Du Port de fignis morborum libri quatuor. Quibus accedunt nota auctoris ; aliorum eruditorum medicorum; et fparfim editoris Radulphi Schomberg, M. D. Societ. Antiquar. Lond. Soc. 4to. 2s. Millar. FR RANCISCUS DU PORT wrote his Signa Morborum near 200 years ago.. -The four books which make up this work, contain only feven hundred and fourteen hexameter verfes: confequently many diseases must be omitted, and the defcriptions of those which he has taken into his catalogue muft neceffarily be very concife.-Du Port had perufed the then hiftories of difeafes with attention; and, had he likewise, by a careful examination and comparison of these hiftories, confined his choice of fymptoms to fuch as are ftrictly pathognomonic, his Signa Morborum, instead of short or abridged hiftories, would have been properly characteristic;-they would at once have been more useful and even more concife, than in the present form. To accomplish a work of this kind, and to give the general history of diseases, are labours of a very different nature. The general hiftory of a disease contains every fymptom which occurs in fuch disease; the characteristic hiftory includes only those symptoms which are pathognomonic; thofe fymptoms which characterise the disease, and by which it may be readily diftinguished from every other. If we confider the Signa Morborum of Du Port in this view, though his descriptions are frequently pertinent and expreffive, yet they are too confined to ftand for compleat hiftories, and too vague, too diffufe, to be merely characteristic.An example or two from the work itself may make the above observations more intelligible, and at the fame time will enable our Readers to judge for themselves: Diarrhea Dyfenteriæque Signa. Ulcere fi nullo bilis pituitave, fola Mixtave, declivem furiofa recumbit in alvum, Afigit, manatque cruor cum fæcibus alvi, Sæva dyfenteria eft, miferum quæ lancinat ægrum. In the first part of this quotation our Author declares a diarrhaa to be, a great discharge by ftool, of bile or phlegm, feparate or mixt.-Now a diarrhea is nothing more than a preternatural, excrementitious discharge; it is not limited either to bile or phlegm, and may be much more various, than what may arife from any mixture of thefe.In the other part of this quotation, Du Port defines the dyfentery thus ; an ulcer of the bowels, with griping pains and a discharge of blood with the fæces. An ulcer may fometimes, though very rarely, accomany the dyfentery, but is by no means to be confidered as ef fential fential to the difeafe.-Paulus Aegineta*, indeed, calls the dyfentery, an ulceration of the inteftines.'-Cælius Aurelianus a rheumatifm of the inteftines with an ulcer.-Galen + an ulcer with inflammation, bloody Tools, and pain both in the feat and inteftines.'-And it is probable that Du Port has, from the authority of these writers, added this character to his account of the dyfentery.-If our Author, however, has adopted this falfe and fuperfluous character, he has omitted others which are effential, viz. a tenefmus, with a frequent discharge of micus. -The following we apprehend to be an adequate definition of this disease; severe gripes, frequent tenefmus, and an evacuation of blood and mucus with the ftools.-The dyfentery thus defined, is eafily diftinguifhed from the cholera-morbus, diarrhea, colica-biliofa, lienteria, hepatirrhea, fluxus-bæmorrhoidalis, and every other fimilar disease. Peripneumonia Signa. In peripneumonia, dyfpnæa, ruborque genarum Interdum tuffi erumpit, febrifque perennis Æftuat, et pulfus mollis fentitur ut unda. Volvulus hinc fequitur, ftomachus quo turgidus humer, Delirant cum febre quibus manifesta phrenitis, Floccorum, pulfufque frequens, durufque, celerque. We shall make no further remarks on our Author, as the Reader will eafily form a judgment of the nature and merits of the work from the above quotations. The first edition of this work was printed at Paris by Duvall, 1534, 8vo. As to the notes which accompany this second edition, whether those of the author, the editor, or his anonymous brethren, they are all' printed without diftinction; fo that it is impoffible to determine, which of the annotators has made fo very free with the commentaries of the learned VAN SWIETEN.. -We can only say it was not Du PORT.-Compare, + Lib. ii. epidemic. Lib. iii. Cap. 42. Note Note in figna morborum Du PORT. Omnia hæc figna notant, fanguinem majori copia et impetu verfus caput tendere præterea, dum inflammatio, capitis interiora Occupat, liber fanguinis tranfitus per, vafa impeditur, adeoque fan. guis per carotides pulfus majori copia per externos illarum ramos distribuetur; unde facies vafis fanguineis diftentis turgebit magis et rubebit, et quidem tanto, magis, quo difficilior fuerit per vafa encephali humorum tranfitus. Stillicidium autem narium denotat pariter, fic urgeri impetu et copia fanguinis vafa, ut folvi incipiant, et fanguinem dimittere, fed irrito tamen conatu, quod plerumque ob fanguinem immeabilem vafis infarctum fit, qui illico concrefcens viam obtura. Vide note in phrenitidis figna, P. 11. v. 170. Plures in peripneumonia caufæ concurrunt, quæ faciunt, ut aer in fpiratus plurimum calefcere debeat. Pulmo enim infarcitur rubra craffiffima fanguinis parte, quam calori concipiendo et conceptum diu retinendo aptiffimum effe novimus: per vafa pulmonis nondum impervia, fed a vicinis obftructis et tumentibus anguftata, celerrime trajiciuntur humores, unde majorem calorem nafci debere, demonftratum fuit. Accedit, quod immeabili fanguine turgens pulmo fatis explicari nequeat, adeoque minor copia aeris fingulis infpirationibus hauriri poffit, p. 16. v. 240. Commentaria GERARDI VAN SWIETEN in BOERHAVII a phorifmos. Omnia enim hæc figna notant, fanguinem majori copia et impetu verfus caput tendere. Præterea, dum inflammatio capitis interiora occupat, liber fanguinis tranfitus per vafa impeditur, adeoque fanguis, per carotides pulfus, majori copia per externos illarum ramos diftribuetur; unde facies vafis fanguineis diftentis turgebit magis et rabebit; et quidem tanto magis, quo difficilior fuerit per vafa encephali humorum tranfitus. Patet hoc, &c.-Stillicidium autem narium denotat pariter, fic urgeri impetu et copia fanguinis vafa, ut folvi incipiant, et fanguinem dimittere, fed irrito tamen conatu, quod plerumque ob fanguinem immeabilem vafis infarctum fit, qui illico concrefcens viam obturat. Vide commentaria Van Swieten, in § 773. 4to. Plures autem in peripneumonia caufæ concurrunt, quæ faciunt, ut aer infpiratus plurimum calefcere debeat. Pulmo enim infarcitur rubra craffiffima fanguinis parte, quam calori concipiendo et conceptum diu retinendo aptiffimum effe novimus; per vafa pulmonis nondum impervia, fed a vicinis obstructis et tumentibus anguftata, celerrime trajiciuntur humores, unde majorem calorem nafci debere, in commentariis, § 382. 6. et in caloris febrilis hiftoria, demonftratum fuit. Accedit, quod immeabili fanguine turgens pulmo fatis explicari nequeat, adeoque minor copia aeris fingulis infpirationibus hauriri poffit. Vide 826. P. 724. It is not uncommon for commentators, critics, and annotators, to hit upon the fame obfervations; but to exprefs thofe obfer tions in the very fame words, is, we apprehend, a little an common. The The Elements of Heraldry; containing a clear Definition, and concije biftorical Account of that ancient, ufeful, and entertaining Science. -The Origin, Antiquity, and divers Kinds of Coats-of-Arms, with their effential and integral Parts confidered feparately.-The feveral Sorts of Efcutcheons, Tiniures, Charges, and Ornaments ufed for Coats-of-Arms.-The Marks whereby Bearers of the fame. Coat-of-Arms are diftinguished from each other.-Charges formed of Ordinaries, Celeftial Figures, Animals, Birds, Fishes, Vege tables, artificial and chimerical Figures.-The Laws of Heraldry; practical Directions for marshalling Coats-of-Arms, and the Order of Precedency-Embellished with feveral fine Cuts, and Twentyfour Copper-plates, containing above Five hundred different Examples of Efcutcheons, Arms, &c. and interfperfed with the natural Hiftory, and allegorical Signification of the feveral Species of Biras, Beafts, Fibes, &c. comprehended in this Treatife.-To which is annexed, a Dictionary of the technical Terms made use of in Heraldry. By Mark Anthony Porny, French-mafter at Eton-College. 8vo. 5s. fewed. Newbery. ERALDRY, fays this Writer, is fo noble, useful, and a fcience, that fcarce any of those studies which are confidered as polite and ornamental, can lay a juster claim to the attention of noblemen and gentlemen. For it prefents to their view the origin and foundation of thofe titles and dignities, which diftinguish them from the rest of mankind; and serves not only to tranfmit to pofterity the glory of the heroic actions, or meritorious deeds of their ancestors, but alfo to illuftrate hiftorical facts, towards establishing their rights and prerogatives, It is therefore a juft matter of wonder, that in fo learned and polifhed an age as ours, this science should be fo little attended to, as not to be confidered as a part of liberal education, Since there are fo few to be met with, even among perfons of quality, that can speak pertinently of their coats-of-arms, and either know the origin of them, or can account for the quarterings and charges they contain. The most obvious reafon that can be given for the present neglect of this valuable knowledge, is that most of the authors, who, for a century paft, have treated of Heraldry, either to heighten this fcience, or to make a vain fhew of their own erudition, have fwelled their treatises with tedious explanations of the pretended mystical fense of the colours and charges of coatsof-arms, with prepofterous reflections, and far-fetched conjec-. tures; and, in a word, with numberless trifles, fufficient to dif guft not only young gentlemen, generally taken up either with exercises exercises or pleasure, but even perfons of riper years, and more ftudiously inclined. In order to remedy thefe defects, I have carefully collected all I could find effential in the most celebrated and moft approved writers on this fubject, and have endeavoured to digeft it into fo intelligible and eafy a form, that any person of ordinary capacity may thereby be enabled to blazon the most intricate coat-of-arms: and as this epitome is chiefly defigned for the inftruction of the British youth, care has been taken to remove, as far as poffible, every obftacle that might hinder fo neceffary a science from being admitted among the other branches of polite learning; for which purpose, befides the great variety of cuts and copper-plates inferted to affift both the memory and understanding, there is added at the end of the work a dictionary for the explanation of all the technical terms, which removes one of the greatest difficulties attending the ftudy of Heraldry.' After having thus, in his preface, amply explained his defign, Mr. Porny proceeds, in the body of his work, to give us the definition, origin, and antiquity of the fcience of Heraldry, and the honour of arms, which, he says, are diftinguished into eight different forts, viz. 1. Arms of dominion,—as the three lions in the royal arms of England. 2. Arms of pretenfion,-as the three fleurs-de-lis of France, which the kings of England have quartered with their own, ever fince Edward III. laid claim to that crown. 3. Arms of conceffion,-given as a reward for fome extraordinary fervice. Thus Q. Anne granted to Sir Cloudefly Shovel, a chevron between two fleurs-de-lis in chief, and a crefcent in bafe, to denote three great victories he had gained; two over the French, and one over the Turks. 4. Arms of community, are thofe of cities, univerfities, and other bodies corporate. 5. Arms of patronage, borne by governors of provinces, &c. as a token of their rights, and jurisdiction. 6. Arms of family, or paternal-arms, meant to diftinguish one family from another. 7. Arms of alliance, are either impaled or borne in an escutcheon of pretence, and denote the alliance which families have contracted by marriage. 8. Arms of fucceffion, are fuch as are taken up by those who inherit eftates, &c. either by will, entail, or donation, and which they quarter with their own arms; whereby the bearings, in fome families, are greatly multiplied. Under the above eight claffes the divers forts of arms are ge nerally ranged; but fome blazoners have invented a ninth class, |