the system of Werner was misunderstood and misinterpreted by some of the most eminent French chemists. It is now time to acquaint our readers, that this essayist begins with a comprehensive account of mould, or vegetable soil; then passes to the consideration of the calcareous and siliceous earths; to water, considered as a combustible, and even as brittle, when not fused by heat; and next to argil and sand, as having their origin in the decomposition of granitic mountains. Lava, basalt, and other volcanic productions, bring up the rear. M. ROZIN seldom loses sight of the geographical applications announced in his title page. It is to be wished that he had noted, with the same scrupulous attention, the writers who treat at large of the respective parts of his subject; and that he had more frequently alluded to the connection of the latter with the arts and the accommodations of life. In other respects, the information which he communicates is, generally, correct and important. At page 3, however, we were rather startled with something like an insinuation that vital progression may be traced in the formation, growth, and decay of mineral bodies. From the author's account of Phrenite, we are led to infer that he has received no intimation of its existence in different parts of North Britain.-He is very unwilling to rank the Diamond among combustible bodies: but, after the experiments of Rouelle, Darcet, &c., it is vain to allege that we may resolve the supposed combustion into mere evaporation; for the burning ceases in vacuo.-Ambergrease is too slightly noticed as amber which has undergone some change; and we do not meet with the most distant allusion to the circumstances stated by Swediaur and other respectable naturalists, which almost prove it to be of animal origin, and, most probably, a morbid production of the spermaceti whale.-The conjectures, (p. 263.) relative to the state of the metals in the different planets, must proceed on the supposition that Mercury and Saturn are constructed like our globe, and that the degrees of temperature which they experience are regulated by their respective distances from the sun: but no missionaries have descended from these orbs, to inform us of such particulars. The following notices of a recently discovered metal may, perhaps, gratify the curiosity of our readers: • Tantalium is a new metallic substance, discovered by M. A.G. Ekeberg, of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Its surface presents a slight metallic lustre, but its fracture, a dull blackish hue. It weighs 6 times its bulk of water. It melts at the blow-pipe, with the addition of borate of soda, and imparts no particular tinge to the flux. It is insoluble in all the acids. Submitted, with caustic fixed alkali, to the action of heat, and then lixiviated, it partly dissolves in water, water, and may be precipitated from the solution by means of an acid. Filtrated and dried, it assumes the form of a white powder, which is the oxide of Tantalium; and which, exposed to a strong heat in a crucible, without any addition but pounded charcoal, is again converted into a metallic button; or, in other words, into the regulus of Tantalium. The above is all that we yet know of this metal. M. Ekeberg has extracted it from an ore which he calls Tantalite; because composed of this metal and a mixture of iron and manganese, scattered in the form of irregular octaedral garnets, of the size of a hazel-nut, in a matrix of milky fint (silice laiteuse), with micaceous spangles, in a mountain of the parish of Kimito, in Finland. It has been found in another place, combined with Tiria, or Gadoline; in which state, M. E. designs it Ytrio-Tantalium.' M. ROZIN might have added that Ytrio-tantalite was long since known, and regarded by the German mineralogists as a crystallized ore of tin. Its characters are particularly noted in No. 70. of the Journal des Mines.. ART. XV. La Medicine Clinique rend plus precise, &c. ; i. e. Clinical Medicine rendered more precise and accurate by the Application of Analysis; or, A Collection of Observations on acute Diseases, with their Results, made at the Salpetriere. By Ph. PINEL, Chief Physician of that Hospital, and Professor in the School of Medicine at Paris. 8vo. pp. 432. Paris. 1802. THE author of this publication is disposed to think that the science of medicine is capable of receiving as minute and accurate a classification as any branch of natural history; and he gives himself considerable credit for his successful exertions in bringing forwards an arrangement of diseases, founded on their more characteristic and permanent features, and confirmed by careful and numerous observations. We can ascertain,' says he,, at what particular periods the different parts of natural history, such as botany, mineralogy, insectology, &c. began to form a regular body of doctrine, and to merit justly the name of sciences:that a similar epoch has arrived in medicine, it was the object of my nosegraphy to prove; and the intention of the present work is to demonstrate this fact, by examples peculiar to myself.' After the decided opinion on the importance of his labours, which Mr. PINEL gives in this and many other parts of the present volume, we may perhaps, like another unfortunate dissentient, incur the imputation of possessing a degree of causticity and black misanthropy' (very foreign to the well-known meekness of our dispositions), if we venture to confess ourselves unable to discover all those traits of utility and excellence Muir. не in his system of nosology, of the existence which he has persuaded himself. When M. PINEL entered on the practice of his profession, it would appear, from his representations, that medicine was a perfect chaos, in which there were no guides, arrangement, nor order; and where there could exist no claim for its being considered as a liberal science. We are not, however, disposed with him to forget the labours of those great men who have preceded him in nosological investigation; and therefore we cannot forbear remarking that he might, without any material sacrifice to his own feelings, have availed himself, in the more early periods of his practice, of the classification of a Sauvage or a Cullen for the arrangement of his ideas. We deem it unnecessary to enter fully into an examination of the propriety of this new system, and we shall only give the principal divisions of the synoptic table of acute diseases: observing on them that, in the author's endeavours to attain extraordinary accuracy and precision, he has paid too much attention to accessory and subordinate symptoms. Acute diseases he divides into two classes: Primitive Fevers and Phlegmasia. Primitive fevers comprize six orders; Angiotenic, or inflammatory Fevers; Meningogastric, or bilious; Adenomeningeal, or mucous; Adynamic, or putrid; Alaxic, or malignant; Adenonervous, or pestilential.-The phlegmasiæ are divided into five orders: they affect mucous membranes; diaphanous membranes glands, cellular membrane, and the viscera; muscles; and the skin. From these orders, the author forms his genera and species; and he employs a considerable part of the volume in the detail of cases designed to illustrate the various divisions of his system, with their numerous combinations-The Salpetrierę Hospital, the principal scene of his practice, affords very extensive and valuable opportunities for the observation of disease. It is appropriated to the reception of females alone, of whom it generally contains between 5 and 6000 of all ages. The general economy of this institution is represented as bad: but the manner in which the medical department is conducted does the author credit, and is well adapted both to his own improvement and the instruction of his pupils. The case of every patient is registered at length on admission into the Infirmary; and about thirty are made the subject of Clinical lectures. Many useful practical observations are interspersed through this volume: but the treatment, in aiming at simplicity, becomes frequently inert. Decoctions or infusions of vegetables are liberally employed: but wine, opium, and bark, are much less used than in this country. Affusion of cold water in fever seems off seems to be unknown; and in many cases of inflammatory complaints, particularly of the breast and trachea, bleeding seems to have been omitted, when the greater number of Luglish practitioners would have considered it as indicated. ART. XVI. Voyage à la Louisiane, &c.; ie. A Voyage to By B ** Paris. To introduce their works in masquerade to the public is certainly no evidence of good taste in authors, and we are sorry to observe frequent examples of a practice so deficient in correctness. The book before us contains no relation of either voyage or journey, whether or not any such was performed; and the only apology or explanation for the omission is contained in the declaration of the writer, that this work is not a compilation, but the result of notes which he took on the Continent itself; and if the extreme distrust of the Spaniards in 1795, and in the years which followed, has prevented him from completing his voyage, he has been so near to the objects [meaning, we suppose, those which he has described] that he may be said to have seen them all.'- Quod vidimus oculis, quod auribus audivimus, testamur et annunciamus vobis is the motto chosen by the author. M. B-D (whoever he may be) remarks on the insufficiency of the former accounts of Louisiana, and declares his belief that the one which he offers is as complete a history of that country as it is possible to form at present: that circumstances gave him such advantages, that it is impossible to dispute what he says, without injustice; and that his chart possesses such accuracy as to merit the most entire confidence. This chart is on a scale of not quite of an inch to a degree; and the reader will often look in vain, if he expects to find in it the places which are mentioned in the volume. In comparing it with other maps of North America, the principal difference that we observe consists in the greater extent which this map gives to the province of Louisiana: not in marking the limits, for they are not designated, but in spreading the letters which compose the name.-The author adds that nothing which is really essential has been neglected to render the work useful in every part; and this panegyric, which appears under the form and with the title of preface, concludes with a note that all those, who have interest in becoming acquainted with these distant regions, will often have occasion for his book, and that they may rest assured that nothing in its contents has been hazarded.' In the commencement of this Tableau Historique, the author has discovered, through the obscurity of the old English, Spanish, and French accounts, that no country has so much right as France over Canada and Louisiana: which claim he founds on the voyage of Jaques Cartier. As he does not acquaint us with his reasons for setting aside the rights of the native inhabitants, it ought not to create wonder that the discoveries of the English and the Portuguese to the North, and of the Spaniards in the Gulf of Mexico, should be passed unnoticed yet it would have been some satisfaction if he had explained on what system of geography the country, at present called Louisiana, is comprized within the discoveries of 1 Jaques Cartier. Having satisfied himself, however, of the equity of this title, he enters into a short dissertation on the character of the Indians (les Sauvages), and on the dispositions which they have manifested towards the Europeans. He says: When the Savages discovered that prisoners sustained no il treatment from the French, and that the utmost gentleness was prac tised towards them, they were astonished at such humanity: but what surprised them still more was, that good faith (loyauté), that frankness, that exactness in adhering to their word, which distin guish our nation. From that moment, they conceived for us the highest esteem, and the greatest friendship. All those who were in the neighbourhood of the French sought their alliance, and succeeded in obtaining it.' The turn of the English comes next: 6 This nation,' he says, civilized indeed, but which a boundless ambition often renders more barbarous than the Savages themselves, instead of entering into an amiable agreement to make a reasonable division with us, has always allowed itself to be influenced by mercantile cupidity, and has never ceased to irritate the Indians against us. What has been the result? The Savages, whom nature, in some cases, sufficiently enlightens, have perceived the ambition of the English, the shameful means which they employ, and the ferocity of their policy; and every time that a choice has been in their power, they have given the preference to the French, because in the French were discovered a thirst for glory, brave actions, and principles of generosity.' Whatever may be thought of the justice of these accusations, perhaps there might be some difficulty in proving the title of the French to all the encomiums which the author has be stowed |