sumption in these cities [Boston, New York, and Philadelphia]. This decrease has been great in all, but greater in Boston than in either of the others; and this is not only a relative but an absolute decrease, for the mortality has been somewhat more during the last ten years (from 1830 to 1840) than it was thirty years ago." From 1840 to 1850, consumption has, apparently, somewhat increased in Boston; though it may be that the diseases peculiar to Southern climates have terminated the lives of many consumptive patients in other cities, giving them an apparent relative advantage which does not belong to them. The great improvements which have taken place of late years in the construction of houses, in habits of cleanliness, in temperance both in eating and drinking, and in dress, will probably occasion a gradual decrease of this disease. Our variable climate acts not only as a predisposing, but as an exciting cause of consumption. Hence, the best means for its prevention are suitable food and proper clothing, with those habits of exercise in the open air which strengthen the system against atmospheric changes. The researches of the last few years seem to indicate that physicians are in a fair way of controlling even this opprobrium medicinæ.

Until within three years, Massachusetts was the only State in the Union that had legalized the study of anatomy. More than twenty years ago, she enacted a law by which the municipal authorities were directed to furnish subjects for dissection, under proper restrictions, to regularly educated physicians; and its provisions were so judicious, that no opposition has ever been made to its execution. This measure, so creditable to the intelligence of the State, and so important to the science of medicine, was the result principally of the enlightened course of the State Medical Society. Public sentiment was at first strongly opposed to any such law, and it was necessary to educate the people to look with calmness, and afterwards with approval, on what ignorant communities regard with superstitious fears. Among the articles for public reading was one which appeared in this Review for January, 1831, and which forms the seventeenth chapter of Dr. Hayward's book. Republished in various forms, it reached most

of the families of the Commonwealth, and was greatly instrumental in effecting the remarkable change in public opinion on this subject. It is hardly to the credit of any State, claiming to be enlightened, to endeavor to prevent dissection, under severe penalties, and at the same time to permit heavy damages to be obtained in courts of law from physicians who have been led into error by ignorance which dissection of the human body could alone dispel. A knowledge of anatomy is absolutely essential to the rational practice of medicine and surgery; it is necessary for the well-being and the safety of every sick person. The physician has not the particular and sole interest in this question, as many people think. It is for the benefit of suffering humanity, that dissections are, and must be, practised. Without them, the great improvements of modern surgery could not have been made; without them, we can expect no progress in the future.

The disease known as cholera had occasionally appeared, for many years, in various parts of India; but it did not, till 1817, assume the epidemic and fatal character which it has since exhibited. In that year it broke out simultaneously in different parts of Bengal, from which it spread to various countries of Asia and Eastern Europe. Independent of summer's heat and winter's cold, it raged with equal violence in Calcutta and St. Petersburg. Checked for a season, it appeared in Central Europe in 1831, spreading death in its course. The panic was very great, notwithstanding the general disbelief of medical men in its contagious character; and it was increased, by an article in the London Quarterly Review for December, 1831, maintaining very ably its contagiousness. Considering the fatality of this scourge of the human race, its total disregard of climate, the uncertainty of its mode of propagation, and the probability that it would soon cross the Atlantic, it was natural that it should be viewed with great alarm by this community. To allay this general panic, Dr. Hayward published an article in the North American Review for July, 1832, which did good service in diminishing the morbid alarm that enhances so greatly the evils of epidemics. This article forms the eighteenth chapter of the present work. Dr. Hayward illustrated the non-conta

giousness of cholera by showing that the disease does not always follow the great thoroughfares of countries, and that, when it does follow them, it is not in correspondence with the rapidity of intercourse between nations; that it is not stayed by quarantines and cordons; that it spares localities where no such restrictions exist, though the thoroughfares be crowded; that it appears simultaneously in districts distant from each other, without affecting the intervening and equally exposed country; and that it sometimes arises suddenly, without apparent cause, in the midst of a large population, carries off only a few persons, and as suddenly disappears. In fact, the demonstration of its non-contagiousness seemed complete, and the phenomena of its course in this country fully confirmed the correctness of Dr. Hayward's views. Almost all medical men are now satisfied that cholera is not contagious. The first case in Boston occurred about the middle of August, 1832, shortly after the publication of Dr. Hayward's article. Leaving out of view the vexations and expenses of quarantines and commercial restrictions, and all pecuniary considerations, the immoral effects of a belief in its contagiousness would have been appalling; the sick would have been abandoned in their hour of distress; the instinct of self-preservation would have driven the living from the bed-side of the dying; and all the horrors of the London plague would have been re-enacted in our midst. The chapter closes with a noble appeal to the profession, that "they should devote themselves, without fear, to aid and comfort them [the dying] in the hour of peril; confident that, if their turn come next, it can never come at a better period than when they are engaged with zeal and fidelity in the discharge of their duty."

In the chapter on "Some of the Diseases of a Literary Life," Dr. Hayward gives very useful hints on physical education, as a preventive of those affections most likely to be induced by undue exertion of the intellectual faculties. He sketches briefly and plainly the principal "systems" of the body, the nervous, the digestive, the respiratory, the circulating, and the secreting. He is no believer in Phrenology, saying "that the doctrine is not only fraught with dangerous consequences, but that it is at variance with facts familiar to

almost every physician." In addition, it may be said that this system is as yet very imperfect; for it takes no cognizance of the convolutions of the hemispheres separated by the falx cerebri, nor of the great ganglia at the base of the brain, which are the seats of emotional action. Comparative anatomy and pathology are also greatly at variance with every published system of Phrenology.

A derangement of the digestive functions is one of the most frequent and troublesome diseases of literary men. Dyspepsia, in its various forms, is a legitimate consequence of want of exercise, of confinement in hot or ill-ventilated apartments, of food of improper quality or in too great quantity, and of smoking and chewing tobacco; torpidity of the liver and consequent constipation, diseases of the lungs and heart, follow; while apoplexy and paralysis are the final results of an overworked brain and an underworked body. The prevention of these Dr. Hayward sums up in two words, temperance and exercise. By temperance he means, not simply "abstinence from distilled spirit," but "moderation as to the time allotted to sleep and study; moderation in exercise, regimen, and diet, particularly in the quantity of food." Exercise should be taken daily, in the open air, without regard to weather. By following these simple rules, every student has a fair chance of living his "threescore years and ten," "and, what is of infinitely more consequence, he will have every reason to believe that the light of intellect will remain unclouded to the last."

The volume closes with two lectures delivered at the Medical College, one on the "Professional Trials of the Young Physician," and the other on the "Duties of the Medical Profession." These lectures are full of excellent advice, and elevated views of the duties and responsibilities of the honorable physician. In the first, the author enjoins on his pupils to improve all their opportunities, and to commence the practice of medicine with a resolve to add something to the stock of knowledge, to lessen human suffering, and to acquire the respect of their brethren; as by so doing they "may be assured of a prosperous career, a useful life, and an enduring fame." The second lecture he concludes by saying, that, if 16 NO. 172.

VOL. LXXXIII.

the physician cannot increase the stores of medical wisdom, if he cannot add lustre to the name of the profession, he can at least avoid doing anything to tarnish it.

We have thus endeavored to give our readers an idea of the varied contents of this valuable work, - valuable alike to the non-professional reader, to the medical student, and to the veteran practitioner. The author dedicates his book to his former pupils, who cannot but receive with pleasure and profit this rich legacy of their faithful teacher and warm-hearted friend.

ART. X. The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. By JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. In three volumes. New York: Harper and Brothers.

1856.

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the attention of the civilized world was engrossed by the impressive spectacle of the abdication of the Emperor Charles V. Seldom, since the days of Diocletian, had a prince descended from the throne to a private station, of his own free-will; and the interest of an event, so remarkable in itself and so unstaled by custom, was heightened by the striking circumstances of the case. The head of the Germanic Empire, king of Spain, the Indies, and the Romans, lord of Sicily, Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands, and titular king of Jerusalem, resigned, so far as was in his power, his balls and sceptres, to the hands of his son, Philip II., surnamed the Prudent. Forty years of incessant labor and over-eating had done their work, and disappointment and anxiety now came to insure the victory which fatigue and dyspepsia had almost gained over his iron frame. The shrewd politician had seen himself outwitted by one of that German race which he described as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue," and the first captain of the age, who, in the words of Alva, nació soldado en naciendo en el mundo, had fled from Innspruck into Flanders, in the disguise of an old woman, before the rapid charge of his former pupil,