conftitution incapable of being infected by the small-pox; that it is totally void of danger, and in the greater number of cafes scarcely produces any fenfible uneafinefs. We know alfo that it can only be propagated by inoculation, or by fome means bringing the matter of a puftule in contact with a part of the fkin, whence the cuticle has been abraded or removed. Hence any number of subjects in a family may be inoculated with it, without the hazard of communicating the dif ease to any other perfons in the house, who may not choose to undergo the operation; an advantage fo fingular, and of fuch value, as to give it a decided fuperiority over inoculation with small-pox matter, even although the two diseases had been equally dangerous. Although these circumftances have been frequently noticed before, yet a repetition of them cannot be thought fuperfluous, in a matter of fo much importance to the community; the zeal and philanthropy of The ingenious wrisers, in thus ftepping forward in the cause of humanity, are therefore highly commendable. ART. 34. Practical Obfervations on the Nature and Treatment of fome exafperated Symptoms attending the Venereal Difeafe. By Edward Geoghegan, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, c. 12mo. 75 PP. 35. The author, who appears to be well experienced on the fubject he treats of, confines his view to a few of the more troublesome and dangerous fymptoms of the venereal difeafe, the nature and treatment of which have not, he thinks, been so clearly defined, as to enable the young practitioner to know what is the belt course that in such cases fhould be followed. He firft treats of phymafis and periphymafis These were more than ordinarily frequent and diftreffing, in the courfe of the year 1799, than he had ever known them at any other time. This he confidered as arifing rather from fome peculiar difpofition of the atmosphere, than from any alteration or increafed malignity of the venereal virus. Typhus fever, he fays, was unufually frequent and fatal in London, in that feason; and in Ireland, difeafe, he does not fay what," raged very generally among horfes," and adds," it is a fact, that at the time epidemics are prevalent among the human fpecies, a great mortality has almost always been obferved among those and other animals." In the inflammatory ftate of phymafis, bleeding and the antiphlogiftic procefs fhould be purfued, previous to the exhibition of mercury. By using mercury too early, that is, before the inflammatory diathefis is fubdued, floughing of the chancres and mortification of the parts are induced, or the chancres fpread, and become phagedenic. This had led fome able practitioners, he fays, to fufpect the existence of fome new species of poifon, to which they have attributed the mifchief. But the poifon was the mercury, adminiftered when the constitution was not in a state to bear its action. He fupports this doctrine by the authority of Wiseman, Aftruc, and Van Swietan, and by the practice of the most experienced French furgeons. In the phagedenic chancre no mercury fhould be given, and the applications to the part fhould be of the moft mild and foothing kind. Where floughX ing BRIT. CRIT. VOL, XVIH, SEPT. 1801. ing takes place, we fhould have immediate recourfe to bark, opium, or Cicuta. The two latter he feems to condemn in thofe cafes in toto, and bark fhould not be given, he fays, until the tendency to inflammation is entirely fubdued. On the whole, the practical rules contained in this little publication, feen well deferving the attention of Tyras in furgery. ART. 35. An Introduction to a Courfe of Lectures on the Operations of 1801. The preliminary ftudies neceffary for perfons about to commence practitioners in furgery, particularly the qualities requifite to form fuccefsful operators, are here laid down in an ingenious and judicious manner, to fuch therefore it may prove a useful manual. ART. 36. The Inflitutions of the Practice of Medicine, delivered in a Courfe of Lectures, by Jo. Baptift Bueferius de Kanifeld. Tranflated from the Latin, by William Cullen Brown. In Frve Volumes. Vol. I. and II. 8vo. 8s. each Vol. Cadell and Davies. 1800. Bueferius has with great diligence collected the opinions of all the moft accredited authors, ancient and modern, on the fubjects he treats of, and occafionally given commentaries on them, often with fufficient acutenefs and ingenuity; but the work can be confidered as little more than a text book, and feems hardly wanted, in this country at least, where the fubjects have been fo amply and judicioully treated by Cullen and other of our own writers. The volumes before us are confined to the investigation of the nature and treatment of fever; the remainder of the work will be comprifed, the editor tells us, in three more volumes, which will appear as early as it can be conceived the reader will have digefted what is here produced. Not having the original before us, which the editor fays is become extremely fcarce, and which he alledges as his reafon for tranflating it, we can fay nothing as to the fidelity or accuracy with which he has performed his tafk; but as his language is generally plain, and the account of the different fpecies of fever intelligible, and fuch as correfponds with the theories of the authors to whom they are referred, the ftudent, we dare say, may have a fufficiently clear idea of the principles of the author, from reading what is here furnished him. LAW. ART. 37. The Modern Practice of levying Fines and fuffering Recoveries, in the Court of Common Pleas at Weftminster. With an Appendix of felect Precedents. By W. Hands, Gent. One of the Attornies of the Court, 155 pp. 4s. 6d. Butterworth. 1800. We recommend this as a plain and useful treatise, upon the subject which it profeffes to embrace. It is confined to a statement of the mere mere practical form in which these modes of common affurances are carried into effect, and very properly refers, for the legal doctrines upon the fubject of fines and recoveries, to thofe authors who have already treated of them in an ample manner. The Appendix contains tables of the various fees and charges that are made at the feveral offices, which must be of ufe to attornies, in advifing their clients, and in making out their own bills. We were forry to note that the term præcipe, which fignifies imperatively "command," is frequently fpelled with an a final, instead of an e. The circumftance does not speak much in favour of Mr. H.'s fkill in the Latin tongue. ART. 38. A View of the principal Parts of the most important Statutes relating to Game; with explanatory Cafes and Obfervations. By an Attorney. 8vo. 132 pp. 35. Ellis, Ashburton; Lackington, Allen, and Co. London. 1801. The author ftates, by a prefixed Advertisement, that he "writes not for profeffional men, but merely for the sportsman, who is neither led by bufinefs nor inclination to ftudy the yellow leaves of mufty ftatutes." It is fo common for people to defpife what they cannot underftand, that an attack made upon the ftatute law by this attorney might be paffed over without obfervation. But wherefore fhould he, in a fit of metaphoric rage, fall foul of his Majesty's law-printers? Why abufe the fheets which come from their prefs as yellow, and reprobate the volumes as mufty? If he has never feen the ftatute-books, we can affure him, as a fact, that the leaves are more fair, and we fear the volumes lefs likely to become mufty, at least through want of using, than thofe of his own tract. We are compelled to augur thus unfavourably, inafmuch as he pronounces a pretty decifive judgment againft his work, when he folicits exclufively for readers, thofe who must be unqualified to eftimate its merits. To profeffional men, it is declared forbidden ground. He has pofted up this placard on the confines of his literary manor, to warn us among others from trefpaffing on the premifes. We are too much of fportsmen to be guilty of poaching, and even difdain to enter without leave, although we might justify it by law when in full cry after vermin. We have indeed taken a peep over the hedge, and feel little inclination to flip our critical dogs from their couples, to draw fuch unpromifing covers. We perceived Burn's Juftice, title, "Game," fnugly bagged for a chace, and a note or two of Mr. Chriftian's, prepared for a drag. When fuch is the game, we leave him, without regret, to the companions he has bespoken; for, to adopt an image from another sport, if we are to shoot folly as it flies," we will beat for it at least in POLITICS. ART. 39. Financial Facts of the Eighteenth Century; or, a curfory View, with comparative Statements, of the Revenue, Expenditure, Debts, Manufactures, and Commerce of Great Britain. Second Edition. 8vo. 88 pp. 25.6d. Wright. 1801. This auther purfues nearly the fame train of reafoning as Dr. Clarke (whole work we have fo lately and fo fully exhibited) and refers to the fame authentic documents. His object is to fhow, that "the national resources have not even yet been intirely called forth, and that fhould any future exigency unhappily render it neceffary to draw them more fully into action, they may, like the cords of a bow, be ftrained to a greater tenfion than it is poffible at prefent to imagine, without the risk of breaking the one or the other." To prove this point he prefents us, first, with an abstract of the receipts of the revenue for one year, from Michaelmas, 1700, to Michaelmas, 1701, by which it appears, that the total revenue for the first year of the eighteenth century was 3,769,3751. To this he oppofes the estimated, permanent, and temporary revenue for the last year, ending on July, 1800, which amounted to 36,728,000l. and makes the total additional revenue in 100 years to be 32,958,6251. He then gives a fhort account of the public revenue for the preceding hundred years, and fhows its increafe from the year 1600 to 1700, obferving that," although during the laft hundred years, our burdens have increased in a twelvefold degree, yet it will appear that our exports and imports, trade and manufactures, and confequently public and private wealth, have alfo increated, and kept pace with the taxes impofed on the nation." This affertion is fupported by flatements of the annual value of exports and imports at the clofe of King William's reign, of the value of exports and imports for the year ending January 5, 1800, of the value of exports and imports on an average of fix years of peace, ending January 5, 1793, and, lastly, of the amount of the public revenue on an average of fix years, ending at the fame period." From all the foregoing refults, he infers, that "the wealth and refources of the nation have been progrefiively increafing, during the laft century, in a greater ratio than our taxes, and from the above-mentioned caufes, as well as the effects refulting from the comparative value of labour, provifions, improvements in agriculture and manufactures, alfo the increafed circulation of gold and filver in the kingdom," he is of opinion, that the fubjects of the British empire, with a few exceptions, feels at this moment lefs the various burdens impofed upon them, than our predeceffors in the beginning of the eighteenth century." Mr. Rofe's able pamphlet on the Revenue is also referred to, in order to fhow, that the increased revenue will exceed the peace establishment; and the lowness of intereft, with the improved value of land, are adduced as proofs of our wealth and profperity. Thefe proofs having appeared in our accounts of the works of other writers, need not be detailed detailed here. To the tax upon income (which in a general view he highly commends) he thinks fome amendments might be made, particularly by apportioning the fums charged to the nature of each perfons ucome; and he recommends a repeal of fome taxes on neceffaries; but he hows that our taxes, fo far as laid on articles of general confumption and luxury, contribute to the public welfare, by promoting an active and regular circulation, exciting induftry, encouraging talents, and repreffing idleness." He obferves alfo, that many oppreffive fources of taxes, peculiar to other countries, have not been introduced into this. The late scarcity, this writer fhows by authentic documents, cannot juftly be attributed to the war, nor to the increase of Bank paper. The remedy propofed is, an extenfion of cultivation. Other important remarks occur; and the beneficial confequences of the Sinking Fund, eftablished by the late Minifter, are placed in a ftriking point of view. The author deferves praife, both for the object of his work, and the manner in which it is executed. ART. 40. The Political Interefts of Great Britain: in which_are included the neceffary Meafures for procuring au advantageous and permanent Peace with France and her Allies; for terminating our Differ ences with the Northern Confederate Powers concerning the Freedom of Neutral Maritime Commerce, and reftoring Plenty to the United King doms. By George Edwards, Efq. 8vo. 356 pp. 75. Johnson. 1801. We profefs not to be politicians, but (to the beft of our abilities) critics; and it cannot therefore be expected that we should discuss every opinion thrown out by the political writers of the day, or examine the grounds of all their fpeculations. But as every reasonable and reflecting man has his opinions on questions of public policy, fo there are occafions which call upon him to avow them; and one of thofe occafions is, we conceive, the review of a political work like the prefent, comprehending almoft every topic which the critical fituation of Europe has brought into difcuffion, launching into fpeculations contrary, for the most part, to the fentiments of all enlightened statesmen, and dogmatizing in oppofition to facts notorious, or indifputably proved. From fuch a chaos of heterogeneous matter as is contained in this treatife, it is difficult, or rather impoffible, to felect all the facts and arguments on which the author relies, and comprize the remarks fuggefted by them within the fpace to which we are limited. We muft there. fore confine ourselves to a few statements and obfervations. To the author's propofal for the improvement of cultivation by the establishment of agricultural focieties in different parts of the kingdom, with a central fociety in London, co-operating with the Board of Agriculture, we fee no reafon to object. This, however, occupies but a fmall portion of the work; the chief of which confifts of fpeculations on politics, foreign and domestic. In thefe, the author has put a ftring of cafes (as he calls them) of European policy, which contain his opinions refpecting the conduct to be obferved by Europe in general, and Great Britain in particular, as to certain ftates, and with re gard |