[ 377 ] 



LXXVIII. Inquiry respec/ing Floods in Dorsetshire. 

 To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 



Gentlemen, — 1 shall be much obliged to any of your read- 

 ers, wlio will give me such information as they are able to do, 

 respecting a great flood in Dorsetshire many years ago. 



The intbrmation, perhaps, maybe obtained from the Sher- 

 borne Mercury: which I believe (but do not know that it did) 

 existed at the time in question. If so, perhaps some one would 

 oblige me by looking at the old newspapers in the British Mu- 

 seum foi' the intelligence desired. 



I also wish to know the dates of any floods in Dorsetshire, in 

 the winters of 1750-1, 1751-2, and 1752-3. 



An Inquirer. 

 4th November, 1822. 



LXXIX. Notices respecting Neiv Booh. 



A Vie-jo of the Structure, Functiojis and Disorders of the Stomach, 

 andAlimentary Organs of theHumanBody-, laith Physiological 

 Observations and Remarks upon the Qualities and Effects of 

 Food and Fermented Liquors. By Thomas Hare, F. L. S. Si.c. 

 Fellow of the Ivoyal College of Surgeons in London. Long- 

 man and Co. 1821. pp. 300. 8vo. 



J. H E physiological history of man forms an especial feature 

 of this work, and renders it more extensively interesting than 

 the title-page would lead us to expect, notwithstanding the 

 whole subject is of universal concern. Our limits allow us 

 only to notice, in a brief and cursory way, certain parts of its 

 original physiology, and which is well illustrated by plates 

 from the author's drawings. The contractile and convulsive 

 actions of the stomach and intestines lead to a curious ex- 

 planation of the structure of muscidar fibre and its adaptation to 

 the exercise of its mechanical functions ; while illustrations of 

 the ultimate fibre,i\ol only hy its own character and properties^ 

 but by comparison w ith those of vegetable and mineral matter, 

 seem sufficiently to establish its tubulated stnicture, contrary to 

 such opinions as have been adopted of its density, and of its 

 being infinitely divisible. The progress of the work affords 

 opportunities for various chemical considerations, and parti- 

 cularly the influence of alimentary objects on cln-onic diseases. 

 The maimer in which fermented liquors act on the brain and 

 nervous system, so as to produce those aberrations of percep- 

 tion which accompany drunkenness, is among the most hiter- 

 CHting of tliese: and alter his views of scrofula, of atmospheric 

 influence, and local station, Mr. Hare concludes his work 

 Vol. 60. No. 295. Nov. 1822. 3 B with 



