chemistry, and he retained this predilection during the rest

of his life.

Bucquet was at that time professor of chemistry in the medical school of Paris, and was then greatly celebrated and followed, on account of his eloquence and the elegance of his language. Fourcroy became in the first place his pupil, and soon after his particular friend. One day, when an unfore seen disease prevented him from lecturing as usual, he entreated M. de Fourcroy to supply his place. The young philosopher at first declined, and alleged his total ignorance of the method of addressing a popular audience. But, overcome by the persuasions of Bucquet, he at last consented; and in this his first essay, he spoke two hours without disorder or hesitation, and acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his whole audience. Bucquet soon after substituted him in his place, and it was in his laboratory and in his class-room that he first made himself acquainted with chemistry. He was enabled at the death of Bucquet, in consequence of an advantageous marriage which he had made, to purchase the apparatus and cabinet of his master; and although the Faculty of Medicine would not allow him to succeed to the chair of Bucquet, they could not prevent him from succeeding to his reputation.

There was a kind of college established in the King's Garden, which was at that time under the superintendance of Buffon, and Macquer was the professor of chemistry in this institution. On the death of this chemist, in 1784, Lavoisier stood candidate for the chair. But Buffon received more than a hundred letters in favor of Fourcroy; and the voice of the public was so loud in his favor, that he was appointed to the situation, in spite of the high reputation of his antagonist, and the superior interest that might be supposed to result from his fortune and his situation.

Fourcroy continued professor at the Jardin des Plantes during the remainder of his life, which lasted twenty-five years; and such was his eloquence, or so well was it fitted to the taste of the French nation, that his celebrity as a lecturer continued always upon the increase: so great also were the crowds, both of men and women, that flocked to hear him, that it was twice necessary to enlarge the size of the lecture-room. I had myself an opportunity of hearing him lecture two or three times, and must acknowledge that I found it difficult to account for the celebrity which he enjoyed. His style was precisely similar to that of his books, flowing and harmonious, but very diffuse, and destitute of precision; and his manner was that of a petit maitre, mixed with a good deal of pomposity, and an affectation of profundity..

fundity. There must be something, however, in such a manner, capable of attracting the generality of mankind; for I know a professor who possesses as much of it as is consistent with the British character, and who is far inferior to Fourcroy as a man of science; who, nevertheless, enjoys within his own sphere nearly the same degree of popularity that Fourcroy did in his.

We must now notice the political career which Fourcroy ran during the progress of the revolution. In a country where political changes were going on with so much rapidity, and where every description of men were successively had recourse to, it was not possible that a professor so much admired for his eloquence could escape observation. Accordingly, he was elected a member of the National Convention in the autumn of 1795. The National Convention, and France herself, were at that time in a state of abject slavery; and so sanguinary was the tyrant who ruled over that unhappy country, that it was almost equally dangerous for the members of the Convention to remain silent, or to take an active part in the business of that assembly. Fourcroy, notwithstanding his reputation for eloquence, and the love of eclat which appears all along to have been his domineering passion, had good sense enough to resist the temptation, and never opened his mouth in the Convention till after the death of Robespierre. This is the more to be wondered at, and is a greater proof of prudence, as it is well known that he took a keen part in favor of the revolution, and that he was a determined enemy to the old order of things, from which he had suffered so severely at his entrance into life.

At this period he had influence enough to save the life of some men of merit: among others, of Darcet, who did not know the obligation he lay under to him till long after. At last his own life was threatened, and his influence of course utterly annihilated.

During this unfortunate and disgraceful period, several of the most eminent literary characters of France were destroyed; among others, Lavoisier, and Fourcroy has been accused of contributing to the death of this illustrious philosopher, his former rival, and his master in chemistry. How far such an accusation is deserving of credit, I have no means of determining; but Cuvier, who was upon the spot, and in a situation which enabled him to investigate its truth or falsehood, acquits Fourcroy entirely of the charge, and declares that it was urged against him merely out of envy at his subsequent elevation. "If, in the rigorous researches which we have made," says Cuvier, in his Eloge of Fourcroy, "we had found the smallest proof of an atrocity so horrible,

no human power could have induced us to sully our mouths with his Eloge, or to have pronounced it within the walls of this temple, which ought to be no less sacred to honor than to genius.

Fourcroy began to acquire influence only after the 9th Thermidor, when the nation was wearied with destruction, and when efforts were making to restore those monuments of science, and those public institutions for education, which, during the wantonness and folly of the revolution, had been overturned and destroyed. Fourcroy was particularly active in this renovation, and it was to him chiefly that almost all the schools established in France for the education of youth are to be ascribed. The Convention had destroyed all the colleges, and universities, and academies, throughout France. The effects of this ridiculous abolition soon became visible. The army stood in need of surgeons and physicians, and there were none educated to supply the vacant places. Three new schools were founded for educating medical men. They were nobly endowed, and still continue connected with the University of Paris. The term schools of medicine was proscribed as too aristocratical. They were distinguished by the ridiculous appellation of schools of health. The Polytechnic School was next instituted, as a kind of paration for the exercise of the military profession, where young men could be instructed in mathematics and natural philosophy, to make them fit for entering the schools of the artillery, of genius, and of the marine. The central schools was another institution for which France is indebted to the efforts of Fourcroy. The idea was good, though it has been very imperfectly put in execution. It was to establish a kind of university in every department, for which the young men were to be prepared by means of a sufficient number of inferior schools scattered through the department. But these inferior schools have never been either properly established or endowed; and even the central schools themselves have never been supplied with proper masters. Indeed it would have been impossible to have furnished such a number of masters at once. On that account an institution was established at Paris, under the name of Normal School, for the express purpose of educating a sufficient number of masters to supply the different central schools.

pre

Fourcroy, either as member of the Convention, or of the Council of Ancients, took an active part in all these institutions, both as far as regarded the plan and the establishment. He was equally concerned in the establishment of the Institute, and of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. This last was endowed with the utmost liberality, and Fourcroy was one

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of the first professors; as he was, also, in the School of Me dicine, and the Polytechnic School. He was equally concerned in the restoration of the University, which constitutes the most splendid part of Bonaparte's reign, and the part which will be longest remembered with gratitude and applause.

The violent exertions which M. de Fourcroy made in the numerous situations which he filled, and the prodigious activity which he displayed, gradually undermined his constitution. He himself was sensible of his approaching death, and announced it to his friends as an event which would speedily take place. On the 16th of December, 1809, after signing some dispatches, he suddenly cried out Je suis mort, and dropt lifeless on the ground.

He was twice married: first to Mademoiselle Bettinger, by whom he had two children; a son, an officer in the artillery, who inherits his title; and a daughter, Madame Foucaud. He was married a second time to Madame Bellville, the widow of Vailly, by whom he had no family. He left but little fortune behind him; and two maiden sisters who lived with him, depended, for their support, upon his friend M. Vauquelin.

(To be continued.)

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS

IN THE

DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHYSIC, SURGERY, AND MEDICAL PHILOSOPHY.

Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, No. XXXV. I. Report on the State of Vaccination in certain Districts of India, and in the Isles of France and Bourbon. By W. SCOT, Surgeon.

THE

HE successful progress of vaccination in India is well known to our readers, from the various reports on it from that country analysed in this Journal. Mr. Scot's report contains, not only evidence of the success of this practice in India, but a view of it in the Isles of France and Bourbon, where its efficacy has been equally conspicuous. The destruction by the small-pox in these islands, previous to the discovery or introduction of vaccination, was most extensive.

"The Isle of France contains about 6000 whites, 7000 free blacks and people of color, and from 60,000 to 70,000 slaves. In the latter

class,

class, there are thirteen males to six females. The Isle of Bourbon has probably fewer whites, but is reckoned to contain many more slaves. The small-pox has generally appeared in both islands at the same periods, excepting in 1811, when it was confined to the Mauritius. In the year 1756, the small-pox first appeared as an epidemic at the Mauritius, and was extremely fatal; the contagion was kept up for a year, and it is computed, that two died of every five who were attacked by it. In 1771, it appeared a second time, and was no less formidable, so that the island was almost depopulated.

"In 1792, when the population had greatly increased, a third epidemic appeared, which, at the lowest computation I have seen, destroyed more than 20,000 people. None of the inhabitants can speak of it now without horror; and the year after, a law was enacted, condemning the captain or surgeons of any vessel to death, who should make a false declaration of the state of health of his crew, in respect to the small-pox. In August 1803, the Ulysses, a slaveship from Mozambique, arrived at the Mauritius, having the smallpox amongst the slaves. She was sent back to the Seychelles, and the vaccine virus having by that time been carried from India to the island, the people were roused by the recollection of former calamities, and after a few preliminary experiments, immense numbers were vaccinated, but with very little care or attention. Perhaps not one case in a hundred was examined during the progress of the disease. I make this estimate from knowing that no note was kept by any surgeon of his inoculations, and from the difficulty, or oftener the impossibility, of seeing our patients, when our utmost efforts were bent on keeping a perfect register.

"In July, 1811, some cases of small-pox were brought from Madagascar, on board the captured French frigates, and the contagion was established on shore; yet, from that period till the end of November, at which time I left the island, between forty and fifty cases only had occurred; and I have lately been assured that the contagion has long since entirely ceased. On the 13th of November I report to the superintending surgeon on the island, that we have a melancholy proof of the carelessness with which vaccination has been hitherto practised, in the numbers attacked by small-pox; of about fifty cases of that disease, seven have been believed to be vaccinated.'

"Two months before the introduction of the small-pox, I found it necessary to warn the inhabitants, that, from every information I could gain of the previous practice, I had no doubt that great numbers who were supposed to be duly vaccinated, were still in reality exposed to variolous infection. I gave them a distinct account of the ordinary progress of the disease, and urged every person to have their children and slaves reinoculated, in all cases where the course of the vaccine had not been attentively examined. Great numbers were accordingly subjected to this precautionary measure of a second inoculation; hut I regret that the documents I have by me do not enable me to state the result with precision, and, on this subject, I wish to avoid any assertion founded merely on memory.

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