The celebrity of Rhazes among the moderns, is principally due to his de scriptions of small-pox and measles. His work, the oldest extant on these diseases, is, for the epoch of its composition, remarkable for its correctness. The symptoms, prognosis, and treatment of small-pox, are delineated, and if we except his opinions in regard to the causes of the disease, and a few prescriptions now obsolete, we must form a high estimate of Rhazes, both as an observer and a practitioner, from the perusal of this work. It is, however, remarkable that he says nothing respecting the contagiousness of the disease. Referring our readers to the translations of Dr. Mead, Dr. Channing,† and to Dr. Greenhill's more recent work, published by the Sydenham Society,‡ we shall merely give the opinions of Rhazes, respecting the efficient causes of small-pox, to show to what extent the humoral pathology of Galen had enslaved the minds of the Arabs. This he associated with the chemical process of fermentation, which was then attracting much attention. 66 6 Every man," says Rhazes, "from the time of his birth till he arrives at old age, is continually tending to dryness; and for this reason the blood of children and infants is much moister than the blood of young men, and still more so than that of old men. And besides this it is much hotter; as Galen testifies in his Commentary on the Aphorisms,' in which he says that the heat of children is greater in quantity than the heat of young men, and the heat of young men is more intense in quality.' And this also is evident from the force with which the natural processes, such as digestion and growth of body, are carried on in children. For this reason the blood of infants and children may be compared to must, in which the coction leading to perfect ripeness has not yet begun, nor the movement towards fermentation taken place; the blood of young men may be compared to must, which has already fermented and made a hissing noise, and has thrown out abundant vapours and its superfluous parts, like wine which is now still and quiet and arrived at its full strength; and as to the blood of old men, it may be compared to wine which has now lost its strength and is beginning to grow vapid and sour. Now the Small-Pox arises when the blood putrefies and ferments, so that the superflous vapours are thrown out of it, and it is changed from the blood of infants, which is like must, into the blood of young men, which is like wine perfectly ripened; and the Small-Pox itself may be compared to the fermentation and the hissing noise which take place in must at that time. And this is the reason why children, especially males, rarely escape being seized with this disease, because it is impossible to prevent the blood's changing from this state into its second state, just as it is impossible to prevent must (whose nature it is to make a hissing noise and to ferment,) from changing into the state which happens to it after its making a hissing noise and its fermentation. And the temperament of an infant or child is seldom such that it is possible for its blood to be changed from the first state into the second by little and little, and orderly, and slowly, so that this fermentation and hissing noise should not show itself in the blood; for a temperament, to change thus gradually, should be cold and dry; whereas that of children is just the contrary, as is also their diet, seeing that the food of infants consists of milk; and as for children, although their food does not consist of milk, yet it is nearer to it than that of other ages; there is also a greater mixture in their food, and more movement after it; for which reason it is seldom that a child escapes this disease. Then afterwards alterations take place in their condition according to their temperaments, regimen and natural disposition, the air that surrounds them, and the state of the vascular system both as to quantity and The medical works of Richard Mead, M. D., etc. Edinburg, Donaldson's edition. 1775. A reprint of Stack's English translation. † Dr. Channing's work in Arabic and Latin was published in 1766. It is now difficult to procure. London, 1848. quality, for in some individuals the blood flows quickly, in others slowly, in some it is abundant, in others deficient, in some it is very bad in quality, in others less deteriorated. As to young men, whereas their blood is already passed into the second state, its maturation is established, and the superfluous particles of moisture which necessarily cause putrefaction are now exhaled; hence it follows that this disease only happens to a few individuals among them, that is, to those whose vascular system abounds with too much moisture, or is corrupt in quality with a violent inflammation; or who in their childhood have had the Chicken-Pox, whereby the transition of the blood from the first into the second state has not been perfected. It takes place also in those who have a slight heat, or whose moisture is not copious; and in those who had the Chicken-Poxt in their childhood, and are of a dry, lean habit of body, with slight and gentle heat; and who, when they became young men, used a diet to strengthen and fatten their body, or a diet which corrupted their blood. And as for old men, the Small-Pox seldom happens to them, except in pestilential, putrid, and malignant constitutions of the air, in which this disease is chiefly prevalent. For a putrid air, which has an undue proportion of heat and moisture, and also an inflamed air, promotes the eruption of this disease, by converting the spirit in the two ventricles of the heart to its own temperament, and then by means of the heart converting the whole of the blood in the arteries into a state of corruption like itself. I There are several important matters which are found described for the first time in the works of Rhazes. Thus, he delineates several ramifications of the nerves of the head and neck, which cannot be found in the works o his predecessors. The first account given of "spina ventosa," is attrib-f uted to him. Most important additions are noticed in the use of chemical remedies. Geber, the founder of the Arabic Chemical School, who flourished towards the close of the eight century, had already done much in that de partment. Rhazes was the first physician in whose works we find a notice of distilled spirits (brandy), and different kinds of beer made with rye, oats and barley. He alludes to a muriate of mercury for the cure of the itch and other skin diseases; he describes a mercurial ointment, and several arsenical preparations, which were administered internally as well as externally. The sulphates of iron and of copper, saltpetre and other mineral substances, were used by him, if not for the first time, at least more generally than before The then recent important discoveries of nitric acid, nitro-muriatic acid, sulphuric acid, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, etc., had given a great impulse to chemical researches, which were further stimulated by a new mania which had developed itself-viz: Alchemy, or researches for the discovery of a universal panacea, and for the philosopher's stone. § * Literally, a " light (or) mild Small-Pox." † Literally, a "weak Small-Pox;" but the word is not the same as in the previous sentence-perhaps, however, in both cases the words merely signify a very slight attack of Small-Pox. This sentence affords an additional proof that the ancients, while they considered the arteries to contain air, were also (at least after the time of Galen,) fully aware that blood was likewise to be found in them. Cuvier, Hist. des Sciences Naturelle. Vol 1, pp 373-374. Hoefer, Hist. de la Chimie. Paris. 1842. Vol 1, pp 295--324. We have said that medicine, generally, is but little indebted to the Arabs, but it cannot be denied that to them is due the honor of having introduced into the science the important branch of chemistry. Very few traces of this department of learning are to be found before the seventh century. The Egyptians, the Chinese, the Phoenicians, and afterwards, the Greeks, discov ered or invented several processes to facilitate their mechanical arts, and applied them, perhaps, to the rudiments of Pharmacy; but the most careful researches have proved that Geber, an Arabian writer, who left a work on Alchemy, is entitled to the appellation of Father of Chemistry.† The definition he gave of it shows that he fully understood its importance. "It is," he says, 66 a science which has for object the knowledge of the action that different substances in nature have on each other." He mentions in very clear and positive terms the manner of cupelling and purifying metals by means of lead and calcined bones. He speaks of several martial and antimonial preparations, of different kinds of alum and vitriol, of corrosive sublimate, several oxides of mercury, nitrate of silver, nitric and muriatic acids, etc. The furnaces and distilling apparatus, he described, are in use even in our day. It is difficult to conceive of chemistry without acids. Before Geber, no stronger acid was known than concentrated vinegar. It is certain, therefore, that, in this department at least, the Arabians profitting by what had been transmitted to them by the Greeks, who had received their information from the Egpptians, greatly improved upon what was known to their predecessors. The transmutation of metals, the vain hope of being able to discover a specific for the cure of all diseases, and for the indefinite prolongation of life, were the incentives which stimulated them in this pursuit. The history of alchemy is involved in obscurity on account of the mystery and deception we find in the works on that art which have come down to us. The alchemists assign it to the remotest origin. Some say that Shem, the son of Noah, introduced it into Egypt with the the other arts and sciences, whilst others assert that it was first cultivated by Hermes, 1930 B. C. Martini, in his "Histoire de la Chine," pretends that alchemy was known in that country, China, 2500 B. C. The works attributed to Hermes and other ancients, no doubt, are of a more modern invention, and Gibbon, p. 132, says, "it may be remarked that the ancient books so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon, or to Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were inattentive either to the use or the abuse of chemistry. In that immense register where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutation of metals; and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic event in the history of alchemy." It was principally at the close of the third century that these forged manuscripts were * See Gmelin's "Histoire de la Chimie," vol 1, p. 15-20. See also the "History of Chemistry," by Dr. Thompson, of Glasgow; and Eschenburg's "Manual of Classical Literature, edited by Fiske, p 538, fourth edition, Philadel phia, 1844. †The work of Geber is still extant, and has been translated into Latin"Alchemia Gebri," (4to., Berne, 1545.) imposed on the credulity of the people. Alchemy was well calculated to attract the attention of the Arabs, whose fantastic imagination loved so much the wonderful. They cultivated it with so much faith and ardor that although their labors on the metals they termed "impure or base," their composition and decomposition of substances, did not reveal to them the secret of "making" gold, or the discovery of a universal panacea-an elixir vitæyet it must be confessed, that chemistry sprung from the experiments made by them for these purposes. Alchemy continued to be practiced up to a period not very remote from our age.* *For an interesting account of the magic art, alchemy, etc:, see the work of Eusebe Salverte, "Des Sciences Occultes," Paris, 1829. The reader is also referred to the small but highly attractive book of Pettigrew on "Superstitions connected with the history and practice of medicine and surgery." Am. ed., Phil, 1844. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, Designed for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine. By John C. Dalton, Jr., M. D., Professor of Physiology and Microscopic Anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; Member of the New York Academy of Medicine; of the New York Pathological Society; of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Mass. ; and of the Biological Department of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Third edition, Revised and Enlarged. With two hundred and seventythree Illustrations. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea. 1864. pp. 706. For sale by H. H. Bancroft & Co., No. 609 Montgomery street, San Francisco. THE well-known excellence of this work, which, in the short space of five years has passed through three large editions, makes it only necessary for us to announce the appearance of a new and revised edition, in which Dr. Dalton has added all the important facts and discoveries in physiology of the last three years. Among these we notice the experiments of the author with regard to the secretion and properties of the parotid saliva in the human subject, and the quantitative analysis of this fluid by Mr. Perkins, the observations of Prof. Austin Flint, Jr., on stercorine, cholesterin, and the effects of permanent biliary fistula, and those of Professor Jeffries Wyman on Fissure of Hare-lip in the median line, from arrest of development. We know of no work on physiology that we can recommend more earnestly than the one before us. It is the production of the most accomplished representative of that science in America—a production of which Americans have reason to be proud. We are acquainted with no European work on the subject to which we would give the preference as a text-book for the student. Practitioners will find in it all the important improvements that have been made of late years, exposed in a clear and concise manner, while their time will not be lost and their attention diverted by purely hypothetical topics. The illustrations (almost all original) are excellent, and have been prepared with special reference to the subject-matter. THE DISEASES OF THE EAR, their Diagnosis and Treatment. A text-book of Aural Surgery in the form of Academical Lectures. By Dr. Anton Von Troltsch, Aural Surgeon and Lecturer in the University of Wursburg, Bavaria. Translated from the German and edited by D. B. St. John Roosa, M. D., Assistant-Surgeon to the New York Eye Infirmary. Illustrated with wood engravings. From the second and last German edition. New York: William Wood & Co., 61 Walker st. 1864. pp. 254. For sale by Bancroft & Co., Montgomery street, San Fran It is only of late years that aural surgery has received the attention it deserves. Thanks, however, to the labors of Itard and Meniere, of Paris, Kramer, of Berlin, Toynbee and Wilde, of Great Britain, great progress has been accomplished in that department. The work now before us is a worthy continuation of the efforts that have been made in that difficult and restricted field. It is presented in its American dress by Dr. St. John Roosa, from the German original by Dr. Anton Von Troltsch. The aim of the author, as he informs us in his preface, has been to comprise the whole field of Aural Surgery, in the form of a brief text-book, in which are recorded the results of his personal observations and investigations. Respecting these, the translator observes: "Without any responsibility for the truth of Dr. Von Troltsch's opinions, his work is presented as one founded on pathological investigation, and an ample experience. His method of illuminating the external ear, is, I believe, altogether the best in use, and one which must commend itself to every one who has found the difficulties of the previouslyknown methods. The lectures on Purulent Catarrh of the Middle Ear, as occurring in Infants,' is one that calls attention in a striking way to some loose habits of diagnosis." THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Instituted 1847. Vol. xiv. Philadelphia. Printed for the Association. Collins, Printer, 705 Jayne street, 1864, pp. 416. For sale by H. H. Bancroft & Co., No. 600 Montgomery street, San Francisco. The present volume contains the Minutes of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Association; Report of the Committee of Publication; Report of the Treasurer; Address of Wilson Jewell, Acting President of the Association; Report of the Committee on Medical Education, by C. C. Cox, M.D.; Report of the Committee on Medical Literature, by Charles A. Lee, M.D.; Diatheses-their Surgical Relations and Effects, by A. Andrews, A.M., M.D.; The American Method of Treating Joint Diseases and Deformities, by Henry G. Davis, New York; Cases of Diarrhoea Adiposa, by John H. Griscom, M.D.; Report of American Necrology, by Christopher C. Cox, M.D.; An Inquiry into the Physiological and Medical Properties of the Veratrum Viride-together with some Physiological and Chemical observations upon the Alkaloid Veratria obtained from this and other species, by Samuel R. Percy, M.D.; Laryngoscopal Therapy, or Medication of the Larynx under Sight, by Louis Elsberg, A.M., M.D.; Plan of Organization of the American Medical Association; Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association; Officers and Permanent Members. |