First, We are so far from viewing his fcheme in the very favourable light in which he himself views it, that we think, the adopting it would be fatal to this country, in particular, by the tendency it would have towards damping that spirit of commerce and improvement in arts, which alone can render a nation permanently great, What the Author means by faying that this plan prefents us with an opening for a new branch of commerce, we cannot conceive. Does he not know that it is impoffible for two men to traffic together, where money alone is the commodity, without one lofing as much as the other gains? Commerce would be no longer profitable, if its object were not fuch articles as form the neceffaries, conveniencies, or luxuries of life, and are therefore confumable; and that money can no otherwise be confidered as an article of traffic, than as a neceffary medium in commercial dealing; gamblers and fharpers are out of the question. Secondly, We cannot conceive how thofe ftate banks are to make 8 per cent. compound intereft on the original stock subscribed, as our Author computes on, (p. 8.) even in the prefent flourishing-state of trade; much lefs will they be able to do so after it is cramped and diminished by providing for fo many perfons another way, who before had no other refource to fly to. Many other objections might be urged against this scheme, but we apprehend the above will be fufficient to induce the difcerning reader to disapprove it. POETICA L. Wa: Art. 28. A Supplement to the Court of Adultery, addressed to a Maid of Honour. 4to. Is. Smith. Another fucker from that rank hot-house plant The Diaboliad ;' Vid. Review for July laft, p. 72, Art. 25. The Author now ventures to elevate his fcandal to the heights of royalty. Art. 29. An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Rev. Mr. A. ant, &c. 8vo. 6 d. BALM for those who are zealous for the doctrines of Free Grace, &c. And WORMWOOD for the Arminians. Art. 30. An Elegy on the Death of Mr. Toplady. By T. W. 8vo. 6d. Mathews, &c. More balm, and more wormwood. I s. 6 d. Art. 31. The Second Part of Warley, a Satire; containing a cu- Vid. Review for laft Month, p. 394. Art. 41. ever, have humour, as hath the whole poem, from which we borrow them. The Satirift fuppofes himself thus rebuffed by the Great Artif †, with whom he had, in fome preceding lines, invited himself to dine: "Thou bye-blow of Phoebus, whofe fore-head of brass is, A good dinner, however, will be the smallest return that Sir Joshua can make for the liberal praise bestowed on him, in the conclufion of this poem. Art. 32. The Enraptur'd Swain; a Paftoral Poem. 4to. I s. 6d. Wilkie, &c. We have lately commended feveral rhiming gentlemen to the ballad-printer in Stone-cutter-ftreet; were it not for the apprehenfion that the honeft manufacturer of ditties and garlands may be overtocked with hands, this enraptured fwain fhould be added to the number. MEDICAL. Art. 33. Obfervations on fome of the Articles of Diet and Regimen ufually recommended to Valetudinarians. By William Falconer, M. D. F. R. S. 12mo. Is. Dilly. 1778. While fo many phyficians furround our tables with their precepts, like Sancho's Doctor with his wand, conjuring off one dish after another, till they do not leave us even our daily bread to eat, it mutt be fome confolation to find one of the faculty flanding up boldly against this worfe than Egyptian bondage, and pleading the caufe of the injured and indignant stomach. The purpofe of the Writer in this little piece is to fhew the unreasonableness of many of those restrictions in diet which it has lately been the fashion to impofe univerfally in certain chronical complaints. He begins with confidering the difadvantages of a very strict attention to regimen in general; justly obferving that it continually recals the memory of complaints, either real or imaginary, and thus increafes the low fpirits of those who are but too apt of themselves to indulge them. He then goes through the confideration of several particular articles of diet; as bread and other vegetable foods, butter and other oily fubftances, fugar, and fermented liquors. With respect to these laft, he dwells with much warmth on the baneful fubftitution of diluted fpirituous liquors inftead of them, and mentions fome frightful inftances of unfufpected excels in confequence of + Sir Joshua Reynolds. See title-page. Those readers who are over fqueamish with refpect to what fomebody calls make-fhift thimes, will find as much caufe of quarrel with this Bard, as will thofe who abominate vulgar expreffions, and uncleanly ideas. this dietetical rule. The fmall compafs of this treatife does not allow the Author to enter minutely into thofe confiderations on the nature of aliment, on which reafonings of this kind must ultimately depend; but we may obferve that fewer arguments may ferve to convince where our natural inflincts are on their fide, than where they oppose them. A. Art. 34. Reports of the Humane Society, inftituted in the Year 1774, for the Recovery of Perfons apparently drowned. For the Year 1777. 8vo. 1 s. Rivington, &c. 1778. This publication contains additional proof of the benefits derived to fociety from the very humane inftitution from whence it proceeds. The fuccessful cafes related, in number 66, cannot be supposed to be wholly new, or uncommon; and, indeed, though they give ample encouragement for the use of proper means while any hopes remain, yet they offer no fuch very extraordinary inftances of fuccefs, as fome we have feen published by perfons probably more zealous than accurate. We fhall just enumerate the more striking inftances of recovery. No. 2. A man who had been a quarter of an bour under water, and had no figns of life. No. 11. A woman fuppofed a quarter of an hour hanged, and apparently dead: no figns of returning life till above 20 minutes. No. 16. A man apparently drowned, recovered, after a quarter of an hour's unfuccefsful attempt, by a strong solution of Tart. Emetic. No. 35. A child nine years old, after being from fifteen to twenty minutes under water. No. 41. A man after hanging, as fuppofed, half an hour, and apparently dead. No. 17. [of the communicated cafes] A woman judg ed to have been half an hour under water. But this, we must obferve, feems very improbable, as there were fome fmall appearances of life on her being taken out. No. 18. Ditto, A boy, seven years of age, after being, as fuppofed, twenty minutes under water, and apparently lifeless. No. 19. Ditto. A child, aged two years, after being, as imagined, half an hour under water. It was an hour more before proper means were used. The time here too feems to be much exaggerated. No. 20. Ditto, A woman after hanging a quarter of an hour, to all appearance dead.-The Society's directions are fubjoined to these cases. A. Art. 35. An Attempt to restore the primitive natural Conftitutions of Mankind, and to increase Conjugal Procreation. To which are added, curfory Obfervations on the Gout, together with the Correfpondence between Mr. Hawes and the Author relative to the Interment of the Dead. By W. Renwick, Surgeon. 8vo. 13. Bladon. 1778. This pamphlet is dedicated to Dr. Cadogan, whom the Author particularly compliments on the conciseness of his ingenious performances. He has, himself, however, far exceeded the Doctor in this ufeful quality (a quality we poor Reviewers have all the reason in the world to fpeak well of) fince the obfervations which are benevolently defigned to answer fuch great and truely patriotic purposes, as the first part of the title imports, are all contained in the compafs of about two pages. The curfory obfervations on the Gout could not confiftently be much longer; they therefore take up three pages: and yet, fuch is the imperfection of every attempt of human art, we fhould should not be surprised to see every thing valuable in both tracts compreffed, by fome skilful hand, into the bulk of twice as many lines as there are pages. The correfpondence with Mr. Hawes turns upon the advice given by that gentleman in an Addrefs to the Public *, that bodies fhould not be interred before figns of putrefaction appear. This Mr. Renwick oppofes, as tending to vitiate the air, and occafion peftilential difeafes. A. Art. 36. Anatomical Dialogues, or, A Breviary of Anatomy, &c. &c.-Chiefly compiled for the Ufe of the Young Gentlemen of the Army and Navy. 12mo. 6s. bound. Robinfon. 1778. The principal purpose of the volume before us, is declared, by the Author, to be the furnishing the ftudent with a pocket-companion, previous to his examination at Surgeon's Hall, in which he may have, at a fingle view, a concife anatomical description of the feveral parts of the human body. It appears to us not ill calculated to answer this end; though we do not perceive any peculiar advantage from the dialogue form, and cannot but think a little more attention to method would have rendered it more extenfively ufeful. A. Art. 37. Experiments fhewing that the Volatile Alcali Fluor is the moft efficacious Remedy in the Cure of Afphyxies, or Apparent Death by Drowning, &c. Tranflated from the French of M. Sage, by Thomas Brand, Member of the Corporation of Surgeons, London. 8vo. I s. Bew. 1778. We have already taken fufficient notice of the original of this production, in the Appendix to our 57th volume, p. 507. To that account we fhall only add, that M. Sage is nearly as hypothetical in this performance-bulk for bulk-as we have fhewn him to be in the larger work, noticed in the fame Appendix. Fixed air is undoubtedly an acid; though not the acid he fuppofes it to be, nor do either his experiments or reafonings relating to it, qua acid, countenance his hypothefis with refpect to the true caufe of the mifchiefs attending the breathing it, and ftill lefs thofe produced by the fuffocation from drowning; nor do they confirm the fuppofed agency of the cauftic volatile alcali, qua alcali, in removing the deadly fymptoms in either of these cases. In its well known character of an active and penetrating ftimulant, it may, perhaps, perform all that is here ascribed to it. It is certainly very far from our intention, however, by this remark, to exclude it from a place in the revivifying apparatus, where it is undoubtedly intitled to a very respectable rank. CHEMISTRY. B.. Art. 38. A Manual of Chemistry, or a brief Account of the Operations of Chemistry, and their Products. Tranflated from the French of M. Beaumé Demonftrator in Chemistry at Paris, &c. A s. bound. Johnfon. 1778. 8vo. The public are indebted to the ingenious Mr. Aikin for this tranflation of a very useful work, which contains a fatisfactory account of the chemical properties of fubftances in general, in a * Vid. Review, vol. Iviii. p. 164. 5 fmall fmall compass, together with a brief defcription of the proceffes relating to them, as well as the rationale of these operations; the whole arranged in fuch a manner, as to conftitute a kind of elemen tary work, well adapted to the use of those who are inclined to enter upon the study of chemistry; and of those likewife who have made fome proficiency in the science, to whom it will ferve as an excellent remembrancer. It may, in fhort, be confidered as a judicious abstract, and at the fame time an extenfion, of the Author's larger work [Chymie Experimentale & Raisonnée] in three vols. 8vo. which has not yet been translated into our language; nor has the Author indeed completed his plan, having hitherto treated only of the proceffes and obfervations relating to mineral fubftances. The prefent work however comprehends all the three kingdoms. The Tranflator has occafionally added a few notes, principally intended to illuftrate particular proceffes or appearances, by means of the late discoveries relating to fixed air, with which M. Beaumé does not appear, from this work, to have been acquainted; though, in his larger performance above referred to, he treats expressly of this fluid, and fhews fome averfion to the new doctrines relating to it. B...y. RELIGIOUS. Art. 39. A Dialogue on the Subject of Religious Bigotry, between Candour and Orthodoxy. 12mo. 1 s. Buckland. 1778. Indifference to religion, or uncharitableness towards thofe of dif ferent fentiments, on that fubject, are hurtful extremes, into one or other of which men easily fall, and it appears fometimes almoft impoffible that they should be preferved in the due medium. On reading the title of this little pamphlet, we hoped it might have contributed at once to have promoted that piety and charity which are effential to the Chriftian character. We cannot say that we have received this fatisfaction on a perufal of its contents. Candour bears much the smalleft part in this dialogue; and when he delivers a longer fentence than ordinary, it is remarked, that he concluded his harangue with an air of triumph, and seemed to think he had attacked bis antagonist with fuch a phalanx of objections, as it would be out of his power effectually to repel. But this account certainly belongs to ortbedoxy, who overpowers his opponent with words, and appears very fenfible of his own importance. Had he pleaded for the Scriptures, as the fo'e rule of faith, it had been highly becoming a Chriftian and a Proteftant, but when he contends for his own, the Calviniflic, or what is commonly called the orthodox interpretation of it, which is like any other, a human interpretation,-when he pleads for this as effential, he lofes himfelf, and forgets his fubject, though he makes at times fome fenfible and proper obfervations. It is pretty clear, that the Author, whoever he is, intended Mr. Orthodoxy, as he ftyles him, fhould have the advantage. However, a third perfon is introduced to close the debate, in rather a liberal manner. I muft confefs, fays he, that freedom of enquiry does and ought to fuppofe, that a man must be left to judge of the neceffity and importance of thofe truths he might have discovered; and I am convinced there will be no hurt in all this to fociety, yea, much good, if a powerful magiftrate, and haughty state prieft, never take it into their ⚫ heads 1 |