religion and virtue, we are disposed to excuse him for having laboured it too much. The people whom he has thus exhibited at full length must feel highly indebted to him for the delineation, which is as reputable to them as Barclay's Apology, and must be ready to hail him as almost if not altogether a Quaker.

ART. 1X A Treatise on the Origin, Progress, Prevention, and Treatment of Consumption. By John Reid, M.D., Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London, &c. 8vo. pp. 330. 78. Boards. R. Phillips. 18c6.

Τ

IT is the professed object of this treatise to give an account of phthisis which, at the same time that it affords informa tion to the professional student, shall not be unintelligible to the general reader; who may feel anxious to render himself acquainted with some important facts in the animal economy, and also to acquire some knowlege respecting the method of warding off the attacks of a disease which, though difficult of cure, is sometimes easy of prevention. We have on former Occasions very fully expressed our opinion respecting popular medicine; and at present we shall only observe that the subject of Dr. Reid's discussion is judiciously selected, both from the circumstance mentioned above, and because it is connected with one of the most interesting branches of physiological science.

Dr. R. commences with some introductory remarks on medical theory, from which we learn that he is a decided fol lower and devoted admirer of the celebrated Brown. So intimately, indeed, are the Brunonian doctrines interwoven with the whole texture of the volume, that they form the prominent feature of every part of it, and enter very largely both into the pathology and the practice.-The author afterward proceeds to an account of the structure of the respiratory organs, and of the functions that are either dependent on them or are closely connected with their action. The anatomical part is suffici ently minute for general purposes, although in some particulars not perfectly accurate, The same character may be applied to the detail of the chemical effects produced on the air by respira tion, and of the modern theories of animal heat. Dr. Reid cannot withhold his assent to the fundamental facts on which these are founded: but he objects to them because he conceives that they attempt to explain the change produced on the body in a method strictly chemical, without taking into consideration that the system on which they operate is endowed with the principle of vitality, and must, consequently, be affected by

external

external agents in a manner totally different from a mass of inanimate matter. We suspect that Dr. Reid has, in some degree, mistaken the object of the modern physiologists; who, when they examine the changes produced by respiration on the air and on the blood, merely endeavour to ascertain the amount of a chemical operation, of the existence of which, to a certain, extent, no one can entertain the smallest doubt. The cause which creates these changes is to be sought by a different process of investigation, and the ultimate effect produced by them is, in the same manner, always supposed to be regulated by laws. distinct from those which exist in inorganic substances. The error into which Dr. Reid has fallen is common to him with almost all the followers of Brown; who, unfortunately, have inherited from their master his rash spirit of generalization, and his disregard of those minute details which are essential to the successful investigation of the laws of the animal

œconomy.

After this preliminary matter, the author enters more immediately on the subject of his volume, by considering in detail the causes of phthisis. These he reduces to four, hæmoptysis, catarrh, pneumonia, and tubercles, to each of which he appropriates a separate chapter. He argues at some length against the opinion that hemorrhage of the lungs may be produced by an alteration in the pressure of the atmosphere, or the mechanical rarefaction of the blood. In this sentiment we coincide; yet we cannot agree with him in concluding that undue action, occasioning debility, and consequent rapture of the vessels, is, in every instance', the cause of this complaint. We apprehend that, in a number of cases, increased action is the immediate cause of the rupture of the vessels, without the intervening state of debility.-The account of catarrh is entirely Brunonian, both as to the mode of its production and the plan of treatment. This has always appeared to us one of the most striking instances of the attchment to theory, that is to be found in the whole range of medical science. We think that the hypothesis is contradicted by the most palpable experience, and we do not perceive that Dr. Reid has brought forwards any new fact in its support.

In the 10th chapter, the author points out the characteristics of the phthisical constitution, and the means by which the tendency to consumption may be counteracted. In a treatise intended for popular perusal, no part of the subject is more deserving of attention; and we must acknowlege that D. R. has succeeded in rendering it clear and perspicuous to the unprofessional reader. His remarks on diet and regimen, on clothing, on the construction of our habitations, and on other

M 4

similar

similar topics, are such as must immediately command assent; and if they do not display much novelty, this circumstance is perhaps more to be ascribed to the nature of the subject, than to any deficiency in the author.

At length we arrive at the history and treatment of consumption. The enumeration of symptoms is judicious, although too general to admit of much nicety of discrimination, or acuteness of diagnosis; it is more like an abstract of matter that may be obtained in books, than a delineation of facts that passed under the eye of the writer. The same observation will, we think, apply to the plan of treatment recommended by Dr. Reid. He entertains a favourable opinion of the powers of digitalis: but, according to the tenets of his sect, he explains its operation by supposing that it exhausts arterial excitement with so great a rapidity, that its stimulant power is neither perceptible nor injurious.'

Dr. Reid's treatise, undoubtedly, bears the marks of the production of a man of education: but it appears to us deficient in that attention to minute detail, which stamps the most lasting value on all medical productions. It is this which causes us to recur to the writings of Sydenham and Cullen with renewed gratification, although we believe neither in the doctrine of fermentation nor in that of spasm; and to the want of this property it is, that the learned and elaborate volumes of the Zoonomia are falling into premature neglect. -The style of this work is generally elegant, and sometimes animated: but we think that it is too florid and too much orna. mented either for popular or for scientific use. The mere professional man rejects figures of speech when he is eager af ter information; and the general reader will be apt to experience a feeling of incongruity, when he observes tubercles and ulcers described in flowing periods, and illustrated by the flowers of rhetoric. A more serious objection, however, which we have to allege against Dr. Reid's book as a popular treatise, is the implicit attachment to a favourite hypothesis which pervades every part of it, and which not only obscures the train of reasoning, but serves to distract the attention of both the author and the reader from more important objects of investigation.

ART.

ART. X. Notes on the West Indies: written during the Expedition under the Command of the late General Sir Ralph Abercromby: including Observations on the Island of Barbadoes, and the Settlements captured by the British Troops, upon the Coast of Guiana; likewise Remarks relating to the Creoles and Slaves of the Western Colonies, and the Indians of South America: with occasional Hints regarding the Seasoning or Yellow Fever of hot Climates. By George Pinckard, M.D. &c. 8vo. 3 Vols. 11. 10s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1806.

T E author of these volumes was employed in a medical capacity, in the expedition that was fitted out under the tommand of Sir Ralph Abercromby, in the autumn of the year 1795. Before he arrived at St. Domingo, which was his final destination, he spent some time first at Barbadoes, and af terward at the colonies on the coast of Guiana; and it is the account of these countries which is contained in the present work. Dr. Pinckard, however, determines to commence ab avo; for he has not only deemed it necessary to give a very minute history of all the incidents of his voyage, but has favored his readers with the relation of every adventure that befel him from the time of his stepping into the Portsmouth mail coach in London. About 150 pages are employed in describing Southampton and Portsmouth; in which we have stories of landladies and chambermaids, of the frolics of sailors, and of the humours of a stage coach, detailed with a degree of importance, which, we think, would appear uninteresting even in a familiar letter to a friend, and which are altogether unfit for publication. A prolixity in the relation of trifling anecdotes is not, however, Dr. Pinckard's only foible; his volumes abound with commonplace reflections on passing events, still more fatiguing than his stories, and which are so interwoven with the narrative that it is not easy to avoid wading through them.

A large portion of this kind of extraneous matter is introduced into the chapters containing an account of the voyage; which, although attended with some interesting circumstances, is made completely tedious, in consequence of its being spun out to an immoderate length. At last, however, we arrive at Barbadoes, and are presented with an animated description of Carlisle bay, which in some measure repays us for the toil of the passage,

The harbour is a fine open bay, the whole of which, with its varied shores, was before the eye: many ships were riding at anchor, and a multitude of boats and small vessels were sailing and rowing to and fro. The two points of land at the entrance, serve as a defence; while they augment the beauty of the harbour. On one of them appears a formidable battery, together with an extensive barrack for

troops:

troops on the other is a fine grove of mountain cabbage, and coco nut trees. Through the shipping at the bottom of the bay, are seen numbers of neat cottages; among which are interspersed various tropical trees, affording the protecting shelter of their umbrageous summits. On the south-west shore stands Bridge town, the capital of the island; and on the north-east, upon high ground, is a new and handsome quadrangle of stone barracks, with the mili. tary hospital and other buildings of St. Anne's Hill. Nor is the prospect confined to these limits. It extends still wider, and in addi tion to the water, the shipping, and the numerous other objects, immediately before the eye, the back ground, beyond the bay, and above the town, forms a rich and extensive landscape. The land is seen above the houses, the trees, and the topmasts of the ships, rising to a great distance, clothed in all the richness of its tropical apparel. Verdant fields of sugar, of coffee, and of cotton; fine groves, dark with luxuriant foliage; country villas; clusters of negro huts, windmills, and sugar-works, all present themselves to diversify and enliven the picture. Such was the scene that appeared before us as we sailed into Carlisle bay.'

Dr. Pinckard remained at Barbadoes between two and three months, and appears to have advantageously occupied the time in making himself acquainted with the nature of the country, and the manners of the inhabitants. On the first of these topics we do not expect to meet with much that is new, re specting an island that has been so frequently visited and described. We have, however, an interesting account of some of the scenery in the interior, which seems to be picturesque and beautiful; and after we have made a reasonable deduction for the effects of novelty, in the writer's view, we may imagine that the appearance of many of the vegetable productions must be grand and impressive, both from their immense size and from the vivid coloring of their fruits and foliage. An orange grove, through which he passed, elevated the author to perfect raptures but, in this case, the eye was not the only sense that was gratified.

The portrait of the manners of the Barbadians is well drawn, and is perhaps the more impressive from the peculiar style in which it is conveyed. Indeed, the relation of trifling anecdotes, and of incidents which are in themselves unimportant, acquires a degree of interest under such circumstances, and affords a better criterion for forming an estimate of character than the most labored description. The leading qualities of the people of Barbadoes are hospitality and indolence; and the effects of the former were experienced by the author in a way which seems to have made an indelible impression on him: since he circumstantially describes the luxurious entertainments to which he was invited; and in no part of his work does he rise