day, but becomes intermittent, the patient feeling himself worse every other day.' Dr. P. regards the fever, and not the pectoral symptoms, as in general constituting the essence of the complaint; and therefore he advises the treatment to be commenced with such remedies as act on the system at large, through the medium of the stomach and alimentary canal: viz. emetics and mercurial cathartics; and afterward, blisters, diaphoretics, gentle opiates, crystals of tartar as a diuretic, expectorants, and proper ventilation. He considers the disease as decidedly contagious; and, after having summed up the Nocentia and Juvantia, he concludes by an abstract from the more characteristic symptoms of the epidemic catarrhs which appeared in the years 1762, 1775, and 1782; all of which, he is of opinion, were extremely analogous to that of which he gives an account in the present essay. On the subject of the contagious nature of the late prevailing disease, it seems to be difficult to form any thing like an accurate opinion, from our being unable precisely to discriminate between the effects of an epidemic constitution of the air, and those of the individual communication of infection. When sporadic cases only of catarrh occur, they are decidedly not contagious; and when this disease appears in an epidemic form, the influence of the atmosphere, on whatever that influence may depend, is so conjoined with the effects of the contagion supposed to originate from the human body, as to render it difficult to appropriate to each its exact share of ope ration. Dr. Pearson makes no observations on the fatality of the disease, nor on the periods of life and states of body most liable to its severer forms. In an advertisement, he mentions his design of publishing a continuation of his remarks; and he intimates a wish to have the communications of other practitioners, for the purpose of annexing them to his own observations. We must object to the liberty which the author takes, in his advertisement, of employing the plural number when speaking of him. self: since this is a prerogative which, from long and undoubted prescription, we alone, with the other potentates of the earth, may exercise and enjoy; and with which we deem it presumptuous in any individual to interfere. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 26. The Tocsin of Social Life: addressed to all Nations of the civilized World; in a Discovery of the Laws of Nature relative to human Existence. By John Stewart, the Traveller. 8vo. 2s. Ginger. We shall not call on this traveller to declare whether it was in the Sibyl's grot, in Polypheme's cave, or in Cerberus's den, that he made the wonderful discovery, to which the Sovereigns of Europe are here required to attend: since, though promulgated as new light, it is only darkness some thousand years old. The important discovery is simply this that all bodies are in a perpetual state of transmutation, in composition or decomposition, that is, life and death; that nothing can be created, and nothing annihilated; that what is called identity, Yell identity, or individuality of mode, is nothing but a succession of matter and its powers; and that when the clue of that succession breaks, identity ceases, while its substance, or essential matter that formed it, revolves in dispersed particles or atoms into states of new successions of matter and its powers, or identities, in an endless course of transmutations, or circulations throughout the universe.' How this doctrine is applied, ask us not, gentle reader, to explain; for the wild and rambling contents of this pamphlet baffle all review. In the address to Bonaparte, the author says that, the dead body in the tomb does not gravitate towards the coffin or the stones, but to the earth's centre, where it circulates in union and interchange of atoms with the whole mundane system.' Our time is too precious to allow us to waste more of it on Mr. S. and his system. Art. 27. Thoughts on the Formation of the Earth. By a Farmer. 410. 2s. 6d. Richardson. 1802. This farmer has entered on a bold undertaking: but he discovers so much modesty and diffidence respecting its success, that we feel disposed to treat him with the utmost civility. His theory, suggested by partial appearances, and especially by the existence of petrifactions in sand-stone, &c. may be as good as some other theories. The facts, indeed, which he adduces, are no more new than the conclusion which he draws from them, viz. that the present islands and continents have been covered by the sea. Linné, in his Reflections on the Study of Nature, offers it as his decided opinion that the quantity of land is continually increasing, and that of the water decreasing; this writer, however, contends for the opposite doctrine, and urges the probability of the lands being again submerged in the ocean, and of fishes being a second time lords of this universe; yet he kindly consoles us by suggesting that this event might not happen for an hundred millions of centuries to come.'-Since all world-makers must be allowed to compare great things with small, the gentle reader will excuse this humble geologist for illustrating his remarks by the cooling of pitch, the baking of bread, and the congelation of soap. -He supposes that mercury constitutes a great part of the interior of the globe.-Towards the conclusion, he grows poetical, and evidently wishes to keep on civil terms with Moses: but we cannot say that, as our old friend Whitehurst promised the Bishop, he makes Moses a greater man than ever he was. Mo-y. त्रै Do Art. 28. The Soldier of Dierenstein; or Love and Mercy. An Austrian Story. By H.S.H. the M. of A-. (the Margravine of Anspach.) 8vo. 38. 6d. White. This peculiar story is divided into 26 stanzas, and is told in the manner of Ossian, with elegance and pastoral simplicity.It is humorously dedicated to the Austrian Eagle, who is invoked in its defence against the talons of the critic :-but why is the critic deemed a foe to merit? He is her friend, her champion eagle. Art. 29. An Essay on the Character and Doctrines of Socrates. 4to. PP. 22. Whatever may be the merits of this essay with regard to matter, and it certainly has merit in that respect, in point of composition it is * G. Matthews, of Dolgelly, Wales. Mans is very defective. The different parts do not unite in a connected and perspicuous manner, and the structure of the sentences is too often faulty and obscure. We advise the author to consult Blair's Lectures on Composition. It may be collected from the preface, though it is not very distinctly expressed, that this essay was written in competition for a prize, and failed of success. CORRESPONDENCE. In answer to Mr. Montagu's polite letter, in reference to our account of his Ornithological Dictionary, (Rev. for February) we beg leave to assure him that nothing was farther from our intention than to impute to him any thing that could be construed into wilful .. neglect. Had we been aware that neither his own observation, (which we believe to be at once extensive and minute,) nor his private communications with his friend, Dr. Latham, could justify our expectation of his insertion of the articles to which we alluded, we should gladly have acted as his apologists. Their non-appearance in the Dictionary, even though unavoidable, may, in our apprehension, be expressed by omission, in the absolute sense of the term: though, at the same time, we are by no means disposed to cavil about words. With Mr. Montagu, we acknowlege generally the fallibility of colour, especially of that of the plumage, as a test of specific distinctions; with him, too, we are averse from every unnecessary multiplication of species: but our remark relative to the Ringed Plover is founded on the constancy of the black bill and legs; and nothing short of a tolerably ample induction of particulars can convince us of the contrary. We wish not, however, to impose our assertions on either old or young ornithologists: nor can Mr. Montagu's favourite branch of natural history receive material injury, if, in the present instance, he should retain his belief, and we should retain ours. We are obliged by a Constant Reader's communication of his Thoughts on the Slave-Trade, and his request for our farther remarks: but we despair of having any influence on this subject, and must refrain from extra-official digressions. Our Cambro-British Correspondent A. B. is informed that our silence was not to be attributed to any of the reasons which he suggests, as the present Number will testify. The letter from our friend at Fochabers was duly received, but we have not yet seen the publication to which it alludes. The hint of Brevis shall not be overlooked: neither should this Gentleman forget the hurried nature of a periodical publication. We cannot at present either verify or dispute the representation of B. G., having mislaid the book concerning which he writes. The APPENDIX to this Volume of the Review will be published with the Number for MAY. Eours, p. 360, 37), 441, 443. Man Muir TO THE FORTIETH VOLUME OF THE MONTHLY REVIEW ENLARGED. ART, I. FOREIGN LITERATURE. Histoire du Canal du Midi, &c. ; i. e. History of the Canal of the South, formerly known under the Name of the Canal of Languedoc. By FS. ANDREOSSY, General of Division, and Inspector-General of the Corps of Artillery. 8vo. pp. 412. Paris. 1800. T 'HE utility of canals is at present generally acknowleged, because experience has shewn that they form a mode of communication from one part of a country to another which is much cheaper than that of roads, and much more commodious and certain than that of rivers; especially if the latter be in the vicinity of mountains, and subject to torrents: since torrents not only prevent barges from ascending the river, but choak the channel with the matter which they wash down from the higher grounds, and not unfrequently destroy their banks and towing paths. On the contrary, in a canal which is skilfully constructed, there is neither a stream nor a rise of water, beyond certain points in its banks. The ingenious and learned author of the present treatise, who is now known to our readers as ambassador from the French Republic to this country, first briefly and neatly states the advantages arising from the facility of interior communication, and then arranges canals in four classes; Ist, those which carry into the sea the water that is drained from marshes, of which kind is the canal that stretches along the Appian road, and receives the discharge of the drains made for the Pontine marshes; 2dly, canals of the same sort, but APP. REV. VOL. XL. G g on on a higher level than the plains, the rivers, and the sea, such as the canals used in Holland; 3dly, those which are derived from rivers, such as the canals of the Brenta, of the Adda, and the Tesino, in Italy; and lastly, those which are carried over elevated ground, of which description are the Canal du Centre, formed on the mountains of antient Burgundy, and the Canal of the South. The third kind, M. ANDREOSSY observes, may be comprehended under the fourth, since canals of derivation (canaux dérivés) may be regarded as branches of canals made on high ground. The canal of Languedoc, executed in the 17th century by MM. Riquet and Andreossy (the latter an ancestor of the present General), is one of those which passes over elevated ground. At a point called a point of departure, a quantity of water is collected from springs or rivers, and thence suffered to flow in canals cut on two different slopes. Sluices sustain the water on these sloping grounds, and aqueducts afford a passage to superfluous and irregular waters. This sort of canals serves equally for the purposes of irrigation and navigation. In many instances, the point of departure may be fixed without great difficulty: but the determination of it in the case of the canal of Languedoc was not easy. An intimate acquaintance with the topography of the country lying between the ocean and the Mediterranean was requisite; or, in other words, a knowlege of the courses of small streams and rivers, since they with certainty indicate the form of a country: Water (says M. ANDREOSSY) being subject to the operation of invariable principles, viz. gravitation, and the constant mobility of its parts, must proceed from its source in the route pointed out by the declivity of the ground; or must overcome the obstacles which prevent it from following those particular and general inclinations, that are favourable to its flowing towards the principal reservoirs, or towards the sea. Thus the course of waters gives the figure of the ground; and from this indication also, we shall be able to judge of the topography of the same ground, and of various accidental cir cumstances.' Proceeding on the same route which probably his ancestor pursued in order to fix on the point of departure, M. ANDREOSSY examines, according to the foregoing notions, the nature of the ground lying between the Mediterranean and the ocean. From this investigation, it appears that Naurouse is the proper point of departure; and that from this point the ground slopes off towards the Garonne. which runs into the ocean, and towards the Aude, which takes its course to the Mediterranean. When |