for the first time, of the stethoscope, an instrument very useful for the diagnosis of certain affections of the chest, but whose importance has been exaggerated by its inventor. The stethoscope requires great experience and an exquisite fineness in the organ of hearing. In spite of the great experience which Laennec had of it, he often had proof that its reports are not always to be credited. It is well known how deceitful was the light he thought he derived from it, when he wished to apply it to himself, to illustrate the diagnosis of the malady to which he fell a victim. Notwithstanding this, the utility of the stethoscope is evident in many cases, and M. Laennec has the merit of having demonstrated the advantage for the appreciation of the different sounds of the chest, of interposing a solid body between the ear and this cavity. moment of the reorganization of the Faculty, he had received more than twenty denunciations against Biclard, and that he had need of all his energy to preserve in place this illustrious and unfortunate Professor. From this we may judge of the regret Laennec must have felt to find himself forced to contribute to the removal of the Pinels, the Chaussiers, the Vauquelins, and the Desgenettes, by whose side he might himself have figured with honor, in order to surround himself with individuals of an absolute nullity, and of the most profound incapacity. Re PHILIPPE PINEL was born at St. Andrè, Laru, in 1745. ceived as doctor of the Faculty of Toulouse at the age of 19 years, he betook himself to the capital to devote himself to the physical sciences. He published first a corrected edition of the Work of Baglivi,' but this labor added little to his reputation. About the year 1784 he took charge of the Gazette de Santé," and it was not till 1792, during the revolution, that he was named physician of the hospital of Bicetre. He then had an opportunity to display those great talents which have illustrated his name. Endowed with a great spirit of analysis and of observation united to an enlightened philosophy, he soon became convinced that the treatment of the insane, far from favoring their return to reason, was only fitted to exasperate their malady. Shut up in dungeons, wretchedness and unclean Laennec passed his youth and a part of his riper years without any title, without even being compensated by his practice for his labors in the dissecting room. All at once the current of favor raised him, and he became the dispenser of places. He chose for himself those of Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and at the College of France. It is said that he might, if he had wished it, have raised his pretensions even higher. However this may be, the dissolution of the old Faculty and the reorganization of the new, gave Laennec an immense power; he was, in fact, the arbiter of all the promotions of this epoch. Intrigue and flat-liness rendered these unfortunates tery consequently surrounded him the object of general reprobation. on all hands. The author of this He conceived the design of mearticle has learnt, from the mouth liorating their lot. At his voice of Laennec himself, that at the their chains were loosened, and 6 people learnt to see that a maniac is only a patient and not a criminal. The treatise on Mental Alienation,' which he published at this epoch, is one of the finest monuments of modern medicine. His zeal, crowned with such happy success, received a brilliant recompense in his appointment to the post of physician in chief to the Hospice of Salpetriere. This was a vast field of observation; cultivated by the hand of Pinel, science was destined to reap from it great fruits; his clinical lessons were attended by physicians of all countries, and it was in his school that were found all those who have illustrated medicine. 6 Pinel at last sealed his glory by the publication of his Philosophical Nosology.' This is not the place for a criticism on this work, not less remarkable for its faults than its excellencies; it is sufficient to say that its doctrines were generally received; that it became the source of a school, and that its author was universally regarded as the chief of French Medicine. Pinel was already bowed beneath the burden of age, when two events equally afflictive came to overwhelm him. The first was the brutal manner in which he was treated by one of his pupils, Broussais, formerly his adulator, and who thought it necessary to commence his medical reform by reforming the respect and gratitude due to one's masters. The second was his expulsion from the Faculty. If this disgrace, which his great age should have spared him, occasioned in him any pain, it must have been exasperated by seeing among his persecutors some of his disciples whose reputation and fortune he had made. SCARPA.-Italy has also tears to shed. Scarpa whom she has lately lost, was born the same year with Pinel. Arrived at the same age as the French physician, he enjoyed a celebrity as great, his old age more fortunate, met with no humiliation, and he died director of the Faculty of Medicine of Pavia, which he so powerfully contributed to render celebrated. The place of Scarpa is now fixed among the most illustrious anatomists and surgeons of our times. His labors have exerted the happiest influence on the study of external diseases. His best work is without contradiction the " Treatise on Diseases of the Eyes," of which five Italian editions and three French translations attest the merit. He raised from oblivion and restored to honor the method by depression in the operation of cataract at a time when all practitioners were in the habit of extracting. A new mode for the operation of artificial pupil, which consists in detaching the greater circumference of the iris, is also due to him; lastly, he perfected the treatment of tremors and of fistulæ lachrymales. His "Treatise on Hernia" is remarkable for the fidelity of the anatomical description of these affections; he determines in it the manner in which are produced certain dispositions not unfrequent, unknown or unexplained before him. He published a memoir on the ligature of arteries, and contributed to make known and cause to be adopted, in the treatment of aneurism, the method of Hunter. The great age which this surgeon had reached by no means weakened his ardor for science; he took part in the discnssions respecting the new operation for 1 lithotomy and defended with zeal lege which usually place the highthe lateral method. For the Medical Intelligencer. MR. EDITOR, Having lately been in Providence, R. I., I have had the best opportunity of informing myself with respect to the success of the Gymnastic Exercises in Brown University; and knowing the interest you take in this subject, I submit to your disposal some remarks on it. On the 11th of June last, near the commencement of the present term, the exercises opened under the most auspicious and flattering circumstances. Nearly all the students, with the exception of the senior class,* to the number of about seventy, presented themselves on the exercise ground. The exercises were countenanced, and consequently enlivened, by the presence of the president, professors, and tutors of the university. At first some of the officers hesitated to take a part, probably because they entertained the notion, which is but too common among the officers of many of our colleges, that it would be lowering the standard of their dignity to participate in the gymnastic exercises with the student. I would here observe, that the officers of most of our higher seminaries labor under a grievous error in this respect. They imagine that there must be a great gulf fixed between them and the student, beyond which neither are to pass. At Cambridge this gulf is indeed wide-at least it was so when I was there. At Brown University it is entirely different. Here even the tutors, that portion of the government of a col The seniors leave the university at the end of their second term. est value on their dignity, condescend to converse familiarly with the students, and treat them as though they were men, with like passions as themselves. It is truly ridiculous to observe with what care and anxious attention a young man will foster his dignity, should he chance to receive the appointment of tutor, perhaps but a year after himself has graduated. They seem to imagine that dignity is like to a cloak, which one can put on or off at pleasure; that they have a perfect command over it, and that if they should chance to lose it, they can resume it again. at pleasure. But experience should teach them, with her never lying voice, that dignity is not to be obtained for them by their own mere exactions, but that it is to be voluntarily conferred by the youth under their charge; and they should act accordingly. But to return from this digression. The officers, as I stated, appeared with the students, and under the direction of the teacher of gymnastics performed the exercises; and though they moved at first rather awkwardly, as did, in fact, even the students themselves, yet they succeeded far above all expectation. The chief objection with the officers of the University, I believe, was the fear of being laughed at by the students and by the spectators. In this respect they were disappointed. They were not laughed at by either. The ice being now broken, they took courage, and attended very regularly. It was not long, however, before many, both officers and students, became quite alarmed, imagining themselves seriously injured, for they felt an unusual soreness in their limbs. So much were some of them affected, that they were scarcely able to walk; and one of the professors, I have heard, even in the recitation room, while endeavoring to stoop to pick up something from the floor, could not help exclaiming aloud, O! Gymnasium-Gymnasium! This soreness and stiffness in the limbs, however, they soon overcame, because they persevered in the exercises. This is always to be expected; and if the exercises should be relinquished so soon as it is felt, the soreness will be much more painful, and the stiffness of the limbs much greater. However, all this may be prevented almost entirely by beginning very moderately, and gradually increasing the quantity of exercise. The students have taken a great interest in the exercises throughout the term, though not so much at the latter part of it as at the first; and I attribute this entirely to the officers of the institution. So long as they continued interested, and so long as they continued to attend on the exercises, which was a great part of the term, the students continued in regular at tendance. But the last 3 or 4 weeks of the term, the officers seemed to avoid the gymnasium, -for what reason, no one could imagine; perhaps they could not gather courage or resolution sufficient to venture out. They being older than the students, probably did not feel that enjoyment and pleasure in the exercises which are felt by younger persons. But it was notwithstanding a great mistake in them to forsake the exercise. When they know from experience that this would establish and confirm their health, and strengthen their should they forsake it merely be their constitution, cause it grows tedious? pose the students should go to Supthem, and say it was tedious to study, and therefore beg to be excused from studying. suppose they would accept this Do you excuse? them that they must study, beNo, they would tell cause their studies were intended to improve their minds. So let prove the body, and therefore you us tell them; exercise is to im must exercise. I know very well that the mind is the noblest part of man, but I also know, that the mind is good for nothing, nay, that it is worse than nothing, without a sound and vigorous body. I know very well that the mind is more important than the body,— and that the culture of the mind is of greater importance than the culture of the body. But because the mind is so well worth cultivating, the body is not therefore to be neglected. been greatly benefited by these continue to neglect exercise, so is also able to take exercise at the gymnasium. It is a foolish plea that they are not strong enough to exercise. The exercise is not too violent-it may be taken at the gymnasium from the most gentle to the most violent; and one need but consult his own feelings to determine in what proportion he may take it without injury. But if the true state of the case was known, we should find the grand cause of neglecting exercise to be disinclination; and this disinclination is always a strong symptom of disease. Now, sir, I would ask, since it is known that exercise is so important and necessary; since it is known that without it no person can enjoy good health; since it is known that the chief cause of its being neglected is disinclination, or in plain terms, laziness; and since it is known that this disinclination is a strong symptom of disease, I would ask, sir, is it not the duty of the officers of our literary institutions and seminaries, to see to the establishment of gymnasiums for the use of the pupils placed under their charge? I consider, sir, that it is a duty they owe to themselves. They receive these young men, tacitly promising and pledging themselves that they will use all the means in their power for the improvement of their intellect and for the promotion of their bodily health. This promise and pledge thus tacitly given, it is their duty to redeem. To the promise to "use all the means in their power for the improvement of the intellect" of those committed to their charge, the officers of our universities endeavor to be faithful. I say endeavor to be faithful; for they are not faithful so long as they neglect the other part of their implied promise, namely, to provide for the promotion of their health. They are not faithful to their promise so long as they keep back from them the means of exercise, nay, so long as they permit them to go without exercise. For what is the value of learning to any man without a strong and vigorous constitution to enable him to use it to some active purpose. Nay, sir, but I would ask what is mind good for without the body? What can it accomplish without the body? Most It is a duty which teachers owe to their pupils, so far as they are enabled to accomplish it. of our young men undoubtedly go to College to learn; and they are willing to pay for it, and expect to do so. But they do not expect to obtain knowledge at the expense of their health. If they enter College with vigorous bodies and sound constitutions, they do not expect to leave it with shattered constitutions and diseased bodies. But we may be told that if they do not exercise, it is their fault, and they are responsible, and not the officers who have the care of them. So there are many who will not study. But do their officers fold their arms and say-Well, let them be idle,-it is their own fault? No, they make them study or take the consequences. So it should be with exercise. It should be accounted so necessary that scholars should be compelled to exercise; and for such compulsion the students would ever after have reason to tender their most grateful thanks. It is a duty, then, they owe to the youth under their charge. It is a duty, also, they owe to the parents of the youth. Their |