sons. From this period to that of his death in 1789, he was occupied in the prosecution of his favourite studies, in visiting various parts of Europe, and in the performance of many public duties, to which he was called by the wishes of his countrymen. In 1762, he had been appointed a representative in the assembly of the province of Friesland: but, in 1787, he was nominated one of the Council of State, and was, therefore, obliged to reside at the Hague. His death, at the age of 67, was occasioned by a pleurisy. Two memoirs, by M.M. Vicq d'Azyr and Condorcet, are also annexed; which place in a favourable view the merits of CAMPER as a man, a philosopher, and a citizen. His publications at different times have been very numerous, but they are not all inserted in the present collection. The nature of most of the subjects, treated in the papers which it contains, necessarily precludes the propriety of giving more than a general notice concerning them. The first dissertation relates to the Ourang Outang, and some others of the monkey tribe. Here the author examines into the knowlege of these animals which the antients possessed, and considers it as demonstrable that the dissections, which Galen gives in his anatomical works, are those of monkeys, and not of men. The distinguishing form and structure of the Ourang Outang are detailed with great attention; and a peculiarity which it displays in the organization of the throat is minutely described. Immediately below the skin and Platysma myoides, two bags made their appearance on each side of the windpipe, the right extending over the clavicle, the left being much less. They were empty, and each of them communicated with the cavity of the larynx, by means of an opening passing between the thyroid cartilage and the os hyoides, and terminating at the side of the epiglottis. Some species of monkeys, which the author examined, had one bag of a similar kind, but the possession of two he considers as peculiar to the Ourang Outang.-Galen seems to have been acquainted with this feature in their organization; the uses of which are unknown, except that these cavities can be filled with air, and compressed, at the pleasure of the animal. In the second memoir, which treats on the double horned Rhinoceros, the author commences with some observations, tending to shew the advantage of natural history in elucidating many points connected with Belles Lettres and Antiquity. The passage in the 22d epigram of Martial, "De Rhinocerote pugnante cum urso," has created considerable discussion, but is readily understood, when we advert to there being a species of rhinoceros with two horns : « Namque "Namque gravem gemino cornu sic extulit ursum, In the dissertation which immediately follows, on the Rein Deer, a conformation is remarked in the throat, resembling that which has been observed above with regard to some kinds of monkeys; there being a bag communicating, in a similar way, with the internal part of the larynx. The first volume is terminated by conjectures relative to some petrified bones found in the mountain of St. Pierre, near Maestricht.-M. CAMPER Considers them as having been the bones of fish. The greater part of the second volume is occupied with an. interesting account of the Elephant, which was published separately, and noticed by us some time ago.-Next succeed two essays, one on the physical reasons which render man subject to more diseases than other animals, and on the means of establishing health which can be derived from comparative anatomy; the other on the origin and the colour of negroes.. The first was presented as an answer to the prize question proposed in 1783, by the Batavian society at Rotterdam, but it was not considered as having resolved it so completely as to merit the reward. It takes an ample view of the diseases common to men and other animals, and of the effects of civilization, with the various conditions to which it gives rise, as far as the production of disease is concerned.-The negroes are considered by the author as owing their origin to our first parents, and their colour to the long continued effects of the climate in which they lived, the food by which they were nourished, and the diseases to which they were subject.' Volume the third contains lectures on an epidemic disease of horned cattle; a dissertation on the physical education of children; lectures read to the academy of painting; an account of the generation of the pipa or American toad; observations on the croaking of male frogs; and an account of the structure of the bones in birds. The lectures on an epidemic disease of horned cattle were delivered at Groningen in 1768, to a mixed audience, during the prevalence of this complaint. It is described as a fever of a putrid and contagious nature, by which the blood was vitiated; and, at the same time, inflammation produced in the viscera of the abdomen and breast, and in the throat, tongue, nose, eyes, and sometimes the brain.'-The disease was regarded by M. CAMPER as having arisen from contagion, and possessing the power of affecting the same animal only once. He employed inoculation for this malady with some success: but this practice does not appear to have received the full trial which he deemed necessary. The essay on the physical education of children notices the early care of them, and the subjects of nourishment, instruction, inoculation, and the mode of obviating natural defects. The author's observations on these topics are judicious, though sometimes affected by the prejudices existing in the country in which he lived. M. CAMPER's lectures at the academy of painting discuss the manner in which the different passions are depicted on the countenance; the analogy existing between the structure of the human body and that of quadrupeds, birds, and fish; and physical beauty, or the beauty of form.-The vari ous changes, which the different parts of the face experience in different emotions of the mind, are here attributed to the influence of certain nerves, which are particularly affected in those passions, and which exert a power over the muscles to which they are distributed.-The Professor has devoted several plates to the elucidation of his ideas on the connection which exists in the conformation of various tribes of animals; and he recommends this subject to the especial attention of arfists, who may hence be able to discover many relations which could scarcely at first be expected. His conclusions on the nature of physical beauty are these: 1st. That no philosopher, or artist, has ever proved or taught what properly constitutes physical beauty. 2dly. That we have no innate idea of this, as we have of moral beauty; and that it is only by means of study that we arrive at the knowlege of what is beautiful in the imitative arts. 3dly. That physical beauty, whether in man and other animals, or in architecture, does not consist in a certain proportion or symmetry of parts. 4thly. That in giving different forms to men and animals, natere has not aimed at endowing them with a certain degree of beanty, but only at bestowing on them what is useful in their particular sphere. 5thly. That all which relates to physical beauty is founded only on tacit consent, habit, and authority. 6thly. That the true and only beauty which exists, and such as the greatest masters have introduced into architecture, painting, and sculptare, can be referred to nothing more than the care which they have taken that their works should imitate Nature as faithfully as possible; while they, at the same time, avoid the faults which necessarily result from the imperfections of vision and the refraction of light. The The essay on the structure of the bones of birds, which concludes this work, gives an account of the same peculiar conformation which was described by Mr. John Hunter in the Philosophical Transactions for 1774, and was afterward published in his work on the Animal Economy. It appears, however, from the and here adduced, that this curious struc- evidence ture was discovered by Professor CAMPER three years before remarked Mr. Hunter's publication of it, and that it was soon afterward made known to many scientific men on the continent.-The account of the Professor's discovery was mentioned in a dissertation read by M. Charnack, at a public meeting of the uni versity of Groningen, August 25, 1773, but Mr. Hunter's paper was not read at the Royal Society till the February following. The plates contained in the atlas accompanying these volumes are well executed, and seem to be absolutely necessary for elucidating many subjects of which they treat. Our readers will find accounts of other works by this learned various physiologist in M. R. Vol. lxxxi. p. 687. Vol. vi. N. S. p. 206. Vol. xii. p. 557. and Vol. xviii. p. 570. ART. VI. Histoire Philosophique de la Medecine, &c. i. e. A Philoso- A$ The History of Medicine is divided by the author into four periods. The first, or that of the antients, comprizes the whole of the space between the earliest annals of medicine, and the time of the Arabs, and is the same to which the researches of Le Clerc were confined. In this part of his work, Yell. which occupies the whole of the first and one half of the second volume, the author gives a very full account of the opinions and practice of the antient physicians, particularly Hippocrates, Celsus, Aretæus, and Galen. M.TOURTELLE's second period extends from the time of the destruction of the library at Alexandria in the sixth to the fif teenth century; and contains short notices concerning Haliabbas, Avicenna, Rhazes, Albucasis, and a few others. The succeeding extract will give an idea of the state of medicine in France during the latter part of the period mentioned: The art of healing was disgraced at Paris by the empirice who practised it; for it was entirely abandoned to women, monks, lowbred men, and in a word to quacks. Except the Jews, who were acquainted with the Arabian authors, and who made medicine a lucrative profession in the greater number of courts, every other physician was plunged in the most vile superstition and the most profound ignorance. Study was not considered necessary to form a physician. Temerity conferred the only right to decide on the lives of men. Those who boasted of being initiated into the mysteries of the profession required only their own testimony in support of their assertions;-the healing art, as well as superstition, always found a certain resource in credulity ;-and weakness, fear, and pain, made men submit implicitly to those who promised them relief, or insinuated the existence of concealed evils. Medicine remained a long time, in this capital, in the hands of empirics and monks; and it was not till a late period, that the university of Paris instituted a faculty of physicians. It is believed, with sufficient appearance of truth, that it was not till the reign of Louis VII. in the twelfth century, that medicine was taught in the schools of the episcopal palace; the only schools which then existed, and which had, till then, been confined to theology, law, and the arts. The lectures given there were nothing more than translations from the Arabian physicians.-At this time, the professors changed their name; they rejected the appellation of Medecins, which was common to them with the vilest empirics; they considered themselves as the ministers and scrutators of Nature; and on this acCount they took the name of Physiciens, a designation which was generally adopted by all physicians during the reign of Philip Augustus, and which was continued to the time of Francis I. in whose reign they resumed their original title of Medecins. The university, in adopting physicians, prevented them from marrying; and it was doubtless the necessity of living as priests, which induced the antient physicians of Paris to become members of that sacred profession. Almost all of them were canons of Paris, of St. Marcellin, or of Amiens. There were even four monk physicians in the first of those cities, so late as the middle of the sixteenth century: but, on entering the faculty of medicine, it was necessary to abjure surgery as a derogatory art. These accepted physicians were only permitted to give advice in diseases, but were prohibited from attending patients at their own houses. |