量

which circumstance he observes, that, if they fuffer in fome respects, they will have one advantage, that is, they will appear to have been the plain and artless expreflion of a minifter's concern for his people; and not to have been in the least intended to increase the reputation of their author.

The fubjects on which he difcourfes are chiefly thefe, viz. The fecurity of those who trust in God; the glory of Christ in his humiliation; the deceitfulness of fins the Chriftian's difpofition under a sense of mercies received; a view of the glory of God humbling to the foul; the happiness of the faints in heaven; and minifterial fidelity in declaring the whole council of God, a farewell fermon.

Thefe difcourfes are fufficiently characterised by what the author fays above, and by the remark we have made at the conclufion of the preceding article.

48. A Sermon preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Saunders, in the old Meeting-House, Cambridge, October 13, 1768, by John Conder, D. D. together with an Introductory Difcourfe, by Thomas Towle, B. D. Mr. Saunders's Con"feffion of Faith, and a Charge delivered to him by Edward Hitchen, B. D. 8vo. Pr. 1s. Dilly.

We can find nothing in thefe united publications but what is very common, very pious, and very dull.

49. England's Warning Piece; Thewing the fupreme and indifpenSable Authority of the Laws of God; and the Impiety, and fatal Confequences of fcreening, and abetting Murder. A Sermon occafioned by the untimely Death of Mr. William Allen the Younger, who was most inhumanly Murdered near his Father's Houfe, by an arbitrary military Power, on Tuesday, the 10th of May, 1768. Preached at the Request of his Friends, in the Parish Church of Newington-Butts, and published in Compliance with the Demand of the Public. By John Free, Doctor in Divinity, &c. Ft. Sc. 8vo. Pr. Is. Bingley.

This preacher may be called the drummer of fedition. Whether Free be a travelling name or not to denote licentiousness, we shall not determine; but we can fcarcely think that a doctor of divinity could be guilty of compofing a difcourfe fo full of nonfense and faction, that it unhinges all the laws which keep civil fociety in fafety and tranquility againft lawless mobs and desperate ruffians.

L

50. A Method of curing the Jaundice and other Disorders of the Liverby the Herb Agrimony, taken in the Manner of Tia. 800. Pr. 15. Baldwin.

། b:

זי

There being no patronymical mark on the forehead of this pamphlet, we could not afcertain its genealogy, till, ftrange to

tell!

tell! we found the name of a celebrated botanift imprinted in legible characters near the tail. What could be the reafon for this ingenious contrivance; whether it alluded to the late masquerade ball, or that the author of the production was ofort apprehenfive left any who knew the little vagabond would slay it, we pretend not to determine: but, for our own part, we fhall give Dr. Hill's iffue a candid reception; and have no intention to extirpate agrimony from the face of the earth, nopir The medicinal quality of the herb here recommended in cure of the jaundice, is no recent d difcovery, but has been approved by many practical phyficians, both ancient and modern. We wifh, however, that the doctor had specified fome cafes, in which he had experienced its extraordinary efficacy, in order to determine with more affurance, whether it is actually fuperior to madder and turmeric, which are known from general experience to be successful in icterical diforders. But as we approve of every attempt to reduce the art of phyfic to greater fimplicity, we hall, with the doctor, admit the pofitive quality of agrimony without a comparative trial, and here infert his directions for ufing it.

15

For the first or flightest stage of jaundice, ftrip off half a pound of the fresh leaves of agrimony; clip them to pieces, and pour upon them, in a ftone mug, a quart of boiling water; cover up the mug; and let it ftand twenty-four hours, then prefs it off. Let it fettle to be quite clear; and take it at four doses, eight hours diftant from one another; fweetening it with honey. This quantity in the firft ftage will generally cure. If not, repeat it three or four times, and all will be well.

་

The body must be open all this time: if it is naturally so the better; if not, half a pint of Jeffops well-water, or any other of the purging waters, muft be turned with milk into a kind of whey, and taken occafionally: not to purge, but merely to prevent coftiveness.

V

When all is over, a fomewhat larger dofe of the fame whey fhould be taken twice, to operate as a purge, and carry off any thing that might remain after the difeafe.

When the jaundice is in its second stage, which is the most common cafe of all, not the leaves but the crown of the root of agrimony, is the part to be depended on. This is the place where the root ceafes, and the ftalk and leaves begin that part of the plant which is between earth and air. At this particular place, there is always a great collection of the beft and richest juices of the plant. The bud is formed there in autumn upon all new off-fets of the roots; and continues til spring. Tis then, that is in the month of April, in its highest perfection of virtue, extremely fragrant and agresable; but now in autumn,

and

and through the winter, lying almost within the ground, it continues fresh and full of virtue. After the plant thoots to ad ftalk, this part gives its richness to the leaves; and in the fummer months they must be used unless precaution have been had to dig this up, in time, and dry it in the fhade, in which way it preserves all its virtue. 7

For the cure then of this common degree of the jaundice, take up the roots of agrimony to the length of an inch, with the buds upon them: of these cut to pieces fix ounces, bruife them in a marble mortar, and pour upon them a quart of boili ing water. Let this ftand twenty-four hours, after which the liquor is to be ftrained off, and taken just as the former, fweetened with honey.

曾

• While this is making, let the perfon take a vomit. No thing is fo well as the common ipecacuanha, worked off with water gruel. The morning after, let the agrimony tea be taken, and continued thrice a day without intermiffion till the difeafe is conquered. In what time this will be, depends upon the particular nature of the cafe, and the time the diforder has had to ftrengthen itself; but that the cure will follow, is as certain as any thing in phyfic.'

51. Polypody: or, the Ancient Doctrine of the Virtues of that Herb, tried and confirmed. By John Hill, M. D. 8. Pr. `ts. Baldwin.

As we apprehend that the teflimony of ancient writers is not alone fufficient to revive the ufe of a medicine which has been exploded from extemporaneous prefcription by later experience; Doctor Hill muft pardon our hesitation, if we do not run upon all fours into a perfuafion of the virtues even of polypody, till the particular cafes are specified which confirm their reality.

52. A Tranflation of Scherffer's Treatife on the Emendation of Dioptrical Telescopes. To which are added, Explanatory Notes, and a Defcription of a Telescope to be used at Sea, for difcovering the Longitude there. By Sam. Hardy, Rector of LittleBlakenham, Norfolk. 8vo. Pr. Is. 6d. Pearch..

3

The different refrangibility in the rays of light occafions a defect in all telescopes, not eafily remedied by any means hitherto difcovered; which Sir Ifaac Newton, in his Treatise upon Optics, fhews to arife from the impoflibility of the rays being all refracted in parallel directions from any kind of lens whatsoever; this diverfity in refraction of the rays is about a twentyeighth part of the whole; fo that the object-glafs of a telescope cannot collect the rays, which flow from any one point in the

object,

13

object, into a lefs room than the circular space, whofe diameter is about the fifty-fixth part of the breadth of the glass. Since then each point of the object will be reprefented in fo large a fpace, and the centers of those spaces will be contiguous, because the points in the objects the rays flow from are fo, it follows that the image of an object made by fuch a glafs muft be a moft confused reprefentation, though it does not appear fo when viewed through an eye-glafs that magnifies in a modérate degree; confequently, the degree of magnifying in an eye-glafs must not be too great with refpect to that of the object-glafs, left the confufion become fenfible. Notwithstanding, however, this imperfection, a dioptrical telescope may be formed to magnify in any given degree, without rendering the image obfcure, by making it of a fufficient length; yet, as our author in his preface obferves, no fufficient remedy for this dioptrical miffortune was difcovered, until Mr. Dollond, a famous optician, pointed out a method to remove the defect of dioptrical telef copes, as far at least as the cafe admitted, by collecting rays, though heterogeneous, to the fame focus.

In this fmall but elegant performance, which appears prin-' cipally defigned for illuftrating Dollond's ufeful theorem relating to the improvement of dioptrical telescopes, Mr. Hardy has by a judicious application of dioptric formulæ (fubjoined to the tranflation in explanatory notes) rendered that important difcovery extremely clear and eafy to be understood. The manner in which he has defined the differences of refraction, and determined the radius of curvature in each glafs, fo as to form a compound focus at a given diftance; together with the defcription of a new invented telescope for obferving the eclipfes of Jupiter's fatellites vifible at fea, which this ingenious gentle man has added by way of appendix; cannot (in our opinion). fail of giving entire fatisfaction to thofe who are concerned in optical enquiries.

53. The Method of conftructing mural Quadrants. Exemplified by a Defeription of the Brafs mural Quadrant in the Royal Obfervatory at Greenwich. By John Bird, Mathematical Inftrument Maker in the Strand. Published by Order of the Commiffioners of Longi tude. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Nourfe.

In confequence of an application made by the late Dr. Bradley in the year 1748, for a new mural quadrant, to be fixed to the weft fide of the pier in the royal obfervatory at Greenwich, for taking obfervations to the north; Bird, mathematical inftrument maker, having received an order for that purpose, was defired by the doctor to confider of fome method to prevent, if poffible, a fault obferved in the old quadrant, which was,

GOT

8

that

1

that it had altered its figure by its own weight (about eight hundred), fo as to render the whole arc 16" lefs than a quadrant, or 90°. Accordingly, fays Mr. Bird, 'I made myself fully acquainted with the general conftruction of the old quadrant, which was executed under the direction of the late Mr. Graham, and found the general plan, though little taken notice of at that time, to be fuch as, I think, will be a lasting teftimony of his great skill in mechanics.' In the course of this inquiry, our author found the reason of the alteration by its own weight, to arise from a defect in the manner of fastening the feveral parts together, probably owing to the cocks, and plates for that purpose, being of iron, which could not be forged in that advantageous fhape which Mr. Bird afterwards contrived to give to those that were caft of brafs, for the new quadrant; by which means the above-mentioned fault is entirely removed.

The general method of conftru&ting mural quadrants, defcribed in the work now before us, is, in our opinion, fufficiently evincive of Mr. Bird's abilities as an ingenious artist, and by help of the plates annexed to this performance, cannot fail of being very ufeful to fuch as are employed in forming or dividing mathematical inftruments. With regard to the latter, our author obferves, that an inftrument divided by hand, can never undergo a more critical examination than it does in the dividing. I never met (continues Mr. Bird) with an inequality that exceeded one fecond. I will fuppofe, that in the 90 arch, this error lay towards the left hand, and in the 96 arch, that it lay towards the right: this will occafion a difference between the two arches of two feconds, and if an error of one second be allowed to the observer, in reading off his obfervation, the whole amount is no more than three feconds, which is agreeable to what I have heard, not only from the late Dr. Bradley, but from the prefent aftronomer royal, the reverend Mr. Maskelyne, viz. that the two arcs never differ more than three seconds from each other: but whoever computes from the obfervations taken by this quadrant, will do well to depend upon the 96, rather than the go arch, as being less liable to error.'