tences. The construction of a sentence of six or eight lines is as much as we can commonly embrace with convenience, in the vernacular language; but this translation presents us. sentences of half a page, and even of a complete octavo page, of difficult Latin. This might be easily remedied in an English translation, to which the work has every claim, as well as the publications on the eye, ear, the organs of smelling, tasting, &c. all of them possessed of so much merit, that the industry and ingenuity of posterity will with difficulty surpass them. A novel and beautiful treatise on anatomy may yet be composed, in which the plan would be strictly analytical. Such a system would not, indeed, be calculated for the beginner, because it would require a preliminary knowledge of the elements of the human fabric, and especially of the osseous system. It should commence with a description of the external form and proportions of the body, their differences in individuals and in the sexes. Next would follow an exact examination of the prominences and depressions, which present themselves, particularly about the articula tions, and a comparison of them with some of the phenomena, which are the consequences of disease or accident. After this might be described the appearance of the skin in various healthy individuals, its alterations in colour and texture from disease; and then its internal structure. To this would succeed the cellular membrane, the fascia; and, those being supposed to be turned aside, the muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, lymphatic glands, and their connexions and relations to each other, displayed in such lights, as would ex hibit them most distinctly and usefully, and, above all, their relations to those parts of the bony fabric, which are most remarkable on the surface of the body. The same plan might be pursued in regard to the organs of the great cavities. The advantages of such a system of anatomy must be obvious. It is the anatomy for practice. It is the anatomy that every one meets when he dissects the dead body. It is the anatomy that every one must picture to his imagination, when he takes up the knife to operate. Many materials for such a system are already prepared by the admirable labours of Cooper, the Bells, Monro, Burns, and Watt.

The work, which is the object of these remarks, was designed by its author, principally for the use of those who attend his course of lectures. Its plan is adapted accordingly, and does not seem to be copied from that of any other writer. The defective and embarrassing division of the subject of anatomy into seven parts, which has been received by almost all anatomical writers, is here quite abandoned. The book is divided into eleven parts. The first contains the osseous system; the second the muscular; third, the Ïigamentary

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gamentary and synovial; fourth, the brain, spinal marrow, eye and ear; fifth, the integuments, cellular membrane, and skin. The arrangement thus far agrees with that proposed by Bichat; but in the remainder of the work, the author, governed no doubt by convenience for dissection and démonstration, has pursued a different method. In part sixth, he describes the nose, mouth, and throat; in part seventh, the thorax and its contents; in the eighth, the organs of the abdomen and pelvis; ninth, the blood-vessels; tenth, the nerves; eleventh, the absorbent vessels; lastly, an appendix on the blood, and structure of glands, and a glossary of anatomical terms. This plan is perfectly adapted to the circumstances which occur in a course of lectures on anatomy; and, as the design of the author was to make his work an auxiliary to his course, his judgment could not be better exhibited than in such a plan. The lecturer on anatomy is for the most part excluded from the advantages of an exact me thod, although perhaps there is no science in which they would be more desirable; for a distinct and connected plan of arrangement would enable the student to form some anticipated notion of the parts of the human fabric, and thus dissipate that perplexing obscurity, which arises from the dependance of the knowledge of one part on that of another. To one, also, who has become in some measure acquainted with the whole human system, it is a great pleasure and advantage to look back, through the medium of a good arrangement, and in a single view, to connect the knowledge of all those parts, which it has cost much time and pains to study separately. In point of connexion, the excellence of the arrangement, proposed by Bichat, is very conspicuous. For its foundation it takes the uses or functions of organs; and its principal divisions are laid out conformably to the finest views of agreement and difference in the beings, which compose the organized creation.

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In the first and second parts, which treat of the osseous and muscular systems, Dr. Wistar has not considered it necessary to vary his language materially from that of other writers; because he found theirs well accommodated to his purpose. In speaking of the articulations, he, with great justice, questions the utility of the common arrangement of those parts. We would agree with him in rejecting their nomenclature and arrangement altogether. The terms of symphysis and suture, it might be necessary to retain, because they have been applied to particular parts, namely, the connexion of the bones of the pubes with each other, and that of the bones of the cranium; yet they ought to be considered as denoting, not species, but individual articulations.

As

As for the synchondrosis, synneurosis, syssarcosis, and synarthrosis, gomphosis and scindelesis, and diarthrosis, enarthrosis, arthrodia, ginglymus, and amphiarthrosis, they are horrible terms, meaning nothing useful; they are a stumbling block to the young student, and a laughing stock to the proficient; they are rarely understood by any one, and no sooner understood than forgotten; in short, they are scarcely explained by two anatomists in the same way, and seem to be of no other use than to enable stupid teachers to astonish ignorant young men.

The third part, which treats on the ligaments, &c. contains many useful additions to our English anatomy. The fourth is peculiarly excellent. The description of the organ of vision is one of the most exact pieces of anatomy we possess; that of the organ of hearing renders this difficult part remarkably clear and intelligible, and at the same time exhibits powers of strong conception and distinct description. The account of the nostrils, mouth, and fauces, is very satisfactory and useful. The organs of the thorax and abdomen are extremely well described. The structure of the lungs, barely made intelligible by other writers, is here explained as if it was intended to be understood; of course it is explained, just so far as our senses are capable of observing it, and nothing is allowed to imagination. This, in truth, is a peculiar excellence in the author of this anatomy, that he never allows himself to ramble from what is positively known, and we therefore always feel secure under his guidance. His description of the digestive apparatus is not less worthy of commendation for its exactness and dis

tinctness.

The style of this work is concise and aphoristical. A style not intended to excite or maintain the reader's interest; but perfectly adapted for more important objects, strength of description, and comprehension of many facts in a small space. Had the author allowed himself to write freely and fluently, he would have swelled the book beyond those limits which are most convenient for the wants of students in this country. If there be an error on either side, it appears to be that of too much conciseness, when we consider that this is, or will be the standard system of the United States.

We give thanks to the author of this work for the industry which he has exerted and the talents he has displayed in its production. It exhibits a perfect knowledge of the science it teaches, a correct taste, a judgment which always discriminates between what is known and what is doubtful; between what is useful and what is superfluous; and all these merits are enhanced by the modesty and want of pretension, which are conspicuous throughout.

GERMANY.

Oordalkundige Beschryving van Eenige der Voornaamste Hulkundige Operatien, &c.-Critical Description of some of the principal Surgical Operations performed in the Academical Hospital of Groningen, from November 1810, till November 1815. By P. J. HENDRIKSZ, &c.-Communicated by Dr. VON EMBDEN, of Hamburgh.

THE above little work commences with critical illustrations of the operation of lithotomy, and the various methods in which that operation has been performed, from the time of Marianus Sanctus down to Langenbeck. With the latter and Camper, the author recommends an extensive wound in the bladder; in other respects, he makes use of Langenbeck's apparatus with the greatest advantage. The first observations describe the successful issue of the operation performed on a boy of six years of age, who had suffered for four years before the disease was ascertained, and afterwards confirmed by the examination with the catheter. The operation was performed on the 5th of May, after Langenbeck's method, and succeeded so well, that the little patient, who had been previously much emaciated, was restored soon after to his parents, and in the best health. The same method was equally successful in the case of a man pretty far advanced in years.

The second section treats on the operation for the cataract. This operation has ever shared a similar fate with that be fore-mentioned; each operator had his own peculiar method of operating, instruments either invented or improved by himself, and considered his own as the only safe method and apparatus. The author, for the most part steering clear of each, considers only critically the two principal methods which have been practised, viz. extraction and depression. Both have been practised with equal success, and both had their respective champions, among the most respectable of the profession. Dr. Hendriksz, from his own experience, prefers the extraction of the lens or its capsula, to depression. If the anterior, posterior, or whole surface of the capsula is opake, or if it adheres to the iris, at the opening of the pupil, (synizesis,) the indication will always be in favour of extraction. Besides, in depression, the patient is always exposed to the danger of its rising again, partly or wholly, and resuming its former situation. The author recommends the instrument invented by Guerin and improved by himself, as particularly useful. The fleam invented by Guerin, and Scarpa's needle for depression, and, in case the

lens

lens does not come out of its own accord, Daviel's spoon and a pair of pincers to remove the capsula are all the instruments he makes use of. The reason why he prefers the fleam, is the fixed and immoveable condition it gives the eye, in consequence of the excavated ring on its inner peripheric side, without, however, in the least pressing it; it also keeps the eyelids at a distance from each other, retaining the aqueous humour, and, consequently, keeping the cornea tense, and, above all, the secure performance of the incision, by determining its depth, size, and semicircular shape. Of seven patients on whom the author operated in this manner very lately, six recovered entirely. Towards the conclusion of this chapter, he makes some remarks on the proper nature of the true black cataract, which he does not wish to be confounded with that generally termed gutta serena, or amaurosis. "Experience (says he,) has taught us, that the lens may assume a dark, opake, and even black appearance,—a complaint which better deserves the name of amaurosis than a palsy of the optic nerve.

The third section treats of amputations, which, besides a very remarkable observation upon an amputation below the knee-joint, in a general and complete degeneration of the substance of the bone, contains some critical and practical ideas on the extirpation of the joints, and the uncertainty of separating the morbid substance of the bone from the healthy part, &c.

The fourth and last section contains some practical and diagnostical ideas on the character and treatment of sarcocele and testicles enlarged and degenerated by inflammation. Disorders which particularly require the extirpation of the testicles are, according to our author's opinion, either a scirrhous degeneration of their substance, or a suppuration. That scirrhous degeneration, known by the name of sarcocele, is to be carefully distinguished from all other testicular enlargements, and particularly from that swelling and induration which is the consequence of previous inflammation, as the latter affection never, but the former always, requires extirpation. Antecedent inflammation, a gradual hardness, swelling of the affected part to a certain degree, are the symptoms which the author ascribes to an indurated testicle of this description. The nature of sarcocele, on the contrary, he describes to consist in a degeneration of the organic principle of the testicle, specific gravity and hardness, a rough surface, pricking pains, a fixed pain in the spermatic cord, followed by violent pain when the tumour is touched, degeneration of the spermatic cord, varicose distensions of the vessels of the scrotum followed by erysipelatous