The first step, therefore, towards any improvement of the Indian condition and character, must be made by breaking off all intercourse with this class of people; and the use of spirituous liquors must be entirely interdicted. So sensible, indeed, are many of the chiefs themselves of the mischiefs which attend these potations, that they have already exerted all their influence to this effect; and, when that has failed, they have sometimes staved the casks which contained the liquor. Skilful physicians should also be sent to teach them, if possible, how to extirpate those diseases to which they were strangers before they became acquainted with the Whites. Agriculture and the mechanic arts should be imparted to them in the first instance; and the mind of an Indian, like the mind of a child, must be gradually expanded and prepared for the reception of those sublime mysteries of religion which, if presented to it before such preparation and expansion, will either be rejected altogether or will make a very transient and unprofitable impression. Extensive plans may doubtless be devised and carried into effect, which will ultimately produce the civilization of the Indians; and the object is so important that no rational means should be spared for its accomplishment. Mr. Hunter offers his services in the cause, and no one can be better qualified to promote it. 'So far as is consistent with my pursuits,' says he, and with the state of my affairs, it will at all times afford me the highest gratification to be instrumental to the education, and consequent preservation of this neglected, persecuted, and much injured portion of the human family.' He will soon, we learn, revisit the great mother of waters, the Mississippi, and will carry with him the best wishes of all who have known him for his personal prosperity, as well as for the success of his favorite project. He has not been an idle spectator of men and manners in Europe, or of the arts, sciences, and literature of polished society. ART. IV. Observations on some Points relating to the Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the Nervous System. By Joseph Swan, Surgeon to the Lincoln County Hospital, &c. 8vo. pp. 98. Boards. Longman and Co. 1822. TH HE subject of the nervous system was always a consideration of deep interest with medical men: but, until of late years, its cultivation had been so fertile in the production of idle hypotheses, and so unsuccessful in the discovery of facts, that it had in some degree ceased to engage the attention which all acknowleged that it merited. At present, however, the the method of observation and experiment has taken the place, in this inquiry, of conjecture and hypothesis; and facts are rapidly accumulating, that promise to furnish materials for an explanation of the phænomena of the nervous system, which, imperfect as it may prove, the most sanguine could not a few years since have anticipated. As a contribution to this stock of information, we may consider the work of Mr. Swan now before us. It is not, indeed, by any means free from hypothetical reasoning: but we cannot accuse the author of disguising his facts for the purpose of supporting preconceived opinions, or of so obscuring them as in any degree to lessen their value. Yet we are constrained to express our regret that he so speedily sent his papers to the press; since a little longer delay might have enabled him to repeat his dissections in similar cases, to confirm opinions which are now doubtful, and perhaps to reject some which might have been ascertained to be groundless. In his brief prefatory notice, he alleges, as an excuse for his haste in publishing, the anxiety which he feels for the advancement of medical science: but it ought never to be forgotten, by the young and the enthusiastic, that those have most benefited the practical part of the profession who have longest weighed their opinions and supposed discoveries, and have published at the close of life the matured results of their experience. In our time, the writings of Mr. Hey, and of the venerable Heberden (although posthumous), furnish sufficient evidence of the truth of this assertion. Feeling, as we do, a respect for the talents of Mr. Swan, and a sympathy with his laudable aspirations after the celebrity of authorship, we would willingly turn his attention to such models as these, and to the rare productions of men like Mr. John Pearson and Doctor' Baillie. This work is divided into nine chapters, and embraces a great diversity of topics, either immediately belonging to the subject of the nervous system or in some degree connected with it. The facts which the author has stated respecting the distribution of nerves, and their appearance in morbid parts, are farther illustrated by nine plates, which are very creditable to the dissector and to the artists by whom they have been pourtrayed. In the present day, when books are too often advertized like patent medicines or an exhibition of wild beasts, we observed with surprize that no notice was taken of these plates in the title-page. It is the object of Mr. Swan to prove that nerves may be traced to a far greater degree of minuteness than has been commonly attained; and he is convinced, by inspection with' the 量 the microscope, that nerves terminate by a kind of membranous mesh-work. The representations given from the horse, however, incline us to think that this is a deceptive appearance, produced by the intermixture of cellular tissue. Mr. Swan says that he has succeeded in tracing nervous filaments to the mesentery, the pleura, and the pericardium, in man; and he has given the representation of a portion of the pericardium of a calf, having a nervous filament distributed to it. The most interesting section of the work, however, refers to the nerves of morbid parts. In a fungous tumour on the leg, which, from the excruciating pain that it produced, rendered amputation necessary, Mr. S. was enabled to trace a multitude of nervous fibrils entering its base. From the representation which is given of this appearance, we are inclined to think that, in such cases, a production of new nerves takes place, as the effect of long-continued irritation; and, howsoever improbable such an opinion may at first sight appear, it is in strict accordance with what we know of the vascular system in such cases. The knowlege of the state of the nerves in tumours of this description, and in highly irritable ulcers, has induced Mr. Swan to suggest the propriety of removing a portion of the nervous trunk from which filaments are detached to the diseased parts, and he actually performed this operation in one instance: but the result was certainly not such as to encourage a repetition of the practice; for the fits of pain were not wholly prevented, and amputation at length became necessary. In cases where ulcers are the seat of excruciating pain, the free use of caustic or of the cautery is incomparably preferable to the removal of a more distant part of the affected nerve; and amputation still remains as a last resource. The removal of the limb, in the case above mentioned, enabled Mr. S. to ascertain satisfactorily the process set up by nature, for the repair of the injury which had been inflicted in his first operation. The nerve above the point of excision was considerably enlarged; and not fewer than four fibrils appear, from the plate annexed, to have been sent off to join the divided trunk and adjacent nerves. Injuries of the spine naturally occupy a considerable portion of Mr. Swan's attention, and he has detailed a very interesting case of what we believe to have been an injury of this nature; although, on inspection after death, no marks of former violence or of decided disease could be detected in any part of the spine: nor were any morbid appearances, of a distinct character, discovered in the encephalon. Still we are disposed to think that an alteration in the intimate texture of the substance, either of the spinal cord or of the brain, had taken taken place, which the skill of the anatomist has not hitherto enabled him satisfactorily to display. The case of this patient has given rise to a difference of opinion between the author and Dr. Harrison of London; (Medical and Physical Journal, March, 1823;) the latter asserting that, when the patient came under his care, six of the dorsal vertebræ were found to have been forced inwards; and he appeals to the dissection given by Mr. Swan, as a proof of the remarkable success of his practice in reducing the dislocated vertebræ. This reasoning, however, will not be admitted by those who best know the mechanism of the spinal column; and we deem it quite impossible that an injury, such as Dr. Harrison has supposed to have existed in the case in question, could have failed to leave behind it unequivocal marks that it had once been inflicted. It is humiliating to the pride of the medical inquirer to think that accidents like that of the patient in question, which terminate fatally after a long train of suffering, leave behind them no visible trace of injury; while others, which manifest evident displacement of parts, affect neither the life nor the health of the individual. We became lately acquainted with the case of a laborer who fell from a great height, by which one of his legs was severely shattered, and the spine was so injured as to cause a considerable projection of the spinous processes of two of the dorsal vertebræ: notwithstanding which he is now walking about with a wooden leg, enjoying perfect health. Some remarks are made by Mr. Swan on Dizziness; and one case is detailed in which this distressing symptom was removed by the exhibition of cinchona. The bark, in such cases, no doubt acts by giving tone to the stomach, and thus relieving the sympathetic affection of the encephalon. 6 to The division which Mr. S. has made of Paraplegia is at least inconsiderate. There appears to me,' he says, be two sorts of paraplegia. The one (I do not apply this to diseases of the vertebræ) comes on gradually, and is almost always connected with some disease within the cranium; the other comes on suddenly, and, as far as I can judge, arises from a disease within the spinal canal.' The sudden or gradual attack of the disease seems to furnish no adequate criterion of the seat of the evil. In the case of carious vertebræ, or destruction of the intervertebral substance, the loss of power is not usually sudden; nor is there reason to believe that, in instances of primary affections of the spinal marrow, the attack is most commonly of this description. In illustration of his position, Mr. S. has related a case of sudden paraplegia, in which the bowels appear to have been much loaded loaded and disordered, and he believes that a rapid determination of blood to the spinal cord had taken place. Whether this sudden loss of power arose from a sympathetic affection of the brain, or of the spinal marrow, we feel unable to determine. The volume before us offers convincing proofs both of industry and ability, and leads us to regret the indiscreet haste with which the author submitted his papers to publication: but we trust that, as so much promise of success has been exhibited, he will be encouraged to prosecute his inquiries on this subject with increasing ardour and exertion. ART. V. Account of a Tour in Normandy; undertaken chiefly for the Purpose of investigating the Architectural Antiquities of the Duchy; with Observations on its History, on the Country, and on its Inhabitants; illustrated with numerous Engravings. By Dawson Turner, Esq. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. 526. Arch. ART. VI. Letters written during a Tour through Normandy, Brittany, and other Parts of France, in 1818, including local and historical Descriptions; with Remarks on the Manners and Character of the People. By Mrs. Charles Stothard. With numerous Engravings, after Drawings by Charles Stothard, F.S.A. 4to. pp. 322. 31. 3s. Boards. Longman and Co. AMID the multiplied calls that are made on the labor of reviewers, in an age so prolific in new publications as the present, a postponement of the notice of particular works is, occasionally, unavoidable. In the case of books of temporary interest, such delays are most to be deprecated: but the matter of the volumes before us is fortunately of a less transient character than a reader might at first imagine; for the writers, though altogether unconnected as to their plan of travelling, have, as if by concert, dwelt slightly on the ephemeral topics of fashion or politics, and have directed their attention to the public structures, the historical monuments, and other permanent characteristics of the country. The author of the publication that ranks first on our list, Mr. Dawson Turner, though not professionally un homme de lettres, is well known among our men of science as a learned botanist, and among our antiquaries and artists as a collector of objects calculated to gratify a liberal curiosity. His account of Normandy is the result of three distinct tours, performed in the years 1815, 1818, and 1819, at intervals when his business as a provincial banker admitted of his absence. In the longest of these excursions, Mr. T. was accompanied by his wife and daughter, who lent their aid to a very conREV. DEC. 1823. C c spicuous 4 |