171 OBITUARY. ON January 10, 1837, died John Robinson, M.D., at his house in Hall Gate, Doncaster, aged 59. He was born at Cawood Hall, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, acquired his medical education with the celebrated Dr. Harrison, and obtained his degree at Edinburgh. Subsequently he settled for a short time in Derby, but afterwards removed to Doncaster, where he practised about thirty years, with great credit and extensive usefulness. He acted for many years as physician to the Dispensary, and the poor will long remember his honest, upright manner, and genuine benevolence, with feelings of gratitude. He also gave his gratuitous services to the Yorkshire Deaf and Dumb Institution from its commencement till about a year before his death, when Dr. Scholfield was requested to accept the office. Such was his urbanity that he was respected by all parties and all classes; and by the unprejudiced practitioners of his time his name is associated with the pleasing recollection of his having been the first physician who devoted his talents to the relief of diseases of the spine on Dr. Harrison's principles of spinal Pa. thology. When Dr. Robinson was pupil to Dr. Harrison, at Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, and when Dr. H. began his spinal practice in London with such decided success, he communicated not only the principles, but all the manual and mechanical part of the treatment, to his favourite pupil, our late worthy friend; and nothing could be more pleasing than to witness the warm friendship which subsisted between these two gentlemen-the pupil honouring the master, and the teacher repaying this regard, through a long life, with marked confidence and esteem, until death claimed the younger man as his victim. We have often admired the magnanimity with which Dr. Robinson bore the odium which is attached to any new species of practice; but he knew and felt that it was one eminently calculated to mitigate, and often to cure, the maladies resulting from curvature of the spine. It was conviction that urged him "through evil report and good report," and he lived to see even the most vehement opponent admit the value of the system and the importance of the practice. There was in all Dr. Robinson's actions the impress of good principles, and he conscientiously persevered in that which his intellect decided to be correct; and although he valued the good opinions of his cotemporaries, yet he never compromised his consistency or integrity to obtain it. He might not be always right, but he was never intentionally wrong. He was invariably candid and just, never indulging in spleen at disappointment, nor did he make the errors of others a subject of comment. To his cotemporaries he was just, and particularly appreciated any kindness or attention; but he was likewise much pained when he experienced the contrary, if unmerited; and when he finished his earthly career there was but one sentiment manifested, that of great regret at his somewhat unexpected summons to "that bourn from whence no traveller returns." January 16, 1837, at his father's house, in Glasgow, in his 36th year, Robert Macnish, M.D., author of Philosophy of Sleep, Anatomy of Drunkenness, Catechism of Phrenology, Book of Aphorisms, &c., works well known to the majority of our readers. January the 17th, at his house, in Newhall-street, Birmingham, aged 36, Mr. George Parsons, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and one of The the Surgeons to the Birmingham Infirmary. The great loss which has been sustained by the death of this most estimable and highly-talented gentleman, will be most severely felt by all classes of society. varied acquirements which his mind, ever active in the pursuit of knowledge, had made in the different branches of literature and science, made his society particularly valuable to all those who had the pleasure of enjoying it. The successful manner in which he employed his professional skill to relieve the sufferings of the poor, the generous sympathy he displayed in their distresses, and the untiring exertions he made to relieve their wants, have obtained for him the affectionate attachment of this large and important portion of the community. The extensive attainments of Mr. Parsons in the various branches of science, rendered him a most valuable acquisition to the Philosophical Institution of Birmingham, which he joined in the year 1827, and was appointed Secretary in the year 1829. Mr. Parsons was a frequent contributor to several of the medical periodical publications; and some very interesting papers of his, containing a statistical account of the diseases of this town are published in the Reports of the Midland Medical Asseciation. He held the office of Local Treasurer of the British Association for the Promotion of Science. January 22, 1837, at his residence, Howland-street, London, Dr. Thornton, the celebrated botanist. January 24, aged 67, Joseph Sabine, Esq., F.R.S., L.S., H.S., Z.S., &c., many years Honorary Secretary to the London Horticultural Society, and a well-known amateur of Botany. Mr. S. was brought up to the bar; but shortly after he had begun to practice, he received an appointment under government, at a salary of £600 a year. This office he held till 1835, when he was put upon the retired allowance of £350. per annum. In 1810, Mr. S. joined the Horticultural Society, of which he was made Honorary Secratary on May 1, of the same year, upon the resignation of R. A. Salisbury, Esq. After Mr. S. ceased to be Hon. Secretary, he became an active member of the Zoological Society, and was the means of greatly increasing its collection of ornamental plants, in the Regent's Park. On the 4th of February, John Latham, M.D., F.R.S., L.S., A.S., closed his long and honourable career, at Winchester, in his 97th year. A biographical sketch of this celebrated naturalist will appear in our next number. Science has recently sustained a severe loss in the death of Edward Turner M.D., who departed this life February 12, at his residence at Hampstead, aged 40. He died of inflammation of the lungs, which commenced in an attack of influenza. He had suffered inany years under chronic affection of the intestines, by which his strength was greatly reduced. Dr. T. was born in Jamaica, but was early removed for his education to England, and obtained his degree at Edinburgh. Having determined to make Chemistry his chief study, he then went to Göttingen, where for two years he devoted his whole attention, under Prof. Stromeyer, to that science and Mineralogy. He returned to Edinburgh in 1824, and began to lecture on his favourite science. On the foundation of the London University, he was appointed Prof. of Chemistry at that Institution, to the success of which, as a medical school especially, he has contributed an ample share. His class was large and flourishing; his lectures were remarkable for the simplicity and clearness with which the most apparently complicated principles and facts were ex pounded, and he was considered the model of an effective teacher. As a chemist, Dr. T. was early known as a most acute and original observer, and he was distinguished for the extent and accuracy of his knowledge in all depart ments. At Paris, M. Van Praet, a bibliographer of the first eminence in nearly all branches of learning. At Upsala, in the 87th year of his age, Professor Adam Afzelius, the last surviving pupil of the immortal Linneus. The learned botanist of the Cape of Good Hope, M. Persoon, is no more; he died in Paris, at a very advanced age, having lived there since he enjoyed a pension from his Government, which was granted to him on giving up his Herbarium to the Museum at Leyden. His works on Cryptogamea are excellent, and his Enchiridium Botanicum is one of the most useful works of the kind ever published. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. MR. John Britton, F.S.A., has published a Catalogue Raisonné of his unique Collection of Works on Cathedral and Architectural Antiquities, and other choice Literary and Graphic Works, which are offered at somewhere about half the cost of the publishing prices. The Bridal of Naworth, a Poem, in three cantos, has just been published by Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. Mr. Hoskins, the author of Travels in Ethiopia, has in the press an account of a Visit to the Great Oasis, with an account, Ancient and Modern, of the Oasis of Amun and the Oases of the Libyan Desert, now under the dominion of the Pasha of Egypt. A new edition of Inglis's Spain is in the press, with an introductory chapter, giving some account of the lamented author, and an outline of the proceedings in the Peninsula since his decease. The Rev. T. R. Everest has lately published a second edition of his Popular View of Homœopathy. Modern India; or Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindostan, a work from the pen of Henry H. Spry, Esq., M.D., of the Bengal Medical Staff, which promises to add greatly to the information already extant concerning the British Empire in Hindostan. SELECT LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, FROM JANUARY 1, 1837, TO MARCH 8, 1837. Addison's Indian Reminiscences, 8vo., 14s. Antrobus's Social Bearings and Importance of Education, 8vo., 10s. Boullaye le Gouz' Tour in Ireland, 1644, edited by Croker, post 8vo., 5s. Brenton's (Capt.) Naval History, 2 vol. 8vo., 31s. 6d. Campbell's (Thomas) Letters from the South, 2 vol. 8vo., 31s. 6d. Castle's Linnæan Artificial System of Botany, 4to., 5s. Cooper's (J. F.) Recollections of Europe, 2 vols. post 8vo., 21s. Crossley's (T.) Flowers of Ebor; poems, 12mo., 6s. Edwards (T. C.) on the Bladud Spa Waters, 8vo., 3s. Fairland's Studies of the Human Figure, 2 vols. royal 4to., 24s. Faulkner's Letters on a Tour through France, &c., sm. 8vo., 9s. 6d. Home's (Dr. G. A.) Guide for Invalids to the Continent, 18mo., 3s. 6d. Jardine and Selby's Ornithology, 3 vol. 4to., 101. 10s., 1. p. 151. 15s. Muskau's (Prince) Semilasso in Africa, &c., 3 vol. small 8vo., 31s. 6d. Transactions of the Statistical Society of London, part 1, 4to., 7s. 6d. Weatherhead's (G. H.) Treatise on Diseases of the Lungs, 8vo., 73. 6d. METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. THE influenza, which, since my last report, has so universally prevailed among the high and low, rich and poor, first made its appearance in Malvern about the 15th of January-a week or ten days later than in London-and prevailed extensively among all classes, children excepted. The disease seemed to be similar in every respect to that which appeared in 1803, to which it was allied also by its general diffusion throughout the whole kingdom; in 1831, and again in 1833, the same disorder appeared in a minor degree. This is not the place to enter into any detail as to symptoms, treatment, mortality, &c.; I may, however, remark that it appears extremely difficult to trace its origin to any of those atmospheric phenomena indicated either by the barometer, thermometer, or hygrometer. The vicissitudes of temperature in December and January were considerable, but not peculiar ; whilst the pressure and hygrometric conditions of the air were by no means remarkable in any respect. That extraneous impregnations exist, hitherto undetected by chemical analysis, and to which epidemic diseases such as that which has just visited us owe their origin and progress, there can be no doubt; the atmosphere, even when very dry, is very often extremely misty and hazy, and this mist or haze cannot, under such circumstances, be attributed to vapour-it must be something else; and we have only to collect a sufficient quantity of it, and to examine minutely into its nature, in order to become acquainted with its effects upon the human frame. To do this an immensely larger quantity of air must be searched than any yet sub jected to examination; a bottle full, a room full, or a house full, would contain too small a quantity for such a purpose. I think means might easily be devised for thus searching a much larger quantity of air than any yet attempted, and I hope on some future occasion to shew how this may be done. The disease disappeared rather suddenly on the 14th or 15th of February, having continued just one month. "February 18th, at 6 p. m.-Barom. 28.960; clouds and rain. At 6 p.m. —Very heavy rain indeed; wind veering from S. W. to W. N. W. At 9 p. m. Barom. 29.045; brilliant, clear, moon-light night; fresh breeze from the westward, and an extensive and varied Aurora; a large, reddish-looking arch extending from N. W. to N. E., with streamers up to the zenith; the effect greatly diminished by the bright moon: the Aurora did not continue long. 10 p. m.-Went out about half an hour ago to see the occultation of Mars by the moon, when my attention was arrested by a most brilliant, broad, light-red, or almost carmine-coloured, arch, stretching across the heavens. It was much broader and more deeply coloured at either extremity than in the centre: to the eastward it passed between the tail of the Great Bear and Arcturus. The middle of the arch, which was very faint, passed through the two principal stars in Gemini, and the western extremity crossed the two largest stars in the shoulders of Orion, viz., a and y. In a little while the western extremity of the arch shifted over Aldebaran, and ultimately over Capella, throwing out now and then very vivid streamers. I never saw a luminous arch of such a peculiar colour-so beautiful and, notwithstanding the clear moon-light, so brilliant! Now and then several delicate pencilings of the same hue appeared near the zenith. The eastern end α of this arch passed at length over Arcturus towards the south, while the western end moved towards the north, disappearing between Capella and Cassiopdia. On the 19th, boisterous S. W. gale and heavy rain.”—W. A. Malvern, March 20th, 1837. |