thority, and from what has fallen under my own obfervation, during my attendance at hofpitals; we cannot affert, with truth, that more than one out of eleven die in confequence of being cut for the ftone.

• Were we or could we diveft the operation of fome of its accidental disadvantages, and be careful enough to guard against fome. of the caufes I have before mentioned, candour might allow us to bring the number to one in fourteen; a degree of danger which attends few capital operations in fo fmall a proportion.

As the method of attempting to diffolve the stone in the bladder by means of injections has, for feveral obvious reasons, fallen into general difufe, I have fpoken but little of them in particular, because many of the reafons urged against other modes of treatment were equally cogent against this.

Should a folvent be hereafter offered to the world, it will be neceffary, towards forming a proper judgment of its efficacy, to examine all who take it after death; the effects of the medicine on the prima vie and general health of the patient, fhould be ftrictly attended to; and the number on whom the trial is made should be confiderable.

Should future ages poffefs a folvent efficacious, but not deftruc`tive to the fyftem, lithotomy may perhaps be fuperfeded; until then, reafon and experience point it out as the beft and only refource.

And it seems very clear that the fame which the most reputed folvents have acquired has been built on errors in judgment, or interested views. For the human calculus feems to be a fubftance that can be acted upon only by fuch preparations, the introduction of which into the body, in any neceffary degree of ftrength, is inconfiftent with the delicacy of the parts they muft pafs through, hurtful to the general health of the patient, and peculiarly injurious to the functions of the parts affected and their appendages.

I shall conclude with advifing thofe who have prudent refolution enough to undergo the operation, to do it in time, before the irritation of the difeafe itself, or the deleterious ufe of folvents, have impaired their general health; for, in a morbid state of the blood and juices, no wound can heal kindly; and the operation, however safe and fkilfully performed, by fuch means may be rendered hazardous, and frequently fatal.'

We cannot take our leave of this little performance without again acknowledging the good intentions of the writer, and recommending the perufal of it to medical practitioners and calculous fufferers.

ART.

ART. VIII. A View of the prefent State of Derbyshire; with an Account of its most remarkable Antiquities. Illuftrated by an accurate Map and Plates. By James Pilkington. 8vo. 2 vols. 13s. boards. Derby, printed: Drewry, Derby; Deighton, London. 1789.

SEVERAL counties of England have already afforded subject to the writers of topography; and Derbyshire, doubtlefs has fome claim to the diligent attention of fuch inquirers. This county lies nearly in the middle of England. According to Burdett's furvey, its greatest length from north to fouth is about fifty-five, and its greatest breadth from eaft to weft about thirty-three miles. The face of the country exhibits fo irregular an appearance that the fouthern and northern parts of it are a ftriking contraft to each other. The former is not particularly remarkable for its hills and valleys; but the latter is diftinguished in an eminent degree by a long and continued fucceffion of both. In this part of the kingdom the country begins gently to rife into hills, which, in their progrefs to the north, Iwell gradually into mountains. They firit divide Lancashire from Yorkshire; after which, entering Weftmoreland, they fpread over the whole face of that county, and a part of Cumberland. Then contracting into a ridge or chain, they form the limits betwixt Cumberland and Northumberland; whence, continuing their direction northward, they at laft enter Scotland.

The northern part of Derbyshire, which is fo much diftinguished by the number, height, and extent of its hills and mountains, is no lefs remarkable for the great depth and width of its valleys, and the beauty and variety of its dales. The width and depth of the valleys are generally in proportion to the height of the ridges and mountains by which they are bounded. The broadeft and deepeft, therefore, are found in the High Peak, where their width, however, it is computed, never exceeds two miles, and their depth a thoufand feet. Upon looking into the broad deep valleys of the High Peak, fays our author, the mind is filled with grand and fublime ideas: but diversified beauty is the prevailing characteristic of the narrow dales of the Low Peak; and perhaps there is no country which can boast of finer fcenes of the latter kind than Derbyshire. Though we cannot follow our author in his particular account of the country, we shall give the following fhort extract as a fpecimen of his defcription, which in general we think is drawn with accuracy:

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The valley in the High Peak which has appeared to me most ftriking is that in which the town of Caftleton ftands. The firft

view you get into it, when you enter it from the fouth, is the best, more especially at a point where the road makes a fudden and abrupt turning along the edge of a high and fteep precipice down into the town of Castleton. The valley, which is at leaft 800 feet deep, and in many parts nearly two miles wide, extends directly eastward to the distance of five or fix miles. A number of leffer dales from the north and fouth are seen at various distances to open into it. The fteep fides of the valley are alfo rendered very beautiful by a series of well-cultivated enclosures, which rise one above another to its very edge. The village of Hope with its fpire church, which ftands at the diftance of two miles to the eat down the valley, has a very agreeable effect. Directing your eye along the edge of the north fide of the valley, you fee the country boldly fwelling into hills, and at length terminating in two high points at a confiderable distance from each other.

When you defcend from this elevated fituation a fresh set of objects prefent themselves, no lefs ftriking and picturesque. At the bottom you obferve the town of Caftleton. On a very high and steep eminence to the fouth of it, the ruins of an ancient castle now and then catch your eye. And directly beyond the town the celebrated Mam-Tor raifes his lofty head, and with an awful majesty seems to overlook all this fcene of beauty and grandeur.

This valley does not extend weftward beyond the town of Castleton, but here forms a most noble and magnificent amphitheatre, its back rifing in many parts at leaft 1000 feet, and the diameter of its front measuring nearly two miles. If purfued in a contrary direction, it will however be found to be of very great length, extending to the distance of forty miles even below the town of Derby.

In the courfe of this valley the views are extremely diverfified. In fome places it becomes very narrow, and its fides are fo thickly clothed with wood, as to render it almost impaffable. It then gradually opens again, and you have a wide extended profpect before you. Every mile, nay almost every ftep, prefents fresh objects and fcenes, fome of them the most grand, beautiful, and romantic, which can be conceived.'

The atmosphere and climate of Derbyshire are no less various than the general furface of the country. In the fouthern part of it they greatly refemble thofe of neighbouring counties, which have the fame degree of elevation. But in the High Peak and the north-east extremity of the county, they are different in several refpects, particularly with regard to the quantity of rain; of which fo large a proportion fcarcely falls in any other part of England as in the diftrict laft mentioned. It appears, from a comparative view, that the quantity of rain which falls at Chatfworth every year, exceeds, nearly one-third, that which has been collected at Lyndon and London during the fame space of

time.

Another circumftance obferveable in regard to the atmosphere of the Peak of Derbyshire is, that it is fubject to very strong

winds. Brifk currents of air are often felt on thefe high grounds when the inhabitants of low and lefs irregular countries in the neighbourhood fuffer great inconvenience by the extreme closenefs of the weather.

It has been faid that no endemic, or epidemic diforders, no agues or fevers, are known to prevail in the north part of the county. But this affertion must be understood with fome degree of limitation. For, upon inquiry, our author has been frequently informed that in the deep vallies and narrow dales agues and fevers are not uncommon, though fuch as live in higher fituations are feldom troubled with thofe complaints. There is, however, one difeafe to which the inhabitants of Derbyshire are so much fubject that it has recived its name from its great prevalence in this fituation; being called the bronchocele, or Derby neck. It is a tumor arifing on the fore-part of the neck. But of this we fhall fay no more, as an account of it, with the method of cure, was published by Mr. Proffer in 1769.

Mr. Pilkington next enters upon the fubterraneous geography of the county, which he defcribes with much precifion, under the general heads of limestone, coal, and gritftone land. We mean not to accompany him through his extenfive inquiries on this fubject, but fhall present our readers with his description of the remarkable cavern at Caftleton, known by the name of Peak's Hole :

• It is fituated in a deep and narrow recefs of the valley in which the town ftands. On each fide, and near the end of this recess, two large faces of rock are feen rifing to a vaft height. On the fummit to the left, and clofe to the edge of the precipice, an ancient caftle appears as it were perched aloft in the air. And at the foot of the rock, on the oppofite fide, the mouth of the cavern opens with grandeur and magnificence. It is about fourteen yards high and forty wide. The arch at the entrance is regularly formed, and in a direct line extends nearly three hundred feet. This part is tolerable light, and inhabited by a number of poor people employed in the manufacture of packthread. They have built fmall dwellings, and follow their work in this fpacious and extended vault without experiencing the burning heats of the fummer, or the fharp colds of the winter feafon. Beyond the first turning a gentle declivity is perceived, and the path is rendered wet and dirty by the drops of water which are frequently falling from the roof. At the diftance of about an hundred and thirty yards from the mouth of the cavern, all further progrefs into it was formerly obftructed by a projection of the rock, and a deep gulf at the extremity of it. But a paffage is now opened through the rock, and a door is hung and locked to prevent any one from going beyond this place without the affiftance of a guide.

ENG, REV. VOL. XV. APRIL 1790.

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The cavern, which has been fome time gradually contracting, appears about twenty yards from hence to be entirely closed in every part. However, upon a near approach to the rock, a low paffage under it, almost full of water, is difcovered. This opening is just large enough to admit a fmall boat, but the paffenger in it is obliged to lie almoft flat down, whilft it is pushed under the rock. Upon landing he finds himself in a cavern, ftill more fpacious than the former. It is faid to be seventy yards wide and forty high; but not a ray of light can enter it, excepting that which proceeds from a fingle, which he carries with him; and the faint glimmering of this tends only to render him fenfible of the extreme darkness and horror of the place. However, by a proper difpofition of candles, a tolerably complete idea of its fhape and fize may be formed. When fufficiently illuminated, a path may be obferved on the right hand, which leads up a fteep afcent to the top of a high rock, called the chancel. Defcending from this elevated fituation, and proceeding farther in the cavern, you perceive that it becomes again much narrower and lower. But from this part to the end nothing occurs which is particularly deferving of remark.

The whole length of this fubterraneous paffage is faid to be feven hundred and fifty yards; and attempts have been made to extend it farther, from an expectation of opening a communication with another cavern. But though feveral yards of the rock have been blafted away, all efforts for this purpofe have hitherto proved unsuccessful. However, about fix years ago, at a small distance from the end of the old paffage, a new one was difcovered. Its length is about an hundred and fixty-four yards. But it is not equal in either height or width to that which has been described.'

Our author afterwards gives a particular account of the mines of lead, iron, calamine, copper, and coal, with the method of working each.

By infcriptions on feveral blocks of lead which have been found in this county, it is unquestionable that the lead-mines in Derbyshire were worked by the Romans. It appears that, from the year 1758 to 1783, the Gregory mine at Afhover alone yielded lead to the value of 105,9861. os. 3 d. and that during this period it produced, upon an average, 1511 tons annually. The quantity of iron which is annually produced in this county has likewife been of late very confiderable. At prefent it amounts to about 5600 tons. The Right Rev. Dr. Watson fays, in his Chemical Effays, that the calamine annually raised in Derbyshire amounts to about 1500 tons, though fixty years ago it did not produce 40 tons a year. At what time this efti-. mate was made is uncertain; but from the best information Mr. Pilkington could obtain, there does not appear to be more than 500 tons, at prefent, annually collected from the feveral places where calamine is found. Copper ore has yet been found only in very small quantity in Derbyshire. What coal is got in

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