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as is known to be the cafe with regard to quickfilver and water, metals and their calces, &c.'

Thefe and many other pertinent reflections and experiments, certainly merit the attention of those who wish to investigate this curious fubject, and particularly of Dr. Crawford; whom we hope they will incite to repeat, diverfify, and extend his experiments. Science cannot fail to be a gainer by an amicable con

tention of this kind.

ART. IV. Confiderations on the Efficacy of Elearicity in removing Female Obflructions, &c. By John Birch, Surgeon. The Second

Edition. 8vo. I s. 6 d. Cadell. 1780.

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N our Review of the firft edition of this performance, we obferved, that the medical reader would naturally with that the Author had been more explicit, in defcribing the manner in which the electric fhock was exhibited, in the cafes related by him. The number of defperate cafes,' fays the Author in the Preface to this edition, arifing from obftructed menfes, which have been relieved by electricity fince the first publication of this pamphlet, brings a fatisfactory reflection to my mind, and induces me to give a more particular description of my manner of applying it; that the practice may become general, and that an objection which has been illiberally urged against it may be removed: for, if any indelicacy attended the mode of treatment, that alone would have been an infuperable objection to the recommendation of it, and must have difcou raged the ufe of fo efficacious and fo beneficial a remedy.'

The Author accordingly, in his Preface to the present edition of his Pamphlet, has given a fhort and general defcription of his method of tranfmitting the electric fhock through the parts principally interefted; in which the operation is fo conducted, as not to give offence to the most scrupulous delicacy of the patient. In cafes of this nature, however, as well as in many other medical and chirurgical proceedings and operations, delicacy is a term merely relative; and if the Author had been a little more communicative in his firft edition, he might very probably have prevented what he calls the objection which has been illiberally urged against his practice.' In operations, the scope of which is to fave life, or even to restore health, common sense has, by common confent, even in the moft refined communities, given its fanction to certain means to obtain these ends; which, confidered fingly, and without a view to their object or confequence, might juftly be confidered as indecorous, indecent, or even grofs, in an extreme degree.

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No proceeding, however, which can justly merit any one of thefe epithets, as we now learn, takes place in the Author's

method

method of adminiftering the fhock. One of the directors (or flender metallic rods) is introduced through the pocket, or down the back of the ftays, fo as to reach to the lower part of the fpine, nearly upon the os facrum, while the other is placed below the peak of the ftays. When the directors are thus fituated, the fhock is expected to pafs immediately through that part of the pelvis which is included between the directors. One of them is then removed from under the peak of the tays, and placed under one foot, and afterwards under the other. Some lateral fhocks are afterwards tranfmitted across the pelvis, after having introduced a director through each pocket-hole.

This is an abridgment of the Author's defcription of the method which he has ufed in the generality of cafes that have been fubmitted to his care; and where the disease has arifen only from an obftruction of the uterine veffels,' and has not been attended with extreme debility, and periodical pains about the region of the uterus, he declares, that this method has always proved fuccefsful; and that he confiders electricity as being as certain a specific for the removal of menftrual ob-" ftructions, as the bark for the cure of intermittents, or Mercury for the lues Venerea.

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ART. V. Continuation of the Account of Mr. Gibbon's Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

MR.

R. Gibbon introduces the nineteenth chapter of his Hiftory with obferving, that, as Conftantius was deftitute of perfonal merit, either in peace or war, as he feared his Generals, and diftrufted his Minifters, the triumph of his arms ferved only to establish the reign of the Eunuchs over the Roman world. Thofe unhappy beings, the antient production of oriental jealoufy and defpotifm, were introduced into Greece and Rome, he fays, by the contagion of Afiatic luxury. Their progress was rapid; and the eunuchs, who, in the time of Auguftus, had been abhorred, as the monftrous retinue of an Egyptian Queen, were gradually admitted into the families of matrons, of Senators, and of the Emperors themfelves. Reftrained by the fevere edicts of Domitian and Nerva, cherished by the pride of Diocletian, reduced to an humble ftation by the prudence of Conftantine, they multiplied in the palaces of his degenerate fons, and infenfibly acquired the knowledge, and at length the direction, of the fecret counfels of Conftantius. The averfion and contempt which mankind has fo uniformly entertained for that imperfect species, appears, our Hiftorian fays, to have degraded their character, and to have rendered them almost as incapable as they were fuppofed to be, of conceiving any generous fentiment,

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fentiment, or of performing any worthy action. But the Eunuchs were fkilled in the arts of flattery and intrigue; and they alternately governed the mind of Conftantius by his fears, his indolence, and his vanity. Whilft he viewed in a deceitful mirror the fair appearance of public profperity, he supinely permitted them to intercept the complaints of the injured provinces, to accumulate immenfe treasures by the fale of justice and of honours; to difgrace the most important dignities, by the promotion of thofe who had purchased at their hands, the powers of oppreffion, and to gratify their refentment against the few independent fpirits, who arrogantly refufed to folicit the protection of flaves. Of these flaves the moft diftinguished was the Chamberlain, Eufebius, who ruled the monarch and the palace with fuch abfolute fway, that Conftantius, according to the farcasm of an impartial historian (Ammian. 1. 18. c. 4.), poffeffed fome credit with this haughty favourite. By his artful fuggeftions, the Emperor was perfuaded to fubfcribe the condemnation of the unfortunate Gallus, and to add a new crime to the long lift of unnatural murders, which pollute the honour of the house of Conftantine.

Our Hiftorian now proceeds to give an account of the elevation and death of Gallus-the danger and elevation of Julianthe Sarmatian and Perfian wars-the victories of Julian in Gaul, he and concludes the chapter in the following manner :

His falutary influence (Julian's) reitored the cities of Gaul, which had been fo long expofed to the evils of civil difcord, Barba rian war, and domestic tyranny; and the fpirit of industry was revived with the hopes of enjoyment. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, again flourished under the protection of the laws; and the curie, or civil corporations, were again filled with ufeful and refpectable members; the youth were no longer apprehenfive of marriage; and married perfons were no longer apprehenfive of pofterity: the public and private feftivals were celebrated with customary pomp; and the frequent and fecure intercourfe of the provinces difplayed the image of national profperity. A mind like that of Julian, muft have felt the general happiness of which he was the author; but he viewed, with peculiar fatisfaction and complacency, the city of Paris; the feat of his winter refidence, and the object even of his partial affection. That fplendid capital, which now embraces an ample territory on either fide of the Seine, was originally confined to the fmall ifland in the midit of the river, from whence the inhabitants derived a fupply of pure and falubrious water. The river bathed the foot of the walls; and the town was acceffible only by two wooden bridges. A forelt overfpread the northern fide of the Seine; but on the fouth, the ground, which now bears the name of the Univerfity, was infenfibly covered with houfes, and adorned with a palace and amphitheatre, baths, an aqueduct, and a field of Mars for the exercife of the Roman troops. The leverity of the climate was tempered by the neighbourhood of the ocean; and with fome precautions, which experience

had

had taught, the vine and fig-tree were fuccefsfully cultivated. But, in remarkable winters, the Seine was deeply frozen; and the huge pieces of ice that floated down the ftream, might be compared, by an Afiatic, to the blocks of white marble which were extracted from the quarries of Phrygia. The licentioufnefs and corruption of Antioch, recalled to the memory of Julian the fevere and fimple manners of his beloved Lutetia; where the amufements of the theatre were unknown or defpifed. He indignantly contrafted the effeminate Syrians with the brave and honeft fimplicity of the Gauls, and almost forgave the imtemperance, which was the only ftain of the Celtic character. If Julian could now revifit the capital of France, he might converfe with men of fcience and genius, capable of understanding and of inftructing a difciple of the Greeks; he might excufe the lively and graceful follies of a nation, whofe martial spirit has never been enervated by the indulgence of luxury; and he must applaud the perfection of that ineftimable art, which foftens, and refines, and embellishes the intercourse of social life.'

The twentieth chapter does much honour to the judgment and political difcernment of the Hiftorian, and contains a great deal of valuable inftruction. Mr. Gibbon confiders the motives, the progrefs, and the effects of the converfion of Conftantine, together with the legal establishment and conftitution of the Chriftian or Catholic Church.

The victories and the civil policy of Conflantine,' fays he, no longer influence the ftate of Europe; but a confiderable portion of the globe ftill retains the impreffion which it received from the converfion of that monarch; and the ecclefiaftical inflitutions of his reign are flill connected, by an indiffoluble chain, with the opinions, the paffions, and the intereft, of the prefent generation.

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In the confideration of a fubject which may be examined with impartiality, but cannot be viewed with indifference, a difficulty immediately arifes of a very unexpected nature; that of afcertaining the real and precife date of the converfion of Conftantine. quent Lactantius, in the midst of his court, feems impatient to proclaim to the world, the glorious example of the fovereign of Gaul; who, in the first moments of his reign, acknowledged and adored the majefty of the true and only God. The learned Eufebius has afcribed the faith of Conflantine to the miraculous fign which was difplayed in the heavens, whilst he meditated and prepared the Italian expedition. The hiftorian Zofimus maliciously afferts, that the Emperor had imbrued his hands in the blood of his eldeft fon, before he publicly renounced the gods of Rome and of his ancestors. The perplexity produced by thefe difcordant authorities, is derived from the behaviour of Conftantine himfelf. According to the ftrictness of ecclefiaftical language, the first of the Chriftian Emperors was unwor thy of that name, till the moment of his death; fince it was only during his laft illness that he received, as a catechumen, the impofition of hands, and was afterwards admitted, by the initiatory rites of baptifm, into the number of the faithful. The Christianity of Conftantine must be allowed in a much more vague and qualified fense; and the niceft accuracy is required in tracing the flow and al

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moft

moft imperceptible gradations by which the monarch declared himfelf the protector, and at length the profelyte, of the church. It was an arduous talk to eradicate the habits and prejudices of his education, to acknowledge the divine power of Christ, and to understand that the truth of his revelation was incompatible with the worship of the gods. The obitacles which he had probably experienced in his own mind, inftructed him to proceed with caution in the momentous change of a national religion; and he infenfibly difcovered his new, opinions, as far as he could enforce them with fafety and with effect. During the whole course of his reign, the ftream of Christianity flowed with a gentle, though accelerated motion: but its general direction was fometimes checked and fometimes diverted, by the accidental circumstances of the times, and by the prudence, or poffibly by the caprice, of the monarch. His minillers were permitted to fignify the intentions of their mafter, in the various language which was best adapted to their refpective principles; and he artfully balanced the hopes and fears of his fubjects, by publishing in the fame year two edicts; the first of which enjoined the folemn obfervance of Sunday, and the fecond directed the regular confultation of the Arufpices. While this important revolution yet remained in fufpence, the Chrif tians and the Pagans watched the conduct of their fovereign with the fame anxiety, but with very oppofite fentiments. The former were prompted by every motive of zeal, as well as vanity, to exaggerate the marks of his favour, and the evidences of his faith. The latter, till their just apprehenfions were changed into despair and resentment, attempted to conceal from the world, and from themfelves, that the gods of Rome could no longer reckon the Emperor in the number of their votaries. The fame paffions and prejudices have engaged the partial writers of the times to connect the public profeffion of Chriftianity, with the most glorious or the most ignominious æra of the reign of Conftantine.

Whatever fymptoms of Chriftian piety might transpire in the difcourfes or actions of Conftantine, he perfevered till he was near forty years of age in the practice of the established religion; and the fame conduct which in the court of Nicomedia might be imputed to his fear, could be afcribed only to the inclination or policy of the fovereign of Gaul His liberality reftored and enriched the temples of the gods: the medals which iffued from his Imperial mint are impreffed with the figures and attributes of Jupiter and Apollo, of Mars and Hercules; and his filial piety increafed the council of Olympus by the folemn apotheofis of his father Conftantius. But the devotion of Conftantine was more p culiarly directed to the genius of the Sun, the Apollo of Greek and Roman mythology; and he was pleased to be reprefented with the fymbols of the God of Light and Poetry. The unerring fhafts of that deity, the brightnefs of his eyes, his laurel wreath, immortal beauty, and elegant accomplishments, feem to point him out as the patron of a young hero. The altars of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of Conftantine; and the credulous multitude were taught to believe, that the Emperor was permitted to behold with mortal eyes, the visible majefty of their tutelar - deity; and that, either waking or in a vifion, he was bleffed with the aufpicious omens of a long and victorious reign. The Sun was uni

verfally

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