Art. 30. Animadversions on Dr. Dickson's Translation of Reflections on the Theory of Infinitesimal Calculus, &c. By Henry Clarke, Lecturer in Natural and Experimental Philosophy, &c. 8vo. 6d. Hurst. Mr. Clarke has sufficiently, and more than sufficiently, pointed out the mistakes in algebraical calculation, into which Dr.D. and his friend the French Clergyman at Bath have fallen. We could have forgiven Dr. D. this error, had he not perverted the meaning of Carnot; and had he not, in laying down the principles of the differential Calculus, violated the rules of good metaphysics and sound logic. As a literary combatant, Mr. Clarke may be described as possessing nerve, zeal, and some judgment. He is also shrewd and severe: but, to use Dryden's expression, there is " too much horse play in his raillery." MEDICAL, &c. Art. 31. Gottfried Christian Reich, M. D. &c. on Fever, and its From the short account of Dr. Reich, prefixed to this pamphlet, we learn that he is a professor at Erlang, a Prussian University in Franconia. In 1799, he announced to the world that he dad discovered remedies which would remove all danger, in small pox and general fevers, in the course of a few hours. The Doctor was immediately pressed, by numerous correspondents, to disclose his medi cines, but he refused to impart the secret, without a valuable consideration. He was invited at length to Berlin, where his method was tried, before a committee of physicians, on some fever-patients in the Hospital of La Charité: but his success was not striking: From December 26, 1799, to Jan. 24, 1800, Reich treated in this Hospital twenty-eight patients; of whom twenty-three recovered; three, refusing to take the medicines, remained uncured, and two others died. Of the two who died, one was a beggar, on the fifth day, of a relapse of a Nervous Fever; and the other, a consumptive patient, with a sudden Ulceration of the Lungs.' The report of the committee, however, was sufficiently favourable to procure the Doctor a considerable pension from the monarch; and, in this pamphlet, we are presented with the precious secret. The beginning of the work is most unpromising. After a parade of a new chemical pathology, the author plunges us into the old theory of fermentation, which he assigns as the morbid state constituting fever: but, on proceeding a little farther, we are told that the generic character, or essence of fever, consists in a diminution of oxygen. As a short specimen of the extraordinary style of this performance, and of the author's mode of reasoning, we shall quote his own account of the proximate cause of fever: • The R.W. The Proximate Cause of all Fevers lies, therefore, in a Defective Reception, or the Anti-natural application, of Oxygen; or in the Excessive Accumulation and Developement of Azot, Hydrogen, Carbon, Sulphur, Phosphorus, or any of the other ingredients of the human body, which are considered as Simple; or in the various possible Anti-natural Combinations, Binary, Ternary, Quaternary, Quinquenary, &c. of these substances, either with each other, or with those which modify them, and which are conveyed to us from without under the names of Caloric, Matter of Light, Magnetic and Electric Matter, &c.' Oxygen, therefore, we are informed, must be the only sure remedy against fever: but oxygen is not yet accessible as an officinal article: the author, then, employs it in the form of acid;—and now we arrive at the Arcanum Magnum, which is nothing more than the copicus use of some of the mineral acids; a practice which, we apprehend, was perfectly familiar to the physicians of this country long before the year 1799. It will occur to every experienced medical reader, that Dr. Reich's view of the practice requisite, even in simple fever, is extremely narrow. The mineral acids can only be useful as tonics, and certainly possess no febrifuge power that amounts to chemical action. We speak from considerable experience of their effect in fever. Dr. Reich's practice would certainly have appeared to more advantage, if it had been announced with less pretension, and if he had defined more accurately the stages of fever in which it is admissible. In the commencement of Synochus, his plan would of ten prove highly detrimental to the patients. We cannot dismiss this pamphlet without noticing the great bar barisms of its style. Much, no doubt, must be charged to the pecu liarities of the original: but we fear that the translator is not always exempt from blame. The manner reminds us strongly of Dr. Walter Charleton's Ternary of Paradoxes. The concluding remarks, by Dr. Parry, of Bath, are sensible and judicious; though he seems a little prejudiced in favour of this new-found old invention. He has, however, given a case of epilepsy which deserves attention, since the patient derived more relief from the internal use of the muriatic acid than from any other remedy. Art. 32. An Account of a new Mode of Operation for the Removal of the Opacity in the Eye, called Cataract. By Sir James Earle, F.R.S. Surgeon Extraordinary to the King, &c. 8vo. 3S, Johnson. 1801. After having stated several objections to the common methods of operating, either in couching or extracting, Sir James Earle proposes his own plan for the extraction of the cataract. A general idea of it may be collected from the following account of the instrument invented by Sir James, and of the mode of using it: It consists of a small spear-pointed lancet, of a proper breadth which introduces a pair of fine forceps into the globe of the eye, and, when sufficiently inserted, the sharp or spear point, by means of a spring, is, withdrawn, leaving the forceps behind; with these the Hudibras. Fer. cataract cataract may be gently seized, made to quit its connexions, and be brought away through the opening; and thus is completed the whole of the operation. To use this instrument properly, it is necessary to observe that it should be passed in through the coats of the eye, just behind the iris: when it has passed, and the forceps are sufficiently introduced, the lancet is to be made to retire, and the forceps are to be carried on till the blades appear behind the pupil, when they are to be retracted a little, then gently opened, and the cataract to be seized with as small compression as may be without suffering it to escape; the forceps are then, together with the cataract, to be brought out of the eye. This operation has been performed with success in three cases, of which we have a particular account in the pamphlet. We have not yet seen it executed, but it bids fair to be an improvement of great consequence, in a very delicate and often unsuccessful operation. Art. 33. The Medical Assistant; or Jamaica Practice of Physic Designed chiefly for the Use of Families and Plantations. By Thomas Dancer, M. D. 4to. 11. 18. Boards. Printed at Jamaica, and sold in London by Murray and Co. This work is intended rather for a domestic system of practice, than for the use of the faculty; and the author seems to have formed his compilation with care, and to have consulted the best modern authorities. We perused, with some curiosity, Dr, Dancer's history of Yellow Fever, but we do not meet with any new information in it. He recommends, for the cure, purgatives and mercurial friction; and he seems to pursue Dr. Chisholm's method of treatment, with little variation.-Several remedies peculiar to Jamaica are directed, in different complaints; but they are simply indicated, without any explanation of their qualities that can be useful to strangers; at least, on this side of the Atlantic. Fer. The forms of medicines are given in English, and may thus prove useful in the hands of sensible parents and masters: but we should apprehend that the descriptions of symptoms, and of the indications of cure, are not written in a style sufficiently popular to produce the benefits intended by the author; while they are too slight to merit particular attention from medical readers. The composition of a work of this nature is, indeed, extremely difficult; and we have some doubt whether persons, who are precluded from access to the assistance of respectable professional men, are not safer without any of these supplementary guides: which, though written with the best intentions, are very liable to be abused. Do Art. 34. First Lines of Physiology. By Albert Von Haller. Translated from the Third Latin Edition. 8vo. pp. 500. 105. 6d. Boards. Murray and Co. 1801. The editor professes to have corrected the translation of Haller's First Lines in many passages, and to have amended the language. In these respects, he has done an important service to students; and, from the references which we have made, we believe his pretensions to be well-founded. Respecting a book so well-known as the origi pal, it is unnecessary to make any observation. Art. Do Art. 35. Veterinary Pathology: or a Treatise on the Cause and Pro gress of the Diseases of the Horse, together with the most ap proved Methods of Prevention and Cure: &c. &c. By William Ryding, Veterinary Surgeon to the 18th Light Dragoons. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Egerton. 1801. We are now frequently required to give an opinion of works composed in this new department of science; and, as it is our wish to encourage pursuits of this nature, we always speak as favourably of them as justice will permit. The author before us appears well-informed, and there is a considerable quantity of interesting matter in his book but there is an evident deficiency of general knowlege, which might have been supplied if the work had been submitted, before its publication, to the inspection of any intelligent friend. With all its blemishes, however, we are persuaded that many readers will derive information from Mr. Ryding's performance, which possesses the advantage of brevity;-no small recommendation to the good graces of a Reviewer! Art. 36. Supplement to Practical Observations on the Natural History and Cure of Lues Venerea, &c. By John Howard, Member of the Court of Assistants of the Royal College of Surgeons, and F.A.S. 8vo. 28. Baldwin. 1801. This pamphlet relates chiefly to the practice of applying caustic to strictures in the Urethra. Mr. Howard's opinions on this subject are so similar to those of Mr. Whately, which we have already noticed, (see Review for last month,) that it is unnecessary to enter into a particular detail of them.-As his parting advice to his pro fessional brethren, Mr. H. inculcates the necessity of making the mouth sore, in every case of Lues. In this recommendation we heartily join great mischief and irreparable misery have been occa sioned by the slight alterative method of giving mercury, which has obtained among many practitioners, and which may be reckoned the most fatal error of modern times. We trust that the discussions, which have lately taken place, will recall the bolder use of mercury, but supported by tonics (the mineral acids, &c.) in such a manner as to occasion less inconvenience to the patient, and to prevent the disagreeable consequences of a severe course of the remedy. Fer We have no doubt that Mr. Howard's sentiments will meet with proper attention and respect. ·DO Art. 37. New Inventions and Directions for Ruptured Persons, &c. Art. 38. Appendix to a Publication, intitled New Inventions and Di-· We have already noticed the first edition of this pamphlet ; and we have now only to say that, in our opinion, the directions contained in this new impression will contribute much to the comfort of persons who are afflicted with hernia, especially as they will place the means of relief in the patient's own hands. A Letter from Mr. Blair, Surgeon of the Lock Hospital, &c. recommending the benevolent author's improvement of the truss, is prefixed to this edition. Art. 39. An Essay on the Plague: Also a Sketch of a Plan of in- The danger of infection from patients, or families, in pestilential diseases, seems to have been much overrated. It does not appear that our troops in Egypt suffered from these causes; nor have they, in returning to their native country, imported this dreaded visitant. Dr. Falconer's remarks, however, on the means of preventing so terrible a scourge from returning among us, are judicious, as far as they go but we are surprized to find that he stops short of the most effectual precaution; viz. that of removing persons, or even families, on the first appearance of the disease, into proper receiving houses, cut off from all communication with others. This omission is the more remarkable, because, Dr. Falconer has referred to the benefits experienced from the fever-ward at Manchester; and because he might have seen, in Dr. de Mertens's account of the plague at Moscow, that this plan was actually adopted in Russia, with the effect of stopping the progress of a most destructive pestilence. When the efficacy of this method has been so completely demonstrated, it is mere trifling to recommend less decisive modes of prevention. Art. 40, 40. Melancholy, as it proceeds from the Disposition and Habits; the Passion of Love; and the Influence of Religion. Drawn chiefly from the celebrated Work intitled Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Izmo. 5s. 68: Boards. Vernor and Hood. 1801. Fer. The work, from which this selection is made, is too well known to require any character from us. Those who would be repelled by the systematic arrangement, and the numerous quotations, of the original, may in this compilation enjoy the best passages of the author, collected in rather a desultory manner; and forming a volume which is laudably designed to promote the best interests of virtue and religion, and the truest happiness of mankind. Art. 41. 4 Compendious Medical Dictionary, &c. By Robert Hooper, M. D. Second Edition. 8vo. 7s. Boards. Murray, and Highley. 1801. We noticed the former impression of this work in the Review, vol. xxviii. p. 461. (N. S.).—The present edition is considerably enlarged, and will be found to contain an useful nomenclature; especially since our worthy old friend Quincey is now become obsolete in so many respects. Art. 42. A Short Account of the Royal Artillery Hospital at Woolwich With some Observations on the Management of Artillery Soldiers, respecting the Preservation of Health. Addressed to the Officers of the Regiment, and dedicated to the Master General and Board D? |