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passage; in which his personal feelings overpower him, and the etymologist is lost in the persecuted politician. We refer the reader to pp. 246, 247.

Mr. T. then proceeds to examine the objections which are made to his solution of the conjunctions UNLESS, ELSE, and LEST. We shall transcribe only what he says on ELSE, as being more within the comprehension of the generality of English

scholars.

"I have already observed" (say the Critics,)" that it [Aleran] is not susceptible of the signification you have all along affixed to it as its primary one; but let us suppose it to signify Dismiss, and nothing besides; we shall find many phrases in which ELSE will hardly bear to be resolved into boc dismisso*: witness the following, Nothing else. How else. What else. Where else."

To have a proof of the solidity or futility of this objection, we must have compleat sentences.

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Example 1. Nothing else.-You shall have a fool's cap O for your pains; and Nothing ELSE.

Resolution.-You shall have a fool's cap for your pains; and Nothing BUT a fool's cap.

i. e. But for Be-out. You shall have a fool's cap for your pains; and Nothing EXCEPT a fool's cap.

You shall have a fool's cap for your pains; and, IF NOT a fool's cap, Nothing.

You shall have a fool's cap for your pains; and, DISMISS the fool's cap, Nothing.

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Example 2. How elfe.-If a nation's liberties cannot be secured by a fair representation of the people; How ELSE can they be se cured?

Refolution. If a nation's liberties cannot be secured by a fair representation of the people, WITHOUT it, How can they be secured? i. e. WITHOUT for Be-out.

• If a nation's liberties cannot be secured by a fair representation of the people; EXCEPT by a fair representation of the people, How can they be secured?

If a nation's liberties cannot be secured by a fair representation of the people; DISMISS it, (i. e. a fair representation of the people,) How can they be secured?

Example 3. What elfe.-You have shewn impotence and malice enough; What ELSE have you shewn ?

Refolution. You have shewn impotence and malice enough; What have you shewn BUT impotence and malice? Or, What BỤT them have you shewn?

6 You have shewn impotence and malice enough; EXCEPT them, (i. e. impotence and malice,) What have you shewn?

You have shewn impotence and malice enough; DISMIss them, What have you shewn?

* I have said that ELSE is the Imperative of Aleran, and means Dimitte, but they give what they please as my words.'

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Example 4. Where else.-Honour should reside in the breast of a king; although it might not be found any Where ELSE.

Refolution. - Honour should reside in the breast of a king; although, EXCEPT in the breast of a king, it might not be found any where.

Honour should reside in the breast of a king; although, DISMISS (i. e. Leave out, Take away, &c.) the breast of a king, it might not be found any where.'

Besides the reply to Cassander's Strictures, we find considerable new political matter introduced into this edition; and perhaps the obtrusion of politics into this work will be generally deemed one of its most striking traits, and one of its most objectionable characteristics. Almost every example, which is brought to illustrate a rule, is a proposition involving a direct and express sarcasm on some public character, or inculcating some controverted political doctrine. In many cases, the text has been thought too narrow to contain a sufficient quantity of this seasoning, which has accordingly been thrust into the notes.-Professing the greatest respect for Mr. Tooke's talents, and not meaning to give any opinion on those principles which he seems so fond of impressing, we must express our regret at his having indulged in this practice. It is unseemly and incongruous. Mr. T. would, probably, if speaking on the subject, signify his disapprobation of the union of politics and religion :can he prove that politics and grammar are more homogeneous? If by introducing into this work his political enemies, whom he considers as the enemies of his country, he meant to hand down their names with infamy to succeeding times, he may attain his object so far as posterity shall be influenced by his opinion; for that his work will continue to live while the English language shall continue to be spoken or studied, we have no doubt: but the merit or demerit of ministers, and of their adherents, will also be transmitted to posterity through other channels: history will assign to them their place, and to its impartial page we would confide the task. An abstruse etymological inquiry cannot be the field in which their vices or their virtues should be blazoned. From the nature of its subject, this can never become a very popular work (tritum manibus vulgi); nor is it likely that the historian will resort to an essay on language in order to collect his materials; and even if he did, there is a degree of acerbity in what he would find in this volume, which would lead him to hesitate in giving full credit to it, and would prompt him rather to admire its point and yehemence as invective than to transfer it to his page as an authentic document.

Having said so much of Mr. Tooke's fondness for politics, we shall particularize a remarkable instance of the little solici

tude

tude which he has manifested, to make his political observations coalesce with his subject. In treating of the conjunction BUT, he remarks, in a note, that the omission of the negative before BUT in certain cases, though now very common, is one of the most blameable and corrupt abbreviations in our language; and he then gives the following instance of this omission, from Chillingworth: "There is not so much strength required in the edifice as in the foundation; and if BUT wise men have the ordering of the building, they will make it a much surer thing that the foundation," &c. For the rest of the passage, and Mr. Tooke's remarks, we refer to pp. 204, 205, the note; and in that long note, some very unexpected political matter will be found, which no grammarian would ever have sought under the word but..

It is now time for us to change the subject, and proceed to another article: concluding our remarks on this re-publication of Mr. Tooke's first volume, with a sincere expression of our hope of seeing its followers appear with as much speed as the peculiarity of the subject, and the circumstances of the learned and ingenious author, will naturally admit.

ART. XI. Remarks on the Fistula Lachrymalis; with the Description of an Operation considerably different from that commonly used; and Cases annexed in proof of its Utility; to which are added Observations on the Hæmorrhoids; and additional Remarks on the Ophthalmy. By James Ware, Surgeon. 8vo. pp. 150. 3s. sewed. Dilly. 1798.

IN the cure of the fistula lachrymalis, it is a well-known practice to insert a metallic tube in the nasal duct of the lachrymal canal: but the advantage derived from this operation is not at all times lasting. Among other causes of failure, Mr. Ware notices the lodgment of inspissated mucus in the cavity of the tube. To remedy this defect, he recommends the following operation:

If the disease has not occasioned an aperture in the lachrymal sac, or if this aperture be not situated in a right line with the longitudinal direction of the nasal duct, a puncture should be made into the sac, at a small distance from the internal juncture of the palpebræ, and nearly in a line drawn horizontally from this juncture towards the nose, with a spear-pointed lancet, The blunt end of a silver probe, of a size rather smaller than the probes that are commonly used by surgeons, should then be introduced, through the wound, and gently, but steadily, be pushed on in the direction of the nasal duct, with a force sufficient to overcome the obstruction in this canal, and until there is reason to believe that it has freely entered into the cavity of the nose. The position of the probe, when thus

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introduced, will be nearly perpendicular; its side will touch the upper edge of the orbit; and the space between its bulbous end in the nose and the wound in the skin will usually be found, in a full-grown person, to be about an inch and a quarter, or an inch and three-eighths. The probe is then to be withdrawn, and a silver style of a size nearly similar to that of the probe, but rather smaller, about an inch and three-eighths in length, with a flat head like that of a nail, but placed obliquely, that it may sit close on the skin, is to be introduced through the duct, in place of the probe, and to be left constantly in it *. For the first day or two after the style has been introduced, it is sometimes advisable to wash the eye with a weak saturnine lotion, in order to obviate any tendency to inflammation which may have been excited by the operation; but this in general is so slight, that I have rarely had occasion to use any application to remove it. The style should be withdrawn once every day for about a week, and afterwards every second or third day. Some warm water should each time be injected through the duct into the nose, and the instrument be afterwards replaced in the same manner as before. I formerly used to cover the head of the style with a piece of diachylon plaister spread on black silk; but have of late obviated the necessity for applying any plaister by blackening the head of the style with sealing wax t.

The effect produced by the style, when introduced in the way above-mentioned, at first gave me much surprise. It was employed with a view similar to that with which Mr. Pott recommends the introduction of a bougie; viz. to open and dilate the nasal duct, and thus to establish a passage, through which the tears might afterwards be conveyed from the eye to the nose. I expected, however, that whilst the style continued in the duct, the obstruction would remain; and of course that the watering of the eye, and the weakness of the sight, would prove as troublesome as they had been before the instrument was introduced. I did not imagine that any essential benefit could result from the operation until the style was removed, and

* It may be proper to introduce, at first, a style which has a head somewhat larger than that which is represented in the annexed plate, in order to hinder it from being wholly buried, by an unguarded pressure, beneath the external integuments; which accident I have known to happen in one or two instances, and to occasion both pain to the patient, and trouble to the surgeon, before the instrument could be retracted. The aperture in the skin, however, usually contracts in a short time so much, that it only leaves room for the style to pass through it; and when this takes place, an instrument with a smaller head may be employed, in order to make it less conspicuous to observers.'

To black the head of a style, fix its small end in a cork, for the purpose of holding it; then put its other end over a lighted candle until it is quite hot, and press it immediately against a piece of the best black sealing wax, part of which will adhere to it. Let it then again be held over the candle for about a minute, when the wax will become perfectly smooth and polished.'

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the passage thereby opened. It was an agreeable disappointment to me to find that the amendment was much more expeditious. The watering of the eye almost wholly ceased as soon as the style was introduced; and in proportion as the patient amended in this respect, his sight also became more strong and useful. The style, therefore, seems to act in a two-fold capacity: first, it dilates the obstructed passage and then, by an attraction, somewhat similar to that of a capillary tube, it guides the tear through the duct into the nose.

The wound that I really make into the sac, if the supperative process has not formed a suitable aperture in this part, is no larger than is just sufficient to admit the end of the probe or style; and this, in general, in a little time, becomes a fistulous orifice, through which the style passed without occasioning the smallest degree of pain. The accumulation of matter in the lachrymal sac, which, previous to the operation, is often copious, usually abates soon after the operation has been performed; and, in about a week or ten days, the treatment of the case becomes so easy, that the patient himself, or some friend or serv nt who is constantly with him, is fully competent to do the whole that is necessary. It consists solely in withdrawing the style two or three times in the week, occasionally injecting some warm water, and then replacing the instrument in the same way in which it was done before.

It is not easy to ascertain the exact length of time that the style should be continued in the duct. Some have worn it many years, and, not finding any inconvenience from the instrument, are still afraid and unwilling to part from it. Others, on the contrary, have disused it at the end of about a month or six weeks, and have not had the smallest return of the obstruction afterwards.'.

Several successful cases of this operation are related ;-we shall select the following, as having first suggested the mode of treatment now recommended:

Mrs. B. about fifty years of age, was attacked, in the year 1790, without any known cause, with an almost constant effusion of tears over the left cheek, which effusion was not unfrequently accompanied with a slight inflammation of this eye. After it had continued about six months, as the inconvenience rather increased than lessened, she came to town and put herself under the care of Mr. Wathen and myself. At that time both of us had a high opinion of the efficacy of a metallic tube inserted in the nasal duct for the cure of this disorder. It was accordingly proposed; and on the 13th of December 1790, the operation was performed. The adjustment of the tube to the duct in this instance, gave more trouble than we had usually experienced; but, after a few days, it fully answered the purpose of conveying the tears into the nose, and the watering of the eye ceased. The lady continued well after this time until the beginning of the year 1793; when in consequence of her experiencing some slight uneasiness in her eye, some warm water was injected through the inferior punctum lachrymale; but the obstruction in the tube was so considerable, that none of it appeared to pass into the nose or throat. Notwithstanding this obstruction, the watering of the eye at this

time

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