bathing it beat 106 times. The health of this patient was soon fully restored. She became perfectly regular, after having for a year, reased to be so. Her pulse, however, continued preternaturally quick, never falling below 94, and sometimes rising to 116. After a lapse of some months, I for the first time found the pulse perfectly natural, though still disposed to rise from slight causes." The following equally striking, and ultimately successful experi ment, affords a convincing proof that the reduction of the pulse in the last case but one, was not the effect of some unobserved cause, but depended on the warm bathing. "A child, three years old, (says the author) had a violent seizure, attended with vomiting. The usual means were employed, and the feet frequently bathed. The fever continually increased, though even in the open air. In 36 hours, the pulse had increased to 156; and in 48 hours, it could no longer be exactly counted., I could only number it for five seconds together, in which there were always 15 or 16 strokes, that is, be tween 180 and 192 in the minute-a formidable degree of fever, announcing a highly dangerous illness. The child was at the time excessively ill and restless. According to my ideas of practice, I could oppose nothing to these threatening symptoms, but the warm bath; and I began to reproach myself for not having had recourse to it sooner. I therefore had a bath prepared in the middle of the night. I was doubtful what temperature to employ, as the child was preternaturally heated.-A very accurate thermometer, made by Ramsden, placed in the child's hand, which I then grasped with my own, rose to 100°. Hence, I fixed upon 94° for the bath. The moment the child was put in, some eructations were observed, and it seemed much quieter. In a quarter of an hour, I counted 148 puls ations in the minute. In half an hour they were 136 only. In three quarters of an hour the same. The bath was now cooled one degree. In 50 minutes, the child manifested a vehement desire to be put into bed, and so it was taken out of the water. It was wonderfully quieted by the immersion. For 24 hours, it had done nothing but moan, cry, and fret, contrary to its usual mood. On being placed in bed, it was all at once tranquil, seemed to have no unpleasant sensation, and good humouredly wishing every body good night, fell asleep, as if in sound health; had an almost natural respiration, and did not stir. The pulse did not return to its former quickness. Six hours after, it was at 148." The small-pox now appeared, and was very severe. "Whether the disorder would have been fatal, if the fever had continued to rage with equal force from twelve till ten o'clock next morning, which was the hour of the eruption, and whether earlier and more frequent bathings would have lessened the disorder, I cannot decide, though I think it probable." The tendency of many ingenious remarks in this section, which our limits do not permit us to notice, is that the tepid bath strengthens instead of relaxing according to the vulgar opinion. The temperature of the bath should not exceed 96o, nor be below 92°; the time of bathing, between breakfast and dinner. 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 consumption, 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 (Medical 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 rendering 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. (Westcountry 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, Lhave 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, Burton 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. Fer...r. TH ART. V. Literary Hours, or Sketches critical and narrative. By 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 unifor mity 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 poétical 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 Yet listless laid the verdant bank along, Of some cool stream by grateful shades o'er-arch'd, 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? A vivid 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! Ahi 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 Feelings 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 |