sugar and agreeably-scented waters,' may recover in the same manner, and do justice to the doctor's skill.

The fact is, that in most cases of disease so many causes are in operation tending to influence the result, that few things are more difficult than to ascertain the real value of a new remedy. If a remedy be had recourse to for the first time, and the symptoms yield, that may be a reason for giving it another trial, but it is nothing more. If it be administered under circumstances as nearly as can be similar, and the symptoms yield in four or five cases in succession, there is reason to hope that the remedy and the cure may stand in the relation of cause and effect to each other. But even this will not satisfy a real master of his art, who will require a still more extended experience before he will adopt its use, feeling that he has a right to expect that such or such effects will follow.

The union of a broken bone, and the healing of a simple wound, are the results of a natural process. The recovery from many internal complaints is the result of a natural process also. Under such circumstances the best evidence of the skill of the physician or surgeon is, that he merely watches what is going on, taking care that nothing may obstruct the work of restoration, and avoiding all further interference. But it is his duty also to learn what unassisted Nature can do, and what she cannot do, and, where her powers are insufficient, to step in to her assistance, and act with promptness and decision. It is just at this point that danger arises from faith in pretended remedies. If they have the virtue of being in themselves innocent, no harm can result from their use where nothing is wanted or nothing can be done: but it is quite otherwise on those occasions which call for active and scientific treatment; and we have good reason to say that many individuals have lost their lives from trusting to their use under these circumstances.

It must further be observed that, in speaking of pretended remedies as innocent, we would by no means have it to be understood that that character belongs to all of them. There are indeed many which are neither innocent nor inefficient; and this will account at the same time for the reputation which they acquire and the mischief which they do. Many of what are called quack medicines are very useful, if properly administered, and not a few of them have been transferred with advantage to the Pharmacopoeia of the College of Physicians. But the best remedies should not be used at random. It is a very good thing to be bled if you have an inflammation of the lungs; but it is a very bad thing to be bled when there is no adequate reason for it.

If

If a medicine containing arsenic were to be administered as a specific for various disorders, some persons suffering from ague, and others having an eruption on the skin, might take it with advantage; but where there was one instance of its doing good there would be forty in which it did harm. St. John Long's liniment excited inflammation of the skin; and, where a blister would be useful, there is no doubt that this would be useful also. But all those who are ill, or who think themselves to be ill, do not require to be blistered, and in many cases it would do no good, and would probably be mischievous. Besides, the indiscreet application of it to a tender skin would be actually dangerous; and so it proved to be, the death of the patient having, as we have already stated, been occasioned by the use of it in at least two instances.

We could say much more on this subject if we had not before our eyes the fear of extending this article to an unreasonable length and wearying the patience of our readers. What has been already stated will of itself sufficiently explain how it is that the medical profession as a body are led to form a different estimate of the dealers in nostrums and proposers of short roads to cure from that which is formed by a large portion of the public. The former are behind the scenes, and know all the secrets of the pantomime. The latter only see the performances, and, where the tricks are cleverly managed, it is not very wonderful that they should sometimes mistake them for realities. But the medical profession are very generally supposed to be not very disinterested witnesses, and to have a prejudice beyond what they ought to have against discoveries which do not emanate from the regular craft. In like manner, the officers at Woolwich are accused of being prejudiced when they reject some absurd piece of artillery which is sent to them for experiment. Without entering into this question, we must acknowledge that it appears to us that with the majority of the medical profession there is an overweening desire to put down unlicensed practitioners. This seems to be the principal object of the various medical associations established with a view to obtain what is called medical reform.' The Provincial Medical Association has a committee on quackery, who make an annual report on the subject, and they would urge Parliament to interfere for the purpose of suppressing it with the strong hand of the law. But indeed we do not agree with them in the views which they have taken, and we shall, in conclusion, briefly state our reasons for this difference of opinion :

First. We are convinced that the thing is impracticable. It may be made penal for a man to call himself a physician, or surgeon,

geon, or apothecary, who has not obtained a licence; but how is he to be prevented from giving advice, and medicine too, under the name of botanist, hygeist, or homeopathist? Or he may put Doctor before his name on the door, and say, probably with truth, 'I am a Doctor, for I purchased the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for five pounds at Heidelberg.' Moreover, the experiment has been already made, and without success. The College of Physicians of London are armed by their charter and Acts of Parliament with ample powers for the purpose, but they long since abandoned the exercise of them in despair; and in France, where the legislature have done all that they could do to suppress it, quackery flourishes as much as in any country in the world.

But, secondly, even if the suppression of unlicensed practitioners were practicable, we are far from being satisfied that it would be either proper or expedient. If the art of healing had attained perfection, if physicians and surgeons could cure all those who apply to them, we grant that the case would be otherwise; but, as matters now stand, would not such a proceeding be a very tyrannical interference with the right of private judgment? Let us see how such a system would operate in a particular instance. A patient labours under an incurable disease. His case is hopeless. His medical attendant complains in a court of justice, or some one complains for him, that the patient has placed himself under the care of an unlicensed practitioner, who has never studied medicine, who treats all who consult him with the same remedies, and believes that most of the diseases to which mankind are subject arise from cows eating buttercups; and therefore he requires that the interloper should be punished. But it turns out that the remedies which this individual administers are innocent; and as to the theory of buttercups, it is as good as Cullen's theory of fever, and it can do no harm. It is a comfort to the patient to try this new scheme, and wherefore should he be prevented from doing so?

It must not, however, be inferred that we would make no difference between properly educated and licensed practitioners and mere pretenders. That would be as great an error on one side, as the attempt altogether to suppress the latter would be on the other. A man may run the risk of ruining himself, if he be pleased to do so, by embarking his money in a Cornish mine; but he must not enter into such a speculation with the money which he holds in trust for others. In like manner, each individual has a right to manage his own health in his own way, and to consult whomsoever he prefers about his own complaints. But it is quite different when he has to provide for the health of others;

and

and we conceive that the law ought to interfere to prevent any persons but those who are duly authorized to practise from holding appointments as physicians or surgeons of hospitals, schools, or ships, or as medical attendants of the poor; and the same rule should extend to the different branches of the public service. On the same principle, the certificates of none but licensed practitioners should be received in courts of justice, nor should any others be enabled to claim the usual exemption from serving on juries and in parish-offices.

If we have been rightly informed, this is nearly the plan which Sir James Graham had intended to propose if he had introduced into parliament a bill, of which he gave notice in the last session, for regulating the medical profession. If that profession require any further protection, we take leave to say that it is in their own hands. Let them rely on their own skill, character, and conduct; let them discountenance among themselves all those who, though regularly educated and licensed, endeavour to delude or take advantage of the public, or to puff themselves into notice by unworthy means; let them claim for their art no more credit than it really deserves, nor make promises which they have not a just expectation of being able to fulfil; and we venture to assure them that they will have nothing to fear. They cannot make man immortal, but they can on so many occasions stand between life and death, and on so many others relieve the most grievous sufferings, that no one will refuse to admit that they are among the most useful, whilst they themselves must be conscious that they are among the most independent, members of society.

SIR

Par le Vicomte Il n'y a que cent pp. 442.

ART. IV.-Essai sur la Vie du Grand Condé. de Mahon. (Ce livre n'est pas en vente. exemplaires de tirés.) A' Londres. 1842. IR William Jones commenced his literary career by an Essay in French; and the earliest historical pieces of Gibbon were in that language, of which he felt himself so completely master, that he long hesitated whether he should compose his great work in it or in English. Horace Walpole never attained perfect freedom in the colloquial use of French-at least, in one of his letters, dated shortly before his last visit to Paris, he speaks of his reluctance to mingle again in a society where he could never hope to appear better than half an idiot— but his correspondence with Madame du Deffand is admitted by French critics to display a style of admirable purity. We believe

the

the French of Vathek is also considered by our neighbours as classical; if we might presume to offer an opinion on the subject, we should say it is even better than the English of Mr. Beckford's Travels.' We are not aware that any other French composition by an English hand has received or merited much praise.* The present performance is more considerable in point of extent than any of those which we have mentioned; and we do not anticipate that the judgment of Paris will pronounce it inferior to the best of them in point of execution. Jones wrote

in French, because his subject was more likely to interest continental than English readers, and his mother tongue was then little studied on the continent. Walpole addressed French letters to a Parisian bluestocking. Gibbon in his youth was more a Frenchman than an Englishman-and in the circles whose notice he immediately coveted, nothing but French was spoken. Vathek, though not the first of Mr. Beckford's publications, was the first that he avowed, or that attracted notice at the time: it was produced, we believe, in his minority, and both written and printed abroad. That Lord Mahon, after acquiring high distinction as an historical writer in his native language, should have thought of composing an historical volume of 400 pages in French, will no doubt excite much wonder. The curiosity of such an attempt by a gentleman so situated is, as we have shown, unexampled among us. We should regret his choice if we did not hope and expect that, like Mr. Beckford, he will be his own English translator: meanwhile we have to thank him for a highly interesting and skilful narrative; and its opening paragraph will enable our readers to form their own opinion of the circumstances under which the foreign vehicle was adopted.

J'entreprends, dans une langue qui n'est pas la mienne, l'histoire d'un héros étranger. C'est un délassement dont j'ai joui au milieu d'occupations plus sérieuses. Ayant trouvé un vif intérêt dans les aventures romanesques du Prince de Condé, et dans le caractère si beau et si touchant de la Princesse, sa femme, j'ai pris plaisir à recueillir et à combiner tous les traits qui s'y rapportent. Les Mémoires du temps m'ont fourni la plupart de mes matériaux, mais j'ai aussi eu pour guides, pendant une partie de ma tâche, l'illustre Sismondi dans son Histoire des Français, et l'excellent historien de la Fronde, M. le Comte de St. Aulaire. Mais pourquoi, me dira-t-on, vouloir écrire en Français? Parceque à l'époque où ces pages me servaient de récréation, j'avais beaucoup à lire et à écrire en Anglais; ainsi, écrire encore en cette langue eut été pour moi un nouveau travail, et non pas le délassement que je cherchais. Ensuite, en adoptant la langue de Condé, j'ai eu

We are not ignorant that the great romance of Anastasius' was originally written in French-and we have no doubt Mr. Hope had perfect command of that language, else he would never have made such an attempt; but his French text was never printed. l'avantage