638. 
complete Record, translated and_illus- 
trated, in ten quarto yoluines. 
_. As far as we have been able to judge, 
his translations have the air of fidelity. 
The complete work would form a value. 
able accession to the stores of our topo- 
graphical knowledge of England. 
: MEDICINE. ; 
In Medicine several important. arti- 
eles have occurred, of which, as our 
readers are not all protessional, we shall 
select such as are most likely to be inte- 
resting and useful. 
“The London Pharmacopa@ia” has’ at 
length made its appearance, with the 
royal proclamation reyuiring the atten- 
tion af all apothecaries to preparing 
medicines according to the formule con-: 
tamed init. Et is to be regretted that 
the proclamation takes no notice Of re-) 
quiring physicians to be careful in adopt- 
reimajn attached to the old, or teo indo- 
lent to learn the new, that they should 
spueity the dispensary tewhichthey refer. 
iz wduld also have been very desirable, 
that they should be required to use nu 
abbreviations either in articles or quan- 
tities, or in the directions. Perhaps, if 
they were required to adopt the language 
ai the country,it might be better for them- 
selves and their patients. The age of 
miystery is past iA the other professions, 
and why should this, the most liberal of 
all, be still encumbered with m¥sticisms. 
Ga the work itself wé shail niake no re- 
-iwarks, the subject being much too muiti- - 
farions and professional. ter our compi- 
lation. We can ouly wish there had 
fewer. typographical! errors. 
Dr. Pewell’s translation cannot be 
so easily passed over. The price, the 
monopoly, and the time allowed for it, 
all taughbus to expect accuracy, if not 
some practical iniormation. Ln'the first 
it is anos} grievously deficient; in the 
Jast most Uistresstully meagre. Yet one 
shouldscatecly have thoughtit necessary 
to mention, that the venerable Vurner 
ence gave lame to a cerate now called) 
bv a more scientific title. Tins édition, 
however, fiulty as it is, has been par 
chased witht so inuch eagerness as to be 
already out of print. We trust an ap- 
pendix will lic distrinuted gratis, contaia- 
mg the errata of the first, end any alter- 
ations ‘which may be contained in the 
secend oditiot. 
Public sociaties are always serviceable 
to the proiessions of which they consist. 
They turnish a means ef universal cain- 
- 
ime the new names, or if they  stll- 
Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Medicine. 
munication, afford an asylum to fugitive 
facts, and bring forward names, which: 
might otherwise be unknown where they 
may be most useful. Nor is a little: 
emulation at all injurious to sueh esta- 
blishments. . We are glad to see a sort of 
rival institution to that of Bolt Court, 
which has long cxisted as the only pub- 
lishing Medical Society of London. 
The Medico Chirurgieal Transactions pub- 
lished by a Medical and Chirurgical So- 
ciety, contain a rich fund of traly valua- 
ble communications, adorned by names, 
many of which would do henour to the 
must distingsished period of literature 
and science. As we cannot with any 
propriety, sclect either of the papers, we. 
shall offer only a short account of the 
establishment trom the preface’ prefixed: 
to the work. oziee 2 gel 
. & "The -present volume is composed of 
papers which have been communicated to: 
this Society, and read at its meetings. The 
President and Council submit it to the con- 
sideration of the medical public, not with- 
out the hope, that it will support the claim’ 
of respectability and usefulness, which they’ 
are desirous that it should possess. - 
“ The papers which come before the So= 
cicty have necessarily ‘various: degrees of 
value ; and in considering their merits with 
@ view to pul:lication, ‘it 1s wished equally 
to avoid the extremes of fastidiousness, and 
want of discrimination. Brilliant discove- 
ries in medicine and surgery, or the branch~ 
es connected with them, are seldom made ; 
but the observing practitioner has various 
opportunities of improving the profession, 
ly attention to the facts which come 
daily within his view, and by the manage- 
ment of the materials which are already in 
his possession. . 
“ The varied forms of disease, whether 
medical or surgical, and the modes of treat~ 
ment which may be found adequate to their. 
removal, are subjects Coney oe which the. 
Society necessarily feels the highest interest. 
Cases having a fatal issue, however, are often 
not less instructive than such as terminate 
favourably, ‘hey frequently tend to point 
out more accurately the plan to be pursued 
in the treatment of sinular complaints ; they 
atford valuable injormation relative to the 
probable causes of failure ; and when dis- 
section is permitted, they throw light on 
the more intimate nature and modification 
of the disease. 
‘s ‘The operative part of surgery opens a 
fed of considerable interest and extent, and 
the number of gentlemen connected with 
hospitals in London, who are members of 
the Society, .gives it the prospeet of being 
able to communicate to the public, some 
valvable observations and improvements in 
this important brench of the profession. - 
. * Ree 
