tive measures, ought never to be lost sight of. Instances sometimes occur, as indeed was before intimated, of persons taking alkaline medicines, such as magnesia and lime, as supposed correctives of gravel, and solvents of calculus, which have added to, in place of diminishing the offending material, by encouraging the deposition of fresh matter. Soda Water, for instance, not unfrequently produces abundance of white sand, which,' remarks Mr. B. the ignorance of the patient and his medical • attendant lead them to refer to the solvent power of the medicine upon the stone, whereas great mischief is doing by giving the urine more than its usual tendency to deposite the phosphates, and consequently to augment the size of the cal'culus. To counteract, then, the tendency to the formation of this white sand, acid medicinals ought to be employed, (viz. the nitric, the sulphuric, the muriatic,) which often operate a decidedly beneficial change upon the urinary secretion in the course of a very few days. The vegetable acids also are occasionally very serviceable, and these are especially adapted to cases of disorder in children, in which the white sand appears in abundance. It is to be remarked, by the way, that both in young persons, and in individuals of a more advanced age, this white sediment often takes place as a mere temporary consequence and indication of digestive derangement; in such cases, its appearance ought not to excite any alarm as to future or permanent dispositions.

As acids are correctives of the white concretions, so are alkalies of the red and soda, potasb, magnesia, and ammonia, are, according to the circumstances of the individual, to be had recourse to, as remedies for the lithic or uric calculi. Magnesia possesses the double advantage of being aperient as well as alkaline, and is often most conspicuously serviceable; but some caution is requisite even in the use of this medicinal, simple as it may appear. Very mischievous consequences have been known to result from its lodgement in the first passages, and when caried to an extreme, there is also danger of its encouraging that kind of deposite from the urine, which constitutes one of the species of the white sand. On the alkalies, both mild and caustic, and on the question of their mode of operating, we have already treated in analyzing Dr. Marcet's volume.

We need not recapitulate. Our object, it will be perceived, has been throughout, to guard against illegitimate generalization, in reference both to diet and medicinals; and to prevent the reveries and abstractions of enthusiastic specularists from gaining ground, to the exclusion of sober theory and scientific infer

auce.

Art. VII. 1. Elements of Chinese Grammar. By 1. Marshman DD. 4to. Serampore, 18:4.

2. A Dictionary of the Chinese Language. By the Rev. R. Morrison, 4to. Parts I. and 11. Macao, 1815, 1816.

3. Dialogues and detached Sentences in the Chinese Language; with a free and verbal Translation in English. 8vo. Macao, I×16.

4. The Sacred Edict. Translated from the Chinese Original. By the Rev. William Milne. 8vo. 78. 6d. London, 1817.

5. Laou-Sengh-Urh, or, "an Heir in his Old Age." A Chinese Drama. 12mo. 5s. 6d. London, 1817.

ᎳᎬ

E can scare ly deem it necessary to disavow the slightest intention of affecting an intimate acquaintance with the Chinese language or literature. It would, indeed, be easy to draw up from authentic and accessible sources, and within reasonable limits, a general summary of European acquisitions upon those points; but this subject has been of late years so frequently referred to, and may be considered, on the whole, as so completely before the public, that we have felt it inexpedient to engage in the unprofitable, though not uninteresting task. Having, however, had occasion to examine the volumes before us, we cannot persuade ourselves tó lay them aside, without briefly calling attention to a department of literature which has been of late so disinterestedly and suc cessfully cultivated; embracing, at the same time, the oppor tunity of devoting a few pages to a simple sta ement of the Jabours of those excellent individuals who, while seeking to advance the eternal welfare of man, have incidentally conferred important obligations upon science.

A century back, it was the fashion to represent the Chinese as a race of philosophers, cultivating literature on a liberal scale, and founding their claims to honour and distinction on their diligence and success in the acquisition of knowledge. The vague and exaggerated language in which these general eulogies were pronounced by those who alone had the means of forming an accurate estimate, aided the deception; and for a time it was admitted as a fact not to be questioned, that China was the favoured seat of wisdom and learning, and that when labour and skill should have fairly unlocked the treasury of her science, the western world would be perfectly dazzled by the splendour of its stores. Labour and skill have at length achieved much of their allotted task; and the result has been, a lamentable abatement of the high claims of Chinese literature. A timid acquiescence in ancient forms and opinions, an unlimited admiration of established modes, an exclusive taste for frivolous discussions, a genius for triding, which may vie with that of the good old times of the European schoolinen, may be traced throughout the

compositions of the accomplished literati of the Celestial Empire.' What, indeed, can be expected from the writers of a country where the most minute points of etiquette are under the guardianship of the bamboo, and where strangulation or beheading awaits the luckless trespasser upon established usage? We have recently met with the story of a miserable author, who, for some harmless, but unlicensed use of the emperor's name, was, together with his innocent family, sentenced to death: the latter were indulged with a mitigation of their judgement, but the actual off uder was left for execution. While we take it for granted that the inhabitants of China possess a fair average of the general allotment of natural talent, we imagine that we hazard nothing in affirming that, with all their literary vanity and ostentation, they are the most ignorant of civilized nations. Whatever may be thought of its literature, the language, at least, of China, seems to possess some very extraordinary fascination, if we may form our judgement from the enthusiastic expressions of those who have made themselves acquainted with it. 6 Lingua mirabilis! philosophica! divina exclaims Tourmont; and we are gravely assured by Dr. Montucci, that when we once conceive an adequate idea of the admirable structure, mechanisin, and energy of the Chinese Hieroglyphics, the sublimity of the invention has so great a power on our mind, that we regard it as descended directly from 'heaven; and nothing is seen, in the extensive field of philology, that can bear the faintest comparison in point of merit, to the Chinese language and writings!' Dr. Marshman remarks, in moderate and rational language, that the pleasure resulting from the study of Chinese is so great, and the field of research which it opens, so interesting, as scarcely to permit its being relinquished but with life itself.'

Much of this strongly expressed pleasure, is, no doubt, to be referred to the mere gratification arising from the surmounting of difficulty; something of it is also to be assigned to the very natural, though unsuspected tendency that exists in every mind, to exaggerate the value of that which has cost intense labour to attain; but the principal source of this over-wrought delight is, we apprehend, to be found in the nature of the language itself Originally, as it should seem, representative of specific objects, and subsequently blended with characters of invention, the written medium has become a compound of imitative and arbitrary signs; and thus, by presenting to the eye and to the mind a species of hieroglyphical enigma, it excites curiosity, and keeps attention and expectation continually on the alert. Of this, however, we speak with great uncertainty; for, although we have not hitherto been able to find anything in the

literature of China which would tempt us to undertake the regular task of deciphering and acquiring the language, yet, we are willing to believe that, making every deduction for partiality and exaggeration, there may be in both attractions to justify the eulogies of their admirers. Without engaging in inquiries, which we have so imperfect means of solving, we shall proceed to give a general account of the works which more immediately demand our attention.

Dr. Marshman has laboured under peculiar disadvantages in the acquisition of this singular language Though he had long felt an anxious wish to make himself master of its arcana, he was compelled, for a considerable time, to delay his entrance on this part of his studies, by the absence of all means of instruction; and when, at length, he was enabled to procure them, he was under the disheartening necessity of studying Chinese in Chinese, without being assisted by a single sentence from a • Chinese author translated into any language. By the aid of à his Chinese master, his resolution and application overcame these difficulties, and it was not until three months after the completion and publication of his translation of Confucius, that he for the first time saw a Latin Chinese dictionary.' From the Romish missionary Rodrigues, and from Mr Manning, Dr. / Marshman subsequently derived much valuable information. As a specimen of the indefatigable labour exerted in the progress of his inquiries, we may state the fact, that, for the purpose of ascertaining an important feature of the Chinese language, be actually, with the aid of his Chinese assistants, employed fifteen months in dissecting and analysing the whole of the characters in the Imperial Dictionary, amounting to 31,214 at the least, and possibly, to not fewer than 43,496 complicated forms. In the course of our examination of Dr. Marshman's work, we had made a series of notes which would enable us to give a tolerably complete abstract of its contents; but on revising them for that purpose, we find that it would be hardly practicable to make ourselves clearly understood without the occasional help of a few characters; and even if this did not make such an analysis wholly inexpedient, we should be deterred from it by the consideration that there are very few of our readers to whom it could be in any way interesting. The formation of the characters has been very laboriously deduced by the Dr. in the preliminary dissertation, but as he has stated the general results in the preface, we shall adopt his language in preference to our

It is pretty evident, that from certain delineations of the chief objects of nature, sufficiently rude, it is true, but still such as a strong fancy might associate with the object, sprang the two hundred and fourteen Elements. Certain expressions of ideas once fixed-upon,

these formed a basis on which to erect a superstructure. Some of them were soon applied figuratively; in other cases, certain additions placed above, below, or within the original character, were supposed eapable of representing other ideas. At length two significant cha racters were combined with the view of representing by the union of the two, a third, which, in the opinion of the writer, partook in some degree, of the qualities of both. This once attempted, an almost boundless field presented itself to the view; each of these compound characters became in its turn a primitive or root, to which an Element the head, the hand, the foot; fire, water, earth, stone, air, &c. being added, another idea was presented to the mind. If to a thousand of these primitives, only a hundred of the elements had been added, the result would have been a hundred thousand characters, produced by the combination of only three elements; but in perusing this essay, the reader will find, that these triple compounds are still in many instances, the primitive or root of a new character: in some cases this is extended to five, and in a few even to six elements united in one character, which, however, still expresses only one idea. Thus then the reader will find, that from two hundred and fourteen Elements, proceed about one thousand six hundred Primitives; which producing each from three to seventy four Derivatives, constitute the great mass of the Chinese written language.'

The colloquial medium of the Chinese, has not the slightest connexion with the written character; they are, in fact, two different languages,-if, indeed, the term may be applied to a series of characters with which sound is connected only in an arbitrary and conventional manner. Language, in general, is adjusted by the powers of the voice, and the analogies of sound: the written and the oral media, are calculated by each other, specific characters answering to peculiar sounds; and although those sounds vary in some respects as applied by different nations, yet, there is a prevailing resemblance which renders the alphabetic system of their various dialects, to a certain degree, intelligible to all. But in the system of China, the written marks, and the oral articulations, have no connexion with each other, except from an almost capricious application. The same character may have sounds attributed to it, as different as the utmost range of variety can supply, without in any degree altering its representative meaning, since the written medium addresses itself only to the eye. The language, strictly speaking, of the Chinese, contains, even when varied by the application of the four Tones, no more than 1781 monosyllabic 'intonations ;' but. for the peculiar arrangement and construction of the system, with its con plicated apparatus of initial and final powers, we must refer to the volume itself.

To the Clavis is appended, with a minute Praxis and free translation, the Ta hyoh, one of the four standard Books' of the Chinese, and which claims to be considered, of course, as