Trinitarian) to a Socinian; "regarded it as his duty to speak out: and being no longer able to fulfil the design of his appointment, resigned his office into the hands of the trustees, took leave of an affectionate congregation, and retired with no other expectation or pros pect at the time but (than) that of passing the remainder of life in ob scurity and silence." Upon this subject we shall close with only two observations. The first is, that Mr. Belsham, even upon his own showing, appears to have been unsettled, at the time he commenced the inquiry for his own satisfaction: for he was then, as it evidently appears to us, wavering concerning the divinity of our Saviour, though satisfied of his pre-existence. The second is, that although Mr. Belsham's line of pursuit was sufficient to make a convert of himself, it was insufficient to make converts of his congregation, for otherwise he would scarcely have left them; and hence the argument drawn from the force of numbers is against him; and we have some pleasure in noticing this fact, because we have been told, within the last few years, that upon the conversion of more than one dissenting minister from Trinitarian to Arian or Socinian principles, the whole or greater part of the flock have instantly changed sides along with the shepherd. And, thirdly, the high expediency, and indeed necessity, that all public teachers of divinity should be decided in their own opinions, and give proof to the world, and especially to those connected with them, of such decision; which can only be done by a public declaration, and this, whether subscribed or not, is of no quence. conse CHAPTER CHAPTER IL PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL. Comprehending Medicine and Surgery, Physiology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Rural Economy, Agriculture, Horticulture, Perspective, Mathema tics, Arithmetic. THE HE" Society for the Improvement of Medical and Surgical Knowledge," established a few years since, has published a third volume of its "Transactions," since our last retrospect. The articles are too numerous, and for the most part of too technical a nature for a popular work like the present. But while on this account we are prevented from examining them seriatim, we feel it due to the real merits of the volume to give this short notice of its appearance to the public; to testify our full belief that it has at least maintained, if it have not enhanced, the character which the society has already acquired; and to add, that the contributors to it consist of the following names: Dr. Baillie, Dr. Blane, Mr. Brande, Mr. Brodie, Dr. Buchan, Dr. Clarke, Mr. Clarke, Dr. Denham, Mr. Home, Mr. Macgregor, Dr North, Dr. Storer, Dr. Wells, and Mr. Wilson. "A Treatise on some practical Points relative to the Diseases of the Eye. By the late John Cunningham Saunders, Demonstrator, &c. To which is added, a short account of the Author's Life, and his method of curing the congenital cataract, by his friend and colleague, J. R. Farre, M. D. The whole illustrated by coloured engravings," 8vo. coloured, 11. 11s. 6d. plain, 11. 18. The very great merit of the author of this posthumous work, in the particular and important line of surgery, to which he exclusively directed his attention, and the indefatigable activity with which he pursued it, entitle the pages before us to a somewhat longer notice than we can usually find space to bestow on subjects merely professional. The author had long intended to draw up a series of essays on the most inportant diseases of the eye; but, in the course of executing his intention, experienced considerable interruption from his professional engagements, and especially from ill health. Unfortunately this last source of interruption became at length so powerful as to compel him to make an entire pause; and he only lived to complete the first three essays in the work before us, none of which, however, received his final correction. The remainder of the work is compiled by the editor from posthumous notes and cases of his excellent friend, containing facts which he conceived, and justly so, to "be too valuable to be lost." These he has arranged into a connected form; and the volume thus produced, consists of the six following chapters or essays. I. On inflammation of the conjunctiva in infants. II. On inflammation of the iris. III. On the cure of inversion of the upper eye-lid by excision of the tarsus. IV. Of some of the more important terminations of oph. thalmia: thalmia the arrangement of this chapter, consisting of effusion by a coagulable lymph-suppurationslough-and ulceration; every distinct head containing a variety of important remarks. V. Illustration of some of the more important changes of structure in the eye, directed chiefly to the different species or varieties of amaurosis. VI. On the congenital cataract: the most important essay of the whole, and containing a new, and in various stages of disease or periods of life, a more valuable mode of operating than has hitherto been presented to the world. "Observations on the Use of Caustic Alkali in Scrophula and By Joseph other Chronic Diseases. The writer Brandish, &c. Svo. speaks with an unbecoming sort of confidence of the certainty of his boasted remedy-for it is assertion almost without proof or example;and his reason for not giving examples is not a little curious; he observes, that as such an "advantage cannot be realised without wounding the feelings and delicacy of those who have intrusted themselves to my care, and have received from me the strongest pledge of secrecy, every humane and honourable reader will see the propriety of preserving inviolable that secrecy with respect to the names of all, and of my being very cautious and sparing in the enumeration of instances without names, lest the minute detail of circumstances should lead to a discovery of the persons." Mr. Brandish is now in town operating occasionally upon his patron, the Duke of Sussex, as his house surgeon; but in his successful practice upon some hundreds of patients, as he informs us, labouring under the immediate disease before us, were none of these cases acts . of charity or benevolence? or did he Popular Directions for the Treatment of the Diseases of Women and Children. By John Burns, Lecturer of Midwifery, &c. Svo. The advantage of popular treatises on medicine may perhaps be questionable, but of the talents of the present writer for communicating medical medical instruction, we have alica. dy had too many proofs to render it in any way questionable: and we have no hesitation in recommending the present work as one of the best that has occurred to us in regard to clearness of professional views, and simplicity and perspicuity of style. "A Collection of Treatises on the Effects of Sol-lunar Influence in Fevers; with an improved method of curing them. By Francis Balfour, M. D." 8vo. The greater part of these treatises have appeared already in a detached form: and they are now brought into an accumulated shape to give accumulated force to the author's favourite hypothesis. We have never seen any grounds, in our own country or in any other part of Europe, for acceding to the periodical influence which he seems so fully persuaded is in existence, and conceives to be peculiarly obvious in India. It is difficult, however, to imagine how the heavenly bodies referred to can exercise a controul in this latter part of the world which mankind are so little acquainted with elsewhere; and if it be a fact, of which we have many doubts, that an influence thus regular does prevail, we should at present be rather disposed to refer it to some other cause than that contended for in the work before us. "A Treatise on the Management of Infants, containing the general principles of their domestic treatment, with the history and method of cure of some of their most prevalent and formidable diseases. By J. Syer," 8vo. A commodious work for those who reside in the country, so remote from the regular practitioner, as to receive the benefit of bis discriminating advice rarely and with difficulty. "Dissertation on the bite of a. rabid animal; being the substance of an essay which received a prize from the Royal College of Surgeons in London in the year 1811. By James Gillman, F. L. S." 8vo. containing many ingenious and several useful hints upon a subject which is still involved in inexplicable ob. scurity. "Inquiry into the process of nature in repairing injuries of the intestines; illustrating the treatment of penetrating wounds and strangulated hernia. By Benjamin Travers, Demonstrator of Anatomy at Guy's Hospital, &c." Svo. An ingenious and temperate examination of a part of surgery which is yet open to much improvement, written obviously from an extensive practical attention to the subject, and offering much rational and valuable advice. "An Account of the Ravages committed in Ceylon by (the) Small Pox, previously to the introduction of vaccination; with a statement of the circumstances attending the introduction, progress, and success of vaccine inoculation in that island. By Thomas Christie, M. D. &c." 8vo. We have seen few publications better calculated to prove the very high benefit of vaccination than the little work before us. Anterior to the introduction of this antidote to the small-pox, the ravages of this last disease in Ceylon were most deplorable: the villages in which it appeared were almost immediately deserted in despair by all but the sick and dying, who were left a prey to wild beasts. Inoculation hospitals for the small-pox were established in 1799, and the prejudices of the natives were at length overcome.. The disease was considerably checked, but the number of deaths among the inoculated pa ti ents was still in the proportion of One to forty. By the substitution of the vaccine inoculation the disease appears to have been very nearly extirpated; and the number of persons inoculated in 1809, was not less than 25,697. “I am not without a hope," says the writer, "that the expulsion of (the) small'pox from so large an island as Ceylon, may excite considerable attention in Great Britain, and that the measures pursued by government there, for prohibiting variolous inoculation, and encouraging vaccination, may be thought worthy the attention of the British legislature." A statuteable prohibition within the realm of British liberty would, however, be a very strong step, and which, as we are by no means prepared to justify, we hope the growing wisdom of the times wi'l never render it necessary for us to oppose. It is a measure far better calculated for the meridian of Trincomalee or Point de Galle, than for that of London or Westminster. "An explanation of the causes why vaccination has sometimes failed to prevent (the) smail-pox; and also a description of a method confirmed by experience of obviating such causes. By Edward Leese, &c. 8vo." The best and most candid inoculators admit of occasional failure, and several of the causes of -deficiency are sufficiently obvious and defined; to a few of these the observations before us are applicable; but there are some causes stul too subtle for detection, and which probably depend upon the peculiar character of the constitution. "Physiological Reflections on the Destructive Operation of Spirituous and Fermented Liquors on the Animal System. By Lhomas Foster, F. L. S. Svo. This volume has the merit of dissuading from a system or practice of ebriety: beyond this, however, we perceive nothing to offer in its favour. "Essays on the Changes of the, Human Body at its different ages; the diseases to which it is predisposed in each period of life, and the physiological principles of its longevity. The whole illustrated by many analogies in plants and animals. By Thomas Jameson, M.D." &c. 8vo. This volume consists of an introduction and three essays; the first on "the changes of the human body at its different ages; the second on "the diseases to which the body is predisposed in each period of life; and the third on the physiological principles of longevity, deduced chiefly from tables of mortality, and the preceding history of the body." We cannot give much commendation to our author's strictures; he is generally far more confident of the truth of his own opinious than we are, or than we believe he will find the greater part of his readers to be; and he is often most confident upon those points where there is most reason for hesitation and modesty. He has searched into the opinions of many of the ancient schools, but merely to bring up what has often been resuscitated and re-buried as of no use whatever; and he does not appear to have a discrimination in his own mind between irritability and sensation, or between sensation and instinct. In the order of time he is a rigid septenarian, and conceives that all the principal changes that take place in the animal frame are resolvable into series of seven days, seven months, or seven years: thus the foetus, he tells us, can live in the seventh month; the child acquires its teeth at seven months after birth; and learn |