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obfcure origin, and, at the commencement of the revolution, a private in the French guards. Those who have admired the correct eloquence and glowing energy of his proclamations, and other public papers, will be furprised to hear that he did not learn to read and write till he was paft twenty. This general was one of the bittereft enemies of the government of this country; on all occafions he acted against it with a zeal amounting to paffion. The formidable expedition against Ireland, which, after reaching in fafety the coaft against which it was directed, unaccountably failed away, was planned and commanded by him. The frigate in which he had embarked parted during a gale from the reft of the fleet; Hoche is ftated to have manifefted the utmost rage and vexation when he found it had returned without landing the troops. He had even thoughts of landing with his état-major, and putting himfelf at the head of the difaffected party in Ireland; but was deterred from this rafh attempt by the remonftrances of his officers. It is remarkable, that the manifetto which he composed on the occafion of this expedition was afterwards iffued by General Humbert.

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"The Life of the Rev. JOHN MACHIN is that of a zealous itinerant Methodit; but is more calculated to gratify fcoffers, by its abfurdities, than to edify or inftruct the world.

"The Life of Major J. G. SEMPLE LISLE, written by himself," informs us of circumftances which we find great difficulty in believing. It cannot furely be true, that this notorious fwindler has been entrufted with important ftate fecrets by fovereign princes. Till we hear this on better authority than that of the foi-difant major himself, we must withold our he lief. We do not mean that this archrogue fhould fwindle us out of cur fenfes. Biographical Sketches of Henrietta, Duchefs of Orleans, and Louis of Bourbon, Prince of Condé, with Boffuet's Orations, pronounced at their Interment," have been tranflated from the French by Mr. EDWARD JERNINGHAM. The great reputation of Boffnet renders it unneceffary for us to dwell on the dignified and graceful fentiment, the pathetic claquence, and the religious fervour of this great orator and pious Chriftian. Mr. Jerningham has conferred a moft acceprable prefent on the English reader by his elegant and fpirited tranflation.

A fecond volume of British Public Characters," containing those of 17991800, has just made its appearance. We

are glad to find that the editor has been induced by the favourable reception which the first volume met with from the public, not only to publish the present one, but to announce a third for the enfuing year. To render the third volume of equal merit and intereft with the two preceding ones, he requests all perfons inclined to communicate complete memoirs or au thentic materials relative to any diftinguifhed perfon, to addrefs them to him by the ift of the enfuing July. The prefent contains memoirs of no less than forty-feven diftinguished perfonages, and we obferve in it the fame fpirit of candour and moderation which made the first volume acceptable to all parties. The fault of this work is the indifcriminate praife lavifhed on almoft all the characters; fo that we are tempted to think the fetches must have been drawn by the partial hand of friendship. Who would have fufpected that Mr. Pratt, as a novelift, was equalled by few, and furpaffed by none, not excepting Fielding, Richardson, or Sterne? and that the tame poetry contained in his "Gleanings in Norfolk" was a chefd'œuvre !!

We have been much pleafed with the firft volume of the "Annual Necrology for 1797-8," which is juft published. The idea of refcuing from oblivion fuch characters as, though not of fufficient confequence to be treated of in distinct publications, are yet worthy of being handed down to pofterity, always appeared to us a very good one; and the execution, though neceffarily of various merit, from the variety of perfons engaged in it, is upon the whole very refpectable.

We have been much struck with "The Life of GODFREY AVGUSTUS BURGER," the celebrated author of Lenora, which is a masterly fpecimen of concile, yet lucid biography. "The Life of Mr. Wilkes" contains fome curious particulars, which were to us new. "The Memoirs of Lavoifier" are tranft d from the French of LALANDE, as well as fome other articles.

We know of but three works which have appeared within the last fix inonths on the fubject of

NATURAL HISTORY.

The Collection of Exotics from the Ifland of Antigua," by a Lady, confifis of coloured plates, of a fmall collection of tropical plants, made for Viscountess Galway.

· Coloured Figures" have been publifhed of marine plants, Sc. by THOMAS VELLEY,

VELLEY, Efq. D. C. L. Fellow of the Linnæan Society. The obfcure fubject of marine plants is ably treated of in his work, which is embellifhed with a number of elegant plates. The remarks on the mode in which thefe plants are propagated are ingenious and judicious. The whole work evinces, that colonel Velley poffeffes both fcience and taste.

"Tracts and Obfervations on Natural Hiftory and Phyfiology," by ROBERT TOWNSON, LL.D. Three of the tracts contained in this volume were published fome years ago at Vienna, in the Latin language; thefe are on the refpiration and abforption of the amphibia. In treating this obfcure and difficult fubject, Dr. Townfon has evinced much acutenefs, and has made fome difcoveries of importance: this praife ap. plies particularly, to his tract on the reipiration of the tortoife, which fatisfactorily refutes the opinion of the anatomifts who have treated of it before him. There is another fubje&t on which the doctor has difplayed much ingenuity: this is, the caufe why objects appear fingle, though viewed by both eyes.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE.

In our laft Retrofpect we noticed "Mr. MORRITT'S Vindication of Homer, in Answer to Mr. Bryant." Since that time the veteran champion of literature has published a reply to the work of his youthful competitor, whom he defies with confidence and the affurance of victorya confidence and affurance which we do not hesitate to pronounce prefumptuous. Mr. Bryant may have detected fome inaccuracies and obfcurities in Mr. Morritt's work; but the main object of it, the existence of the Trojan war, we think was fully and fatisfactorily made out. Mr. Morritt may also have treated the fubject with a warmth not perfectly confiftent with the refpect due to Mr. Bryant's venerable character and literary eminence; but his warmth is ice, compared with that difplayed in the prefent performance. As a fubject of calmn literary difcuffion has now degenerated into fomething like a perfonal conteft, we advife the combatants to defift. Independently of this, the fubject has been fufficiently difcuffed: there is danger of the public being fated; Claudite jam rivosfat prata biberunt.

Mr. WAKEFIELD's fplendid edition of "Lucretius" has made its appearauce. The great claffical learning of this gentleman, his fingular acutenefs, his bold and fearless fpirit of inveftigation, and his patient and laborious re

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The Reverend ROBERT ANTHONY BROMLEY has published a fecond volume of his " Philofophical and Critical Hiftory of the Fine Arts," which is not fuperior to the former in any refpect; like that, it contains much information of fome kind or other jumbled together; but the author is evidently deficient in learning and real taste.

Mr. BONNER has published the firft and fecond numbers of the " Copperplate Perfpective Itinerary," which is to be continued quarterly, at five fhillings each number. The defign of this elegant publication is to give views of caftles, abbeys, cathedrals, palaces, manfions, and ruins, drawn from the origi nals, as are beft calculated to perpetuate modern excellence and to gratify the scientific taste of the antiquary. Each number contains ten views, and will, in general, terminate the subject it profeffes to elucidate; fo that purchasers will not be neceffitated to go on purchasing the subfequent parts.

PHYSICS.

Mr. KIRWAN has published a fecond edition of his "Elements of Mineralogy," which, with refpect to plan and arrangement, is fcarcely at all altered, and which, of courfe, contains all the new articles which have been difcovered fince the publication of the first edition in 1784; except, indeed, the chrome, the tellurium, and fome recent difcoveries which have occurred fince these volumes were printed.

We are very glad to find that Mr. NiCHOLSON meets with fufficient encouragement to enable him to go on with his highly ufeful" Journal of Natural Philofophy, Chemistry, and the Arts." Two complete volumes are already publithed, and a fresh number comes out every month. It is of the utmost nation. al importance in a country like Great Britain, which is enabled to fupport the preffure of an unprecedented debt chiefly by the fuperior excellence of its manufactures, depending fo much on phyfical

fcience

hat although nothing of great novelty or rft-rate importance is communicated in his volume, there is yet a great deal to intereft the lover of fcience.

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Experimental Enquiries concerning he Principle of the lateral Communica1on of Motion in Fluids, applied to the xplanation of various Hydraulic Phenomena, by Citizen J. B. VENTURI. Tranflated from the French by W. NICHOLSON." The very curious fubject f this work feems to have been inveftiated with much care, judgment, and ingenuity; and the refult is, that various ew and curious facts relative to the moion of fluids are afcertained. The deCcriptions are lucid and fatisfactory; the eafoning is precife and logical; and the Ayle plain and fimple. It is impoffible without the plates to give a juft idea of the Contents of this valuable work.

"Refult of two Series of Experiments owards afcertaining the refpective Veloity of floating Bodies, varying in Form, c." by CHARLES GORE, Efq. of Weimar, in Saxony. Thefe experiments are communicated to the fociety for the improvement of naval architecture, who ent the author the machinery employed them. They are of two kinds: the irft have for their object to afcertain the velocities of bodies of different shapes when drawn through water by a certain wer; the fecond, the refpective degrees fftability or power to refift the preffure of the wind while carrying fail. Mr. Gore is of opinion, that there is room for confiderable improvements in naval arhitecture.

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MEDICINE AND SURGERY. Six more numbers, forming a fecond olume, have appeared of the "Medical nd Phyfical Journal," conducted by Drs. BRADLEY and WILLICH. This work has received cummunications from nedical characters of the first importance ot only of London, but of all other parts f the kingdom, and cannot therefore il of being in the highest degree both feful and interefting to every medical practitioner who wishes to be acquainted with the actual state of the fcience. We would recommend to the conductors to be nore felect in the publication of original mmunications, and more ample in their xtracts from fuch foreign works of imortance as are not likely to come into the ands of the generality of their readers. rom their hitherto obfcure concifenefs n this head we have but a glimpfe inftead a fatisfactory view of many interefting ts. We allo think that they fhould

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review medical and phyfical publications more at large, and give more copious extracts than they have hitherto done.

In 1796 Dr. CARMICHAEL SMYTH published an effay on the "Effect of Nitrous Vapour in preventing and destroying Contagion;" this he has now republifhed, with the important addition of numerous cafes communicated to him chiefly by naval furgeons, which tend to confirm the antifeptic efficacy of this vapour. It is very extraordinary that Dr. Mitchell fhould fuppofe this very fame vapour, which, according to Dr. Smyth's account, is the deftroyer of contagion, to be the principle itfelf of contagion, and should of confequence have given to the acid which forms it the name of feptic. Here is a very wide difference, which, as the fubject is of fuch paramount importance to fociety, we truft will be soon satisfactorily accounted for, We would recommend to Dr. Smyth to examine, with the utmoft degree of chemical accuracy, the nitrous vapour which he employs in future, and to ftate the proportions of oxygen and azóte which it contains.

"An Effay on the Caufes, early Signs, and Prevention of Pulmonary Confumption," by Dr. BEDDOES, is one of the most important medical publications which we have feen for a long while; important not only to the medical practitioner, but to parents, as it shows those who have the care of children how the remote caufes of this fatal fcourge may be guarded again ft. The defcription which the doctor gives of the painful fymptoms of the difeafe is remarkably ftriking, and can fcarcely be read without fhuddering. We wish we were as fanguine as our author with refpect to digitalis as a cure; but his hope that this difeafe will hereafter yield as regularly to this medicine as ague to Peruvian bark, appears to favour of extravagance. Digitalis certainly poffeffes the property of rendering the circulation of the blood languid in a very remarkable degree, and will therefore frequently alleviate the diftreffing symptoms of this disease. But like air with an under proportion of oxygen, and like every other fedative, its operation is only alleviating: it does not attack the unknown fource of the difeafe. Even if the ulcers of the lungs fhould heal, we fear that the caufe which originally produced them will continue to operate, and to produce fresh ones after the disease has appeared to be cured. Befides, digitalis is a very dangerous medicine, and, we fear, would frequently produce fudden

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particles of fteel were really fufed, or only abraded. To prove that light is material, he fays, (page 11), " As the impulfe of a material body on the organ of vifion is effential to the generation of fenfation, light is confequently matter." This is taking for granted the very thing wanted to be proved. In the defcription of the third experiment, which is very ingeniously planned, there is fome inaccuracy of expreffion relative to the wax: we are not told where it was placed. The confequences deduced do not of neceffity follow. Had this ice given out caloric (he fays), the water on the top of it must have been frozen." This is not a neceffary confequence: water may be cooled below the freezing point without freezing, in the fame manner as a fuperfaturated folution of fome falts in water will remain without cryftallifing, till agiTation or fome other caufe determines the cryftallifation. We could mention fome other inaccuracies and obfcurities; but it would take us far beyond the limits of this compendium to treat thefe highly interefting papers as fully as they deferve. We hope Mr. Davy will republifh them in a feparate form.

Mr. RALPH WALKER, late of Jamaica, has published a "Treatife on the Magnet," which he, himself, feems to think of confiderable importance to the mariner. He very unneceffarily takes the trouble of telling the learned, that his work is not meant for them, and that it is therefore divefted of the tinfel and technical terms of the profeffional philofopher. The word chapter, we fuppofe, he includes among thefe tinfel terms; for he fedulously avoids to ufe it, and fubftitutes cafe in its room. This work contains numerous tables which will be found ufeful.

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An anonymous author has published "The Obfervation of Newton concerning the Inflexions of Light, accompanied by other Obfervations, differing from his, and appearing to lead to a Change of his Theory of Light and Colours." The very title difplays affectation; and, if we except this fault, which pervades the whole work, we cannot help being much pleafed with it, as it contains many new and friking experiments, fome of which correct Sir Ifaac Newton's original obfervations. We have little doubt that his celebrated theory, part of which has been fo frequently attacked of late, will have to undergo very material alterations, if not total change.

All perfons concerned in linen and cotton-manufactories are indebted to Dr.

WILLIAM HIGGINS, profeffor of che miftry to the Dublin Society, for the publication of a very important discovery, namely, that the fulphuret of lime may be ufed in bleaching as a substitute for pot-afh and barilha. It is calculated, that in Ireland alone 215,3071. will be annually faved by this fubftitution. We cannot help recommending the conduct of Dr. Higgins, in publishing his own difcovery for the general good, to the imitation of thote perfons who will not even fuffer the public to be benefited by the discoveries of others, but obtain patents if they chance to become the first acquainted with foreign difcoveries. Although the great Berthollet fet in fo remarkable a manner the example of difintereftedness, how many patents have been obtained in this country for bleaching by his method, with fome trifling variation! Dr. Higgins has prefixed to his effay, which is drawn up in the plain and explicit language neceffary for the mere artist, a preface, calculated for the fcientific exclufively, in which he proves, that fome difcoveries of Fourcroy and Vauquilin (Vauquelin) had been previously an nounced to the public by himfelf.

"Critical Examination of the First Part of Lavoifier's Elements of Chemiftry." This work we understand to be the performance of Mr. DRUMMOND, a member of the British parliament; but we cannot vouch for the truth of this. The object of the work is not to attack. the whole of Lavoifier's admirable system, but to notice fome of its defects and inaccuracies; and in this we think the author has in fome meafure fucceeded. Not that his criticifms are all of them original; on the contrary, he is confiderably indebted to many examiners, who have preceded him: it would, however, be unjust not to fay that most of his original remarks difplay much philofophical ability.

Mr. HENRY STUTZER has published a tranflation of the "Elements of Chemistry, by J. F. Jacquin, of Vienna." This work is already well known to the chemical world. We have to regret that the tranflator, who in other refpects has performed his work ably and well, thould not have enriched his tranflation-with the many improvements which have been made in chemistry fince the publication of the original work.

The first part of "The Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society for 1799," has made its appearance. It is impoffible for us to give even a curfory account of its contents; fuffice it to fay,

that

that although nothing of great novelty or first-rate importance is communicated in this volume, there is yet a great deal to intereft the lover of fcience.

"Experimental Enquiries concerning the Principle of the lateral Communication of Motion in Fluids, applied to the Explanation of various Hydraulic Phenomena, by Citizen J. B. VENTURI. Tranflated from the French by W. NICHOLSON." The very curious fubject of this work feems to have been inveftigated with much care, judgment, and ingenuity; and the refult is, that various new and curious facts relative to the motion of fluids are afcertained. The defcriptions are lucid and satisfactory; the reafoning is precife and logical; and the ftyle plain and fimple. It is impoffible without the plates to give a juft idea of the contents of this valuable work.

"Refult of two Series of Experiments towards afcertaining the respective Velocity of floating Bodies, varying in Form, &c." by CHARLES GORE, Efq. of Weimar, in Saxony. Thefe experiments are communicated to the fociety for the improvement of naval architecture, who lent the author the machinery employed in them. They are of two kinds: the firft have for their object to afcertain the velocities of bodies of different shapes when drawn through water by a certain power; the fecond, the refpective degrees of ftability or power to refift the preffure of the wind while carrying fail. Mr. Gore is of opinion, that there is room for confiderable improvements in naval architecture.

MEDICINE AND SURGERY. Six more numbers, forming a fecond volume, have appeared of the "Medical and Phyfical Journal," conducted by Drs. BRADLEY and WILLICH. This work has received cummunications from medical characters of the first importance not only of London, but of all other parts of the kingdom, and cannot therefore fail of being in the highest degree both ufeful and interefting to every medical practitioner who wishes to be acquainted with the actual ftate of the fcience. We would recommend to the conductors to be more felect in the publication of original communications, and more ample in their extracts from fuch foreign works of importance as are not likely to come into the hands of the generality of their readers. From their hitherto obfcure concifenefs on this head we have but a glimpse inftead of a fatisfactory view of many interefting facts. We allo think that they fhould

review medical and phyfical publications more at large, and give more copious extracts than they have hitherto done.

In 1796 Dr. CARMICHAEL SMYTH published an effay on the "Effect of Nitrous Vapour in preventing and destroying Contagion;" this he has now republifhed, with the important addition of numerous cafes communicated to him chiefly by naval furgeons, which tend to confirm the antifeptic efficacy of this vapour. It is very extraordinary that Dr. Mitchell fhould fuppofe this very fame vapour, which, according to Dr. Smyth's account, is the deftroyer of contagion, to be the principle itfelf of contagion, and should of confequence have given to the acid which forms it the name of feptic. Here is a very wide difference, which, as the fubject is of fuch paramount importance to fociety, we truft will be foon fatisfactorily accounted for. We would recommend to Dr. Smyth to examine, with the utmoft degree of chemical accuracy, the nitrous vapour which he employs in future, and to ftate the proportions of oxygen and azote which it contains.

"An Effay on the Caufes, early Signs, and Prevention of Pulmonary Confumption," by Dr. BEDDOES, is one of the most important medical publications which we have feen for a long while; important not only to the medical practitioner, but to parents, as it shows those who have the care of children how the remote caufes of this fatal fcourge may be guarded again ft. The defcription which the doctor gives of the painful fymptoms of the difeafe is remarkably ftriking, and can scarcely be read without fhuddering. We wish we were as fanguine as our author with refpect to digitalis as a cure; but his hope that this difeafe will here. after yield as regularly to this medicine as ague to Peruvian bark, appears to favour of extravagance. Digitalis certainly poffeffes the property of rendering the circulation of the blood languid in a very remarkable degree, and will therefore frequently alleviate the diftreffing fymptoms of this disease. But like air with an under proportion of oxygen, and like every other fedative; its operation is only alleviating: it does not attack. the unknown fource of the difeafe. Even if the ulcers of the lungs fhould heal, we fear that the cause which originally produced them will continue to operate, and to produce fresh ones after the disease has appeared to be cured. Besides, digitalis is a very dangerous medicine, and, we fear, would frequently produce fudden

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