the same type, doubtless, because the mass of the blood still retained its morbid character. At the time this case occurred I believed it just possible that the disease might have been excited by the Mercurius corrosivus, administered on the 28th. The medicine was given in the second dilution, and under its use the profuse discharge of viscid mucus from the throat very suddenly ceased. The pathogenesis of Mercury includes most of the local, as well as all the general, symptoms of pleurisy; and as is the case with most of the mercurial symptoms, those of the chest appear chiefly on the left side. The following are some of the symptoms of Mercury which refer to this disease: Single stitches in the chest when stooping. Stitches when coughing and sneezing. Severe stitches in the left chest during and between the acts of respiration. Stitches in the left side. Stabbing pain in the left side, under the short ribs, during every inspiration, &c. Pneumonia is a frequent toxical effect of Mercury,* and also inflammation of the serous membrane of the abdomen.t The Rhus appeared to have a good effect on the afternoon and evening of the 1st December. In a similar case again I would give Rhus, and perhaps Arnica, in a higher dilution, and allow each dose to exhaust its action before repeating the medicine. CASE XVIII. November 19th, 1851, 10 P.M.-A clergyman, aged 35, convalescent from a severe attack of small-pox, had been out of bed and on the sofa but one day when he was seized with very acute stitch pain in the lower and back part of the right lung. The pain is aggravated on inspiration, and by pressure of the finger upon the spot. Respiratory sounds natural; percussion good. Acon. 3, gtt. th, alternately with Bryonia 3, gtt. 1th, · 20th, 9.30 A.M.—No better. Pulse 92, weak; no sleep all night, has been obliged in consequence of the pain to sit up in bed propped up with pillows, and cannot lie down; pain extremely acute on inspiration; no appetite; great anxiety and anguish. Rhus 3, gtt. 1th at 11 A.M. and again at 5 P.M. *Christison on Poisons, p. 419. 10 P.M.-Pulse 92. Felt rather easier after both doses of Rhus, especially after the first. Rhus 3, gtt. 1th now, and again at 4 A.M. 21st, 9 A.M.-No relief to the pain but in sitting up; slight expectoration of pure blood with mucus; was more quiet after both doses of Rhus, and slept a little; feels very weak; pulse 108; great anxiety; thirst; physical signs normal, so far as can be ascertained, but he cannot bear a careful examination of the chest. Dr. Scott saw the patient with me on this occasion, and we decided to give him Arnica: first, because it seemed the medicine best indicated in the circumstances of the case; and, secondly, because the patient appeared to have had perhaps more than enough of the Rhus already. Arnica 6, one globule now; to have beef-tea frequently. 4 P.M.-Pulse 104; more easy since morning; two expectorations of blood. Rhus 12, one globule now. 10 P.M.-Pulse 104; pain as before.. Arnica 6, one globule at 2 A.M. 22nd, 9 A.M.-Pulse 104; no expectoration of blood through the night; feels easier. Arnica now. 3 P.M.-Pulse 98; little thirst; can now lie down a little upon the left side; expectoration of blood continues occasionally. Arnica / now. 10 P.M.-Pulse 98; much pain in the side, and a good deal of cough, with expectoration of blood. Rhus 12 now, and again at 4 A.M. 23rd, 9 A.M.—Pulse 92; cough with expectoration of blood contiSuspend med. nues. 4 P.M.-Pulse 96; thinks he can inspire more freely; more pain since morning; hæmoptysis continues. Rhus 12, now. 25th, 9 A.M.-No change. Rhus 12/1. 8 P.M.-Pulse 94, firmer; expectoration of blood continues. Acon. 3, four globules now, Arnica 3, gtt. th at 2 A.M. 26th, 9 A.M.-Pulse 96; much distress and moaning after the dose of Arnica; lay on his left side all night; hæmoptysis continues. Acon. 1⁄2 now, and again at 3 P.M. 9 P.M.-Was very easy after both doses of Aconite. Pulse now 88. Acon. 1⁄2 now, and at 4 A.M. 27th.-Pulse 80; feels much better. From this time the pulse gradually fell to its natural standard, and the hæmoptysis ceased. The patient was quite convalescent on the 1st of December. Remarks.-This case, at the time it occurred, in several of its features, vividly recalled to my recollection the one last recorded, which occurred two years previously. The extreme degree of pain, the unaccountable anxiety, the weak pulse, slow at first, but gradually increasing in frequency, and the excessive prostration, were the same in both. In both the disease had supervened when the constitution was in an extremely asthenic state. I attribute this patient's recovery partly to the Rhus, and partly perhaps to the Arnica, but also in no small measure to the frequent administration of beef-tea, a point of much importance in the treatment of cases such as this. It will be observed that the Aconite was of use on the 26th, only when the typhoid character of the disease had disappeared, and the pulse had regained somewhat of its size and strength under the administration of nourishment. In addition to Rhus Toxicodendron and Arnica, particularly the former, which corresponds perhaps more than any other medicine with the symptoms of typhoid pleurisy, it is probable that in some cases, Muriatic Acid may be the remedy indicated; and in others at a very late stage of the disease, Carbo animalis, as recommended by Dr. Wurmb, may also be found useful. [In accordance with our principle of the individual responsibility of each contributor, we have published the forgoing paper without notes or interpolations. But for fear the cause of Homœopathy should suffer through any doubts cast on the accuracy of its statistics, we feel compelled to remark, that we question the accuracy of the nomenclature of many of the foregoing cases. We differ from the author in the interpretation of some of the stethoscopic signs granting that they were correctly observed; and even admitting that in strict pathological theory the pleura might have been inflamed to a certain extent in all the cases, yet the affection was not of sufficient gravity to admit of their being put side by side with hospital cases of acute pleurisy, but many would be arranged under pleurodynia or other affections in which the implication of the pleura was a subordinate matter. With respect to the general questions of the repetition of the dose and alternation of medicine, the author has of course a perfect right to express his opinion. Valeat quantum. We believe, however, he has not been long engaged in practice, and we think it very probable that when he shall have had as much experience as the practitioners whose views he so freely criticises, he will be inclined to express himself more dubiously on a subject which grows in dfficulty the more deeply it is studied, and on which the most experienced and learned seem the least disposed to dogmatize.-EDITORS.] 316 REVIEWS. THE HUMAN BODY AND ITS CONNEXION WITH MAN, ILLUSTRATED BY THE PRINCIPAL ORGANS, by JAMES JOHN GARTH WILKINSON, M. R. C. S. London: Chapman and Hall. It is so rare now-a-days to meet with a book full of life in any department of literature or science, most of all in medicine, that we cannot choose but greet such an one when it appears with our heartiest welcome, even should the life with which it teems be of a tropical fantastic luxuriousness, little suited to the cold critical climate it is our lot to inhabit; and having given such a welcome, we might be satisfied with leaving this original and eloquent writer to the judgment of our readers. But we fear that the style and language will be so caviare' to the many, that unless they have some sort of notion what the work is, they may impatiently, if not contemptuously, fling it down as a setter forth of strange doctrines. We disclaim at the onset any intention of writing a review of this book; were we to undertake this task, which it would be presumptuous in us to do, and had' we sufficient space to do justice to the subject, it would be impossible for us either to praise it or blame it too much. It is so full of beauty and truth, and so full of faults, indeed a most provoking book, which ex-. cites continual dissent and admiration; however, all we shall attempt is to give our conception of the general idea which pervades it, and to point out the kind of errors the author seems to us to fall into, and then give some examples of those peculiar excellences which distinguish this from all modern treatises on the same subject. The author of the Vestiges of the Creation traces man from the lowest atomic aggregation of particles, by gentle steps through the vegetable and animal kingdom up to a little higher than an ape; Dr. Wilkinson reverses the order, assumes man to be a spirit only a little lower than an angel, and passing from above downwards shews his relation as an embodied spirit to the world he inhabits. The former is like a mineralogist descanting on geology, speculating upon the formation of the mountainheights from the debris brought down by the snow-born torrents, and gradually toiling upwards to verify his theories, but the higher he goes the more laborious is the ascent; the clear, thin air, does not suit his frame; he pants in pain, and the blooddrops which fall from his face warn him that the region does not suit his organization. The other is like an angel coming down to the earth, as Milton describes Michael to have done, and poising his airy figure upon some needle point of Mont-Blanc, surveying all the neighbouring heights, and peering down into the distant plains, and from this view giving his notion of the formation of our globe. And then descending some of the deep valleys, but finding the haze annoying, and getting more and more confused in his ideas and language the further he recedes from those high regions to which he seems native. Nor can it be said to be unphilosophical to adopt either the ascending or descending ladder of man's two-fold relations, for as Bacon says, " man is akin to the beast by his body, and if he be not akin to God by his spirit, then he is a wretched and ignoble creature, little better than a kind of vermin." To assume that man is a spirit, in direct communion with God, is perfectly legitimate, and to regard the body of man as the vesture, the living vesture, or rather incorporation of this spirit, is in consonance with reason and feeling, and the universal tradition of our race. But there is great difficulty in working out any practical problem from this axiom, for as we know nothing of spiritual existences, we cannot draw inferences from them to explain human phenomena, so after all such a work as the present belongs rather to the poetic than the didactic order. All it does is to rouse our feelings to a higher pitch respecting the wonderful bodies we inhabit; it is a long psalm, on the theme "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." Let it not be supposed we wish to undervalue its utility, because we do not consider it as a good scientific exposition of physiology; on the contrary, we believe that in these dead dissecting days, we stand more in need of a psalmist than an anatomist; but we would prepare our readers for what they have to expect, lest they should be disappointed, and we should advise any who are of a cold, prosaic, critical matter-of |