resolves that not one of them shall run waste or wild: for him, to be indolent, were to be unthankful. And so, in toil, yet not in weariness, he pursues his way; sowing seed, of which he reckons not whether he shall reap the fruit; content, because he is in the path of duty; blest, if only he may see or think that he ministers to the welfare of his fellowmen. (p. 11.)

But the labour of acquisition, if rightly directed, is in itself a pleasure, as Mr. Paget eloquently urges. After pointing to the movements of animals as signs of the pleasure of energy, he continues:

"Now, there is an exact analogy here between the mental and the bodily faculties. In health, every exercise of the mind, provided it be voluntary and natural, is a true source of pleasure. And, therefore, we should count it as a privilege, that the pleasures of intellectual activity are offered to us in all their various forms in the study of our science; for therein, we may always have the calm and abiding satisfaction which attends the gradual acquirement of knowledge; and, not seldom, that intenser pleasure which is perceived when difficulties, long striven against, are overcome; and sometimes, if we carry our researches beyond the limit of that which is already known, we may enjoy the same excitement and expectation as others pursue in more perilous adventure; and, then, we may attain the thrills of delight which accompany the first perception, and the slow unfolding, and, at last, the clear and perfect view, of some new truth or principle. And all these pleasures we may enjoy as long as we continue our study; for the

science is inexhaustible, and the pleasure becomes more intense in the same proportion as the faculties that are exercised are higher, and as the mind is more guided and illustrated by knowledge." (pp. 16-7.)

The responsibilities of the practitioner are equally well set forth in the pages immediately preceding that last quoted from. We greatly regret that we can find room for only a portion of the beautiful passage:

"We sometimes see the beam of life and death so nearly balanced, that it turns this way or that, according to the more or less of skill that can be cast into the scale of life. And surely, if we could gather into thought all the issues that are involved in the life or death of any man, the anxiety of ignorance at such a time should be intolerable. For at all such times, the issues and the responsibilities are manifold; it is not alone the fate of the sufferer (though in that, indeed, may be the most fearful consequence of all), but, as each of us must have felt in some instance very near to his own heart, those that stand around have all their various griefs and fears, their hopes, yet sad forebodings. And now, all is permitted to depend upon the skill of one. Conceive that one yourself: what would be your remorse, if, when in their confusion and distress they look to you, you feel helpless as themselves, utterly unworthy of the confidence with which they still lean on you; your hand paralysed by the fear of ignorance, your mind confused in that half-knowledge, whose glimmerings only show that more skill might save the dying man! Yet this must be the remorse of every one who will neglect the study of his profession, and yet dare to undertake its responsibilities." (pp. 13-4.) Do not imagine that your responsibilities will be limited to the events of life or death. As you visit the wards of this Hospital, mark some of the hardly less portentous questions which, before a few years are past, you may be permitted to determine. In one, you will find it a doubt whether the remainder of the patient's life is to be spent in misery, or in ease and comfort; in another, whether he, and those who depend upon his labours, are to live in hopeless destitution, or in comparative abundance. One who used to help his fellow-men, finds ground to fear that he may be a heavy burthen on their charity. Another counts the days of sickness, not more by pain and weariness, than by the sufferings and confusion of those who are left at home without a guide, and, it may be, starving. Oh! gentlemen, I can imagine no boldness greater than this would be, who would neglect the study of his profession, and yet venture on the charge of interests like these; and I can imagine no ambition more honorable, no envy so praiseworthy, as that which strives to emulate the acquirements of those who are daily occupied in giving safe guidance through the perilous passages of disease, and who, in all these various difficulties and dangers, can act with the energy and calmness that are the just property of knowledge." (pp. 14-5.)

ART. VII.-4 Manual of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, including the preparations of the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, with many new Medicines. By J. FORBES ROYLE, M.D. F.R.S., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, King's College, London. With ninety-eight woodcuts.-London, 1847. 8vo, pp. 716.

THIS is another member of that beautiful and cheap series of Manuals published by Mr. Churchill for the benefit of the student and general practitioner. In the execution of the woodcuts, particularly of the plants, flowers, and fruits, Mr. Bagg seems almost to have exceeded his former doings, while the paper-maker and printer have performed their parts with equal credit. In regard to the yet more essential constituent, the literary portion of the work, no one who is acquainted with the former productions of Dr. Royle will doubt that the author has discharged his duties with the same skill as the artist. The work is, indeed, a most valuable