bined with the state of the weather to produce it, and made, perhaps, the effects of cold, with rain or wet cloaths, more sensibly felt.' The disease appeared to Dr. W. to be less contagious than any fever which he has seen for many years, to have originated in every part of the town about the same time, and to have principally confined its ravages to the higher orders of society. Many parts of this pamphlet betray a considerable portion of that professional jealousy, which is so much to be lamented whenever it appears; and the author sarcastically remarks, that many of the rich in Newcastle may have been mistaken in their choice of the best advice. He seems to consider himself as meriting particular credit for venturing, ten years ago, to change the treatment of fever in that large town, and to shew that bark would not cure it; and he informs us that he has lived to see the inutility of bark in fever almost generally admitted among medical men. but he does not state what is the mode of treatment which has been successfully substituted, unless it be the use of cooling saline medicines, assisted by antimonials, which, he tells us, he has adopted with great success for ten years, to the exclusion of bark, opium, wine, or brandy. Art. 20. An Inquiry into the Causes which produce, preserve, and propagate Febrile Contagious Diseases, in Newcastle and Gateshead; with a Detail of interesting Facts, relative to the Fever which prevailed in the Months of October and November last; accompanied with a Report of the unfortunate Persons of Respectability who fell Victims to the Disease, and a correct Statement of the Fever as it appeared amongst the Military. General Remarks on the Disease. The decisive Means of insuring the Safety of the Inhabitants, &c. &c. By a Member of the College of Surgeons in London. 8vo. pp. 72. 2s. 6d. Printed at Newcastle. 1804. A very striking and interesting account of the miserable situation of many of the lower orders of society in Newcastle is given in this pamphlet; the anonymous author of which ascribes, and we think with justice, the frequent appearance of febrile contagion in that place to the effects produced by a number of persons living in confined, illventilated, and dirty apartments. The late fever he considers as distinctly referable to this cause; and he states it as proved that the higher orders of society, who were affected with it, became so by accidental intercourse with others of a different description: The fever,' he says, prevailed with great malignity in the neighbourhood of the Quayside. The daily resort of commercial gentlemen into that quarter of the town, exposed several to the influence of contagion, as appears from the only persons of respectability seized with fever hav ing been in the habit of transacting business on the Quay every day.' A list is annexed of the commercial gentlemen who fell victims to this complaint, and the progress of the disease is circumstantially narrated; with the names and address of the various individuals specified by whose means it was diffused. The disease is traced by the author to a pauper of the name of Scott. 6 The military appear to have afforded a great number of examples of Typhus Fever, at the time that it was so prevalent in Newcastle and Yell. and Gateshead; since, as they were quartered in some of the most The symptoms,' it appears, differed materially in force and mode In the cases which terminated fatally (generally on the 5th and 11th day), there appeared an evident determination to some important organ; stupor, startings, and convulsions indicating great oppression of the brain; hiccup, tension and inflation of the abodemen, painful on pressure; involuntary and foetid stools; some affection of the abdominal viscera.' The treatment, by means of bark and wine, which is so much condemned by Dr. Wood in the tract noticed in the preceding article, was of essential service. The sick were continually craving for wine, which was swallowed with the utmost avidity. Each dose appeared to excite the impaired energies of the system, under the depressing influence of malignant disease; the pulse became stronger; delirium, stupor, and convulsions relaxed; the countenance became more animated, and the intellectual faculties collected. Even in cases of fever, attended with great action of the vascular system, and affection of the organs of respiration, the free exhibition of wine did not appear in the least to aggravate the disease.' The present author seems to be completely at issue with Dr. Wood Art. 21. 12mo. Yell In This work may be useful to the students of practical anatomy. Art. 22. However numerous and particular the directions may be, which works written on the subject of mineral waters contain, relative to their employment, it is a fortunate circumstance for the physician, and particularly for the resident physician, that there is little chance of such directions superseding the necessity, or at least the desire of medical advice. Whatever degree of credit, therefore, we might be disposed to give to Dr. Jameson, for the mode in which he has executed what many consider as a requisite duty, on settling at a watering-place, it would be unfair to represent him as having rendered it unnecessary for a patient who has bought his book to trouble him farther during his stay at Cheltenham. Such a circumstance would, indeed, be more than he anticipates: but, in order to prevent the possibility of its occurrence, he gives this advice to valetudinarians: Prudence requires that invalids should always be directed, before they drink the waters, whether they are to pursue a laxative, or a purging plan; and after they have continued their use a certain time, to know whether changes have taken place in their constitution, or their disease, to interdict their further use.' The supply of Cheltenham water has, for some time past, the author informs us, been diminishing; and he has therefore performed an acceptable service to the frequenters of this spa, in discovering that a sufficiency of water to answer any demands which can possibly be made on it may readily be obtained. The uses of the Cheltenham waters are so well known, from previous publications, that it is unnecessary to make any abstracts from the present author's observations on this subject. He subjoins the analysis of a Chalybeate spring which has lately come into use at Cheltenham, and which is represented to contain, of Oxyd of iron Muriate of lime Grains. 1.36 2.55 Yell. Muriate of soda 2.02 Sulphate of lime -73 Carbonate of magnesia and lime 12.55 Art. 23. Sketch of a Plan for the Salvation of England, and the Emancipation of Europe. Svo. 18. 6d. Ridgway. If, in order to give pleasure, fiction must assume the semblance of truth, schemes, in order to excite interest, should be shewn to be practicable. By the plan which this writer sketches, however, we are not amused even with the phantoms of hope; for he makes our salvation to depend on circumstances which are not likely to take place. The hearty and disinterested concurrence of Austria and Russia with us, in endeavouring to reduce the power of France to its antient limits, who can expect? After the great changes which have occurred in Europe, we must not look back to the restoration of the Republic of Venice, and every petty sovereignty which has been shaken from its base, but to wise and vigorous measures for the future. It is easy to represent Great Britain as obnoxious to invasion, and to recom. mend liberal subsidies to the emperor in order to induce him to fight our battles but our best policy is to depend on ourselves; to study the strength of our insular situation; and vast as the power of France may be, to stand in a fearless attitude against her, and, whether in war or peace, to manifest our greatness by our exertions and our virtue. Art. 24. Perpetual War the only Ground of perpetual Safety and Prosperity. By the Reverend Edward Hankin, M.A. M.D. 8vo. is. 6d. Rivingtons. According to this Christian divine, the turning of spears into pruning books must never come again in fashion ; and he recommends to Great Britain the Irish measure of making war a necessary part of her peace establishment.' No body of men can more seriously lament the enormous power of France than ourselves: but we are by no means sure that perpetual war is essential to its diminution, and to our own security against it. Mr. Hankin, however, is of a contrary opinion. He thinks that we shall cease to be secure when we sheath the sword, and that we shall continue to prosper and to weaken the enemy by keeping it constantly drawn. It is even supposed by him that we shall effect changes in the government of France, by protracted warfare; or, to use his own words, by continuing to shut her up by sea she must break out by land, must prey on the vitals of her citizens and ravage neighbouring territories, so as at last to provoke general resistance. When the necessary provisions and arrangements for war are once made, the subsequent taxes to support it are represented as light; and by proper regulations in the collection of revenue, Mr. H. thinks that they may be kept from augmentation. To use a vulgar phrase, all this is fine talking: but we must not be led away by sounding words. Are the losses, horrors, and expences of war Moy. war, trifling matters? Is blood ever to flow? Must two such powerful nations as Great Britain and France vow eternal hostility; and can no prudent accommodation ever take place? We cannot believe it. For some time to come, it will be right for us to be a vigilant and armed nation but we see neither the necessity nor the practicability of perpetual war.' Art. 25: A serious and impartial Address to all the independent Electors of the United Kingdoms, upon the recent Middlesex Election; in which the Proceedings and Transactions of that extraordinary event are candidly and constitutionally discussed and investigated; the fatal Tendency and destructive Consequence of such a Precedent considered; and the whole viewed as a grand national Cause, in which that most invaluable Privilege, the Elective Franchise, and the Representative System itself are most intimately involved. By Walter Honeywood Yate, Esq. an Independent Freeholder of the Counties of Gloucester and Worcester. 8vo. 28. Longman and Co. 1804. Assuming as a principle, that which no true Englishman will deny, that the Purity of the Elective Franchise is the most sacred of our privileges, Mr. Yate proceeds to consider in what manner this principle was outraged by the proceedings at the last Middlesex Election. Being a zealous whig, he exhorts his countrymen to espouse those who step forwards the avowed champions of the forgotten liberties' of the people of England; and he regards the hustings at Brentford, to which he endeavours to transport the thoughts of his readers, as not less calculated to excite the glow of patriotism than the plains of Marathon. The conduct of the sheriffs meets with pointed condemnation; and it is here observed, that the procrastination of the examination of the contested votes to so late a period as the close of the poll, when their official duties in this respect expired, and the return became resolute, has virtually had the operation of transferring all the rights of the electors to the returning officer.' This is indeed the true state of the question, which must engage the attention of the House of Commons; and on its decision it will depend, whether that house shall consist in future of the representatives of the freeholders of Great Britain, or of the mere representatives of the returning officers. It is no doubt, as Mr. Yate remarks, the interest of the whole body of electors to take up this subject warmly; but in his address to them he should have entered more fully into the history and merits of this particular case, and not have occupied so much of his pamphlet with general observations on the nature of liberty, and on the inestimable value of the British constitution. Art. 26. Calm and dispassionate Address to Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. pointing out to him the Causes of his Defeat at the Election of a Member of Parliament for the County of Middlesex. By an Independent Freeholder. 8vo. 18. Rivingtons. Art. 27. Reply to a Pamphlet entitled A calm and dispassionate Address to Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. on the late Election for Middlesex. By Rugbiensis. 8vo. Is. 6d. Stewart. On the independent freeholder, who gives himself full scope in REY. DEC. 1804. calumniating Ff Moy. Moy. |