RICHERAND’S ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY, &¢. 
755 
doubt, prove eminently serviceable. Inan siderable part of Dr. Cadogan’streatise cn 
appendix theauthorhastranscribedacon- the nursing and management of children. 
Art. XXX. The Elements of Physiology, Fc. Translated from the French of A. Ricues 
RAND, by Robert Kerrison, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. 8vo. 
pp: 500. 
TT has been remarked by a French 
writer, that there is no subject on which 
any one can come to think right, till he 
has exhausted all the folly and absurdity 
into which it may lead him. If this ob- 
servation be just, every reader, ds well 
as every:author, will have reason to be 
Satisfied with it, because it always in- 
Spires the hopes of acquiring some new 
truth, or making some discovery. Should 
these hopes be disappointed, it must be 
‘pleasing and consolatory to reflect, that 
the quantum of error is diminished, al- 
though no addition has been made to our 
Knowledge. Hence authors might be 
divided into two classes—Ist, into those 
who improve science directly by their 
enius and exertions; and 2dly, into 
+ those who benefit science indirectly, by 
exhausting some of the nonsense and ab- 
surdity with which it is encumbered. 
Physiology has been chiefly cultivated 
unfortunately by the latcer species; and 
' even to the present time, few have stu- 
died it, that belong to the, first distin- 
guished order. 
Within these few years, however, in 
_ consequence of the rapid progress of 
_ physical science, the animal economy 
has been investigated with more accu- 
racy and success. Our knowledge of 
several functions, though still imperfect, 
has_heen greatly: increased; and what 
we do know, does not rest on plausible 
reasoning, or hypothetical conjecture, 
but on the solid basis of observation and 
experiment. An explanation or a theory 
addressed to the imagination is not now 
sufficient to satisfy our inquiries, we 
~ must have numerous facts and legitimate 
theorjes formed by induction, and these 
only can result from following the plan 
_ that Bacon pointed out, and Newton ex- 
emplified. To collect and arrange the 
_ elements of physiology, becomes there- 
- fore a very difficult task. The facts con- 
nected with the structure and functions 
- of different parts are so numerous, in 
"consequence of a more general acquaint- 
ance with the chemical characters of the 
- solids and fluids of the body, that exten- 
sive research and considerable powers of 
mind are required to select and condense 
them into a systematic aiid elementary 
— 
aw 
a a) ~ 
' of inflammation. 
form. Whoever executes sueh a de- 
sirable work, would confer a lasting be- 
nefit on science. M. Richerand does not 
seem to possess the qualifications neces- 
sary for such an undertaking. In the 
preface to this work, he informs us, that 
he has followed the model of Haller’s 
smaller treatise on physiology (Prime 
Linez Physiologie, 8vo.). It is only 
in the title-page that these publications 
bear any resemblance, for we have in 
vain looked in the book before us for 
that valuable selection of curious and 
interesting facts, that order and-lucid 
arrangement, which distinguished every 
page of Haller’s immortal work. Many 
important facts are collected together 
from various authors by M; Richerand, 
but on the most interesting subjects there 
is the greatest deficiency, and the ar- 
rangement of the whole work is calcu- 
lated rather to confuse and mislead than 
to instruct. We shall endeavour to lay 
before our readers some general account 
of what the author has done, though it 
would be almost as easy to state what 
he has omitted to do, 
In the ‘introduction,’ which occupies 
fifty pages, M. Richerand has given 
some general remarks on the vital powers, 
on sensibility, contractility, on the dif. 
ferences between organized and _ inor- 
ganized bodies, and kas offered a theory 
Most of these remarks 
are so superficial and vague, that it is 
difficult to discover anf meaning in them. 
We find ourselves quite at a loss to know 
what the author means, when he talks 
of the vital principle, vital power, &c.; far 
in one place he says, that it is only used 
as an abridged formula, to signify the ag- 
gregation of those powers which animate 
living bodies, and distinguish them from 
inert matter—and in another page, he 
considers the vital principle as a sin- 
gle agent, that presides over all the phe- 
nomena, and infiuences and directs them, 
Some of these expressions are borrowed 
from Cuvier, and others.from Chaussier 
and Dumas; but M. Richerand does not 
seem decided which opinion to adopt, so 
he has confounded them both, and has 
not clearly stated either the one or the 
other. There is the same wantof accu- 
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