thing but ufe could preferve the rest of the inmates, who foon grew deaf to the noife of falling waters, the clamors of watermen, or the frequent fhricks of drowning wretches. Most of the houses were tenanted by pin or needle makers, œconomical ladies were wont to drive from the St. James's end of the town, to make cheap purchafes. Fuller tells us that Spanish needles were made here first in Cheapfide, by a negro, who died without communicating the art. Elias Crowfe, a German, in the reign of Elizabeth, was more liberal, and first taught the me thod to the English. Fuller's definitition of a needle is excellent, quafi ne idle.'

Eaft Cheap, immortalized in the pages of Shakspeare, was formerly the scene of convivial jollity; and the account of Stow fupports the popular opinion of the glories of the roast beef of Old England. The Monument, Fishmonger's-hall, where our author complains that he faw only the names of fish in a lift, or their resemblances on canvas; Cold Harbour; the Steel House (from ftael, trade); Dow-gate, from dwr or dwy, water; Wallbrook, the River of Wells, another creek, which, perhaps, with the River Fleet, contributed to render London a less easy prey to the enemy; the Vintry; Vintners-hall; the Tower Royal, once a place of ftrength, but of which not a veftige remains; Queenhithe; Thames-ftreet, and Puddledock, with the houses of the nobility and other objects in this direction, are next described. Along Thames-ftreet the walls ran; but the bridge and the Tower rendered them useless. The fite of the fouthern line of houses, and the docks, seem to have been gained from the river. Warwick-lane, where he finds the College of Physicians, whofe history and ornaments are shortly noticed; Stationers-hall, once the refidence of the dukes of Britany, earls of Pembroke, and lord Abergaveny, bring our author to St. Paul's.

St. Paul's cathedral is the fubject of many remarks; but the greater part of the descriptions relate to its ftate before the fire, by which the fomes of the plague was completely deftroyed; and these are already in our hands, by the industry of the accu rate Dugdale. It was built on the fite of an old church, but probably not where any temple of Diana had ever ftood. The foundation of the old church rested on a ftratum of clay, fix feet thick on the north fide, growing gradually thinner towards the fouth: beneath were fucceffively loose fand, fand and water, fhells, the rounded stones of a beach, and at last the natural earth, a hard clay. All the space between Camberwell hill and the hills of Effex, were probably once sea, and, at low water, a fandy plain. If this was previous to the fea's bursting through the Straits of Dover, the increased power of the fea

over that of the river may be in part accounted for by the re fiftance of the continent at that point. But, independent of this confideration, cultivation, by producing embarassments; commerce, by conftructing quays, may have concentered the force of the river within a smaller space, and made it more equal to the counterpoife of its antagonist. Paul's Crofs, the scene of religious inftruction, of political speeches, of the artifices of rebels and incendiaries, is also defcribed at length, with the feveral events which have arisen from the speeches delivered from that roftrum. The fermons at Paul's Crofs are the best apolo gies of the modern itinerant field preachers.

The Herald's college; Chepefide (from chepe, a market); Goldsmith's-hall, and the Guildhall, are the next objects of Mr. Pennant's attention. Before the great fire, Cheapfide was a fpacious and hand fome ftreet, ornamented with a cross, a conduit, and a standard; but, even when in a flourishing state, it was not paved; that convenience for many years being to be found in Thames-ftreet only. The Guildhall gives our author accafion to point out the progrefs of luxnry in the bill of fare for the entertainment of the prefent king, contrafted with the feast given at Whitehall, by the economical Henry (need we add the Seventh), at the coronation of his queen Elizabeth. Goldfmith's-hall leads Mr. Pennant to give a fhort history of the lucrative profeffion of a banker. The adjacent halls, the Manfion-house, and above all the Royal Exchange, and the Bank of England, afford numerous fubjects of remark, which we can only diftantly glance at. Yet, perhaps, while on this fpot, fomething might have been faid of the immenfe dealings in the Exchange, as well as the inviolable integrity of the merchants connected there in traffic of every kind, where the flighteft memorandum is never for a moment queftioned. When our author mentioned alfo that the Bank was the happy thought of Mr. James Paterfon, a native of Scotland, he might have added, that its prefervation in the year 1780, was probably owing to the spirited conduct of Mr. Wilkes. The ministry of that day deferved not the reproach which Mr. Pennant has cast on them. A popular party would have been glad to have another opportunity of declaiming on maffacres; and it should at least be remembered, that their activity, when they found it neceffary to interfere, made ample amends for their timidity, for their fearing to act against Englishmen, with the weapons moft odious to them, the firelocks of a standing army.

Merchant Taylors-hall, with its diftinguished fons, Drapershall, Grefham College, the Excife-office, Crofbie-house, Lombard-street, as well as a fhort hiftory of the Lombards, the Poft-office, Hudfon's-Bay-houfe, and a fhort defcription of the

courfe

course of the Thames, conclude this work. If we were minute, we might remark, that we perceive in it a little too much of the Nettorian failing, a narrative old age; too much of what is generally known, with some (we think) unjust opinions of books and men, fome antiquarian mistakes. These errors do not, however, occur very frequently; and, in an author fo refpectable as Mr. Pennant, whom we have often followed with entertainment and profit, they are scarcely blemishes. It is his last work too, and the mind, foftened by regret, muft lofe the harshness which would render its judgments fevere, and forget the delicacy which might rife into faftidioufnefs. The descriptions are in Mr. Pennant's ufual style, forcible, clear, and unornamented. We have already faid that he occafionally adds to our knowledge, and points out objects and facts, which other authors have more haftily and more inaccurately passed over.

IN

Eays, Medical, Philofophical, and Experimental. By Thomas Percival, M. D. F. R. S. and A. S. &c. The fourth Edition, revifed and enlarged. 2 Vols. 8vo. 12s. Boards. Johnson. N thefe volumes are collected the various Effays published by Dr. Percival at different times. We have reviewed them in general as they appeared; but fome are now added which were contained in different publications that could not be regularly and particularly examined; others, which did not fall with propriety under our notice.

The first volume of Dr. Percival's Effays appeared, we believe, in the year 1768, and was noticed in our XXVth_volume, p. 105; a fecond edition, much enlarged, appeared in 1772, and occurs in our XXXIIId volume, p. 179. The fecond volume occurs in our XXXVth volume, p. 342, published in 1773. Thefe are now comprised in the first volume of this collection, to which is added the Effay on the Poison of Lead, which was published separately in 1774, and was examined in our XXXVIIth volume, p. 116. The second volume of the collection before us contains our author's third volume of Effays published in 1776, and examined in our XLIId volume, p. 225, with the mifcellaneous papers communicated by Dr. Percival to different focieties and to different journals. These Effays, particularly thofe of the third volume, are greatly enlarged; various facts are added, which maturer experience fuggefted, and a few errors are corrected. On turning over the two volumes, however, we perceive fome opinions remain, which farther examination has shown to be erroneous: fome Effays we could have wifhed to have feen rewritten, or materially altered. Conclufions haftily drawn,

or

or opinions in the eagerness of youth rafhly adopted, it would have been no difgrace to have abandoned in mature age.

The additions to the mifcellaneous obfervations, cafes, and enquiries, in the third volume of the former edition, relate only to typhus and apoplexy. Thefe feem to be extracts from private letters, and refer to a peculiar epidemic; they are not of general utility or of great importance. The additional Effays which have appeared in the Philofophical Transactions, the Tranfactions of the College of Phyficians, the Memoirs of the Manchester, or the Medical Society, we shall not again · revert to. Of the others we shall give a fhort account.

The first Effay, which may be properly ftyled new to the readers of our Journal, is entitled a Phyfical Enquiry into the Powers and Operations of Medicines, published in the third volume of the Manchester Memoirs, which has not yet been the fubject of our notice. It is a light pleafing Effay, well adapted to furnish materials for a rational conversation. Under the fecond head, our author arranges medicines which pafs into the courfe of circulation entire, or are decomposed by the fluids of the primæ viæ, and being conveyed to diftinct parts, may exert certain appropriated energies.' On this fubject, Dr. Percival does not speak with his ufual clearness. He feems to fufpect, that medicines may be changed in the circulation, decompounded, and again recompofed in the excretories. On the contrary, we can fee only that they are generally diffused in the circulatory mafs, and again collected, becoming obvious chiefly in confequence of their union or collection. The caufe of their being directed to a particular organ is not well understood; fomething is evidently owing to a chemical affinity of the medicine with thofe parts of the blood discharged. by a given organ, and fomething to the peculiar ftimulus of each medicine; if, for inftance, it is brought in confequence of its being generally diffufed to other glands, their action will not be excited; but when once the action of any secretory organ is excited, all thofe parts of the blood, evacuated by that organ, are immediately fupplied by the temporary stoppage of fimilar fecretions. This specific ftimulus which our author has explained, will contribute to elucidate many of the difficulties ftated in this part of the paper. Sulphur, Dr. Per cival thinks, does not circulate with the properties of fulphur, yet it appears in the excretions of the skin with its ufual chemical effects. In this reprefentation there is a little error: it circulates pretty evidently in a state of hepar fulphuris, and this is the odour which it communicates; for Dr. Percival, when he speaks of this odour, fhould have recollected, that fulphur alone has fcarcely any fmell. Vitriolic acid may ac

quire phlogifton, and become fulphur; but it muft, in that cafe; be carried into the blood veffels in its acid state, which we have reason to fufpect is not true: if it enters the blood veffels at all, it most probably is in the fame state of an hepar fulphuris. Again, æthiops mineral, it is faid, has produced a falivation, a proof that the mercury has recovered its powers in the circulation: there is no evidence of æthiops entering the blood; and when it accidentally produces falivation, we fhould rather fufpect, with Dr. D. Monto, that it has been owing to the æthiops being made with unwashed flowers of fulphur, which have generally a little loofe acid combined with them. Dr. Percival alfo fuppofes that a new combination of particles takes place, when afparagus communicate's its peculiar fmell to the urine: in reality, we rather fufpect this fmell to be owing to the decompofed vegetable, whofe oil alone is diuretic.

The ninth Effay we had occafion, many years fince, inciden tally to mention. It is on the oil expreffed from the liver of the cod-fish, and recommended for rheumatifms. It is a rancid animal oil, highly difagreeable, and in our hands not an efficacious remedy.

The tenth Effay is entitled, Hints towards the Investigation of the Nature, Caufe, and Cure of the Rabies Canina. This Effay was written in confequence of a very humane and judicious paper of Dr. Haygarth's, recommending immediate ablution with cold water, and afterwards with a ftream of warm water from the spout of a tea-kettle, together with the use of a cupping-glass; and, if neceffary and convenient, the excifion of the part. Dr. Percival, though he joins in recommending the fame plan, feems, a little inconfiftently, to give a different view of the difeafe. He attributes it, or rather feems inclined to attribute it to the nervous irritation, like tetanus, and offers fome arguments in favour of this opinion, which appear more ingenious than folid. It is fufficient to obferve, that in no instance are there ftronger marks of abforption, and of a fecondary infection. The wound heals, afterwards inflames again, the inflammation extends, a foreness of the limb, if in the lower extremities, frequently in the direction of the lymphatics, comes on previous to the general fymptoms. In tetanus a foreness indeed remains in the cicatrix, but there is no great previous inflammation, and no evidence of abforption. Befides, our author's opinions may make practitioners lefs anxious about thorough ablution or excifion. It is enough, in this view, if the part is numbed by the cold, fo as to render it lefs fenfible of irritation. Dr. Percival adds to the ufual applications, the gastric juice, as a powerful folvent. VOL. LXX. August, 1790.

L

That