which he received from the late M. Soufflot, an architect of the first reputation, in which the ufefulnefs of thefe plans is con firmed and recommended. Obfervations concerning the Congelation of the Concentrated Vitri olic Acid. By M. DE MORVEAU. A Table of Semi-diurnal Arches under the Parallel of Dijon, 47° 19' 20" calculated trom five to five Minutes, both of Northern and Southern Decli nation from 0 to 31°. By M. ROGER. An Examination of the Ores of Copper, called MOUNTAIN GREEN and MOUN TAIN BLUE, and of what conflitutes their Difference. By M. DE MORVEAU. The difference lies in this, that the blue conrains more phlogifton than the green, and that no portion whate ever of volatile alkali enters into its compofition. A Memoir concerning the Air that is yielded by: Cream of Lime and Minium. By M. MARET. From the experiments of this ingenious Academician it appears, that the gas contained in cream of lime is a mephitic acid, or fixed air that the alkali difengaged from this cream is not cauftic, and that the gas which is difengaged from minium is not entirely dephlogisticated, and is mixed with about a fixth of mephitic acid or fixed air. This last difcovery tends to explain the caufticity of vo latile alkali that is obtained from minium. Memoir concerning the Sluices of navigable Canals. By M. GAUTHEY.Mineralogical and Chemical Obfervations on heavy Spar, and the Manner of obtaining from it the Kind of Earth which the French call Barote, or Terre Barotique. By M. DE MORVEAU.- An Anatomical Memoir concerning the Omphalo Mefenteric Veffels. By M. CHAUSSIER.Memoir concerning Biliary Stones, and the Efficacy of the Mixture of Vitriolic Ether with Spirit of Turpentine in Hepatic Colics, produced by thefe Cons cretions. By M. DURANDE. A Meteorological Hiftory of the firft Six Months of the Year 1782. By M. MARET. These five articles contain much interefting and ufeful matter, and do honour to this valuable academical collection. 11. Oeuvres complettes, &c. i. e. The whole works of M. DE CHAMOUSSET, containing his humane, patriotic, and benefi cent Projects Preceded by an Account of his Character, drawn up by the Abbé COTTON DES HOUSSAYES 2 Vols. 8vo. Paris. 1783.-M. CHAMOUSSET was certainly a man of very uncommon merit. Wisdom, amenity, and beneficence, were the great and predominant lines in his amiable character. His projects difcover a fpirit of humanity and wisdom, that muft do honour to his memory, though fome of them have been rejected as the dreams of a good man, and others are carried but very flowly into execution. Our pretended age of light and philofophy is an age of luxury and idle pleasure; and luxury and pleas fure are no friends to humanity. They may folten manners, 1; but they harden the heart, and render it felfifh. While M. CHAMOUSSET had the chief direction of the military hofpitals, he gained the bleffing of the foldiers, who confidered him as a guardian angel, fent for their préfervation. In 1761 an hundred thousand patients were placed in the hofpitals under his infpection, and of this number ninety-fix thousand three hundred were radically cured. That numerous clafs in civil fociety, who are not rich enough to procure the means of restoring health, nor fo palpably poor, as to feek them in a hofpital, and thus frequently fall victims to the decency of their station, were, in a particular manner, the objects of his humane attention. The plans, that he formed for their relief by the project of (what he called) a Houfe of Affociation deferve to be peruied, and deferved to fucceed; but their execution was, perhaps, reserved for more virtuous times, if fuch are to come in our planet. In short, all the plans, in the work before us, relative to Foundling hofpitals, Military hofpitals, Oeconomy in the departments of the Army, Commerce, Agriculture, and other objects of public utility, are worthy of the higheft attention. III. Recherches fur la Petite-Verole, fa marche, fes nuances, et les meilleurs moyens de la traiter, &c. i, e. Researches concerning the Small Pox, the Courfe of the Disorder, its various Appearances, and the best Methods of curing it.-Observations on an epidemical Difeafe which reigned at Anfreville, in 1779; on the Nature of inflammable and detonating Gases, with the best Methods of preventing or remedying their pernicious Effects; on the Epidemical Dyfentery that reigned at Caen, in Normandy, and its Neighbourhood, in 1779. By M. H. F. A. DE ROUSSEL, Profeffor of Medicine in the University of Caen, and Member of the Academy, &c. 8vo. 1783-There are several useful, and fome curious reflections and obfervations in this collection ; particularly in the two pieces that treat of the small-pox and the dyfentery. IV. Lettres de M. L'Abbé de St. L*** de Soiffons à M. le Baron de H*** fur differentes Editions rares du xv. Siecle. i. e. Letters written from an Abbé to a Baron concerning feveral Rare Editions of the xvth century. 8vo. Paris. 1783.-One would think, by this manner of making his name peep half out to the view of the Public, that the Abbé is half afhamed and half defirous to fhew himself at full length. In fhort, his name is Mercier, and he is the learned Librarian of St. Genevieve. His Letters will prove an interesting prefent to the lovers of scarce editions, and of ancient Italian literature. This publication contains Three Letters. In theft, our Author fhews, that the first book that was ornamented with engravings, made on metal, was the myftical work of Ant. Bettini of Sienna, entitled Il Monte Santo de Dio, which was printed, for the first time, in 1477 by Nic. de Lorenzo della Magna, and not the folio edition of Dante, printed at Florence, in 1481, as the French Bibliographers generally think.-The 2d Letter treats of the edition of Dante, of the year 1481, with the commentary of Landino, of the Geography of Berlinghieri, and of other editions of Nicholas di Lorenzo, who was a Printer at Florence in the 15th century. The poem of Fazio degli Uberti, a Florentine exile, entitled Dita Mundi, is the fubject of the 3d Letter. V. Rapport de Meffieurs Cofnier, Darcet, Philippe, Paulet, &c. fur les Avantages reconnus de la nouvelle Methode d'adminiflrer l'Electricité dans les Maladies nerveufes, particuliérement dans l'Epilepfie et la Catalepfie, i. e. The Report of the Doctors-Regents of the Medical Faculty of Paris, concerning the advantages they had obferved in the new method of adminiftring electricity in nervous disorders, particularly in the epilepfy and the catalepfy, employed by M. LEDRU.-M. LEDRU, commonly known under the name of Comus, who amufes the Gentlemen and Ladies of Paris with the moft furprifing and ingenious exhibitions of experimental phyfics and legerdemain, is very far from confining his egregious talents to the mere article of amufement. If he has a nimble hand, he has an excellent head, and deferves a very confiderable rank in the class of natural philofophers. In the First Part of the publication before us, which is printed by the order and at the expence of government, the theory of M. LEDRU is exhibited, and it is followed by an account of feveral cures of nervous diforders, performed by electrical operations. Nineteen cafes are circumftantially related, in which the fuccefs of this new method is confirmed by the teftimony of ocular witneffes of the first rank, and by the learned and eminent phyficians, who have figned this Report. To thefe is added the very fingular cafe and treatment of a woman, afflicted with a catalepfy, who, in one of the fits, remained above thirty days, entirely motionlefs, without either eating or drinking, and was perfectly cured in a fhort time. From the cafes of all thefe patients, examined and obferved with the stricteft attention by the phyficians, appointed for that purpose, it appears,-ft, That electricity, adminiftred according to the method of M. Comus, renders, at firft, the fits of the epilepfy more frequent, diminifhes afterwards their number, and at length totally removes them:-2dly, That, when administered at the time of the fit, it diminishes greatly its intenfenefs and duration, and frequently removes it at the firft fhock:-3dly, That fits, which, by the application of this method, are rendered lefs frequent, and gradually lighter, fo as to become, before their entire ceflation, only faint emotions:-4thly, That electricity is generally favourable to all fecretions and excretions, and promotes, more efpecially, the eruption and return of female periodical evacuaREV. Nov. 1783. G & tions: t tions:-5thly, That it invigorates, renews, and fortifies mufcu lar motion; and laftly, That, even when it is strongly administered, it is attended with no pernicious effects, neither affects the breaft, nor excites trembling, as fome have infinuated, but ftrengthens the body, and augments the activity of the intellectual powers. It appears, from the Report before us, that the patients of M. Comus daily increafe, and that his practice is, in every way, facilitated and encouraged by the protection of government, and the countenance of the medical faculty. VI. Lettres contenant le Journal d'un Voyage fait à Rome, &c. i. e. Letters concerning a Journey to Rome in the Year 1773. 2 Vols. 12mo. Paris. 1783.Every traveller has his peculiar manner of obferving, and of confequence, where the field of obfervation is rich and extenfive, every new book of travels may exhibit new points of view even in the fame ground that has been delineated by his predeceffors. Savoy, Turin, Milan, Venice, and Rome, are defcribed in thefe letters; as alfo, Tufcany, Modena, Parma, and Genoa, from which latter place our Author returned to France, by Nice and Monaco. His work is far from being an unanimated journal; for his defcriptions are lively, often fentimental, and fometimes accompanied with obfervations and reflections, that have escaped other travellers. He informs us in a note, that if this part of his Travels is well received by the Public, he will publish the remainder, which will contain his peregrinations in Naples, England, Switzerland, and Holland. VII. More Travels:-Voyage aux Ifles de Lipari, &c. i. e. A Voyage to the Iflands of Lipari, in the Year 1781, containing fome Accounts of the Æolian Iles, that may form Materials for the Hiftory of Volcanos. By M. DEODAT DE DOLOMIEU, Commander of the Order of Malta, Correfpondent Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, &c. Paris. 8vo. 1783.-The Eolian Ilands, which are, generally, all comprehended under the name of Lipari (because that is the name of the one that is moft remarkable for its fertility and population), are but little known. Their fituation in a boisterous fea, where the navigation is rendered dangerous both by ftorms and pirates, is probably the reafon why they are fo little frequented. But when it is confidered, that thefe ifles, alone, exhibit a series of volcanos of every kind, degree, and description, and how much the combuftible matter they contain in their bowels may have contributed to the calamitous and awful revolutions of nature in Calabria and Sicily, it is not furprising they should become an object of attentive contemplation to all who cultivate the ftudy of natural hiftory. In this Cafs our Author deferves an eminent rank. That the number of reprefentatives fhall remain the fame as at prefent. That parochial lifts of the whole body of the people fhall be taken, infants, infane perfons, and criminals incapacitated by law, only excepted; in order to afcertain the exact proportion of the whole number, intitled to the choice of one reprefentative. That every county be divided into diftricts, under the name of bororghs, each containing as nearly as poffible the number of people, thus found intitled to elect one member in parliament. That parliaments fhall be elected every year, on September 1ft. That all candidates fhall declare themfelves on or before June 15th, be proclaimed in every parish on the 16th, fhall be confidered by parochial affemblies of the people on the 17th, who may declare any others they think proper; all of whom thall be proclaimed on the 18th, be tranfmitted to the Secretaries of State, and be inferted in the London Gazette; when no other candidate shall afterward be admitted. The army, militia, and navy, not to vote with the rest of the people; but to vote for the diflricts to which they belong, on or before Auguft 10th, before any juftice of peace, of the place where they then happen to reide, or be quartered. No perfons to vote at intermediate elections on vacancies, but those who voted at the last general election. All petitions against undue elections to be prefented to the house on the first day of the feffion; no committee to fit longer than three days on any petition; and no other business to be proceeded on, till all controverted elections are determined. The peers of Scotland to elect fixteen peers, in whom that right fhall remain hereditary; the number to be kept up by a new election, whenever the male line of a parliamentary peer becomes extinct. All peers of Scotland, with their heirs apparent, are made capable of creations to English peerages; or of election to the Houfe of Com mons. Such is the general tenor of this famous bill, which as it is circulated openly for public confideration, we leave to the critical remarks of our political Readers. Art. 15. Hiftory of the Political Life and Public Services, as a Senator and a Statefman, of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, One of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, 8vo. 76. Boards. Debrett. 1783. The offices of the panegyrift and of the biographer are often confounded; and this is fometimes done with fo much ingenuity, that it is difficult to diftinguish them. In the prefent cafe, the point is easily determined. Every one will fee, from the encomiaftic ftrain. in which this book is written, that the writer does not fo much intend to exhibit an exact portrait for the information of pofterity, as to draw an agreeable picture that fhall produce a prefent effect. The work, in fhort, is nothing more than a laboured apology for a Great Man, in order to ferve a political purpose. It is a narrative of his whole courfe of public conduct, including fuch particulars of ftate history, as might place his character in the fairest point of view. Near 600 pages of good writing are employed upon this fubject; but Gg 3 as |