rative of Events that have lately taken place in Ireland among the Society called Quakers; with corresponding Documents and occasional Observations."" A few Observations, tending to expose the Unfairness of some Censures on the Character of David Sands, in a Publication called a Narra tive of Events that have lately taken place in Ireland, &c.""A Narrative of the Proceedings in America of the Society called Quakers, in the Case of Hannah Barnard; with a brief Review of the previous Transactions in Great Britain and Ireland."-" An Address to the Society of Friends,

commonly called Quakers, on thei? excommunicating such of their Members as marry those of other religious Professions.”—“ A Let. ter to Joseph Gurney Bevan; con taining Observations on the Mi nistry and Discipline of the People called Quakers." It is unnecessary to enter into a detail of these sepa rate complaints; and, in one or two instances, rejoinders: they all proceed from the general causes we have just depicted; and they all, and nearly equally, tend to the same conclusion, that, we mean, of a total extinction of the community by an act of political suicide.

N examining the various subjects

of our medical practitioners, and the pages of our medical journals, in the course of the period to which our attention is now circumscribed, we find no one has attracted so much general notice, or introduced so much general controversy, as the cow-pox. This new disorder, as a succedaneum for the inoculated small-pox, appears to have been advancing with a rapid progress, and a triumphant answer, founded upon the test of experience, to every doubt or objection which had been urged against it, on its first introduction by Dr. Jenner,-till, in an early part of the present year, a pamphlet appeared from the pen of

Mr. Goldson, a respectable prac

mouth, entitled " Cases of SmallPox subsequent to Vaccination. with Facts and Observations," which excited a considerable alarm in the medical world; and induced several of the warmest adherents to vaccination minutely to examine into its contents. Amongst others Mr. Goldson received "An An swer" from Mr. Ring, who had previously published two octavo volumes upon the same subject. A second answer from Mr. Dunning, in the form of "Remarks on Mr. Goldson's Pamphlet ;" and a third, which is a far more valuable performance than either of the others, entitled "A Statement of

Evidence

Evidence from Trials, by the Physicians of the Original Vaccine Pock Institution, established De. cember 1799;" or rather, as we have since been informed, by Dr. Pearson, who presides over this establishment, in the name of the rest. There was some inaccuracy in Mr. Goldson's mode of reasoning, as well as in his description of the disorder itself; and his theory, grounded upon the cases he adduced, that vaccination when casually received by the hand was a permanent preventive, but, when introduced into the arm by inoculation, a limited preventive alone, whose efficacy did not perhaps exceed the period of two or three years, appeared so hostile to all analogy and, what is of more consequence, so contradictory to not less than fifty experiments made by Dr. Pearson to ascertain this very point upon children who had been vaccinated from two to four years antecedently, and who were uni formly found incapable of receiv ing the small-pox-that the cause of vaccination seems very shortly afterward to have completely recovered from this attack: and Mr. Goldson's cases, like his reasoning, were supposed to be founded in fallacy and ignorance. At this period of the dispute, how ever, two children, who had been vaccinated about two years before, at the Inoculation Hospital, under the superintendance of the late Dr. Woodville himself, and upon the regularity of whose disorder no doubt whatever could attach, were discovered to be labouring under what was supposed to be small-pox; but which was at first denied to be so by several of our more zealous vaccinists. A committee of respectable medical practitioners was appointed to attend the progress of

these cases, and to draw up a report on their termination. The report decided that the cases were unquestionably small-pox, after vaccination; and a variety of others occurring about the same time in the metropolis, of equal perspicuity and decision, every unpreju diced practitioner found himself compelled to admit, that it was possible for small-pox to appear occasionally after vaccine inocculation. The fair result of these observations therefore, and of the history of the vaccina to the present moment, is, that vaccination, or inoculation from the cow-pox, will, under certain and generally existing circumstances, prevent the disorder of the small-pox; but that also, under certain and less generally existing circumstances, it has no power of preventing it whatever. And it is now, as it appears to us, become an imperative duty upon every medical practitioner, and es pecially upon those who have the superintendance of our public vaccine institutions, to endeavour to ascertain what are those circumstances which render vaccination available in the one instance, and unavailable in the other. The remark, by which the salutary fears of many inquirers are attempted to be suppressed, that even the small-pox itself has at times been found to recur a second time in the same person, and that therefore it is natural to expect that such effect will sometimes take place after vaccination, is, we grant, plausible, but by no means satisfactory. The cases of the former, within any given period, are too few in comparison with those of the latter, for both to originate from a similarity of cause and it would be easy to show, if we had time, that the reasoning applicatory to the

return

return of small-pox after smallpox, so far as we are acquainted with the very few cases in which such return has been noticed, is not applicatory to the appearance of smallpox after cow-pox. We have dwelt with an inappropriate length of detail upon this subject, as well because of its intrinsic importance to the public, as in consequence of the controversy which has hereby been excited in the professional world. Before we drop it altogether, we will just observe, that we have also seen another pamphlet in disfavour of vaccination by Dr. Squirrell, "tending to show that the cow-pox originates in scrophula, commonly called the king's evil" but as the author has advanced no proof of such assertion, worthy of a moment's attention; and especially as his pamphlet betrays evident marks of sinister views, rather than of enlarged and liberal investigation, we cannot further enter into an examination of its contents.

We have been much instructed and entertained by Spallanzani's posthumous"Memoirs on Respi-, ration:" incomplete as they are, in comparison with what the author designed they should be had his life been prolonged, they offer a very valuable collection of new facts and experiments, upon a still doubtful and contested subject. The grand point proved by them is that all animals absorb very considerable portions of oxygenous gas, by the skin as well as by the fungs; and that many animals absorb it by the skin alone. The memoirs consist of three in number, to which a fourth is to be added by the editor, M. Senebier of Geneva, in a short time, from an autograph of Spallanzani, now in his possession. We have also received a va

luable work upon the same subject, by Dr. Bostock of Liverpool, the entire object of which, when completed, is to give an account of the process of respiration; to point out its direct effects, and different affections as produced by health and disease; and to ascertain the connexion which subsists between respiration and the other functions of the animal system. The scope is comprehensive, and will require the accession of many volumes to that which is immediately before us; and which is expressly declared to be merely preparatory to what are to ensue.

From the present

specimen, we shall hail the appearance of the author's subsequent labours. He has not, of course, been able, in the volume in question, to avail himself of the expe riments of Spallanzani which we have just noticed.

We hail, with sincere gratitude of heart, a new edition, considerably enlarged and improved, of Dr. Currie's" Medical Reports," in 2 vols. 8vo. The additional matter relates chiefly to supplementary proofs of the advantage of cold water affused in cases of typhus, plague, scarlatina, which our author merely regards as a variety of cynanche maligna, and tetanus, of which last disease, two very curious and important instances, in which this remedy was successfully employd in conjunction with a liberal use of wine and opium, are now for the first time related. We are sorry to find, towards the close of the publication, that this valuable author is himself labouring under infirmities which threaten far too early a termination of his existence.

In connexion with the greater number of complaints treated of in Dr.Currie's "Medical Reports," we

may be allowed to mention that through the labours of Mr. Neale, a regimental surgeon, we have received in an English dress the very valuable "Observations" of M. Assalini, one of the most able members of the medical staff that accompanied Bonaparte in his unsuccessful attempt upon Egypt. These "Observations" relate to the plague, the dysentery, and ophthalmy of the country; and with respect to accuracy of description, and clear, undisguised matter of fact, are entitled to very serious attention. We do not however very generally agree with this gentleman in his theoretic reasonings, nor always in his mode of treatment. He does not regard the plague as contagious, chiefly because a few decided instances occurred in which it did not follow apon actual communication, and because no assignable reason could be alleged upon this hypothesis, for its appearing so fatally at Jaffa; and he does not seem in the course of his practice to have tried, other wise than merely accidentally, the remedy of repeated affusions of cold water. His reasoning and therapeutics in respect of the Egyptian ophthalmy and dysentery are entitled to still less attention: but we repeat it, the apparent accuracy of his descriptions, and the necessary assiduity with which he must have attended to the actual symptoms of his patients, render this writer an authority of considerable moment in these respects. Upon the subject of the malignant contagion we have received a small pamphlet from the pen of Dr. R. Pearson, containing a plan for preventing the propagation of the disorder which lately raged with so much violence on the shores of the Mediterranean, provided it should ever, unfortunately, reach our own

coasts. The plan is avowedly topical, and, under the dire necessity to which it refers, might, we have no doubt, be employed with advantage.

Mr. M'Gregor, who accompanied, as superintending surgeon, our Indian army in its late passage to Egypt, has observed in his "Medical Sketches" of this expedition, that there is a very considerable resemblance between the symptoms of the plague and the yellow fever. He appears to believe both highly contagious; and in direct opposition to the testimony of M. Assalini, had adduced instances of mortality subsequent upon voluntary inoculation from the matter of the existing bubo. Contrary to the opinion of Dr. Currie, he attributes one cause of the recurrence of this fatal disease to the periodic dews which in this country are very heavy; and the remedy which he found most successful was an early and liberal use of mercury. He thinks little has been added to the knowledge or cure of the plague since the days of Russel. He is not perfectly sa tisfactory upon the ophthalmy, dysentery, endemic fever, and various other diseases which are enumerated in the course of his lucubrations.

Dr. Wilson has added a fourth volume to his "Treatise on Febrile Diseases," in which we perceive the same undeviating reverence for the system and opinions of Dr. Cullen that characterizes the three preceding; and the same disposition to fritter diseases into unnecessary varieties. In other respects the work is highly useful, from its minute and comprehensive attention to the class of which it treats.

Dr. Trotter's "Essay, Medical, Philosophical, and Chemical, on Drunkeness, and its Effects on the Human

Human Body," is rather full in its detail than precise in the experiments to which it appeals. Its general directions may unquestionably be followed with advan tage, but it is by no means perspicuous in its theory and ratiocination. We have sull less to say in favour of Dr. Rowley's "Treatise on Madness and Suicide:" we dare not contradict the appearances which he has personally witnessed on dissection; but we cannot avoid noticing that they are by no means corroborated by prior dissections of many of our most skilful and attentive anatomists. In his theory we perceive a tendency to the old homœomeria of Anaxagoras, or the convertible powers of more modern physiologists: and the curative department is peculiarly unsatisfactory and meagre.

In language the most turgid and sesquipedalian, loaded at the same time with the most peremptory assertions and inextricable reasonings, Dr. Kinglake has offered us a "Dissertation on Gout; exhibiting a new View of the Origin, Nature, Cause, Cure and Prevention of that afflicting Disease." According to this new and invaluable discovery, gout is nothing more than a simple inflammatory affection-a mere morbid accumulation of heat in the part attacked; and is of course to be removed alone by the application of simple frigid substances -of which cold water, as it is the most commodious, is by far the most effectual remedy.-Mr. Edlin, however, has since published a caveat against this very simple and successful practice of Dr. Kinglake, which relates more than one case in which it was succeeded by almost immediate death; and which he is induced to communicate, "in order to guard the unwary

3

against being led astray by Dr. Kinglake's plausible theory." Mr. Edlin, we think, need not be very much alarmed upon this subject; for neither the theory nor the prac tice will survive long enough to be chargeable with many additional proofs of having committed murder.

Upon the diseases of children Dr. Heberden, under the title of "Morborum Puerilium Epitome," has favoured us with a truly classical essay in the Latin tongue, which we take it for granted was the whole he aimed at; since it contains nothing of peculiar prominence in its remarks, or injunc tions; and, from the very language in which it is written, is very effectually locked up from the general view of those who might other wise chiefly profit by it.-Dr. Herdman, ascending to a still earlier period of life, has written "Dis courses on the Management of Infants, and the Treatment of their Diseases" in which, though we meet with occasional observations that are well entitled to attention, the author's chief aim seems to be to shine by novelty of conception, and a continual deviation from the beaten track, however wild and tangled may be the path into which he is thereby betrayed.

If in the departments of anatomy and practical surgery we have not, ` in the course of the present year, so large a catalogue of publications as as we are occasionally favoured with, in point of merit we are not without some pretensions to a more than ordinary boast. In our last volume we stepped a little beyond the period to which we were strict ly limited, to notice Mr. Astley Cooper's very excellent plates and observations on hernia. Mr. Aber nethy has published a volume of

"Sur.