fwallowed, with all the credulity and confidence that accompany ignorance. In the laft fection of this performance, Dr. James's celebrated fever powder falls particularly under the animadverfion of the Author; who first exposes the mystical and devotional cant employed by the inventor, in his Differtation on Fevers,' and then offers various objections to the facts there alleged, and the arguments deduced from them, to prove the fuperlative efficacy of this febrifuge: de claring, after fumming up the evidence, and drawing the proper conclufions from it, that both facts and arguments · concur to demonftrate its general and indifcriminate application to be highly dangerous to mankind.”

Art. 24. Animadverfions on a late Treatise on the Kink-Cough. To which is annexed an Essay on that Difor der. 8vo. IS. 6d. Baldwin, 1774.

In a former Review we recited Dr. Butter's principal conclufions with respect to the nature, feat, and occafional cause of the kinkcough; and tranfcribed his corrollaries in form, containing the refult of his experience of the great, and indeed, in his opinion, Specific' virtues of hemlock in this disease, which it is faid by him to cure" fafely, certainly, and pleasantly."

In the prefent pamphlet, the animadverter, with fome appearance of reafon, though not in the moft civil manner, difputes or denies the efficacy of his fuppofed fpecific in the kink-cough; and even goes fo far as to infinuate that Dr. Butter does not himfelf believe what he has faid, in favour of this medicine, to be true.'-De Haen has, in like manner, given the lie direct to Storck, with regard to the miraculous virtues of hemlock, and to the cures fo very circumftantially related, and afcribed by the latter to this medicine: declaring, in his Epiftola de Cicuta, that "many, or most of thofe very patients Dr. Storck afferts to have been perfectly cured, died while they were taking this medicine; and that on a candid inquiry it was proved, that there was in reality only one perfon that could be faid to have been cured by the hemlock;" adding that "though 500 pounds weight of Dr. Storck's extract of cicuta had been fent to different places abroad, yet there has not been received one authentic account of a real cure of a true cancer having been ever yet effected by it, in any inftance where it was used."

We shall only further obferve with refpect to this pamphlet that after freely, and indeed very feverely, criticifing Dr. Butter's theory of this disease, and his practice in the treatment of it; and after reviewing many of the cafes published by the Doctor, the Author fubjoins a fhort effay on the nature and cure of this diftemper, which contains fome useful obfervations.

Art. 25. A rational Account of the Causes of Chronic Diseases: By John Morland, M. D. The fecond edition. 18. Hooper. Notwithstanding our alertnefs in picking up every, even the obfcureft, ftraggler that iffues from the prefs, the first edition of this pamphlet escaped our notice, nor has the writer of it even now enabled us to afcertain the date of its prefent republication. We are equally in the dark with respect to the learned Author's principal

• Monthly Review January, 1774, page 45.

view in writing it; unless it be to recommend to the public the occafional ufe' of a certain universal purgative' invented by him: which when properly dofed, and properly administered, (for on this ; depends the fuccefs of every appropriate remedy) has been found, in a long and extensive experience, to produce very falutary effects, even in perfons of the moft oppofite natural habits and conftitutions.'

It is compofed, we are told, of near a dozen of the most powerful known deobftruents, befides two mineral preparations of the Author's own discovery, which two alone, united aragtas, have been found to perform, in fact, what that indefatigable phyfician, the late Dr. Huxham, peculiarly ascribes to his favourite tincture, &c.'

With regard to the ingredients or preparation of this compound the Author obferves the most profound filence. If this be not quackery, it looks at leaft very like it; though empiriciím, we own, feldom difplays itself in fo refpectable, and even dignified a garb, as in the present performance; in which the many fuperb encomia on the virtues of the Universal Purgative, as well as the general obfervations on the caufes of chronic difeafes, are, almost in every page, ornamented with fplendid trimmings of genuine Hippocratic Greek. 1 -The Author likewife moft pathetically laments the prefent alarming growth of licentious quackery ;' in which lamentation we moit heartily concur with him, and return groan for groan. Art. 26. An Inquiry into the Moving Powers employed in the Circulation of the Blood, in a Lecture delivered at Newcastle, &c. By Andrew Wilfon, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phy Is. 6d. Dilly, 1774. ficians at Edinburgh. Svo. In a former volume of our work, we took occafion to explain pretty largely the hypothefis and reafonings of a certain philofopher, who undertook to prove that the fun, which had hitherto been confidered as the fountain or fource of all the heat we enjoy here on earth, contributed a very small share towards it. In the effay now before us, the Author undertakes in like manner to diveft the heart of the function attributed to it, of being the principal moving power in the animal fyftem.

We cannot, without entering into the depths of phyfiology, give a fatisfactory account of the many arguments employed by the Author of this ingenious inquiry, to fhew that the circulation of the blood in animals is not effected by a mechanical force impreffed on that fluid, in confequence of the alternate contractions and dilata.. tions of the heart, to which it has hitherto been almost univerfally afcribed. Out of the many arguments adduced by the Author, to prove that the motion of the blood does not folely, or even principally, depend on the impulfe given to it by that organ, we fhall felect, and briefly fpecify, that which is perhaps the most striking, and which is contained in his second propofition.

He there undertakes to demonftrate that the blood, in paffing through the heart, and on being fubjected to its impreffions, does not acquire any quantity of motion that it was not poffeffed of before.

• M. de Mairan, in the Mem. de l'Acad. de Sciences de Paris, 1765. See appendix to our 41ft vol. page 503. Dd 4

That

That organ cannot by its contractions tranfmit more blood into the arteries, than what is brought to it by the veins. It cannot, for inftance, fend more blood into the aorta, than it receives by the vena cava; it cannot, in fhort, deliver it fafter than it receives it. But this implies that the returning blood, on its arrival at the heart, had already as great a quantity of motion, as it has afterwards, when it is fent from thence. The heart therefore appears, if we may be permitted the allufion, to be à fuperfluous piece of furniture in the animal machine, if we were to fuppofe it to be placed there only to give a motion to the blood, which it has already.

This, if we mistake not, is the fubftance of the Author's argument contained in his fecond propofition. His doctrine is further fupported in fix other propofitions; in which he endeavours to fhew that the arterial motion of the fluids can be accomplished independent of the contractions of the heart; the mechanical force of which is abfolutely infufficient to propel the blood to the extent of the arterial circulations and fecretions:-that befides other powerful agents, which act mechanically, in giving motion to the blood, and tranfmitting it to parts to which the powers of the heart cannot reach ; there are other influences, reducible to no mechanical standard, without which all the intricate mechanism in our frame, just and unerring as it is, would not be fufficient to fupport one revolution, nay, nor one moment's progreffion of our fluids and that, finally, both the primary and final intention of the agency of the heart, muft be fomething very different from, and lefs obvious than, the supporting of the progreffive motion of the blood.'

Thofe who take pleasure in phyfiological inquiries, will receive entertainment and information from this little pamphlet, in which there is much ingenuity, not without fome fhare of feeming paradox.

Art. 27. The Practice of the British and French Hofpitals, &c.. By the Author of the Practice of the London Hofpitals. 12mo. 3s. 6 d. Griffin. 1773.

It will be fufficient with regard to this compilation to obferve, that it contains the prefcriptions of the Edinburgh infirmary, thofe of the military and naval hofpitals, of the Hotel Dieu, La Charité, and the royal hofpital of invalids at Paris, together with Boerhaave's Materia Medica.

PHILOSOPHICA L.

Art. 28. A Difcourfe on the different Kinds of Air, delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society: By Sir John Pringle, Bart. Prefident. 4to. 1s. 6d. Nourfe. 1774

The copious account that we have given of Dr. Pricftley's improved and enlarged edition of his obfervations on air, originally presented to the Royal Society, renders it unneceffary for us to fay any thing further concerning the prefent performance, than that it contains a familiar and well written account of fome of that Author's principal experiments; preceded by an hiftorical detail of the progrefs that had already been made in this branch of knowledge by others: the whole well adapted to convey a general idea of the nature and importance of Dr. Priestley's discoveries.

NO VEL.

Art. 29. The Vizirs; or, the Enchanted Labyrinth. An Orien tal Tale. By Mademoiselle Fauques de Vaucluse. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9 s. Riley. 1774.

Mademoiselle de Vauclufe is a genius, and would certainly fucceed in novel writing, if, following Nature, and copying the living manners of those nations with which he has been perfonally converfant, fhe could totally diveft herself of the Oriental ideas which he has collected from D'Herbelot, and from the imitators of Eastern sublimity. Such imitators rarely fucceed in this country. What is deeme ed pomp in the Perfic and Arabic writers, is, in their European copyifts, generally regarded as mere bombaft: and the cool, reafoning, northern reader is more apt to be difgufted than charmed with the perpetual glare of brilliant images, the eternal round of laboured allegories and metaphors, and the crowd of incredible events, enchantments, and prodigies :-where the meaning, if there be any (as this ingenious and learned Lady expreffes herself, in her preface) is concealed under a fuperfluity of words, or loft in a maze of unnatural fictions.

This work is, however, fuperior to most of the clafs to which we allude; and contains fome excellent leffons for the restraint and go." vernment of the paffions: and though we admire not fo inflated a ftyle, we must do juftice to the abilities of the Writer: expreffing, at the fame time, our furprife at the ease and fluency of her lan guage, this being, as the declares, her first attempt to write in our tongue. It is really extraordinary to fee fo few imperfections in her English: fo very few, indeed, that were it not for the Lady's name, and the declaration above quoted, we should hardly have suspected: her to be a foreigner.

MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 30. ΘΕΟΦΡΑΣΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΕΡΕΣΙΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΛΙΘΩΝ BIBAION. THEOPHRASTUS's History of Stones. With an English Verfion, and Notes, including the modern Hiftory of the Gems described by that Author; and of many other of the native Foffils. To which are added, Two Letters: I. On the Colours of the Sapphire and Turquoife. II. Upon the Effects of differentMenftruums on Copper. Both tending to illuftrate the Doctrine . of the Gems being coloured by Metalline Particles. The Second Edition; enlarged by the Addition of a Greek Index of all the Words in Theophraftus. Alfo Obfervations on the new Swedish Acid, and of the Stone from which it is obtained; and with an Idea of a natural and artificial Method of Foffils. By Sir John Hill. 8vo. 6 s. L. Davis, &c. 1774.

The learned world in general and particularly those who have carried their inquiries into this part of the hiftory of Nature, have been long fenfible of their obligations to the Editor and Tranflator of this tract of Theophraftus. No ancient writer ever received more elucidation, or was more happily restored; and no one ever wanted it fo much. Nor was this to be wondered at. He wrote in a depart-ment of science known to few (for mineralogy was but little cultivated) and, of course, his tranfcribers, not underftanding his mat

ter,

ter, fell easily into blunders. How well these have been rectified we are not now to tell the world.

This fecond edition is rendered still more accurate; and it is more commodious, as it has an index to the Greek. The obfervations on the Swedish Acid are new and curious; and as this acid maintains a character diftinct from both the vitriolic and the muriatic acids, is found to be capable of diffolving glass, and fubliming, in diftillation, an abfolute ftone, qualities unknown to other acids, it is eafy to fee that the knowledge of this fubject may lead us to a thousand undiscovered truths in mineral history; for the qualities and ufes of: pure acid may be infinite.

the

Art. 31. Abi Mohammed Alcafim vulgo dicti Hariri Quinquagefi mas Confeffus Bafrenfis e Codice MS. Bibliotheca Bodleia, Latiné converfus a Job. Ury. Accedunt Dialogi Perfico-Anglici. i. e. The Fiftieth Synod of Baffora, written in Arabic by Abi Mohammed Alcafim, commonly called Hariri, and tranflated into Latin from a MS in the Bodleian Library, by John Ury. To which are added, Dialogues English and Perfian. 4to, 2s. 6d. Oxford printed, and fold in London by Wilkie. 1774.

This is an oration in praife of Baflora, by the celebrated Hariri, the prince, of Arabian eloquence. It is a loofe, trite, trifling declamation! If the literary treasures of the Eaft were all like this fpecimen, they would fcarce be worth our résearches.

Art. 32. The principal Corrections made in the Hiftory of Manchefter. Book I. On republishing it in Odavo. 4to. 3 s. fewed. - White, &c. 1773.

Mr. Whitaker's applauded refearches into the ancient history and antiquities of his native country, having received numerous and great improvements, in the fecond edition, in 2 vols. 8vo. he has, very honourably, printed the additions, &c. in this feparate form, for the convenience of thofe who, having purchased the first edition in 4to. may chufe to bind it up with thefe fupplemental pages; which amount to no fewer than 190. We fhall be glad to fee this excellent work compleated, according to the plan of the learned and ingenious Author: who propofes to bring it down to a modern era. Art. 33. A Propofal for the Establishment of Public Examinations in the Univerfity of Cambridge, with occafional Remarks. By the Rev. John Jebb, late Fellow of St. Peter's College. 8vo. 6d. Wilkie.

The fubject of this pamphlet has been well known and agitated; and we believe there are few, who have the real intereft of learning at heart, that are not forry to find fo falutary a plan over-ruled either by diftinctions of intereft, or by any other felfish or invidious motive. For our parts, we are perfectly fatisfied that the aggregate interefts of the University suffer from fuch partial meafures; and are convinced that every parent would with greater fatisfaction fuftain the now enormous expence of an academical education, if conscious that his fon could not evade the purposes of his matriculation.

* For our account of Mr. Whitaker's Hiftory of Manchester, fee Review, vol. xlvi. MATHEMATICS,

2