England in Southern Asia and the designs of Russia in that direction, together with the state and prospects of Christianity in that region, suggests topics of inquiry of the largest magnitude. And the manner in which these various subjects are here discussed is so clear, so candid, and so full, that it cannot fail to interest every reader. We hope this truly American work will have an extensive circulation, and find its way into many private, as well as all public libraries.

ART. VII.-Manual of Human Microscopical Anatomy. By A. KOLLIKER, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Würzburg. Translated by George Bush, F. R. S., and THOMAS HUXLEY, F. R. S. Edited, with Notes and Addi

tions, by J. DA COSTA, M. D.

THE work whose name we have given above is one which marks an important era in medical literature. The value of the microscope in its application to general science is becoming more and more justly estimated by those whose attention has been drawn towards the discoveries which have been made, or are promised, by means of it. Its interest to the medical practitioner, and its weight as an umpire in cases of doubtful diagnosis, have undoubtedly been overrated by its too ardent admirers. Yet few or none acquainted with the subject will deny that it is often in such cases an auxiliary, the attainment of which may be justly considered as one among the many grand steps which have been made during the present century in the advancement of practical medicine.

The translation of this work, in very nearly its present form, constitutes one of that admirable series of publications, which in such beautiful shape are semiannually laid before the English public by the "Sydenham Society." In adapting it to the American reader, but slight alterations have been made, and those chiefly in the addition of notes which the editor intended to append if he had pursued his original purpose of making a primary translation.

The author in his Preface very briefly states the object of his undertaking, and describes those whom it is his intention to benefit by his labors. He says: "It seems, therefore, to be the task of the cultivators of this branch of science, to communicate their researches not only to their fellow-inquirers, and to those who have in other ways gone more deeply into medical science, but to all who are devoted to the study of man in general, and especially to render them easily available to students and practitioners." This, then, is his purpose,—to aid in the study of man's physical nature, of the structure in its full development, and of the infinitesimal particles which go to make up the great whole,-to trace the aggregation and arrangement of these particles from their earliest formation, until they result in a wonderful casket, which has become fitted to receive that glorious emanation from the Divinity, the human soul.

In the posthumous writings of the late Henry Ware, Jr., there is an article entitled "The Poetry of Mathematics." His arguments are conclusive. The grandeur, the sublimity, of the conceptions which this study has opened to our contemplation, and the sensations of awe and admiration with which we follow Newton or Laplace through deep and bewildering calculations to their glorious results, involve feelings in the highest degree poetical. With yet greater justice, however, may this term be applied to a study which comes much nearer to us, so close as to implicate the structure of the heart and brain, — all the varied phenomena connected with that hidden and mysterious principle which we call life. We may be permitted to adopt the definition given us by the writer to whom we have just referred, who himself possessed the inspiration of the poetic temperament in no limited degree. We freely acknowledge, with him, that "that object which in itself or in its essential relations excites the emotions which pertain to the sublime or the beautiful,-causes a glow both of the imagination and the feelings,—may lawfully be regarded as possessed of a poetical characteristic. Whatever it may be,- whether a scene in nature, or a trait of humanity, or an abstract truth, if its presentation to the mind excites the imagination and the feelings with that glow of pleas

ure or interest which springs from the beautiful and sublime in any of their forms, it is so far poetical."

The idea of examining and pointing out the true relation which exists between poetry and the sterner sciences, is but beginning to find its way to the light, and to receive a share of the consideration it deserves. It is one which must have been consciously or unconsciously entertained by many an enthusiastic and devoted laborer in the numerous and extensive fields of scientific research, but has never until recently found utterance. Those higher, more refined, and more beautiful conceptions of the human mind as it enters the realm of imagination, and as it approaches the glowing and almost inspired efforts of the poet, have been too generally placed in direct antagonism to the results which are attained by the plodder in the apparently dull, wearisome, and unattractive domain of philosophical investigation.

The study of anatomy is one which we have long deemed to possess as truly the elements of poetry, as any of those objects upon which its glowing imagery has been commonly expended. There is no subject in the whole range of the Creator's works, the contemplation of which is more admirably adapted to ennoble and expand the soul, or to fill it with emotions of wonder, admiration, and delight. Although its wealth of marvel and beauty is not spread out before the eye, is it the less glorious, the less real, the less poetical, because study, labor, and research from the very commencement are necessary to its just appreciation?

Look at the stethoscope, that little instrument, so simple in its construction, yet capable of revealing tidings of such immense importance. With the telescope we soar through the vast expanse, and read the skies, as a scroll in which each letter is a sparkling gem. But with this we explore the depth of the human breast, where every breath whispers to our ear its cabalistic symbol, and to him who is a true and gifted interpreter of its mystic warnings speaks a fearful omen of the dark future, or tells a tale that causes many a friendly tear to flow from excess of gratitude and joy. The throbbing heart, as it pulsates beneath the open disc of the stethoscope, yields in its every murmur a sound betokening good or ill.

And now, behold, suddenly a new planet appears upon the medical horizon, a new power rushes with startling abrupt ness within the reach of the physician's grasp,- leaps from the arcana of science, from the secret recesses of the labora tory, to become the soother of man's sorrows, the assuager of his pains, Heaven's last, best gift. No longer need the feeble frame of the sufferer writhe in mortal anguish beneath the stroke of the surgeon's knife, — no longer need appalling fear of agony worse than death to be endured, aid with its terrific shapes the inroads of disease. The dread season may be passed amid sweet thoughts of happiness, and its approach be awaited with calmness and tranquillity. What a field for poetic inspiration! Observe him, whom a few short moments ago death seemed already to have embraced, now entranced with dreams of unspeakable happiness, and wandering amid bright fancies of heavenly bliss. Hear him relate his story of seraphim and cherubim, of angel faces, of his joyous meeting with dear friends long since numbered with the dead, and then say if medicine has not its poetry, and surgery its ro

mance.

Let us extend our observation somewhat further, and look at one branch of our subject somewhat in detail. What a glorious object of contemplation is the phenomenon of the fluid circulation, which is constantly going on within the animal frame! Whether we view it in the less intricate and more easily studied forms of grosser anatomy, or whether we strive after a greater degree of transcendental minuteness, each aspect presents a sublimity, a beauty, and a fascination, of which those who have not experienced it can form no conception.

The comparison of the structure of animals, commencing at the very lowest in the scale of the creation, and tracing its variations through the intermediate stages, until we arrive at its highest development as shown to us in man, has been termed Comparative Anatomy. These investigations have shed a light upon our researches in other directions which cannot be too highly estimated, and have given us the solution of many problems which without them would have remained for ever wrapped in darkness. We beg leave, in the first

place, to take a rapid glance at some of the less complicated forms of apparatus, which have been contrived for the performance of so indispensable a function as the circulation of fluids through organized bodies. The simplest plan with which we are acquainted occurs in the Polypi (that curious group of half-animal, half-vegetable existences, which is regarded with so much interest by the zoölogist), in the Medusæ or Sea-Nettles, and in Worms. In the common polyp the stomach or general cavity is prolonged into the arms, and the nourishing element permeates the canals thus formed. It is carried towards the periphery, or outwardly, not by a pulsating heart, nor by vessels whose walls contract upon their contents, but by small vibrating hairs or fins called cilia. These little members perform the whole circulation in the classes of animals which we have mentioned, and they also conduce to important ends in the economy of all animals, not excluding man. The motions of these cilia are remarkable, and well deserving of our attention. By the aid of the microscope we observe, on certain membranes of the body, numerous transparent filaments, leaflets, or little hairs.* They are placed side by side in rows, and bear a certain resemblance to eyelashes, from which circumstance they have derived their name. man and the Mammalia they have been discovered on the mucous membrane of the tear-duct, of the nasal passages, the inside of the eyelid, the back part of the mouth, and also on the surface of all the cavities of the brain. They have a continued wave-like, vibratory motion, which acts in such a way as gently to propel the atoms that come within their reach onward in a given direction.

In

In the Stella marina, or Starfish, where the stomach, as in the polyp, extends into the rays, these cilia are so disposed on one side of the vessel as to waft the fluid in an outward direction, and again, on the opposite side they are arranged in such a manner as to act toward the centre, thus sustaining to and from the extremities an active circulation, by which the animal is nourished. In some instances this motion is hooklike, that is to say, the point of each of the cilia bends upon

These are the cilia. Their size is infinitely minute, being often not more than one thousandth of a line in diameter.