fome measure, make it his own. But the Doctor follows an easier and more expeditious method, which may be illuftrated by a not very diffimilar allufion. Before the feth of a turkey, for inftance, can be affimilated into the fubftance of a fox, and become a constituent part of his being, it must undergo the various operations and proceffes of maftication, deglutition, digeftion, chylification, &c., but the Doctor's process of Identification is performed without any of thefe long formalities. The individual fubftance of Pringle and Huxham is affimilated into that of the Doctor, the inftant he lays his right hand, armed with a goofe quill, upon it; and, by the mere motion of that little tool, without either rumination or digeftion, he performs, in a jerk, a true literary TRANSUBSTANTIATION.—But to proceed: Befide the patched-up differtations above-mentioned, which are followed by accounts of the nature and virtues of the particular medicines, fimple and compound, under their respective claffes, which are, upon the whole, very meagre, jejune, and unfatisfactory, we fhould obferve that this work contains fome particular chapters, interfperfed here and there, which treat of certain phyfiological points; and that fome of the claffes of medicines have certain difeafes in their train, of which the Author particularly treats. Indeed thefe are the only parts of the work which diftinguish it from a common difpenfatory. Thus the first section, on nervous fimples, is preceded by three chapters, in which the Author difcourfes on the folids, and fluids, and on the circulation of the blood. In the firft of thefe, he affirms, that we have an intuitive knowledge of the nature, caufe, and symptoms of difeafes ;' and exclaims, how vain and ridiculous it is to fay, there is no certainty in phyfic, when it is attended with the greatest certainty, INTUITION !'-The Doctor must be peculiarly gifted above his fellows, if he is right in these, and his former pretenfions to all this certainty and intuition: see our account of his Differtation on the Nerves, M. R. Oct. 1768, p. 307, 308.] On that fuppofition, we really envy the lot of thofe fortunate beings, who are happily feated, within the sphere of our intuitive Author's practice, and are in a condition to enjoy the full benefit of his unerring prefcriptions. At the fame time, we are forry (we fpeak in the name of all our brother Reviewers, of the medical tribe) that we feel but a moderate portion of thefe inward convictions, in our own practice; and are no less concerned that the Doctor wants either the will or the power of communicating his certainties and illuminations to us, and his other bewildered medical readers. --After all, however, we must confefs, that we are fomewhat inclined to doubt of their existence, and that we rather approve of the very oppofite and modeft declaration of a celebrated practitioner, who, who, as we are told by D'Alembert, terminated a very creditable courfe of thirty years practice, honeftly exclaiming, "I am tired to death with GUESSING." To the fourth fection, which comprises the ftomachic clafs of medicines, are added two fhort chapters on fermentation and digeftion; and in the fourth chapter of the fifth fection, under the article, Detergents, the Author, after copying, according to cuftom, the little that Quincy has faid on that class of medicines, gives us, without any previous warning of his intention, a fet difcourfe on the fcurvy: the firft ditemper which has yet made its appearance in form, in this work. After a very rambling account of this difeafe, he wanders into the rationale of fevers; the fundamental caufe of which he makes to be a fulphureous and faline matter combined, and clofes the chapter with a very notable coup de main, by falling pell-mell on Mr. Sutton, in a place where he might leaft expect fuch an attack. We cannot help figuring to ourselves that unfortunate gentleman, reading and yawning over this fame chapter on the fcurvy, with the greatest fangfroid imaginable, and Dr. Smith, armed cap-a-pé, rufhing forth from his ambufcade, towards the close of it, on this poor unfufpecting, and unprepared inoculator. As the Doctor, in a fubfequent part of the work, treats profeffedly and regularly of the small-pox, in a chapter a-part, we naturally fufpect that this fudden onfet was the refult of deep defign, and think that the Doctor has fhewn great generalfhip in this manœuvre. As the paffage above alluded to is undoubtedly of the Author's own compofition, we fhall give it as a fair fpecimen of his manner, when writing in a polemical capacity: first premifing (that we may do justice to the fhare of argument, contained in it) his obfervation that, in the fmall-pox, the variolous matter requires a certain time to come to maturity, and to become fit to communicate that diftemper, fo as to fecure the patient from any future infection; and that if one was to inoculate from the variolous matter before it is thrown out to the furface of the body,' [the Doctor does not fay how, or by whom, this feat is to be done] then perhaps it would raise no ferment in the body:'- but that when it is feparated upon the furface of the body, it is a fluid fui generis-and will not fail to raife a fermentation.' He then proceeds: -- What the difpofition of the habit, and the modification of the parts of the variolous matter, and how the myasma raises a fermentation, or gives the small-pox to one that never had it, and not to another that has, are matters that have been generally looked upon as above our comprehenfion; but I believe it will be found to depend upon the structure of the absorbent lymphatics; which receive more or lefs infection, according as they are more or lefs dilated; and, if this is true, it will be no difficult difficult matter to conceive, and alfo to demonftrate, that fome people cannot,, by any means, have the fmall pox, while others have it and it is very easy to see the danger many are in of a fecond infection, who have been inoculated by Mr. S. and some other of our modern quacks:' [who, we beg leave to add, are not, we must fuppofe, fo intimately acquainted with the exact gage or bore of the abforbent lymphatics, or at what rate these pipes will receive and convey the variolous myama, as our demonftrating Doctor] therefore I beg leave, ferioufly, to advise people, not too haftily and rafhly to run into the fashion of inoculation; and, when they do determine to be inoculated, let them look out for one who has judgment and learning enough to know his duty;' [we all know who this means-the Doctor is a fly-boots] and integrity enough to do it. I fhall conclude this fubject, at present, as I defign to handle it more at length in another part of this book; by asking those that are fo fond of inoculation, and run into it as a blind horfe into a ditch, how they come to know whether they fhould ever have had the smallpox, if they had not gone to the giver of that disease, Mr. S.? and if the perfon dies, is not that perfon guilty of suicide? Many have had the fmall-pox, by means of inoculation, that never would have had it in the natural way; even though they had frequented places, and vifited patients in the small-pox. If Mr. S. does not understand, and believe this, let him difcover his ignorance, or infidelity; and if he has any fense, more than that of impofing upon the credulous, and thereby of getting more,' [what?]he fhall receive fatisfaction.'If Mr. Sutton be not abfolutely ftupid, or incorrigible, furely he must profit by the forceable, clofe and confequential reasoning contained in this quotation, and which neither he, nor any man elfe, will find it easy to answer. The next, or fixth divifion of the work, in which the Author treats of Diuretics, is a very wholesome fection; as it has not a fingle difeafe annexed to it: but under the seventh, on Diaphoretics, (we know not why here, rather than any where • For I, read, Dr. Huxham; if the Author means his fubfequent chapter on the fmall-pox: for almost every paragraph in it, except the two or three firft, is properly his. And yet the Doctor fets off with great parade, declaring that when one confiders that-the cure" of this disease is undertaken by every illiterate mechanic, and ignorant boafting quack,-it is almoft enough to difcourage a regular phyfician from treating of the natural fmall-pox:' and, after expreffing no great liking to inoculation, and giving poor Sutton a second drubbing, I fhall proceed,' fays he, to treat of the natural fmall-pox, as there are still many left who muft and will wait God's time for having it.'-And then falls to his old trade of tranfcribing from Huxham, as faft as he can lay his pen to the paper. elfe) elfe) the distempers come, all at once, thick and threefold upon us-fevers, phrenfies, peripneumonies, fore throats, and various inflammations; with the fmall pox bringing up the rear, which is clofed with no lefs than one hundred and twenty-five prefcriptions, of the diaphoretic clafs, following each other in one continued ftring, without any breaks, or other diftinctions, than of antiphlogistics and antifeptics. A force fufficiently ample, to rout this mighty hoft of diftempers, if it be in the power of diaphoretics to do the bufinefs. This very diftempered fection is followed by another, on Emetics, which has not a fingle difeafe accompanying it, except that general and complicated diftemper under which the whole work labours. In the ninth fection, on Cathartics, the Author gives us a chapter on the Dyfentery, and another upon the Dropfy, which is the laft difeafe treated of in this work. We have named all the others as we went along. Speaking of the laft of thefe diftempers, he fays, that if a perfon, from living upon crude aliments, that are not eafily diffolved, is of a cold, pituitous, and fluggish conftitution, and threatens a dropfy, let him take every hour Venice foap, reduced into pills of gr. 2, and after each of thefe pills, nitre gr. 10, or Glauber's fixed falts, or fixed falt of tartar, or gum ammoniac, in white-wine or mint-water. After fome days,' [that is, we fuppofe, if the dropfy regards not his threats, but keeps poffeffion of the abdomen] let him take every evening one pill of aloes of gr. 3 to 4, and next morning a like pill with gr. fs. or one of euphorbium; by this method the patient will foon be recovered,'-Now Dr. Lewis, under the article Euphorbium, declares that fubftance, on account of its acrimony, " is abfolutely unfit for any internal ufe;" and even fo fays Dr. Smith, literally copying him, in another part of this work. What an uncertain man is this! He, threatens and routs a dropfy, in one page, by euphorbium adminiftered in pills, every morning; and treats that caustic subftance, as abfolutely inadmiffible into the human ftomach, in another. Surely the Doctor, and his boafted familiar, the fpirit of CERTAINTY, alias INTUITION, are at high variance on this point, and muft have had many fquabbles on the subject of this and other staring contradictions and inconfiftencies contained in this work. But thus we fuppofe the matter to have been at laft compromised between them: the Doctor to fet down his opinion, in one page; and Certainty, her flat contradiction, in another; but at a decent diftance, agreed upon between them. In the present inftance, they fettled it, to be at the length of two chapters. If any of our Readers have had the patience to accompany us thus far in our progrefs through this work, we invite them to jog on with us yet a little longer, while we prefent them with a few few more of the many choice things contained in it; which we fhall give without any particular felection, but juft as they prefented themselves to us: beginning with the wonderful virtues afcribed by the Author to certain fubftances, which we should not have fufpected to have been poffefted of them, and ending with a specimen or two of the Author's philofophy. In the worst fcurvies,' fays the Doctor, page 27, and when the blood abounds with acrid particles, if the patient, though never fo languid, takes cream, fresh butter, or marrow of animals, for fome time fafting, he will find himself wonderfully cured,'-WONDERFULLY indeed! 6 Speaking of alcohol, or tartarifed spirit of wine, at p. 69, he fays, that it is good in gout, rheumatism, fcurvy, dropfy, jaundice, colic, green-ficknefs, and calculous cafes;' dofe from gutt. 50 to 32, in wine and water.'-Who could have imagined that brandy, first deprived of its phlegm or water, by being diftilled from falt of tartar, and retaining a fcarce per ceptible portion of this falt, fhould, on being mixed with water again, (in fhort, with the addition of a little fugar, made into bumbo) become poffefled of all thefe extraordinary virtues! On the contrary, we are acquainted with many fubjects, who, by a too affiduous application to this powerful medicine, have, we apprehend, got fome of the very diftempers above enumerated. Either the Doctor is wrong, or they muft furely have overdofed themselves. We have a wondrous account too of the virtues of the balfamic fyrup, at page 210, where we are told that it is good in the gout, and proves of wonderful fervice in all decays from age, as it keeps the fhrinking fibres yet moift, warm, and elaftic. And will a little fugar and water, flavoured with balfam of Tolu, do all this? We queftion whether even Dr. Hill's tincture of fage can do more. But enough of these wonders: though perhaps the following paragraph contains as great matter of wonderment as any of them. Under the article, Lapathum, or Dock, we are prefented with a curious receipt for the cure of the lues venerea, in the following words: Diofcorides fays, that the lues venerea will yield to an infufion of 6 ounces of water-dock root, and 2 ounces of faffron, of mace, cinnamon, gentian root, liquorice root, and black pepper, each 3 drachms, (where the pepper is improper, 6 drachms of liquorice may be ufed')-[begging Diofcorides pardon, we think the pepper rather deplacé on this occafion-] reduced into a coarfe powder, and put into a mixture of 2 gallons of wine, and the yolks of three eggs; the whole digefted with a moderate warmth for three days in a glazed vessel, well topped up the dofe from 3 ounces to 6, every morning, upon |