eminent surgeons in the U. S. recommend- Mr J. C. Jenckes having requested my opinion of his Machine for raising the sick and wounded from bed, I have examined it, and found it well calculated for the purpose. In order to test its practical utility, I desired him to convey it to the Massachusetts General Hospital, and have repeatedly employed it there; particularly in a case of fractured thigh, accompanied with delirium, and found it highly useful. Considering it therefore a valuable invention, I very heartily recommend it for the use of hospials, and for all private patients who may be in need of it. JOHN C. WARREN, Principal Mass. Hospital. Boston, June 16, 1823. Lynn, 25th Feb. 1825. DR CHOATE,-This comes to you by the hands of MR JENCKES, the inventor of an apparatus for raising from the bed, persons whose infirmities or injuries from fractures or other causes have usually rendered a long confinement necessary. MR JENCKES is furnished with numerous certificates from eminent surgeons, respecting the advantages of his machine, and in justice to his mechanical ingenuity and philanthropic character, I subjoin an account of an important case, in which I feel assured, the patient's life has been preserved by the assistance of this apparatus. R. T., a respectable lady, aged 55, unusually corpulent, by a fall on the ice fractured the right thigh bone at the neck. The usual reduction and dressings were attended to, and during the first two weeks the patient appeared to do well. It was then discovered that by the continued pressure on the back and hips, inflammation had taken place and gangrene and mortification were rapidly succeeding. The state of the fractured limb, the size of the patient, and the nervous excitement under which she laboured, precluded or rendered extremely inconvenient, the necessary dressing to those diseased parts. The patient was rapidly sinking and in the opinion of an eminent surgeon who was called in consultation, there was but a faint prospect of her recovery.-At this critical period Mr JENCKES visited Lynn, bringing with him one of his machines, which was immediately employed, and to the facilities afforded by this in the frequent dressings now become necessary, I am ready to attribute the rapid recovery of the patient from her dangerous situation. That the advantages of this invention may be widely extended, and suffering humanity be relieved from many of its burdens is the ardent desire of Your obedient servant, Philadelphia, Nov. 8, 1325. I have within the last few weeks in two cases of compound fractures, near the ancle joint, used with the most decided benefit the "Alleviator" of Mr Jenckes. Without hesitation I pronounce it a very valuable contrivance. WM. GIBSON, M. D., Professor of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania. Certificate from the Physicians and Sur geons of the New York Hospital. The undersigned Physicians and Surgeons of the New York Hospital, having examined and witnessed the application of Mr John C. Jenckes' new invention of a Machine for raising the sick from their beds, unite in recommending the same as peculiarly useful for the purposes for which it is intended. DAVID HOSACK, M. D. JOHN NELSON, M. D. JOHN C. CHESSMAN, M. D. JOHN WATTS, JR, M. D. VALENTINE MOTT, M. D, WRIGHT POST, M. D. THOMAS COCK, M. D. ALEX. H. STEVENS, M. D. New-York, July 15, 1823, Anatomical Preparations. NINE elegant ANATOMICAL PREPARATIONS in WAX, made by H. WILLIAMS, for sale at Auction, on the 30th inst. at the Hall over Mr Cunningham's Auction Room, in Milk-street, lately occupied as the HUBARD GALLERY. The PREPARATIONS to be exhibited the day previous, and on the day of sale. Tickets of admission, 25 cents. The object of this arrangement is to prevent the great crowd of the citizens, which might prevent those from purchasing who wish it. Tickets to be had at H. Williams's No. 1, School-street, and at the Hall door; a cursory description of them in writing may be seen at the Hall. Published weekly, by John Cotton, Proprietor, at 184, Washington-St. corner of FranklinSt. to whom all communications must be addressed (post-paid). Price two dollars per annum, if paid in advance, but, if not paid within three months, two dollars and a half will be required, and this will, in no case, be deviated from. MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER. VOL. IV. "NON EST VIVERE, SED VALERE VITA." TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 1826. For the Medical Intelligencer. CRITICAL NOTICE. Elements of Phrenology, by CHARLES CALDWELL, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Clinical Practice, in Transylvania University. Lexington, Ky. Thomas T. Skillman. 1824. Phrenology, which of late has gained so many advocates and admirers abroad, is getting, we perceive, in our own country to be a very popular and interesting branch of natural science; and, whatever may be thought or said of it by those who have never read a syllable up on the subject-who are ignorant of its history, its nature, its principles and importance, we are bound to confess that, those who have seriously attended to it, have generally been enamored of the science, and found it eminently worthy of their study and commendation. Indeed, its progress in this country has been quite rapid, and it seems to be recommending itself with much force to the attention of the learned, the candid and intelligent of all classes, as one of the most rational and ingeDious systems of the philosophy of mind, that has hitherto been suggested to the world. For ourselves, we have found it a very agreeable study, and freely confess we think favorably of the science. It is founded upon facts and observations, and as such, is worthy of the most attentive and candid examination. At first view of the subject, we thought lightly of the doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim-like many others, we were sceptical upon the subject-but having devoted some attention to it, NO. 3. and found it so plausible and interesting, and so easy to be understood withal, that we have resolved to recommend it to our readers, with a reasonable expectation that they will be pleased with a science which opens such a wide field for interesting inquiry, and whose principles admit of such a diversity of application to human life and conduct. Like every branch of philosophy, it has met with opposition. Like every discovery in science, from Galileo to Symmes, it has encountered a host of adversaries, who have at the outset raised their standard of rebellion, and waged against it-a war of extermination; and the vein of wit and ridicule has been exhausted in endeavoring to prove it to be "nothing more than the abortive offspring of a warm imagination, unsusceptible of any useful application to enlighten the mind, or to accelerate its progress." But the war of opposition has ceased-the adversaries of the doctrine, having hastily thrown the glove, without preparing their armour for defence, have now fallen prostrate, and are powerless. They have reckoned without their host, and many of the vanquished, overcome by the multitude of facts and weight of experience, have sought alliance with this new system, and are firm believers in its usefulness and truth. Every day, in fact, we see them falling around us, and rising again to become zealous advocates of the doctrines which at first they contended and railed against with so much bitterness and folly. Nor are these changes wrought with the medical profession alone, but among the most intelligent and observing of 26 MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER. all classes the lawyer, statesman, and divine. In fact, among all who have candidly examined the subject, the observations of Gall and Spurzheim have been extended and confirmed; and the various societies which have sprung up in different parts of Europe and this country, and the several courses of lectures which have been given, for the avowed purpose of diffusing general information in regard to this science, by the collection of facts and observations, sufficiently prove that their anticipations have not been altogether chimerical. "By setting the example of submitting every thing to the test of observation and experience, they have dissipated much of the prejudice which has long reigned in the sciences, and which the strongest minds of the preceding centuries have not been able to resist. They are now opposing to empiricism a mass of knowledge and facts, against which the errors adopted by the vulgar, with an enthusiasm which, in former times, would have perpetuated their empire, have spent their force in vain.” In a word, they have conceived a grand, beautiful, and ingenious theory of the human intellect, which, far more clear and comprehensive than any system of metaphysics hitherto invented, is now brought within the reach of the multitude, and entitled to special encouragement from its innumerable applications to the phenomena of nature, the philosophy of human actions, and the practice of the arts. What system of metaphysics, we beg to know, has hitherto developed a single intelligible, satisfactory idea, in relation to the phenomena of mind? Who that has written upon it, from Locke to Stewart, from Aristotle to Brown, has been able to dissipate the gross darkness which overshadows this portion of natural philosophy, and bring to light the true nature and operations of the mind? We confess, the more we have read these authors, the more we have been confused, and we feel ourselves indebted to Gall and 'Sporzheim for the only rational and comprehensive ideas we have been able to obtain in reference to the philosophy of mind. We render our thanks, however, to Dr. Caldwell, the learned and worthy Professor of Transyl vania University, and the author of the excellent treatise on phrenology which stands at the head of our paper, and which is richly deserving a more extended notice than at present we are able to give it. We thank him for the lively exposition he has given of the system-for the able and satisfactory manner in which he has defended it from hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness-for stifling the ridicule and prejudice which the ignorant and witling have been ready to indulge against it-for revealing it more fully to the wise and simple, and rendering it a most rational, agreeable, and fascinating study of the human mind. "This publication," says the author in his introduction, "is but little more than a horn book on the subject, being a mere digest of a few lectures delivered by him in his course of instruction on the institutes of medicine. He prints it at the request of his class, to whom it will serve as a remembrancer of what they have already heard, while it may indicate to others topics of inquiry, which, without some aid of the kind, might not have occurred to them. He hopes it will not be without its influence in achieving one object further. By making the real principles of the science better and more extensively known, and presenting them in the innocency which rightfully belongs to them, it will remove, or at least weaken, conscientious scruples, and lead to honest research." On the whole, we give it the passport of our ap probation, and recommend it to our readers as a work of decided merit, altogether worthy of the author's distinguished reputation as a philosopher, moralist and physician, and alike reputable to his head and his heart. It will do more, we believe, than any other work, to introduce into men's houses this new philosophy, and we sincerely hope for its more extended circulation, both at home and abroad. For the Medical Intelligencer. BIOGRAPHY. Dr PHILIP TURNER, a very celebrated operative surgeon, was born at Norwich, Con., 1740. At the age of 12, being left an orphan destitute of property, he was taken into the family, and under the patronage of Dr Elisha Tracey, of that town, who deservedly stood high in the public opinion, as a classical scholar, a practical physician, and a man distinguished for his moral and social virtues. pointment was given to Dr Shippen, of and feeling the fatigues of extensive ners. Dr Turner, though not an academical scholar, received a good early education, and was naturally of a ready mind, with much sprightliness and suavity of manTo these were united a handsome person, and pleasing address, with a kind of intuitive capacity, peculiarly qualifying him for the profession of surgery. On this subject, his judgment was uncommon Here TURNER was treated with the kindness of a child, and at a suitable age commenced his medical studies, under the eye of his patron. In the year 1759, he was appointed assistant surgeon to a provincial regiment, under General Amherst, at Ticonderoga. His handsomely accurate, and with a firm mind, and person and pleasing address soon attracted the attention of the English surgeons, by whom he was treated with much courtesy, and invited to witness many of their capital operations. It was from the information and practice he obtained in this school, that he laid the foundation of his future eminence as an operator. He continued with the army till after the peace of 1763, when he returned to the house of his benefactor, (whose eldest daughter he soon after married,) and settled in Norwich, as a practitioner of surgery. His practice and reputation were such, that at the breaking out of the revolutionary war, he was unrivalled, as a surgeon, in the eastern section of the country. During the first campaign, he was the first surgeon of the Connecticut troops before Boston. He went with the army to New York in 1776, and in consequence of the battles of Long Isl and and White Plains, a favourable opportunity was afforded him of displaying his professional talents as an operator, which gained him the highest character with the army. In 1777, Dr Turner was nominated and appointed by Congress Director-general, to superintend the general hospital, but en a motion for re-consideration, the ap a steady dexterity of hand, his operations were ably performed, and attended with an almost unparallelled success. Dr Shippen did him the honour to say, that neither in Europe or America had he ever seen an operator that excelled him. In about twenty operations of lithotomy, it is said, that all but two cases were perfectly successful. Dr Turner is an instance of one rising to the highest professional eminence, who never studied or travelled out of his own country. ty exists universally in all living be- The applications, or causes which make an impression, and excite emotion, in living beings, are termed stimuli, or exciting powers. The impressions thus made, though followed by action, we are not, in general, conscious of. Thus, the food excites the stomach, and the blood the heart and vessels, to perform their respective actions, without our being at all sensible or conscious of such impressions being made. In the same way, the most important functions, those the most essential to life, are carried on, without our being conscious of the impression being made, or our knowing, by any particular feeling, what is going on in the system. In the same way, the causes of disease often act upon us insensibly and we know nothing of their application, till they have produced their effects, as in the case of contagion, &c. It is upon this principle, also, viz., the susceptibility, irritability, or excitability of the body, that medicines generally act, for we seldom feel first impressions, and only become sensible to their more remote effects, as in the case of bark, mercury, arsenic, &c. This susceptibility of impression, or irritability, is greater or less, according to various circumstances. It is greater in some parts than in others, as the stomach compared with the skin. The former is open to a number of impressions which the latter is insensible to. Thus ipecacuanha, taken into the stomach, produces an impression of which we are not distinctly conscious, but which is soon followed by violent action, yet the same substance applied to the skin produces no effect. The susceptibility differs with age; it is greater in young persons than in old ones; so that the same degree of stimulus will produce a greater effect in the former than in the latter. Hence, therefore, in the application of agents to the body, we are not only to take into account the force of the impression, but the degree of susceptibility also. The susceptibility of impression is different in health and in disease. In some diseases, it is much increased; in others, it is diminished of the latter, we have instances in brain affections. This property is greater in some individuals than in others; this is to be remembered in the administration of medicines. One person requires a double and treble dose of the same substance, to produce the same effect. Unfortunately, we have no certain means of judging of the degree of susceptibility possessed by different bodies. We give medicines to produce certain effects, but we are always doubtful whether these effects will be produced. Sometimes, from a previous knowledge of the individual, we are enabled to judge in some degree, but never without doubt. Both when in excess and when deficient, susceptibility of impression predisposes to disease, though of different kinds. When in excess, it disposes to inflammation and spasın; when deficient, it is attended with torpor and inaction, and their consequences. It is influenced by medicines, and various other things. Thus narcot |