ters, written by the author to feveral perfons diftinguished by their rank in life, or their perfonal merit. They only contain fome very pertinent though curfory remarks of a traveller, who though judicious, feems to have had neither time nor inclination to be very minute in his observations. This the author has the modefty to acknowledge, and wishes the reader who, on the name and well-earned reputation of the author, might have expected a more full and particular account of that province, to confider that he chiefly has at tached himself to give the natural and topographical history of a country which he has croffed, not vifited. This part of our author's travels can hardly be analysed with that brevity which the narrow limits of our Review will require: but we think that our readers will be glad to fee here the remarks of our author on the Morlacks. His letter on this fubject is written with great care, and he seems to have taken fome pains in order to clear thofe people from the many charges brought against them, and only fupported by prejudice. During the laft war againft the Turks, the Morlacks inay from their more civilized neighbours, have learnt and been taught to practise robberies, and commit murder with impunity: nay they may be charged fince the peace, with having given a few inftances of cruelty, and of a ferocious nature.

"But, fays the author, find me thofe who returned guiltless from thofe wars? For my part, I am compelled by gratitude to write an apology for a nation where I have been treated with the greatest tendernefs and humanity."

Among the various etymologies given of the word Morlack, the author adopts that which derives it from Moreulagh; this word denoting in the country language, the conquerors come from the fea, called More, in all the dialects of the Sclavonian language. No people are fo diffimilar to themfelves as the various tribes of Morlacks. The fame people who are haughty, overbearing, cruel, and foolhardy at Vergoraz, are humane, tractable and civil at Kotar; the fame difference is obfervable in their features. The inhabitants of the maritime towns, who are the real defcendents of the Roman colonies, fhew no good will towards the Morlacks, and these in their turn treat the former with the most fupercilious contempt. A Morlack will bow to a town-gentleman, or to a counsellor whofe affiftance he ftands in need of, but he hates and defpifes both equally.

The Morlacks of the mountains commit their depreda dations on the Turks, and upon an emergency make no difficulty to put the Chriftians under heavy contributions.

3

What

What renders the travelling through thofe countries the most dangerous, is the great number of Hayducks, whe retire to the mountains and caverns in the neighbourhood, and the only fafety for the traveller is to proceed in company with one of thefe honeft highwaymen who are incapable of treachery. Thefe Hayducks lead a life not unfimilar to that of wolves. They wander through precipices, they climb up the fteepest rocks to come at their prey, and fometimes languifh and ftarve in the hollows of the mountains. Hunger will drive them fometimes from their lurking places, and force them to come near the thepherds' huts. The The courage of thefe men is proportionable to their wants and their hard living. Four Hayducks will dare to attack and often put to flight a caravan of fifteen or twenty Turks.

Thofe of the Morlacks who live at fome distance from the fea and the garrifon towns, are in their manners very different from the inhabitants of other countries, being all to a iman gentle, fincere and hofpitable. Amongst them friendship is no lefs facred than their hatred implacable, They look on revenge as a duty, and the word which they have to exprefs it is fynonimous to fanctification. The Morlacks are the only modern nation where friendship is an object of worship, and conftitutes a part of religion. It is at the foot of the altar that they tie that facred bond. There is in the Sclavonian Liturgy a form of prayer made ufe of to give a folemn bleffing, before all the congregation, to two friends of either Tex. Thus folemnly united, they take a name which answers to the word half-brother; they look upon it then as a duty to affift each other on all occafions and emergencies, as alfo to efpouse and revenge each other's quar xels. Nay they will carry their enthufiafm fo far as to pledge and facrifice, their lives for one another; and in ftances of this kind of felf-denial are not unfrequent. If two fworn friends fhould chance to fall out, it is confidered by the whole neighbourhood as a moft fcandalous and unpar donable breach of truth and honour. What an amazing contrast between those barbarians and our very civilized friends?

The Abbé Fortis quotes many inftances of their fuperftitious credulity; he has alfo minutely described their domeftic manners, dreffes, that, of their women, their matrimonial rites, &c. the whole is a mixture of eaftern fimplicity, and the ignorance of modern half-taught favages. He has alfo curiously traced out the monuments of Illyrian poetry, but could not go higher up than the 14th century.

Practical Obfervations on the Treatment of Confumptions. By Samuel Foart Simmons, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Phyficians, London, and F. R. S. 8vo. 2s. Murray.

A diforder fo fatal requires the ferious confideration of every practitioner. It has baffled the skill of the ableft phyficians, and continues to triumph over the healing art. The author of this work informs us, in his preface, that he does not profefs to give a fyftematic treatife on the fubject, but has confined himself to a few general obfervations on the remedies that have hitherto been the most commonly employed in confumptive cafes; together with fuch other remarks as have occurred to him in the courfe of his practice. He dwells chiefly on the treatment of the disease from tubercles, it being well known, that when the complaint has made a certain, progrefs, whether from hemoptyfis or tubercles (the two principal fources to which he afcribes the genuine phthifis) fo as to produce hectic fever, and an expectoration of purulent matter from the lungs, the indications, however they might differ at firft, become pretty generally the fame.

Among the figns that indicate a difpofition to phthifis, our author enumerates found teeth, which, as the difeafe advances, ufually become of a milky white colour, and more or lefs tranfparent.

"This circumftance," fays the Doctor," was fift communi cated to me by the learned profeffor Camper, when I vifited him in West Friefland. He fuppofes it to attend ever fpecies of confumptions; but repeated and a tentive observations have induced me to be of opinion, that it is the diftinguishing characteristic of a genuine phthifis, or of a pre-difpofition to it. Of those who are car. ried off by this diféafe, the greater number will be found never to have had a carious tooth. This phænomenon may ferve to put us upon our guard, but ought not to make us defpair of fuccefs. I have lately feen a young gentleman recover, who had this tranfparency in a high degree, together with other fymptoms of incipient phthifis."

After giving a concife hiftory of the fymptoms and progrefs of the difeafe, in the confirmed ftage of which hẹ diftinguithes two periods, the inflammatory and the fuppurative, Dr. Simmons proceeds to notice the indications of cure. He obferves, however, that although he has named one period of the difeafe the inflammatory, and another the fuppurative, yet we are not to fuppofe the latter is exempt from inflammation.

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While matter is poured into the bronchiæ, or absorbed and carried into the fyftem from one part of the lungs, other parts are in a crude ftate of inflammation or advancing towards fuppuration;

K

tion; fo that on examining the lungs of perfons who die confumptive, we find fome tubercles that are small and just formed, fome that are large and full of matter, and others that are in a fiate of ulceration. This eafily accounts for the occafional combination of inflammatory fymptoms with thofe of the putrid hectic."

Treating of the indications of cure, Dr. Simmons obferves, that

To prevent the formation of fresh tubercles; to obviate the inflammation of thofe already formed; to promote their refolution; to allay morbid irritability, the cough and other troublefome fymptoms; and above all to check the tendency to hectic; are the views that every rational phyfician propofes to himself in the treatment of the genuine confumption. But how are these views to be accomplished? We know of no medicines that can exert their fpecific effects upon the lungs by diffolving tuberculous concretions, nor is it probable, from what we know of the animal economy, that any fuch will ever be difcovered. We are not however on this account to defpair of fuccefs. Medicines that operate in a general manner upon the fyftem may, by promoting abforption and dimibihing the determination to the lungs, tend to difperfe tubercles or to prevent their formation.. There are not wanting inftances of wonderful recoveries in cafes where the evil was fuppofed to he beyond the power of phyfic; and in fome, where nature was left to herfelf; fo that a phyfician who has obferved the various and powerful refources nature has within herself, will be very cautions how he afferts, that a difeafe is incurable.

"The most formidable effects of ulcerated lungs are the abforption and confequent hectic. It feems evident, that in many cafes death is brought on by this, rather than by the lungs themfelves being rendered unfit for the purposes of refpiration. So that if we can obviate the effects of the abforption, diminish the præterial fural determination to the lungs, and fulfil the other general indications just now mentioned, we may very often enable nature to recover herself. It may be alledged indeed, that the phyfician's art has hitherto proved very unfuccefsful in thefe cafes; but may not this be owing to the remedies that are adopted being very often fuch as are inimical to the cure?

The bark is, perhaps, the most commonly employed of any, and often confided in as an ultimate refource in thefe cafes. But befides this, the elixir of vitriol, the balfams, and frequent bleedings, have each had their partizans. The ufe of blifters and illues, opiates, a milk and vegetable diet, exercife, and change of air, are pretty generally recommended by all. It will be neceflary to examine each of thefe feparately. Ifhall begin with the bark, of which I have already had occafion to notice the bad effects, when given at the beginning of the difeafe; and I am perfuaded, that whoever will review his practice in thefe melancholy complaints, and confider the cafes in which it was given, will be convinced, that it is not lefs prejudicial in the more advanced stages

of

of the difeafe. Default long ago obferved, that the bark had been productive of great mitchief in confumptive cafes; and the celebrated Dr. Fothergill, in a valuable paper lately published by him on this subject, very judiciously remarks, that the bark is fo far from curing the hectic arifing from diftempered lungs, that according to the best of his obferva ions, it not only takes up that time, which might probably have been better employed in the ufe of other medicines, but for the moft pare aggravates the difeafe beyond remedy. Indeed I believe it will be found, by every attentive obferver, that whenever pus, or any kind of acrimony excites an hectic, by being abforbed and carried into the circulation, the bark will never fail to exafperate the complaint, especially if it is accompanied with any degree of inflammatory diathefis, unlels the matter has a free outlet from the fyftem; as in the cafe of abfcefles, for instance, in which we often find the bark produc tive of excellent effects. It is likewise well known to be useful as a tonic, to obviate the effects of a fluor albus, or any other immoderate evacuations in delicate perfons, which, by enfeebling the Lystem, very often lays the foundation of phthifis; but the mo ment we have reafon to fufpect that the lungs are ulcerated, it ought to be laid afide; and in the genuine tuberculous confump tion it is at all times inadmiffible."

Dr. Simmons's obfervations on the other remedies employ ed, are extremely interefting and judicious; but we cannot readily fubfcribe to his opinion, when he recommends the ufe of balfamic and other ftimulating fubftances in the fupurative ftage of the difeafe, because we think we have more than once had occafion to notice their bad effects in pulmo nary complaints. It is true, the author recommends them from his own experience of their good effects, and likewife upon the authority of Fuller, and other refpectable phyficians. His friend Dr. Saunders, phyfician to Guy's hofpital, has likewife favoured him with an account of the fuccefsful ufe of myrrh in hectic cafes, Dr. Saunders's remarks on this fubject are given in a long note,

This Work is concluded with an account of earth baths, which may at least be worth the trial; we shall take the lis berty of quoting the whole of what he fays on that fubject.

"Before I clofe thefe obfervations, I fhall give fome account of a remedy, concerning which I have indeed nothing to advance from my own experience, nor have Lever heard of its having been tried by any phyfician in this country; but its fimplicity, and the teftimonies in its favour, feem to give it a claim to a trial; and I fatter myself, that when the reader has confidered the information 1 have collected on the fubject, he will think as I do, that it bids fair to be of great ufe in checking the progress of the pulmo + Medic. Obferv. & Inq. vol, v. K 2 nary

* Differtation fur la Phthifie.