On the Health of Women at the Critical Periods of Life
i^liscdlancous iBottas. :Author: E. J. Tilt, M.D., &c., &c. London. 1851.
This will prove to be a very useful little work. It is elegantly written, and contains much useful and valuable information. If the suggestions offered by its amiable author are acted upon, what an amount of human suffering will be prevented. We quote a passage having reference to the prevalence of cerebral symptoms in the diseases of women, and on the exhibition of sedatives for their cure and alleviation.
“During tlie last thirty years there has been too much timidity iu the employment of sedatives, and particularly in that of opium; for the present generation of medical men seem to forget, that often nature only requires to be freed from present pain, to ?enable an organ to return at once to the regular performance of its function, with- out future distress or inconvenience. Is it then necessary to remind the reader, how generally useful sedatives are, that iu most diseases they not only assuage the acute- ness of pain, but lull excited action to a slower rate of progress, and to a more sub- dued tone ? The bloodvessels serve under the immediate rule of the accompanying nerves; and haemorrhage as often depends upon their perturbed agency as ou any peculiar state of the bloodvessels themselves; and although other measures maybe indispensable, the return of such haemorrhages can only be prevented by a judicious use of sedatives.
” We have already seen how useful is opium in the relief of many deranged states ?of action, particularly in dysmenorrhcea, and the utility of sedatives in diseases of the change of life might be deduced from the great frequency of cerebro-spinal symptoms at the cessation of menstruation. It will be remembered that I stated their frequency to be?
CEREBRAL SYMPTOMS.
Headache, sick-headache, hysteria, and pseudo-narcotism had existed in 64 per cent. They were augmented in 36 ? ? remained the same in . 18 ? ? were less in . 10 ? They did not exist in 36 ? 100 SPINAL RYMPTOM8. Spinal or dorsal pains had existed in 70 per cent. They were augmented in 46 ? ? the same in 17 ,, ? less in 7 ? They did not exist in 30 ? 100 Hypogastric pains of a bearing-down character, referred by women to the womb and ovaries, had existed in . 51 per cent. They were augmented in 30 ? ? the same in 12 ? ? less in 9 ? There were none in 49 ? 100
” This frequency of cerebro-spinal symptoms warrants an equally frequent exliibi- tion of sedatives, aud I do not hesitate to say that, under some form or other, they are always required in diseases of cessation. In the milder forms of catamenial lieadaclie and pseudo-narcotism they alone suffice to cure, aud they always assist the action of bleeding, of purgatives, and of other remedies which may be deemed necessary.”
Miss Martineau and her Master. By J. Stevenson Bushnan, M.D., &c. 1 vol. 8vo. London. 1S51.
An able, searching, and philosophical expose of Miss Martineau and Mr. Atkinson’s trashy volumes. Having in our last journal so fully analyzed the work which Dr Bushnan has so unmercifully mauled, we have not the face again to trespass upon the patience of our readers by going into the subject. We think Dr Bushnan has magnified this pair of pseudo- philosophers into too much importance by devoting a volume to the con- eideration of their inanity.* The little work before us is forcibly written, and exhibits, on the part of its author, analytical powers of a high order. On Puerperal Insanity. By F. W. Mackenzie, M.D., &c. London, 1851. Pamphlet, pp. 22.
This essay was originally published in the ” London Journal of Medi- cine.” We are much pleased with it. The author is evidently an observing, experienced, and intelligent man. His style is perspicuous, and nothing can be better than his mode of relating a case. In consequence of our not receiving this pamphlet until our Journal was nearly printed, we have been deprived of the pleasure of presenting to our readers an analysis of its contents. We hope to have another opportunity of reverting to it. A Voyage to China, Sfc., Sfc. By De. Bebncastle. 2 vols. 8vo. With Illustrations. London. W. Shoberl. 1851.
This is one of the most recent and interesting works on the Celestial Empire, since the publication of Dr Downing’s ” Fanqui in China.” It is full of information to the professional as well as the general reader. These volumes should be read by every one who takes an interest in the progress of civilization in the East.
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