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powerful arguments for its study. He is most enthusiasticin regard to both its antiquity and its value ; and he writeswith such energy, such thorough mastery over and suchlove for his subject, as to make his book, which is on arather dry subject, exceedingly entertaining.The author holds most decided opinions in regard to the

Round Towers, a disquisition on which is introduced, oddlyenough, into his work. The Pagan period, he says, " maybe divided into two : the remote and the late Pagan period.It is certain, from all that has been just stated in thesepages, that the Round Towers had been the work of menskilled in the art of building; and we have seen that man-kind possessed greater knowledge [?] some two thousandyears before the Christian era than they possessed at a laterperiod. The Round Towers must therefore have been builtat that time when men were best skilled in science and thearts of building." We should hardly have thought, fromour inspection of Round Towers, which we admit to havebeen cursory, that such prodigious ability was required fortheir construction, or that their elevation was incompatiblewith the knowledge of architecture of the earlier centuriesof the Christian era ; but we are aware that we tread ontender ground, and should be sorry to touch Canon Burke’ssensibilities.

Atlas of Human A7zato7rz. With Explanatory Notes byProfessor C. E. BOCK (Leipsic). Containing 38 colouredplates, &c. Imperial 4to. London : Renshaw. 1878.THIS work has already reached a sixth German edition,

and is well known and much appreciated in Continentalschools. We are not surprised that it has now been repro-duced in this country. It is quite true that many excellentanatomical atlases have been published in England byEnglish authors, but they are in many instances of large andnot convenient size, besides being costly ; though, of course,life-size portraits have their special advantages. The presentAtlas is of moderate and conveniently portable dimensions,and, considering the number and character of the plates, itmust be regarded decidedly as a cheap publication. Thework is a most complete one as regards the illustrations,embracing all parts of the body. It contains plates ofthe bones, muscles, vessels, and nerves ; the organs of

sense, the eye, ear, nose, and tongue ; the respiratory appa-ratus ; abdominal and pelvic viscera; organisation of the

foetus ; the teeth; and the genito-urinary organs of the maleand female. We have examined these plates with considera-ble care, and are highly pleased with them. They arebeautifully executed, even to the minutest details; indeed,they are quite works of art. It is true the parts are notrepresented life-size, but with such execution they are sufn-ciently large to show accurately even the minor details andthe exact relation of the different organs and structures

pourtrayed. The descriptive letter-press is confined to theexplanation of the main features of the plates, and thereforethe Atlas should be used in connexion with some descriptiveanatomical book. The work will be found of real value,on account of the number of its illustrations, the accuracyof its delineations, and the moderate cost, both to the studentto aid him in his studies, and to the practitioner as a work ofreference as regards anatomical details with which he mayfeel that he is not at the moment conversant.

SINGULAR CLAIM AGAINST A MEDICAL MAN.

ON Tuesday, 15th inst., an action was brought in theBrompton County Court, before Serjeant Wheeler, judge,and a jury, by Mr. Thomas Myles Beale, M.R.C.S., of theUxbridge-road, Hammersmith, to recover the sum of eightguineas for professionally attending the family of the de-fendant, Mr. George Richards, who resides in the same

locality. Mr. E. Newman, solicitor, appeared for the plain-tiff ; Mr. Young, barrister, for the defendant, who preferreda claim, as set off, for £13 12s. 6d., for funeral expenses oftwo children, railway-fare to the seaside, &c. Defendantalso claimed d635 damages for alleged negligence on the partof the plaintiff, "and for the loss of defendant’s twochildren."Mr. Newmaii, in opening the case, said the plaintiff was

the medical officer of a club of which the defendant was amember, and in June, 1876, defendant consulted Mr. Beale,stating that he had a very bad sore-throat, and felt generallyunwell. Plaintiff advised him to stay at home for a fewdays, but he disobeyed this injunction, and subsequently itwas found that the complaint from which he was sufferingwas scarlet fever. One of the children was subsequentlyattended by Mr. Beale for the same malady, and a little girlwas treated for debility. In all, the doctor made forty-fivevisits, for which he had charged the very moderate sum ofeight guineas, and it was not until he had twice renderedhis account that the extraordinary allegations and counterclaim were made against him. Mr. Beale was a medicalman of large practice and good reputation, and, of course, itwas very necessary that he should disprove the allegation ofincompetence which was levelled against him.The plaintiff said he had been in practice twenty-two

years. In June, 1876, lie attended the defendant as medicalofficer of his club, and in that month, as well as in July ofthe same year, he attended his son, Stanley Oswald Richards,for scarlet fever. The child died from blood-poisoning, theafter-effects of the fever. He afterwards attended defend-ant’s little girl for debility, and she recovered. In thecourse of the illness of the above-named children the defend-ant asked the plaintiff if one of his other children should goto the sea-side. The plaintiff said, certainly not. In spiteof this the defendant took the child to Ramsgate, where ithad the fever and died. The plaintiff never attended thischild, but the defendant claimed a railway fare on itsaccount, and damages in respect of its death.Mr. Newman then called medical evidence to show that

scarlet fever was very difficult of detection in its first stages,and that the plaintiff, in directing the defendant to stay athome as it were for a probationary period, had acted quiterightly.The jury, without leaving the box, found a verdict for the

plaintiff for the amount claimed, and’ against the defendant’scounter claim.His Honour said he felt sure that they all sympathised

with the defendant in his affliction, but it was a serious, and,in fact, dreadful charge against a medical gentleman, whichhe quite agreed with them could in no way be sustained.The defendant in this action is entitled to the praise

of being an ingenious man. It is a very ingeniousway of meeting a claim in respect of medical services tomake a counter claim founded upon the failure of thoseservices to avert death. The result of this device, how-ever, is happily not such as to encourage others to repeat it.Of course the sooner scarlet fever is diagnosed the better;but, as Trousseau says, ’’ scarlatina is more variable in itsforms and symptoms than any other of the contagiousexanthematous fevers. Of all diseases scarlatina is thatwhich is most frequently defaced." We all know that thereare cases in which scarlet fever is made manifest only bydesquamation or by anasarca. A sore-throat accompaniedwith general ailment does not constitute scarlet fever. Thedevice of the defendant here was not only ingenious butbold, inasmuch as the advice of the medical man wasrepeatedly disregarded. The boldest part of the defendant’sconduct was in making a claim in respect of the child whodied at Ramsgate, never having been attended by the plaintiff,and sent there in opposition to his strong advice. Such boldingenuity defeats itself, and it is gratifying to note the quick-ness with which judge and jury saw through the matter.

SUPERANNUATION GRANTS.-The Town Council ofIpswich have granted to Mr. Charles Frederick Long anannuity, by way of superannuation, of :E100 for ten years, onhis resigning as medical superintendent of the BoroughLunatic Asylum from ill-health.-Dr. Thomas Massy hasobtained a superannuation allowance of X50 per annum onresigning as medical officer for the Ravensdale DispensaryDistrict of the Dundalk Union, Co. Louth.