Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

other organ in the body. The digestion of an ordinary meal is a work of some labour, therefore what disturbance may we not expect during the digestion of a meal that overloads the stomach with hurtful food? The general chill over the surface which is felt by the weak and delicate during digestion, is here often severely experienced, and sometimes amounts to horripilation, or a sense of creeping in different parts of the body. The first stage of fever is hence produced; and, as the heat and perspiration are most probably a necessary result of the first stage, a foundation is hereby laid for the entire paroxysm.

When a man has "worked himself up" into a violent and long-continued wrath, whether there have been reason, or there hath not been reason for his ire, and more especially in the latter case; when he has taken a long and fatiguing journey on foot, walking with great speed, and suffering from great heat and perspiration; or when he has devoted the whole day to a particular study, so profound and abstracting as to exhaust the whole system; and when, beyond this, he urges his abstruse and protracted train of thought into the wee small hours beyond the twelve, there is a general irritation or undue excitement produced, that simple rest cannot at once allay; his sleep is short, hurried,and interrupted, if he sleep at all; he yawns, stretches his limbs, turns himself again and again in his bed for an easy, perhaps for a cool place, for his skin is hot and dry; and he turns, and turns for a long time in vain. The morning dawns; but he has had little sleep, and no refreshment; he is indisposed to leave his bed; and if he rise he is still feverish and unfit for business. He passes the day in disquiet, in misery, which, perhaps, increases towards evening; but at night he feels a moisture breaking forth over his skin, which is a most grateful relief to the heat and dryness that have hitherto distressed him; he recovers, perhaps even while sitting up; but if, as we should strongly advise him to do, he takes a little saline draught and goes early to bed, the probability is that he enjoys a quiet and refreshing sleep, and he awakes in the morning in his wonted good health. "Gamesters," says Dr. Good, "after sitting up all night and being worked up to madness by the chances and reverses of their ruinous stakes, are peculiarly liable to this species of fever, A very cold and wet towel tied round the temples seems to give some check to the violent excitement of the brain; but in the long run, I have generally found persons who adopted this practice become debilitated and dropsical, and sink into an untimely grave, or creep on miserably through the fag-end of a miserable life that affords no retrospective comfort, with a hospital of

diseases about them."

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE Academy of Medicine, Paris, has been engaged for several days in a discussion of the best means of treating acute articular rheumatism; but all the talent, experience, and learning displayed, have little other effect than to show how "doctors can differ" when the cure of disease becomes the question of debate. Yet, how can men agree on the treatment of a malady when they differ essentially in their opinions concerning its nature? Many members of the Academy, Bouillaud, Piorry, and others, see nothing in acute articular rheumatism save inflammation of the joint. M. Grisolle regards rheumatism as a general disease, and denies that inflammation has anything to do with it. Lastly, the majority of the Academy seem to consider the complaint as a special one, with which inflammation of the joints or other parts may be connected in a secondary, but not essential manner. With such diversity of views, it is not astonishing that various plans of treatment should, in turn, be extolled or rejected. M. Bouillaud still sticks to his formula of bleeding, "coup sur The TREATMENT must be indicated by the cause and the symp-coup" (one after another); but the Academy evinced an evident toms of the attack. If the stomach be overloaded with an indi- disinclination to accept his statistics, while it was shown that it gestible mass, we must discharge the mischievous freight by an was impossible, from M. Bouillaud's published cases, to determine the exact duration of the treatment. M. Piorry affirms, that it is reduced to less than four days by repeated bleedings; and, moreover, informs us, that the celebrated formula said Professor Piorry. M. Martin Solon insists on the supeof" coup sur coup," was a larceny committed on him, the aforeriority of nitre over all other remedies for the cure of articular rheumatism,-that is, rheumatism of the joints,-and thinks. that it was the one most appropriate to the nature of the disease. The sulphate of quinine, say others, is the only remedy on which dependance can be placed. Finally, according to M. Dechilly, whose memoir gave rise to the five days' discussion now alluded to, articular rheumatism is a local malady, and best treated by a succession of blisters over the affected joint.-[For a full and particular history of Rheumatism, and the most successful mode of treatment, the reader is referred to Nos. 8 and 9 of the PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL.]

emetic, as follows:

Take-Ipecacuanha powder, fifteen grains;

Antimonial wine, a drachm and a half;
Pimento water, an ounce and a half. Mix.

And we must afterwards remove any of the heating and offensive
matters that may have passed into the intestines, by a brisk
cathartic, as,—

Take-Calomel, three grains;

Compouud extract of colocynth, six grains;
Oil of cloves, one drop.

Mix and divide into two pills, for one dose; to be followed, if
required, in three hours, by a "black draught" or a Seidlitz
powder.

Rest in bed, a light diet of puddings and spoon-food-" slops," pure air, cooling drinks,-as tamarind tea, apple tea, lemonade, barley-water, acidulated with lemon-juice, imperial-a gentle saline purgative-(see SALINE PURGATIVES, Nos. 23, 24, pages

ON THE PREVENTION OF SUICIDE BY PROCURING

SLEEP.

(By JOSEPH WILLIAMS, M.D.)

SUICIDE is unhappily of such frequent occurrence, even amongst the educated classes-its effects are so baneful to society, and are so deplorable in individual families, that I feel it to be a duty to offer the following remarks.

EXPULSION OF THE TAPE WORM BY THE
MALE FERN.

E. C—, aged twenty-three, a servant, lives in Hatton Garden,
and has resided in London all her life. She never enjoyed good
health, and for some time past has menstruated once a fortnight,
sometimes more frequently, the discharge being always profuse,
and accompanied with intense pain. When about five years of
age she was relieved of a tape-worm by medicine, but has passed
up to the present time, and suffered much from giddiness,
palpitation, indigestion, and a gnawing pain in the region of the
stomach, generally unaffected but often relieved by eating. A
fortnight ago her present illness commenced by fits of shivering,
great lassitude, weakness and pain in the extremities, loss of
appetite, and nausea. The patient was admitted into Lonsdale
ward, King's College Hospital, under the care of Dr. Todd, very
and unable to sit up throughout the day. The shivering

Comparatively but few suicide acts occur without premoni-joints tory symptoms, such as unusual irritability, restlessness, despondency, and wakefulness. Often when all these signs are present, and even when a person has not slept for many nights together, the unhappy sufferer and his friends neglect to have medical advice, when unexpectedly the dreadful catastrophe occurs which plunges the family into the deepest affliction. But, unfortunately, it often happens, that even when the medical attend-weak, ant is summoned to such a case, he orders an aperient, gives a little fever mixture, and in a few days is astonished to learn that his patient has died by his own hands.

Let me most strongly urge upon all the necessity of doing something more than this; sleep may be procured, and may, in most cases, by judiciously selecting the narcotic, be induced. The opinions formerly held, that narcotics are rarely useful, often injurious, and but seldom effect the good for which they were prescribed, are being daily disproved. In incipient cases of mania and melancholia, the effects of morphia are remarkable; it will calm the frenzy, moderate the heart's action, soothe excessive irritability, and produce sleep. Where there is much action, it should be exhibited with calomel, antimony, or ipecacuanha; in cases of melancholia, it should generally be given simply with a slight excess of hydrochoric acid, of course paying strict attention to the bowels. Where there is delusion or hallucination, the administration of quarter-grain doses of the hydrochlorate of morphia, with slight excess of dilute hydrochloric acid, every six or eight hours, will often speedily effect a cure.

But my more immediate object at the present moment is this to insist on the necessity of exhibiting morphia, or some other narcotic, in those incipient cases where there is wakefulness; if this be done, many valuable lives will be annually saved. In several cases where patients have had suicidal or homicidal impulses, I have succeeded in removing such morbid desires by exhibiting narcotics, more especially morphia; and I know of no higher satisfaction a physician can receive than the grateful thanks of a cheerful patient, who has formerly been enchained by gloomy and terrific promptings.

WHY AND BEcause.

WHY have white veils a tendency to promote sunburn and freckles? Because they increase the power of the sun's light. Why does a flannel covering keep a man warm in winter, and ice from melting in summer?-Because it both prevents the passage of heat from the man and to the ice.

still continued; she complained of universal pain, more intense, however, over the abdomen, where there was great tenderness on pressure. She still has the gnawing pain over the region of the stomach, and is much troubled with flatulence. The tongue is clean, but there is an unpleasant taste in the mouth.

The patient was given two ounces of castor oil immediately, and put upon low diet. On the third day after admission she took, early in the morning, and after having fasted on the preceding day, one drachm and a half of the ethereal solution of the male fern in one ounce of mucilage and eight ounces of water. A little time afterwards, two ounces of castor oil were administered to the patient. The medicine slightly purged her; no part of the worm was passed; but two days afterwards a round worm (Ascaris lumbricoides) was noticed. A second dose of the ethereal solution was then given, and the tape-worm was ejected; the head was, however, not expelled with the great length of the worm which was rejected. Dr. Todd prescribed, first quinine, and subsequently chloric acid for the patient; she became much better in a few days, and was discharged. It is to be sincerely hoped that further trials will contribute in fully re-establishing the reputation of the male fern as a vermifuge in tænia solium,

or tape-worm.

SUNNY ITALY!

MR. B. HONAN, an accurate observer, and a gentleman of authority, who has had many years' experience of the climate from residing in different parts of Italy, both north and south, writes from Verona, in the month of January of last year, in the following unmistakeable ipsissima verba, which are true, generally speaking, although somewhat vernacularly expressed: "There are many humbugs in Italy, but there is none against which I more complain than its climate, I never spent so severe a winter as this, and I seek in vain any one corner where I can find shelter from the dry and piercing cold. In all northern climes the houses are prepared for the severity of the weather, and with good stoves, thick carpets, well-closing doors and windows, and our bright sea-coal fire, we defy the winter; but in Italy the cold is more intense within the house than without, as not a single window or door is air-proof, and a bright fire only increases the num ber and bitterness of the various currents which it inhales through every chink. At the moment whilst I write I am assailed in front, in flank, and rear, and my palsied fingers can with difficulty hold the pen, though Nature has not made me one of the shivering race; but I cannot tolerate humbug in any shape, and above all, the humbug of an Italian climate!" Writing from Rome in the middle of the following May, the same author ob serves "The weather is still cold and disagreeable, and the The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merry- humbug of an Italian climate applies as much to the spring at

Why does a person with a cold in the head, catarrh from the eyes and nose, experience more relief on applying to the face a linen and cambric handkerchief than one made of cotton ?-Because the linen, conducting, readily absorbs the heat and diminishes the inflammation, while the latter, by refusing to give passage to the heat, increases temperature and the pain.

Why is loose clothing warmer than such as fits close?-Because the quantity of imperfectly conducting air thus confined around the body resists the escape of the animal heat.

man.

Rome as to the winter at Verona."

HINTS FOR HEALTH.

HINTS TO MOTHERS.

It is notorious that servants and nurses frequently produce indentations of the ribs, from their roughness and ignorance in handling and nursing infants. As children grow up, this deformity is occasioned by holding themselves in improper postures; even when a child sits upon the knee of its nurse, or is supported in her arms, contraction of the chest will occur merely from constant leaning on one side.

The carelessness of nursery-maids cannot be too severely reprimanded. How frequently do we see them take hold of a child by the arm, near the shoulder, throw it up with one hand and catch it on the palm of the other, till they are wearied themselves, and the children frightened and hurt. By these practices a child is frequently seriously hurt, though the injury may escape notice at the time.

If a child cries, it is shaken and scolded until it becomes almost stupefied, instead of the nurse taking the trouble to find out the cause of the child's pain. Many and many are the children who have fallen victims to such treatment, and prematurely sunk into the grave from the lingering and insidious progress of some complaint which originated in a blow or an accident kept

secret.

OATMEAL PASTE FOR CHAPPED HANDS.

Take fresh lard, four ounces; honey, six ounces; oatmeal, six or eight ounces; three yolks of eggs; gum arabic in powder, one ounce. Mix the honey and the gum first, then the eggs; next the lard, gradually incorporating it in small portions; finally add the oatmeal, to make the whole into a paste. With this preparation the skin may be washed precisely in the same way as with soap. Being entirely free from alkali, which all soap contains, it leaves the skin exceedingly soft and supple after its use, and tends to heal chapped hands by its mild detersive qualities. In this respect it is superior to the famous Amandine.

[blocks in formation]

HORSE-EXERCISE.

To those whose business does not permit them to devote much of their time to exercise, riding is certainly preferable, more especially in cities, as on horseback they are at once brought out into the fresh air, and the body is so thoroughly agitated, that it does not require to be so long continued as some other exercises; an hour in general being sufficient. The various changes of the

air, through which we quickly pass when riding on horseback, become as it were a new air-bath, by which the fibres are strengthened; and the various new scenes and objects we are constantly observing tend to amuse the mind.

CLEANLINESS.

This important domestic virtue ought to exend its influence to every object connected with the human frame, to food, drink, dress, dwelling, and all our physical necessities. All clothes, linen, beds, blankets and sheets, cannot be too clean and dry, as such articles absorb exhations from our bodies, and check the process of the insensible perspiration. Articles of attire which are soiled, and are brought into contact with the skin are liable to have their impurities reimbibed and carried into the system by the absorbent vessels.

NE

ADVERTISEMENTS.

JEVILL'S PATENT FLOUR of LENTILS, an Arabica Food for Invalids and Infants, possessing natural restorative properties

for Indigestion, Constipation, and all derangements of the Stomach, Liver, Intestines, &c. By this pleasant, nutritious, and agreeable Food, which never distends or turns acid on the delicate stomach of Invalid or Infant, health is preserved without medicine, inconvenience, or expense. Sold by Chemists, Grocers, &c., in Canisters, 1 lb. 1s., 3 lb. 2s. 9d., 6 ib. 5s. 3d., 12 lb. 10s. Manufactured and sold Wholesale by Nevill and Co., 12, Liverpool Street, King's Cross, London. A 12 lb. Canister sent carriage FREE 100 miles for 10s.; and to any part of the Kingdom for 11s. A full Disclosure and Analysis of Du Barry's Revalenta is now published.

[blocks in formation]

RESPIRATORS 2s 6d. EACH.-MARKWICK'S PATENT

RESPIRATORS afford every possible benefit in affections of the Lungs and Throat, and being free from the objections to the Metallic instruments, can be worn without danger or inconvenience. MARKWICK'S PATENT CHEST PROTECTORS are worn and recommended by Medical men as the best preservatives against Colds and Coughs. To Pulmonary Invalids they are indispensable. POULTICES.-The most effectual and econowill use nothing else. For Rheumatism, Lumbago, &c., the Impermemical poultice is MARKWICK'S SPONGIO PILINE; those who have tried it able Piline is a never-failing remedy, made up for every part of the body; also into Shoe Socks, which entirely prevent cold and damp feet; and Winter Gloves, decidedly the greatest comfort known. Sold by Chemists and Hosiers. Wholesale of the Epithem Company.

Dr. Yeoman's Medical Publications.
Volume I., price 4s., in strong and elegant cloth,

THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL and FAMILY of the Chest (except "Consumption" and "Asthma," which are now publishing in Vol. II.); Diseases of the Heart; the Diseases of Women and Children; Diseases and Management of the Teeth; Rheumatism; Gout;

PHYSICIAN. This work contains complete monographs on Diseases

Indigestion; Headache; Worms; the Anatomy and Physiology of the Organs

of Sense, &c. &c.

[blocks in formation]

HE

DI

Rational Treatment.

Now Ready, price 4d.; by post 6d., the ISEASES OF ERROR. Their Symptoms, Varieties, Effects, and Rational Treatment. Preface." It is with much reluctance I publish this little book. My position, however, as editor of the PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL, renders the task imperative. The world can form no conception of the thousands of sufferers who seek for such counsel as I have endeavoured to give in the following pages: the world can form no conception of the thousands who, tain infirmities their special study, have been wrecked in health, peace, and lured by the specious advertisements of empirics who profess to make cerpurse. The daily receipt of letters, addressed to me in my Editorial capacity, from victims to this heartless assumption and robbery, convinced me that I might do 'the state some service' by giving a plain exposition of those diseases which have hitherto been a golden harvest to ignorant empirics." GEORGE VICKERS, Strand; and all Booksellers and Newsvendors. London published by the AUTHOR, 25, Lloyd Square; and sold by It is requested that all orders for copies to be sent by post may be forwarded to the Author, so as to insure punctual dispatch.

:

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

NOTICE. All communications for the Editor must be addressed, pre-paid, to his house, No. 25, LLOYD-square.

THE EDITOR is at home every day until One o'clock; and on the evenings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from Seven till Nine.

TO OUR READERS.-What we are about to say is a confidential whisper ! THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL is not a " paying concern"! Our whole heart, our daily thought, and our nightly dream is centered in its advancement, because we are convinced of its utility. We care not about our labour, nay we should not much regret the loss of pounds, provided that loss was recognised by less than four figures. Our expenses, in consequence of the engravings, are nearly doubled. Our efforts, like our expenses, shall also increase. Now, in the words of our able sevenpenny contemporary, The Lancet, we say, "If every reader of THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL would resolve not to rest contented until he had procured a new subscriber as a reward for the introduction of our ILLUSTRATIONS, we certainly should be furnished with very substantial' proofs of the admiration and gratitude' of the PEOPLE." GLOSSARY, OR DICTIONARY OF MEDICAL AND ANATOMICAL TERMS.-We are preparing a glossary of words that occur in medical writings, which will give an ample and correct definition of all scientific or technical words, terms, and phrases. It will be published as a supplement, and will appear, we hope, in the number for January 25. VOL. II. is now ready, bound in strong and elegant cloth boards, gilt lettered, price 4s. The preface runs thus:-"THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN has now made his fifty-second visit. During the last year he has ascended the tapestried halls of wealth, he has entered the dimity-clad chamber of the well-doing, he has descended the pit of the miner. In each, by all, he has been received as a Family Friend, as well as a Family Physician. For the courtesy of his reception, and the confidence reposed in him, he begs to offer his grateful thanks.-In closing a year of toil, anxiety, and pleasure, he ventures to hope he has done much good, and, he prays, but little evil, in the hints and advice he has offered to thousands who have sought his counsel. The same industry, the same caution, the same integrity of purpose that has raised his periodical to the proud position of being in fact, as well as in title, THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL, shall ever guide exertions, and direct his humble ability."

CASES for binding Vols. I. and II., price 1s. 3d. each, may be had of all

newsvendors.

THE DISEASES OF ARTISANS and THE DISEASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN will be resumed in early numbers.

STALE NEWS, FRESHLY TOLD.-Punch, with great truth, says," A physician cannot obtain recovery of his fees, although he may cause the recovery of his patient." A waggish friend adds, "Then let him take credit for his success, but give none for his attendance." D. R. P.—There is a difference: we would explain it in this way :-An old

man who recollects the ideas of his youth, has remembrance; a man who retraces sensations experienced the preceding year, has memory. W. MORDECAI HONLY.-Let the child take one of the following powders twice a day. Take-rhubarb, a scruple; carbonate of soda, half a drachm; hydrargyri cum creta, ten grains; powdered ginger, five grains. Mix and divide into ten powders. The diet must be plain

and nutritive, and free from vegetables.
You will find many pre-
scriptions for coughs of all degrees, and for every age, in the first eleven
numbers.

S. H.-The person in the neighbourhood of Finsbury holds the same rank as the Jew advertising quacks. No respectable physician would meet him in consultation. The microscope may be, and is by many, degraded to an instrument of quackery. Albuminous urine is merely a symptom of other disease, which may be, comparatively, an innocent one: there are many circumstances to be considered in connexion with its

existence.

Z. Z. (Bayswater)-Such symptoms are the result of one of the DISEASES OF ERROR (which little book read), and are not noticed in this Journal. AN OPERATIVE JOINER (Manchester), can only be attended to privately. HARRY (Bristol).-" Have I any thing to dread in connexion with the symptoms I have related?" You have. "Are malt liquors injurious to me?" Not in moderation. MARIA (Northampton Square).-Your letter is deficient in many important particulars. We never hazard an opinion, and never prescribe for or direct a patient in these columns, unless the history of the case furnished to us is so clear and distinct that a doubt as to the proper treatment cannot possibly exist, As well, your case appears to be one that merits your best care to have it properly comprehended by the physician who undertakes to remove your distressing symptoms.

OBITER DICTUM.-You are a faithful, good fellow, we are certain, and we cordially thank you for your good wishes. Á hundred sympathising heads and hearts like your's would make our Journal as profitable, as we wish it to be useful.

W. CHIBBORN (Camden Street, Dublin).—The ankle joint has been dislocated, as well as the bones of the leg broken. Apply to Mr. Porter in your city.

It is a beautiful and correct model.

AN OLD PATIENT (Wolverhampton).—Test the urine with a piece of litmus paper, which send to us: we will then direct you further. W. A. C. (Bath). We believe the "Florentine Venus" is at Liverpool. A. B. C. (New Road).—The man is a despicable quack. The bestial advertisements which he inserts in the columns of those newspapers that exist only by the payments of such wretches, should deter any thinking man from seeking advice at such a polluted source. Avoid treatises written in six languages, and "enriched" with 26 coloured engravings.

EDGAR. Your present anxiety, ill health and debility, is caused by the D. R. C. (Westminster Palace)-Your's is a nervous complaint: purging misdeeds of your early life. Read the DISEASES OF ERROR. will do more harm than good. Call in Lloyd Square.

THE DISEASES OF WINTER including cough, bronchitis, and influenza, are described, and the necessary treatment advised, in the first eleven numbers of THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL.

D.

E. P. (Chatham). --A full description of the symptoms and different degrees of the complaint will be found in the Editor's small work on HEADACHES.

Y.-No.

M. A.-Hot tea is hurtful. Never drink liquids of a greater temperature

E.

R.

than the warmth of the mouth: hot tea is a cause of innumerable S. (Oldham Street, Manchester).-Whenever the child is griped and cases of indigestion; your's promises to be one of the many. purged, give it a tea-spoonful of the following mixture. Take, magnesia, half a drachm; powdered rhubarb, ten grains; syrup of white poppies, two drachms; carraway water, two ounces. Mix. Be careful in your own diet; and your health being much impaired, wean the child.

G. W.-The quacks of Albemarle Street and Bedford Square are far more dangerous than pickpockets; the latter only rob you of a cardcase or a kerchief: the former swindle you out of health, purse, and peace. A Jew thief may be collared by a policeman; a Jew "quack" may kill and rob with impunity. Avoid the wretches.

HANNAH R. (Oldham Street, Manchester).-You will find the following an excellent formula for an occasional "aperient pill." Take compound extract of colocynth, compound rhubarb pill, of each a scruple; blue pill, extract of hyosciamus, of each ten grains; oil of cloves, two drops. Mix. Dose, two or three at bed-time.

PERCY ROWLAND (Chester).- Cancer of the male breast is comparatively rare. The symptoms you mention are sufficiently important to merit your best and immediate attention.

G.

W. (Banbury).—We received the letter and enclosure; you did not

return the former prescription, neither did you mention where a letter from us would find you. ROLAND (Bury Street).-Take eight grains of the extract of hyosciamus, with two grains of camphor, made into two pills, every night. GRATEFUL.-We are much pleased that you are enabled to write so cheerfully and thankfully. OLIVER TWIST.-Bad diet, impure air, and insufficient clothing, will cause TO MANY CORRESPONDENTS.-It is our pleasing duty to return our best consumption, even in a person not previously tainted with the disease.

thanks for the many very pleasing and civil notes we have received at this season: if we only enjoy a tithe of the "good wishes," "happy new years," and "great success" that unknown friends have showered upon us, the year 1851 will be a year of unalloyed gratification. We are deeply sensible of the good will expressed towards us. HEALTH OF LONDON.-In the week ending last Saturday, the deaths regis tered in the metropolitan districts amounted to 1,166. Amongst the fatal cases, "diseases of the lungs and other organs of respiration" are conspicuous on the list; they amount to 274, nearly the same as in the previous week, and still slightly exceed the average. Bronchitis numbers 102, inflammation of the lungs 117, asthma 37 deaths, consumption 112, scrofula 16, and 25 from water in the head. Small-pox carried off 21 children and 4 adults; measles 21; scarlatina 30; hooping cough 52; croup 10; diarrhoea 16; typhus 43; and erysipelas 11. Coroners' inquests were held in 91 cases. The births amounted to 1,477, namely 729 boys and 748 girls, being an average weekly increase on the five preceding years of 135!

London: Printed by CHARLES ADAMS, at his Printing Office, 8 St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, for the proprietor, T. H. YEOMAN, Lloyd Square; and published by GEORGE VICKERS, 28 and 29 Holywell Street, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, Strand.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

THE PELVIS, or large bony cavity which terminates the trunk inferiorly, contains the urinary and genital organs, and in woman the uterus- and supports the bowels and other viscera; it is composed of a pair of large, broad, and irregularly shaped bones, called Ossa Innominata, or the nameless bones, or the hip-bones (L, fig. 1.), which are divided into, the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis; and the sacrum, with its appendix, the os coccygis, so called from its resemblance to a cuckoo's beak.

At birth the pelvis is only very partially finished as to its ossification: the intermediate cartilages between its several constituent bones continuing to bear a very considerable proportion; the increase of bone is not, indeed, very rapid, even after birth; and the several portions of the ossa innominata, to be hereafter described, remain distinct and separated by cartilages, till within a very short interval of what is called the age of puberty. The most interesting circumstance incident to the pelvis of the infant and the child, is the great similarity of its form in both sexes until about the tenth year of their respective ages. Nature then begins to declare her special intentions with respect to the destinies of either sex; and the pelvis of the future man becomes characterised by the comparative smallness of its cavity, the 4 The Ilium. B The Pubes. strength of its sides, and the narrowness of The Ischium. its dimensions from side to side; that of the D The Sacrum. girl-hereafter to be the mother of children -is noted by its lightness, shallowness, and daily increasing width between its iliac extremities, that is from 1 in fig. 2, to the 3 opposite crest of the fellow bone.

E

1 The crest of the Ilium,

2

FIGURE 2.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

pations, and the more perilous pursuits incident to the support and protection of his family. He has been principally the tiller of the ground, the warrior, the traveller, the knight-errant, and the ruler: for him, accordingly, nature has allotted a skeleton of more massive carpentry. The parieties of his pelvis are made of denser and heavier materials; its surfaces are made rugged, uneven, and furrowed out into deep apertures or sinuosities, to afford secure fastenings to the immense ligaments and tendons, which serve to connect together its constituent bones, and to give attachment and leverage to many of the most powerful muscles of the human body. Adapted also partly for strength, but principally for specific purposes in a sexual point of view, the male pelvis is much deeper, but in other respects smaller, than that of the female as to its interior cavity.

The OSSA INNOMINATA, or hip-bones, form the sides and anterior part of the bowl of the pelvis. Each bone consists in early life of three distinct parts; namely, the ilium (A), the ischium (C), and the pubis (B); of which, the first forms the largest, and the last the smallest portion of the entire bone. The shape of the os innominatum is very irregular, contracted towards for the reception of the head of the middle, and expanded towards the cen

[graphic]

the thigh-bone.

4 The part of the Sacrum which arti- tre. In the adult the three bones just named culates with the last vertebra of are firmly united by bony union; and the the loins. junction first commences and is first per

The Femur, or thigh-bone.

5

The Os Coccygis

The Symphisis Pubes, or joining of

6

the two bones of the pubes.

7

The Acetabulum, or cup-like cavity

When the pelvis has acquired its proper size and form in the adult subject, it bears a certain most desirable proportion in weight and bulk to the other parts of the skeleton. When these mutual proportions are perfectly maintained, then this part of the body is said to be perfectly symmetrical and beautiful. But the proportions which are considered most beautiful and symmetrical in the one sex are not deemed so in the same degree, or even not at all, in the other. Hence it is a matter of common observation, that this portion of the female skeleton is much wider and more expanded than that of the male. On this fact artists have founded a rule of practice in their drawings and mouldings of the human figure, which is fully recognised and approved by the first masters, and by the best anatomists: it is, that the lateral extremities of the hip-bones of the female figure, and the corresponding extremities of the shoulders of the male, should be bounded respectively by the same parallel lines. Of the observance of this rule in some of the best works of antiquity, it is well-known that the Apollo Belvidere and the Venus de Medici are interesting examples. But, besides being much narrower between one iliac extremity and the other, the male pelvis is distinguished from that of the female by many other and important characteristic differences. In all nations, of which we have any authentic history, the man is ever the larger and the stronger subject. On him have accordingly devolved the more laborious occu

C

in its socket.

The large Trochanter, or shoulder

of the thigh-bone.

The head of the thigh-bone resting fected in the acetabulum, or cup-like cavity, or socket (3), into which is received the globular head of the thigh-bone. The junction of the bones of the pubis, called its symphisis (2), does not take place so early, and in some instances the union by bone is never completed, the bones being firmly connected by strong cartilage.

The SACRUM is the basis which supports the spinal column (K in fig. 1); it is placed, wedge-like, between the two hip-bones, and forms the back part of the pelvis (D,). It is formed by the perfect union of five or six vertebrae, the points of junction being marked by the dark lines or ridges crossing from the foramina, or holes, through which pass the anterior branches of the sacral nerves, with some veins and small arteries. The base of the sacrum presents in the middle (4) an oval surface for the reception of the last bone of the spine; and the apex has a smooth surface. for articulation with the coccyx.

The Os CoccYGIS (5), so called from its supposed resemblance to a cuckoo's beak, consists of three or four small pieces, which diminish in size from above downwards. In advanced age it is one solid bone, but in the prime of life they are separated by cartilage, and are endowed, especially in the female, with considerable mobility.

The dimensions of the pelvis are a matter of immense importance to woman's well-being and safety at the time she is about to become a mother. The following are nearly the average diameters in a well-formed female :

« ÎnapoiContinuă »