was rather carrion than beef. The cattle, sometimes buffaloes, sometimes bullocks, having been used in their husbandry, were generally lean, old, or diseased; the meat was soft, flabby, and full of membraneous skin; it had a rank, heavy, loathsome odour, was offensive to both sight and smell, and hurt me more than the climate, and was, I am certain, the cause of much of the disease and death which thinned our numbers. The rice, too, was small and of a bad quality, full of dust and dirt, from which our rascally cooks were at no trouble to free it."*

Shades of the 19th regiment, think of butter, eggs, steaks, chops, cheese, carrots, onions, pumpkins, and yams!!!

The principal mortality in the 14th Light Dragoons, during its first year in India, arose from epidemic cholera, by which 22 were cut off. But for this unfortunate circumstance the deaths would have been very little above the proportion incident to a regiment at home, amounting only to 14 from all causes, out of a strength of 650. The diseases most prevalent were fevers, chiefly of the continued type, and the treatment appears to have been very successful, only 1 case in 76 of this class having proved fatal. The most important feature in them was a marked predisposition to the symptoms of delirium tremens, which perhaps in no small degree arose from the habitual use of ardent spirits, sanctioned and encouraged by authority, as already noticed.

The diseases next in frequency, were diarrhoea and dysentery, which, however, were not of a very fatal character, owing probably to the sound constitution of the men being as yet unimpaired by the climate; we fear that subsequent years will show a much less favorable result. We would strongly recommend a perusal of this paper to young medical officers going to India, both as containing much information and many useful hints, and also as an example worthy of being followed. In concluding our notice of it, we deeply regret to add that its author has since fallen a victim to the Indian climate.

To

Dr. A. S. Thomson has entered at considerable length into the very interesting and important question, "Could the natives of a temperate climate colonize and increase in a tropical country, and vice versa.' elucidate this he has collected from various sources as much information as he could upon the results of the successive attempts at colonization in India, by the Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and Danes, and by the Dutch and Spaniards in the Indian Archipelago. He also reviews the state of the European colonies in tropical Africa and tropical America, and has brought together a large amount of statistical evidence. From these data, which would occupy too much space to lay before our readers, he concludes that "there is little doubt the tropical parts of the world are not suited by nature for the settlement of natives of the temperate zone. European life in these parts is with difficulty prolonged, much sickness is suffered, and their offspring become degenerate and cease to propagate their species in a few generations; and should necessity force Europeans to perform the drudgery of labouring in the field, their lives will be rendered still shorter, and their existence will be little better than a prolonged sickness."

The evidence on the practicability of natives of a tropical country colonizing a temperate climate is more limited, but would appear to

The Life of Alex. Alexander, p. 109.

justify our arriving at the same conclusion. In addition to the fact of the great mortality in the 4th West India regiment, when removed to Gibraltar in 1819, we find that in Philadelphia the deaths among the blacks amount to nearly 5 per cent., or 1 in every 21 living, and in New York to 1 in every 22 living, a rate of mortality which must eventually terminate in the extinction of the black population, unless it is kept up by immigration. From a careful consideration of the evidence he has collected, Dr. Thomson infers,

"That man, both from his mental and physical structure, is able to resist sudden vicissitudes of climate better and for a greater length of time than any of the inferior animals, yet he is only born to flourish in climates analogous to that under which his race exists, and that any great change is injurious to the increase and to the mental and physical development of man. The nearer the climate of the original resembles the adopted country, so much the less will be the injurious effect..... There is a theory in medicine denominated the doctrine of acclimatization or seasoning, the principles of which are, that the human constitution, after a certain length of time, becomes suited to any great change of food, climate, or indeed any unusual mode of life. On this theory is founded the opinion that the first few years of an European's residence in the tropics are more fatal than any other period, an opinion opposed to many statistical facts and at variance with the statements adduced in this paper; for it must be obvious if the doctrine of seasoning were correct, the European ought to be completely fitted in the course of sixty years to resist every injurious effect of the tropics, and that their offspring should almost resemble the aboriginal races in being able to bear the heat, a result perfectly opposed to almost every fact which has been quoted.

With the exception of a few barren islands, the whole surface of the globe at present known is peopled by the human race. This diffusion of man from the poles to the equator must have been extremely gradual, an opinion which an examination of the sacred and profane history of the world proves... great vicissitude of climate or sudden change of food or mode of living was therefore experienced, and the human race increased and multiplied on the earth."

No

In the fifth volume Dr. Thomson has given a "history of the epidemic fever which prevailed among the men of H. M. 17th regiment during the monsoon of 1841, when quartered in the Colabah barracks, Bombay," which we notice because it affords a striking example of the benefit derived from sending the sick to sea. 166 sick, all of whom had suffered from fever, were embarked on the 27th of October, and cruised northward to the Persian gulf, and arrived at Bombay on the 24th of November. "The sick, embarked emaciated and without appetite, soon began to eat and get strong; almost every man had a paroxysm or two of fever during the cruise, but mild in its nature compared to what they had at Colabah." No case proved fatal at sea, and very few of them

were severe.

We are surprised that an officer who understands the principles of statistics, as Dr. Thomson has proved he does, should have omitted entirely to state the strength of the regiment during the prevalence of this epidemic, as it must be obvious that a mere statement of the number of cases admitted into hospital conveys very indefinite information when the amount of the force among whom they occurred is not given at the same time.

In the fifth number of the Transactions is an article, entitled, "Reports on the medical statistics of Upper Scinde, drawn up by the medical

officers serving with the force under the command of Brigadier England. Presented by the medical board, November 1842." These reports were called forth by the following

"MEMORANDum for MediCAL OFFICERS. The medical officers of this force are to be called on by the assistant adjutant-general to report, for the information of the supreme government of India, on all points regarding the medical statistics of their respective stations. 1. The climate generally as regards the troops. 2. The average number of soldiers per cent. under medical treatment, during the worst months and during the best. 3. The seasons, showing the best and worst for the troops, and whether the past season has been in any way a peculiar one. 4. The number of deaths during the last four months, out of men. 5. The sort of accommodation which the troops have had, and specifying how far sickness has been influenced thereby. 6. The particular months during which each station is most unhealthy, and the causes. 7. The unwholesomeness, generally of particular places. 8. The medical officers are to be directed to make these documents as complete as possible, and to offer such suggestions, as to clothing, &c., with a view to remedy the evils discovered, as may be most likely to lead to the attainment of that desirable object. By order, (signed) W. WYLLIE, Major A.A.A. General, Scinde Force. Camp, Quetta, 6th September, 1841."

We believe it is not customary to criticise the literary composition of orders issued by the military authorities, especially when on service; but we may remark that the gallant major might, without much trouble, have written (if, indeed, he wrote it at all,) a more grammatical and more intelligible memorandum. But we have still more important faults to find: it was not issued till the beginning of September, and we have no reason to suppose the medical officers had any previous intimation that they would be called upon to afford information on these points. During the period respecting which they were to report, therefore, many opportunities of investigating these subjects may have been allowed to pass unheeded, and when at length the Memorandum was issued, the officers may have been obliged, in the absence of recorded observations, to trust to their memory and the impressions left by events long past. Surely such a document should have been issued at the commencement of the expedition.

We are not informed whether this memorandum was issued by the advice of the medical board, or whether any medical officer was consulted as to the information most likely to be useful, or the form in which it ought to be called for; but it is very evident that whoever drew it up must have been extremely ignorant of the principles of statistical investigations. For instance, the officers are ordered to report "the average number of soldiers per cent. under treatment," but this information is of very little value unless we know the amount of the force; one or two unsound men in a very small body of troops might by frequent readmissions into hospital increase the ratio per cent. to such an extent as to lead to the inference (and it might be a very erroneous one) that the post was unheathy, while such a circumstance would scarcely affect the results if the numbers were considerable. Again, they were to report" the number of deaths during the last four months out of men," (!!!) a statement which would not convey the slightest information of practical utility as the strength was not given. A simple monthly numerical return of the strength, the admissions into hospital, and deaths, with the diseases by which these were occasioned, would have been much more useful than the reports furnished,

as from it the authorities could have obtained all the information called for in Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, while a few remarks appended to it on the climate, barrack and hospital accommodation, diet, and clothing, would have rendered it tolerably complete, with the additional advantage of the results being in a form which would admit of their being compared with each other. It may be remarked, that of the nine reports in this volume, one only, that of surgeon Patch, 21st N. I. and superintending surgeon S. P. contains the information in the form we have above suggested.

We may be supposed to have dwelt too much on the imperfections of these reports, but we have done so not from useless regret for a lost opportunity of collecting valuable information on the influence of a climate hitherto unknown, but in the hope that similar opportunities may not be thrown away through mis-directed exertions. Scarcely a year now passes that some expedition is not fitted out in India to be sent into parts of that extensive empire hitherto unexplored or but little known, and it is much to be regretted that due advantage is not taken to procure, in a systematic form, the observations of the medical officers accompanying the troops,— a class of men who from their education and general acquirements are well qualified to carry out scientific investigations. We have been informed that it is intended to adopt in the Indian army, official medical returns similar to those which have been so long in use in the British army; this will go far to remedy existing defects, by introducing a uniform system throughout the service, and will render the information obtained from every different quarter available for the purposes of comparison. But we trust the East India Company will not rest satisfied with merely organizing a set of returns, but will make the necessary arrangements for having them properly condensed and published annually, with a selection from the observations in the accompanying reports. If they are to be consigned to the dusty shelves of a government office for want of duly qualified persons being appointed to reduce them to a practical shape, the medical officers will soon discover this, and make them out in any way that causes least trouble; indeed, under such circumstances they might just as usefully send in a quire or two of blank paper. Among the objects sought for by the establishment of statistical returns in the army may be enumerated two: 1st, that of affording to the military authorities information regarding the efficiency of the troops at the various stations, the circumstances affecting their efficiency, and the best means of promoting and increasing it; and 2d, of furnishing to the medical officers the results of the experience of their professional brethren as to the salubrity of different situations, the causes of disease, and the hygienic and therapeutic measures best adapted for the maintenance of the soldiers in an efficient condition. To effect the last of these objects a volume should be published annually, giving in a condensed form the information contained in the returns and reports, a copy of which should be transmitted to each medical officer in the army. There can be no doubt that this would prove a powerful stimulus to officers to exert themselves to collect information of a useful and interesting nature, as it would be the means of bringing their names favorably under the notice of the profession.

It is much to be regretted that no arrangements have ever been made to render available the vast mass of valuable reports which have been accu

mulating for the last thirty years at the medical board in this country. A portion of the numerical returns has been condensed and published in the "Blue Books," on the Health of the Army, but the medical histories of diseases, &c. still lie there, nor, so far as we can learn, is there any prospect of their being made any use of. We trust such will not be the case in India, but that coeval with the adoption of a system of returns and reports will be the establishment of a department to render them available to the military authorities and to the medical profession.

In the 6th No. is a series of Cases illustrative of the pathology of the diseases of Bombay, by Dr. C. Morehead," the secretary of the society, which appear to have been drawn up with much care. The paper was commenced in the 2d No. of the Transactions, in which 45 cases were detailed; in the present number he has added 68 to these; but as he states that he proposes in a future volume to make the practical remarks on pathology and treatment which a consideration of them, in connexion with cases of similar diseases successfully treated, is calculated to suggest, we shall reserve our observations till the series is completed.

Having thus noticed a few of the more important papers in these Transactions, we may in conclusion express our hearty wishes for the society's prosperity. It has in the volumes before us given practical proof of its utility as a medium of eliciting and communicating valuable information, and we trust that as years roll on, it will continue to collect and disseminate still more valuable fruits than it has hitherto done. We had almost forgotten to add, that while the matter is good, the style of getting up these volumes is very creditable to all concerned.

ART. V.

Die Krankheiten des Gehirns und Rückenmarks bei Kindern. Durch Krankheitsfälle aus dem ersten Kinderspitale erläutert, von Dr. L. W. MAUTHNER.-Wien, 1844.

A Treatise on the Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord in Children, illustrated by Cases occurring in the Wards of the First Children's Hospital. By Dr. W. L. MAUTHNER.-Vienna, 1844. 8vo, pp. 456. With five lithographed plates.

THE profession is much indebted to Rokitansky and other members of the modern Vienna School for their zealous cultivation of pathological anatomy. Practical medicine, however, is a department in which they have of late laboured but little, or to little purpose, if we except the physical diagnosis of diseases of the chest, which Professor Skoda and his followers have done so much to elucidate. This being the case, there is some danger of our over estimating the value of a work in which the author's aim has been entirely practical: just as the rarity of a gift always seems to enhance its worth.

The merits of Dr. Mauthner's work, however, are such as would secure for it attention whenever it might have appeared. It contains the results of seven years' careful observation in the wards and among the out-patients of the children's hospital which he established in the year 1837, and

XLII.-XXI.

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