The association of any of these symptoms leads the surgeon to suspect the presence of a stone in the bladder, and he confirms his suspicions by introducing a slender steel rod, a "sound," by which he strikes and feels the stone. Further confirmation may be obtained by the help of the X-rays, or, in the adult, by using a cystoscope. In a child the stone may often be felt by a finger in the rectum, the front of the bladder being pressed by a hand on the lower part of the abdomen. The _cystoscope_ is a straight, hollow metal tube about the size of a long cedar pencil, which the surgeon introduces into the adult bladder, which has already been filled with warm boracic lotion. Down the tube run two fine wires which control a minute electric lamp at the bladder end of the instrument. At that end also is a small glass window which prevents the fluid escaping by the tube, and also a prism; at the other end of the tube is an eye-piece. By the use of this slender speculum the practised surgeon can recognize the presence of tubercle or tuberculous ulceration of the bladder, stone, or other foreign material, and innocent or malignant growths. He can also watch the urine entering the bladder by the openings of the ureters, and determine from which kidney blood or pus is coming.
The _treatment_ of stone in the bladder is governed by various conditions. Speaking generally, the surgeon prefers to introduce a lithotrite and crush the stone into small fragments, and then to flush out the fragments by using a full-sized, hollow metal catheter and an india-rubber wash-bottle. Even in children this operation may generally be adopted with success, the stone being crushed to atoms and the fragments being washed out to the last small chip. But if the stone is a very hard one (as are some of the oxalate of lime calculi), or if it is very large, or if the bladder or the prostate gland is in a state of advanced disease, or if the urethra is not roomy enough to admit instruments of adequate calibre, the crushing operation (_lithotrity_) must be deemed unsuitable, and the stone must be removed by a cutting operation (_lithotomy_).
_Lithotomy_.--Cutting for stone has been long practised; but up to the beginning of the 19th century it was performed only by a few men, who, bolder than their contemporaries, had specially worked at that operation and had attained celebrity as skilful lithotomists. Patients went long distances to be operated on by them, and certain of the older surgeons, as William Cheselden, performed a large number of operations with most excellent results. The operation was by an incision from the perineum, and is ordinarily spoken of as _lateral_ lithotomy. It was splendidly designed, and gave good results, especially in children. But it is now a thing of the past, having almost entirely given place to the _high_ or _supra-pubic_ operation. In the high operation the patient, being duly prepared, is placed upon his back and the bladder is washed out with hot boracic lotion, and when the lotion returns quite clean a final injection is made until the bladder is felt rising above the pubes. Then the india-rubber tube is removed from the silver catheter by which the injection has been made, and the end of the catheter is plugged by a spigot. An incision is then made in the middle line of the abdomen over the bladder region. The incision must be kept as low as possible, so that the bladder may be reached below the peritoneum, which, higher up, gives it an external, serous coat. As the bladder is approached, a good many veins are seen to be in the way, some of which have to be wounded.
The bladder-wall is recognized by its coarse network of pale muscular fibres, through which, on each side of the middle line, a strong suture is passed, so that when the bladder is opened and the lotion comes rushing out, the opening which has been made into the bladder may not sink into the depths of the pelvis. A finger introduced into the bladder makes out the exact size and position of the stone, or stones, and the removal is effected by special forceps. Bleeding having ceased, the bladder-wound is partly or entirely closed by sutures and allowed to fall into the pelvis, the catheter having been removed. It is advisable to leave a drainage tube in the abdominal wound for a while, so that if urine leaks from the bladder-wound it may find a ready escape to the dressings.
_Litholapaxy_.--Lithotrity consists of two parts--the crushing of the stone, and the removal of the detritus. The two stages are now carried out at one "sitting," without an interval being allowed between them, as was formerly the practice, and the term "litholapaxy" designates this method. The patient having been anaesthetized, 10 oz. of hot boracic lotion are injected, and the crushing instrument, the lithotrite, is then passed into the bladder. The lithotrite has two blades, a "male"
and a "female," the latter fenestrated, the former solid with its surface notched. When the stone is fixed between the blades the screw is used, and great pressure is applied evenly, gradually and continuously to the stone. The lithotrite is made of very tough steel, so that hard stones may be crushed without danger of the instrument breaking or bending. Care must be taken not to catch the bladder-wall with the lithotrite. This danger is avoided by raising the point of the lithotrite immediately after grasping the stone and before crushing. The stone breaks into two or more pieces, and these fragments must be crushed, one by one, until they are powdered fine enough to escape by the large evacuating catheter. If the stone be large and hard, half an hour or longer may be required to crush it sufficiently fine. When the surgeon fails to catch any more large pieces, the presumption is that the stone has been thoroughly broken up. The lithotrite is then withdrawn and the detritus is washed out by an "aspirator," which consists of a stiff elastic ball which is connected with a trap, into which fragments of stone fall so as not to pass out on the instrument being used at later periods in the operation. A large catheter, with the eye very near the end of the short curve, is passed into the bladder; the aspirator, full of boracic lotion, is attached to the catheter, and a few ounces of the fluid are expressed from the aspirator into the bladder by squeezing the rubber ball. When the pressure is taken off the ball, it dilates and draws the fluid out of the bladder, and with it some of the detritus, which falls into the trap. This is repeated until all the fragments have been removed. After the operation the patient sometimes suffers from discomfort. His urine should be drawn off by a soft catheter at regular intervals for a few days. If the pain be severe, it can generally be relieved by fomentations. The patient must be kept in bed after the operation, and in cases where the stone has been large and the bladder irritable, the surgeon should insist on his remaining there for at least a week; in those cases which go on favourably the patients are soon able to perform their ordinary duties.
Fatal terminations, however, do now and again occur from suppression of urine, the result of the old-standing kidney disease which so often complicates these cases.
To Brigade-Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis Francis Keegan, of the Indian Medical Service, is due the fact that the operation of crushing and promptly removing all fragments of a vesical calculus is as well suited for boys as for men. In entire opposition to long-standing European prejudices, Keegan's operation is now firmly and permanently established. The old operation (Cheselden's) of cutting a stone out through the bottom of a boy's bladder is now seldom resorted to, and if a stone in a boy is found too large or too hard to lend itself to the crushing operation, it is removed by a vertical incision through the lower part of the anterior wall of the abdomen, as described above. For a successful performance of the crushing operation in a boy a small lithotrite has, of course, to be used, and it must be of the very best English make. The operation has to be done with the utmost gentleness and thoroughness, not a particle of the crushed stone being left in the bladder, since otherwise the piece left becomes the nucleus of a fresh stone and the trouble recurs.
The treatment of vesical calculi by other means than operative surgery is of little value. Attempts have been made to dissolve them by internal remedies, or by the injection of chemical agents into the bladder; but, although such methods have for a time been apparently successful, they have invariably been found worthless for removing calculi once actually formed. Nevertheless, much can be done towards _preventing_ the formation of calculi in those who have a tendency to their formation, by attention to diet, by taking proper exercise, and by the internal administration of drugs.
_Rupture of the bladder_ may be caused by a kick or blow over the upper part of the abdomen, or by a wheel passing over it; or it may be a complication of fracture of the pelvis. If the rupture is in that part of the bladder which is uncovered by the peritoneum, the extravasated urine may be cut down upon and let out with good prospect of success; but if the rupture is in the upper or hinder part of the bladder the urine is let loose into the general peritoneal cavity and sets up peritonitis, which is more than likely to prove fatal. If the surgeon knows that the bladder is ruptured he should operate at once in order to provide escape for the urine, and also to sew up the rent.
If the possibility of the bladder being ruptured be even suspected, the surgeon should pass a catheter. Perhaps he draws off an ounce or two of blood-stained urine. This makes him doubly suspicious, so he injects into the bladder five, eight or ten ounces of warm boracic lotion, and, leaving it there for a few minutes, he measures the amount which he is able afterwards to withdraw; if he finds that a certain amount is lost he is assured that a leakage has taken place and he at once proceeds to operate. If only the diagnosis is made promptly, and the operation is at once undertaken, the outlook is not unfavourable. A generation or so back nearly all the cases of rupture of bladder ended fatally.
_Villous disease_ of the bladder is innocent; that is to say, it does not spread to the neighbouring structures or implicate the lymphatic glands. The villi are slender, branched, filamentous processes which, springing from the floor of the bladder, float in the urine like seaweed. They are freely supplied with blood-vessels, so that when a piece of a villus is broken off there is likely to be blood in the urine. Indeed, painless haemorrhage is one of the characteristic features of the disease, and when fragments of the "seaweed" are found in the urine the diagnosis is clear. If the bladder is opened from the front, as already described, the villi may be nipped off by special forceps and the disease permanently cured.
_Malignant disease_ of the bladder is almost always the warty form of cancer known as epithelioma. It springs as a sessile growth from the mucous membrane of the floor near the opening of one of the ureters, and, worrying the sensory nerves, causes irritability of the bladder and incontinence of urine. In due course septic germs reach the bladder, either from the urethra, the bowel, the kidneys or the blood-stream, and cystitis sets in. When ulceration has taken place, blood occurs in the urine, and the patient--generally beyond middle age--suffers dull or lancinating pains. Eventually the rectum may also be involved and the distress becomes extreme. The presence of the growth may be determined by sounding the bladder, by the cystoscope, and by the finger in the rectum. If the growth invades the outlet, retention of urine may occur, and the surgeon may be compelled to open the bladder from the front of the abdomen. In cases where operation is out of the question, washing the bladder with hot boracic lotion may give great relief. The treatment of cancer of the bladder by operation is, as a rule, unsatisfactory, because of the close proximity of the growth to the ureters and to the rectum. If, however, the disease were recognized early and had not invaded the neighbouring structures, and if it were upon the upper or the anterior part of the bladder, its removal might be hopefully undertaken.
_Hypertrophy and Dilatation._--When there is long-continued obstruction to the flow of urine, as in stricture of the urethra, or enlargement of the prostate, the bladder-wall becomes much thickened, the muscular fibres increasing both in size and number; the condition is known as "hypertrophy." Hypertrophy may be accompanied by dilatation of the bladder, a condition which the bladder may assume when the voiding of its contents is interfered with for a length of time.
_Paralysis_ of the bladder is a want of contractile power in the muscular fibres of the bladder-wall. It may result from injuries whereby the spinal cord is lacerated or pressed upon, so that the micturition centre, which is situated in the lumbar region, is thrown out of working order. The result may be either retention or incontinence of urine; sometimes there is at first retention, which later is followed by incontinence. Paralysis is also met with in certain nervous diseases, as in locomotor ataxia, and in various cerebral lesions, as in apoplexy.
_Atony_ of the bladder is a paresis or partial paralysis. It is due to a want of tone in the muscular fibres, and is frequently the result of over-distension of the bladder, such as may occur in cases of enlargement of the prostate. The patient is unable to empty the bladder, and the condition of atony gets increasingly worse.
In both paralysis and atony the indication is carefully to prevent over-distension by the urine being retained too long, and at the same time to treat by appropriate means the cause which has produced or is keeping up the condition.
_Incontinence of urine_ may occur in the adult or in the child, but is due to widely different causes in the two cases. In the child it may be simply a bad habit, the child not having been properly trained; but more frequently there is a want of control in the micturition-centre, so that the child passes its water unwittingly, especially during the night. In adults it is not so much a condition of incontinence in the sense of water being passed against the will, but is a suggestion that the bladder is already full, the water which passes being the overflow from a too full reservoir. It is usually caused by an obstruction external to the bladder, e.g. enlarged prostate or stricture of the urethra; a calculus may produce the condition. In the child an attempt must be made to improve the tone of the micturition-centre by the use of belladonna or strychnine internally, and of a blister or faradism externally over the lumbar region, and every effort should be made to train the child to pass water at stated times and regular intervals.
In the adult the cause which produces the over-distension must be removed if possible; but, as a rule, the patient has to be provided with a catheter, which he can pass before the bladder has filled to overflowing. A soft flexible catheter should be given in preference to a rigid or semi-rigid one. The best form is the red-rubber catheter, and he should be taught the need of keeping it absolutely clean. In the case of children incontinence of urine means irritability; in adults it means overflow.
The condition termed by Sir James Paget _stammering micturition_ is analogous to speech stammering, and occurs in those who are nervous and easily put out. It would seem to be due to the sphincter of the bladder not relaxing synchronously with the contraction of the detrusor, and is sometimes caused by external irritation, such as preputial adhesions. Occasionally not a drop of urine can be passed, or a little passes and then a sudden stoppage occurs; the more the patient strains the worse he becomes, until at last there is complete retention of urine. The trouble can sometimes be cured by the removal of irritating causes, and in these cases, as well as in those in which no such cause can be discovered, care should be taken to avoid those difficulties which have given rise to the patient's worst failures. If at any time he should fail to perform the act of micturition, he ought not to strain, but should quietly wait for a little before making any further effort. Regularity in the times of making water is also of much importance.
_Retention of urine_ may occur in paralysis of the bladder, or in conditions where the patient is suffering from an illness which blunts the nervous sensibility, such as apoplexy, concussion of the brain, or typhoid fever. It is, however, more commonly due to obstruction anterior to the bladder, as in stricture of the urethra or enlargement of the prostate. The distended bladder can be felt as a rounded swelling above the pubes, and perhaps reaching to the level of the navel. Percussion over it gives a dull note. When the bladder is distended, it is necessary to evacuate it as soon as possible. If there is no obstruction to the flow of urine, the retention being due to atony or paralysis, a soft catheter is passed and the water drawn off. But when there is an obstruction which cannot be overcome, aspiration has to be resorted to, the needle of the aspirator being pushed through the abdominal wall into the bladder. The point of puncture in the abdominal wall is in the middle line a few inches above the symphysis pubis. The bladder may be emptied in this way very many times in the same person with only good result.
_Diseases of Prostate Gland._
The prostate gland may become acutely inflamed as the result of the backward extension of gonorrhoeal inflammation of the urethra; it may also be attacked by the germs of ordinary suppuration as well as by the bacilli of tuberculosis. A sudden enlargement of a large gland lying against the outlets of the bladder and the bowel renders micturition difficult, painful or impossible, and interferes with defaecation.
Pressure of the seat of the chair upon the perineum also causes distress, so the man sits sideways and on the edge of the seat. If abscess forms, it should be incised from the perineum; if allowed to run its course it may burst into the bladder, the urethra or the rectum, and set up serious complication. The treatment of prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) consists in rest in bed, sitz-baths and fomentations.
If retention of urine takes place a soft catheter must be passed. In the early stage of an acute attack a dozen leeches upon the perineum may do good. The bowels must be kept freely open, and from time to time, as the pain demands, a morphia suppository may be introduced into the bowel.
_Chronic prostatitis_ is a legacy from a recent or long-past attack of gonorrhoea. The enlargement gives rise to a feeling of weight and fulness in the perineum, irritability of the bladder, and a gleety urethral discharge. Manual examination reveals the presence of a large, hard mass in front of the bladder, and in the mass there can often be felt softish or tender areas which seem to threaten abscess.
On urine being passed into a glass, a cloudiness is seen, and material like pieces of vermicelli or broken threads may be noticed. These are the castings from the long tubular glands, and are characteristic of chronic inflammation of the prostate. The occasional passage of a large metal bougie, the use of weak lotions of nitrate of silver, the administration of quinine and iron, and the application of blisters to the perineum, may be tried as circumstances direct. The patient should lead a quiet life, free from sexual excitement. Horse-exercise, cycle-riding, rough games and alcohol should be avoided.
_Enlargement of the prostate_ exists in a considerable proportion of men of about sixty years of age and onward. It consists of an uncontrolled growth of the normal muscular and glandular tissue of the prostate, interfering with, or absolutely stopping, the outflow of the urine.
Gently pushing the bladder upwards and backwards, it increases the length of the urethra, so that in order to draw off retained urine the catheter must be longer than ordinary, but inasmuch as there is no actual narrowing of the passage it may be of full calibre. The beak should be well turned up so that it may ride in front of, and surmount, the median enlargement. Because of the thick, ring-like mass of new tissue around the outlet of the bladder, there is difficulty in micturition, and because the muscular bladder wall is now unable to contract upon all its contents a certain amount of urine is retained. As the enlarged prostate bulges up in the floor of the bladder, a pouch or hollow forms behind it, from which the muscular wall is unable to dislodge the stagnant urine. This keeps up constant irritation, and if by chance the germs of decomposition find their way thither, cystitis sets in and the patient's condition becomes serious, not only because of the risk to which his tired and irritated kidneys are submitted, but because of the possibility of a phosphatic stone being formed in the bladder. The seriousness of enlargement of the prostate does not depend upon the size of the growth so much as upon the inability of the patient to empty his bladder completely.
The surgeon forms his estimate of the size of the prostate by rectal examination. But sometimes a patient has retention of urine from enlarged prostate, when by this method of manual examination the amount of increase appears quite unimportant. The explanation is that the enlargement is chiefly confined to a small piece of the gland which protrudes like a tongue into the water-way. Robert McGill of Leeds was the first surgeon to remove by a supra-pubic operation this tongue-like process of new prostatic growth. Attempts had sometimes been made to get rid of it by instrumentation through the urethra, but they had not met with much success.
When the surgeon has made out the existence of an enlargement of the prostate, the next thing is to find to what extent this interferes with the bladder being emptied. To do this, he asks the patient to pass as much water as he is able, and then with due precautions introduces a soft catheter and measures the amount of urine which he thus draws off--half an ounce, an ounce, two ounces, however much it may be. It is this "residual urine" which causes the annoyance and the danger of enlarged prostate, and unless arrangements can be made for its regular withdrawal serious trouble is almost certain to ensue. The passing of a large catheter may have the effect of so opening up the water-way that, at any rate for a time, the irritability of the bladder may cease, in which case the patient may be instructed in the art of passing a catheter for himself. Or the surgeon may find that in addition to the regular passing of a large catheter an occasional washing-out of the bladder with hot boracic lotion is all that is needed in the way of active treatment. At the same time, however, the patient is placed upon a plain and wholesome diet with little or no alcohol, and he is instructed to lead in every respect a regular and quiet life. To many men with enlarged prostate the passing of an instrument night and morning is no great hardship, while to others the idea of leading what is called a "catheter life" appears intolerable, or, having for a time been patiently carried out, is found not only severely trying but greatly disappointing.
In some people the very first passing of a catheter sets up a local and constitutional disturbance, the bladder being rendered irritable and intolerant, the temperature going up, and shiverings and perspirations manifesting themselves. This condition was formerly called "catheter fever," and was looked upon as something mysterious and peculiar. It is now generally understood to be the result of septic inoculation of the interior of the bladder.
Lastly, in other persons the passing of the catheter is attended with so much difficulty, distress or bleeding, that something more helpful and effectual is urgently called for.
_Operative Treatment._--It has long been known that large tumours of the uterus sometimes dwindle if the ovaries are removed by operation, and Professor William White of Philadelphia thought that prostatic growths might be similarly influenced by the removal of the testicles. Beyond question considerable improvement has followed this operation in cases of enlargement of the prostate, especially where the enlargement seemed to be general, soft and vascular. A similar though perhaps a slower effect is produced when the duct of the testis, the vas deferens, is divided on each side of the body. If there is no great urgency about the case this treatment may well be tried, the bladder being all the while duly emptied by catheter and washed by irrigation. But if the case is urgent, there being difficulty or bleeding with the passing of the catheter, the bladder being excessively irritable and the urine foul, a more radical measure is needed. The best operation is that upon the lines laid down by Robert McGill, who opened the bladder through the anterior abdominal wall and removed that part of the prostate gland which was blocking the water-way. McGill's operation was improved upon by Eugene Fuller of New York, who, in 1895, published a full account of his procedure.[1] Having opened the bladder from the front (as in supra-pubic lithotomy), he introduced his left index finger into the rectum and thrust the prostate gland towards the right index finger, which was then in the bladder. With the nail of that finger, or with the end of a pair of scissors, he made a rent in the mucous membrane of the bladder and the capsule of the gland, and then shelled out the mass of new tissue which had caused the prostatic enlargement. This operation is called "prostatectomy," which means the removal of the prostate gland.
The prostate gland, however, is not removed, but only a muscular and glandular mass (adenoma), which, growing within the prostatic capsule, encircles the urethra and squeezes the original gland tissue out of existence. Following on the lines of McGill and Fuller, P.J. Freyer has done excellent work in England towards placing this operation upon a sound basis.
Subsequently to the operation the bladder enjoys complete and needful rest, and the kidneys, which previously were in a condition of perpetual disturbance, improve in working power. The wound in the bladder and in the abdominal wall gradually closes; the function of the bladder returns, and the patient is soon able to go back to his usual occupation in greatly improved health and vigour. The operation is, necessarily, a serious one, and the age of the patient, the condition of his bladder, of his kidneys, and of his blood-vessels, require to be taken into consideration; still, the operation gives an excellent account of itself in statistics, and if a practical surgeon advises a patient to accept its risks his counsel may well be followed.
_Malignant disease of the prostate_ is distinguished from senile glandular enlargement by the rapidity of its growth, by the freeness of the bleeding which is associated with the introduction of a catheter, and by the marked wasting which the individual undergoes.
Unfortunately, by the time that the cancerous nature of the disease is definitely recognized, the prospect of relief being afforded by operation is small. (E. O.*)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] _Diseases of the Genito-urinary System_, by Eugene Fuller, M.D.
(London and New York, 1900).
BLADDER-WORT, the name given to a submerged water plant, _Utricularia vulgaris_, with finely divided leaves upon which are borne small bladders provided with trap-door entrances which open only inwards.
Small crustaceans and other aquatic animals push their way into the bladders and are unable to escape. The products of the decay of the organisms thus captured are absorbed into the plant by star-shaped hairs which line the interior of the bladder. In this way the plant is supplied with nitrogenous food from the animal kingdom. Bladder-wort bears small, yellow, two-lipped flowers on a stem which rises above the surface of the water. It is found in pools and ditches in the British Isles, and is widely distributed in the north temperate zone. The genus contains about two hundred species in tropical and temperate regions.
[Illustration: A, Bladder of _Utricularia neglecta_ (after Darwin), enlarged. B, stellate hairs from interior of bladder of _U. vulgaris_.]
BLADES, WILLIAM (1824-1890), English printer and bibliographer, was born at Clapham, London, on the 5th of December 1824. In 1840 he was apprenticed to his father's printing business in London, being subsequently taken into partnership. The firm was afterwards known as Blades, East & Blades. His interest in printing led him to make a study of the volumes produced by Caxton's press, and of the early history of printing in England. His _Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer_, was published in 1861-1863, and the conclusions which he set forth were arrived at by a careful examination of types in the early books, each class of type being traced from its first use to the time when, spoilt by wear, it passed out of Caxton's hands. Some 450 volumes from the Caxton Press were thus carefully compared and classified in chronological order. In 1877 Blades took an active part in organizing the Caxton celebration, and strongly supported the foundation of the Library Association. He was a keen collector of old books, prints and medals. His publications relate chiefly to the early history of printing, the _Enemies of Books_, his most popular work, being produced in 1881. He died at Sutton in Surrey on the 27th of April 1890.
BLAENAVON, or BLAENAFON, an urban district in the northern parliamentary division of Monmouthshire, England, 15 m. N. by W. of Newport, on the Great Western, London & North Western and Rhymney railways. Pop. (1901) 10,869. It lies in the uppermost part of the Afon Lwyd valley, at an elevation exceeding 1000 ft., in a wild and mountainous district, on the eastern edge of the great coal and iron mining region of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. There are very extensive iron and steel works, with blast furnaces and rolling mills in the district, which employ the large industrial population.
BLAGOVYESHCHENSK, a town of East Siberia, chief town of the Amur government, on the left bank of the Amur, near its confluence with the Zeya in 50 15' N. lat. and 127 38' E. long., 610 m. by river above Khabarovsk. Founded in 1856, the town had, in 1900, 37,368 inhabitants, and is the seat of the bishop of Amur and Kamchatka. There are steam flour-mills and ironworks. It is a centre for tea exported to Russia, cattle brought from Transbaikalia and Mongolia for the Amur, and for grain.
BLAIKIE, WILLIAM GARDEN (1820-1899), Scottish divine, was born on the 5th of February 1820, at Aberdeen, where his father had been the first provost of the reformed corporation. After studying at the Marischal College, where Alexander Bain and David Masson were among his contemporaries, he went in 1839 to Edinburgh to complete his theological course under Thomas Chalmers. In 1842 he was presented to the living of Drumblade by Lord Kintore, with whose family he was connected. The Disruption controversy reached its climax immediately afterwards, and Blaikie, whose sympathies were entirely with Chalmers, was one of the 474 ministers who signed the deed of demission and gave up their livings. He was Free Church minister at Pilrig, between Edinburgh and Leith, from 1844 to 1868. Keenly interested in questions of social reform, his first publication was a pamphlet, which was afterwards enlarged into a book called _Better Days for Working People_. It received public commendation from Lord Brougham, and 60,000 copies were sold. He formed an association for providing better homes for working people, and the Pilrig Model Buildings were erected. He also undertook the editorship of the _Free Church Magazine_, and then that of the _North British Review_, which he carried on until 1863. In 1864 he was asked to undertake the Scottish editorship of the _Sunday Magazine_, and for this magazine much of his most characteristic literary work was done, especially in the editorial notes, then a new feature in magazine literature.