minians at large. We had occafion in our 22d volume. (p. 397, &c.) to declare our notions of natural religion, which the reader, who thinks it worth his while, may compare with what is here faid of the Arminian notions in general. We have every where reprobated, in the strongest terms that we could command, that pride which leads men to dream, that he or any created being can merit eternal life as a reward from his MAKER; though we may have occafionally spoken, as the bleffed Jefus himself fpake (St. Matt. v.) in a popular fenfe univerfally understood, of the reward of fuffering piety and virtue. We have uniformly reprefented the redemption of mankind by JESUS CHRIST, as, by the will of God, neceffary to our falvation; or, in other words, as the only meritorious caufe of juftification, because we are by the Apostles affured, that "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be faved;" but whether the great fcheme of redemption by the death of Chrift was fo neceflary in itself, that God could not have faved mankind without it, is an impious queftion, to which, though we have often met with it, we have never given, and hope, through divine grace, never to give a prefumptuous anfwer, which would be equally impious. As we have often infifted on the neceffity of the grace of God to aid the infirmities of human nature, under the first covenant, we fhall hardly be fufpected, we think even by this author, of having fo mean an opinion. of its importance under the fecond covenant, as he attributes. to all those whom he is pleafed to call English Arminians. Our notions of the neceffity of divine grace, under both covenants, are explicitly stated in our 21ft Volume (p. 607) and have been plentifully railed at, as we foretold they would be, by the anonymous prefbyter, whofe pretended vindication of the Church of England we were then reviewing. We know, however, that they have been the inftrument of doing fome good; and as we never heard them cenfured by any man entitled to be called an English Arminian, we trust that they are conformable to the enti ments of thofe Arminians at large; otherwife we would not have recalled them to the reader's attention.

We have now only to requeft all who pay any regard to our judgment, not to fuffer themfelves to be prejudiced against the work at prefent under our review, by this manifeft partiality of its author to the English Calvinifts in preference to the English Arminians. He has completely proved, if not the Anti-Calvinifm, certainly the Non-Calvinifm (if we may ufe fuch a word) of the Church of Eng

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land;

land; and his partiality ought to ftrengthen the force of his argument. In our opinion, Primitive Truth, &c. is a book highly valuable, and as fuch we earneftly recommend it to every young Clergyman, to be placed in his library by the fide of Laurence's Bampton Lectures.

ART. VI. Practical Obfervations on the Principal Difcafes of the Eyes; Illuftrated with Cafes. Tranflated from the Italian of Antonio Scarpa, Professor of Anatomy and Practical Surgery in the Univerfity of Pavia, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Berlin, of the Royal Society of London, of the Jofephine Medico-chirurgieal Society of Vienna, and of the Medical Society of Edinburgh, &c. &c. With Notes, by James Briggs, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Londen, and Affiftant-Surgeon of the Public Difpenfary. 8vo. 570 p. 10s. 6d. Cadell and Davies.

IT.

1806.

IT is fome confolation to find, that whatever fuccefs our ambitious enemy may obtain in obftructing our commercial intercourfe with the continent; yet nothing can hinder the free barter of literature. Difcoveries in arts and fciences, works of fancy, and all the manufactures of the mind, will be mutually conveyed from nation to nation, in fpite of Cuftom-houfe prohibitions, or the rage of a most powerful tyrant.

We have lately had imported an Italian work of very confiderable value. Profeflor Scarpa has been long known to us by his curious researches into the anatomical structure of the organ of hearing; and we have read this treatife on the diseases of the eyes with much gratification. It not only contains many new pathological obfervations, but the author deduces from them methods of treating the diftempers, which are unknown in this country.

He begins with The Puriform Difcharge of the Palpebra, and the Fiftula Lachrymalis.

The profeffor entertains a very different notion of the difeafe named Fiftula Lachrymalis from other modern furgeons, all of whom are of opinion that it originates in an obftruction of the nafal portion of the lachrymal duct. Whereas the profeffor endeavours to prove, that it proceeds from a morbid flate of the internal membrane of the palpebræ, particularly of the lower eye-lid, and of the febacious glands of Meibomius. He thinks, that the vifcid, or purulent

fluid, which in the early ftage of the fiftula lachrymalis is found mixed with tears in the lachrymal fac, was not wholly fecreted there :

"But is for the moft part tranfmitted to it from the eye-lids by the puncta lachrymalia, from which it regurgitates, and confequently appears again upon the eye and eye-lids whenever the fac, which is gradually filled with this humour, happens to be pressed upon."

Inftead, therefore, of attempting to remove an obstruction in the lachrymal duct, which he thinks imaginary, he applies his whole efforts to cure the morbid ftate of the palpebræ and febacious glands: and he affirms, that as foon as he has ftopt the vifcid fecretion of those parts, the disease vanishes.

The remedies recommended are " ftimulating and aftringent medicaments applied to the margin and internal membrane of the palpebræ, and deterfive injections thrown into the puncta lachrymalia." The injections are used in order to wash out the vifcid febacious matter; and the ftimulating ointment which he chiefly employs is compofed of prepared tutty, Armenian bole, and calx hydrargyri alba, mixed with hogs-lard. He varies the ftrength according to circumftances. All the accidents which are likely to occur in the progrefs of the treatment are minutely related, and appropriate remedies correfponding to the theory directed.

It is afferted, that by this plan the flighter cafes in the early stage are cured in fix weeks. But where there is a fcrofulous taint, he always puts a feton in the neck, and the cure requires a little longer time.

When the disease has been neglected, and the lachrymal duct has become elevated, diftended, and diftempered, he calls this change the fecond ftage of the malady. Although it is alfo requifite here to ftop the vifcid fecretion of the palpebræ, this alone is not enough to effect a cure, on account of the atony or flaccidity of the lachrymal fac. We confefs that the profeffor's reafoning on this point is less fatisfactory than on most others. His words are,

"Whenever the lachrymal fac remains confiderably dilated, fo that the tears are retarded in it, the further diftention and dilatation of it, and confequently the perpetual weeping of the eye are inconveniences abfolutely inevitable. It is evident, that to avoid this difcharge of tears, it is not only neceffary that the nafal canal fhould be fufficiently open into the cavity of the noftrils, but also that there fhould be a certain proportion between the caliber of this canal, and the capacity of the lachrymal

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lachrymal fac: otherwise if the latter exceeds its ufual dimensions, the tears poured into it by the punéta lachrymalia, as all fluids propelled through narrow tubes into large ones lofe much of the motion originally communicated to them, are retarded, accumulate in the preternaturally dilated fac, and confequently flow back upon the eye; nor is the weight of the tears alone fufficient to make them defcend through the nafal canal, and difcharge themselves into the nose, in the fame quantity in which they are abforbed and poured by the puncta lachrymalia into the fac." P. 17.

It is evident that the profeffor is here labouring to invent causes for the accumulation of the tears in the lachrymal fac confiftent with his original theory. He feems refolved not to believe in an obftruction of the nafal duct, though in the operation which follows, bougies and tents are recommended to dilate the duct. But if it were admitted that the weight of the tears was not alone fufficient to make them defcend; yet furely when we add the firm preffure of a finger, and find that inadequate to force the tears into the nofe, we must be quite fure that the nafal duct is obftructed.

This which we conceive to be an error in theory, in no degree influences his practice; for he employs as powerful means to open and keep open the duct, as thofe do who are perfuaded that it was obstructed from the first.

The operation for curing this fecond stage is fimilar to what is commonly recommended: but he treats the opening into the lachrymal fac in a different manner. He thinks it

effential to the fuccefs of the operation to make the fac contract to a small dimenfion: as he imagines that, unless this is done, the tears will lodge in the cavity, dilate it as before, and reproduce the disease. To effect this contraction he fills the fac with lint dipt in a mixture of mucilage of gum Arabic and red precipitate. There are feveral other peculiarities of practice, for which we must refer to the work. The reafons are always forcible, the fuccefs is faid to be uncommon, yet we acknowledge ourfelves far from being convinced that many of his alterations are improvements,

In nebule of the cornea he affirms that there is always a knotty fafciculus of varicofe veins on the sclerotica. And he attributes the formation of the fpecks or nebula to the blood being retarded in thefe enlarged veins. In very flight cafes the fpecks difappear from the ufe of aftringent applications: but where the complaint is of fome ftanding he advifes as an effectual remedy, to take hold of the fafciculus with a small pan of forceps, and cut out a little fold with a pair of curved fciffars.

He

He agrees with Mr. Hey, of Leeds, in preferring the depreffing of the cataract to extracting it. In performing the operation he uses a remarkably fine needle a little curved near the point; and he describes minutely and perfpicuously every accident that may occur, with the measures to be adopted.

This is too valuable a work for the profeffion to be fatisfied with any partial extracts: we recommend it as highly deferving the attention of furgeons. It contains twenty chapters, each on a different disorder of the eyes.

The tranflation is faithfully executed.

ART. VII. Great and Good Deeds of Danes, Norwegians, and Holfteinians. Collected by Ove Malling, Counsellor of Conferences, &c. &c. &c. to His Majesty the King of Denmark and Norway. And tranflated into English by the Author of a Tour in Zealand, with an Hiftorical Sketch of the Battle of Copenhagen. 4to. 340 pp. 11. 1s. C. and R. Baldwin. 1807.

UNDER

INDER the articles of Piety, Humanity, Patriotifm, Loyalty, Valour, Generofity, &c, the author has compiled a number of interefting and entertaining anecdotes of his countrymen. The execution is in the manner of our Wanley's Hiftory of the Little World, and the authority for the fact is faithfully added at the end of each narrative. The following fpecimens will fhow the nature and merit of

the work.

"PRESENCE OF MIND, AND STRATAGEM.

"A body of troops having mutinied in the presence of Chriftian the Fourth; the king, fuppofing them to be the tools. of a fuperior power, appeared to look upon the whole as a joke, or at most, as an inftance of precipitation, not deferving his ferious attention. He therefore ordered feveral cafks of beer' to be diftributed among the men to drink his health. This pretended mildnefs in the king, or perhaps the beer, appeafed the mutineers; who laid down their arms, and feated themselves round their unexpected cheer. But they had fcarcely done fo, when they were furrounded by horfemen, who, with drawn fwords pro nounced their inftant death, unless they would name their ringleaders. Thus terrified, they did not hesitate to mention three; the principal of whom was hanged in their prefence, and the other two feverely admonished refpecting their future conduct. [Holb. Hiftory of Denmark, Vol. II.]