having a separate existence, but merely different manifestations of one and the same invisible and imponderable agent.

Further, mechanical force may be converted into magnetic, and magnetic again into chemical. E. g. In a patent recently taken out, gravitation, by the falling of a weight, or elasticity, by the uncoiling of a spring, causes a piece of soft iron, properly surrounded by wire, to revolve rapidly in front of the poles of a horse-shoe magnet; an electric current is induced in the wire, and this current is employed for precipitating metallic copper from its solutions, and a voltatype impression is thus obtained by the conversion of mechanical into chemical force. Chemical force is again converted into mechanical in every steam-engine at work in our land; for every cwt. of oxygen that combines with the coal or coke of its furnace, an equivalent amount of water is, or may be, converted into steam, and the elasticity of this steam is then made to perform, at the will of him that raised it, any species of mechanical work to which it shall please him to apply it. Transformations of force analogous to these seem to keep the universe in motion; its varied phenomena resolve themselves into the transfer and transformation of forces. In all human inventions, however, for the transformation of force, power is lost; we cannot employ the whole of that which is set free; our contrivances are imperfect, and our methods of economising and measuring the forces with which we deal are incomplete and inaccurate. Not so with the contrivances of the Divine artificer: He knows exactly what arrangements are required to employ the whole power He sets in motion: and may we not, without extravagance, suppose that the varied phenomena which constitute the sum total of vitality may result from the simultaneous employment, by appropriate channels, of all the forces developed at the instant that any one of those forces (as we are in the habit of considering them) is developed? Is it impossible that by the inscrutably delicate arrangements of organization scope may be given to the manifestation of another modification of force which we term vitality? Or is it too much to imagine that life is maintained not by chemical agency alone, but by the union of all the forces set in motion whenever chemical action, as being the most convenient in its adaptation to our frame, is excited?

Leaving speculation, however, let us descend to the realities of fact, enjoining upon ourselves a double caution lest, warped by preconceived theories, our judgment should err, and we should, as the most ingenuous minds often unwittingly feel tempted to do, bend or gloss over our facts till they accommodate themselves to our own crude hypotheses as to what must be, instead of contenting ourselves with the discovery of things as they actually exist.

ART. XI.

1. Euvres Complètes d'Hippocrate, Traduction Nouvelle, avec le Texte Grec en regard, collationné sur les Manuscrits et toutes les Editions; accompagnée d'une Introduction, de Commentaires Médicaux, de Variantes, et de Notes Philologiques; suivie d'une Table générale des Matières. Par E. LITTRE, Membre de l'Institut et de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Halle.-Paris, 8vo, vol. I, 1839, pp. xvi, 637; vol. II, 1840, pp. lv, 717; vol. III, 1841, pp. xlvi, 563.

The Complete Works of Hippocrates, a new Translation, with the Greek Text on the opposite Pages, collated with the Manuscripts and all the Editions; with an Introduction, Medical Commentaries, various Readings, and Philological Notes; followed by a general Index of the matter therein contained. By E. LITTRE, &c.

2. Hippocratis Nomine quæ circumferuntur Scripta ad Temporis Rationes disposuit CHRISTIANUS PETERSEN, in Gymnasio Hamburgensium Academico Philol. Class. Prof. P.; pars prior. Præmissum Indici Lectionum in Gymnasio Academico A. 1839 habendarum.-Hamburgi, 1839. 4to, pp. viii, 55.

The Writings which commonly go under the Name of Hippocrates, chronologically disposed by CHRISTIAN PETERSEN, &c.

"WHAT from its antiquity," says James Harris, in the preface to his Hermes," "is but little known, has from that very circumstance the recommendation of novelty; so that here, as in other instances, extremes may be said to meet:"-and accordingly we think that there may perhaps be more of the interest of novelty in occasionally laying before our readers a few sketches of the origin and early history of different branches of medical science, than in giving an account of the latest discovery or the newest theory. We must confess too that our editorial conscience has been somewhat troubled from time to time at the thought of our having so sparingly fulfilled our early promise of now and then making room for retrospective reviews of works, which once enjoyed a just celebrity, and which are still worthy of being remembered; and therefore we were not sorry to have an opportunity offered us on two recent occasions of partially redeeming our credit with our more learned readers both at home and abroad, by saying a few words on the anatomy and physiology of the ancients, and thus proving that even in these branches of science (which are universally agreed to be one of their weakest points), our fathers were not quite so ignorant as some of their undutiful children are apt to think them. And still more gladly have we hailed the appearance of M. Littré's work, both because we think it seems likely to supply in a great measure a desideratum in medical classical literature, which all competent judges have long acknowledged, and which several of the most learned members of our profession have

[The writer has begged us to say that this sentence was written before the appearance of our last April Number, in which he found that the same quotation (though taken from a different work by the same author), was made use of in a similar manner at the close of the review of Dr. Greenhill's Theophilus.-ED.]

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in vain endeavoured to fill up, and also because it forces us in a manner to discharge a duty which might otherwise have been driven off for an indefinite time, and to offer some account of the life and writings of one of the oldest and ablest of the ancient physicians, "the divine old man," "the father of medicine" himself.

It is certainly no affected humility, but the very simple truth, to acknowledge that we enter upon this subject with no ordinary feelings of diffidence and distrust; for we cannot but call to mind the names of some of those great men who during a period of more than two thousand years have commented on the writings of Hippocrates, and have employed their utmost critical acumen in the endeavour to separate the chaff from the wheat, and to determine which among the numerous treatises that bear his name have really a right to claim him as their author. In the present instance, however, the labours and difficulties of our task have been much lightened by the works before us, especially that of M. Littré, which is at once so complete, so learned, and so accurate, that we think we cannot do better than lay before our readers a tolerably full abstract of his Introduction, making such references to the two other works as we may from time to time feel necessary, inasmuch as they do not seem to us to require so careful a perusal nor so complete an analysis. must also reserve to ourselves the right of occasionally differing from each of the learned writers; and, finally, we trust they will not think us anxious to depreciate the merit of their works if we supply a few omissions, and correct one or two mistakes,

"quas aut incuria fudit,

Aut humana parum cavit natura."

We

Of these it may be sufficient here to notice particularly two, the latest and the most valued: 1st, Adamantius Coray or Koray, (born at Smyrna, 1748, died at Paris, 1833,) who published a learned and excellent edition of Hippocrates' De Aëre, Aquis et Locis,' in Greek and French, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1800, and whose name was well known in the literary world as the editor of several other classical works; and 2d, F. R. Dietz, who died at Königsberg in 1836, at the early age of thirty-seven, and who had spent several years in travelling almost all over Europe partly at the expense of the Prussian government, for the purpose of collating Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Sanscrit medical manuscripts. The principal fruit of his labours, which he lived to publish, is to be found in his 'Scholia in Hippocratem et Galenum,' 2 vols. 8vo, Regim. Pruss. 1834, which are interesting and valuable, though bearing evident marks of carelessness and haste; but the greater part of the remainder of his manuscripts is being now edited by J. L. Ideler at Berlin, of which two volumes have already appeared under the title Physici et Medici Græci Minores.' [Since writing the above sentence we regret to say that we have been informed of M. Ideler's premature death, an event which must be a source of much regret to all who take an interest in ancient Medical Literature. We have not heard who has been appointed by the Prussian government to continue the work.]

e In performing this last part of our duty, (which we would always gladly be spared, though some of our ill-natured readers believe that it is precisely that in which we take most pleasure,) we are saved a good deal of trouble by the fact of our not having noticed the works earlier; the consequence of this is, that almost all M. Littré's oversights have been already discovered and pointed out in other journals, and we think it would not be consistent with our duty either to the author, to our readers, or to ourselves, to bring forward a long list of errata, which he has himself freely acknowledged and corrected in the second and third volumes of his work. The critiques that have come to our knowledge are 1, in Miller's Revue de Bibliographie Analytique,' tome i, pp. 219, 506, tome ii, p. 892; 2, by Dr. Ermerins, in the Hallische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung,' 1839, Oct., pp. 179-80; and 3, by M. Rosenbaum, in the Archiv für die gesammte Medicin, herausgegeben von Dr. H. Haeser,' B. i, Heft i.

We could have wished to have given some account of the labours of M. Littré's predecessors, but as this would take up too much space, we must refer our readers to the first volume of his work, where (pp. 54054,) he will find a full and candid estimation of all the previous editions of the complete works of Hippocrates. Before, however, proceeding to analyse the contents of the work, we cannot refrain from saying a few words on its external appearance and arrangement; and this we shall do with the less scruple, in the hope that the editors employed on the ancient physicians by the Sydenham Society, may be able to extract from our remarks some few hints that may be useful to themselves.

The most prominent external defect is the omitting to mark in the margin of each page the corresponding pagination of the principal former editions, which is of the more consequence, as the treatises are arranged in quite a different order from that which has usually hitherto been followed; and the result of which is, that any attempt to find a passage quoted by the pages of any of the common editions (such as that of Foes, Vander Linden, Kühn, &c.) is almost hopeless. This omission alone is quite sufficient to render the work so incomplete as entirely to prevent its ever superseding the use of Kühn's edition, of which the insertion of the corresponding pagination of Foes, Chartier, and Vander Linden, is almost the only excellence, but which, with all its imperfections, seems still likely to maintain its place as the most popular edition, until we obtain a complete and uniform collection of the works of the principal ancient physicians, equally commodious in size, type, &c., and of greater critical value."

Another defect, in our opinion, is the mixing together at the bottom of the page the various readings, the shorter notes on the text itself, and the longer annotations referring to the subject-matter; whereas it would have added no less to the beauty of the book than to the convenience of the reader, if these last had been placed together at the end of the volume.

The critical merits of Kühn's collection (except perhaps the Aretæus and Dioscorides) are certainly very small, and yet we must acknowledge that it has done good service to the cause of ancient medical literature, first by furnishing us with an edition of these old writers in a less cumbrous form than the huge folios of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and secondly, by exciting an interest in the subject which thirty or forty years ago was almost extinct, and which has been continually increasing from that time to the present. It ought also to prevent our speaking too harshly of Kühn's editorial labours, if we remember that at the time of the appearance of the first volume of his Collection (1821), he was already in his sixty-seventh year, a time of life when few persons would have the courage to undertake so vast a work.

A work such as that which we have been contemplating is far too great for any single editor to attempt, (as, indeed, the example of Kühn may prove,) nor (now that the days of Aldus, and Stephens, and Elzevir are gone by,) would it be easy to find a publisher who would be willing to bear the risk and expense of such an undertaking in the cause of medical literature-unless, indeed, it should happen to be comprehended in one of the magnificent schemes of M. Didot. However, it is to some medical college or association, like the Sydenham Society, that we have a right to look for the accomplishment of this project in a manner worthy of the country of Linacre, Caius, Freind, and Wigan; nor do we think so meanly of the classical taste and learning of our medical brethren in Great Britain as to doubt that, when once their attention has been called to the subject, some few fit and proper persons may be found able and willing to act as editors.

A short marginal analysis of the contents of each chapter would have been a great assistance to the reader in finding any particular passage. This is found in several of the best modern editions of Greek and Latin historical works; and though the example has not hitherto been frequently followed by the editors of the ancient physicians, we hope that the plan may be more generally adopted for the future, especially as it will give very little additional trouble to the editor.

Before we finish these few introductory observations, we cannot help remarking the very great prolixity of the general Introduction, of several of the Arguments prefixed to each treatise, and of some of the notes, which might very easily have been compressed into little more than half their present length. On this subject we cannot do better than quote a few lines from a critique in the Quarterly Review,' (vol. 64, p. 378,) on the Eschylus of Mr. Peile, who had fallen into the same error, which, indeed, few writers of notes in the vernacular tongue have managed to avoid. "This comes of the 'fatal facility' of French note-writing! French is as unfit for notes, as Latin is for Lexicography. Latin is in itself the_language for notes; and there are, besides, extrinsic advantages: Latin notes, for instance, must be terse; here is one check to prolixity; Latin notes cost most men a good deal of trouble; here is another." And though we are not quite sure that we should be inclined to extend this dictum to biographical and historical Introductions in general, yet in the present instance we confess we would rather have had to read about three hundred pages of Latin, than five hundred and fifty-four pages of French.

We might mention several little particulars in which we think the beauty of the work might have been increased, but we must not forget that "beauty" is a vague and arbitrary term, nor attempt to force a foreigner to adopt our English notions on the subject of taste. We therefore gladly proceed to give some account of the internal and more important merits of the work.

M. Littré tells us in his preface, (p. vii,) that his labours on the works of Hippocrates have had a three-fold object, viz., the revision of the text, the furnishing a correct translation, and a medical commentary. The first part of this task he found much more troublesome and laborious than he had expected, as the text of the writings of Hippocrates, (or, as M. Littré calls them for brevity, "the Hippocratic Collection,") had received very partial correction since the time of Foes, and remained almost in the state in which it had been left by him. In order to remedy this defect, M. Littré has collated, (and apparently with great care,) all

We may, however, notice one very singular peculiarity, which must have been more cumbrous to the editor himself and to the printer than to the reader; we allude to his plan of designating the different manuscripts in his notes, not by certain conventional letters, (A, B, C, D, &c.) as is usually done, but by their actual numbers in the catalogue of the Royal Library at Paris, viz. 2140, 2142, 2253, &c. The consequence is that he has used at least three times as much space as was necessary, and that, too, without any conceivable advantage. However, the editor himself seems to have been fully sensible at last of the clumsiness and inconvenience of this method of quoting the manuscripts, (we only wonder how he could ever have thought of it!) and accordingly he has in the latter half of the second volume adopted the shorter and more usual one. (See tome ii, p. 378.)

XXXIV.-XVII.

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