tics without having an opportunity of going through a regular course of instruction."

We hope the publisher will not wait for the tardy progress of subscription, but send forth the work at once. The merit of the treatise, and the frequent inquiries for such a help and guide, we are confident must soon repay him for expenses.

Dr. LIEBER is going on Swimmingly, on a rising tide of successful progression, a little north of the Western Avenue.

Reed & Howard, 44, Hanover Street, have succeeded in preparing a medicine for the cure of intemperance, which has been considered by the best judges equal, if not superior to that of Chambers. The price is $2,50.

INJUSTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.

-

think it unjust to tax subscribers for newspapers, books, &c., the same price for certain letters and syllables which convey no meaning, not a single idea, as for those which are the most richly fraught with intelligence and use. We mean such syllables as the first of the following words,—until, upon, although, unto, and some others, which have no more, different, or better meaning in prose, than the shorter monosyllables. The writing, printing, reading and hearing of these unmeaning, and of course, unprofitable letters and syllables, in the various and voluminous productions which are constantly issuing from the press, amount weekly, to say nothing of longer periods, to no small loss of time, mate

rials, labor and expense. We have never presumed to take this liberty with ours. Most of the hyphens and parentheses of printers are likewise nothing better than a useless encumbrance of the language, and a defacement of fair printing.

"An Inquirer" is informed that the "bathing pamphlet," or rather the Discourses on cold and warm

Bathing, &c., may be had of E. F. Backus, of Albany, or of C. S. Francis, of New York, whence he can more conveniently be supplied than from this place. The price of a copy is fifty cents. As to the character, or merit of the publication, we beg leave to refer to those who have read the discourses and bathed according to their directions.

Salus is received and shall appear.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY JOUR-
NAL OF MED. AND SURG.
EDITED BY N. R. SMITH, M. D.
HE work

ing and of Curing Diseases, Vol. 4th, bound or unbound.

A Treatise on Verminous Diseases, preceded by the Natural History of Intestinal Worms, and their origin in the Human Body. V. L. BRERA, Professor

ued monthly. Its design embraces four departments.-1. Original Essays; 2. Adversaria; 3. Analytical Reviews; 4. Abstract of Foreign Medicine. Its average contents are 50 close octavo pages, 150 quarterly. It is printed on paper of the best quality. Its price is 3 dollars a year if paid in advance,-four if paid subsequently.-Subscribers can have the back numbers. Its conductor makes no invidious comparisons; specimens of the work are before the public: "qui invidet mi

Ο

JOSEPH KIDDER, 70, Court St., FFERS for sale a full assortment of Drugs and Medicines of the best quality. Confining himself principally to the retail business, every attention will

be given to meet the wishes of Physicians and others in the preparation and delivery of medicines. Prescriptions will receive constant personal attention.

Rochelle and Soda Powders carefully prepared as above.

Also, constantly for sale, Black Currant Wine, prepared by Mr. Pomeroy.

RETAIL DRUG STORE.

HENRY WHITE would inform his friends and the public, that he has now established himself as a retail druggist, at No. 188, Washington Street, opposite the Marlboro' Hotel, where Physicians and Families may depend on the most strict and personal attention to their orders. No Medicines will be put up unless of the first quality.

Pavia, &c.

BICHAT on the Membranes.

Discourses on Warm and Cold Bathing. A Dissertation on Medical Education, and on the Medical Profession.

Remarks on the Dangers and Duties of Sepulture.

The LANCET, a weekly London publication.

VAPOR or SULPHUR BATH can be had at any proper hour of the day, at 3, Central Court. The proper hours are before breakfast, dinner, and tea. The best time is between 11 and 2 o'clock.

A portable bath may be taken to the patient's house, if ordered by the attending physician, and administered under his direction.

HOOPER'S MEDICAL DICTIONARY.

Dictionary; containing an ExplanaEXICON MEDICUM; or Medical tion of the Terms in Anatomy, Botany, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Midwifery, tice of Physic, Surgery, and the various Mineralogy, Pharmacy, Physiology, Pracbranches of Natural Philosophy connected with Medicine. Selected, arranged and compiled from the best authors. By Robert Hooper, M.D. F.L.S. The fourth

American, from the fifth London edition. very considerably enlarged. For sale by Wells & Lilly.

ADAMS' PATENT, SWELLED BEAM

IT

BEDSTEAD.

this bedstead is no greater, with all its improvements, than the heavy, cumbersome, oldfashioned ones.-This foundation of tranquillity and repose,-this illus tration of neatness, taste and economy, may be seen at all hours of the day, as April 24.

above.

THIS PAPER IS

VOL. 5.

The terms on which this paper is sent to subscribers, are published at the end of every number.

From the Philadelphia Monthly Journal of

Medicine and Surgery.
VENOUS ABSORPTION.

A Report of some Experiments re-
cently performed at the Jefferson
Medical Hall, relative to Venous
Absorption from the Cavity of the
Stomach.

DR. C. LUZENBURG, assistant in the department of Practical Anatomy, had been engaged in performing experiments, at the suggestion of Professor Rhees, for the purpose of determining the influence of the nerves on the function of absorption generally.

For this reason, both extremities of the stomach were included in ligatures, together with the nerves which the organ receives from the eighth pair, and from the solar plexus. The prussiate of potash was, under these circumstances, abundantly absorbed and detected in various parts of the system.

I then suggested to Dr. L. the following experiments, for the purpose of determining the comparative importance of the veins and the lymphatics, in regard to the function of absorption from the cavity of the stomach.

The animals employed were cats. The abdomen was opened, and the pyloric and cardiac extre

NO. 13.

mities of the stomach were included in ligatures and divided. The peritoneum was then dissected away from around the coronary artery of the organ, and also from around the principal vein. All the peritoneal attachments were then removed, so that the organ retained no other connexion with the system than through the medium of one artery and one vein. By these the circulation was observed still to be kept up. Such vessels as bled on being divided were secured by ligatures.

The prussiate of potash, in solution, was then, by a tube, carefully conveyed into the stomach, so as to suffer none to fall into the cavity of the abdomen. The incision was finally closed by sutures, and the animal was suffered to live two and a half hours. On its being killed at the end of this time, the following interesting phenomena were manifested :

On applying the tincture of the muriate of iron to the blood of the vena portæ, it immediately assumed a strong blue color. On applying it to slices of the liver, remarkable blue patches were instantly obvious. The same occurred when it was applied to the heart. It was most striking, however, in the interior of the kidneys. When these organs were divided, and their surfaces touched with the tincture, they instantly became intensely blue, as if cover

ed with a thick pigment. When the external surface of the stomach was dashed with the tincture, it exhibited very little of the blue tint, a decided proof that the solution of the prussiate had not transuded through the stomach.

The above experiment was four times repeated. Three times it was done by Dr. Luzenburg, and once by Mr. Maillard, and always with the same remarkable results.

With a view to determine the comparative activity of the lymphatic absorbents, I then requested the above gentlemen to perform the following:

The principal arteries first, and then the principal veins going to the stomach, were secured by ligatures, so that the sanguineous circulation was feebly carried on by the small vessels remaining.

The prussiate was then introduced as before, and the animal having been suffered to live the same length of time, was killed. The most careful application of the test, however, could no where detect the prussiate, except in the strangulated veins of the stomach, where it was found in obvious quantity, they being much distended with blood. This experiment was repeated both by Dr. Luzenburg and Mr. Maillard and with results perfectly uniform.

It might be objected to the last experiment, that the tying of all the principal bloodvessels of an organ should so impair its organic functions that no absorption could be expected to take place; but this objection is at once obviated by the fact, that the substance had entered the veins and passed as far as the ligatures; certainly,

then, this function should not have been interrupted in the lymphatics, had it existed in them before the experiment.

The first series of experiments is similar to those performed by Majendie, Gmelin and Tiedemann, and analogous to some performed in this city by Messrs. Lawrence and Coates. They are interesting, however, as confirming, in the most satisfactory manner, their results, which by some are still doubted as being conclusive. The second is, I believe, unique, and in my mind, renders it quite certain that, whatever may be the office of the lymphatics in the textures of the organ, absorption from the cavity of the stomach is exclusively effected by the veins, and that it is very copiously effected by them. Probably the same is true with regard to the intestinal canal.

The experiments were witnessed by several of my pupils, and will, I am confident, be amply confirmed by all who are disposed to repeat them.

The inferences which are to be drawn from these facts are certainly not a little interesting, in relation to the function of digestion. If substances foreign to the animal tissues, and which cannot be assimilated, are thus abundantly taken up and conveyed into the circulation, is it not absolutely certain that all soluble or fluid alimentary substances are absorbed with even greater avidity? A very large proportion of our aliment, perhaps a moiety, is either fluid or soluble in water, and when taken into the stomach, needs not to be acted on by the gastric juice, or any other agent, to qualify it for venous absorption.

We very well know that the

fluid parts of meat are highly charged with sapid and nutrient principles. These are expressed by mastication in great quantity; and if the prussiate of potash be absorbed by the veins of the stomach, certainly we may be assured that they are drunk up by the same organs. This is the more credible, when we recollect that the sensation of renewed vigor and strength is felt almost immediately after taking food.Sugar is another substance highly nutrient, and completely soluble in water. It is capable of sustaining life for a very considerable time, uncombined with any other article. The fattening of the southern negroes on the saccharine juices of the cane stalks is well known. I think it must be admitted that at least a very considerable portion of this substance is absorbed by the veins of the stomach.

The same may be said of mucilages, extractive matters, and perhaps oils. It will be recollect ed that Haller detected the latter in the blood of the vena porta. The aliment of some herbivorous animals consists entirely of extractive and mucilaginous matters, obtained by maceration from the vegetable substances on which they feed. Hay, on which horses and kine will even fatten, very readily yields all its sapid and nutrient parts to water. Farmers very well know that if their hay be drenched by repeated showers, after it is cut, it is scarcely worth the making. When hay has been very scarce I have been informed that, for the sake of economy, hay tea is sometimes prepared for cattle, in which is dissolved everything nutrient which the plants contain, and of course there is no

waste. On this cattle will fatten, if they are furnished with cut straw for producing the usual distension of the stomach, and which yields no nutriment.

Now, is it to be supposed that this decoction of hay is acted on by a gastric juice, converted into chyle, and then absorbed by the lacteals? Indeed we are assured by direct experiment that these substances are taken up in great quantity by the intestinal veins of these animals. M. Flandrin ascertained that, in the horse, the venous blood of the small intestines possesses a strong herbaceous taste, if obtained from the animal soon after it has taken food.

How such fluids, absorbed by the veins of the stomach, may become assimilated it is easy to conceive. Not a particle of blood from the stomach or the intestines enters the general circulation till it has permeated the liver, the most important gland in the animal economy. Here not only are the nutrient matters assimilated, but the crude and saline substances which reach the gland from the stomach in the first stage of digestion, probably furnish the materials of the bile, which fluid being then abundantly secreted, is conveyed to the duodenum, there to meet the residue of digestion, and to exert an important influence in the preparation of the solid aliments, as well as in stimulating the intestinal canal.

We may infer, from the above, that some of the constituent principles of the bile are furnished by fluids which have never entered the general circulation, but are the feculent parts of such substances as are absorbed by the veins. We have thus another