in the diastole, and receded from it in the systole. This difference between the movements of the heart in that animal and in the others which were submitted to experiment, may be explained by considering that in the heart of the latter the swelling of ventricles during systole is produced by the thickening of their muscular fibres, which are then in a state of contraction, and of which the mass bears a large proportion to the size of the internal cavities: while, in the heart of the frog, the sides of the ventricle are thin, and its cavity is large; and the thickening of its sides produced by the contraction of their fibres, does not counterbalance the diminution of the volume of the ventricle attendant on the expulsion of its blood. § 4. Conclusions respecting the Sounds of the Heart. From the experiments on the sounds of the heart it appears to follow: 1. That the sounds are not produced by contact of the ventricles with the sternum or ribs, but are caused by motions within the heart and its vessels. 2. That the sternum and front of the thorax, by their contact with the ventricles, increase the audibleness of the sounds. 3. That the first sound is connected with the ventricular systole, and coincides with it in duration. 4. That it is not produced by the friction of the internal surfaces of the ventricles against each other, as such friction cannot exist until the blood has been expelled from the ventricles, whereas the first sound commences with the beginning of the ventricular systole. 5. That the cause of the first sound is one which begins and ends with the ventricular systole, and is in constant operation during the continuance of that systole. 6. That the first sound does not depend upon the closing of the auriculo-ventricular valves at the commencement of the ventricular systole, as that movement of the valves is of an instantaneous character, and is much shorter in duration than the systole. 7. That it is produced by the rapid passage of the blood over the irregular internal surfaces of the ventricles, on its way to the mouths of the great vessels. 8. That the 'bruit musculaire' may contribute to the production of the first sound. 9. That the second sound coincides with the termination of the ventricular systole, and requires for its production the integrity of the semilunar valves of the aorta and pulmonary artery; That it is caused by the sudden check given by the action of those valves to the motion of the columns of blood driven towards the heart after each ventricular systole, by the elasticity of the arterial trunks. The Committee wish to express their opinion, that although much light has been thrown on the motions and sounds of the heart by recent investigations, here and elsewhere, the nature of the inquiry is such as to render it difficult in many instances to arrive at satisfactory conclusions. They also think that the subject is one which, from its importance, whether in a practical view, or as an object of philosophical inquiry, is deserving of further investigation. Signed, Robert Adams, A.M., Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery, Surgeon to Jervis-street Hospital, &c. Robert Law, A.M., M.D., Physician in Ordinary to Sir T. Dunn's Hospital. George Greene, A.B., M.D., Fellow of the College of Physicians, Lecturer on the Practice of Medicine, and one of the Medical Inspectors of the House of Industry. Ephraim M'Dowell, M.D., M.R.I.A., Censor of the Bruce Joy, M.D., Fellow of the College of Physicians. Erory Kennedy, M.D., Master of the Lying-in H. Carlile, A.B., Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Report on the Registration of Deaths. By the EDINBURGH SUB-COMMITTEE. DR. ALISON reported from the Edinburgh Sub-committee appointed in 1834 to consider the subject of registration of deaths, with a view to a legislative measure as to registration, (see Proceedings of the Edinburgh Meeting, p. 39,) that they had drawn up a paper of suggestions on this subject, which they had proposed to the London Sub-committee as proper to be submitted to the consideration of those Members of Parliament who might interest themselves particularly in the Registration Bills for England and Scotland about to be introduced; that the London Committee had expressed some doubt as to the application of these suggestions to the case of the English Bill, but after some explanations had acquiesced in the propriety of their being transmitted simpliciter to the gentleman who had given notice of his intention to bring into Parliament the Registration Bill for Scotland. The Section of Anatomy and Medicine having heard their paper read, directed that it should be communicated to the Statistical Section, with a request that they would give their attention to the subject; and if they concurred in the opinion of its importance, that they would take such steps as they might think expedient to bring those suggestions (with such modifications as they might judge proper,) under the view of those Members of Parliament who might be likely to take a share in the preparation of legislative measures on this subject. Suggestions by the Edinburgh Sub-committee. There are many questions regarding the external causes of diseases, and the means of preventing them, susceptible of more direct application to the good of the public, than most discussions on their nature, on which it is hardly possible for individuals, within the sphere of their own experience, to acquire satisfactory information; and which have on that account been hitherto very imperfectly investigated. Every individual case of disease, or of death from disease, is probably determined by several external causes, the respective influence of which is very easily misapprehended; and it is only by multiplying very greatly the numbers of observations, that such sources of fallacy, attending any single cases, can be avoided; and general laws, touching the influence of such causes, be satisfactorily deduced. Thus it is in general only by observing that a particular disease affects a much greater number of those persons who are known to have been exposed to the agency of a particular external circumstance, than of those who are not known to have been exposed, that we learn that such circumstance has power to cause that disease. It is very seldom, particularly in civil life, that we can have observations, as to the influence of such a cause, of the nature of the experimentum crucis; i. e. when all other circumstances in the condition of the persons observed are exactly alike, excepting only the presence of that cause in one set of cases, and its absence in another. But it may always be presumed that out of a very great number of cases in which one condition has been uniformly present, all other conditions must have been applied very variously; and therefore, by very greatly multiplying the number of observations, where one alleged cause has been applied, we may ultimately get rid of the source of fallacy, resulting from the varying conditions of each single observation, and from a fair estimate of the efficacy of the particular cause in question. Thus also the experience of an individual, even if carefully preserved, goes but little way in ascertaining the effects of seasons, of localities, of occupations, or modes of life on the mortality of any given disease, because in every individual case which has been under his observation, the influence of any one of these causes must always have been combined with that of others, which may have determined the result; but if the experience of a very great number of individuals on the mortality from that disease, under the influence of one of these causes, is exhibited at once, it may fairly be presumed that all accidentally concurrent causes must have acted so variously on so great a multitude, that the irregularities thence arising must have destroyed one another, and that the influence of permanent and general laws only will be perceptible in the result. Many attempts have accordingly been made by medical men to acquire more certain information, as to the comparative efficacy of different causes of disease and mortality, than the experience of individuals can supply, by reference to registers of deaths, kept in different situations, and extending to large numbers of persons and to long periods of time. But these attempts have been in a great measure frustrated, or at least their results rendered much less certain and important than they would otherwise have been in this country, by the imperfect and irregular manner in which such registers are kept; and it would therefore be matter of very serious regret for the interests of humanity, as well as of medical science, if any legislative measure in regard to registration should become a law, without care being taken to secure that the registers of mortality shall be kept on a uniform plan in all parts of the King's dominions, and in such a manner as to afford all the information relative to the causes of mortality which can reasonably be expected from such records. Some of the provisions in the Bills for registration in England and Scotland which were last year brought into Parliament, appear to be well calculated for promoting the purposes here stated: and in particular the provisions that books for registration be kept by persons of some intelligence in every parish and every town throughout the country, and that no interment shall be permitted to take place in any burial-ground without a certificate of the registration of the death being produced, appear quite indispensable to the proper regulation of this matter; but the forms furnished in the two Bills for keeping the registers of death are materially different, and in several respects both forms appear essentially defective, and would certainly fail of affording all the information which it is desirable, and certainly practicable, for such a register to give. The second column of the Schedule C. of the Scotch Bill, intended to record the designation and place of abode of the deceased person, for greater precision and minuteness should certainly be divided into two, and the rank or employment of the person, past or present, or that of his father, or of the head of the family in which he lived, be stated in one; and the exact residence, i. e. not merely the town, village, or parish, but the street and number, or the division of a parish, in the other; and another column should be added here, for recording the exact age of every deceased person. 66 In like manner in Schedule B. of the English Bill there should be a column to indicate the exact residence; and the column to mark the rank or profession of the deceased should state also or that of the head of the family." It is quite essential, for the purposes that have been stated, to have such a record of the mortality, not only of each town or parish, but in every occupation or line of life, at every age from infancy upwards, and in every description of locality (high or low, damp or dry, town or country, district of a parish, &c.) as shall enable any inquirer, by examination of registers, to obtain and exhibit information on these points, for any given time, in the form of tables, and it is obvious that for that purpose the age, the exact residence, and some indication of the occupation or rank in life of each indi |