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Art. 23. Facts and Observations respecting the Air-Pump Vapour-
Bath in Gout, Rheumatism, Palsy, and other Diseases.
Ralph Blegborough, M. D. Crown 8vo. pp. 150.
Boards. Lackington and Co.

By

38. 6d.

The intention of this machine is to subject particular parts of the body to the action of vapour, and afterward to produce an increased determination towards them, by taking off the pressure of the atmo. sphere. The manner in which these effects are produced is simple and ingenious; and though the apparatus, of which a plate and description are here given, is intended only for the leg or arm, yet the principle may be much more generally applied. The body of the machine is a flattened cylinder, made of copper tinned in the inside, and sufficiently large to admit either extremity freely. To the mouth of it is attached a strong bladder, which, after the limb has been received, must be secured on the upper part of it by means of a roller, to prevent the access of air from above, or the escape of from within. In the other end of the machine, is inserted a tube with a stop-cock, which conveys the vapour into the body of it from a small boiler heated by means of a lamp ;-and a thermometer is placed so as to indicate the temperature of the fumigation. When the application of the vapour has been continued a sufficient length of time, the stop-cock is turned, and the process for exhaustion commences, by the action of an air-pump, placed also at the lower part of the machine which contains the limb. The air, which is abstracted from the machine, is thrown out by an escape-valve, to which a flexible pipe is adapted to convey it from the chamber, if vitiated by the nature of the affection for which the application is made.

vapour

The employment of this apparatus is worthy of the attention of the medical practitioner, inasmuch as it affords a more extensive means than any hitherto used for determining to particular parts, and thus promises considerable advantage in many affections which have resisted the ordinary modes of treatment.-Cases of the efficacy of the air-pump vapour-bath in gout, rheumatism, palsy, cutaneous discases, ulcers of the leg, pains of the back and hip, and diseased elbowjoints, are mentioned by the author; who also makes some observations on its probable utility in white swelling, ptyalism, chilblains, leprosy, ulcer, tetanus, amenorrhoea, and dropsy.

It is very unfavourable to a general and complete investigation of the effects of this agent, that it cannot be employed unless by a grant from the patentee; which costs much more than any individual would chuse to risk on a remedy that has not yet been tried sufficiently to demonstrate its efficacy.

POLITICS.

Art. 24. A Reply to some Financial Mistatements in and out of Parlia ment. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Hatchard.

A great portion of this pamphlet is occupied by strictures on some statements and assertions contained in a public print; the author of which, in labouring to prove the diminution of our revenue and the mal administration of our finances, is here pronounced to have failed Y REV. JULY, 1803.

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in every thing, but in the proof of his own ignorance. The re mainder is employed in an examination of the charges adduced by Lord Grenville in the House of Lords, against the Minister's account of the State of the Finances; in which Mr. Addington's statements are not only defended, but his financial measures highly extolled.

Art. 25. A Warning Drum; a Call to the People of England to resist Invaders. By T. Newenham, Esq. 8vo. 3d. C. and R.

Baldwin.

Mr. N. beats this warning drum with vigorous hands; and it is a drum which summons us not merely to resistance but to victory; for we are told that the Almighty has destined us to tear the laurels from Bonaparte's brow, and to prostrate his power for ever.' On this important occasion, every man is required to suspend his business and his amusements. Vigorous measures are pursuing by government; and if our enemies make the experiment of an Invasion, it must be to their bitter cost.

Art. 26. The Country in Arms; or no Danger from Invasion. By an Old Soldier. 8vo. Is. 6d. Ginger.

To rouse us to a sense of our danger, and to induce us to meet it with suitable preparation and fortitude, form the object of this manly and patriotic appeal. Cowards (says the motto) alone fear death, -men of honour will always be found at the post of danger, and then a nation in arms becomes invincible.' In the present awful crisis, it is certainly requisite that the importance of National Independence. should be strongly impressed on every mind, in order that we may act with vigour, firmness, and unanimity; selfish considerations should be buried in a regard for the public good; the rich should serve without pay, to avoid an apparent scramble for appointments, and the sentiment of all classes should be a preference of death to subjugation. Threatened with a formidable invasion, we should be undeserving of our national privileges, if we were to omit for one moment those preparations which are necessary to meet it with effect, and to pour de feat on our foes. This old soldier' well exhorts us to retain unshaken confidence, to oppose a firm front, to depend little on stra tagem, and to maintain every post to the last extremity.

Art. 27. Hints on the Policy of making a National Provision for the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland; as a necessary Mean to the Amelioration of the State' of the Peasantry. Addressed to John Bagwell, Esq. Knight of the Shire for the County of Tipperary. Is. Ginger.

8vo.

This letter contains good sense, and good sense is good policy: for it recommends wise means to accomplish a desirable end. The evils of Ireland cannot be removed by the word union used as a charm: and in order to relieve the common people from their deplorable condition, they must be cured of their gross ignorance. Take the people out of the hands of the priest, and the priest out of the hands of the people; let the Roman Catholic clergyman be appointed and provided for by the government, and you lay the foundation-stone of Irish prosperity and of true Catholic emancipation.' The priest, in his pre

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sent situation, has an interest in keeping the people in ignorance, while he is prevented by his poverty from improving himself; and that disaffection, which he feels towards the government for withholding from him its support, he propagates in the minds of his flock. It is therefore the wish of the writer of this letter, that the Catholic Priest should be paid and appointed by the state; and, without being terrified by the bugbear of popery, that we should leave. questions of faith in the hands of the old lady, till the body of the people, being generally enlightened, shall cast off their chains, and become members of the Reformed Church.

It is here proposed to provide for the Catholic clergy in Ireland by a tax or tithes we think that it would be better to pay them immediately from the treasury: but, if the measure were adopted, the means could be easily adjusted.

Art. 28. First and Second Letters to Lord Pelham, &c. &c. Giving a comparative View of the System of Penal Colonization in New South Wales and the Home Penitentiary System, prescribed by two Acts of Parliament of the Years 1794 and 1799. By Jeremy Bentham, Esq. of Lincoln's Ino, Barrister at Law. 8vo Pam phlets. Mawman.

Art. 29: A Plea for the Constitution: Shewing the Enormities committed to the Oppression of British Subjects, innocent as well as guilty, in breach of Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights; as likewise of the several Transportation Acts; in and by the Design, Foundation, and Government of the Penal Colony of New South Wales; including an Inquiry into the Right of the Crown to legislate without Parliament in Trinidad, and other British Colonies. By Jeremy Bentham, Esq. 8vo Pamphlet. Mawinan. 1803.

We have had several opportunities of testifying our respect for the conceptions of Mr. Bentham, on subjects of the nature of those which are considered in these tracts; and those which are here treated are discussed with his usual ability. The justness and comprehension of his views are equally striking, whether we regard him as a philosopher, a statesman, or a lawyer; and we hope that his remon strances will not prove without effect. He alleges very powerful and urgent considerations, to, enforce the immediate abandonment of the New South Wales colony, as founded on a most unwise, ineffectual, improvident, and oppressive system, We could wish that the important matter here communicated had been better digested, and submitted in a more attractive form to the noble person whose consideration it requests, and which it certainly merits in a high and serious degree.

Art. 30. An Abstract of the Act lately passed for consolidating the former Acts for the Redemption of the Land Tax; and for removing Doubts respecting the Right of Persons to vote for the Election of Members of Parliament: Shewing the Disposition and Arrange ment of the Subject Matter of it. With occasional Notes, explanatory of the Object and Effect of the New Provisions. To which are prefixed, a few Observations on the Nature and Extent

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of the Advantages resulting to the Public, and to the landed Proprietor from the Measure. By George Harrison, Esq. Barrister at Law. Third Edition. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Butterworth, &c. The idea of the fee simple of a tax was first conceived in the last administration, and applied to the redemption of the impost on land. By this measure, some important advantages were designed to be accomplished: but it is not altogether free from objections. It may be questioned how far it is politic even to admit the principle of selling an exemption from any given tax, at a certain number of years' purchase; and it deserves consideration how far the avowed object can be realized to the purchaser. The exoneration from any given impost is no real exemption; because parliament, after one tax is redeemed, has the power of laying on another; and the measure, which this pamphlet so fully explains, only clears the land for a new crop of taxes. Indeed, before the old tax could be redeemed, the minister has imposed a new one.

Mr. Harrison laments that the benefits resulting from the redemption of the land tax, whether of a public or a private nature, have not been generally understood; and he endeavours, in his introductory observations, to recommend this measure to general adoption. He states the public benefits to be an increase of the revenue, a rise of the stocks, and an augmentation of the fund employed for the extinction of the national debt.

The benefit resulting to the individual is considered, first, with a reference to the transaction simply as the purchase of an incumbrance charged on his estate; and 2dly, with reference to the individual advantage resulting to him from the public benefit. The clear and indisputable advantage to the public, in this measure, is the saving of the expence of receiving with one hand and paying with the other; that is to say, the charges of collection and bank-management. There has been also some little gain of stock.

In reply to the objection that the bargain is disadvantageous to the individual, as being the investment of property in the purchase of a dry and unimproveable income;' Mr. H. observes that it applies with equal force against the investment of property either on mortgage or in the funds. The cases, however, are not exactly similar. The redemption of the land tax is urged as an improvement of the value of the estate on which it is redeemed. The man, (says Mr. H.,) who buys his land tax to-day at, suppose, twenty-five years" purchase, buys an income which is sunk into the clear rental of his estate, worth probably thirty years' purchase. His capital is therefore improved in value five years' purchase of the amount of his land tax.'-Commenting on its public utility, he remarks that every man who redeems his land tax may be considered as a benefactor to his country, and is fairly entitled to carry to the credit side of his bargain the merit of having done a patriotic act.'

To those who are about to adopt a measure which is here repre sented to have the united charm of patriotism and self-interest, this abstract will be very useful.

These observations are sold in a separate pamphlet, price 18.

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RELIGIOUS.

Art. 31. Philario and Clarinda; a Warning to Youth against Scepticism, Infidelity, and Vice. By the late Rev. John Thorowgood. J2mo. 38. sewed. Conder, &c.

Mr. Thorowgood, who was pastor of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Bocking in Essex, appears to have been a man of amiable principles, and to have imbibed in his youth just notions of honourable and upright conduct. Before he had attained his 20th year, he composed this tale; which abounds not with incident and variety, but which bears evident marks of that pious turn of mind which afterward shone conspicuously in the discharge of his sacred duties. We hope that it may prove useful to those who peruse it. Art. 32. Letters on the Existence and Character of the Deity, and on the Moral State of Man. Crown 8vo. pp. 160. Printed at Phi ladelphia, and sold in London by Johnson. Price 4s. Boards. These letters, it appears, were written at the request of a young friend, and their object is to draw the attention of youth to the important subject of religion and morals. In the first letter, it is shewn that the knowlege enjoyed by mankind, respecting a Deity and his perfections, could never have been obtained without the light of revelation. The argument usually drawn from contrivance is ably controverted. It may be alleged, however, that St. Paul a different opinion from this author: but perhaps the Apostle was led to believe that knowlege to be intuitive, which early instruction kad rendered habitual.-In several succeeding letters, the arguments from prophesy, &c. &c. in favour of the Christian Revelation are stated in the usual manner; and among other points, we observe that the author considers it as a probable hypothesis, that mankind have had a pre-existent state. We do not, however, regard the opinion which prevailed in the Apostle's days as any confirmation of this point: nor do we admit the author's reasoning on Election and Predestination as conclusive. We conceive that both Christ and his Apostles occasionally used popular language; and that the Jews had imbibed the Chaldean doctrine of Predestination.

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The reflections on civil government, and on the necessary connec tion between virtuous morals and political freedom, are just and praiseworthy; and we should rejoice if the United States, as well as every other country, would apply the important lesson.

Art. 33. An Essay towards reconciling the jarring Sentiments of Unitarians and Trinitarians, addressed to the moderate Enquirer. Compiled from Sacred Record by Philo-Elohim-Jah. 8vo. 6d. Arch.

Very well meant, no doubt,-but here our praise must end: for so little is this pamphlet calculated to reconcile Unitarians and Trinitarians, that it will satisfy neither party. The Unitarian will not allow that the expression in Genesis, "Let there be light," denotes 'a consultor and consulted' in the work of creation; nor will the Trini

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