1847] On the Villi of Fishes and Reptiles. 19 with the prevailing errors of the day, a large amount of valuable matter, has lost much of its interest in consequence of the more accurate knowledge now possessed respecting the process of absorption. In the following account, the polygonal depressions or cells described by Dr. Sprott Boyd as containing the gastric secreting tubules, and likewise the membranous partitions separating the cells from each other, spoken of by Krause, Huschke and other anatomists as plicæ villosa, and forming a kind of transition to the true villi of the small intestine, are distinctly noticed. "At the upper part of the stomach the villous coat appears in a microscope like a honeycomb, or like the reticulum, or second stomach of a ruminant quadruped in miniature; that is, full of small cells, which have thin membranous partitions. Towards the pylorus these partitions are lengthened so as to approach to the shape of the villi of the jejunum."--P. 188. Hewson also describes the honeycombed appearance of the mucous coat of the large intestine; and in the appended extract he has given a clear account of the villi of fishes and reptiles, animals in which, by Rudolphi and others, their existence has been denied: the reader will also mark the network of lacteals here spoken of, and subsequently depicted by Krause. "That the villi in some fish have a network of lacteals, I have distinctly seen in the turbot, where I have injected the lacteals with mercury, which readily runs from those vessels into the villi, and makes them turgid and erected. In the same way I have likewise seen a network of lacteals on the villi of a turtle, where these villi are of a different shape, and in some parts of the gut are cellular, or honeycombed, something like the lower part of the human stomach, only the partitions of the cells are here much larger." And again, in combating the notion of Liberkühn, that each villus has an ampullula, the author says, "of the fallacy of this opinion I was first persuaded from observations made on fish, birds, and amphibious animals, in all of which I can demonstrate that the villi have a network of lacteals as well as a network of arteries and veins." The account of the compound character of the papillæ of the tongue, anticipates, in some degree, the very accurate investigations of these parts, lately published in the Physiological Anatomy of Dr. Todd and Mr. Bowman. "The papillæ of the tongue in the human subject appear to the naked eye, when they are not minutely injected, quite smooth, but on a minute injection each of these papillæ appears covered with small vascular processes or villi; so that in such a tongue every one of the papillæ seems in the microscope like a bunch of fibres, or rather like a sheaf of corn; some preparations of which, adapted to the microscope, I have now by me. The learned Albinus seems not only to have observed this, but to have had the same idea of the use of these processes, which he calls tubercles, and has painted them like those little eminences that appear upon a nipple, but I find them much longer."-L. c., p. 193. An ingenious, and probably the true, explanation of the great number of valves in the absorbent vessels, is assigned in the following passage : "The lymphatic system is very full of these valves, much more so than the venous, and the reason of this difference seems to be, that the blood in the ve-t nous system is strongly pressed forwards by the vis a tergo from the action o the heart and arteries, and therefore its course is less liable to be interrupted by any accidental pressure. But the motion of the absorbed fluid in these vessels having no such force, but only that of the attraction at the orifice, and the peristaltic contraction of the coats, might easily be overcome by any lateral compression, were it not for the valves, which seem to be given to prevent the retrocession of the lymph being considerable, and to make any lateral pressure, instead of preventing, rather promote its passage to the heart."-L. c., p. 195. It is interesting to see in what light Hewson regarded that intricate branch of minute anatomy-the structure of the secreting glands. Only a few incidental notices are given; but, from the views expressed in the subjoined extract, so accurate when contrasted with the received opinions of the day, it is evident that he was advancing in the right direction, although still biassed by the erroneous doctrines of Ruysch. In alluding to the difficulty of distinguishing clusters of small vessels, such as those of the Malpighian bodies of the kidneys, from glandular follicles, and to the errors consequent thereon, Hewson remarks: "On making a variety of experiments on these other glands, (namely, the mammary and the salivary,) I think it evident in what manner the deception has happened to those ingenious anatomists; namely, when the excretory ducts of the breast, for example, are injected with vermillion and painter's size, the small acini of which that gland consists are made extremely red, and such a preparation being dried the acini appear as large as pins' heads, so that the breast has been suspected to have follicles of that magnitude; but on injecting the breast with mercury, which is a brighter substance, and better contrasted to the dried fibres, I have distinguished what in the other preparation might be mistaken for a bag was here evidently no more than the extremity of the excretory duct, terminating in one of these acini, and dividing into a number of branches so suddenly as to come near to Ruysch's description of the penicilli of arteries; but the small branches, into which this extremity of the duct divided, were so close to one another, that in the preparation where they were filled with size and vermillion, they could not be distinguished, but in that where they contained mercury, it evidently appeared that, in each acinus of the magnitude of a pin's head, there was a considerable number of branches, but so small as not easily to be seen with the naked eye."-L. c., p. 191. In bringing this article to a conclusion, it would be supererogatory to say that these admirable investigations are worthy of universal and careful perusal ; the only drawback, indeed, to the satisfaction with which we hail this last production of the Sydenham Society, is the circumstance that such a complete edition of Hewson's works should be confined to the members, numerous as we are happy to know they are, of that institution. To Mr. Gulliver we must again tender our best thanks, for the able manner in which he has discharged the onerous duties devolving on the editor of a series of Inquiries embracing so varied and comprehensive a field as those we have been considering. It was a task requiring no ordinary labour and judgment to illustrate the importance of Hewson's discoveries and observations, by contrasting them with the investigations both of his predecessors and successors; that this great desideratum has been attained in the copious and well-selected notes appended to the present volume, will be, we feel assured, acknowledged by all impartial readers; and with this conviction we congratulate the able editor on the acceptable addition he has made to medical literature. 1847] On the Health of Towns, &c. 21 I. HEALTH OF TOWNS' ASSOCIATION. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ΤΟ THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION, ON LORD LINCOLN'S SEWERAGE, DRAINAGE, &C. OF TOWNS' BILL. Pp. 122. London: Charles Knight and Co. 1846. II. UNHEALTHINESS OF TOWNS, ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES; being a Lecture delivered in the Mechanics' Institute at Plymouth. By Viscount Ebrington, M. P. Published by the Health of Towns' Association. London: Charles Knight and Co. 1846. III. ON THE HEALTH OF TOWNS, AS INFLUENCED BY DEFECTIVE CLEANSING AND DRAINING, AND ON THE APPLICATION OF THE REFUSE OF TOWNS TO AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. Being a Lecture delivered at the Russell Institution. By William A. Guy, M.B. Cantab., Professor of Forensic Medicine, King's College, &c. London: Henry Renshaw, 1846. IV. THE LIVERPOOL HEALTH OF TOWNS' ADVOCATE ; published under the sanction of the Committee of the Liverpool Health of Towns' Association. Edited by John Sutherland, M. D. Senior Physician to the Liverpool Dispensaries. London: Longman and Co. 1846. A REPORT SETTING V. THE IMPROVEMENT OF MANCHESTer. Or these several publications, the most important is the Report lately issued by the Committee of the Metropolitan Health of Towns' Association; and when we announce that this valuable document emanates from the pen of Dr. Southwood Smith, it would be superfluous to add that it is deserving of the most careful consideration of all who are interested in the great question to which it relates. In a former Number of this Journal (see Med.-Chir. Rev., Oct. 1845) a hope was expressed that, ere this, legislative means would have been devised to rectify the crying evils which afflict the poorer part of the inhabitants of our large towns and populous districts. Unhappily, however, this all-important question has, like so many others affecting social improvement, been deferred amidst that endless conflict of parties, classes, and sects, which well nigh defeats one of the great objects of all government-the promotion, namely, of the physical, moral, and religious welfare of the people. In one respect the delay has been advantageous, inasmuch as it has afforded an opportunity of maturely considering the merits of the measure introduced by the late Government, and commonly known as Lord Lincoln's Bill. This important and somewhat difficult task has been very fitly undertaken by the Health of Towns' Association, a society which comprises among its committee some of the most distinguished and con sistent advocates of sanitary improvement, including, with many members of the two houses of parliament, several eminent individuals connected with our own profession. It is also satisfactory to perceive that those two great cities, Manchester and Liverpool, which are so fearfully interested in this question, are actively putting forth their energies to struggle with the gigantic evils by which, in common with all other populous places, they are so sorely afflicted. Nor can it be otherwise than highly gratifying, that one of the nobles of the land, Lord Ebrington, assuming the functions of an instructor of the people, has efficiently advocated this great cause by addressing a popular audience in a large provincial town. These must all be regarded as favourable indications; because they sufficiently show that, however lukewarm or indifferent our rulers may hitherto have been, the indispensable necessity of a general and comprehensive change in the whole system of drainage, supply of water, ventilation, and other similar matters, has become universally recognised. But beyond all other circumstances of promise is the unquestionable fact that we have at last a willing Government; so that whatever other difficulties may remain to be surmounted, and these are neither insignificant in number nor unimportant in character, the main obstacle to a thorough amendment has at all events been removed-a ministry, namely, entering upon one of the most vital questions ever brought before the legislature of this country, actuated rather by a concern to preserve vested rights than by an anxious desire to ameliorate the condition of the industrial classes. Favourable as are thus the prospects of a speedy and effectual amendment, and zealous as are the exertions now being made in so many parts of England; it is yet a point of momentous consequence, that no erroneous or short-sighted principles should be allowed to prevail, nor that any false step should be taken in a matter so nearly concerning the lives and happiness of millions. It is with this feeling, and with the knowledge that medical men must and ought to have a powerful voice in this question, that we propose to lay before our readers such an abstract of the abovenamed "Report," as will convey to them the matured views of those best qualified to judge of what is required to constitute a comprehensive plan of sanitary improvement. In our former article some of the defects of the Government measure were pointed out; and we especially showed the absurdity and injustice of excluding the metropolis from the benefits of the bill; an omission, we imagine, dictated by something of the same kind of feeling, which, in the matter of corporation reform, stayed the hands of a Whig administration when they approached the colossal abuses of the city. In the Report before us we find the following paragraph relative to this and other equally important omissions: "The first point to which your Committee would direct attention is the proposed limitation of the Act: that is, the limitation of its operation to England and Wales to the exclusion of Ireland and Scotland, and to the further exclusion of the metropolis even of England itself. Now a large proportion of the evidence on which the conclusions of the first and second Reports of Her Majesty's Commissioners are founded is derived from the experience of the metropolis, and the specific recommendations of the second Report are applied directly to evils prevalent in the metropolis; while it is universally known and admitted that the towns in Ireland and Scotland are subject to the same evils as 1847] Defects of Lord Lincoln's Bill. 23 those ascertained to exist in the English towns, only commonly in greater intensity, and that consequently they stand in still more pressing need of remedies." P. 6. In an interview which lately took place between the Home Secretary and a deputation from the Health of Towns' Association, an assurance was given that one of these glaring defects should be rectified by including the metropolis in the new sanitary measures about to be introduced by the present Government. This is so far well; but the duty of the legislature will be only half performed, if two of the component parts of the Empire, Ireland and Scotland, with their millions of inhabitants, are deprived of the inestimable benefits which must accrue from any well-devised scheme of improvement. We are also ourselves convinced that the rural districts of England urgently require ameliorations, which, if left to the apathetic ignorance and short-sighted selfishness of the parties who exercise the principal influence in those localities, will be indefinitely postponed. There is at this time a vast amount of preventible disease occurring in villages and small towns, causing from time to time frightful ravages; and often entailing upon the agricultural labourers and their families, years of subsequent distress, owing to the permanent debility induced by typhoid fevers. And yet, in these very districts, the happiest results have invariably followed even imperfect sanitary measures, such as filling up stagnant ponds in the centre of villages, covering over open ditches, and similar proceedings. There is also an element of success in these instances of primary consequence-the facility, namely, of carrying out the requisite improveIn large towns, the vast amount of the existing evils will, under the best-directed efforts, offer a very serious impediment; but, in the country, a comparatively trifling expenditure would realise all that was required, and would speedily be repaid by the saving effected in the poorrates. We have been given to understand that the Health of Towns' Association propose to institute, through the instrumentality of one of its members, an inquiry into this important subject, with the view of ascertaining what is the existing amount of preventible sickness in rural districts, and what have been the results of sanitary improvements where these have been introduced. ments. After pointing out the ignorance and extravagant jobbing of some of the existing boards, as well as the obstructions to sanitary improvement caused by these bodies, the Westminster Court of Sewers being selected for illustration, the Report points out a serious error in Lord Lincoln's bill, which, "instead of charging the responsible (public) officer with the duty of preparing in all cases plans and estimates, expressly empowers the Commissioners (a fluctuating body proposed to be constituted by the bill, without professional knowledge and irresponsible) to commence and execute works." As if to perpetrate the very abuses for the abolition of which all disinterested parties are seeking, the bill of the late Government does not adopt the recommendation of the Commissioners of Inquiry, that all works whatever should be executed by contracts upon open tenders. It is needless to point out further that, without such a provision, the public can never be guarded from jobbing, extravagance, and incompetency. It is a remarkable illustration of the slow march of improvement in legislation, that whereas there is an universal conviction from one end of |