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 those genera which contain trees or fhrubs. Of those 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 finifhed for the work.

M. PALLAS acknowleges to have made frequent use of the works of Ruffian or other botanists, where he has found any thing in them that would fuit his purpose; 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 Roffica: the obfervations that are the moft 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 [chryfanthemum], are much enlarged on; and from what M. PALLAS fays of their virtues, they seem 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 auspices and at the charge of the Emprefs, who continues, with unremitting zeal, to patronife all literary and scientific 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 least 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 Roffice, which must remain as a monument of the high cultivation of natural knowlege in countries but lately emerged from a ftate of barbarifm.

* 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. Doc. de Pelagra, Morbo in Mediolanenf 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.

TH

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 thofe 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 disease, that the phyficians of thefe cities may have opportunities of inveftigating 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 difeafe, to which the peasants are more liable than any other clafs of people, generally makes its firft attack early in the fpring a red fhining (pot, 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 fpots, which return the fecond or third fummer, are larger, the fkin 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,

ther, averfe to labour, and, on the leaft exertion, oppreffed with laffitude; he is, however, ftill able to go abroad, his appetite remains good, and the difeafe generally intermits during the winter, but returns in the following fpring with renewed violence; the ftrength and fpirits diminish daily; and the deepeft melancholy fucceeds; in fome, thefe fymptoms are accompanied with fweats peculiarly foetid, the fmell of which refembles that of mouldy bread. During all this time, the patients have no fymptoms of fever, the appetite and digeftion are ftill good, and all the fecretions regularly carried on; but as the difeafe gains ground, the nervous fyftem is more debilitated, the legs and thighs become paralytic, a drowfinefs and delirium enfue, that at length terminate in complete madnefs, which appears, in different patients, in all its fad variety of forms; but in which a defire to drown themfelves is common to all. This madness is attended with an atrophy, and with a colliquative diarrhoea, which no medicines can fupprefs, and which, in fome cafes, commences before the delirium. The appetite fuddenly fails, but fometimes returns with fuch voracity, that the patient is eager for food, even amid the moft violent convulfions, which, in this ftage of the difeafe, are dreadful beyond defcription; nor is there any kind of fpafm with which the fufferer is not attacked, till nature is entirely exhaufted, and death clofes the mournful fcene.

With respect to the caufe of this disease, various conjectures are made by the feveral phyficians under whofe notice it has fallen: it has been afcribed to bad food, hard labour, the heat of the fun, and the exhalations of a marfhy foil; but thefe circumstances, though without doubt highly prejudicial, being common to other countries where this dreadful malady is unknown, are not, in Dr. JANSEN's opinion, fufficient to account for it; and he juftly obferves, that it is better to acknowlege our ignorance, than to affign hypothetical caufes, which may perhaps lead others into error. Whether the Pelagra be contagious or hereditary, is a point on which the Milanefe phyficians are by no means agreed; but the facts here related feem to indicate that it is not infectious. It is often combined with other diforders, as the gout, rheumatism, fcurvy, phthifis, dropfy, and fever; but the laft, inftead of affiling nature in her efforts to throw off the difeafe, only ferves to weaken and fruftrate them.

A few individuals have recovered from this malady, but the inftances are fo rare, that no method of treatment can be recommended from experience of fuccefs; and Doctor STRANCHI, phyfician to the hofpital at Legnano, acknowleged to the Author, that he never yet faw a cure of the Pelagra, that could with certainty be afcribed to any particular medical treatment.

T13

In

In the first stage of the difeafe, the bath has generally been prefcribed; but, in most cafes, without any good effect; and the phyficians of Milan confefs that they acquiefce in the ufe of it, rather to comply with the notions of the people, than from any hope of fuccefs. Frictions and diaphoretics, together with corroborants, are alfo recommended. Bleeding and purging are not to be tried without the utmoft caution; but finapifms, blifters, iffues, fetons, and, above all, the moxa, are applied as the moft efficacious remedies: opiates and mercurials, inftead of affording any relief, are found to exafperate the difeafe. Dr. JANSEN thinks that several other medicines might probably be ufed with fuccefs, and advises a trial of the Cicuta, Hyoscyamus, Belladonna, Arnica, Hellebore, Cantharides, Viola tricolor, Gallium aparine, Electricity, Inoculation of the itch, and other remedies of the like kind, which have been found of service in diforders, where the fymptoms are analogous to those of the Pelagra. It does not appear that any attempt has been made to difcover the nature of the disease by diffecting those who have died of it; or if any such anatomical obfervations have been made, Doctor JANSEN has omitted the account of them; which we have no reason to fuppofe he would have done, as he seems fully fenfible of their importance.

ART. XIV.

Defcription Phyfique de la Contrée de la Tauride. i. e. The Natural History of Crim Tartary: intended as a Continuation of the Hiftory of Discoveries made by feveral learned Travellers in Ruffia and Perfia. Tranflated from the Ruffian; with Notes. 8vo. pp. 298. Hague. 1788.

THE

HE peninfula of Crim Tartary was not only known, but held in a confiderable degree of celebrity, by the ancients, under the name of Cherfonefus Taurica. Its hiftory, we prefume, is fo well known to most of our readers, that a recapitulation of it would be fuperfluous. We fhall therefore only obferve that, from a Turkish province, it became part of the Ruffian empire in 1783.

The original of this work was published in the Ruffian language, in 1785, by the Academy of Sciences at Petersburg; with the view, not only of defcribing the country, but of pointing out, in a scientific manner, the moft probable means of improving this new province. The author, through motives of modefty, as the tranflator obferves, in his preface, has concealed his name; his work, however, would have reflected no dishonour on it.

* Imported by Mr. Dilly in London. Price 5 s. fewed.

59.

It is divided into three parts, the firft of which is employed in describing the country, the nature and properties of its foil, waters, and other objects of the mineral kingdom.

The description of the country is fomewhat obfcure for want of a map; more efpecially as the author has not paid much attention to the fituation and diftances of the places which he notices. The face of the country being naturally divided into plains and mountains, induces him to confider each of them feparately. The foil is, in general, fertile, and produces an abundance of vegetables proper for pafturage; but the rivers and brooks are generally muddy, and the waters are ill tafted. The wells, if not fufficiently deep, afford a brackish water, impregnated with different falts according to the nature of the foil in which they are funk. The moft extraordinary phenomena which the author mentions are the falt lakes. Thefe he points out as objects that merit peculiar attention, not only to naturalifts as curiofities, but to the inhabitants as advantageous in commerce. They are at different diftances from the fea, but generally in its proximity; and they yield confiderable quantities of excellent falt, which is fpontaneously formed in the fummer months. The cryftallization takes place at the bottom of the lake, and the cryftals unite into a folid mafs or cruft about two inches thick. As the lakes are fhallow, there is little difficulty in loofening the cruft, and raifing it out of the water; any impurities of mud or fand are at the fame time washed off, and the falt needs no farther purification.

In defcribing the mountainous part of the peninfula, the author enumerates the fituations of the chains, their height, the earth or rock of which they are compofed, the plants and trees which are beft fuited to the different parts of the hills, and feveral other interefting particulars.

In the island of Taman, the author defcribes, among many other natural curiofities, the falt fprings that contain naphtha, and the hillocks* which emit falt mud. The laft are found on the tops of mountains compofed of argillaceous earth, and are at a small distance from each other: fome of them are at present in a state of inactivity, but others throw out a mud or flime mixed with petroleum, which fpreading itfelf all round, forms an hillock. Thefe hillocks are generally round, with a small opening in the middle of their fummit, whence the mud juft mentioned continually flows, and, falling down the fides, makes a perpetual accumulation. The foil in the neighbourhood of the hillocks is quite barren, and covered in several places with

* The French word is gouffres, but hillock feems to express the idea better.