them in motion; the neceffary effects of each part in its material motion, and the modulations it occafions in the air; the differences and the properties of each articulation; the number of vowels, accents, and confonants; how, and by what motion each confonant arifes from each organ, fo as to take a fimple or a compound form. He fhews the varieties which are produced in the vowel, according as the found paffes through one or other of the two pipes of the vocal inftrument, viz. the mouth or the nofe; points out the caufes of the difference between a speaking and a finging voice, &c. &c. This is the technical part of his fubject, which, as he obferves, must neceffarily be tirefome to the reader, though indifpenfibly neceffary, as it defcribes thofe operations of nature, which are the foundation on which the wonderful fabric of human language is built. He goes on to enquire into the primitive language, and after directing us where to look for it, he hews how it proceeds, and in what order; what are the relations that are naturally eftablished between certain organs and certain fentiments, fenfations, phyfical beings, and modes of being. He endeavours to prove that language is originally founded upon the imitation of external objects, by vocal founds and written characters; and fhews that the impoffibility of making the objects of fight reach the air by an imitative noise, forced mankind to have recourfe to another kind of imitation capable of falling under the eye, and gave rife to writing. He follows the different orders and gradations of this new art, from the primitive manner of writing to alphabetical characters; fhews that the progreffion of fpeech and writing is fimilar; that nature is the guide in both; and how this wonderful union of the two fenfes of fight and hearing is formed, which reduces the objects of each to the fame individual point, whilft the objects themselves and the fenfations continue to very remote. He treats of the form of writing ufed by different nations, antient and modern, barbarous and polifhed, together with the variations and the progrefs of the art. From thefe general objects he proceeds to a more particular examination of language; traces it from its infancy, (in particular inftances) through the feveral fteps of its progrefs to its total extinction; and points out the caufes which contribute to its growth, its vigour, and its decay. He confiders the effects of the derivation of languages, and fhews the train of fucceffive alterations which the words of a language undergo, with regard to their found, their meaning, and their figurative ufe, together with the caules of their frequent anomalies. He treats of the names that are given to things which have no phyfical exiftence in nature, fuch as intellectual, abftract, and moral Beings, with their feveral relations and general qualities, &c. and and proves that thefe names have no other origin or principle of formation but the names of external and phyfical objects. This leads him naturally to the names of perfons and places, which, he fays, have all a fignificative value, taken from fenfible objects. He now goes back to general principles, and to the rules of the etymological art, and treats of the roots or primitive principles of language, together with the feveral branches that arife from them, and which, in common ufe, are often taken for primitives; he points out the manner of applying the art of criticifm to etymology, and lays down rules for the direction of thofe who apply themfelves to etymological refearches, fhewing how they may conduct themfelves from the center to the extremities, and return from the extremities to the center. He concludes his Treatife, with sketching the plan and method of forming a general vocabulary of all languages, or an univerfal nomenclature by roots. He endeavours to thew that a dictionary of this kind, far from being fo difficult a work as may' appear at first view, might be made without very great labour, and would be very ufeful for the advancement and eafy acquifition of science; and that fuch a work is neceffary, confidering the multiplicity of languages, the ftudy of which alone, without fuch affiftance, will be too much for the fhort period of human life. Such is the plan and method of this Treatife, which will afford both inftruction and amufement to those who have a tafte for grammatical fubjects treated in a philofophical manner. R: Obfervations fur le Commerce et fur les Arts d'une Partie de L'Eu-· rope, de l'Afte, &c. Obfervations upon the Arts and Commerce of Part of Europe, Afia, Africa, and the Eaft Indies.' By Jean-Claude Flachat, Director of the Royal Manufactory at St. Chamond, Fellow of the Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Lyons, &c. 12mo. 2 Vols. Lyons. 1766. HE title of this work, as the Author himself acknowledges in his preface, gives but a very imperfect idea of what is contained in it. What M. Flachat feems principally to have in view, is to point out to his countrymen the feveral branches of commerce which they may carry on to greater advantage than they have hitherto done, on the coafts of Africa and Italy, in fome parts of Germany and the North, in Turkey, and effecially in Conftantinople. As he spent upwards of fifteen years in Turkey, and had fome very fingular adventures in that country, he gives a more circumstantial account of the manners of the Turks than we' remember to have any where met with. More than half of his work is employed upon this fubject; and though he enters too minutely into fome parts of it, and thofe not the most interefting, yet what he fays will afford no fmall entertainment to the generality of readers. His views and obfervations, with regard to commerce, appear to us, on the whole, to, be judicious and pertinent; and his countrymen may derive very confiderable advantages by attending to them: nor is the usefulness of them confined to the French only; there are many hints of which the commercial part of this kingdom may avail themselves. From his earliest years, he tells us, he had a strong paffion for travelling; and indeed, like a good citizen, he feems, thro the whole courfe of his travels, to have had the welfare of his country in view. Whatever improvements he observed in fo reign countries, in regard to manufactures, mechanics, &c. engaged his attention; and he gives particular defcriptions, with engravings, of fuch machines and inftruments as are curious or useful. He introduces his work with fome very juft, but fhort reflections, upon the disadvantages which the French lie under in regard to commerce, partly arifing from the prevailing system of education, partly from national prejudices, and partly from other causes, which he only hints at,- -top delicate to be enlarged upon, but easily understood by the intelligent Reader.What he occafionally advances on this head, in the course of his work, may teach us to fet a juft value on our own fuperior advantages, and fhew us the futility of what is thrown out, upon almost every occafion, by a certain fet of men among us, in regard to the encouragement given to commerce by the French, and the danger we are in on that account. In the courfe of his travels through the feveral cities of Italy, Germany, &c. he gives a fhort but an agreeable description of whatever is moft remarkable, and worthy of notice. His man-. ner of writing is eafy and natural, his ftyle perfpicuous, and his work contains a confiderable fund of entertainment for almoft every clafs of Readers. ·R. Hiftoire Naturelle, generale et particuliere, avec la Defcription du RESUMING that all thofe who are employed in the contemplation of nature, are perfectly acquainted with the preceeding volumes of this celebrated and truly elegant work, we fhall fay nothing of the Author's general plan, but confine i L ourfelves, 529 purfelves, in the prefent article, entirely to the volume before us. From the table of contents it appears, that Mr. Buffon is not the fole Author, a confiderable part having been executed by M. Daubenton. The volume opens with a differtation of no less than forty-two pages, on the different appellations of the Ape, Singe, a name which, the Author thinks, hath, with great impropriety, been generally applied to animals of very different fpecies, efpèces. We cannot proceed without obferving, that the word efpèces is here improperly ufed. Admitting finge to be a generic term, he should have wrote genre, or genus; for though, in common language, they are indifcriminately applied, in a fyftematic writer the diftinction is of importance. Mr. Buffon defines the ape, finge, or fimia, to be an animal without a tail, having a flat face, with teeth, hands, fingers, and nails, refembling thofe of man. three fpecies, viz. the pithecos of the Greeks, or fimia of the Of thefe he enumerates Latins, the orang-outang, and the gibbon. The first species is the ape, commonly fo called, the fylvanus of Linnæus; the fecond the homo fylveftris, or pongo; the third is an animal fo little known as to have efcaped even the indefatigable naturalist. juft mentioned. M. Buffon begins with the natural hiftory of the homo fylveftris, which, notwithstanding the opinion of other writers, he believes to be nothing more than an ape. If we were to credit the accounts which travellers, have given of this animal, it would be impoffible not to rank him among the human fpecies. Bontius, who was chief phyfician in Batavia, was fo ftruck with the actions of the fatyrus, as to declare, there was nothing human wanting but the voice: Quod meretur admirationem, fays he, vidi ego aliquot utriufque fexus erectè incedens imprimis fatyram femellam tantâ verecundia ab ignotis fibi hominibus occulentem, tum quoque faciem manibus tegentem, ubertimque lacrymantem, gemitus cientem & cæteros humanos actus exprimentem, ut nibil bumani ei deeffe dicere præter loquelam. Gaffendi, on the report of Noël, a phyfician refiding in Africa, affures us, that there is in Guinea a fpecies of ape, called baris, of uncommon fagacity; that it plays upon mufical inftruments, and that fæmina in iis patiuntur menftrua, & mares mulierum funt appetentiffimi. M. Broffe,' in his voyage to the coaft of Angola, tells us, that the orang-outang takes great pains to carry off the female negroes, which he keeps as concubines. I knew, fays he, at Lowango, a female negro who had lived three years with these animals.' Linnæus informs us, that this animal expreffes itself by whiftling; that it thinks, and believes the world created for its ufe, and that the time will come when it fhall be reftored to the government of the earth: he adds how ever, ever, fi fides peregrinatoribus. Our Author is of opinion, that the travellers who have related thefe ftories, must have miftaken a white negroe for the homo nocturnus; and that the real orang-outang, or pongo, is an ape of the fame species with that which he particularly defcribes in this volume. The orang-outang, fays M. Buffon, which I have feen, walked conftantly upright, even in carrying a burthen. Its air was folemn, motion flow and regular, its difpofition mild, and very different from that of other apes or monkeys. A fign or a word was fufficient to influence this creature, whilst the others frequently require fevere chastisement. I have feen this animal give its hand and conduct a perfon to the door, walking gravely as one of the company. I have feen it fit at the table, open its napkin, wipe its lips, make use of a spoon and fork, fill its glafs, and ring it against that of a gentleman, fetch a cup and faucer, put fugar into it, pour out the tea, and wait till it cooled; and all this without any other inftigation than a word or fign from its mafter, and frequently without either.-It eat almoft of every thing, but preferred ripe and dry fruits to all other food. It drank wine, but in fmall quantity, always leaving it for milk or tea, or any sweet liquor.' But these apparent indications of human fagacity are to be confidered chiefly as the effect of education. This creature was inftructed by his mafter. True; and fo are we inftructed. May we not, with reafon, doubt whether a human being, without inftruction, would appear even so rational a creature as this homo fylveftris ? But the great difference lies here; man is inftructed by his own fpecies, but the ape by man. The homo fylveftris, according to our Author, differs externally from a man, in his nofe not being prominent, his forehead fhorter, his chin not raised at the bottom, his ears larger, his eyes too near each other, the space between his nofe and mouth too great, his thighs too fhort, his arms too long, his thumbs too small, the palms' of his hands too long and narrow: his feet refemble our hands. Les parties de la generation du male ne font differentes de celles de l'homme, qu'en ce qu'il n'y a point de frein au prépuce; les parties de la femelie font a l'exterieur fort jemblable à celles de la femme. Internally he differs from the human species only in having thirteen ribs, the vertebra of the neck horter, the pelvis narrower, the orbits of his eyes deeper, and in wanting the fpinal procefs to the first vertebra of the neck. His kidneys are fomewhat rounder, and the ureters, bladder and gall bladder, are of a form different from thofe of a man. All the other parts of his body are fo perfectly like our own, that one cannot, fays our Author, help being aftonished, that from fuch exact conformity of parts, from an organization abfolutely the fame, there fhould not refult the fame effects. For example, the tongue and |