attachment occafions to the operator and the patient. Our author propofes immediate delivery, while Mr. Rigby, whom we have more than once mentioned, in our Journal, with refpect, advises us to wait till the os uteri is fo far relaxed, in confequence of the evacuation, as to admit of dilatation with little force. Dr. Douglas fupports his opinion, by insisting on the danger which will be the confequence of a confiderable hæmorrhage, and the eafe with which even lacerations, of the cervix uteri commonly heal. After maturely ballancing the inconveniencies of each fide, we own that we ftill think Mr. Rigby's method preferable: though, from the delay neceffary, it will never be a favourite practice with either the patient or the practitioner. The debility, from hæmorrhage, is foon restored: the confequences of irritation, even if no laceration should happen, and it will probably seldom occur, are fometimes difagreeable. We believe Dr. Douglas's mode is the most common at prefent; and we have not found it fre quently dangerous.

VII. An Account of an Aneurism of the Aorta. By Samuel Foart Simmons, M. D. F. R. S.-The fymptoms, in this hiftory, are very clearly related; and they will be of great fervice in diftinguishing between an aneurism of the aorta, and an hydrothorax; for these two difeafes, though effentially different, yet frequently produce fymptoms very fimilar. The aneurism was at the anterior part of the curvature of the great artery.

VIII. An Account of a fatal Vomiting, apparently brought on by a Disease of the Kidneys. By the late William Keir, -M. D. This was an enlargement, rather than a disease, of the kidney, yet it contained fome irregular calculi,' which have, in other inftances, frequently occafioned vomiting. The distinction was, in this patient, more difficult, as the fwelling occafioned a tumour externally, which, from its fituation, feemed to be an accumulation of fæces in the colon. Our e author's reflections are judicious, and worth preferving.

The facts which I have stated admit of useful application. ift. They afford a proof of a clofer and more extenfive fympathy between the kidneys and the stomach than has generally been thought to fubfift. It has long been known that the ftomach may be much difordered by difeafes of the kidneys, attended with inflammation or with violent pain; but that a state of thofe organs, accompanied with neither, fhould produce a fimilar effect, has not, I think, been commonly imagined.

2dly. They may help us to diftinguish between difeafes of the intestinal canal, and those of the kidneys. If fickness and violent vomiting fhould occur without pain or any fign of inflammation, the caufe of the difeafe, even if coftipation fhould

attend,

attend, might with more reafon be fought for in the kidneys than in the intestines; because the nature and the structure of the inteftines hardly admit of the fuppofition, that a caufe confined to them should occafion violent vomiting, without affecting the part where it is feated in a violent manner; which it can hardly do without producing a painful contraction, or an inflammatory ftate; and I know no instance of an obstinate vomiting, produced by a disorder of the inteftines, without pain; whereas we are now poffeffed of two cafes, where vomiting appears to have been fupported with uncommon obftinacy, by a difeafe in the kidneys, without any mark in them either of - pain or inflammation.'

IX. On the Efficacy of the Spiritus Vitrioli dulcis, in the Cure of Fevers. By James Carmichael Smyth, M.-D. F.R. S. -Dr. Smyth confines the use of this remedy chiefly to jail or hofpital fever, and thinks that it acts as a cordial and diaphoretic. He allows it to be one of thofe remedies, whofe aperation is not fo decided as to establish its ufe without controverfy; but thinks that he has found it. advantageous. We fhall hint to Dr. Smyth, that the cafes, particularly defcribed, are of one epidemic; and the remedy was used nearly at a time when the crifis might have been reasonably expected. The days, in his table also, are not thofe of the fever, but of the employment of his medicine, which occafions an ambiguity, and gives a more favourable appearance of success. But fince the publication of this volume, the few, trials we have been enabled to make with it, confirm our author's opinion.

X. A Cafe of Ptyalism, apparently occafioned by a di minished Secretion of Urine. By Samuel Daniel, M.D.This is another inftance of the facility with which nature fupplies the want of an accustomed evacuation; and it is no very uncommon one, in confequence of the use of mercury, though in the prefent cafe it had not been previously employed.

1

We shall finish this volume in another article. Many of the essays have entertained and instructed us: if the authors proceed with the fame fpirit, they will deferve encouragement but they should be cautious in the choice of their materials. A volume may be easily filled; but they should aim also at rendering it valuable, nor fuffer the fancied luftre which private friendship may diffuse to claim a preference due only to accurate obfervations and judicious reafening.

Expe

2

its great Efficacy in very fmall Dofes: alfo a comparative View of the Powers of the Red and Quilled Bark. By Richard Kentish, M. D. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Johnson.

1F

F we confider this work as defigned to introduce a new fpecies of bark, it is highly commendable; in other refpects, it is liable to exception. To the attention and industry of Mr. Wilfon, an able apothecary in Henrietta-street, the world is much indebted for ascertaining the properties of this particular fpecies, which, for various reafons, deferves our attention. The Caribbean bark, of which a defcription is given in the Sixty-feventh Volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions, p. 504, is found both in the Leeward and Windward Islands in fome of them the tree which produces it is common. Its qualities are bitterness and aftringency in an extraordinary degree; but it is not in the fame degree antifeptic. In the ufual dofes of bark, it proves emetic and laxative: in fmaller ones, the effects of the common officinal are obferved, without any very inconvenient addition of the other qualities. If future experience fhould fupport the obfervations of our author, it will prove a valuable addition to the Materia Medica, and will hold a middle place between the Peruvian and Cafcarilla bark, We know not whether we have already mentioned the fact, but it is not new, though it occurs in this work, viz. that the cincona officinalis is found north of the Equator, in a very convenient fituation for exportation; therefore our fupply of the ufual remedy will neither be fo feanty or fo precarious as it has hitherto been.

A great part of this pamphlet confifts of experiments to afcertain the difference between the quilled and the red bark. Dr. Kentish prefers the former, because it contains a greater quantity of the aftringent principle, which is extracted by water, while the latter abounds chiefly in a bitter one, contained in a refinous fubftance. We could fill pages with difcuffions on this subject; but, after all our labour, they would be of little value; our author is yet young from the fchools, and argues plaufibly, but inconclufively. The bark is compounded by nature, and its feveral ingredients, combined, produce a given effect. They may be bitters, aftringents, or any others; but we are at leaft certain that we are unable to produce fimilar effects from any combination of these qualities : confequently there is little foundation for any reasoning on the nature of the feparate principles. Again, if his arguments were juft, the cold infufion fhould be the most active preparation

:

of the bark; which is not true. We allow that it is frequently the most convenient, though it is the weakeft. The fubftance holds the highest rank; next to it come the watery and spirituous extracts combined, as in the last edition of the Edinburgh Difpenfatory; for in this form we approach nearest to the fubftance of the other preparations, the decoction is ftronger than the infufion. The tincture is a partial preparation, as the spirit extracts only one portion of the bark, and is feldom useful, but as an addition to the infufion. These are the dictates of experience rather than reasoning; to come nearer to the point, we can adduce the most respectable teftimonies of the fuperior utility of the red bark, without adding our own. We probably, at first, attributed too much. to it, for the reafons mentioned in the introduction to our review of the Medical Communications; but, after every allowance, it will ftill remain the more powerful medicine.

The language of this little work is not incorrect; but it is elevated beyond the calm perfpicuity which fhould distinguish science and philofophy. Our author tells us, that Linnæus has inferted only one fpecies of cincona; but he should have looked into the last editions, before he had rifqued an affertion so positive. He treats too of this fpecies as one scarcely, if at all, known in England; though it had been particularly defcribed in the volume of Philofophical Tranfactions before referred to.

On the whole, we have received fome information from thefe experiments, and recommend them, on that account; but they should be read with caution, and perhaps a little, distrust.

An Effay on draining and improving Peat Bogs. By Mr. Nicholas Turner. 800. 35. Baldwin.

THE

HE author of this Effay gives clear and explicit directions on a fubject little understood: if the chief part of his plan is not new, yet it comes under the fanction of experience, -attended with fome additional illuftrations. Peat bogs are frequently called the mofs; and there are few who do not recollect the devaftation occafioned by the increase of Solway Mofs, in the year 1771. The natural history of this furprifing phænomenon is ftill imperfect: the mofs proceeds by degrees, appearing like a fpongy body, whofe pores are filled with a fluid; in reality, it is a femi-fluid mafs, confifting of a peculiar vegetable, whofe fibres are matted together, and the interftices filled with water and earth. It advances flowly; but its force is irrefiftible: hedges, trees, and dif

ferent

ferent bodies, in its progrefs, yield to this feemingly infignificant power: corn-fields, meadows, gardens, and plantations, are covered by a fatal enemy, and prefent only a dreary and melancholy wafte. To drain the fuperfluous water, and to deftroy this incroaching vegetable, is an arduous t táfk; yet human ingenuity has effected greater changes. We think that our author's plan will, in many cafes, fucceed; and if it is not always fuccefsful, it will fuggeft fome useful fchemes in thofe inftances where it has failed. as he allows, are indeed of very different kinds.

Bogs,

Our au

Mr. Turner apologises for his deficiency in chemical knowlege; and we fhall again remark the almoft abfolute neceffity of this science to every rational husbandman. The useful parts are few, easily learned, and the neceffary experiments can be made or repeated with very flight apparatus. thor's mistakes are, in a great degree, owing to unfaithful guides; for, except Dr. Fordyce's very concife treatise, we have fcarcely a work in English which can be implicitly fol lowed. Why is Bergman's treatife Sur les Terres geoponiques' not yet tranflated? We fhall infert the following description of peat from this author:

On diffecting a piece of peat, its foliage will be found' diftinct and lateral as a proof, take a piece from within a foot of the furface, and on a moderate compreffion, you will find it lofe eight-tenths of its thicknefs; but ufe the fame force in lateral preffure, it being against the grain, it will not lofe one-fourth. Befides roots and flaggy leaves, there is alfo now and then a thick and hollow tube, in which the lateral leaves are inferted, compofed of very ftrong rigid fibres that run down perpendicularly; thefe are fo ftrong as to make the tube impervious to the water, and are for the conveyance of air to fuch part of the bog as is within about four feet of the furface; after that depth I am inclined to think vegetation ceafes, from the peat that is dug there being more compact and weighty, and containing no roots or air tubes as there' is ever a fermentation in the change of all bodies from an entire to a corrupted state, so it is probable, in this cafe par-' ticularly, from the peat being darker, that there is a gentle one fufficient to diffolve the tubes and roots, but that the want of heat, and the admiffion of the external air, together with the acceffant qualities of peat, retard a further putrefaction.'

The antifeptic property of peat, for the wood which has laid for ages in a peat bog remains almoft entire, is attributed to the, bitumen, and to the acid which it contains. Our author thinks that the mofs flourishes chiefly in bituminous waters. The oil arifing in the analyfis of peat feems to be Vol. LIX. Jan. 1785.

C

chiefly