a crooked stick, and as we shall remember this stick the better, if something be hung upon it, a cage shall be suspended there. In the word cage we obtain the consonants c and g; also is added to the number, for c is more frequently pronounced hard (ka) than it is soft (se); q being a guttural_and a crooked letter, shall go along with the cage and the stick. For the figure 7 there are then c, k, g, and q.' At length, then, the reader is initiated: let us proceed to apply the system. The author begins with chronology-a chronological list of the kings of England. And this is his method, as he himself explains it. 'William the Conqueror. A word must be now made from William, the first half will is taken, and to this is added low, by which willow is obtained; this enables us to remember William. The willow is fixed upon the Tower of Babel, our first symbol; we have then William I. but another circumstance remains; he was the conqueror ; we hang some laurel, the reward of valour and the crown of conquest, upon the willow tree. The date is yet wanting; we say the laurel is dead; in the word dead, d, d for 66; the 1000 being understood, through the whole series. pp 265, 266. The reader may take one or two more of these pleasant pic tures. Henry V. Diogenes has five hens in his lantern; they are very noisy and troublesome,—(rout'em.) p. 267. Henry VII. Robinson Crusoe is seen to shoot seven hens, in a (rebellion.) Edward VI. We have here the vaulter, or rider; one man is a sufficient weight for a horse; but our horse must carry seven. There are six guards, or wards, upon this horse, besides the vaulter, who are all scrambling for a piece of a (lark.) The kings of England, we may just observe, are all comprized in one room but should some zealous Roman Catholic wish to have at his fingers'-ends the whole series of popes,how many rooms full of symbols must the poor man burden his memory with? The next chapter is on geography: we shall not trouble our readers with the method of dividing the sphere into compartments, and transferring these compartments to the above-mentioned rooms; because it is only the general principles of the system that we are considering. Some curious observations, however, we cannot help transcribing. • What we have learned in the common way on globes is soon forgotten, there being no connecting media to bring the different countries to our recollection. Suppose we are looking at a globe, and we fix our eyes upon England, we cannot see its antipodes; places can be seen only in one direction. The Chinese, when shown a map of the world, said, why put us up in a corner? we are in the centre. In fact, every where is the centre, and the centre is everywhere. The whole circumference is equally distant from us wherever we may be. The four quarters of the northern hemisphere being arranged on the four walls, when we are in the room, we can, in an instant, see every part of the hemisphere.' pp. 278, 279. As if the whole circumference' were not 'equally distant from us wheresover we may be' on the artificial globe, and as if it were in M. Feinaigle's geographical room. Truly, we think the Chinese might start some very shrewd objections to the Professor's ingenious plan. On the seventh step is Iceland. The symbol for 17 is Archimedes or the Carpenter; he is breaking up the ice, and that we may remember the name of the celebrated mountain, Hecla, we will say, that he acquits himself with very great eclat.' p. 282. We are quite tired of this now: if the reader wish for any more he must be content to buy the book, and he may then get a view of particular geography, statistics, history, language, poetry and prose. We have one or two observations to make before we finish. In the first place, the Professor does not seem to have a very definite notion of the points where the memory stands in need of assistance. History is of all other things that which we are the least likely to forget. A train of events, connected together, either as cause or effect, or as contemporaneous, is surely more easily kept in mind than one of these absurd sentences. These things are associated already in the memory; it is for what is insulated and unconnected that we want some artificial association. Surely the fact, that a convention was entered into in Egypt, between General Kleber, on the part of the French, and the Grand Vizier, on the part of the Sublime Porte, which was approved by the Cabinet of London:' is as easily remembered as M. Feinagle's symbol and the interpretation thereof. In the same manner the connected train of sentiment or narrative in poetry requires only attention to fix it in the memory. "Turn gentle hermit of the dale, "And guide my lonely way "To where yon taper cheers the vale We must here reflect, and imagine that we see a Hermit standing on the Tower of Babel, and turning round with inconceivable rapidity; a very large taper is placed upon his head. Angelina is walking by the tower and calling out loudly to the hermit to guide her lonely way; the taper cannot fail to suggest the remainder of the stanza. p. 374. Now we appeal to any one of common sense whether the leading thought of the stanza is not as easily remembered as this ridiculous symbol, if a person does but think as he reads. The picture then only gives the supernumerary trouble of applying its hieroglyphics to the sense of the poet. But further, is there no injury likely to accrue to the taste by using symbols like these? Is it to be borne, that instead of the grandeur and elegance of our poets, our children's attention is to be employed upon hermits whirling round with lighted candles on their heads, and men putting hens in their ears? This injury is not confined to the use of this system of mnemonics in poetry: it extends itself every where. A disciple of the Professor's must always be looking out for these childish pictures,— and the more ridiculous they are, we are told, the better. We had ten thousand times rather live with a professed punster, and that is bad enough. But facts are against us, it will be said. Let them have their weight. Here they are. Miss P. K. (11 years of age) repeated fifty stanzas of four lines each, from the second part of Mrs. More's 'Sir Eldred of the Bower.' These she repeated consecutively, and in any order desired. On any remarkable word being mentioned, she determined the stanza, the line, and the place of the line, in which it was to be found; and also how many times the same word occurred in the poem.' p. 231. This young lady had received five lessons only, of one hour each. Master S. H. explained the physical, mathematical, and chemical characters of minerals, after Hauy's system, assigning the systematical order of any character whatever proposed to him, and knowing in what manner any mineral ought to be examined and tried, to ascertain its nature. This pupil received only two hours instruction from M. Feinaigle. Master S. H. afterwards requested the audience to give twenty words or names, without any order or connection whatever. These words were written on a board, and numbered from one to twenty, as follows: 1. Tower. 4. Church. 9. Regent. 10. Feinaigle. 11. Syracuse. 15. Hill. 16. Nelson. 17. Archimedes. 18. Palestine. 20. Reform. After inspecting the numbers and words for a space of time, not exceeding three minutes, the pupil named every word in the series, both forwards and backwards: to any number that was proposed to him, he assigned the proper word, and vice versa. A series of twenty eight figures, named promiscuously by the audience, was then written down, as 8. 5. 1. 0. 5. 0 2.9. 6. &c. &c. &c. These the pupil surveyed attentively, for about five minutes, and then repeated them forwards and backwards. He afterwards declared how many 8s. 2s. 9s. &c. occurred in the series, and the relative situation of each figure. Master S. H. after one hour's application, repeated a Greek word from Aristophanes, consisting of seventy-six syllables and 165 letters, both forwards and backwards; he also named any syllable in any order desired, determining its numerical situation.' 6 Now, it is but fair to ask, What is meant by these pupils having received only five lessons' and only two hours instruction? whether that this was the only time bestowed upon the particular lesson? or upon the whole syste? Is it meant that, after having studied the symbols for a fortnight, perhaps, or three weeks, Miss P. K. then gave five hours to getting off herfifty stanzas of four lines each, &c.?' or, that in five hours she mastered both the system and the verses? If the first, the representation is very unfair in either case there is nothing very wonderful in the matter. The twenty unconnected words most persons could repeat in their given order, after having read them over once and we think that, any lad of good memory, (and we suppose Master S. H. was a picked boy,) might, without any assistance from these mnemonics, be crammed, (as a Cambridge man would say,) in five hours, with fifty latitudes and longitudes, so as to be able to give them all, the night after his lesson. But what would be the use of this? The question is, how much would he know of them in a year, in a month? And the answer is, Nothing. And we very much question whether Master S. H. will know more. He will begin to forget the position of his symbols, and the words of his sentences; one hieroglyphic will confuse another; he will not remember which word in the sentence contained the magical letters; he will begin to enquire whether Esculapius' be annoyed by six' or seven hens,' and whether four soldiers,' or five, 'take away poor Ceres; he will -But enough of this book; we hope that our readers are as much tired of it as we are ourselves. Art. II. Cases of Apoplexy and Lethargy: with Observations upon the Comatose Diseases. By J. Cheyne, M. D. 8vo. pp. 213. price 8s. bds. Underwood. 1812. THE author of this volume has already contributed largely to the improvement of medical practice, by his treatises on Croup, and Hydrocephalus; and we are gratified, therefore, to find him still pursuing the same useful and honourable path with unabated diligence and zeal. He informs us that he was led to the choice of apoplexy, as an object of chemical study, when he was preparing his Essay on Hydrocephalus for the press some years ago. Having occasion, at that period, to examine the writings of English physicians relative to the pathology of the brain, he found them extremely deficient in information on this subject, and the most important part of its medical treatment in some measure unsettled. From this period he began to preserve records of every case which had a reference to the subject--and from these materials, with the observations and enquiries which they have from time to time suggested, the work before us has been composed. His extensive opportunities of studying the disease, have not been lost. We have seldom met with a medical treatise more free from preconceived views, loose analogies, or any undue bias of opinion. A great degree of novelty or originality it would of course be unreasonable to expect: but it exhibits, what is at least equally valuable-sound practical views drawn from actual observation of the disease, and from an extensive investigation of the morbid appearances after death. Medical enquiries conducted in this way must always lead to some useful result: for in this, more than in any other department of human knowledge, facts are every thing, and theory nothing. Dr. Cheyne has distributed his work into several sections. He first gives a history of apoplexy, including an account of the morbid appearances with observations upon them. He then considers the form of the disease which has been called serous apoplexy; and afterwards proceeds to the treatment of the disease. The succeeding chapter contains a number of cases and dissections, both of apoplexy and lethargy; and a commentary upon these closes the volume. The history of the disease is detailed with great fidelity and considerable minuteness, and is more full than we believe it will be found to be in any former English medical author. The human body certainly is not subject to a more formidable or alarming disease. When the attack is complete, there is none which requires more promptitude and decision in the practitioner: though in most instances there is a tendency to the disease which is clearly, though not very strongly marked, and to which attention of the physician should be directed the more, as it will often afford him a precious opportunity of averting the disease altogether. The circumstances which indicate this state are very fully noticed by Dr. C. They are chiefly such as indicate an increased activity in the circulation within the head. They often precede the fatal stroke for a considerable time; and it is |