154 MEETING OP THE PROVINCIAL 



Dr. Kidd next read to the meeting a paper, consisting of remarks 

 on the anatomical and physiological works of Galen, which the 

 learned Professor was requested to publish in the forthcoming vol- 

 ume of Transactions. 



On Thursday, the second day of the meeting, after some prelimi- 

 nary business, Mr. Crosse proceeded to read his Retrospective Ad- 

 dress for the past year, of which the following is an abstract : — 



Some recent improvements in anatomy were first briefly noticed, 

 ;^nd the spread of anatomical knowledge in this country was said to 

 be almost a matter of demonstration — the number of able men de- 

 voted to teaching it being treble what it was thirty years ago. 

 Manchester, which was the first town to institute a provincial 

 school of anatomy, possessed all the requisites for carrying on such 

 an establishment, in its locality, its wealth, its population, its pub- 

 lic medical charities, and last, though far from least, in that spirit 

 of enterprize and philosophical inquiry which is associated with the 

 name of a White, a Percival, a Dalton, and a Henry. The ad- 

 vancement of physiology was attributed mainly to experiments on 

 animals; but, in a few instances, had been recently accomplished by 

 observing diseases. The different improvements in medicine were 

 dwelt upon, and much was attributed to the stethoscope rendering 

 many internal morbid changes cognizable to the senses, particularly 

 those situated in the chest and abdomen, which before were not un- 

 derstood during the life of the patient. No subject had of late 

 more engaged the attention of physiologists than the action and 

 sounds of the heart, — the Report of the meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation, at Dublin, might be cited in proof of this. A remarkable 

 discovery by the microscope, of entozoa infesting the muscles of the 

 human body, belonged to the past year, and one or two thousand of 

 these animalcules had been found in a square inch of muscle ; ano- 

 ther species of entozoo?i had recently been found in the intestinal 

 coats of horses. The fact that the saliva is alkaline in a state of 

 health, and acid as often as the stomach is disordered, and the power 

 of iodine to cause salivation, had recently been elicited. The homoe- 

 opathic doctrine, or new German reverie, which had loaded the 

 press with books and worthless periodicals was sarcastically denounc- 

 ed, and quackery in general alluded to. The recent suggestions and 

 improvements in surgical practice were more fully entered into; and 

 amongst the yearly announcements of cures for diseases hitherto 

 deemed incurable, the most prominent was the treatment of cancer- 

 ous affections by the chloride of zinc in the form of paste, which 

 had recently been tried under the inspection of some eminent sur- 

 geons in this country, and found efficacious. The improved methods 

 of applying cold in cases of local inflammation, so much employed 

 in France, and significantly designated the treatment " by irriga- 

 tion/' were mentioned in terms of recommendation ; the irregular 

 use of cold applications in the ordinary method being objectionable, 

 causing rheumatism of joints, and in one instance tetanus, and, un- 

 ess carefully used, proving worse, as to ease and remedial effects to 



