they rendered the city of Sparta what Plato calls the Lion's den, in which all the treasures of Greece were amaffed. It was easy to trace the paths by which this immenfe wealth was conveyed thither, but it was impoffible to discover any marks of its return.'

M. DE PAUW mentions, with great contempt, M. DE GOURCY's differtation on the Lacedemonians, which, he fays, was crowned by the Academy of Infcriptions, much in the fame manner as the tragedies of Dionyfius were crowned at Athens. It is difficult, he adds, to find words fufficiently ftrong, to expofe the folly of his enthufiafm concerning Lycurgus, which betrays a total ignorance of ancient history, in which no perfon was lefs known than this fuppofed lawgiver: nor is this aftonishing, as his pretended Inftitutions were never committed to writing; nor have we one of them extant, the authenticity of which is confirmed by fuch evidence as will ftand the test of found criticiẩm.

Hellanicus, the most ancient Greek hiftorian, as, quoted by Strabo, denies that Lycurgus was the legiflator of Sparta. Long before his birth, Lacedemon had been fubject to a dyarchy, and the five annual Ephori were not created till 130 years after his death. The Dorians, before they conquered Laconia, had a fenate of old men, an inflitution common to all favage nations, and which, in a ftate of nature, feems to be pointed out by inftinct. The moft probable ftory is, that Lycurgus, having been in Crete, introduced among his countrymen, fome of the military cuftoms and exercifes that he had obferved in that ifland, which was inhabited by a number of independent tribes, who were always engaged in war among themfelves. Thefe inftitutions were weil adapted to the circumftances of the Spartans, who were few in number, and lived in a country which they held in fubjection, by reducing its ancient inhabitants to a ftate of flavery; fo that they were as much in dread of their flaves, as the Cretan ftates were of each other. Their treatment of the poor Helotes was too notorious to be mentioned here, and too inhuman not to be detefted.

M. DE PAUW fhews that the pretended equality of poffeffions, which has been afcribed to the inftitutions of Lycurgus, never did, and never could exift. According to him, all that M. DE MABLY has advanced concerning the Spartans, is deftitute even of probability; and he obterves that this mode of writing on fubjects, of which little can be determined, with certainty, inftead of contributing to the progrefs of literature and knowlege, is an obftacle to both; as it tends to fubftitute chimeras for reality, and conjecture for fact. We ought, he fays, to judge of the nature of political inftitutions, from the effects they produce in the country where they are established. Wherever we behold cities fucceffively falling into poverty and ruin, we may conclude

that

that the government is oppreffive and unjuft; because, instead of creating, it deftroys; and inceffantly paffes from one ftate of devaftation, to another, worfe than the preceding. Of this, the defcription of Laconia affords a ftriking inftance. This country, after having long been under the dominion of the Spartans, inftead of flourishing, as when under the ancient Achæans, bore the appearance of a wretched land, depopulated, ftained with blood, and covered with the ruins of its cities. Such will ever be the fate of governments purely military; they rife to fudden greatness by making conquefts, and fall as fuddenly by lofing them. All this happened to Lacedæmon, in confequence of a series of events; an attention to which is fufficient to detect the delufions of both ancients and moderns, on this head.

The moral character of the Lacedæmonians is here reprefented in a very unfavourable light, and even their valour is degraded below that of the other nations of Greece. It appears, fays the inquirer, that, without reckoning thofe cafes in which their armies were panic-ftruck, and routed even by women, they loft full as many decifive battles as they won, and, of thefe, many were gained by corrupting the generals of the enemy. They were what the Greeks called Thrafydeiloi, bold in ftratagems and ambufcades; but cowardly in the open field; and were formidable, rather from their ferocity and perfidy, than from any military virtue. They were fo corrupt, that, in whatever cafes it was difgraceful to give or to receive money, they gave and received it. Paufanias afferts that they were the first among the Greeks, who rendered victory venal. It was by corrupting Ariftocrates king of Arcadia, that they conquered the Meffenians, and by corruption they terminated the Peloponnefian war. Ariftotle, diftinguishing the Ephori by the appellation of "ONIOI, or venal, fays, they were deftitute of every fenfe of honour, and in Greece, the Spartans were generally termed Apoxspdeis, or, greedy of difhoneft gain.

Plato obferves, that even the beft politicians could not define the government of Lacedæmon: for this, M. DE PAUW accounts, by remarking that it was unequal, and varied with regard to the feveral claffes of men who were fubject to it. With respect to the Helotes, it must be confidered as entirely defpotic; they were the moft wretched of flaves; for, befide being forced to till the foil, and ferve in the army, they might be murdered with impunity: and with refpect to the tributary inhabitants of Laconia, who had no vote in the national affembly, nor any fhare in the civil government; the conftitution of Sparta was an oligarchy, that is, a few oppreffed the many, as the nobles of Venice opprefs the citizens, and the inhabitants of the continent; but, when confidered with regard to the Spartans of the Doric race, who were the predominant nation, the conftitution was an imperfect democracy, fettered by the authority of two hereditary generals, under APP, Rev, Vol. LXXIX,

Tt

the

the title of kings. That the government was conftitutionally democratic is evident, because the people alone had the right of giv ing a fanction to the laws, of making war or peace, of creating fenators, and of electing the Ephori. The confufion and mifery which refulted from a form of government thus wretchedly conftituted, are well illuftrated by a fhort recapitulation of fome of the principal events of their history.

We have been, on the whole, agreeably entertained by the perufal of these volumes; as we have been by the former productions of this lively, wild, and fanciful, yet diligent investigator.

***For our account of M. DE PAUW's Recherches Philofophiques fur les Americains, &c. fee Rev. vol. xlii. p. 515.

ART. XII.

Flora Roffica, feu Stirpium Imperii Roffici per Europam et Afiam indigenarum Defcriptiones et Icones. Jufu & Aufpiciis CATHARINÆ II. AUGUSTA edidit P. S. Pallas. Tomi I. Párs I. Royal Folio. Petersburgh*.

FLORA is literally the goddess of flowers; but by modern botanists her name is ufed to fignify a book containing defcriptions of thofe plants that are indigenous or natives of certain countries or diftricts. It cannot therefore be tranflated but by a periphrafis, although univerfally received and understood by botanifts.

The variety of climate, fituation, and foil, in the vaft extent of the Ruffian empire muft neceffarily afford a variety of vegetable productions. The northern provinces contain few plants that are not to be found in other northern parts of Europe; but the fouthern provinces, which ftretch out toward the Cafpian and Euxine feas, and are parched by the fun, produce plants that are not only common to Germany and Hungary, but many, especially in the dry and falt deferts, that are natives of Spain, Afia Minor, and even of Arabia. Toward the eaft, Siberia, occupying the whole of the northern part of Afia, furnishes plants that are peculiar to it; and in warm fituations, fuch as are common to Tibet and China, and Kamtfchatka, the eaftern boundary of the empire, contains many vegetables well known in America. Hence the great extent of the vegetable kingdom in the Ruffian dominions is fufficiently apparent, as is alfo the magnitude of the work which M. PALLAS hath undertaken.

The abilities of this indefatigable naturalift are fo well known in Europe, that his name alone ftamps a value on any work to which it may be prefixed. The merit, however, of the fuperb publication now before us, is intrinfic: and the character of the Author and the value of the book may be faid mutually to fupport each other.

* Imported by Mr. Sewell, London.

The

The volume contains the defcriptions and the ufes of 100 plants, of which about a fifth part are unnoticed by Linné, illuftrated with 50 moft elegant engravings, coloured from nature; exhibiting, befide the general appearance of the plant, the parts of fructification in their natural, and, where neceffary, in their magnified, fize. The Author follows no particular fyftem *; he defcribes each genus together with its indigenous fpecies, beginning with thofe genera which contain trees or fhrubs. Of thofe plants only that are not common to other countries, or that are rare and curious, engravings are given, of which 600 are propofed and already finished for the work.

M. PALLAS acknowleges to have made frequent use of the works of Ruffian or other botanifts, where he has found any thing in them that would fuit his purpofe; and, in his preface, he gives a fhort biographical account of each writer from whofe works he has made extracts; the chief of them are, Schober, Buxbaum, Mefferfchmid, Gerber, Heinzelmann, Amman, Gmelin, Steller, Krachenninikof, Lerch, and Laxmann; with others of lefs note. He mentions alfo the perfons who have executed the drawings and engravings, on one of whom, M.Knappe, he confers a large fhare of praife.

It cannot be expected that we should enter into a minute examination of every article in the Flora Rofica: the obfervations that are the most curious, relate chiefly to the economical ufes of the native plants, and are therefore in a great measure local. The medical qualities of the Oleum Betulinum (i. e. the purified oil of the white bark of birch diftilled per defcenfum) and of the leaves of the Rhododendron chryfanthum [chrysanthemum], are much enlarged on; and from what M. PALLAS fays of their virtues, they feem to be very valuable additions to the materia medica: our druggifts will, therefore, very probably, import

them.

This fplendid national work is published under the aufpices. and at the charge of the Emprefs, who continues, with unremitting zeal, to patronife all literary and fcientific labours. The expence indeed must be very confiderable, for if the whole number of Ruffian plants be as fully defcribed as the hundred contained in this volume, the work will confift of at leaft 20 volumes; as our Author fays, that the number of plants fpontaneously growing in the Ruffian dominions, amounts to upwards of two thousand diftinct fpecies In a word, the munificence of the Empress and the indefatigable labours of M. PALLAS will ftand recorded in the Flora Roffica, which muft remain as a monument of the high cultivation of natural knowlege in countries but lately emerged from a ftate of barbarism.

A fyftematical index, which is promifed, will obviate any objections that may be made to the arrangement. Tt2

ART.

ART. XIII.

W. X. JANSEN, Phil. et Med. Doct. de Pelagra, Morbo in Mediolanenfi Ducato endemio. i. e. Differtation on the Pelagra, an endemial Disease in the Dutchy of Milan. By W. X. JANSEN, Phil. and M. D. 8vo. Leyden. 1788.

THE

HE Pelagra, or, as the Italians call it, Mal del fole, feems to be peculiar to the Dutchy of Milan; by fome it is fuppofed to be a new difeafe, and our Author fays that he has not met with any defcription of it among the ancients; but, however this may be, it is certain that, within a few years paft, its ravages have increased to a moft alarming degree, and threaten to depopulate the country. On this account, the prefent Emperor has founded, at Legnano, about fifteen miles from Milan, an hofpital appropriated for the relief of those afflicted with this malady, which contains forty patients; and he has ordered that the hofpitals of Milan and Pavia fhall be obliged to receive each ten patients under this difeafe, that the phyficians of thefe cities may have opportunities of investigating its nature and cure. From obfervations made in thefe hofpitals, and the information communicated by the phyficians who prefide over them, Doctor JANSEN has collected the intelligence which he here lays before the public.

This disease, to which the peasants are more liable than any other clafs of people, generally makes its first attack early in the fpring a red shining ipot, fomething refembling the eryfipelas, but without much pain or itching, appears on the back of one or both hands, fometimes on the legs or on the neck, but very feldom on the face; a number of little pimples of various colours rife around it, the fkin becomes parched, cracks, and falls off in white furfuraceous fcales; the red fpot, however, ftill remains, but gradually lofes its colour, till, toward September, it is no longer difcernible. Except this cutaneous fymptom, and that the body is more lax than ufual, the patient experiences no inconvenience; the appetite is good, and the fecretions are regular: during the whole winter, the difeafe feems to have entirely left him, and he appears to enjoy perfect health; but no fooner does fpring return, than the red fpot again breaks out, and is frequently attended with more formidable fymptoms. In fome patients, however, the difeafe returns in this its firft ftage, during fix, eight, or even fifteen years, without making any further progrefs, and disappears again on the approach of winter; but in moft cafes, the spots, which return the fecond or third fummer, are larger, the skin is more parched, and the fiffures in it more numerous; the patient is afflicted with violent pains in the head, becomes timorous, difpirited, remarkably affected by every change of wea

ther,