perque laudabilibus, quoad vitam morefque, teftimoniis præmunitum.” The fourth article prohibits apothecaries from vifiting or preferibing for the fick, or even difpenfing ftrong purges, emetics, opiates, &c. without the direction of a physician. This regulation would be by no means proper here, as vifiting and prefcribing for the fick has long formed the principal part of the employment of the apothecary in this country. But as, while the apothecary is employed in this part of his bufinefs, he is precluded from giving his perfonal attention to compounding and difpenfing medicines, it feems fingular that the affociation fhould complain that the druggit performst what they have to a degree abandoned. But this argument is fo judiciously handled in the work which makes the fubject of our next article, that we fhall not notice it farther here. If this fubject fhould come again under the notice of the legiflature, they may probably think it expedient, in addition to what has been propofed, to take the fame method to prevent an inundation of illiterate and unqualified apothecaries, which they lately adopted to prevent the increase of pettyfogging attornies; not only by prohibiting all perfons from practifing who have not paffed a regular apprenticeship, but by laying an additional stamp duty upon the indenture. A duty of thirty or forty pounds upon the apothe cary's indenture would raife a large fum for the benefit of government, and confine the bufinefs to a more liberal and enlightened clafs of people, than are now often found engaged in it, which could not fail in time to prove highly beneficial to the country; and thus an affociation, whofe general views appear far from liberal, may eventually prove a public benefit.

ART. 20. Murepfologia, ar the Art of the Apothecary, traced up to its original Source in Hiftory; and the Antiquity and Confequence of the Drug-Merchants afferted, and maintained against the Mifreprefentations of the Author of a late Hiftory of Medicine. The Nature and Defign of that Publication examined, and the true Foundation of the refpectable Character of the Apothecary of Great Britain, at the prefent Time, pointed out and illuftrated. By Jofeph Bradney, Efq. Svo. 45 PP. Is. Rivingtons. 1796.

In our Review for March laft, we gave an account of Mr. Good's Hiftory of Medicine, publifhed at the request of the General Pharmaceutic Affociation. In this, as we have fhown, the author attempts to raife the dignity of the character of the apothecary, by proving the antiquity of the order, and the high eftimation in which it has always been held, and to debase the occupation of the druggift, whom he confiders as of very modern date, of little eftimation, and unfit to be entrusted with compounding medicines, which he thinks fhould be permitted to the apothecary alone. Mr. Bradney, in the piece before us, ftands forward an unfolicited champion of the druggifts, and with

+ In the petition of the Affociation to the Houfe of Commons, prefented the lait teflion, they prayed that the druggifts might be prohibited from making up prescriptions, or retailing drugs.

mucha

much good humour and good fenfe, turns all the arguments of the apothecary against his own corps. He admits indeed the antiquity of the apothecaries; they are mentioned, he fays, in the Old Teltament. But they were the mere compounders of oils, falves, and ointments. The word apothecary (p. 7.) in the feptuagint is Mpeos, fcilicet, qui coquit ceu conficit unguenta, and in this low eftination they continued to be held for many ages. Cicero ftiles them unguentarii, and ranks their occupation inter artes fordidas." But the fpicemerchant, or druggilt, must have been of greater antiquity than the apothecary. As the raw material muft be produced before the manufactured, fo the exercife of the druggitt's branch of commerce muft have preceded that of the compounder. That the importance of the drug-merchant was at the fame period confiderable, is evident, he fays, as we read of their camels richly laden, that bore spices in great ftore and abundance. Of the camels in the train of the Queen of Sheba, bearing rich fpices to Solomon. Having thus fhown the fuperior antiquity and opulence of the druggift, this author proceeds to show, that the affociated apothecaries are equally unlucky in their arguments against the propriety of permitting the druggist to continue to compound and retail medicines. Not denying what the hiftorian afferts, that fome druggift may have been detected in committing errors, or fophifticating their drugs, examples of equal ignorance and depravity, he contends, may be found among the apothecaries, But this ought not to be charged upon the body of either of these claffes of men. 66 Ignorance,' he obferves, p. 22,. is no monopoly, every profeffion puts in its claim. Should a man in his reforming reverie, attempt to purge any one of them from it, a drug more potent must be found than any the materia medica now contains. To thofe reformers who will admit of nothing fhort of perfection, little can be faid. Their bufinefs lies with another state and condition of life. On this terreftrial globe it never was, it never will be found, without a preternatural caufe. The degree of attainment towards it, which inan is capable of, demands the exercife of much christian charity, to cover the defects which remain expofed." The author then mentions the particular qualifications of the druggifts, which render them more fit for the bufinefs of compounding and retailing medicines, than the apothecaries in general of the prefent day. Their fuperior knowledge of drugs, from the great quantities continually paffing through their hands, and from the fame caufe, their ability to keep at all times a ftock of thofe that are fresh and perfect. Their knowledge of chymiftry, far fuperior to moft apothecaries, few of the latter having elaboratories, and confequently, opportunities of being intimately acquainted with this curious and neceffary branch of phyfic. The perfonal attention of the druggift to his fhop, enables him to carry on the retail trade with fuperior advantage to the apothecary, whofe attendance on his patients, muft preclude him from engaging in that branch with fuccefs. Mr. B. goes on to examine the remainder of the regulations propofed by the reforming affociations, and combats them with equal acuteness and fuccefs. But we have faid enough to recommend this ingenious performance to the public, by whom, we doubt not, it will be read with equal pleasure and advantage.

ART. 21. A Treatise on the Structure, Economy, and Difeafes of the Liver, together with an Inquiry into the properties and component Parts of the Bile, and biliary Concretions, by William Saunders, M. D. F. R. S. Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Senior Physician to Guy's Hofpital, Second Edition, with confiderable Additions. 8vo. 261 pp. 5s. J. Phillips, George Yard, Lombard Street, &c. 1796. In the third volume of the British Critic, we gave rather an extended account of this ingenious work, and are pleafed to find our opinion of its merit, fa. ctioned by the public, which the early appearance of a fecond edition evinces. The additions in this impreflion, are principally in the practical part, and confequently, of a kind that cannot fail to enhance the value of the book; but as they are blended with the general methods of treating difeafes of the liver, they cannot eafily be detached. The following communications of a fuccefsful method of treating the jaundice in the Eaft-Indies, is curious, and feems deferving notice. The writer is Mr. Dick, furgeon at Bengal: "I have been, he fays, for the last seven years, in the habit of giving calomel in the jaundice, in dofes, from two to five grains every night, 'till the mouth is affected, and in every cafe, the jaundice went off, as foon as the mouth became fore. I now fearcely ufe any other medicine, except merely to prevent coftiveness. I cured upwards of forty patients in that way, and all in lefs than a month, generally in ten days, or a fortnight."

MISCELLANIES.

ART. 22. Thoughts on the Caufe of the high Price of Provifions, and bow the Evil may be removed, in a Letter to Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Chairman of the Board of Agriculture, By a Farmer's Son. 12mo. 15. Dilly. 1796.

Whoever, from a true patriotic fpirit, and without any finifter views, inveftigates the important fubject here propofed, is fairly entitled to the thanks of his countrymen. The author of this pamphlet is certaily of this defcription; he is of opinion that the increase of the price of provifions is owing to our increafe of population, and to the great increase of horses, and he ftates the following curious fact:"In order to fhow the amazing confumption which is caused by horfes, I will orly ftate one inftance, and that is in refpect to the num ber of perfone who might be fupported from what is expended on thofe horses working in the mail-coaches. From the best information I have been able to obtain, the number of these horses must be neartwo thousand, and as they cannot be kept for lefs than twelve shillings per week each, the confumption of one borse would fupport a labouring man, his wife, and four children, fo that the fum expended on two thoufand horfes would be fufficient to keep twelve thoufand perfons, or fuppofe one horfe will confume the produce of four acres of land, then it would require eight thousand acres of land to fupport the faid number of horfes. If then the lofs fuflained by the public, by only fo fmall a part of the horfes thus kept, is fo great, what must it

be,

be, when all the horses above described are taken into consideration ?" The remedies proposed for the exifting evils which the author describes, are thefe :-inclofe land wherever it can be done; leffen, as much as poffible, the ufe of horfes; and encourage the breed of neat cattle, and the ufe of oxen in hufbandry. This is a very fenfible publication, and evidently the performance of a clear and ftrong understanding; many very useful hints are communicated, upon which we fhould be glad to dilate more at large, but the whole is well worth the attention of the public.

ART. 23. Hortus Butanicus Gippovicenfis; or, A fyftematical Enumeration of the Plants cultivated in Dr. Coyte's Botanic Garden at Ipfwich, in the County of Suffolk; also their effential genuine Characters, English Names, the Natives of Britain particularized, the Exotics where beft preferved, and their Duration. With occafional botanical Obfervations. To which is added an Investigation of the natural produce of fome Grafs Lands in High Suffolk. 4to. 158 pp. Whites, &c. 1796.

Little is required to be added to the ample account given in the title. Dr. Coyte's collection is confiderable, but not without deficiencies. His catalogue is Linnæan and correct, and the collateral indications of place and mode of culture, &c. very convenient. The book will be found a useful index to thofe who have collections of their own,

ART. 24. Travels in the Year 1792, through France, Turkey and Hungary, to Vienna, concluding with an Account of that City. In a feries of Letters to a Lady in England. By William Hunter, Efq. 8vo. 6s. White. 1796.

Popular as books of travels are at the prefent day, Mr. Hunter's volume will certainly not be fought with avidity, either by those who with their ftcres of geographical knowledge extended, or who read for paffing amufement only. The Itinerary at the beginning, if accurate, may certainly be ufeful, but the narrative is tedious, feldom enlivened by anecdote, and never important from obfervations of fagacity or wifdom. A ftory is told, at p. 369, about chefs-playing, which the reader will find more agreeably detailed by Twifs, in his anecdotes of chefs. Mr. Hunter is alfo very negligent of grammar, as in p. 348, where he fays, "Monf. M. who arrived here but two days after we;" and in p. 445, "the manner in which cattle is driven," &c. &c.

ART. 25. Interefling Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Effays, and political Fragments, tending to awuje the Fancy and inculcate morality. By Mr. Adaifon. 4 Vol. 8vo. 16s. Longman. 1796.

This is one of the many publications which the prefs daily "bodies fourth," of which the highest character that can be given, is, that they will do no harm. Truth, however, compels us to add, that thefe before us are calculated to foothe idleness rather than ftimulate industry, that they are not diflinguished either by skill of felection or arrangement, and that Mr. Addifon, of whom we have no knowledge, will probably receive no extraordinary portion either of fame or emolument.

ART.

ART. 25. Elements of Geography: containing a concife and compre benfive View of that ufeful Science, as divided into aftronomical, phyfical, or natural and political Geography, on a new Plan, adapted to the Capacities of Youth, and defigned for the Ufe of Schools and private Families. By Jedidiah Morfe, D. D. embellished with Maps. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Stockdale. 1796.

A very plain, fyftematic, and ufeful publication, which we recom mend without referve to thofe for whofe immediate fervice it is intended.

FOREIGN CATALOGUE.

GERMANY.

ART. 27. Ernie Hinficht auf fein Vaterland, Sc.-A ferious Vero caft upon his Country at the approach of Peace. By a true German. Published by E. A. W. Zimmerman, Aulic Counfeliar and Profeffor at Brunfwie Leipfig. 1795. 8vo. 248 pp.

The first part of this tract confifts of a general retrofpe&t of the comparative ftate of France and Germany, previous to the late revolution, and of the circumftances that have paved the way to that tremendous convulfion, and occafioned the fatal torpor with which the neigh bouring nations have beheld its formidable itrides, when a timely in terpofition might ftill have checked its deftructive progrefs. The French had arrived at the higheft pitch of refined cultivation; and other nations, efpecially the German, looking up to them for all ornamental improvements, were in a manner dazzled by the glare of their brilliant attainments. Their government too, under the benign influence of the unhappy monarch, whofe love and patriotifin they have repaid with a public execution, had been effentially meliorated; and the various fpontaneous acts by which he had effectually alleviated many of the oppreffive burthens of his fubjects, are here placed in a collective point of view, which, fhould that deluded people ever recover the feelings of humanity, they will not be able, without horror, to compare with the treatment he experienced. The exaggerated notions of the perfectibility of human nature, however, which now heated the minds of fpeculative men, made them look upon all these advantages as far fhort of the degree of latitude of which mankind' is fufceptible. "The progrefs of improvement will not ceafe," faid' Dr. Price," till it has excluded from earth not only vice and war, but even death itself." Hence the fermentation that fuddenly burftinto an unruliness, which broke afunder all the ties of fociety, and threatens to degrade the human race to the lowest point of depreffion. The apathy of the German nation was, no doubt, in fome measure countenanced by various imperfections in their feveral governments, efpecially in those which were ecclefiaftical; many of which unfor

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BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VIU. JULY, 1796.

tunately