eo 
included, such as hunger and thirst, 
mastication of the food, action of the 
intestines, excretion of the feces, secre- 
tion of urine, physical and chemical pro- 
perties of this fluid, and a few short re- 
marks on the differences in the digestive 
organs in different animals. 
~The second chapter treats of absorption, 
in which there is nothing new or inte- 
resting to arrest attention. ‘This ac- 
count is chiefly taken from the valuable 
and splendid work of Mascagni. The 
doétrine of cutaneous absorption is cur- 
sorily noticed, but none of the objec- 
tions to it are stated. The author is an 
advocate for absorption by the skin; his 
- arguments, however, are not very .con- 
vincing, nor indeed can any reasoning 
determine this matter, till we have more 
numerous experiments. _ 
“The third chapter on the circulation of 
the blood is more full and complete than 
any other : it contains the principal facts, 
and gives the most general views relating 
to this subject. Among these there is a 
mixture of some absurdities, as in the 
following passage : 
«* From the time of Galen, the pulse has 
offered to physicians one of the principal 
means of distinguishing diseases. The force, 
regularity, equality of its motions, contrasted 
with its weakness, inequality, irregularity, 
and intermission, enable us to form a judg- 
ment of the kind and magnitude of a disease, 
of the powers of nature to eflect a cure, of 
the organ particularly affected, of the time 
er period of the complaint, &c. No per- 
son has: employed’ himself more successfully 
than Borden, on the doctrine of the pulse, 
considered in these points of view; his mo- 
difications indicative of the periods of disease, 
establish, in the opinion of this celebrated’ 
physician, as may be seen in his Recherches 
sur le Pouls par Rapport aux Crises, the 
pulse of crudity, of irritation, and of coc~) 
tion. ' Certain general- characters. indicate* 
whether the affection occupy a part situated 
above or below the diaphragm; and from 
this is formed the distinction of superior and 
inferior pulses ; and, lastly, peculiar charac- 
ters denote the injury of uch individual or- 
pan which constitutes the nasal, guttural, 
pectoral, stomachic, hepatic, intestinal, re+ 
nal, uterine pulses, &c.” : 
These distin@ions are frivolous and 
hugatory, and in many there is no dif- 
ference. It is impossible from the pulse 
alone to determine the seat of the dis- 
ase, or the violence of the symptoms: 
in some cases the pulse is our best and 
surest guide, but in other instances of 
masked disease we learn nothing from 
attending exclusively to it. It was fors 
RICHERAND’S ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY, &c. 
757 
merly the custom to lay great stress on 
the number and frequency of pulsations; 
the Chinese physicians regulate their 
practice by attending to indications de- 
rived from this source alone; but 
amongst us, though the state of the vas- 
cular system deservedly engages con- 
siderable attention, many opinions re- 
lating to it have been wisely laid aside, 
with the ‘self-sufficiency of the gold- 
headed cane and full-bottom wig. 
Respiration forms the subject of the 
fourth’ chapter, and this leads to the 
consideration of animal heat, pulmonary 
transpiration, asphyxia, and certain phe- 
nomena connected with the action of 
the lungs. The quantity of air inhaled 
into the lungs of an adult, is stated get 
nerally to be from: thirty'to forty cubie 
inches, but it is said that some physiolo-' 
gists believe the volume of air inspited 
to be much less, and that Professor Gre- 
gory, of Edinburgh, teaches in his pub- 
lic lectures, that hardly two inches enter 
at each inspiration. No reference is 
made to the source of this information, 
which we are strongly disposed to con 
sider incorrect, because such a caleula- 
tion is refuted by all the experiments 
made by Jurin, Menzies, Lavoisier, and 
Davy. The quantity of air inspired willy 
vary in different persons, according to 
the size, age, sex, &c.! and even in the 
same person at different times ; but the 
average capacity of the lungs may be 
stated at forty cubic inches. M. Rix 
cherand. adopts the theory of Dr. Crawe, 
ford ; he has wholly omitted. to mention, 
the interesting experiments made by Lae’ 
voisier, Seguin, and Davy, and’ seems- 
never to have heard ‘of the speculations’ 
of Hassenfratz and La Grange,  _ 
The fifth and sixth chapters contain a 
short history of secretion and nutrition. 
The chemical analysis of the blood is. 
very imperfectly given, and the author. 
attributes properties to the halitus or va-: 
pour, to which it has no claim. It is. 
stated also, that the red colour of ‘the 
blood is occasioned: by the presence of 
phosphate of lime; we suppose this to be a 
typographical error, or some false trans- 
lation, although the same phrase is re- 
peated. Probably the author means 
phosphate of iron. 
The actions of the nervous system are 
considered at great length in the seventh 
chapter, under the title‘of sensations. The 
author has adduced some experiments 
made by himself (and they appear con- 
clusive), to prove that the motipns of 
3C 3 
