mildly laxative. This conferve, which is employed as a univerfal remedy for children, is prepared by ftripping the bark from the ftems, &c. and boiling the pulp with an equal quantity of fugar, or the best honey. The leaves alfo of the rhubarb plant are employed by the fame people in their foups: as they have an agreeable acidity, fimilar to different kinds of forrel which, in the botanical fyftem, is in the fame class with rhubarb.'

The memoirs contained in this Volume are as follows: Mem. I. Concerning the chaulage, &c. (i. e. mixing with the corn a certain quantity of quick-lime and water), confidered as a prefervative against feveral diseases to which corn is subject. By M. Parmentier.-Mem. II. On the manner of gathering and preferving the leaves of trees, and giving them to cattle as food. By the Baron de Servieres.-Mem. III. On the causes of vinous fermentation, and the best method of improving the quality of wines. By the Marquis de Bullion. Mem. IV. Concerning the manner of cultivating and employing maize as fodder. By M. Parmentier. Mem. V. Concerning the cultivation of turnips, the different methods of preferving them, and rendering them proper for the nourishment of cattle. By M. Brouffonet.-Mem. VI. On the method of preferving and managing the plums or prunes of Brignoles. By M. d'Ardoin, Correfpondent of the Society at Salernes in Provence. -Mem. VII. On the manner of augmenting the real value (in commerce) of blighted corn, and of obtaining from it, bread of a good quality. By M. Parmentier.-The eighth and concluding memoir contains Obfervations on various branches of rural economy in different diftricts within the Jurifdiction of Paris. By Meffrs. Thouin and Brouffonet.

Several things in thefe deliberations, memoirs, and obfervations, fhew that the French have profited by an acquaintance with the writings and labours of British cultivators; but there are alfo feveral things, which fhew that they are not incapable of returning the favour.

ART. XXVII.

Recherches fur la Nature et les Effets du Mephitisme, &c. i. e. An Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the mephitic Vapour that arifes from Neceffary-houses. By M. HALLE, Member of the Royal Society of Medicine. Published by Order of Government. Paris. 1785.

E fhould not have made any near approach to this ftinking fubject, were it not perfumed by the concomitant odour of public utility, and its tendency toward the advancement of natural fcience. He is but a fhabby philofopher who is led by the nofe. But without farther reflections, let us come to the point. An oculift of Lyons, called Jannin, pretended to have discovered a

method

method of destroying, by the use of vinegar, the mephiticism of privies, which have fometimes fuffocated the poor workmen employed in emptying them; but, on examining the matter experimentally, the united commiffioners of the Academies of Sciences and Medicine found, that the difcovery of our oculift was merely vifion ary. M. HALLE', the Author of the Inquiry now before us, was one of these academical quack-catchers, and after having detected the infufficiency of the pretended anti-mephitic doctor, he availed himself of the experiments that were made upon this occafion, in order to throw fome new light upon the nature and effects of mephitic vapour.

His Recherches are divided into two parts. In the first he gives us an historical account of anti-mephiticism, in which we learn, among other things, that the experiments of the oculift Jannin, performed before the commiffioners, coft one man his eye-fight, another his life, made feveral others fall into asphixies, more or lefs complete, and affected very difagreeably almoft all the commiffioners; fo that, obferves our Author, the mephiticifm, instead of being deftroyed, was rather diffused by the use of vinegar, and all the neighbourhood was infected with the ftench.

The fecond part of this inquiry is elaborate and curious. M. Hallé confiders mephiticism as a property which certain vapours have to act upon animals in such a manner as fuddenly to fufpend the exercife of their vital functions: he fhews that all aeriform fluids, which are unfit for refpiration, are really mephitic; that the effects of mephitic vapours always bear the characters of fpafm or ftupor, i. e. the marks of a nervous fyftem strongly affected, and are not merely confined to the effects of a fuppreffed refpiration. He then,confiders the aeriform fluids that are difengaged from the larger temples, or fmaller fanes, where fecret offerings are made to the filthy goddess Cloacina; which fluids, according to the experiments of M. Lavoifier, are calcareous and inflammable gafes. Some writers fuppofe that there may be alfo hepatic and alkaline gafes in the accumulated maffes of these substances; but the alkaline gas absorbed by the water, is rarely, if ever, collected into a mafs, and indicates its exiftence only by a ftrong and penetrating fmell. The smells that are produced by the focal fubftances are divided by our Author into five kinds, the excremental, alkaline, hepatic, putrid or naufeous, and a four effluvium fimilar to that which is emitted from the substances evacuated in certain diarrhæas. All these odours are here defcribed with the most inftructive and fœtid perfpicuity; and the various effects and fituations of thefe vapours in privies, clofe- ftools, and larger collections of the fubftances in question, are accurately enumerated, in consequence of repeated operations and experiments.

The afphixies caufed by lead, which our Author, in confequence of obfervations here related, confiders as effentially dif ferent from all those produced by gafes, are accurately defcribed, and divided into claffes, together with the methods hitherto employed as prefervatives against thefe calamities. The formation of currents of air, the proper ufe of fire and ventilators, but above all, the ufe of lime either in powder or in milk, which have been repeatedly tried by Meffrs. Parmentier, Cadet, and Laborie, have not been deftitute of fuccefs, though methods ftill more effectual are at present in contemplation. The city of Paris, and other populous French towns, feem to be more infefted with this excremental mephiticism than thofe of other countries, as would appear by the number of memoirs and pamphlets that are published on this fubject, and the frequent examples of unfortunate goldfinders, who perish in the exercise of their profeffion. It might be curious, though it would be difficult, to afcertain the phyfical or conftitutional causes of this phenomenon. This difcuffion is too deep for us. From a work, to which the Author refers us *, we fhould be led to conclude that the French are too prone to throw all kinds of heterogeneous filth into the places deftined to receive their fecretions and fuperfluities; for in the work now mentioned, which is entitled, Obfervations on Neceffary-houses, the writers obferve, that a variety of these houses are rendered mephitically dangerous in the highest degree, when accumulated fragments of dead bodies, or large quantities of vegetables, plaifter, or rubbish, are imprudently thrown into them. Above all, fay they, the water of foap-leys thrown into privies, hath terrible effects. Upon this occafion our Author recollects a remarkable fact mentioned by Boyle, Lancifi, and Diemer broek, relative to the ftrong feptical action of foap in the time of a plague. Diemerbroek relates, that, during the terrible plague at Nimeguen, the foap employed in washing linen, always excited the infection of that peftilential disease in those who handled it; that when he himself approached the washing-tub, he was feized with peculiar impreffions of anxiety and difguft; and that in many houfes, which feemed exempt from the contagion, it manifefted itself the moment they began to wash and foap their linen. These facts may be useful even to those who, by their cleanliness and prudence, feem to be the leaft in need of fuch admonitions.

* Obfervations fur les foffes d'aifance, par Meffieurs CADET, PARMENTIER, et LABORIE.

ART.

ART. XXVIII.

Obfervations générales fur les Maladies des Climats chauds, &c. i. e. General Obfervations on Diseases that reign in warm Climates, the Causes whence they proceed, the Method of treating them, and the Means of preventing them. By M. D'AZILLE, the King's Phyfician at St. Domingo, and correfpondent Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine. 8vo. Paris. 1785.

THOUGH this fenfible, learned, and humane physician confines his obfervations to the island where he refides; yet he gives many useful leffons in regard to other parts of the world. He paints, in lively colours, the bad management of the French hofpitals, which is fo fatal to the health and wellbeing of the colonifts, and fhews how these establishments ought to be regulated in all countries, in order to answer the falutary purposes for which they are erected. It is alleged as a general defect in the French hofpitals, at home as well as abroad, that thofe patients who are in a ftate of recovery, are not removed to a feparate apartment from the fick and the dying; and that thus, breathing the infected air of the hospital, they often relapse into a ftate warfe than that in which they were before. The management of the French hofpitals in the colonies is let out to undertakers, who, to fill their purfes, turn the hospitals into charnel-houses, and are, indeed, undertakers in every sense of that word. We do better, it is to be hoped; but let us do better ftill.

THIS

AR T. XXIX.

Hiftoria Politica de los Eftablicimientos, &c. i. e. A political Hiftory of the tranfmarine Settlements of the European Nations. By Odoardo Malo of Lucca. Volumes I. and II. 8vo. Madrid. 1785. HIS work is recommended to curiofity by the importance and extent of its fubject, and the high rank and literary merit of its Author *. But as we have not the original at hand, we here communicate to our Readers the account of it that hath appeared in a foreign journal.

In the introduction, the noble Author gives his readers a general idea, and a methodical enumeration of the commercial fettlements and colonies of ancient nations; also an account of the fucceffive ftate of these nations, from the earliest history to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and the ifles and continent of the new world.

It may be almoft confidently affirmed, that the first emigrations were made by land; that a long space of time elapfed before any people were fo intrepid as to attempt a paffage over the

* We have no doubt that this is the work of the Duke d'Almadovar, formerly minifter from Madrid at the British court:

7

waves

waves to diftant and unknown regions, and that, even when the art of navigation had opened a communication between countries which the ocean had feparated, the progrefs of that art, from its first discovery to the entire establishment of the Roman empire, was flow and imperfect. The ancients had scarcely any knowledge of those extenfive countries that lie to the eaft of Ger many, and still lefs were they acquainted with the vaft regions that form at present the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, Pruffia, Poland, and the Ruffian empire. In Africa their knowledge was confined to the countries which form the coafts of the Mediterranean, and to those that are fituated on the western borders of the Red Sea. In Afia they knew nothing of the rich and fertile provinces beyond the Ganges; nor do we find that they vifited the vaft regions of Tartary, formerly occupied by the wandering tribes of Sarmatians and Scythians: nevertheless the progrefs that they made in commerce and navigation, poor and scanty as their geographical knowledge was, juftly excites the admiration of our Author. The account of their efforts and discoveries, in the introduction to this work, is accurate; but Dr. Robertfon left nothing new to be faid on that fubject.

Book I. of the work itself, is divided into eight chapters, and contains the firft maritime trials of the Portuguese in the Atlantic Ocean, the progreffive growth of their marine, their arrival in India, China, and Japan, the flourishing state of their navigation, and its decline. The principal facts, relative to this branch of hiftory, are well known; and we have an elegant fummary of them given by the celebrated writer above mentioned in his introduction to the Hiftory of America. But our Author's circumftantial narrative of the Portuguese voyages is truly interefting, and exhibits a pleafing view of the knowledge and talents by which the operations of these adventurers were conducted, and of the fpirit and genius of the royal patrons by whom they were encouraged and protected.

The fecond book, which alfo contains eight chapters, is entirely taken up with Dutch hiftory; and it is one of the moft interefting and inftructive of the whole work. We can never represent to ourselves a Spaniard writing or reading of the rife and progrefs of this republic without biting his lips and yet we fee here the Duke d'Almadovar relating, with as much impartiality and temper as could be expected from human and national infirmity, the exploits and revolutions of the Dutch, the foundation of their republic, their firft voyages to the Eaft, their wars with the Portuguese, their conquefts in the ifles and on the continent of Afia, the establishment of their Eaft India Company, and other objects of Belgic policy and commerce.

The third book, with which the fecond volume commences, relates to the commercial fettlements and conquefts of the English in the Eaft Indies.

App, Rev. Vol. LXXV.

M m

In