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thus giving rise to effusion of part of the contents. At itsgreat curvature, the stomach was adherent to the pancreas,and it still contained a pint or thereabouts of thick, dark-brown fluid. On removing and laying open this viscus, thegeneral surface of the mucous membrane was found to betolerably healthy, but slightly acted on in parts by the gastricjuice. In the neighbourhood of the ulcer, however, therewas considerable irregular thickening.

Acetic Acid in Typhus Fever.W. H. F. suggests that the strong acetic acid be exhibited

in the treatment of typhus fever, to the extent of three orfour drachms daily. He remarks that this disorder is princi-pally treated by ammonia in our fever hospitals, workhouses,and parish cases, and adds, " we are aware that ammonia isalways present in the atmosphere of the room, the urine,breath, &c., of the patient, and therefore it stands to reason,that if ammonia be evolved from the body which is putrefying,it must be entirely wrong to give it as medicine. Ammonia,"he says, " is the product of putrefaction and thereforehastens the decomposition and death of the patient. Aceticacid, on the contrary, will stay putrefaction; give ease to thepatient; and, if seconded by strengthening medicines, will, hehopes, effect a cure."** W. H. F. is reasoning as if the human body were a

mere chemical laboratory, forgetting altogether, that althoughChemical processes are carried on in it, yet they are, to agreater or less extent, modified by the influence of the prin-ciple of life. It does not follow, because ammonia is evolvedfrom the person of a victim to typhus fever, that thereforeits internal exhibition is injurious and contra-indicated. Ex-

perience proves the contrary. Probably W. H. F. will bekind enough to furnish us, in brief, with the results of hisexperiments with acetic acid, in the treatment of typhusfever.

MEDICAL POLITICS.

" JUSTITIA," in explanation of his views of a " legal autho-rity," (vide his previous letters,) says he takes it for grantedthat the appointments made by her Majesty’s officers wouldbe considered legal; the medical men in the army, navy,East India service, Poor-law Unions, &c., are not required topossess the licence of the Society of Apothecaries, while theypractice as apothecaries in every sense of the word. If, hesays, these are not legal acts, they certainly emanate fromthe highest legal authorities."

*,* " Justitia" is in error with regard to the Poor-lawUnions. No medical man can be a surgeon to any Union inEngland or Wales, unless he possess the licence of theApothecaries’ Company, or was in practice on or before the1st of August, 1815. The Act of the Company has no controlover the other medical officers to whom he alludes.

Reviews.

Report on the Climate and Principal Diseases of the AfricanStation; compiled from Documents in the Office of tlae Director-general of the Jfedical Department, and from otleer sources, incomplin-race with the directions of the Iliglat Horzaurable theLords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Under the immediate ’,direction of Sir William Burnett, M.D., K.C.H., F.R.S. ByALEXANDER BRYSON, M.D., Surgeon R.N. London: 1847.pp. 260.

Report en the Fever at Boa Vista. By Dr. M’WILLIAM. Pre-sented to the House of Commons, in pursuance of theirAddress of the 16th of March, 1847. London : 1847. pp.112.

Letter addressed by Sir William Pym to the Lords of the Council,relative to a Report on the Fever at Boa Vista, by Dr.M’WILLIAM. Presented to the House of Commons, in piir-suance of their Address of May 14th, 1847. London : 1847.pp. 15.

THE first work on our list was, it seems, prepared by theauthor, in consequence of a minute addressed by the Lords ofthe Admiralty to Sir William Burnett, physician-general ofthe navy, requesting him to cause to be embodied in a reportsuch portions of the medical returns from the African stationas might be deemed valuable,-the report to be prepared insuch a form as would present the greatest amount of informa-

tion " regarding the diseases contracted on that station, thelocalities most injurious to health, the precautions whichmight be taken to arrest or diminish fever, and the mode of £treatment regarded most effectual ; embracing also the dis.eases most prevalent amongst the captured slaves !" As thiswork has been printed by order of the Lords of the Admi.ralty, solely for the use of the medical officers employed onthe African station, it is, of necessity, inaccessible to themajority of the profession. We purpose, therefore, to makea somewhat lengthened esquisse of its valuable contents, iuorder that our readers may be better acquainted with thenature and treatment of a most formidable malady-a know-ledge of which must be of value to them, although it is not

likely that many of them will be called upon to treat

patients labouring under it. Still not a few may derivedirect benefit from being made acquainted with the contentsof this work-at least, such as are engaged in the merchant-service, and employed on that inhospitable coast. From the

length of time during which many merchant vessels are

detained in the rivers on the African coast, where the diseaseis generally contracted, their crews are frequently invadedand decimated by this pestilence, nor have any means of pre-vention or of cure been hitherto brought forward, with suchevidence in its favour as to warrant the placing reliance onthem. Its nature and treatment have been alike unreco-

gnised ; the most violent remedies and the most gentle haveequally failed in effecting a cure; while, on the other hand,some patients have apparently recovered in spite of thedoctor. Under these circumstances, and urged to do so pro.bably by the late fearful epidemic on board the " Eclair," whichbrought the pestilence home to our own shores, the minutewas issued, requiring the preparation of an arranged abstractof such portions of the medical returns from the Africanstation, as bore on the nature and treatment of the remittentfever contracted on the coast and in the rivers of that quarterof the globe.

Dr. Bryson, the gentleman to whom the task was confidedby Sir W. Burnett, is singularly fitted for the performance ofthe task. His engagement in the ofice of the physician-general had previously prepared him for the duties of drawingout the Report in a tangible shape, and he was enabled to il-lustrate many important features of the disease, and also todiscriminate between the several plans of treatment recom-mended in the respective reports which came under his notice,from the extensive stores of his personal experience, ac.quired during a very extended servitude on the coast and inthe rivers of Africa. Dr. Bryson has, we may boldly say, pro-duced a work which will be of great service as a guide to hisprofessional brethren in their management of this intractabledisease, and which reflects great credit on his skill, industry,and professional knowledge.The work commences with a brief sketch of the topography

of the African station, extending from Cape Verde on thenorth, to Cape Negro on the south of the equator. We havehere an account of the Bissagos, Sierra Leone, the Bullomshore, Cape Mount, the Gold Coast, Accra, Quitta, Popoe,Whydah, Lagos, Princes’ Island, Fernando Po, St. Thomas,Anna Bona, Cape Lopez, Benguela, Loango, Kabenda,Ambriz, St. Paul de Loanda, Quicombo, Lobita, Equemma,the bights of Benin and Biafra, the rivers Gambia, Nunez,Pongos, Melacoorie, Scarcies, Sherbro, Gallinas, Volta, Benin,Nun, Brass, Bonny, Calebar, Cameroons, Gaboon, Camma,Congo, and Elephant, and Massamedes, or Little Fish Bays.The principal localities where disease is most frequently con-

tracted appear to consist of alluvial soil and extensive marshes,covered with mangroves. With respect to the settlement onthe Gambia, it is remarked, however, that

"Notwithstanding the vast alluvial swamps that bound nearlythree sides of this small settlement, it is, upon the whole, infi-nitely less detrimental to the European constitution than isSierra Leone. The temperature throughout the year is some-