Of the causes, nature and treatment of Palsy and Apoplexy : of
the forms, seats, complications and morbid relations of paraly-
tic and apoplectic diseases. By James Copland, M. D. F. R. S.,
&c., &c. Philadelphia, Lea & Blanchard, 1850.
Dr. Copland, the author of the above work, is so favorably
known to the medical profession of this country, as an industrious
and able writer, that it is scarcely necessary to say a word in
commendation of any work he may deem appropriate for publica-
tion. Few men have written more, and none better than he has,
on various medical subjects. The publication of his Medical Dic-
tionary, was of itself, a herculean undertaking, requiring an im-
mense amount of industry and information, and he has performed
his task with so much ability, and with so little dogmatical preju-
dice, that every one will freely accord to him the highest distinc-
tion, not only as a medical writer, but as a physician of vast ex-
perience and sound judgment.
<e A considerable part of the above work was published many
years ago in the first and third volumes of the Author’s Dictionary
of Practical Medicine, and several of the chapters on the connec-
tion of Paralytic and Apoplectic seizures, with other disorders,
formed the Croonian Lectures for 1846 and 1847, at the Royal
College of Physicians.” The close connection between apoplexy and
paralysis, as cause and effect, constituted a good reason for the
publication of these several articles, in a connected form. The
two diseases should be studied together, or the young practitioner
will hardly be able to appreciate their true pathology and treat-
ment. In the language of Dr. Copland, it is necessary to describe
“ not merely the primary and uncomplicated forms of disease, but
also the several associated or complicated states, in which each
malady most frequently comes under the observation of the physi-
cian, and he was not the less convinced of the propriety of recog-
nising alliances and connections between diseases, too often de-
scribed as distinct species, extreme features of difference being
chiefly or only insisted upon and intimate relations generally dis-
regarded.”
In the arrangement of the work, Dr. Copland considers first,
the simple and primary varieties of palsy ; next the uncomplicated
forms of apoplexy ; third, the complicated states of apoplexy
and paralysis; fourth, the causes and pathology of these dis-
eases ; lastly, the treatment of the different varieties &c. Each
one of these points is discussed with such practical precision, that
no one can peruse the work without acquiring the most accurate
information in regard to the symptoms, causes, pathology and
treatment of these two diseases.
Without entering into a detailed analysis of the several sec-
tions of which the above work is composed, we commend it to
the medical public as one of the most valuable works on Apoplexy
and Paralysis with which we are acquainted.