second comprehends the history of the diseases of the stomach; and the third is devoted to their treatment.

The anatomical observations are chiefly confined to the nature of the coats of the stomach and intestines. The author thinks that, properly speaking, there is but one, that which has been called the villous membrane. This, however, is merely a verbal distinction. He denies the existence of any lining similar to cuticle; and imputes, very justly, the corrugations that are commonly found in the internal surface of the stomach and intestines to the villous membrane being void of elasticity. We find little originality in these observations, if we except the detection of an error of Dr. Fordyce, who has stated, in his Treatise on Digestion, that the back of the duodenum being without the peritoneal coat, an opportunity is given for greater distention, than can take place in the lower intestines; whereas the firm attachment of theduodenum to the subjacent vertebræ has the opposite effect, and obviates the inconvenience which would ensue from the distortion of the ductus communis choledocus, were such distention to take place.

Under the article of physiology we are presented with a few experiments on the coagulation of milk, which Dr. S. thinks throws some light on the digestive process. The results of the experiments are the same as those of Scheele, who has proved that the mineral acids precipitate the curd of milk; that the precipitate (which is in truth a compound of acid and curd) is re-dissolved by the addition of more acid; and that the vegetable acids dissolve the curd less completely than the mineral. Dr. Stone seems inclined to infer from these facts, and the existence of natron in the bile, that the liberated muriatic acid is in fact the gastric fluid itself. Should this ever be proved, we must confess that he sees much deeper than our optics will permit us.

We come therefore to the medical part of the work, from the perusal of which we wish we could say that we had risen much wiser than we sat down. Contrary to the custom of all preceding practical writers, he has separated the history of diseases from the methodus medendi. For example, at page 96 we have a short chapter on the causes and symptoms of pyrosis: at page 250 there is another still shorter on the treatment, to inform us that it may be cured by bark, opium, and aromatics. What advantage is gained by this awkward division, we wish the Doctor had explained. We can see none, except the opportunity of eking out the contents of the volume. By the bye, we think the Doctor CRIT. REV. Vol. 9. September, 1900.

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very fortunate in being able so readily to cure this com plaint. Poor Dr. Cullen (who in Scotland, we presume, had seen a little of the water-brash) complains, that to prevent the recurrence of the paroxysms of pyrosis, the whole of the remedies of dyspepsia had been employed without

success.'

Acidity of the stomach is first considered, and we find it connected with a long list of symptoms, which may or may not accompany it; most of them being the common appearances of an overloaded stomach; and others (as the increased purge, increased heat, rigours, and stupor) such as can never be referred to acidity as a cause. Under the article of treatment we meet with nothing with which every medical man is not familiar.

A little criticism on Dr. Pemberton's speculation respecting emaciation (which we have sufficiently noticed in our Review for last month) has happily furnished materials for the chapter on marasmus. The following observation, however, we are persuaded cannot be too strongly impressed on the minds of opulent parents: The most common kind of marasmus depends upon too much eating; it shews itself frequently in young people,who have never been restrained as to the quantity or quality of the ingesta, and it is often fatal! To the truth of this assertion we heartily subscribe. Under the article of treatment we find a receipt, with which we will present our readers, premising that the Doctor assures us that it has been found to rally the powers of digestion in old age, and in that fastidious state which frequently occurs after long fits of the gout. It is by no means the least valuable thing in the book.

About two pounds of lean beef cut in slices, with the hock of a ham of about the same weight, and a knuckle of veal weighing about eight or ten pounds, and a moderate quantity of mace and salt without any other spice, are to be covered with water in a stock-pot, and to be stewed about seven hours and then strained; the strained liquor when cold becomes a thick jelly, from which the fat is to be taken off; the jelly is then to be cleared with whites of eggs, and passed through a jelly-bag: the produce of jelly, from the above proportions of meat, should be about six quarts: a table-spoonful of which, made fluid over the fire, may be taken once an hour, or every two or three hours, as may be found best to suit the individual stomach for which it is prepared.'

Under the title of Repletion of the Stomach, we have a short account of the dyspeptic symptoms of mechanics, whose occupations oblige them to bend forward, and to subject

their stomachs to an unnatural compressure. The symptoms of what may be called spinous apoplexy, arising from an overloaded stomach, are then noticed, a form of disease which we suspect never occurs, except in subjects strongly predisposed to pure apoplectic attacks.

A chapter is given to the consideration of poisons, and the symptoms becasioned by these, be they mineral, vegetable, or animal, are treated of at what length, think you, gentle reader?-in eighteen scauty pages, seven of which are occupied by one very unsatisfactory case, and an analysis of some antimonial pills by Mr. Weldon, executed, we must allow, with great skill and neatness. Dr. Stone thinks that hyoscyamus is in many instances a most valuable drug.

Often, where opium disagrees, it may be given in moderate and repeated doses with the greatest success; and in some instances of continued delirium, under which the patient was sinking, and where opium in any dose has done mischief. I have seen a very small dose of hys yamus save the life of a patient, by restoring tranquillity; it requires, however, the strictest care and attention to its dose and repetition.'

Dr. S. uses it in quantities of only half a grain, a dose which we should think would commonly be quite inert. We are told that very deleterious and sometimes fatal effects have often ensued from the use of digitalis; but at the same time we find it was used in considerable doses. This method of using it is entirely contrary to the directions given by Dr. Withering, who advised the smallest quantities that produce a sensible operation.

'Few of those,' it is observed, who have taken digitalis freely, have survived a twelvemonth :-it appears to leave the stomach in an altered state, that, after an uncertain period, languor and inappetency ensue; but the facts respecting the alteration in the state of the sto mach are not sufficiently traced to be stated here: the only reasonable exhibition of digitalis appears to be in cases of permanent increased hardness, as well as frequency of the pulse.'

We should have been better pleased with any detailed facts, however imperfect, than we are with these unqualified assertions unsupported by any proofs at all. We well remember that Dr. Withering informs us that the exhibition of digitalis had been the most successful in cases of great apparent debility. Dr. Stone's directions with regard to the use of this medicine are sound and judicious; but the contents of the whole chapter are very trite and trifling. In the description of the diseases induced by residence in

hot climates, we find no more than that they consist of irre gularities of the bilious secretion, and the common symptoms of dyspepsia. Those who have suffered the endemial inflammation, are frequently found to have them enlarged on their return to Europe: but this enlargement seldom terminates in genuine scirrhus of the liver; and the gland, by time and management, may be restored to a healthy state. The treatment recommended seems judicious. The use of Bath water, spices, and stimulants, is reprobated. Cheltenham water is preferred, and weak solutions of salts united with small doses of chalybeates. Castor oil the author has observed to be often very acrimonious and irritating, and he prefers, where oily purgatives are required, the addition of a proportion of senna or other mild purgative to the of. amygdala or common oil. Mercury, used with caution, is often indispensible. He recommends small doses, continued for a considerable time. Light bitters and alkalies he has also found useful. These chapters are, we think, the best in the book, but they are not untainted by some idle and visionary speculation.

On the diseases arising from hard drinking we find nothing worthy of notice. The same may be said of pyrosis. The appearance of black matter thrown up from the stomach (which Dr. S. considers as a peculiar disease under the name of melana,) he attributes to hemorrhage from the stomach. Doubtless it is often so; but we are more inclined to subscribe to the opinion of Valsalva and Morgagni, who attributed this symptom in some cases to a vitiated state of the fluids secreted into the stomach. The constant blackness of the fæces in many persons, where there is no suspicion of hemorrhage, confirms us in this opinion. The treatment recommended consists in the use of purgatives, acids, cold fluids, and occasional venesection. He reprobates calomel, we think, without any sufficient reason.

In the account of hypochondriasis and sick head-ach, we find nothing very peculiar either in theory or practice.

Dr. Stone is wonderfully smitten with the description given by Arclæus of the diseases attached to literary pursuits. When this antient gravely informs us of the hardships submitted to by the professors of science; that they used the lightest and vilest food; quenching their thirst by simple water; neglecting their sleep; making the earth their bed; forgetting the common use of their limbs; and renouncing their country, their parents, ther brethren, themselves, and life itself;-when we read all this, we cannot but smile at the difference between this picture of ancient manners and

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the plain realities of modern life; and suspect vehemently that most of these pretended devotees of learning were in truth arrant quacks and impostors.

For the remaining contents of this volume, we must refer to the work itself those who wish to be better acquainted with it. When a writer undertakes to treat of subjects which in some shape or other have occupied the pen of a thousand authors before him, we naturally expect some effort at superiority of arrangement, or nicety of discrimination; some correction of false theories, or some improvement in practice. The reader who looks for any such attempts in Dr. Stone's work will be totally disappointed. The pathology is trite, and the reasoning coarse; there are some good remarks to be picked out of it; but upon the whole, though there is little to condemn in the methods of cure, they are such as are sufficiently known to the most ordinary medical practitioner.

ART. IV.-A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793: containing a general View of the valuable Productions and the Political Importance of this flourishing Kingdom; and also of such European Settlements as were visited on the Voyage: with Sketches of the Manners, Character, and Condition of their several Inhabitants. To which is annexed, an Account of a Journey made in the Years 1801 and 1802, to the Residence of the Chief of the Booshuana Nation, being the remotest Point in the Interior of Southern Africa to which Europeans have hitherto penetrated. The Facts and Descriptions taken from a Manuscript Journal. With a Chart of the Route. By John Barrow, Esq. F. R. S. Author of Travels in Southern Africa," and "Travels in China. Cadell and Davies. 1806.

IN these days, a book has no more connection with its title-page than a lady of fashion with her lord. A title is the object of both, and that obtained, every thing is obtained. Agreeably to this mode of publication, Mr. Barrow justly conceived that Travels in Cochinchina,' a country scarcely know to Europeans but by name, ushered into the world under the imposing form of a splendid quarto, and em. bellished with coloured plates, could not fail to attract the attention of an inquisitive public. We wish, for Mr. Barrow's sake, that their curiosity may not be turned into indignation, when they hear the unexpected fact, that of the 437 pages