210 Miscellanies. 



The humoral pathology, in fourteen sections, with three appendixes ; one 

 on scurvy and diabetes, the second on endosmose and exosmose. From a 

 cursory glance at the author's remarks on these subjects, we perceive he 

 is inclined to set aside all application of the evidence which their phe- 

 nomena have been supposed to bring to bear on physiological and chem- 

 ical science, and to view the subject as " a part of the great system of ma- 

 terialism, by which many eminent physiologists, as we shall ultimately 

 see, are endeavoring to consign to chance the origin of matter itself." 

 (Vol. T, page 682.) The third appendix is divided into four heads, 1. 

 Fasting in relation to humoralism. Next " on the microscope ;" the val- 

 ue which the author sets upon this instrument as a means of advancing 

 our knowledge may be best inferred from his own language. " The micro- 

 scope having been extensively employed in the interpretation of vital phe- 

 nomena, and now threatening more than ever the subversion of physio- 

 logical science," &c. (p. 699.) The author then proceeds by quoting 

 various opinions, and by ridicule, to throw the whole subject of micro- 

 scopical observation out of the scale of scientific evidence, and to call 

 in question all the discoveries of Ehrenberg in relation to the animal ori- 

 gin of the infusorial earth, and the occurrence of animalcules in flint 

 and opal ; and instances the authority of Prof. Hitchcock as to the sim- 

 ilar origin of certain iron ochres from Massachusetts, as proof that " we 

 are beginning to try our hand at it in America, having got rid of animal 

 magnetism. We believe, however, our able Prof Hitchcock is alone in 

 this glory in the western hemisphere." (p. 707.) The present advanced 

 state of our knowledge on this subject calls for no comment from- us on 

 the inappropriateness (to say the least) of such a mode of treating it.* 



The third part of this appendix is a supplement to the essay on the vital 

 powers. The fourth to that on the humoral pathology. This closes the 

 first volume. 



The contents of the second volume are, 



I. Philosophy of animal heat. 



II. Philosophy of digestion, and appendix on spontaneous generation. 



III. Theories of inflammation, and appendix on state of circulation in 

 fever. 



IV. Philosophy of venous congestion, in sixteen sections, with six ap- 

 pendixes on 



1. The demonstration of the disease. 



2. The importance of analogy and principles in medicine. 



3. On cold as a cause of venous congestion. 



4. Pathology of erysipelas. 



5. " " tubercle and scrofula. 



* See Prof. Bailey on the infusorial animals found by him at West Point, Vol. 

 XXXV, p. 118, of this Journal. 



