continues to be developed; and it is to be remarked that the amount of this secondary or "subsequent development" of heat diminishes with increased exhaustion of the muscle, and also that it is much less in the muscles of frogs experimented on in winter than in autumn. The experiments are in course of repetition by Heidenhain himself, with apparatus of a still more delicate construction.

3. Meyerstein and Thiry's researches were undertaken with the view of determining whether the amount of heat given out when a muscle contracts continuously against a heavy weight, and when therefore it remains elongated, is the same as that which is generated when the weight is light, and when consequently the muscle can readily contract, the former being called static, the latter dynamic exertion. The experiments were made uniformly on the gastrocnemius of the frog, and the relative increase of temperature was ascertained by a very sensitive thermo-electric apparatus, of the construction of which full details are given. They also observed that peculiar cooling of the muscle described by Solger, which takes place during the first three or four seconds after the commencement of contraction, and which is constantly succeeded by an elevation of temperature. They noticed that this phenomenon was usually more remarkable in weak than in strong muscles, and in the latter the depression of temperature was greater the smaller the weight that was lifted by the muscle; indeed, in many instances it attained its maximum when no weight at all was appended. In some cases the muscle never regained its original tem perature during the whole time it was made to contract, which was ten seconds. This primary depression of temperature, they think, may with great probability be attributed to the contracted muscle possessing a less specific heat than when in the state of elongation; and they argue that it is only natural to expect. some such change when we recal the alteration of the other physical and chemical properties which the muscle undergoes during contraction. The elevation of temperature which followed the first effect of cooling usually continued for some seconds after the muscle had ceased to contract, and is attributed by these observers to the chemical changes (oxidation) taking place in the substance of the muscle; but they do not mention, what seems to be of importance, the increased flow of blood through the muscle which occurs after contraction. The primary depression of temperature makes it exceedingly difficult to express in figures the actual amount of heat developed by any muscle in the act of contraction. They arrive at the conclusion that the amount of heat generated increases or decreases in direct proportion to the heights to which the weights were raised; successive experiments on the same muscles, agreeing very perfectly in their results, though it was found to be impossible to compare the effects produced by the contraction of different muscles. And thus it may be said that in any case, if double the amount of heat be generated, twice as much work has been performed; and if an equality of heat be produced, the muscle has performed the same amount of work, however it may have been exerted, whether in traction against a heavy weight, or in lifting a light weight.

4. In this paper, Mr. Baxter considers, 1st, the mechanical power exerted by muscles during contraction; and 2ndly, the application of the principle of conservation of force or energy to the explanation of physiological phenomena. For the determination of the first point, the gastrocnemius of a living frog was employed, still attached to the animal, but paralysed by division of the sciatic. The means used to excite the nerve was the current of electricity from a single cell of medium size (Smee's construction). The conclusions at which he arrived were: 1. Out of 60 frogs taken indiscriminately, the average results of the experiments show that 1 grain of muscle is capable of raising a weight of 608 grains through a space of 1-53rd of an inch. 2. That sex has an important influence over the results. In males, it was found that 1 grain = 656 grains,

whilst in females 1 grain 579 grains. 3. That the weight of the animal previous to the experiment gave no indication as to the real muscular power of the animal that could be relied on. 4. That during the experiment there was a loss of weight in the animal, but an increase of weight in the muscle experimented upon. 5. That an increased nutrition of the muscle was indicated by its weight, its vascularity, increase in the activity of its electrical condition, and by the maintenance of its muscular power. 6. That circumstances influencing the health of the animal, such as absence of food, temperature, and confinement, have an important influence over the results. 7. That the maintenance of the circulation of the blood is of the utmost importance in these experiments.

SUMMARY.

For the analysis of the following works and papers we have not space: Elements of Human Physiology. By L. Hermann. (Berlin, 1863, pp. 412.)

Lectures on Physiology and Comparative Anatomy, By H. Milne-Edwards. (Vol. viii. part 1. Paris, 1863, pp. 236.)

The Antiquity of the Human Race; three Popular Lectures. By N. T. Schleiden, M.D. (Leipzig, 1863, pp. 62.)

On the Activity of Matter in relation to Organization and Life. By P. Dupuy. (Gazette Médicale, 1863, pp. 465-479.)

Note on the Law of Transmutation of Forces, considered in its Application to Animal Physiology. By M. Leotard, M.D. (Gazette Médicale, Paris, 1863, p. 598.)

Researches on the Development of the Tissues in the Warm-blooded Animals. By C. W. L. Bruche. (Part 1. Frankfort, 1863; with 6 Plates and 28 Woodcuts.)

On the Behaviour of Carbonic Acid with Solutions of Phosphate of Soda. By R. Heidenhain and L. Meyer. (Studien des Physiolog. Instituts zu Breslau, 1863, p. 103.)

Upon the Influence of Bile on the Activity of the Heart. By A. Rohrig. (Archiv der Heilkunde, 1863, Heft v. p. 385.)

On the Arrangement of the Muscular Fibres of the Ventricular portion of the Heart. By J. Pettigrew. (Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. 536.)

On the Mensuration of the Heart. By M. Piorry. (Gazette Hebdomad., tom. x. p. 507.)

On the Causes of the Movements of the Caudal Heart of the Eel. By C. Eckhard. (Eckhard's Essays on Anatomy and Physiology, Band iii. Heft ii. 1863, p. 167.)

On the Coagulation of the Blood. By Joseph Lister. (The Croonian Lecture, delivered before the Royal Society, 11 June, 1863, pp. 31.)

Lectures on the Blood. By George Gulliver. (In Medical Times and Gazette, 1863.)

The General Anatomy and Physiology of the Lymphatic System. By N. E. Beaunis. (Strasburg, 1863. 4to.)

Upon the supposed Influence of the Nervi Vagi on the smooth Muscular Fibres of the Lungs. By Dr. Rugenberg. (Studien des Physiologischen Instituts zu Breslau, 1863, pp. 47-51.)

Researches on the Development of the Cerebellum.

(Wiener Medizin. Wochenschrift, 1863, No. 33.)

By Prof. Engel.

On the Brain of a Bushwoman, and on the Brains of two Idiots. By J. Marshall.-(Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. 708.)

On Cephalization, and on Megasthenes and on Microsthenes. By James D. Dana. (Amer. Journal of Science and of Arts, vol. xxxvi. ser. ii. 1863, pp. 1-11.)

Physiological Researches on Optics. By A. W. Volkmann, Prof. in Halle. (Part 1, with 21 Woodcuts. Leipzig, 1863.)

On the Nerves of the Liver, Biliary Ducts, and Gall-bladder. By Rob. Lee. (Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. 246.)

Further Contributions to our Knowledge of the Bile. By R. Heidenhain. (Studien des Physiologischen Instituts zu Breslau, 1863, Heft ii. p. 69.) On Animal Dextrine, or Amyloïd Substance, its History and Physiological Properties. By R. McDonnell, M.D. (Natural History Review, 1863, p. 538.)

On the Amyloïd Substance of the Liver, and its ultimate Destination in the Animal Economy. By R. McDonnell, M.D. (Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. 476.)

On the Effect of Temperature on the Excretion of Urea, as observed on a Voyage to China and at Hong Kong. By E. Becher, M.D. (Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. 440.)

On the Appearance of Albumen in the Urine after Interruption of the Circulation. By R. Overbeck. (Sitzungsberichte du Kais. Akad. d. Wissenschaft zu Wien, 1863, p. 189.)

HALF-YEARLY REPORT ON MATERIA MEDICA AND
THERAPEUTICS.

By ROBERT HUNTER SEMPLE, M.D.

Member of the Royal College of Physicians, Physician to the St. Pancras and Northern Dispensary, London.

I. On Glycerine, and its Applications to Medical and Surgical Treatment. By Dr. DÉMARQUAY.

DR. DÉMARQUAY has lately published a book on the therapeutical applications of glycerine. This substance has been used internally as a laxative, but its aperient effects are more evident when employed as an enema, in the proportion of two ounces of glycerine to sixteen of water. Fetid and gangrenous ulcers are modified by glycerine, and rapidly assume a healthy aspect, if the dressings are changed two or three times a day. It forms a good dressing for malignant carbuncle, and in cases of burns it imparts to the injured surfaces a permanent sensation of coolness, due to its hygrometric properties. It is also a useful adjunct in the treatment of scorbutic, scrofulous, and syphilitic ulcers, and a valuable palliative in cancer. It possesses the property of dissolving iodine, and an injection of an ounce of iodine and three ounces and a half of glycerine has been found very efficacious in cases of deep-seated abscess, sinuses, scrofulous wounds, syphilitic bubo, &c. In diseases of the skin, glycerine is often more successful than pommades, as for instance in vulvular hyperæsthesia; in pityriasis capitis a combination of hydrochlorate of ammonia, glycerine, and rose-water, as prescribed by Dr. Gueneau de Mussy, has been found very efficacious; and a sulphur pommade for scabies, made with glycerine instead of lard, possesses the advantages of not staining the linen and being free from offensive odour. Dr. Démarquay gives numerous formulæ, containing glycerine, applicable to the treatment of diseases of the eyes, ear, mouth, fauces, and larynx. In thrush, stomatitis, and ulcerative sore throat, M. Blache prescribes an application consisting of two drachms of biborate of soda and one ounce of glycerine.

II. On the Treatment of Tendinous Rheumatism by the External Employment of Sulphur. By Dr. RENARD. (L'Union Médicale, April 21st, 1863.) Tendinous rheumatism, according to Dr. Renard, differs from acute rheumatism by the absence of the general symptoms, and from the chronic by the presence of local inflammatory symptoms. Dr. Renard suffered from this complaint himself after an attack of acute rheumatism, for which he was copiously bled. The parts affected were the tendons of the hamstring muscles, and no improvement resulted after a long course of diaphoretics, camphor, terebinthinate and other liniments, and the administration of the solanaceæ. At last Dr. Renard saw a passage in an English medical journal, stating that persons suffering from rheumatism in the legs had only to dust the inside of their stockings with sulphur. He immediately employed this simple remedy, the sulphur being the commercial flowers of brimstone, which contain some sulphurous acid. The curative effect was very well marked, for Dr. Renard walked in the evening, then renewed the sulphur in the stockings before sleeping in them, found himself very much relieved the next morning, and nearly quite cured on the morning after. A few days later, he left off the brimstone, and the pain reappeared in the soles of the feet, but yielded very soon to the reapplication of sulphur. Since the year 1857, when he was first attacked, the same experiment was repeated every winter when he was suffering from chronic tenodynia, either in the hams, the heels, or the elbows. He felt, under the influence of the contact of the flowers of brimstone, the skin becoming hotter, slightly excited, and more disposed to sweating; and as soon as this effect was produced, the relief of the pain seemed to be immediately marked. Whatever may be the explanation of the manner in which sulphur exerts its curative agency, Dr. Renard affirms that it has a beneficial effect upon the rheumatic pains of the tendons, and that this action is the more rapid and certain in proportion as the tendons are more superficial and the sulphur is kept more closely over the painful parts.

III. On the Use of Nitrate of Silver in the Paraplegia of Children. By Dr. BOUCHUT. (Bull. Gén. de Thérap., Jan. 30th, 1863.)

Dr. Bouchut employed the nitrate of silver internally in the case of a child, aged seven years, in the Hospital of Sainte Eugénie. The patient had had a fall from a height of a few feet, and immediately complained of acute pain in the dorsal region. From this time the child was unable to walk, and when she was placed upright the legs bent and sank down under the weight of the body. The speech became slow, difficult, and indistinct, and the food partly escaped from the mouth during mastication. For nearly a month, only the expectant treatment was adopted; but Dr. Bouchut then conceived the idea of treating the paralysis with nitrate of silver, according to the views of Wunderlich, and Charcot and Vulpian. He therefore prescribed one centigramme of the nitrate, divided into two pills, to be taken every day; and this treatment (occasionally varying the dose) was continued for more than a month with success, for at the end of this time the child left the hospital perfectly cured. Dr. Bouchut remarks that this was a case of paraplegia from direct violence, depending apparently upon a state of commotion of the spinal cord, and that the use of nitrate of silver was attended with manifest advantage. The expectant treatment had been tried without any avail, but as soon as the nitrate was employed the improvement became apparent: in twelve days the child began to walk alone, and at the end of six weeks of the treatment the cure was complete: Although the nitrate of silver was successful in the present case, Dr. Bouchut thinks that it would not be a suitable medicine for cases of paraplegia in which there are symptoms of acute inflammation of the spinal cord or its membranes.

65-XXXIII.

16

IV. On the Employment of Tannin in the Affections of the Respiratory Organs, and principally in Pulmonary Phthisis. By Dr. WOILLEZ. (Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, January 15th, 1863.)

Dr. Woillez has employed tannin in pulmonary phthisis, and also in some other affections of the respiratory organs, accompanied with hyper-secretion from the bronchial tubes. He believes that in the former case it occasionally exercises an undoubted influence, not only in the diminution of the mucous secretions obstructing the air-passages, but also in the evolution of the local tubercular lesion, as well as in improving the general health. In bronchorrhoea it apparently acts only on one element of the disease-namely, the abnormal hypersecretion.

In selecting his cases of bronchitis, Dr. Woillez has admitted only those which were well marked, and characterized by the principal distinctive sign of a subcrepitant rhonchus, occupying at least the base of both lungs behind. In such instances, the bronchial secretion becomes the prevailing feature as soon as the most acute phenomena are relieved, and the greater or less abundance of this secretion may account for the greater or less dyspnoea, and the frequency of the cough and expectoration. The first indication of treatment, therefore, is to diminish this catarrhal element, and thereby to relieve the functional symptoms, and to restrict the extent of the humid rhonchi heard on auscultation. Dr. Woillez administers tannin in the daily dose of four pills, each containing the 15 or 20 of a gramme, two to be taken twice a day at meals.

In reference to the efficacy of tannin in pulmonary consumption, Dr. Woillez considers that this drug has an undoubted influence in improving the general condition of the patient, and in inducing a favourable change in nutrition, and that its tonic action is comparable to that of cinchona. But he admits that this favourable action on the nutrition, and its reparative influence on the pulmonary lesion, are not constant, and he cannot accurately state the proportion of successful and unsuccessful cases which he has observed. Even in the advanced period of pulmonary consumption, Dr. Woillez has known the taunin produce a favourable result by arresting the symptoms in their progress, and in modifying them to such a degree as to produce an apparent cure. When tannin is given in the dose already described, to patients who have cavities in their lungs, not amounting to large excavations, it generally happens that the local signs are sensibly improved at the end of from eight to fifteen days. This amelioration is characterized by a marked diminution of the humid rhonchi. The blowing or cavernous respiration is afterwards clearer, as well as the bronchophony, and the rhonchi, sometimes less numerous, are perceived principally at the end of inspiration, or only at the moment of coughing. The principal conditions in which the treatment by tannin has seemed to fail in phthisis, are the continuance of fever, the rapidity of the course of the disease, and the existence of recent delivery in women: these circumstances seem to Dr. Woillez to make phthisis almost necessarily fatal.

V. On the Simultaneous Employment of Perchloride of Iron and Ergot of Rye in Albuminuria. (Gazette Médicale de Lyons, Oct. and Nov. 1862.)

Dr. Socquet, in the first instance, and afterwards Dr. Chatin, both physicians of the Hôtel Dieu of Lyons, have employed the perchloride of iron and ergot of rye for the prevention of the loss of albumen in the urine, and the results they have obtained are deserving of notice. The cases observed were some men of bad constitution, weakened by former unfavourable hygienic conditions, such as insufficient food, and dwelling in damp and badly-ventilated localities. The dropsy, in all the cases, at first confined to the face, had successively attacked the limbs and the peritoneum. The urine was pale and