after its renovation by Louis XIV. the personage who filled this high office had jurisdiction, either by himself or his lieutenants and delegates, of all maritime torts, and all contracts of a maritime nature.

Such are the history and attributes of this office in France. In England it subsisted with the same title until the reign of Charles II. when it was filled by his brother the duke of York, (afterwards James II.) but he being excluded from office, as a Catholic, by the test act, in 1673, it was executed by commissioners, with the same power and authority as belonged to the Lord High Admiral. During the reign of William II. it was conferred on the earl of Pembroke; and in that of Anne upon Prince George of Denmark, her husband; but, since the accession of the House of Hanover, the office has been vested in commissioners, who are styled the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. But the king is said still to hold, for certain purposes, the of fice of High Admiral, in a capacity distinguishable from his regal character; a distinction of practical importance in the law of prize, but immaterial to the present object. The English court of admiralty is held before the Lord High Admiral, or his deputy, the judge of the High Court of Admiralty, who formerly held his place by patent from the Lord High Admiral, but who, since that of fice has only existed in contemplation of law, holds it by a direct commission from the crown. The High Court of Admiralty in Scotland is held before the delegate of the High Admiral, who may also name other inferior local deputies, and who is declared to be the king's justice general upon the seas, or fresh water within flood and mark, and in all harbours and creeks, and whose jurisdiction extends to all maritime causes. The vice admiralty courts in the colonies and other foreign dominions of Great Britain, are constituted, and their judges appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

This conformity between the origin and history of the courts of admiralty in France and in Great Britain would therefore seem to imply that their civil, criminal, and prize jurisdiction, however it may have been shifted from its ancient foundations, must have been formerly the same. This supposition derives additional strength from the intimate connexion that subsists between the history

2 Bro. Civ. and Adm. Law, 30.

of the two countries, blended together, as they were, by their original relation as provinces of the Roman empire, by the Norman conquest of England, and the invasion of France by the English kings, by the prevalence of the feudal system, the papal power and the spirit of the crusades.

It is therefore highly probable that the framers of the constitution, who were enlightened and liberal minded men, selected the phrase, “causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction," as adapted to express the amplitude of jurisdiction anciently enjoyed by the English admiralty, and still possessed by it in France, in Scotland, and in the British colonies; and that they did not use it in the narrow sense it might convey to the ear of an English common lawyer.

This probability is enhanced by considering that the term "maritime" is superadded to "admiralty," as it would seem, er industria, so as to embrace the whole extent of jurisdiction over all causes, civil and criminal, growing out of maritime commerce, similar to that enjoyed in all the maritime countries of Europe by special tribunals, under the various names of consular, maritime, commercial, or admiralty courts.

Among the subjects of a more general nature, which are discussed in this volume, is a very important question of constitutional, or public law, in the case of The Society for Propagating the Gospel, &c. vs. Wheeler; in which, the local statute of New-Hampshire, allowing to bond le possessors of lands, recovered by suit, an indemnification for improvements made by them, was pronounced to be unconstitutional, so far as it operated retrospectively. The case of Hatch vs. White, (p. 152.) settles a principle which does not appear to have received a direct determination in England; it is, that, after the foreclosure of a mortgage, the mortgagee may still recover at law, upon the attendant bond or note, the deficiency of the mortgaged property to pay the debt due, calculating the value of such property at the time of the actual foreclosure. In the Jerusalem, (p. 191.) it was determined that the courts of this country may take jurisdiction of personal actions between foreigners, when the person or property is within reach of the process of the court, wherever the cause of action may have originated. The doctrine of res judicata is considered in Harvey vs. Richards, (p. 216.) where it was decided that a decree of reversal, by a supreme court of probate, of a decree of distribution by an in

ferior court, is no bar to a subsequent suit by the same parties. In Payson vs. Coolidge, (p. 233.) it was determined that a promise to accept a non-existing bill, then to a third person, who, upon the faith of such promise, takes it for a valuabe consideration, is in law an acceptance of such bill when drawn. Affirmed in the Sup. Co. Feb. T. 1817, 2 Wheat. R. 66. În the case of the Jerusalem, (p. 345.) it was settled that a tradesman has a lien on a foreign ship, lying in one of our ports, for repairs made by him on the vessel, which is to be preferred to a bottomry bond, if the repairs appear to be indispensable; and in the same case, (p. 483.) that a wharfinger has a lien on a foreign ship for warfage, but this will not be preferred to a bottomry interest previously attaching, if the warfinger has made an express personal contract with the ship

owner.

In this last case the court yielded to the weight of the common law authorities, by which, it has been adjudged that where the parties enter into a personal contract for a specific sum, it is a discharge of the lien resulting by implication of law; but at the same time the learned judge expressly referred the right hereafter to review those authorities and to ascertain whether they are founded on any rational principle. It is to be desired that all our judges would manifest the same courage in throwing off the slavery of precedents, to which, by far too much influence has been allowed in judicial decisions in this country. Wherever such decisions form a rule of property, which cannot be altered without shaking titles acquired under the faith of the rule, and in the numerous cases where it is immaterial what the rule is, so that it be fixed and known, precedents ought to be im

plicitly followed. But in all other cases, and where the legislative will has not prescribed a rule of positive institution, or commercial usage created one, courts of justice ought no farther to be bound by the decisions of their predecessors than as they are conformable with the fundamental principles of jurisprudence, or are corollaries logically deduced from those principles. The law would then become a SCIENCE improveable like other sciences, by the exercise of all the intellectual faculties, and not be dependant upon the memory alone; so that he who can string together cases, by names and dates, is considered a greater lawyer than Mansfield or D'Aguesseau, and a nisi prius dictum, which may have been mistaken or misrepresented, is put in the balance against the scientific inductions of a Pothier, or a Jones. Nor would the abolition of this jurisprudence des arrets destroy the utility of such books of reported decisions as that before us, which would not be consulted by mere case-hunters only, but would be resorted to by the scientific lawyer as a rich collection of reasonings, which may be applied to other anological cases, and extended to the invention of new principles, or to the induction of new corollaries from the same principles. The value of the work in this respect is much increased by the free use which is made in it of that code of written reason, the civil law; which is an inexhaustible reservoir of equitable rules applicable to the ever varying circumstances of society, and does more honour to the Romans than all their victories and triumphs, and monuments; and by which, that wonderful people, though extinct as a martial state, still continue silently to rule the greater portion of the civilized world.

W.

subjects of a professional nature, particularly as they occur in America. The members are arranged into two classes, fellows and correspondents. Among the specified articles of research, the constitution enumerates memoirs on medicine and surgery; the history of particular diseases, with the best curative means; a detailed account of cases, accompanied by reflections and inferences; new facts in relation to the human body, physiologically and anatomically; additions to the catalogue of medicines, and improvements in the modes of preparing and applying them; information derived from natural history, chemistry, and the auxiliary departments of science; and, lastly, the discouragement of abuses in the study and practice of the profession, and in the composition and use of remedies.

Under this organization, the members have been so active, and have bestirred themselves with such diligence, that the present volume has been produced.

We have carefully examined it. We find it a miscellany of interesting articles, some of which possess distinguished merit, others are very respectable, and none of them unworthy. The pieces do credit at once to the authors and to the committee of publication. From such a beginning much good may be anticipated; and we exhort the members to a steady perseverance in their original design.

It is time, however, that we should proceed with the book. The first article is a discourse, in the form of an introduction, by Elias Marks, M.D. on what he calls "the Sophistication of Medical Theory." We are pleased with the mixture of learning, taste, and ingenuity, which distinguishes this performance from beginning to end. Yet we must be indulged in a few remarks.

The author mentions truth as being (6 ever one and the same." This is one of the dogmas of the schools which a mind as intelligent as his, ought to have discarded. Truth, as the acute and logical John Horne Tooke observes, is a word of nearly the same import, and of exactly the same origin with troth; both being derived from the old verb trow. To "trow," or to "pledge one's troth," meant simply a conscientious and sincere declaration of one's knowledge, persuasion, or conviction, on a given subject. It has reference merely to the sincerity and honesty of the individual's statement or declaration. If he is solemnly impressed with the reality or correctness of his

story, although he may be mistaken, or labour under an error, he is nevertheless a true man. His integrity makes him true; an unintentional error does not destroy his truth. Truth being therefore merely a person's matured and discreet opinion, there may be opposite and even contradictory truths, and this may, and indeed often does, happen, without any imputation on the honesty of the parties confronting each other.

Let us take an illustration from the courts of law. There the witness is sworn to declare "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Although the testimony of one witness should be directly adverse to that of another, yet, where both are fair and unblemished, they are true men, and speak the truth. So the judges consider them; for if they are upright and candid, however they may differ, nobody charges them with falsehood, far less with perjury. The juror's oath, in like manner, binds him "to find a true verdict according to evidence." This signifies that the judgment he shall give on the matter before him, shall be deduced from the evidence, with all the ability and impartiality he can bestow upon it. Now, the juror may mistake the matter, and derive his conclusion from premises that are misconceived or erroneous. Where, however, his intention is good and faithful, such error, though it may vitiate the verdict, does in no degree taint the juror's rectitude.

In these instances, we cannot too much admire the sagacity that dictated these two forms of obligation, awakening the moral sense without ensnaring it; and leaving room for amending unavoidable errors in witnesses and jurors, by new trials, without impugning the honesty of either.

A man's truth being thus his sincere and candid opinion upon a subject viewed by the best light of opportunity and understanding, there may be as many truths as there are honest minds. Neither the witness nor the juror is sworn to the fact, but only to the truth. To swear them to the former would be to ensnare their consciences, while a due regard to the latter obliges a rational and accountable being to make a full and just disclosure of all that he knows. And in this way, the distinction between fact and truth is to be understood and explained, We hope our logicians will henceforward cease to declaim on the "unity and sameness" of truth.

The author endeavours to state the

distinction between Theory and Hypothesis. The former is the inference drawn by a reasoning mind from actual, real, or established premises. The latter is a principle assumed without any reasoning at all, or without logical data. Theory may be considered as the inductive process of the understanding; hypothesis the syllogistic method. Theory travels in the humble posteriori road from particulars to a general conclusion. Hypothesis drives along the high priori road, applying assumed rules to particular cases. Theory may be termed the logic of nature, hypothesis that of art. A skilful reasoner will understand the use of both instruments. They are both very powerful, and may be employed by turns, as circumstances require.

As to the reasoning faculty of man, there is an old and trite saying "that there is reason in all things.' In a debate before a deliberative body, the supporters and the opposers of a motion have reason on their respective sides of the question. The like happens to the plaintiff and the defendant in the arguiment of counsellors on an issue at law. In all the controversies which arise in a free country, the litigants are invariably reasoning and reasonable creatures. The important distinction among these champions of reasoning is between those who reason well and those who reason ill. The former may be called rational men, the latter reasoning men; while the one class proceeds logically from principles to consequences, the other is occupied merely in finding reasons for every thing they do or approve, or which they omit or condemn.

Since therefore all men reason, they are divisible into the two classes of good and bad reasoners. We agree with Dr. M. that a frequent cause of error, is the fondness for generalizing, leading to the deduction of an universal result, hastily and prematurely, from partial considerations.

When persons who undertake to embody facts, to arrange objects, to record events, and to draw conclusions from the survey they have made, shall labour diligently, and wait patiently, there will be fewer mistakes and crudities brought forth. But as long as fancy shall be taken for fact, and conceit be received for logic, visionary doctrines and imaginary notions will from time to time be presented to the world. For a season, they will attract attention or admiration; but when their imposing novelty is past, they will yield to the next brilliant or captivating system

that shall be displayed. We are gratified by the learning and taste which the discourse before us evinces. The author seems perfectly aware that a knowledge of the lædentia and juvantia best becomes the clinical physician; and that abstract science must yield the palm to practical art. And in this we approve the good sense which tempers his erudition.

In the notice we take of the tracts which follow the introductory discourse, we shall unite conciseness with method, by placing them under a few heads or titles.

I. Such as treat of endemic or epidemic diseases.

Dr. Henry Fish has written "Remarks on the spotted fever as it prevailed at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1809." It appears to be a careful and judicious history of a distemper which has prevailed with distressing violence and mortality in our country within the last ten or twelve years.

We have been highly pleased with the "description of an epidemic influenza which prevailed in the northern and eastern parts of the United States, and more particularly as it appeared in the city of New-York in the autumn of 1815, by Ansel W. Ives, M. D." The reader will find it a record of facts and remarks, instructive to the historian, but more especially to the physician; and evincing the diligence with which the writer explored every source of intelligence for himself.

"An Essay on the Epidemic which prevailed in the northern division of the army of the United States, during the autumn of 1812, and winter of 1812, '13, by J. B. Whitridge, M. D." This is a communication to Dr. W. M. Ross, then a Hospital Surgeon, and contains a wellwritten and sensible description of the disease which destroyed the troops, and an opinion on the causes, and the preferable treatment of it. Bad police, a cold and damp atmosphere, intemperate eating and drinking, an abuse of whiskey, aliment scanty and sometimes unsound, and impure water, are enumerated among the agents of this mischief, and they are only a part of them. Besides the professional view of the subject, the reader cannot fail to learn how, in time of war, new levies of soldiers are dreadfully cut down by sickness, while they are under the operation of being habituated or seasoned to military life.

II. Medical topography. "Observations on the climate and diseases of the town of Deerfield, in the county of Franklin, and State of Massa

chusetts, by Dr. Stephen W. Williams." Chorographical accounts of particular regions and districts are valuable portions of knowledge. They are the parts which by addition make up the whole. The modern term of Statistics has been applied to this subject, meaning thereby a description of a place in its actual condition, or just as it is. The author refers to Dickenson's geographical, statistical, and historical view of the same town, as published before he wrote, and therefore limits himself more strictly to professional affairs.

III. Botany.

"An Inquiry into the Botanical History, Chemical properties, and Medicinal qualities, of the Erigeron Canadense, by Cornelius E. De Puy, M. D." In this Memoir the author has given an advantageous specimen of his talent for investigating and exploring a subject. He has selected a native plant: he has given a beautiful figure of it coloured from nature; he has referred it to its place in botanical system; he has investigated it chemically; and lastly he has laboured to find out its remedial powers. Its decoction and infusion promise benefit to those who suffer diarrhea.

"Botanical Description of the Tillea connata and Limosella subulata. By Eli Ives, M. D."

This is the history and description of two small aquatic plants, discovered by Professor Ives on the banks of the river Housatonick, and, about the same time, by Mr. Nuttall, on those of the Delaware. These discoveries and descriptions evince the nicety and exactness to which botanical research has arrived among us.

IV. Surgery.

"Case of gunshot wound in Major General Ripley. By E. L. Allen, Surgeon in the U. S. Infantry." The writer relates the accident which befell that brave officer, at the sortie from Fort Erie, September 17, 1814. He recovered from a wound by a musket ball, which penetrated his neck from side to side. It entered on the right, an inch and a half below the angle of the jaw, opposite the thyroid cartilage. It carried away the anterior edge of the sternocleidomastoideus muscle, exposing the carotid artery, passing across the neck, and injuring in its course the lower extremity of the pharynx; after which it went out behind the left mastoid muscle and carotid, lower than the place of entry. The carotids, larynx, and spine escaped. The ball must have passed near the left vertebral artery, and the author thinks,

from its direction and the consequent symptoms, did severe injury to the cervical nerves. At the end of six months the patient had recovered from every bad symptom. But his arms were exquisitely sensible to atmospheric changes, and there was a stiffness of the neck. "Memoir on the subsequent treatment of the head, illustrated by cases, by Valentine Mott, M. D." The author shows in this able and perspicuous paper, that the practice of dressing the head after severe injuries or surgical operations, on the fourth or fifth day, is improper; and that, as a general rule, the head, after such accidents, ought not to be dressed before the fourteenth, or even the sixteenth day from the time of the accident. The excellence of this appears by three cases, wherein the head, after violent inju ries and great operations, was left to its original dressings until the fifteenth, and even the sixteenth day after their application.

"Case of Carotid Aneurism, cured by an operation, by Wright Post, M. D."

This is an instance of this formidable operation successfully performed. The patient was a woman thirty-two years old, who had perceived the tumour to be growing for about four years. It having been decided, in a consultation of surgeons, that tying the artery between the heart and the tumour, afforded the only reasonable prospect of cure, the operation was performed thus: "An incision was made three inches in length, on the inner edge of the sterno-mastoid muscle, from the lower part of the tumour to within a quarter of an inch of the clavicle. The dissection was continued between the mastoid, and sterno-thyroid muscles down to the omo-hyoideus. This part of the operation was in a degree embarrassed by the division of two or three small arteries; the blood from which obscured the parts, and which it became necessary to restrain by ligature. The sheath of the vessels was now laid bare, and a sufficient exposure of it being rendered difficult by the omo-hyoideus, this muscle was divided. Care was also necessary to avoid the descendens-noni, which ran over the anterior surface of the sheath. The sheath was now laid open, and the artery detached so as to allow a bent probe, carrying a double ligature, to pass under it. The lower ligature being tied, a further separation of the artery was made, in order to the application of the upper ligature about three quarters of an inch above the lower one, and then the artery was divided between the two.