The cold-bath, Dr. Beddoes conceives to be hazardous, in persons pre-disposed to consumption.

Dressing in a room without a fire is a cause of phthisis mentioned as sometimes occurring to young ladies.

Though the cold-bath is stated to be rather injurious, we are informed that the cool-bath, from eighty to sixty-five degrees of the thermometer, may be used with great advantage, by debilitated persons who have no cough, nor any other complaint of the breast.

Cool or cold-bathing is directed for infants; and the effect of long-continued chills is represented as a cause of consump tion, more common than the action of severe cold suddenly applied.

For the symptoms which mark the approach of consumption, we must refer our readers to the work itself, and must advise them to become well acquainted with the detail.

Respecting the cure of consumption, Dr. Beddoes announces the Fox-glove as a remedy which promises to be effectual in cases hitherto deemed incurable. He produces the testimonies of Dr. Fowler and Dr. Drake to this purpose, which the public have already seen in the Contributions to Medical Knowledge, but of which work we have not yet given an account. We shall extract Dr. Beddoes's view of these interesting observations.

Gerard and Parkinson, old botanical writers, mention it as an expectorant ; and Dr. Withering has printed from Parkinson's Herbal, the manuscript note of a country surgeon, affirming its efficacy in consumption. In the Family Dictionary of Salmon, it is said, upon the faith of long experience, perfectly to cure a phthisis or ulcer of the lungs, when all other medicines have failed, and the sick are esteemed past cure."

Notwithstanding the temptation, which such an encomium held out in so calamitous a disorder, the difficulty experienced in managing the medicine, and its violent effects, occasioned it to be abandoned, at least, by the regular practitioner, till from its efficacy in stimulating the languid absorbents of the dropsical, Dr. Darwin inferred its possible use in pulmonary ulcers; and corroborated his inference by that medical miracle-a cure of confirmed consumption-evidently wrought by this plant (Mcdical Transactions, 1785, iii. 276).

The facts related by Dr. Darwin, and others published by Dr. Withering about the same period, so far overcame the apprehensions of a large portion of the faculty, as to induce them to prescribe foxglove in dropsy. As the period necessary for its exhibition in dropsy 'is but short, its violent effects appeared less intolerable. But there could be no hope of healing ulcers of the lungs in a short time; and the use of so formidable a remedy in consumption seemed either to be rejected by the common feelings of patient and physician, or else it was administered with a degree of timidity which could not fail to deprive it of its efficacy. In spitting of blood, however, and inci

pient consumption, it was occasionally ventured, and as Dr. Ferriar and, I believe, others report, with success.

In this situation the use of fox-glove in comsumption remained; and the sick were left without relief, and without hope, till Dr. Drake, and Dr. Richard Fowler, led by an enlightened view of cause and effect, seem to have discovered what had long been the universal wish, but hardly, perhaps, the expectation of any. Dr. Drake proposed to himself two objects. He hoped that the fox-glove, by promoting absorption, would prevent that hurtful change in the ulcerous discharge, which he, in common with Dr. Darwin, supposes to be produced by the contact of air. At the same time, by powerfully retarding the action of the arterial system, the secretion of matter might be diminished or suspended. He doubted, indeed, whether he should be able by the cautious and continued use of fox-glove, to render these consequences sufficiently permanent to promote a cure. He had the satisfaction, however, to find in two instances, which he has related at large, that the pulse could be lowered to forty strokes in a minute, and the depression continued till a complete and permanent cure was effected.

Dr. Fowler's attention was directed to the fox-glove, as a remedy likely to be useful in phthisis, by its almost uniform effect in render ing the action of the arteries more slow than natural, at the same time that it seems to excite the absorbents. Diseased parts of the body may be removed by depriving them of all supply of blood, and even by diminishing to a certain degree, the arterial supply, while the absorbents are left to act in full force. My friend hoped that this might be effected by the operation of fox-glove, on tubercles in the substance of the lungs and proceeding upon this idea, he has been successful in many cases of confirmed consumption, in some of which, the patients seemed not to have many days to live. (Westm country Contributions, Longman.)'

We apprehend that Dr. Beddoes is not aware of the extent to which this remedy has been administered, in different parts of the kingdom; and we shall be glad to find ourselves deceived in thinking that he expresses too sanguine a hope in the following passage In cases of pulmonary disease where the existence of tubercles was indicated by every symptom, and where they seemed ready to break out into open ulcers, I have fully verified the above observations; and I daily see many patients in pulmonary consumption advancing towards recovery with so firm a pace, that, I hope, consumption will henceforward be as regularly cured by the fox-glove, as ague by Peruvian bark.' (P. 270.)

It will perhaps appear, on fuller investigation, that, though Digitalis will cure some cases of phthisis, and relieve many which admitted no alleviation from the old practice; yet its powers are by no means adequate to the expectation held out by the author. We highly admire and applaud his philanthropic zeal; and it is from a wish to render it generally use

ful,

ful, that we desire to see its views confined within the limits of the most probable conjecture. Few theorists, indeed, have appeared more aware of the danger of indiscriminating enthusiasm, and more open to receive contradictory evidence, than Dr. Beddoes himself; and we are convinced that it is his wish and aim to establish a cure for this melancholy complaint, not to gain for himself a glowing but short-lived fame by the promulgation of a flattering but unsolid hypothesis.

ART. V. Literary Hours, or Sketches critical and narrative. By Nathan Drake, M. D. 8vo. pp. 530. 12s. Boards. Cadell

jun. and Davies. 1798.

THIS

HIS miscellaneous volume is evidently the production of an accomplished critic. Dr. Drake has perused the works, and appreciated the merits, of most of the celebrated poets of antient and modern Europe; and could he divest himself of too exclusive an admiration for the terrible and gigantic, we should seldom be induced to dissent from his conclusions. The mouldering cloyster, the gloomy cell, the awe-stricken votary of superstition, and the midnight-spectre, are the objects which his imagination delights to contemplate:

"Every joy to this is fully;

Nought so sweet as melancholy." MILTON.

The principal part of the volume (says the Doctor) consists of critical disquisition; I have endeavoured to alleviate the dryness usu. ally attendant upon such discussion, in the opinion of a numerous class of readers, not only by the beauty and merit of the quotations selected for the purpose of elucidation, but by the introduction likewise of original tales and pieces of poetry. These I have interspersed at nearly equal distances, with a view of breaking in upon that uniformity of diction and style which must necessarily be the result of long continued attention to literary subjects.'

No. 1. Observations on the Writings and Genius of Lucretius, with Specimens of a new Translation.

This essay is designed to announce the appearance of a poetical version of Lucretius, by Mr. Good of Caroline Place, London. It exhibits many specimens of the execution, and points out with just encomiums the beauties of the original. The passages selected are among the finest in the poem "De rerum naturâ," and impress us with a favorable idea of the merit of Mr. Good's version. Had it occurred to Dr. Drake, that the difficulty of translating Lucretius does not consist in the splendid but in the abstruse passages, he probably would have added a specimen of that description. We insert a single extract from the second book:

• What tho' the dome be wanting, whose proud walls
A thousand lamps irradiate, propt sublime
By frolic forms of youth, in massy gold,
Flinging their splendors o'er the midnight feast:
Tho' gold and silver blaze not o'er the board,
Nor music echo round the gaudy roof:
Yet listless laid the verdant bank along,

Of some cool stream by grateful shades o'er-arch'd,
Such pomps we need not; such still less when Spring
Leads forth her laughing train; and the warm year
Paints the green meads with roseat flowers profuse.
On down reclin'd, or wrapt in purple robe,

The thirsty fever burns with heat as fierce

As when its victim lingers in a cot.'

No. 2. On the Government of the Imagination; and on the Frenzy of Tasso and Collins,

To these poets, might not Dr. Drake have added Lucretius? Avivid imagination is the first distinction of a great poet; and the wildness of its aberrations when disordered, is probably commensurate with its native force. The mental derangement of Tasso and Collins is imputed by the Doctor to disappointment, operating on minds accustomed to wander amid ideal worlds, and seldom to contemplate realities. We do not concur with him in deeming Collins superior to Tasso in pathetic simplicity. The death of Clorinda we consider as a beautiful example. The simple exclamation of Ahi vista! Abi conoscenza! when a vulgar writer would have attempted to pourtray the despair of Tancredi, is, in our opinion, the essence of pathos.

No. 3. On the tender Melancholy which usually follows the acuter Fedlings of Sorrow.

To sustain misfortunes with fortitude is the lesson of religion, and is also the lesson of philosophy, though not of poetry, Her province is to magnify our loss; to engrave it on the heart in indelible characters; to make us in love with affliction, and revel in tears. Dr. Drake is a disciple of the Muses. He tells us of an amiable and tender sorrow productive of emotions so sweet, though melancholy, that he to whom they have been once known will not easily be persuaded to relinquish them. From our souls, we respect the feelings of the unfortunate: but the instant at which their sorrow ceases to be involuntary precludes them from our sympathy. The luxury of grief proves often as prejudicial in its consequences, as other luxuries. No. 4. Wolkmar and his Dog, a Tale: on Sonnet-Writing; four Sonnets.

This tale is pathetic, notwithstanding that the language is destitute of simplicity. We meet with such expressions as the following: a hectic flushed his cheek,' a cold shriek died

along

along the valley, the demon of the night trembled on his hill of storms,' &c. The temperature of a shriek is a recent discovery; and though Dr. Drake is much dissatisfied with Mr. McPherson's style, he seldom loses an opportunity of adopting his expressions.

A pleasing piece of criticism on Sonnet-writing, and four Sonnets, conclude this number. We insert the second Sonnet.

To the Memory of a Friend.

• What scenes of sorrow wake the soul to pain,
What floods of anguish cloud the sick'ning eye!
O sons of pity! pour the melting strain,
O sons of pity! heave the plaintive sigh!
For cold is he, the youth of graceful frame.
Whose deed of mercy spoke the feeling mind,

To whose warm breast were friendship's hallow'd flame,
The bard's mild fancy, and his fire, assign'd.

Say, gentle spirit! whither art thou fled,

To what pale region of the silent dead?

Yet why inquire? Where some sweet season blows,

Sure, Grief shall smile, and Friendship breathe her vows,

Despair grow mild, Distraction cease to rave,

And Love once more shall clasp the form he gave.'

No 5. On Inscriptive Writing.

The rules for this species of composition, and beautiful examples of their effect, together with the scenery adapted to heighten the impression, are considered by Dr. Drake in this agreeable essay.

No. 6. On Gothic Superstition.

In order to obviate the pre-disposition of modern critics to censure the introduction of supernatural Beings in works of imagination, the author remarks that genius has ever had a predilection for such imagery, and may venture, I think, to predict, that, if at any time these romantic legends be laid aside, our national poetry will degenerate into mere morality, criticism, and satire; and that the sublime, the terrible, and the fanciful in poetry, will no longer exist.' In this observation, we think, there is some truth, with some exaggeration. In works addressed chiefly to the imagination, the rare introduction of supernatural agency, for an object manifestly beyond the sphere of human operation, is doubtless admissible: but, the more frequent is the poet's recourse to such auxiliaries, the less will be their effect; and he should never forget that, in such aerial excursions, he treads on the very confines of the burlesque. Dr. Drake informs us that the vulgar Gothic is an epithet adopted to distinguish it from the regular mythology of the Edda; and this he considers as affording the most convenient machinery,

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