brain, injuries of the head, chronic alcoholic intoxication, feebleness of mind, and deaf-mutism in their relations to the criminal law, and various doubtful mental states in their relations to the civil law. Many cases are cited in illustration, and the whole work is one of very great importance to those who are interested in the study of medical jurisprudence.

In the last number of the Psychological Journal, we briefly called attention to Mr. Soelberg Wells's excellent work on Diseases of the Eye. We have now to notice another treatise by the same author,' fully as admirable in its character, in which the author considers several very common affections of the visual organs, and points out the scientific methods of treatment. His work is one which every physician should have, for we are very confident that many eyes are seriously injured every day by the employment of spectacles not adapted to the difficulty for which they are used.

2

DR. SAYRE, in a little work which we wish was larger, enunciates the true principles which should prevail in the treatment of club-foot. The indiscriminate cutting of tendons, which formerly prevailed, is now (thanks to Dr. Sayre and a few others) rapidly giving way to more conservative and more successful practice. The author writes forcibly, and shows that he is possessed of great practical tact in the management of the affections of which he treats.

THE" Aspects of Humanity" which the title-page informs us are "brokenly mirrored in the ever-swelling current of human speech," is a book of 55 pages, introduced by 17 pages of preface, and explained by an equally extensive appendix. A circular letter, explanatory of its objects, also accompanies

'On Long, Short, and Weak Sight, and their Treatment by the Scientific Use of Spectacles. Third edition. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1869. 8vo, pp. 248.

A Practical Manual of the Treatment of Club-Foot. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1869. 12mo, pp. 91.

Aspects of Humanity Brokenly Mirrored in the Ever-swelling Current of Human Speech. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1869. 12mo, pp. 55.

the volume, and from it we learn that the metrical form of the main text was essentially unpremeditated, and that educational availability was a secondary object in its production. The preface is well written, and in the appendix there are many valuable quotations, but the book proper is the stupidest of stupid trash.

I.

CHRONICLE.

PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM.

The Structure of the Cerebral Convolutions.-The following clear and concise summary of Mr. Lockhart Clarke's latest researches into the structure of the cerebral convolutions has been contributed by him to the second edition of Dr. Maudsley's "Physiology and Pathology of the Mind." As they are of the greatest importance, and have not been published elsewhere, we reprint them here:

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In the human brain most of the convolutions, when properly examined, may be seen to consist of at least seven distinct and concentric layers of nervous substance, which are alternately paler and darker from the circumference to the centre. The laminated structure is most strongly marked at the extremity of the posterior lobe. In this situation all the nervecells are small, but differ considerably in shape, and are much more abundant in some layers than in others. In the ficial layer, which is pale, they are round, oval, fusiform, and angular, but not numerous. The second and darker layer is densely crowded with cells of a similar kind, in company with others that are pyriform and pyramidal, and lie with their tapering ends either toward the surface or parallel with it, in connection with fibres which run in corresponding directions. The broader ends of the pyramidal cells give off two, three, four, or more processes, which run partly toward the central white axis of the convolution and in part horizontally along the plane of the layer, to be continuous, like those at the opposite ends of the cells, with nerve-fibres running in different directions.

The third layer is of a much paler color. It is crossed, however, at right angles by narrow and elongated groups of

small cells and nuclei of the same general appearance as those of the preceding layer. These groups are separated from each other by bundles of fibres radiating toward the surface from the central white axis of the convolution, and, together with them, form a beautiful fanlike structure.

The fourth layer also contains elongated groups of small cells and nuclei, radiating at right angles to its plane; but the groups are broader, more regular, and, together with the bundles of fibres between them, present a more distinctly fanlike

arrangement.

The fifth layer is again paler and somewhat white. It contains, however, cells and nuclei which have a general resemblance to those of the preceding layers, but they exhibit only a faintly radiating arrangement.

"The sixth and most internal layer is reddish gray. It not only abounds with cells like those already described, but contains others that are rather larger. It is only here and there that the cells are collected into elongated groups which give the appearance of radiations. On its under side it gradually blends with the central white axis of the convolution, into which its cells are scattered for some distance.

The seventh layer is this central white stem or axis of the convolution. On every side it gives off bundles of fibres, which diverge in all directions, and in a fanlike manner, toward the surface through the several gray layers. As they pass between the elongated and radiating groups of cells in the inner gray layers, some of them become continuous with the processes of the cells in the same section or plane, but others bend round and run horizontally, both in a transverse and longitudinal direction (in reference to the course of the entire convolution), and with various degrees of obliquity. While the bundles themselves are by this means reduced in size, their component fibres become finer in proportion as they traverse the layers toward the surface, in consequence, apparently, of branches which they give off to be connected with cells in their course. Those which reach the outer gray layer are reduced to the finest dimensions, and form a close net-work with which the nuclei and cells are in connection.

Besides these fibres, which diverge from the central white axis of the convolution, another set, springing from the same source, converge, or rather curve inward from opposite sides, to form arches along some of the gray layers. These arciform fibres run in different planes-transversely, obliquely, and longitudinally-and appear to be partly continuous with those of the divergent set which bend round, as already stated, to follow a similar course. All these fibres establish an infinite

number of communications in every direction between different parts of each convolution, between different convolutions, and between these and the central white substance.

The other convolutions of the cerebral hemispheres differ from those at the extremities of the posterior lobes, not only by the comparative faintness of their several layers, but also by the appearance of some of their cells. We have already seen that, at the extremity of the posterior lobe, the cells of ALL the layers are small, and of nearly uniform size, the inner layer only containing some that are a little larger. But, on proceeding forward from this point, the convolutions are found to contain a number of cells of a much larger kind. A section, for instance, taken from a convolution at the vertex, contains a number of large, triangular, oval, and pyramidal cells, scattered at various intervals through the two inner bands of arciform fibres and the gray layer between them, in company with a multitude of smaller cells which differ but little from those at the extremity of the posterior lobe. The pyramidal cells are very peculiar. Their bases are quadrangular, directed toward the central white substance, and each gives off four or more processes which run partly toward the centre, to be continuous with fibres radiating from the central white axis, and partly parallel with the surface of the convolution, to be continuous with arciform fibres. The processes frequently subdivide into minute branches, which form part of the net-work between them. The opposite end of the cell tapers gradually into a straight process, which runs directly toward the surface of the convolution, and may be traced to a surprising distance, giving off minute branches in its course, and becoming lost, like the others, in the surrounding net-work. Many of these cells, as well as others of a triangular, oval, and pyriform shape, are as large as those in the anterior gray substance of the spinal cord.

In other convolutions the vesicular structure is again somewhat modified. Thus, in the surface convolution of the great longitudinal fissure, on a level with the anterior extremity of the corpus callosum, and therefore corresponding to what is called the superior frontal convolution, all the three inner layers of gray substance are thronged with pyramidal, triangular, and oval cells of considerable size, and in much greater number than in the situation last mentioned. Between these, as usual, is a multitude of nuclei and smaller cells. The inner orbital convolution, situated on the outer side of the olfactory bulb, contains a vast multitude of pyriform, pyramidal, and triangular cells, arranged in very regular order, but none that are so large as many of those found in the convolutions at the

vertex. Again, in the insula, or island of Reil, which overlies the extra-ventricular portion of the corpus striatum, a great number of the cells are somewhat larger, and the general aspect of the tissue is rather different. A further variety is presented by the temporo-sphenoidal lobe, which covers the insula and is continuous with it; for, while in the superficial and deep layers the cells are rather small, the middle layer is crowded with pyramidal and oval cells of considerable and rather uniform size. But not only in different convolutions does the structure assume, to a greater or less extent, a variety of modifications, but even different parts of the same convolution may vary with regard either to the arrangement or the relative size of their cells.

"Between the cells of the convolutions in man and those of the ape-tribe I could not perceive any difference whatever; but they certainly differ in some respects from those of the larger mammalia-from those, for instance, of the ox, sheep, or cat." Journal of Mental Science.

Aphasia.-The following cases of aphasia we extract from a paper of Dr. Edmansson, translated by Dr. W. D. Moore: I.-Case of Epilepsy, with transient Aphasia after the attacks.-Johansson, a guard, was admitted into the Garrison Hospital in Stockholm, on the 16th of December, 1863.

He had shortly before got a violent blow on the head, which deprived him of consciousness. In the journal from this time it is noted that he had a slight wound on the back part of the vertex, without any exposure of the bone or depression of the skull. He was quite confused, could not answer questions, nor even articulate any sound. No paralysis could be discovered, but the patient, on the contrary, moved with much violence, especially when his wound was dressed, whereupon he uttered a moaning cry of pain. Ice to the head. Enema aperiens. On the 18th he began to endeavor to answer, but his speech was still extremely confused and unintelligible. On the 20th he could enunciate short sentences clearly but slowly; in general he still lay in a lethargic condition. Blister to the nape of the neck. In the beginning of January it was observed that he had lost the power of reading. If a book were placed in his hand he could distinctly read a few words, but he then began to skip over some, and to introduce others quite foreign to the purpose, so that the whole was entirely unintelligible. His speech was at the same time imperfect, when he had to utter long sentences. These defects were gradually removed. Before the 28th of February it was found that he was quite coherent, but rather sensitive and childish in his mind. On