others again, which are still unknown to the moderns, and probably will remain fo. "Indeed, fince the difcovery of the blood's circulation by the incomparable Dr. Hervey, it is much more easy to account for life, for health, and for difeafes; fince the courfe of the chyle from the inteftines to the blood, and various fmall glands have been difcovered, and having adverted to the winding of the duodenum, which is justly called a fecond, or kind of auxiliary ftomach, in which two humours meet, the bile and pancreatic juice, we are able to give a better and more rational account of digeftion, chylification, fanguification, and of the generation of difeafes, which have their feat in the firft paffages. Since the lymphatics have been difcovered, and the structure and ufe of the gland fully difplayed; and fince the paffage of the chyle through the lacteal and thoric duct has been known, we are much more able to explain and account for difeafes which arife from a fault in the glands and lymphatics, or from a depraved nutrition. Since the ftructure of the vifcera, lungs, brain, and liver, has been known, as alfo that of the kidneys, the origin and caufes of difeafes incident to them have been much better understood. Since it has been evidently fhewn that the compages of the spleen are vafcular and cellular, we have fairer opportunities of difcovering the diseases that have their feat in that organ, and of finding out a proper and adequate method of curing them. Since we know the peculiar and aftonishing structure and diftribution of the vena porta, performing at once the office of an artery and vein, and fince we know the origin, fituation, and courfe of hemorrhoidal veffels, we can with greater cafe explain and account for thofe difeases which follow from a fault in thefe veffels, and an interruption of the progreffive motion of the blood through the abdominal vifcera, of which clafs the hypochondriac diforders is not the leaft confiderable. Since we know the admirable fabric of the uterus, and are fatisfied in what manner the blood circulates through its contorted veffels, we can without difficulty discover the diseases incident to it, and account for them and fymptoms attendant upon clear and intelligible principles. Since our knowledge of the origin of the nerves from the brain, and fpinal marrow, and of their admirable diftribution into curious ramifications, we readily account for and explain fpafmodic and convulfive diforders, particularly hypochondriac and hysteric affections, and their molt formidable fymptoms; and in confequence of this discovery the confent of parts too, efpecially thofe of the nervous kind, and the method by which diforderly and preternatural motions are communicated. Since the admirable organ of hearing has been accurately defcribed, the defects and impediments of hearing are better understood than before. Since the fmall glands of the joints have been difcovered, the origin and caufe of diforders in them are more pain and obvious than they formerly were. Since by the injection of tinged liquors we have been able to discover the innumerable and strangely varying windings of the capillary vetiels, our knowledge of the fecretory or. gans, and, confequently, of the feveral diforders they are fubject to, is more clear and diftinct. It is obvious that the geometrico-mechanical structure of the mufcles, and the mufcular compages of the heart, are discoveries of fingular fervice in determining the motion of the joints,

the

understanding the force and preffure of the heart, and the impulfe of the fluids, &c. The gravity and elafticity of the air being known, with the causes of heat, cold, caufes and nature of fermentation and putrifaction, the effects whether natural or artificial, produced by various falts and fulphurs, we clearly understand the power of the air in changing the motion of our fluids, and the generation of material or immediate morbific caufes: in confequence of these discoveries, the virtues and efficacy of medicine are more familiar to us than they formerly were. Since the stated laws of motion have been afcertained. and demonstrated by ftatical, mechanical, and hydraulic experiments, we better understand whence proceeds the moving force of the mufcles, the elaftic power of the heart and fibres, their ftrength, want of tone, fpafmodic conftructions, preffure or impetus upon the fluids, and the wonderful and furprifing effects produced by an irregular circulation of the blood." Such is the chaos of our author's " curfory review of the prefent improved ftate of medical knowledge." What ufe now has arifen from the difcoveries mentioned in the first two fences in the cure of the gout, or in the invention of the author's medicine? at what time was the structure of the "vifcera," &c. not known? Is the ufe of the fpleen and its compages as yet at all underflood? What has the knowledge of the "ftructure of the vera porta," &c. contributed to the cure of difeafes? What he means by the difcovery" of the admirable fabric of the uterus" is a myftery, unless he hints at Dr. Hunter's decidia & decidia reflexa. Is not the knowledge of the origin of the nerves" &c very ancient? But indeed the anatomifts would be very much obliged to our author had he imparted to them a little of his accuracy and understanding of the organ of hearing and its difeafes;" an organ and its internal difeafes fo little understood, as confeffed by the anatomists; and yet our author feems to be more converfant with it, than with the organ of fight, which efcaped his eye, though fo nigh to the ear, and the defcription of its different membranes and humours would have made a fine fhew in our author's finces; and which is very well understood and all its difeafes. We know not what he means by the geometrico-mechanical structure of the muscles: the "gravity" &c. "we clearly understand," &c. "fince the stated laws of motion" &c. are fuch important difcoveries, which puzzle the wifest anatomifts and phyficians, that the world would have been greatly ob liged to our author had he explained them fully. The whole chapter is unintelligible even to the learned, and much more to the common reader, abounding with many old technical terms and fome new of his own invention. One fince more our author fhould have mentioned, and which would have faved him the trouble of publishing. We mean, fince the public has been fo often impofed upon by fimilar pamphlets intending to celebrate a quack medicine, they are now more cautious, and confult rather the phyfician in all cafes. Let us go to the third chap. in which our author propofes to fpeak "of the great humanity and merit of fome late writers" but unluckily forgets himself, and on the contrary complains of fome, page 11. it has been too generally the practice of phyfical authors to write to the faculty only, and in Latin: and then in English, their works have been loaded with technical terms, and therefore understood by the learned and initiated alone;

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to the bulk of mankind, and to the afflicted they have been unintelligible." But, to mend the matter, he himself has taken care to be intelligible to neither. In chap. iv. after much tautology concerning the requifite natural evacuation, well known in the earliest ages, he fays, but in the last ftage of circulation through all the finall veffels and paffages, in which every thing that is taken in is liable to be altered by fo many accidents before its operations are performed, and its courfe finished, the greater skill is required to adminifter a medicine with any certain degree of fuccefs." Indeed it is furprifing that before the author's Alterative pills, and balfamic extract" not one of the fudorifics has been fuccefsful; and the contents of the whole chap. the author might have faid in few words, fince every one knows that proper exercife, regimen, &c. are the fureft preventatives of all difeafes. In chap v. where he defcribes the gout, he forgets to mention the diftinction between the gout and rheumatism, which would not have been fo foreign to his fubject as many other things, nor does he mention the nature and progress of the latent fluctuating, internal fixed gout, and many other kinds in different conftitutions and different states of life. If he intended to defcribe only his own gout, then he might have omitted many things more. All he fays from the beginning of this chap. to page 21, belongs properly to chap. vi. in which he repeats the fame, treating on the caules, not the defcription of the difeafe. In chap. vi and vii. when he fpeaks of the caufe of the gout and the gouty matter, as he has copied fome writers, he very prefumptuously takes upon him, as he boasted in the preface, to judge which are the beft theories, leaving out the most probable opinion of our moderns, fuch as Dr. Cullen, Gregory, Fordyce, &c. who fhew that the gouty or chalky matter is the effect not the caufe of the disease, and afcribe the difeafe to a contraction in the folids: hence every thing which puts the nerves upon too great a ftretch, as ftudy, vexation, the exertion of all the pallions, the ufe of ftrong liquors are the caufes of a gout. Our author's inference in page 30, that indigeftion is a cause of the gout, from Sydenham's defcription, "that for fome time before à fit, the patient is afflicted with a bad digestion, crudities of the stomach, and flatulencies and heavinefs" is very erroneous; because this proves, that indigeftion is an effect and confequence of the gout, not its caufe; and though it be allowed that indigeftion is the caufë of the gout and many other difeafes, yet it may be but a fecondary caufe, and an effect of another; and may not the contraction of the folids, which conftitute the gout, fometimes be that very cause ? We must approve our author's cenfure in chap. viii. page 37, of "fpecifics ushered into the world;" which however will hold good against his own. In this and in the ninth chap. fpeaking of the treatment of the difeafe, he rejects bleeding and purging entirely, and yet our best authors tell us that they are in fome circumftance neceflary to preferve life, as the reader may fee in Gregory's Element. of Pract. § 401-402 -404, and in Gaubius's Inftitut. Pathol. § 558, and in others. But our author forgets that he is going to recommend his Diffolvent Pills which are purgatives. The author justly obferves, in chap. ix. that "all attempts to obtain a fudden cure are dangerous and contrary to the operation of nature," "That concerning regimen, every man is VOL. II.

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to confult his own conftitution what does, and what does not agres with him as well in the quantity as in the quality," but all this is not new. In the tenth chap. he recommends his medicines, every reader may perceive, that they are cathartics, diuretics, and fudorifics, all which are more properly exhibited by the affiftance of a judicious phy fician, who will confider many other circumftances. Upon the whole, the author's aim feems to be merely to "ufher into the world,” a quack medicine which he might have done by hand-bills, without expofing his inconfiftency and prefumption to the honour of an au thor; neither fhould we have dwelt fo long upon this pamphlet, were it not for the utility of the public, who have been too long and to fatally impofed upon by quack medicines.

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ART XVI. A short and eafy Method of Prayer tarflated from the French of Madam. J. M. B. de la Mothe Guion, by Thomas Digby Brooke. 12mo. Is. Wallis and Stonehouse.

Tranflator's Preface.

The following excellent book was the firft effay of the truly pious Madam Guion; it was, quickly after its publication, difperfed through great part of France; and it proved the happy inftrument of many converfions. Thofe who were athirst for righteousness, eagerly imbibed the fimple and efficacious precepts it contains; and thofe who had already made advances in the divine life, were convinced of the truth of their way, and found ample inftructions how to proceed. None who were advocates for genuine piety, could be offended at it; as the oft falutary inftructions for the attainment of chriftian perfection are enforced, without being blended with fuch matters of opinion as caufe offence.

Throughout the treatife, it is certain, that there are two fundamental truths taken for granted, namely, The FALL and the RE DEMPTION: and, indeed, whofoever doth not inwardly feel the former, cannot experience the benefit of the latter; he hath no bufinefs with this book, nor even with the bible; "he is whole, and needeth not a phyfician."

"Should but a few of my chriftian brethren teap advantage from this attempt to bring to light a treasure that has lain fo long hidden and unnoticed, it would be, not only an abundant recompence fot any little trouble I may have had in the translation, but also an encouragement for publishing fome other pieces of this illuminated

author."

To this concife account of the work, by the tranflator, we shall add only a fhort extract from the preface of the author.

"A life of piety appears fo formidable, and the spirit of prayer of fuch difficult attainment, that most perfons are difcouraged from taking a fingle ftep towards it. The difficulties infeparable from all great undertakings, are, indeed, either nobly furmounted, or left to fubfift in all their terrors, just as fuccefs is the object of defpair of hope. I have, therefore, endeavoured to fhew the facility of the method propofed in this treatife, the great advantages to be derived

from

from it, and the certainty of their attainment by thofe that faithfully perfevere.

If any think, that God is not eafily to be found in this way of fimple love and pure adherence, let them not, on my teftimony, alter their opinion, but rather make trial of it; and their own experience will convince them, that the reality far exceeds all my reprefentations of it.

"Beloved reader, perufe this little tract with an humble, fincere, and candid fpirit, and not with an inclination to caval and criticife, and you will not fail to reap fome degree of profit from it. It was written with a hearty defire that you might wholly devote yourfelf to God; receive it, then, with a like delire for your own perfection: for nothing more is intended by it, than to invite the fimple and child-like to approach their father, who delights in the humble confidence of his children, and is grieved at the fmalleft inftance of their diffidence or diftruft. With a fincere defire, therefore, to forfake sin, feek nothing from the inartificial method here propofed, but the love of God, and you shall undoubtedly obtain it,"

Madam Guion feems to differ confiderably in opinion from Mrs. Barbauld; whose refined notion of the neceffity of having a tafte for the love of God, before we can relish a life of piety, is by no means fo encouraging as the fimple defire, held to be fufficient by this cele brated Pietift,

BOOKS and PAMPHLETS,

Published this Month, of which a more particular account is deferred.

ART. 17. An Abridgement of Penal Statutes, which exhibits at one View, the Offence; the Punishment or Penalty annexed to that Offence; the Mode of Recovering and Application of the Penalty; the Number of Witnesses and Justices neceffary to convict the Offender; with a Reference to the Chapter and Section of the enacting Statute. By William Addington, Efq. 8s. Uriel. An account of this useful work in our next.

ART. 18. A Defcription of that admirable Structure the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, with the Chapels, Monuments, Grave-Stones, and their Infcriptions. Illuftrated with Copper-Plates. To which is prefixed, An Account of Old Sarum. 7s. 6d. Baldwin. ART. 19. An Efay towards a Rational Syftem of Mufic. By John Holden. 75. 6d. Baldwin,

We are obliged to the gentleman who favoured us with a copy of this book; but, having been in poffeffion of one about three years, we are in fome doubt if we are to look upon it as a new publication.

See our account of Mrs. Barbauld's devotional pieces, page 316.

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