282 ADDENDA TO THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. Alterations adopted in the London Pharmacopoeia of 1824, fully stated; with Introductory Remarks and Schemes, illustrative of Formulæ influenced by Chemical Action. By R. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy's Hospital.-1 vol. 8vo. pp. 77. Underwood. In the New London Pharmacopoeia so many alterations have, from time to time, been introduced, as to have rendered it highly necessary, and most essentially useful, the table here given of the particulars and nature of the changes. We shall best explain the quantum and quality of the contents of Mr. Stocker's publication, by stating, from his own preface, that they are divided into three parts, or sections; viz. preliminary observations, including some practical remarks on several of the preparations; an enumeration of all the instances in which the present Pharmacopoeia varies from that which appeared in a second edition, in 1815; and a series of Schemes, in which considerable pains have been taken to point out, clearly and satisfactorily, what compositions and decompositions must necessarily take place in those formule which are more obviously chemical. Of the schemes, for the better illustration of chemical operation, in whatever form or manner it may be exerted, we highly approve: they, in their effect, excel any information that can be conveyed by words alone, and in an infinitely more intelligible manner. The ideas intended to be conveyed not only become more precise by this mode of communication, but make a deeper, and consequently a more permanent, impression on the mind of the student. The rationale of a process visibly demonstrated is, as it were, twice demonstrated; and perceived both with more readiness and more certainty. This work, regarded together with its very laudable object, that of enlightening the junior members of the medical profession, has, in our judgment, a double value; that of its own intrinsic merit, and also that of being qualified to refresh the memory, if not to inform the understanding, of medical adepts. Observations on Fever. By R. Wade, Member of the College of Surgeons, and Apothecary to the Westminster General Dispensary.1 vol. pp. 83. Burgess and Hill. WE ask, because really we are anxious to know, what could tempt Mr. Wade to indulge the world with a new book, on the diseases here treated? Are not the medical libraries inundated with works of considerable merit on this subject,-works, which Mr. Wade, unless we overrate his modesty, will scarcely flatter himself he will ever equal? "Wade on Fever" is, in fact, a weak and imperfect compilation, without having to boast a single trait to recommend it to notice. A Practical Account of the Mediterranean Fever, as it appeared in the Ships' Hospitals of his Majesty's Fleet, on that Station. By William Burnett, M.D,-1 vol. 8vo. pp. 522. Callow. This work, as might be expected, from the name of its respectable writer, forms a striking contrast with the preceding. It is the pro duction of an intelligent naval physician, already advantageously known to the profession, by a volume of accurate and useful observations on the same subject. In this report, the contagious origin of fever is refuted: it is, however, admitted, that, in its course, fever may become contagious. That this is sometimes the case, cannot be denied but we are strongly impressed with the belief, that, in an infinite proportion of those cases, where practitioners of acknowledged intelligence suppose contagion to exist, it does not really occur. The New Domestic Medical Manual; being a Practical and Familiar Guide to the Treatment of Diseases generally, on a simplified and condensed Plan. By J. S. Forsyth.-1 vol. small 8vo. pp. 336. Sherwood, Jones, and Co. WELL knowing, both from personal and practical experience, the unhappy, and too-often, fatal consequences which result from the injudicious application of intended remedies, we are no advocates for productions of this class. Mr. Forsyth is, however, fully as much entitled to favourable consideration, and our candid report, as the generality of writers in the province in which he ventures to figure as a didactic practitioner. Mr. F. will, nevertheless, allow us to say, that we were not a little surprised to find him referring to fictitious cases of Roberton, in support of the asserted efficacy of cantharides in fluor albus: as well might he have recommended the "Balm of Gilead," on the authority of the long and equally renowned Dr. Solomon. FOREIGN LITERATURE. Enseignement Universel. Par J. Jacotot. A. Louvain. De Pauw. 1823. WHILE Mr. Hamilton, an American, is exciting the astonishment of the public, and provoking the wrath of the advocates of the Ancient System" of Education in England, by a new scheme of universal instruction, Mr. Jacotot, a Fleming Universalian, is pursuing a similar career, attended with similar conséquences of wonderment and detraction in France. The great defect of public education in England is, that boys, for years, are employed in repeating phrases and lessons by rote, of the meaning of which they have no definite comprehension, during the whole period of the process; and secondly, that while their intellectual faculties are rather darkened than illumined, by the vague method of proceeding, their moral character, rendered equally vague, is left to chance, to produce weed or fruit, wheat or tares, just as the fortuitous seeds of future experience, communication, or example, may happen to fall upon the fallow, rank, and neglected soil. To make the matter worse, chastisement is often employed at a period, when children are either incapable of knowing the distinctions of right and wrong, or have never had them properly explained. A more debasing result than this is likely to produce, in the future man, cannot be conceived. Many parents would be shocked to find, (yet so it is,) that the first appearance of reason in their offspring is most commonly employed in wondering at and lamenting the strange destiny of beings born to unmeaning severity. The slightest performance of duty would prevent this. An attention to the illumination of the mind in its first dawnings, would, in a great neasure, render chastisement unnecessary. Mr. Jacotot's system is not to be confounded with the ordinary quackeries of the day, nor is he an ordinary individual, to be hastily overlooked. Of an original, vigorous, and independent turn of thought, intermixed, as may be expected, with some bizarreries, he is evidently a man of streng natural talent, corroborated and dignified by the obvious sincerity and honesty of his intentions. He writes carelessly, but powerfully, and often with an eloquence which reminds us of Rousseau's unshackled audacity. We must do this justice to his system, moreover, that it contemplates and tries to remedy the great moral deficiency of the present form of education; but we will allow him to express his more marked opinions in his propria persona, and then proceed to an analysis of the system of Universal Instruction, with which his peculiar ethics are interwoven, and of which they_principally constitute the basis :--"The youngest child," says our author, "is capable of seeing, and, consequently, of comprehending the most abstract term. Let us take for example: Exactness of the Police. Give all the definitions you please of this, other definitions may be opposed to you; and thus we get into the old doctrine again; that is to say, an inextricable labyrinth. This is the true definition, says one. Not in the least, replies another: you have not properly distinguished Genus and Species. Meanwhile the child gapes, while the doctors disagree. The best thing he can do, is to forget all he has heard but time flies, and he learns nothing. What is to be done then? Cause the pupil to remark the aggregate of facts, which, in his book, is designated by the terms-Exactness of the Police: for instance, Eleven o'clock strikes; the nightbell is rung; a commissary enters a publichouse; he talks to the company, who request a few minutes more; he refuses; the company withdraws; and the public-house is shut up, just as the last stroke of the clock sounds, &c. ་ Again, Masillon says, the superiority which wounds the pride of those beneath us, renders them more severe, and more sagacious, censors of our vices. "Where is the child, it will be asked, who can understand this language? But the point is to enlighten his comprehension by familiar and analogous facts in his own experience. For instance, a dunce is perpetually scolded by his master: the dunce's pride is irritated by these reprimands; and if the stern master has any defect, any trifling originality, which no one else can distinguish, the child discovers and exaggerates it. All the world knows this, and all the world sees it: it shows, that even the genius of Masillon is not so far beyond our reach as is presumed. "It requires a great deal of patience to become a mathematician. Patience, how ever, was the sole method of Newton. Does study and fatigue annoy you? Be it so: but still be master of yourself; work doggedly; but still work. Patience and courage are your property; employ them. After many efforts, you will contract the habit of being what you ought to be. Do not believe that man is born for some par ticular social position. Man is born to be happy by his own means, independently of his lot: if it were not so, virtue would be an empty name. Turn a deaf ear to the soft words which sloth perpetually whispers: We cannot all govern our habits and inclinations.' One is born with an active, another with an indolent, turn of character. Repel the parasite; she destroys you, in the act of flattering your weakness. Know yourself, I repeat: the advice of others is not necessary. Ask the consciousness within. Can I change my own habits? Have I capacity for so much exertion? Listen to the answer. Are you then alone a degraded being? What! are you deaf to the voice of your own heart? Are you incapable of loving what is grand? Are you incapable of distinguishing between vice and virtue? If you can, what is requisite for your well-being? Doubtless it must be sought: but are you ignorant where to find it? and will you not be. come contemptible to yourself, if you submit to this inertness? Is it possible, that you do not perceive that interior struggle, that unintermitted agitation, which troubles the peace of a spirit, without will? Virtue calls us on, but energy is requisite to the pursuit; meanwhile vice carries us in her arms, and, pleased with non-exertion, we suffer ourselves to be dandled, like babies. The man who has will, arrives at the goal of his purposes; while the sluggard arrives at no goal, but that of shame, regret, and despair. "Behold my system of universal instruction! Socrates has said, "The reasoning man can accomplish every thing;' and I agree with him. "If you have many tastes or many incli nations at the same time, success is more uncertain: you will find it necessary to vanquish first one inclination, and then another: this combat distracts you; you succeed in nothing you undertake, and are charged with incapacity. To my view, your defect lies not in your incapacity, bt your want of will. Try, and you will find it so. If f you cannot write panegyrics, attempt satire. Literally speaking, one is not easier to write than the other. If you ridicule me to my face, you must possess great talent to make me relish your puns, and your points. But to attack an absent man, and turn him into ridicule, is an easy thing among professed laughers. Proceed with confidence; they who listen to you, are amply disposed to indulgence. In matters of satire, the prize of talent is denied to no one. The lion alone is exasperated by the kick of the ass's heel; but the other animals never complain of it: at all events, it is a kick, and a kick is something. Courage! in such an affair as this, there are no obstacles to conquer." "It is possible, indeed, that, when called to public business by his country, an individual may not have all the acquirements necessary for the task; but he can acquire them. The desire of power impels to a love of office; the desire of celebrity renders us capable of filling it with dignity. Lucullus demanded the office of General, without a knowledge of the art of war; but he possessed it when he arrived in Asia; he learnt it on the road. Is it true, then, that the passions render us fit for all things, and the reason for nothing: on the contrary, nothing is difficult to him who can master himself." It will be seen, that our author, instead of the old system" of masticating and digesting the mental food slowly, proposes swallowing this food in the gross. Will not similar erudity and flatulence be the result? The analogy between mental and corporal food is, perhaps, as truly logical as any analogy we possess. If a man reads without thinking, it is like eating without digesting; if he reads contrary to his inclination, he profits not, because he has no appetite; if he writes more than he reads, his writing is crude, unwholesome, and vitiated; but if he reads in proportion to his thinking, his mind separates, by oblivion, the noxious from the salutary part, and the latter is assimilated into, and becomes part of his own thoughts. If he reads works where the judgment is interested, his mind is visibly nourished, and its vigour regularly supplied; but, if he reads frivolous and fictitious writings, his mind suffers a gradual decay, from want of due nourishment, and its powers become polluted. "If these few words are not sufficient," continues Mr. Jacotot, "I am afraid I shall not be better understood in continuing my statement; for I can say no more than what I have said, Learn one book, and subsequently compare all other books with it. That is my method." Our author, after stating this to be his method, clears away the ground of objection to his own inelegancy and inade quacy of composition, while undertaking to teach it, by the Aristotelean axiom, to which he often subsequently reverts; that reasoning and rhetoric have nothing in common: and then, supporting his method by two other axioms, 1st. That every human individual is equal in capacity; and, 2nd. That every thing is in every thing; he proceeds to exhibit the different steps of the tuition he advocates, taking the Telemachus of Fenelon as the rudimental book of primary instruction, round which, as a nucleus, all future acquisitions of information are to revolve and accumulate. The most extraordinary feature of the first lesson is, that the pupil is taught to commence by learning entire words, instead of these elements, Ba, be, bi, bo, bu; as by the present system and taught to write in the same manner, without going through the process of strokes, letters, text, roundhand, &c. "What a round-about way!" exclaims our author; "but then, what would be made of children, if they were to be instructed in so short a time?" Our objection would be different. We should doubt, whether their orthography or chirography could ever be good for any thing. The best chemist proceeds from experiment to experiment, by a graduated process: the best general rises gradually from the ranks. A short cut is certainly pleasant and alluring; but there is an English proverb, that "the shortest cut is often the most roundabout." We confess, that we are for the ancient, though slower, mode of laying an elementary foundation. At the same time, it must be observed, that the defects of the results, even of the "old system," are attributable as much to the tutors as to the tuition. An argumen tum ad abusum will apply to the best of institutions. It should be recollected, that the natural zeal, stimulated by a new system, would also give its disciples a transitory advantage over the old. Feinagle's system of Mnemonics succeeded in its coarser object of limited and local memory; but lamentably failed in its more refined calculation of improving the retentive capacity. We do not think that all men are equal in intellectual capacity on the contrary, some are gifted with an imagination predominating over judgment; some with judgment predominating over the imagination: again, that some quicker in apprehension than others, and some possess a more retentive memory. Thus thinking, we should be greatly disposed to deprecate the forcing or warping all these undeveloped capacities and men are tal predispositions, according to the qualified individual, and, perhaps, erroneous bent of any given book of primary instruction, whether a romance or a history, a moral essay or a fairy tale. We cannot but regard so Procustean a method, modelled after the standard of an ideal uniformity, as likely to produce infinite confusion, as well as repression of talent. A pupil might thus risk becoming a faint copy of the exaggerated defects or artificial pretensions of a bad original; say, that the original be good, the danger of stunting or warping the mind remains the saine. All generalization is as unscientific, as it is alluring and easy to system-builders. Travels in Switzerland. By M. L. Simond.-Paris. VARIOUS are the scenes and places in Switzerland which many visit as travellers, and describe as authors. As subjects of taste, they are favourable to the warmth of fancy; sublime descriptions of their simple majesty seldom fail to exalt the imagination, and afford satisfaction to a numerous class of readers. The work of M. Simond is recommended by another distinction, by no means unimportant. It points out and explains the state of society, and informs the reader, by characteristic sketches, of the moral state of the countries he is travelling through: and his talents are most successfully exerted on the subject of their internal regimen. Among other places, Geneva particularly attracted M. Simond's attention. He did not merely tarry in that city a few hours, but resided there several months, to appreciate impartially, and to announce, well and truly, the character, mind, and manners, of its industrious citizens. The social institutions of Geneva, though on a small scale, naturally excited the reflections of this author. The new constitution presents, in laws and material circumstances, the semblance of a democracy, tempered by a pretty strong aristocracy. Cogent arguments in favour of the change are noticed; such as the publicity of criminal proceedings; the protection of personal liberty, by a sort of habeas corpus; the publication of the annual budget, or sum total of the revenue, and expenses. These, with the laws establishing a degree of liberty respecting the press, are interesting on the whole, as fundamentals of a good constitutional system. M. Simond is constantly opposed to partiality and injustice; and hence he denounces a radical vice in the judiciary power, estab lished at Geneva. The judges are selected from the councils, and return into them, after the exercise of their functions, during a certain time. They are subjected to what the author terms a species of elimination, called Grabeaù; they are not fixed in their seats, and are more or less dependent. The tribunals he designates as mere committees of government, or temporary commissions, which afford no satisfactory guarantee, consistent with the security of admitted privileges, or the tranquillity of the parties accused. M. S. was present at a trial, wherein two young thieves were accused. Both were condemned, after an examination and defence, which lasted some hours, to imPrisonment of six and five years respectively. The deliberation of the judges occupied two hours. From this it appears, that there is no jury; the institution had been introduced by the French; but was abolished, from the aversion conceived to their dominion; or, at least, the author was so informed. The following anecdote, incidentally noticed, discovers a discriminating mark respecting the intellectual character and social habits of the inhabitants. M. de Candoles, professor of botany, had made use, in his lectures, of some plates, representing certain plants of Spanish America. These had been lent him, by M. Mosino, an eminent Spanish botanist; but he was obliged to return them speedily; for which, on expressing his concern to the audience, a number of ladies that formed a part of it, made him a tender of their personal services, and persuaded their friends to take copies of them. This noble offer was accepted, and the whole undertaking was completed in eight days. It contained thirteen volumes, in folio; and an earnest solicitude to employ their pencils, on eight hundred and sixty drawings, was evinced by a hundred and fourteen ladies, who took a pleasure in thus contributing to their own instruction, and in testifying their acknowledgments to their learned professor. M. S., merely as a looker on, notices and comments on this exhibition, which should not be forgotten, as a specimen of taste, genius, and good sense, not to be paralleled, probably, in any other city containing a population of 23,000 souls. Bertrage, sur Statistik des Preussischen Staats, &c., or Official Statistic Tables, by the Board of Statistics, at Berlin. THIS is a fresh volume of a work, which appears in parts, under the superintendance |