published a Letter to the Commissioners on their Fifth Report, and a Refutation of various Misrepresentations, published by Drs. Macgregor and Jackson.

MR. WILSON.-QUAM BREVIS VITA!-We were far, very far, from thinking, while employed in paying a just tribute of praise to the professional qualification of this gentleman in our last Number, that ere our pages were yet dry, we should have to record the heavy loss which his family, his friends, and the public, have sustained by the sudden and awful visitation which has called an excellent man from hence, "to another and a better world."

Another Expedition into the Interior of Africa.-Captain DENHAM, who served with the Duke of Wellington's army in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, arrived here on the 20th, in the Walsingham packet, on his way to Tripoli, where he will take charge of an expedition, which has been some time in agitation, for exploring the interior of Africa; he will be accompanied by a Dr. Oudeny and Lieut. Clapperton, of the navy; the former, a member of the University of Edinburgh and a skilful and intelligent naturalist, will find a wide and interesting field for the exercise of his talents by a residence at Bornou, where he will remain as vice consul, and by that means a point d'appui will be established nearly 1,000 miles from Tripoli, where the expedition may rest during their subsequent operations, to the eastward and southward of that place. A naval carpenter, from the Dock-yard at Malta, will also accompany these gentlemen in their interesting and hazardous undertaking. Captain Denham will have the local rank of major on the continent of Africa.-Extract of a Letter from Gibralter, dated October 25.

The Phosphorescence of the Lampyris Noctiluca and Splendidula. -IN a curious paper on the phosphorescence of the lampyrus nocti. luca and splendidula, Mr. MACAIRE has drawn the following conclusions from numerous observations:-1. A certain degree of heat is necessary to the voluntary phosphorescence of these animals, 2. Their phosphorescence is excited by a degree of heat superior to the first, and is irrecoverably destroyed by a higher temperature. 3. All bodies capable of coagulating albumen take away, from phosphorising matter, its power of phosphorescence. 4. The phosphorescence cannot take place but in a gas which contains oxygen. 5. It is excited by the galvanic pile, but no effect is produced upon it by electricity. 6. The phosphorescent matter is composed principally of albumen.Bibliotheque Universelle, May 1821.

Account of the Leech of Ceylon.-This animal is seldom more than half an inch long, and is nearly semi-transparent. It is very active, and is said occasionally to spring. Its powers of contraction and extension are very great. It is like a fine chord when fully extended; and its point is so sharp that it easily makes its way through very small openings. It is supposed to have an acute sense of smell; for, no

sooner does a person stop where leeches abound, than they appear to crowd eagerly to the spot from all quarters. "Those who have had

nó experience of these animals," says Dr. DAVY;" of their immense numbers in their favourite haunts,-of their activity, keen appetite, and love of blood,—can have no idea of the kind and extent of annoyance they are to travellers in the interior, of which they may be truly said to be the plague. In rainy weather, it is almost shocking to see the legs of men on a long march, thickly beset with them, gorged with blood, and the blood trickling down in streams. In attempting to keep them off, they crowd to the attack, and fasten on quicker than they can be removed. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have occasionally seen at least fifty on a person at a time. Their bites are apt to fester and become sores, and frequently degenerate into, extensive ulcers, which, in too many instances, have occasioned the loss of a limb, and even of life.”—Dr. Davy's Account of the Interior of Ceylon.

Propagation of Sound in Elastic Fluids.-MR. VAN REES has given the results of his experiments on the propagation of sound on elastic fluids, made with great care, and under the auspices of MM. FRAMEYER and MOLL. The following are some of the results:-Velocity 10° of Centig. theorem.

Hydrogen

1233.3 metres.

Partial Palsy removed by Lightning.-MR. OLMSTED, professor of chemistry in the college of North Carolina, has published an ac count of the removal of a paralytic affection by a stroke of lightning. Mr. Samuel Leffers, of Carteret county, North Carolina, had been affected with a paralytic affection in his face, which had settled chiefly in the eye. When he was walking in his house during a thunderstorm, he was struck down by lightning. After lying senseless fifteen or twenty minutes, he recovered so far as to be sensible of his situation. He recovered the use of his senses and of his limbs by degrees, during the remainder of the day and night; and he felt so well the next day, that he was inclined to give to a distant friend an account of

what had happened. He was able to write a long letter without the use of glasses. Since that time he never felt a symptom of the paralytic disorder; and he concluded that it had been effectually cured by the shock: he thought, however, that the same cause which re stored his sight impaired his hearing.-American Journal of Sciences, vol. iii.

Plant soluble in Water.-THE plant called nostoch communis, which is found in the South of France, in the form of a green and membranaceous envelope, filled with a species of jelly, containing a number of elongated filaments, has the remarkable property of dissolving in water. It always disappears when the rain has ceased, leaving only a small dry membrane, apparently inorganized, which resumes its original form by being wetted. A curious paper on this plant, and on the different names it has received, is published by Mr. VALLOT.Journal de Physic, Mars 1821.

Effects of Copper on Vegetation.-SOME time since, says Mr. PHILLIPS, having accidentally spilt some solution and oxide of copper near the root of a young poplar tree, in a short time the tree began to droop; the leaves on the lower branches dying first, and eventually those on the upper ones. On cutting a branch from the tree, he ob served that the knife was covered with copper to the whole breadth of the branch, showing that the copper had been absorbed, and had undoubtedly proved fatal to the life of the tree.-Ann. Phil.

Lactometer.-MR. DAVY, the professor of chemistry to the Royal Cork Institution, has published some experiments made with a view to the detection and prevention of frauds in the sale of skimmed milk. He has invented a simple instrument for effecting that purpose, of which there is a good plate in the last Number of the Philosophical Magazine. When it is considered to what extent skimmed milk is used in Ireland, particularly in that part of it in which the professor resides, where it forms an indispensable part of the subsistence of the lower orders, the advantages of such an invention will be readily admitted. We shall give the paper itself in one of our next Numbers.

Effects of Metallic Salts on Blue Vegetable Colours.-IN a series of experiments, lately made on vegetable colours, Mr. J. MURRAY has discovered the remarkable fact, that subacetate of lead, nitrate and sulphate of copper, nitromuriate of platinum, nitromuriate of gold, &c. turned syrup of violets, tincture of cabbage, columbine, blue hyacinth, &c. green; and that, when these colours are even reddened by acetic or citric or carbonic acid, &c. the metallic solutions restore the original blue colour. Boracic acid reddens the yellow colour obtained from reseda lutea, and so do the metallic solutions. It seems evident, therefore, that we have yet to learn the invariable characteristics of alkalies and acids.

Analysis of Mineral Waters.—In the last volume of the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, there is a va luable paper by JOHN DALTON, containing some remarks tending to. facilitate the analysis of spring and mineral waters, which we recommend strongly to those who are anxious to acquire that degree of accuracy in this sort of delicate chemical operations, which is not to be obtained by the perusal of certain other recent essays on the same subject, coming from an imposing quarter.

Abstract of Fifty Operations for Hernia.-THESE fifty cases came under the observation of Dr. MASSALIEN, during a practice of thirty years, previously to the year 1810. Of these cases there were→

29 in males and ...

Of which there were 25 inguinal and 4 femoral.

11 men and.

19 inguinal and 3 femoral were on the right side; 5 inguinal and 1 femoral on the left.

21 in females.

Of which there were 5 inguinal, and 16 femoral.

9 women died.

5 inguinal were on the right side; 9 femoral on the right, and 7 on the left. -Zeitschrift für Natur und Heilkunde, Dresden.

Transposition of the Abdominal Viscera.-AN instance of this kind has presented itself to the observation of Dr. CAMPBELL, of Edinburgh, who has published a detailed account of it in the 69th Number of the Edinburgh Medical Journal. In the cavity of the abdomen there were found only the liver and gall-bladder, the cardiac portion of the stomach, the termination of the colon, and the kidneys, covered with the peritoneum. The rest of the stomach, the small intes. tines, and the remainder of the colon, with the spleen, pancreas, and great omentum, were found in the left thoracic cavity. It appears, from a note by Dr. Campbell, that the sapientes (good folks!) of the northern Alma Mater called in question the occurrence of this case, as well as the probability of the child continuing to live under such unusual circumstances; and that he was, in consequence, obliged to refresh their memory with the relation of several instances of visceral transposition, taken from British and foreign authors, in support of his own accuracy. Dr. Campbell might have mentioned among them the very striking case recorded by the Editor of this Journal, in one of his letters on the State of Medical Science in France, inserted in the 7th volume of the Medical Repository; where he would have found that a female, who died at the age of fifty years, exhibited, on dissection, a complete reversion of the principal thoracic and abdominal viscera. But we have had occasion to mark the studied manner in which the good people of Edinburgh connected with the medical press avoid mentioning even the bare name of the Editor in question; for they even forgot to acknowledge the receipt of his books, sent them as presents, an honour which they have not denied to Mr. Callow's General Catalogue of Second-hand Books.

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Spina Bifida.-THROUGH the kindness of Mr. JUKES, the very respectable practitioner of Peter-street, Westminster, we have been allowed to inspect one of the most remarkable cases of spina bifida (if, indeed, it be not the only one of the kind on record,) that we had ever seen, heard, or read of. The subject is a young woman, now aged nineteen years, who was born with a small vesicular swelling at the lower extremity of the dorsal spine, which swelling has kept increasing every year, so as to have now reached a size considerably larger than that of an ordinary man's head. It contains a transparent fluid, which occasionally oozes, in very small quantities, through the integuments by which the tumor is formed. This young woman has enjoyed good health ever since, and menstruates through an open sorc in the fleshy part of the right thigh. We entertain no doubt that Mr. Jukes, who has attended the patient for a long time, would procure, willingly, to any respectable member of the profession who should wish to inspect this pathological phenomenon, the means of doing so, on a slight remuneration being made to the parents of the patient, who are in needy circumstances. Mr. Jukes has led us to hope that we shall soon be enabled to lay before our readers a more circumstantial account of this case, with a drawing of the part, from himself.

Journal of Experimental Philosophy.-Tue fourth Number of Dr. MAGENDIE's excellent Journal has been laying before us for some time. It contains, 1, a continuation of Dr. ROULIN'S Inquiry into the Nature of the Movements and Attitudes of Man, 2. Observations on a Rupture of the Stomach in the Horse, by Mr. DUPUY. 3. On the Organs which tighten or relax the Membrane of the Tympanum and the Ossiculi of the Auditory Apparatus, in Man and mammiferous Animals, by Dr. MAGENDIE. 4. Note on the Pian, a pustulous Eruption of the Skin common in the West Indies, by ROCHOUX. 5. Considerations on the Organic Derangement called Melanose, by BRESCHET. 6. Anatomical Examination of a Dog, having only one Eye and no Mouth, by MAGENDIE. 7. On the Use of Electricity in Concussions of the Brain, by GONDRET. 8. An Abstract of Mr. CHARLES BELL's System of Nerves. 9. Chemical Analysis of the Guttural Ganglions of the Trisplanchnic Nerve in the Horse, by LASSAIGNE. 10. Case of pernicious Intermittent Fever cured with a small Dose of the Sulphate of Quinine, by MAGENDIE. This Number is illustrated with four plates: the first of which represents the comparative anatomical structure of the ossiculi in the ear of twelve different mammiferous animals; the second, a variety of views of the same organs in man; the third, some representations of the monoculous and astomic dog described by Dr. MAGENDIE; and the fourth, several diagramatic illustrations of the paper on muscular motion.

Medical Instruction.-THE French government has determined to establish a School of Medicine at Lyons. Besides the usual course of Lectures delivered by the physicians and surgeons of hospitals, there