he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Not long afterwards he commenced practice in Glasgow, first in Argyle Street, a little to the west of Jamaica Street, and subsequently in West Regent Street and Bath Street successively, settling only a year or two ago in Newton Place. Few men have devoted themselves so uninterruptedly to professional work as did Coats during a period of 42 years. Enjoying unbroken health, exempt even from the minor ailments of humanity, he worked steadily on, scarcely taking a holiday of any duration. In work, indeed, he appeared to find more enjoyment than in recreation. In 1851 he was admitted a Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, and during his twenty-eight years of connection with that body he filled several important offices in it. He was repeatedly elected an examiner; in the office of examiner in Arts he had an opportunity of utilizing his classical knowledge; and for the last fourteen years he has officiated as treasurer, an appointment for which his methodical habits and business talents peculiarly fitted him. At various times he has also acted as one of the representatives of the Faculty on the Board of Managers of the Royal Infirmary. In the University of Glasgow he filled for several years the office of examiner for degrees in medicine. For the attaining of the position which he occupied, Dr. Coats did not avail himself of those advantages which generally contribute to gain professional influence. He was never a teacher; never held any hospital appointment; nor was he a contributor to professional literature. It was simply the impression of his character and acquirements left on those who came into personal contact with him, which made his position for him. He had that solidity of character, and soundness of judgment, which are the products of a well balanced mind. His observing and his reflective faculties were both originally good, and both well cultivated. Other qualities he had which gained for him popularity, if not power. Of humour he had a keen appreciation, and he could tell a capital story. Wit, too, and that sometimes of a kind most pungent, he could wield on occasion, now and again relieving in this way the dulness of a long discussion. He had a marked aversion to everything that savoured of display or pretence; and no one could more neatly impale on the point of a witticism professional conduct which appeared to him to savour of quackery. Though missed only for a few weeks from his familiar haunts, the disease which carried him off did not run so short a course. About 18 months ago he found himself the subject of serious albuminuria, and at once recognised the

But with characteristic

fact that his days were numbered. fortitude he resolved quietly to work on as long as he was able. Latterly, though it was patent to every one that he was suffering from some grave internal disease, it almost required the kindly compulsion of friends to make an invalid of him. His death came with a suddenness somewhat unexpected, on the 8th June, and four days thereafter his remains were interred in the burying ground of his family in East Kilbride. The eldest of his three sons is an army surgeon; while the other two belong respectively to the legal and the clerical professions.

DR. JOHN PAXTON,

LATE OF KILKARNOCK.

IN the death of this worthy gentleman we lose a member of our profession who long held an honourable position amongst his brethren in the West of Scotland. This sad event occurred on the 6th of June, at his house, Oakleigh, Sutton, in Surrey, whither he had gone to reside about four years ago, after having practised for upwards of forty years in Kilmarnock, his native town. Dr. Paxton commenced his studies at the Glasgow University when not quite 14 years of age, spending some time at the Arts Classes before entering upon his medical curriculum. He received the diploma of L.R.C.S.E. in 1833, and the degree of M.D., Edin. in 1834. He was a house surgeon of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1832-3, and after that passed a year at the medical schools of Paris and Vienna.

Prior to his commencing the practice of his profession in Kilmarnock, few operations of a serious nature were performed by the then local practitioners; but after his accession to their number, surgical cases, involving great responsibility and anxiety, were constantly and unhesitatingly undertaken by him, the practical experience gained on the Continent, but above all in the Glasgow Infirmary, inspiring him with the confidence and self-reliance which enabled him to take up this position.

He was long the trusted medical adviser of many of the leading families in the town and surrounding country, and his services as a consultant were much sought after, and highly appreciated by his brethren in the district. He was much employed by the town officials in criminal cases occurring in the northern division of the County of Ayr; and, on more

than one occasion, was complimented by the presiding judges for the lucidity and cogency of his evidence and reports. Among his contributions to medical literature may be named the following, which appeared in this Journal, viz:-his paper on "Treatment of Subcutaneous Nævus," 1856; "Case of Unusual Mobility of the Iris," occurring in his own person, 1857; "Case of Superfotation," 1866, &c.

He was an ex-Vice-President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow, and one of the consulting physicians of the Kilmarnock Hospital and Infirmary, the existence of which was mainly owing to the exertions made by himself, in conjunction with those of the late Dr. James Aitken, and his surviving coadjutor Dr. John Borland.

He was an ardent student of natural history, and was for some years president of the local Philosophical Institution, to the members of which, some years ago, he delivered a short series of lectures on Comparative Odontology. He was fond of Archæological pursuits, and was well acquainted with the general literature of the period. After some years of failing health, he died suddenly of apoplexy, at the age of 67, leaving a widow, a son, and two daughters.

REVIEWS.

A Series of Photo-micrographs. By ASSISTANT-SURGEON J. J. WOODWARD, United States Army. 1870 to 1876.

WE have had submitted to us a series of photo-micrographs made by Assistant-Surgeon J. J. Woodward, United States Army. They are illustrative of certain reports and papers by Surgeon Woodward which accompany the photographs. These are (1.) Report on certain points connected with the histology of minute blood-vessels, 1870. (2.) Report on an improved method of photographing microscopic preparations by sunlight, 1871. (3.) Lecture on the structure of cancerous tumours and the mode in which adjacent parts are invaded, 1873. (4.) The application of photography to micrometry, with special reference to the micrometry of blood in criminal cases, 1876.

We have no intention here of discussing these various papers, and will content ourselves with saying that they

appear in general to reach a high standard of excellence. Our immediate concern is with the photographs which accompany the papers, and are meant to illustrate them. We would say at the outset that these photographs are highly artistic productions. We have seen many photographs of microscopic objects, but few have come near these in mere technical finish, and none has ever surpassed them. We would accord the highest praise to the industry and ingenuity displayed in the whole execution and mounting of these magnificent prints.

Turning to the question of utility, we have to ask the question whether the advantages to be obtained from these beautiful productions are at all commensurate with the labour and cost expended on them. To this question we must confess that we can hardly give an affirmative answer. We have one fatal objection to photographs as illustrative of minute microscopic appearances, but it is an objection which may scarcely seem tenable to persons who are unskilled in this kind of work. An illustration is not in most cases a reproduction in all its details of an appearance seen by the observer. It does and ought to partake, to a certain extent, of the nature of a diagram. The skilled observer examines a structure and he sees in it certain appearances which the unskilled person does not at first appreciate. In order to make the latter appreciate these characters, the observer describes the appearances in words, and by drawings endeavours to illustrate his description. But these drawings are not photographic reproductions of every detail in the appearances seen, they are faithful copies of the salient points, and so they assist in making the preparations understood. It is natural to raise the objection that the observer ought to be bound down to the natural appearances, and to this we give unhesitating assent; but then it is his part to discriminate among the appearances and render those which are essential, rejecting those which are unessential. As a matter of fact, we know from varied experience that the skilled observer sees differently from the tyro. The latter pays attention to matters of insignificant detail which the former hardly sees, and will fix his eye on some accidental contamination even to the exclusion of the real matter in hand. In this sense, then, a photograph is rarely a good illustration of a microscopic object. It renders the most trivial detail as prominent as the most essential; indeed, it often happens that, on account of the peculiar optical relations, the unessential is more prominent than the essential. Besides this, which seems to us a fundamental objection, we believe that these photographs, which are by far the finest we

No. 7.

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Vol. XII.

have seen, will be regarded as but poor representations of the details of most of the structures they reproduce. Unless the object be perfectly flat, the whole field cannot be in focus at the same time, and so the photographs have, nearly all, a certain blurred and unsatisfactory appearance. Let them be compared, for instance, with the plates in Klein's Atlas of Histology, which to our mind are much truer to nature.

There is a partial exception which we feel called on to make to these remarks. One set of these photographs_illustrates the application of photography to micrometry. The bloodcorpuscles of various animals are photographed, and as the blood is on a micrometer, the lines of the micrometer are photographed at the same time. In this way the exact size of the corpuscles can be accurately measured. It is possible that this method may afford more accurate measurements of the corpuscles of man and animals, and the investigation of this subject should not be discouraged. So far as the investigation has yet gone, however, there seems no practical result hitherto obtained.

Organic Philosophy; or, Man's True Place in Nature. Vol. V. Organic Method. By HUGH DOHERTY, M.D. London: Trübner & Co. 1878. Pp. 1-454, 8vo.

NOT being acquainted with the previous four volumes of Dr. Doherty's system of philosophy, we find it somewhat difficult to pronounce an opinion on the present volume. Dr. Doherty is a man who has evidently read and thought much. He appears to be more or less acquainted with all departments of science. Biology, statistics, chemistry, mathematics, and pedagogics seem to be equally familiar to him. It is, therefore, not surprising that, in attempting to range over so vast a field, he occasionally falls into serious errors of fact, or puts forward as facts many things that have only been superficially examined. In addition, Dr. Doherty has a marvellous power of generalising, of inventing new terms, and of reducing everything in heaven and earth to categories and equations. Space will not allow us to quote any of his classifications; but if any of our readers have a desire to escape for a while from conventional modes of thought and from conventional modes of expression, we would recommend him to study the chapters on the Methods of Biotechnics. It would be interesting to ascertain the state of mental confusion into which an average mind would be thrown by the systematic study of this remarkable book. It is terminology, classification, and bad logic run mad.