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Reviews and Notices of Books.Air and Rain: the beginnings of a Chemical Climatology. ByR. ANGUS SMITH, F.R.S. pp. 600. London : Longmans.

[SECOND NOTICE.]THE amount of carbonic acid affords on the whole the

most reliable test as to the sufficiency of the ventilation.We avoid an atmosphere containing 01 per cent. of car-bonic acid. Experience proves that such an atmosphere isnot only odious but unwholesome. Good ventilation in

dwelling houses means air with less than 0 07 of carbonicacid. London always comes out well in air analyses. The

quantity of carbonic acid in the air of Hyde-park was ’0334 in Smithfield, ’0428. In the workhouses, with 500 cubicfeet per inmate, the mean of the day was ’056; and of thenight, ’0777. It was only ’046 in the best ventilated wardsin Chelsea, Homerton, and Lambeth. It was nearly thesame in the wards of St. Thomas’s Hospital; but in thehospitals of Madrid the quantity was from 0-27 to 0 43 percent. We must refer our readers to Dr. Smith’s work formost interesting experiments in a closed chamber on theeffect of moisture, candle-burning, respiration, &c., on the

purity of the air, the production of light, &c. One or twoconclusions are of very great importance. Thus, productionof light and heat is greatly retarded by the presence ofcarbonic acid and moisture, and the purity of the air maybe estimated by the rate at which a candle is consumed.There is a loss of 10 per cent. of light for every ’22 percent. of carbonic acid in the air. A sudden fall of dew

purifies the air by washing out the organic matter. Maynot this be a source of malaria; for it is obviously difficultto explain the origin of intermittent fever on the dry plainsof India on the same principle as those arising in the fensof Lincolnshire. The bad effects of small quantities ofcarbonic acid, or, in other words, defective ventilation, arevery remarkable; they commence as soon as the amountof carbonic acid reaches 04 per cent.-indeed, some effectwas occasionally seen when it was 0’2 per cent. Thenumber of respirations rises, and the pulse, at first irre-gular, at length falls to 55, and becomes so weak that itis difficult to find. When the air very gradually dete-riorates, nothing very striking is observed-the senses failto guide us. But if we look at the important total acts-circulation and aeration of the blood,-we find that deathhas begun, so to speak, and the life goes out as quietly asthe candle. The conclusion is that the smallest diminutionof oxygen in the air breathed affects animal life if its placeis supplied by carbonic acid.

Dr. Smith thinks that we can tolerate impure air at night,and that the oxygen may, with propriety, be diminishedduring sleep to the extent of two parts in ten thousand.He is of opinion we cannot so well bear ventilation at night,and hence it is that temperature is universally held to bethe measure of ventilation. We venture to protest againstthese conclusions. The respiration will be more safely re-gulated by the nervous system than by any artificial con-

dition of the atmosphere. Close bed-rooms are only madeless unwholesome by the condensation of the moisture ofthe breath on the cold surfaces. With regard to the arti-ficial purification of the air by water-jets, lime-water, &c.,there is no uncertainty ; by such means the air is purified.A candle burns better, and the air is rendered more pleasantto breathe.As it is impossible in this place to do justice to this

monument of patient scientific labour, we can only recom-mend its perusal by all who feel interested in the extractEwe have given. We believe, however, that we shall consultthe wishes of our readers by discussing, from time to time,some of the many questions the volume contains.

A History of Medicine from the Earliest Ages to the Com-mencement of the Nineteenth Century. By ROBLEY DuNGLi-sorr, M.D., LL.D., late Professor of the Institutes ofMedicine in the Jefferson Medical College of Phila-delphia,, &c. Arranged and edited by RICHARD J.DUNGLISON, M.D. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston.1872.CONDENSED and fluent, this history, or rather narra.

tive, of the development of the healing art will beread with profit by many and with pleasure by all.Within the compass of little more than 250 pages, itcan hardly be expected that Dr. Dunglison could do morethan touch lightly on the summa vestigia of his theme;. yethe has performed this feat so dexterously that no vestigiumof importance has been omitted; though it is rather to beregretted that he has stopped at the very point where hisnarrative had culminated in interest, and has left thereader on the threshold of the nineteenth century.The master-work of Sprengel-the Geschichte der Arznei-

kunde-has supplied Dr. Dunglison with accurate details asto ancient medicine; while he has been left to glean frommultifarious sources the medical history of the middle ages,the renaissance, and the subsequent centuries. Accordinglywe prefer the first portion to the second, as being more com-pactly put together and written with a firmer hand. Dr.Dunglison was a good classical scholar-witness his excel-lent dictionary of medico-scientific terms, with their ety-mology and history-and he therefore draws with discrimi-nation on the materials lying ready to his hand. Perhapsthe most interesting of the ancient sections is that on

Egyptian medicine, from which the advocate of modern

specialism will find that in that country there was a par-ticular physician for each disease: "one occupying himselfwith diseases of the eyes, a second with affections of theteeth, a third with those of the stomach," &c.

’ The weakest part of this portion is that relating to

Hindoo medicine, where the reader will look in vain forsuch interesting facts as that recorded in THE LANCET forJuly lst, 1871, where the discovery of the saccharineelement in diabetic urine is traced (far beyond Willis) toSusruta, who probably lived in the fifth or sixth century ofour era. Dr. Dunglison is very good on Hippocrates andhis school, on Galen, on Celsus, and on Aretæus—the lastof whom he justly commends as the most judicious inpractice of the ancient physicians, and as a writer estimablefor the luminous terseness of his language. To the presentgeneration of medical students (from whom Mr. Lowewould withdraw even the scantling of Greek hitherto

vouchsafed to them) we particularly recommend the ancientsection of Dr. Dunglison’s work.The modern section is out of all proportion meagre and

jejune. But this is less to be regretted as from such easily ac-cessible works as Hecker’s "Epidemics of the Middle Ages"and Mr. Guy’s " Lectures on the Public Health " the studentcan readily obtain what Dr. Dunglison withholds. The

volume, we may add, is convenient in size and admirablyprinted, though the editor might have exercised a closersupervision over the orthography. " Æmylius Paulus,""Erisistratus," an "areola of light" when 11 aureole ismeant, being specimens of a numerous family of mon-strosities. The Greek, too, is badly accentuated. Betterleave the accents out altogether than have them (as LordJeffrey once said of a writer’s commas) "dusted over thepage as if out of a pepper-box."

. OUR LIBRARY TABLE.

, The Microscopic Dictionary. By J. W. GRIFFITH and; ARTHUR HENFREY. Third Edition, edited by J. W. GRIFFITH,, assisted by the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., and T. RUPERT

JoNES. Parts 3,4, 5, 6, 7 . London : Van Voorst. 1872.-This

831

valuable work is being published with commendable regu-larity. Part 7 extends to 11 Confervoideoe." The plan is sowell known that it is almost unnecessary to give an example.We select one just to show how much may be compressed in afew lines:-APPENDICULARIA-Cham. A genus of Mollusca ofthe order Tunicata and family Salpidae. 1. British species.A. flagellina. Bibliog.: Gosse, Mar. Zoo]. i., p. 37. Chamisso,Nov. Act. Acad. Cur., x. Huxley, Phil. Trans., 1851, p. 595."This is just what is wanted, and no more. Occasionallythe information is less complete. Thus, under the head ofAphrodite we only find this taxonomic character: * A genusof Annulata"; though the character and appearance of theanimal are otherwise well given. In the Tabular View ofthe Animal Kingdom the Cetacea should have been sub-divided into Sirenia and the Cetacea proper, the Pachyder-mata into Proboscideæ and Ungulata. The Hyracoidea arealso now generally regarded as constituting a distinct order.In the article on Blood neither the amoeboid movements ofthe white corpuscles nor the action of solutions of magentaupon the red are so much as alluded to, though these are pro-perly subjects of microscopical investigation, and we noticethat kindred points, as the action of alcohol, tannic acid,&c., and the phenomena of coagulation, are described. Theomission may, perhaps, be hereafter filled up under the

term "Corpuscle," or "White Corpuscle." In the biblio-

graphy to the article Bone no reference is made to Dr.

Sharpey’s account, contained in the introduction to Quainand Sharpey’s Anatomy, though this is very accessible, andis certainly the best account in the language of this tissue.We do not make these observations with the intention of

decrying the work, for it is certainly a very valuable aid to,the student, and a capital work of reference, especially uponthe lower groups of plants and animals with which two atleast of the editors’ names are so intimately associated.The plates are excellent.The Journal of Psychological Medicine. April, 1872. No.2,

Vol. VI. Edited by W. A. HAMMOND, M.D. New York :

Appleton and Co.-This number contains-1. A sketch ofthe" Hamlet of Edwin Booth," by Dr. A. 0. Kellogg.Booth is an actor of great celebrity in America at the pre-sent time, and appears to have both mental and physicalendowments especially adapted for the representation ofthe character of Hamlet. 2. Dr. Dunster translates anarticle on the General Paralysis of the Insane, by Dr. Foville,originally contained in the "Annales Medico-Psycholo-giques." It was awarded the Civrieux Prize in 1869. 3.

Dr. T. K. Cruse gives a new definition of insanity-to wit,that it is the " psychic manifestation of brain disease."In a note Dr. Hammond suggests the addition of the words"unattended by loss of consciousness," on the groundthat a man insensible from the effects of cerebral hæmor-

rhage exhibits psychic manifestation of brain disease, butyet is certainly not insane. 4. On the Pathogeny of theInfarctions or Congested Patches which follow Embolism,by John Mason. 5. A Case of Diffused Cerebral Sclerosis,by Henry Baldwin.On Pulmonary Consumption. By R. DOUGLAS POWELL,

M.D. London: H. K. Lewis. - Dr. Powell enumerates the

principal varieties of phthisis pulmonalis, and endeavoursto delineate the connexion between the morbid lesions of

consumption and the clinical symptoms observable. At theend of the book is a useful table showing the anatomicalcharacters of the different forms of the disease. Althoughthere is nothing strikingly novel in the work, it may beconsidered to contain a sufficiently good nucleus aroundwhich to gather and arrange matter for an enlarged edition.Our Poor-law System; what it is and what it ought to be.

By W. H. P. London: Kirby and Endean. -Althoughthere is nothing very novel in this pamphlet, it contains

an interesting résumé of the cardinal defects of our Poor-law system, and, with some exceptions, it lays down soundprinciples of reform. The writer has not made himself

fully acquainted with the great work carried on by theCharity Organisation Society, and in the pressure of publicbusiness there is no hope whatever that the subject will bebrought before Parliament this session.

New Invention.ALPINE PORTE-KNAPSACK.

Ms. WHITE has forwarded to us a new knapsack, which isintended to obviate not only the discomfort but also theunwholesome effects of those generally in use. Many ofour readers, we hope most of them, are or have been familiarwith the wearisome drag upon the shoulders, the oppressionupon the chest, and the ill-distributed weight which areinseparable from the use of the old knapsacks. Many apleasant walk is spoiled by these discomforts, and by thesaturation of the back by the confined perspiration. Not

only so; these drawbacks threaten more than our comfort,they tend to prove injurious even to health. A large coldpoultice between the shoulders is not a wholesome thingfor a tired pedestrian, sitting down perhaps in a draughtyroom; and the confinement of the chest by straps andbands during hard exercise is known certainly to lead, innot a few cases, to real injury. We have put Mr. White’sknapsack, heavily laden, to actual test for a short distance,and found it singularly free from the faults we have de-scribed. The weight is well distributed, the chest is freed,and the back is ventilated. The knapsack itself, as wellas the frame, is light and of good workmanship. We can

unhesitatingly recommend Mr. White’s knapsack and framefor the large majority of pedestrians. How far the needfulgear will stand very rough work remains to be seen, andthe outward position of the weight might, in difficult places,prove somewhat dangerous to the foothold, but some pro-vision might be made for a closer bracing at such times.The knapsack may be obtained of Mr. Price, 33, Great

Marylebone-street, W.

VOLUNTEER MEDICAL OFFICERS.

WE are requested to make it known that a meeting ofVolunteer surgeons will be held at the Grosvenor Hotel,Victoria Station, London, on Thursday afternoon, the 20thof June, at 4 o’clock ; Spencer Smith, Esq., Surgeon CivilService Volunteers, in the chair, to consider the followingand other important clauses in the new regulations for theauxiliary forces."CLAUSE 43. Medical Attendance. The surgeon will attend

the adjutant and his family professionally, and will receivean allowance of 2d. per week for each person for attendanceand medicine. The word family will include wife, un-married daughters, and sons under sixteen. The medicalofficer of the corps to which a drill instructor is attachedwill receive a similar allowance for attendance upon, andmedicines for, such drill instructor and family. The word’family’ in this case will include wife and children undersixteen."Volunteer surgeons are earnestly requested to attend.

Communications on this subject may be addressed to Dr.John Murray, Hon. Sec., Volunteer Medical Association,40, Bryanston-street, London, W.

THE annual festival in aid of Kirg’s College Hospitalwas held last week; Major Sir H. C. B. Daubeney in thechair. The report showed that, during the past year,1540 in-patients and 32,460 out patients had been treated.In the course of the evening subscriptions amounting toover .8400 were announced. _