with the colonists, and had received a medical education be. fore starting on their enterprise. The first medical books published in this country were written by these gentlemen. These pioneer physicians were replaced by others who went to Europe to pursue or complete their studies in the Universities of Edinburgh and Leyden, under Cullen, Boerhaave, and other distinguished teachers.

The first medical instruction given in Philadelphia was about the middle of the last century, and was under the direction of Drs. Cadwallader, Hunter, Shippen, and others.

The first medical professorship in America was created by the election of Dr. John Morgan to be Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in the College of Philadelphia, in 1765.

The first medical degree conferred in America was that of Bachelor of Medicine, in 1768, at the first commencement of the College of Philadelphia. The degree of M. D. was not conferred till 1771. The latter degree was conferred by King's College of New York in 1770. "From this it appears that the claim of priority in conferring degrees of medicine must be awarded to the Philadelphia school; while the precedence in conferring the doctorate must be given to New York."

The course of instruction in the College of Philadelphia seems to have been modelled after that of the University of Edinburgh, of which school its first professors were graduates.

The "University of Pennsylvania" was formed in 1791, by the amicable union of two previously rival institutions, viz., the "College of Philadelphia" and the "University of the State of Pennsylvania."

The first professors of the new institution were William Shippen, Caspar Wistar, Adam Kuhn, Benjamin Rush, James Hutchinson, Samuel P. Griffiths, and Benjamin Smith Barton.

The author has avoided any extensive mention of present professors, or of those who have occupied professors' chairs and are still living.

A GOOD book on the diseases of children has long been a desideratum. Dr. J. Lewis Smith' has written one, which, if

A Treatise on the Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea. 1869. 8vo, pp. 620.

not the most complete yet published, is certainly to be placed among the best. The descriptions are correct and concise, and the therapeutics excellent. At the same time, several very important affections are passed over in silence, and others of no practical moment are treated of with some degree of fulness. Thus there is nothing in regard to diseases of the spinal cord, or that very common disease, infantile paralysis, while imperfect brain, hypertrophy of the brain, and thrombrosis of the cranial sinuses find ample consideration. Doubtless, the work will grow with subsequent editions.

DR. TILT's' Handbook of Uterine Therapeutics will certainly commend itself to those who specially devote themselves to the treatment of the diseases of women, as well as to the general practitioner. The chapters in which the hygiene of women is considered, and those which relate to the several classes of medicines useful in their diseases, are particularly valuable. This edition is prefixed with a preface addressed to the American medical profession, in which the author exhibits his good feeling toward his brethren on this side of the Atlantic.

"In conclusion," he says, "it affords me very great pleasure to shake hands, as it were, in this preface, with so many valued American friends. A common language unites the members of the same profession in America and Great Britain by the strongest bonds of affection; and there is no danger of its being severed by difference of climate and form of government, or even by those occasional causes of misunderstanding that for party purposes are magnified by professional wirepullers.

"This union of the two professions is the type of the perfect unity which should ever exist between the great AngloSaxon nations, to whom Providence has given teeming progenies to people the waste places of the earth, and the firm determination to weigh more and more heavily in the scale of nations for the welfare of mankind."

'A Handbook of Uterine Therapeutics and of Diseases of Women. Second American edition, thoroughly revised and amended. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1869. 8vo, pp. 345.

DR. HILL' is a decided dualist, and in this respect, if in no other, exhibits his good sense. His book does not pretend to much originality. It is, however, an excellent compend of the most advanced views on venereal disorders, and is, therefore, admirably suited for the student. A useful feature of the work consists in the summaries which are appended to the several chapters. The American publisher has issued the volume in very excellent style.

MR. SOELBERG WELLS occupies a high position in Great Britain as an assiduous cultivator of ophthalmology, and has, previous to the issue of the present volume, written some very excellent papers on the subject. The work before us is one which cannot fail to add to his reputation. Indeed, it is not surpassed, if it even be equalled, by any other on the same subject in the English language. We shall be very much surprised if its manifold points of superiority do not obtain for it a very wide circulation. Aside from the excellence of the matter, the admirable typographical features are sufficient to make one view it with a favorable eye. The colored plates, selected from Liebreich's Atlas, are admirable, and, with a full index, add greatly to the usefulness of the work.

THE very long title prefixed to Dr. Morell Mackenzie's' treatise is almost as good as a table of contents for indicating the character and scope of the work. The author's works are so well known on this side of the Atlantic, that it is scarcely necessary for us to do more than announce the appearance of the second edition of his admirable treatise. For those who desire to make themselves acquainted with laryngoscopal ma

'Syphilis and Local Contagious Disorders. Lea. 1869. 8vo, pp. 467.

2

Philadelphia: Henry C.

A Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1869. 8vo, pp. 741.

3 The Use of the Laryngoscope in Diseases of the Throat, with an Essay on Hoarseness, Loss of Voice, and Stridulous Breathing in relation to nervo-muscular Affections of the Larynx. Second edition, with Additions, and a Chapter on the Examination of the Nasal Passage. By J. Solis Cohen, M. D., etc., with two Lithographic Plates, and fifty-one Illustrations on Wood. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston. 1869. 8vo, pp. 289.

nipulation, can hardly do so without reference to Dr. Mackenzie. Dr. Cohen has added to the value of the work, which, moreover, is beautifully printed on fine thick paper, and well illustrated with engravings.

PROFESSOR ARLT,' of Vienna, gives four cases of a peculiar form of disturbance of vision, which he terms nyctalopia, because of the bad sight in daylight, which is the prominent symptom. He attributes the affection to an inflammation of the retina. The treatment he advises is the use of bichloride of mercury, leeches, and confinement of the patient to a darkened room. As convalescence advances, the patient is to be gradually accustomed to daylight.

CHRONICLE.

I.

PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM.

Remarks on Certain Affections of the Vaso-Motor Nerves. By J. RUSSELL REYNOLDS, M. D., F. R. C. P., Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine in University College; Physician to University College Hospital.

THERE are uneasy feelings, such as "numbness," "coldness," "deadness," and "weakness" of the limbs, which often come on suddenly, disappear, and again return, causing great discomfort to the patient, and sometimes considerable alarm, the precise nature of which has not, so far as I know, been defined. These feelings are sometimes the indication of disease in the brain or spinal cord, and sometimes the result of local interference, by external pressure, with either the innervation or blood-supply; but they are, I believe, much more commonly due to a condition altogether different-viz., to a paroxysmal affection of the vaso-motor system of nerves. If I am right in my inference with regard to them, their pathological significance is not that which has been hitherto maintained;

'Retinitis Nyctalopia, by Prof. Dr. Arlt, of Vienna. Translated by

J. F. Weightman, M. D. Lindsay & Blakiston. pp. 23.

2

Read in the Medical Section at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association in Oxford, August, 1868.

and their treatment should be conducted upon a plan different from that which has been ordinarily followed. Symptoms, analogous to those I have mentioned, occur elsewhere than in the limbs, and may, in my opinion, receive a similar explanation. The subject, therefore, is one of wide interest to both the pathologist and the physician; for, acting upon the suggestion which I am about to offer, numberless discomforts, and much alarm, of the kind that has been mentioned, have been removed, after other measures had been adopted, but without

success.

My attention was directed to this subject nearly four years ago, by observing a very curious case, of which the following are the most important facts:

A lady, about thirty years of age, met with an accident in which her collar-bone was dislocated at its sternal end. She had been previously in good health, but afterward became "nervous," and suffered much pain in the lower part of the neck. The spinous processes of the sixth and seventh cervical vertebræ were tender upon pressure; and I noticed that, when pressing upon them, there was a slight pallor of the face, trifling duskiness about the lips, aud sometimes just perceptible dilatation of the pupils. These changes were accompanied by an indefinable sensation of uneasiness in the right arm, and by distinct pain at the seat of pressure. A similar series of events occurred every now and then when no pressure was exerted; and the patient complained of occasional uneasiness in the head, with some slight obscuration of consciousness. Being anxious to ascertain further the effects of pressure on the spinous processes, I requested Dr. Bridge, in consultation with whom I saw the patient, to press upon the spinous processes while I examined the pulses at the wrists. Both radial arteries were beating steadily; but, the moment that the vertebræ were pressed upon, the pulse in the right wrist became enfeebled; and after a few seconds, the pressure being continued, it ceased altogether. There was no failure in the action of the heart; the left radial pulse remained unchanged; and, the moment that the pressure was withdrawn, the circulation returned in the right radial. The beat of the subclavian artery was sometimes imperceptible, but that of the brachial just above the elbow could always be discerned. These phenomena were so interesting and so singular, that the observations were repeated many times, and were witnessed also by Dr. Walshe and Dr. Anstie. Attempts were made to obtain a sphygmographic tracing of the pulse; but it was at that time impossible so to adjust the instrument as to obtain a distinct trace. There were no signs of either cardiac or vascular disease to be detected by the stethoscope.