Dr. HARRISON'S Letter to Sir Benjamin Brodie on Spinal De-
formities, so far as the controversial part of it is concerned, would not admit of notice in our columns ; but the prevalence and distressing character of this class of diseases, and the very remark- able cases instanced in proof of the efficacy of Dr. HARRISON'S mode of treatment, give importance to the subject of the letter, which unhappily interests but too many. The misshapen ap- pearance of persons afflicted with curvature of the spine, is the least of the evils attendant upon this disease. Nor are the injury to time constitution, wh ich results from the displacement of the viscera, and the effect upon the nervous system by the twisting of the spinal cord and the irritation of the numerous nerves ramifying from it, its only other consequences. Dr. HARRISON shows that many cases of lameness and shortened limb, erroneously attributed to disease of the hip-joint, are really caused by curvature of the spine. Dr. HARRISON'S process of cure appears to be simply mechani- cal. He directs the patient to continue constantly in a horizontal posture, thus affording perfect rest to the spinal column by reliev- ing it from the pressure caused by the weight of the head and trunk ; employing, in addition, friction and gentle extension fre- quently renewed, to bring the vertebra into their natural places. The complete success of this treatment in cases of extreme dis- tortion, where the old methods of cure by gymnastic exercises, issues, setons, and friction merely, have failed of producing per- manent cure, seems to bear out Dr. HARRISON'S very rational opi- nion, that the disease arises from displacement of the vertebra. The plates given of the appearance of two or three patients, be- fore and after cure, afford striking evidence of its completeness.
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