body, the whole system appearing to be affected.' The fifth class is not divided into orders. These classes and orders are then subdivided into genera and species, and under each species are placed copious lists of references. The first of the nervous diseases is carus, translated apoplexy, or entrancement; it is defined to be a suspension of the powers of sense and motion, more or less perfect, with an appearance of sleep, the motion of the heart remaining uninterrupted.' Five species are enumerated, lethargus, hydroce¬ phalus, apoplexia, traumaticus, and venenatus. We transcribe the references to lethargus and hydrocephalus : • Carus lethargus. Galen loc. aff. IV. ii.; on coma, cl. 3. Cael, Aur. II. 2. c. c. 3. Willis an. brut. Pathol. c. 3-5. Bellin. morb. cap. 455. Lancis. sub. mort.100. Wepfer obs. 355. Morgagni, p. 6. de affectibus soporosis. Brady, Med. obs. inq. I. 280.; aily. Smith and others. Med. obs. inq. VI. 180.; stupor. Med. comm. Ed. VI. 418.? from Boyer; 5 days' sleep. Swieten, 1010. Stoll prael. 348. Baldinger kr. 206. Gallot, Journ. med. XLIV. Cheyne on apoplexy.' Carus bydrocephalus. Apoplexia hydrocephalica, Cull. syn. xlii. 3. Hippocr. on dis. Foes. II. 466. Bartholin. H. anat. I. 28. Mauriceau, II. 487. Tulp. I. 24, 25. Duverney, Ac. Par. 1704. 8. Petit, Ac. Par. 1718. Ruysch obs. n. 52.; thes. an. II. Stalpart, II. 14. Wepfer obs. 49... Whytt's works, 725. Ed. med. ess. II. 18. Mowat, Ed. med. ess. III. 332.; Paisley, 333. Lecat on a trocart, Phil. trans. 1751, 267. Morgagni, ep. 12. de hydrocephalo et hydrorachitide. Fothergill, Med. obs. inq. IV.40.; Watson, 78. 321. Armstr. dis. ch. Hydrocephalus interior, Sauvages, II. 496.; Asthenia ab hydrocephalo, I. 802. Gaudelius, Sandif. thes. II. Stoll rat. med. VII. D. Monro, Med. tr. Lond. II. 325. Percival, Med. comm. Ed. V. 174.; Simmons, 415.; blisters.; VI.219.; Remmett, 440. Dunc. cas. 180. Quin de hydrocephalo interno. 8. Ed. 1779; Smellie Thes. IV. 135.; Webster m. pr. III. 22.; Dunc. med. comm. VII. 69.; Mackie, 282.; Willan, 322. Odier, M. Soc. R. med. III. 195. Loftie, med. obs. inq. V. Aery, Lond. med. journ. I. 424.; Dunc. med. comm. VIII. 332.; mercury. White, Lond. med. journ. III. 402.; blisters. Eason. Dunc. med. comm. VIII. 325.; mercury. Wier, Lond. med journ. IV. 78. 393. Campbell, Dunc. Med. comm. IX. 240. Michaelis, Med. commun. I. 404.; partial paralysis. Dobson, Med. obs. inq. VI. 48.; Dr. J. Hunter, 52.; Haygarth, 58. Dunc. med. comm. X. 149.; Evans, 299.; leeches and diaphoretics; Dixon, 312.; brain become membranous; Perkins, XI. 298.; fatal after salivation, Monro on dropsy. Withering on digitalis. J. Moseley, Lond. med. journ. VI. 113.; mercury. Hooper, M. Med. soc. Lond. I. 165.; Lettsom, 169. Warren, Lond. med. journ. IX. 122.; Ford, XI. 56. Gehagan, Dunc. med. comm. XIII. 353.; after pleurisy. Bucholz, Bald. N. M. I. 481. II. 130.; Meir, IV. 1. Bald. N.M. VIII. 180. Rosenstein kinderkr. Jameson, M. Med. soc. Lond. III. 414. Percival, Med. facts. 111. Cribb, M. Med. soc. Lond. Lond. IV. 400. Haxby, Dunc. ann. 1799, 434.; after an enlargement of a vertebra. Baillie's engr. 213. A. Monro, Paterson de hydrocephalo; Dunc. ann. 1803, 364. Phrenitis hydrocephalica. Kirby tab. mat. med. If we retain the term febricula in Cullen's definition, as including the acute stage, this denomination is a very proper one. Ed. med. journ. II. 52.; diagnosis from worms. Gapper, M. Med. Soc. Lond. VI. 50.; mercury. Kuhn, Ed. med, journ. III. 13. Cheyne on hydrocephalus acutus. 8. Ed. 1808; Ed. med. journ. IV. 341. W. Cooke, Medicoch. tr. II. 17.; with disease of the liver, and premature pubescence.' In some cases, the species are subdivided into varieties, as carus apoplexia into sanguinea and serosa. From the specimen which has been given, our readers will perceive how valuable a fund of information is contained in this part of Dr. Young's work. It would require a long discussion to enter fully into the merits of the nosological arrangement which he has employed: we think that, on the whole, it deserves praise, but it is certainly very far from being that perfect system which the remarks of the author might have led us to expect. A prominent error seems to pervade the system, which arises from his having viewed the subject theoretically rather than practically. A nosologist ought to notice each particular disease, and endeavour to give an accurate definition of it which, while it clearly points out the leading features of the malady in question, sufficiently discriminates it from every other with which it is likely to be confounded; and, after hav ing formed a number of these well defined species, he should proceed to observe the analogies which they bear to each other, and group them into genera, and, lastly, into orders and classes. Dr. Young, however, has apparently followed a contrary plan. He has begun by considering to what functions the changes of the body are obnoxious, has made these supposed changes the foundation of his genera and species, and has endeavoured to fill up the divisions with such diseases as seemed the most suitable for them. Hence it will be found that his nosology has much more the appearance than the reality of being a natural arrangement; and that what it gains in the excellence of its generalizations will be lost in the difficulty of applying it to practice. We shall bring only one illustration of our remark, which we think is quite sufficient to characterize the whole system. To no part of nosology has so much attention been paid as to that of the classification of febrile diseases; and, though much difference of opinion often exists respecting the nature of particular cases or epidemics, yet, in the meaning of the terms employed, medical writers are almost generally agreed. Dr. Young has however materially altered our nomenclature, without making any addition to our knowlege of the the nature or phænomena of the diseases. In the first genas, under the order pyrexia, is cauma, the term which it employs to designate inflammatory fever; and under this order the author not only includes those diseases which are usually placed in this class, the local inflammations attended with febrile action, but also hæmorrhages, gout, and measles. In the order synochus he arranges, besides the synochus simplex and the synochus icterodes, the miliary eruption, small-pox, cow-pox, and chickenpox. Under the order of typhus-fever, we have seven species; typhus simplex, denominated common nervous fever,—putridus, or putrid fever,bilious, which we suppose is the same with the synochus icterades in the last order, — thrush, — scarlet fever, -pemphigus, and the plague. The other orders of the pyrexiæ are erysipelas,· -anetus, which is employed to denominate intermittent fever, defluxio, or catarrhal fever, and hectic. We are not unwilling to allow some ingenuity to Dr. Young's ideas, and some foundation for many of his alterations: but, on the other hand, we are very decidedly of opinion that those alterations are much too numerous and too incautiously admitted; and that, in connection with the frequent change of nomenclature, they must very much diminish the value of the compilation as a book of reference. The alteration of names appears to us as injudicious and as unnecessary as that of the classification: in some instances, we are unable to trace the origin of the term; and in many cases we think that the common one is quite as proper, or even preferable. A very important part of the volume is the section treating on Pharmacology. The arrangement adopted on this subject is peculiar to the author, and is intitled to the same kind of qualified commendation which we bestowed on the former sections; it is often ingenious, but frequently also inapplicable to practice. The articles of the materia medica are placed in 30 classes under the following names, and to each set is subjoined (as usual) a valuable list of references: caustics, antiseptics, antidotes, demulcents, diluents, nutrients, expergefacients, excitants, calefacients, sudorifics, errhines, sialagogues, expectorants, stomachics, emetics, cathartics, carminatives, diuretics, emmenagogues, epispastics, suppuratories, sorbefacients, astringents, tonics, narcotics, sedatives, nauseants, diaphoretics, exhaurients, and specifics. We must now take our leave of this publication; respecting which we shall only repeat that, though it has considerable defects and is liable to many objections, it possesses great excellences, and will obtain permanent repute. ART. ART. XI. The Corsair, a Tale. By Lord Byron. 8vo. 5s. 6d. sewed. Murray., 1814. E W closed our Review of "The Bride of Abydos" (in our last Number) with expressing a wish that we might soon have occasion to meet Lord Byron again: but we scarcely expected that the pleasure for which we hoped was even then prepared for us. His Lordship's works, however, have lately followed each other so rapidly that, if the subjects which he has chosen for his muse did not derive their lustre rather from the corruscation of genius than from the lamp of thought, we fear that much responsibility would attach to him on the score of precipitancy. As it is, we think that such a charge is not wholly groundless, and that evidence in support of it might be adduced from the plot and the composition of the tale before us. Indeed, a similar conviction in the noble author's own mind may perhaps be inferred from the declaration, made in the dedication of the present poem, that this is the last production with. which he shall trespass on public patience for some years.' The Corsair *, however, is possessed of great merit; and in this respect it must rank far before any other effort of the author's pen, that it contains one whole character drawn with uncommon force and discrimination. Conrad is stained with all sorts of crimes; he is (as we are to presume) an outlaw from society; he is a pirate, and a murderer: but, with all this, he loves with truth and feeling; and the manner in which this passion is blended with the others that may be supposed to inhabit the mind of such a being, and in which its influence on his actions are displayed, shows not only an intimate acquaintance with the human heart, but great judgment and power of effect. The predominance of revenge in the mind of a woman has been often displayed: but the poet has seldom, if ever, ventured to carry his portraiture of it beyond the point at which the passion attains its gratification. Lord Byron, however, has now attempted to describe, in the character of Gulnare, the return to that natural softness which must ever form a prevailing feature in the female character: though we suspect that his Lordship felt the difficulty of the task, since he has abandoned it almost as soon as it was undertaken. The other personages display no novelty, The *We have heard a charge of misnomer again in this case. term corsair has been so constantly applied to the cruizers of the Barbary-states, that it has been supposed to belong to them only: but, in fact, the word is entirely synonimous with pirate. It comes to us and to the French from the Italians, who use "Corsare" or Corsale," indifferently; and in that language "corseggiare" signi fies generally to pirate. and and afford little interest: two characters, however, are enough for three cantos. We congratulate Lord Byron on his return to the standard heroic measure, if we may use that expression, of our language; convinced as we have always been that (in spite of the charges of monotony so often made, and so often refuted,) it is better calculated for all the various purposes of a poem of narration than any other metre; and conceiving that a melometric poem has no more warrant in taste than authority in criticism. We wish that he had also abstained from the modern practice of numbering the paragraphs; which, while it answers no good end that might not equally be obtained by the old fashioned and ordinary mode of dividing them, tends to break and embarrass the sense, on a first perusal. The opening of the poem depicts, in a lively and spirited manner, the life and feelings of the pirate: "O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, Save that it seems even duller than repose: ? When lost what recks it by disease or strife? Heave his thick breath; and shake his palsied head; *This expression is scarcely allowable, • When Ocean shrouds and sepulchrès our dead;" see the sixth line in sequence. Rev. |