510 POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
remark that the work before us appeals to the general reader rather than 
to the medical man. It is not on this account inaccurate ; on the con- 
trary, apart from any considerations as to the correctness of the writer’s 
notions concerning the climatic influence of Australia, those parts regard- 
ing the pathology of the disease and the mode of treatment are quite in 
accordance with the most advanced views of the present day. Dr. Bird 
does not suppose (as most non-professional folk do) that consumption is a 
disease of the lungs ; he admits that it is a generally diseased condition 
of the blood (arising possibly from primary derangements of the digestive 
system), which may exhibit itself in any portion of the frame, but appears 
most commonly in the lungs. In addition to the method of treatment 
ordinarily adopted, he strongly urges the employment of the seton, as a 
means of counter-irritation, having found in many cases that, when used 
in the neighbourhood of a cavity, it produced a considerable improvement 
of that portion of the lung. Time alone can decide whether Dr. Bird’s 
views as to the influence of the Australian climate are correct, but in the 
meantime his book will afford satisfaction to thousands. 
THE BIRDS OE INDIA.* 
O UR ornithological readers, who are doubtless familiar with the first 
volume of this work, will be glad to learn that the second has 
appeared. It is Somewhat disappointing to find that the present volume is 
not complete, having been, unlike the former one, published in two parts, 
of which the first has alone reached us. The author apologizes for this 
peculiarity, by stating that the time required in compiling a careful index 
induced him to publish the portion that was ready for press, rather than 
wait till the volume was complete. He also remarks that, by thus bringing 
out the book in two issues, he will be put to considerable expense. We 
accept his statements, though we do not exactly see why the index need 
require such careful compilation as he seems to imply. The text of the 
present portion of Yol. II. embraces a continuation of the natural history 
of the Insessores, including the families Merulidce , Brachypodidce , Sylviadce, 
and Ampelidce, and also of the conirostral families, the crows , starlings , and 
finches. The generic and specific descriptions are, with a few exceptions, 
clearly stated ; but we do not think the lists of synonyms are as copious 
as they ought to be, for the purposes of comparison and identification of 
species. Another drawback is the entire absence of illustrations, which 
renders it necessary that the text should be as explicit as possible. We 
cannot say much in favour of the printers : the book is, in a mechanical 
point of view, got up rather roughly. 
* “ The Birds of India ; being a Natural History of all the Birds known 
to Inhabit Continental India, w r ith Descriptions of the Species, &c.” By 
T. C. Jerdon, Surgeon-Major Madras Army. Calcutta: printed by the 
Military Orphan Press. 1863. 
