40

projection of the larger piece from the baseis three-fourths of an inch; its length isone inch and a quarter ; it is of a yellowish-white colour, and has a rather conical ap-pearance, the apex, when attached to theteeth, being directly opposite Steno’s duct.The only conjecture that I can form re-

specting its formation is, that, as the salivahad passed from the duct, an abnormal de-position of tartar formed an incrustatiun,which gradually (near six years) accumu-lated until it had attained the extraordinarysize I have above detailed.

It is worthy of notice, that there has neverbeen the slightest accumulation of tartar onthe left side, nor from the submaxillaryglands.

CASE IN WHICH MR. WORTHINGTON

PERFORMED

PARACENTESIS THORACIS.

To Ute Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—Will you allow me to make one ortwo observations on the case of paracentesisthoracis, which is published at page 801 ofTHE LANCET of September the 19th.

It appears to me that Mr. Worthingtonhas fallen into error in describing the casewhich he treated so judiciously as one ofhydrothorax, and that he errs still morewhen reasoning upon it. He adduces it asan instance of primary hydrothorax, re-

pudiating the opinion of Mr. Lawrence asto the rarity of such an affection. I differfrom Mr. Worthington in his diagnosis, forthe following reasons.

First, Mr. W. states that "the fluctuation ofthe contained fluid could be distinctly heardby the patient and bystanders, on succussion.It is a well-known fact that in order to ren-der the fluctuation of a fluid in the pleuralcavities perceptible to the ear, the presenceof air is absolutely necessary in addition tothe fluid, and that the only disease in whichthis phenomenon is observed is that of

pneumo-thorax, of which if is pathog-nomonic.

Secondly. Mr. W. describes the fluidwhich he evacuated as being "sero-puru-lent." Now, I apprehend that in essentialhydrothorax the fluid must be of a serousnature. If not, whence the purulent tend-ency? ’ It must arise as a product of inflam-matory action. If in the lung or the pleura,it cannot be termed "primary," "essential,"or "idiopathic hydrothorax." In chronicpleurisy we frequently have effusion intothe pleura of sero-purulcnt fluid, but weshould hardly call such an affection "pri-mary hydrothorax.

"

Thirdly. In six thousand cases whichcame under the observation of Andral, per-

haps the first pathologist in the world, therewere only five in which the hydrothorax wasnot found to depend upon organic disease.(Vide Clinique 3ledicale.)From these facts, and from others men.

tioned in the history and symptoms of thecase, I think Mr. Worthington would havebeen more correct had he denominated thecase, "empyema complicated with pneumo-tho2-ax." Hydrothorax, in the true meaningof the word, it certainly cannot be denomi-nated, and, consequently, the deductionsdrawn from it against the opinions of Law-rence, Andral, Laennec, in fact, of all modernpathologists, are incorrect.

In empyema the operation has frequentlybeen performed, and occasionally withsuccess; and I consider that Mr. Worthing-ton’s treatment of the case reflects greatcredit on his judgment and skill. The ob-servations which I have ventured to offerI am sure he will receive in the spirit inwhich they have been made, the elucidation.of truth being my only object. I am, Sir,your most obedient servant,

CHARLES ROBERT BREE.

Stowma.rket, September 23, 1835.CHARLES ROBERT BREE.

ANCIENT AND MODERN NEGROES.

To th Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—From a learned work, printed a shorttime since, entitled " Anacalypsis," andwritten by the late Godfrey Hicgens, I havemade some extracts, which relate to a por-tion of the early history of our race, and, asI conceive, bear reference to a part of theinhabitants still existing on our globe.

This communication, although not strictlyof a medical nature, yet may be deemed re-plete with interest, as connected with thoseextensive views which our science naturallyernbraces. Truly appertaining to the natu-ral history of man, upon wh:ch subject yourcolumns at various periods are pregnantwith information, viewing it in its physicaland moral aspects, I trust it will be thoughtthat this article has not intruded into a

quarter which might have been more legi-timately and more profitably occupied. MayI therefore request its insertion in yourwidely-diffused periodical, in the hope thatsome of the scientific readers of THE LAN-Cr.T, whose investigations have been di-rected towards such matters, may be en-abled to adduce some arguments, or disclosesome facts, tending to elucidate the apparentinconsistency, or altogether to remove thapresumed resemblance?

Extracts.

1. " It was the opinion of Sir William

Jones that a great nation of blacks formerly

41

possessed the dominion of Asia, and held theseat of empire at Sidon. These must havebeen the people called by M. Maurice’ Cushites,’ or Cuthites,’ described in

Genesis; and the opinion that they wereblacks, is corroborated by the translators ofthe Pentateuch, called ’the Seventy,’ con-stantly rendering the word ’Cush’ by‘ Ethiopia..’

2. " The religion of Buddha, of India, is

very ancient, as is well known. In the mostancient temples scattered throughout Asia,where his worship is yet continued, he isfound black as jet, with the flat face, thicklips, and curly hair of the negro. Severalstatues of him may be met with in the mu-seum of the East India Company. Thereare two exemplars, brooding on the face ofthe deep, upon a coiled serpent. To whattime are we to allot this negro ? He will heproved to have been prior to the god called" Cristna." He must have been prior to,or contemporaneous with, the black em-

pire, supposed by Sir W. Jones to haveflourished at Sidon. The religion of this

negro god is found, by the ruins of his tem-pies and other circumstances, to have beenspread over an immense extent of country,even to the remotest parts of Britain.

3. " Ensebius states, that the Ethiopianssettled in Egypt in the time of Amenophis;they came from the river Indus, and plantedthemselves south of Egypt.

4. " Pliilostratis says, that the gymnoso-phists of Ethiopia, who settled near thesources of the Nile, descended from theBraining of India, having been driven thencefor the murder of their king.

5. "Eustasius also states, that the Ethi-opians came from India.

6. 11 The superior antiquity of India isshown by Baily, and many other learnedmen.

7. " The Ethiopians are stated by Hero-dotus to have come from the Indus. Mem-

non, who was sent to the siege of Troy, andwas killed by Achilles, Virgil describes ashaving been a black (Æneid, lib. i), as doesalso Pindar (Olymp. Od. ii; ride Diss. ofBishop Hewet, ch. xiii, p. 185). That Pindarand Virgil were right, the features of thebust of Memnon ill the British Museumprove, for they are evidently those of thenegro.

8. " Mr. Wilsford, in his treatise on Egyptand the Nile, in the ’Asiatic Researches,’informs us that many very ancient statues ofthe god Buddha, in India, have crisp curlyhair, with flat noses and tkick lips. isar canit reasonahlv be doubted that a race of ne-groes formerfy had power and pre eminencein India. This is confirmed by M. Maurice,who says ’the figures in the Hindoa cavernsare of a very different character from thepresent race of Hindoos: their countenancesare broad and full, the nose is flat, itllfl the

lips, particularly the under lip, are remark-ably thick.’

9. "This is again confirmed by Col. Fitz-clarence in his journal ; and Maurice, in thefirst vol. of his Indian Antiquities, statesthat the figures in the caves of India, areabsolutely the same as tlaose in Egypt de-scribed by Bruce, Niebuhr, &c.

10. "Justin states that the Phoeniciansbeing obliged to leave their native countryin the East, they settled first near the Per-sian Gulf, and Maurice says, We find anextensive district, named Palestine, to theeast of the Euphrates and Tigris. Theword Palestine seems derived from Pallis-titan, the seat of the Pallis or Shepherds.’Palli in India means Shepherd. This, cou-pied with the Shepherd Kings of Egypt,confirms Sir W. Jones’s opinion in a strikingmanner, respecting a black race havingreigned at Sidon.

11." Sir W. Jones says, the Mountaineersof Bengal and Bahar can hardly be distill-guished in some of their features, particu-larly in their lips and reases, from the modernAbyssinians, whom the Arabs call the chil-dren of Cush.’

12. "In my essay on the Celtic Druids, Ihave observed that a great nation called’ Celtæ,’ of whom the Druids were the

priests, spread themselves over almost thewhole earth, and are to be traced in theirrude gigantic monuments from India to theextremity of Britain. What these can havebeen but the early individuals of the blacknation, of whom we have been treating, Iknow not, and in this opinion I am not

singular. The learned Maurice says Cnth.itcs, i. e., Celts, built the great temples illIndia and Britaira, and c-xcavated tlae cavesof the former.’ And the learned mathema-tician, Reuben Burrow, has no hesitation inpronouncing Stonehenge to be a temple ofthe black curly-headed Buddha."—p. 52.

If it can be admitted with the learnedauthor from whom I have quoted, that themost ancient race of which we have any Te-cord, either in the pages of history, or in thegigantic cavern sculptures of the east, or intraditionary legends, were blac·k, and in

physical conformation and visible aspectsimilar to the race of negroes which at pre-sent exists, by what means can we accountfor the degraded condition of the latter ?How l’ecollcile the vast intellectu.ll distinc-tion between them ? -:

I think it will be readily allowed that thenegro nations, so far as we are acquaintedwith them, are fitted, neither ly physicalcapabilities nor by moral attributes, to be-come the founders or rulers of great king-doms. We perceive that year after year,and century after century, to them bringsno change. We observe that their habitsand their customs remain unaltered ; thatin no respect do their intellectual endow-

42

ments appear to advance with the experi-ence of years, and the most that can bestated in their favour is this, that they haveremained stationary from the period of theirfirst introduction to civilized man. How,then, were their presumed predecessors en-abled to assume so commanding a situation,to attain to so proud an elevation amongthe empires of the world ? By what meansdid they arrive at such eminence in scienti-fic knowledge and mechanical ingenuity?In what manner did they extend their fameand influence into almost every region, how-ever remote ?- -A query naturally suggests itself, Can the

existing African negroes be the descendantsof this widely-spread, intelligent, and re-fined race ? Can the being so low in thescale’ of intellect as the negro is representedto us to be, be connected by consanguinitywith this exalted people? If it be answeredin the negative, where-to what country-shall we look for their continuance ? Whereare their descendants in skill, knowledge,and rEfinements, possessing the same ex-ternal physical conformation ?

Statius somewhere mentions that Jupiterwas a black deity. We have seen thatBuddha was black. The Corinthians wor-shipped a black Venus. Osiris was de-scribed as black. The Virgin Mary of theRomish church was black, and that Christwas supposed to be black, is apparent by areference to numerous images in most ofthe continental cathedrals. Here then wehave strong presumptive evidence of the

superior attributes and perfections of anantecedent dark-coloured race.

If the query which I have above sug-gested be answered in the aflirmative, towhat chain of causes are we to affix the

great debasement of the present existingnegro ? To what source are we to turn for

satisfactory reasons for such a manifest andstriking difference in the intellectual en-dowments and sagacious actions of the samepeople of two different periods ?Without presuming to offer an opinion,

but merely to afford a hint for investigation,I would ask whether the solution of the

difficulty can be advanced by the followingattempt at explanation ? A succession of

conquests, with other political and socialcauses coiiil)iiied, forced these black de-scendants of the Palli, or Indio-Egyptianshepherd kings, and the tribes belonging tothem, to emigrate progressively further intothe interior of the vast continent of Africa,where at length they find a secure and un-inolested haven from their toils and suffer-ings, unworthy of the ambition and uninvit-ing to the cupidity of their neighbours. Theintense heat of the climate, the sterility ofthe soil, and the unimprovable appearanceof the whole face of the country, would besufficient to ward off all intruders, whetherhostile or commercial. Remaining for cen-

turies in this isolated condition, they con-tinued a distinct and unmixed race. Thepowerful stimuli of foreign war, of commer-cial intercourse, of social improvement, beingabsent, their minds became contracted andweak. Succeeding generations adding tothe stolidity of their progenitors, became stillmore depressed in mental energies, andafter the lapse of many ages, they reachedthe degraded and melancholy conditionwhich they now exhibit. Finally, havinglittle or no intercourse with the rest ofmankind, and a very limited range for theexercise of their intellectual and moralfaculties, the gradual disuse of those powerswhich were originally implanted in them,may have created that result on their cra-nial configuration and intellectual manifes-tations, which, under somewhat analogouscircum stances, phrenologists have frequentlyobserved. I remain, Sir, your ever-instructedreader,

T. C. GTRTIN, Surgeon.Islington, Sept. 19th, 1835.

T. C. GIRTIN, Surgeon.

INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNG

IN

NEW-BORN CHILDREN.

IN a late Number of the Be1’lin Ga::ette

(Medic. Zeitung), July 29, 1835, we find anotice of a disease affecting children imme..diately after birth, which the author, Dr.KLUGB, is inclined to range under inflam-mation.

,

The disease has been observed from timeto time in the Charity Hosyatal of Berlin,particularly in April 1832, when, severalfatal cases occurring, it gave rise to a more

careful examination of its symptoms andnature. The following abridged case willgive an idea of its march :-

Louise Bielecke, 29 years of age, healthyand well formed, was delivered on the 7thof May of a healthy child, weighing sevenand three quarters pounds; the child pre-sented no trace of disease, but seemedstrong and lively, and immediately took the.breast; about twenty-four hours after birth,the child began to exhibit for the first time,.a pale colour of the skin, restlessness, andagitation, uttering short, broken, piercingcries. After the lapse of about half an hour,the skin assumed a dull-gray colour, which,on the hands, nose, and about the mouth,passed into-a gray-blue. Symptoms of dis-order in the respiratory organs now imme-diately set in; the cry presently becameweaker, and was attended by a short, brokencough, accompanied with violent efforts,