But during the laft war, and in the prefent, a far more comprehenfive innovation has taken place. France and Holland have totally ceafed to trade under their own flags, to or from the ports of any of their Colonics; and have apparently affigned the whole of thefe branches of their commerce, to the merchants of neutral states.

Spain, though with more hefitation, and by gradual advances, has nearly made as entire a transfer of all her trade with her Colonies on the Atlantic; and if any refervation now remains, it is in refpect of fome part only of the fpecie and bullion, for conveying which a fhip of war or two may be occafionally rifqued. Even thefe moft valuable exports have been largely intrufted to the neutral flag, at Vera-Cruz, Carthagena, La Plata, and other ports; while the ftill more important commerce of the Havannah, and Cuba in general, has known no other pro.. tection *.

"Of the French Colonies in the Antilles, of Cayenne, and Dutch Guiana, while that country was hoftile to us, of the Ifles of France and Bourbon, of Batavia, Manilla, and of all other Afiatic fettlements which have remained under a flag hoftile to this country, it may be truly affirmed that neutrals have been their only carriers. The mercantile colours of their refpective countries, and of their confederates, have been abfolute ftrangers in their ports. Even the gum trade of Senegal has been made over to neutrals, and its garrifon fupplied by them in return 4.

But why (he adds) fhould I enumerate the particulars of this unprecedented cafe, when it may be truly affirmed in few words, that not a fingle merchant ship under a flag inimical to Great Britain, now croffes the equator, or traverses the Atlantic Ocean.'

"Though to the generality of my readers this propofition may feem extraordinary, and perhaps too ftrange to be believed, yet it forms only part of a ftill more comprehenfive and fingular truth- With the exception only of a very fmall portion of the coafting trade of our enemies, not a mercantile fail of any defcription, now enters or clears from their ports in any part of the globe, but under neutral colours." P. 67.

Many important facts are fubjoined, which we are concerned that our limits will not permit us to detail, efpecially as to the effect of this neutral carrying trade, in enabling our enemies to "fupplant or rival the British planter and merchant through the continent of Europe," and in the en

* "Cafes of the Flora, Arnold, Gladiator, Emelia, Vera Cruz, &c. &c. at the Cockpit."

+"Cafe of the Juliana, Carften, at the Cockpit, 1805.".

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couragement given to manufactures which fuppiant those of Manchefter, Birmingham, and Yorkshire: for (favs the author, we fear too truly) "the looms and forges of Germany are put in action by the colonial produce of our enemies." A very elaborate comparifon is then made between the expences of this trade and thofe of our own direct commerce, fhowing that the former (with all its rifques) is, upon the whole, the leaft burthened; and

"The produce of the Weft Indies" (fays the author) "fells cheaper, clear of duties, in the ports of our enemies than in our own.”

Our feamen are frequently feduced into foreign (particularly the American) fervice; the enemy is enabled both to concentrate his fhips of war, and to employ more privateers; the exertions of our officers and feamen are difcouraged, as they now meet only with neutral flags, and alleged neutral property. The carrying trade is alfc thrown into the hands of our rivals in commerce. But the author juftly remarks,

"In the contemplation of thofe nearer and more fatal confe quences the utter fruftration of our hoftilities against the commerce and revenue of France, and the danger of lofing of our fuperiority at fea, all minor and diftant evils lofe their terrors." P. 136.

The remedy which he propofes for thefe evils, our right of applying it, and the confequences which may be expected from the exercife of that right, must be deferred till our next publication,

(To be concluded in our next.)

ÅRT V. Cafes of Pulmonary Confumption, &c. treated with Uva Urfi, to which are added, fome Practical Obfervations, by Robert Bourne, M. D. Aldrichian Profeffor of the Practice of Phyfic, in the University of Oxford, &c. 8vo, pp. 293. 75. 6d. Rivingtons, London, 1805,

THE

HE author of this book was induced, he favs, to give the Uva Urfi to phthifical patients, from having feen its falutary effects, in an affection of the urinary bladder, attended with quick pulfe, heat, walling, and "all the cha racteristic appearances, as he expreffes it, (p. 1.) of hectic fever;" this was in the year 1801. In the following year, when he began his experiments, only one opportunity for ufing the medicine appears to have occurred. The patient is faid to have recovered; but as the medicine was given mixed with bark, opium, and vitriolic acid, and the disease does not appear to have been confumption, little firefs can

be

be laid on this cure. In the year 1803, the Uva Urfi was given to fix patients; two of these are reported to have died; the remainder, who were not fo ferioufly ill, recovered, or were improved in their health. In the year 1804, the author gave the medicine to nine patients, fuppofed to be confumptive, with various fuccefs; fuch of thefe as did not die, during the experiment, are faid to have recovered, or to have received much benefit from taking the medicine. But those who are converfant with phthifical cafes, and have obferved how exceedingly apt that difeafe is to recur, and with increafed violence, after a remiffion of many months, will not think much reliance can be placed on cures, fuppofed to have been effected towards the latter end of the laft year. It fhould alfo be confidered, that thousands of perfons, affected with coughs, with fever, and wafting, in hort, with all the fymptoms defcribed, as affecting the patients whole cafes are here given, recover without taking Uva Urfi, the Iceland mofs, digitalis, bark, fteel, myrrh, or any of the almoft innumerable tribe of fpecifics, which have lately been fo ftrongly recommended in this complaint.

We have been induced to take this view of the fubje&t, to fhow how little reafon the prefent author has for reproaching himfelf for withholding his obfervations from the public fo long, which he excufes, as having been occafioned by ill health, and avocations, filling up the whole of his time.

"Still however, he adds, (preface, p. 8,) the confiderations alledged, do not excufe me for having kept back my cafes and obfervations, half a year and upwards fince I gave notice that they would speedily be published. I am really concerned, that in point of time, it has not been in my power to fulfil an engagement, which I voluntarily impofed upon myself.”

To us, however, it feems, that the author would have done ftill better, if he had deferred publishing his opinion a few years longer; further experience would have given more weight to his recommendation, if the medicine had been found poffeffed of the power he attributes to it, or in cafe of its failing, would have faved him the mortification of acknowledging his error. Indeed we are far from thinking it would difcredit either the practitioners, or the practice of phyfic, if all new modes of treating difeafes were withheld from the public, until time had enabled the difcoverers to appreciate their real value. We fhould not, if fuch precautions were adopted, be deluged with cafes, and obfervations, intended to fupport the pretenfions of fome fa

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vourite

vourite medicine; but which, in reality, often only fhow the too great credulity, and want of correctnefs in the writers.

Within a very few years, we have had accounts of difcoveries of medicines, faid to be of fovereign efficacy against cancer, gout, dropfy, confumption, &c. all of them fupported by numerous cafes, drawn up with fuch minuteneis, that the moft rigid fceptic was forced to afford them fome degree of credit; and yet in the hands of other prac titioners, the medicines have difplayed none of the powers that had been attributed to them, and thofe complaints continue to be as intractable, and as deftructive, as heretofore. That none of the remedies againft confumption, in parti cular, have anfwered the high characters given of them, we have the prefent author's authority for afferting.

"In the ftudy, he fays, (pref. p. 12,) as well as in the fick room, this difeafe, on account of its frequency, and its fatality, has occupied much of the attention of phyficians; and many of the most eminent, have communicated the refult of their experi ence, and of their reflections to the public; but we have to lament, that on no fubject have medical skill, ingenuity, and learning, been employed with effects more difproportionate. Confumption, he adds, commits its ravages ftill; and, I be lieve, to the fame degree as heretofore."

That Dr. B. had little reafon to confide in the few experiments he had made with the Uva Urfi, may be gathered from the following paffage.

"As I made no fecret, he fays, (pref. p. 8,) of my mode of employing the Uva Urfi, many gentlemen belonging to the profifion understood what it was. From one of thefe gentlemen, a phyfician of eminence, I received an obliging letter, inform ing ine, that in fome trials he had given to this medicine, in cafes of confumption, which appeared fair ones for its exhibition, it did not seem to him to be at all efficacious.”

What then, it may be afked, has induced the author to publish thefe obfervations? They feem intended as an entry, or announcement of his claim to the difcovery, if any merit fhould hereafter be found to be attached to it.

"I regret, he fays, (p. 10,) that the fentiments of a phyfician of talents, of one who may be lefs prejudiced, because he is lets interested, are different. I do not pretend to abfolute infallibility on this head; and I am aware, how liable a perfon is to overrate thofe powers of a remedy, of which he has been the first to form an idea; and which, if they are hereafter found to exist in reality, are likely to add fomething to his profeffional credit, and character."

This is fpeaking very fairly; but surely the intention of the author would have been as well anfwered, by giving a general account of his manner of ufing the Uva Urfi, in confumptive complaints, and the refults, as by detailing the cafes individually.

It is ufual with phyficians, to keep journals of the cafes of the patients they attend; in thefe the prominent features of the difeafes are defcribed, the medicines employed minuted, and the alterations in the complaint noted. These obTervations doubtlefs have their ufe, particularly in enabling them to form a judgment of what may be likely to be beneficial, or hurtful, or to form prognoftics of the probable termination in milar cafes. Some cafes alfo might be found among them, fufficiently important to merit being publifhed; but to pour these jourrals out into volumes, to deluge the pub lic with cafes and obfervations on particular difeafes, detailed with difgufting tedioufnefs, the cafes only differing from each other in the greater or lefs intenfenefs of the fymptoms, as is now the fashion, can neither tend to the credit nor advancement of medicine.

From thefe ftrictures, it will be feen, that we place no great confidence in the anti-phthifical virtues of the Uva Urfi, but as it may be employed with fafety, and in fome conftitutions perhaps with advantage, there can be no impropriety in giving it further trials; and we hope, but with no fanguine expectation, that the refult may prove beneficial to the inventor, and to the public.

In the first part of the volume, the author has given a journal of the cafes, fixteen in number, in which the medicine was given; then follow reflections, or obfervations on the cafes, with the view, as it feems, of fixing the attention of the reader more clofely to the fubject; and laftly, pharmaceutical, and practical obfervations on the drug. Among these we fhall notice what he fays of the ftate in which the Uva Urfi is ufually found here, and the caution he recommends in felecting and preparing it for the patients. The leaves only, he fays, are uled; when fresh they are of a light green, or purplish green colour; they are to be picked from the ftalks, and the yellow, or decayed leaves, must be carefully taken out. The decayed leaves and flalks were about one fourth of the weight of fuch parcels as he had feen he has only been accuftomed to give the leaves in powder, and has found it convenient to begin with small dofes, eight or ten grains, which he increafes gradually to twenty grains. The Germans, he obferves, give it in. much larger dofes; but even in fmall dofes, the author has

found