tematic attention to it. Where would have been the use of studying the bearings of a question never likely to be asked? And even now, who ever consults a medical man concerning the healthiness of any of those places in which men dwell or are gathered together-the salubrity of building-sites-the means of removing noxious influences from around villages and country houses the advisability of any system of education and training pursued with children-the chances of transmitting latent morbid tendencies to the offspring of an intended union—or any other such matters, with a view to PREVENT DISEASE? Were this habitually done, there would be less ili health, and less necessity for having recourse to medical treatment; and the physician would consider the knowledge of measures of prevention a specific part of his duty, and would be prepared accordingly in this, as in any other branch of his profession, by a regular course of study.

In speaking here of the method of guarding against consumption in healthy persons, Dr Cotton makes the following judicious remarks:

which

"In every particular should a child be made one of nature, not of art; and just in proportion as the latter is approached the risk is incurred of inducing scrofula. Judicious feeding, especially as regards the adjustment of particular food to the particular age; ample and regular exercise in the open air; and the avoidance of habitual dosing with domestic medicines, seem the three main points upon rest either the future health or disease of numbers of our race. I have repeatedly seen instances of a disregard to these simple conditions originating the scrofulous diathesis in children who to all appearance had inherited, and probably might otherwise have enjoyed, the most robust health. I cannot forbear making an observation upon what is popularly styled the physicking system. The habitual use of medicines, even of the most simple kind, is apt to disorder the stomach, and so impair the appetite that a proper kind of food is disrelished, whilst the pampering which too often results only aggra vates the evil. It is from this circumstance that homeopathy-one of the worst species of deceit ever practised upon those who lack the discernment to detect it—has gained the hearts of so many English mothers. One is tempted in such cases rather to smile at than to condemn the imposture, on account of the benefit it so innocently affords, in allowing nature to bring up many healthy children in her own way, by limiting the effect of the dosing to the parental imagi

nation."

He then proceeds to treat of the method of guarding against consumption in persons predisposed to it; a portion of the work from which we should again be tempted to quoted, did not our space forbid. The chapter following is devoted to the

treatment of the preliminary stage of the disease. In some little doubt which to prefer. we are inclined to fix upon this chapter as the best part of Dr. Cotton's book. His recognition of the preliminary stage, antecedent to what is commonly known as the "first stage of phthisis," his specific description of it, his systematic mention of its pathology and diagnostic symptoms, and his account of its appropriate treatment, are to us original, and constitute a new and extremely useful contribution to medical knowledge.

We have now indicated such points in Dr. Cotton's work as are likely to be of service to our readers. Taking it as a whole, and viewing it in regard to its medical and scientific value, it is the best text-book on consumption now extant: it possesses all the newest points that have been gained, and presents the nearest approach to anything like successful treatment of consumption that we are yet acquainted with. Hence the interest of its contents, not to the medical reader only, but to the public, for all are more or less concerned, some on personal and all on national grounds. In conclusion, we are much pleased to remark that the author is evidently one of those who has not allowed himself to be carried blindly away by his pursuit of science to the exclusion of other thoughts. His studies have not rendered him a cold-hearted sceptic. There is a right tone of thought and feeling implied rather than expressed in the pages of this work, which seems to us to contribute to the comparative justness and perfection of its scientific views-a proof that philosophical acumen is most fully available when coupled with attention to the best and highest interests of humanity, and hinting indirectly at the inference that religious truth may be most largely and fully understood, not by mere conservative adherence to oldworld doctrines and commentaries, which is often a mere refinement of some covert selfishness, but by accepting and turning to full and conscientious account all the fresh light that from science or from any other quarter can be thrown upon it.

Athanase: a Dramatic Poem. By EDWIN F. ROBERTS. London: Painter, 342, Strand.

WITH no slight alloy of affectation, much grandiloquence and occasional tameness, there is so much of promise in the author of "Athanase" that we shall be glad to meet him again in print; because we believe that, with a little more experience-not a little, perhaps, sobering down of an exuberant imagination-he will do better things. There is stuff n him in the best sense of the word.

Retail Mammon; or, the Pawnbroker's Daughter. By HENRY HAYMAN, M.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford; Author of "Dialogues of the Early Church." London: Skeffington. 1853. THERE is much originality both in the design and execution of this remarkable book; which, although a work of fiction and thus confessedly coming under the category of a novel, aims at far higher teaching than is commonly found in the class to which it belongs. The story is slight-never very thrilling in its interest-but abounding in graphic sketches of scenes and characters, and is evidently the work of a man of sound Church feeling, good taste, and elegant mind. The character of the pawnbroker is a masterly sketch, while that of Lucy, his daughter, is depicted with marvellous delicacy and truth. He is equally happy in his portraiture of a sick undergraduate and his mother and fair sister who come to nurse him; while the fidelity of his college scenes will be recognised by all who are familiar with university life. It is an admirable book.

A Visit to the Iron Works and Environs of Merthy Tydvil in 1852. By Edwin F. Roberts, Author of "Athanase," &c. London: Painter. 1853.

A CLEVER, graphic, and sensible description of a region which, although within a few hours journey of the metropolis, is, to the majority of our countrymen, as much a terra incognita as the interior of Africa; and we, for one, are grateful for his account of this singular and interesting locality.

The Glass and the New Crystal Palace. By GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. With Cuts. London: Cassell.

We are glad to meet our friend again in the point character of artist and author; and albeit we have not foresworn port and sherry, or even Burgundy when we can get it, we award our hearty homage to the honest earnestness with which he maintains his crusade against the bottle and the tankard in all their moods and tenses. Upon the pictorial value of this unpretending brochure there can be but one opinion. The illustrationsnumerous and well engraved-are worthy of himself.

London: William Edward Painter, 342, Strand, Printer.