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.sympathetic; that the self-sense is the attribute of all nervesand nerve-centres, and so far as concerns the viscera, of thesympathetic ganglia,; that mental emotion has not any more.special connexion with the self sense than with any of the rest;that all nerves equally influence the nutrition of the parts towhich they are finally distributed, and that their diversity offunction depends not upon one set acting centripetally andanother centrifugally, but upon the manner and place of theirperipheral and central terminations. But whilst we say this,we are aware that, in the absence of more proof than at pre-sent exists, we have no right to ask credence for unsupportedpropositions, still less to expect that the reader will, on suchgrounds, refrain from acquiescing in the opinions of the author.

’On Dislocations and Fracturcs. By JOSEPH MACLISE, F.R.C.S.Fasciculus IV. London : Churchill.

IN this fasciculus Mr. Maclise has avoided any eccentric

flight from the domain of surgical anatomy into the realms oftranscendental physiology, and his productions are proportion-ately more valuable and noteworthy. The plates displayDislocation of the Humerus backwards on the Dorsum of the

Scapula, seen in its interior and posterior relations; Partial

Dislocation inwards, with varieties, as false joint and fractureof the anatomical neck. The remaining figures are devoted todislocations downwards and forwards complicated by fracture,and to the fractures of the humerus; finally, the dislocations of the elbow-joint are very carefully drawn. The etter-pressdescribes, with more fitting soberness of diction than in someprevious numbers, the nature and evidences of the injuriessustained. The homologies of the elbow-joint are discussed, aswe think, unnecessarily. The drawing is all that could be

desired, and hence the fasciculus is one of great merit and’nractical value.

News InventionsIN AID OF THE

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

THE NEW NURSING CHAIR.

THIS chair differs in a very peculiar manner from all ordinarychairs, the seat or chair itself being distinct from its frame orstand, and resting at an elevation of some six inches above ontwo upright rods, which slide upwards and downwards throughholes made for the purpose in the stool or frame below. Two

spiral steel springs are attached to hooks fixed in the underside of this stool- and connected in a similn.r manner at the

other extremity to a small cross-rail uniting the two rods whichsupport the chair. These springs are tempered and adjustedwith considerable nicety, so as to answer the twofold purposeof weighing and exercising the child. The weight of the childwhen placed in the chair necessarily presses it down, elongatingthe spring to the same extent. The length of this elongationindicates the child’s weight by an ivory scale or index insertedin one of the upright rods and marked in pounds, so that at aglance its weight can always be ascertained. The same actionof the child’s weight oil the springs, by bringing the feet intogentle contact with the foot-board which is attached to thestool, causes the chair to spring up again, thus giving to thelittle occupant a motion similar to the tossing up-and-downmotion given by the nurse. The same effect is produced by theaction of the hands on the handles of the chair, which are alsoiixed to the stool, and the slightest effort produces this motion.The chair is constructed the height for the table, and thesprings make it, in this respect, self-adapting to the size of thechild. The springs can at a moment’s notice be detached, andthe chair is at once perfectly firm. An important recommend-ation is, that the legs of the stool are so well spread as almostto preclude the possibility of being turned over.The chair is constructed full size, for use as an invalid

exercising chair. It is altogether a most useful invention, andis likely to be a boon to mothers and to those invalids whomay require its use. It is manufactured by Messrs. Wilson,Newton, and Co., 144, High Holborn.

PHTHISIS.

To t7te Editot of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In a clinical lecture by Dr. Alderson, on "PulmcnaryHæmorrhage," published in TnK LANCET of May 1st, in whichsome truth is announced with a considerable alloy of error, thealleged incurability of consumption should not be allowed topass unimpugned. I have waited the last fortnight expectingto see some of the celebrities of the profession who hold theopposite doctrine come forward in its defence. But I supposethey consider Dr. Alderson’s opinion so obsolete as not to re-quire fresh refutation. As all error, however, is perniciousjust in proportion to the influence and authority of its pro-mulgator, I do not think that Dr. Alderson should be leftundisturbed to paralyse professional exertions to cure phthisicalpatients, by classing their disease in point of hopelessness withcancer.

It is not expected of me here to enter at full length into thereasons that justify the modern practitioner in taking a muchmore favourable view of the prognosis of phthisis than waswont to be the case in olden times. I need not here refer to amultitude of cases contained in monographs on the subject, andscattered over medical journals.The case Dr. Alderson comments on is meagre in its de.

tails; yet this case rather favours the view of the curabilityof consumption, or its capability of indefinite arrest. Forhere we have one lung completely disorganized, excavated,shrunk, and useless, and some tubercles in the other lung, yetthe constitution had evidently rallied from all the sympatheticdisturbance which the progress of so devastating pulmonarylesions must have entailed. The pulse was slow, emaciationabsent, the chest well-developed, &c. The patient had severecough, I admit, but so have more or less the great majority ofpatients in whom consumption is arrested or cured.

In what Dr. Alderson says of cod-liver oil I most cordiallyagree. I have had considerable opportunities of seeing con-sumptive patients, and I honestly affirm I never yet saw acase cured by this vaunted specific, although the majority hadtried it. I have seen, however, much mischief produced byit-derangement of the digestive organs, impairment of validnutrition, and usually considerable congestion of the liver.

I tender this haslY letter in the hope that it may call atten-tion to the subject, and bring into the field of discussion someof those able writers and practitioners who have, for a longeror shorter time, fought the battle of thecurability of con-sumption.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,I am, Sir, your obedient servant,May, 1858. A PHYSICIAN.

8IèK FROM INDIA.-The " Eastern Monarch" has justarrived at Gravesend, having on board nearly 200 sick andwounded troops, under the charge of Staff Assistant-surgeonJ. P. Street, M.D.