symptom of various complaints; and diarrhoea has not only been common, as a primary or idiopathic affection, but it has also supervened on several other disorders, acute as well as chronic.

The cases of cholera, inserted in the foregoing catalogue, occurred chiefly in children, who, from their great irritability, which renders them more susceptible of excitement by the summer heats, are peculiarly the subjects of this complaint. It is most obstinate and fatal when joined with the additional irritation of teething. This disease, though extensively diffused during this month, has not been attended with extraordinary violence or fatality. It has, however, in many cases, manifested much obstinacy; yielding with difficulty to the ordinary modes of treatment; and sometimes running into a chronic stage, or rather tedious diarrhea, notwithstanding the employment of the most active and approved remedies:-an occurrence that may be accounted for, from the predisposition to the disease being constantly kept up by the foul air of the city, and more especially by the relaxing effects of a nearly uniform and continued course of hot weather. It is under such circumstances, that removal to the pure and cool atmosphere of the country or sea shore, proves so efficacious in the cholera of infants; often succeeding in effecting a recovery from an apparent hopeless state.

Fevers, generally, have rather declined. Typhus has decreased, both in frequency and fatality: the deaths from this disease having, according to the bills of mortality, diminished nearly one half. The cases of continued fevers, noted in the list, were all of the Synochal or Sub-inflammatory kind. The Infantile Remittent, or Synochus of children, appears to have diminished in frequency, though not in violence. Some cases of this disease were attended by bilious vomiting and diarrhea, but without any evident amelioration of the fever. Another symptom that commonly attended the infantile fever, was a cough, which from its great urgency in some instances might easily have deceived the inexperienced, and led to the suspicion, that the patient was actually labouring under a Peripneumony, or inflammation of the lungs. As an instance of this kind might be of the most serious consequence, the greatest caution and circumspection are always to be exercised -the nature and treatment of the two diseases being obviously different. It is certainly possible that these two complaints may sometimes co-exist; but such

an occurrence is probably very rare. Unless Peripneumony should happen to exist at the same time with the infantile remittent fever, the cough attending this latter is always to be regarded as sympathetic, being occasioned by irritation in the bronchiæ, lungs, or pleura, and not by inflammation. Of consequence it seldom requires particular attention, and will naturally subside with the other symptoms of the complaint. Fomentations to the chest, diluent or demulcent drinks, the cautious use of antimony or squills, and sometimes of opiates, comprehend the whole of the treatment necessary for the relief of this symptom. The use of the lancet in the infantile fever, especially with symptoms of synochus, would be productive of almost certain death.

Cases of Pneumonic inflammation, though greatly reduced in number, have in several instances shown great severity of character; and as will be seen by inspecting the bills of mortality, have been productive of a fatality even greater than that which took place in the preceding month. It is not a very unusual occurrence, for cases of Pneumonia produced in a high temperature of the atmosphere, to assume an acuteness or intensity, that is seldom surpassed, if equalled, during the severe cold of winter. The stimulating quality of heated air, when applied to an inflamed surface, may perhaps account for this fact. Instances of spurious or bastard Pleurisy, which is only a rheumatic affection of the intercostal and throracic muscles, were occasionally met with, assuming at times almost every mark of genuine pleurisy.

Dyspeptic and Asthenic diseases have been rendered more obstinate; probably from the relaxing effects of external heat. Complaints of the head, especially manifested by Cephalalgia and Vertigo, and induced by determination or congestion, but more commonly by a morbid derangement of the digestive organs, were of common Occurrence. Severe pain in the head has attended different forms of fever, especially where there existed a torpor of the intestinal canal, the removal af which symptom was generally found to be the most certain way of relieving the affection of the head.

There were presented at the Dispensary, a few cases of chronic inflammation of the tonsils and fauces, or throat, attended with irregularity of surface, which, from being covered with coagulable lymph, had the appearance of ulceration. This affection is not unfrequently mistaken for syphilitic ulcers, The patient

is consequently subjected to a painful and tedious course of mercury, for the purpose of eliminating from the system a supposed poison.

The New-York bills of mortality for July contain the following deaths from different diseases.

Abscess, 3; Apoplexy, 5; Asthenia, 1; Cancer, 1; Cholera, 15; Colic 2; Consumption, 47; Convulsions, 18; Debility, 1; Diarrhea, 7; Dropsy, 6; Dropsy in the head, 5; Drowned, 5; Dysentery, 13; Fever, 4; Bilious Fever, 1; Inflammatory Fever, 1; Remittent Fever, 2; Typhous Fever, 8 ; Gravel, 1; Gout, 2; Hæmorrhage, 1; Hives, 4; Jaundice, 2; Inflammation of the Bowels, &; Inflammation of the Brain, 1; Inflammation of the Chest, 10; Inflammation of the Liver, 5; Intemperance, 2; Locked-jaw, 2; Measles, 1; Marasmus, 4; Mortification, 2; Nervous Diseases, 1; Old Age, 6; Palsy, 1; Peripneumony, t; Pleurisy, 1; Quinsy, 2; Rupture of the Brain, 1;

Scrophula, 1; Sprue, 4; Still Born, 9; Sudden Death, 1; Suicide, 2; Syphilis, 1; Teething, 5; Ulcer, 3; Casualty, 3.Total 227.

Of whom there died 73 of and under the age of 1 year; 23 between 1 and 2 years; 11 between 2 and 5; 10 between 5 and 10; 15 between 10 and 20; 22 between 20 and 30; 20 between 30 and 40; 23 between 40 and 50; 12 between 50 and 60; 7 between 60 and 70 ; 6 between 70 and 80; 4 between 80 and 90; 1 between 90 and 100.

It will be seen from this account of deaths, that the month of July has been particularly fatal to children under the age of two years. The number that has died amounts to more than two fifths of the total of deaths of all ages. It is from the great mortality among this class, therefore, that has arisen the numerical augmentation of deaths for this month.

JACOB DYCKMAN, M. D. New-York, July 31, 1817.

STEAM BOATS.

OBERT VAUX, Esq. chairman of

pounds on the square inch, and then with a force of fifteen pounds per square inch.

mon council of Philadelphia, having addressed a circular on the subject of steam boats to the Corporation of this City, the consideration of it was referred to Samuel Akerly, M. D. T. H. Smith, John Remmey, J. Warren Brackett, and Arthur Burtis, Esqrs. composing the Committee of Arts and Sciences, who made a Report approving of the recommendations therein contained. These recommendations

were:

presumed to bear the required pressure of ten pounds per square inch until the next monthly period of trial appointed by law. To make it sure that the Engine shall not be worked in any intermediate time, by means of steam affording a higher pressure than that required, let a separate safety valve be provided, and kept locked up in a box connected with the Steam Engine Apparatus, of which box the Inspector appointed by law ought to be permitted and required to keep the key, which box should not be opened till the next period of inspection. This safety valve should be regulated to the pressure required, and at which the Steam Engine is to be actually worked. So that however high the common exposed safety valve may be loaded by those who work the engine, the safety valve locked up, shall effectually prevent the use of any higher pressure than that permitted.

A second improvement would be, to separate the Steam Engine Apparatus by strong partitions erected between this and the part of the vessel occupied by the passengers; which partitions should be so constructed as to be decidedly the strongest part exposed to explosion, should such an event take place. Hence the planking of the sides of the vessel near to the Steam Engine Apparatus, and the part of the deck that covers it, should be pur

posely made somewhat weaker than the partitions, and more liable to be torn or blown away by an explosion, which in such case could not affect the passengers." In the opinion of the Committee such regulations, and nothing short of them, would be efficacious in preventing accidents growing out of the disposition of indiscreet men to accelerate their boats, at any hazard, by adding weights to their safety valves. The Committee condemn the use of cast iron boilers, and in general all the departures from Mr. Fulton's system which have been introduced under the name of improvements. They attest the safety of boats on Fulton's contruction, under such judicious management as has been exhibited by those plying in the North and East rivers. The Corporation not having power to appoint inspectors, the Committee suggest the propriety of applying to the legislature for such authority.

SOUTHEY THE LAUREATE.

The recent publication of a juvenile performance of this gentleman, under the title of Wat Tyler, has given rise to considerable discussion, in England, in regard to his early political principles and conduct. It seems that whilst at Oxford, in 1792-93, he imbibed the revolutionary spirit, which at that period raged at its height in Europe, and associated himself with some of his collegiate friends in an enterprise characteristic of the times. Mr. Southey, and his fellow commoners, Mr. S. T. Coleridge, and Mr. Lovell, having allied themselves by the bond of fraternization, resolved to emigrate to America, and to found a colony on the true principles of liberty and equality, on the banks of the Susquehannah. In this Arcadia, all property was to be in common, and all the dreams of perfectibility were to be realized. To carry this projeet into execution, they actually left college. Other youths of the same standing were animated by a similar ardour. Among those who proposed to accompany the three friends, were a Mr. Allen, and Mr. Burnett, author of the history of Poland. One obstacle was in the way. Southey had fallen in love with a Miss Fricker,--he could not prevail with himself to leave her, nor could he hope to persuade her to forsake her family, to share in his romantic expedition. But to make every thing easy, Coleridge and Lovell readily undertook to marry her two sisters,--and their mother, who was widow, could of course have no reasonobjection to following her chiln. This scheme so far as concerns the riages, was actually carrie

fect. But the Rev. Mr. Hill, Mr. Southey's maternal uncle, interposing, 'defeated the voyage. Mr. Southey resides in the romantic vicinity of Keswick, in Cumberland. The house is divided in the centre--one half is occupied by Mr. Southey and his family, the other by Mrs. Coleridge, (sister to Mrs. Southey,) and her two sons; and Mrs. Lovell, the third sister, whose husband is dead, is an inmate of Mr. Southey's. This gentleman is represented as remarkably amiable in private life. His attainments as a poet and a scholar are well known. He is understood to be now engaged in several literary compositions. Among them is an Epic, the hero of which, is a member of the Society of Friends! It is said that he makes it a rule to write 40 lines daily before breakfast. Such idle stories, however, are not to be heeded. Yet we are not without apprehensions of his bringing himself too soon again before the public. He has written already too much for his reputation. Had he produced no poem but Roderick,his fame would

have been more enviable.

TO READERS.

E.

The great typographical improvement in this Number, will not escape the observation of our readers. It will be perceived, too, that we have considerably enlarged our printed page. We shall hereafter conform to this standard. Our paper will in future be of a better quality.

We have much pleasure in announcing an arrangement which we have made with C. S. Rafinesque, Esq. a distinguished naturalist, to conduct a department of the magazine, under the title of Museum of Natural Sciences, which is commenced in this number, and which will occupy a similar space in future. Mr. R. having relinquished the design of publishing his Annals of Nature, invites gentlemen who patronized that undertaking, to transfer their subscriptions to this work. ERRATA.

Page 329, col. 2, line 3 from top, for and read from.

Page 831, col. 2, line 50 from top, for appear, read appears.

Page 335, col. 2, line 28 from bottom, for streams, read steams.

Page 337, col. 2, line 15 from bottom, for effects, read effect.

Page 355, col. 2, line 18 from top, in some copies, for Arimanices, in brackets, read Arimanius.

Page 356, line 23, for Flora Philadelphica Prodromus, read Flora Philadelphica Prodromus.

Page 359, col. 1, line 13, for Striatule read Striatula.

AFTER having complained of the un

fairness of reviewers, in criticising a surreptitious publication of his speeches, Mr. Phillips has thought fit to vindicate his reputation and furnish an authentic criterion for estimating his merits, by editing his Speeches himself. In this edition, then, we may look for the measure of his mind and the standard of his desert, without rendering ourselves liable to the charge of being in haste to judge, thereby proving ourselves anxious to condemn. We have waited until the giant has buckled on his armour,-until, with his breast-plate fitted, his sword upon his thigh, and his shield borne before him, he has deliberately come forward, and with vaunting words, offered himself to battle;-and now, having measured his stature as well as we might for the glitter of his harness and the terror of the ranks embattled in his cause, we venture, though haply with only a sling and stone, to question his claims, not fearing his bulk. We do not, however, wish to advance with an acrimonious spirit, nor proceed to the length of slaying him outright and cutting off his head, even if our arm were strong enough and our aim unerring; we only wish,-dropping the allusion, and speaking in the plain way to which we are most used,-to examine with candour, and declare our opinions temperately, but plainly.

We are ready to admit the correctness of the remark made by Mr. Finlay, who appears in the preface as the friend and apologist of Mr. Phillips, "that some defects are essential to such, and so much labour." Doubtless it would be unfair to require of an orator as much accuracy of syntax, and as complete a developeVOLA I:. NO. VI:

ment of his argument, in extemporaneous harangues as in the more leisurely and careful productions of the closet, though most, if not all, the defects attributable to this cause, he might very lawfully correct, if he had the sagacity to detect them, while arranging them for the press. But it is not on account of their occasional defects, whether avoidable or not, that we object to these speeches; nor is it because Mr. Phillips has failed in the style of eloquence which he has adopted, that we cannot persuade ourselves to become his admirers; we dislike the whole system of rhetoric on which they are constructed, and whatever of pleasure we have experienced in the perusal of them has been produced by the general character of the sentiments they contain, and the general tone of feeling in which they are uttered, not by the style in which they are set forth, or by the flights and figures in which they so much abound. Or if we have been gratified at any time with the diction of these speeches, it has been when the orator least endeavoured to soar, or when he has indulged, as he has at times, with some felicity, his humorous vein. But these instances are rare, particularly of the former sort. The style is almost uniformly turgid and ambitious, not only so as to be altogether beyond nature, but so as often to become absolute bombast of the most frigid and unintelligible kind. In many places, in the course of the volume, whole sentences, we had almost said whole pages, have exactly that sort of rhythm which constitutes what is commonly called "prose run mad," and if they were divided off into lines like poetry, each one beginning with

3F

a capital letter, they would make, so far as the measure might be concerned, very tolerable blank verse. Now we are aware that harsh and ragged sentences do not constitute good prose, any more than simply the requisite number of feet and a jingle at the end of the lines, if it be rhyme, make good versification;-we know there is a melody of prose as well as of verse, but it certainly does not consist in eternally balancing clauses and poising one half of a sentence against the other. The melody, which is so charming in the sentences of those writers who have acquired the authority of standards, will be found, upon examination, to have been produced by words selected, not for their length, but for the ease with which they may be uttered, and arranged, not with a regular return of the same movement, but in such a way as that the organs of speech shall take them up one after another without effort. The most approved writers, too, have ever avoided sameness in the length and number of the clauses and general structure of their periods, and are free from mannerism. Their style is apparently most easy to imitate, because so natural; but, in fact, most difficult to attain, on account of the purity and propriety of the language, and the perpetual, though delicately marked variety of the sentences. But Mr. Phillips's sentences seem all to have been cast after a pattern, they are so uniformly alike in structure and movement. Besides, he often neglects propriety for sound, and sacrifices meaning for the sake of a swelling close. His sentences remind one of the middle style of gardening, which instead of exhibiting "a happy rural seat of various view," paraded its enclosures laid out with tiresome uniformity, where 66 grove nodded at grove" and "each alley had a brother." And the worst of it is, that this mannerism of Mr. Phillips is not relieved by any profound or striking thoughts, by new views of old principles, recommending them by the power of illustration, or any original contributions of ideas. His ideas are generally commonplace, and the imagination employed in attempting to impress them, is extravagant and rambling, rather than opulent and felicitous, and prurient more than vigorous and fine. Because he flies a great deal it is no proof that he is an eagle.

Mr. Phillips's style abounds in affectations and prettinesses, he is very fond of alliteration, and seems to take a pleasure in combinations of words the gle prettily on the ear, There

habit of his which is very bad, both because it argues an incorrect taste, and because it often renders the meaning doubtful. It is that of accumulating in the same sentence a great many short antitheses, and almost universally omitting the object after the verb, in which he seldom exhibits any niceness of discrimination, whilst he leaves the idea loose and undefined. He is very fond, besides his regular antitheses, of a little pretty kind of paradox, in a particular manner of using adjectives and verbs, as for example, "degrading advantages," ""outlawed into eminence," and "fetter into fame," and this "literally," "bliss would be joyless," and many instances of a similar kind, which we have not time to enumerate. His similes and comparisons are very often absolute contradictions, or entirely without meaning. In a paroxysm of christian charity and toleration, he thus speaks of the Roman church:"That venerable fabric which has stood for ages, splendid and immutable; which time could not crumble nor persecutions shake, nor revolutions change; which has stood amongst us like some stupendous and majestic Apennine, the earth rocking at its feet, and the heavens roaring round its head, firmly balanced on the base of its eternity; the relic of what was; the solemn and sublime memento of what might be." If this is not rant and non-. sense we do not know what is. In the first place it is not true that the Roman Church has stood thus immutable; and in the next place there does appear to be some trifling repugnance between the idea of so huge an establishment which has been so long standing-not on its base, but the eternity of its base, and that of the same establishment being a mere relic of what was, and memento of what must be. He says, also, that he would allow religion "no sustenance but the tears that are exhaled and embellished by the sunbeam." Now this is certainly

nonsense.

Speaking of the corruption of the court and the danger of bringing religion into temptation by contact with it, he says: "It directly violates his special mandate, who took his birth from the manger, and his disciples from the fishing boat." Here, for the sake of preserving the pretty balance of the sentence, Mr. Phillips has violated sense as well as taste; the use of "from," in the first instance is absurd, and even if it were not, it is nothing but affectation to use, as Mr. Phillips so often does, the same form preposition to fons so very different as

of ex

and the same