situation night and day. This gave him relief by taking away the pain, which was principally felt in the toes and ankle. This compress he wore for two months, at the end of which time the pulsation had ceased, although the swelling had not entirely subsided. He has gradually improved ever since, although he has still pain in the back of the leg, and on walking he feels the foot, and particularly the great toe, numb and cold. He cannot quite straighten the limb, and walks with a little halt. There is no appearance of the swelling now, one year after the operation." 157.

The description of the effects of a ligature on an artery need not detain us, as we stated Mr. Guthrie's experiments and observations on this head, in our article on wounds and injuries of vessels. To that article we refer our readers. The division of our author's work expressly dedicated to the subject of aneurism closes with a full, and we will add, very masterly consideration of the operation of tying the vessel beyond the tumour. Our own opinions on this subject are before the public, and hitherto we have seen no reason to modify or retract one single iota of them. We should feel great pleasure in putting our readers in possession of Mr. Guthrie's sentiments and reasonings on this subject, if we were not convinced that it has been argued latterly ad nauseam. As journalists, we must consider not only what is good in itself, but what is palatable, for no where is toujours perdrix more sickening than in periodical literature. When a question has been worn nearly threadbare, the best way is to put it by for a season, to let it lie fallow for a year or two, and then it comes out with all the gloss of novelty, and all the productiveness of repose. Anel's operation was forgotten until Hunter's revolutionized surgery. Brasdor and Deschamps had tied arteries beyond the tumour without success, and their operation was quietly slumbering in cobwebs and oblivion, til! Sir Astley Cooper revived it, and Mr. Wardrop became its Coryphæus. At some fature day our posterity may perchance be astonished to find that in the work of an old and valuable author of the name of Guthrie, the merits of a proceeding are elaborately discussed, that had just been invented by a Wardrop yet unborn.

Here we must conclude, and were we used to the language of panegyric, we might add a laboured eulogy on Mr. Guthrie's Work. But we will not attempt what would neither enhance his merits nor our honesty. We have read the work with diligence, and have derived from it information of such a quality, that we hope, please God, to read it yet again. It is not to be supposed that in a volume of 416 pages on such a subject, every page is to teem with novelty, every chapter with a discovery; he must be a very thoughtless or unreasonable man who could expect it. But the principles inculcated are sound, the observations judicious and frequently indicative of deep reflection, the research great, the experience ample, the deductions practical and acute. If those be not strong recommendations to a work, we know of none; if this will not suit the profession, we would advise it to purchase the lucubrations of Doctor Haslam, and the practical remarks of Mister Wakley.

VIII.

A CATALOGUE OF THE PREPARATIONS IN THE ANATOMICAL MUSKUM OF GUY'S HOSPITAL. Arranged and Edited, by desire of the Treasurer of the Hospital, and of the Teachers of the Medical and Surgical School, by Thomas Hodgkin, M. D. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London; Demonstrator of Morbid Anatomy, and Curator of the Museum at Guy's Hospital; and Member of various learned Societies. Octavo, London, 1829. Pp. 598.

THAT the study of pathological anatomy, which formerly was somewhat neglected in this country, has of late years much increased, may be inferred from the following sentence in the Introduction of the volume now submitted to our examination.

"The author at one time proposed to take the Morbid Anatomy of Dr. Baillie, as the text-book for the Museum, and to have placed the preparations in accordance with the arrangement adopted in that work; but he very soon abandoned this design, finding the work inadequate to the purpose." Introd. p. ix.

This good effect, in common with many others, is in a great measure attributable to the general peace which has happily prevailed during the last fifteen years, and to the free intercourse thereby afforded with the continental schools; in several of which this branch of science has long been cultivated under peculiar advantages, and with proportional zeal and

success.

But, as it is a common fault with mankind to pass from one extreme to its opposite, there may, perhaps, be a tendency in some persons to over-rate the value of pathological anatomy, and to relax in their attention to other departments of the healing art, which are, at least, of equal importance. It ought, however, fairly to be admitted that, without an intelligent regard to the phenomena of living action, and to the operation of agents, both salutary and noxious, a mere knowledge of the internal results of disease would be of little avail; although, without that knowledge, medical science would undoubtedly be incomplete.

The advantages derived from this source are not the less certain because they are partly negative and indirect; consisting, either in a clearer illustration of healthy structure and function, or in a more exact definition of the limits of our acquaintance with disease, and of our power of controlling it. From inspecting the bodies of those who die of tetanus, or of hydrophobia, we learn, for example, that the most violent and fatal disorders are not necessarily attended with visible lesion. From observing the ravages of unsubdued inflammation, we are admonished to avoid indecision and delay, during the only period when remedies can be successfully employed; and, from perceiving the incurable nature of some organic diseases, we are instructed to abstain from useless or pernicious interference; and to confine our practice to those measures which tend to husband the strength, or to promote the tranquillity of the system.

Among the more positive benefits resulting from this study, we need

only mention the judicious treatment of continued fever, dictated by a knowledge of the intestinal ulceration, which dissection has proved so often to accompany that disorder, but which, without its aid, might for ages have remained unsuspected; and yet, to this single discovery is probably annexed the gratifying prospect of an extensive preservation of human life. Admitting, therefore, the importance of pathological anatomy when rightly applied, it is obvious that the private practitioner, engaged in the arduous duties of his profession, has, in general, but limited means for its cultivation; and that, for its effective advancement and diffusion, large hospitals alone furnish adequate materials and opportunities. Without the dexterity and sagacity acquired by experience, without a just method, deliberate and universal inspection, and accurate records, the study is liable to much fallacy and imperfection; and should, therefore, be prosecuted by some at least who, possessing suitable aids and qualifications, are enabled to devote much of their time and attention to its improvement.

Owing to various causes, which it is not necessary here to specify, the peculiar advantages afforded by large hospitals for the augmentation of medical science have not always been rendered so available as could have been wished. In the present day the case is happily otherwise; and, without intending any invidious distinction, it is a matter of just congratulation that, in the school of Guy's Hospital, as well as in several others, this object is now pursued with equal zeal and intelligence.

The merit of establishing the museum of this hospital must, in the first place, be ascribed to its treasurer, Benjamin Harrison, Esq. whose exertions during a long series of years to promote the usefulness of the institution, both as an asylum for the sick, and as a school of medicine, are generally known and appreciated. Under his direction, the ample funds of the hos pital permitted the erection, about five years since, of a spacious building," entirely devoted to scientific purposes; comprising a commodious lecture room, apartments for dissection, and the anatomical museum, of which the descriptive catalogue is now under our consideration.

But, in such an undertaking, the most able director, even with funds and materials at his disposal, could not accomplish much, without the aid of well-qualified agents; and, in this respect, the institution is fortunate in having secured the co-operation of the author of this work; whose character, both professional and personal, stands too high to admit of eulogium.

In presenting a short analysis of Dr. Hodgkin's Catalogue, we shall, as far as possible, avail ourselves of its contents; conceiving that, by exhibiting fair specimens of its materials, and of the manner in which they are proposed, we shall do the fullest justice both to the author, and to

the reader.

Respecting the facilities afforded at Guy's Hospital for the cultivation of morbid anatomy, it is observed :

"Where, as in this hospital, the patients are admitted without reference to individual interest, but by a superiority of claim, founded solely on the greater severity and urgency of their particular cases, it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the average of interesting cases must be particularly high. Some idea of the ample field for pathological anatomy presented at Guy's Hospital may be formed, from the following statement of the mortality which has taken place in the institution during the three last years."

From this statement it appears that the annual average of deaths, between the years 1825 and 1828, was 281; and that the number of beds at present devoted to patients amounts to 421.—Introd. p. iv. As a proof of the activity with which the museum has latterly been augmented, chiefly by the exertions, or under the direction of the author, we are informed :

"It is only from this period [namely, within the last four or five years] that the departments of descriptive and comparative anatomy can be said to date their existence. The department of morbid anatomy has, likewise, been greatly enriched, not only by the internal resources of the establishment, but also by the donations of numerous contributors from without. In fact, with the exception of a nucleus of scarcely five hundred preparations, the whole collection, at present amounting to upwards of three thousand specimens, has been formed within the short space of four years.”—Introd. p. v. vi.

It ought not, however, to be concealed that, for the production and preservation of this nucleus, under circumstances far less favourable than those now enjoyed, the institution is chiefly indebted to the industry and ability of its resident medical officer, Richard Stocker, Esq.

Among the principal contributors to the museum, we find, as might naturally have been expected, the present and some of the former physicians, surgeons, and pupils of the hospital, the treasurer, the Royal Veterinary College, and the author himself. A considerable number of specimens has been obtained from the well-known collection of Joshua Brookes, Esq. and some of the most beautiful and splendid have been supplied by the hands of Sir Astley Cooper.

"For the illustration of the structure and diseases of the teeth, the museum possesses the collection of the late Joseph Fox, enriched by many valuable and curious additions from his able successor, Thomas Bell.

The department of casts and models forms too important a feature in the museum to be left unnoticed. In this department, youthful as is the museum, it is, perhaps, not too much to say that it yields to none in this country. Its advantageous position in this respect must be attributed to the fortunate circumstance of the treasurer's having attached to the service of the hospital Joseph Towne, an artist who has the signal merit of having both created his art for himself, and arrived at such a proficiency in it, that his works, already very numerous, rival, if not surpass, those of the best and most distinguished masters of Florence, and Bologna.

The drawings, and diagrams, although not introduced into the present catalogue, must not be omitted in the enumeration of what has been done at Guy's Hospital to facilitate the communication of pathological knowledge. The spirited and accurate pencil of C. J. Canton, constantly employed in this department for the service of the hospital, by preserving the recent colours and appearances of diseased parts, forms an invaluable supplement to the wet preparations, which, after the most successful efforts, must often fail in retaining any thing beyond the form and texture.”—Introd. p. vi. vii.

But all these advantages would have been of little avail, either to the hospital pupil, or to the professional visitor, without a good catalogue. To an intelligent student, in pursuit of knowledge rather than of amusement, nothing can be more unsatisfactory than the common practice of sauntering through a large museum, without an adequate knowledge of its contents. A competent living guide is not always at hand; and, even when procurable, it is often far more convenient to obtain the requisite information from a well-composed manual, by the aid of which any part of the collection may No. XXVI. FASCIC. II. BB

be inspected at pleasure, and the reflexions of the observer may be pursued without hurry or interruption.

Such, then, is the nature of the volume now before us; a volume which is by no means, as the title might seem to import, a mere catalogue or inventory, but of which, in addition to a condensed and perspicuous description of the preparations themselves, nearly a fourth part consists of interesting observations on the several branches of the science; the greater number furnished by the author, and a few derived from other valuable sources. After an historical introduction, from which extracts have already been given, and three useful tables, representing the general appearances observed on the inspection of bodies, the principal organic deviations from the healthy state, and the order of arrangement adopted in the work, the volume consists of three grand divisions, describing the preparations illustrative of healthy, morbid, and comparative anatomy.

The latter part, classified according to the system of Cuvier, contains many beautiful specimens ; among others, several subservient to veterinary surgery, and one of the best articulated skeletons of the female elephant to be found in the country: but this part, being as yet in its infancy, occupies the smallest space in the catalogue. It is, however, enriched by a manual of directions respecting the collection, preservation, and packing of objects of natural history, abstracted from the official instructions of the professors of the Royal Garden at Paris.

The two principal departments, namely, those of sound and morbid human anatomy, are subdivided into the following sections, which we here subjoin; because, although for different purposes different plans may be required, the arrangement adopted on this occasion appears highly judicious, and may be imitated with advantage in other similar institutions. In both departments these sections occur in the ensuing order.-Bones-soft parts about the bones-vascular or circulatory systems-nervous system and organs of the senses-vocal and respiratory organs-digestive organs-urinary organs-genital organs of the female-genital organs of the male-and utero-gestation. Besides these sections, which are common to both, the first part includes a section illustrative of the fluids, and another of miscellaneous objects; while the second part adds a section of diseases of the peritoneum, another of parasitical animals, and a third of models and casts. To each of these divisions are prefixed, as has been already noticed, introductory remarks, tending to fix the attention of the reader on the most important points, and to prepare him for inspecting with advantage the various objects presented to his observation.

Concerning the form in which the catalogue is ultimately disposed, the following explanation is given by the author.

"In printing the catalogue, the tabular form has been chosen, as the most convenient for reference, and, at the same time, the most concise and intelligible. In the first column is placed the number which refers to the preparation. In the next is the description of the preparation. This, though in general necessarily short, is sufficient to point out the object which the specimen is designed to illustrate. When the preparation is of more than usual interest, the description is given at greater length. The next column contains a reference to the fuller details of the case. The greater number of these references are made to the manuscript histories of the hospital cases and inspections, of which there are now thirteen volumes, most of which have been collected in the course of