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the experiment by injecting the Carotid Artery, on which they founded the difcovery, effectually refuted it, by filling many fmall Veffels conveying a fenfible fluid, and freely interfperfed through every collection of Nerves; whofe Cavities,' he rationally fuppofes, a thousand times less than that of the injected Vellels.' Neither is it strange, that a fluid much too fine to become an object of human fight, should be conveyed through cavities too minute for human infpection. In fome other place, our Author, cautious, perhaps, of fuppofing a Fourth Digeftion, fays, the animal Spirits may be juftly confidered as the most perfect Operation of the Third.' He imagines alfo, that having ferved the purposes of Senfation and Motion, they may be abforbed by the Lymphatics, circulating with, and animating the refluent Blood, after it has been depauperated, as it were, by different fecretions; and thinks it probable, that they 'may even supply materials for the more eafy preparation and recollection of fresh Spirits.'-Doubtlefs thefe reafonings on these impalpable and evanefcent, fubjects, will appear very abftrufe to many; tho' their effence is clearly inferable from the moft conftant effects, as it alfo is, that they feem the immediate Inftruments of the Mind: whence fuch difficulties refer us at last to the evident yet inexplicable union of the Soul with the Body, of whom our Author obferves, that tho' in their diftinet Natures they are very different, their connection is fuch, that they are mutually affected, and give and receive impreffions from each other. But this,' he reverently concludes, is not to be explained from mechanic or any other principles; and only known by the great Author of Life and Motion.' Neither will a very extraordinary Offification, or even Lapidefcence, of the Brain in a living Animal, deftroy the notion of their exiftence and fecretion, fince such fubftances being porous, may be pervaded, (especially in a vital state) tho' in a different mode or degree, perhaps, from that thro' more yielding Ducts: to fay little of what interior indiscoverable diverfity there may poffibly be in the capital refidences of the brutal, and of the rational Soul.

The fixth chapter treats of Perfpiration, and the Diseases of the Third Digeftion and Difcharge: wherein, after noting the analogy between a defective Discharge of Urine, refulting from a defect of the Second Digeftion, and a defect of Peripiration arifing from an imperfection of the Third, he obferves, that all the internal cavities of the body are fupplied with perfpiring Arteries, as well as the furface; the exhalation of which perfpirable fluid through them, he supposes to be received into their correfpondent abforbent Veins, with

whose

whose contents, it circulates, and which it dilutes. This inte ternal Perspiration, he thinks, is greatly increafed by an obftruction of the external, whence an extraordinary difcharge by Urine may result.

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He forms many other phyfiological fuppofitions on this fubject, equally probable, and fupported by obfervations or experiments; always deducing fomé practical applications from them; and appofitely observes, in the courfe of this chapter, how exactly the fagacity of Hippocrates has expreffed the ftatic doctrine, even while he lamented the impoffibility there appeared to him, of attaining fo very useful a part of medical knowlege. And, in fact, it may be affirmed, that fome phyfical Axioms, which the moderns have deduced from, and eftablished on, their further attainments in Anatomy, and by Experiments, were in a confiderable degree forefeen by the penetrating contemplation of this exquifite, and moft worthy Phyfician. Laftly, as the errors of the two former Digeftions, which may be confidered as fubfervient to this, are thrown upon this third, he fuppofes the difficulty of curing the difeafes of it to be obvious; both from the previous ne-ceffity of ftrengthening and regulating the former, and the impediments that prevent the full efficacy of remedies from arriving at these more remote and minute paffages.

A fection on the Gout is annexed to this chapter, our Author reasonably fuppofing it to arife particularly from a defect in the laft Digeftion, and its appropriate discharge, PerSpiration. He queries, however, from a very juft penetration, whether even fuppofing the three Digeftions and Ex⚫cretions to be regular, a particular fpecies of the Gout may not arife from a fault in the nervous fluid? which circumstance he thinks may fingly exist, tho' it probably attends every other fpecies of the Gout.'

Indeed, not only the excruciating pain, in a high degree of this disease, would incline us to think it particularly nervous; but alfo the perceivable relief of the brain, and the revival or invigoration, as it were, of the Faculties by a com→ pleat Paroxylm (which had been fenfibly obfcured before its invafion) would induce a person of medical reflection, either to subscribe to our Author's Hypothefis of a vitious nervous Fluid in the Gout; or to fuppofe fome defect or obstruction in those indiscoverable canals which convey it: if he should find it too difficult to conceive an improper confiftence or elaboration of the animal Spirits, while the Digeftions, from which they must have been fecreted, were compleat and regular.

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For notwithstanding the perfecteft tenuity we can imagine in the finest animal vapour, yet, as it muft, in fome measure, partake of the materials of the mass which supplies it, it is not inconceivable, that in their circulation for forty or fifty years, through the minuteft cavities in the body, fome of thefe may be furred, as it were, from its least attenuated parts, even when they had been secreted in their ufual, tenuity. But be our diftinction here as it may, this fection itself contains fo many just ones, and fuch falutary regulations in different circumftances and modes of this difeafe, that it fhould be perufed by every fenfible Arthritic, to whom it will be generally intelligible. It feems impoffible to abstract it without injuring it, nevertheless, after we have hinted his ingenuous acknowlegement of the difficulty, or rather impoffibility, of curing a radicated Gout, and the imprudence of confiding in any boafted Specifics; which, tho' accidentally beneficial in fome cafes, muft be more frequently prejudicial,' we fhall prefent our Readers with the conclufion of it.

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It is evident, that whatever contributes to improve the Digeftions, and regulate the Discharges, and particularly infenfible Perfpiration, will give the fafeft, though a flow relief to gouty conftitutions; that where the Digestions are entirely impaired, and the Strength is reduced by frequent returns of the Gout, a Milk Diet, prudently directed, may prolong Life, and make it more eafy; that a mixed Diet of that kind, and of animal Food, may be useful in other cafes; that a merely vegetable Diet, which is with the greatest difficulty affimilated into healthy animal fluids, i therefore moft improper, and dangerous in gouty Conftitutions; and that whenever gouty materials are formed in the finest Veffels of the arterial, and nervous fyftem, a regular Paroxyfm will more effectually depurate them, than any other discharge; and that in habitual gouty Conftitutions, this painful, though falutary irritation, becomes likewife, in fome measure, neceffary, to throw off other beginning diforders, which arife from too languid a Motion in the Fluids."

Though an Atrophy feems to depend, in general, on the Difcharges being greater than the Supplies, [which connects. it with the title of this work] yet our Author feems to have been led into a confideration of it, chiefly from the imperfect and undiftinguifhing manner in which moft of the antients, and fome moderns, have treated of it. Hence he defcribes the different fpecies of it, as they may arise from more

peculiar

peculiar Faults in the Conftitutions, Digeftions, and Difcharges, beginning with the nervous Atrophy. The caufes of this, as well as of the other fpecies, are justly enumerated, their appearances well described, and their proper Regimen and Remedies fummarily directed; our Author being, prudently fparing of much formal Prefcription. We fhail close our account of this useful chapter, however, with the only one he has given at length, which is a piece of phyfical Cookery, as it has certainly been of ufe in fome low cafes, is very cheaply prepared, and may not be generally known. He calls it Beef-Broth, but it has alfo been called Beef-Tea, and is directed as follows.

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Cut a pound of the lean part of the Buttock of Beef into very thin flices, or rather fhreds, put it over a quick fire, with a fufficient quantity of Water; as it grows hot, take off the rifing Scum, and do the fame while it is boiling, which is to be continued only twenty minutes: when it is cold, decant a pint from this pound of Beef, which looks like a light infufion of fine Green-Tea, has a very grateful flavour, and is more ftrengthening than stronger Broths; a tea-cup of this may be fometimes taken with great advantage, and in moft low Conftitutions, is preferable to Broth made from dried Vipers.'

The remainder of this work, which is confiderably more than a third of the whole, confifts of two chapters and five fections, which are employed on the Structure and Ufe of the Lungs, and their Difeafes, viz. a Catarrh, an Afthma, Obftructions in the Lungs, an Hæmoptoe, an Abcefs or Ulcer of them. This must be confidered as Dr. Barry's compleat Digeftion and Improvement of his former Treatife on Pulmonary Confumptions, and has certainly great merit on that important and frequent difeafe. But as the pleasure we have received from an attentive perufal of the whole, and the fervice we judged it might be of to fome of our Readers, has led us to expatiate confiderably upon it, we think it fcafonable to vary the entertainment; after giving our hearty fuffrage to the excellence of this work, both for matter and manner; notwithstanding a very few fuch inaccuracies of Idiom as are likelieft to happen, where an intelligent Writer's ftrict attention to things may fubject him now and then to a little negligence, or rather familiarity, of expreffion. Thus, we often ineet with the Particle or following neither or ner, in sentences where we should prefer the repetition of the latter negative, as the negation is defigned to be affirmed of both the terms. For inftance, it is faid, page 93, Milk is of a mix

ed

2

mixed kind, neither entirely vegetable or animal.' See alfo p. 98, 141, 148. Another unufual Idiom occurs ftill more frequently, by making which or who the relative to fuch. See p. 164, 325, 366, 402, &c. &c.; the Particle as being, in our apprehenfion, the relative to fuch in strict English; [in which, indeed, we differ from fome other languages] and who or which being the general Relative to thefe, thofe, &c. perfons or things; though who seems rather appropriated to perfons, and which to inanimate subjects. The word topic occurs twice at least as an Adjective- A topic Inflammation'-p. 189, 363, where, perhaps, topical might be preferred to diftinguifh it from the Subftantive. But of fuch minute and inconfequential efcapes (which may be merely local too) in a Writer, and on a subject, of importance, we can give our own fenfe in that of the Epigrammatift-Nos hæc novimus effe nihil-We have, in reality, fpecified them chiefly for the learned Author's reconfideration, on a fecond edition of his valuable work, which will abundantly recommend itfelf to the eminent and ingenious of the Faculty and we have been the more encouraged to this freedom, by the fol lowing juft reflection of a celebrated modern;

Fear not the anger of the wife to raise ;
Thofe beft can bear Advice, who merit praise.

K.

The Tragedies of Sophocles, from the Greek. By Thomas Francklin, M. A. Fellow of Trinity College, and Greek Profeffor in the Univerfity of Cambridge. 4to. 2 vols. Il. Is. R. Francklin.

TH

HE prefent age has produced fome tranflations from the Greek Claffics, which have enriched our language, and done honour to their Authors. In this number the work before us may be allowed to ftand, as it will enable the English Reader to form a juft idea of the tragic poetry of the antients. The language is eafy and natural, and fuited to the fentiments, which, for the most part, are plain and fimple: tho', in thofe paffages where the defcription is more pathetic, the ftyle is proportionably heightned and animated. The tranflation is remarkably clofe and concife, yet fufficiently free to give it the air of an original: and, as far as we can judge from the paffages we have compared, the fenfe of the Author is given with great fidelity and exactnefs. In a word, the English Poet feems to have, in fome measure, preferved that elegance and fimplicity, for which the Grecian is fo defervedly admired. REV. Nov. 1759.

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