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after death. It is extracted from the Gazette des Hdpitaux,and was treated by M. Richet. The man died a fortnightafter the operation, and at least thirty tumours were disco-vered in the substance and on the surface of the two lungs;the largest, the size of a nut, offered all the external charac-ters of enchondroma.Of colloid cancer the author does not treat, as he considers

his experience of the surgical forms of this species too limited;but he adduces one of the most interesting and carefully-followedcases of fibro-plastic cancer which we have for some time metwith. It refers to a little girl, six years old, upon whomMr. Quain operated three times for recurrences of fibro-plastictumours of the orbit. At the autopsy, secondary fibro-plastictumours were found in the opposite parotid region, the duramater, and the pleura. The child was altogether two yearsunder observation. Mr. Laurence deserves much credit for thecare with which he has collected the facts of this case; such

histories, accompanied by accurate details respecting the mi-croscopical examination of the tumours, both primary, recurring,and secondary, are worth pages of speculative writing on cancer.Mr. Laurence adduces some figures and some arguments to

show that cancer is not an hereditary disease; in this respectwe are at issue with him, but cannot enter here into the meritsof the question.Another point of importance is treated by the author in a

subsequent chapter,-viz., whether there is any connexion be-tween consumption and cancer. He does not venture uponconclusions, but states that of fifty-one cancerous patientswhich have fallen under his own observation, no fewer thanfourteen knew of a parent, a brother, or a sister, who had diedof phthisis.Want of space prevents us from following the author in

’the concluding chapters " On the Relation of the Secondary tothe Primary Deposits of Cancer," and " On the Nature ofCancerous Disease;" and we must sum up this brief notice bysaying that Mr. Laurence will assist science by persevering inhis endeavours to elucidate by facts a most distressing and de-,structive affection.

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Torquay, in its -31-medical Aspect, as a Resort01’ PulmonaryInvalids. By C. RATCLYFFE HALL, 2ei. D. Post octavo,pp. 165. London: Churchill.

DR. HALL’S work is fairly characterized by its title. It is anaccount of Torquay, in its Medical Aspect, and as a Resort forPulmonary Invalids.Upon closing the perusal of books professing to elucidate

the medical influences of particular climates, we have ordi-narily experienced disappointment; somehow or another, wehave generally missed the precise information we have wanted;we have not obtained the guidance we have sought in referenceto the exigencies of practice.A fault pervading most of these productions is that the

medical consideration of individual places has been made sub-ordinate to the scientific details; whereas our requirement, aspractical physicians, is a knowledge of the curative or other-wise beneficial influence of the localities described. We have

been much gratified by the perusal of Dr. Ratclyffe Hall’s littleproduction, exactly because it supplies us with that which weseek for in books of its kind; it gives us information concerning I,Torquay, which may be practically applied in the directions ’,which we may be called upon to give to patients visiting thisnow celebrated place of sojourn. At the same time, the bookaffords, concisely, all necessary account of climatic agencies-of the geological and meteorological conditions of the locality,avoiding, however, anything like tedious detail or soporificprosiness.

Altogether, we have great pleasure in cordially recommendingthis little work to our readers. Not only for the soundness ofits doctrines, but for its literary execution also, can we pro-nounce it to be worthy of the already high reputation of itsable and accomplished author.

New Inventions IN AID OF THE

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

I SELF-ACTING ENEMA SYRINGE,WITH RECEDING ROD, WHICH CAN BE USED WITH ONE HAND.

THIS is one of the most useful and at the same time neat in-struments employed as a syringe we have seen for a long time ;it has been invented and registered by Messrs. Whickerand Blaise, (late Savigny and Co.,) of 67, St. James’s-street. Itconsists of an enema syringe, as represented in the drawing,

with a piston rod, which, by the slightest pressure on the top,forces it downwards, throwing up the fluid, and by means of aspiral spring the rod recedes again of its own accord. The verygreat advantage of this instrument is, that it can be used withone hand with the greatest ease-an object of some moment toinvalids or persons in the most delicate state of health. Itsconstruction is so simple, and withal so ingenious and novel,that it is not at all likely to become deranged or to get out oforder. We can very strongly recommend it to the professionand the public for its simplicity and its portable form. Wehave seen breast- and stomach-pumps on the same self-actingprinciple, also manufactured by Messrs. Whicker and Blaise,which, together with the enema syringe, can be had in onecase. No medical man should be without one.

THE RECTANGULAR OPERATION OFLITHOTOMY.

. To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-In a report of the proceedings of the Royal Medicaland Chirurgical Society, contained in THE LANCET of February28th, an erroneous statement is attributed to Mr. Gamgee.He is reported to have said that he saw Dr. Buchanan performhis sixteenth rectangular operation for stone, and that the rec-tum was wounded in consequence of its overlapping the hori-zontal branch of the staff. I do not care to see such an erroras this remain uncontradicted in your columns. No such acci-dent as wounding the rectum ever happened to Dr. Buchanan,or to any other surgeon, that I know of, in Glasgow or its

neighbourhood. Nor could it, I am satisfied, occur to anyoneof ordinary dexterity who knew how to perform the operation.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,Glasgow Royal Infirmary, ANDREW BUCHANAN, JuN-., M.D.

March 19th, 1857.

** Mr. Gamgee has stated that he did not intend to attri.bute the accident to Dr. Buchanan, but to some other operator.-SUB-ED. L.

ANDREW BUCHANAN, JUN., M.D.