for the French words of the original; there is not a single note of the least value appended to any part of the volume; and even this is perhaps the very smallest blemish of the book; it has been most carelessly (we suppose from the excessive haste on the part of Mr. Dickinson to see his name in print) got up, and it is full of errors, which he may perhaps say, are merely typographical, but which we are not quite willing to admit as such; for not to mention the blunders in transcribing a few German words which occur here and there, what shall our well informed readers say of such classic terms as "febra urticata," "tinea annulare," and a score of such; or of a line like the following, "de febre a caneris flaviatilibus, et fragaria vescæ fructu." Almost every page presents such words as "veriola," "porrigo scutelata," "venerala," "visiculous," "flour of sulphur," and so forth. The formulas for the preparation of certain ointments and lotions are quite unique; for example— "B. Protochl. mercury, 3ii.

Sugar, thus, āā 3ss. M. for fumigation."

An ointment for the itch is to be prepared thus:

"B. Adip. 3j.

Sulphur. zij.

Potassæ, 3j. M. ft. ung.

Two frictions, of two ounces each, twice a day."

Pray is the potassa the caustic alkali? We pity the poor patient, if it is; we should think that the fate of Marsyas, when he was flayed by the wrathful god, was not much worse. Then for another specimen. ("Redwash Hospital, St. Louis.")

"B.

Deutochl. mercury, 3j.
Distilled water, DJ.
Anchusa, q. s. M. ft. lotio."

A drachm of corrosive sublimate to a scruple of water? A moderately strong wash we suppose. Dr. Paris, in the next edition of his Pharmacologia, will do well to attend to these curiosities of the prescribing art. In the event of a second impression being at any future time called for, Mr. D. will do well to revive studiously and patiently the work which he has undertaken to introduce into English medical literature. Let him not be satisfied with giving a mere bald translation of Rayer's text; he should aspire to a more dignified avocation; and by comparing the sentiments of his author with those of domestic and of other continental writers, by abridging or altogether excluding some of the unnecessary details, and by supplying the deficiencies, (more particularly in reference to the treatment of skin diseases) he will not only do himself an essential good, but confer a practical benefit on the profession at large. As a guide and pattern for him to follow in his labours, we cordially recommend him to take Dr. Forbes, whose translation of Laennec we cannot praise too highly. A copious index is indispensably requisite in such a work as Rayer's.

TRANSLATION FROM THE INAUGURAL DISSERTATION OF Carlo Francisco Joseph Bellingeri, E. S. Agatha Derthonensi Philo sophiæ et Medicine Doctoris, Amplissimi Medicorum Collegii Candidati.

THE physiological world has lately been distracted by a controversy on the nervous system. The discoveries which the world has attributed to Sir C. Bell have been snatched at by more than one envious hand, and the wreath has been torn, though it has not withered on his brow. We had hoped to have laid before our readers, upon this occasion, a careful, a candid, and unflinching examination of the claims of some of those who oppose Sir C. Bell. Circumstances delay the publication of the article till the Number of this Journal for January next. A contemporary has advocated, with much warmth and little temper, the right of Bellingeri to be considered the first who elicited and displayed the true functions of the fifth and seventh pair of nerves. With anxious, hurried, and impartial zeal, he has, almost at the same hour, introduced the candidate and chaired the victor. Yet the issue of the triumph may remind us of the humorous plate of Hogarth, in which the conqueror's conspicuous situation attracts to himself more weighty bludgeons and more numerous brickbats.

As Signor Bellingeri's claims are hotly urged, the best mode of arriving at a just appreciation of them, is to lay before the public a translation of the essay on which they have been founded. This we have now, through the kindness of a friend, the opportunity of doing. In our next, we shall discuss their nature and their value.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE FIFTH AND SEVENTH PAIRS OF NERVES. CHAPTER I.-ART. I. The Use, Agreement, and Influx of the Major Portion of the Fifth Pair.

1. Although, in entering upon a much controverted question, I cannot speak with absolute certainty, I shall have enough to adduce upon the ground. of fair conjecture. We have, moreover, seen in the previous dissertation, that the fifth pair is distributed to a variety of parts, with entirely distinct uses. Some of these parts are subservient to sense and voluntary motion, some to involuntary or spontaneous action, others, again, to secretion—all, in fact, perform organic functions. With what actions, however, is the fifth pair engaged? Let us consult authority before we decide.

2. Galen has observed that a nerve of the fifth pair, which he designates by the name of the third conjugation, is assigned to the sense of touch and voluntary motion, and that branches of it are distributed throughout the mouth, and subservient to taste.

Willis remarked that the fifth pair attends upon the senses, as those of touch and taste; he maintained, also, that it performed motions, though involuntary or instructive; that it was influenced and excited by sympathy, and by the passions; he also plainly hinted, that the lachrymal branch of the ophthalmic was devoted to involuntary actions (or organic functions,) was

in a manner subservient to sight and smell, and modified the circulation of the blood in the face.

Vieussens likewise asserted that it was subservient to touch and taste; and that it was also of use in voluntary and involuntary motion, and in the expression of sympathy and passion.

Meckel declared that it expressed the feelings of the mind, and revealed morbid affections in the face; that it directed more of the sympathies of the head, trunk, and limbs; that it presided over the senses of touch and taste, and was even subservient to smell; that it attended upon sight and hearing; and sometimes contracted or dilated the larger blood vessels and capillaries. Soëmmering also observed that this pair expressed the sympathies and passions of the mind, and the morbid affections of the viscera. Bichat reckons the nerve of the fifth pair among the nerves of animal life, and transfers the ophthalmic ganglion to the nervous system of organic life. Gall observed that the nerve of the fifth pair is distributed to parts of voluntary motion, and also to parts which are by no means so; that it presides partly over ordinary sensation, as that of touch, partly over special, as that of taste; hence he proposed the term of the mixed pair. Boyer examined the physiology of the fifth pair more fully, for, according to him, it supplies motion to the occipito-frontal and supraciliary muscles, to all the muscles of the face, to the temporal, the pterygoids, the masseter, the muscles of the velum palati, those of the tongue, the mylo-hyoideus, the genio-hyoideus, and to the anterior belly of the digastric; but it supplies sense to the iris, the lachrymal gland, the conjunctiva, the pituitary membrane, the velum and glandular membrane of the palate, the gums, the membrane of the internal mouth, the the teeth, the tongue, the tonsillary, maxillary, and sublingual glands, the integuments of the ears, temples, crown of the head, forehead, and the whole of the face.

3. Very numerous, therefore, and diversified are the functions which, in the opinion of these writers, the fifth pair performs. Reason, however, seems to convince us, that this pair eminently contributes to the organic life of the parts to which it is distributed.

4. And in the first place, in an anatomical point of view, its peculiar structure, so admirably adapted to nerves of organic life, the intertextural arrangement of its filaments, its frequent ganglia, the extraordinary number of its anastomoses, the occasionally increased volume of its branches-as we have observed with Boyer, in the trunk of this nerve, in the ciliaries, in the external nasal; and, with the anatomist Scarpa, in the posterior palatine, which constitutes its resemblance to the intercostal; its constant connexion with the arteries, which Bichat considers a distinct characteristic of the organic life of nerves-all these points are in favour of the opinion proposed. Perhaps an argument may also be drawn from its source; for it appears to rise almost entirely from the corpora olivaria, which are properly considered as ganglia.

5. The arguments derived from physiology are still more important. Being actually distributed to the iris, the lachrymal gland, the widely-expanded pituitary membrane of the nose, the maxillary, sphenoidal, and frontal sinuses, the teeth, the internal parts of the ears, all the salivary, the mucous, and the tonsillary glands, the pharynx, and the periosteum, it cannot but perform the functions of organic life. It is true, indeed, that it has refe

rence to the muscles which are subservient to the will and the teguments; but I would have it observed that it is not branches of the fifth pair only which exist here, but that others are immediately added; whilst, for instance, it passes out above and beneath the orbit to the temples, and in the malar region, near the foramen menti, are not filaments of the seventh pair immediately supperadded, forming, by a close anatomosis with the branches of the fifth, almost a single nerve? If, then, organic life exists solely where the branches of the fifth pair are exclusively found, as in the lachrymal, nasal, dental, and palatine branches, is it not probable, from its distribution to the muscles and integuments of the forehead, lips, nose, mouth, and entire face, that it attends merely upon (familiari) the organic life of these parts, while their animal life, as voluntary motion and animal sensation, depends on the superadded nerves? Undoubtedly, since the fifth pair supplies the organs of the senses, the organic part depends on this nerve, the animal on those particular nerves which relate to these organs. It is plain that the involuntary motion of the iris, that of the muscles of the internal ear, and the organic life of the pituitary membrane, are regulated by the fifth; yet the sense of smell depends on the first pair, that of sight on the optic, and that of hearing on the acoustic: it seems therefore to follow that both the voluntary motion of the muscles of the face, and the animal sense of touch, depend on the seventh. For, since the branches of the fifth pair exclusively supply the velum palati, with its muscles, and the pharynx, their motion is almost entirely removed from the control of the will.

Let us moreover observe, with Gall, that the nerve of the fifth pair is more evolved, in the case of infants newly-born, than any other nerve of the head; and, whereas, in the rest of the animals, a proportion is kept up more than in man, the fifth pair is more remarkable for its thickness. But the life of the foetus is organic; the life of brutes, also approaches nearer in the face to the organic than that of man. Physiology therefore convinces us that the fifth pair is subservient to organic life.

6. That the fifth pair is principally devoted to organic life is proved, moreover, by actual cases of pathology. It is matter of fact that, in neuralgia, the infra-orbitar branch of the face is divided, and no paralysis of the muscles ensues. The same conclusion is perhaps deducible from the case of the monster described by Lawrence; in which the brain was almost entirely wanting, and the annular protuberance was replaced by a tumor, from which proceeded only the fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth pair; the subject lived four days, and took food. Yet it would be fairly inferred that the monster lived an organic rather than a really animal life, from the entire absence of the principal organs which attend upon the latter.

7. Meanwhile, whilst we are proving that the fifth pair attends principally upon organic life, it is also plain that animal life must consequently depend on the same pair, for, upon injury of the organic mode of existence in any part, the animal functions are also of necessity interrupted. Upon this principle we explain the following case:

Mussano Joseph Antonius, 23 years of age, (an agriculturist of Bibia,) of the sanguine temperament, and of a robust habit, was seized, from seeing an epileptic woman several times, with a severe mental affection, producing disturbed, restless, and terrific sleep; some months afterwards he experienced a heavy pain in the right occipital region, which was followed in a few days

by paralysis on the same side of the face. He entered St. John's Hospital a month and half after the commencement of the disease, when we observed the following symptoms. There were distortions of the left side of the mouth; pain above and beneath the orbit about the proper foramina, also at the os malæ, and near the foramen menti on the right side; paralysis of the frontal and supraciliary muscles, the orbicularis palpebrarum, the incisor muscles, the canine, the zygomatic, the triangular, and the quadratus menti, and of the orbicularis labiorum on the right side; meanwhile, the motions of the temporal, masseter, and buccinator muscles, and of the tongue, was unimpaired; the deglutition was also undisturbed; the senses of hearing and sight were uninjured; the motion of the iris was perfect in the same part, as also that of the smell in both nostrils, as we proved by experiment. In the mean time, however, there was a diminished sense of titillation in the right nostril, on taking some pungent snuff; and a slight effusion of tears from the right eye; the same kind of snuff being taken in the left nostril, there was greater irritation, and a copious discharge of tears from the left eye; upon stitulating the nostrils with foreign bodies, sternutation ensued on the left side, but none on the right. The sense of taste was considerably impaired and diminished in the right side of the tongue; that of touch was also much obscured in the integuments of the same side of the face. There was also pain in the right scapula. We learn from this case that motion was withdrawn from those muscles, which are supplied by the portio major of the fifth pair, whilst it remained in those which are supplied by the portio minor; that the organic sense of the pituitary membrane was diminished, that its sympathy with the intercostal and lacrymal (nerves) was diminished and almost obliterated; and that the senses of taste and touch were injured, whilst those of sight, hearing, and smell were unaffected.

7. It is not, however, merely over the organic life of parts that the fifth pair presides, but it also serves to express the involuntary passions and sympathies. The passions of the mind are wonderfully expressed in the face, principally by the branches of the fifth pair. Joy, for instance, is observed in the regular expansion of the frontal muscle, though by a peculiar separation of the muscles of the lips and of the orbicularis oris, by the brightness of the eye, and the natural animated colour of the face, and sometimes, when it is excessive, by a flow of tears. In sorrow, the same branches of nerves are affected, but in an entirely different way; thus the frontal nerves of the fifth, the lacrymal, and the insertions of the infra-orbital in the muscles of the nose and lips express sorrow, and also the branches of the inferior maxillary in the muscles of the chin; the eyes meanwhile droop and are sad, the face is pale and of a dull livid colour.

37. It follows from what has been hitherto said that, with regard to the senses, a distinction is to be made between those of touch and smell, and between organic and animal taste. These senses, so far as they depend on instinct, are referred to organic life; hence they have been denied to no class of animals, and are perfect almost from the period of birth; for it is by these senses that the animals provide for themselves, and preserve their existence; and these senses also act by their connexion with nerves of organic life only, as appears in worms, and in the monster described by Fauvel and by Mery; but animal touch, smell, and taste are performed by