MONNET, who has not only ftruck out a new method of classification and arrangement, but has moreover ascertained the nature and compofition of feveral bodies, hitherto unknown, or known but imperfectly. The part of this work that relates to the knowledge of the ftate and properties of mineral fubftances, will be farther elucidated in a work which M. MONNET propofes to publish foon, under the following title, The Foundation er Principle of Mineralogy-or, Refearches concerning the Nature and Qualities of Minerals.

In the remarks on Macquer's Chymical Dictionary, which terminate this work, our Author defends himself with spirit and dexterity against the attacks that had been made upon him in feveral parts of that Dictionary; and his defence is, at least, ingenious and instructive.

IV. Nouvelles Obfervations fur l'Angleterre: i. e. New Obfervations upon England. By a Traveller. 8vo. Paris. 1779. This traveller is the fenfible, judicious Abbé CoYER; and these Obfervations do honour to his penetration, difcernment, and candour. It is not poffible to conceive any thing more oppofite to the national fpirit, genius, and manners of the French, than what the Abbé obferves with refpect to the English.

V. Difcours prononcé dans l'Academie Françoife, &c. i. e. A Difcourfe delivered in the French Academy on the third of March, 1779. By M. DUCIS, at his Reception as a Member of that Academy. Paris. 1779. The defign of this society, which is rather adapted to improve founds than fenfe, feems to be abundantly anfwered by fuch compofitions as the frothy and fulfome heap of quaint wit, far-fetched ornaments, and difgufting adulation, that forms the windy substance of this Difcourfe of M. Ducis, in honour of Voltaire.-The Exordium alone, will enable us to judge of the merit of the piece. This part of an oration is usually designed to give us, by its modesty and fimplicity, the pleasure of afcending gradually into the clouds with the fubject, instead of being toffed up to them abruptly, as it were, in a blanket, by the author. But M. DUCIS has attempted the latter: obferve how he begins- The day on which that famous conqueror died, whose presence ftruck the earth with filence, all thrones appeared vacant by the decease of one man, and the univerfe was for a moment without a mafter. Thus Voltaire, after having governed, until the age of eighty, the univerfal monarchy of talents, left, at his death, the fame confufion in the empire of letters, and the throne of genius became vacant. No man dared to step forth, or lay an audacious hand on this immenfe inheritance of complicated honours and glory, which Europe, for a whole century, had been accustomed to behold with refpect, united in him alone. The fplendour of his name, which caft a deep obfcurity on all other

names,

names, eclipfes them ftill; and those, whose temerity and ambition would prompt them to afpire after the glory of fucceeding him, would deferve to hear the following fentence applied to them :

Soldats fous Alexander et Rois apres fa mort.

Is not this enough, gentle Reader?

VI., Les Anciens Mineralogiftes du Royaume de France, avec des Notes: i. e. (literally tranflated) The Ancient Mineralogifts of the Kingdom of France, with Notes, by M. GOBET. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1779. Price 9 livres 12s. The mineralogifts, here mentioned, are not (as one would imagine at firft fight) authors who treat of that branch of natural hiftory relative to minerals and foffils; but the French writers, ancient and modern, who have treated the fubject of mines, their produce, fituation, and the manner of working them. It feems, that the prefent king of France turns his views, with peculiar ardor, to the encouragement of this important object, and never, indeed, was there a period of time in which fuch an object was more adapted to attract all the attention of the Most Christian King than the prefent.

The filver mine, that was difcovered at Chitry in Nivernois, near three centuries ago, was particularly defcribed in a treatise, published by Fr. Garrault in 1579, and is here republished at the head of this collection. This mine yielded, in certain years, eleven hundred marks of filver, and a vast quantity of lead. The defcriptions given by De Malus, and his fon, of the mines in the Pyrenean Mountains, which were discovered in the year 1600, are, indeed, worthy of their place in this work; as alfo the researches of Savot, concerning the Metallurgy of the ancients, which abound with a folid and valuable erudition : but we cannot conceive how M. GOBET came to difgrace his collection with the filly reveries and fictions of Martine de Bertereau, baronefs of Beau-Soleil, whofe brain was really turned with the vifions of the Alchymifts, and whofe productions were treated with contempt, even in the middle of the laft century. The account given in 1667, by Cæfar d'Arcons, of the advantages that might be derived from the mines of Languedoc, are curious; but the most interesting part of this collection, is that which contains the obfervations and inquiries relative to the fubject under confideration, that have been made in the prefent century by Reaumur, Hellot, Iars, Le Monnier, Defmareft, de Juffica, count d'Herouville, Genfane, Courtepee, Mannet, Sage, and many other naturaliits of great merit, who have related their excurfions, and published their remarks on the greatest part of the mines difcovered in the kingdom of France, and mingled with these accounts feveral curious obfervations on other interesting points of natural hiftory. At the fame time, the Pre

faces

faces and Notes, with which M. GORET has enriched this col lection, render its perufal both agreeable and instructive.

VII. Efai fur la Jurifprudence Univerfelle, où l'on examine quel eft le premier Principe de la Justice and le Fondement de l'Obligation Morale, &c. i. e. An Effay concerning Univerfal Jurifprudence, in which an Inquiry is made into the first Principles of Justice and the Foundation of Moral Obligation. By FATHER THOMAS JACOB, Prior of the Jacobines at Paris. 12mo. Paris. Paris. 17:9. We are glad to fee Monks writing on fuch fubjects as thefe, when their productions do not smell of the convent. This Effay, which is a warm attack upon the Encyclopedifts of Paris, as enemies not only of Revealed, but alfo of Natural Religion, would be read with more pleasure and profit, if the Author had treated his fubject with more precifion. He establishes, on folid foundations, the exiftence of a law of nature.-He fhews that Chriftianity is not only its beft interpreter, but also the difpenfation that finishes its confiftence, its obligation and perfection; but he has not carried the fagacity of the true analytic fpirit into his researches concerning the principles of moral obligation.-He is far behind the British writers on this fubject.

VIII. Effai fur l'Hiftoire Generale des Tribunaux des Peuples tant Anciens que Modernes, ou Dictionaire Hiflorique et Judiciaire, contenant des Anecdotes piquantes & les Jugemens fameux des Tribunaux, &c. i. e. An Historical Effay concerning the Tribunals of ancient and modern Nations, or, An Historical and Juridical Dictionary, containing interefting Anecdotes, and the most remarkable Judiciary Sentences of Public Tribunals in all Times and Nations. By M. DES ESSARTS, Advocate, and Member of feveral Academies. Vol. III. 8vo. Paris. 1779. Price 4 Livres. In this, and the two preceding volumes, we have an hiftory of the paffions and crimes of men, at least in their effects and punishment; and as the penal laws, employed by different nations for the difcovery and chaftifement of offenders, have a connection with the manners and government of each people, and are, generally fpeaking, no bad prognoftic of the national spirit and character, a work of the nature of that before us, when well executed, must be curious and inftructive; and fuch is the work of M. DES ESSARTS.-It is, indeed, likely to be voluminous; for this third volume goes no farther than the first articles of letter H.

GERM

A NY.

IX. De Angyna Polypofa five Membranacea: i. e. Concerning the Membranous Quinzy, or that which is called the Angina Polypofa. By M. MICHAELIS, M. D. 8vo. Gottingen. 1778. The Author of this work is physician to the Heffian troops in the fervice of Great Britain; a fituation favourable to the ad

vancement

vancement of medical knowledge by obfervation and experience. It is from these two guides, rather than from the perutal of the writings of his predeceffors and contemporaries in the art of healing (with which, nevertheless, he feems perfectly well acquainted), that he has derived his knowledge of the difeafe here treated, and his opinion with respect to its nature and caufe. It is from having opened the bodies of many perfons, who died of this disease, that he deems the membranous quinzy lymphatic in its principle, inftead of proceeding from phlegm, as many have fuppofed; for he found the membranes, in the perfons he diffected, of the fame nature with the polypus of the heart and the large blood veffels, and much fofter and fooner corruptible than phlegm, which contracts a certain aridity and hardnefs. With refpect to the manner of treating this diforder, Dr. MICHAELIS diftinguishes the quinzies into different claffes, according to their different circumftances and symptoms, prefcribes what is requifite in each cafe, and confiders, with peculiar attention, thofe cafes where bronchotomy, or the opening the wind pipe, may be ufeful. His hiftory of the diforder is curious, though chargeable with fome omiffions: we must not, however, confider as fuch, his making little or no mention of the authors, who have written concerning inflammatory quinzies, or other branches of that difeafe diftinct from that here treated of.

X. Lobfchrift auf Winkelman, &c. i. e. The Eulogy of the late Abbé Winkelman. By CHR. GOTTL. HEINE. This excellent piece, which is in every refpect worthy of its subject, on whose tomb the arts and the graces will long weep, was crowned by the Academy of Antiquities at Heffe Caffel. In it the learned and judicious Author, fo famous for his merits in claffical literature, not only examines the writings of the celebrated Abbé with tafte, judgment, and impartiality, but also points out the qualities that conftitute the true Antiquary, and the improvements that have been hitherto made; as alfo thofe that are yet required in that line of fcience.

XI. The New Edition of the Abbé DICQUEMARE's Aftronomy, which has lately appeared, with important Additions and Improvements, deferves particular notice. Its new title is, Connoiffance de l'Aftronomie, rendu aifcé & mife à la porteé de tout le Monde: i. e. The Knowledge of Aftronomy made eafy and proportioned to every Capacity. 8vo. With Cuts. Paris. 1779 The additions, which diftinguifh this edition, confift in feveral obfervations; in fome articles entirely new, and in inftructive notes, relative to the folar atmosphere, the apparent motions of the fixed ftars, thofe of the planets, the parallax, &c. all which objects are illuftrated by two new plates. Among the tables, we find one of the annual equation of the fun's mean motion, which

may

may

ferve to regulate clocks. It is alfo proper to obferve, that the two articles, relative to conftellations and comets, are new compofed, and new plates added for the illuftration of the latter, and that the whole is terminated by an hiftorical and chronological fummary of the progrefs of aftronomy, which shews the Reader the fate of that fcience in the different periods of the world, and the discoveries that have been made in each.

XII. B. L. TRALLES DEUTLICHE und Uberzeugende Vorftellung, &c. i. e. Clear and perfuafive Confiderations tending to fhew that the Proof of the Existence and Immateriality of the human Soul, drawn from the mutable and fluctuating Nature of all the fon lid Parts, without Exception, of the human Body, is both highly important and perfectly conclufive. By M. B. L. TRALLES, M.D. 8vo. Breflau. 1779 This worthy and eminent physician, whofe medical productions, and particularly his conteft with De Hahn of Vienna on the fubject of inoculation, difcovered fuch acuteness of head and goodness of heart, has now drawn his pen, in a very advanced age, against the materialifts. This curious tribe of fpeculatifts, whofe hypothefis is incapable of pofitive proof, and deftitute of any utility, that can juftify the noife they make about it, must be embarraffed at the inconveniencies that arife from fuppofing the body, in general, to be the feat of intelligence. This form of materialifm is not only unphilofophical beyond all expreffion, but is adapted to excite laughter. A principle of intelligence which is purged and vomited,difperfed by evacuations, and renewed by beef and pudding, turtle, port, and porter, is (begging leave of manfionhoufe metaphyfics) the moft ridiculous phenomenon imaginable. Therefore the more plaufible writers on the manufacture of fouls, place the feat of intelligence in fome of the finer stuff of the brain and nerves, which is not fo flux, mutable, and perishable, (according to them) as the groffer parts of the body. It is against this fubterfuge that M. TRALLES raises a warning voice in the work before us. He had proved, in a preceding work, that the inftability of the folid parts of the body, and their perpetual change, are abfolutely incompatible with the idea of a thinking being, which muft, in its nature, be permanent, and the fame, as long as it remains capable of thought. A learned Profeffor, to obviate this difficulty, reprefented to him the immutability or permanent state of the nerves and the brain; but our Author fhews that the nerves and the brain are as fubject to change as the other folid parts of the body, and are difperfed by fecretion, and repaired like them.

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