that the seminal vesicles secrete their own fluid, it does not, at the same time, invalidate Mr.Wilson's, and other physiologists', generally-received opinion that those vesicles serve also as reservoirs for the semen. Nothing, indeed, in the human economy militates against the supposition that the same organ may secrete its own fluid, and receive at the same time, as a depôt, the fluid secreted by another organ. Have we not, among several other examples, that of the gall-bladder, which secretes a mucus peculiar to its own structure, and serves as a reservoir for the excess of bile emulged from the liver?

Penis; Urethra. (Lecture vi.)-The whole of this lecture being strictly anatomical, we cannot detain our readers with the consideration of any part of it; but must refer them to the original, for the didactic information it contains.

Having, by the preceding anatomical lectures on the urinary organs, fully prepared his readers to receive with advantage the information which his subsequent dissertations on the morbid alterations of those organs are intended to convey, Mr. Wilson enters on the investigation of the second object of his book, which may be properly divided into observations relative, 1st, to calculous disorders; 2dly, to suppression and retention of urine; 3dly, to diseases of the bladder and prostate gland; 4thly, to strictures of the urethra; 5thly, to fistula in perinao; and, 6thly, to diseases of the testicles. Incidentally to some of these subjects of inquiry, Mr. Wilson speaks of puncturing the bladder, and of impotency from bodily defect, or from ideas (as he somewhat quaintly styles them) of the mind.

The history of calculous disorders occupies three lectures. Calculous Concretions: their Classification; their Composition. -Symptoms produced by Renal and Vesical Calculi.-Symptoms of Vesical Calculi continued. Effects of Chemical Agents on Urinary Concretions. Treatment of Calculi previous to Lithotomy. (Lecture VII. VIII. and Ix.)-In these three lectures, our author has concentrated all the information we possess respecting a class of diseases which has of late years attracted so great a share of the attention of the profession.

In some preliminary observations, he first informs us of the situation in which urinary calculi have been found; of their size, shape, and consistency; of their nuclei. Mr. Wilson has seen instances of calculi formed round a piece of leaden bougie, which had been broken off and left in the bladder when those species of instruments were used. In the museum of the College of Surgeons, there are several instances of calculous matter deposited on common bougies.

"Sir William Blizard, to whom we are indebted for many valuable additions to our muscum, has presented us with a calculus, which he

removed from the bladder of a patient, that had formed on a common bougie which had slipped into the bladder about a year before the ope ration was performed. This patient had been in the habit of wearing bougies during the whole night; one morning he missed the bougie, but made no inquiries as to what had become of it; nor was he aware that it had entered the bladder, until Sir William Blizard had found it in the concretion."

Mr. Wilson observes, that some people, interested in propagating the belief that they, or some part of their family, are afflicted with a dangerous and painful disease, will often attempt to practise on the credulity of the surgeon; and that gravel and stone are discases not unusually fixed on for such deception.

"A few years ago, a young lady of rank, without any discoverable motives, insisted that she daily passed a large quantity of gravel from the bladder: I saw as much of this as nearly filled half of a pint-bottle, and which she strongly asserted had been evacuated with the urine on the preceding night. It was sent to Professor Brande, who immediately detected the imposition, and found the pretended gravel to be common sand, such as is strewed on the floors of kitchens and servants' rooms; but, notwithstanding the detection of this palpable fraud, the young lady long and obstinately persisted in her absurd attempt to deceive. Many years ago, when I resided in the house of Mr. Cruikshank, a person brought his son to that gentleman for surgical advice and assistance, asserting that the boy had long been cruelly afflicted with stone; in proof of which he produced several pieces of hard slaty substances, which he stated he had assisted the child in removing from the urethra. Upon my expressing an opinion that these were not urinary concretions, he pretended to be angry, and indignantly left the house, declaring that he would seek for a surgeon to perform the operation for the removal of the stone, whose humanity would not let him doubt the assertion of a father, who, though in poverty, would sacrifice his own existence gladly to save that of his A few days after this he brought back the boy with a large piece of slate sticking in the urethra, which had torn the inner membrane, and, from the swelling it had occasioned, was with much difficulty removed. Wishing to detect the imposture, I persuaded him to leave the boy in Mr. Cruikshank's house, under the pretence that the operation of lithotomy should be performed, if necessary; and it was only after the forms of binding the body and bandaging his eyes were gone through, that he could be prevailed upon to confess his father had taught him to introduce these substances, which he procured from coals, for the purpose of exciting commiseration for his pretended sufferings; and obtaining money from the charitably disposed; and, perhaps, in this instance, to have extorted money from the surgeon to conceal his ignorance, had he seriously attempted to perform any operation."

son.

As for the classification and composition of urinary calculi,

the subject has been too recently before the readers of the Medical and Physical Journal, to require any further consideration from us in this place. Mr. Wilson adopts their division into six species, whose denominations are taken either from their known composition, or from the arrangement of their constituents. Mr. Wilson quotes freely from Dr. Prout and all the other recent authors who have written on calculi, acknowledging, at the same time, in a general way, how deeply indebted he stands to them for the information. Like many of his contemporary writers in England, not excluding the latest, he seems unacquainted with what is doing abroad on the subject of which he treats. The posthumous work of that eminent chemist, the late Professor BRUGNATELLI, on Human Calculi, is not even mentioned in the book before us.

In speaking of the causes of calculi, our author refers his readers, for much interesting and important information, to the writings of Dr. MARCET, Mr. SMITH, and Mr. COPLAND HUTCHISON. This last gentleman's papers in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, on the occurrence of calculous disorders among seamen, are justly alluded to by Mr. Wilson, as reflecting much credit on the industry and good sense of their author. We earnestly recommend the perusal of that part of Mr. Wilson's eighth and ninth lectures which treats of the symptoms of renal and vesical calculi, and their mode of cure, to the attention of our readers. In speaking of the use of magnesia, Mr. Wilson does not omit to state that this earth will sometimes collect in large quantities in the bowels, and that, therefore, some mild aperient should be used to carry it off. He relates the case of the late Lord Heathfield, whom Mr. Wilson had attended, and who passed some pounds of magnesia from his bowels, although he had taken none into his stomach, nor in any other way, for the preceding three months. It is to avoid such unpleasant consequences from the employment of magnesia in the lithic diathesis, (as Dr. Prout calls it,) that, where we have had occasion to prescribe this earth over-night, we invariably desire the patient to drink, the following morning, a glass of common lemonade, which never fails to prove an equally agreeable and aperient draught. This mode of neutralizing the excess of magnesia taken into the stomach, will interfere less with the main object for which magnesia is given, than where the latter has been administered already combined with citric or acetic acid, as recommended by Professor Brande and Dr. Scudamore.

It must be a matter of anxiety to our readers to know the opinion of a surgeon of so much experience and well-earned fame as Mr. Wilson, on the best mode of performing the operation of lithotomy. We therefore quote the following short

paragraph, as conveying fully our author's sentiments on the subject. He does not seem to have been aware, however, of the more recent mode of operating for the extraction of the stone, proposed by Mr. SANSON, and acted upon so successfully by Professor VACCA, of Pisa, whose interesting memoir on this subject we reviewed in our last Number.

"It has often been a disputed point, whether opening into the bladder above the pubes, or from the perineum, is to be preferred in extracting the stone: men of equal experience and celebrity have exclusively adopted each of these operations, but some have practised both; and each, under common circumstances taken on an average, appears to have been attended with nearly the same ratio of success. Cases, however, may and do occur, where the magnitude of the stone will call exclusively for the high operation, or that above the pubes."

Albuminous Urine. Diabetes. Hydatids-Inflammation and Suppuration-Scrofulous and Scirrhous Affections of the Kidneys. (Lecture x.)-The morbid alterations of urine detailed in the first part of this lecture, although (strictly speaking) not the province of the surgeon, should, Mr. Wilson thinks, be well known to every individual practising surgery, as they often lead to the formation of, or exist with, other diseases requiring surgical, or even manual, treatment for their cure.

The disposition in the kidney to separate albumen from the blood, is sometimes chronic, at other times only accidental. When of long duration, it is generally accompanied by great irritability and a frequent desire to pass the urine. The danger attending this morbid secretion of albumen depends on its intensity and length of duration. When moderate, it has lasted for years without much injury to the constitution; but, when both permanent and excessive, it indicates a great derangement of the animal economy.

How this disposition to separate albumen from the blood in the kidney is to be counteracted, Mr. Wilson admits that we know not. Dr. Blackall has recommended bleeding: Mr. Wilson has seen instances in which the muriated tincture of iron proved very useful in lessening, and he believes in removing, the complaint.

An excess of urea is another form of morbid alteration in urine. It is commonly found in the urine of children, and in people depositing phosphates. The urine, under these circumstances, is generally pale, reddens litmus paper, and is for the most part free from sediment. On the addition of nitric acid, however, crystallization speedily takes place, and it is then found to contain an abundant quantity of urea.

"When urea is in excess, there is usually a frequent and almost irresistible desire of voiding the urine: this does not arise from the ful

ness of the bladder, for, in general, a small quantity is voided at any one time; but, from the frequency, the total quantity voided in a given time is greater than natural. This quantity is augmented in cold weather, and is also increased by all causes producing mental agitation. There is also a sense of weight or dull pain in the back, and an occasional irritation about the neck of the bladder, which sometimes extends along the urethra. The pulse, however, is not af. fected, and the tongue is clean: there is no remarkable thirst, nor is there any craving for food, nor are the functions of the stomach and bowels much deranged."

Stimulating remedies, observes our author further, particularly opium, hyoscyamus, joined to those which may be necessary to keep the stomach and bowels in healthy action, have been found the most efficient in suspending the disease. When the complaint occurs independently of diseases requiring surgical aid, it is to be considered as belonging for its treatment to the province of the physician. The same observation holds good with regard to diabetes, respecting which Mr. Wilson has said but little.

On the subject of hydatids, our readers will find much curious information in the present volume; as also with regard to abscesses formed in the kidneys, and scrofulous affections of these organs. The following specimens will give an idea of the manner in which this part of the work is treated.

"The true hydatid is found, in general, in a distinct cyst, which is often of a large size, and composed of firm materials; so that in some glands, as in the liver, it frequently appears, and to the touch feels, like cartilage. In the kidney, the cyst containing the hydatids is generally thinner than in the liver; but the thickness is different in different parts of the same cyst, and, when cut into, the cyst appears laminated the lamina are white, and on the inside they are lined by a pulpy substance like coagulable lymph. The cavity of the cyst is sometimes subdivided by a portion of this pulpy substance. Within this cyst there is sometimes one hydatid, but oftener a very considerable number: some of these are attached to the side of the cyst, others are loose in the cavity and swimming in a fluid. Each hydatid consists of a round bag, composed of a pulpy semi-opaque substance, generally of a whitish, though sometimes of a light amber, colour, and containing a fluid capable of coagulation, although in a less degree than serum. I have found the fluid coagulate by heat, and become very turbid by the addition of acids."

"Some years ago, in opening a body, in the theatre in Windmillstreet, of an adult man, I found a cyst in the liver, containing an immense number of hydatids. A small part of the cyst reached the surface of the liver, on which something like a cicatrix appeared, as if the coat had formerly burst and afterwards united. Another cyst was found in the lower part of the pelvis of the same man, between the