portant trespasses, and to the insertion of allegations against which it is of importance to convey an admonitory hint to our readers.

No traveller, we may almost venture to add no human being, was ever said to have so many hair-breadth-escapes as Ali Bey. Whether he proceeds by sea or by land, dangers and difficulties surround him, and to all appearance nothing short of a miracle can save him; yet, in all these cases, he and his companions are preserved from impending destruction, and generally by the courage and judgment of Ali Bey himself. That the situation should be new to him and familiar to his companions makes no difference in the result; his resources are found equal to the emergency, while those of his associates are woefully inadequate. For a proof of this statement, the reader has merely to turn to any situation of difficulty, such as the passage describing the journey in the direction of Medina; or to the paragraph (Vol. i. p. 187.) in which the author takes credit for so much fearless intrepidity in pushing forwards, against the intreaty of all his friends, to meet the Boanani Arabs. Again, on the passage from Larisch to Tripoli, the vessel on board of which he was embarked encountered two dreadful tempests, in both of which he represents himself as displaying extraordinary judgment and presence of mind. lad we sea-room, we would select his account of one of these emergencies, (Vol. i. p. 224.) as affording a curious example of the strain of amplification in which he indulges on every extraordinary occasion: but we must only refer to the volume itself. We confess our inability to explain the formidable meteor that figures so conspicuously in this passage, as well as another (Vol. i. p. 258.) which was of a still more horrific character.-In nothing is the traveller's lofty style more conspicuous than in the air of indifference with which he speaks of money. If report states the truth, he was contented with so slender an annuity as 120l., payable to his wife and daughter from the court of Spain, in consideration of the perils and cost of the journey *; and how can we reconcile this very moderate indemnity with the lavish expence displayed at almost every stage of his progress? He speaks of a present of 50l. to a fakih, or Morocco saint, as a very trifling matter; and, when he observed that the mosque at Tangiers had no supply of water for drinking, he caused a proper vessel to be inclosed in masonry at the gate, and ap

** See the article Badia y Leblich in the Biographie des Hommes vivans, a work of which the first part has just appeared at Paris, and of which we propose to make an early report.

propriated

propriated a sum sufficient to keep it constantly supplied with this fluid. His retinue appears always to be numerous; as, for example, on leaving Cairo, he says, my part of the cavalcade was composed of fourteen camels and two horses only, for I had left almost all my effects and a number of my servants in Egypt.' We are, however, left entirely in the dark as to the funds from which all this pomp was supplied, and as to the manner of obtaining the necessary remittances from Europe. These matters are not in themselves of high moment, but they should not be allowed to escape animadversion, inasmuch as they afford evidence of a disposition to exaggerate in details of greater importance. As a specimen of the author's. tendency in this way, we may refer to the passage (Vol. ii. p. 33.) descriptive of the danger of navigating the Red Sea. We have long been aware that the hazard of this navigation is more than usually imminent: but, were it such as it is here represented, could such aukward sailors as the Arabs succeed in traversing it, or could our expedition to Egypt in 1801 have performed the passage, with a number of transports, with so few casualties? We may also ask, how could Ali Bey himself have accomplished the long voyage from Suez to Djedda, in an ill-built and ill-manned vessel?

If by these various strictures we appear to bear too hard on this adventurous traveller, we must intreat our readers to fix their attention on any particular passage of importance," such as the description of Mecca, and to observe with what insignificant details and ill-judged remarks the subject is en-. cumbered. What are we to think of a writer who gravely. supposes (Vol. i. p. 298.) that the fountains of Cythera, in the island of Cyprus, may derive their supplies from those of Caramania on the main-land, and that the fresh water may pass under the bed of the sea? Yet this is the author of whome we are told, (Pref. p. 11.) Il règne dans ces Mémoires un interet majeur, que son genie seul pouvait imprimer à tout ce qui sort de sa plume:' while, a few pages farther on, (p. 27.) we find

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*We cannot refrain from remarking, en passant, that, in a climate in which water is of such first rate importance, he could not have made a more benevolent or politic use of a sum of money; it being common with devout persons in the East to provide for such a purpose by the erection of a reservoir, by fitting up a well at the road-side, or by planting avenues of trees so as to afford a refreshing shade to the wearied traveller. The Europeans. acquired this practice in their crusading expeditions; and it is to it that we owe, in the southern and central parts of Europe, those wells along the public road which are generally distinguished by a cross and an inscription.

the

the Greek bishop of Cyprus declaring, "We truly congra tulate those who have given birth to so wise a man, a hero in all respects resembling the ancient Greeks, our progenitors."

The work has several appendages which might with great propriety have been omitted, such as long descriptions of Alexandria and Constantinople, an exposition of the Mohammedan religion, and even a life of the prophet; a life which, in fact, has never been well written in English, but for which a book of travels is evidently not the appropriate medium. The second volume is better executed than the first, containing in various parts interesting and entertaining remarks: yet the detail, taken as a whole, is tedious, the author dwelling with unnecessary minuteness on the description of objects and places, and wanting even in his journal that attraction which is generally the accompaniment of a personal narrative. The style is always verbose, and not unfrequently inflated; containing also repeated attempts at fine writing, which are almost invariably unsuccessful. In France, where an unusual latitude of style is permitted even in prose-compositions, such absurdities are not uncommon: but we are rather surprized that a work of considerable importance and great expence has been given to the English public in so uncouth a dress.

As to the translation, indeed, it must be admitted, in extenuation of the various defects of the book, that few writers have been more unlucky in a translator. The English publishers, having chosen to drop the fiction of Ali Bey's Turkish extraction, should have given directions to make various other alterations" of a similar nature throughout, and to retrench his pretended effusions in support of Mohammedanism; and the translator might have made farther improvements by abridging the wearisome description of Mecca and other places: but, above all, by studying to condense the diffuse and feeble composition of the original. So far from any thing of this kind having been attempted, the English version not only retains all the defects of the French, but is also replete with French idioms and various examples of carelessness. We meet in every page with such expressions as exactitude of my journal; isolated for insulated ruinated for ruinous; he repeated me his offers of service; a man addicted to truth; he sought where he could fix himself strongest; a vessel charged instead of loaded, &c. &c. La douce lumière de la lune is rendered the soft, instead of the mild light of the moon; the word sacristy is used without explanation, as if it were as familiar to an English as a French reader; and the word réconnoissance, given as the meaning the Arabic word Arafat, is translated gratitude instead of recollection,

;

of

collection, although in the former it had evidently no such signification. The Paris editor, on finding that Ali Bey saw, from the mountain near Tangiers, two fleets of men of war in October 1803, declares that they were the ships engaged in the battle of Trafalgar : this is agreeable to the usual légèreté of a Frenchman, but what are we to think of an English translator who was not aware that this memorable action did not take place till two years afterward?

Another passage, which the translator should have disdained to insert in the English text, is that most extraordinary paragraph in which Ali Bey thus falsely accounts for the success of our expedition to Egypt:

It is well known that a handful of Frenchmen, occupying Egypt, were obliged to yield to the united efforts of an English army of 23,400 men, commanded by General Abercrombie; of a Turkish army of 6000 men, under the orders of Hassan Pacha, Captain Pacha of the Ottoman Porte, that disembarked at Aboukir; of another English army of 6000 men, headed by General Baird, that landed at Suez; and a fourth army composed of 28,300 Turks coming from Syria, and led by the Grand Vizier; without reckoning 27,000 sailors and other persons employed, which make a total of 90,700 men. In consequence of these

forces, Egypt remained in the hands of the English and Turks.'

The principal plates and maps in this work are a Plan of the City of Morocco; Sketches of Cythera, Idalia, Paphos, and other places in Cyprus; Plans of the Temple and City of Mecca; Plan of the great Mosque or Temple of Jerusalem; Map of the Empire of Morocco, sketched by Ali Bey; Map of Northern Africa, copied from that of Major Rennell, with the singular addition of the supposed inland sea, and the still more singular indication of the antient island of Atlantis; Map of part of the Coast of Arabia along the Red Sea; Sketch of the Route of Ali Bey in Cyprus, Cyria, and Asia Minor. In addition, the volumes contain eighty-three plates of various kinds; some of which, such as the groundplans, sections, and elevations of buildings, are tolerably engraved; while many others, particularly the landscapes, are of very inferior execution. As exemplifications of the latter, the reader has merely to turn to the different plates (Vol. i. p. 293. et seq.) of Idalia, Paphos, and other parts of Cyprus; where he will see much very plain workmanship, although, if we may judge from the inscription, the labours of the artist were destined for French as well as English readers.

ART.

ART. IV.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of

London, for the Year 1816. Part II. 4to.
Nicol and Son.

17s. 6d. sewed.

PHYSIOLOGICAL and CHEMICAL Papers.

EXPERIMENTS and Observations to prove that the beneficial Effects of many Medicines are produced through the medium of the circulating Blood, more particularly that of the Colchicum Autumnale upon the Gout. By Sir Ev. Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. An Appendix to a Paper on the Effects of the Colchicum Autumnale on Gout. By the Same. In the progress of science, it is so difficult to determine what use or advantage may arise from any fact that is brought to light, that we ought always to receive it with thankfulness, although apparently unimportant; yet we confess that we have seldom met with any thing, bearing the name of experimental investigation, which was more trifling, in proportion to the magnificent conclusions that are deduced from it, than the matter of these two papers. The author gives an account of the operation of the eau médicinale on himself, and compares it with the effect of a vinous infusion of the colchicum on dogs, both when injected into the jugular vein and when simply received into the stomach. In one instance, the infusion was given to the dog in a small dose, so as to resemble what we may suppose to be its effects when taken as a medicine; and in a second instance in such a quantity as to occasion death. The action of the gout-medicine, in some respects at least, seems to be similar to that of the colchicum; both at first quicken the pulse, and afterward retard it and cause it to intermit; and this is the case whether the fluid be simply received into the stomach or injected into the veins. When the infusion had been employed in the larger dose, so as to prove fatal to the animal, the stomach and intestines were found in an inflamed state. This appears to be the sum of all the information; and on this slender basis of facts the author draws the conclusions that the eau médicinale is the same substance with the vinous infusion of the colchicum, that these medicines act on the system, through the medium of the circulation, by being absorbed and carried into the blood-vessels, and, lastly, that, from his experiments and the deductions which he has made from them, a material step will be gained in the consideration of diseases, and the modes of treating them.' To not one of these positions can we give our assent, and particularly not to the last of them.

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Another point respecting these papers must be considered as yet more reprehensible; viz. that the author ascribes to

Hunter