But if there be a common medium of currency, exchange never can rise much above par. If gold were the medium, exchange must be regulated by the expence, trouble, and risk of bringing gold from one to the other. If the notes of the same bank were the medium, exchange would be regulated in the same way, the notes of a common bank never could be much dearer in the one place than the other. There appear to me then to be but three modes of restoring exchange to its natural level, and of relieving Ireland from the very weighty, grievous, and (to the state unproductive) tax to which Ireland is at present unquestionably subject— The issue of specie ; The establishment of English bank notes, as the medium of currency; Or, the introduction of such a number of English bank notes, as shail prevent the depreciation of Irish notes.' The first and second modes here proposed are regarded as imprac ticable but the author strenuously contends for the adoption of the third; and he particularly recommends that the interest of the public debt and ali other public payments or disbursements should be paid, if required, in Bank of England notes, at the Treasury.' The remainder of the pamphlet is occupied in obviating objections, and in elucidating the justice and policy of this measure. MEDICA L. Art. 29. An Examination of Dr. Heberden's Observations on the Increase and Decrease of different Diseases, and particularly the Plague. By Wm. Falconer, M.D. F.R.S. 8vo. PP. 20. Printed at Bath. In this little essay, the author combats Dr. Hederden's idea, that the principal seat of the plague has at all times been in the nastiest parts of dirty, crowded, ill constructed large cities.' Cairo and Constantinople are adduced as examples of this fact: but the author can find no documents which prove that they are particularly dirty, or even so much open to that imputation as many places which have never been visited by this pestilence. The exhalations at Cairo, from the Canals, when they begin to dry, have been supposed to be a cause of plague: but, if this were the case, the same effect, he thinks, ought to follow in Holland, and in other places, in which the effluvia are more permanent, and more offensive. The advantages of cleanliness,' says the author, in preventing the spreading of the plague, I am very willing to acquiesce in; but I must confine its merits to the preventing persons being exposed to the infection, as by avoiding the contact of infected clothes; by washing out the infection from them, and from furniture, in a safe and effectual manner; by diluting the poisonous effluvia with fresh air; by preventing its accumulation and concentration; by preventing the infection being collected, and becoming more virulent by confinement in linen, &c. that has been worn a long time, &c. These may, and will, I doubt not operate to hinder people from being exposed to the infection; but I much doubt if personal cleanliness will make any one less liable to receive the infection, provided he Moy he is exposed to it. The Turks are as clean as any set of people whatever; their life is little more than a series of ablutions and purgations, but they die of the plague as soon as any other persons, because they take no precautions to avoid the infection. That the cleanliness of modern times has improved the health of our countrymen, and prevented the spreading of infectious diseases, I am ready to acknowledge; but cannot believe that the plague, and even the sweating sickness, were owing to the dirt and filth of former ages.' Madrid is an instance of a city which has, till lately, been kept in a most dirty state, yet was never visited by the plague; and though many parts of London and other towns of this kingdom, as well as Ireland, are remarkable for filth, this disease has not appeared in the British islands for more than a century. Dr. Falconer does not agree with Dr. Heberden in thinking that the plague is only a severe putrid fever, and that the jail fever or dysentery can be changed into plague. There are several symptoms, he observes, which are common to the latter and to typhus fever: but he considers the appearance of buboes and carbuncles to be more pe culiarly characteristic of the disease, and to be as necessarily concomitant as the eruption in the small-pox. Art. 30. The improvements here suggested cannot well be understood without the assistance of the plate annexed to the pamphlet: but they principally consist in the formation of a cheap truss, which may be readily obtained by the poorer orders, and will answer the purpose of keeping up the hernia. It is well known, (says the author,) that if a piece of stick, placed between the coils of a piece of rope, fastened at each end to some solid body, be turned round a few times, immediately as the force is removed by which it was turned round, it returns to its former situation with considerable force. Children avail themselves of this power to supply themselves with a little toy, a species of spring gun, which they use for throwing cherry-stones and small pebbles to a moderate distance. A string is fastened for this purpose to the two ends of a bent bone, or piece of cane, and a piece of stick inserted in the middle of the string, is turned round a few times, until by having sufficiently twisted the string, it re-acts with considerable force. If then the end of the stick is drawn out so far that, when urged by, the elastic action of the coiled string it shall press against the one side of the cane, it will directly return back to its former situation, on the removal of any pressure by which it had been forced round to the other side, and thus throw any substance placed on it to a certain distance. It is the application of this principle that is here wished to be recommended. This simple instrument, it is proposed, should be sewed on the outside of a belt, formed of girth web, first fitted with straps, or with buttons and button holes, exactly to the shape of the Y 4 belly. Yell. belly. The stick may be furnished on the side which is to apply to the belly, with a pad made with leather, filled with folds of flannel, or stuffed with bran. The stick being then brought from underneath, it will there act with a degree of force equal to the tightness with which the cord has been twisted; and, if applied in this state, the protruded part being first reduced, it will in general, be found competent to the retaining of it in its natural position Art. 31. Observations on the Anti-Phibisical Properties of the Lichen Islandicus; or Iceland Moss: comprehending explicit Directions for the making and using such Preparations of the Herb and Auxiliaries, which Experience has proved best adapted to the Cure of the different Species of Pulmonary Consumptions of Great Britain. By Richard Reece, &c. 8vo. 18. Highley. The principal object of this pamphlet is to recommend the Farina of the Lichen, instead of the Decoction, in those cases in which it may be necessary to employ that remedy. Little advantage, the author thinks, can be obtained from its use, unless two or three ounces are exhibited in the course of twenty-four hours; and as this quantity, given in the usual way, must soon produce disgust in the patient, he prefers the employment of the Farina; which, he says, is exempt from this objection, and may be administered, without disgusting the patient, to the extent of three, or even four ounces a day." · This preparation is free from the cortical and fibrous parts of the herb. It possesses, in perfection, both the medicinal and dietetic properties; and to form the jelly, does not require that long coction which proves destructive to its bitter quality. It may be exhibited in the quantity of three drachms for a dose, boiled with half an-ounce of chocolate or cocoa in a morning for breakfast. The true Spanish Cocoa I have found to answer best; it approaches nearly to the flavour of the chocolate of this country, and being free from sugar, is less liable to disagree with the patient, than the manufactured chocolate which, from the milk, butter, and sugar used in its composition, is generally found more or less acid or rancid. This powder may likewise conveniently be made into a kind of pottage, (a form much recommended by Bergius) either in milk, water, or broth, as may appear most suitable to the case of the patient, in the following manner: To a dessert spoonful of the Farina, add as much cold water as will make it into a soft paste; then pour on by degrees half a pint of boiling water, broth, or warm milk, stirring it briskly the whole time after boiling for about ten mi nutes, it will become a smooth thin jelly-A little sugar, currant jelly, liquorice, raisins, cinnamon, butter, wine, or any aromatic may be added, to render it palatable.' Art. 32. The Rules of the Medical Institution, for the Sick and Drooping Poor; with an explanation of its peculiar Design, and various necessary Instructions. Small 8vo. pp. 145. Printed at Bristol. The design of this establishment is thus announced by the author of this pamphlet, whom we suppose to be Dr. Beddoes: To check the canker of disease as soon as it fastens on the frame, and to root it out the moment any one seems, before his season, inclining to wards Yell DO wards the grave, to stretch out a helping hand, raise him upright, and set bim firmly upon his footing again; and, as numbers fancy themselves but a trifle out of sorts, though really pining under some deadly disorder, to undeceive and rescue them-to fill the feeble with strength to discharge the duties of their station - when a weakly childhood marks any one out as likely to be cut off in youth, to give him a fair chance for a long and healthy life in fine, not only to stop short the fatal course of some maladies, but to render the constitution less accessible to them, and to stir up in fathers and mothers an universal spirit of watchfulness over the condition of their tender offspring.' The necessity for such an institution, in addition to the various means of relief which before existed, the author endeavours to evince by some popular and judicious remarks on Consumption, Scrophula, and a few other serious maladies.-How far the benevolent hopes of Dr. Beddoes are likely to be realized, we have at present no opportunity of judging; nor are we informed by what means the verý which he has in view are to be effected He prodesirable objects mises us, however, a report at the close of the current year, to shew the benefit produced by this institution; and he engages to lay open an account of the cases, with the whole process of treatment employed. It would appear that this Charity is a popular one, since 3533 invalids applied to it for relief in the course of the last year. It was first begun at Bristol Hot Wells: but, as the distance was found to be extreinely inconvenient, it was afterward removed to Bristol. Our best wishes attend its progress. Art. 33. Medical Ethics; or a Code of Institutes and Precepts, adapted to the professional Conduct of Physicians and Surgeons; 1. In Hospital Practice. 2. In private or general Practice. 3. In relation to Apothecaries. 4. In cases which may require a Knowledge of Law. To which is added an Appendix, containing a Discourse on Hospital Duties; also Notes and Illus. trations. By Thomas Percival, M. D. F.R.S &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 246. 5s. Boards. Johnson. We admire the feelings with which the present performance was written. At an advanced period of life, the author was induced to employ his thoughts in framing a set of medical precepts, which might tend to preserve or advance the respectability of a profession in which he had long been an ornament, and to make the intercourse between practitioners more advantageous to their patients and more agreeable to themselves. His inclinations on this subject were also strengthened by a wish to impress a son, who is educated for his own profession, with a high sense of its dignity and importance, and to enable him to prosecute his medical career with honour and utility. The title page sufficiently designates the objects which the work embraces-In the treatment of its different divisions, the author shews a judicious and ardent regard to the respectability of his profession, an honourable zeal in the cause of humanity, and a dignified attachment to the duties of religion. The conduct which he inculcates, in the different situations of the medical professor, is not, as may be readily imagined, different from that which custom Yell. has has already established; and therefore the liberal-minded physician or surgeon will only find in the institutes and precepts of Dr. Percival, a compendium of that behaviour laid down which their own experience has demonstrated to be most congenial to the nature of their habits and office: but the student or young practitioner will receive a lesson of propriety and decorum, which cannot fail to have a permanently good effect on his future conduct. The author is fully impressed with the importance of the duties which a medical man is called to perform; and he gives it as his decided opinion that, following the example of the late learned and amiable Dr. Heberden, he should always retire from the engagements of business as soon as he feels any of those faculties impaired, on which depends the proper exercise of his profession. To determine this period is a delicate and difficult task, and one which he admits must, in a great measure, be left to the moral discretion of the individual. The chapter which treats of the cases requiring a knowlege of law claims attention, both from the information which it communicates, and from the necessity for some degree of attention, on the part of physicians and surgeons, to legal medicine. An appendix contains a judicious discourse on hospital duties, preached by one of the sons of the author, for the benefit of the Infirmary at Liverpool; also numerous notes and illustrations which will be perused with interest and advantage. POETRY and the DRAMA. Art. 34. Poesie Liriche di Leucippo Eginèo, P. A. Socio della R. A. di White. 1804. These lyrical poems consist of an ode to peace, two sonnets, a rural canzonet, and an ode on the origin and decay of nations; the two odes and the canzonet being accompanied by notes and illustrations, in the present modish style of making up a handsome pocket volume. The author's poetical merit is little elevated above that of an Italian school-boy, before he enters the university. In the ode to peace, we find an unhappy mixture of Christian and Pagan machinery; and the country ditty is greatly inferior to the parallel pas. sages from Baldi and Guarini, quoted in the notes. Let us not forget, however, that Signor Egineo has detailed the sentimental process of preparing polenta with the minuteness of an Apicius : • Or la polenta appresta. Vediam come la fa. La fiamma e' soffia, e desta. Ecco vi pon del sale Con mano liberale.' A single dish of this batter (or hasty) pudding provides the muse with exactly thirty more lines, which become very animated as the plot thickens. Yell.' The |