n


Was  there  ever  such  an  attempt  made  at  classification  since  the  creatio>^
of  scatter-brains  ?  Each  word  absolutely  constitutes  or  implies  an  enor^^
that  is,  to  us,  critics  of  the  earth,  earthy :  but,  Dis  et  Tusoni  aliter  imM^-

Mr. Tuson  occasionally  talketh  concerning  subjects  of  which  (with  ^
his  "  activity")  he  may  be  presumed  not  to  be  over  deeply  acquaint^*


1846.]  Fuwiions  of  the  Female  Breast,  1 77

He  dippeth  deeply  into  the  fantastic  chemistry  of  the  day, — hut  in   a
-mighty  safe  way,  by  quoting  moiuter-paaaages  from  Liehig,  of  the  real
lignification  of  which  he  probably  comprehends  no  more  than  of  so  many
problems  in  astronomy. Now  we  do  not  expect  Mr. Tuson  to  be  a  chemist ;
nc  has  enough  to  do — or  should  have  enough  to  do — ^without  wandering
from  the  regions  of  practice;  but  we  do  expect  a  great  pathologist  like  him —
one  leading  ;on  the  front  ranks  of  "  active"  pathological  investigation — to
bave  at  least  some  glimmering  of  accuracy  in  his  ideas  on  such  subjects
•8  the  generation  of  pus. Yet  truth — ^for  which  our  veneration  is  greater
tban  even  for  Tuson — compels  us  to  afSrm  that  the  man's  mind  is  in  a
itate  of  Cimmerian  darkness  on  the  subject. Conceive  him — at  the  present
Hour — quietly  accepting  the  notion  of  pus-globules  being  produced  (in
ordinary  suppuration)  in  the|interior  of  the  vessels  from  changes  of  the  red
corpuscles  of  the  blood,  and  admitting  by  inference  the  heresy  in  physio-
logy that  the  capillaries  have  open  mouths !

Mr. Tuson's  singular  power  of  appreciating  the  bearings  of  a  question
of  morbid  anatomy,  and  of  his  grand  ofif-hand  way  of  getting  rid  of  small
difficulties  that  trouble  weaker  minds  is  deliciously  exhibited  in  his  account
of  "fibrous  tumours  of  the  breast."  This  account  is  simply  a  reprint
from  an  English  journal  of  M. Cruveilhier's  opinions  (as  these  existed  previous
to  the  discussion  at  the  Paris  Academy)  on  the  subject ;  it  occupies  eighteen
piges  of  our  learned  author's  volume,  and  is  put  down  without  one  syllabic
of  comment  in  any  form  or  shape. Now,  as  is  notorious  (we  should  have
UQtgined  that  even  Mr. Tuson  knew  this),  Cruveilhier  was  obliged,  during
^  progress  of  discussion,  to  retract  many  of  the  positions  which  he
*tttted  with ;  what  is  printed  by  Mr. 