348 



land ami Ireland, uilh tolerable imparti- 

 ality ; aiilioii<;li, it is evident, he felt a 

 greater resemblance in the former people 

 to his cnnntrynieu of New England. 



Dr. A. P. Bdchan, with that vigour of 

 mind and extensive medical learning 

 which characterize all his productions, 

 lias published a sensible and well written 

 I. ectnre. addressed to the students of the 

 Westmin-ter Hospital. It exhibits gene 

 ral views of the state of medical philoso- 

 phy, and exposes many pievailint; errors, 

 both in theory and practice, and therefore 

 merits the notice of every youni; man, 

 ambitions of rising into distinction in the 

 profession. We cannot, however, join in 

 his prai-es of the London hospitals. They 

 may be comparative blessings to poverty, 

 lint they will fail in their best purposes, so 

 Jjui; as the wretched patients are placed 

 in noisy open wards, where diseases are 

 agi;ravated hy sympathy and insensibi- 

 lily. Twenty or thirty diseased persons 

 in one room, in all stages of their respect- 

 ive maladies, presents a condition of hu- 

 manity tending to create, rather than 

 cure, disease, and ought not to be encou- 

 raged ; while subscripiions, donations, and 

 legacies, should be reserved for that esta- 

 blishment which first connnenccs a sepa- 

 rate cabin for each ijaticnt. Dr. Buchau 

 lias added a list of symptoms exceedingly 

 valnable as far as it s,oes, but susceptible 

 of additions in future reprints of his 

 book. 



Tlie Percnninl Calendar, just published, 

 is edited by Dr. Forster, who was the 

 original compiler of it, having begun it as 

 a subject of juvenile amusement many 

 years ago. T!ie work, having been added 

 to by nunieious literary friends, was 

 deemed by the publisher a useful and enter- 

 tertaining book ; and, having gone to press 

 in haste, jnst as it was composed, contains 

 a deal of miscellaneous though undigested 

 information, particularly a development 

 of the numerous superstitious practices 

 connected with the festivals and fasts of 

 the church, t!ie origin of inany obscure 

 customs, and other subjects of antiquarian 

 rcsfarch, vvhicl!, from the author's ac- 

 quaintance v;ith the late Mr. Gongh, and 

 numerous other antiquaries, he was 

 enabled to pick up in his youth ; and 

 which, for many years, formed the subject 

 of his daily journal. The natural history 

 of plants, and the periods of their (lower- 

 ing, forms another subject of this Calen- 

 dar, and it has been enlarged by numerous 

 quotations from works of science. Among 

 other things, an extraordinary collection 

 of histories of visions, ghosts, dreams, and 

 other pretended supernatural effects, arc 

 detailed, and their natural causes ex- 

 plained. The work is interspersed with 

 poetry, and forms a very tliick 8vo. 

 volume. 



Literary and Critical Proemium. [May ' » 



Things in General, being DdinenI inni of 

 Persons and Places in the Metrnpulis, Ifc. by 

 Lawrence Langsiiank, gent, is a. 

 publication of a very peculiar cast. It is 

 quaintly termed "a first volume," and is 

 a sort of hybrid production, between a 

 Scotch novel and a French melange ; but, 

 under whatever genus it may be ai ranged, 

 it possesses many qualities which induce 

 us to wish for the propagation of the race. 

 Langshauk is a Scotch tutor; and, in that 

 capacity, is witness to various scenes in 

 Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, which 

 he describes in the solemn style of the old 

 puritans. About one-third of the volume 

 is occupied veith his '• Autobiography," 

 before he left Iris native parish of IMony- 

 niusk; and is sufficiently amusing, both 

 on account of the simplicity of the inci- 

 dents, and the mixture of naivete and 

 pedantry which pervade every portion of 

 the narrative. The powers of the author 

 are, however, obviously superior to this 

 production. It appears to have been 

 hastily written ; but there are some poeti- 

 cal pieces, as well as characteristic 

 descriptions, that aredeservinr of a more 

 permanent association ihnn the temporary 

 localities with which they arc conjoined. 

 The comparative merits of tiie oratory of 

 Canning, and of Brougham, are, iu our 

 opinion, finely discriminated. 



Ah Appriil t'> the Pub'ic, and to the Legis- 

 lature, on the Ncccsdty nf affording Dead. 

 Hollies to the Schnols c/ Anatomy hy Legis- 

 lative Enactment, by Wilmam Macken- 

 zie. Tills little pamphlet, of between 

 thirty and forty pages, we have perused 

 with mncli satisfaction. It contains many 

 sensible observations, lays down a variety 

 of undeniable positions, and treats with 

 force and perspicuity, yet with all prac- 

 ticable delicacy and tenderness, a subject 

 as important and as interesting as any 

 on which a great and enlightened commu- 

 nity can he addressed. J he dilemma in 

 which every public society is placed on 

 one hand, the inviolable sanctity its natu- 

 ral feelings attach to the tranquillity of the 

 grave; and, on the othir, the necessity it 

 daily experiences for the exercise of a 

 knowledge, and a dexterity, which cannot 

 be obtained witiioiit invading the inansioiis 

 of the departed ; these opposing circum- 

 stances, and the conflicting sensations in- 

 separable from their consideration, Mr. 

 Mackenzie has matnrely weighed; and 

 communicates, as the result of his medita- 

 tion«, the settled opinion, that as, in many 

 instances, necessity has no law, so espe- 

 cially, in the present case, private feeling 

 ought, in some measure, to yield to the 

 puljlic benefit, the rights of the deal be 

 occasionally sacrificed for the advantage 

 of the living ; and t!ie perfection promoted 

 of anatomy and surgery, — of a science and 

 an art, without a thorough knowledge of, 

 6 and 



