and bless through illuminated media, the remotest and humblest citizen of the State

This faith in our public teachers of medicine,--this confidence in the plan on which that part of the University was organized, remained firm and unshaken until a lecture or "Medical Platform," by J. Adams Allen, M.D., was brought to the notice of this Society by one of its members, (Dr. Robinson) in an article read by appointment, as one of the exercises in the regular course of its proceedings.

Believing that the opinions embodied in the aforesaid lecture, which seems only to have been sanctioned by the authority of a single name, if suffered to go abroad as the sentiments of the College Faculty, will seriously impair the confidence of the Medical Profession in the orthodoxy of its Professors, we therefore further

Resolved-That the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Michigan be requested to state whether, and to what extent, as a body, they entertain, approve, or sanction the expression and dissemination of the dogmas, or doctrines, paradoxes, or opinions contained in said Lecture.

Resolved-That the proceedings be sent to the Editor of the PENINSULAR JOURNAL for publication, on being verified by the signature of the President and Secretary of this Society.

Detroit, Dec. 29th, 1853.

MORSE STEWART, President.
EDWARD BATWELL, Secretary.

The foregoing resolutions were adopted by the following vote of the members present:

In favor of the resolutions-Drs. Brodie, Klein, Christian, Kieffer, Spence, Inglis, Batwell, and Stewart.

Against their adoption-Drs Gunn, Brown, Davenport, Robinson, Johnson. The State Medical Society.

This body held its Second Annual Meeting at Ann Arbor, March 30th. The meeting was well attended and enthusiastically conducted. The publication of its proceedings will commence in our next.

Medical Commencement.

The Annual Commencement of the Medical College of the University of Michigan was held on the 30th instant, a full account of which will be given in our next.

Annual Convention of the Serapion.

DR. ANDREWS, SIR:

SERAPION HALL, March 28th, 1854.

The Second Annual Convention of the Serapion was held at two o'clock. second Vice President, E. F. Dorland, in the Chair. The minutes of the last Annual Convention were read. The following members of privilege of the Serapion, were admitted to the degrees of Fellows of the Serapion :

Messrs E. F Dorland, E. Winchester, O. Peak, W. J. Moody, E. Storck, D. Hall, E. C. Taylor, W A. Peck

George R. Bates was elected Corresponding Secretary for the ensuing year. Messrs Hall, Taylor and Storck, were appointed to select subjects and nominate committees to report at the next Annual Convention.

Messrs Darland, Peck, and Fanner, were appointed upon the first Commit. tee:-Subject, Efficiency of the Medical Science in the Cure of Disease during the last century, compared with its previous success.

Messrs Lockwood, Winchester, and Aborn, were appointed on the second Committee: Subject, The Natural Sciences,--their claims, relative and abstract, on the medical man.

Messrs Andrews, Hall, and Fisher were appointed on the third Committee:Subject, Specifics--their limitation and real value. After a few appropriate remarks, in the Committee of the whole, on the state of the Society, and the profession generally, the Convention adjourned to meet in the evening at seven o'clock, to listen to an address from Mr. Peck. ORRIN ABORN, Secretary.

Announcement of Another Session at Geneva Medical College.

This institution, which it was feared would never re-assemble, announces. that it will be re-opened on the 4th of October, 1854, and continue sixteen weeks.

NOTICES OF WORKS RECEIVED.

Carpenter on Alcoholic Liquors.

A valuable little work, already favorably known to the public. It is the successful competitor for the prize of one hundred guineas offered for the best essay on the use and abuse of alcoholic liquors. The author, Dr. Carpenter. is the well known English Physiologist of that name, whose fame rests, not so much on original discoveries of his own, as on his clear and agreeable manner of combining the results obtained by others into sensible, practical, useful text-books for the world. The work is provided with a preface from the pen of the well known Dr. Condie of Philadelphia, author of a work on the diseases of children. This work is remarkable as a specimen of that happy style which deals in facts and principles which interest a profes. sional man, and is couched in language which is perfectly comprehensible to a layman. We are particularly pleased with the correctness of the physiological reasoning on the use of alcohol as a stimulus, preparatory or subsequently to any unusual exertion, either mental or physical. Two errors are committed by men here, sometimes, we are ashamed to say even by professional men. One is the habit of stimulating the recuperative power after all unusual exertions. Now, the power of self-recovery in cases of fatigue, ought, in a sound man, to respond spontaneously, in proportion to the necessity of the occasion; and any one who has watched his own system, when going through a series of severe exertions, must have observed how rapidly the recuperative power increases under the demand of frequent effort, but if, instead of habituating the system to react against exhaustion by its own spontaneous force, a man accustoms himself to arouse the reaction by stimuli, he impairs the natural connection between the demand for vital force and the power of supply. He has taken out one of the wheels of his physiological machinery, and put a bottle in its place. The same remark may be made respecting the habit of using stimuli to prepare one for every unusual exertion. In a perfect physical and mental man all the voluntary powers, both of mind and body, ought to respond to the mandates of the will, with an energy commensurate to the emergency that demands them; but he, who, instead of training his powers thus to awaken at the trumpet of will, accustoms them to be aroused only by a dram, puts a disturbing force between himself and his own faculties,--he is no longer his own master.

Another still more disastrous error is by the combined power of will and alcohol, to force the system into efforts beyond its natural power of endurance-a transgression which, if frequently repeated, ultimately recoils terribly on the offender. Nevertheless, Dr. Carpenter justly observes that this physiological sin may sometimes be morally justifiable, in certain extreme emergencies, as in efforts to avert shipwreck or other impending destruction. The present danger may be so great that every possible means of arousing and sustaining present effort must be brought to bear, and the certainty of injury, and the risk of ultimate death from the succeeding exhaustion must be braved. To those who differ from these sentiments of Dr. Carpenter's little book, we accord all charity, but, for our part, except in such emergencies as Dr. C. specifies, we have always held the use of alcohol, as a strengthener before unusual efforts, or as a cordial after them, to be exceedingly un-scientific, and to the young, whose organic habits are forming, disastrous. Published by Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia.

Buckler on Fibro-bronchitis and Rheumatic Pneumonia. Published by Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia.

This work was originally presented to the Committee on Voluntary Communications for the American Medical Association in 1853, and was by that,

committee rejected. It now appears as a neat volume of a hundred and fifty pages. The peculiar doctrine advocated by this work is that certain forms of pneumonia, which are found are, pathologically speaking, rheumatic inflammations of the white fibrous framework of the bronchi. This suggestion is certainly an interesting one, and deserves from the profession a fuller investigation. The book is a modest one It first simply explains without argument, the doctrine of the author; the bulk of the work is occupied with detailing twenty-seven cases illustrating his position, and closes with an analysis of the cases, and remarks upon the treatment. The style of argumentation is not strong, but the body of facts presented is on that account more available and valuable. The observation and permanent record of these facts we consider to be the chief value of the book, for it is by the accumulation and careful collation of cases alone, that the existence or frequency of rheumatic inflammation of the bronchi can be clearly determined. So brief an essay as the one before us, of course cannot settle the doubts of the profession, nor establish the positions of the writer immoveably, but it may elicit examination and leave its facts in the track of useful investigation. We are glad to see the work, for we think the white fibrous tissues in the lungs and bronchi are not exempt from liability to rheumatic irritation, and we desire that investigation may settle to what extent this may proceed, and of what importance it may be either alone, or as complicating other diseases, or producing simple inflammations.

In conducting this investigation, great care, however, is necessary, on account of the great number of circumstances whose changes and combinations like the permutations of arithmetic are almost endless. Hence, it does not follow from a few cases in which cessation of rheumatism in a limb is followed by bronchitis, that necessarily a true rheumatic metastasis has taken place, for besides the numerous chances of accidental coincidence, it may happen that the derivative effect of the bronchial affection has relieved the articular rheumatism, or vice verse an attack of articular rheumatism may on a similar principle during its continuance keep in check an impendiug attack of bronchitis or pneumonia, which latter diseases, may develop themselves in full force as soon as the rheumatic attack subsides. This is a specimen of the difficulties which will surround the examination, nevertheless they may be overcome, and we are glad to see a beginning made.

Fowne's Chemistry for Students.

This is, we should think, a very excellent small text-book for students. It is illustrated by over one hundred and eighty wood cuts. It devotes a large space to organic chemistry, that mountain of facts, which modern science has thrown into the pathway of chemical students.

Published by Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia.

Bennet on the Uterus. Fourth American Edition.

This is from the third and revised London Edition. Concerning this extensively known work it is superfluous to speak. The present edition contains several improvements over those which were taken from the first two English editions. The work itself, is established as a part of medical literature, and no physician's library is complete without it.

Published by Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia.

Medical News and Library.

Published by Blanchard and Lea, for one dollar a year, and furnished gratuitously to all subscribers of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

History of the Epidemic Yellow Fever at New Orleans.

By E. D. Fenner, M. D., President of the Louisiana State Medical Society, etc., etc. This is a history of the late epidemic, at New Orleans, and contains considerable information of value. The author persists, that even in the late epidemic, quinine properly used was valuable, but not so efficacious as in previous years. The number of cases was about 27,143, of which about 29 per cent. died, constituting about 8 per cent of the entire population of the city

Transactions of the Peninsular State Medical Society. Instituted, 1853. Second Annual Meeting.

MORNING SESSION.

The Society met at the Medical College University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at 12 M., March 30, 1854. The President and Vice-President being absent, the meeting was called to order by the Secretary, and on motion, Henry Taylor, M.D., of Mt. Clemens, was elected President, pro tem.

It was moved and carried that the regular order of business be suspended to attend to the admission of delegates and new members. The following delegates were then found present:

Drs. S. L. Andrews, of Romeo, H. Taylor, of Mt. Clemens, and Win. Brownell, of Utica; all from the North Eastern District Medical Society. Also Drs. E. Dorland, and W. A. Peck, representatives of the Serapion Society of the University of Michigan.

The following gentlemen were then proposed and elected Fellows of the Society.

The following gentlemen were then recognized as members, having become so since the last meeting.

It was moved and carried that there be a committee of three appointed by the Chair to nominate officers for the ensuing year. The Chair appointed Drs. W. Brodie, E. Andrews, and W. Brownell, as that committee.

An invitation was then presented to the Society by Prof. Douglass, for the members to attend an entertainment to be given in the evening by some of the Professors. It was moved and carried that the invitation be accepted.

The society then adjourned until 2 P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

At 2 P. M., the Society re-assembled. Dr. H. Taylor, in the Chair. The Secretary called the roll, and the following members were found present.

Residence not stated.-They are requested to forward them to the Secretary.