THE LONDON MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL JOURNAL. CONTAINING ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE OF EMINENT PRACTITIONERS, AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NEW WORKS RELATING TO MEDICINE, SURGERY, MIDWIFERY, CHEMISTRY, PHARMAC BOTANY, AND NATURAL HISTORY. EDITED BY RODERICK MACLEOD, M.D. LICENTIATE OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON; MEMBER OF THE MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, AND OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH; PHYSICIAN TO THE WESTMINSTER GENERAL DISPENSARY; TO THE INFIRMARY FOR children, AND TO THE SCOTTISH HOSPITAL: AND JOHN BACOT, Esq. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; AND LATELY SURGEON TO HIS MAJESTY'S GRENADIER REGIMENT PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, PUBLISHED BY J. SOUTER, 73, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; THE LONDON Medical and Physical Journal. 1 OF VOL. XLIX.] JANUARY, 1823. [NO. 287. 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. AN HISTORICAL ESSAY ON THE STATE OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES DURING THE LAST SIX MONTHS. ON presenting our readers with a Retrospect of the Progress of Medicine and the collateral Sciences, during the last six months, it may not be irrelevant to say a few words regarding the view we have taken of the manner in which this may be best effected. An attempt to notice every thing that has been published within this period, would be to reduce the essay to a mere catalogue of the papers contained in the various foreign and domestic Journals, and a reference to the very limited number of more extended works which have appeared. On this account, we have judged it more expedient to fix upon some of the most important subjects to which attention has been directed, and to concentrate, as much as possible, any new light which has been thrown upon them, so as to assist the memories of those who may have been progressively following us in our monthly career; and, at the same time, to point out some of the most interesting cases and occurrences of the last few months to any others who may be desirous to avail themselves of this Sketch, which may be considered as a brief medical chronicle of the times. We therefore request our readers to observe, that we do not now; nor do we intend hereafter, to attempt more than to select from the general mass of medical writings such parts as appear to us to merit, in an especial manner, the attention of our professional brethren; and we feel convinced that those best acquainted with the labour and difficulty of the task will be the most disposed to view with indulgence the deficiencies in its execution. In pursuance of this plan, we purpose adopting the following divi sions, both for the sake of perspicuity and facilitating the means of reference-viz.. ANATOMY, natural, comparative, and morbid; PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, MEDICINE, THERAPEUTICS and NO. 287. B MATERIA MEDICA, SURGERY, MIDWIFERY, CHEMISTRY, and BOTANY. ANATOMY (NATURAL,) If we consider how long this branch of natural science has engaged attention, and how many gifted individuals have devoted themselves to its investigation, we must regard it as matter of astonishment that any new discovery should be left for anatomists of the present day, not wonder at the lack of novelty. Within the period of our Essay, the anatomical structure of the eye has received some elucidation from the Croonian Lecture of Sir E. HOME, illustrated by the admirable microscopical drawings of Mr. BAUER. It appears that the marsupium in the bird's eye is not muscular, but a fine vascular membrane, as supposed by Dr. YOUNG. The anterior layer of the ciliary processes consists of about eighty processes lying directly behind the iris, and firmly attached at the base to the sclerotic and choroid coats. Between these membranous processes are little bundles of muscular fibres, % of an inch long: they take their rise from the capsule of the vitreous humour, pass over the edge of the lens, and are attached to its capsule, unconnected either with the iris or ciliary processes. In the human eye, they form bundles; in birds, they form nearly one continuous layer of muscular fibres. The iris is fixed at its origin to the annular ligament, is divisable into two layers, the posterior muscular, the fibres radiating towards the pupil, at which part there is a regular sphincter muscle; the anterior membranous." This structure had been previously described and delineated by Mr. MAUNOIR, of Geneva. 66 25 100 A new muscle has been described in the human eye, by Dr. HORNER, of Philadelphia. It takes its origin from the os unguis, near its junction with the os planum, and passes forwards and outwards to the internal commissure of the eyelids, near the puncta lachrymalia, where it terminates. Previous to this, however, it separates into two parts; one of which is inserted into the upper eyelid, and the other into the lower. The muscle is about half an inch long, and one-fourth of an inch wide, its margins being well defined. To get a view of this muscle, we are directed" to cut through the eyelids, and separate them from the ball, except at the internal canthus; theu turn the lids over on the nose, remove the valvula semilunaris, and the tunica conjunctiva in the neighbourhood, with the fatty matter." Its use is to draw the puncta inwards, and to keep the eyelids properly applied to the ball. Dr. The minute structure of particular organs still holds out a field for new discoveries; or, at least, new descriptions of them are given. J. M. MAPPES, of Francfort, has made the liver and kidneys the subject of a thesis, which is to be regarded rather as conveying an account of the facts detailed by Professor AUTENRIETH, of Tubingen,§ and an analysis of the dissertation by M. EYSENHARDT, than as *Philosophical Transactions, 1822. + London Medical Repository, July 1822. De Penitiori Hepatis Humani Structura. 4to. Tubinge, 1817. containing any new observations peculiar to himself. If the liver, in its recent state, be examined, either externally or internally, by cutting or tearing its substance, it appears throughout composed of two different textures: one of these, which is termed granular by Mappes, and medullary by Autenreith, forms convolutions, sometimes resembling those of the intestines, sometimes branched, flattish, rounded, of a yellow colour, and considerable density, which leave between them rounded spaces, from a quarter to half a line in breadth; which spaces are filled up by a substance, which is brown, and called cellulovascular, or cortical, according to M. Autenreith. When the liver is much gorged with blood, these structures cannot be distinguished without previously injecting warm water into the large vessels, especially the vena porta. Examined with the microscope, these convolutions appear entirely composed of small grains. If water, with cinnabar or other colouring matter suspended in it, be injected into a branch of the hepatic vein, the water flows out by the vena portæ, but the colouring matter is deposited on the sides of the vessels, so that, being examined with the microscope, the texture of the viscus appears divided into little brilliant granulations. Among the convolutions of this substance are little triangular openings, which communicate with each other: some of these only contain ramifications of the hepatic vein; but in others, particularly if examined at a greater depth, are to be found three vessels, -viz. a large branch which belongs to the hepatic vein, and two smaller, one of which appertains to the artery, and the other to the hepatic duct. The sides of none of the vessels which arise from trunks contained in the capsule of Glisson adhere to the intimate structure of the liver, but are separated from it by a gelatinous matter, which appears uniform; and in some degree, also, by a portion of cellular substance which accompanies them. The hepatic vein presents no similar appearance; its ramifications adhere intimately with the granular substance, without any medium of separation. With regard to the kidney, the method employed by M. Eysenhardt was to take very thin slices, cut both lengthways and across, and examine them with a powerful microscope. With the naked eye small points are perceptible, which, magnified, appeared oval or round granulations, at various distances from each other, differing little with regard to size in the same kidney, and which, after a certain degree of maceration, could be detached with the vessels adhering, a void being left in the place which they occupied. They are composed of knotted vessels, surrounded with a grey or ash-coloured substance, and uniting, not so much by anastomosing as by frequently meeting. An injection by the renal artery, if well executed, renders these little bodies entirely red, but in such a manner that some points still appear deeper coloured, and others lighter. M. VAUS, of Liege, has bestowed much pains in the investigation of the minute structure of the heart, as regards the distribution of the muscular fibres. These are said to be disposed in three layers, of which the outer and middle are common to both ventricles, and the third divided into two parts corresponding to either cavity. The outer layer consists of fine bundles of fibres, which become more and more oblique |