of which she had claimed the fovereignty. Hereby Ruffia, Sweden, and Denmark were leagued to maintain the honour of their refpective flags; to defend their fhips, and protect them from being fearched whilft freighted with naval ftores, to whatever port they might be bound; and hence the arfenals of France and Spain were amply fupplied with every requifite for the prefervation and increase of their navies; and the local advantages which this ifland poffeffes, and which had enabled her, in former wars, greatly to diftrefs her enemies in these points, were rendered unavailing. The States General of the United Provinces were admitted parties to this treaty in January 1781.

"In thofe inftances which have hitherto been spoken of, the ambitious and ardent fpirit of this great potentate, may, perhaps, be faid to have led her to measures which tended to aggrandize the country over which the reigns, without violating those political principles which civilized countries have concurred in adopting, as the laws of nations; but her conduct towards Poland has been strongly marked no lefs with injuftice than with rapacity. If laying claim to, and actually feizing upon an extenfive territory, unquestionably making a part of that kingdom, was a violation of all justice and good faith, the caufing a powerful army to proceed thither in the most hoftile manner, for the exprefs purpose of overturning a new conftitution, formed upon an enlarged and equitable principle of liberty, and approved by the general confent of the natives of all ranks and degrees, was fuch an atrocious act of unqualified tyranny as may be faid to have no parallel in the regal enormities which difgrace the modern hiftory of Europe.

The munificence of the Empress to men of science, has drawn to her court many eminent profeffors of the liberal arts, among whom Profeffor Euler, from Berlin, has received fignal marks of her favour. She invited the great D'Alembert to Ruffia, in 1762, to fuperintend the education of her only fon the Grand Duke, then eight years of age; but that philofopher declined the honour, although the folicitation was reiterated by a cogent letter, under the Emprefs's own head.

"A new code of laws has fince been formed for the Ruffian empire, under the aufpices of this imperial prodigy, by which the tediousness, perplexity, and indecifion of the Ruffian jurifprudence is done away, and the country is relieved from the difgrace and oppreffion confequent on legal chicane; nor is the criminal law lefs reformed than the civil. A copy of this ftatute-book having been prefented to the late King of Pruffia, that monarch wrote a letter to the Empress, in which he expreffes himself in the following manner: "I have read with admiration your work. The ancient Greeks, who were admirers of all merit, but affigned the first feat of glory to legislators, would have placed your Imperial Majesty between Solon and Lycurgus," P. 77.

Mr. Payne feems to poffefs the indifpenfable qualities of an hiftorian; great perfeverance, undifmayed and undiminished by laborious research, and we fincerely with that he may meet with the fuccefs which, in our opinion, he well deferves.

ART,

ART. XVI. An Inquiry into the Medical Efficacy of a new Species of Peruvian Bark, lately imported into this Country, under the Name of Yellow Bark, including Practical Obfervations reSpecting the Choice of Bark in general. By John Relph, M. D. Phyfician to Guy's Hofpital. 8vo. pp. 177. 3s. Phillips, Jonnfon, &c. 1794.

IT

T has long been lamented that the Peruvian Bark in common ufe is neither fo speedy nor certain in the cure of fever, as it was found to be on its first introduction into Europe. This may be accounted for by confidering, that when the prejudices (at firft very violent) that had been conceived against the ufe of the Bark had fubfided, and its real value came to be ascertained, the demand for it foon became fo exceffive, that the old trees were in a few years destroyed, and recourfe was neceffarily had to younger trees, that had not attained their maturity, or acquired their full ftrength and activity. Afterwards, though Bark obtained from old trees continued ftill to be brought over, yet, as this was taken partly from the ftumps of the trees that had been destroyed, and partly from other fpecies of Cinchona, which grow near the true and effectual fpecies, but which are known to poffefs very little febrifuge virtue, the young, or Quill Bark, was found to be much fuperior to it, and was therefore generally preferred. In time, the circumftances which gave birth to this preference being forgotten, or not understood, physicians began to imagine, that its fuperior value arofe folely from its being young; and were thence led to reject, indifferently, all pieces of Bark that were large, or from their wrinkled furfaces appeared to be taken from the trunks of old trees. This prejudice in favour of young, or Quill Bark, was fo general, that when in the year 1779 a large parcel of old Bark, part of the cargo of a Spanith vefel that had been captured, was brought here, it was a long time before the apothecaries would venture to purchase it. But at length, on a few trials being made, proving that it had the general character of the Cinchona, or Peruvian Bark, and that it was more bitter and aftringent, and was higher coloured than the best Bark that had been lately. fen, it by degrees acquired its juft value and reputation. To this Dr. Saunders materially contributed, by an ingenious Effay on the fubject, in which he not only fhowed, from various chemical tefts, that it poffeffed all the properties of the Cinchona, in a much higher degree than the Quill Bark, but, from numerous experiments in the cure of difcafes, made by himself

himself and many of his friends, whofe communications he published at the end of his Effay, it appeared to be equal to the Bark that had been fo highly commended by Sydenham and Morton. The Red Bark, therefore, which was the name it acquired, came into general ufe. But as this cargo came to our hands by accident, we have not been able to learn whether it was the produce of fome forefts which the Spaniards have reserved for themfelves, and which they do not fuffer to be stripped for general trade; or whether it was procured from a clufter of trees accidentally discovered. Be this as it may, it is generally thought that no Bark of the fame quality has been imported fince; and the Bark, now fold for Red Bark, is either adulterated or decayed, and very little, if at all, fuperior to the common Pale Bark. At this period, therefore, it gives us pleasure to find that the Public have for fome time been fupplied with a new fpecies of Bark, the Yellow Bark, which appears to be equal, fuperior, the writer of this enquiry thinks it, to the Red Bark, or to any of the Barks that have hitherto been brought into Europe. Dr. Relph thinks it probable that it is a new fpecies of Cinchona, or a fpecies that has not been before defcribed, and that it has been known only a very few years. All that he has been able to learn of its hiftory is, that it comes from a very diftant country in the interior parts of America; and we are forry to add, that the difficulty of procuring it is fo great, as there are no large navigable rivers near the place that produces it, by which it might be brought down to the fea, that there is little hope of its being regularly fupplied to us. The Doctor enu

merates the different fpecies of Cinchona that had been seen by Arrot, Condamine, and Juffieu; and then proceeds to defcribe the Bark, which is the fubject of this enquiry. "This Bark," he fays, though denominated Yellow, is only to be underflood as approaching nearer to that colour than any other fpecies of Peruvian Bark imported into this country, especially when reduced to powder. It confifts of flattish irregular pieces, of a cinnamon colour, inclining to red, and having, in certain directions of light, a sparkling appearance on the furface. They are very generally divefted of the cuticle, of a fibrous texture, rigid to the feel, and eafily rubbed into powder between the fingers and thumb; neither remarkably weighty, nor the contrary. They have little odour, but to the tafte manifeft intenfe bitternefs, with a moderate fhare of aftringency, together with a certain flavour correfponding unequivocally to thofe of the Cinchona officinalis. The external furface of this Bark is of a fomewhat deeper colour

than

than that of the internal, and in fome fpecimens it is as deep as that of the Red Bark. The pieces vary much in fize; fome are about two inches and an half in length, an inch in breadth, and the fixth of an inch in thicknefs; while others are ftill fmaller; and fome are to be found from 12 to 18 inches in length, with the breadth and thickness in proportion. I have also seen, the author adds, whole chefls of this Bark, the pieces of which were nearly cylindrical, and as completely covered with an outer coat as the most perfect specimens of common Bark. The epidermis of the large pieces is of reddish brown colour, rough, and of a fomewhat spongy texture; but that of the smaller pieces is of a grey colour, harder, and much more compact." This Bark was first noticed here, the author fays, in the courfe of the last year; but from the account of the cortex chinæ vel chinchinæ regius, or cortex flavus, defcribed by Profeffor Murray in his Apparatus Medicaminum, and which Dr. R. concludes to be the fame kind of Bark, it appears to have been known at Frankfort as early as June, 1790: and, from the account of Dr. Michael O'Ryan, late Profeffor of Phyfic at Lyons in France, whose defcription of that unfortunate city, and of the management of the hofpital there, forms an interesting and pleafing part of the volume before us, it appears to have been conftantly used in that place fince the latter end of the year 1786. From the fenfible properties the Yellow Bark exhibited, Dr. R. was induced to fubmit it to the teft of chemical experiments; thefe were conducted with great ingenuity, by Mr. Babington, Teacher of Chemistry at Guy's Hofpital; and fhow it to be poffeffed of thofe qualities in which the virtues of the Quinquina are fuppofed to refide, in a degree fuperior to any other kind of Bark he was able to procure. The volume concludes with communications from feveral medical practitioners; from whofe accounts it appears, that the Yellow Bark has been administered, in various complaints, with much greater fuccefs than ufually attends the exhibition of the common Bark. The Public, therefore, are much indebted to Dr. Ralph, for the trouble he has taken to afcertain its qualities, and for giving fo clear a defcription of it, as will make it easily cognisable whenever it fhall be met with.

ART.

ART. XVII. The Hiftory of the Life and Death of our Blessed Saviour. By Mrs. Catherine D'Oyley. 711 pp. 8vo. 9s. Baker, Southampton; Law, London. 1794.

THE author thus ftates the origin and defign of this per

formance:

"Having much leisure, and wishing to employ it as ufefully as poffible, the fome years ago took upon herself the fuperintendance of one of thofe private charitable establishments, which have been inftituted in various parts of the kingdom for the increase of religion, and encouragement of industry amongst the children of the poor: and that the might perform this voluntary duty fo as to make a lafting impreffion upon the minds of her pupils, the determined attentively to peruse the facred Scriptures, with the feveral excellent commentaries, and to intersperse such observations of her own mind, as might enable her to fulfil that pleafing duty.-To the publications of Poole, Stanhope, Sherlock, and various other learned divines and commentators, the confeffes herself indebted for the best part of what she now offers to the public." P. iv.

This is one among the many inftances within our knowledge of perfons of good family devoting their leisure to a very active exercise of piety and charity. And it ftrengthens the pleafing hope we have long entertained, that irreligion and impiety do not abound among us fo generally, among the higher claffes, as fome perfons haftily, and others infidiously, would teach us to believe. Perhaps the most exaggerated charges of irreligion against the prefent age, come from perfons who themselves are, and who would perfuade others to be irreligious and profane.

The work confifts of practical obfervations on the principal events in the life of our Saviour, and contains fo many proofs of extenfive reading and found judgment, that it is far from difcrediting the large and very refpectable lift of fubscribers prefixed to it; at the head of which are their Majefties and all the Princeffes.

The method ufed by the author is the following:-After prefixing a very rapid fketch of fuch parts of the Old Teftament as the conceived neceffary to her defign, fhe gives the Life of our Saviour, at the commencement from fome of the early chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke, because they take up the history from an earlier period, afterwards from the Gofpel of St. John, occafionally commenting on fome parables contained in the other Gofpels, and not inferted in that of St. John. The divifions of the book are then formed from the chapters of that Evangelift, and Mrs. D. comments on

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as