ILLUSTRATIONS AND SKETCHES OF MEDICAL DELUSIONS. 85 is one of the grossest delusions ever prac-sicians, so often seen appended to the same tised on the credulity of the public, and advertisements. Such being the case, we which men of honour and principle ought would respectfully ask our clerical friends, to shrink from, as one would do from the to whom we attribute no bad motive in this sting of an adder. matter, whether they have ever reflected on the mischief they do to the community by these recommendations? Do they not know that if a nostrum be inert, a reliance upon may relieve or even cure a few, it will kill many more? We would charitably believe that most of these certificates are given without due reflection. The majority of them are for cough mixtures, balsams, boluses or lozenges, which are presented as infallible remedies, without reference to the nature of the disease in the lungs, by which The principle upon which the system is founded is, to a certain extent, true, and we quarrel not with it, but we do with its general application. How easy it is for an un-it may destroy life-if active, that while it principled man, professing to practice the homœopathic doctrine, to deceive his patients, and to cure them on allopathic principles, leading them all the time to believe that he is doing the reverse. Who can tell that the powders which these quacks give, contain such minute doses of medicine? We have only their word for it, and are they to be trusted? An allopathic physi-the cough is produced. But the diseases of cian, when requested to prescribe for a pa- the lungs are of various kinds-requiring tient, writes a prescription which any che- different modes of treatment-and what mist understands and can prepare. He may cure one patient will destroy another. cannot deceive us; but how different is the If a clergyman, then, has seen a quack conduct of those who profess to practice this medicine relieve one individual, he is not new-fangled dogma. It is founded in im- justifiable in generalizing, and commendposition. Its very essence is deceit, and asing it to all who may, from the coincidence such every honest man ought to repudiate of a single symptom, fancy themselves in it. the same condition. We have said more, however, on this subject than we intended. The bubble will soon burst, and then the public will wonder how they could be so easily deceived. "The homopathic system, sir, just suits me to a tittle, It proves of physic, any how, you cannot take too little; If it be good in all complaints to take a dose so all." "Medicine is an inductive science, the basis of which is a knowledge of the structure and functions of the human body. He who builds on this foundation, rests his superstructure on a rock-all others build on sand. How many of our clergymen understand anatomy and physiology, beyond Dr. Paley's Natural Theology? We suspect very few. We would ask these respected brethren, what they mean by orthodoxy? Is it not a full acquaintance with the letter and spirit of the Bible, and a faithful adherence to both? Now medicine, so to speak, has its orthodoxy, which consists in a profound Clerical Encouragement of Quackery. knowledge of the principles of the science, -The following excellent article on this and a reliance on them to guide us in pracsubject is from the Western Journal of Med. tice, as the divine relies on the doctrines of &Surg. The clergy, who are so often the the Bible to guide and govern him in preachrecipients of the gratuitous services of the ing. If some ignorant layman, but supermedical profession, will doubtless receive theficially acquainted with that divine revelafollowing remarks in the spirit with which they are offered: This is sound logic, and we recommend our homœopathic readers to lose no time in acting upon it.-Physic and Physicians. { tion and unimbued with its spirit, were to advertise a new exposition of its doctrines "We can scarcely open a newspaper -a sort of patent mode of securing Heaven, without meeting with the advertisement of what would our clerical friends say, if physione or more quack medicines, recommended cians who had never made the Bible a study, and avouched by clergymen. Now such is were to certify to the truth and efficacy of the confidence of the mass of the people in such a pretended discovery? They would, their spiritual pastors, that these certificates undoubtedly, warn the people to beware. It have in them a power even greater than the would be a dereliction of duty for them to forged testimonials of eminent deceased phy- { remain silent; and we, on the other hand, feel that duty in reference to the health and ancient error that "honesty is the best politemporal welfare of the community, com-cy," becomes every day more and more remands us to speak out, in words of warning diculous.-Dublin Med. Press, 5th April, to the people, and of rebuke to such of their spiritual leaders, as travel out of their profession, to enlist under the banner of quackery in another." 1843. Suppression of Quackery-Cancer Doctor imprisoned.—A Doctor Beauvoisin, who professed to "cure cancer without the knife" has been recently condemned in France to two years imprisonment and a fine of forty false pretences. It was clearly proved that the patients, whom he announced as cured, were not cured at all, and that the letters which he published as coming from them, were forgeries. Such a fellow might have flourished undisturbed in this country, and have grown fat on his spoils. Results of Homeopathy.-It is stated in a recent English Journal that another of the Earl of Denbigh's family has fallen a victim to the theory of infinitismal doses. mulation of mucus in the air passages, the result of hooping-cough. An active emetic usually relieves cases of this kind, as is well known, but that the infinitismal doses of the nihili pillifying gentry should fail is just what any sensible person would expect. Quack Advertisements.--We hold, and we defy contradiction, that the advertising quacks are neither more nor less than com-dollars, as guilty of obtaining money under mon swindlers obtaining money under false pretences. The statements they make we all know are falsehoods, and the promises they make we all know are never realized. Are not all persons, therefore, contributing to such a system of cheating more or less culpable, and as such to be blamed by every one who respects the laws of the country or the morals of the people? These observations may not reach those to whom they are addressed, but medical men may do much to bring the matter before them. It is their special duty to do so, and they should do so without fear of any imputation or insinua-His Lordship's third son died from accutions as to motive. We know that there are abundance of feeble-minded, uneducated, meddling persons who gloat over and encourage these productions, and who may say that our profession object to them because they are injurious to their interests, but the sooner we draw out the patrons of quacks both in the profession and out of it, into a controversy as to the truth or propriety of the proceedings, the better. Society bas undergone a revolution, and a kind of confidence, the fruit of ignorance, manifests itself at every turn, in flippant criticism. Every one now-a-days knows every thing, and above all things the enlightened public are thoroughly versed in medical science, and all its collateral and auxiliary branches. The fate of the most eminent practitioners hangs upon the lispings of pretty misses, and the small talk of their youthful admirers, while the still more erudite seniors of the family lay down the law with a degree of confidence which a medical lecturer or author might well envy. Homoeopathy, hydropathy, mesmerism, phrenological fortunetelling, and fifty other topics, suggested by the knaves and fools of our profession, engross attention exclusively, and had not the philosophy of comets and earthquakes lately come to our relief, we know not where the medical controversy might have ended. In the mean time quackery flourishes, and the MEDICAL NEWS. DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. Influenza. This epidemic is, at the present moment, prevailing over the whole of the eastern and middle States of the Union. A very large portion of the population have been affected or are now suffering from it. In Albany a correspondent writes to us that four fifths of the inhabitants have had it; and in the city of New York it has prevailed to such an extent, we learn, as to seriously delay or suspend most business operations. Great numbers have suffered from the disease in Philadelphia, where it seems not yet to have reached its height. So far as our observation has extended, the disease, though often threatening in its symptoms, has been extremely manageable. Its onset is usually very sudden, sometimes with a chill, but most usually with the ordinary symptoms resulting from what is vacant, and the Faculty advertise that "applications, post paid, will be received by the Dean [Aug. L. Warner, M. D.] until July 18th." The number of students last year is said to have been about 70. Castleton Medical College.-Dr. Wm. Sweetser has been appointed to the chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in this Lea & Blanchard have published for the low price of 25 cents, "Surgical Operations is popularly termed having "taken cold." In most cases the disease assumes a catarrhal character-and then it is ushered in with coryza, cough, and very violent oppression of the chest; or the larynx is affected and the oppression is of a croupy character. In other cases rheumatic symptoms predominate, and the patient has the most severe pain in the back and hips,--lumbago and sciatica. In other cases again the head suffers most, and there is severe head-school. ache, injection of the conjunctiva, and more or less photophobia; whilst in others, again, there is hemicrania, severe pain in the ear, &c., the pains being of a neuralgic charac-performed under the influence of Mesmerter, and these neuralgic pains are also expe- ism," by Dr. Elliotson of London. rienced in some cases in the limbs. In some instances the digestive organs seem to bear the onus of the disease, and the patient has nausea, severe pain around the body just below the margin of the diaphragm, pains in the bowels, and occasionally diar-embraces four departments, viz. 1st. Dental rhoea. Finally, in other cases these affections are variously combined, at times one and at others another predominating, and even alternating in the same patient. Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.— The fourth annual session will commence on the first Monday in November next, and continue four months. The course of study Physiology and Pathology; 2d. Practical Dentistry; 3d. Anatomy and Physiology; and 4th. Special Pathology and Therapeutics. Tickets for the course $100. Matriculation fee $5. Diploma $30. Dissect The pulse, even in the most severe cases, is little affected, the heart not sym-ing (optional) $10. pathizing with the suffering of the other organs. The skin is generally warm at first, and sometimes dry, but perspiration is in the latter cases easily excited, and from the commencement, in most instances, there is very profuse sweating. The patient usually complains throughout the progress of the disease, of a feeling of lassitude and debility. The disease sometimes runs its course in a few hours, in others it is protracted to five or six days, or perhaps longer. As already intimated, the disease is very controllable by proper remedies. We have seen the oppression of the chest when most severe and threatening, and also the pain in the back and loins, promptly relieved by a mustard plaster. In other cases cups were required, which always were productive of the desired result. In many cases a mild laxative, followed at night by a mustard pediluvium and Dover's powder, are the only remedies necessary. The cough, when troublesome, is relieved by the ordinary expectorants and sedatives. New works-Messrs. Lea and Blanchard will publish, we learn, in the course of the present month, Churchill's Midwifery, illustrated with splendid wood cuts, corresponding to Wilson's Anatomy, and Fergusson's Surgery, edited by Prof. Huston; also, Carpenter's Human Physiology, with additions by the author, edited by Dr. Clymer; Graham's Chemistry, edited by Dr. Bridges; Wilson Philip on Indigestion, and Brodie on Diseases of the Joints; Wilson's Practical Surgical Anatomy. The following new works are in preparation, and will soon appear: A Treatise on the Diseases of Children, by D. F. Condie, M. D., and a Medical Formulary, by Jos. Carson, M. D. Agents affecting capillary circulation.— M. Porseuille has established the fact that nitrate of potass or acetate of ammonia, added to water or serum, renders it capable of flowing more rapidly through either unorganized tubes, as those of glass, or orMedical Department of Hampden Sid-ganized, as the vessels of animals, whether ney College, in Richmond, Va.-The chair in a dead or living condition. Alcohol has of anatomy and physiology in this school a precisely opposite effect; it checks the fluidification of humours, and retards the a broad tape or ribbon, bound round their flow of fluids in capillary or other tubes.— { pillows, in which they are completely enLancet, 20th May, 1843, from Archiv. Gen. {cased, and which prevents their ever stirring a muscle of their extremities. Again, each infant, no matter whether it suckles at the breast or is spoon-fed, is provided with a kind of artificial nipple formed of a bit of linen, in which a piece of pap or bread and milk, about the size of the thumb, is bound up. This is not only given it to derive nourishment from, but whenever a child cries it is crammed into its mouth. Now, although a good nurse will change the food in this every twenty-four hours,* yet I have been informed that many do not do so for a Turning of Plants towards the light.— It has been shown by the experiments of M. Payer, and the fact has been verified by { a committee of the French Academy, that the portion of the spectrum comprised between the red and blue rays is incapable of producing the tendency of plants to turn towards the light, while the remaining portion occasions this effect. Diseases of Workmen.-M. Fourcalt read a memoir to the French Acad. of Sci-week together; in either case fermentation ences on the 20th Feb. last, on the causes and prevention of certain diseases affecting those engaged in manufactures, and in persons of sedentary occupations. He believes that the causes of these diseases act principally on the skin. Ventilation and muscular exercise are the most efficacious preventive means. Variety of occupation, and the location of the manufactories in the country, would be one of the best ways of bringing these sanative measures into operation.-L. & E. M. J. Med. Sc. April, 1843. ensues, and this, added to the saliva of the infant with which it is saturated, the dirt of the thing itself, which is constantly falling from the child-its becoming hot and cold twenty times a day-renders it one of the most unhealthy substances a child can possibly have access to, as its general sour smell plainly attests. It is not alone given them when they are teething-for I have seen it in the mouths of numbers of children not week old.— Wilde's Austria. Austrian Police.-the Austrian police in Extirpation of Astragalus.-M. RoG-spect all food exposed for sale, and if bad or NETTA and FOURNIER DESCHAMPS contend unwholesome, it is not permitted to be sold. that extirpation of the astragalus neither al-They have also the power of inspecting the ways occasions anchylosis of the foot, nor houses and lodgings of the inhabitants, to shortening of the leg, as is generally sup- see if they are in a good and healthy conposed; and that we may hope for a curedition; they likewise strictly prevent all without any notable anchylosis or lameness, when the maleoli are not fractured. Illegitimate births.-Mr. Wilde, in his recent Work on Austria, states on the authority of Prof. Bernoulli of Basel, that the proportion of illegitimate to legitimate births in the city of Vienna, in 1836, was one in 2.24; and he further asserts it to be recorded, that in 1838 the number of illegitimate births in Munich exceeded the legitimate births by 270! quacks and unlicensed venders of medicine from practising or itinerating through the country.-Wilde's Austria. Necrology.-The late English Journals, received by the steamer, announce the death of Frederick Tyrrell, Esq., which took place suddenly on the 23rd of May last. This eminent surgeon was only 46 years of age. He had been for many years connected with St. Thomas's Hospital and the Ophthalmic Institution, and he enjoyed a very extensive private practice. He had been for some time labouring under disease of the heart. ENTS. Infantile mortality in Vienna.-The general infantile mortality in Vienna, and throughout Austria, is very great, and the TO READERS AND COR ESPONDcauses of death are chiefly abdominal diseases. I have remarked two singular practices in the treatment of infants, both of which are highly prejudicial: during the first year up to the 1st of June. or eighteen months, they are bandaged like We have received our English Journals *The author should have said every half hour. so many Egyptian mummies, by means of-Ed. Med. News. MEDICAL EDUCATION AND INSTI- Medical Service in the Navy, No. II. Perhaps there is no situation in which there is required a higher degree of professional qualification, in which professional deficiency would be more severely felt, and more apparent, than in that occupied by a medical officer in the navy, particularly if he happen to be the only physician in a vessel at sea. In the event of wide spread Discharged during the quarter, with diseases of the eyes, 25; diseases of the limbs, 5: of whom were males, 13; females, 17. Remaining in the Hospital on June 30th,{ing disease, or critical wounds, the result of with diseases of the eyes, 26; diseases of an expedition may depend upon his skill limbs, 1 of whom were males 13; females and professional discretion. Should the com14. Of those discharged there were cured, mander or several of the lieutenants fall sick (males 9, females 14,) 23: relieved, (males or receive wounds, difficult for an ignorant 4, females 2,) 6: by request, (female) 1. surgeon to manage, a voyage might be abanTotal 30. The operations during the quarter (doned which could be accomplished by the were, for cataract, 3. The number of out-presence of one well informed in the princiPublished Monthly by LEA & BLANCHARD, Philadelphia, at One Dollar a year payable in advance. This number contains one sheet, and will pay newspaper postage. VOL. 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