to the study of abftrufe sciences, in which they fucceed. There have appeared among them men of great genius, and in general the French do not any where find rivals more worthy of them. It is pity they do not fucceed equally in works of genius; but doubtless their vicinity to the French will in time prove a means of correcting that air of ferocity obfervable in their theatrical pieces, which they brought from the northern extremities of Saxony and Scandinavia." Yes, Monf. l'Abbé, your prediction is already in part accomplished. We have profited by our vicinity to the French nation. We have loft that air of ferocity of which you complain, and with it all that fterling genius of which you have no conception; witnefs our modern tragedies, as regular and as dull as any you can boast. He next proceeds to fpeak of our orthography and pronunciation; but unluckily happens to have borrowed his materials from fome obfolete author, who knew very little of the matter. H, fays he, after a w, is pronounced as if it ftood before it; thus, bouen, houitch, houat, for when, which, what. Gh takes the found of an f, as in although, gaughe, which are pronounced altouf, gafe. Our Readers, we prefume, will from these examples be enabled to judge fufficiently of a performance which feems to have no other merit than what may be thought to confift in the fingularity of the plan. Demonflrations Elementaires de Botanique, a l'Ufage de l'Ecole Royale Veterinaire. Elementary Demonftrations of Botany, for the Ufe of the Royal Veterinary Academy. 8vo. 2 Vols. Lyons, 1766. TH HE first intelligence we remember to have received concerning this extraordinary academy, established by royal authority in the city of Lyons, was from a book publifhed fomewhat more than a year ago, under the title of Matiere medicale raifonnee, &c. by M. Bourgelat, chief of the faid academy; who, from that performance, appears to be a man of confiderable merit he was formerly equerry to the king. But of all the royal inftitutions we have ever known, this, for the inftruction of youth in ti.e art of curing the difeafes incidental to the brute creation, is certainly the moft extraordinary. We would not, however, by the term extraordinary, be understood to condemn the inftitution: on the contrary, we acknowledge it to be the refult of a truly noble idea, and extenfive benevolence of heart, worthy the imitation of all Europe. Happily indeed for themselves, the brute part of the creation are exempt from anu merous merous train of acquired diforders to which the rational are liable; their ailments neverthelefs are many, and frequently within the power of art: but, alas! they have rarely the good fortune to be treated with any degree of propriety. Their doctors, as they are called, from a total ignorance of anatomy, the animal economy, and the materia medica, are conftantly mistaking their difeafes, and mifapplying the means of relief. How laudable then is the eftablishment of a feminary for the instruction of a fet of men, who, in the prefent ftate of things, are of fo little benefit to fociety! But if we are furprifed at the plan, we are yet more aftonished at the fpirit and abilities with which it is carried into execution! From the preface to the above-mentioned Materia Medica we learn, that that book was not the tenth part of thofe intended to be published for the veterinary ftudents. The introduction to botany now before us we take to be the fecond book published with the fame intention: whence it should feem, that these young farriers are to be properly inftructed in every branch of the medical art. But there is yet another very great and very univerfal advantage, which may not at firft occur, but which will neceffarily be the confequence of this royal foundation; we mean, the benefit which the people themselves may expect from a number of men, thus inftructed in the true principles of the art of healing, being difperfed through the remote parts of the kingdom, where no affitance, or worse than none, was to be had; there being a very ftrict analogy between the natural diseases, if we may fo call them, of men and brutes. The first volume of thefe Demonftrations begins with a fhort fhetch of the hiftory and general principles of botany; in which, having first mentioned the moft confiderable fyftematical writers, We propose, fays the Author, to confine ourselves to the two methods which are moft generally adopted, and to the moft general principles. We fhall endeavour to convey an idea of the Linnean fyftem, his plan and execution; but we fhall develope more amply that of Tournefort, which hath been adopted in the arrangement of our demonftrations, for two reasons. Imo, Because, being confined to a fmall number of plants, his method is more fimple, easier to comprehend, and lefs difficult to explain in our language. 2do, Because, it being neceffary that the order of our demonftrations fhould coincide with that of the garden in which they are made, the diftinction of trees and herbs, by Tournefort, is better adapted to a garden than the fexual fyftem, which, following nature, places the burnet at the foot of the oak.' And might not our Author have added a third reafon, namely, becaufe Tournefort was his countryman? What progrefs the Linnæan fyftem may have made in other parts of France, we know not; but we are affured that in Paris the writings of Linnæus are hardly known, at at a time when the rest of Europe have univerfally adopted his fyftem. Our Author next proceeds to explain the general botanic characters, and the parts of fructification. He then confiders the principles on which the various fyftems of authors are founded, which gradually leads him to the particular explanation of thofe of Tournefort and Linnæus; and to render them perfectly intelligible to his pupils, he fubjoins an example of the method of inveftigation, according to each fyftem. We fhall tranflate that of the Linnean, as a fpecimen of the perfpicuity which runs through the whole book. Suppofe, fays our Author, for example, that meeting with the linum, flax, for the firft time, I am curious to know what plant it is? Already inftructed in the principles of the sexual fyftem, I gather feveral fpecimens of the plant, taking care that they are furnished both with flowers and fruit. The firft appearance of the parts of fructification, on which the fyftem is founded, immediately inform me that it doth not belong to the 24th clafs. I obferve in every specimen that there are both ftamina and piflilla; therefore it is hermaphrodite, and confequently belongs neither to the 23d, 22d, nor 21ft clafs. I now examine the flamina more particularly, and find that they are not attached to the pillilla, and that they occupy their proper place in the receptaculum; therefore it does not belong to the 20th clafs. I obferve further, that the ftamina are not in any wife united, and thence conclude that it is neither of the 19th, 18th, 17th, nor 16th clafs. On comparing the ftamina with each other, I find them to be all nearly of the fame fize; therefore I fhall not find it either in the 15th or 14th clafs. So that I am to be determined by the number of the ftamina, which charac terizes the 13 first claffes. I count them, and find that there are five. My plant therefore is of the clafs pentandria: so that I have now reduced it to one of about 200 genera, instead of 1100. Having thus determined the clafs, the next question is the order? Recollecting that in this clafs the orders are determined by the number of pistilla, I obferve the flylus down to its bafe, and find them to be alfo five in number. My plant therefore is of the order pentagynia: fo that I have now reduced it to one of the ten genera contained in this order. I now run over the characters of thefe ten genera, comparing them as I go along with the plant in my hand. I come to one, the generic character of which is calyx pentaphyllus, petala 5, capfula 5-valves, 10-locularis. Semina folitaria, all which circumstances agreeing exactly with the plant before me, determines it to be a fpecies of the linum.' Our Author proceeds in the next place to confider the external organization of plants, whence refult their specific diftinctions; tions; their leaves, fulera, trunc, root, hybernaculum, internal organization; and concludes this firft part of his work with a chapter containing more particular confiderations on the principles of fpecific diftinctions adopted by Tournefort and LinTo this introduction is fubjoined inftruction concerning the method of gathering and drying plants relative to the formation of an hortus ficcus, and their ufe in medicine. The fecond volume of this work contains the description of the most common plants, difpofed according to Tournefort's method. The Author's manner will be beft understood by an example: Le MUGUET: Lilium convallium album. Allem. Thal-lilien. Angl. Lillies of the valley. Fleur. Monopetale, companiforme, decoupée en 4 ou 5 fegm. Fruit. Spherique, mou, rouge, remplie de pulpe & de femences dures, entaffées les unes fur les autres. Feuilles. Elles font pour l'ordinaire au nombre de deux, evales, lancéolées, radicales, & s'embrassent par leur base. Racine. Horifontale, noueufe, traçante. Port. La tige eft nue, elle s'eléve à un demi pied, porte pluLeurs fleurs difpofées en grappes & rangées d'un feul coté. Lieu. Dans les bois. 2 Proprietés. Les fleurs font d'une odeur penetrante, tres agréable, d'une faveur un peu amate. Elles font attenuantes, antifpafmodique, & tiennant le premier rang entre les cephaliques. Ufages. L'on fe fert des fleurs, & rarement des racines. On en distille une eau fimple qui fe donne pour l'homme a la dose de živ. Les fleurs reduites en poudre fe. prefcrivent a la dose de zi. & pour l'animal la poudre de 3fs à zi.' The description of each plant being thus particular, it is eafy to conceive that this volume, though pretty bulky, contains no very confiderable number. Upon the whole, however, it is a ufeful book, being executed with care and judgment. Le Philofophe Ignorant; i. e. All Philofophers ignorant. 8vo. 1766. OLTAIRE is the reputed Author of this work; and indeed, it is ftrongly marked with the character of many of his productions. Like moft of the hashes which he has lately ferved up to the public, it is compofed of fceptical doubts, oblique hints, and illiberal fneers at revealed religion; fome smart reflections upon the abfurd principles and conduct of certain APP. vol. xxxv. Na modern modern philofophers and divines, a very moderate portion of - knowledge, with not a few mifreprefentations, and a very - gentle fprinkling of wit and pleasantry. The entertainment is indeed admirably fuited to the tafte of wits, libertines, fmatterers in literature, pretty fellows, free-thinkers, and thofe who call themselves men of taste. Various fubjects are started, and treated in a very fuperficial manner; fuch as, the weakness and ignorance of man, experience, human liberty, the narrow limits of the human underftanding, eternity, infinity, fupreme intelligence, plastic forms, Spinofa, Bayle, Locke, Newton, Hobbes, Confucius, Zoroafter, fop, Epicurus, the Stoics, &c. &c. &c. In regard to the Compofition, it is of that eafy fprightly kind, which diftinguishes Voltaire's writings, and has many marks of hurry and inattention. The firft fentence is as follows:-Jui es-tu? • D'ou viens-tu? Que fais-tu? Que deviendras-tu? c'est une question qu'on doit faire à tous les étres de l'univers, mais à laquelle nul ne nous répond.It is obvious, that there are two blunders in this first fentence. The author puts four queftions, and he calls them only one. These queftions, he fays, ought to be asked of every being in the univerfe; he does not fay that they are afked; if they are not afked, therefore, there is no great rea.fon to wonder at their not being answered.-We mention this, however, as an inftance of inaccuracy only, and fhall now proceed to tranflate fome of his doubts, as he calls them, for the entertainment of our Readers. The Weakness of Man. < I am a weak animal. At my birth, I have neither strength, nor knowledge, nor inftinet; I cannot even crawl to my mother's breaits, as all the quadrupeds do; I acquire ideas only in proportion as I acquire ftrength, and when my organs begin to unfold. This ftrength increates in me, till a certain period, when, being incapable of any farther increase, it leffens every day. This power of conceiving ideas, likewise rises by . degrees to its heighth, and then declines gradually and infenfibly. What is this mechanifm, which ftrengthens my faculties from day to day within certain limits? I know not. And thofe who have spent their whole lives in enquiries concerning this caule, know nothing more of it than I do. What is that other power, which makes images enter my brain, and preferves them in my memory? Those who are paid for their knowledge have fought for it in vain; we are all as ignorant of first principles, as we were when in our cradles.' What an imperfect view is this of the weakness of human nature; and, in fome refpects how unjuft! And when all is faid upon it, that can be faid, what does it amount to, and |