50 



Observer, No. 1 1 . 



Vol. 1L 



pily calls, ^'•ulcerative absorption;'''' there 

 have been very few scientific men, who did 

 not possess the knowledge in question, viz : 

 "That bony caries is an ulceration of living 

 bones, produced by the action of the absorbent 

 vessels, which take up and carry off the bony 

 matter." It is true, that some previous mor- 

 bid exciting cause must exist, to stimulate 

 the absorbents into such action — but this by 

 no means changes the aspect of the case at 

 issue. This doctrine may be found in almost 

 every work on surgery, written since the 

 days of Hunter, which speak of the pathology 

 of caries. 1 will make a few quotations — a 

 thousand others might be added. 



" Whenever any solid part of our bodies 

 undergoes a diminution, or, is broken in upon 

 in consequence of any disease, it is the absorb- 

 ent syslem which does it^ — Hunter on In- 

 Jiammation, p. 409. 



"Neciosis and caries differ in this particu- 

 lar respect; in the former, the bone is en- 

 tirely deprived of the vital principle ; but in 

 the latter, this principle exists, and the dis- 

 ease consists in a morbid action, by which 

 the asseous texture is destroyed. — Doyer on 

 Diseases of the Bones, p. 1G5, 



" Caries differ from necrosis, as ulcer dif- 

 fers from gangrene. In caries, there is ac- 

 tion, and the absorbents remove the diseased 

 bone. In necrosis, the bone is dead, and the 

 absorbents of the neighboring living bone 

 detach it, as a slough, or escher is detached 

 in the soft parts." — Dorscy's Surgery, vol. 

 2, p. 408. 



"Caries was often confounded with necro- 

 sis — it differs from it, however, in the same 

 way that ulceration differs from sphacelus — 

 caries, being the result of an inflammatory 

 action which alters the texture of a bone 

 without destroying its vitality. Necrosis, is 

 the consequence of a peculiar influence, that 

 involves the complete, or partial death of the 

 original bone, and at the same time, repairs 

 the injury by the formation of a new one." — 

 Gibson's Surgery, vol. 1, p. 372. 



Enough has now been said to show, that 

 however gray Subscriber may have grown in 

 the pursuit of knowledge, he is, to use his 

 own significant phrase, a " green horn" in 

 pathology — alike unacquainted with the plain- 

 est principles, and the commonest opinions, 

 embraced in this discussion. Yet, unquali- 

 fied as he is, he goes on to give a flippant 

 lecture on the physiologico-patholo^ical ac- 

 tion of the absorbent vessels — and it is just 

 such a lecture as I would expect to hear from 

 such a lecturer. Thus, he says, "so far is 

 the action of the absorbent vessels from pro- 

 ducing ulcerations that it removes them — 

 or, more properly speaking, separates the liv- 

 ing from the dead matter." Now in what 

 way do the absorbents remove an ulcer ? Sup- 



pose an ulcer to exist on the arm, (I do not 

 care whether it is alive or dead, so the arm is 

 a living one,) and let the absorbents separate 

 and remove that ulcer, either entire or by 

 piece meal — the ulcer on the arm will still re- 

 main, and be made larger by the process. The 

 old ulcer, if you please, has been removed — but 

 another, and a larger one, has been produced 

 by the absorbent vessels. How then, I ask, 

 do the absorbent vessels remove ulcerations ? 

 If this principle is correct, we shall soon have 

 it verified by the manufacturers of wooden 

 bowls down east — for, having once obtained 

 a block, tiiey could first turn out a bowly 

 leaving a cavity in the space it had occupied 

 — but by taking out another, the whole cavity 

 would be removed, and the timber restored 

 to its former solidity — thus by this alternate 

 process of scooping out, and filling up, they 

 would be enabled to employ all the appliances 

 of wind, water, and steam in making bowls, 

 to the end of time, from a single block of 

 timber. 



By confounding together the two diseases 

 mentioned in the foregoing extracts — caries 

 and necrosis, — Subscriber has also confounded 

 the actions of the absorbent vessels, whicii 

 are widely different in the tv/o cases. " In 

 caries, says Dr. Dorsey, there is action, and 

 the absorbents remove the diseased bone. In 

 necrosis, the bone is dead, and the absorbents 

 of the neighboring living bone detach it." 



Believing that this discussion has already 

 occupied a full share of the pages of the 

 Cabinet, tired of the cavillings of Subscriber 

 — and convinced, moreover, that his object is 

 not so much to substantiate facts, and elicit 

 truth, as to "beat me out,"* I shall pursue 

 the subject no farther at present, unless some 

 new facts shall be furnished, possessed of ad- 

 ditional value. 



I shall embrace the first leisure in follow- 

 ing the good example which Subscriber has 

 set me, by turning to some other, and more 

 interesting subject, to the generality of my 



readers. 

 New Garden, 9 mo. 8ih, 1837- 



Beet §ngar in Bohemia. 



The manufacture of sugar from the beet 

 has progressed already to such an extent in 

 Bohemia, that it has been proposed to reduce 

 the duty on colonial sugar from twenty flor- 

 ins, to four, per hundred. This proposed re- 

 duction of four-fifths of the present duty is 

 said to cause great alarm j^mong the manu- 

 facturers of indigenous sugar. 



* Sonn after Subscriber's first essay on hCTiis appeared 

 in the Cabinet, a friend told me, tbat in conversation 

 witi! tlie writer on tlie subject, lie hacil expressed a de- 

 termination to " beat me out." Mi:^ last essay lias fi- 

 nally accomplished that i7itporla'iit object., and I am free 

 to acknowledge that I am beat out itidecd. 



