that although, from excessive occupation, this process was not repeated by Mr. F. the effect was nevertheless very manifest, for the pustules were so much checked in their progress to maturation, that they could be scarcely said to have maturated at all." 40.

As Dr. Jenner rests this proposition of checking the exuberance of eruptions by sedative applications, on a single case, and that not under his own eye, we are justified in considering it as a mere speculation; and we would hazard another speculation, namely, that the practice would prove a dangerous one. We grant, indeed, that cool air is always advantageous in eruptive diseases, as moderating the eruptive fever, and refreshing the patient; but we would be very loth to apply sedative and repellent applications to the eruptions themselves, for a similar purpose. We are sure Dr. Jenner will excuse the freedom of this remark, the propriety of which, we think, is not a little strengthened by the following observation of Dr. Jenner himself.

"Even in small-pox, though the disease itself cannot possibly disappear wholly, the eruptions, when in a vivid state of maturation, may so lose their prominent appearance, as on a sudden to become flattened and excite distress in the constitution, which is often followed by fatal consequences." 44.

Dr. Jenner remarks that, when eruptions appear early, and without the proper vesicular character, the prognosis is unfavourable. But we must pass over several pages occupied with hints, suggestions, and speculations respecting several diseases, as our limits are already exceeded.

The formula of antimonial ointment used by Dr. Jenner is the following. Ant. tart. 3ij. ungt. cetacei zix. sacchari albi 3j. hydrarg. sulphur. rub. v gr. m. ft. unguentum. The tartrite of antimony should be finely levigated. The sugar preserves the ointment from rancidity. The ointment sometimes brings out crops of pustules in one day-sometimes it requires several." In the case of a lady, where two parts of tartar emetic and one of simple cerate were used, eruptions appeared in a few hours. A communication from Mr. J. Fosbroke is inserted, in which several interesting particulars are stated relative to the action of the antimonial ointment in some cases of hysteria. A case is also introduced from the Rev. G. C. Jenner, illutrating the beneficial effects of the said ointment. We shall give it in the author's own

words, as the case is short.

"William Holloway, ætat. 26,-Very tall, and of rather a spare habit, about the end of December, or beginning of January last, was attacked with violent pain in the left side, and considerable

swelling about the region of the liver, with most of the usual symptoms that attend hepatitis, together with others indicative of pulmonary affection. He was bled, blistered, and took various medicines, under the direction of several medical gentlemen in the neighbourhood. These remedies afforded him a temporary relief; but he soon grew worse, and his malady continued to increase for six weeks, when I mentioned his case to you. By your advice, I furnished him with some of the ointment of tartarized antimony, and directed him to rub it on the chest. In twenty-four hours, eruptions appeared. The enlargement about the liver soon began to subside, the pain abated, and at the expiration of a month he was able to follow his usual occupation of a mason and bricklayer.

"In September last, during the unsettled weather, he went to assist a neighbour in securing his corn; when, after using great bodily exertion, and drinking freely of cider while he was very warm, he felt himself much indisposed, and in two days afterwards was seized with chills. The pain in the side returned, attended with pain on the top of the shoulder and in the chest, shortness of breath, cough, quick pulse, (I never found it under 120,) and great debility. He now used the ointment, unassisted by any internal remedy. He received it from me with the most enthusiastic rapture, and used it more profusely than I intended, not only on the chest, but on the shoulder, and wherever he felt pain. A large crop of pustules was the result, which maturated, and continued to discharge plentifully for nine days, when he was able to resume his work, and is now free from all complaint." 63.

We must now take leave of our worthy author, with the expression of our high respect for his talents, zeal, and usefulness; and with ardent wishes that the remedial process pointed out in these pages may answer the expectations of himself, and prove equally advantageous in the hands of others.

VII.

A Manual of the Climate and Diseases of Tropical Countries; in which a Practical View of the Statistical Pathology, and of the History and Treatment of the Diseases of those Countries, is attempted to be given; calculated chiefly as a Guide to the Young Medical Practitioner on his first resorting to those Countries, By COLIN CHISHOLM, M.D. F.R.S. Honorary Member de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneva; Member of the Helvetic Society for the Promotion of Science of Switzerland; of the Philosophical, Medical, and Natural Societies of New

York and Philadelphia; and late Inspector-General of Ordnance Hospitals in the West Indies, &c. &c. &c. One closely printed Volume, octavo, pp. 336. London, 1822.

(First Analytical Article.)

WITH a rooted attachment to his native soil, MAN has yet an insatiable avidity for exploring distant regions. Such is the strange compound of his nature! Placed here without armour or défence, the most helpless of animals, his intellect has enabled him to ascend to the highest regions of the air, to sail on the billows of the ocean, to descend into the bowels of the earth. With comparatively an infant's strength, he harpoons the whale, tames the elephant, imprisons the tiger. The feeble hand of man imitates the great operations of nature he blows up rocks, levels mountains, turns the bottom of the sea into dry land, and leads the waving sail of commerce through the very heart of the country, without the aid of bay, lake, or river!

But it must be confessed that, with man's physical weakness, there is blended a considerable pliancy of constitution, which enables him, by the aid of his reason, to bend to the circumstances around him, and thereby render them less injurious to mind and body. He cannot become a cosmopolite by the mere plastic nature of his frame, without the assistance of his genius. "L'Homme doit à la flexibilité de sa constitution l'avantage d'être cosmopolite, ou de pouvoir vivre dans toutes les regions du globe; mais il ne jouit aussi de cette prérogative sur tous les animaux, que parce qu'il sait se defendre des influences les plus rigoureuses des climats, par des vêtemens, des habitations, par le feu qui le rechauffe et cuit ses alimens, par les soins, la culture, les defrichemens qui assainissent des terrains inhabitable."*"

It will not be disputed that the medical officers of the army and navy have contributed much to our knowledge of medical topography, and of the influence of climate on the health and life of our species. Dr. Chisholm, in particular, bas long been known as an able, zealous, and intelligent inquirer and observer of all things connected with our Western Colonies; and in committing to the press this result of his experience and reflections (now that he has retired at an advanced age from the fatigues of practice,) he has laid the rising generation of the profession under a debt of gratitude to his memory, which will long continue to be acknowledged

* VIREY.

and discharged, when, alas! the corporeal car will be equally deaf to praise or censure!

The work before us is dedicated by permission to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, and prefaced by a letter to his long tried friend, Sir James Macgrigor, at whose suggestion this Manual has been published. Dr. Chisholm confines himself to the Western hemisphere, partly because he never visited the East, but principally because he considers the latter subject as, in a manner, exhausted by a modern publication well known to the profession. In this work our author informs us that nothing has been advanced, the truth of which has not been known to himself, or to others on whom he could rely. He has, however, strengthened his own propositions occasionally by quotations from, or references to, many of our best modern authors.

Did our Journal circulate only within the limits of the British Isles, the subject matter of Dr. Chisholm's work would still furnish an extensive article of great interest to the home practitioners. But when it is considered that there is not an island in the great West Indian Archipelago which this Review does not visit, it becomes doubly necessary that we should dedicate a space to the volume before us commensurate with its value and importance to all classes of our sub

scribers.

Dr. Chisholm's work is divided into two great divisions or parts, the first embracing the statistical pathology, and the second the diseases of tropical countries, more especially the West Indies. These divisions are branched out into chapters and sections on the particular subjects, of which there is a great variety-more indeed than we shall be able to notice even in a cursory manner here.

The West India Islands, Dr. C. observes, may be classed into the high and low, in respect to surface; and into the argillaceous and coralline in respect to structure. The conical summits of the mountains denote, of course, a volcanic origin, and exercise a powerful influence on the salubrity of the atmosphere. Some of these islands, as St. Lucia, Grandeterre of Guadaloupe, portions of Martinique, Dominica, Tobago, Trinidad, and Grenada, are more remarkable than others for marshes, and consequently for insalubrity.

"But the great agent of insalubrity in the higher islands, is the irregularity of their temperature. The windings of the innumerable hills, produce a change of temperature, as they recede into hollows, or project into prominences, giving a quick and most unpleasant alternation, of almost unsupportable heat, and consequent profuse perspiration, and comparative cold with dry and corrugated skin. Another cause of insalubrity in the mountainous islands, is the humid

state of their atmosphere, occasioned by the attraction of their peaks or conical summits and clifts, and extensive forests." P. 2.

Antigua being altogether argillaceous, is distinguished by a peculiarly cold atmosphere, comparatively speaking, producing on the human constitution all the effects of marsh miasma, although no swamps exist in the neighbourhood of St. John's, where this singular cold is chiefly felt after rain. The view of the country of Lamantin from the height of Morne Garnier, in the Island of Martinico, before the sun has penetrated the fog, excites astonishment how any human being can exist there.

"Nothing is perceived but the summits of the hills, every other object lying hid under a vast expanse of dense white fleecy damp vapour-if a calm prevails, the fleecy atmosphere is immoveable; but if the gentlest breeze springs up, an undulation takes place, and presently huge volumes accumulate, and slowly roll along, carrying their pestiferous miasms towards Fort Royal, or mingling them in the waters of the Bay. The consequence of this is, the temperature of Fort Royal, and the immediately adjacent country, is subject to great variation; and the chilliness or aguish cold which prevails here during the night, excites the most unpleasant sensations imaginable." P. 3.

The temperature of the West India Islands is regulated, of course, by the degree of elevation. The medium heat on the coast is 84°; while at the accessible parts of the higher mountains, it is about 60°-a range of 24 degrees. This is an important fact when we come to consider the preparation of the unassimilated European to the Torrid Zone.

"I shall here further observe, that this gradation of temperature, according to the altitude of surface, is principally efficient in rendering the West-India islands very healthy, when no foreign cause of disease exists, and when the inhabitants are exposed to that only which is endemic. That they would prove so to every description of their inhabitants, European and native, British and French, were they all equally careful to avoid those excesses, and those imprudences in diet and personal exposure, which, in all climates, are dangerous, and too often fatal, may be demonstrated in many instances. The uninterrupted health and longevity of the French and Creole inhabitants of both sexes, are the result of an active, prudent, and temperate life. Eighty, ninety, a hundred years, is by no means an uncommon age among these people-nor does this appear to be owing to their residence being higher and cooler, than that of the British, although that, as a general cause of health, is, as I have already remarked, particularly remarkable; for many European French, and some Creoles, possessing fine plantations, on the coast, enjoy the same exemption from disease." 3.