The slider and lid are attached to each other by means of an iron bar, twenty-three inches long, on each side, running from the cross piece of one to that of the other. A roller is placed behind the lid, about six inches from the hinges; the diameter of this roller is four inches, and its length twentytwo, exclusive of its axis at each end, one of which projects beyond the side of the bedstead, and has a crank or windlass affixed to it. From the cross piece of the lid to the roller passes a rope on each side, which is confined along the cleets by two pullies, one immediately behind the cross piece and the other just before the roller; and from the middle of the cross piece passes another rope to be attached to the middle of the roller, where its diameter is reduced to about one half.

The ropes on the sides wind in one and the same way, whilst that in the middle goes in the opposite direction, so that as the two side ropes are wound up, the middle one is unwound, and vice versa. When therefore the roller is turned in one direction, the side ropes relax and the middle one becomes tense, thereby drawing the lid down; and as the slider is attached to the lid by the iron bars, and is at the same time confined between the cleets, it can only slide along them, by which means the hole in the slider comes directly under that in the board.

A pan is attached to the slider, by three small cleets which confine its brim around the margin of the hole.

The mattress differs from the common ones, only in being perforated in the centre to correspond with the broad board, and having tapes at each corner to tie around the bed-posts. A cushion is tacked to the lid, so that when kept up it fills the vacancy in the mattress.

In the sheet which covers the mattress, a crucial section is made and its corners turned back.`

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.

Fig. 1. A view of the bed-stead complete, with the lid half way down. a. a. A small peg to confine the crank when the pan is not in use. Fig. 2. The mattress, with strings at the corners to fasten it to the bedposts, and a circular opening to correspond with that in the bedstead.*

Fig. 3. The broad board inverted to exhibit the machinery: viz.

a. A circular hole in the board which opens on the pan.

bb. bb. The two cleets.

c. The lid.

d. A circular block, answering in size and thickness to the hole in

the broad board, nailed to the lid.

e. The slider.

f. The pot, which should be made of tin.

gh.gh. The iron bars.

i. The cylindrical roller.
k. The crank or windlass.

U. ll. The side ropes.

mm. The middle rope.

nn. The pullies on one side, two answering to them on the other.

Fig. 4. The lid.

a. a. The hinges by which it is fastened to the broad board.

b. The circular block represented by d. in Fig. 3.

c. c. The projecting ends of the cross piece.

Fig. 5. A circular cushion to fit and fill the hole in the mattress, and which is to be tacked to the block represented by b. in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6. The slider.

a.a. The cross piece.

b.b.b. Three small cleets to confine the brim of the pan.

c. A hole through which a pin is put to confine the pot more completely.

Fig. 7. The roller and crank.

Fig. 8. One of the iron bars; the other being like it.

* The opening in the mattress is omitted, by a mistake of the engraver.

ELOGE OF AMBROSE PARE',

THE FATHER OF SURGERY IN FRANCE;

BY DR. VIMONT.

[From the London Monthly Magazine, for October 1814.]

To describe the great man whose eulogy we now propose, it will perhaps be sufficient to present, on a limited scale, such actions of his life as are best calculated to exhibit the groundwork of his native character, together with his most celebrated inventions; which, when compared with each other, will strongly reflect the image of his mind. Thus neglecting details, which are too often inaccurate, and which besides belong rather to biography than to science, we shall take up Paré, when yielding to his destiny and carried away by his taste for study, and the exercise of an art which expected from him its revival and renown, he arrived in the capital of France, the best theatre for the talents of such a man.

The physiological and philosophical principles of Paré are nearly those of Galen and the Arabian physicians. Vesalius was his guide in anatomy. The sketch which he has given of the system of the latter in his works contains all that was known at that period, with respect to that most essential basis of surgery, and every thing of importance then known in the treatment of diseases and the performance of surgical operations. We find him following the doctrine of Hippocrates in every thing relative to tumours in general, and wounds of the head in particular.

At the outset of his career he perceived that, circumscribed within the confined circle of faulty processes and limited to defective and sometimes barbarous modes of operating, surgery marched by the uncertain and deceitful light of erroneous principles, which, transmitted by the Greeks and Arabs, had been adopted almost without restriction down to the six