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The Home in the West, a Poem, delivered at Dartmouth College, July 4, 1817. By a Member of the Junior Class. 24mo. pp. 19.

This poem is written in the anapæstic measure, with the proximate lines rhyming. There are four feet in the verse. This measure is ill calculated for a piece of any length, and only tolerable when the rhymes alternate. There is a monotony in the anapæstic movement that soon tires. It should be confined to songs. To have selected it for a performance of this nature is an evidence of juvenility. Nor is it a solitary indication. But as the production of an infant muse, and written with involuntary precipitancy, we are not inclined to treat it with harshness. It will, however, be of service to the author to point out some of his faults. The first of these is his obscurity, which has arisen, manifestly, in a great degree from want of distinctness in his own mind. To some passages we can attach no meaning. Besides this, we have to reprehend his awkward and unauthorized transpositions, his unemphatic reduplications, and the introduction of familiarly colloquial and most unpoetic phrases. Were we to descend to particulars, we might point out many other defects, which we attribute rather to want of practice than to want of talent. Had we not discerned something of the latter in this poem, we should not have thought it worth while to make it the subject of remark. We trust that the writer, who has shown his discretion in not affixing his name to a work of which, hereafter, as a whole, he will not be vain, will improve upon our hints.

To atone for our seeming severity, we
will make an extract which may counter-
act any unfavourable impression. The
poet contrasts his own country with those
which have been fam'd in history.
True! here are no remnants of greatness that's
fled,

No atoms of grandeur gone down to the dead,
No murmurs of glory, that fill the wild blast,
No relics of splendour, that shone on the past,
No Parthenons, Statues, Colossi are gleaming,
No fields dy'd with crimson, no ensigns are
streaming,

No arches of triumph frown lofty and proud.
No ivy-crown'd castles with emprise are loud
Of fair ladies and knights, as in times dark in
death,

When the shell of the Troubadour swell'd its
loud breath,

No sunk Druid columns, and on them unstrong
The harp that in darkness full often had rung
No helmets and shields rustle on the dark walls,
No tides of brave music sound high in the halls,
We boast of no Branksome, no merry Carlisle.
And well may it happen for wo or for weal,
This, this is the land of the uprising hill,
Of the far-climbing cliff and the musical rill.
The land, where the rocks with the clouds love
to vie,

And hold a contention to touch the blue sky,
Where the sounds from the woods, and the wa-

ters that spring,

Are as soft and as soothing as wild bird mar
fling,

Where innumerous rills the proud mountain for-
sake,
And bound like the Chamois to meet the broad
lake,

The eremite seas, in seclusion, that pour
The sound of their waves on the tenantless shore.
And say in what land, with a lustre as bright,
Shine the emerald trees, bath'd in dewdrops of
light,
Oh! say in what land shall the fruits and the

flowers

Be nobier in tint or in relish, than ours?
'Tis Freedom that scatters a smile and a glow
On our valleys of verdure and mountains of snow.
Though there are blemishes even in this
passage, we discover the germ of poetry
both in its sentiment and its expression.
E.

A sermon delivered in the city of Raleigh, at the administration of the Lord's Supper, Nov. 10, 1816. By Joseph Caidwell, D. D. Professor of Mathematics in the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Raleigh. A. Lucas. 12mo. pp. 33.

This is an extremely well written praetical discourse. The author does not conceal his own tenets, which are rigidly orthodox, whilst he inculcates a spirit of charity by which true religion always commends itself, but which is too often forgotten in fanatical zeal.

E.

Harrington, a Tale, and Ormond, a Tale, by Maria Edgeworth. Van Winkle & Wiley. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 600.

An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Saratoga and Ballston, containing some general remarks on their use in various diseases, together with observations on the Geology and Mineralogy of the surrounding country. By Doctor John II. Steel, Resident at the Springs. Albany, E. & E. Hosford. 12mo. pp. 94.

This is a book from which all who visit the watering places will derive both instruction and entertainment. Doctor Steel has given a good account of Saratoga, Ballston, and the vicinity, and appears to have conducted his Chemical Analysis of the mineral waters on just principles, and with due circumspection.

His remarks on the medicinal use of the waters are judicious. The work is printed with good taste and in a convenient form. Nothing is more awkward or uncomfortable than the thin octavos which have become so fashionable among our booksellers of late. E.

Armata: A Fragment. New-York, James Eastburn & Co. 12mo. pp. 210.

thor and his fellow-voyagers found themselves "suddenly emerging into a widę sea as smooth as glass, the heavens above twinkling with stars," some of which he remembered to have seen in the world which he had lately left, while some were new to him, and the moon, which was riding through the sky in great splendour, seemed much nearer and larger than he had ever seen it before. The smoothness of the new sea did not continue long, however,-another storm arose, and the vessel soon struck on a sunken rock and went to pieces,-the author jumped into the sea and seized a plank; before he reached the shore he became senseless, (some perhaps might think he was so from the beginning,) and it seems when he recovered, he found himself on a rock, over which the sea spray was dashing, and surrounded by an immense multitude of people, whose speech he could not understand. At length an individual approached, to whom the multitude paid reverence, and who, te his great surprise and joy, addressed him in English, and with great kindness. This man's name is Morven, and from him the author receives his account of the island of Armata.

This book is an attempt, in the way of a supposed case, to give an account of the rise, progress, and actual condition of the English constitution, together with a sketch of the character and manners of the people, and the present situation and prospects of the British nation. For the sake of effect, the author has thought it expedient to suppose a nation, in some remote and hitherto unknown part of the habitable creation, but in all respects of constitution, character, policy and condition, exactly like the British, about which The might speak freely, and from which, by means of the striking manner in which he would be able to present to his readers the various crises in its history, and the eventful character of its present situation, he might draw impressive lessons, and forcibly inculcate what he conceives to be the principles and policy which alone can save the nation. To this end, the author represents that he sailed from New-York, on the 6th of September, 1814, in the good ship Columbia; that he was bound to China, via. New South Wales; that the voyage was very prosperous, until the 10th of February, when an awful storm arose, and the ship, by the violence of the wind and the stroke of lightning, was left a sparless hulk. The ship drifted, in this forlorn condition, at the mercy of the wind and waves, until the 16th of March, 1815, when on a sudden, in the midst of a bright morning, she approached a region of the sea, overhung by a dark cloud, that shed a fearful darkness around, and where the waters were "convulsed into whirlpools" as they were borne against and among the rocks by a current of supernatural velocity. This current, which was produced by compression, seemed to lead directly from all known seas its entrance, between two frowning precipices, was very narrow, and it continued on, between boundaries of rocks about fifty yards apart, without any dimunition of its velocity, or one jot of deviation from a right line, for the distance of 70,000 miles. To perform this passage, required only three months and two days, such was the rapidity of the current, and on the 18th of June, our au

After Morven has given a history of the people of Armata, by whom it is at once perceived that the British are intended, and stated the difficulties under which they are labouring, he asks the opinion and advice of the author upon the subject,-and then it is that we come at the object, for which the book seems to have been written.

But the author after all teaches us but little. His invention seems to have been exhausted in contriving his fiction and running his parallel between Armata and Britain,and nearly all he has done,by way of instruction, is to state the grievances of the nation, and the embarassments into which every branch of industry is thrown, and then say they ought to be removed,— indicating generally the remedies, without illustrating the manner in which they should be applied. He seems to find most fault with the corn laws, and the importation of wool.

In regard to the fictitious voyage, we do not perceive why the author should set sail from New-York, and in the good ship Columbia, when it is obvious he intends to represent, by the current that bore him to Armata, the vigour and enthusiasm of the British nation, produced by the dangers by which it has been surrounded during the late momentous conflicts, and by Armata itself, the condition

into which that nation has been brought by her preternatural fforts. On the whole, the book is quite a fragment, exhibiting but little ingenuity, and illustrating clearly no important political truths; and we are unwilling to believe that report is correct in ascribing it to the pen of Lord Erskine.

L.

A Dissertation, exhibiting a general view of the progress of Mathematical and Physical Science, since the revival of Letters in Europe. By John Playfair, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, &c. &c. Boston, Wells & Lilly. 1817. pp. 197.

Though the main object of this dissertation be to give a history of the progress of mathematical and physical Science from the time of the revival of letters, yet it also contains a brief but comprehensive view of the discoveries andinventions of the ancients in these departments of knowledge, and the condition in which they descended to the moderns. In the progress of the work, the learned author not only gives an account of the successive discoveries and theories, which have finally brought the knowledge of nature

and its laws to its present elevated and advanced state, but also discusses the principles on which the theories have been founded, and explains the obstacles which science has had to encounter from the prejudices of ignorance and the jealousy of power. To those who have any acquaintance with the reputation of the author it will not be necessary to say that he has executed his task with admirable skill.

L.

The Prophetic History of the Christian Religion Explained; or a brief Exposition of the Revelation of St. John; according to a new discovery of prophetical times, by which the whole chain of prophecies is arranged, and their certain completion proved from history, down to the present period-with summary views of those not accomplished. By J. George Schmucker, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, in York-Town, Pennsylvania. Vol. I. Tempora distingue, et concordat Domini Verbum. Baltimore. Schaeffer & Maund. 8vo. pp.

265.

The second volume will make its appearance shortly.

IT

ART. 15. MATHEMATICAL LUCUBRATIONS.

QUESTION 9, OR PRIZE QUESTION. By R. Adrain of New-York. Tis required to determine the most advantageous position of the sail of a windmill, when the ratio of the velocities of the wind and sail is given; making use of the laws of resistance on oblique planes, as determined by the latest modern experiments and to calculate the particular angles of position in numbers, when the velocity of the sail is twice or thrice the velocity of the wind.

QUESTION 10.

By Analyticus of New-York. To determine on what point or points of a horizontal plane a body should be placed, that its tendency along the plane may be the greatest.

**For want of proper types, we are obliged to omit the two remaining questions for this month. We have every disposition to encourage domestic manufactures, and shall be happy to learn that there is a type foundry in this country that can furnish a complete font, of the various kinds of letter, with the French accents and characters, and the mathematical signs. To such an establishment we will lend all the patronage and influence that we possess. We have too many half-way expedients in this country. We wish to see what is done, well done.

The prize for the best solution of each prize question, will be a set of the Magazine for the year, from its commence,

ment.

ART. 16. REPORT OF DISEASES TREATED AT THE PUBLIC DISPENSARY, NEW-YORK, DURING THE MONTH OF JULY, 1817.

ACUTE DISEASES.

FEBRIS Intermittens, (Intermittent Fever,) 3; Febris Remittens, (Remittent Fever,) 2; Synocha, (Inflammatory Fever,) 1; Febris Continua, (Continued Fe

ver,) 8; Ephemera, (Ephemeral Fever,) 1;

Febris Infantum Remittens, Infantile Re

mittent Fever,) 19; Phlegmone, (Inflammation,) 1; Inflammatio testium, 2; Ophthalmia acuta, (Acute Inflammation of the

Eyes,); Pharyngitis Acuta, (Acute Inflammation of the Pharynx,) 1; Cynanche Parotidæa, (Mumps,) 1; Catarrhus, (Catarrh,) 1; Pneumonia, (Inflammation of the Chest,) 6; Mastitis, (Inflammation of the Female Breast,) 1; Gastritis, (Inflammation of the Stomach,) 1; Hepatitis, (Inflammation of the Liver,) 1; Rheumatismus Acutus, (Acute Rheumatism,) 3; Hæmoptysis, (Spitting of Blood,) 1; Cholera, 43; Dysenteria, (Dysentery,) 12; Palpitatio, (Palpitation of the Heart,) 1; Convulsio, (Convulsions,) 2; Hydrocephalus, (Dropsy of the Brain,) 2; Erysipelas, (St. Anthony's Fire,) 2; Roseola, 1; Miliaria Estiva, 2; Uticaria, (Nettle Rash,) 2; Aphtha, (Thrush,) 1; Vaccinia, (Kine Pock,)15; Morbi Infantiles, (Infantile Diseases,) 3.

CHRONIC AND LOCAL DISEASES.

Asthenia, (Debility,) 3; Vertigo, 7; Cephalalgia, (Head-ach,) 7; Dyspepsia, (Indigestion,) 18; Vomitus, (Vomiting,) 3; Gastrodynia, (Pain in the Stomach,) 6; Enterodynia, (Pain in the Intestines,) 5; Colica, (Colic,)4; Obstipatio,(Costiveness,) 20; Icterus, (Jaundice,) 1; Hypochondriasis, 1; Hysteria, (Hysterics,) 1; Syncope, (Fainting,) 1; Paralysis Manûs, (Palsy of the Hand,) 1; Paralysis, (Palsy,) 2; Trismus, (Locked-Jaw,) 1 ; Epilepsia, (Epilepsy,) 2; Rheumatismus Chronicus, (Chronic Rheumatism,) 8; Pleurodynia, 8; Lumbago, 3; Ophthalmia Chronica, (Chronic Inflammation of the Eyes,) 8; Pharyngitis Chronica, (Chronic Inflammation of the Throat,) 4; Bronchitis Chronica, (Chronic Inflammation of the Bronchia,) 8; Asthma et Dyspnea, (Asthma and Difficult Breathing,) 2; Phthisis Pulmonalis, (Consumption of the Lungs,)7; Hæmoptysis, (Spitting of Blood,) 2; Hæmatemesis, (Vomiting of Blood,) 1; Diarrhoea, 25; Leucorrhoea, 2; Amenorrhoea, 4; Plethora, 18; Anasarca, (Dropsy,) 1; Edema Cruris et Femoris, 1; Ascites, (Dropsy of the Abdomen,) 2; Scrophula, (King's Evil,) 2; Tabes Mesenterica, 2; Verminatio, (Worms,) 21; Hernia, 2; Syphilis, 7; Eruptio Veneria, 1; Urethritis, 5; Phymosis, 1; Paraphymosis, 1; Scirrhus testium, 1; Tumor 2; Staphyloma, 1; Dolor Facei, (Pain of the Face,) 1; Odontalgia, (Tooth-ach,)24; Paronychia,(Whitlow,) 1; Abscessus, (Abscess,) 1; Contusio, (Bruise,) &; Stremma, (Sprain,) 2; Vulnus, (Wound,) 6; Uleus, (Ulcer,) 17; Ulcera Faucium, (Ulcers of the Throat,) 2: stio, (Burn,) 4; Aphtha, (Thrush,) 1; Morbi Cutanei,(Eruptions of the Skin,) 33.

The weather during the greater part of July, has been unusually warın, and occasionally hot and oppressive. The mercu

ry in Fahrenheit's Thermometer once marked 87° at noon, in different shaded situations; and on twelve different days ranged from 80 to 86°. On five days of the month only, it was below 76°, at noon. The atmosphere, though sometimes moist, and obscured by louds or fogs, has been, generally speaking, clear, often serene, and seldom fanned by gust or wind, or agitated by thunder-showers. Southerly winds have greatly predominated. There was a considerable fall of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning, on the night of the 7th; a heavy shower on the afternoon of the 20th; and another on the 23d, with some thunder. Lesser showers or gentle depositions of rain, occurred on the 8th, 9th, 12th, 18th, 21st, 25th, and 30th. Quantity of rain three inches 7-100. Highest temperature, 87°; lowest 58°; Mean greatest diurnal variation 21°. temperature at sunrise 66°, in the afternoon 78 1-2°, at sunset 75°. Greatest elevation of the mercury in the Barometer, 30 inches 36-100, on the 10th, wind N. moderate, clear: greatest depression, 29 inches 76-100, wind S. E. moderate, overcast.

Considering the season, and the warmness of the weather, the city during this The number of interval, may be pronounced to have been remarkably healthy. deaths, indeed, amount, according to the New-York Bills of Mortality, to one-fifth more than for June;-but this numerical augmentation appears to have arisen not so much from an increase in the quantum, as from a change or transmutation of the character of diseases. The recurrence of certain trains of morbid action, as connected with different seasons of the year, must be obvious to every observing physician. We often see a renewal and succession of nearly the same kind of diseases year after year; and simultaneous with the decline of some particular class of disorders, we may many times date the rise and progress of another class of affections equally, or, perhaps, more numerous. This principle has been strikingly exemplified in the two last months. While there has been a gradual diminution of diseases of the inflammatory diathesis, there has taken place a proportional augmentation of those disorders of the primæ viæ, that are mostly peculiar to the summer heats, particularly cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoa. These have constituted a prominent feature in the history of the complaints of this month-and from their general prevalence may be said to have characterized the constitution of the season. Bilious vomiting has been an attending

symptom of various complaints; and diarrhoea has not only been common, as a primary or idiopathic affection, but it has also supervened on several other disorders, acute as well as chronic.

The cases of cholera, inserted in the foregoing catalogue, occurred chiefly in children, who, from their great irritability, which renders them more susceptible of excitement by the summer heats, are peculiarly the subjects of this complaint. It is most obstinate and fatal when joined with the additional irritation of teething. This disease, though extensively diffused during this month, has not been attended with extraordinary violence or fatality. It has, however, in many cases, manifested much obstinacy; yielding with difficulty to the ordinary modes of treatment; and sometimes running into a chronic stage, or rather tedious diarrhoea, notwithstanding the employment of the most active and approved remedies:-an occurrence that may be accounted for, from the predisposition to the disease being constantly kept up by the foul air of the city, and more especially by the relaxing effects of a nearly uniform and continued course of hot weather. It is under such circumstances, that removal to the pure and cool atmosphere of the country or sea shore, proves so efficacious in the cholera of infants; often succeeding in effecting a recovery from an apparent hopeless state.

Fevers, generally, have rather declined. Typhus has decreased, both in frequency and fatality: the deaths from this disease having, according to the bills of mortality, diminished nearly one half. The cases of continued fevers, noted in the list, were all of the Synochal or Sub-inflammatory kind. The Infantile Remittent, or Synochus of children, appears to have diminished in frequency, though not in violence. Some cases of this disease were attended by bilious vomiting and diarrhea, bat without any evident amelioration of the fever. Another symptom that commonly attended the infantile fever, was a cough, which from its great urgency in some instances might easily have deceived the inexperienced, and led to the suspicion, that the patient was actually labouring under a Peripneumony, or inflammation of the lungs. As an instance of this kind might be of the most serious consequence, the greatest caution and circumspection are always to be exercised the nature and treatment of the two diseases being obviously different. It is certainly possible that these two complaints may sometimes co-exist; but such

an occurrence is probably very rare. Unless Peripneumony should happen to exist at the same time with the infantile remittent fever, the cough attending this latter is always to be regarded as sympathetic, being occasioned by irritation in the bronchiæ, lungs, or pleura, and not by inflammation. Of consequence it seldom requires particular attention, and will naturally subside with the other symptoms of the complaint. Fomentations to the chest, diluent or demulcent drinks, the cautious use of antimony or squills, and sometimes of opiates, comprehend the whole of the treatment necessary for the relief of this symptom. The use of the lancet in the infantile fever, especially with symptoms of synochus, would be productive of almost certain death.

Cases of Pneumonic inflammation, though greatly reduced in number, have in several instances shown great severity of character; and as will be seen by inspecting the bills of mortality, have been productive of a fatality even greater than that which took place in the preceding month. It is not a very unusual occurrence, for cases of Pneumonia produced in a high temperature of the atmosphere, to assume an acuteness or intensity, that is seldom surpassed, if equalled, during the severe cold of winter. The stimulating quality of heated air, when applied to an inflamed surface, may perhaps account for this fact. Instances of spurious or bastard Pleurisy, which is only a rheumatic affection of the intercostal and throracic muscles, were occasionally met with, assuming at times almost every mark of genuine pleurisy.

Dyspeptic and Asthenic diseases have been rendered more obstinate; probably from the relaxing effects of external heat. Complaints of the head, especially manifested by Cephalalgia and Vertigo, and induced by determination or congestion, but more commonly by a morbid derangement of the digestive organs, were of common оссштепce. Severe pain in the head has attended different forms of fever, especially where there existed a torpor of the intestinal canal, the removal of which symptom was generally found to be the most certain way of relieving the affection of the head.

There were presented at the Dispensary, a few cases of chronic inflammation of the tonsils and fauces, or throat, attended with irregularity of surface, which, from being covered with coagulable lymph, had the appearance of ulceration. This affection is not unfrequently mistaken for syphilitic ulcers. The patient

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