speedily cured, and that cases complicated with syphilis or hepatic affections were much improved, but the most marked salutary effects of the climate were observed in phthisical patients, who, it is stated, "almost invariably improve, and often recover," provided the lung-destruction has not gone too far.

Another medical officer, who has had the advantage of the medical charge of the large sanitarium of Kussowlie in 1871, gives further proof, and in the work just quoted, page 217, he writes "that Indian hill climates are eminently curative in nearly all Indian diseases, as they are by far more genial and equable than any English military station ;" and again, "that invalids who die at an Indian sanitorium are generally men who could not recover in any climate."

Another objection, viz. hill diarrhoea, has been urged against hill climates; but only some persons suffer from it, and those who do suffer most probably do not guard against the change in temperature by providing themselves with sufficient and suitable warm clothing.

Dr. Tilt states (page 21) that the factors of a tropical climate are HEAT, COLD, DAMP, and MALARIA, and that as we approach the equator "vegetation increases in variety and luxuriance, animal life is exhibited after more and more numerous, larger and more beautiful patterns," and that "Man participates in the universal law that associates life with heat," adducing, in proof of this, that the two most numerous families of the human race, the Hindoo and the Chinese, have from time immemorial flourished on each side of the Himalayan range.

It might be granted that, as regards prolification, the inhabitants. of the tropics may compete successfully with the plants, but as regards physique and stamina, if Dr. Tilt had lived even a very short time in the regions of great heat he would have seen that there is no analogy. Look at the weak, effeminate Hindoo, or the puny, debilitated inhabitants of lower Bengal and many parts of India!

The author states nothing new regarding the nature of malaria that fertile subject for speculation, more than that "it is most virulent as the equator is approached, where it helps to check a too abundant population," assertions which are questionable; but what will our readers say when they find that he talks of dry heat as a tonic! We think that one hot season in the plains of India would induce him to change his mind on that subject, and we have no doubt but that our Indian friends will agree with us.

The chapter on Indian pathology is a short but interesting one, and treats, amongst other matters, of a condition of the system called spanæmia (or scarcity of blood), which it appears is somewhat different from the condition generally known as anemia, but we fail to see the difference. Spanæmia may affect Europeans or natives,

and is the invariable accompaniment and sequence of malarious poisoning; and we are told, "if placed under similar conditions, spanæmia is more marked in women than in men; it depends in differences in the texture of her tissues and in the composition of her blood, as compared with those of man-differences that render her so liable to some form or other of spanæmia, even in England, where it is seldom observed in man." Is, then, the normal composition of woman's blood different from that of man's, and, if so, in what does this difference consist? Women in India suffer from the same diseases as men do, and there is no peculiarity in the disease of the former that cannot be explained by the difference of

sex.

European women especially, as well as the native women, suffer much from diseases of the generative organs, and, on the authority of Dr. Duncan, it is a common occurrence for women to be brought to the Calcutta General Hospital suffering from dysentery caused by inflammation of the womb. The diseases of women and children in India have not, from some cause or other, claimed the attention which they deserve, though the rate of mortality and sickness is, and has always been, very high; and, according to Dr. de Renzy, the former amongst soldiers wives varies from 25 to 54 per 1000 annually.

This is a high death-rate, certainly; but it is not stated what it is owing to, whether the result of ovario-uterine or other diseases, though Dr. Stewart says "that eight out of ten of the European female residents are habitually subject to deranged menstruation, leucorrhoea, or to cervical inflammation." Such a condition of the European female population, vouched for by the late professor of midwifery in the Medical College, Calcutta, and physician to the Hospital for Native Women, is truly alarming, and any measures recommended for the relief and prevention of such an amount of suffering should have a fair trial.

That the mode of life and the condition in life may have something to do with this amount of sickness, independent of the effects of climate, are worth consideration; for we have found that the wives of soldiers were less affected with uterine diseases than those of officers. Good sound advice, the result of the author's own experience and that of others, is given for the prevention of some of these diseases, and for enjoying good health in India; how a woman is to conduct herself on arrival; the quality and quantity of clothing she is to wear; what she is to eat, drink, and avoid; and the amount and nature of the exercise she is to take; in short, her personal hygiene,-are fairly considered.

The author considers it wrong for women to go to India until they are of age, unless they have been born there, and that women who suffer from chlorosis, biliary derangement, morbid menstru

ation, or uterine disease in a temperate climate, should not go to India.

Generally speaking, he is no doubt quite correct; but, strange as it may appear, there are many women who suffer much in this country benefited by the climate of India, and some who have been barren here have offspring there.

The book concludes with a chapter on the colonisation of India. and on Indian sanitation-subjects of vital interest.

With reference to the colonisation, the popular impression is, and we believe has been hitherto, that the offspring of pure Europeans would die out in three or four generations.

We can hardly believe that such would really happen as regards Europeans living in the hill climates at all events, and further, more evidence is wanted to prove that they would die out in the plains, in which there are many healthy stations.

In what part of the world do we find healthier or more robust children than those in the schools of Simla and Mussoorie and other hill climates? Observe the hill tribes of the Himalayas, badly clad and badly fed; they suffer but little from disease, and, physically, few are their equals and less their superiors, and therefore it is a matter for congratulation that the Indian Government is taking steps to increase the number of troops in the hills, also to form European colonies there, and thus lessen still more the sickness and mortality in India.

To have brought about this great diminution in disease and death many causes have been in operation besides increased sanitation, and to the medical department, to which the soldier owes so much, and to Lord Napier of Magdala, the British and Indian armies should be deeply indebted. Of late years amusements, trades, gymnasia, exercises of various sorts, camps of instruction, &c., and last, but not least, temperance societies have been introduced in regiments serving in India, with the very best results, and in proof of this the Commander-in-Chief has recently stated that the "offences of the temperance men compared with those of non-abstainers are as one to forty, nearly;" and therefore it may be reasonably inferred that the same causes have operated in the diminution of preventible diseases, many of which are caused directly or indirectly by intemperance.

In this short notice of a little book on a great subject, many points of interest have been passed over or touched on very lightly, and though the work is partly compiled from the labours and experiences of others, we nevertheless heartily recommend it to those interested in the welfare of British men, women, and children in India, and have no doubt but that its perusal will give them pleasure and profit, as it has given us. It will be especially useful to the Indian medical practitioner.

Roy on Burdwan Fever.-In our last volume but one we noticed the essay of Dr. Roy on the fever which has prevailed for some years past in the district of Burdwan, in Lower Bengal. The present work is a reprint of that essay, with the addition of a short section on malaria, in which the author alludes to the opinions that were under discussion some months ago, as to the non-existence of the febrific miasm so called, and the dependence of the fevers usually attributed to malaria on simple chill, and shows that the occurrences at Burdwan were opposed to the latter view. In an appendix there are some remarks on the past and present state of medicine in India, and observations on the solvent action of papaya juice on nitrogenous articles of food. There is a belief, widespread in the tropics, that the papaya or papaw plant has great influence in making meat tender, or even in hastening its putrefaction. The author says "It is the practice amongst native cooks in India to add a few drops of the milky juice of the plant under consideration to tough, old meat, to make it tender and supple. Four years ago, anxious to ascertain whether any such virtue really existed in the plant, I added a few drops to a pound of minced goat's meat, and stewed it on a slow fire. To my surprise the whole ran into a diffluent mass in five minutes, owing to a larger quantity of the juice having been used on the occasion than was necessary to make it tender and eatable" (p. 157). The author brought some of the desiccated juice (prepared by scarifying the unripe fruit and drying the fluid exuded in the sun) with him to England; portions of this dissolved in water showed considerable solvent powers on meat, hard boiled white of egg, and gluten. He says "the whole action so resembles healthy digestion, that I wonder we have not availed ourselves of this medicinal property in cases of invalids and dyspeptics, to substitute a process of artificial digestion," and expresses his intention of renewing the investigation of the subject as soon as the pressure of his duties at Burdwan will permit.

Rumsey's Essays on Medical Statistics.2 The author of this treatise and his labours in the cause of sanitary medicine are so well known and appreciated both by the Profession and the public, that it is enough to announce a new volume from his pen to secure for it due consideration. To those acquainted with the character of the sad affliction that suddenly befel him, it was pleasing to obtain, by the publication of the present treatise, evidence of recovered ability for intellectual and literary work; and we hope to receive future fruit of his well instructed mind in connexion with sanitary science and statistics.

1 The Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment of Burdwan Fever, or the Epidemic Fever of Lower Bengal. By GOPAUL CHUNDER ROY, M.D. New Edition, London, 1876, p. 168.

2 Essays and Papers on some Fallacies of Statistics concerning Life and Death, Health and Disease, with Suggestions towards an Improved System of Regis tration. By HENRY W. RUMSEY, M.D., F.R.S. London, 1875.

The volume now submitted to our notice is essentially a collection of papers or memoirs Dr. Rumsey has, from time to time, contributed to one or other scientific society or medical periodical, and represents the author's criticisms and convictions regarding some of the principal questions of sanitary administrations, dealt with from a statistical point of view. The author has made it his special business to point out the shortcomings and fallacies of official statistics and of the method employed in collecting them, and to indicate the direction in which truth is to be discovered and the modes of inquiry be rendered more accurate and precise.

Those who have been concerned in statistical inquiries respecting the diseases and mortality of the whole population, or of the inhabitants of a limited area, will thoroughly apprehend the value of Dr. Rumsey's remarks on the influence of numerous social and other conditions in modifying results represented by crude figures; and those who would embark on such investigations will do well to read and duly weigh those remarks before committing themselves to inferences appearing at first sight inevitable. How much error, indeed, is spread abroad by unsound statistics, praiseworthy for accuracy and minuteness from the mathematical point of view, valueless and deceptive when submitted to the logic of facts! As a safeguard to such fallacious statistical deductions this volume will prove a corrective.

The essays contained in "Part first" have chiefly an historical interest in sanitary legislation. They discuss matters which subsequent legislation has more or less completely dealt with; but the convictions and arguments advanced by the author afford proof of his sagacity and foresight by the very reason that they subsequently secured public acceptance. It is in "Part second" that Dr. Rumsey enters upon a critical survey of vital and sanitary statistics, remarking on the nosology of disease adopted for the purposes of registration of mortality, on the defects attendant on returns of deaths, or the calculation of the death-rate in the population, and the value to be assigned to that rate as an indication of the hygienic condition of a district. In an appendix he discusses the provisions necessary to the registration of disease, and presents a verbatim report of the important evidence he gave before the Royal Sanitary Commission. Those who have been interested in sanitary work and legislation and have followed up their gradual outgrowth into matters of state importance from their very humble beginnings twenty or thirty years. ago, will be familiar with the views and arguments of Dr. Rumsey, now a veteran in the cause. And even when they cannot agree with him they will feel great respect for his opinions, which have possessed the merit of having always been fearlessly and honestly advanced. Lastly, by all such individuals this last contribution from his pen will be highly valued.