a question,' he says, of great curiosity and interest, but one upog which the present enquiry does not appear in any degree to depend." Now from the latter part of this sentence we dissent most materially; since we conceive that an analysis of the revolution, which took place in our exchanges in 1808, is the best method of arriving at a thorough knowlege of the causes of their present state. We must pass a negative, likewise, on an opinion somewhat obscurely worded in p. 47, 48, that the agreement of 1808 between the Treasury and the Bank, providing for an allowance to government by the Bank in consideration of the amount of balances deposited, was productive of an extended issue and consequent depreciation of Bank-notes. Mr. Woods suggests that an act might be passed, obliging the Bank to reduce their issues at a rate between 100,000l. and 200,000l. a month; and he is full of hope that, by proceeding in this gradual and moderate manner, the evils attendant on a resumption of cash-payments would not be serious. He mentions a fact of considerable importance in regard to the state of agriculture; namely, that, during the present unsettled state of our currency, the Duke of Northumberland has refused to grant leases on any terms: but we know that this is not a single instance of a noble Duke laying down a rule of never granting leases, and that such rule has long existed. This pamphlet, if not a first-rate production on the score of originality, may justly be termed judicious and tempe rate; and it is superior to most publications on the same topic, in a point of no slight importance where the subject is intricate, we mean in a full and perspicuous table of contents.

MEDICINE, CHEMISTRY, &c.

ART. 15. An Account of the remarkable Effects of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson in the Gout. By Edwin Godden Jones, M.D., &c. 12mo. 4s. 6d. White and Cochrane. 1810.

ART. 16. A Letter to Dr. Jones, on the Composition of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson. By James Moore, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c. &c. 8vo. 28. Johnson and Co. 1811.

All the world has heard of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson, and of its wonderful success in curing gout; a success which indeed appears unquestionable. Dr. Jones's tract gives an account of the discovery of the medicine, and a detail of some cases in which it was employed. M. Husson, the discoverer, was a military officer in the French service, who is stated to have possessed an irresistible incli nation for the study of botany, and the medicinal properties of simples. In the course of the researches to which this propensity led him, he discovered a plant, whose virtues were before unknown, which, on examination, was found to possess extraordinary virtues in the cure of various diseases. From this plant Husson prepared his medicine in its present form; and, after some experience of its powers, was persuaded to publish it; and it was accordingly announced to the world as a sovereign remedy for almost every disorder incident to the human body.' Such high encomiums led to a very extensive employment of the medicine; and it appears, as we might suppose would be the case with a compound capable of producing

very powerful effects on the human body, that its indiscriminate use was attended with very serious mischief, so much as to cause its sale in Paris to be prohibited by an order of the police. It seems that M. Husson had no idea of the medicine being peculiarly appropriate to gout, and that the application of it to this disease was chiefly owing to Dr. Wolfe of Warsaw: but its reputation as a specific for this disease soon became established; and many attempts were of course made to ascertain its composition, though without success. A few years ago, Dr. Jones passed the winter at Montpelier; and, from the repeated accounts of its efficacy which he received, he was induced to pay particular attention to the subject, and to recom mend the medicine to a friend who had suffered very severely from gouty attacks. The advantage which this patient derived from It induced others to follow his example, and its fame quickly extended. The result of our present experience respecting it is that it frequently removes the gout, or prevents its accession; and that it sometimes operates as a violent evacuant in all ways, but that at other times it has no sensible effect. When used in its proper quantity, and with due caution, Dr. J. says that it does not appear to affect the constitution in an unfavourable manner; and that in some instances the general health has been improved, after an occasional employment of it for two or three years.

Notwithstanding the previous failures which had taken place in the attempts to ascertain its composition, Mr. Moore was induced again to investigate this point; and regarding it as a subject on which it is not possible to arrive at absolute certainty, it must be acknowleged that he has been singularly successful. He has rendered it highly probable that this celebrated medicine consists of a vinous fision of white hellebore and opium; and that a bottle of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson consists of a dram of the wine of white hellebore, mixed with half a dram of vinous laudanum.' The reasons which induce Mr. Moore to adopt this opinion are thus summed up:

First, I have shewn by internal evidence, that there is a very strong presumption that Mr. Husson borrowed the idea of his composition from the praises bestowed on White Hellebore by the. elder Pliny.

Secondly, that the mixture of the wine of White Hellebore and Laudanum, allowing for the composition being made in a different country, and with a different wine, agrees with the Eau Medicinale in colour.

Thirdly, that it differs but little in smell.

Fourthly, that it agrees in taste.

Fifthly, in dose, which is a very decisive circumstance.

Sixthly, in its usual evacuant powers on the stomach and bowels.

Seventhly, in its occasionally having no effect as an evacuant. • And Eighthly, in its giving great relief in the gout, and abridg ing the paroxysm.'

Mr. Moore has shewn very considerable ingenuity and acuteness in the investigation; and his pamphlet is written with both spirit and candor. We must also do Dr. Jones the justice to acknowlege the REV. SEPT. 1811. obligation

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obligation which he has conferred on his countrymen, by introducing this medicine among them; and to observe that we see no reason for suspecting that he had any interested motives in his recommendation of it but as to the effects and safety of the remedy itself, we will not decide, without having had more experience of it. A general idea of its baneful effects on the constitution certainly now prevails, similar to that which led to the prohibition of it in Paris about thirty years ago. Art. 17. Additional Cases, with further Directions to the Faculty, relating to the Use of the Humulus or Hop, in Gout and Rheumatic Affections. By A. Freake, Apothecary. 8vo. Is. 6d. Highley. Sometime has elapsed since we noticed a pamphlet by Mr. Freake, in which he recommended the Hop as an useful article of the materia medica, combining the virtues both of an anodyne and a tonic*. That this plant possesses valuable properties, we believe to be the fact ; and the sanction which it has received from the London College, who have introduced it into their new Pharmacopoeia, would seem to place this question beyond all doubt. The object of Mr. Freake is to bring it forwards more especially as a remedy for gouty and rheumatic affections; and he now presents a few additional cases, most of which are related by the patients themselves, which appear to have been attacks of irregular gout, such as are frequently brought on by various exciting causes, in those who are constitutionally predisposed to the disease. After the failure of so many infallible remedies for this complaint, we are unavoidably led to be very sceptical respecting any new proposal; yet we may venture to go so far as to say that the Hop deserves a trial; and that, if it should not eradicate the disease, it will probably prove harmless, a negative advantage, which does not belong to all the gout-medicines that have at different times been so highly extolled.

Art. 18. Observations on the Walcheren Diseases, which affected the British Officers, in the Expedition to the Scheldt, commanded by Lieutenant-General the Earl of Chatham. By G. P. Dawson, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. 8vo. Pp. 133. 7s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1810.

We have already encountered one publication on what has been called the Walcheren fever, (See Art. XIII. Review for February last,) and we have now to lay before our readers two other treatises on the same subject. Mr. Dawson frequently inculcates on us the fact that he possessed the most ample opportunities of experience respecting the disease, yet he is altogether, silent as to the period in which he witnessed it, and the scene of his exertions. We are by no means dis. posed to accuse him of a direct attempt to mislead his readers on so important a point: but if, as we are induced to suspect, he was never out of this country, and saw the complaint only as it appeared in the men after their return to England, it would on every account have been desirable to make this acknowlegement.

The work commences with some remarks on the inexpediency and want of conduct that were exhibited in the political arrangement of this ill-starred armament; and though we cannot but coincide in the

* Sce Rev, Vol. iii. N. S. p. 3ш..

writer's

writer's censures, yet we think that they are misplaced in a medical treatise. Nothing masterly nor characteristic is discoverable in the description of the disease; and indeed it would appear that Mr. Dawson considered it as so well known that description was unnecessary. Yet so far is this from being a correct state of the case, that we be lieve the author himself has been deficient in his knowlege on the subject; and that he has mistaken for the genuine form of the disease, that peculiar modification which existed in the late stages, and when the patient was removed from the immediately exciting causes. He does not scruple to affirm that debility laid the foundation for almost all the diseases which affected the British troops, and in the majority of cases was the leading feature of them.' Debility is one of those mischievous words, of which we meet with a certain stock in all sciences, which convey to the mind an indistinct idea, and are therefore extremely convenient to employ on all occasions when persons wish to talk about what they do not understand. We cannot, therefore, consider ourselves as at all wiser for being informed that the Walcheren fever originates in or depends on debility. When we are told that the disease is not contagious, that bleeding is improper, and that purgatives are useful, we are indebted to the author for giving us what we may presume was the result of his own experience: but here we feel forci bly the ignorance in which we are left respecting the period of the disease, and the situation of the patients, when these observations were made. We are led to conclude that a great difference of opinion sub sisted on the subject of mercury, as a remedy for the Walcheren fever. Mr. Dawson, although he recommends calomel to be given in large doses as a cathartic, argues most strenuously against its employment with a view to produce its specific action on the system: but, until we have much more ample information than we derive from this tract, we cannot regard the controversy as in any degree brought to a conclusion.

The style of this treatise is concise, and on that account is to be praised: but it is hasty, incorrect, and flippant. Besides the faults of the writer, the printing is very inaccurate, and the price very extrá vagant.

Art. 19. Advice to such Military Officers and others, as may be suffer ing from what has been called the Walcheren Fever, acquired on the late Expedition to the Scheldt: being the Substance of an Answer to a Letter on this Subject. By C. Griffith, M. D., Senior Surgeon to the Forces. 8vo. Is. Egerton. 1810.

These friendly hints,' as the author calls them, are brief, and therefore we are not disposed to complain greatly of the time spent in perusing them, although we do not feel ourselves much instructed by them. The only circumstance of any practical importance, which deserves to be noticed, is that extreme liability to relapse, even from the applica tion of very slight causes, which characterizes intermittent fevers. We have many low and damp situations in this island, not esteemed unhealthy, and which seldom generate ague, but which Dr. G. thinks might prove sufficient to cause relapses in those who had once suffered severely from the complaint in question.

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Dr.

Dr. Griffith gives a very mean idea of the state of medical science among the Zealand physicians: but we ought to have more decisive evidence, before we give implicit credit to the statement as exhibiting an accurate idea of the opinions of the best informed practitioners in that country. Instances might be found at home of physicians occupying a high station, whose ignorance is not inferior to that of the doctors at Middleburgh.

Art. 20.

1810.

The Elements of Experimental Chemistry. By William Henry, M. D. F.R.S. &c. &c. 6th Edition. 2 Vols. 8vo. Il. 5S. Boards. Johnson and Co. Although this is but a new edition of a well-known book, we deem it proper to notice it in our catalogue, on account of the very considerable addition which it has received, and of our opinion of its intrinsic importance. It is more than double its original bulk, and now consists of above 1100 closely-printed pages. The author, who is acknowleged to be one of the first chemists of the age, seems to have spared no pains in rendering his production worthy of the public favour, by incorporating into it all the newly discovered facts; and by giving an abstract of the latest hypotheses that have been advanced, on the various controversial questions which are now under discussion. The work is rendered particularly valuable by the different tables that are appended to it; which are, we believe, more numerous and ample than in any other similar publication.

If we were to offer any criticism of an unfavourable kind, it would be that the great increase of size has, in some measure, given the performance a new character; so that it can now be scarcely considered, in any respect, as differing from a systematic treatise on chemistry. As we are already in possession of two such excellent systems as those of Dr. Thomson and Mr. Murray, we rather regret that Dr. Henry has not kept his 'Elements' in the original compressed form; and we will suggest to him whether, when another edition is required, he should not rather attempt to reduce the whole into one 8vo. volume, than to continue from time to time to add to its bulk. On the same principle, also, we are disposed to question the propriety of entering so much into particular details, as he has done in some instances it might be more suitable for an elementary work to give merely the result of experiments, and the general doctrines that are deduced from them, without laying down each indivídual step of the process, and entering into all the discussions to which they have given We offer these remarks with the greatest respect to the author's judgment; and we feel confident that he will ascribe them to our anxiety to render his publication, which we regard as very valuable, still more excellent.

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Art. 21. On the Morbid Sensibility of the Eye, commonly called Weakness of Sight. By John Stevenson, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Highley. 1810. Mr. Stevenson here professes to treat on a discase of the eye which has not hitherto been described by writers, at least only in cidentally, as a distinct disease, nor has its cure been established upon a rational pathology.' Our business will be to examine how far he is warranted