have not, and to adulterate philofophy with the fpurious brood of hypothefes ?'

:

We have quoted this paffage merely to notice two defects : the one, that the author overlooks what he had before mentioned of the vibrations not being in the nerves themselves, but in the medium connected with them the other, to remind him that the organs of fense are exprefsly formed to produce the peculiar impreffion on each. The organ of hearing, for inftance, cannot be affected by the visual rays while it is lodged in a cavity in the skull. But thefe little errors do not materially affect the, work itself, which is, in general, entitled to our approbation.

An Account of the Foxglove, with Practical Remarks on William Withering, M. D. at Birmingham. 8vo. 5s. in Boards. Robinfon. WE cannot be too eager to diffeminate useful knowlege;

and fome of its Medical Ufes; Dropy, and other Difeafes. By Phyfician to the General Hofpital

and if thofe practitioners who daily lament the dif trefsful and unreftrained ravages of dropfy, fhould catch a ray of information from our account of this work, we would recommend to them not to be contented with an uncertain light, but to receive a greater illumination from the effay itself. They will find many valuable obfervations which we cannot abridge. We felected, in our fifty-feventh Volume, an extract from an ingenious work on the utility of Botanical Analogy,' which contained some remarks on digitalis. The author, from the nature of its companions in a natural clafs, conjectured that it was fedative and diuretic. We selected it, at that time, because we suspected that this judicious conjecture would be verified; and Dr. Withering's practice, with the obfervations of his correfpondents, are the strongest teftimony in its favour.

We have great reafon to fuppofe that the foxglove may be a valuable remedy. It is powerfully diuretic, in a dose which does not excite that diftreffing naufea, infeparable from the beneficial effects of fome other narcotic remedies. Our author employs the leaf, gathered when the flowers are expanding; and, after rejecting the leaf-ftalk and mid-rib of the leaves, dries and powders them. From one to three grains of this powder is a dofe for adults. If a liquid medicine be preferred, a drachm of the leaves is to be infufed in half a pint of boiling water, adding to the ftrained liquor an ounce of any fpirituous water. An ounce of this infufion is a mean dose for an adult.

The

The foxglove when given in very large and quickly-repeated dofes, occafions ficknefs. vomiting, purging, giddinefs, confufed vifion, objects appearing green or yellow; increafed fecretion of urine, with frequent motions to part with it, and fometimes inability to retain it; flow pulfe, even as flow as 35 in a minute, cold fweats, convulfions, fyncope, death.

When given in a lefs violent manner, it produces most of these effects in a lower degree; and it is curious to obferve, that the fickness, with a certain dofe of the medicine, does not take place for many hours after its exhibition has been difcontinued; that the flow of urine will often precede, fometimes accompany, frequently follow, the fickness at the distance of fome days, and not unfrequently be checked by it. The fickness thus excited, is extremely different from that occafioned by any other medicine; it is peculiarly diftreffing to the patient; it ceafes, it recurs again as violent as before; and thus it will continue to recur for three or four days, at diftant and more diftant intervals.'

But this severity is unneceffary; in the milder dofes which we have described, it acts with little pain or distress, and the patient's appetite grows better.

Let the medicine, therefore, be given in the dofes, and at the intervals mentioned above-let it be continued until it either acts on the kidneys, the ftomach, the pulfe, or the bowels; let it be stopped upon the first appearance of any one of thefe effects, and I will maintain that the patient will not suffer from its exhibition, nor the practitioner be difappointed in any reasonable expectation.

If it purges, it feldom fucceeds well,

The patients should be enjoined to drink, very freely during its operation. I mean, they thould drink whatever they prefer, and in as great quantity as their appetite for drink demands. This direction is the 'more neceffary, as they are very generally prepoffeffed with an idea of drying up a dropfy, by abftinence from liquids, and fear to add to the difeafe, by indulging their inclination to drink.'

We must add a little more, in the words of our attentive author.

It feldom fucceeds in men of great natural ftrength, of tenfe fibre, of warm fkin, of florid complexion, or in those with a tight and cordy pulfe.

• If the belly in afcites be tenfe, hard, and circumfcribed, or the limbs in anafarca folid and refifting, we have but little to hope.

On the contrary, if the pulfe be feeble or intermitting, the countenance pale, the lips vivid, the skin cold, the fwoln belly foft and fluctuating, or the anafarcous limbs readily pitting under the preffure of the finger, we may expect the diuretic effects to follow in a kindly manner,

In cafes which foil every attempt at relief, I have been aiming, for fome time paft, to make fuch a change in the conftitution of the patient, as might give a chance of fuccefs to the digitalis.

By blood-letting, by neutral falts, by chryftals of tartar, fquil's, and occafional purging, I have fucceeded, though imperfectly. Next to the ufe of the lancet, I think nothing lowers the tone of the fyftem more effectually than the fquill, and confequently it will always be proper, in fuch cafes, to use the fquill; for if that fail in its defired effect, it is one of the bek preparatives to the adoption of the digitalis.'

A paralytic affection, or a calculus, are not increased by its ufe, though a fedative and diuretic.

The work, in general, contains a defcription of the cafes in which the foxglove was used by our author, with its effects; and to thefe are added the obfervations of his correfpondents. We cannot abridge them; nor is abridgement necessary, fince we have already mentioned their refults: we must, however, add, that the feveral cafes contain many ufeful practical remarks, and afford many inftances of decifive and judicious conduct.

This volume is concluded by obfervations on anafarca, and the different fpecies of dropfy, with its feveral combinations; on afthma, epilepfy, and infanity, fo far as they depend on water effufed; on hydrocephalus and phthifis.

On hydrocephalus Dr. Withering fuggefts, that the watery effufion is probably an effect rather than the cause of difeafe. It was, we believe, a remark of the late amiable and judicious Dr. Gregory, that the apparent caufe of the disease was not in any proportion to the fymptoms; but he did not fuggeft any other foundation for it. Dr. Withering fsupposes an inHammation previous to the effufion; yet, from a full confideration of the circumftances, we think it fcarely probable. The fever is apparently remittent; a form of fever not the attendant of inflammation. The fymptoms are thofe of irritation without coma, as reftleffuefs, picking the nofe, &c. which we do not perceive, when any part of the brain is affected by inflammation. We know not that the fate of the brain has been accurately examined; but, from the fymptoms, the nature of the patients ufually affected, its being peculiar to families, we should fufpect fome conftantly irritating power; perhaps, if we may judge from the confequences, the abforb ent fyftem of the brain, which we may now, probably, speak of with confidence, is difeafed, and the glands may be enlarged. This view of the difeafe will explain the operation of repeated topical bleedings, vomits, and purges, which are

cer

certainly fometimes fuccefsful in the early ftates. We can add our teftimony to that of Dr. Withering, that the disease may occur without the ufual diagnoftics. We faw an instance where the cause was ascertained by diffection, in which none of the common symptoms were observed. It was very ⚫ difficult to purge the child;' but no paralyfis or dilatation of the pupil was observed. About two days before the death of the child the face fwelled, and appeared like that of an anafarcous leucophlegmatic person.

Dr. Withering thinks the phthifis pulmonalis is certainly infectious; the foxglove was once thought ferviceable in it; but it is now ufelefs. From this, and other circumstances, he supposes the difeafe was then more easily curable than it is at prefent.'

A print of the foxglove is prefixed. It is taken from Mr. Curtis's Flora Londinenfis, drawn with his ufual accuracy, and coloured under his infpection.

The Tafk, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper, Efq. 8vo. 45. in Boards. Johnson.

THE author informs us that a lady, fond of blank verfe, demanded a poem of that kind from the author, and gave him the Sofa for a subject. He obeyed; and having much leifure, connected another fubject with it; and pursuing the train of thought to which his fituation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length, inftead of the trifle which he at first intended, a ferious affair-a volume.'

In the name of the public we pay our acknowledgments to this lady, as the primary cause of a publication which, though not free from defects, for originality of thought, ftrength of argument, and poignancy of fatire, we fpeak in general, is fuperior to any that has lately fallen into our hands. We here meet with no affected prettiness of ftyle, no glaring epithets, which modern writers fo industriously accumulate; and revers ing Homer's exhibition of his hero in rags, convey the image of a be orggar, clothed in purple and fine linen.' This poem is divided into fix books; to the first of them, though but a fmall part has any thing allufive to it, the Sofa gives name. The author begins with tracing, in a humorous manner, the progrefs of refinement in what may be called fedentary luxury; from the joint-ftool on which

• Immortal Alfred

Sway'd the fceptre of his infant realms,'

to the invention of the accomplished fofa.' He proceeds in expreffing his wishes to live eftranged from the indulgencies it yields.

The

The fofa fuits

The gouty limh, 'tis true; but gouty limb,
Though on a fofa, may I never feel.'

This leads him to give an account of his truant rambles when a boy; and to inform us, that the rural walks which delighted him when young, ftill afford equal pleasure at a more advanced stage of life. He proceeds to defcribe an ambulatory excurfion. The reflections he makes in it naturally arife from the objects which prefent themselves to his view; and the fcenery is depictured in chafte and exact colouring. We meet with no meretricious ornaments; no fuperfluity of epithets and crouded figures, which often throw an indistinct glare over modern poetic landfcapes, inftead of reprefenting their objects in a clear and proper light. His vindication of the long colonnade of correfpondent trees against the encroach. ments of the present tafte, and wish to

• reprieve The obfolete prolixity of fhade,'

will doubtless be reprobated by the votaries of Brown, and modern improvement. We, however, queftion whether they do not impress the mind with more fublime and awful ideas, than they could effect by any other mode of arrangement. Though people may vary as to their opinion, in this respect, they will certainly concur in admiring the following animated apoftrophe. The image in the feventh line is equally new, juft, and beautiful.

Ye fallen avenues! once more I mourn
Your fate unmerited, once more rejoice
That yet a remnant of your race furvive.
How airy and how light the graceful arch,
Yet awful as the confecrated roof
Re-echoing pious anthems! while beneath
The chequer'd earth seems restless as a flood
Brufh'd by the wind. So fportive is the light

Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance,
Shadow and funfhine intermingling quick,

And darkning and enlightning, as the leaves

Play wanton, ev'ry moment, ev'ry spot.'

The author now contemplates the thresher at his work; and deduces fome pertinent remarks on the utility of exercise, and the pernicious effects of lazinefs and indulgence.

Like a coy maiden, eafe, when courted moft,

Fartheft retires-an idol, at whose shrine

Who oft'neft facrifice are favour'd least.'

The fuperiority of nature's works to the imitations of art is next pointed out, and the wearifomeness of what is com

monly