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that M. de Voltaire was very grofsly mistaken, or that the imperial income must have been more than doubled fince the year 1735, or that our Author has valued it at, by far, too great a rate; any of these three may have been the cafe. Voltaire fays, that in 1735, reckoning the tribute paid by the Tartars, with all taxes and duties in money, the fum total amounted to 13 millions of rubles, and that this income was fufficient, at that time, to pay 339,500, as well fea as land forces. Things indeed are greatly changed in Ruffia fince that period. 1 Our Author tells us that above 60 millions of rubles (i. e. about 12 millions fterling) circulate in Bank Bills in the Ruffian empire. Every kind of means has been employed to promote national improvement in Ruffia. The establishment of a feminary formed by the Empress for the education of the young Greeks cofts annually 41,613 rubles. Our Author reckons at Petersburgh 80 manufactures of different forts, among which are 11 of woollen cloth he reckons the fame number at Moscow. Befide thefe, there are in the reft of the empire 53 woollen manufactures, which furnish coarse cloths to the annual amount of 500,0 rubles. It is a remarkable proof of the infancy of letters and fcience and Ruffia (if it be true), that in the whole empire there are but 16 printing-preffes, of which 12 are at Petersburgh and Moscow it is, however, to be obferved, that Livonia and Efthonia are not comprehended in this account. The number

of monafteries in Ruffia amounts to 458, and that of the churches to 19,435. The Author promifes another volume of letters on the Ruffian empire, with an accurate chart of the Cafpian Sea.

IX. Teutfche Reichfgefchichte, &c. i. e. A History of the German Empire, in which the most effential Points of Teutonic Hiftory are more especially unfolded and illuftrated. By M. PUTTER, Counsellor of Juftice at Gottingen. 8vo. 1778. The grand lines of the German Hiftory are perfectly exhibited in the work before us. The ancient ftate of that country, both with respect to its territory and its inhabitants, the character of the latter, and their divifion into different nations, are accurately defcribed: the progrefs of civilization, and the almoft imperceptible gradations of moral, civil, and political, improvement, are diftinguished, with a peculiar fagacity and precifion, from the earliest ages to the prefent time. The various effects of the peace of Weftphalia, with respect to the princes and cities of the empire, to the imperial court, and to the ftate of religion, are pointed out by M. PUTTER, who brings down this political hiftory to the entrance of the King of Pruffia into Bohemia in 1778. The learned Writer confirms his relations and decifions by the very beft authorities, and we make no doubt but his work will meet with the most favour

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able reception. We must caution the Reader of foreign productions not to confound this work with the Hiftorical Manual of the Empire, or with the View of the Revolutions of Germany, for which the Public is indebted alfo to M. PUTTER.

The fame ingenious man employed his pen in the late formidable conteft in Germany, which has ended fo happily for humanity, and his historical and literary Illuftrations on the Succeffion of Bavaria were highly efteemed.

X. fo. Gottlob Boehmii de Litteratura Lipfienfi Opufcula Academica: i. e. Academical Differtations concerning the Literature of Leipfic. By M. BOEHME, Counsellor, &c. 8vo. Leipfic. 1779. There is a great deal of erudition in this publication, and several things, quæ tollere velles.

MONTHLY CATALOGU E, For JUL Y, 1779.

MEDICAL.

Art. 17. Hiftory of the Origin of Medicine: An Oration delivered at the anniverfary Meeting of the Medical Society of London. By John Coakley Lettfom, M. D. F. R. S. &c. 4to. 5s. Phillips. 1778.

EIS oration, printed at the request of the Medical Society, comprehends the firit chapter of an history of the origin and progrefs of medicine, and its profeffors, which the Author appears to have planned on a very extenfive fcale, if we may judge from this foeci, men. The first chapter of the first book, which treats of medicine in general, from the creation to the Trojan war (being the first of nine periods or æras into which the history is fupposed to be divided), contains feven'fections, in which the Author treats, 1. Of the Practice of Phyfic; 2. Of Surgery; 3. Of Midwifery; 4. Of Anatomy; 5. Of Botany and Pharmacy; 6. Of Chemistry; and 7. Of Myftic Medicine.

Our Medical Hiftorian, or Orator rather, has rendered his oration equally inftructive and amusing, by numerous anecdotes and quotations, in the form of notes; and by a fill more numerous hoft of references, which evince an immenfe thare of multifarious reading, well digefted and applied.

Art. 18. Obfervations on the Plan proposed for establishing “ A Difpenfary and Medical Society for the private and only immediate Ufe of the Subfcribers, their Families, and Friends." 8vo. 6d. Dilly. 1779.

In the fpeculating and planning age in which we have the good fortune to live, it feems, from the contents of this pamphlet, that certain schemers, who doubtless have the public intereft only at heart, and who think that health is purchased too dear from the apothe cary, have propofed or opened a kind of wholesale warehouse; where, as they pretend, health may be had a pennyworth. In this inftitution, befides auditors, meffengers, &c. we are told there are to be

-Doctors belike

nine officers under the title of managers-
are to receive 501. each for thirty-five vifits.'

who

It requires fome little arithmetic, but we have been at the pains to calculate the very fractional fee of these medical managers. Each of the managerial vifits will precifely coft the patient one pound eight fhillings and fixpence and ths of a penny: while the honest apothecary,' fays the Author, in the common line of business, would pay twice as many vifits for half the money; and yet the authors of this new fcheme modeftly apply to thefe practitioners the epithet of "greedy men," and pretend to found their plan upon the principle of economy.' He calculates, too that by this economical fcheme, adopted to the extent of the plan, the first year's expence would be 500,000l. and that of every fucceeding year 250,0col.; and that the leaft of thefe fums is more than all the practitioners within the bills of mortality raife from the public annually.

As we confider law as a greater evil, and a more coftly commodity than even phyfic; and as every man that has property is liable to the vifitation of a law-fuit, as well as to that of a fever; we should not wonder if fome other fchemers were to take in subscribers, and hare among them a fund for maintaining fuits in law or equity, in behalf of fuch of the adventurers as might happen to be faddled with them. But we leave this hint to be improved upon, and extended, by the adepts in the art of raising money by voluntary taxation. Art. 19. The Medical Regifler for the Year 1779. 8vo. 4s. fewed. Murray.

The plan of this work is to give lifts of all the members of every medical body in the kingdom; of physicians and furgeons to the royal family, to the fleet and army, and to hofpitals; of medical profeffors; and even of all the medical practitioners of every clafs throughout Great Britain, with their places of refidence, and a catalogue of the works of fuch among them as are authors. Likewife, lifts of the principal of the faculty in Ireland; of profeffors and eminent men in foreign countries; accounts of medical books, English and foreign; articles of medical news, &c. It is propofed to make the publication annual; and the faculty are invited to contribute their respective shares of information to fo useful a defign. That many of the articles comprifed in the above lifts are objects of a juft and laudable curiofity to the profeffion, will be univerfally acknowledged; and fo far the plan will probably be thought worthy of encouragement; but we apprehend, that part of it which pretends to reginer every practitioner, however obfcure, in the whole kingdom, will be conceived by many equally impracticable and nugatory. In effect, who can poffibly be interelled to know that the village of Gotham is ferved in medical matters by Mefirs. Julep and Forceps? unless it be the druggift's rider, who may be tempted to deviate from his regular track, in order to infpect their beggarly account of empty boxes,'

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From our own knowledge, we can pronounce feveral of these country lifts to be both defective and erroneous. The other parts

of the plan appear to be executed with fufficient accuracy and judgment.

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Art. 20. Obfervations on Baron Dimfdale's Remarks on Dr. Lett. Jom's Letter to Sir Robert Barker and George Stacpoole, Efq; refpeaing General Inoculation. By John Coakley Lettfom, M. D. F. K. S. and S. A. 8vo. I s. Dilly, &c.

1779.

We have with much concern obferved this dispute relative to general inoculation be coming more and more perfonal in each fucceffive publication. Now that it is become entirely fo, we shall excufe ourselves from entering into particulars which can be of no confequence to our Readers.

Art. 21. Advice to lying-in Women, on the Custom of drawing the Breafts. By C. Cruttwell, Surgeon, at Bath. Second Edition. 4to. I S. Bath printed, for Dilly, &c. London. 1779.

The purpose of this pamphlet is to fhew that drawing the breasts in all cafes, whether the child be to be fuckled or not, is an unneceffary and mischievous practice. He affirms, that when the breasts are hardened and obftructed by too great a flow of milk, a ftate of irritability is induced, which renders the ftrong fuction of a grown perfon extremely painful, and liable to produce inflammation; and that fuch fuction will rather invite a greater quantity of fluid to the gland than unload it: on the contrary, he afferts, that if they be let alone, a re-abforption of the milk will take place, the breaft will return to its ufual ftate, and no fort of inconvenience will happen. The proof of this point he chiefly derives from experience in his own practice, which he reprefents as uniformly fuccefsful in preventing the common diforders of the breafts. Whether he does not carry the matter too far in forbidding drawing the breafts in all cafes, we fhall not determine; but, on the whole, what he fays appears well to merit the attention of those concerned.

Art. 22. A Treatise on the Teeth: Wherein an accurate Idea of their Structure is given, the Caufe of their Decay pointed out, and their various Difeafes enumerated. To which is added, the most effectual Method of treating the Disorders of the Teeth and Gums, established by a long and fuccefsful Practice. By Barth. Rufpini, Surgeon-Dentift. A new Edition, with an Appendix of new Cafes. 12mo. Fielding and Walker.

1779.

An account of the first edition of this work is contained in the Monthly Review, Vol. xxxix. p. 157. The cafes now first published in the Appendix are five in number. The firft is of a collection of matter in the antrum maxillare, confequent on the unfkilful extraction of one of the upper grinders, which was cured by perforation. The fecond and third are of excrefcences in the mouth arifing from the irritation of broken points of the teeth. Thefe were fuccefsfully removed by the knife. The fourth we shall print entire for the benefit of our fair Readers.

A lady of diftinction, about twenty-two years of age, in the month of July 1777, fent for me in confequence of a very alarming complaint in her mouth. Her gums appeared greatly fwelled, looked very florid, and were exceedingly painful; the complained of a bray tafte, and had fome difficulty of fwallowing any kind of folid food.

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'An apothecary in the neighbourhood had been applied to the day before I faw her, and pronounced the difeafe an inflammatory fore throat, from cold. Though at that time I had fome fufpicion that her diftrefs arose from another fource, I had no objections to her continuing the ufe of an emollient gargle with nitre, which had been ordered for her. The next day all her fymptoms were aggravated, when being ftill further confirmed in the conjecture I had at first formed, I requested an experienced Surgeon might be confulted; and accordingly Mr. Glover, Surgeon-Major of the Effex Regiment, the following morning was called in. On infpecting the feat of the diforder, we found three of the lower incifores loofe, the breath very fetid, and a great quantity of faliva fecreted from the glands.-The laft-mentioned Gentleman, on our retiring, declared the Lady had been taking fome preparation of Mercury, which was the caufe of the above symptoms.

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As the matter was of fo delicate a nature, and the other Practitioner did not fall in with this opinion, though it entirely correfponded with that I had at first adopted, the utmoft caution was obferved in afking the neceffary questions of the Lady and her domeftics. One of them, after a long enquiry, faid the Hair-dreffer had occafionally ufed a fmall quantity of fome mercurial pomatum. The man, who lived in the neighbourhood, was directly fent for; and after fome hesitation produced a box, which was found to contain about an ounce of the Unguentum Neapolitanum, not above half a drachm of which, it appeared, he had ufed in the dreffing, in order to prevent a certain kind of animalculæ breeding in the hair. By proper medical treatment the Lady recovered her health, in about ten days after; but her gums continued in a spongy, flaccid state, for fome time.'

The fifth cafe is of painful fymptoms proceeding from the eruption of the Dentes Sapientie, which were mistaken for rheumatic and nervous complaints, but at length were removed by lancing the gums.

Art. 23 A Treatise upon the Inflammation in the Breafts, peculiar. to lying in Women; and also upon fome Difeafes attending them, which are the Confequences of Neglect or Maltreatment. By J. Clubbe, Surgeon, of Ipfwich. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Longman, &c.

1779.

This Writer begins with an anatomical account of the ftructure of the breasts and uterus, particularly defcribing their vafcular connexion, whence he deduces the conclufion, that the breafts are. appendages to the uterus, and undergo all their changes in confeOn this rational quence of changes happening in that organ.

foundation all his method of treatment in inflammations of the breafts is built. The practice he inculcates is extremely fimple, turning folely upon depletion of the mammary arteries by internals, and relaxation of the orifices of the lactiferous tubes by externals. The only topical application which he recommends in all disorders of the breafts, is the common bread and milk poultice foftened with oil. He makes a proper distinction between those indurations of the breafts proceeding from impacted membrane and cellular fubftance, and true fcintic of the glands; juftly confidering the former as mere topical difeafes.

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