Circuits. And Books properly prepared for Local Registers, may be purchased of MR. BLANSHARD, the Publisher of this Magazine. EDITOR.] "ANXIETY has been extensively produced by a communication inserted in January, in your very valuable and widely-circulated Miscellany, on the subject of the Regis. ters of Baptisms of Dissenters. In compliance with your wishes, and those publicly and privately expressed by individuals and Societies, whose sentiments deserve my respect, I transmit the following observations, intended to allay the anxiety which I have observed and deplore. For that purpose, I have been induced, in compliance with the same wishes, by the addition of my signature to give an effect to these remarks, which anonymous and unprofessional observations probably would not obtain. "Your intelligent Correspondent, desirous to increase the security of Dissenters, has rather exaggerated both the evil which he supposes to exist, and the benefit which he is desirous to procure. Registers of Baptisms are not so important as he has conceived. The three objects which have generally induced a reference to Baptismal Registers are,1. To entitle survivors to insist on the performance of the Burial Service by the Parochial Minister, according to the rites of the Established Church, over their departed friends; and whose Baptism with water, and in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST,' it may be necessary to prove; 2. To demonstrate the settlement of paupers by their birth; and, 3. To assist in illustrating the descent of claimants to estates. As to the first of those objects, which very rarely occurs, it has been decided that the Clergyman required to officiate must be satisfied with any reasonable evidence.* As to the second object, it has also been determined, that Registers are only evidence of Christenings, and cannot afford any demonstrative proof by which the right to a settlement by birth can be maintained. † • KEEP v. WICKES. And as to the third object, Registers constitute not the best evidence, but only one of many species of secondary evidence, which, from a consideration of the nature of those cases, the courts of law and equity have been accustomed to admit. But if Registers were essential documents, and therefore far more important, no legitimate cause for particular anxiety appears to exist. No case has hitherto been recorded, in which proofs from the Registers of Baptisms have been rejected, or in which a preserved by Dissenting Ministers preference has been given to those which were formerly kept under the authority of the canon law, and are now directed to be kept by statute by the Ministers of the Established Church. The statute of 25 GEO. III. c. 75, even recognized and imposed a stamp on entries made in the Registers of Dissenters; and those entries have been frequently produced, and generally admitted, without controversy or objection. promote uniformity and public convenience, and to assist the useful design of the author of the recent Act for better regulating Registers, ‡ efforts were made to continue therein the clauses recognising and establishing the Registers of Dissenters originally inserted in that Act; but the efforts excited an opposition, with which it would have been useless to contend, and which it would have been injurious to increase. If, however, at any future period, any judicial determination should give solidity to the speculative apprehensions which some persons entertain, a reason will be presented for immediate applieation to the Government and the Legislature, to confirm past entries, and to legalise future registration, which would then probably command attention and success. To "To Dissenters and Methodists, whose security and just contentment I am solicitous to promote, it does appear that no better advice can be now afforded, than that they should manifest greater attention to the form and preservation of their Registers; and that they should introduce and extend the improvements which the last statute has compelled the 52 GEO. III. c. 146. Ministers of the Established Church to adopt.-To effect this practical advantage, I therefore recommend, with great deference,-That every congregation which practises infant baptism with water, and in the name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST,' should provide a book, bound in folio or quarto, to be entitled, 'A Register of Baptisms solemnized with water, in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST, by Ministers of a Congregation of Dissenting Protestants, in the Parish of -, in the County of ;' -that such books should be divided into columns, and that of all Baptisms so solemnized, entries should be made in those columus,-and in the subjoined form. The superiority of that form will consist in the improved provision which it supplies of an union of an authenticated Register, not only of Baptisms, but also of Births. The Title of the Book is particularised, because it has been determined in the Ecclesiastical Courts that baptism is not effectual, unless it be performed with water, and in the name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST.' The insertion of the Place of Birth, may assist in the ascertainment of parochial settlements: the reference to the former Names of Mothers, will contribute evidence of identity, and materially aid in the recovery of estates descending from female ancestors: and the Signature of Parents may supply proofs of the time and the place of the birth, with which a Minister is not personally acquainted, and which he cannot therefore legally, or effectually attest. "An attention to these suggestions will essentially contribute to improve the registers and security of Dissenters, and to terminate that negligence, from whieh, principally, difficulties may be expected hereafter to occur, and may produce general and permanent benefits at which your respected Correspondent, and my-e self, shall reciprocally rejoice. Finsbury Place." "JOHN WILKS. MR. WESLEY'S OPINION ON THE SLAVE TRADE. (Extracted from MR. CLARKSON'S History of the Abolition of the Slave-Trade: vol. i., p. 447. N. B. The date referred to in this Extract is the year 1787, when the Abolition Committee was formed.) "MR. WESLEY, whose letter was read next, informed the Committee of the great satisfaction which he also had experienced, when he heard of their formation. He conceived that their design, while it would destroy the Slave-Trade, would also strike at the root of the shocking abomination of slavery also. He desired to forewarn them that they must expect difficulties and great opposition from those who were in terested in the system; that these were a powerful body; and that they would raise all their forces, when they perceived their craft to be in danger. They would employ hireling writers, who would have neither justice nor mercy. But the Committee were not to be dismayed by such treatment, nor even if some of those who professed good-will toward them should turn against them. As for himself, he would do all he could to promote the object of their institution. He would reprint a new large edition of his Thoughts on Slavery, and circulate it among his friends in England and Ireland, to whom he would add a few words in favour of their design. And then he concluded in these words: 'I commend you to Him, who is able to carry you through all opposition, and support you under all discouragements.' "On the 30th of October, 1787, a second letter was read from MR. JOHN WESLEY. He said ( that he had now read the publications which the Committee had sent him, and that he took, if possible, a still deeper interest in their cause. He exhorted them to more than ordinary diligence and perseverance; to be prepared for opposition; to be cautious about the manner of procuring information and evidence, that no stain might fall upon their character; and to take care that the question should be argued as well upon the consideration of interest as of humanity and justice, the former of which he feared would have more weight than the latter; and he recommended them and their glorious concern, as before, to the protection of Him who was able to support them."" A MODE OF CURE OF THE EFFECTS OF THE BITE OF A MAD DOG, USED IN THE UKRAINE. [The following Article has been received from a Gentleman of high rank, now resident at Berlin. We are happy to meet his views by giving publicity to the statements which it contains; and shall be truly gratified, if further trial and experience shall justify the hope it suggests, of an effectual remedy for one of the most terrible of those diseases to which human nature is exposed. EDITOR.] WHEN MR. MAROCHETTI, an operator in the Hospital at Moscow, was in the Ukraine in 1813, in one day fifteen persons applied to him for cure, having been bitten by a mad dog; whilst he was preparing the remedies, a deputation of several old men made its appearance to request him to allow a peasant to treat them, a man who had for some years past enjoyed a great reputation for prevention of Hydrophobia, and of whose success MR. MAROCHETTI had already heard much. He consented to their request under these conditions:-First, that he (MR. MAROCHETTI) should be present at every thing done by the peasant:-secondly, in order that he might be fully convinced that the dog was really mad, he, MR. MAROCHETTI, should select one of the patients, who should only be treated according to the medical course usually held in estimation. A girl of six years old was chosen for this purpose. The peasant gave to his fourteen patients a strong Decoction of the "Summit. et Fl. Genista luteæ Tinctoriæ," (about a pound and a half daily,) and examined twice a day under the tongues, where, as he stated, small knots containing the poison of the madness must form themselves. As soon as these small knots actually appeared, which MR. MAROCHETTI himself saw, they were opened, and cauterized with a red hot needle, after which the patient gargled with the decoction of the "Geniste." The result of this treatment was, that all of them (of whom only two, the last bitten, did not show these knots) were dismissed cured at the end of six weeks, during which time they drank this decoction. But the little girl, who had been treated according to the usual methods, was seized with hydrophobic accidents on the seventh day, and was dead in eight hours after they first took place. The persons dismissed were seen three years afterwards by MR. MAROCHETTI; and they were all sound and well. Five years after this circumstance, (in 1818,) MR. MAROCHETTI had a new opportunity in Podolia of confirming this important discovery. The treatment of twenty-six persons, who had been bitten by a mad dog, was confided to him; nine were men, eleven women, and six children. He gave them at once a decoction of the "Geniste," and a diligent examination of their tongues gave the following result: five men, all the women, and three children, had the small knots already mentioned; those mostly bitten on the third day, others on the fifth, seventh, and ninth, and one woman, who had been bitten but very superficially in the leg, only on the twenty-first day. The other seven also, who showed no small knots, drank the "Decoctum Geniste" six weeks, and all the patients recovered. In consequence of these observations, MR. MAROCHETTI believes, that the hydrophobic poison after remaining a short time in the wound, fixes itself for a certain time under the tongue, at the openings of the ducts of the "glandul. submaxillar." which are at each side of the tonguestring, and there forms those small knots, in which may be felt with a probe a fluctuating fluid, which is the hydrophobic poison. The usual time of their appearance seems to be within the third and ninth day after the bite; and if they are not opened within the first twenty-four hours after their formation, the poison is re-absorbed into the body, and the patient is lost beyond power of cure. For this reason, MR. MAROCHETTI recommends, that such patients should be examined under the tongue immediately, which should be continued for six weeks, during which time they should take daily one pound and a half of the "Decoct. Genist." (or four times a day the powder, one dram for a dose.) If the knots do not appear in this time, no madness is to be apprehended, but, as soon as they appear, they should be opened with a lancet, and then cauterized; and the patient should gargle assiduously with the above-mentioned decoction. We hasten to communicate to our readers this important discovery, (which we borrow from the Petersburgh Miscellaneous Treatises in "The Realm of Medical Science for 1821,") which certainly deserves the full attention of all medical practitioners, and which, if confirmed by experience, may have the most beneficial results. Translated from an Article in the Berlin "State Gazette," No. 20, of the 14th Feb. 1822. Since the above statement appeared in the Berlin State Gazette, an official report, made to the Prussian Government, and quoted in a subsequent number of that newspaper, represents, that knots similar to those described by MR. MAROCHETTI were found under the tongue of a mad dog in Westphalia the last spring. Medical men are anxiously solicited to set on foot inquiries and experiments in order to put MR. MAROCHETTI's statement to the proof. It may be well worth inquiring also, whether the cure, if such it is, is not effected by opening and cauterizing the knots, without the decoction of the Broom having any part in it. In the suggestion of trials of the remedy thus described, nothing can be less intended than interference with excision and actual cautery when practicable, which it would be highly imprudent to neglect, at any rate as far as the present treatment of the bite of the mad dog is ascer tained. Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, from 1815 to 1820, in Further ance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society. By the REV. WILLIAM JOWETT, M.A., one of the Representatives of the Society, and late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. With an Appendix, containing the Journal of the Rev. James Connor, chiefly in Syria and Palestine. London, 1822. 8vo. pp. 454. Price 108. THESE Researches were prosecuted by the respectable and pious Author of this interesting Volume, as the Literary Representative of the Church Missionary Society. The objects of the Society in employing agents invested with this character in different places were, we are informed in the preface, "the acquisition of information relative to the state of religion and of society, with the best means of its melioration, and the propagation of christian knowledge by the press, by journeys, and by education." The Society are, we doubt not, perfectly satisfied with the ability and diligence with which MR. JOWETT has fulfilled his commission in the countries bordering on the Mediter. ranean; and the result of his observations and inquiries will be read with deep and mournful interest by the christian public of this country, not however unrelieved by the hope that the principles scattered here and there by such visitants as himself, and the connexion which is thus established between what remains of vital, though languishing Christianity, among the Christians of those countries, and the example, influence, and pious liberality of Great Britain, may issue in awakening inquiry, and in rousing them to a salu tary exertion "to strengthen the things which remain, and which are ready to die." and the wisdom and the power of this world, but which have been won back by the enemy, through the unfaithfulness and apostasy of Christiaus themselves. There the desolating spiritual and religious tyranny of MAHOMET exerts its resistless sway; and Christianity exists rather as a prejudice than as a principle, perverted by errors, encumbered by empty forms, and without the light and comfort of her own records. Of reproach and suffering, the share of the oppressed Christians of Greece and Egypt is sufficiently great; but the suffering is not consecrated, and death for religion is not by the love of CHRIST ennobled into martyrdom. This is not the kind of suffering under which the Church grows: the blood waters no seed, for the Scriptures and Evangelical Preaching are wanting; and no such product can therefore spring up, as that which filled the churches of the apostolic and succeeding ages with spiritual fruit. Efforts to pour oil into so many lamps "which have gone out," will not, we are persuaded, be wanting on the part of the pious of our country; but we trust that these Churches will, since their fallen state, oppressions, and sufferings, are now from so many quarters pressed upon our attention, call forth more earnest prayers to Him whose name they still bear, and for whose sake they still suffer the taunts and persecutions of proud and callous barbarians. There lie the wastes of Zion, "the desolations of many generations ;" and when the servants of GOD "take pleasure in her stones, and favour the very dust thereof, the time to favour her, yea, the set time, will come." We wish to see this spirit of sympathy for the fallen Churches of Christendom becoming more tender and prevalent, We have forgotten them too long, 4 A The "Researches" of the excellent BUCHANAN led us into countries where, for the most part, Satan has had for ages an undisturbed seat; among "peoples and tongues" whom GOD had suffered," in the depths of his wisdom and justice, “to walk in their own ways." MR. JOWETT has taken the same title for his book; but he leads us into those fair portions of the earth, where Christianity had her earliest and most splendid triumphs over the spirits of darkness, VOL. I. Third Series. NOVEMBER, 1822. |