70 



Monthly Reviev) of Literature, 



[Jan. 



inhabitants, the increase of wealth, the 

 wider cultivation of corn, and to the better 

 construction of the liouses. It was a re- 

 mark of the late M. Fabroni, that he never 

 met witii goitres in valleys formed by 

 granitic rocks, but only in those formed by 

 rocks containing magnesia. INI. Amjjert 

 communicated some electro-dynemic expe- 

 riments, to determine the value of tliat force, 

 and its application to the formula, represent- 

 ing the mutual action of the two elements 

 of voltaic conductors, as some new results 

 deduce:! from that formula. 



Lyons. — Tiie Literary and Scientific Aca- 

 demy of this city has granted a prize to M. 

 Dittmart, a celebrated professor at Berlin, 

 for his researches in meteorology. M. Oza- 

 nam, a physician resident at Lyons, has 

 been honoured in a similar way, for his 

 communication relative to the preparation 

 of silk ; and M. Fortune Malbouche,of Paris, 

 f jr a memoir on the important commercial 

 question of taxes on the export and import 

 of goods. Poetry is making rapid advances 

 in this part of France, as the poetical prize 

 was warmly contested by numerous can- 

 didates. 



Besanqon. fDoubs.J — The Academy of 

 Sciences, Belles-Lettres, and Arts lias pro- 

 posed the following question for theiirize of 

 1827 : " During the last forty years, the 

 extraordinary manner in which all minds 



have been agitated, must have had an irre- 

 sistible influence on the different branches of 

 literature. Wliat have been its effects at 

 the times when the form and the spirit of 

 government have undergone tiie most re- 

 markable changes ? Wliat will be its per- 

 manent results ?" 



NETHERLANDS. 



JSrusseb. — The Society of Physical and 

 Medical Sciences, which has been formed 

 only since July 1822, has already distin- 

 guished itself, by tlie ptiblication of many 

 learned memoirs. Dr. Laine, whose name 

 lias long been familiar to the medical world, 

 is elected perpetual secretary. 



Utrcclit. — At the meeting of the Society 

 of Arts and Sciences, a gold medal was 

 voted to Messrs. Bennel and Van Wide- 

 Roelandsz, the authors of a paper on the 

 land, seas, straits, rivers, islands, &c. which 

 had been discovered by the Dutch ; al- 

 though in more modern maps the names 

 originally assigned them had been discard- 

 ed for foreign ones. A gold medal was 

 granted to M. V. Letting, for his commen- 

 tary on Herodotus, and a silver medal to 

 the author of a memoir on the influence 

 which the draining of the marshes in the 

 northern parts of Holland would have on 

 the health of the community. 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Observations on the Causes and Evils of 

 It'ar, its Unlawfulness; and the Means and 

 Certainty of its Extinction ; jji a Series of 

 Letters, addressed to a Friend, by Thomas 

 ThuusH, late Captain in the Royal JVavy. 

 Intended as an Apoloijy for wilhilrawiny 

 himself from the Naval Service. — This is a 

 pamphlet which has attracted some atten- 

 tion, and claims our notice. AVhen a man 

 acts up to the dictates of his conscience, he 

 commands respect, and, at least, a patient 

 hearing from an enlightened community. 

 We have read the work before us with 

 considerable interest, and will, as briefly 

 as possible, give our opinion of it and its 

 tendency. 



No man, but one fitter for Bedlam than 

 civilized Society, will maintain the justice 

 or necessity of any kind of waifai'e but 

 that which is Defensive. Our limits for- 

 bid our entering upon the question, ' whe- 

 ther the last war was of that character or 

 not?' That England, like other nations, 

 has prosecuted many offensive wars, cannot 

 be doubted, and our Indian territories are 

 a standing proof of the fact having taken 

 place m our own days. Self preservation, 

 we all know, is one of the first laws of 

 nature. If an individual was dwelling on 

 some lonely spot, and knew that many 

 rapacious knaves lived near enough to 



attack and plunder him, he would lie justi- 

 fied, by the laws of God and man, in pre- 

 paring for his defence. If he were attacked, 

 and saw that the marauders intended to 

 bum down his house and maltreat his 

 family, he would be called on to exert every 

 nerve to defend them ; and, if a skilful man, 

 he wouhl try and carry the contest from his 

 own dwelling to some distant and defensi- 

 ble spot. The situation of this individual 

 is the same as that of England. She is 

 surrounded by vast empires, containing 

 hundreds of thousands of warriors, and 

 great resources. The riders of these em- 

 pires, and their forefathers, have shewn 

 themselves desirous of conquest, and hun- 

 gry for more dominions. England is the 

 richest country in the world, and by her 

 constitution keeps autocrats in continual 

 apprehension of their subjects desiring some 

 change, which will diminish their power. 

 Her institutions, commercial influence, and 

 mechanical superiority, give her a great 

 ascendancy over these empires, and so cre- 

 ate their einy and jealousy. If slie were 

 not ever upon her guard, and if these 

 powerful neighbours were not conscious of 

 her vigour and means of defence, would they 

 not attack and subdue her, and then, per- 

 chance, like tigers, quarrel for her carcase ? 

 No man who is not in his dotage, can 



