twitchings and prickings were foon followed by the restoration of a degree of voluntary motion. These few trials are certainly infufficient to establish the character of a new medicine: but they prove that it is poffeffed of confiderable powers; and, as it appears that it may be employed with perfect fafety, the faculty are obliged to the ingenious author for his information, and will probably repeat his experiments. Art. 29. Practical Obfervations on the Natural History and Cure of the Venereal Difeafe. Vol. III. By John Howard, Surgeon. 8vo. PP. 231. 6s. Boards. Baldwin, &c.

1794.

Of the former parts of this refpectable work we gave an account in our Rev. vol. lxxvii. p. 317. Concerning the prefent, which treats of gonorrhea virulenta, we have not much to add, as the contents, confifting almost entirely of defcription and practical remark, will not admit of an useful abridgement. The leading view of the disorder in queftion, as given by Mr. Howard, is that it is an inflammatory one; the chief indications of cure are therefore the antiphlogistic kind, varied according to circumftances. He does not enter into thofe difcuffions. concerning the nature of the infection, which have occupied feveral late writers: but, confidering it in its effects, he lays down three general methods of cure, each of which may be fo managed as to prove fuccessful. The firft is that which he thinks beft adapted to its ordinary appearance in habits difpofed to active inflammation, and confifts of evacuants, emollients, fedatives, and the ufual remedies in fimilar cafes. When the inflammatory fymptoms are on the decline, he recommends mercurials; not deciding whether they act as anti-venereals, or merely as correctives of a purulent difcharge,but confiding in experience of their good effects. Injections have no place in this method; nor in the fecond, adapted to that fpecies of the disorder in which a phlegmatic habit produces a fluggish indolent inflammation, or none at all. Here fome of the active preparations of mercury, given from the very beginning in an alterative way, are recommended, occafionally affifted by the bark and opium. The third method is that by injection; in treating of which Mr. H. goes through the various fubstances used for this purpose, with practical remarks on each, as well as on the general advantages and inconveniences of this plan; to which, on the whole, he does not feem a friend, any farther than as it is occafionally combined with the others.

An appendix to this volume is chiefly devoted to a manly and proper eulogium on that eminent benefactor to his profeffion, the late Mr. Pott.

Art. 30. 4 Treatife on the Nature and Cure of the Cynanche Trachealis commonly called the Croup. By Difney Alexander, Member of the R. Med. Soc. of Edinburgh. 8vo. PP. 79. 25. Johnson. Though the croup is a difeafe now pretty well known, yet its frequent fatality renders any new information concerning its nature and cure worthy of attention. The prefent writer, having had frequent occafion to fee cafes of it in and near Halifax, during the winters of 1792 and 1793, was induced to note down its various appearances, and to make fome obfervatio ns refpecting it, the refult of which he communicates to the public.

After a general history of the difeafe, fucceeded by a few felect cafes, which exhibit fome of its most remarkable varieties, the author proceeds to treat of its caufe. Some general remarks on the impropriety of multiplying and confounding caufes, in accounting for the phenomena of difeafes, are applied to the croup; which, by different authors, has been confidered as either inflammatory, fpafmodic, or putrid, or all united. He on the contrary labours to prove that, whatever there be of fpafmodic in its nature, fhewn by its occafional intermiffions, this is merely an effect of the irritation confequent on inflammation; and that it really confifts, as Dr. Cullen afferts, in an inflammatory affection of the mucous membrane of the larynx and trachea. Its cure, in confequence, muft depend on a steady and refolute application of the means of obviating inflammation; and the writer cautions us not to change the plan for an oppofite one on account of apparent want of fuccefs, nor to combine medicines of different operation. In enumerating remedies, he begins with bleeding, as one of the most effectual and indifpenfible. As the fubjects are often very young, leeches are moft applicable, and fhould be fixed on the throat, and the orifices be kept bleeding as long as poffible. Blood-letting by the lancet, when practicable, is however more fpeedily ferviceable. Expectoration, and the discharge of mucus, are best promoted by vomits, of which the antimonial are preferable; and purging fhould be interpofed. Bliftering is alfo ufeful, efpecially where bleeding has failed to give much relief. Small dofes of calomel, and the pulv. antimonialis, are alfo proper to fubdue the remaining inflammation. Opium is always hurtful in the genuine croup. Warm fomentations, and the inhaling of fteams, Mr. Alexander feems to regard as too feeble aids in fo rapid and acute a disease.

THEOLOGY, &c.

Art. 31. Deifm difarmed; or a fhort Anfwer to Paine's Age of Reafon, on Principles felf-evident but feldom produced. 8vo. IS. Cadell and Davies.

This pamphlet is rather an examination of Pope's Effay on Man than an answer to "The Age of Reason." With Mr. Paine our author does not condefcend to grapple; his object is rather to perfuade us that, had he thought it neceffary to wrefle with him, this archdeift must have foon been laid on his back. Though Mr. Paine's pamphlet is a bold and daring attack on Revelation, his prefent anfwerer does not attempt directly to repel it: his object being not fo much to establish Chriftianity as to refute Deifm.' Difficulties, (he farther obferves,) are left in the Scriptures for the exercife of our faith and fubmiffion.' Such remarks may fatisfy this writer, whofe motive for taking up the pen is highly commendable: but he should have confidered that they are no refutation of Deifm; which can only be vanquished by proving the reafonablenefs and importance of Revelation, and by expofing the futility of thofe objections which wit, ignorance, or malignity play off against the Scriptures. Deifm is not neceffarily repugnant to Revelation; it is only inimical when it aflumes all-fufficiency. St. Paul allows that there are fome religious truths deducible from the works of Nature; fo far he agrees even

with Mr. Paine, that creation is the word of God: but it does not follow that, becaufe God has conveyed information to his rational creatures in one way, he has done it in no other;-may it not rather be prefumed, from the imperfection of the knowiege deducible from the light of nature, that it has obtained a fupplement; and, if Chriftianity comes with fuitable evidences, and contains the great defiderata, ought we not to admit it as fuch ?

The questions to be difcuffed between the Chriftian and the Deift are, Is a Revelation neceffary? and are the doctrines and difcoveries in the Scriptures that Revelation? It may be proved to a demonftration, (fays this writer,) that it is our intereft and duty to adhere to fome revelation, and particularly to that which teaches the immortality of the foul.' Had he gone into this demonftration, his pamphlet would then have been an anfwer to Mr. Paine.

Art. 32. Age du Défordre pris pour celui de la Raifon, par Mr. Paine; ou, Défenfe de la Religion Chrétienne, &c. &c. Ecrit par un Laïque, 8vo. 15. Wingrave.

This is one of thofe inftances in which a man's zeal in a good caufe furpaffes his ability. Defirous of furnishing an antidote against the Deiftical poifon of the "Age of Reafon," this French layman takes up his pen: but, if no better antidote could be provided, Mr. Paine would indeed triumph. Instead of examining Mr. P.'s creed, he contents himself with ftating his own; and, to counteract Mr. P.'s ftrictures on the Bible, he exhibits a curious abridgement of fcripture hiftory; in which, inftead of rudely turning Nebuchadnezzar to grass, he furnishes him, in his degraded ftate, with pine apples (annanas) and bananas, and recals him from this luxurious vegetable diet, to re-afcend the throne in confequence of the anarchy occafioned by a Babylonifh convention. Some parts of his hiftory of our Saviour are equally ludicrous. He writes, he fays, for fuch as have not made the Chriflian religion their ftudy. We wish that he had studied it more himself, before he flood forth its public advocate.

Art. 33. Christianity the only true Theology; or, an Answer to Mr. Paine's Age of Reason. By a Churchman. 8vo. pp. 73. 1s. 6d. Rivingtons.

Mr. Paine's prefent opponent does not hesitate to accufe him of raking up the dying embers of a few objections to Christianity, which no perfon but himself would have confidered as containing one spark that was capable of being revived;' and of availing himself of the difcoveries of Scripture, and then of ungenerously converting them into weapons of hoftility against the religion from which he borrowed them. The latter of thefe charges we admit to be juft: but furely our author must be too well acquainted with Deiftical writers, and with the prevalence of Deifm in the prefent age, to think that his first charge will be confidered by difpaffionate readers in any other light than as a loofe and angry invective; and to this the advocate for religion fhould be the last to defcend. The queftion is not where Mr. P. raked and found his objections, but whether they be valid: this is all that the churchman has to examine. In attempting this task, he points out the obfcurity and the defects of natural religion, and the neceflity of an extraordinary

Ii 4

traordinary revelation to fupply them; and he argues in favour of the doctrine of fatisfaction and vicarious punishments:-but the most valu able part of his answer to Mr. P. is that which maintains the fufficiency of prophecy and miracles as evidences of revelation. To what he has advanced on these points fome attention fhould be given, though it may not contain any thing abfolutely new nor fingularly ftriking: but, when infidels repeat objections, believers must go over old ground in replying to them. When this writer fpeaks of rectifying our prefent copies of the Scriptures, by having recourfe to original manufcripts, which are still to be found in feveral places of Europe, (p.15.) we fuppofe he must mean very antient manufcripts; for the autographs

of the facred writers are not known to exist.

Art. 34. The Libertine led to Reflection by calm Expoftulation. A Method recommended in a Farewel Addrefs to his younger Brethren, by an old Parochial Clergyman. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Cadell. 1794

The fable of the traveller who only held his cloak the fafter on account of the violent attempt of Eolus to blow it from his fhoulders, but who, on the foft infinuation of Sol, voluntarily threw it afide, affords fo excellent a leflon to those who undertake the correction of error, that it is furprifing that it has not been more generally regarded. The advocates for religion have too frequently retorted on their opponents with a degree of afperity which has been more likely to rivet, than to remove, prejudice; and, in the pride of orthodoxy and the jealoufy of zeal, have not deigned to treat infidels and heretics with the civility due to men. A very different conduct is recommended in this pamphlet, with equal judgment and benevolence, to the appointed defenders of the faith. Inftead of committing unbelievers to the wholefome difcipline of perfecution, or denouncing on them the dreadful fentence of damnation, the candid writer advifes his younger brethren to treat, with all mildeefs and gentleness, such as have forfaken the faith, and to endeavour to bring them back by difpaffionate reafoning He exhorts the clergy not to fuffer their attachment to established opinions or modes to beguile them into principles or practices inconfiftent with Chriftian liberty; and he not only recommends moderation toward Roman catholics, and the different claffes of Protestant fectaries, but even toward libertine fcoffers. He fuggefts a train of argument by which the defenders of religion should endeavour to convince the fpeculative infidel of his error, and a courfe of reflection by which the great importance of religious principles and hopes may be illuftrated. Abfurd tenets, and fuperftitious' rites, he advises them to abandon, as difgraceful appendages to religion; licentious principles, or immoral practices, he warns them never to countenance either by their example or converfation; and, where there is the least chance of doing good, he exhorts them never to pafs over the offence in filent connivance, but to admonish and rebuke the offender in the spirit of meekness. Much excellent advice of this kind is given in the prefent pamphlet, which well deferves the attention of the younger clergy; and it comes with peculiar propriety and effect from one who has long been a teacher and a pattern of moderation. They are indebted for it to the fame pen which produced a work published 25 years ago, intitled, "Two Difcourfes, tending

τα

to affwage the animofity of a party spirit in religion ;" and the author, we understand, is the Rev. Dr. Duncan, rector of South Warmborough, Hants: to whom the public have also been indebted for two volumes of mifcellaneous works in verfe and profe.

Art 35. Error detected, and Fiction rebuked; in a Letter to Edward Tatham, D. D. fo called, and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. On his Sermon, 1ft Epistle John iv. 1. Which (for its Excellence) was read in four Parish Worship Houfes, in the Year 1792, and published under the Title of " A Sermon fuitable to the Times." By Theophilus Haddock. 8vo. 6d. 1794.

This letter, written in the language and with the peculiar fentiments of the people called Quakers, treats all established forms of religion, and all schools for the education of priests, as antichriftian; and the author accufes Dr. Tatham of having, by false declarations in his fermon, robbed of their good name thousands of people that are claffed under the denominations of Methodists, Enthufiafts, Anabaptists, and Diffenters.

MECHANICS.

Art. 36. An Enquiry into the Laws of Falling Bodies, &c. By Robert Anftice. 8vo. pp 95. 3s. Arch. 1794. This pamphlet feems to be the production of one who is poffeffed of a mechanical turn, but who is imperfectly acquainted with abstract fcience, and unaccustomed to reafon with precision. He attempts even to revive the famous question about the measures of forces, and repeats fome of the arguments employed by the adherents of Leibnitz. That difpute, like many others which have agitated the literary world, proceeded from the vague ufe of words. It was admitted on both fides that, when the actual or potential velocities of counteracting bodies were reciprocally as their quantities of matter, a balance obtained in the fyftem. Force, power, effect, are terms which denote no material existence, but only abilract conceptions; they may be variously understood, and confequently defined as caprice may dictate. It was, therefore, convenient to invent a fingle word, momentum, to exprefs the compound relation of mass and velocity, which remains the fame in all the communications of motion, and ferves as a fundamental principle in mechanics. Though the obfolete opinions of the German philofophers might be admitted without changing the face of science, they must be deemed altogether nugatory.

Not contented with the diftinétion of forces into vires mortuæ and vires viva, denominations abundantly abfurd, Mr. Anstice fubdivides the latter into two kinds. Nothing is fo much wanted toward the improvement of natural philofophy, as the ftrict application of found and enlightened metaphyfics. Superficial diftinctions are often as pernicious as the confufion of terms. We must observe that the ordinary difcrimination of powers into weight and impulfion, which has occafioned fo much perplexity, is founded on a hafty view of facts. Preffure alone comprehends every modification of force, and the only difference confifts in the duration of the energy exerted. As the momentum of bodies is measured by their mafs and velocity, fo their quantity of performance is compounded of the mass

and