Within our own memory, Gaffner has made fimilar attempts with fuccefs; for confident pretenfions will always fucceed.

The fystem, from Paracelfus to St. Kenelm Digby, was the following. The univerfal fpirit was fuppofed to be diffused in every part, and to be the bond of union between the most diftant bodies; but, independent of this, there was a vital fpirit, belonging to each individual, diffused through all its parts. Any portion therefore of the individual, as containing its fhare of the vital spirit, might be acted on, and similar effects would be felt in the body, through the medium of the univerfal fpirit. Hence were derived the falutary powers of fir Kenelm Digby's powder of fympathy for wounds, and Paracelfus' cure for different diseases. We fhall extract a receipt of this kind, from an old work, by a genuine scholar of this famous quack, printed in 1611, Concerning the Lamp of Life.' The warm blood of the patient must be boiled with the hell and yolk of an egg; this must be mixed with some meat, and given to a hungry dog, to whom the complaint, be it dropfy, gout, or jaundice, will be conveyed. We ourselves knew a perfon who conftantly believed that her daughter's ague was conveyed to a dog, by boiling her urine with a particular herb, which the dog was forced to drink.

The practice however foon became more refined. It was no longer neceffary to have any part of the person who was to be tormented or cured. Likeness in clay, or other materials, was fufficient; and this opinion is not, even now, entirely destroyed.

But we need not trace any farther thefe monuments of fuperftition. Mr. Mesmer has refined, even on the modern dæmonology; and fometimes by preffure, frequently pointing only in a particular direction, produces fenfible evacuations, called crifes or convulfions. We lately read of a fimilar effect in an author, who seemed to know nothing of magnetism: in a medical work, as an instance of fympathy, we were told of a lady's fainting by a gentleman's inadvertently squeezing her band. We think the age and fituation of the parties might have been added, and then it would probably not have appeared miraculous.

1

We cannot give a more complete idea of Mr. Mesmer's proceeding, and the foundation of its effects, than by extracting fome of the reflections of Mr. Thouret.

That the touch frequently employed in his method for a confiderable time, and on regions extremely fenfible, fuch as thofe of the ftomach, is of itfelf capable of producing effects, by communicating a vivid impulfe to the nerves of the plexufes which are there fituated, and which have an intimate connec

N 4

tion

tion with the whole nervous fyftem; that authentic records pre fent us with a great number of facts of this kind, and that in confequence, the fenfations, which originate in the application of the touch, do not prove the existence of a feparate fluid or agent.

That the heat produced by the hand, and the motion communicated to the air, may occafion very strong impreffions upon a perfon extremely fenfible, and whofe fibres are in a state of convulfion, without thefe impreffions being calculated to prove a new agent.

That in fubduing the imagination by folemn preparations, by extraordinary proceedings, by the confidence and enthusiasm infpired by magnificent promifes, it is poffible to exalt the tone of fenfible and nervous fibres, and afterwards to direct, by the application of the hands, their impulfe towards certain organs, and to excite in them evacuations or excretions, without there refulting any addition to the sciences, either of philofophy or medicine.

That the partifans of the animal magnetifm do not produce what they call crifes, that is, a state of convulfions, but in fubjects extremely irritable, extremely nervous, and above all, in women, whofe fentibility has been already excited by the means we have described.

That among thefe difpofing caufes, particular ftress is to be laid upon the prefence of a perfon already in a state of convulfion, or ready to fall into that fate; that just as an organ attacked with fpafmodic affections, eafily propagates thefe af fections to the other organs, in like manner are they tranfmitted from one man to another; that we have therefore no reason to be furprifed, if in the halls, where the pretended magnetical ope rations are performed, fpafms, and even convulfions are diffufed with extreme alacrity; and that history furnithes a great number of facts, of convullions propagated through whole villages or towns, in a manner ftill more aftonishing than that of which the animal magnetifm prefents us with an example.

That history has alfo tranfmitted to us a great number of cures operated by fear, by joy, or the commotion of any violent paflion; which proves beyond controverfy, the power of nervous influences over difeafes.'

We are convinced that the chief, if not the whole, of Mr. Mefmer's power, is by the influence of the imagination only. We are fufficiently acquainted with its effects in producing or curing difeafes; and have feen from it, confequences equally extraordinary. The effects of preffure alone, even on the hypochonders or the epigastric region, are little known. The plexus of nerves can fcarcely be affected, on account of the intefines yielding eafily to it: and we have no reafon to think the ovaria acutely fentible, if they were not, in a great degree, defended by the fuperincumbent parts. The relation

of Kauw Boerhaave, refpecting the convulfions in the orphanhouse at Harlem, is well known. In France, we have found fimilar effects. The influence of the imagination in the cure of agues, fevers, epilepsy, and scrophula, is frequently obferved; for no one will fuppofe that the ftrokings of an Irish gentleman, or even of a defcendant from a Tudor or a Stuart, can have great effect in the laft inftance. If we examine more accu rately, we shall find the imagination infenfibly affected in a variety of inftances, ufually unobferved; and, when we have once perceived its general power in minute circumftances, we shall not refuse credit in greater ones, when it is intended to be affected by a magnificent apparatus and pompous promises; when these are affifted by artful delufions, and the example of interested confederates.

We cannot conclude our account without the warmest encomium on the extreme accuracy of the commiffioners' experiments, and the mafterly execution of their Report. The tranflator has alfo performed his task with propriety. Acceffes' instead of paroxyfms, and actual' for prefent, with a few fimilar blemishes, are the only exceptions which we have discovered. We fcarcely however understand him when he fays that the French have lately seemed to take the lead of us in philofophical discoveries.'-We think the English can. equal even the celebrated and incomparable difcovery of the aeroftatic globe,' if we regard utility and convenience, instead of fplendid fpectacles. The public are already in poffeffion of our opinion on this fubject; and whatever reputation we may have lately loft in politics, our pretenfions to the more fublime and useful parts of philofophy are certainly unrivalled.

The Domeftic Phyfician; or Guardian of Health. By B. Corne well, M. L. 8vo. 6s. 6d. in Boards. Sold by the Author.

Cornwell, M. L.!We are entirely unacquainted B. with him or his title.-The race of M. D's are numerous; the LL. D's are not uncommon; the M. B's too fometimes occur. We must not surely refer to the inimitable Foote's Major Sturgeon, where Lint tranflates P. L. and M. D. by PLAGUY LYARS, and MURDEROUS DOGS; and fo, quod prius ordine verbum, pofterius faciamus:' That would be too fevere. May it not be medicinæ licentiatus? The latter word is of doubtful authority; but we know that it occurs in Martial, though in no very reputable fenfe. Let us turn to our dictionary: here it is; from Martial too. Licentiatus, qui licentiam habet ad confequendam dignitatem fupremi ti

t

tuli, idem ac Promagifter melladidafcalus.' Reviewers are jurymen in literature; they ought never to avoid the most difficult and intricate difcuffions; for, at laft, both science and the author will profit by their labours. This difficulty, which ftruck us in the threshold, when once elucidated, is the strongest proof of the author's modefty: he comes to us with an amiable diffidence, not dictating ex cathedra, as a master, but hinting in a fubordinate character: to come nearer to the fubject, not as a doctor, but an apothecary, perhaps even an apothecary's apprentice. There are indeed licentiates of a higher class in the Royal College, yet they never affume the title, fince they are previously doctors of phyfic.-Let us return then to our apothecary; for, though he has given us power, by his own confeffion, we would not degrade him lower it is our duty to countenance and to raise a modeft author, not to depress

him.

The intention of the licentiate is to inftruct private families in the symptoms and cure of every disease. We might doubt the propriety or the poffibility of the plan; but, fince a spirit of quackery is very generally diffufed, we must admit both the one and the other. It remains only to examine the execution. If we were to except against every thing which is left incomplete and imperfect, our criticifm would be indeed extenfive; but there is one kind of imperfection fo common to all writers of this kind, that we cannot avoid mentioning it. They defcribe genera of difeafes not fpecies, artificial affo ciations in fome inftances, and abftract ideas in others. indeed often happens, that there is only a single species belong ing to each genus; but various, and almost innumerable complications, frequently occur, which no rules can teach the unexperienced practitioner to diftinguish or relieve. We well know the ufual conduct on these occafions: the flightest refemblance is caught at with eagernefs, as an accurate defcription; the name of the difeafe is afcertained, and the prefcription aimed only at the word, inftead of its proper object.

It

This apothecary is by no means full in his account either of the causes or of the cure; but he is very full of hard words, and almost unintelligible terms. A cough, a fimple cough is well known is it better understood when defined to be a concuffory and elifory motion of the breaft?' Will the fond mother, eager for the welfare of her child, be able to comprehend the following reafoning? or, if the does comprehend it, and is inclined to follow this future teacher, this mellodidafcalus, muft fhe not deprive her child of almost every kind of nutriment?

• Thus

Thus food too falt, vifcid, auftere, acid, and pinguious, too plentifully taken, and not well concocted, produce a greater increase of acido-vifcid crudities. So likewife in fummer, prejudice is done by crude and immature fummer-fruits, which commonly conceal, in the contexture of their particles, a latent acid, which, by irritating and fpafmodically afflicting the fibres of the inteftines, may excite diarrhæas, dyfenteries, gripes, and other fymptoms, particularly at the approach of

autumn.'

Even innocent milk, if coagulated, is hurtful; our licentiate knows not that it must always be coagulated, in order to be digefted; but, to prevent a misfortune fo tremendous, prescribes a powder of crabs eyes, egg-fhells, the root of florentine orris, faffron, the feeds or oil of anife, fpermaceti, cinnabar, and a folution of crabs eye.' In what proportions? Here we are left in total darkness; for even in the appendix, where we occafionally meet with a faint ray, we find not the leaft illumination of this dreary wafte. Again,

I juftly and with very good reafon, esteem remedies of mercury, however prepared, efpecially when given to fucking infants in powder, and in confiderable and repeated doses, to be deleterious and highly prejudicial; partly, becaufe, by their gravity, they firmly adhere, in feveral places, to the folds of the ftomach and oefophagus: and partly, because, by the addition of a more acrid bile, and corrofive acid, they affume a more violent and corroding nature.'

This is only nonsense, and therefore harmless; but our author proceeds in his cenfures on other metallic remedies, par ticularly aurum fulminans. Aurum fulminans! and for children too. We recollect that Banner gave it for a ptyalism in confequence of mercury, and for the colic; but his practice 'has never, fo far as we know, been followed. Perhaps the pro-magifter found it in fome of the authorities which he fo carefully quotes; fuch reading as was never read, and fuch authors as were scarcely ever heard of. These are abfurdities

which can do no great harm, though they fwell the volume's price a fhilling; but the following paffage, and it is not a fingular one, is too bad even for the apothecary's apprentice.

When the matter is too tough and viscous, the business then is, on the contrary, to incrassate, and reduce it to a foft pulpofe body. This is effected by liquorice-root or juice, with gum arabic, figs, ftarch, together with all the fulphureous medicines.'

Though