fuch a representation, nor has it been my good fortune to fee a comedy of more than three acts. The present state of the stage here is what it always muft have been in its infancy, before it became polifhed, and whilst the audience were a rude and illiberal people; that is to fay, the principal entertainments seem to arife from double entendres and blunders, mistaking one word for another, and even from dirty actions, fuch as fpitting or blowing the nofe in each other's faces; juft as we fee ftill practifed in England by Merry Andrews, on the ftage of mountebanks, and on the outfide of the booths in Bartholomew Fair; but what appears most effential to the delight of a Neapolitan audience, are two or three characters, fuch as Punch and the Doctor's man, who speak the dialect of the lower people, which is unintelligible to a foreigner, however well he may understand pure Italian; and it is chiefly by these characters that the company is recreated, not only with the poet's obfcenities, but also as many loose jokes of the actors, as their extemporary wit and humour can fuggeft.'

This is indeed a pretty just picture of the Italian comedy at Naples; but, as it is calculated merely for the entertainment of the very lowest class of people, it were as unjust from thence to form our ideas of the Italian drama, as it were to judge of ours from the Bartholomew reprefentations above mentioned. The Italians are poffeffed of feveral regular comedies of five acts, particularly thofe of Goldoni, fome of which have confiderable merit. Thefe comedies have, within thefe few years, been frequently acted in different parts of Italy.

There are, fays our Author in his 29th letter, three days in the year, the 16th of December, the 4th of May, and I think the 19th of September, that the miracle of the liquefaction of St. Januarius's blood is performed in this city. I had the pleasure of going through the ceremony this morning at the cathedral. It is contained in two different phials, one of which holds very near an ounce of the liquor, the other only a few drops. Both the phials very much resemble the ladies fmelling-bottles for falts, the larger being a depreffed fpheroid; the smaller a narrow cylindrical one: they are contained in a golden cafe betwixt two circular glaffes of about three inches diameter, by which means, when it is held up against the light, or a candle is placed behind, the fpectator fees clearly the bottles and their contents. Mr. Addifon, fpeaking of this miracle, fays, it is a bungling trick, but not entering into any explanation how it is done, or in what confifts the clumfinefs of the performance, we are left either to believe in or ridicule the miracle, juft as we are educated. For my part, I do not treat it as an impofture which requires no dexterity nor fcience; because unbelieving Proteftants, and fcoffers, have not very clearly demonftrated how the fra

is carried on. That it is a congealed substance, not unlike a Jump of Spanish fnuff, which melts either from the heat of the hand, the candles, or the atmosphere, is most probable; though it is poffible that it may be of a nature to be liquefied by fome chymical fluid poured upon it a few minutes before it is expofed to the public. The operation of liquifying is generally executed in eight, ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes; to day it was above an hour and a half; and as I find by the thermometer, it was colder this morning than it has been any day during the whole winter, I am inclined to judge that the liquefaction is owing to the heat of the atmosphere.'

Probable as this conjecture may feem from the extraordinary coldness of the day, we cannot help differing from Mr. Sharp in our opinion concerning the caufe of this liquefaction; for if it were owing to the heat of the afmofphere, it would be impoffible, in the month of May, ever to fhew it in a folid or congealed form. Befides, all the heat which it could poffibly receive from the atmosphere, would be communicated in much lefs time than an hour and a half.

We live in a quarter of the town called St. Lucia, a faint as the legend informs us, who in the perfecution of the Christians, under Dioclefian, had her eyes torn out by the executioner; which circumftance has given her a great reputation for working miracles on every fpecies of blindness. Her chapel is close to our house, and the day before yesterday was her anniverfary. I attended the fervice both morning and afternoon, to fee the method of cure. In the midst of the chapel is a paultry wooden image of her faintfhip, with a platter in her hand, containing the representation of two eyes. All the patients pafs their hands over thefe eyes, and immediately rub their own, before the virtue exhales. There is alfo a fmall piece of bone, fet in filver, (a filver arm) which they pretend to be a relic of the faint; this they kifs, which likewife operates miraculously; but I believe moft of the patients take the advantage of both methods. It is faid to have been a practice among the heathens, not only to upbraid, but even to chaftife their gods, when they were not propitious to their prayers; the same thing is faid of the lower clafs of people amongst the Neapolitans. If a Madona, or any particular faint upon whom they depend, does not answer their expectations, they will fometimes behave very rudely on the occafion. I cannot fay I have seen any instance of this groffness; but furely if ever a faint deferved punishment, it is this fame St. Lucia. Had you beheld the infinite number of blind people I did that day in the neighbouring ftreets, who have come from year to year for her fuccour, I do not doubt put you would have cudgelled her, like the medicin malgrè lui,

into the exertion of her powers; I mean, upon a fuppofition you were one of this fort of Catholics.'

that

[To be concluded in our next.]

Confultations on most of the Disorders that require the Affiftance of Surgery. By H. F. Le Dran, Mafter in Surgery, Senior Director of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris, &c. Tranflated by Alexander Reid, Affiftant-Surgeon to the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. 8vo. 6s. Hortfield.

I

T is generally believed, at least in this kingdom, that our improvements in the art of furgery have been fo rapid within thefe few years, that the English furgeons, at prefent, excell thofe of every other nation. Be it fo: but, though this may be true in general, we must not stretch our vanity fo far as to imagine, that there is no furgeon on the continent capable of inftructing us. Mons. le Dran's abilities are univerfally acknowledged; his opportunities have been very great; and his practice is of no lefs than fixty years duration. This volume is his fixth and laft work, and may therefore be fuppofed to contain his final opinions; and hence it cannot fail to be a very acceptable prefent to thofe for whofe inftruction it is particularly intended. Monf. le Dran's age reminds us of the longevity of that famous furgeon and anatomist, Heifter, who died a few years ago; and that the great Morgagni, and the celebrated Monro of Edinburgh, are both at this time very old, and very hearty. The illuftrious Haller alfo must be pretty far funk into the vale of years: and yet perhaps no five men in the world have ever diffected more dead bodies, and thofe generally morbid. Does not this feem to contradict the fuppofition, that this em→ ployment is unwholesome ?

These Confultations, we learn from the Author's preface, were formed from a collection of obfervations which he made for the benefit of his pupils, to whom it was his custom to describe diseases, and to demand, from each pupil, a written opinion concerning the method of treatment; which opinions he afterwards corrected as the cafe required. The confultations therefore are imaginary, though the cafes are real. The fe veral diseases are fuppofed to be defcribed in letters from furgeons living at a distance from the metropolis, and the answers are fuch as he would return being thus confulted. The cafes are, in general, fuch as frequently occur, and are on that account more univerfally ufeful. The Author's manner and abi. lities will beft appear from the following examples:

An Abfcefs under the Os Maxillare.

A very fat man, thirty-five years of age, was attacked in the night with fo confiderable a fluxion on his cheek, that in

the

the morning he could not open his jaw; the fwelling in a fhort time extended from his eye to his throat, yet the patient felt very little pain, only a kind of uneafy fenfation. Notwithftanding the use of emollient and refolvent cataplafms frequently renewed, all the fide of his face grew confiderably hard. It has continued a month much in the fame ftate as at prefent, except that there seems to be a very deep fluctuation under the jaw, near the 3d and 4th of the dentes molares, and another as doubtful near the angle of the jaw. How fhould this disease have been treated at the beginning? and how ought this abfcefs to be opened? Is it a proper time to open it, the patient having very little fever? Note, he now feels and has felt very little pain.

Anfwer.

The patient ought to have been bled once or oftner, in the beginning of the disease, on account of its violence, and his full habit; for probably that might have prevented the forming of matter. It was right to make use of emollient cataplafms; but nevertheless I think that when the matter began to form, maturative cataplafms fhould have been ufed to affift nature. The matter which you think you feel fluctuate, is more likely the confequence of a putrefaction of the obftructed cellular membrane, than of a fermentation of the stagnated fluids; as he has never had, and has now, but very little pain. However this matter fhould be difcharged by a proper operation, provided you are certain of its existence. The abfcefs, therefore, muft be opened, and the extent of the cavity containing the matter, will determine the direction and extent of the incifion; for when you have made an opening large enough to admit your finger, you must introduce it into the wound; and feeling the extent of the cavity, you may conduct the biftoury by it, either to lengthen the incifion, direct its courfe, or make a counteropening, if neceffary, near the angle of the jaw. Befides, with the finger you will be able to diftinguish the pulfation of an artery, which otherwife might be cut; and is what every furgeon fhould be attentive to, before he makes a deep incifion, especially in the neck, because an hæmorrhage there is very difficult to be stopped.

The Surgeon's account of the Progress of the Disease.

I opened the abfcefs its whole extent, and likewise made a counter opening near the angle of the jaw, to prevent the matter lodging in a finus, which I found there. The wound went on well; and the counter-opening, which discharged a great deal of matter, was clofed in three weeks. But the large wound, the edges of which are contracted and funk in, without filling up from the bottom, threatens to become fiftulous. In proportion as the wound has digefted, all the hardness has in a

manner

manner diffolved, and the jaw begins to open juft enough to admit the end of the little finger. What is to be done to prevent its becoming fiftulous?

Anfwer.

As the jaw can be a little opened, the teeth on that fide fhould be examined, by ftriking them one after another with a thick probe. If the ftroke is more fenfibly felt by one than by another, that tooth is certainly damaged, though it has rever been painful, and confequently fhould be drawn.

The Event.

The patient coming to Paris, I founded his teeth in the manner propofed, and caufed a flight fenfation in the fartheft dns molaris, next the angle of the jaw. I therefore had it drawn. The tooth was not carious, only changed in its colour, being yellower than the others. I concluded this was the cause of the difeafe, and fo it proved; for in about three days, the motion of the jaw became quite free, and in about ten, the orifice, which had remained fiftulous, was closed up.'

A Wound in the Fore-arm, by a Sword.

• A man received a wound by a fword, in the middle and outfide of the fore-arm, which paffed upwards to the bending of the elbow without going through. The wound bled a great deal, and there is a kind of thrombus formed at the bending of the arm, which is grown bigger, and has fomething of a pulfation in it. Half an hour after the accident, being fent for, I thought it neceffary to dilate the entrance of the wound, and ftopped the bleeding with dry lint. It is about twenty-four hours fince; the lower arm is a little fwelled, and the thrombus fomething increafed. What am I to think of it? What fhould I do more than I have done already?

Anfwer.

• From the account given, I make no doubt, but there is an artery at the bend of the arm pricked, or perhaps divided; and the wound being narrow, there is not a free and fufficient paffage for the flux of blood, for probably the fword paffed between the two bones, through the aponeurofis that connects them together. The fmall fluctuation and pulfation at the bend of the arm, are convincing proofs of it.

You have acted right in dilating the entrance of the wound, and if you had been certain, that an artery was opened at the bending of the arm, I do not doubt but you would have made a fufficient preffure to prevent the thrombus that has happened. I once faw the brachial artery opened in a wound given by a fword in the middle of the arm, where the blood was stopped by compreffion, which was continued for feveral months, by the help of a bandage made on purpofe; the coagulum of blood formed at

the