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As a fpecimen of the work, we fhall infert the author's obfer vations on the two mildeft fpecies of whitloe:

The firit fpecies is fituated round the nail, immediately under the cuticle or epidermis. It is in general a disease of little confe quence, but may be made troublesome by ill treatment.

It begins by forming a little fwelling, attended with a degree of redness, and fome pain at one corner of the nail. A linen comprefs dipped in fpirit of wine and camphor, applied moderately tight round the finger, and kept conftantly moift, very frequently proves fufficient to cure the complaint in a few hours, and prevent the for, mation of matter. I knew a lady who was very fubject to frequent attacks of this difeafe. She had been taught always to treat it with the good old woman's remedy, a bread and milk poultice, and by this means the complaint frequently lafted a fortnight, and proved extremely worrying and troublesome. I directed her, as foon as the felt the leaft pain in the finger, to dip the part and wrap it up in fpirit of wine and camphor. By this management fhe never afterwards had a whitloe that proceeded to fuppuration.

"But if, notwithstanding these precautions, matter should still make its appearance, which it generally does at firft by one white spot under the cuticle, we must not delay cutting off the cuticle from that fpot immediately, and from every part of the finger where it is raifed. The application of a piece of rag, wet in the Goulard water, and renewed when dry, is then fufficient to cure the disease in four-andtwenty hours. But if, on that evening, we delay opening the cuticle, which is easily separated from the fubjacent skin, it becomes loofened by the matter, which extends perhaps round the finger, and fometimes a confiderable way down it, and, what is worse, deftroys the adhesion of the nail to the cuticle from which it is produced, Hence there is a neceffity for cafting off the old nail, and confequently waiting for the growth of a new one, which makes a tedious and troublefome difeafe of one that would have been well in a few

hours if properly treated at the outfet. We fee therefore, even in the moft trifling cafes, how much mischief may be prevented by a little timely attention and obfervation.

The fecond fpecies of whitloe is feated immediately in or under the cutis, in the adipofe membrane about the end of the finger.

The inflammation being greater here, and alfo the pain, from the greater fenfibility of the parts concerned, the disease becomes of a little more confequence. There is a strong throbbing and pulfation in the part, and a confiderable elevation of the skin. We may attempt to difperfe this abfcefs by immerfing the finger, for half an hour at a time, in warm water, and by keeping rags, wet with the faturnine water, conftantly applied to the part; but if these attempts hould fail, the fooner the matter finds an iffue outwardly the better; every thing, therefore, that tends to remove the obstacle to the exit of the matter, fhould be speedily attempted. The cuticle in these parts is very thick, and it often happens that the matter fhall have got through the skin, and fhall not be able to make its way through the epidermis; for the natural thickness of the cuticle is here increafed by

by the inflammation, and by the practice of foaking the part conftantly in a bread and milk poultice. This is evident to the fenfes; forthe cuticle becomes white and perfectly opaque, refembling that of washerwomen who have been soaking their hands all day in water.

In flight cafes of this fort I have known the feparating of the lamella of the cuticle from each other, or, in other words, the thinning of the cuticle, prove fufficient to afford an outlet, either at the time or in a few hours after, to the matter, and to cure the disease. In feveral instances, where there exifted an evident tumour, with no fluctuation, but, from all appearances, a tendency to fuppuration, I have fucceeded in preventing farther mifchief by plunging a knife into the prominent part through the skin and fat; which effect, I imagine, can only have been produced by unloading the veffels of the part, in the fame manner as topical bleeding cures inflammation.'

The next effay is a Differtation on the Effects of Motion and Reft. It is an ingenious memoir, and faithfully tranflated by Mr. Juftamond, who has fubjoined to it a number of useful annotations. The author firft explains the effects of motion and reft, and afterwards points out the indications which are to lead the practitioner in prefcribing motion or reft respectively in furgical diforders.

The tract immediately following is likewife a translation from the French, explaining the effects of counter-ftrokes on the feveral parts of the body, and the method of relieving them. It is probable that, had Mr. Juftamond lived longer, he would. have furnished this treatise alfo with useful annotations, which an extensive knowledge of the subject had fully enabled him to fupply.

The concluding treatise, on the Trial of certain Remedies for the Cure of Cancers, &c. is a republication of one of Mr. Juftamond's former productions. It evinces great judgment, as well as observation, on the treatment of thofe obftinate diforders.

From the whole of thefe tracts Mr. Juftamond's abilities, as a scientific and well-informed furgeon, appear to unquestionable advantage; and were there wanting any proof of his industry in the improvement of chirurgical knowledge, it is amply exhibited in this collection of detached effays, which we are glad to fee rescued from oblivion by the laudable attention of the prefent editor, and the generous co-operation of the fubfcribers towards the publication of the work.

ART.

ART. V. The Poor Soldier; an American Tale: founded on a recent Fact. Infcribed to Mrs. Crefpigny. 4to. 2s. 6d. Walter, London, 1789.

THIS poem, the production of a female pen, has feveral claims at least to a fprig of Parnaffian bays. If the defign of the poet to expand the bofom to all the feelings of benevolence by teaching us to feek for objects every where; to relate the hiftory of a virtuous fufferer; and laftly to pay fome tribute to the amiable exertions of her patronefs; be in itself commendable, we may affure our readers these are not the only nerits of the performance. Many poetical descriptions, fome degree of imagery, and a mind warmly engaged in the subject, are dis-: coverable in every part; nor is there a want of fomething like the order and arrangement neceffary to the structure of a poem. In what then is it deficient? We might say in adhering to truth in the first instance; and next in too ftrictly conforming to those rules which are confidered as effential to diftinguish poetry from profe. An ingenious writer, whofe works we have lately reviewed with much pleasure, places this diftinction in the exclufion of all abstract ideas from the language of poetry. We were much pleafed with this definition, but are now obliged to add, that the fubject of a poem may come fo near to common life, as not easily to admit a very familiar and exact detail of circumftances. The Poor Soldier is an American loyalift, who, after fuffering the lofs of his property and family in America, comes to England in hopes of being received into Chelsea hospital. His fubfequent calamities to his death make the remainder of the poem. The beft contrived parts are the fcenes in America, which, not being familiar to English readers, admit of that clofe detail which can alone render poetry interefting. The following defcription of a modern fkirmish and a rally, are as poetical as the fubject will admit, without divesting it of truth;

Now, front to front, our hoftile legions ftand,
And anxious wait the fignal of command.
Barbaric war-whoops pierce the echoing sky,

Provincial trumpets louder ftill reply;

While, by the deep-mouth'd cannon's thundering found,
Ear-thrilling yells and martial blafts are drown'd.

A bloody itrife enfues-Death's iron car

Triumphant ranges o'er the field of war.
Long time doth fortune equal hold the scale,
But England's mighty arms at last prevail :
Rebellion's fons in broken ranks retire,
Save on one fpot, where, with heroic fire,

A brave

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A brave provincial wakes the flumbering zeal
Of every private for the public weal.

Yield not, my friends! (the rebel-patriot cries ;)
Your bleeding country on your aid relies!
O fave her liberty, preferve her laws,
Or greatly fall in Freedom's glorious canfe!"

He ceas'd-the rebel train his words obey,
And boldly follow where he leads the way.
'Twas mine to stop th' intrepid warrior's courfe;
But vain my efforts, vain my utmost force!
Till, hurl'd from Indian hands, a whirring dart
Refiftless came, and pierc'd his manly heart-
He reel'd-he fell-and, gafping fore for breath,
Faintly exclaim'd, I die a glorious death!
Yield not, my countrymen!-our foes retire-
Nor, with your chief, let Freedom's cause expire!?

If we contraft this with the defcription of Felicia going to the war-office in order to gain a fettlement for her protegé, fhall fee how difficult it is to give familiar objects a poetic

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air:

Thus bufied, to that pile Felicia came
Which from barbaric war derives its name.
She ftops-and to the martial office goes,

Where, with kind zeal, fhe pleads her veteran's woes
To one whofe open brow proclaims a foul

Pliant to gentle Pity's foft control:

'This youth-but wherefore, mufe, neglect to breathe
A name that merits Honour's brightest wreath?
(If active warm Benevolence may plead
A facred title to that envied meed;)
Randole thus answers ftraight the anxious fair:
To gallant Howard, Chelfea's chief, repair,
Since he, and he alone, can grant thy pray'r.'
Alas! I know him not' (Felicia fighs);
Yet feek him, lady, (ardent Randole cries).
He joys the friendlefs foldier to relieve;
He bids the child of forrow cease to grieve;
For fweet philanthropy, angelic gueft!
Hath fix'd her empire in his noble breast.'

Thus urg'd, Felicia hesitates no more;
But inftant bends her courfe to Howard's door:
Yet vain her fpeed-the chief is far away-
But learning that the next revolving day
Chelfea's brave rulers will in council meet,
The fair, with warmest charity replete,
Refolves those bafhful feelings to control,
Which oft o'erwhelm with dread the female foul,
And, in the virtue of her motive bold,
Before the chiefs her story to unfold.'

We

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We obferved before that the poem is regularly conftructed; that is, it begins in the middle of the hero's hiftory, and he is afterwards introduced as relating the earlier parts of it to Felicia, who, meeting him in the ftreet, very benevolently interests herself in his behalf. But by thefe means Felicia is so conftantly before us that we almost lofe fight of the principal character. We mean not to detract from the merits of this lady, or the propriety of marking fo amiable a character to the world; but the poem is entitled the Poor Soldier, and we must not deviate from Horace's rule:

Denique fit quidvis, fimplex
Duntaxat et unum.

On the whole, therefore, whatever merit we may admit to many parts of this performance, we are obliged to confefs either that the fubject would not admit of poetic ornaments, or that the poet has been too often unhappy in her choice of them.

ART. VI. Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. LXXVIII. For the Year 1788. Part II. 4to. 8s. 6d. fewed. Davis. London, 1788.

Art. XIV. OBSERVATIONS on the Natural History of

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Mr. Edward Jenner. Letter to John Hunter, Efq. F.R. S. This paper is curious and entertaining. The facts, though extraordinary, feem to be well authenticated. The more we contemplate the works of Nature, we are the more astonished at that wonderful inftinct which directs her creatures :

The first appearance of cuckoos in Gloucestershire (the part of England where thefe obfervations were made) is about the 17th of April. The fong of the male, which is well known, foon proclaims its arrival. The fong of the female (if the peculiar notes of which it is compofed may be fo called) is widely different, and has been fo little attended to, that I believe few are acquainted with it. I know not how to convey to you a proper idea of it by a comparison with the notes of any other bird; but the cry of the dab-chick bears the -neareft refemblance to it.

• Unlike the generality of birds, cuckoos do not pair. When a female appears on the wing, fhe is often attended by two or three males, who feem to be earnestly contending for her favours. From the time of her appearance, till after the middle of fummer, the nefts of the birds felected to receive her eggs are to be found in great abundance; but, like the other migrating birds, fhe does not begin to lay till fome weeks after her arrival. I never could procure

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