it is advanced slowly through the vessels, the mesenteric glands, and the thoracic duct, its resemblance to the blood becomes more and more marked, until that passing into the venous system, it reaches the heart, intimately mixed with the venous blood. A portion of this liquid, however, is absorbed by the vessels of the intestinal tube, and mixed with the blood of the vena portæ. The lymph may also be considered as another source of the blood; but the fluid itself takes its origin from the blood which has transuded through the vascular parietes, and has not served for nutrition. With respect to sanguification, two species of lymph may be distinguished: the one, the less perfect, returns from all the parts of the body, and has to pass through the lymphatic glands before it can reach the blood; the other is the chief product of what are called the sanguineous glands. The lymph passes immediately into the blood, or only after having been mixed with the chyle. This last circumstance takes place for the lymph of the lower extremities, of the uro-genital apparatus, of the spleen, and of the suprarenal glands. The lymph and chyle (white blood of some writers), mixed with the blood, reach the heart, where certain physical and chemical changes are probably produced. Then passing into the lungs, it becomes fitted for nutrition by the rejection of carbonic acid gas, and by the access of oxygen. The action of the respiration appears to be exercised chiefly on the liquids mixed with the blood. Hence the principal sources which furnish new substances to the blood, are the intestinal tube and the lungs. The blood, passing through the different secreting organs, furnishes the elements of secretion. Some of these are entirely lost to the blood; such are the secretions of the kidneys (the urine), of the lungs (gas, water), and also of the skin. Other secretions, on the contrary, partly return to the blood; as the secretions of all those glands whose excretory ducts are placed on the surface of the digestive passages, as the saliva, pancreatic and gastric juices, &c. After having in this way given a general view of sanguification, he then proceeds to examine separately in what way the different elements of the blood are formed. Most of the solid elements are combinations of proteine. The question is to know whether all the proteine comes as such, already formed in the digestive canal, or whether it is not, at least in part, the product of this transformation of the substances digested. To the present time persons believe in these transformations, for instance, of albumen into fibrine, &c.; in other words, it is supposed that, by the vital forces, the less azotised substances become more rich in azote, according as they are transformed into blood. But new researches are tending to prove that all the materials of the blood exist already formed in the aliments, that they arise from the animal or vegetable kingdom. The albumen and fibrine of the blood come from the chyle and lymph. It is observed that the quantity of albumen increases in the chyle during abstinence, whilst that of the fibrine diminishes in the blood and in the lymph. The hematosine is formed probably during the circulation and independently of the spleen, since the removal of this organ produces no change in the colour of the blood. With respect to the manner in which the colouring matter is formed but little satisfactory is known. The same may be said of the other matters contained in the blood. The carbonic acid gas is formed by the combination of oxygen with the carbon of the blood in the capillary vessels. Physiological Results.-The blood yields all the materials of nutrition, and the part of the blood which yields them is the liquor sanguinis. Of these materials the fibrine occupies the most important place; the blood is no longer coagulable in abstinence. The muscular fibre is almost entirely composed of fibrine. Defibrination brings death with it. Albumen and the fats chiefly enter into the combination of the nervous system: albumen is probably transformed into fibrine. The liquid fats are deposited in the adipose system. Bichat considered venous blood unfit for the secretions. It must be observed, however, that several secretions, as those of the lungs, liver, (and in some vertebrate animals with cold blood,) those of the kidneys, all come from venous blood. Fat is deposited in greater quantity in men whose blood is less oxidized, whilst nutrition and secretion do not appear at all disturbed. Animal heat appears to be intimately connected with the oxidation of the blood. All the vitality of the nervous and muscular systems seems to depend on the contact of the blood. This is proved by the effects of tying the blood-vessels, and also of diminishing the total mass of blood. When the blood is arrested in any part, this part loses its sensibility: the muscles are no longer subject to the will; they lose their characteristic property of irritability. When the brain is deprived of blood, death follows immediately. Venous and lymphatic absorption cease the moment the arteries are tied. All nutrition, all secretion becomes abolished. Gangrene occurs in parts wholly deprived of blood. Poisons no longer exercise their deleterious effects. The temperature of the part falls. Dropsical effusion takes place. With respect to the effects of excessive abstractions of blood, they are syncope, convulsions, delirium, coma, general debility, dropsy. Repeated blood-lettings produce in the composition of the blood changes which are important in a therapeutic point of view. These changes probably produce others in the density of the blood-vessels, so that the normal state of endosmosis and exosmosis becomes changed. The blood we know furnishes also the materials of secretion. Another question is, whether the liquids secreted exist ready prepared in the blood, or whether the latter undergoes changes in the glands? MM. Dumas, Prevost, Chevreul, &c., are of the former opinion. It is known that the blood contains colouring matters, fats, urea, cholesterine, &c. Urea has been found in the blood of animals, from which the kidneys have been removed, and also in that of the human subject after a retention of urine, for instance in cholera. Without then expressing a judgment against the changes which these chemical elements may still undergo, and probably do undergo, in these glands, and against the particular attraction which presides in each gland over the choice of the liquid secreted, it may be affirmed that the matters secreted exist ready prepared in the blood. Setting out from this principle, and proving that the lungs should be set down as glands, and resting our argument on the presence of gas in the blood, the author endeavours to prove (Arch. Gen. de Medecine, Feb. 1842) that the respiration should be considered as a secretion of the gas dissolved in the blood. Some new researches of Liebig, however, in opposition to those of Magnus, tend to prove that the oxygen is not dissolved in the blood, and that the carbonic acid gas obtained by Magnus is but the product of the change of the bicarbonate of soda into carbonate by hydrogen. The secretion of the carbonic acid gas would then occur only at the very moment of the passage of the blood through the lungs. The expired air contains less oxygen than the inspired air, but more carbonic acid gas. Still the increase of the latter is not in proportion to the quantity of oxygen lost, since more oxygen is absorbed in respiration than is necessary for the formation of the carbonic acid gas expired. With respect to the pathological results obtained from the chemical and other examinations of the blood, the author admits that very little has been as yet accomplished. The buffy coat in particular presents itself under such various and even opposite states of the system, that little useful inforination in the treatment of disease can be obtained from its inspection. The phenomena of congestion and inflammation find an explanation in what we know concerning the blood. In these morbid states, says the author, we first see a diminution in the diameter of the capillary vessels, or acceleration of the current. The capillaries then dilate; the blood circulates more slowly, but in a uniform manner. At a later period, the circulation becomes irregular, the blood advances and recedes, it oscillates, and at length is completely arrested. The vessels give way and extravasations of blood take place. At the same time that the blood is arrested, there is transudation, first, of bloody serum, then of the liquor sanguinis, into the surrounding tissue-these phenomena, with some others, form the chief signs of inflammation: redness, pain, swelling. From the moment the blood is arrested commences the second stage of inflammation, called stasis. It is at this stage that the extravasation of entire blood is observed, that is, we see the blood-globules in the sputa of pneumonia, in the urine, &c. Now these globules not being capable of passing through the parietes of the capillaries, the latter are supposed to be torn. This stage is soon followed by the third, exudation. If it is only bloody serum that transudes, there follows an accumulation of albuminous liquid, containing however less albumen than serum. If, on the contrary, the liquor sanguinis passes through the capillaries, the transuded liquids will contain fibrine. This generally coagulates and thus forms what is called hepatisation, false membranes, &c. Inflammation may terminate by resolution, gangrene and suppuration. The extensive notice which we have given of this work, whilst it sufficiently indicates the high opinion which we entertain of it, prevents us from continuing our analysis any further. Its happy combination of theory and practice places it far above any work on the same subject with which we are acquainted. All the best modern works we find have been consulted and turned to the best account in its construction. We recommend it therefore to the perusal of those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the important improvements recently made in General Anatomy, more especially in its application to Pathology. Periscope; OR, CIRCUMSPECTIVE REVIEW. "Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo." Notices of some New Works. MESMERISM AND ITS OPPONENTS. By George Sandby, jun. M.A. Vicar of Flixton, Suffolk. Longman and Co. 1844. WE cannot but think that the practice of MESMERISM is a very questionable vicarious employment, for that of teaching the doctrines of Christianity to the good folks of FLIXTON, in Suffolk. We should think that Mr. Sandby would do much more good by praying with the sick of his vicarage than by pawing them over on the bed of suffering or death, and distracting their minds from the awful preparation for another world. Is there no bishop to watch the conduct of the Suffolk clergy? Mr. Sandby looks forward, of course, to be victimised, like Galileo, by the Pope; but in this he will be disappointed. He will, we imagine, receive a quiet hint from his superior in the church, at home, to lay aside the mummeries of Mesmerism, and attend to the spiritual wants of his flock. We shall not take the trouble of wading through the trash of which this volume is composed-hashed and raked up from old tales and cases that have been over and over again proved to be falsehoods and deceptions. Thus, the Deptford imposition is recorded once more, as though it were true as Holy Writ, while every one knows that it was a piece of as glaring mendacity as even the annals of Mesmerism can produce! The Vicar of Flixton tells us that belief in the truth of Mesmerism has now spread the whole length and breadth of Great Britain-excepting among the great bulk of the medical profession! And why has it not taken root there? The reader will be a little surprised at the following reason for medical scepticism. "But if Mr. Wakley did not succeed in disproving the honesty of two excellent sisters, there was one thing in which he was eminently fortunate. The thunders of the Lancet' had their intended effect on his medical brethren. Though anything but a favourite with them before, he henceforward became their pet authority. And strange to say he also became their terror. Fearful of being hitched into a line of the next week's Lancet,' as believers in the socalled absurdity, some gentlemen straightway swallowed their rising convictions with wry faces and reluctant hearts;-while the remainder, almost to a man, refused for the future to be present at any Mesmeric demonstration whatsoever. Like Mr. M'Neile at Liverpool, they carefully retreated from the evidence of their own senses, but from a different reason altogether. My clerical brother judged that there was something supernatural in these cases; he regretted that he had not faith to play the part of exorciser and bid the devil depart, and from want of this faith would see nothing of it.' But the fears of the liberal profession were of a different order. It was not of an evil spirit that they stood in awe; it was of Mr. Wakley,-of the evil genius of the Lancet.'" So the medical profession," almost to a man," refuses to believe in Mesmerism, because Mr. Wakley detected the impostures of the Misses Okey! On former occasions, we stated that, if Mesmerism were a reality, there would be infinite danger from it—that no man's life or woman's virtue would be safe. But we said at the time, that there was no such danger, because Mesmerism was a gross humbug. The Vicar, however, believing in the truth of Mesmerism, is forced to admit that "there are certain dangers touching la morale." And how does he get over these? "If it is meant that under the pretext of Mesmerising, in a case where Mesmerism is not required, parties can avail themselves of the occasion to commit an offence contres les bonnes mœurs, I am not careful to enter upon the objection. Men sometimes go to church from the most improper motives; men sometimes read the Scriptures with no other view than that of finding food for ribaldry and unbelief; still, as has been often said, who would shut up our churches or burn our Bibles on that account? Again, we say the abuse of a thing proves nothing against its value. If parties, in sport or in thoughtlessness, throw themselves into the power of an unprincipled acquaintance, with them lies the fault, and they must take the consequences. Still I have my doubts whether Mesmerism does afford the easy opening for misconduct, with which it has been taxed. The deep sleep or torpor which would place the sleeper so completely at the mercy of the Mesmeriser, as to give an opportunity for evil, does not occur every day; and more generally, if not always, the Mesmeric state produces, on the part of the patients, such a high tone of spirituality and sense of right, as to make them less than ever disposed to an acquiescence in what is wrong.' So, then, the soporific effects of a dull sermon, and a stupid preacher, are to be put into comparison with that Mesmeric condition in which a man or a woman may have their legs cut off without the slightest consciousness of the operation!! Oh, admirable reasoning! The Vicar's chapter on the contrast or comparison of the Miracles of Christ with those of Mesmerism, had better been omitted. We maintain that they are not precisely identical, and, therefore, they must be totally different. Mesmerism, he avers, does not pretend to turn water into wine, or to walk on the sea. No. But if it enable a girl to see through her navel as far as China or Peru, we maintain that this is, if possible, the greater miracle of the two! We are not, indeed, among the bigots who would throw the Vicar of Flixton into a dungeon, for instituting such odious comparisons on such sacred subjects; but we certainly would recommend his bishop to give the vicar a hint to mind his own business-" ne sutor ultra crepidam." We shall dismiss the subject with the following short extract. "Another objection is, that the sleeper is placed in an undesirable state of feeling in regard to the Mesmeriser; that there is an attraction towards him,— something amounting to affection, or even love; and that this state of mind or feeling reduces the patient to an improper dependence on the will of another. That, in the Mesmeric state, the sympathy between the Mesmeriser and the sleeper is powerful and extraordinary, we all know; it is one of the most curious phenomena. The sensibility that is then produced, is singular in the extreme. But the feeling is rather that which exists between two sisters than any thing else; it is a feeling which has regard to the happiness, and the state of moral being of the Mesmeriser; which is alive to injuries or pain inflicted on him,— which desires his well-being here and hereafter." The VICAR tells us that the whole of the medical profession is deterred from embracing MESMERISM by the rod of Mr. Wakley! We wish there was a coroner on the bench of bishops to exercise a similar and salutary restraint on the clergy of this country. Medicines, thEIR USES AND MODE OF ADMINISTRATION; INCLUDING |