is thus increased, and, according to his own doctrine, it must tend more to take off any fpafmodic action that may be excited in the lachrymal fack. In the 2d paper Mr. W. recommends corrofive fublimate to be given internally in the intermittent ophthalmy. The fupplement to this paper contains some remarkable appearances in the diffection of two difeafed eyes. On the extraction of the cataract, the author proves the inutility of skill in the affiftant, having performed the operation nine times by the affiftance of four different perfons, and four times by that of his own footman. The paper on the introduction of the male catheter is accompanied with a plate, reprefenting the fize and moft proper form of this inftrument. Mr. W. recommends introducing it into the urethra, at first, with the convex fide uppermoft, and gives particular directions as to the mode of turning it, after having paffed a certain way, fo as to bring the convex fide undermoft, to humour the right direction of the urethra. We agree with him, that much caution is neceffary in this part of the operation; but we know that many able practitioners are not yet convinced of the neceffity of turning it at all; and we know that in most cases it answers perfectly in the more fimple mode of introduction. Mr. W's obfervations, relating to the eye, feem to be the refult of experience, and we hope that his further practice will confirm him in his opinion, that he has found a specific fuperior to the bark in Intermittent Ophthalmy. POLITICS. ART. 25. Cafe of the Proprietors of India Annuities, on the Notice given by the Right Honourable the Speaker of the House of Commons, March 25, 1791; and the Renewal of the Charter of the East India Company; nov under Difcuffion: fubmitted to the Confideration of his Majesty's Minifers, and both Houses of Parliament. 8vo. IS. Stockdale. This is a plaufible argument, to prove that the notice which government was by law obliged to give to the proprietors of Eaft India annuities previous to the determination of the charter fhould take effect; although the legiflator fhould decide on a renewal of the charter. The writer admits that fimilar notices have always been given under the like circumftances, but that the proprietors have always acquiefed in the continuance of the annuities, nor would the prefent claim have been fet up, we fufpect, had the 3 per cents rifen to par, or even remained at 97. The India Company is the creditor of the public for more than one fourth of the annuities, yet we do not hear that the chairman has in the name of that body called on government for the difcharge of the debt, nor have we heard that it was mentioned as a neceffary confequence of the notice, in of the difcuffions which have of late taken place at the India House, on the fobject of the charter. any According to the ftrict letter of the notice, a fpecial pleader per haps would tell us, that the public were bound to discharge the debts; but according to the (pirit of it, we conceive, all which it contained was done away, as foon as the legislature refolved on a renewal of the Eaft India Company's charter. FAST SERMONS. ART. 26. By Richard Lord Bishop of Gloucester, before the House of Lords. 4to, 1s. Walter. After illuftrating the figurative ftyle of the text (Rom. xi. 21.). his lordship employs it as a proof, that God judges nations in their collective capacity. He then accurately diftinguishes the nature of Jewish difpenfation, directed immediately to certain temporal objects, from that of the Christian Covenant, “ which has no direct reference "to any particular forms of civil establishment-its main object being placed beyond the limits of this world." It is then thown, from the example of the Romans, that the fubverfion of principle is the fubverfion of temporal profperity; and the reasons are pointed out why France has not taken advantage of this or any other warn ing. The pacific nature of our public councils is then explained, with the neceffities that forcibly drew us " from the bofom of peace, into the unwelcome calamities and horrors of war. We are then warned not to prefume too much even on the justice of our cause, and directed to examine whether we may not, as well as our enemies, deferve chastisement: and the whole is concluded by a strong recommendation of a general interior reform of our hearts, and of our conduct. Such are the exact outlines of this judicious discourse. Even this brief view may enable our readers to form fome judgment of it, which would be more favourable, as well as more juft, if they were to perufe the whole. ART. 27. By Dr. Huntingford, before the House of Commons. 4to. IS. Walter. 66 In the opening of this difcourfe, it is ftrongly and ably stated, that the evils we lately had cause to apprehend from our anarchizing enemies, were more fevere than any, either political or phyfical, which have befallen our ancestors; and more to be dreaded than any danger of the fword that war can threaten with. The French are confidered as the perfons who, in the words of the text (Habbakuk ii. 12.) “build their town with blood, and establish their city by iniquity," ," and we cannot but give our full affent to the preacher, when he fays, that " in our (public) reference of measures adopted for the prefervation of national fafety and national faith, to the "ultimate Disposer of all events, we fhow ourselves to be not more practically pious than philofophically wife." The remainder of the fermon is chiefly employed in evincing the neceffity of religious principles for the fecurity of political order: and the whole is written in a strong ftyle of manly eloquence, that does honour to the taste, as well as to the abilities of the author. FOREIGN CATALOGUE. FRANCE. ART. 28. Almanach littéraire, ou étrennes d'Apollon année: 1793; par Rabelais d'Aquin, petit in 12mo. de 240 pages. A Paris, prix 36s. THE HIS collection, of which the firft volume appeared in 1777, is greatly recommended by the variety, as well as the judicious choice of the materials of which it is compofed, fuch as lively ftories, odes, epiftles, fables, quatrains, epigrams, fongs, moral and philofophi cal cal fentiments, amufing anecdotes, traits of patriotifm, concife and well imagined necrologic articles, on the literary characters who died in the course of the last year, together with an interefting account of fome of the latest publications. Among thefe, we were particularly ftruck with the Parnaffe moderne, a fhort fatyrical poem, compofed by Voltaire in his youth, which is not to he found in any of the editions of his works. The author wrote this piece to avenge himself of the Academy. We will tranfcribe his own words. "At the age of feventeen, fays he, I compofed an ode for the purpofe of obtaining the prize in the French Academy, which, however, fell to the lot of the Abbé Dujarry. The public indeed did not subfcribe to the opinion of the Academy. I remember, among other fingular mistakes, with which the fuccefsful poem abounded, there was the following verfe: "Et des poles brulans jufqu'aux poles glacés." It was to Houdart la Motte, who did not pretend to scientific knowledge, that the Abbé Dujarry was indebted for this diftinction. When he was blamed for this decifion, and the verse just mentioned pointed out to him; "this," replied he," is a queftion in natural philofophy, and fhould be referred to the Academy of fciences, rather than to ours. Befides I am by no means convinced that there are no poles brulans; and then the Abbé Dujarry is my particular friend." This gave occafion to the following epigram; La Motte préfident au prix Qu'on diftribue aux beaux efprits, Les vainqueurs des jeux Olympiques : Il fit un vrai pas d'Ecolier, Et Dujarry pour un poëte. From the pieces in profe by Mirabeau, Condorcet, Manuel, Villette, &c. we fhall felect a fragment by Mirabeau, in which the editor obferves, that J. J. Rouffeau is appreciated fomewhat late, as he should have been during his life. We think him much overrated. "It is not," fays Mirabeau, "for his great talents that I envy this extraordinary man, but for his virtue, which was the fource of his eloquence and the foul of his works. "I was acquainted with J. J. Rouffeau, and knew many of those who vifited him. He was always the fame; full of integrity, candour and fimplicity, without any kind of pride or duplicity, unable alike to conceal his defects, or to difplay his good qualities. Those who have cenfured him, are to be excufed only on the score of their imperfect knowledge of his character. "All men are not formed to conceive the fublimity of such a mind, nor can we ever be properly judged but by our peers. "Whatever may be thought or faid of him in the age to come, which is the term allowed by envy to his detractors, there perhaps never before exifted fo virtuous a man, because he was fo, under the conviction that that the world did not give credit to the fincerity of his writings and of his actions. He was fo, in fpite of nature, of fortune, and of mankind, from which he experienced nothing but pain, difappointment, calumny, chagrin and perfecution. He was fo, though he poffeffed at the fame time the moft lively fenfibility to injuftice and oppreffion. He was fo, in defiance of thofe weakneffes, which he has not scrupled to expose in the memoirs of his life. "J. J. derived infinitely greater advantages from his paffions, than any which they might be fuppofed to have gained over him. Endued,' perhaps, with the incorruptible and virtuous mind of an epicurean, he preferved in his morals the rigid conduct of stoicifm. "To whatever improper ufe his confeffions may be perverted, they will ftill evince the fincerity of a man, who spoke as he thought, wrote as he spoke, lived as he wrote, and died as he had lived.” By way of fupplement, we are prefented with a tranflation of the defcent of Orpheus, taken from the beginning of the tenth book of Ovid's Metamorphofis, and a poem addreffed to a lady on St. Therefa's day, both by Mr. de St. Ange. Journ. Encylop. ART. 29. Recherches diététiques du médecin patriote, fur la fanté & fur les maladies obfervées dans les féminaires, les penfionnats, chez les ouvriers en dentelles; fuivies de réflexions fur le traitement de la petite vérole, & d'un mémoire fur le regime des convalefcens & des valétu dinaires, par M. C. D. Balme, docteur en medecine, &c. In 12mo. de 237 pp. Au Puy, prix 11. 10s. The first of the fix articles, which compofe the prefent work, relates to the management of public feminaries for the education of ecclefiaftics. Among other plans for renewing the air in thefe fmall rooms, in which it is often rendered mephitic, and of courfe injurious to health, not only by the little attention paid to cleanlinefs by the perfons who inhabit them, but likewise by respiration, and the lights made use of in them, our author thinks it would be advifeable to conftruct the upper part of the doors of every apartment with a wire lattice, to be covered by a pannel, which might be opened at pleafure. This part of the door the perfon, to whom the apartment belongs, fhould be required to leave open at all times, except in the night and the cold feafon, and more particularly during his absence. By means of this, in addition to other advantages, thofe whofe duty it is to infpect thefe apartments, would be enabled to obferve whether they are cleanly kept; and the emulation, which such a regulation would produce, would itself contribute indirectly to the preservation of health. The fecond article treats of boarding-fchools in general, and contains many obfervations, which are equally applicable to the public feminaries juft defcribed. Among other fashionable practices, dangerous to health, M. B. confiders that of expofing the heads and bofoms of children uncovered to the open air at all feafons, as peculiarly unfafe. The next article regards the manufacturers of lace. He conceives that the ufe of ftays, which are juftly decried as prejudicial to the health of other women, may, in this, and fimilar employments, be advantageous to them; feveral perfons of this defcription, who had at tempted tempted to leave them off, having experienced fuch intolerable pains in their reins and fhoulders, as made it abfolutely neceffary for them to refume them on returning to their labour. The fourth article contains reflections on the natural and inoculated fmall-pox. The author is convinced that neither the cool, nor the heating regimen fhould be exclufively recommended, but that each may be proper in different cafes, nay even that it may be fometimes neceffary to treat the fame patient, at different ftages of the disease, according to both methods. He conceives, however, that what he calls the méthode échauffante is more likely to be carried to excess, and that by adopting it, it is impoffible to avoid fome inconveniences to which the other is not liable. The next article is entitled "A Memoir on the Regimen of Per fons Convalefcent and Valetudinarian," in which Mr. B. examines the merit of different precepts relative to diet, originating rather in prejudice than reason, and in which he expofes the notions of certain medical theorists, who recommend to their patients, under the specious name of antifeptics, the exclufive ufe of certain aliments, fuch as vegetables and water, either pure, or just tinged with wine, as refources against thofe infirmities, which an ordinary attention to fobriety and temperance would, of itself, be sufficient to prevent. Ibid. The last article is a differtation on the Puerperal Fever. ART. 30. Le pour & le contre Recueil complet des opinions prononcées à l'affemblée conventionelle, dans le procès de Louis XVI: ony a joint toutes les pieces authentiques de la procédure. A Paris; l'an premier de la république. 4 voll. gr. in 8vo. "The tranfaction of a people fitting in judgment by their reprefentatives on him, to whom they had entrusted the executive power of their conftitution, which they imagined him to have abused, for the purpose of oppreffing their growing liberty, was," fay the editors, uncontrovertibly great and auguft. They conceive it would not be advancing too much to affert, that hiftory does not furnish fuch another event. Το compare this cafe with that of Charles I. would be inaccurate; the latter not lefs unfortunate, perhaps, than culpable, was ftill invested with the power delegated to him by the nation, when it paffed judgment on him; and this circumftance contributed to increase the feverity of their decifion. The English condemned their king, and afterwards for a time abolished royalty; whereas the French, on the contrary, firft abolished royalty, and then proceeded to pafs fentence on an individual, who had been their king. Agreeably to these confi derations, the editors incline to the opinion, that Louis, however culpable he may have been, might without danger have become an objec of indulgence to a victorious nation, who having punished the moral perfon by declaring his throne forfeited, fhould have fcorned, or rather fhould have thought thernfelves no longer at liberty, to strike with the avenging fword the phyfical perfon. They flatter themselves that the avowal of thefe fentiments, which carry in them nothing decifive, will ferve to eftablish their own impartiality, as well as the authenticity of the pieces tranfmitted by them to the public, without the least change, and without any further commentary.”. |