ing these spiritual operations, sometimes as the work of a Divine and an Almighty Agent, and sometimes as produced by a doctrine, or system of doctrines, a confusion of ideas is occasioned on a subject of infinite importance. We are accustomed indeed, in common life, to speak of the power of a machine, though all its efficiency depends upon its being put in motion by an intelligent agent; and it is in this sense, we apprehend, Mr. C. speaks of the "power of the Gospel:" yet, in a point of so great magnitude, no room should have been left for misapprehension; nor should it have been possible that any reader should confound the instrument, with that Omnipotent Agent who condescends to employ it for the execution of his designs.

Another point which Mr. C. has left doubtful, is, the sense in which he employs the terms, faith, believing, and some others. It would appear from some passages, that these expressions are used to denote a full persuasion, or decided conviction of the truth of those doctrines for which he contends.

To ascertain,' he remarks, the moral influence of the Apostolic testimony, we may confine ourselves to this one truth, "That Jesus Christ is the Son of God." "It is by the belief of this truth "that sinners are saved. Their deliverance from the guilt and do"minion of sin is effected by their belief of this truth," &c.' p. 33. If, by the belief of this truth,' is meant such a persuasion of it as excludes all doubt,-the full and decided assent of the mind to every circumstance it includes, as a matter of opinion merely, we cannot but express our conviction that there are myriads in this enlightened country, who do believe this truth, and yet upon whom it has no practical influence whatever; and in whom most evidently none of these moral effects are produced. But if this term be used in a higher theological sense, to describe the submission, as well as the assent of the understanding, the approbation and cordial reception of this doctrine, as well as the persuasion of its truth, we most fully agree with Mr. C. in all that he has stated of the efficacy of such a faith; only regretting that he has not been sufficiently careful to explain the genuine meaning of these important terms.

But we are very unwilling to dismiss in unfriendly mood, a work which we have read with so much interest, and which is calculated to yield very considerable instruction; we shall therefore conclude this article with extracting a passage, in which Mr. C. very beautifully contrasts the Christian doctrine of a resurrection to eternal life, with the speculations of ancient philosophy on the doctrine of a future state.

"We had occasion to remark, how infinitely superior the "Doctrine " of Christ" is, as a scheme of practical religion to every scheme of human invention; and how widely different in its nature is that selfdenial which it inculcates, from that which philosophy has thought fit to prescribe. The truth of this assertion must now appear with still greater clearness, when we find the Gospel thus blending a resurrection unto life with a death unto sin, the hope of eternal glory with a renunciation of this present world. To correct the debased propensities of our nature, and to cure those disorders which philosophers perceived to arise from the passions and desires of the soul,-ever restless, ever on the wing, ever in search of some new object, some new source of pleasure and satisfaction, yet never finding any solid good, they recommended, as the most effectual expedient which they could suggest, the suppression of desire, the extinction of hope, an oblivion of the past, an insensibility to the present, an indifference about the future. Here, then, is the noblest discovery of human reason, unassisted by the light of the Gospel! -a sublime lesson of wisdom indeed! What, then, must the soul of man be laid waste, for fear of its producing briars and thorns? Is there no alternative between a wilderness and a desert?-With the philosopher there is none. For while he is sensible how vain and unsatisfying are all the objects of human hope beneath the sun, he knows not where a portion can be found, which can fill the everexpanding capacities of the soul. But the Gospel acknowledges no such principle of desolation. If it clears the wilderness of its briars and its thorns, it is, that it may plant in their room the olive and the vine. If it exposes the vanity of worldly good, it is not to produce apathy of mind, or to exterminate hope and desire from the human breast; it is to direct them to higher objects, the favour of God, the vision of his glory, the resurrection to eternal life.' pp. 349, 350.

Art. V. 1. Commentaries on some of the most important Diseases of Children. By John Clarke, M.D. &c. &c. Part the first. royal 8vo. pp. 198. Longman and Co. 1815.

2. De l'Education physique de l'Homme; par M. Friedlander. D.M. &c. &c. à Paris, Chez Treutal et Würtz. 1815. pp. 496.

(Continued from p. 286.)

THE slight discussion upon which we are now about to enter, respecting the diseases of childhood, will of course have a bearing rather towards general facts and preventive measures, than minute histories and practical details. Medicine, we are convinced, can never be made popular, in the sense which some give to that term. Like all other practical arts it must be in the hands of the few and initiated; but there are certain codes and principles with which it is right that the reading part of the public should be made acquainted, and from the acquisition of which, medicine would perhaps be more highly valued, rather than depreciated or neglected.

The grand leading feature by which infantile diseases are marked, and which it is necessary always to have in recollection, is, that they have all more or less reference to that order of vessels which are destined to convey nourishment into the system. It is an interruption in the process of nourishment, that gives rise to the various disturbances of the frame; a fact that is more especially marked in the disease termed mesenteric atrophy, which is always shewn in a rickety tendency, and is the cause, primarily or secondarily, of the several derangements in the bowels, and which not unfrequently occasions that dreadful and insidious disease, water in the head; or, as Dr. Clarke terms it, inflammation of the brain, but, as it appears to us, from an erroneous conception respecting its nature and essence.

As, however, it is necessary to keep the above principle always in view as explicatory of infantile ailments, so it is no less necessary to keep it constantly impressed on the mind, that even this important system of vessels in the infant economy, is subordinate to and under the guidance of the sentient organization, and primary moving powers; and it is for want of a due consideration and proper appreciation of this last particular, that even medical men themselves are apt to fall into theoretical misconceptions and practical mistakes.

We shall give a succinct illustration of our meaning, by reference to a particular case. Of two individuals in a family, one shall have every function go on fairly in spite of neglect or mismanagement as to nursing and diet; the other, on the contrary, shall have a tumid abdomen, emaciated or rickety limbs, disorders in the bowels, feverish irritations. Now, let us suppose, further, a change in the domestic management of this weakly and distempered infant, without any recourse whatever to medicinal aid; and should the disordered actions have not become too far confirmed, the consequence will be their interruption and decrease; the abdomen will be reduced in bulk, the limbs will assume a more healthy size and shape, the excretions from the bowels will become more regular, and the feverishness of the skin will subside. The alteration, then, and amendment, in this case, is palpably referrible to some radical impulse having been communicated to the primary moving organs of the infant machinery; a positive demonstration that in these the complaint originally existed. Now, this doctrine may appear to many readers to have too much of simplicity and obvious truth about it to demand any such formal statement; it has nevertheless, as above hinted, been too much overlooked, both in the rationale of medicine, and in the management of diseases; and we think Dr. Clarke's views of infantile ailments and their mode of treatment, are in

some degree objectionable in this respect. Nothing morbid, according to Dr. C.'s notion of things, can take place without partial congestions, and these chiefly in the brain, and no curative indication can be legitimately formed that is not founded on the principle of depletion, or emptying of vessels. A child, for example, has a convulsive fit: by what is this fit brought about? Dr. Clarke would say, from an impediment to the circulation of the blood in some other parts of the system, in consequence of which an inordinate quantity is directed to the brain, and that thus the paroxysm is produced. There can be no doubt that this is in a very great number of cases literally the fact; but we cannot concede that it is always so; and we are inclined to maintain that a primary and radical affection of the nervous power frequently produces the most violent disorders and agitations without any degree of the supposed mechanical obstruction. Were we to concede that the original source of the derangement in question is in the majority of cases traceable to a primary irritation in the stomach and bowels, even then we should deny that the induced disorder is always to be accounted for in this mechanical manner. Fits of a convulsive nature are often occasioned, both in infancy and in youth, by a few thread-worms in the bowels, and this in regard both to time and constitution when there is no superabundance of blood either in the head or in any other part of the frame; and surely, these cannot act towards the formation of such fits, by blocking up the channel of blood through the intestines, and thus sending it in an inordinate stream to the head. No, it is the brain itself and the nervous system, that become affected in some way that is not easy of explanation, and which, without causing any primary change in the circulation, engenders the mischief alluded to*.

Now, this is not a discussion which must end merely in a difference of theoretical belief; the practical consequences of the one or the other opinion, will necessarily be widely different; for if we regard the blood-vessels or the bowels as being always the prime source of constitutional disturbances, to bleed, or to purge, is all the practitioner will think of in the way of treatment; and being for our own parts fully convinced of the absolute necessity in very many cases of both these processes; nay, that without timely recourse to them life would in many cases cease; we nevertheless apprehend that these secondary

Even when convulsive fits are occasioned obviously by teething, which indeed is their most frequent source, the derangement is not produced in every case by inflammation and congestion, but by the stimulus of pain, if we may be allowed the expression, acting through the medium of the nerves.

and subordinate indications of cure, if we may so express ourselves, are, in our times, thought of often to the neglect of prime considerations, and to the detriment of the constitution.

Our notions on this head have been already expressed in two articles, one on Consumption, and one on Hydrocephalus, which we recently laid before our readers; and our criticism on the last subject was favoured with a distinct notice from the author of the treatise then under review. We ventured to suggest whether this very respectable and able physician might not be a little too much influenced by the temper of the times, in reference to visceral theories and purgative medicines; and whether he might not, with others, be looking among the bowels for the cause of disease, when he should be carrying his views higher up; and, as a proof that the complaint (Hydrocephalus) is in many, if not in most instances, originally brainular, we mentioned one symptom as characterizing it, namely, an affection of the knee or leg, which seemed incapable of explanation by any other principle than that of some derangement in the nervous system. In reply to our remarks on this head, Dr. Yeats brings forward cases in which the particular symptom alluded to, accompanied an interruption in the functions of the bowels. But may not both the one and the other expression of disorder be equally symptomatic of primarily nervous affection? and may not the cure of the visceral complaint, occasion the cessation of the symptom in question, by the impulse which it gives to the brain and nerves?

We are at this moment furnished with a remarkable proof of the principle we wish to establish as important both in relation to infantile and adult complaints. A child, about nine months old, has had convulsive fits, connected with disordered bowels, and an affection of the knee joint. Now, in this case, Dr. Clarke would have taken blood from the head, others would have persevered in calomel purges, till all the symptoms should have subsided; and they would have been made to subside by the employment of these means;-but then, pushed to the extent that should be requisite, not without at least probable injury to the staminal powers of the infant. This child has been cured by an admixture and due combination of what with our views of things, we may be allowed to name the symptomatic with the radical method of treatment: calomel has been given in small quantities with evident diminution of all the deranged states; but change of air, friction, sea-air, and bathing, have rendered unnecessary a continuance in the calomel plan, although the bowels and the knee were both still in a bad state before the commencement of these last measures;-in other words, an impulse, or proper impetus, has been given to the