1 Art. 17. A Treatise on Inflammation, and other Diseases of the Liver, commonly called Bilious; including the Synochus Biliosa; Cholera Morbus; Torpor; Schirrous; Biliary Calculi; which is preceded by a short Description of the Structure of the Liver, and the different physiological Opinions respecting the Use of the Bile. Lastly, is added a monthly List of Diseases, from the 1st of June, 186, to the 30th of June, 1807, with the State of the Weather and Thermometer. By W. White, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c. Svo. 5s. Boards. Printed at Bath; and sold in London by Cadell and Davies. 1808. In his preface, Mr. White informs us that his particular object in the composition of this volume is to give an account of a disease which he thinks has not been duly noticed by other writers, and to which he assigns the name of Synochus biliosa. This, however, we can scarcely regard as a sufficient apology for the undertaking, should it be found to require an apology, because Mr. White has already published a distinct treatise on this very disease: but he seems to regard his present work. as a complete view of all the complaints to which the liver is subject; and he particularly points out the arrangement which he has formed of them, which he flatters himself will appear simple to the young practitioner, and afford him some assistance in discriminating the different morbid affections of the liver. The merits of this arrangement we shall endeavour to appreciate. Before he enters on the diseases of the liver, Mr. White gives some account of the structure of that organ itself, the secretion of the bile, its component parts, and the opinions which have been entertained respecting its uses in the animal economy. We had proceeded through a small part only of this introductory matter, when we diacovered that Mr White's method of writing consists almost entirely in making quotations from other authors, and even from such as are the best known and are in the most general circulation. He pursues this mode, indeed, without any desire of concealment, since his inverted commas fairly point out to the eye of his readers in how large a proportion of his pages he is indebted to the labours of his predecessors. Thus, on the structure of the liver, he very compendiously sets to work by quoting about half a dozen pages from Dr. Saunders's publication; and in treating on the use of this organ, he does little more than transcribe from that author, from Rush, and from others who have entered into these speculations. Mr.W's arrangement of the diseases of the liver is, however, certainly original, and we shall give it in his own words: Hepatitis, or Sthenic Inflammation. Hepatitis Chronicus. Synochus Biliosa. Cholera Morbus. Periodical Cholera. Remarks on the indiscriminate use of Purgatives. Torpor, or Paralysis. Schirrous. Biliary Calculi.' Our readers will probably be not less surprized than we were with the novelty of the 6th of these diseases; and, indeed, we are at a total loss to know to what genus in nosology we are to refer remarks on the indiscriminate use of Purgatives. The word schirrous, as used substantively, we apprehend must be considered as an error of REV. OCT. 1809. the P the press; though it is repeated in the same form, and is not mea tioned among the errata. We rather wondered at not finding jaundice in a list which purported to contain all the diseases of the liver: but the author informs us that he did not include it, because he regards it always as a symptomatic affection. The correctness of this opinion may, we think, be justly called in question: but, without entering farther into the discussion, we would ask Mr. White whether there are not many cases in which jaundice is the direct subject of medical treatment? This, we think, is a much more valid reason for including it among the diseases of the liver, than any conjecture respecting its symptomatic nature can form for omitting it. Before we leave this topic, we must notice one of the occasional causes of this disease that is pointed out; calculi in the parenchema (pared chyma) of the liver.' This is another specimen of Mr. White's origi nality. We shall not follow the author through his observations on the two kinds of hepatitis; nor in his remarks on the term inflammation, and also on the remote and proximate cause of this disease,' since we find nothing that deserves our attention, and much that is common. place and uninteresting. We therefore pass on to the Synochus biliosa': but Mr. White's account of this complaint, as we have before stated, is to be regarded as little more than a re-publication of his former work on the same subject; which, indeed, he very candidly avows. Notwithstanding that he must have had ample time for the correction of his first ideas on this point; his account of the disease still appears to us so extremely confused, that we are absolutely unable to form a distinct conception of what it is that he proposes to designate by it. According to his description, it assumes every variety of morbid action to which the human frame is liable. Sometimes it is disguised under the form of dyspepsia, and at other times under that of rheumatism; sometimes it resembles palsy; and at others it produces suppurations in the larger joints, hæmorrhages from the lungs, stomach, and intestines, or suppression of urine. Then we are told, in one place, that it is a distinct genus of fever;' we are afterward informed that it differs only in degree from cholera; and a third opinion given respecting it is that it is only a diminutive species of the bilious, or yellow fever, which occurs in hot climates.' The reader, we trust, will excuse us, if we do not consume his time in examining what the anthor says respecting the treatment of so indefinite and incomprehensible a disease. The small part of this work which professes to be original is defective in correctness of expression, and in accuracy of arrangement; exhibiting a total want of that lucid order without which observa tions, even although faithfully recorded, present only a rude heap of uninteresting facts. NOVEL S. Art. 18. Sketches of Character, or Specimens of real Life. 12mo. 3 Vols. 158. Boards. Longman and Co. This Novel contains so many heroines and so little plot, that, as a stoy, it cannot excite much interest; and we do not think that the want of the usual succession of adventures and misfortunes is compensated by the number of plebeian personages, who are introduced to enliven the work. These characters are, however, more naturally drawn than those in higher life, whose conversation is often too unpolished to be appropriate, though we fear that it is at other times but too characteristic. We were amused with Lady Aucherly's method of manœuvring with her husband, in order to atchieve her little projects; and with the description of a boarding-house dinnerparty, which is written with truth and humour: but we must object that we did not find a sufficient distinction made throughout between virtue and vice: no moral is inculcated by the disgrace of the frivolous and fashionable set who trifle their lives away in vanities; and those characters, which are intended to rise superior to them, have scarcely any distinguishing points which can mark their pre-eminence. Art. 9. Les Querelles de Famille. Par Auguste la Fontaine Traduite de l'Allemand 12mo. 3 Vols. Paris. Reprinted in London for Colburn. 18 9. Price 128. sewed. 6 We were pleased to meet with another novel from the prolific pen of Augustus la Fontaine ; an author who has the talent of interesting us in all the adventures and even in most of the little details which he introduces, and with whose hero the reader goes side by side, as a friend, to the end of the story. The present is a picture of domestic life, painted with more sober colouring than is generally adopted by the German novelists the dialogue is natural; and the naiveté of youth is well represented. These authors have, however, the same fondness for minutia which debases the works of the Flemish painter; and in les Querelles de Famille this fault is often visible. When Hermann pays a visit to his rival, he does not suffer his friend to remain ignorant as to what coat he put on, but writes thus: Que je suis enfant ! J'ai revêtu ma superbe uniforme; and when he is in despair on losing his mistress, and relates his narrow escape from falling down a precipice, he makes his regret at the preservation of his life almost ridiculous by a repetition of this exclamation, Ab! pourquoi cette intervale de deux pouces -We lament the more this burlesque descent to trifles beneath attention, because, when it does not occur, we meet with passages of real feeling and touching expression. The denouement of this tale is rather forced, and the actions of the personages are by no means consistent with their characters. That of Minette is noble, but many of her proceedings are unworthy of her. She obtains the confidence of Marie by introducing herself as another person; and she learns the engagements of her lover by reading the letters which lie open on his bureau: then she plans an heroic sacrifice of her own peace to his happiness, and effects it by telling twenty falsehoods. Such actions as these, when committed without contrition, and related without censure, furnish a dangerous and dishonourable example to the youthful teader.-A fond father is also made to persist in mar rying his child to a man whom he considers as unworthy of her; and the daughter, through a long coury ship, though she despised the lover who was chosen for her, cacha soigneusement à son père combien il lui etoit désagréable,' for no reason that we can discover, but that the novel might be terminated by a Coup de Theatre. P2 Art, Art. 20. Calia in Search of a Husband. By a Modern Antique 8vo. 2 Vols. 128. Boards. Newman and Co. 1809. 'I would not attempt (says this writer,) to pourtray a Calebs; nether my vanity, nor my own experience in la be le passion could draw such a portrait: I would rather use my pen to trace a natural character: I believe the cause of mora ily to be more faithfully served in offering a possible point for our emulation, than in any ideal perfections that fancy, however sublime, could imagine.' The whole of the novel before us is conducted on this principle. Cœlia, though displaying moral as well as personal charms of no ordinary occurrence, is not absolutely out of nature. She acts up to the principles of religion, without any of the modern cant; with a mind perfectly feminine, she is bold enough to let reason take the lead; and, in a world of levity, she sets an example which the young of her sex in the present day would do well to imitate. To ladies and gentlemen, this Modern Antique (as the lady calls herself, if a lady it be who is the author,) reads a very instructive lecture. All the fashionable absurdities of the day are neatly satirized; and the modern London-fine-world is here drawn with exactness, and exhibited, as it ought to be, not as an object of envy, but of disgust; for life in London is, indeed, roasted, not used. Yet it is the wish of all females, educated on the present plan, to shine in this atmosphere of folly, and to display their naked ness (a new term for dress) "at midnight dances and the public shew." Calia is introduced to the circles of fashion only to despise them. Morality and religion are made her rules, not the usage of society, nor the custom of the world. She distinguishes between innocent and degrading conformity, and never suffers fashion to obliterate principle. She exhibits the effects of an education truly moral and sensible, in the course of a visit to her sister, Lady Townley; appears to great advantage when contrasted with the various characters which fill the splendid drawing-rooms at the west end of the town; and shews her good sense as well in the offers which she rejects, as in the choice which she ultimately adopts. Our noblemen-coachmen, and our naked, pocketless, shoe-making ladies may not be pleased with the ridicule which is here lavished on them: but they richly deserve it ; and if our modern fashionables were not ashamed of being considered as moral, the exhibition in these pages would lead to some reformation. Celebs attempted too much by endeavouring to make our fine people as religious as nuns and friars; and perhaps the efforts of Coelia to infuse into them a little common sense may equally be thrown away. Can a luxurious capital be reformed by sermons, poems, or novels? * POETRY. Art. 21. The Cruise; a Poetical Sketch, in Eight Cantos. By Naval Officer. 8vo. PP. 47. ios. 6d. Boards. Hatchard. * Our country readers may require to be apprized, that it has lately become the ten for young ladies to be employed in making their own shoes. Dr. Dr. Kirkpatrick's Sea Piece, and Falconer's Shipwreckt, have long enjoyed established reputation. (though the former is not now perhaps so much kuown as the latter,) for the harmony of their poetry, the interest of their descriptions, and their just picture of a nautical life in a trading ship. We suspect, however, that they were not known to the author of the volume before us; though, perhaps, if they had been, he would not therefore have been induced to suppress his own composition, since its delineations relate entirely to the regime of a British ship of war, and his reflections are directed to the state of the British navy, at the present day. His design, therefore, is different; and different, we must add, are his poetical claims: but while of these we cannot speak highly, the accuracy of his representations may challenge equal commendation, and the justice and liberality of his sentiments demand a similar tribute. The preface states that this poem was composed, as a source of amusement, during the leisure which the writer derived from the painful necessity of staying on shore to recruit an exhausted constitution; and that he conceived that it might not only be amusing to the young heroes of the navy, but instructive as developing their duty on service, and animating as exhibiting the gallant deeds of others. He has therefore given a description of the routine of duty in a cruizing frigate, of the incidents which arise from the variations of weather, and of the events of warfare in chace and in combat; relating, as we understand, such transactions as he himself has witnessed, though he has disguised the names of persons, ships, &c. His notes, also, besides giving a very proper explanation of all technical terms, contain a number of suggestions and reflections that will interest the professional reader. To such readers, we recommend the whole work; and to all others, who, besides the concern which every Briton must feel in his wooden walls," is disposed to take a cruise in a frigate, without encountering the hardships of salt junk, the dangers of shipwreck, or the fatal effects of hostile bullets. In adverting to Lord Nelson's attack on Copenhagen, the writer depicts the horrors of that dreadful battle as so overwhelming, that the crew of one of our ships were for a moment daunted. The anecdote is curious, since we take it from this author as a fact, and we quote the passage, which will also exemplify his style: It was on this day's sanguinary fight, A Fifty of our's soon became a sight See Rev. Vol. ii. p. 257. + Rev. Vol. xxvii. p. 197. A Fifty-gun" ship is the smallest class of two-deckers brought into the line, although they are not properly line of battle ships.' |