ment of surgeon in the army of the Rhine in 1792; and being present at the taking of Spire, under General Custin, had an opportunity of observing, for the first time, the great defects of the French system of field surgery; the wounded being left, to be collected after battle; so that 24 or 36 hours frequently elapsed, before any surgical attention could be given to them. These observations soon suggested to the author his system of what he denominates ambulances-volantes, which he afterwards succeeded in completing during the campaign of Italy. These ambulances, in their most perfect form, consist of a mounted corps of surgeons and inferior assistants, regularly taught and practised in the manoeuvres necessary to enable them to dress the wounded on the field of battle, and to remove them with expedition to other ambulances, or temporary hospitals, which were always prepared in the vicinity, on the approach of an action,to be transferred from thence, at leisure, to more permanent establishments. For the conveyance of the wounded, light carriages, of a peculiar construction, were provided, which rendered the transport so easy and expeditious, that the ambulan ces-volantes could follow the most rapid movements of the advanced guard. The plan was first reduced to practice by the author, in consequence of the French being compelled to aban don their wounded at Limbourg; and he was enabled to make trial of his new invention, in a battle which took place soon after. This, too, was the first action at which he was ever present; and he fairly tells us, that his nervous system was a good deal disturbed: But the satisfaction which he derived from the success of his new contrivance, soon dissipated his uneasy feelings; and from that moment, he assures us, he has always been calm in battle. About this time, also, he became convinced of the advantages of amputating wounded limbs immediately upon the field, in preference to waiting, where that operation was thought necessary, till a later period :—a capital improvement in military surgery, which the more recent experience of the best English surgeons has fully confirmed. We are not aware that any arrangements similar to those of the ambulances we have just described, have yet been adopted in the British army: A defect, which is the more remarkable, as the talents and activity of the officers who compose the medical department of the service, are universally acknowledged. In such hands, it is to be hoped that measures will be taken to supply this deficiency in future campaigns; for we have understood, that considerable inconvenience and injury have arisen, upon some memorable occasions, from the want of prompt assistance to our wounded. In 1794, the author returned to Paris, and was soon after introduced to Buonaparte, at that time General of the artillery, in an expedition intended for Corsica, which however did not sail. But, in 1797, he was ordered to join the army of Italy at Milan: and, in the course of the campaign, was directed by Buonaparte himself to organize a complete corps of ambulancesvolantes: the very sight of which, at the advanced posts, he informs us, gave confidence to the soldiers; who now felt assured, that in case of injury, relief was always at hand. * The treaty of Campo Formio was soon afterwards concluded; and the next enterprise that M. Larrey was engaged in, was the memorable expedition to Egypt; to which he has devoted a large and interesting portion of his book. The surgical department consisted of a numerous corps of excellent officers, all the young men of the schools being eager to join this romantic expedition: But the vessel that contained their stock of instruments and apparatus, which was very complete, was taken by the English. We need not dwell upon the more prominent events of that extraordinary campaign; but several circumstances, mentioned by the author, exhibit, in a strong light, the conduct and sufferings of the invaders. The expedition landed in Egypt in July 1798; and the wounded of the first actions recovered, in that admirable climate, with a rapidity which astonished M. Larrey.-During the first passage of the Deserts, numbers of the best soldiers perished, as it were by extinction,' under the effects of heat and thirst: but this form of death appeared to the author to be unusually calm; and he was assured by one of the dying men, that he found himself, Dans un bien-être inexprimable!'-At the battle of Salahieh, the soldiers felt, for the first time, the power of the Mameluke sabres, with which, in several instances, whole limbs were struck off at a blow. On the march to Suez, in December, the route was traced accross the Desert by the bones of men and animals, of all sorts, the relics of former travellers. The nights were so cold as to prevent their sleeping, and these bones were their only fuel; for they saw but a single tree, in crossing that vast plain. It was found, on their return, that the plague had broken out at Damietta; and the author gives a full account of that distemper, and of the measures which he took to check its progress. He is decidedly of opinion, that * During the siege of Metz, under the celebrated Duke of Guise, Ambrose Paré, the father of French Surgery,' having been entreated to assist the garrison, was presented to the soldiers on the breach, who received him with acclamations, and afterwards showed much greater spirit in their defence of the place. it is contagious; and we are glad to have this additional testimony, from a practical man of so much experience, in opposi tion to some more recent doctrines upon this subject, which appear to us to be equally unfounded, and full of danger. M. Larrey wisely declines to detail the storming of Jaffa; but he gives a fall account of the memorable siege of Acre, where the sufferings of the French were not to be described. The wounded lay on rushes, in a marshy plain, without covering, and under scarcity of every kind; and he himself, he tells us, never for an instant enjoyed calm and complete repose.-Buonaparte left the place for a few days, to assist Kleber in repelling Ibrahim Bey; and the author, with disgusting profaneness, says that he was expected at Nazareth, comme un nouveau Messie!!' -But, on returning to Acre, after thirteen assaults, not one of which succeeded, he was compelled to raise the siege. The retreat across the Deserts was dreadful. The wounded were infested with the plague: the army was assailed by the Kampsin, or scorching wind of the Desert, which destroyed numbers of the convalescents :-And they found also a new enemy, that for some time escaped detection-the pools of muddy water being full of leeches, which, when the soldiers lay down and drank greedily, passed into the mouth without being perceived, and fixed themselves in the upper part of the throat, from whence it was not easy to dislodge them. The natural thickness of these creatures, was that of a horse-hair; but, when distended with blood, they swelled to the bulk of an or dinary leech, causing great inconvenience, and, in some instances, even death.-Kleber, who took the command, on Buonaparte's return to France, was assassinated by one of the natives, in 1801; and the cruelty with which the wretched murderer was put to death, was very disgraceful to the French; but the author describes the transaction with surprising physiological composure. Il fut condamné par un tribunal special, a périr du supplice appliqué dans ce pays à ces sortes des crimes. Le courage et le sangfroid avec lequel il se laisse bruler la main droite, et empaler, étonnent l'homme sensible, et prouvent combien la ferme volonté de l'individu influe sur les sensations physiques. His hand, in fact, * This question is at present before a Committee of the House of Commons, with a view to some proposed change of the quarantine laws. These laws, very possibly, may be amended; and the regulations which they impose, perhaps, rendered less inconvenient :-But we are convinced, that the principle of quarantine ought not to be abandoned. We may perhaps take another opportunity to call the attention of our readers to this important topic. was burned to the very bones; and he lived, upon the stake, for about four hours, in the most cruel torment, without uttering a single complaint.-It is impossible that such an atrocious scene could have occurred, in any country, under the eyes of an English army. But the time, at last, was come, when the French were to abandon all their Egyptian conquests: and M. Larrey expresses, in warm terms, his grief at this reverse. He says, very candidly, that he cannot tell exactly why the French lost the battle with the English on the 21st March, just as they were about to gain the victory!--but he remarks, that it seemed to be decreed that nothing was to succeed with them in that campaign. It was afterward, however, in sailing by the coast of Africa, the situation of which is so well adapted for colonies, that I regretted, still more bitterly, the loss of Egypt, and offered up my prayers for our speedy return to that rich and marvellous country. "How much, said I to myself, it is to be wished, that all our colonies were united in Syria, Egypt, and the coast of Africa!" The possession of these countries would no doubt be productive of the greatest benefit to France; which is, besides, the only state in Europe that can, from its situation, fully enjoy them.'-II. - p. 299. The author arrived in France at the close of 1801; and received, both from the army of Egypt, and the Government, the most honourable testimonies of gratitude for his services; which he certainly appears to have deserved. In 1802, he published his account of the Egyptian campaign, and began to lecture at Paris upon military surgery. But a new order of affairs, he says, was now in preparation, qui devait mettre les institutions de la France, en harmonie avec celles du reste de l'Europe, et fixer invariablement les destinées de ce grand etat.'-The First Consul, in short, was soon raised to the throne; and when the new Emperor, after his coronation by the Pope, repaired to his army in December 1804,- to avenge the nation upon the English, for their violation of the treaty of Amiens,' M. Larrey once more joined the army at Bologne. The troops, he says, were actually embarked, burning with impatience; and the English, frappés de terreur,' were trembling at the prospect of invasion. But in the mean time, unfortunately, the combined fleet was pursued by Nelson, to be at last destroyed at Trafalgar, and a new coalition was formed on the Continent. In a moment every thing was changed;'--the troops were disembarked; and traversing France with the utmost rapidity, the campaigns of Ulm and Austerlitz were begun, before the enemy was aware of their approach.-The author gives a very animated account of the capture of Ulm, and of the wonderful events which followed: -transactions so strangely contrasted with those which have produced the present state of Europe, that some effort would be required to believe in their reality, if we did not recollect the sentiments, approaching to despair, with which the account of them was received in England, by every friend of Liberty, and of the best hopes of mankind:-The French troops were constantly on forced marches, without regular provisions, from their departure till they entered Vienna, and all their baggage was left behind yet their health was good, and seemed even to have improved upon the march. In short,' says M. Larrey, if the soldier be in good spirits, and not exposed to long con tinued abstinence, nor allowed to repose too long after fatigue, he is in no danger of sickness. It is even an advantage, that on arriving at his quarters he is compelled to forage, and provide for himself: And, unless the quarters and provisions be excellent, the labours of preparing for the bivouac is really of service to him. On the night before the battle of Austerlitz, the French army was posted on a circle of small hills, so as to form a sort of amphitheatre; and as Napoleon rode through the lines, the soldiers, who were more than 80,000, all at once lighted torches of straw, and celebrated with loud shouts the anniversary of his coronation. It was impossible that troops, thus excited, and already victorious, should not be again successful. The result is. too well known; and the author says, that he never saw a field of battle which presented a more dreadful picture of destruction. The wounded, of both armies, were assembled at Brunn, where typhus fever of the worst description soon broke out, and speedily reaching ihe prisoners and inhabitants, was conveyed with the former into France. This scourge, we learn from M. Larrey, attended also the retreat from Russia; scarcely a French town escaping, that was visited by the troops of that campaign: The same thing happened in Saxony, especially at Dresden, in 1813; and again, after the retreat from Leipsic, the French and German towns within the range of the armies, were universally infected with fever. There is in short no in ference from the narratives of these volumes more decisive, than that which points out the connexion between Pestilence and War. The next year (1806) produced the campaign of Prussia. After the battle of Jena, the Saxons were wise enough to detach themselves from the coalition, and make a separate peace:' a proof of wisdom, for which they have certainly been sufficiently requited, both by enemies and friends.-The Prussian dominions were soon overrun; the Poles crowded with deputations from all quarters, entreating the protection of the Emperor; and on |