among us by the term of Derbyshire neck. For this diftinc tion, we are aware that the authority of Pliny, and of Celfus, but more particularly of Caelius, might be pleaded: yet none of these authors confine the latter term to that one disease. Celfus, particularly, fpeaking of ftruma, obferves, "Nafcuntur maxime in cervice, fed etiam in alis, et inguinibus, et in lateribus." (Lib. v. cap. 28.)

In fpeaking of cancers, we learn that great relief has been obtained, in the worft cafes, by keeping the patient on a diet of bread and water: we were forry, however, to witness the very difpiriting, and we cannot avoid adding, the very strange fact afferted by the author, that of the great number of women above the age of thirty, whofe breafts he had extirpated, he had fcarcely faved one from a recurrence of the difeafe. We can only account for this terrible circumftance, fo contrary to daily experience, from his own miftaken method of operating, when he defires us to cut away a confiderable portion of the found fkin during the operation, and afterward to keep up a large fuppuration, in order to diffolve any difeafed parts remaining!

Neither is this the only inftance in which we difagree with Dr. CALLISEN, in the operative part of his furgery. In perforating the skull, he rejects the trephine, and gives the preference to that unmanageable and unfafe inftrument, the trepan. Again, in the operation for the hare-lip, he advises the incifion of the lip to be made by fciffars. He seems likewife too fond of forcible extenfion in replacing fractures, and in reducing dislocations. The ufe of inftruments is sometimes advifed, where the hand only had much better be employed: thus in the removal of the tefticle, and in the operation for incarcerated hernia, we are defired, after dividing the integuments, to diflect away the cellular membrane by means of the forceps and knife: in the former operation, alfo, as indeed in others, he feems needlefsly defirous of fuffering the blood to flow from the wounded arteries: but to what end? a fufficient quantity is always loft, without purpofely adding to its difcharge. Neither is he aware of the neceffity of healing wounds in furgical operations by the firft intention, if poffible; on the contrary, we are frequently defired to keep them open by the introduction of doffils of lint, &c. into their cavities:-nor were we lefs furprifed at finding it afferted, that the application of cauftics in curvature of the fpine, as recommended by

His words are, Poft fextum ætatis luftrum,' which we tranf late, thirty years of age,' that we may take the lateft poffibie period.

Mr.

Mr. Pott, was ineffectual wherever a caries of the bones was prefent.

Thefe are fome of the defects which we have obferved in this treatife, and which our duty obliges us to point out: for, having recommended the work to the notice of the public, it behoves us to guard the reader against any errors which it may poffefs.

ART. XIX. Hiftoire et Memoires de la Société Royale de Medecine; i. e. History and Memoirs of the Royal Society of Medicine, for the Years 1784, and 1785. 4to. Part I. pp. 318. Part II. PP. 434. Paris. 1788.

A

CCORDING to the original plan of the inftitution, the tranfactions of this fociety are arranged under two diftinct departments, the History and the Memoirs. The first relates to the diftribution of prizes, propofal of queftions, election of members, &c. eulogiums of the deceafed members; and to works published by the fociety, or communicated to it.

The gentlemen, whofe memory is embalmed by the eloquence of M. VICO D'AZYR, the perpetual fecretary, are Meffrs. Watelet, Bonami, Hequet, Marriques, Lobftein, Serrao, Scheele, Maret, and De La Mure. It will be impoilible to enter minutely into the circumftances of the lives or writings of these diftinguished characters; we fhall therefore fimply announce to our readers, thofe particulars for which they were the most diftinguished. M. Watelet, not being in the medical line, and having devoted himself entirely to the ftudy of poetry and belles lettres, feems to have no pretenfions to a Niche in this temple of fame but we are informed, by his Eulogift, that when the late M. Turgot, and M. de Malefherbes, had obtained the royal fanction for the inftitution of the fociety, M. WATELET contributed very effentially to its fuccefs, by his credit and council; and that its plans and regulations were fubmitted to his corrections. He has diftinguished himfelf by a poem on the art of painting, and has left many valuable MSS. which are affigned to the care of M. Dufaulx, member of the Academy of Infcriptions, for publication. M. Bonami was a fuccefsful practitioner, for the fpace of fifty years; far advanced in the study of botany, and poffeffed of great humanity. "Were I to live again, (thefe were his expreffions toward the evening of life,) I would confine my practice entirely to the poor; they repay with gratitude at least, those who pity and affift them."

M. Hequet has diftinguished himself by his writings on feveral epidemic diseases, and internal abfceffes; and as a diligent and fuccessful practitioner. M. Marriques obtained, in the

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year 1781, a prize propofed for the best differtation on dentition. M. Lobfiein's fkill in anatomy is well known: for although he has not made any new discoveries, he has given the most perfect and accurate defcriptions of various parts of the human body. M. VICQ-D'AZYR has arranged at the end of the panegyric a very ample catalogue of his writings. M. Serrao was first phyfician to the king of Naples. He was born in the year 1702; and was among the first philofophers who opposed the doctrines of Defcartes in natural philofophy, and of the chemifts in medicine. In the year 1737, he was appointed by the King of Naples to explore an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which is defcribed by him with great accuracy and judgment. To his pen, the public owe their chief obligations for being undeceived refpecting the bite of the Tarantula. In the year 1758, he was appointed firft physician to the Queen of Naples; which poft of honour was eventually the caufe of his death. The Queen being dangeroufly ill, M. Serrao haftened to the palace in the night, forgetting his mantle. A peripneumony was the confequence, which terminated his days in the eightyfirst year of his age.

The life of M. Scheele (as his Eulogift obferves,) presents us with an example of a man of fcience, who had the courage to live in obfcurity; whofe zeal did not require the incitements of praife; whofe important difcoveries betrayed him into renown; and whose premature death deprived him of the enjoyment of that celebrity which was proclaimed nearly about the fame period with his deceafe!'

The modeft referve of this great chemift, and the many obligations that fcience owes to his indefatigable labours, induce us to dwell, for a few minutes, on fome particulars of his life. He was born at Stralfund, the capital of Swedish Pomerania, in the year 1742, and was fent early to a public college: but his progrefs in learning was fo inconfiderable, and his genius fo unpromifing, that he was taken away at the age of fourteen, by a relation, in order to inftruct him in practical pharmacy. During the fix years of his apprenticeship, and the five fubfequent years, in which he worked at the laboratory of M. Keuftroein, an apothecary, indefatigable industry was manifefted, but not one ray of genius. He had read all the books of chemistry within his reach; the treatife of Neumann feemed chiefly to engage his attention but fuch was his calmnefs and referve, that he expreffed no furprize at the discoveries of others, nor did he communicate any plans of his own. In the year 1769, after having ferved in feveral provincial towns, he refolved to vifit Stockholm. Here he communicated his plans to fome members of the Academy of Sciences, who opened to him their libraries,

and encouraged him to make experiments. In the year fol lowing, he compleated his memoir on the Spath fluor, and departed for Upfal. His principal object, in vifiting this city, was to have an interview with the celebrated Bergman: but fuch was his own timidity, and fo, great was his awful regard for that refpectable character, that it was with difficulty that his friends could prevail on him to make himfelf known to this diftinguished chemift. His reception was the most cordial; and when he had communicated his difcoveries and projects, the aftonishment of the Profeffor equalled the modeft confufion of M. Scheele. Several advantageous propofals were made, in order to retain him at Upfal: but he preferred the fuperintendence of a laboratory at Koeping, a fmall town in Sweden, the proprietor of which was dead, leaving a widow reputedly rich; whofe hand he also hoped to obtain: but he found every_thing there in the utmoft diforder, and the widow infolvent. By his industry and skill, however, he re-established order in the affairs of the family, paid the debts of the widow, and married her but, melancholy to relate! he was attacked on the day of his marriage, with an inflammatory fever, which proved fatal ! This was in the year 1786.

We are farther informed, in this eulogy, that M. Scheele, not having had the advantages of an academical education, was obliged to fupply the defect by his own induftry; and that a neceffary attention to economy forced him to devise the most fimple methods of performing experiments; and to undertake none, until former experience and just reafoning authorised him to make the effay; and that from a falary of fix hundred francs, he annually employed five hundred in chemical researches. For farther particulars of the life of this great man, we must refer to his history as given by M. VICQ-D'AZYR. We hope that the above sketch will not be unacceptable to our chemical readers, who are fenfible of the obligations of the science which they profefs, to his affiduous refearches, and who have not an opportunity to peruse these memoirs of the academy.

M. Maret is celebrated as poffeffing a variety of talents. To the medical science, he added mathematical and aftronomical knowlege had made confiderable advances in experimental philofophy, particularly in electrical experiments; and was favoured by the mufes. In the year 1764, he was appointed secretary to the Dijon Academy; and by his affiduity and talents, contributed much to the celebrity of that inftitution. He was a warm promoter of inoculation, at a period when prejudices ran high against it. He has published several differtations on medical and philofophical fubjects: but thofe for which he was moft diftinguished, were, A Difcourfe on Hypochondriac Difeafes,

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Difcafes, pronounced on the day of his admiffion into the Academy; and an answer to the question propofed by the Academy of Amiens, concerning the Influence of the Manners of the French on Health: which gained the acceffit.

M. De La Mure is reprefented as uniting the most amiable manners to the love of fcience, and great affiduity in the purfuit of knowlege. He was a good anatomist and philologist, and diftinguished himfelf by a treatife on the Pulfation of the Arteries and Motion of the Brain. M. Haller having written on the fame fubjects, in his differtation on Irritability, there was, for fome time, a conteft for the honour of discovery, with a reciprocal fufpicion of plagiarism: but the contest was amicably adjusted.

We hall pafs over in filence the catalogue of works publifhed by the members of the Academy, or communicated to them; as their numbers would fwell our page, and as many of them are already known to the learned world; and proceed to the communicated articles..

Meteorological Obfervations, arranged by R. P. COTTE; for the Years 1784 and 1785.

The number of correfpondents in this department is greatly augmented. This branch of knowlege is pursued with the utmost affiduity, by feveral eminent phyficians and distinguished philofophers; and it is to be expected that many useful inferences will be drawn, to the promotion of medical and philofophical knowlege, from perfeverance in meteorological obfervations. The fociety mention, in terms of the warmest gratitude, the encouragement given by his Majefty, who has permitted the members to avail themselves of the observations that were made at Versailles, four times in a day, under his own infpection. M. COTTE, however, laments that he has been obliged to reject many of the obfervations fent to him by different correfpondents, on account of their being inaccurate and contradictory; which he attributes to the badness of their inftru

ments.

In the meteorological tables, which are very extenfive, the cities are arranged according to the order of their latitudes; to afcertain, if poffible, the influence which each climate may have on the temperature of the air. This is more determinate as obferved by the barometer than by the thermometer; local caufes having a much greater influence over the latter than over

the former.

It appears, as the refult of the obfervations made for the years 1784 and 1785, that the temperature of those years refembled each other in feveral particulars. The fame places were marked by large quantities of fnow and exceffive cold.

Each