412 
REVIEW. 
until I have been enlightened, by adopting the same course of ex- 
ploration through the venous system as that which I have just de- 
scribed with the arterial.” 
We will pursue the same cautious procedure, and refrain from 
hazarding any farther remark until we have seen the account of 
Mr. Turner’s experiments on the veins ; but, in the mean time, we 
cordially recommend this little book to the perusal of our readers. 
It is perfectly characteristic of the author : and those who know him 
would recognize at once the ardour — perfectly his own — with 
which he throws himself into every subject, and would almost fancy 
that they saw him in propria persona. 
There is one passage, however, in this work against which we 
do enter our most decided protest. “ If we turn,” says the author, 
p. 35, “ to our neighbours on the Continent, we find that indefa- 
tigable French philosopher, Magendie, absolutely absorbed by the 
subject. See his invaluable lectures in the Lancet. This model 
of a teacher of animal organization, who wisely rejects every theory 
which is found to quail under the test of experimental enquiry” ! 
Now, what does “ this model of a teacher” (!) — “ absolutely ab- 
sorbed by his subject” (! !) — what does he do? Why he delivers, 
annually, a course of lectures on certain physiological points,- — • 
points, many of them more of curiosity than of utility, — and, in 
more than one of these lectures, he destroys, with every kind of 
torture, no fewer than a dozen poor brutes, possibly as susceptible 
of pain as himself; and then, covered with their blood, he turns to 
his audience, and says, with a sneer, “ there are those who turn 
with disgust from these pursuits, because they are equally incapa- 
ble of employing or appreciating them.” (! !) And is this Mr. Turner’s 
model of a teacher ? 
Our friend — for we know him well — will be the first to recall 
this slip of the pen; for, in the opinion of every one who has a hu- 
man heart — and of every one who has common sense — there never 
was a man who has added so little to the possessions of science, in 
proportion to the cost of its character, as Magendie has done. He 
has brought down odium on the whole profession of scientific me- 
dicine, and the boons he has obtained for it are in no degree com- 
mensurate with this injury*. Y. 
* See London Medical Gazette, May 4, 1839, p. 215. 
