sical science. He went to Edinburgh in 1760, and devoted three years to the study of physic in that university. He there formed , an intimacy with several men who have distinguished themselves by their subsequent publications; and the friendship of early years was cherished and preserved by correspondence on subjects of general interest which engaged their mutual attention. During his residence in London, Dr Percival cultivated his acquaintance with Lord Willoughby; and, in consequence of the cheering patronage and recommendation of this learned and accomplished nobleman, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, at an early period of his life. With a view to complete his medical studies, he went to Leyden in 1765, and was there admitted to the degree of Doctor of Physic: his thesis was "De Frigore." After travelling through various parts of France and Holland, he returned home, and married an amiable and accomplished woman, and settled at Manchester in 1767. This large and populous town opened a wide field for his exertions; amidst such numerous manufactories, and such a crowded population, he had continued occasions for the display of his talents as a physician, as a moralist, and as a public character. He rose to great eminence in his profession, and his merit was not lost in the vastness of the circle of his employment; a situation in which many practitioners are placed. In the intervals of professional engagements, he employed himself in philosophical and experimental inquiries, the result of which were published through the medium of periodical works; for it was not then the fashion to make a volume with what was barely sufficient to fill one chapter. A collection of his inquiries were soon after printed together, under the title of "Medical, Philosophical, and Experimental Essays." These were well received, and are deservedly popular, because they are level with the comprehension of most readers, and communicate useful knowledge in plain and perspicuous language. Medical subjects did not occupy his whole attention-his taste for literary pursuits, and the desire of doing good, led him to direct his attention to topics of a more general nature. He was a zealous advocate for the charitable institutions at Manchester, and took an active part in managing the affairs of the Warrington Academy. The studies most grateful to him were those which include the human mind, and especially the moral constitution of mankind: his attachment to speculations of this kind showed itself in his correspondence and his conversation, and especially in the pleasing compositions which he published for the instruction of young persons. At a country residence, a few miles from Manchester, he amused himself, amidst the pleasures of retirement with his family, by writing moral

moral tales, fables, and reflections, for the use of his own children; and if the reputation of a book be estimated by the number of its readers, the "Father's Instructions" must rank as the first of Dr Percival's productions, both in this country and on the Continent. When population and comparative mortality were favourite themes of political disquisition, Dr Percival associated his name with Price and Franklin in these statistical researches ; and he communicated to the Royal Society some valuable documents, showing the comparative healthiness of different situations, employments, and modes of life, and demonstrating the insalubrity of large towns and confined occupations. It appears, that he had it in contemplation, at one time, to offer himself a candidate for a fellowship in the London College of Physicians; having the natural wish of every man, whose success assures him that he has some merit, the laudable ambition of being associated with the most eminent of his contemporaries. Some feelings of personal attachment to some members of that royal corporation, might be an additional inducement for his wishing for the honour of being chronicled with them; but the honour was not obtained, and it ceased to be coveted when the private motive was done away, so that Dr Percival's name floats down the stream of time with those of Fothergill, Dobson, Darwin, Currie, and others, who will not be forgotten, although an English university did not contribute in any way to save them from oblivion. The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester is indebted to Dr Percival for its origin, besides for many miscellaneous essays which adorn their memoirs. He presided over that institution for many years, and the members have erected a tablet to perpetuate their esteem and regard for their friend and founder. One of his last and best works is a code of institutes and precepts for the professional conduct of physicians and surgeons, entitled "Medical Ethics," in which he has drawn a portrait of himself, by tracing, with his own hand, what sort of character a physician ought to be." His merits, as a practitioner of physic," says one of his eloquent biographers," and not less the benefits conferred by him on medical science, are too generally understood and confessed to require any minuteness of detail; a quick penetration, a discriminating judgment, a patient attention, a comprehensive knowledge, and, above all, a deep sense of responsibility, were the endowments which so conspicuously fitted him at once to discharge the duties, and extend the boundaries of the healing art. His exterior accom. plishments and manners were alike happily adapted to the offices of his profession. To an address peculiarly engaging, from its uncommon mixture of dignity, respectfulness, and ease, was

united a gravity of deportment that bespoke the seriousness of interest, not the gloom of apprehension. The expression of a benign sympathy which, on every occasion of distress, his features borrowed from the genuine feelings of the kindest commiseration, presented him likewise the comforter in the physician; and the topics of encouragement and consolation which the goodness of his heart, and the ample stores of a cultivated mind so abundantly supplied, enabled him to administer relief to the wounds of the spirit, with no less efficacy than to diseases of the body."

A complete edition of Dr Percival's works has been lately published by his son, who has prefixed memoirs of his life and writings, and a selection from his literary correspondence. Biography has only to indulge in the language of panegyric, and a faithful character of its present su ject is drawn. To those who had no personal acquaintance with him, his writings betray the cultivated taste and the amiable man; and to his more intimate friends, the charms of his conversation will furnish never-failing sources of pleasing recolle tions. The history of nations is considered of importance, as giving lessons of experience; and, though precedent may be more useful, perhaps, where numbers are concerned to act, than to individuals, yet there is no form of advice which so immediately predisposes to concurrence as the quotation of some analogous case, and nothing more pleasing than to hold up the character of a wise and good physician, to encourage imitation.

IX.

Observations on the Operation of Lithotomy. By ALLAN BURNS, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery, Glasgow.

THE

HE operation of lithotomy, which, even when skilfully executed, is attended with danger, is often rendered more hazardous by being improperly performed. It becomes, therefore, an object of much moment to the surgeon, to study carefully the nature of the parts about the pelvis; to consider the operation in every possible point of view; and to select the most proper instruments. The gorget is at present the instrument in general use. Most surgeons are, however, displeased with it, and though they are willing to allow, that a more proper instrument might be found, yet few are inclined to exchange it for any other; they continue to employ it, not because they look upon it as well

adapted

adapted for the end for which it was introduced, but merely because it was transmitted to them by their forefathers, who knew no better mode of operating. The objections to the employment of the gorget are not unknown; they are numerous, and very fully explained by Mr John Bell, in his splendid work on litho tomy. Surgeons considering these inconveniences, have proposed different mechanical contrivances, and various modes of operating have rapidly succeeded each other, which is a convincing proof, that none yet proposed are calculated to obviate the dan

ger.

The most ancient operation on record, that of cutting on the gripe, is essentially defective, and is liable to much uncertainty, the parts cut varying, according to the degree of force employed by the operator, in projecting the stone into the perineum. When little exertion is made, if the incision be begun just behind the scrotum, the urethra may be altogether detached from the prostate; nay, even where the external incision has been very properly made, the gland may be divided by a transverse cut, or, if the stone be much pushed out, the bladder may be entered beyond the prostate, and thus both the vesiculæ seminales and vasa deferentia, must inevitably suffer.

Fabricius Hildanus was sensible of these dangers, and attempted to obviate them by cutting on a staff introduced along the urethra into the bladder. He began his incision in the perineum, about half an inch to the side of the raphe, and he continued the cut, inclining the knife, as he proceeded, towards the hip. He continued to divide the parts till he reached the staff, after which he enlarged the wound to such an extent, as to permit him easily to extract the stone, which he had formerly brought into the neck of the bladder, by pressure with the fingers in the rectum. In extracting the stone, he employed a hook.

This modification and improvement on the Celsian mode, is still, by some able surgeons, employed in operating on young subjects, and is, in many respects, similar to the one ascribed by Mr John Bell to Raoues, an operator whose merits have been variously estimated by his friends and enemies. By the former, his cures were represented as miraculous, and his dexterity was reported in language calculated to stagger belief. On the other hand, if we give credit to the stories related by his numerous host of opponents, we shall be led to view him as a mere pretender, an interested impostor, who scrupled not to cut those who placed themselves under his care, whether they had a stone in their bladder or not. By some it has even been asserted, that he never entered the bladder, but merely made an incision into the perineum; produced a stone, with which he had taken care

to

to provide himself; then he desired the patient to caper for a time about the room, after which the sore was dressed, and the patient put to bed. When no stone had been in the bladder, it is reported, that the agitation of the system, and the high expectations which were raised, sometimes removed the anomalous affection which had led to the supposition of calculus; but it is confidently asserted, that where the person actually had a stone in the bladder, the pain soon recurred, a new operation required to be performed by some one better qualified to do so than Raoues. These idle stories are noticed, and formally refuted by Mr J. Bell, who ascribes their invention to the envy of those who were less successful than Raoues, and who dreaded his rising reputation.

Romanis and Marianus introduced, on speculative grounds, or, as some have asserted, from worse motives, an operation, rude and painful in its performance, and very fatal in its consequences. They pretended, that wounds of membranous parts were mortal, but they taught that these parts might with impunity be dilated; and on this principle of dilatation, Romanis invented a complex and dangerous plan of operating; one very incompetent to fulfil the end proposed; one which, although supposed only to dilate, yet in reality lacerated the parts. The consequences of this rude treatment of the delicate bladder, were such as might naturally have been expected to result, from the violence employed in tearing open the prostate gland. Sloughing of the urethra, and gangrene of the neck of the bladder, were by no means unfrequent occurrences, and few, if they escaped those greater evils, recovered without fistula. This mode of operating, which had been long established, and in high repute, was displaced, to make way for the rude commencement of the lateral operation, a plan introduced by Frere Jaques, an illiterate but bold operator, who, despising authority, operated after a fashion of his own. At the beginning of his career, his success was by no means great, but still, by the novelty and simplicity of his plan, he made many converts, and while he was abused by one party, he had honorary rewards conferred on him by another. When he began to operate, he was completely ignorant of the structure of the parts he had to cut; he therefore proceeded on no fixed principle, but sometimes divided one part, sometimes another. From this cause, as well as from his bestowing no care on his patients after having removed the stone, his operations were on the whole unsuccessful. Among those, however, who witnessed his operations, there were a few who knew anatomy well, and valued it justly: These prevailed on Frere Jaques to submit to instruction; they dissected and demonstrated to him the parts in the perineum,

and