SCHROEDER, Dr. of Thuringen, case of extraordinary Convulsive Affection 514 STEVENS, Dr. A. H. of New-York, case of Injury by Lightning STUART, Dr. of New-York, Essay on Genius SURUN, Dr. of Paris, Theory of Menstruation 512 155 SUTLIFFE, Mr. of London, case of Cerebral Inflammation cured by Bleeding 109 Two cases of Pneumonia Cases of Tetanus cured by Opium Account of a Gangrenous Affection of the Fingers TRAVERS, Mr. of London, on the use of the Ligature Case of Polypus in the Throat and Facial Sinuses 197 VAIDY, Dr. of Paris, on the Efficacy of local Blood-letting in many Diseases 77 VIREY, Dr. of Paris, observations on some Electrical Phenomena 298 471 WELSH, Dr. of Edinburgh, on the use of Blood-letting in Fever TRANSACTIONS PUBLISHED BY SOCIETIES, &c. The Dublin Hospital Reports, &c. Vol. II. Medical and Physical Journal. 1 OF VOL. XLII.] JULY, 1819. [NO. 245. "For many fortunate discoveries in medicine, and for the detection of numerous "errors, the world is indebted to the rapid circulation of Monthly Journals; "and there never existed any work to which the Faculty in EUROPE and "AMERICA were under deeper obligations than to the Medical and Physical "Journal of London, now forming a long, but an invaluable, series." RUSH. Historical Sketch of the Progress of Medical Science, from January to July, inclusive, 1819. σε Δεν δέ δοκέι καὶ ταυτ ̓ ειδέναι, ὅσα τῳ нов ἀνθρώπω παθήματα ἀπὸδυνάμεων ἔρχεται, καὶ ὅσα ἀπὸ σχημάτων. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἔσω καὶ ἔξω τῶν σώματος είδεα σχημάτων, ἃ μεγάλα ἀλληλων διαφέρει πρὸς τὰ παθηματα καὶ νοσέοντι καὶ ὑγιαίνοντι —ἃ δει πάντα ἐιδέναι, ἢ διαφέρει ὅπως, τα αίτια εκάστων ειδὼς, ὀρθῶς τηροίης.” HIPPOCRATES, περι αρχαίης ιητρικής. SUCH e UCH were the sentiments of the great physician of nature, respecting the importance of anatomical acquirements to the perfection of physiology, as well as to a correct knowledge of the origin and nature of disease. When we duly reflect on this, and consider also the animation, or rather the exultation, with which he spoke of an opportunity he had of contemplating a human skeleton, we readily discern why those men who have most contributed to the improvement of medical science, have dedicated the early part of their lives to anatomical researches. It was such sentiments, and the prospects they disclosed, that led JOHN HUNTER, BORDEU, SOEMMERING, VICQ D'AZYR, and BICHAT, to devote so much time to the tedious and healthdestroying avocations of the dissecting-room, after it was supposed that WINSLOW and MONRO had carried descriptive anatomy to a state of almost absolute perfection. Their genius, to the character of which those labours on a slight view might appear so incongruous, enabled them to perceive that the most essential part even of this important knowledge, in regard to its application to physiology, was still to be acquired. Former travellers through this region, they saw, bad furnished us with little more than such information as might be deduced from general and superficial observance, whilst that to be obtained from profound and accurate views still remained to be developed by the eye of the philosopher. The records of physiology will shew us the results. Those who have a due sense of the importance of the truths above alluded to, will contemplate with much gratification the NO. 245. E discoveries which have been made in that source during the late period; as, besides the interest they possess from their intrinsic value, they seem to shew, that there now exists an ardent spirit, the object of whose exertions is to render the present epoch that at which the history of the progress of descriptive anatomy may receive its final close. In order to illustrate the latter observation most effectually, we should give an account of the discoveries which have been made respecting the brain and its appendages during the late period; but, as we shall in the ensuing Number of our Journal insert the first of a series of Memoirs on this subject, by Professor LAUTH, of Strasbourg, who has pourtrayed them in a very accurate and comprehensive manner, we shall pass over them on the present occasion with only a reference to the source whence a knowledge of them may be derived. (1) § 1. Commencing with the skeleton, our attention is first arrested by the researches of M. BECLARD respecting the formation, increase, and senile atrophy, of the bones of the human species. (2) But, before we proceed, it will be prudent in us to remark, that the view we give of anatomy will be but very partial and imperfect; as, in order to convey a clear and fult idea of its subjects, it would be necessary to enter into minute and lengthened descriptions, that are incompatible with the plan of this essay. We cannot here by any effort seize at one grasp the principal ideas that form the bases of extensive arguments; and, by a few striking traits, give to a reflective mind the clue that might lead it through a whole region of knowledge. We shall, therefore, aim at another object; that of conveying sufficient information of the most interesting parts of the different subjects that come within our views; at the same time taking care to give to those who desire a more perfect degree of knowledge of them, a reference to the various sources whence our observations have been derived. Recurring to the researches of M. Beclard, we find some observations respecting the periods at which ossification of the different bones usually commences, and the development of that process, which the consideration of their interesting nature, and their real practical importance on many occasions, lead us to select from those with which they are conjoined in the original memoir. Ossification commences in the human fœtus about thirty days after conception, and in the following order: In the clavicles, inferior and superior maxillary bones, the humerus, (1) Memoire sur la Structure du Cerveau et de ses Annexes. Jour. comp. du Dict. des Sciences Med. t. iii. (2) Memoire sur l'Ostéose, ou sur la Formation, l'Accroissement, et l'atrophie Sénile des Os dans l'Espéce Humaine. Nouveau Journal de Medicine, t. iv. femur, radius, cubitus, and the tibia. The points of ossification at the age of five weeks, were about a line and a half in length in the clavicle. The spine, which in the adult is about two-fifths of the whole length of the body, bears a different proportion to it at different ages. After the lapse of three weeks of intra-uterine life, when the embryo is about four lines in length and its limbs pointing like buds, the spine is in the proportion of three to four of the whole body. At the age of thirty-five days, the length of the fœtus is from 12 to 18 lines, and the proportion of the spine is as 3 to 5; at from forty to forty-five days, length of the fœtus from 24 to 30 lines, the proportion of the spine as 1 to 2. At two months, the whole length is about 4 inches and 3 lines, that of the spine 2 inches. At three months, the former is 6 inches, and the proportion of the spine as 23 to 6. At four months and a half, it is 9 inches, and the spine 4; at six months, 12 inches, the spine 5; at 74 months, 15 inches, the spine 6; at nine months, or the period of birth, the fœtus is ordinarily from 16 to 20 inches in length, or at a medium, 18; and the spine is in the proportion of 7 to 18 to the whole length of the body. These calculations were made from observations on about fifty fœtuses, at each of the above-indicated periods. Ossification commences in the bodies of the vertebræ between the fortieth and forty-fifth days; it had begun in their apophyses a few days previously. Each vertebra, consisting originally of a section of a solid cylinder, and a ring furnished with several apophyses, is in general formed by three primitive points of ossification: the one anterior, which, by its development, forms the body or solid part of the bone; and two lateral ones, which constitute the apophysarial masses, and which uniting together and with the former constitute the annular structure. Besides these, each vertebra is completed by several secondary points of osseous development. At about the sixth month of intra-uterine life, two points of ossification are found in the second cervical vertebra, one situated above the other. Towards the seventh month, the superior point, which answers to the odontoid process, is larger than the inferior, which relates to the body of the bone. At about the eighth month, the transverse processes have begun to ossify in the first of the lumbar vertebræ. At the time of birth, ossification has commenced in the body of the first cervical vertebra, and also in the first bone of the coccyx. At this age, the body of the fourth lumbar vertebra, which is the most voluminous, is three lines in depth and six lines in breadth. At the same period, the lateral portions of the six superior dorsal vertebræ begin to unite together, so as to form a ring posteriorly to the |